Huntress Clan Saga Complete Series Boxed Set: Books 1-6

by Jamie Davis

  “We’ll talk about it when we get back to the bar.” Clark pointed at his beat-up sedan in the lot across the street. “Let’s go. I need to figure out how to get us out of this mess while we drive back.”

  Quinn followed him across the street and climbed into the passenger seat. Clark got in and started the car. He didn’t say another word to her all the way back to O’Malley’s.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Clark parked in the alley by the bar and got out, still without saying a word. He went down the stairs to the hidden basement entrance.

  Quinn sighed. She needed to talk this out with him. Gemma was up to something. She must be close to finding the Crystal Well and had to get Quinn out of the way. She’d planned this whole contest with that in mind.

  Now all Quinn could do was play catch up. She needed to find a way to stop the woman. If she let Gemma do this to her, she won the war without a fight. Today’s loss was a single battle as far as Quinn was concerned. Avery had won most of the training contests, but Quinn knew deep down the other woman didn’t have what it took to be the Huntress. She’d been too sheltered and had no idea what Gemma had hidden from her growing up.

  Climbing out of the car and checking to make sure the door was locked, Quinn went down to the entrance, nodding at Jonas, the giant bouncer sitting on his stool just inside.

  The big man chuckled as she entered. “What’d you do to piss off Clark this time, Quinn?”

  Quinn started to snap back but saw the good-natured grin on his face and realized he didn’t mean any harm. He had no part in what was going on.

  Quinn shrugged. “Does he need a reason?”

  Jonas laughed at that and shook his head as he waved her on through to the inner entrance.

  Quinn walked right into the middle of the lunch rush. Many of the supernaturals from the surrounding community came here to eat on their midday breaks. Paddy’s kitchen staff excelled at typical pub food, and they also provided quite a few special needs items for certain kinds of creatures. That was one of the reasons they’d chosen to make this their home base. Even Naomi could get food when needed.

  Quinn spotted Taylor seated at their usual table right next to the bar. Naomi sat with her, and Miranda hovered there, too.

  Taylor waved, seeing Quinn at the same time. “Quinn, come on over.”

  Quinn sat down in the open seat. She didn’t feel like talking, so she picked up one of the menus from the slot beside the salt and pepper in the center of the table. She opened it and scanned the items, even though she wasn’t all that hungry.

  Naomi chuckled. “What did you do to put Clark in a mood? He acts like you lost the challenge.”

  Quinn glanced up, met her mother’s eyes, and then looked back down at the menu.

  “You didn’t?” Naomi rolled her eyes. “Quinn, this was your chance to show how you were different from Avery out in the field.”

  “I’m not stupid. I know that.”

  Taylor asked, “Then what happened? This should have been the best way for you to beat them.”

  “They cheated.”

  Naomi pressed her lips together. Quinn waited for her mother to yell at her. Instead, she seemed almost sad. “Of course they did. You were supposed to allow for that. This isn’t your first time out there in real life, Quinn. You learned this lesson the hard way.”

  “Don’t you think I know it? I was ready for trickery. I wasn’t ready for a random attack by a werepanther who almost gutted me in the middle of a crowd at the Inner Harbor. I had to defend myself and deal with the attack. By the time I’d finished disarming him and running him off, Avery popped out and claimed the win. I didn’t have a chance.”

  Taylor looked from Quinn to Naomi and back. “So, now what?”

  “Now,” Quinn said, “we stop Gemma from finding the Crystal Well.”

  Naomi shook her head. “What’s this well?”

  “I’m not sure. I only know Gemma came here to look for it. She’s working with Filippa. If we can keep her from finding it, she’ll go back to wherever she came from, and hopefully take Avery with her.”

  “What can we do to help?” Miranda asked.

  “I need to go back into VR. I have a big advantage in there. First, though, I have to figure out where Gemma is hiding the werebadgers. I’m pretty sure she’s using them to open up the old tunnels beneath Federal Hill. That’s where she believes the artifact is located, and I think she’s right. The only problem is we’d know it if she just started digging up the whole neighborhood. That means she has to have a way to conceal what she’s doing.”

