What that meant I had no idea.
I jotted down a few equations to try and account for it.
By the time the first snowflakes started to fall, we hadn’t seen another car for an hour, and I really needed to get my hands on a calculator. Francesca was still checking the mirrors after each and every flash, but I didn’t really see the point. People were taking the weather advisories seriously. Our biggest enemy tonight was going to be the icy road.
Agent Tools let out a sigh.
“Francesca, would you put that damn stone away? It’s worth shit in a storm.”
Francesca turned and stared at him.
Some unheard conversation danced between them.
Francesca smirked.
“Two thousand,” she whispered.
Beside me, Dante quivered. Someone had taken a red-hot brand to Francesca’s vocal cords. Her voice could only manage one pitch, and it issued out of her like the hard grit of sandpaper. Rei leaned forward. She examined Francesca with new interest.
“Here?” Jasper asked aloud. “Now?”
Francesca nodded.
Jasper considered it. “Fine. Two thousand. But if I win, I’m tossing it out the window.”
Placing the romstone back on the dash, Francesca returned her attention to her daggers. I watched as she crafted strange symbols into the sides of the blades. They looked vaguely like claws, but I had no idea what they meant. Jules turned to Dante. She’d been a bundle of nervous energy ever since we’d left Salinas in the dust.
“So what be the plan?”
“We wait,” Dante replied. Heavy bags burdened his eyes. He looked even worse than this morning.
“And why must we?” Rei’s hands rested in her oversized hoodie’s pocket. I had no doubt what she was thumbing.
The three of us gave her the visual veto. There would be no stabbing DEA agents in the neck with box-cutters.
“But this is so dull.” Rei crossed her arms and glared at me. “And I am still not believing that you have lost all the snacks.”
“Again with that?” I asked. “Who cares about a stupid cooler? I lost my thermos. Some dirty-fingered bastard is probably filling it full of Mountain Dew right now.”
“Sloth ricochets, Dieter. You were the fool that lost us our most dear possessions.”
“The cooler was freakin’ heavy. Why the hell would I carry it all the way up the stairs?”
“Because it was a gift, and because I was trusting you to do so.” Rei jammed on her sunglasses and stared out into the empty expanses of Eastern Utah.
I scowled. Rei’s foul mood was leaking across the weft. At least I was getting the hang of recognizing the phenomenon. I bit my lip before I ended up shouting something back at her.
Francesca flipped through the static on the radio. A lone AM station was all she could get. An angry man was railing against something-or-other. You could just picture his fat jowls slapping his throat as he spoke:
“Why should our taxes be paying these scumbags? We don’t need ten layers of bureaucrats telling us what to teach. That’s how we got into this mess in the first place, listening to these world order drones. Open a freaking book. Read the freaking book. That’s what education is all about. We don’t need computers in our classrooms. We don’t need Madam President packing our children’s lunches. Lesson plans don’t need people’s committees. We don’t need help doing our jobs—and we don’t need help raising our kids. These Washington scumbags: they hang out in their fancy dinner clubs. They eat steak and lobster on our dime. And now they want to adopt international educational standards? What about American educational standards, remember those? My friends. My dear, dear friends. If we don’t kill the Department of Education, they’re going to drain every last drop of blood from our throats.”
I blinked.
Wait a minute…
“Drusilla?” Jules started.
A bad thought was brewing in her skull.
Heck, the same bad thought was brewing in mine.
“What is it, Druid? If you are wishing to speak, it is best to actually do so.”
“Was there anythin’ else in that cooler?”
Rei tucked her hair into her cap and impregnated a pause.
“Of course not.”
Stars above, she was an atrocious liar.
“Awen’s ghost, how much did ya lose?”
“How much are you thinking? My backpack lacks a freezer section, Druid.”
I looked left and right. “Just to be clear on this, we’re not talking about handles of vodka, right?”
Dante looked ill again.
“We most certainly are not,” Jules replied.
“I am perfectly fine,” Rei insisted.
