by Anah Crow
Noah grabbed his shirt as well, but went back to give Lindsay a kiss. Lindsay cupped his cheek and leaned up, making it last. They’d been having such a nice night too. This had better be something, but he
guessed Kristan wouldn’t interrupt over nothing—not right now. Any other time, all bets were off. Tugging his shirt on, he left the room and headed downstairs.
“Hey, kids. What’s going on?”
Zoey looked guilty. “I think we found something. I mean, I know we found something.”
“But we didn’t mean to wake you,” Ylli added hastily.
“Well, next time you want to not wake us up, how about you remember that Lindsay sleeps like a guard dog, and actually not wake us up?” Noah grabbed the kettle he’d picked up at the thrift store and started filling it with bottled water. “He’ll be down and you can tell us both. No trouble tonight?”
Zoey glanced at Ylli and Kristan, then shook her head. Noah wondered how much happened that actually got back to him and Lindsay. Kids.
“No, nothing that matters,” Zoey said, after the hasty, silent consultation. “I figured out where they are. I mean, I figured out which computer is tracking and purchasing those artifacts you said were magic.
Vivian’s message was a little weird but when I trusted it, it ended up making total sense. The, um—” She looked at Ylli again. “MAC address? Yeah. It’s the same when I trace back all those deals. Ylli said that means it’s the same computer every time. I just know that it looks the same every time. I think it belongs to Dr. Moore.”
She seemed to realize she was babbling and pinched her lips together, looking embarrassed.
Noah nodded as he set the kettle on the stove. He’d provide the heat, but it was good to be careful. He didn’t trust himself. The ball of fire he slipped in before putting the lid on was quiet, at least, humming and bubbling obediently.
“It’s in Ohio,” Kristan said. “Not the place where we found these two, though. Vivian made it sound like she and Cyrus had been keeping an eye on the area.” She came over to pull the lid off the kettle. “You can do that?”
“That makes sense.” Noah put the lid back on and scowled at her. There was all kinds of magical activity around there. “What city?”
“Miamisburg.” Ylli’s wings stirred as though he was uncomfortable. “They have one of those mound things. Like the one Cyrus sent us to. Those things give me the creeps.”
“It’s got a lot of other stuff going on too.” Kristan hopped up to sit on the counter next to where Noah was making tea. “Tell him.”
“This is going to sound weird,” Ylli said tentatively. “But some of the websites I read, for finding out strange stuff that doesn’t make it in the news, they say that there are a lot of busses that go there. The coach kind. There’s nothing to go to, though.”
“Patches said that a couple of the guys that went missing around here, the homeless ones, were last seen getting on a coach bus. No one remembers the company,” Kristan said. “Ylli’s freaky internet friends say those busses had no company markings. Maybe that’s why no one here remembers.”
Zoey piped up again. “That mound thing, the one in Miamisburg, they built a big lab on it back in the forties. Like, Manhattan Project kind of lab. It’s huge, and it’s all closed up now, but it’s still there. The computer that’s tracking the artifacts, that mound-lab thing is where it usually lives. I’ve tried to talk to it before, but it’s really—” Zoey blushed. “It’s shy and kind of nervous. I think if I had more time, I could get it to come around, but the computers near it were pretty talkative, once I matched Vivian’s numbers up to the gateways I had to take to get there.
“Anyway,” she continued, “that computer isn’t at the mound right now. The other computers can’t talk to it anymore. I don’t think it’s online at all. She must have left, and she took it with her. The other computers said that it leaves a lot, but never for very long. A couple days. It left this morning.”
“We have two days to get down there and get him back,” Lindsay said from behind Noah. “Are you ready?”
“I am.” Noah turned around to face Lindsay. He just needed his shoes. But the others... He looked over at Kristan.
“Let’s get going.” Kristan shrugged. “Nothing I need to do here. Make sure we have what we need to get around once we’re there. We could probably use computers for these two. That way we don’t have to find a library to check in on things.”
