“At least it isn’t just sheer cliff face through this section of road,” I said.
Jasmine straightened, tucking her wild hair into a cable-knit hat, then pointing straight ahead of us. “It actually drops off in about seventy-five feet.” She was wearing a dark-brown ski jacket with fake-fur trim around the hood. I was pretty sure I was going to completely lose sight of her among the trees.
“You can see that far?”
She shook her head. “Barely. But the trees just disappear there. So I assume there’s an edge. How far is the drop?”
“Far. Like, ‘straight mountainside all the way to ocean level’ far. Though I’m actually not certain where we are right now. Somewhere between Whistler and Squamish.”
A howl cut through the night, quickly answered by two others. Based on the direction of the calls, the werewolves had separated to track the wounded wolf they’d spotted.
“Do we follow?” Jasmine asked.
I sighed. “Yeah. We follow. You behind me.”
“I can see better.”
“Well, I can slaughter elves better. And I don’t know about you, but a wounded wolf hanging out at the edge of a highway? Seems a little far-fetched.”
Jasmine narrowed her bright-blue eyes at me. “I’m reserving judgement.” Then she quirked her lip. “And … I have been practicing.”
“How’s that going?” I knew that Kett would be a hard trainer. Unforgiving, and not terribly encouraging.
“Just fine,” Jasmine said primly, never one to speak against her master. Though I wasn’t sure if her reticence had more to do with the magic that tied her to Kett, or the fact that she was speaking to me.
I snorted in disbelief. Then I stopped my dithering and clambered up across the deep snow piled at the edge of the road by daily plowing. Breaking through the icy top layer, I immediately sank to my knees into the hard-packed snow beneath. I bit back a snarl of curses.
Jasmine snickered behind me. Then she promptly twisted her ankle a couple of steps later on some hidden rocks.
Lovely. We were going to make a great pair, stumbling after each other in the freaking dark while the werewolves ran amok.
After about ten minutes of slogging and blundering through the snow, Jasmine and I caught up with Kandy. The green-haired werewolf was still in human form, standing in a clearing among fir trees. I’d chosen to follow the taste of her berry-imbued-bittersweet-chocolate magic because I far preferred to meet my BFF in a dark forest, rather than Audrey.
The moon, if there even was one that night, still hadn’t made an appearance. The cloud cover was low and thick, blocking out the stars, though the snowfall had actually eased. My night vision wasn’t great to begin with — the vampire and the werewolves were far better predators after sunset than I was. And to make it worse, the snow blowing in my face and collecting underfoot had surpassed annoying five minutes previously and was steadily on its way to becoming hazardous. Ah, to be able to snap my fingers and conjure light. But no. I wasn’t that sort of witch.
Kandy turned as Jasmine and I approached, her eyes blazing green and her head tilted to one side as she listened.
“Something’s wrong,” she whispered. She sniffed the air intently.
“With Lara or Audrey?” I asked.
Kandy shook her head but didn’t elaborate.
Jasmine was scanning the clearing, turning in a slow circle. Her diligence reminded me that she had formerly worked as an investigator for the witches Convocation. Before getting to know her better, I’d assumed that whatever she’d done in her past life had all been tech based. But you know what they say about assuming …
“What do you sense, vampire?” Kandy asked.
“It’s what I don’t sense that matters,” Jasmine said mildly.
“Out with it, then,” Kandy snapped.
“Did you follow the hurt animal you saw here? By sight?”
“The wolf. Yes.”
“Where are its tracks?” Jasmine gestured around us.
The only tracks I could see were made by human feet, some clumsier than others. No other signs of movement marred the thick blanket of snow in the clearing.
“What?” Kandy snarled. Her face rippled for a brief moment, as if her wolf form was close to the surface, threatening to overtake her human visage.
“The wolf’s tracks?” Jasmine repeated.
Kandy glanced around. Excepting Jasmine’s and my messy trail, and the green-haired werewolf’s more precise steps in the snow, there weren’t any other tracks leading to or from the small clearing. At least from what I could see of it, surrounded by snow and tall trees.
