Twenty-Seven
Ember glared over Cedric, matching the gunman’s gaze spark for spark.
“Don’t mind him, honey,” she said, trying to put a little bit more Louisiana twang in her voice than normally present. “He’s just afraid he’s going to lose.”
“I never lose.” He glared down at them, though the gun lowered toward the ground. “I’m Jim Mack. Ask anyone, I’m the fastest and most furious.”
“Then how come you’ve never beaten Motorhead Krebs?” The man next to him said. Ember’s brow furrowed. Something familiar about the name Krebs…
“Hey, screw you, all right?” Mack looked back at Cedric and waved him on. “Yeah, go ahead. Might as well be more people for me to beat.”
“For Motorhead Krebs to beat, you mean,” his companion called.
Cedric parked in an empty spot a good walk from the main festivities. As they exited the hot rod, a sound of thunder roared up from the track. Two cars sped off into the night, shooting fire out of their exhaust.
“They must have a dual head in there,” Cedric murmured.
Ember slipped her arm into his. “Come on, ‘homie,’ we need to get to work.”
They mingled into the crowd, separating as they went to cover more ground. All about the abandoned road, a collection of gearheads, gangbangers, and misfits alternately drank, cheered, or talked at loud volume with each other. It was clear the races were only part of the appeal. It was a social club of sorts.
It caused Ember to reminisce about the days when she’d had a coven in high school. An idea occurred to her. What if she could get Simone and several others together for a coven? Maybe even Beulah? No, that was probably reaching too far…
Ember forced herself to focus. Ash had come across the medallion somehow. If they couldn’t find her with an eyeball canvass of the event, they’d switch to more aggressive tactics like showing her picture.
While effective, it would also tip off anyone who might be holding Ash against her will…
Or Ash herself, if she truly had fallen to the dark side of magic.
Ember made it halfway through the milling throng by the time the cars came rumbling back. Still, she’d seen no sign of Ash. The crowd was large, in the several hundreds at least, and more people seemed to be arriving all the time.
Ember dug out her cell phone and called Cedric. “Have you seen any sign of Ash yet?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“Me neither. I’m going to make one more pass and then I guess we have to resort to asking around. Let’s hope doing so doesn’t put Ash in more danger…”
Ember’s voice trailed off as she laid eyes on Ash. Her hair had been done up in a purple and black rave cut, and her garments closely matched those of the girls Sage had shown her. She stood with her arm thrown around the bull neck of a seated, shirtless man, leaning her weight against him.
Ember estimated the man’s size at just under seven feet. An aging but powerful brawler’s physique covered with tattoos made him seem imposing even while seated. He sat beside a bright red muscle car. To her inexpert eyes it looked like a 1970s model.
“Cedric,” she said over the phone. “I’ve just spotted Ash. Over by the red muscle car.”
“The Plymouth Hemi Cuda?” Cedric asked.
“I don’t know, it’s huge and it's red and it has a spoiler, and I’m going to talk to Ash right now.”
Ember hung up the phone and stalked over the pavement to the little gaggle of people surrounding Ash and the large man. Suddenly, a muscular man with a shiny bald head interposed himself between her and Ash.
“Where you think you’re going, sister leather pants?”
The other bodyguard laughed. Ember peered around him and pointed at Ash. “I’m just here to talk to my sister, Ash. That’s her right there. Ash! Hey!”
Ash turned her head, eyes locking with Ember’s for a moment. Then Ash shrugged, laughed and went back to hanging on every word the big man said, while hanging on him literally.
“Ash?”
“Yeah, yeah, everyone’s a friend of Motorhead Krebs. Get to stepping sister.”
“Yeah, sister leather pants.”
Numbly, Ember let them shove her a few feet away. She looked past them at Ash, who seemed so different than the sister she knew.
Maybe Ash was possessed? Was that why she hadn’t recognized Ember. Ember shook her head, the awful truth dawning on her.
When an entity possessed a living host, it was privy to all that its host knew. The information highway did not run both ways, which was one of the reasons Ember couldn’t completely trust Munkilak.