Lindsay looked at his watch, a cheap plastic thing they’d picked up at a pawnshop. It looked too big on his wrist, but it covered the scars even when his sleeve slid up his arm. “Nothing will be open yet.
We’ve got a couple hours. I’ll go downtown with... Ylli, you can come with me, pick out whatever you need.”
“Everyone who isn’t me or Lindsay should be trying to get some sleep in that time.” Noah poured boiling water into a cup with a tea bag and drew the fire out of the kettle. “We might not get another night to sleep before we have to get down to business.” He caught Kristan’s pitiful look, sighed, and made another cup of tea.
“We can’t take the car,” Kristan said. The ride back from the Great Circle had redefined uncomfortable, and if they got Dane out, it would be worse. Beppe’s sedan had been plenty big enough for three, but with Ylli’s wingspan, five was pushing it and six would be ridiculous. “When you guys go downtown, drop me off at Apollo 11, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Be careful,” Lindsay cautioned. “We might not be back here any time soon, and I don’t want to end up with a debt I can’t repay.”
“Hey, don’t teach Grandma to suck eggs.” Kristan took her cup of tea and poked the teabag with her finger, sinking it deeper. She looked over at Lindsay, her expression guileless. “I can get what we need without any problems. Trust me.”
“There’s some famous last words.” Noah gestured at Zoey. “Come on, kid. Nap time.”
“Let’s go.” Ylli waited until she was up and followed her out of the kitchen.
“I’ll go get pretty.” Kristan hopped down off the counter, tea in hand. “Before you say it, don’t.” She eyed Noah and Lindsay and then huffed with annoyance on her way out. She’d set herself up for an insult, but Noah managed to keep his mouth shut. “I can hear you thinking it.”
Noah finished making Lindsay’s tea and offered him the mug. “One for the road?”
Things were about to get very hectic, and if luck was with them, next time they could relax, Lindsay would have Dane back. That was what Noah wanted more than anything, though he was going to miss having first rights to cuddling Lindsay. He’d have to cuddle his fill before they left.
There was tension around Lindsay’s eyes, but he gave Noah a smile as he accepted the mug.
“Miamisburg. That explains the Hounds I felt when we were looking for Ylli and Zoey,” he said quietly, looking over at the stairs. There were still footsteps and shuffling sounds from the others moving around upstairs. “And something else was looking for us—it was like the Hounds, but I felt it hunting in my head. I knew Moore’s people were somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t figure out where without risking that they’d notice me.”
After a moment, he shook himself and took another sip of his tea, then set it down on the counter as he came over to stand in front of Noah. He didn’t say anything, just leaned up on his toes and nuzzled against Noah’s cheek like a cat.
Cat kisses. Noah remembered Rose calling it that when the family cats would rub against her. He wrapped his arms around Lindsay and nuzzled back. Really, they were marking their territory, but it was all the same as far as he was concerned.
“It’ll be okay,” he murmured in Lindsay’s ear. He would have been surprised if Moore hadn’t been hot on their heels. She had more resources than they did, and all the same information. Knowing gave him certainty about what they faced, and how much it needed to be destroyed.
Lindsay hummed his agreement and nodded. “It has to be.”
Chapter Fourte
en
This rest stop looked a lot like the one Lindsay saw last week. Maybe all the Ohio rest stops looked the same. The similarities made it hard for Lindsay to shake the feeling he’d been here before—caught in a loop of failing and surviving, but never catching up to Moore...
This time, though, they’d already seen where they were going. The site of the former Mound Labs was down the road, and they’d scouted it as best they could before coming back here to regroup. Ylli had a camera, and Lindsay had risked hiding him under the illusion of a turkey vulture to get some shots of the installation.
“We’re going to have to use one of those busses to get in,” Lindsay said, turning away from the highway to look at the others.
“You can make sure no one notices if I board the next one.” Noah was sitting on the ground, back to a tree, watching Zoey work. The girl had bonded with the sparkly pink computer Ylli had put together for her to the point that Lindsay half-expected her to disappear into the screen like Alice down the rabbit hole. “We can’t take her in, and that means someone needs to stay with her. As much as I want to get Dane back, that has to be a priority.”
