She slipped it over her head, and the stone came to rest against her breastbone. “What is it?”
Grayson caught the stone in his hand and made a fist. A burst of reddish gold seeped through his fingers as he activated it. “Protection amulet. It won’t stop bullets, but it’ll help.” He popped the top of the bottle and handed it to her. “Drink this.”
She brought it to her nose and caught a sharp, earthy, slightly musty odor. She grimaced. “Does it taste like it smells?”
“Just drink it, Cass.” He had another opened bottle in hand and shot it down.
She did the same. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. The flavor of nuts offset the pungent bite. She coughed a bit with the aftertaste. “It’s like some weird radish.”
“It’s an antitoxin potion. The base element is burdock root, hence the radish thing.” He took the now empty bottle from her and put it back in the box. “It won’t completely stop Dana’s magic from taking hold, but it will give me enough time to counter whatever she throws at us.”
“Okay, so we’ve got Dana covered. What about the Slider?”
Grayson touched the butt of the gun at his back. “This will keep him from going anywhere.”
“And whoever else is with them…?”
He went back to the compartment and pulled out what looked like silvery eggs. “These are flash-bangs.” He handed her one and put the other in his pocket. “All you have to do is break them, preferably near whoever you want to distract. They’ll leave a person blind and deaf for a few moments. Hopefully, that’s long enough to even the odds.”
She rolled the flash-bang over her palm. It was cool and surprisingly heavy. “How close does it have to get?”
“Just aim for the ground near them.” Grayson closed the compartment, replaced the liner, and lowered the trunk lid until he could press it closed.
He turned to her, and under the faint orange glow of the streetlight, he searched her face. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but she knew what she wanted and needed. She closed the few inches between them, caught his face, and brought it to hers for a long, sweet kiss. It steadied her, that touch. When she felt like she was holding herself together with a wish and a prayer, his presence—his taste—gave her an anchor. He let her have it for a moment, then he took over, his hands going to her hips and pulling her in until she could feel him, hot and solid against her, as she rose on her toes to meet his hunger with hers. When she finally pulled back, she was breathing hard, and her pulse was pounding.
“Promise me you’ll be careful,” she whispered fiercely.
He dropped his forehead against hers. “I promise, so long as you do the same.”
“I will.”
His grip on her hips tightened as he drew back and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Okay, let’s do this.”
He stepped back and, with a murmur, ignited a ball of soft illumination. It hung in the air at waist level, providing enough light for them to see where they were going. The light stayed with Grayson as he started out at a near jog that Cass was able to easily match. Halfway down the block, they cut through a series of empty lots, the dirt muffling their footsteps. They hit the street where the spell told them Dana would be, which was lined with half-finished homes. They made their way past dumpsters—some empty, some overflowing—and skirted more debris piles as they stepped over a low line of bricks delineating the lots, which sported hooked rebar like rusted antennas.
As Cass followed Grayson, she kept an eye out for anything she could use as a weapon. Charms and potions were great and all, but she would feel better with something that could make someone think twice. She was starting to worry she was out of luck when Grayson cut through the open framing of a house on a corner. They went in through the garage and down what was probably a hall. Wire cables hung from the open ceiling, and stubby pipes poked up from a floor littered with nails and staples and other things that rolled underfoot. They were passing a room that could have been a bedroom, or maybe an office, when something glinted under the ball of light. Cass touched Grayson’s back. He stopped and turned, the light following his movement. She inched into the room and found a piece of cut pipe about two feet long, which she picked up. It was almost too big to hold in one hand, but with two… she took a couple of experimental swings, feeling the rough metal bite into her palms. Doable. Definitely doable.
When she rejoined him, Grayson whispered, “Feel better?”
“Much.”
He shook his head, and they stepped out of the hall and into the wide-open space that stretched along the rear of the house. Unlike the front half, the rest of the back half was dubiously enclosed in plywood, except for a wide gap filled with strips of heavy plastic that rustled in the breeze. Thick posts were shoved under the joist that ran along what was supposed to be the living room. The cracked cement floor was littered with nails, staples, bits and pieces of tubing, and splintered wood. The space spilled into what had to be the kitchen, based on the pipes jutting up in front of the half-finished lower cabinet on the back wall.
Grayson doused his ball of light and stuck to the shadows as he picked his way into the bumped-out space off the kitchen. Cass followed him to a large framed window with a straight view into the house behind it, and when he dropped to a crouch, she did the same. As she peered through the empty window, she could make out the shadowed exterior of the house behind them. It was further along in its construction than the one they hid in. The exterior plywood walls were wrapped in chicken wire, and sheets of wood on the roof held scattered piles of tiles. The waning moonlight glinted off the broken glass in two large windows on the far side, both of which were blocked by something paler than plywood—most likely sections of drywall. A sliver of light leaked from the edges, yet no light spilled over on the opposite interior side, where a dark gaping hole stood in place of the intended patio door.
Huddled next to Grayson, Cass murmured, “Is she in there?”
“According to the tracking spell, yeah.” Grayson continued to study the house behind them.
Cass’s pulse beat heavily in her ears, and the urgency to rush in to confirm that her mom was still alive beat at her. The only thing holding her back was the annoying voice of logic pointing out that she had no idea what she would be facing, and getting killed wouldn’t do a damn bit of good for anyone.
Grayson cocked his head, his eyes narrowing. “Do you hear that?”
She shook her head even as she evened out her breathing, searching, and finally finding, a bit of calm. As the rush of adrenaline faded, she strained her ears and kept her eyes on the thin line of light. The breeze shifted, bringing with it murmurs, and a shadow interrupted the seeping line of light. She tightened her sweaty hold on the pipe.
“Head’s killing me…” a woman whined.
Dana.
