No Crones About It

by Amanda M. Lee

  He stilled. “You? Why would he ... .” He didn’t finish the question. The answer was right there. All he had to do was see it. “He wants your magic.”

  “I think he’s always wanted it.” I was resigned as I stood. “We need to shut the door and make sure Merlin has water. Then we need to head out to the cove.”

  Gunner frowned. “No, we need to get the others and plan a formal assault. We need more than the three of us.”

  “No, we don’t.” I was firm. “We’re not going to fight. I’m going to trade myself for Raisin and you guys are going to take her to safety.”

  “And leave you behind?” Rooster immediately started shaking his head. “That’s not what we do.”

  “You don’t have a choice.” I was firm on that. “Raisin is what’s important. I can take care of myself.”

  “We’re not leaving you with him.” Gunner growled the words. “It’s not happening.”

  “It is.” I took pity on him and squeezed his hand. “I know you don’t want to. I know you would give your life to stop it. But you can’t.

  “The truth is, we’re in a bad situation,” I continued, letting my pragmatic side take over. This is what I was good at, attacking things logically and without emotion. “I can’t risk unleashing the full breadth of my magic on Drake while Raisin is around and can be hurt. The same goes for you guys. I don’t want to risk it. I have to wait until you’re safely away.”

  Gunner worked his jaw. “I won’t leave you.”

  “You have no choice.”

  “I do have a choice.” He refused to back down. “Rooster can take Raisin to safety. I’ll stay with you.”

  “He’ll kill you.”

  “Well ... he’ll have to.”

  Rooster cleared his throat to get our attention. It was clear he didn’t like where the conversation was going. “Scout may be right,” he started.

  “No!” Gunner shouted. “We can’t sacrifice Scout, not even for Raisin.”

  “You need to think with your head instead of your heart,” Rooster insisted. “I understand that you have feelings for her.”

  “It doesn’t matter that I have feelings for her,” Gunner exploded. “It matters that we don’t abandon a member of our team. We can’t just leave her.”

  “That’s not what you’ll be doing,” I offered gently, wrapping my fingers around his wrist and squeezing tightly. He didn’t want to listen, but he didn’t have a choice. “I can’t risk doing what I need to do with Raisin there. Occasionally I lose my head when unleashing my magic. She could be caught in the crossfire.

  “You have to agree to trade me for Raisin and then leave,” I insisted. “Drake is smart enough to see the lie in your eyes. I can take care of myself. You have to trust me.”

  “No.” This time when Gunner shook his head it was with minimal effort. He’d lost. He already realized it. He simply didn’t want to admit it. “I won’t leave you.”

  “You don’t have a choice.” I was surprisingly calm given what was about to happen. “We have to do what’s right for Raisin. The rest of us ... we signed up for this gig. I’m willing to do what’s necessary to save her because she didn’t. She’s the reason we do what we do.”

  “No.” Gunner stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest. “I won’t allow it.”

  “Yes, you will.” My lips quirked at his furious countenance. “You know it’s the right thing to do. I’ll be okay. You have to trust me.”

  “It’s not about trust. It’s about this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’m doing the wrong thing, and because of that I’ll never see you again.”

  “Oh, you’re going to see me.” I was certain of that. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I promised to stick around. I meant it.”

  He looked pained. “I just ... this feels wrong.”

  “It’ll be okay. Have faith.”

  IT TURNED OUT WE DIDN’T NEED to go to Drake. He wasn’t that far away. In fact, he was waiting in the driveway when we exited.

  Gunner snarled and moved to attack, but I extended an arm to stop him, my eyes busy as they scanned the trees for hints of movement. Surely Drake wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here alone.

  “Where’s Raisin?” Rooster demanded, stomping his foot as he took a threatening step toward Drake. “If you’ve hurt her, you have no idea the wrath that I’ll rain down on you.”

  As far as threats went, it was vague but effective. His anguish over Raisin was palpable.