If Ash were possessed, then the entity should still have recognized Ember. That meant an awful, horrid possibility slowly dawned on her.
What if Ash’s memories of Ember had been stolen, just like Cedric’s?
Twenty-Eight
Ember ran into Cedric as he sidled his way through the crowd. Two more cars bolted off into the darkness, drowning out what he said the first time.
“What was that?” Ember asked, the acrid tang of burned rubber searing her nostrils.
“I said, did you talk to Ash yet?”
Ember looked up at him, into the handsome face she’d come to know so well. All she wanted was to be back in his arms, snuggled up in bed as they had been that morning. She suddenly clutched him, wrapping her arms around his midsection tightly.
“Hey,” Cedric said, his arms encircling her. “What’s wrong?”
“Cedric, Ash didn’t…” she pulled away, so she was no longer mumbling into his chest. “Ash didn’t recognize me. At all! I couldn’t even get close because of her new boyfriend’s bodyguards slash thugs.”
Cedric frowned as he gazed over the heads of the crowd at the Red Hemi Cuda. “Is that the boyfriend. The guy with the lead sled?”
“If you mean the big red car, then yes.”
“I mean the big red car.” Cedric ran a hand down his face, clearly lost in thought. “How common is memory erasing magic?”
“Rather uncommon, actually,” Ember admitted.
“Could it be you’re just especially sensitive to the use of memory magic at the moment, and you’re drawing conclusions which may not be correct?”
Ember’s face twisted into a scowl. “Are you trying to minimize my concerns?”
Cedric held his hands up. “Not at all. I’m just saying, maybe there are other possibilities we should look into.”
“Like what?”
Cedric cocked an eyebrow. “She could be undercover and can’t show even a glimmer of recognition. I’m here to tell you, from personal experience, when your memory is stolen you still feel like you SHOULD know the total stranger in front of you. Trust me, she’d have reacted.”
Ember took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All right. I’ll stop trying to think the absolute worst thing. Still, how do we breach that inner circle?”
Cedric grinned. “We win the grand finale, the Salt Mine Circuit.”
“Don’t we have to be entered in something like that ahead of time, Cedric?” Ember asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yes,” Cedric said. “I just registered us. If we win, it’s a guaranteed ticket into the popular girls club.”
“I never got along with the popular girls,” Ember said. “It was usually me sitting around with the other goofballs way in the back.”
“Well, then this should be fun.” Cedric raced back to their car. Ember noticed the glittered silver letters PPD stylized on the hood.
“What does PPD stand for?”
“Um,” Cedric turned red. “Purple-something-Destroyer.”
Ember covered her mouth with her hand as laughter blurted from her tightly pressed lips. She gradually gave in to her mirth and doubled over in lusty guffaws.
“You are such a boy sometimes,” Ember said with a sigh. “It’s a good thing you’re good looking.”
She kissed his cheek and patted his belly, enjoying the smooth knots of mus
cle playing under his shirt. Ember climbed into the car and helped Cedric do his pre-race check. Mostly, it was a lot of jargon that didn’t seem to make much sense to her. She wondered if this was the way Cedric felt when she was trying to explain magic to him.
Cedric pronounced their vehicle ready to drive. He glanced over at her and cleared his throat.
“Um, how much do you weigh?”
Ember’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“I—I need to calibrate the shocks based on how much of a load I have in the passenger seat.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. I stopped weighing myself when we got married, but on the other hand I’ve been doing a lot of running around…I’m going to guess one twenty-five, one thirty.”
Cedric reddened. “Sorry. I know a gentleman’s never supposed to ask.”
“You’re my husband, you don’t always have to be a gentleman,” Ember grinned. “Is there a starting line for this race?”
They taxied the PPD into position on a straight white line which also bore Krebs and his Hemi Cuda as well as four other competitors. “Do you recognize any of these people?”
