“Yes,” I said.
“Excellent.” Collins said. “Am I to assume I am free to use any method necessary to see to their concealment and safety?”
“You are to keep them safe,” I said, “from Leander and Isabelle and anyone else who wants them dead. But you are not to do them any permanent physical, mental, emotional, or magical harm. Understand?”
“Perfectly,” he said. “I will need the list of names and addresses if you have them, Victor.”
“Allie,” Victor finally said. “You can’t trust him with this.”
“When my choices are to do nothing and know that people will be slaughtered, or send Collins to try to hide them, I’m going to send Collins. Even though I don’t exactly trust him—no offense—”
“None taken,” he accepted.
“—I trust he knows that if he fails in this mission, I will personally tear this planet apart and boil him alive in his own skin.”
That got a smile out of Collins, his eyes alight with way too much interest. “I would relish the day that you, Allison Beckstrom, could actually be pushed to such extremes.”
“If she won’t,” Zay rumbled, “I will. No push necessary.”
Collins pursed his lips and nodded. I didn’t care who he thought would kick his ass to the ends of the earth, just as long as he believed we were serious about him working with, not against, us.
“Anyway, you aren’t going alone,” I said.
He tipped his chin to the side. “I think that’s a bad idea.”
“Good,” I said. Then I yelled, “Davy?”
Collins lost his smile and the twinkle in his eye became a hard light.
“I think that’s a very bad idea,” he said.
Davy strolled over to us. Davy was infected with the poisoned magic. To keep it from killing him, Collins had carved several spells into his skin and forced magic to follow those paths out of Davy’s body.
It had saved Davy’s life. But in doing so, those spells had pulled him away from living and so close to death that Davy was not quite alive or dead. When he didn’t concentrate, he went insubstantial. He ghosted out. That was the bad side effect of Dr. Collins the Cutter’s not-so-gentle administrations.
The good side effect was that when Davy used magic, he was a frickin’ demon. He could absorb magic thrown at him, and then use it on the caster with vicious, whiplike accuracy. I figured he could give even the good doctor a run for his money when it came to magic.
On the outside, Davy didn’t look any the worse for wear: still a twenty-ish guy I mostly thought of as a little brother. I’d just seen him in the middle of that fight, half ghost and using enough magic to knock out an elephant.
Sunny was at his side, a hair band in her teeth as she combed her fingers through her jet black hair and gathered it up in a ponytail.
“Boss,” Davy said, reading the situation with the speed and accuracy of a Hound. “Where do you need me?”
“I want you and Sunny to go with Collins. He says he has tech that will open gates and take him, and the both of you, across the country.”
“And what are we doing there?”
“You’re gathering up Soul Complements, people who use magic like Zay and I, and you are taking them to some place safe.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Very.”
“Does Collins want me along for the ride?”
“Not at all.”
Davy grinned. “Well, then. This sounds like fun.”
“Victor, please give Davy and Sunny the Soul Complement list, and then send someone…capable to collect Collins’ technology.”
“We’ll go with him to get it,” Sunny said. “C’mon, Dr. Collins. I’ll drive.”
“You’ll put them at risk?” Collins asked me. “Put them in the path of Leander and Isabelle?”
“I will send them to make sure you and the Soul Complements stay alive. They can handle the risks.”
Collins shook his head. He didn’t look angry, just frustrated. “We may not come back from this,” he said.
“You might not,” Davy said with a chuckle, “but I sure as hell am. That all, boss?”
I nodded. “Please—”
“Yes, I’ll be careful. And we’ll make sure the job gets done.”
“I know you will.” I gave him a smile, and he and Sunny started off toward Sunny’s car.
Collins pushed away from the van, but before walking off, he said, “I’ll need to use the Death well to power the first gate. Don’t close it until I get free of Portland, okay?”
“Meet us out there,” Zay said. “At the Death well. That way we’ll be sure all of you get off safely.”
Collins took off his glasses and polished them on the edge of his shirt. “Of course. I’ll be there in just under an hour.”
“Do you remember where the Death well is?” Victor asked.
“As a matter of fact, Victor, I do.” Collins put his glasses back on, and walked off to Sunny’s car.
Victor carefully rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t give him those memories back.”
“Do you think he does know where the Death well is?” I asked.
“If he worked with your father and has some kind of access to his research, yes.”
“Well, that’s working in our favor for a change,” I said.
“Allie.” Detective Stotts, in his usual trench coat and scarf, strode across the garage, stopping in front of me. I caught the orange spice of his cologne. “Are you all right?”
“Sure,” I said, trying out a smile. “I’m good. Do I need to handle anything else with the people from Seattle being arrested? You are arresting them, aren’t you?”
“I most certainly am. Breaking and entering to begin with, using magic with intent to harm, then every other charge I can think of. They will stay securely behind bars for a few days. Have you had any luck with cleansing the wells?”
“There’s only one left to go,” I said with a confidence I did not feel. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Do you have everyone in place in case more people are coming down from Seattle?”
“We do. Seattle, LA, or anywhere else. They’ll never get past the airports or across the borders without us detaining them. We’ve made the city as safe, prepared, and as aware as we can be.”