“You must have walked over them, morons,” Kandy snarled. Then she checked herself, frowning. “I’m … that …” She looked down at her bare hands. The taste of her magic intensified, and claws appeared at the ends of her fingers.
Jasmine went very still beside me.
Kandy clasped her hands together, taking a moment to breathe. Her claws retracted and her shoulders relaxed. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her ski jacket as she pinned her still-glowing eyes on me. “You think I’m seeing things?”
“Did you see the hurt wolf? A werewolf? And you saw its tracks?”
She nodded, stepping back to join us.
“Can you smell the wolf?” I asked, remembering that the illusionist elf had blocked out the sounds of the bustling Whistler village, but that the illusion itself hadn’t come with any other sensory information. “Or just see it? And its tracks?”
Kandy paused, thinking, while I scanned her for any unusual magic. She appeared to have herself under control. Perhaps it was just stress, rather than foreign magic that was calling her inner wolf out.
“No,” my BFF admitted sheepishly. “I … I can’t smell wolf. Didn’t smell it … and if it’s hurt …”
I nodded. A wounded animal should actually have been easier for Kandy to track, even in the dark and through the snow. “Okay. So … maybe the animal you thought you followed here was actually an illusion?”
“And the prints?” Jasmine asked. “They what? Faded?”
“Perhaps the illusionist has a range.” I paused to actively scan the immediate area with my dowser senses. I sought any hint of the mossy magic I’d absorbed into my knife, but found nothing. “If the wounded animal was manifested by the elf, then she’s not nearby. Or at least she’s not actively wielding her magic. I can taste you and Jasmine. Then farther away, I can pick up hints of Lara and Audrey.”
“So … then there is a wounded animal out here.” Kandy pivoted slowly, surveying the clearing. “Maybe I just lost track of it?”
“Maybe. But whether or not I can taste the illusionist’s magic, it seems odd. A hurt wolf at the edge of the road just as we’re driving past? And … you three. Your … reactions. Do you normally split up when hunting?”
“Tracking,” Kandy snapped. Then, recognizing her tone as being a little on edge again, she shook her head and scrubbed her hand across her face. “No … that’s not normal for wolves.”
“Pack hunters,” Jasmine murmured.
“We just covered that, baby girl.” Kandy shoved her hands in her pockets. Again. “Sorry. I let Audrey’s stress and Lara’s instincts influence me. Let’s head back.”
I nodded, turning to follow the trail we’d carved through the snow back toward the SUV.
Jasmine’s phone buzzed. She freed it from her pocket, reading the message on the brightly lit screen and completely destroying her night vision. Well, destroying my night vision. I had no idea if a vampire’s eyes worked the same way.
“Kett,” she murmured. “Wondering why we stopped.”
I laughed. “You think he’s tracking the SUV?”
“They weren’t that far ahead of us,” Kandy said. “Tell old toothy we’re fine —”
A terrible, pained howl came from somewhere to our far left, back toward the parked SUV, but possibly farther out. The cry cut off sharply.
Kandy took off through
the deep snow. I lost sight of her as soon as she darted through the fir trees.
Running basically blind, I grabbed Jasmine by the back of her coat and started hauling ass toward where I could taste werewolf magic converging. All of the werewolves. Though whether that was three or four, I couldn’t tell.
“My phone!” Jasmine cried, tearing herself from my grasp and ripping her coat in the process. Apparently, she’d dropped her cell.
I let her go, still chasing after Kandy and hoping I didn’t catch my foot on any fallen branches or rocks hidden underneath the snow.
A terrible, lingering whine of pain cut through the chilled air. Sensing Kandy adjust her course somewhere ahead of me, I did the same.
Low branches scored my face and tangled in my icy hair. I twisted my ankle, stumbling and slamming my shoulder into a massive tree. My unintentional assault of the evergreen released an avalanche of snow onto my head and neck, which immediately began to melt as it dripped down my back.
Delightful.