  “I can help with that,” Taylor said. “If someone is using some sort of construction around there for cover, they’d have to apply to the city for permits. I can see what permits have been approved lately.”

  “Good,” Quinn said. “Also, can you see if there’s any connection in the area around Federal Hill related to an old silica mine and the tunnels associated with it? According to Juni, they were either filled in or caved in on their own over a hundred years ago. I think they have something to do with the Crystal Well.”

  Taylor nodded. “I’m on it. I’ll start as soon as I get back. I need to finish this burger first.”

  “Go ahead and eat. I need something, too,” Quinn said. “We’ll all dive in and start looking as soon as we’re finished.”

  It still amazed Quinn how hungry she got after using her abilities. There seemed to be a siphoning of calories directly from her body when she accessed her skills. By the time they had all finished lunch, she’d managed to consume a huge double cheeseburger and a bowl of chili.

  Taylor left early to get started on the web search before Quinn got there. Miranda went with her, leaving Quinn with Naomi for the remainder of the meal. The vampire had ordered a mug of warm AB negative and sat sipping it while Quinn ate.

  As she started on the chili, Quinn glanced at Naomi. “You don’t have to sit here with me. I’m fine to eat by myself.”

  “I have nowhere to be,” Naomi replied.

  “Suit yourself.” Quinn went back to the tasty bowl of food.

  “Quinn, I’m not disappointed in you, if you’re worried about that.”

  She looked up. “Clark is, and you probably should be.”

  “Nonsense, Quinn. I’ve known Gemma for a long time. I got to know her when we were teenagers. She’s always been the type of person who never made a move without figuring out every angle. If she came here and knew she had to challenge you, you can be sure she did her homework. She walked through those doors, already knowing what she needed to do to win. She used Avery in ways that magnified her strengths and your weaknesses.”

  “If you and Clark knew she would do things that way, why did you let her play the game and put me up against Avery in the first place?”

  “Because we had to find out what she was up to. Clark and I have both been working behind the scenes to figure that out.”

  Quinn shook her head. “Not very successfully if I was the one to discover it.”

  Naomi nodded. “You’re right. That’s one of the reasons Clark is angry. I think he still hoped you’d win, even with Gemma cheating. Now he is playing from behind and at a disadvantage.”

  “You know,” Quinn said. “I sometimes wish you two trusted me enough to fill me in on this stuff before everything goes to crap on us. Now I have to bust my ass to fix everything.”

  Naomi smiled. “Don’t you prefer it that way? You always played better lacrosse when your team was behind at the half. You like a comeback win as much as anyone I’ve ever seen.”

  Quinn didn’t like it when Naomi reminded her that she’d watched Quinn from a distance the whole time she grew up. It made her remember all the times she’d felt so alone in the world as a kid. That was a time when all she wanted was to have a real mother or father to take care of her.

  She glared at the vampire. “This time, it’s a whole lot more important than a stupid high school sporting event, Mother.”

  Quinn
spotted a hint of a smile on Naomi’s face at her response. Her anger flared until she realized why. This was the first time she’d used the word “mother” aloud when referring to her.

  Shaking off her annoyance at herself, Quinn said, “Look, I can’t shake the feeling something much bigger than a simple hidden artifact is in play here. Every time things get bad here in Baltimore, there’s a Fae connection, and when we track it down, it points back to Princess Filippa. I talked to Aurora about it and—”

  “I didn’t know you went to her. Quinn, that’s as dangerous as making a deal with Filippa. You’re aware Aurora has her own agenda too, right?”

  Quinn nodded. “I know. They all think we’re just stupid, short-lived humans. Right now, she’s got a reason to help me, so I took advantage of it. I figure as long as I have that dragon egg, Aurora will lend aid when it doesn’t run counter to her own interests. Right now, she’s all about messing with Filippa. I don’t know what she has against the other princess, and I don’t really care. I’ll use it as much as I can until it changes.”

