“Encase it with your Ice magic!” she yelled above the screams. “As much as you can! I’ll use my metal magic to keep it from blowing outright! That’s the only way to contain the blast!”
Twenty . . . nineteen . . . eighteen . . .
I reached for the box and wrapped my hands around one side of it. Lorelei slapped her hands down on the other side, and we both blasted the box with our magic.
There was no time for subtlety and skill. If the bomb blew, it would kill both of us, regardless of the fact that I was using my Stone magic to harden my skin. But better me than all these innocent people. So I slammed a layer of Ice around the jewelry box, hoping that the force of my magic wouldn’t make it detonate in my hands.
And it didn’t, thanks to Lorelei.
Pike’s metal magic started to react to my Ice power, and the entire box trembled, as though it were about to explode, even though the lines on the mace rune weren’t completely filled in yet. But Lorelei sent a wave of her metal magic into the heart of the symbol, pushing back against Pike’s power. She didn’t seem to be as strong as her brother, but her magic was enough to slow his down.
Fifteen . . . fourteen . . . thirteen . . .
The rose quartz wailed at the sudden, brutal assault, but I shut the stone’s cries out of my mind and hit it with another round of magic. Then another, then another, as though I were wrapping a Christmas present, only with elemental Ice instead of pretty paper. Lorelei worked beside me the whole time, holding off her brother’s magic as long as she could.
Best-case scenario, my Ice would throttle the blast, and it wouldn’t be any worse than a pipe bomb some juvenile delinquents stuck in a toilet. Worst-case, Raymond Pike had a whole lot more magic than I did, and I’d be seeing Fletcher in a few more seconds.
Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .
Through all my layers of Ice, Pike’s mace rune burned an even brighter blue, the entire symbol now fully lit up with his metal power, indicating that the bomb was about to explode.
Five . . . four . . . three . . .
“Throw it!” Lorelei screamed, ripping her hands off the box. “Throw it now!”
I snatched up the Ice-coated jewelry box, reared back my hand, and pitched it as hard, high, and far away as I could. It didn’t travel all that far, getting stuck in a tree branch behind one of the trellises—
BOOM!
17
The force of the blast knocked me back into Lorelei and sent us both tumbling to the ground.
The tree disintegrated into the sum of its splinters. So did the trellis in front of it and all the surrounding bushes. Ash and cinders fluttered through the air like confetti, along with burned leaves, blackened petals, and smoldering bits of bark. Lorelei and I were the closest to the blast, and the smoke boiled over us, making me cough and cough. Strangely enough, the smoke smelled like roses.
The explosion seemed to go on forever, although it couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds. I didn’t know how long it was before I was able to pick myself up and stagger to my feet.
I wobbled back and forth, my ears ringing from the blast and my head swimming in a way that told me that I had another concussion. But I was still in one piece, and so were Lorelei and everyone else. So I forced myself to ignore my injuries and focus on the damage.
The smoldering remains of the tree were studded with nails, the charred trunk bristling with them like a pincushion. I half expected blood to come pouring out of the wounds, but of course, it didn’t. Still, a shiver raced up my spine. That could have been me studded with nails—or, worse, Jo-Jo and Roslyn.
My friends rushed over to me, Jo-Jo reaching for her Air magic to heal my injuries. Her power surged over me much the same way my Ice magic had blasted over the jewelry box. I grimaced at the pins-and-needles sensation of her magic sweeping over my body and stitching back what was cut, bloody, and bruised.
I looked at Lorelei, who was slowly getting to her own feet. She’d been behind me, so she’d been spared the brunt of the blast. All it seemed to have done was to knock her down and dirty her dress.
Lorelei gave me a guarded look, her gaze lingering on the bloody gash on my arm as it slowly healed. Once she realized that I was still in one piece, she hurried over to Mallory, who was calling her name. Lorelei hugged her grandmother tightly, then bent down and started whispering in her ear. Mallory’s face was pale, but her blue eyes glittered with determination. So did Lorelei’s.