His eyes narrowed a little in concern. “Nola’s worried about you. She gave me this, in case I saw you.”
He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie covered in plastic wrap. He handed me the cookie.
I glanced down at it. She had arranged the chocolate chips in the shape of a smiley face.
I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Is she okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “Worried.”
“If you see her before I do, tell her I’m fine.”
“I’ll do that,” he said.
He hesitated, then looked down at the pavement before deciding something and looking back up at me.
“In case I haven’t said it, I’m sorry, Allie. For not believing you when you first came to me and told me about the things going on with magic, and the people working behind it all. For a man who has spent most of his career trying to track down illegal magic, and trusting Hounds to help him do so, it took me far too long to believe in you.”
“It’s okay,” I said faintly. “It is a little hard to believe.”
“I should have listened. I trust you, Allie. And when this is done, I hope we can be friends.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Especially if you’re marrying my best friend.”
That caught him by such surprise, he took a step backward. Then a huge grin spread across his face. “Well. Then we’re definitely going to become friends.”
“Good,” I said.
“Detective!” someone called from across the garage.
“If you need me,” he said, already walking away, “call. Anytime.”
I would have responded, but my second wind was so depleted, my vision was starti
ng to go a little foggy at the edges.
“So,” I said to Victor and Zay. “All that’s left is purifying and locking the Death well. Hurray.”
“And to deal with Leander and Isabelle if they arrive,” Victor added.
“Oh, I’m sure they will,” I said. “We’ll have to take them down without magic. I’m thinking SWAT team, fire hoses and Tasers. Can I please sit down now?”
Zayvion moved past me to the van and opened the side door so I could get in. I crawled in, and lay across the middle seat. Stone hopped in after me and rubbed his head on my thigh. I scratched between his ears. “You’re a good boy, Stone. You saved me from falling. Good job.”
He flicked his ears up and burbled happily, then trotted around to the backseat.
“Shall I look into the assault forces at our command?” Victor asked.
“Yes. I know it’s two powerful magic users possessing one body, but without magic, it’s only one human, mortal body. If we can restrain her, or hell, shoot her with a tranquilizer dart, we might have a chance to make them unpossess her body.”
“Even incorporeal, they are powerful,” he said.
“I know. That’s why Zay and I and Shame and Terric are going to throw them back into death.”
“With magic?”
I nodded, then rubbed at my eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. Sweet hells, I was tired. “After we cleanse the wells, we’ll have three disks left. They don’t know that, don’t know about the disks. We should be able to tap that magic, and use it to open a gate to death, bind them, and kick them over the threshold and into death where they belong.”
I yawned and unwrapped my cookie. “How’s that sound?”
“Brilliant,” Victor said from a soft distance.
I took a bite of the cookie and closed my eyes. Sugar, butter, vanilla, with just a hint of toasty brown sugar, and pockets of deep, rich chocolate. Heaven. Nola should worry more often.
“I had my doubts on closing down magic,” Victor was saying, “but I think it might be just enough to throw them off, limit their abilities, and give us the upper hand. You’re doing very well with this leadership role, Allison.”
“Yay, me,” I mumbled. “Someone wake me up when we get to the Death well, okay?” I didn’t even hear an answer, or get another bite of cookie, before I fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
“How many do you see?” Zayvion asked.
“What’s more than a swarm?” Shame said.
“A mob?” Terric suggested.
“No, like if a girl mob met a boy mob and then they decided to repopulate the earth with billions of baby mobs, how many is that?”
“Too many,” Zay said. “Are we talking thousands?”
There was a pause, then from Shame, “Yes.” And that was his serious voice.
“We go in anyway,” Zay said.
“Not without a plan we don’t.”
“Damn,” Terric said.
“What?”
“You, Flynn? Planning? Now I believe it’s the end of the world.”
“We could always tell Collins to stroll out there and crank up his gate-making gizmo. See what happens,” Shame said. “I bet they would find it very interesting.”
“He is not expendable,” Zay said. “Yet. And Davy and Sunny would be injured.”
“Well, we could warn them,” Shame said.
“I just don’t see how, Zayvion,” Terric said.
“Maybe a Grounding spell?” Zay suggested.
“For that many?” Terric paused a second. “No. At best you’d knock yourself out.”
Okay, that was enough of that. I had no idea what they were talking about. And since they were also talking too loudly for me to ignore, I opened my eyes.
I was in the van, in the same position I’d fallen asleep in, the cookie clutched tightly in my hand.
The engine was not running. Hadn’t we left yet?
“What are you talking about?” I muttered.
“Veiled,” Shame supplied. “A fuckload of them.”
“Fuckload is good,” Terric said.
“Shame says the grounds are covered in Veiled,” Zay said.
“What grounds? Tell me someone has coffee.”
“We did not take the time to stop for your latte, your highness,” Shame said. “And we’re at the cemetery.”
I sat up, glanced out the window. It was still night. We were outside the cemetery and inside the van for good reason. There was a fuckload of Veiled beyond that iron-fenced gate.
