by Linsey Hall
It was the main reason I was afraid that the FireSouls couldn’t help. Their gift didn’t work if strong enough charms were protecting the location of what they sought. Some charms—like the ones my sisters and I had worn for years—could hide you from anything.
My skin chilled, but I shoved away the fear. No time for that.
“When the potions are done, we’ll try them,” Jude said. “In the meantime, we need to hunt down answers. And fast, because I don’t think our friends have a lot of time.”
I swallowed hard, knowing she was right. And having no idea where to start.
3
The meeting lasted another twenty minutes, during which Jude gave assignments. We were stumbling around like people in the dark, our friends taken right out from under our noses with almost no clues left behind.
Once the meeting was over, I trudged toward my tower apartment, wet clothes sticking to me. By the time I reached the main floor of my place, shivers raced across my body. The three cats sat on the sofa, still grooming themselves like their lives depended on it.
“Hey, guys,” I said, tugging off my shirt and climbing the stairs to my bedroom.
I debated taking a few moments for a shower, but I wanted to get started right away. My job was to visit a seer in The Vaults, and I wanted to do it ASAP. Rowan was headed to a different seer, this one in Cambridge, while Cade, Bree’s boyfriend, would track one of the teams that had gone missing in Edinburgh. We had a lot of allies there. Surely someone had seen something. Lachlan was headed back to France to quickly check on the potions that he’d started making yesterday to refill his coffers.
In my room, I shucked my clothes and dug into my dresser, searching for clean jeans and a sweater that would keep me warm in The Vaults. It was midwinter now, and the cold had settled in.
As I was tugging the shirt over my head, my gaze caught on the cell phone that was plugged into the wall. I hadn’t brought it to the Narrows—it almost never rang, anyway.
But now, the green notifications light flashed.
I blinked and muttered, “Who the heck is calling me?”
A quick glance revealed that it was Uncle Joe, the only one besides Bree and Rowan who I considered family. He wasn’t a blood relative, but the old man had helped us a lot during our first years in Death Valley. In fact, our job driving the buggy across Death Valley had been inspired by him.
He’d done it for years before us, and it’d looked like a pretty good life to three hungry teenagers who were sick of being pinched on the butt by the old timers in the only saloon in town. Driving across the deadly valley had been a hundred times better than waitressing in that dump.
I frowned. Uncle Joe never called. He didn’t even own a phone. We got the occasional letter, but he would have had to borrow a phone to call.
I picked up the phone and clicked through to messages, then raised the device to my ear. Uncle Joe’s rumbly voice echoed into my ear. “Hey, honey, I got something weird here. Some friends of yours. Protectorate people. In trouble. I think you ought to come.”
Holy fates.
My heart thundered in my chest as I stared at the phone.
I couldn’t call Uncle Joe back—it wasn’t likely he was even near the phone he’d borrowed. And we needed to get out there ASAP.
I spun, clutching the phone tight. Quickly, I changed into a thinner shirt that was better for the desert, then grabbed a leather jacket on my way out of the room.
“I’ll see you later,” I said to the cats. “But be ready. Might need your help.”
The three of them meowed but didn’t bother looking up from their aggressive grooming ritual.
I raced down the stairs, headed for the Round Room. Hopefully Jude was still there.
She was just leaving as I arrived, her face drawn with worry. Her brows rose as she spotted me. “What’s wrong?”
I held up the phone. “Just got a message. Some Protectorate members are in Death Valley. They need help.”
“Death Valley?” Her brow creased. “Ah, Ali and Haris. It must be them.”
My heart plummeted at the thought of my friends in trouble. “There was a job in Death Valley?”
I would have been the obvious one for that. Well, maybe not me since I wasn’t out of training. But Bree, at the very least.
“No, in Las Vegas, two hundred miles away. But when we answered the distress call, we weren’t sure where the problem was exactly. They were tracking it. Have been tracking it, actually, for three days.”
“Oh fates. So if they’re in trouble with the people planning the abductions, that means this started a while ago.”