“Oh yeah, Hanky Bob follows the Sons of the Wheel. He’s a subscriber to the official podcast.” Cedric pointed at a dodge Ram built up with what Ember thought of as ‘mudding’ wheels. Almost like a mini monster truck. “That’s Stone Chill and the Street Stomper. He seldom wins but has over ten million Instagram followers. He cheats.”
Cedric gestured at a Volkswagon Beetle, yellow in hue and souped out with a spoiler and mag rims. “That’s Yellowjacket, a female driver who has even more Instagram followers than Stone Chill. And don’t get me started on how popular her Only Fans channel is.”
“Finally, we already know Mr. Motorhead Krebs and his Hemi Cuda.”
“How good of a chance do we have of winning?” Ember cocked an eyebrow. “Honestly?”
Cedric cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable.
“Ah…well, they’re all professional drivers, and I haven’t had a chance to take PPD for s spin yet…”
“Cedric,” Ember ran a hand down her face and sighed. “Remember how Munkilok said don’t condescend to April? Well, don’t condescend to me.”
Cedric heaved a heavy sigh. “Our chances of victory are somewhere between snowball in Hell and slim to none.”
“Then how is this plan supposed to get us into the Inner Circle?” Ember’s eyes widened. “Cedric Jamison! Shame on you! You just wanted to enter the race!”
Cedric winced. “Can you forgive me?”
Ember rolled her eyes to the sky. “I’ll do you one better. With a little help from my magic, you’re going to win this race!”
Twenty-Nine
The scantily clad young woman strutted across the pavement in front of the line of rumbling street racers. She faced the cars head on, standing between the Yellowjacket and Stone Chill. A rag in her hand fluttered in the wind, along with her long, thick and wavy hair.
“She might as well be naked,” Ember remarked.
“At least they guarantee everyone’s eyes are on her,” Cedric said. He shook his head and glanced over at her sheepishly. “I’m sorry.”
“You were always allowed to find other women attractive, Cedric, just so long as you came home to me.” Ember grinned. “I don’t see any need to alter that arrangement. Though I do have to ask, what makes her so appealing?”
“I feel like this is a trap,” Cedric mutters, gripping the purple steering wheel.
“No trap, honest. I just really want to know.”
“Um, well,” Cedric said, clearing his throat. “She has, that is, healthy skin, and her lips are nice, and her, that is, her figure is um…shall we say ample?”
Ember rolled her eyes. “You’re such a dork sometimes. I thought that would be a lot more fun that it turned out to be.”
She flashed her gaze over to him. “So, If I paraded around in a skirt so short my underwear was constantly showing, and my breasts hanging out on a shelf, would you find that attractive?”
Cedric’s face scrunched up with thought. “In the confines of our own abode, absolutely.”
The girl threw the scarf toward the ground, waving it wildly about and jumping up down. As one, the cars surged forward. The PPD took an early lead, mostly because Ember had solidified the air in front of the competitors. They would have to push against the equivalent of a gale force wind until they moved through it.
“If I recall, there’s a pretty sharp turn up ahead here,” Cedric said.
“No, it’s a sharp left.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a right.”
Ember gritted her teeth. “While you were hanging out with the popular kids, us unpopular kids were out here at the old salt mines. It’s a left, trust me.”
Cedric only paused a moment longer before slowing down and listing to the left. He grunted in appreciation as the sharp left turn came up out of nowhere.
“Thanks.”
“Aren’t you glad you listened?”
“Yes. What were you doing out here in the salt mines anyway?”
“Drinking beer, playing loud music our parents hated, and casting spells. You know, angsty teen witch stuff.”
Cedric chuckled. “The truth is, I was never one of the popular kids, either. I was the only wolf shifter in town, so I felt isolated. Used to go on long runs through the wilderness in my wolf form instead of hanging out with the cool people.”
Ember chuckled. “I didn’t know that—careful, the road splits up ahead, and the easier path is the upper level.”
“That leads to a rickety bridge, though.”
“That bridge is a lot safer than the rock drop zone, where boulders seem to magically appear on the road out of thin air.”