  “I can’t believe you stayed here,” I offered, drawing his attention to me. He looked ragged, exhausted. I was surprised he managed to find the strength to remain upright. “Why didn’t you regroup at a more fortified location?”

  Drake’s gaze bounced between us before finally landing on me. I expected him to start bragging, perhaps make a few demands. Instead, he took me by surprise. “I need your help.”

  Gunner barked out a hollow laugh. “You need our help? That’s rich. Why would we help you?”

  “I’m not your enemy.” It was a simple and straightforward statement ... and there was truth hidden beneath the words. “You think I took Raisin. I can’t blame you. You were meant to think that. It wasn’t me, though.”

  “And we’re just supposed to believe you?” Gunner snarled. “Why would we do that?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? There was something off about the situation. We were missing something. “You shot Cyrus,” I charged. It was a statement, not a question. “Don’t bother denying it.”

  “I did shoot Cyrus,” he agreed, grim. “I couldn’t sit back and wait for an opening any longer. I had to force the situation. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You know he’s still alive, right?”

  Drake’s expression darkened. “Well, that’s depressing. It is what it is, though. I can’t go back and take a better shot. I’m surprised I managed to get off the one I did given the angle I had going. I was afraid I was going to hit you.” His eyes were on me. “If I’d hit you, all of this would’ve been for nothing.”

  “And what is ‘this’?” Rooster demanded. “You say you’re not our enemy, but you’re out here, in the spot Raisin went missing, and you just shot a man in front of us not two hours ago. You’re not exactly making the best case for yourself.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand.” Drake dragged a hand through his dark hair. It was standing on end, making me believe he’d been swiping at it for hours. “The story is too long, too convoluted. I just ... need your help. I can offer mine in return. If we work together, this will end up okay for everybody.”

  “We don’t care about helping you,” Gunner shot back. “We care about Raisin. Where is she?”

  “I don’t have her.”

  “Of course you have her.” Gunner’s fingers twitched, but he kept his hands to himself. “You shot Cyrus and ran out here to take up a position where you could kill Scout. Then you saw Raisin and figured out another plan. Why kill Scout when you can force her to do your bidding by threatening Raisin?”

  “That’s a solid plan,” Drake agreed. “If I’d thought of it, I might actually have tried to pull it off. Here’s the thing: I don’t kidnap children. Even if I thought I might’ve been able to pull that off, I wouldn’t have touched a child.”

  “If not you, who?” Rooster demanded, his eyes flashing. “We have one suspect, and you’re standing right in front of us.”

  “It’s not him,” I announced, taking everybody by surprise and causing three heads to snap in my direction. “He didn’t take Raisin. And he didn’t kill Fred.”

  Drake was taken aback. “Of course I didn’t kill Fred. Why would you think that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Gunner challenged. “Maybe it’s because you’ve been stalking Scout from the start and he was related to her. Maybe it’s because he helped put a curse on Cyrus’s merry band of thieves back in the day. Maybe it’s because you like playing games.”

  “Except he’s not the one playing games this tim
e,” I countered, jabbing a warning finger in his direction when it looked as if he was going to start arguing. “I’m talking now.”

  He snapped his mouth shut and glowered.

  “What is it you believe you’ve figured out, Scout?” Rooster asked.

  “It’s Flint. It has always been Flint.” Things were slowly slipping into place. “Gunner, one of the first things you said to me when I mentioned his name was that he was known for sexually harassing women. I’m betting the truth is actually worse than that.”

  Drake’s expression was dour. “He’s an animal.”

  “And he has your sister.” That was the missing piece. “Cyrus mentioned your sister disappeared. Flint took her. He’s been holding her over your head as a bargaining chip. That’s why you still hang with him even though you despise him.”

  “Sarah,” Drake confirmed. “He’s had her for more than a year. I’ve tried to find out where, but he’s smarter than he looks. He uses her to keep me subservient.”

