by Nash, Layla
And if there were any more of them around, they’d probably be waiting there as well.
I caught Lincoln watching me, then glanced up to see everyone watching me. I licked my spoon clean and raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“You know something you’re not saying,” Mason said. He put his lantern down and fished around in his saddlebags for some marshmallows and chocolate bars to make s’mores. “There’s a twinkle in your eye.”
I snorted, shaking my head. “There’s no twinkle.”
“But you do know something,” Hazel said. “Do you know where the animals were holed up? We’ve got to eradicate them before they get even more out of control. You don’t want them to make it to town, or we’d have to quarantine the whole area to take care of it.”
“You’d kill the whole town?” I slid a sideways glance at her, trying to gauge how much I should worry about her. She seemed awfully comfortable with killing people and doing away with nuisances like witnesses.
“No,” Lincoln said. “But we’d have to fence it off in order to control the spread of the virus. And then everyone would know about the virus and werewolves and magic, and it would just be a hassle to keep that from spreading and ending up on the internet. Where are the werewolves denning?”
I sighed, stirring the oatmeal. My stomach burbled in warning, and I wondered if maybe I’d end up turning into a werewolf after all. It seemed like a damn shame. What a waste—sacrificing a witch and ending up with a dangerous werewolf. I finally put the bowl down and gestured to the north and west. “There are some caves that we know about, and keep hidden from everyone else. Chances are they found the caves and have settled there. We can get there by tomorrow, maybe by early afternoon if we get up early and don’t have any surprises.”
“Where are they?” Mason brought a detailed map over and held it out, gesturing for me to locate them among the curls and whorls of the contour lines.
I shook my head. “Nope. They’re not on there, and you won’t be able to find them unless I bring you there. Once we leave, you won’t be able to find them again. That’s just how it is.”
Eddie looked once more betrayed. “They’re not on any of the park service documentation. Are there artifacts or anything of historic value there? Cave paintings or geologic formations?”
“The Lucketts have used them since the town first started. Used to be the Lucketts would hide out there whenever the town decided they wanted to hang a witch or two, and then they used the caves to hide liquor and cigarettes and contraband during the world wars and prohibition and all that. Now we just store old books and herbs and things out there.” I didn’t want to admit that the collected wisdom of the Lucketts remained deep in those caves, locked away and hidden by the ley magic, along with not a few ghosts. “So nothing really historic, I suppose.”
“How are they hidden? How is it possible that no one else knows about them?” Hazel leaned her elbows on her knees and took the gooey s’more that Mason offered. “It seems impossible that no one but your family even knew that these caves existed out here for hundreds of years.”
“The tribe knew,” I said. Which was another sore point with Luke’s family going back a few hundred years. “They have their own legends and beliefs about the caves, but they’ve let us have them going back a ways. I’m sure they’d be happy to have the caves back, but the Lucketts have used them ever since we first found the Crossroads.”
“How are they hidden?” She repeated herself, slow and careful, like I was deliberately missing her questions. I wanted to fling some oatmeal in her face.
But instead I wiggled my fingers in the air and made my eyes wide. “Magic.”
Mason smiled as he made another s’more and handed it to Nelson. “Really. How are they hidden?”
I repeated the move with my hand. “Really. Magic.”
Eddie shook his head, his hands tightening into fists. “We’ve had rangers all over every inch of the Crossroads over the past ten years, searching for lost hikers and migrating wildlife and everything else, and no one has ever seen anything like a cave. Is it just a pit in the ground?”
“It’s a secret.” I yawned, though, as the morphine threatened to drag me into darkness. I didn’t want to go to sleep and wake up chained. “But I suppose I’ll be showing you all tomorrow. You’ll just have to remember to forget where they are.”
Hazel didn’t look particularly pleased. “If there’s magic there, we’ll need to investigate.”
