The screen went black.
She jerked back. “What the hell?”
Zane cursed and touched the onyx stud, which blinked with a dark flash as he snarled, “Call back.”
When ringing came from the phone in his hand, Cass realized the stud was a magical earbud.
There was a click, then a female voice snapped, “Don’t give me shit. They used a jammer. I don’t have time to unscramble it.”
“We need to know where they are.”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” came the irate response. “I’m going through interior feeds now, but it’s a bitch to stitch the videos together.”
“We’re five minutes out,” Grayson warned.
“I’ll have something when you arrive.” The line went dead.
No one spoke as Grayson gave the cabbies a run for their money. By the time he put the car in park at the valet station, he’d earned four flipped fingers, one red-faced rant, and three blaring horns, but the three of them had arrived in one piece. Grayson pulled in behind an SUV unloading a family and their luggage. They got out, and Grayson handed the keys to an attendant.
Zane demanded in a low voice, “Where are they?”
Cass glanced his way and realized he was back on the line with Candace.
As soon as Grayson joined them, they headed inside. The wide door swept open, releasing a wave of cool air with notes of sandalwood and spice. Ornate chandeliers lined the towering curve of the lobby, their light spilling over fresco-covered walls. Some sort of string music was playing under the low roar of voices, and every now and then, a blast of bells and rings from the casino floor that dominated the space beyond the check-in desks would cut through the din.
Zane led them across the tile floor and through the maze of luggage piles and the walking disasters of tourists too busy craning their heads to take in their surroundings.
“Why here?” Cass asked Grayson, who was keeping pace at her side.
“I don’t know.” He caught her arm, bringing her closer to him, as a bellhop swept by with a luggage cart piled too high to see around.
Zane cut through the casino floor, winding his way between the crowded tables and lines of clamoring machines. Despite how large the casino floor was, the air was warm, almost suffocating, as Cass did her best to keep up with Zane. There were people everywhere, which made it hard to stick close. She checked behind her and spotted a frowning Grayson about twenty feet back, stuck behind someone in a motorized scooter. She didn’t want to lose him or Zane. She slowed, trying to stay between the two of them. Laughter and excitement gave the floor a carnival air. Hostesses decked out in ornate feathered masks and provocative uniforms loosely based on masquerade-ball designs just added to the atmosphere. The servers waltzed among the masses, smiles wide, eyes bright, their movements graceful despite their towering heels.
Zane’s broad back made a sharp left. Cass was rushing to keep him in sight when a group of businessmen cut in front of her, their attention on a craps table. She pulled up short, and someone bumped into her with enough force to send her stumbling into a bank of slot machines. She caught herself with a hand on the machine’s screen, which was filled with an artistic portrayal of a spinning wheel of fortune, as the toll of a sonorous chime rolled over her. In the screen’s center, under her palm, was a vivid portrayal of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. Cass’s vision blurred.
Crimson a seeping stain across the profile of a black-armored, horned, helmeted Hades.
A lightning strike, then shifting shadows reveal a stern-faced Poseidon standing before a crumbling tower.
Another strike, and now blackened vines drag tower pieces together until it reforms into a crooked version of itself.
A trailing vine of poison ivy slowly writhes through a wheel of eight swords hovering over the haunting visage of Medusa before slowly wrapping itself around the raven-haired Hecate, the waning moon on her brow dimming.
Hecate’s features shift into the haunting gold-eyed, white-haired Hera, her luminous skin cracking as vines force themselves through, leaving ashes in their wake.
“Cass, are you okay?”
Someone grabbed her arm, and the vision cut off like a switch had been thrown. Cass sucked in air as the present resettled around her. Her heart raced under the onslaught of adrenaline, and she couldn’t shake the dread curling through her gut.
Still, she met Grayson’s worried frown and managed a shaky “Yeah, I’m good.”
He looked far from convinced. “You sure?”
There was no time to get into what she’d seen—not when she wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. A warning, definitely, but about what, she didn’t know. She straightened and rubbed where her upper arm had hit the machine. “Yeah.” She looked around. “Where’s Zane?”
“Up ahead.”
Grayson led her over to where the Hunter waited for them impatiently, near a fake potted tree under a sign indicating that the restrooms were to his left. As soon as Cass and Grayson were in front of him, the Hunter said, “We need sublevel two.”