  “There’s more,” I argued. “There’s part of the story you’re not telling. Your name isn’t Drake Frost. Somehow you know Gunner. You used to be someone else. Who?”

  Drake grimaced, clearly unhappy with the direction the conversation was taking. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asked finally.

  “We’re not helping you until we know the whole truth,” Rooster answered. “Scout is right. If you’re innocent in this ... .”

  “I’m not innocent,” Drake snapped. “I got involved with Cyrus’s group because I needed money, plain and simple. I didn’t realize how things would turn out. I thought they were normal pack.”

  “You’re not normal pack, though,” I pointed out. “You’re something else. You’re two things.” That’s when the final piece slipped into place. “You’re a shifter who is magical. That’s why you can shutter the way you do.”

  His eyebrows migrated north on his forehead. “How do you know that?”

  “I’m magical, too.” It was the simplest answer. “What are you? What do you have to do with Nexus?”

  “How do you know about Nexus?”

  “Cyrus has a big mouth.”

  “And he was trying to negotiate with you,” Drake surmised, shaking his head. “He thought you would take the curse off Flint in exchange for information.”

  “Actually, he thought he could bully me into taking the curse off Flint,” I countered. “I can’t. I wasn’t lying about Flint having to deal with the curse himself. Cyrus didn’t believe me. When we realized he had financial ties to Fred — or George, the man Fred really was — we offered to make a trade. It was a trade I couldn’t hold up my end of the bargain on, but he didn’t know that.”

  “And he just told you about George?” Drake was incredulous. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

  “He seemed desperate to free Flint.”

  “That’s because Flint won’t stop crying like a baby,” Drake explained. “He acts as if he’s dying. Everyone else thinks it’s funny. He’s furious, though.”

  “And he took Raisin,” Rooster muttered.

  “He did, but he won’t hurt her,” Drake reassured him. “He wants Scout. He knows if he hurts the girl she’ll kill him without thinking twice. He’s a jerk, a total jackass, but he’s not an idiot. He won’t hurt the girl. He has specific plans for Scout.”

  Gunner stirred. “What plans?”

  “He wants her magic. He thinks he’ll be unstoppable if he gets it.”

  “What about his ties to Nexus?” I asked. “How does the group play into all of this?”

  “From Flint’s perspective, they don’t play in,” Drake replied, grim. “From my perspective ... well ... I used to be part of the group.”

  I was gobsmacked. “You were? Do you know who I am? Do you know why I was abandoned?”

  “I know whispers,” he clarified. “I was not high in the group, but I might know something that could be helpful. The fact that I was part of the group and I was trying to hide it is why Flint managed to gain control of me. It’s a long story.”

  “I want to hear it.”

  Rooster cleared his throat to interrupt us. “We all want to hear it, but we need to get Raisin first. After that, you can talk as long as your tongues hold out.”

  “And my sister,” Drake said. “My sister is innocent, too. He has her ... and he’s been mistreating her for a long time. I need to get her back.”

  His earnest expression was enough to convince me. “If I help you get your sister back, once all this is finished, will you tell me what you know? Will you tell us who you are?”

  He nodded without hesitation. “I’m afraid I don’t know as much as you would like, but all the information I have will be available to you. I swear it.”

  “It’s still more information than I have.” I turned my attention back to Rooster. “The old plan still stands. I’ll trade myself to Flint for Raisin. Once it’s just the two of us, I’ll start getting answers from him.”

  “No, the old plan doesn’t stand,” Rooster countered. “The situation is different. Two innocent girls are in trouble. We need to save both of them ... and we’ll need the whole team to do it.”

  “Flint is a wild card. He might hurt Raisin as payback for the curse I set upon him.”

  “Then he’ll regret ever being born.” Rooster’s eyes flashed with determination. “I let you talk me into a scenario I didn’t feel good about before. I’ve had time to think about it now. We’re going a different route. We’re bringing in the whole team on this.”

