He let the scorn hang in the air and waited.
“And what the hell would you know, Detective?” Mud retorted, his tone twisting the last word into an insult. “Six months ago, you thought the damn queen of Merlin was some teenage delinquent you could arrest, for pity’s sake. And now you want to pretend you know more than me about what’s going on?” He scoffed. “Please. Did you know Jamison used to be married to a Merlin? Until he killed her, that is. Or that they brought in some crazy old lady and stashed her in Jamison’s office the other day, but nobody dares ask why? No. You didn’t. ‘Cause I know things about this place that’d make your skin crawl off. And as for the setup Brogan made… they’ve got all the proof you need stored up at that mansion of theirs. Jamison stayed in that house for eight years. You don’t do that and not leave a trace.”
Harris couldn’t stop the internal cop from kicking in. “Jamison killed his wife?”
Mud shrugged enigmatically. “That’s what they say.”
“When?”
“Back before the war.”
“How do you know?”
The little man snorted. “Oh, they don’t pay attention to the likes of us, remember?” The amusement in his beady eyes took on a patronizing cast. “Obviously, I just listen better than you.”
Harris ignored him. His earlier words aside, truth was no one could miss Mud. He lived at the heart of a putrid fug of month-old produce and dirt. In all likelihood, the lump had bribed wizards for information, or else gotten into places he shouldn’t and lived to tell the tale.
“And the old woman? Who–”
He cut off as his phone buzzed. Pulling it halfway from his pocket, he glanced to the number and then drew it swiftly out.
“Excuse me,” he said to Mud as he rose.
The man was too busy tearing into his third sandwich to respond.
Walking to the windows several yards away, Harris thumbed on the phone. “Hey, Scott. You find anything?”
“Nothing on a Charles Brentworth,” Malden answered. “I have a Lucas Brentworth that turned up at Croftsburg Memorial Hospital about a month ago. Unconscious, heavily injured, possibly the victim of a hit-and-run. Records show he skipped out after receiving treatment, though, so there’s not much to go on. But that’s not why I called.”
“What’s up?”
“Had a question. You heard anything about a missing old woman?”
Harris froze. “I’m sorry?” he managed.
“Just got word of a missing person’s report from Montana that I thought might interest you. Remember that farm where the girl lived? Well, the power company headed up that way about three days ago on a report of some outages. Turns out the stretch right by the girl’s house looked like someone went through with a wrecking ball. Poles down, wires everywhere, ground torn to pieces. Neighbor’s house was a mess too. State records have an old woman living there, but no one can find her. Locals say some fairly strong windstorms came through the area right around that time, and the police are worried she might’ve run off when her roof collapsed. Search and rescue hasn’t turned up anything yet, though. But it got me thinking. No one knows for certain when the old lady disappeared. So what if she didn’t run off in the storm? What if that’s just the reason anyone noticed she was gone, and she disappeared a long time ago? After all, God knows what she might’ve seen, living so close to the girl. So I wondered if maybe you’d come across anything that meant I should point the Montana cops that way?”
Harris didn’t answer, his gaze skimming the concrete park below the windows. The old woman had been deranged. She’d talked about flowers and Elvis and panicked when he told her Ashley killed her family.
And yet the Blood had torn the countryside apart just to bring her back with them.
“John?”
He blinked. “Not really.”
“Ah.”
“So the house was a mess?” he pressed on, trying to pull his thoughts back to the present.
“Yeah. Though from the conditions inside, that could’ve just been normal decay.”
“Huh.”
“You sure you don’t know anything about this?”
Harris glanced to the table. “Not yet,” he replied, and then paused. “Thanks, Scott.”
He hung up. Returning the phone to his pocket, he walked back to the table and sat down.
“So,” he said to Mud. “About this old lady you claim they have upstairs…”
*****
“So Bus has everything ready?” Ashe asked as the SUV pulled to a stop.
Spider nodded. “Much as can be, according to what he told me on the phone a few minutes ago. Jericho and Magnolia will meet you in San Antonio, and he’s talked Blackjack into helping with some IDs. That part’ll take a day or two, but Bus has a setup for you away from the others in the meantime.”
“These IDs,” Cole asked dryly as he pushed open the passenger door. “They’re going to be better than Blackjack’s cars, right?”
Spider gave him a flat look and then shut off the engine. “Yeah.”
Ashe said nothing as she climbed out. Two days of driving, and she still didn’t know what to do about Cole. Lily wouldn’t want to leave him behind, though whether Cole would even want to come with them was its own question. But in either case, she wasn’t certain how she felt. On the one hand, he’d tried to have her killed and for that alone, she’d love to find the nearest ditch and throw him in it. On the other, he could see the Blood wizards and had as much reason for keeping her sister safe from them as she did.
The same factors that made him an asset were tangled up with the ones that made him a liability, and no matter how she turned it around, she couldn’t find a solution for that problem.
Taking Lily’s hand, she scanned the street as she trailed Spider, leaving Cole to fall in behind. A trio of homeless men sat by an abandoned flower shop a block away, though none of them looked up from the sidewalk. Tired vehicles sagged into the parking spaces along the otherwise empty road, while a half mile off, a few cars rolled past the dim stoplights.
