Page 24 of Ignited

Bro floored the truck. Karisma, fighting back nausea, got up on her knees in front of the pass-through window, so she could look out through the windshield. “Watch for the turnoff, it’s hard to see.” The road was heavily forested on either side, and dark as the inside of a cave.

They almost missed it. Karisma yelled out and Boomer’s brother yanked the wheel at the last minute, sliding into the turn and flinging them to the side of the truck bed. The lane was rutted dirt, and they bounced up and down like jackhammers.

Karisma picked herself up and went back to the window. “Cabin’s coming up now. Around the next bend.”

He hit the brakes, did a quick K-turn, and backed off the side of the tree-lined road into the underbrush.

“What the hell are you doing?” Karisma snapped.

“Road ends at the cabin. You want to get stuck in there when they block this lane behind us? Because I don’t.”

Boomer had already shouldered her aside, grabbing stuff out of the storage locker. By the time Karisma had followed him out of the back of the truck, the brothers had already thrown a camo blanket over the truck and were pulling the underbrush back in place behind it.

It wouldn’t have fooled anyone in daylight, but in the pitch dark it probably would.

“Come on.” Boomer, shrugging on a combat vest, grabbed her arm and hustled her over the uneven ground. She wanted to shake him off, but suddenly the couple of hundred yards to the cabin seemed like a mile. His brother came up on her other side, and between them they practically carried her around the bend and into the weedy clearing where her rented cabin stood.

No one was there—the only sound was their heavy breathing as they hurried onto the front porch. Karisma slammed her hand in a certain place on the doorjamb. Light briefly outlined the door, as her magical lock disengaged.

Boomer shoved the door open, and they went inside.

Karisma flicked on the lights. She still felt weak and wobbly, and cramps traveled almost continuously over her body as she fought back the Change. Just a little longer, she told her tiger. Stay inside. Please.

She’d already prepared in case she decided to leave here after tonight’s fights, so her duffel was packed, just a few things still lying next to it on the dresser top, next to the mini Christmas tree she’d decorated. It seemed that would be the only thing left to show she was here.

Boomer ran over and started shoveling the last few things into her bag, while Karisma headed to the refrigerator, where her last potion vial was hidden in an old ketchup bottle.

“Where are those magic items?” Boomer’s brother demanded.

“Next to the couch.”

The only thing next to the couch was a bright pink toybox a couple of feet square, covered with illustrations of Barbie, her dream home, her dream car, and her dream vacation.

Boomer’s brother stared. “You keep dangerous magical items in a fucking Barbie toy chest?”

“Would you look for them there?” She grabbed the ketchup bottle, opened it and dumped the vial of potion into her hand.

Bro started muttering again. “Don’t touch the lock,” she added, just as he went to open it. Magic sizzled around his hand and stung him, and he jerked it back.

“Fuck.”

“I tried to warn you.”

The radio on his chest crackled to life with Cisco’s voice. “Um, guys? How you doing in there? Sure you don’t need us? Or maybe air support?”

Karisma’s hand stopped in the middle of uncorking the vial. Automatic weapons. Communications with backup personnel. Spare fatigues, and camo blankets big enough to hide a truck. Advanced tactics. And… “Air support? Who are you guys?”

“No time now,” Boomer said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

His brother opened the front door. They could hear the roar of engines, and see faint flashes of headlights between the trees.

“How the hell are we going to get to the truck?” Karisma demanded. “They’re practically on top of us.” Suddenly, hiding the truck all the way out there in the woods didn’t seem like such a smart idea.

“Don’t worry,” Boomer said. “I have a plan B. Anything you’re ever going to want again, grab it now.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s not going to be anything left of this place.”