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Rachel’s shoulder, leading her out of the press of people and back into the foot traffic. Immediately Rachel opened her hands, and Jenks made a wobbly flight to the woman’s hoop earrings. He sat down on one of them as if on a swing, holding the band of gold for balance, and Peri’s lips parted. The earrings weren’t a retro fashion statement. They were there for the . . . pixy.
    “Unicorn?” Jenks said, meticulously cleaning a wing, and Rachel shrugged, even as their pace quickened.
    “Maybe they have them here,” Rachel said, pointing out the sim-mules. “Look at that. You ever see anything like that?”
    “No. How about food?” Jenks said, swinging on the earring. “You got peanut butter here? I’m starved.”
    “Ahhh . . .” Peri said, thinking about the busy food court. “We really should go. I’ve got food at my apartment.” Calling Bill was now out of the question. If she was hallucinating, she wanted to go home to sleep it off. If she wasn’t . . . well, if she wasn’t . . . My God, what if I’m not?
    “Anything but honey,” Rachel said, and the tiny man made an indignant huff. “The Turn take it, I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you, Jenks. Everything okay at home?”
    “Al says you were summoned, but we can’t pull you back,” Jenks said, and Peri led them to the exit. Security was following, but they wouldn’t bother them if they were clearly leaving. Wouldn’t even check the facial recognition.
    “And trust me, we’ve been trying,” Jenks added. “Trent would start World War Three if he knew who to blame. There’s not enough ley line on this end to hold your pattern during transition. But even a dead line means there used to be traffic back and forth once. I think it’s been like forever, though. The mystics are really flaky.” He hesitated, and Peri blanched when she realized the pixy was looking at her. “Did she summon you?” he asked, coming across as derisive.
    “No, her partner did. I knocked him out.” They’d reached the main doors, and Rachel pushed them open without hesitation, clearly having seen the security following them and knowing the wisdom of retreat.
    “Rache . . .” Jenks complained. “We’ve talked about this. You gotta stop hitting people until you know who they are.” He hesitated, then added, “Piss on my daisies, it’s cold. I’m about freezing my nubs off here.”
    “I panicked, okay?” Rachel grumbled, her pace slowing to allow Jenks to make the move to her hair. It sounded like an old conversation, confusing Peri even more. How could two such dissimilar people work together so well? Because obviously they did. Peri hadn’t missed Jenks pointing out the security to Rachel or that Rachel knew Jenks’s limitations better than her own. The commitment to each other was there, as strong and enduring as anything she’d ever seen, a bond that could only be forged under great pressure and trust. Like I have with Jack , she mused.
    “Well, you’d better hope he’s okay,” the pixy said, muffled in Rachel’s hair. “We have to duplicate what he did if we’re ever going to get home. If the line is dead on this side, it must have been a mix of earth and ley line magic that got you here.”
    “Demon,” Rachel said around a sigh, and Peri jerked herself back to reality. “Figures. How come it can never be easy?”
    “You’re real,” Peri said, and a burst of pixy dust briefly lit Rachel’s hair to fall about her shoulders and vanish.
    “As an STD, babe,” Jenks said as he poked his head out. “And I’m forever, too. How did you summon Rache with no functioning ley lines? Come on. Give. Was it an earth charm?”
    Earth charm? Ley line? Maybe Jack will know what he’s talking about. “There was wine,” Peri offered, hitting her fob to unlock the car doors. If Jack could see Jenks, too, then maybe she hadn’t gone completely nuts.
    “It’s Trent’s label,” Rachel offered as she got in. “But it’s not