Patrick didn’t know what they’d find at the center of the spell, but he could guess. If it was anything like in Cairo, it wasn’t going to be pretty, and they’d need space to maneuver.
Patrick checked the time on his phone, glad to see he was getting signal again. Lucien had finally done something with an artifact that allowed radiofrequency waves to pass through the threshold surrounding Ginnungagap unhindered. The connection was weak, but they had one again. Right now, they needed to get the coins set before midnight hit and summer solstice began.
“Three hours,” Patrick said. “Maybe the go-bags can wait.”
He retrieved his black leather jacket from the duffel bag on the card table. It’d been buried at the bottom of his suitcase in the apartment, but Nadine had found it and brought it along with her. One of the first things he’d bought after joining the SOA, the weight of the jacket was comforting. Patrick hadn’t been wearing it recently due to the hot weather, but he always traveled with it.
The charms set into the jacket—heat and cold and durability—made him wince when he pulled it on. Without his shields, everything that had to do with magic felt a little rough on his soul.
It didn’t take long to gather the others in the middle of the warehouse. Emma, Leon, Sage, and Marek peeled away from their pack. Carmen and Lucien weren’t ones to be left out, and Jono was a shadow Patrick couldn’t shake if he tried.
“The coins need to be set at the cardinal points before midnight. It doesn’t matter that some of you don’t have magic,” Patrick said as he dug the coins out of his pocket.
“You sure about that?” Emma asked as she extended her hand.
Patrick handed out a pair of coins each to Nadine and Lucien, Emma and Leon, and Carmen and Sage. He kept four for himself, two for the cardinal point and two he’d carry with him into the fight.
“The gods on our side have a stake in this fight, and they can’t afford to lose. The coins carry some of the Greek pantheon’s magic, so odds are they’ll work how we need them to.”
“You hope,” Nadine said as she pocketed her coins. “We’ll take the west cardinal point.”
“South,” Carmen said.
Leon shrugged. “East, I guess.”
“I’m texting you all the coordinates so you can plug it into your GPS apps on your phones,” Marek said as he approached, staring intently at his own.
Phones beeped one after the other with incoming texts. Patrick checked their coordinates and the route they’d need to take. Their designated area north of here was the farthest away.
“Marek, can we borrow your car?” Jono asked.
“Sure.” Marek pulled his keys from his pocket and removed just the car key, keeping the rest. He tossed it to Jono. “Don’t scratch it.”
“Cheers.”
Nadine shrugged into her lightweight waterproof jacket and zipped it all the way to her throat. “Let’s go.”
Patrick zipped up his own leather jacket as everyone headed for the door. Lucien’s vampires would keep working under Einar’s guidance, and the rest of the Tempest pack would follow Marek’s orders.
The moment Lucien pushed open the door, the howling wind nearly slammed it shut again. Patrick ducked his head against the pounding rain coming down sideways when he finally stepped outside. He looked up at the sky out of reflex when lightning flashed through the storm clouds, followed by the rumble of thunder.
“Bit wet out,” Jono said. He grabbed Patrick’s hand in his and started for the mouth of the alleyway. “I’ll show you where Marek parked.”
None of them wanted to be out in this weather, so everyone made a run for their respective vehicles. Patrick followed Jono’s lead, the two of them racing down the sidewalk for half a block until they reached Marek’s car.
“I’m driving,” Patrick said.
“You know how to drive manual?” Jono asked as he tossed Patrick the small set of keys.
“If I didn’t, you’d be driving. I don’t think Marek would appreciate me stripping the gears.”
“Hope he doesn’t whinge about the water damage to his seats.”
“He’s rich. He can afford the fix.”
They got inside the relative dryness of the vehicle. Patrick started the engine and the Maserati rumbled to life. He waited just long enough for Jono to buckle up before pulling into the street.
The Greek coins in his pocket clinked together every time Patrick pressed down on the clutch, navigating through saturated Manhattan streets. The window wipers were going at full speed, but the rain was coming down so hard it was still difficult to see anything. Patrick had to concentrate on the road as he followed the GPS map on his phone for the NY 9A North onramp.