“No, you won’t.” When she started to object, trying to pull a federal agent face at me, I gave her a hard look. “I’m doing this as a favor and because I don’t want those wolves to get loose and harass the town. If you go back there, I can’t protect you from what might happen. There’s magic out there older than anything I can control, so I’ll wash my hands of it.”
Her lips thinned until they almost disappeared. “We have jurisdiction. We can –“
“Leave it alone,” Lincoln said, quiet and controlled. “We’ll discuss it more tomorrow.” His attention slid to me and glanced off, like he didn’t want to look at me directly for too long. “What happens if you turn into a werewolf overnight and we can’t find the caves on our own?”
I shrugged, wiping out my bowl. I hurt everywhere, but most of it concentrated in my heart instead of my shoulder. “I suppose I’ll lead you to them anyway, if that’s where the rest of the werewolves are congregating?”
None of them looked particularly pleased about it, but Lincoln finally nodded. “Fine. We won’t kill you until after you lead us to the caves.”
“Great. And on that note—you all have a good night. I’m going to sleep off the rest of this shitty day.” I pushed to my feet and so did all four of the federal agents. I hesitated, frowning at them, but Lincoln held up another set of restraints and I bit back a groan. He was serious.
I scowled but dragged my sleeping bag out of my tent. Looked like I was going to sleep rough. I set out my mat and bag, arranging everything how I liked it, and changed out of my torn shirt and into a roomy sweatshirt in case things got cold. Once I’d wiggled into the bag, I pulled my heavy gloves on and shoved the sweatshirt sleeves into them, so my arms wouldn’t get cold. Then I forced myself to wait patiently as Lincoln secured the shackles around my wrists and drove the stakes into the ground. I gave him a sideways look and muttered under my breath, “Can’t say I’ve ever let a man tie me up before.”
He snorted and the mallet missed the stake, thudding into the ground instead, and he hung his head for a moment to hide the smile that made him look less severe. Then he sighed. “I hope you don’t turn into a werewolf, Anastasia Luckett.”
“That makes two of us.” I shifted around in the bag as he finished, and yawned. “Pull the hood over my face, will you?”
He did, nearly patting my head as he did so, and then returned to the fire with his friends. I tried to ignore the low murmur of conversation as they tried to talk Eddie into being on their side in the whole “kill all werewolves” debate, but it wasn’t much of my business. I didn’t get a vote. So I closed my eyes and searched out the ley lines, and let the comforting flow of magic carry me away.
Chapter 18
I woke up just after dawn from a dreamless sleep, aided by the hush-hush of the ley magic, and took a few moments to check whether I was a werewolf or anything other than my mother's middle daughter before I opened my eyes. Everyone else slept in tents, but Lincoln sat up next to the fire, watching me breathe.
My face flushed for no reason I could come up with, watching him watch me, and eventually I lifted my head. "You want to let me up or should I help myself again?"
"Just hold on a minute," he said, and didn't get up from the fire. He sipped a cup of coffee, a rifle resting at his feet, and after a while he checked his watch. "Five more minutes and we can do the blood test again, see if you're out of the woods."
"I'm not covered in fur or sporting a tail, so I think I'm out of the woods." I managed to sit up, even w
ith my arms pinned, and started wiggling out of the sleeping bag. I really needed to find a place to take care of business, but I sure as hell didn't want him chaperoning me while I did it. "And I can't wait five minutes, if you know what I'm saying."
That hint of a smile crept out, and he finally put his coffee down and got up. He kicked the side of one of the tents as he passed and crouched down next to me with a set of complicated keys. Mason stuck his head out of the tent, looking bleary. "Yeah boss?"
"Get Hazel up. Luckett needs to take a walk."
I wanted to groan as the cold metal finally released my wrists and I could rub some feeling back into my hands. Holy hell. That was the last time I was going to let anyone put restraints on me, no matter what they said or threatened. I was scowling and not a bit happy by the time Hazel dragged herself out of the tent and got her boots, taking the rifle from Lincoln, and I stormed off into the brush to find a private location as she bounced along after me.
