“Not really. There are some guys here that claim I have some kind of book that belongs to them. I don’t think I do, but they won’t leave without some kind of explanation. They thinkyoumight know more about it.”
“Oh shit…”
“Kizzy!” Her father had heard her swear.
She strode toward his voice and pressed the speaker button on the phone at the same time. When she saw him in the living room, she held her finger in front of her lips, showing him he needed to be quiet.
“Who are these guys, Noah?”
“I don’t know.” After a brief pause, he answered, “They said to call them ‘the entity.’”
Kizzy’s eyes widened, and her father’s face fell. “Oh no. Please let me speak to them.”
Her father reached for the phone, and she swiveled at the waist, keeping it away from him.
“Hang on,” Noah said. “I’m putting you on speaker.”
A familiar voice said, “Hello again. Kizzy, is it? That’s an odd name for an odd girl.”
Damn.It was one of the brutes from that morning. She shouldn’t have let them get away.
“If I’d known you’d be bothering my boyfriend for something he doesn’t have, I wouldn’t have let you run off—like cowards.”
“Oh? And what would you have done instead?”
“Why should I tell you? I might still want to do it.”
The guy laughed. “I don’t think you will. You see, I have hostages. I have a gun trained on your boyfriend, and my partner is holding a knife to his brother’s neck. It’s a big knife too. I’ve seen him use one like it on animals and reptiles—he has sliced living things in half, all the way through and down the middle, without blinking. He’s quite deadly.”
“Noah?” she said, her voice suddenly an octave higher. “Is he telling the truth? Are they holding you at gun and knifepoint?”
“Yes, but don’t let that influence you.”
She almost dropped the phone. “Don’t let…”
Her father grabbed for it again. She got herself under control and stayed out of his reach. Hewouldn’tnegotiate with these guys. He’d tell them to go ahead and do anything they wanted to the Fierros.
“Look, I’ll cooperate. Don’t hurt them. They’re completely innocent. They know nothing about any books. Noah just happened to be visiting me this morning. He still doesn’t know about—anything.”
“Kizzy,” Noah’s voice announced. “Don’t give him what he wants. My brother and I know how to get out of this.”
Both members of the entity laughed. “Your boyfriend is very much at a disadvantage. I think he’s trying to be a hero. You won’t let him sacrifice himself though, will you?”
“Of course I won’t.” Kizzy managed to click the speaker function off before her father could answer for her. He took off into the next room. Maybe he was getting Nick, but there was nothing a PI could do that she couldn’t. She strode back into the kitchen. “Now, let’s talk terms.”
Suddenly, Kizzy heard a loud explosion over the phone, and then silence. She gasped. “Noah?”
When she was met with no sound at all, she cried louder, “Noah!”
Nick rushed into the room with Brandee. She grabbed Kizzy’s hand. “Let’s go!”
Kizzy found herself floating in a cool, hazy place, still holding onto Brandee. Everything was surreal. She seemed to be staring at the immediate aftermath of a giant explosion. Flames leapt from pieces of wood, which were tumbling everywhere, like matchsticks falling to earth. Sparks and smoke flew upward from a dark cloud.
Strangely, out of that, two birds appeared. They were glowing white, but as they flew, they turned brown with the exception of their tails. Almost like the fire they had flown out of, the long feathers were orange, yellow, and red.
“What… Where are the Fierros?” she asked the minor goddess.
Brandee just nodded toward the birds.
