Page 87 of Huntress

Water magic.

It had his serial number, birth date, and enlistment date, as well as his rank and squad information.

All fae were dangerous, but the water-based species were especially unpredictable, so they hadn’t caught any for the original breeding program. This meant water magic wasn’t common among hunters.

Elsie knew Levi. She and her squad had worked, practiced, and played alongside Albright’s many times. His watery blue magical signature stood out among the moon and earth users around him. She’d be able to track him easily; all she had to do was figure out where he’d left the barrier.

As they searched, it occurred to her that she’d need a rogue hunter’s file to get inside their heads. She checked it again to see whether or not he could jump. Luckily, Albright’s volunteer wasn’t capable. Others in the future might, though.

She scanned down, looking for any known abilities he’d cultivated with his water magic. Levi could use his magic in combat, but he required a nearby water source. A limiter that would help her find him. He’d probably stick close to rivers and streams, since they allowed him to keep moving while giving him access to his biggest strength.

“Got it!” she said as they looped around the north side of the compound. He’d exited the barrier here and gone straight north. She started jogging, eyes on the ground but aware enough to avoid running into trees once they left the dead zone around the barrier.

“How much of a head start do targets usually have?” she asked.

“On average, about two and a half weeks,” Albright said. “Their squad investigates to ensure they haven’t been killed and eaten by anything, and there’s the bureaucratic nonsense of getting the information up the chain of command to Mordane. Factor in the distance between you and their last known location, and it can be as much as three to four weeks.”

He was going easy on her with this first run. Two weeks from now Levi’s trail would be patchy at best, assuming it hadn’t rained. Three weeks from now it would be almost non-existent as the land itself absorbed the remnants of his left-behind magic.

They ran straight north for several miles, and then he shifted, heading northeast. Not long after, the topography changed. The land was slowly sloping downhill, and she knew exactly what that meant. Levi was already looking for water. She hadn’t expected him to go for it this soon, but the guy was a geographer. Her assumption that this would be an easy game had been prematurely cocky.

“Did he know how long he’d have before I started after him?” Elsie asked.

“Yes. He knows that sometime before lunch today you’ll be on your way.”

Plenty of time to plan and devise ways to throw off the trail. Unlike other hunters who didn’t know her, Levi was aware of her ability to track demons using their magical signatures.

A mile later, they encountered a stream, and Elsie cursed. His trail ended at the edge. He’d done exactly what she’d been hoping he wouldn’t. Levi had gone into the water. Upstream headed straight east, while downstream moved northwest.

“Is there a map in that file you gave me?” she asked, and Albright shrugged.

“You knew you were going to be tracking someone down, and you failed to pack a map?”

“I thought you were here to teach me.”

“I already taught you how to reach the top and shouldn’t need to coddle you,” he said. She held out her hand, and he produced one from his bag. Saint raised an eyebrow.

“He didn’t say no,” she answered the demon’s unasked question while unfolding the map. Quickly locating the compound, she dragged her finger north, then northeast, until she found the stream.

It was a twisty thing, doubling back for miles in some places, following the flow of the surrounding hills. Downstream, it dropped back toward the compound before swerving west and emptying into a lake, while upstream eventually ran into its source. A wide river, with a delta where it merged with a second river less than twenty miles from where the stream branched off.

“With his magic, that river is like a transit hub,” Elsie muttered aloud. “There are so many advantages for him; it has to be the direction he’s headed.”

Albright said nothing, but the slight crinkling around his eyes was all the confirmation she needed. Elsie ran for it, following the stream’s edge where she could, jumping in and running through it where the terrain and plant life made it impossible.

The sun had dropped low in the sky by the time they reached the river. Elsie and the others slogged out of the water, goosebumps on their skin.

“We’ll get to high ground in case he decides to throw a storm at us,” she decided. Their current location was far too vulnerable to flooding.

She turned toward the trees when a faintly glowing splotch about twenty feet up shore caught her eye. They encountered several false leads along the way, and while she’d been too confident in her decision to turn back, the nagging fear that she was wrong had grown.

Elsie walked over, scrutinizing the little patch of grass Levi’s hand had definitely touched.

“YES!” she whooped, wiggling in excitement on the spot. “He was here!”

Her eyes cast about, searching for more evidence of his presence, but he’d either cleaned up after himself or carried on. Saint watched her, one corner of his mouth curled upward.

“Do you want to keep going?” he asked quietly.