“Now what happens?” Roslyn asked, staring at them the same way I was.
Despite Jo-Jo’s healing magic, my head was still aching, and it wasn’t from the bomb blast or the resulting concussion. “I have no clue.”
* * *
Naturally, all the panicked society ladies called the cops, and the po-po showed up about ten minutes later. Bria and Xavier were the lead investigators on the scene, with uniformed officers moving through the crowd and taking witness statements. Still more folks dressed in bomb gear swept through the Rose Garden, then spread out to the other sections, searching for more explosive devices. I doubted they would find any, though. Pike had only wanted to kill Mallory. He wouldn’t have cared enough about anyone else to make more than one bomb.
Bria came over to me, while Xavier split off to check on Roslyn. My sister hugged me tightly, then looked me over, her blue gaze taking in the blood, soot, and ash that streaked my face, arms, and pink dress.
“It’s nothing,” I said. “Just some dirt and grime. Jo-Jo already healed me.”
Bria’s worry seemed to lessen but only a little bit.
She focused on the still smoldering tree and all the nails glinting in the ruined tree stump. “Another bomb.”
“Yep. Compliments of one Raymond Pike.”
I filled Bria in on my encounter with Pike. The only thing I didn’t mention was how he’d used his metal magic to turn my own knife against me. I was the only one who needed to know that troubling fact. It had been a long time since I’d been up against a metal elemental, and I’d been in such a hurry to kill Pike that I hadn’t thought about him being able to neutralize my knives, much less control them.
I should have, though. Pike had taught me a painful lesson, one that rattled me far more than I liked. My knives were such a big part of who and what I was that I didn’t know quite what to do without them. How to protect, how to attack, how to win. But I’d figure it out. I always did.
And then Raymond Pike would die.
“Well,” Bria said, cutting into my dark thoughts, “I should talk to Lorelei.”
“Good luck with that.”
My sister shrugged, but it was her job, so she headed in Lorelei’s direction. I followed her, curious about what the smuggler would—or wouldn’t—say.
Lorelei and Mallory were seated at the same table they’d occupied when I first arrived. Lorelei was whispering to her grandmother, but she stopped talking once she noticed Bria approaching. Her face was blank and shuttered. So was Mallory’s.
“Ms. Parker,” Bria said. “Mrs. Parker. I’d like to talk to you about the bombing. My sister tells me that you were the intended targets.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lorelei said, somehow managing to look down her nose at Bria, even though she was seated. “I don’t know what your sister thinks she saw or overheard, but my grandmother and I don’t know anything about the bombing. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right, Grandma?”
Mallory nodded.
Anger surged through me. “Don’t be an idiot, Lorelei. Tell the cops about Raymond. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and they can arrest him for the bombing before he takes another crack at you and Mallory.”
Lorelei shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mallory looked back and forth between me and her granddaughter, but she didn’t say anything. And I realized that she
wouldn’t. Neither would Lorelei.
“You should let me help you, Ms. Parker,” Bria said. “It’s what I do, and I’m pretty good at it.”
Lorelei snorted. “The police? Help me? The police have never helped me—and especially not my mother. She called the police for help. More than once. But do you know what they did?”
Bria shook her head.
“Nothing,” Lorelei spat out. “Not a damn thing except take the bribes that my father doled out to get them to ignore the bruises on my mom’s face—and on mine too. So forgive me if I don’t put much stock in the police, especially the Ashland police. Let me save you some time and energy. We didn’t see anything, we didn’t hear anything, and we don’t know anything. Now, if you’ll excuse us, my grandmother needs her rest.”
Lorelei helped Mallory to her feet, then waved at Jack Corbin, who was standing at the garden entrance. He came over and took Mallory’s arm. The dwarf smiled up at him and patted his hand. Corbin tried to smile back, but his expression was more of a miserable wince, and he glanced over at the ruined tree. His eyes widened, and then he wet his lips and quickly looked away from the damage. Curious.
