“Shiloh’s a decent sniper. She took down a fanghead out front,” Eli said. “Silver-lead rounds. I sent Thema todecapitate him.” Eli paused, breathing slowly. “When thehedgefell, they came in through the back and cut Lincoln in half. Nearly killed him. If it wasn’t for Shiloh and Edmund...” More softly he said, “They took the kid.”
“Not your fault, either,” I managed, feeling for my belly and the deep gash that had been there. I encountered only bloody clothing and smooth flesh. It was still tender and felt like I was brushing ground glass across it when I touched the fresh scar. But I’d live.
“They raced in through the fallen ward,” Evan said, “timewalking. They cut Lincoln. Stabbed the werewolf with silver. And took my son.”
Alex said, “They didn’t move like Janie. They were less timewalking and more time-skipping. Here and then gone and reappearing a moment later in a different spot.”
Angie pushed away from her father’s arms. She was sweat-soaked and the stench of her anger burned the air. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I tried to save us. But EJ wouldn’t wake up. I carried the baby to Unca Lincoln, who was hurt. I opened a ward over them. I was going back to get EJ, but...” Tears spilled down her face. “The vampires got there first. I couldn’t save my brother.”
“No, sweetums. This is not your fault.” Big Evan pulled a hankie from his pocket and wiped his daughter’s face. “Not your fault. Not at all.”
“It is. The vampires put a light on us. I made mine go out, but EJ’s chest was glowing like a light.”
“A witch finder,” Big Evan said softly. Pressing the handkerchief into Angie Baby’s hand, he looked up to me. He reached up and removed a leather thong from around his neck. Hanging from it, a marble was encased in a macramé basket, looking remarkably like the one in EJ’s pocket. I blinked at it. “Witch finders are devices that draw on an unshielded witch’s personal energies and glow so they can be tracked. They were used extensively in the Dark Ages during the fangheads’ ethnic cleansing of witches, but we’ve never seen one here. The moment thehedgefell, the vamps knew where my children were.” With a finger he spun the marble and said,“Persequor.”In Beast’s sight, I saw a tendril of power flow from thewitch into the marble. It glowed brightly and pulled hard to the left. “It’s following EJ. Following the matching marble charm he has in his pocket.”
“Oh,” I whispered. “Right. The charm.” Hope of finding EJ shot through me. “I could take that and track him in animal form.”
Hope and then anguish flashed across Big Evan’s face. He said, “No. It’s tied to me, to my magic. If I had the time, I could modify it and make that work, but... we don’t have time.” The marble went dim and stopped moving. The big witch stank of rage and frustration and helplessness. The entire room stank of fury and guilt and failure, the stench coming from all of us. “The full diameter of the tracking device is only one mile. They just passed that.” Evan looked down at me. “He was moving north at speed.”
“North,” I whispered.Better than nothing.
Molly shoved to her feet, raced from the suite, and outside. I pulled myself to my feet and followed, leaning on the wall for support. She was standing on the back stoop. She screamed. Her death magics rippled out, a wavering, half-controlled beam of black light. The three evergreen fir trees nearest the tree line began to wither. To dry. They crumbled. A dozen closer to the sweathouse browned and dropped needle leaves; bark cracked and fell.
Evan set me aside as if I weighed less than his daughter and began to play his flute, the same kind of soothing anti-magic he had made for were-creatures. The Everhart witch clan all appeared, human and witch sisters, gathering on the stoop to huddle behind Big Evan. The witch twins were enraged, magics boiling around them like heat off a hot road. The human sisters were carrying enough firepower to supply a platoon of warriors, and both girls sported bruises. Their eyes look odd. I wondered fleetingly if the vamps had knocked them out getting to EJ.
Angie threw her arms around my hips and I slid down the wall to cradle her on my lap. “It’s my fault. The bad guy came in so fast,” Angie whispered, tears shining in her eyes. “Brute jumped on him, but the other vampireman got behind the werewolf and hurt him bad. I picked up Cassy. EJ was running to us. But the bad man grabbed my brother. He put a hand over EJ’s face so he couldn’t scream.” Her face crumpled, her tears flowing freely.
