“Because it’s like a searchlight.”There was no time to instruct her in the fine and patient art of tracking, even if she’d somehow take the lessons without irritation.“And once you see things, they can also see you.Generally.”
“I’ve seen them all my life.”She settled back in her seat, and the worry invading her scent was deep blue.The mark gave him greatly enhanced sensory acuity, but she was almost an open book anyway.“Not while awake, though.You probably guessed that.”
Actually, I didn’t.He would bet her dreams had been vivid, color-saturated, and probably gruesome most of her life.She’d no doubt considered it no big deal, the way any kid thought their family was absolutely normal until they grew up.
No family was, not really.And she didn’t give details about hers.
“You keep things close,” he said, noncommittal, and wished he could feel an active temple’s welcoming, radiating calm.“But your potential’s pretty high.Which is great.You probably avoidedhisservants by chance and minor precognition.”
“Not that it did any good in the end.”She shivered, reached for the heater knob, cast a sideways glance at him, and her hand fell back into her lap.The small movement sent a thin, sharp pain through his chest, right where thesarnakihad driven the spear-claw.
“You cold?”
“Yeah.It’s snowing again.”She was pale.The town rose on either side to swallow them—a GasGo station across the street, its blue and yellow sign glaring in the thickening dimness, a smattering of fast-food restaurants and a Dewdrop Inn ready to service the concrete artery swinging around the city center.As far as he remembered, the temple here was on the northern edge, so he started looking for a major thoroughfare heading that way.“You were right about the dream with the yellow door.I never… well, you were right.”
She’s trusting me.A sudden, suspiciously warm glow in his chest made the discomfort sharper.“I wish we could have moved you earlier.”Scattered flakes thickened again, and he flicked the windshield wipers to a steady speed instead of just occasional clearing sweeps.“Or found you earlier.”
“Kidnapped me, you mean.”But she didn’t sound combative, or even angry.Just sad, and more than a little unnerved.“Erik?”
Let me think.But when aliraispoke, a Son listened.“I’m here, Liv.”
“Something’s wrong.”She hugged herself, palms cupping her elbows, and he realized how drawn and exhausted she looked.Theoneiroswas a plain white eye against her grey sweater, and that wasn’t usual either.“I’m not imagining it, something’s really not right.”
That was when he realized the streets were far too quiet.Rochester was a thriving large town or small city, depending on who you asked, and its Main Street had pretensions to both culture and commerce.The buildings glowed with electric light, but nobody hurried hunch-shouldered along storefronts, trying to escape the storm.Parked cars stood sentinel, most of them swiftly vanishing under falling snow, but a silent menace lingered in the alleys between buildings not quite tall enough to scrape the sky.No bicyclists, no public transport moving, no shadows in the lit windows—it looked like a stage set, and hisliraiwas absolutely right.
“I know.”Hoped to give you a few more minutes without worrying, beautiful.“It’s all right, Liv.This close to a temple, we’re practically home free.”
He was lying, he realized, and it didn’t bother him so long as it kept her calm.
She stirred uneasily, her head turning—Jake was on a rooftop high on their right, which wasn’t the best, tactically speaking.He should have been on the left, setting himself up for a quick hop across more than one office building and a furniture store.
Which meant either he was the traitor or was sensing a trap, and Erik had to make the right call either way.
Oh, shit.He stamped the accelerator, snow tires chirping as they dug in a scrim of slush and ice; the vehicle leapt to obey just as a cold, snarling, invisible mass hit where they had been a moment before.
“Ow!”Liv flinched, though nothing had touched the car, and Erik’s jaw set.
“Hold on.”He twisted the wheel, and if they expected him to stay bound to the road when there were no pedestrians, they were sorely mistaken.The engine guzzled at fuel, translating liquid into motion, and both of them were shoved back into their seats by an invisible hand.
A daylight attack.What in the name of?—
He didn’t have time to finish the thought, because something bulleted from the sky, a streak of gold with a straight, disciplined sword of darkness at its center, and Jake gave battle with a bellow and a spatter of gunfire.
Roulette
Fallingsnow gathered in wet white clumps on windshield wipers; the SUV swayed dangerously as it lurched halfway onto the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding two parking meters and a fireplug.Liv let out a short, blurting scream, her hands flying to her ears as Erik twisted the wheel.The popping noises were gunshots; the SUV’s back window disintegrated as a high, keening cry scraped through her skull, digging in with hideous, misshapen invisible claws.
The sound waswrong, and that wrongness burned.
Liv’s head bobbled as Erik wrenched the wheel again, taking a sharp left and plunging down a street she remembered walking along with her grandmother, bright shop windows on either side and her hand caught in warm safety.The necklace was a steady spot of heat against her shirt, and that comforting touch made the memory clearer, more tangible, filling Liv with fiery steadiness.
The invisible thing digging inside her skull screeched, retreating with a last vicious twist.The necklace’s soft blazing effect dilated, but she didn’t have any time to wonder or worry because Erik sent the SUV into a skidding, looping turn, stamping the gas and exhaling hard as tires bit through slush and fresh snow.
She barely realized she was screaming as Rochester’s downtown, snow-choked and eerily empty, revolved around them and cold air poured through the broken back window.More gunfire popped and pinged as the vehicle’s hind end lifted, dropped with a sickening thump.
He’d run over something.
That’s not good.The sudden grinding lurch turned her stomach over, and the latte she’d had hours ago tried to crawl out her throat.The worst thing was utter helplessness, trapped in a seatbelt while the world went mad around her.