“Upper level it is,” Cedric said. As they approached the divide, headlights from the other competitors shone in their rearview mirror.
“Our early lead is vanishing,” Cedric said. “I don’t suppose you have any more magic?”
“I do, but I don’t want to do anything that makes people wreck and get hurt.”
Cedric frowned. “Then I guess you won’t be flattening their tires…”
“Hang on,” Ember said, “I can cast a speed of the sloth spell in a zone configuration behind us.”
“That sounds effective.”
“It is, and it shouldn’t harm anyone.”
Ember cast the spell, concentrating on the image of a tree sloth moving slowly, breathing slowly, living slowly. The first car, the Yellowjacket, hit the zone of sloth speed and dropped to a third its previous velocity.
“It’s working.”
The Hemi Cuda hit the zone, slowed for a second, but took off rapidly again.
“How come it’s not working on him?” Ember griped.
“I don’t know, you’re the expert on magic. I just drive the car.”
“I was thinking out loud. I’m starting to suspect there’s more to our friend Krebs than meets the eye.”
“Hang on,” Cedric said. “Strap in, we’re about to hit the bridge.”
Ember turned around and grabbed the Jesus strap over the passenger side window as Cedric accelerated. The engine throbbed so powerfully she could feel it in her bones, see the hood vibrating like a bumblebee’s wings.
The Hemi Cuda raced up next to them. Ember glanced over, seeing Krebs’ eyes laser focused on the road ahead. Ash glanced over at Ember, then quickly looked away. Was there a glimmer of recognition in her eyes? Ember couldn’t be sure she had seen it, or simply seen what she wanted to.
“He’s trying to beat us to the bridge,” Cedric said. “Too bad Hanky Bob hooked us up with a little bit of laughing gas!”
Cedric hit the NO2 switch, and the PPD surged forward so swiftly they were plastered back in their seats. For a few seconds they raced ahead of Krebs and his Cuda.
Then the Cuda’s engine whine changed pitch. The car surged forward, easily passing them as if they were standing still. Black, oily
exhaust spilled from the exhaust pipes as the Cuda laid them to waste.
“Son of a gun,” Cedric swore as the Cuda disappeared across the bridge. “Not only did he beat us to the bridge, he smoked us.”
Ember’s eyes narrowed. “Still, second place is pretty good. Maybe we’ve earned an audience with the so-called Inner Circle at last.”
Thirty
Ember declined to cast any more spells to help Cedric win the race, preferring to save her energy for a possible confrontation with Krebs.
The familiar smell she’d detected in his exhaust had gotten her to thinking. She felt in her pocket at the bit of calendar Ash had scribbled on.
“We’re going to come in last,” Cedric lamented as the Yellowjacket buzzed past them.
“Never mind the race, what was it you called the Plymouth Cuda?”
“A Lead Sled?”
Ember gasped, her eyes going wide. “Cedric, I know who the mushroom killer is."
“You’re certain?”
“Dead certain. We need to follow Ash. Don’t let her get away..”
They brought up the rear as Motorhead Krebs’ posse celebrated joyously. So joyously, in fact, they didn’t notice Krebs wasn’t joyous at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.
He stood leaning under the open hood of the Cuda. Dark indigo smoke wafted all around his face. Ember noted he held a gas mask over his face while he did so.
“Stop, quick,” Ember said. Ash hovered near Krebs, her eyes full of worry.
Ember got out and worked her way through the celebration toward her sister. She caught their voices over the din of the partying racers.
“…burned up the piston and cracked the cinder block, you stupid cow.” Krebs stood up, getting his face an inch within Ash’s. “You said that fancy fungus was going to work without a hitch.”
Ash’s voice had the slightest bit of tremor in it. “I said it would probably work, and that there was a fifteen percent chance of cracking the block or throwing a rod. You chose to race anyway.”
The massive bodyguard got in Ember’s way. Ember glared up at him, her eyes narrowed to slits.
Perilous Paws (Kitten Witch Cozy Mystery Book 8) Page 10