They walked past me, and Mallory turned her head to stare at me. Corbin was looking straight ahead, clearly wanting to get out of here as fast as possible, so he didn’t see her mouth the words to me.
Help her. Please.
Mallory stared at me another second; then she and Corbin swept past me and out of the garden.
“You’re sure you don’t know anything about the bombing?” Bria asked again, still trying to get Lorelei to open up.
“I’m sure.” Lorelei gave her the same kind of syrupy smile that Mallory had used on me and the society ladies. “Bless your heart for asking, though.”
Bria recognized the insult for what it was, and she gave Lorelei an even sweeter, more syrupy smile in return. “And bless your heart for being so cooperative and so very helpful.”
Lorelei’s eyes narrowed, but Bria just cranked up the wattage on her smile. Score one for my baby sister.
Bria stared down Lorelei for a few more seconds, then moved off to speak to the next witness. She couldn’t make Lorelei talk if she didn’t want to.
But I could.
Lorelei started to walk away, but I latched onto her arm. She shook me off, but I grabbed hold of her again. She shook me off a second time but finally faced me, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she snapped.
“Because your revenge-seeking, crazy-ass half brother keeps planting bombs in close proximity to me and my friends,” I snapped back. “That happens to concern me. I might be an assassin, but I don’t deal in collateral damage, and I especially don’t like to see innocent people almost get blown up just because they’re in the wrong place with the wrong people at the wrong time.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Lorelei retorted. “I said that I would take care of Raymond, and I will.”
“It seems to me like Raymond is going to take care of you first. Are you even doing anything to track him down?”
Lorelei laughed, but it was a soft, ugly sound. “That’s the beauty of this whole thing. I don’t have to track him down. I don’t have to do anything. He’ll find me soon enough, and I’ll be ready when he does. Count on it.”
Her voice held a poison promise that I knew all too well. Her hands were clenched into fists, and anger blazed in her eyes. I didn’t know if the emotion was directed at her brother or me. Probably both of us.
“I can’t believe that you’re standing here, wanting to help me now,” she snarled. “If it weren’t for you and your friends, none of this would even be happening. I could have gotten on with my life years ago, instead of waiting for this day to come.”
This time, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Her words weren’t completely correct, but they had enough truth in them to make me flinch.
“That wasn’t my fault. You know it wasn’t. And neither is any of this.”
Lorelei let out another, even uglier laugh. “Well, I suppose that quibbling over who’s to blame doesn’t make much sense now that Raymond has finally found me.”
More of that acidic guilt flooded my heart, chewing through what was left of it, but I couldn’t argue with her logic.
She gave me a disgusted look. “Just . . . stay out of my way. Okay? For once in your miserable life. I can take care of Raymond.”
“Sure,” I sniped. “Before or after he kills you and Mallory? Because he’s not going to stop until the two of you are dead.”
Lorelei didn’t say anything, but anger, pain, and guilt flashed in her eyes, smoldering like the ruined tree. Her mouth tightened into a hard, determined line.
I drew in a breath and tried to rein in my anger. “Listen, I just want to help—”
“Forget it.” She cut me off. “I don’t want or need your help. I can take care of myself. Stay out of my way, or you’ll regret it.”
Lorelei gave me one more disgusted glare, then stormed out of the garden.
18
A hot shower and several worried voice mails awaited me when I got home to Fletcher’s. Everyone and his brother had heard about the explosion, and Finn, Owen, and Silvio had all called to check on me—Finn wanting all the juicy details, Owen making sure that I was okay, and Silvio chiding me because I hadn’t brought him along to the party.
I dealt with all their questions and concerns, told them that I wanted to be alone tonight, and went to bed, even though it was just after six. I fell asleep almost immediately, but when the dreams started, dredged up by everything that had happened over the past few days, they felt as vivid as if I were wide awake. . . .