“Yes. Teams have been going out in record numbers over the last few days. I thought it odd, but allowed it. If we’d all been called out on the same day, I might have found it strange enough to cancel the jobs.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” If there were even a chance people needed our help, Jude would answer. We all would have. Even if it was dangerous. It was our job, after all. Our passion.
“You’re right.” She nodded. “But I think you need to go out there. See what your uncle Joe has to say. I’ll get someone else to visit the seer.”
I nodded. “All right. I’ll report back. Do we have a transportation charm? Death Valley is far from the nearest portal.” That one was actually in Magic’s Bend, which was hundreds of miles away.
“In the armory. But there is a chance Lachlan will be done with his potions soon, right? He was just checking them, right? Get him to take you and save the charm. They’re too valuable to waste.”
I nodded, clicking open Lachlan’s number on the phone. We rarely called each other—I wasn’t even sure he’d have his phone on him. But he probably would. This was an emergency situation, after all. The emergency.
“Good luck.” Jude didn’t wait for a response, just strode down the hall.
I pressed the button to call Lachlan, and he picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” I said. “I need a ride.”
“Be right there.”
“I’ll meet you in the courtyard.” I hung up and strode toward the castle exit, then stepped out into the cold winter air.
By the time I’d cut across the courtyard, Lachlan appeared.
“How are the potions?” I asked.
“Good. Should be done in twenty-two hours. Where are we headed?”
“Death Valley Junction.”
“Your home?”
“Not anymore.” I hiked a thumb back toward the castle. “This is my home, now. Or Otherworld. Death Valley Junction is just where we made a living for a while.”
I’d always have a soft place in my heart for Death Valley Junction. It was where my sisters and I had grown into the fighters we were. Where we’d learned how to survive.
But I didn’t like the place itself.
Lachlan raised a hand, his magic filling the air. The scent of leather and pine, along with the taste of caramel. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
When the portal appeared, I stepped through, letting the ether suck me in. It spun me through space, stealing my breath, then spat me out in the middle of the Old West town that I’d once called home.
The sun was still high in the sky here, blazing down. Despite it being winter, it was still pretty warm. Especially compared to Scotland. Lachlan stepped out of the portal next to me, staring at the little town spread out before us.
I tried to see it through his eyes. One long, dirt street bordered on both sides by old wooden buildings and a boardwalk. Like something out of a John Wayne movie. At the far end of town, a perpendicular street cut across. The only two roads in town were shaped like a T, and that was it. Outlaws lived here, so it’d been perfect for us as kids.
Now, though? I wasn’t impressed any longer. “It’s not much, is it?”
“Aye, it’s a bit small. But it’s got charm.”
My lips twisted in a wry grin. “That’s kind of you to say.” I started forward. “Come on. We’ll find Un
cle Joe.”
He lived at the end of town, near where our old place had been. Our house was now a bombed-out shell, though, victim to an attack by a mobster right before we’d joined the Undercover Protectorate. I’d come a long way since then. In life. In magic.
Since we had to pass the Death’s Door Saloon before reaching that part of town, I turned toward the swinging doors. “We’ll check this out first. Uncle Joe likes to hang out here.”
“It’s… authentic looking.”
I eyed it and nodded. “Yep. Old as dirt. With all the charm to match.”
Lachlan chuckled and pushed open the swinging doors, then stepped inside.
I followed him into the dimly lit interior that smelled of cigar smoke and spilled booze. Memories of waitressing here flashed through my mind. The day I’d quit, my sisters and I had run our first mission across Death Valley to rescue Uncle Joe. It’d been a formative day.
I squinted into the dim light, scanning the interior. The pool tables looked as ratty as ever, and most of the bar tables had been mended so many times that they’d become pieces of modern art made of scrap wood and old nails.
At the bar sat Uncle Joe, pulled up in his usual chair with a glass of whiskey in his wrinkled hand.
Warmth filled me at the sight of him, and I strode forward, grinning. He looked just the same, with his white hair and lined face.