But despite the combined forces of nature and winter attempting to keep me at bay, I continued to chase after Kandy until the thick tree line opened up before me.
And then, suddenly, there was nothing underneath my feet.
Just a vast, dark space.
I would have sworn to God that I hung suspended in the air for a moment. A final breath.
Then I fell.
Straight down into a swirling vortex of darkness and snow.
Something caught me, yanking me backward. I slammed against what felt like a sheer rock wall with a pained snarl, smacking the back of my head against craggy granite. Pinpoints of light exploded in front of my eyes. Apparently, I had inadvertently found the cliff face.
“Some help, dowser.” Jasmine spoke from somewhere above me, sounding strained.
I reached up over my head, blindly seeking, then finally finding the golden-haired vampire’s arm. She was holding me with one hand.
Jesus.
I scuffed my heels against the rock behind me, looking for and finding footholds. Taking some of my weight, I managed to twist around and find a handhold, still gripping Jasmine’s arm with my other hand.
Then the fledgling vampire hauled me back over the edge of the cliff, dropping me face-first into the snow and collapsing on her ass beside me.
“You’re heavier than you look,” she said.
I heaved myself up to kneeling. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
She plucked at the sleeve of her jacket. It was shredded. “You ruined my jacket.”
“You should see the shoulder.” I pushed my frozen curls out of my face.
Jasmine stretched her arm out to the side, as if testing it for injury.
“Thanks for the rescue,” I said, gaining my feet and holding my hand out to her.
She hesitated, then grasped my hand and allowed me to haul her to her feet. As she disengaged, she glanced down at her also-ruined pants. The knees were shredded. “I thought I might go off the cliff with you.”
“Yet you didn’t hesitate.”
She met my gaze. “No. Kett would have been displeased.”
I grinned at her. If she wanted to justify her actions — aka rescuing me from grievous injury and possibly death — by using Kett as an excuse, I wasn’t going to argue.
She laughed quietly. “You probably would have survived the fall.”
“Probably. But it would have seriously hurt.”
A pained whine filtered through the trees. It was coming from the same direction, somewhere to our left, but the sound was weaker. Fading away even as I strained to pinpoint its location.
Snow continued to fall from the dark sky, but nothing else moved. Jasmine stopped breathing — which, of course, she didn’t actually need to do except to speak.
Then a single shout cut through the frozen night.
Kandy.
Jasmine met my gaze questioningly. With a nod, I allowed her — and her ability to actually see in the dark — to take the lead. Together, we carefully stepped along the edge of the cliff.
Twenty steps brought us to Kandy. Thankfully, she had seen the edge of the rock outcropping. She was pacing, her magic once again blazing in her eyes.
“Dowser,” she shouted when she spotted me. Then she pointed over the edge of the cliff.
I crouched where she’d indicated, peering over the edge. “I don’t see anything.”
“Right there,” Kandy snarled. “The wolf went over.”
I glanced up at my best friend, concerned. “A wolf … just ran over the edge of a cliff?”
“What would a hurt wolf be doing running around at night anyway?” Jasmine peered over my shoulder. “Shouldn’t it be holed up in a den somewhere? You know, healing?”
Kandy got up in the golden-haired vampire’s face. “What do you know about it!?”
“Whoa, whoa, ladies.” I stood up slowly. “Let’s take a step back. I already fell off this cliff once tonight. We’ll sort this out —”
A dark-gray wolf appeared out of the stand of trees behind Jasmine and Kandy. Then another lighter-gray wolf appeared in the opposite direction.
Audrey. And Lara.
The beta prowled forward. Her green eyes were pinned to me, and her lip lifted in a silent snarl. I became uncomfortably aware of the sheer drop at my back. But taking another step forward seemed like a really bad idea. Lara pressed against Audrey’s shoulder, then stalked forward alongside her beta, keeping her blazing green gaze on Kandy.
Jasmine stilled. Smart vampire.
“Did you find a way down?” Kandy asked, stepping forward and drawing the dark-gray wolf’s attention.