The chains hidden in the kudzu clunked as Spider pulled the lock around, and the rusted hinges creaked a moment later when she tugged the gate aside. Twilight surrounded them as they slipped into the tunnel and continued on, till the thin sunshine pushing past the vines faded, leaving only the intermittent glow of utility lights.
“Bus is going to meet us at the subway platform,” Spider said quietly. “Some of the others aren’t exactly thrilled you’re back, so he thought an escort might be best.”
Ashe’s mouth tightened.
“On the bright side,” Spider continued. “He did say Magnolia and the kids are really excited to meet Lily, so–”
She saw Spider’s expression change, and then the attack was there.
A wave of air smashed into her, propelling her into the wall. Blackness surged across her vision, bringing pain on its heels and revealing the tunnel in a blur of concrete and graffiti and people charging by.
She struggled up blindly from the ground.
Something struck her head.
Concrete met her and wet heat spread across her face. Gunfire rang through the rushing in her ears, and then gave way to the sound of Lily screaming her name.
The screams went silent. The gunfire cut off. She gasped, choking on rocks and dust, and fumbled up from the ground to see a mob of wizards retreating toward the tunnel’s end.
One of them had Lily slung limply over his shoulder.
Magic left her, rushing at them in a wave of fire. Wizards fell, howling.
The one with Lily never looked back.
She lunged to her feet and took off, reaching for his magic as she ran. The man behind him stumbled, his power rushing into her, and without hesitation, she flung it at the wizard with Lily.
Another man staggered between them, taking the blow.
A cry escaped her as electricity scattered across her defenses and blasts of nothingness sent her stumbling. Fire mowed down her
attackers and cleared her path, but the tunnel entrance was light-years away and the man with Lily had already reached it.
The gate burst open ahead of him, letting in blinding sunlight.
Frantic, she raced from the tunnel and onto the street.
There were wizards everywhere.
Magic hit her defenses, driving her back past the gate, and chunks of ballistic concrete sliced the air in front of her as blasts of energy pounded the entrance walls.
Shouts rose. The attacks diverted from the tunnel.
Shoving from the cover of the wall, she bolted into the open, her eyes sweeping the buildings and the road as magic rained down on the wizards around her.
The man with Lily had reached an abandoned storefront a block away.
She ran.
Endless blackness swirled in the doorframe ahead of him. One hand gripping the little girl, he glanced back at the street.
Melted skin met her gaze. Through the chaos, he spotted her, and a cold smile pulled at his scarred face.
He stepped into the portal and she screamed. Wizards fell around her as they tried to attack. She barely noticed them disappearing. The portal began to swirl into nothing, and she flung herself at it, racing the fading darkness.
Wood slammed into her, throwing her to the street as the magic vanished. Gasping, she rushed back, pounding her fist at the surface and then fumbling madly at the doorframe, seeking any trace of the portal that remained.
There was nothing. With a choked shriek, she stumbled back.
“Ashe?”
She spun toward the sidewalk, fire rushing up her arms.
Coming to a stop a few yards away, Cornelius stared.
“Your majesty?” he tried.
She choked again, looking between him and the impossible wizards running toward her.
“Is she–” Elias called, cutting off as he came closer. “Holy…”
Jogging up behind him, Katherine’s eyebrows rose at the sight of her, while across the street, Nathaniel swiftly dispatched a pair of wizards and then continued after the councilwoman. Dozens of other Merlin were scattered through the area, fending off the Taliesin and driving them from the neighborhood.
Staring at them all, she fought to breathe around the words lodged in her throat. “You… you’re here… how are you here…”
“We were following the Taliesin,” Cornelius said.
She barely heard the words. “T-they have her. They have…” She turned back to the doorframe. “Can you track it? Can you–”
Running out of air, she looked between Cornelius and the door. Stepping around her, he placed a hand on the splintered wood.
His expression told her everything. She felt herself start to shake.
“Your highness,” Katherine began, coming up beside her. “You need to–”
She pushed the woman’s hand away, her gaze darting around frantically. “There has to be something. They can’t–”
Her eyes caught on Cole emerging from the tunnel, his attention on the dead bodies lying on the street.
“Cole!” she shouted.
Shoving past the others, she took off. He turned sharply and then froze, his brow furrowing at the wizards coming behind her.
“They have Lily,” Ashe gasped. “He – where is he? Where would he take her?”
Cole refocused on her with alarm.
“Please!”
For a heartbeat, he stared at her. “Chaunessy,” he said as though the word was pulled from him. “They’re at Chaunessy Tower in Croftsburg.”
A breath escaped her. “Okay. We need to–”
Her gaze snapped over as Spider stepped from the tunnel entrance, guns in hand.
“Don’t!” Ashe yelled as the weapons swung toward them.
The girl froze, murder in her eyes as she scanned the wizards. Guns still raised, she headed back inside.
Blinking, Ashe looked between the tunnel and the storefront door, guilt trying to war with the panic steadily overriding everything. “W-we have to go now… we can’t…”
“We need a plan, your highness,” Elias said carefully. “We rush in there, we’ll be killed.”