Lindsay looked around. Neither Ylli nor Kristan would be able to get themselves out if things went wrong, and sending Zoey in was a ludicrous proposition. Lindsay wasn’t sure what he’d consider things going “right”, at this point, except all of them walking away alive and whole.
“I should go.” He’d escaped Moore more than once. He could do it again.
“Over my dead body,” Noah said flatly. “First, because it will be my dead body if I get Dane out but lose you. Second, because that girl you said talked to you... How the hell do you think she found you? She can do it again, she’ll feel you if you get into her sphere, into the place she considers hers.”
Lindsay didn’t want to send Noah in there, hated the idea, but Noah was right. Lourdes knew him, and she might not be the only one. The hunters were still out there searching for him, the feel of them growing stronger in Lindsay’s mind the closer he was to the lab.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll kill you again myself.”
“I’ll be fine.” Noah gave him a wry smile. “If I can’t kill me, who’s gonna do it? Get me in and give me some cover, okay?”
“All right.” Lindsay could do that. “We’ll get you on the next bus that comes in for gas.”
They’d already tracked two busses that had pulled in at the same gas station. That would give them an opportunity for Noah to slip on board as a stowaway.
“I’ll get you in there and stay with you to make sure nothing goes wrong.” That would keep Lindsay from going crazy with worry that he was sacrificing Noah to save Dane and would end up losing both.
He’d never dreamed he’d be in that kind of position. “We’ll follow the bus, get as close as we can. Zoey and Ylli can handle the security system from outside to help smooth your way once you’re in.”
“And you can stand around and look cute,” Noah said to Kristan. “Or try. Practice.” She threw a stone at him and he rolled to his feet, laughing.
She got up as well, brushing dirt and grass from her jeans. “Just for that, you can drive.”
“Everything’s going to be fine.” Noah came over to Lindsay.
He had said the same thing last night. Lindsay wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him.
He caught Noah’s hand and raised it to his mouth to kiss the soft, new skin of Noah’s palm. “Yes. I’m going to make sure of it.”
Noah kept telling Lindsay it would all be okay because he was desperate to believe it himself. Hope wasn’t something he was very good at. In the past, he’d been adamant that he’d simply used up all his hope waiting for his magic. But with the second life Lindsay had given him, he’d had such things restored to him, as though he’d been refreshed.
He and Lindsay were alone in the front of the passenger van they’d rented through one of Patches’s friends. The thing would seat fifteen and yet Ylli, Kristan and Zoey were holed up in the back. Noah guessed it was an attempt to give him some time with Lindsay. It was endearing, really. Kristan, at least, wasn’t usually that subtle, even if it was a very small value of subtle.
As he pulled into the truck stop where the busses were known to refuel, Noah was scraping all the optimism he could find out of the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t fear of Moore or Lourdes. It was fear of failing. He couldn’t let Lindsay down.
“If Ylli’s friends are right, we won’t be waiting long,” Noah said, partly to remind himself that he wouldn’t have long to spend worrying before he had to simply act.
Lindsay’s fingers crept up Noah’s thigh. Before it got into salacious territory, he flipped it palm-up.
“Let’s get ready.”
Noah parked the van as far from the lights as he could, but left it running. Kristan would come take his place when he got out. He tucked his hand into Lindsay’s and held on.
“So, what’s my illusion this time?” He managed to come up with a smile for Lindsay.
“Any preferences?” Lindsay smiled back at him, but it looked strained. “I take requests.”
“Just don’t distract me.” Noah squeezed Lindsay’s hand. “Which leaves out the naked pictures of you.
Anything that works for you. A piece of jewelry or a watch, something that won’t look too odd from the outside if I see it or fiddle with it before I remember not to do that.”
Lindsay looked down at their hands and turned Noah’s so that it lay palm up in his. His expression was a study in concentration, as though he were searching for something under Noah’s skin. His fingers were frigid and pale against Noah’s dark skin when he laid them over the inside of Noah’s wrist.