The beta werewolf regarded her briefly before pinning me with her gaze again and answering with a low, vicious snarl. Delightful. Apparently, Audrey had decided I was the bad guy. Why, I didn’t know. I mean, other than the fact that the magic of the instruments of assassination probably smelled like … well, murder. And would have seemed so even more acutely to her wolf form.
Ignoring her beta’s pissy behavior, Kandy hunkered down beside me, turning to face forward as if she were preparing to scale the cliff. In the dark. After a snowstorm.
“Kandy!”
“You don’t understand, Jade,” she snarled.
“Listen, I do. But neither Jasmine or I can see what you see —”
Kandy slipped.
I crouched, grabbing her arm in the same motion.
Then I felt the curl of magic. Elf magic.
As I tasted it again, I understood how I might have missed it previously. It was practically indistinguishable from the scents of the forest surrounding us, even in the snow.
“Let me go, dowser,” Kandy snarled.
Audrey was suddenly breathing down the back of my neck. She emanated a low, snuffling snarl that promised much flashing of fangs and rending of flesh.
Lara whined, sharp and conflicted.
“Jade?” Jasmine whispered questioningly.
“Stay calm,” I said, addressing all four of them at once. “Smell the magic.”
Audrey huffed, her breath hot against my exposed skin. Even in her wolf form, she clearly thought I was an idiot.
“Smell. The. Magic,” I repeated. Then, shoving Audrey away with my shoulder, I hauled Kandy back up and over the cliff.
The beta stumbled, then immediately lunged for me. Kandy crouched between us, her head lowered and neck exposed.
Audrey hesitated.
Going against my instincts — I would have seriously loved to kick Audrey’s ass — I kept my gaze on Kandy, rather than meeting the beta’s eyes.
The dark-gray wolf huffed again, shaking her head but taking a step back. Lara pressed against her shoulder.
Then the five of us clustered together, breathing in the silence deeply. Waiting. Ready. I reached out with my dowser senses, through all the magic I knew well, seeking power that tasted of evergreen forest after it had rained …
The hurt wolf whined again. Closer
this time.
Kandy stiffened, preparing to spring into action.
“Wait,” I whispered. I caught the tenor of the magic I’d felt earlier, though I still couldn’t taste anything. “Over there. In the trees.”
“The wolf?” Jasmine whispered.
“No.” I sprang up, inadvertently knocking Audrey and Lara away from each other as I twisted, calling forth and throwing my knife. The jade blade spun through the air, slicing across the magic I’d felt.
Elf magic.
Power shimmered in the air, then dissipated as if I’d cut through another of the elf’s illusions. The immediate area didn’t change in any other way, though. My blade embedded itself in a fir tree.
I stalked forward in the snow with Audrey at my heels, looking for other tracks or any other lingering magic. We found nothing.
Kandy peered over the edge of the cliff. “The wolf is gone.”
I retrieved my knife.
Audrey began sniffing all around the base of the tree, then outwardly in larger and larger circles. But I couldn’t see or taste anything unusual. No evidence that anyone but us was hanging out on the edge of a cliff in the aftermath of a snowstorm.
I looked back at Kandy, shaking my head.
She nodded grimly. “Someone is playing with us.”
“Yep. And either she planted the magic on you three sometime today, or she somehow timed the illusion to trigger at exactly the right point as we drove by. And in either case, her illusions are obviously mobile, at least to some degree. Set and go. Because I can’t sense her anywhere nearby.”
“Neat trick,” Jasmine said.
Kandy curled her lip. “And smart. Not sticking around and getting between three werewolves and a potentially hurt packmate. Two enforcers and a beta. We’d have made mincemeat out of her without thinking twice about it.”
“Question is … how did she know a hurt werewolf would get your attention?” I gestured around the immediate area. “How did she know she’d elicit this reaction? You know, what with her being from another dimension and all.”
Kandy looked uneasy, briefly meeting Audrey’s intense gaze then quickly looking away. “She’s been watching us.”
Misfits, Gemstones, and Other Shattered Magic Page 6