I didn't want to talk to her, not a bit, though it was awkward enough as she stood watch and kept the rifle at least slightly trained in my direction. I wondered how long they would hold the threat of turning into a werewolf over me. Maybe it was just a convenient excuse, and they didn't think I was going to turn at all but just needed to keep an eye on a dangerous witch. It seemed like a lot of to-do over one little bite. Well, three little bites. I'd healed them all and not had a speck of trouble since.
My business didn't take very long, though I took my time stretching my legs and arms and back after the rough night on the ground. Hazel didn't say anything else, as if she sensed I was still pissed about the night before and the rest of their deceptions, so we were both silent as we approached the camp. Lincoln, Mason, and Nelson were all on their feet, watching our approach, and for a wild moment, I considered dropping to all fours and howling at them.
Only the fact that Lincoln held the rifle kept me from making a joke. And Eddie, sitting by the fire behind them, not making eye contact with me. The ranger's expression chilled my heart and whatever joy I'd found at having survived the night.
I walked past the men without speaking and started to roll up my sleeping bag and mat. I'd have to borrow one of the pack mules as a mount, because my loathsome beast was nowhere in sight after the incident with the werewolves. I didn't blame her a bit, though, so I didn't take it personally. That didn't mean I was looking forward to trying to convince a mule to carry me without freaking out like some beasts did.
Chapter 19
No one spoke as they repacked the pack mules so I could ride instead of walking. I didn’t need a saddle, and instead hauled myself onto the former pack mule bareback. Eddie didn’t hardly look at me, making my heart sink deeper in my chest until I wondered if it would ever rise again, and I didn’t dare look at Lincoln. Watching the end of whatever promise had been between us just made it harder to concentrate on the task at hand.
And Hazel with her rifle rode behind me, just waiting for me to turn into a werewolf.
I gritted my teeth and listened to the ley lines, desperate for some guidance. Surely the previous Luckett witches would hear me and offer some advice. They’d faced far worse than this little caper, but every emergency felt like a catastrophe when you were in the middle of it. Only the wind answered as we headed deeper into the Crossroads once more, and I studied the sky instead of the ground, trying to sense whether we were in for an early snowstorm.
Stranger things had happened in the Crossroads.
“How far are we from the caves?” This was from Mason, the only one who’d dared rein his horse in near to my reluctant mule.
“Hard to say,” I said. I didn’t want to give them any other information, in case they tried to return to the caves later without me. “I’ll let you know when we’re getting close.”
“Will we get there today?” He smiled winningly at me, like he could charm me into answering against my better judgment, but I only arched an eyebrow.
“That depends,” I said, slow and cautious.
Mason glanced back at Lincoln and the others, then his attention returned to me. “On what?”
“On how long you distract me from navigating.”
Eddie snorted, and I had a brief ray of hope that our friendship had not been irreparably damaged. Mason only blinked at me and smiled again. “Sorry, it didn’t look like you were doing anything but daydreaming.”
“Get one of those stone doodads you’re so fond of waving around me, and you’ll be able to tell what I’m doing.” My irritation got the better of me, since it wasn’t the wisest course of action to flaunt how my magic worked. And I certainly didn’t want those damn seer stones around me, dicking with my magic.
But Lincoln seized on it immediately. “You’re using magic to find the way to the cave?”
I clenched my jaw and debated speaking some fancy pig Latin to confuse them, maybe convince them it was a spell or a curse, and keeping them from understanding the ley lines. I’d never thought there were other ways to do magic, but Hazel’s abilities certainly proved me wrong. “I have a good memory.”
“Come on, Luckett,” Nelson said, riding up on my other side until I felt surrounded and outnumbered. “Help us understand how this all works. In case something bad happens to you and we need to figure out how to contain the damage. If we have to write a post mortem on the whole thing, this mystery of werewolves at the Crossroads, we won’t have any idea how you did most of what you’ve done.”