“You made me a garden of them once.” Lindsay revealed a red-gold rose on Noah’s wrist, like a tattoo, but made of his magic. Noah remembered his mother’s garden, alight with magic on the blooms, and the fire roses he’d brought to the empty gym where Lindsay let him touch his magic without fear.
“I’ll plant you a real garden of them someday,” he promised.
He unbuckled his seatbelt to turn and cup Lindsay’s sweet face in both hands. Lindsay’s lips were cool and soft when they kissed. He hardly registered the sound of the van door sliding open as the others got out. Lindsay wasn’t just the reason he was going in; Lindsay was his reason to come out alive.
“I think we scared them off,” Lindsay whispered. He didn’t give Noah a chance to answer before he was wriggling out of his seatbelt and sliding across to kiss him again.
Whatever the reason, Noah didn’t care. He slipped one arm around Lindsay, holding him close and kissing him like he could somehow imprint on Lindsay the promise that he would be back. He knew Lindsay would blame himself for anything going wrong, and that was the last thing Lindsay needed.
“The bus is here,” someone outside murmured. Slowly, Lindsay pulled back.
“Let’s get this done.” Noah kissed him one more time, a soft kiss on the mouth. “I’ll trade off with one of the passengers. Make sure the driver opens the door.”
He got out of the van and checked that he had nothing on him, no cash, nothing that could identify him, no crumpled receipts in the bottoms of his pockets. Nothing but the tattoo that was visible to him and no one else.
“I’ll go ahead,” he said as Lindsay got out of the van. “See if you can see through me and speak to me for sure.”
“Remember not to answer me out loud.” It was Lindsay’s voice whispering in his ear, but it was no more real than the rose on his wrist.
“I won’t forget. ”
Noah had no idea if Lindsay heard him or not, but all that mattered was that Lindsay could keep track of things. He looked over his shoulder one more time. Lindsay would ensure he wasn’t seen, Ylli would grab whoever came off the bus, and all he had to do was board, liberate some poor sod, and let the rest happen. He wasn’t good at the last part, but he’d manage.
“I’m with you. You’re good to go.”
/>
The door of the bus opened and a guard stepped out, walking over to the pump. The door stayed open.
Noah took the steps all at once, and slipped past the oblivious driver. It was eerie, like a dream, to be walking around invisible to everyone. The passengers were all quiet, mostly sleeping, some staring blankly out the windows. Noah knew what stoned looked like, and that was it. There was a passenger three rows back who seemed about his height and weight; better yet, the guy was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that he had pulled up so it was hard to see his face.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Noah muttered. The man stank of sweat and cigarettes, and he lolled limply as Noah stripped the sweatshirt off of him. Noah tugged it on and got the man’s arm around his neck, heaving him to his feet.
To Noah’s surprise, the man half-woke but didn’t get belligerent. Mumbling cheerfully, he let Noah walk him to the steps. The two guards sitting next to the steps didn’t look up from their respective smart phones; Lindsay’s illusion was working. From the flicker and glow of the screens, Noah guessed that one was playing a game and the other was reading.
“So, what’s your name?” It was worth a try, and Noah had no idea if they’d bothered to take names and keep a headcount.
The slurred reply sounded something like “Alex King”. Noah would take it. If he pretended to be as heavily influenced as this guy, he could have gotten away with “King Kong”.
Noah let Ylli pull the man off the bus, then went and took his place. It was hard to feign the boneless sag and dull reaction of someone drugged when adrenaline was flooding his brain, but Noah made himself relax. He focused on the rose on his right wrist, on the glow of it and the shading of the petals.
When the guard who had been pumping gas got back on and took his seat behind the driver, Noah’s heart tried to climb up his throat. He couldn’t risk any kind of reaction, couldn’t screw this up for everyone because he got a case of nerves. The mental exercises from his childhood were familiar enough that he drew on them to keep his mind busy while a guard from the back—one he hadn’t seen—started a slow walk up the aisle.