  “Fair enough,” Naomi replied. “What did Aurora tell you?”

  “That Filippa is focused on an alternate translation of the Huntress prophecy the former clan leaders relayed to me. This one reunites the Fae with their fallen cousins in the netherworld.”

  “My God!” Naomi exclaimed, shocked. “We just stopped Handon and his followers from what they were doing to allow demons a foothold here.”

  Quinn nodded. “And who was there watching the whole thing from the wings?”

  “Filippa.” Naomi bared her fangs as her anger slipped out from her usual iron-clad control.

  “Uh-huh. And she seems willing to do just about anything she has to.”

  Naomi picked up her mug and drained it. She licked a bit of blood off her upper lip and stood up. “I’m going to go talk to Clark. He needs to know what you found out. You catch up with Taylor and see what you can discover about the Federal Hill area. I’ll ask Clark, too. He might know some local lore we’re not aware of that could help you figure out the location of this Crystal Well.”

  “Great. We can all meet up later and put our heads together.”

  Naomi nodded and left through the back door.

  Quinn finished the last of her lunch in peace. She had a lot swirling through her mind at the moment, and she knew somewhere in that jumble of thoughts was the one nugget of information that would bring all this together for her. Once she found it, she’d find a way to beat Gemma at her own game.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Taylor had started the search and was well into the process by the time Quinn got there. She’d gone to her apartment and retrieved the old map she’d found in the bar that morning. It was possible Taylor would be able to use it to somehow find one of the hidden tunnel entrances, and that would lead Quinn to Gemma’s operation here in Baltimore.

  Taylor held the map up to the overhead light. “This thing is really old. The paper they used has too much acid in it, and it’s about to crumble to bits.”

  “Can you use it?” Quinn asked. “It’s the only clue I have, beyond what Aurora told me.”

  “We can try.” Taylor got up and walked over to a table against the wall. Several devices and disassembled computer components lay on it.

  She lifted the lid on one of the devices and laid the map on a plate of glass inside. Closing the lid, Taylor reached around back and grabbed a cable, uncoiling it and running it to the side of her main CPU on the floor by her workstation.

  “What’s that?” Quinn asked.

  “A high-res scanner. There might be more detail there than we can pick up. It could be hidden by the age of the paper. The original ink has faded, and this might be able to bring it back.” Taylor looked up from her computer at Quinn and smiled. “Fingers crossed.”

  She glanced back down, tapped a sequence of keys, and hit enter. The scanner started humming, and a sliver of bright white light escaped from beneath the lid as it went through the process of analyzing the map.

  Taylor cracked her knuckles and said, “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got here. She leaned forward and stared at the center monitor. Quinn moved around so she could see too, and Miranda hovered on the other side of the tech witch.

  A few seconds later, a blown-up version of the map appeared on the screen. The quality of the scan magnified all the imperfections of the original map. At first glance, it didn’t look like Taylor was going to discover anything new.

  Taylor leaned closer and traced a finger across the screen. “Something used to be printed or written here.” She turned to Quinn to make sure she was paying attention. “See, there’s a faint outline beyond the base of the hill. I’m not sure what it represents, but let’s see if I can use some different filters to help it stand out.

  She used the touchpad to outline that area of the map and then clicked icons on the screen. Each one subtly changed the colors as if they were viewing through tinted lenses.

  Taylor clicked through a bunch of options. She went so fast, they almost missed the one that showed what they were looking for.

  “Stop,” Quinn said. “I saw something on that last one.”

  “I saw it. Hold on. Let me make an adjustment and go back.”

  The screen changed color again, and then the version of the map Quinn wanted appeared. “Look, by the faint line there. Are those words?”

  “They look like it. Let’s zoom in and see what they say. They’re so small.”