She shook her head, not wanting to hear the words. “There’s no time. We–”
“Ashe,” Cole interrupted.
Her frenetic gaze went to him.
“Let me help.”
She stared, uncomprehending.
“I can go there. I can talk to him–”
A laugh escaped her, the sound nearly hysterical. “You think he’ll listen?”
She spun, racing for the nearest door.
“Ashe!” he yelled, running after her. “Dammit, wait!”
He snagged her arm, pulling her around and then letting go before her hands caught fire. “Just… wait. I’ll get you inside, okay? Past the barriers and the guards. Just slow down.”
“How?” Cornelius demanded, striding up behind them.
Cole glanced toward him uncomfortably.
“Okay,” she agreed breathlessly. “Fine. Do it.”
“We need a car first,” Cole said, his voice taking on an edge of measured calm.
Panic surged at the miles growing between her and Lily with every second.
“Your highness,” Cornelius argued, “let us contact the guard. They can go to Chaunessy and find a way past the defenses themselves.”
The words were eating time and she ignored them, her eyes sweeping the street. Cars lay wrecked and smoking by the sidewalks, and a few were smashed into the abandoned buildings.
Her gaze twitched to the subway. She started running.
Dead wizards filled the tunnel and the walls were blackened above most of them. Ignoring it all, she pounded over the concrete, barely slowing to scan the platform as she passed.
Gunshots echoed down the tunnel.
Magic rising around her, she fought to run faster.
Light poured from the maintenance room, burning her eyes as she darted around the boulder blocking the doorway.
Shale and several others lay dead in the middle of the floor. By the side walls, a pair of men were slumped, the bullet wounds through their heads leaving wide splatters of blood on the controls nearby. Across the room, Spider was crouched by the others, and as Ashe skidded to a stop, the girl yanked the gag from Bus’ mouth.
“Damn you’re good, girl,” he told her as she undid the ropes on his hands.
Spider didn’t respond as she moved on to Samson. “How many more?” she asked, tugging his gag away.
Samson’s eyes went to Ashe and the wizards behind her.
“Dammit, Sam!” the girl snapped. “How many?”
“Not sure,” Bus supplied. “Couple dozen originally. Bastards swooped in not ten minutes ago, locked up a few of us for information and used the rest for, uh…”
The old man glanced to the bodies in the center of the room.
“Target practice,” Samson finished with a growl. Rubbing his wrists, he rose to his feet, his gaze returning to Ashe. “And you’re at the heart of it again.”
“Shut up,” Spider told him. “She didn’t do this.”
“I need your help,” Ashe said.
Samson’s face darkened. “Go to–”
“Son,” Bus interrupted. “I’m fairly certain your lady just told you to shut it.”
Bracing himself on the ladder, the old man climbed to his feet.
“Alright, your majesty,” he said, icy resolve in his blue eyes. “What can we do for you?”
Chapter Twenty-One
The little girl slumped in the wood-framed chair, the black waves of her hair obscuring both her face and the red welt left on her neck by the tranquilizer. From the opposite side of the desk, the king regarded her, fingers folded in front of him and nothing in his face to give hint to the thoughts passing behind his eyes.
But it didn’t matter. Brogan could guess. With a few rather notable exceptions, they were presumably similar to his own.
Overall, the operation had
gone exceptionally well. At first blush, Mud’s joy at spotting one of the so-called Hunters near where the Children had disappeared seemed insignificant. But when he’d added the queen’s apparent penchant for trusting street cripples over her own kind, matters had entirely changed. Subduing the refuse had taken a matter of moments, and for her to return to the area only minutes later had been fortuitous indeed. In the end, he couldn’t help but be pleased with the result.
The look on Ashley’s face when he took her sister hadn’t hurt either.
A corner of his lip gave a minute twitch and the king looked up at the motion.
“The queen,” Brogan explained.
Jamison’s brow shrugged. “She will be coming for the girl,” he reminded him.
The nascent smile broadened infinitesimally and brief humor touched the king’s expression in response.
A clatter rose behind the conference room door, followed by indignant protests and the sound of a chair being dragged back upright. A squawk came on the heels of the noise and a moment later, a wizard slipped around the door. Struggling to conceal the harried look in his eyes, he grimaced in apology and then strode from the room, muttering something about bandages and crazy old women who refused to be healed as he went.
Jamison’s gaze tracked the wizard and then returned to the conference room. “Is there any indication they are related?”
Brogan didn’t need explanation. “None.” He paused. “Though obviously, the woman has been less than forthcoming.”
The king looked back at the girl, the fingers of one hand drumming lightly on the other.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in,” Jamison called.
The door swung open at Isabella’s touch. Stone-faced, she crossed to the desk and then stepped to the side to afford the king full view of the woman trailing her heels.
With her daughter partially hidden behind her, Tanya shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of the three Blood wizards, a hint of defensive pride twisting through her expression. Her gaze skimmed the office, and then alarm suffused her face as she caught sight of the little girl in the chair.
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