I dragged Lorelei down the hallway, through the kitchen, and out the back door of the cabin. We stumbled down the steps, both of us sprawling in the dirt, but I kept crabbing forward the whole time, yanking her along with me as best and as fast as I could.
Behind us, more and more nails shot out of the cabin walls, the floorboards, and even the roof, the sharp projectiles punching through the windows and raining shards of glass down on us. The entire wooden structure moaned and groaned, threatening to collapse in on itself.
And then, with a single ominous creak, it did.
Without all those nails to hold them in place, the walls toppled together, pulling the supports down with them, and the whole cabin caved in like a house of cards. Thick, choking clouds of dust puffed up, while split pieces of wood zoomed through the air like warped arrows.
I threw one arm up to protect my head, still crawling forward and pulling Lorelei along with me, trying to get us clear of the debris. What was left of the cabin quickly settled down, although the resulting dust churned like a storm cloud above our heads. I let go of Lorelei’s hand. She curled into a ball, crying, but I staggered up onto my feet, coughing and trying to clear the dust out of my lungs.
At first, I didn’t see anything but the collapsed cabin, but then a figure emerged out of the dust. Renaldo Pike stopped and stared at the splintered structure, smiling at the destruction he’d caused. He caught sight of Lorelei and me. His cruel smile widened, and he headed in our direction, twirling that mace around in his hand.
“It’s no use,” Lorelei mumbled, staring at her father with dull, blank eyes. “He’ll find us wherever we go. And then he’ll kill us. Just like he killed my mom.”
“He’s not going to kill us!” I hissed. “All we have to do is outrun him. Now, come on!”
I grabbed her arm, yanked her to her feet, and pulled her with me into the woods. She stumbled along behind me, barely keeping up, but I tightened my grip on her hand and increased my pace, ruthlessly tuning out her sobs. Yeah, I was hurting her, and I felt bad about that, but it was better than the alternative. No way was I letting some mace-wielding pyscho murder me. Renaldo had
already hurt Fletcher, Jo-Jo, and Sophia—maybe even killed them—but he wasn’t getting us too.
I scanned the woods, trying to come up with a better plan than just running blindly, but all I saw were trees and rocks—and more trees and rocks. Nothing that would help me slow down the monster behind us, much less stop him for good.
With every step, the knife I’d grabbed from the kitchen rode up and down in the back pocket of my jeans. I could kill Renaldo with the weapon. I’d done it before. All I had to do was get close enough to stab him before he realized what was happening—
I leaped over a tree root sticking up out of the earth, but Lorelei didn’t see it and hooked her foot through it. She stumbled, her cold, shaking hand tearing free of my grasp, and hit the ground hard. I ran back to help her up.
Magic surged through the air.
I threw myself down on the ground just in time to avoid the nails that zipped over my head like a swarm of angry bees and then thunked into a nearby tree.
I scrambled back up onto my feet. Renaldo was thirty feet behind us, calmly walking along as if he had all the time in the world. His eyes burned an even brighter blue as he reached for more of his metal magic. He waved his hand, and the nails embedded in the tree trunk started working themselves free for another strike.
“Get up! Get up! Get up!” I screamed at Lorelei, hauling her upright.
She tried to stand on her own but fell back down, sobbing and clutching her foot. She must have twisted her ankle. Behind her, Renaldo kept striding toward us at that slow, steady pace, his grin sharpening with evil intent. He wanted to kill us both, and she couldn’t run away anymore. Only one thing to do.
Leave her behind.
I kept staring at Renaldo as I backed out of the clearing we were in and headed toward the trees on the far side.
Lorelei realized what I was doing, and her eyes widened with fear and panic. “No! Don’t go! Don’t leave me here with him!”
I tuned out her tearful pleas, turned, and vanished into the trees.