I opened my mouth to call his name, but some sixth sense made him turn. He smiled wide, showing a few gaps where teeth should have been. “Ana. You got my message.”
His gaze turned serious at that, and my own smile faded.
“I did.” I hugged him tight, then stepped back. Lachlan joined me, towering over Uncle Joe, who remained seated at the bar.
Lachlan held out a hand. “I’m Lachlan Munroe. A friend of Ana’s.”
Uncle Joe sized him up, then gripped his hand and shook. “Friend. Sure.”
I sputtered, but Uncle Joe shot me a look. “Come on, honey. I’m not blind. I see the way he looks at you.”
My cheeks heated, and I wanted to ask, “How does he look at me?” But instead, I said, “What’s this about Protectorate members?”
“They showed up here on a job yesterday. Searching for a missing stone fae. Some kind of kidnapping.”
Just like the ruse that had been used to lure us. “Then what?”
“Got into some huge trouble. Came running into town, looking like hell with most of their weapons and supplies missing. Tried to get a transportation charm. They were running from something.”
“There are no transport charms here.” The idea was laughable. Transport charms were rare and expensive. Things like that didn’t exist in Death Valley Junction. Unless you considered the buggies, but those were different. Vehicles like that were a necessity in a place like this.
“Exactly.” Uncle Joe nodded. “But they were desperate and on the run, so I told them where they could hide out.”
Understanding dawned. “Hider’s Haven.”
Death Valley Junction was the home of outlaws. But if you were really on the run from something, you risked the deadly trip across the valley to the underground city where people went if they wanted to hide for good. It was so dangerous to cross that if you made it to the haven and got inside, you were pretty much guaranteed safety.
Pretty much.
“How’d they get there?” I asked. “Is anyone delivering people these days?”
“There’s a woman over at the end of town who took up where you left off, but she was gone when they arrived. So I gave them one of my buggies and wished them luck.”
I reeled. “Whoa. You gave them a buggy?”
He’d once had a fleet of three—his prized possessions. One had been destroyed in his last trip across the valley, but he’d kept his other two in tip-top condition. They were murderous monster trucks in the extreme, built to fight horrifying monsters on the trip across the valley, but now he drove them around town.
“Like I said, they were desperate.” He shrugged.
Do you know if they made it there safely?” Lachlan asked.
“Couldn’t say. They’ve had time to get there by now. Maybe.”
“We have to go after them,” I said.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Uncle Joe nodded. “You can use my other buggy.”
“The Beast?” I hoped it was the Beast. The thing was a tank, built to withstand almost anything in the valley.
Uncle Joe frowned. “No, I’m sorry. Gave it to your friends. They looked strong, but they’re not used to the valley. They needed all the help they could get. You can have Mini Mouse.”
“Mini Mouse?” Lachlan asked.
“My pride and joy,” Uncle Joe said.
Mini Mouse wasn’t a bad buggy, actually. She was at least as strong as my own buggy, which was back in Scotland. I could have gotten my own vehicle here, if I’d had a transport mage. But Emily, our resident transport mage, had been abducted, along with the rest.
“We’ll take it, thank you,” I said.
“Bring it back in one piece, now,” Uncle Joe said.
“I’ll try.”
He heaved himself off the stool, swigged the last of his whiskey, then slapped the bar. “Come on, then. I’ll get you the keys.”
I followed him out the door, Lachlan at my side. I looked up at Lachlan. “I’m going to call my sisters. You go talk to Uncle Joe.”
He grinned at me. “Why do I feel like I’m meeting your dad?”
“You kind of are.” I shrugged. “Don’t remember the real one, and Uncle Joe is the closest thing I’ve got.”
“I’ll ask to see baby pictures.”
I laughed. “None of those around.”
“Too bad, I bet you were cute.”
“Oh, I was.” I gave him a nudge. “Go.”
He smiled and went to join Uncle Joe. I watched him for half a second, admiring the breadth of his shoulders and the length of his legs. The whole package, really.
