“You said no names, Spencer,” Jana snapped.
Jana clearly didn’t like Spencer.
Harzl turned back toward the wizard to see that he had a wand out and pointed at him.
Stupidly rude.
“You don’t know much about trolls, do you?” Harzl said.
The wizard responded with a knitted brow. The shifter laughedas she crossed behind Harzl and looked behind the counter. “Trolls are not affected by magick, Spencer, your wand is useless against him.”
It was true. Trolls were immune to most forms of magick involving witches and wizards. They could only be compelled by certain kinds of shifter magick, and even then it was minimal. A being could use a human weapon, but guns did not fire in the Liminal; it was a permanent spell installed long ago. Someone could use a bladed weapon, but trolls had thick skin and were strong enough to beat down most attackers. Any kind of fight in the Liminal system wasn’t smart, as the trains did not take kindly to violence.
Harzl crossed his muscled arms across his chest and stared hard at the wizard. “Why are you here?” he asked with a rumble in his voice.
The wizard looked momentarily embarrassed, then cleared his throat. “That pair are runaways who need to be returned to their parents. I’ve been asked to find and return them. Safely, of course.”
“The flyer says the boy is a child and the female his nanny.”
“It is... incorrect.”
Harzl turned to the shifter named Jana as she stepped back from the counter and narrowed her eyes at the men’s room. The scent trail probably told her that the girl with the glamour had cut the phone wire. Which was curious because a glamour spell had a scent a shifter could detect, and the young woman had been on the train with them.
“Why is he here? And why areyou, a shifter, helping a wizard?”
“Say nothing, Jana,” the wizard snapped. “I’ll handle this.”
The shifter glanced at Harzl as she walked back toward the train. “The two belong to a very powerful man who employs him. I’m here because I owe Spencer a favor... but I’m considering walking away.”
The train door slid open as though offering her a way out. Jana stepped back in surprise, which was odd if she knew about trolls, but not trains.
Harzl realized the train should have already left the station and was waiting for him to give the “all clear” signal, but where was the inspector? Had he misheard the train?
Spencer crossed to Jana and put his hand on her arm. “You can’t afford to walk away. Now please fetch those kids out of the bathroom where they are clearly hiding,” he said in a surprisingly tender voice.
“No being owns another. Get on the train and leave,” Harzl demanded.
“We can’t,” Jana said.
“The train will not leave unless I clear it to leave,” Harzl stated.
“I will have you fired,” the arrogant wizard stated.
“You can complain to my manager,afteryou leave.”
“Oh, I will,” the wizard said, and gave Jana a small push.
She locked eyes with Harzl, smiled slyly, and spoke a few words of Gothic as she began to take off her trench coat.
Her eyes were brown and gold, the pupils large, and they held his gaze as she disrobed. She was beautiful. What had she said? Something about enchantment? He should have paid more attention when his grand-auntie was teaching the old languages. Why couldn’t he take his eyes off her? Why couldn’t he move? Was she something more than wolfen?
Suddenly, she sprayed something into his face, and his eyes burned! Harzl pulled back, twisting away. He heard more words in Gothic, and his arms felt like lead. He fell to the ground and called out, “I unravel your wretched words!” It was a spell the witch next door had taught him. He didn’t know if it would work.
A door slammed open. Snori barked and growled. A womanscreamed. The boy yelled and threatened. A thick white fog of something soothing formed around his head. His arms felt less heavy. He could hear a low hum of music. Something his grand-auntie used to sing. Was it Scottish? A woman’s face formed in the cloud and reached a hand down to him, wiping his face. Was he dreaming?
Snori was giving someone a very hard time.
Harzl struggled up, his eyes mostly cleared; it had to have been bear spray. The mist was so thick he couldn’t see more than two feet in front of him.