I frowned. I didn’t know much about Nostophoros metabolism but…
“Didn’t, like, all your skin burn off last night?”
She turned back to her window watching.
“That was nothing.”
Her stomach let out a borborygmic moan.
The three of us slid to the right.
Refusing to look back at us, Rei let out a huff. “I most appreciate this voting of confidence. It is good to know in which trajectory your assholes face.”
Agent Tools peeled his bloodshot eyes from the road.
“What are you four going on about back there?”
I wasn’t going to pass up on the chance.
“We’re talking about stopping for food in Green River.”
“Yea,” Dante agreed. “It’s about to turn into the Donner Party back here.”
Rei may or may not have growled.
“You have your MREs,” Jasper replied. “There’s a jug of H2O in the back.”
I examined the packet of green sludge that claimed to be food for our soldiers. It smelled like a mixture of pickles and beer. If I were a grunt, I’d throw it at my enemies. The need to escape aside, things were getting desperate back here. Jasper had kept us on absolute lockdown since leaving St. Louis. We weren’t even allowed out for coffee. Jules had managed to earn a pee break in Kansas, but her cop-a-squat in an open field was the furthest any of us had gotten away from them.
“Please, sir?” I pleaded.
Jasper shook his head no. “When we get into Green River, we’re stopping for gas and gas only. Everyone is to stay in the vehicle. I don’t want you to be spreading your scent around for the Weres.”
Rei chuckled.
I failed to see what was so funny.
“But I have ta wee again,” Jules whined.
“Jesus H. Christ. You’re like an Irish spring.”
A sign for Jim’s Diner announced that we were only thirty miles away from Green River. Despite the haze of the falling snow, I could make out some of the first houses in the distance. If we blew this chance, Jasper wouldn’t have to stop again until we reached Salt Lake. We’d have to overcome them in the car—which simply wasn’t going to happen. We could barely move as it was.
The romstone flickered.
“Not again,” Jasper grumbled.
I squinted. “Funny. No lightning that time.”
Rei perked up next to me. She slid her hand between our legs.
I perked up.
She undid her seatbelt.
I perked down.
The romstone went full crimson.
My shoulders slacked. Figured.
“I win,” Francesca rasped. She already had her Glock out of its holster.
Jules shrank away at the sight of the meaty firearm.
Francesca exchanged clips, jamming in one labeled S&S.
“What’s S&S?” I whispered.
“Silver and Splinters,” Rei answered. “It appears the cataphract is splitting the difference.”
Ten cell-cycles shot past us on a gust of wind. There was no roar. No growl. They lacked the cylinders needed to make such sounds. I stared wide-eyed at the bikes. Cell-cycles were the fastest rides money could buy. Their engines were formed out of complex matrix of nanotubes. You needed a PhD j
ust to change the freakin’ tires. Some Chinese company had patented the entire design, and the United States had promptly banned them.
The swarm of pearl white next-gen motorcycles formed up in front of our SUV in ordered rows. Their brake lights burned a creepy neon green, and all the riders wore matching white leather jackets with a gold cheetahs etched on their back. Not a single bike had their headlights turned on. It occurred to me that they had chased us down at over one hundred miles an hour in the dark.
Rei was already halfway to the front seat.
“What are those things?” she asked. “Can they be purchased in black?”
“You don’t want one,” Dante replied. “They’re like baby Hindenburgs.”
Rei shuddered and sank back into her seat.
“Oh. Then I am not wanting one.”
I let out a sigh. “Come on, Dante. Not even a bullet could crack the fuel casings. We passed that law because the Chinese refused to build their factory over here. It’s a classic case of—”
Jasper’s swerved into the middle of the two-lane highway. Two overbuilt 4x4s were churning the pavement behind us. The move had kept one of them from coming up beside us. Sighted, the two gas-guzzlers flipped on their huge floodlights. Grabbing hold of the door handle, Rei threw an arm across my unrestrained chest. Then things started moving fast. One of the Jeeps struck our bumper, sending everything in the truck flying. The second Jeep tried to exploit the confusion by sweeping up on our left side.