“It’s kind of pretty,” I said, wolfing down the rest of my cookie.
Shame was sitting behind me. He leaned forward. “Dead people are pretty? Well, that explains your attraction to the emotionless, stoic types.”
Zay, in the front seat, just shook his head.
“Maybe you don’t see them the way I do,” I said. Then, “Wait. You see them, Shame? Without a Sight spell?”
He inhaled. Thought better of whatever he was going to say, and just said, “Yes.”
It must be a side effect of what Death magic had done to him. Of whatever it was he had become.
“Do you see them, Terric?”
“No. Only Shame and you see them. We’ve agreed it’s not worth drawing their attention by casting a Sight spell.”
“Good choice,” I said. The Veiled were always hungry for magic. We’d closed down every network, every cistern, and almost every well. It only made sense that they’d be here, swarming around the crypt, drinking from the last resource in Portland.
“Do you see thousands?” Terric asked.
“At least a thousand,” I said. “It’s hard to tell. They’re…well, I see them as sort of water-colored people shapes. Kind of ghostly, but with holes where their eyes should be and serrated teeth in their mouths.”
“Pretty much dead on,” Shame said. “And now that we agree on what they look like, we need an idea for getting into that crypt and taking care of the well.”
“They’ll be drawn to the disks,” I said.
Zay shook his head. “Maybe not. They’re right here and the Veiled haven’t come close to the van.”
“So maybe they don’t sense the magic in them because the well has more and easier magic to access?” I said.
“A sound theory,” Terric said. “Which means they might not even bother us. Until we close the well.”
“Will they disappear when we do that?” I asked. “I mean, like ghosts?”
“I don’t think it’s just magic that keeps them here,” Shame said, his voice low, as if dragging old memories out of a long, dark drawer. “They would be here even if there was no magic. But they are hungry. For magic. Or life. Either will sate them.”
“Okay,” I said, “so here’s an idea. We are not going to use magic until we get to the well. Hopefully, they won’t be interested in us. We get to the well and open it. I’m sure that will catch their attention, but I don’t care if they all dive into it. I’ll cast the purification spell. That’s when things might get tricky. We’ll need to keep them off Stone, and off the magic inside of him. Zay, I want you to open the well. Shame and Terric, you’ll deal with the Veiled. Kill them, distract them, hell, make them waltz, just keep them off Stone. Once the well is purified, Zay, I want you to close it.”
“What about the Veiled?” Zay asked. “If Shame’s right”—he shifted in the seat so he could look back at both of us—“then once the well is closed, the Veiled will turn toward the living and begin draining them.”
“Right.” I dragged my fingers through my hair, thinking. My hands were shaking a little. “I don’t know. Ideas?”
No one said anything.
“Have you asked your father?” Zay asked quietly.
I shook my head. “He’s not…I don’t know. That last spell really took a lot out of him. I don’t think he’s conscious.”
“I think you’d better ask,” Shame said. “That’s Davy’s car over there, isn’t it?”
I squint
ed past the headlights slowly rolling our way. “Yes,” I said. “Give me a minute. Don’t let them do anything stupid, okay?”
Zay opened the door. “I’ll go talk to them.”
The cool air gave me chills. I was sweating, not hot, just tired, hurting, and all around uncomfortable. My dad wasn’t the only person that last spell had taken a lot out of.
The weaving and shifting colors of the Veiled not far beyond the window was distracting, so I closed my eyes.
Dad, are you awake?
Silence. Then the distinct feeling of pain, but distant, and not my own, rolled through my thoughts. I could almost hear his thoughts as he steeled himself to be conscious, aware, and focused enough to cast magic. He knew he had to pull himself up for this last effort.
It frightened me how difficult that was for him.
Dad? Okay, now I was concerned. I’d never felt him so ragged, so weak in all my life. Do you need help? Can I help you?
I…Give me a moment, Allison, he said softly. Just a moment more.
I’ll try, I said. We don’t have a lot of time.
I opened my eyes.
“Any luck with the old man?” Shame was sitting next to me now, his legs stretched out between the two front seats of the van.
“He’s…he needs a minute.”
Shame’s eyebrows lifted. “Really. Your da needs a minute? For what? A shower and a shave?”
“We’ve all been working hard, Shame,” I said. “He’s been doing everything we’ve been doing, only dead and in someone else’s brain. If he needs a minute, I’ll give him one.”
“Maybe you’re right, Ter,” Shame said. “It is the end of the world. Beckstrom’s gone soft on her dear ol’ da.”
“I’m not soft on him,” I said evenly. “But I don’t want him to decide to let go and slip into death right when we most need his knowledge.”
Terric, in the front seat, nodded. “Were you able to ask him if the Veiled are going to go after people if there’s no magic available to them?”
“Not yet.”
Zay climbed back into the car and sat sideways—well, as much as those shoulders of his allowed him to—and looked back at me.
“Davy, Sunny, and Collins will wait for our signal. Collins said the device he’s rigged up runs on electricity, and is only triggered by magic. So once it starts, they won’t need more magic to fuel it.”