  I wanted to argue, but it was clear he’d made up his mind. “Fine, but I want to move fast. The more time Flint has Raisin, the more damage he can do. We need to move now.”

  “You read my mind.”

  Twenty-Nine

  We hid our bikes near the road. Rooster and Gunner both agreed it was best. If we could get close without anyone noticing, it would be to our benefit. I had an idea about that.

  “There’s this thing I can do,” I offered as we rolled our bikes into the foliage. I felt uncomfortable bringing it up, but it would be helpful. “I can hide us.”

  Several sets of eyes slid toward me.

  “You can hide us?” Gunner asked finally. “How?”

  “I’m not sure.” I gnawed my bottom lip. “It’s just this thing I can do. It works better at night when I can use the stars, but I can make it work during the day, too, especially with so many trees to provide cover.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well ... it’s probably better that I show you.”

  “Wait a second.” Marissa’s eyes flashed with impatience. “Do we really want to trust some weird idea she has when Raisin is on the line? We don’t even know if she can pull it off.”

  “Absolutely.” Rooster bobbed his head without hesitation. “If she says she can do it, I believe her. She wants to save Raisin as much as the rest of us.”

  Marissa wasn’t placated. “I still want to know what it is.”

  “It’s just this thing I can do.” She was starting to irritate me. “It will make us invisible, but not silent. If someone stares directly at us as we’re moving they might be able to see outlines. It’s not a guaranteed solution.”

  “Nothing is a guaranteed solution,” Rooster pointed out. “I’m not looking for guarantees. I’m looking for whatever gives us our best chance of getting Raisin out of here unharmed.”

  “I think this will do it, but we need to be quiet ... and ready for battle the second I drop the veil. We’ll have a few seconds because they’ll be confused about how we managed to get into their midst without them realizing, but they’ll panic when they see what’s happening.”

  Rooster turned his attention to Drake. “How many men does he have with him?”

  “The entire pack is in there, but not all of them will help Flint. They don’t like him. Cyrus refuses to see the truth about his own son.”

  “Is that why you tried to kill him?” I asked. “Do you blame him for wh
at happened to your sister?”

  “I blame him for not seeing the truth. He’s enabled Flint his entire life. I tried telling him what was going on despite Flint’s warnings, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He said I was making trouble and threatened me if I didn’t stop making waves. In some ways, Cyrus is worse than Flint. At least Flint admits what he is.”

  I could see that. “You still shouldn’t have shot him,” I said finally. “You should’ve come to us for help before Raisin was taken. We could’ve come up with a better plan if you had.”

  “I didn’t know if I could trust you. I didn’t realize you were a Child of the Stars until you froze me the way you did that day in the clearing.”

  “You mean the clearing where George was killed? That’s why I was there.”

  Drake stilled. “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, I’m sure. There was blood everywhere, though someone tried to clean it up. I thought you were part of that.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Flint did that without me ... I’m not sure why. How would that benefit him?”

  That was the question. “I think it’s time we find out.”

  I HADN’T CAST THE SPELL IN a long time. It was more draining than my normal magic, but I thought it was our best chance. Eyes were wide as I dropped the veil. It settled over us like a light blanket, and Bonnie giggled as she felt the magic descend.

  “This is neat.”

  “It’s ... something.” Rooster looked to be in awe as he reached out to touch the magical boundary. “How close do we have to stick to one another?”

  “Fairly close. The bigger I cast the net, the more magic I have to expend.”

  “And you’ll be weak when we get there if we’re not careful,” Gunner surmised. “I guess that means we should get moving.”

  “Definitely.”

  We had to walk two miles to the cove. By the time we started seeing sentries I was already weary. That didn’t mean I wanted to take any chances.

  “Sleep,” I murmured, sending out a bolt of magic to cause the nearest sentry to fall. He dropped to his knees and tumbled face first into the brush.