“That’s a fine problem,” I said, rubbing my jaw. I glanced over at him, willing my face to remain expressionless. “I’m mighty glad it’s not my problem.”
Eddie definitely laughed, though he bit it back quickly. “There’s no use asking questions.”
“It’s our job to ask questions,” Mason said. “What if we see this sort of behavior from werewolves elsewhere in the country? How are we supposed to advise other teams on how to defeat them, if we have no idea how Luckett did it?”
“You could start by being up-front about what you want to know, rather than trying to roundabout your way in. Don’t ask me how long it’ll take to get there, hopin’ it’ll eventually lead to a discourse on how I do my magic.” I let my attention run out from near us and into the earth, tracking deeper and wider until I could tell there were no magical beasties waiting for us and no strangers hanging around the caves.
“There’s only one way to do magic,” Hazel said. She looked far more comfortable on her horse after more than ten days in the saddle, even with the rifle in a holster hanging on her right side. I wondered if maybe they used silver bullets to kill werewolves. It sure handled the dire wolves nicely, although they hadn’t done much against the werewolves that attacked me. “And you’re not doing it. Which is why we’re so curious about what you’re actually doing.”
“So you’re the expert on every type of magic in the world?” Eddie shook his head as he surveyed the horizon to the west. “You all can explain everything there is?”
“Not exactly,” Lincoln said. He traded looks with Mason and Nelson, and the other guys retreated so Lincoln could ease up next to me instead. “Hazel is a talented witch, and there is generally one school of thought on how witch magic works. Generally power comes from the individual or from items, sometimes from rituals or trees. There are a variety of explanations for how it all connects, but no, there is no consolidated set of answers for all magic in the world. But that’s why we are very interested in other types of magic. There’s more out there than we know about, and we need to understand it in order to protect the mundane from it.”
“What about protecting it from the mundane?” I didn’t look at him, though I fought down bitterness and anger. “Say the Crossroads is different. Say the Lucketts are different. Maybe this town and your organization and everyone around here are a danger to this magic, the Crossroads, and my family. How much are you going to do to protect us, to protect this place?”
The skin around his eyes crinkled a little, though I couldn’
t tell if he was amused or what. “We also resolve potential conflicts between magic users, their environments, and the mundane. We don’t know whose side we’ll be on or what measures may be required until we understand everything about the conflict, though. So unless we know what your magic is and what potential danger that poses, we really can’t say whether we’ll be protecting you from the town or the other way around.”
“I can’t explain it,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not allowed. If you all can figure it out on your own, that’s one thing. But I sure as shit can’t go around giving lessons on this. It’s bad enough you know what you do, and that I’m taking you near the caves. My gran would come back to life just to kick my ass from here to Timbuktu and back.”
“So you’re saying you’ll never tell us what we need to know?”
The way Lincoln said it, all quiet and disappointed, made me want to break the rules. But I kept my back straight and the iron in my spine. I was made of sterner stuff, and I wouldn’t let a pretty face and a fantastic pair of biceps distract me from the oaths that centuries of Luckett women had upheld. “I’m saying I won’t tell you what you want to know. I don’t know what you need to know, but that’s not my business. You’re not Lucketts, you don’t get to know Luckett secrets.”
“And what if we can free you from the Luckett obligations? Make it so you can actually leave Rattler’s Run?”
My hands tightened on the reins until the mule tossed its head, and for a moment the future echoed in my ears. A life free of servitude in Rattler’s Run, going out to the Crossroads every time there was a hint of trouble or during holidays, facing down madness every time we touched the ley lines... Imagine. An impossible, extraordinary future.
It was too good to be true. It had to be.
I smiled with only half my mouth, not bothering to look at him. “You’re not the first snake-oil salesman to come through here with a pretty face, promising all kinds of miracles with your lying eyes. The Lucketts made a deal and I’m beholden to it. That’s the beginning and the end of it.”