“They are flanking us now,” Rei commented.
The two Jeeps were trying to expose our back wheel. Ramming us there would send us into a spin. Fortunately, Jasper had brought his A-game. Shifting left, he gave the breaks a tap. Our hefty GMC had mass on its side. The collision took a chunk out the left Jeep’s bumper, and the smaller truck nearly swerved off the road.
“Nice!” Dante shouted.
“A minor victory,” Rei replied. “They still control both fore and aft.”
In front of us, one of the riders removed her helmet, revealing a woman with long blond hair. Letting go of her bike’s handlebars, she hopped up on the butt end her cycle. It was an impossible feat. No human being could have ever done that. The blaze of our headlights reflected off her crimson eyes. She crouched on the bike’s seat like a cat ready to pounce.
“Those eyes…” I said. “Are they Nostophoros?”
“Weres,” Rei corrected. “Only mongrels such as these hunt in packs.”
“Aye,” Jules replied. “Besides, Dieter, no Nostophoros ego would ever fit into one of those helmets.”
Still staring at Jasper, the blond rider tossed her helmet into the air. Jasper didn’t panic. He kept his line like a pro. The helmet came crashing into our front window, leaving a huge divot in the glass. Spanking her ass, the rider plopped back down on her saddle. She made a single motion, and the entire gang burst off into the distance. The taillights blinked out in mere seconds. The cell-cycles must have cleared 200mph. The six of us sat in silence as the spider web of cracks spread across the front window.
“Why’d they leave?” I asked.
“Spike strip?” Jasper asked.
“I would wager five miles on,” Francesca answered. “They probably possess a chop shop on the outskirts of town.”
Jasper had opened his mouth to say something less than nice when another jolt came from the back of the car. The Jeep behind us wasn’t going to let us slow down. They wanted us to keep moving. I was about to ask what the heck was going on, when out in the cold distance, a flash of light ballooned high into the sky. The giant plume lit up the clouds with a brilliant orange glow.
“And what the fock was that?” Jules asked.
“The gas station,” Rei replied. She leaned forward. “I am wondering, sirs, will you attempt to surrender and beg for our lives? Perhaps they will spare a few limbs.”
Agent Tools glanced at Francesca.
She gave him a subtle nod.
My Sight flared right as we were hit by a blast of magic, and the four of us were plastered back against our seats. A weight pressed against my chest, and a slight twinge of pain pricked my neck. I glanced down to find one of Francesca’s daggers against my throat. Jules let out a gasp as a warm trickle rolled down my neck. My heart began to pound. Francesca’s blade was so sharp that I hadn’t felt it slide in.
“This was the most dangerous moment of our journey. The time we could least afford detection.” Francesca examined the four of us. She didn’t seem angry. She didn’t look rushed. “The town we approach is isolated. Dwindling fuel denies us any retreat. Yet now is when a pack of predators decide to nip at our heels. Predators outfitted far too well. Predators that have tracked us with far too much ease.”
She examined each and every one of us.
“A teaching point has been arrived at. What say you, Elliot’s finest?”
“That you should drop that knife,” Dante answered. “You have no right to do that.”
Francesca lowered her blade an inch.
Blood rushed down my collar in a stream.
“Better,” she asked, “or a bit lower still?”
My Sight roared a warning. Rei was taking a keen interest in my neck.
I tried very hard not to swallow.
I tried very hard not to piss my pants.
“I’ve spent years working with a romstone. The pack was tracking us since St. Louis. Before I only had questions. Now I have a rear bumper to repair. I will ask each question one time, and a wrong answer will cost this one a major vessel.”
Rei let out a strangled gulp, and my Sight roared with the Niagara Falls of bloodlust. My own heartbeat was being played back to me. I could hardly focus on the conversation.
Francesca glanced at Rei.
“Thirsty?”
My heart stopped.
Francesca smiled.