  As the map grew larger and centered on the area of text. Quinn squinted at it. “It looks handwritten, not printed. Damn, I’m horrible at reading cursive script.”

  Miranda rolled her ghostly eyes and said, “I weep for the education system. What are they teaching you kids these days?”

  “How to do useful things like using computers,” Taylor replied. “We never would have seen this if it hadn’t been for my awesome tech witch skills.”

  Miranda smiled. “It doesn’t do any good if you can’t read what’s revealed.”

  “That’s what spectral godmothers are for, right, T?” Quinn asked, grinning.

  Miranda ignored the comment. “The note was written by whoever originally used the pamphlet. It reads, ‘Old tunnel system for miners to access pits.”

  “What’s that mean?” Taylor asked.

  “’Pits’ probably referred to the working parts of the mine where the silica was located,” Miranda said. “Look, the line traces back to these areas in bolder print that denote the mine tunnels.”

  Quinn shrugged. “That doesn’t help. I can’t figure out how it fits today.”

  “Hold on,” Taylor said. “Let me try something.”

  She tapped a few keys. On the left-hand screen, up popped a map of the city of Baltimore. Taylor zoomed in to look at the Federal Hill neighborhood. She looked back and forth between the two monitors as she fine-tuned the modern map’s size.

  At last, she nodded and, using her trackpad, dragged the modern map over the older map, adjusting it so it was semi-transparent. She rotated it to match the key landmarks.

  Quinn pointed to the end of the faint line that showed the old tunnel access. “What’s out here? I can’t tell from the way you have the newer map.”

  “Here, try this,” Taylor said. She dropped a flag at the location of the tunnel entrance on both maps and then dialed up the opacity of the modern map so Quinn could see it better as it was now. The flag stood out on a residential street south of the main part of Federal Hill.

  “What’s out there? Can you show me a street view?”

  Taylor smiled. “Can I show you a street view? Do you doubt me, Quinn?”

  “I was just asking. I don’t know that part of the city too well. Something tickles my memory, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

  Taylor opened up a browser window on her third screen and went back to the center screen to copy the address. In the browser window, she pasted the address in the search bar.

  A few seconds la
ter, an interactive map view showed all the homes on the street as if seen from the sidewalk out front. Quinn asked, “Which one is the address we flagged?”

  Taylor tapped an icon, and one of the homes was highlighted. The viewpoint moved until the house was centered on the screen.

  “Of course,” Quinn said. “I know that house. I can’t believe it was this easy. I should have realized where it was leading me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Taylor asked.

  Quinn stabbed a finger at a large Victorian home set back from the street behind a black wrought iron fence. “I know that home. It’s the first place I met Filippa when I rescued her. It seems like forever ago, but I wouldn’t forget it. I’m beginning to think she wasn’t in any danger back then. It explains her flippant attitude toward our attempts to secure her safety when we thought the VirSync slayers were chasing her.”

  Miranda stared at the screen and said, “It can’t be that easy.”

  “I know that’s the right place,” Taylor said, double-checking the address on the other screen. “If that old map is right, this is where the mine entrance is located. At least, it was before they were all sealed up. That’s what you said happened to them, right, Quinn?”

  “They were sealed,” Quinn said. “By now, that tunnel entrance has been reopened by a group of kidnapped werebadgers. That’s what all that action around Inez’s restaurant was about. Gemma needed to ensure her miners stayed on task.”

  “It makes sense. Filippa was already working on this when we rescued her from the VirSync assassins.”

  “So, what next?” Taylor asked.

  “I have to go there, T. There’s no other option.”

  “If Gemma is running an operation there, she might be expecting you,” Miranda said. “She’s been one step ahead of us the whole time.”

  Quinn shook her head. “I don’t think so. The look on her face back at the harbor when Avery beat me said she thought she’d won a final victory.”

  “If that’s true,” Taylor said, “you can’t disappear now. You need to stick around and let her gloat about it. You have to appear beaten so she doesn’t suspect what you plan on doing.”