Then I pressed my fingertip to my comms charm. “Bree? Rowan?”
“What’s up?” Rowan was panting, clearly on the run from something.
“You okay?” I asked.
“This seer is hard to get to.”
“Almost there?”
“Almost.” The sound of steel clashed.
“Bad news.” Bree’s voice broke in while Rowan took care of whatever was happening on her end—sounded like weapons.
“They could find no trace,” I said, already knowing the answer.
“Bingo,” Bree said. “They’re willing to lend manpower, but right now, their dragon senses aren’t getting anything.”
“Protected, like we thought.” Which made this mission to find the survivors even more important. Ali and Haris might have info about who hunted them. “Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
I told them about Uncle Joe. All the while, the sound of fighting echoed in the background of Rowan’s connection.
“Oh, fates,” Bree breathed. “That’s good. I’m coming to help.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We need all the help we can get.”
“Give me twenty minutes,” Rowan said. “I just made it to the seer’s door. If she knows nothing, I’m coming along.”
I glanced ahead at Uncle Joe and Lachlan. We were nearly to Uncle Joe’s place. “Twenty minutes, no more.”
“On it.” Rowan cut the call.
“Be there soon,” Bree said. “I’ll let Jude know what’s up.”
“Thanks.” I drew my fingers away from the charm and the magic faded, then I hurried to reach Lachlan and Uncle Joe just as they were heading toward the large garage that attached to his little house. Both structures were built of beaten-up old wood, the same dark brown color of the rest of the buildings in Death Valley Junction.
For years, we’d been trying to get Uncle Joe to move somewhere nicer for his retirement, but he insisted that he liked this place.
I’d liked it, too, once. Been right a
t home here.
But now, I saw that the world was bigger. Full of more possibility than I could have ever imagined. I wasn’t about to spend it in this little place.
As Uncle Joe fiddled with the lock, my gaze drifted toward the bombed-out hole where my own house had once sat.
Lachlan looked in the same direction. “Your old place?”
“Yep.”
He grunted, his posture stiff.
“Don’t like it?” I asked.
“Don’t like the idea of you almost getting blown up.”
“Fair.” I didn’t like the idea of him in that situation either.
The lock clicked, and Uncle Joe pushed open the door to the dark garage. Cool air wafted out, and we followed him in. He flipped on the light, and a pale orange glow shined from the single bulb hanging from a chain overhead.
“Welcome!” he boomed.
Mini Mouse sat in the middle of the garage, a hulking machine made of black metal and covered in spikes coated in poison. The vehicle had no top, so it looked almost like a convertible. But meaner and bigger. A huge silver skull decorated the grille at the front, and fighting platforms were built over the front and the back hood. They were encircled by protective railings that were covered in more spikes—pointing outward, only.
“That’s Mini Mouse?” Lachlan asked.
“The one and only.” Uncle Joe grinned. “It’ll get you across the valley, if you aren’t a couple of morons.” He looked at me. “And I know you’re not. Just be careful, all right? There’s been strange magic in the air lately. I think the valley will be trouble.”
“Think?” Lachlan asked.
“Know,” Uncle Joe said. “But I don’t know what challenges will come at you. I think they’ll be worse than normal.”
I looked at Lachlan and explained, “The challenges that protect the desert change all the time. They’re impossible to anticipate.”
Lachlan nodded. “No wonder you’re such a good fighter, then.”
“Lots of practice.” I grinned.
“I’ll make sure Minnie is loaded up with gas,” Uncle Joe said. “You show Lachlan around.”
I saluted, then began to show Lachlan the different features. Besides the fighting platforms at the front and back, there were two bench seats, one behind the other. They were built for fighting more than comfort, and it was possible to stand on them and fight. Mini Mouse wasn’t that different from our own buggy—we’d based ours on Uncle Joe’s designs, after all. Most people who lived in Death Valley owned a buggy like these, but Joe’s were the fiercest. Ours, too.