“Such a sweet little treat…and after such a long ride in the sun. Must be terribly tempting. But biting a member of the Magi? Goodness, I’d hate to hand out a death penalty.”
The trembling in Rei’s thigh told me all I needed to know. She was mere seconds away from biting me.
“I thought you Purebloods were special. To think Theodus’ youngest would engage in such a grave—” A sickening little crack interrupted her. Dante let out a little gasp, and for the first time Francesca looked a bit uncertain. Whatever she had just seen unnerved her. On the plus side, Rei’s bloodlust vanished. Whatever she’d managed to do had worked.
Rei’s voiced grated the words like cheese. Fury laced every syllable. “Stupid, cataphract. Is that all your eyes can see? Your own precious Councilwoman drove the knife in.”
Francesca’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about, blood-bather?”
“To a minion of Zeus, the Laws of Xenia are quite strict. One must offer the guest food. One must offer the guest drink. A fine bath must be heated. The master’s clothes must be tendered. Even her courtesans should be shared. She must guard her guest like family, and she mustn’t dare to ask a question until all the guest’s needs have been sated…were they sated, Dieter? Did you eat your fill?”
“Yea,” I managed. “Wait…is that why Dante got laid?”
Rei began to chuckle. It sounded like a razor on glass. “Dante was laid upon by that viper because he is a tempting little lamb—now do focus, Dieter. This is the portion of the tale in which you confirmed your foolery. On parting, the host must offer her guest a xenion, a gift meant to honor the gods. Which god the host chooses to honor is irrelevant to the Laws—but it is of critical interest to the one doing the accepting.”
My shoulders sank. “Oh.”
Rei let loose a shiver. “And now I am once again becoming most distracted by all the gushiness, so if you would please finish this tale while I occupy my fangs.”
Another tiny crack interrupted us, but with Francesca’s blade still in my neck, I couldn’t turn to find out what was going on.
“Fine,” I managed. “I did accept a gift, but
Madam Fremont hinted at Hermes. Hermes protects travelers. I think we’re barking up the wrong tree here.”
Jules groaned. “Fockin’ A, Dieter. Hermes only protected humans on their path ta Hades. His only concern was for their souls.”
“Huh?” I managed.
“Honestly, if we survive this disaster, I’m enrollin’ ya in World History of Magic meself. Hermes led the souls of the departed ta Hades—and he was also the god of dirty tricks.”
“Oh, man,” Dante said, “Fremont gave us the kiss of death, and she picked Dieter ‘cause he doesn’t know any better.”
“Guys, all she gave me was this stupid egg.” I reached into my robe and pulled out Fremont’s tiny black present. “What’s it gonna do, summon the Easter Bunny?”
This time, the entire group let out a groan.
“What?” I shouted. “What’s wrong with the nice black egg?”
“A Lidérc egg in this age?” Francesca shook her head at it. “Dispose of it, priestess.”
“Gladly,” Jules replied. “Just as soon as ya stop damagin’ me protégé.”
“Agreed.” Francesca lowered her blade.
“Thank you kindly,” Jules said with a nod. She took the egg out of my hand, tied a piece of twine around it three times, completed a complicated set of knots, pushed some mana into twine, said a sutra of some sort, and tossed the demon egg out the window.
“We’ll be needin’ fifty kilometers of clearance by mornin’” Jules advised.
“Fifty kilometers?” I asked. “What the heck is a Lidérc egg, a thermonuclear bomb?”
“Na, Dieter. Ya’d be lucky if it were. A Lidérc egg hatches into a six-armed rape monster that’ll perform all manners of violations on yer person until ya die from the pain or shame.”
I blinked. “That’s a thing?”
“A thing it be. And a Lidérc egg is also known ta provide the poor fool that carries it quite the misfortunes. There be no curse, mind. Just a stench. Ya see, Dieter, a Lidérc egg carries the scent of chamber lye. It be scentless ta even a Nostophoros, but it’ll draw a Were from miles away.” Jules let out a sigh. “I really cannot believe that nice old lady focked us like that…goes to show, I guess.”
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