My hands fisted. I wanted to hit something, but I had to be calm and controlled. Adult.
Angie said, “I screamed and opened a protection ward over Cassy and Unca Shaddock and me. He... he... he...” Her words stuttered into a sob and she wiped her tear-streaked face before she could continue. “The man said he’d give me EJ if I gave him Cassy. But he was lying. I knew he was lying. He wanted us all.”
Her tears were hot on my skin. I stroked her sweaty hair, not knowing what comfort she needed.
“If I let down my ward, we were all gonna be hurt. I didn’t have enough magic, Ant Jane. I didn’t have enough workings to save us and save EJ and stop the vampire too. I wasn’t good enough. My brother is gone. I messed up, Ant Jane. I messed up bad.”
“Angie,” I whispered, “your dad is right. It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. They fooled us. They got past me.”
“You gotta save my brother. He’s not really a pain.” Angie started hiccupping through her tears. “I really love him. You gonna save him?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m going to save him.” I pushed away from the wall, carrying Angie back to the bed, where I placed her near her baby sister, and made my way to our bedroom. No one followed. I removed my weapons and packed a small gobag with a cell phone, a charger, my medicine bag, two silver stakes, and a thin T-shirt and pants. I pulled off my gold-nugget-and-mountain-lion-claw necklace and added into the mix a talon I hadn’t used recently, one with a tiny bit of dried tissue on the fleshy end. I wrapped the gold chain tightly around the strap of the gobag. Slung it over my shoulder.
Bare-pawed, I went to Alex’s desk. He was in an electronic face-to-face meeting, had three text message threads going, and was on the phone for a conference call. He was busy. I handwrote a note and tucked it into his palm. He opened it, scowled, shook his head no at me.I waved my fingers at him and he scowled some more. He mouthed,I’ll let Eli know.
I nodded and went to the kitchen, where I raided the refrigerator, taking a small raw steak and a high-calorie, high-protein sport shake.
Without telling anyone else what I was doing, I left the house. Ran through the crusty snow, my breath a billowing cloud behind me, my footsteps crunching as I ran. At the pool, I walked along the downed tree, out over the water, and down to the far shore. I set down my bag and grabbed the end of the log. Lifted it with all my half-form strength and stepped back from the water. The log end on the higher shore slipped and splashed down into the water. Eli would be after me fast, probably trying to talk me out of this. He’d have to figure out another way across the creek, which would give me an extra five minutes. By then I’d be gone. I raced upstream, looking for a good rock, small enough to lift, large enough to take mass, clean and free of moss. This time of year, finding bare rock wasn’t hard. I found one, water-shaped into a small rounded boulder, maybe two hundred pounds, balanced on two similar rocks. I shoved it hard, putting my back into it, and it fell, dropping ten feet to rocks below, cracking open to reveal much lighter, rough granite in a paler charcoal color.
Brushing the snow away, I placed the steak on one of the remaining frozen stones. I stripped and laid my clothes on the topmost stone. Sat on the cloth, the cold instantly working its way through to my bare bottom, my paw-feet dangling over the ten-foot drop. I scratched the gold nugget on the rough face of rock, depositing a tiny amount of gold, so I could find it easily again. The nugget I carried worked like a homing beacon to my skinwalker nature, binding the scratch of gold to itself.
I texted Alex four words.I’m ready. Follow me.
Adjusting the strap of the gobag to its smallest size, I hung it on a branch at belly level, close enough to touch, and tucked the necklace into the gobag. I took up the talon as shivers shook through me. I fingered the raptor claw. Closed my eyes. Relaxed. Listened to the night. Felt the pull of the waxing moon growing toward fullness,hidden by the snow clouds. I listened to the beat of my heart.
I breathed, slowing my body’s functions, my heart rate dropping, my muscles relaxing in meditation. I pulled my knees into a yogi position and breathed, hands on thighs, arms at my sides in the frozen air.
Quietly, inside me, Beast murmured,Save kit. Even if Jane loses Beast.
Saving the kid. That’s the idea. But losing you is not part of the deal. I’m not losing you. You remember how you saved us in the chasm, when we fell, and the boulders dropped? Like that. Hang on.
