C17 Book 1 The Pain

Submit to you--

is that what you advise?

The way the ripples do

whenever ill winds arise?

~ Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"How?" asks Derek, eyes wide.

I shake my head, a rising panic flooding my senses. "I don’t know. But that’s Jerry."

I would know him anywhere. The dark eyes and black hair that's perfectly coifed. The long, brown coat he always wears