As Zhang turned onto a wider road, Jade tilted her head. “Colors,” she said. “Intricately woven together in a sort of an abstract design.”
“Anything else?” he said, heart pounding.
She stared for a long moment more. “No,” she finally said honestly. “Is there moretosee?”
“Yes.” Sebastian pulled his wrist back, pulling his sleeve into place and straightening his cufflink. “Jade, could my magic be weakening?”
“It hasn’t felt weak for one moment today,” she said dryly. “I couldn’t lift a thimble around you.”
He snorted softly.
She shifted in the seat to more fully look at him. “You’ve been pouring it out with everything you’ve got for almost an hour. Yes, I can feel that your magic is weak now, but out of your own sheer exhaustion. Is there a reason you think it might be more than that?”
Wesley saw the lion. Mateo thinks he saw my future. What if I can’t keep Mateo out of the future, what if I can’t keep Wesley safe—
Wesley stirred at that moment—because he was able to stir now, despite Sebastian still trying to use as much magic as he could. Because despite everything, Sebastian was faltering.
Where was he going to find more strength?
The ride passed in a blur for Wesley, but he’d caught snippets of the brothers speaking in the backseat with him, their mix of English and Spanish carried on the wind.
I saw you in fire, Mateo had said to Sebastian, clear as day. Alone, surrounded by flames. There was no escape.
Wesley came fully back to himself in York, enough to direct Zhang through the tight streets until he pulled the car up to the curb across from the railway hotel and parked. As the car’s engine eased into quiet, Wesley realized he could hear Sebastian panting like a boxer ten rounds in.
Jade and Zhang exchanged a look, obviously hearing the same thing.
“We’re going to check the train schedule,” Jade said quietly, as the roof of Wesley’s car raised itself, enclosing them in more privacy. “We’ll be right back.”
The two of them disappeared, leaving Wesley with the de Leon brothers. Mateo did look a lot like Sebastian—a little paler, perhaps, his hair darker and curlier, but with the same sleek build and double-take handsomeness that would have had people turning on the street.
Sebastian slipped down from the backseat into the space behind the passenger’s seat. Mateo at least wasn’t babbling nonsense at the moment. He was leaning against the side of the car, and looked like he might be sleeping. But Sebastian was still breathing too hard, and when he looked up at Wesley, his eyes were bleary.
“Damn it, Sebastian.” Wesley leaned forward. “You can’t keep this up anymore than I could sprint for hours unending.”
Sebastian winced. “I can try.”
“You have to rest. Get your strength back up.”
Sebastian shook his head, not in anobut in the way people did when they were hopeless and broken. Because even Sebastian’s magic at full strength had only brought Mateo part of the way back.
“Right.” Wesley sat up straighter. “What’s our plan?”
Sebastian swallowed. “I rest for a moment, and then—”
“No, sorry, that’s not going to work,” Wesley interrupted. “We can’t stay in York now that Blanshard will know full well we broke into his home. You can’t do this alone. We need another plan.”
Sebastian winced. “I have to do it,” he said desperately. “There isn’t another plan.”
“What are you talking about?” said Wesley. “Look, you were breaking your blood terrors with that painting of San Juan, weren’t you, the one you gave my house? What if we take him back to Kensington?”
Sebastian closed his eyes. “I don’t think it will be enough to keep Mateo out of the future.”
“Well, then, what about more of your cousin’s paranormal art? Or more of the familiar? Those were the things you were using; why wouldn’t they work for your brother?”
“Isabel is in Paris,” Sebastian said, in a hoarse whisper. “She might be able to help, yes, but I won’t leave you either, Wesley. Lord Blanshard is going to come for you now, and I’m the only one who can keep you hidden—”
“Wait,” Wesley interrupted, in an irritated whisper. “Are you telling me you think you can’t take your sick brother to your paranormal cousin because it would putmein danger?”
