“Dara!” I whispered urgently. “Let’s try to get past them before – oh, God damn it.” I was back in my uniform, minus my shirt and belt, which meant I was dead again and she couldn’t hear me. I looked around for her, trying to think of some way to get her headed in the right direction, but she wasn’t there. “Dara?” Rebecca’s pentagram was still active, half-hidden by the rubble littering the floor, and I spotted Daraxandriel’s sword lying off to the side,. Then I saw her outstretched hand and my heart stuck in my throat. “Dara!”
She lay by the back wall, almost buried in the debris. Every bit of exposed skin was white with dust and she didn’t seem to be moving at all. I tried to pull the fragments off of her but my hands passed right through them. “Help! Anyone!” I called helplessly. “Dara’s hurt!”
“The library is a hallowed institution.” Behind me, Mrs. Phipps carefully stepped into the foyer, pursing her lips in disapproval. “This destruction is sacrilege.”
“It’s just a building.” Agent Morgan stood beside her, waving away the last wisps of dust with a scowl. Her jacket was missing and the top buttons of her blouse were undone. “It can be rebuilt, if someone decides it’s worth the effort.” Her searching gaze passed right through me. “Do you see anyone in here?”
“There’s that young man I spoke with in the jail,” Mrs. Phipps said, nodding in my direction, “and there’s someone under the rocks there.”
“I only see Dara.” Morgan advanced to the edge of the pentagram, eyeing it for a moment before extinguishing it with a gesture. “Peter, give it up. You’ve lost.”
“We’re not done yet,” I snarled. “You won’t get away with this.” I knew she was only obeying the incubus’s commands but I was pissed now.
Morgan’s only reaction was an irritated frown. “Did he say anything?” she asked Mrs. Phipps.
“He’s defiant,” she reported. “Is he really a ghost? He looks perfectly normal to me.”
“He’s close enough to one that I should be able to banish him. Dara, too. Two birds with one stone and all that.”
“Peter! What was that noise –?” Olivia appeared at the end of the hallway and then ducked back out of sight with a yelp. “Oh my God, they did all that?”
“Get everyone out of here!” I ordered tersely. “I’ll try to keep them busy.”
“They can’t get out!” she called from around the corner. “There are witches downstairs!”
“Did you see that young girl just then?” Mrs. Phipps asked Morgan doubtfully. “All she was wearing was someone’s shirt!” She sounded scandalized.
“No, I didn’t. That has to be Olivia,” Morgan replied. “What are they doing?”
“They’re talking about helping someone escape.”
“There must be unsaved witches in here. Someone made that pentagram,” she said, nodding at the star on the floor. “Ariel will take care of them, let’s deal with these two.” She spread her hands and a crackling web arced between her fingertips. “Where is Peter standing?”
“There, right in front of the other one.” Mrs. Phipps pointed right at me and I ducked aside, unwilling to discover what Agent Morgan’s spell was capable off. Mrs. Phipps’ finger tracked me unerringly, though, and Morgan turned with her.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Peter,” she told me, as if I was being unreasonable.
“Olivia,” I called over my shoulder. “Get Dara’s sword and stab them!”
“What?” Olivia squeaked.
“Do it!” I had no expectation that she’d actually be able to hurt them but it would certainly distract them and maybe give Daraxandriel enough time to recover.
Olivia peeked into the foyer, visibly gulped, and hurried to where the sword lay. Mrs. Phipps backed away nervously when she picked it up and Morgan looked startled for a moment, letting her spell fade.
“Is Peter doing that?” she asked. “I didn’t think he could manipulate objects.”
“No, it’s the girl,” Mrs., Phipps told her shakily, pointing a gnarled finger at Olivia. “She’s right there!”
“I can tell where she is,” Morgan snapped. “Where’s Peter?”
“There.” Mrs. Phipps used both hands now, keeping both Olivia and I targeted.
“Split up!” I told Olivia. “Attack from the other side. She can’t hit both of us at once.”
“They’re attacking!” Mrs. Phipps gasped as Olivia moved around to the other side, even though we were both keeping our distance. “Kill them!”
Morgan was unimpressed by our tactics. She gestured and some unseen force ripped the sword out of Olivia’s grip and sent it clattering across the floor almost to Daraxandriel’s side. Olivia gaped at her empty hands. “Peter!” she gulped. “What do we do now?”
“Get out of here” I told her. “Help the others!”
“But what about you and Dara?”
“We’ll be fine. Go!” Olivia hesitated only for a second before bounding across the foyer and disappearing deeper into the library.
“The girl is getting away!” Mrs. Phipps said urgently, even as she kept her finger aimed at my heart.
“She’s not the problem.” Morgan looked in my direction but her eyes couldn’t focus on me, giving her an oddly unsettled expression. “Dara’s the real threat here. Let me know if Peter does anything.”
She moved towards Dara and I hurried to place myself between them, for all the good that would do. Mrs. Phipps reported my new position and Morgan lifted her hands again. I backed away from the crackling web she conjured, wondering how I could stop her from using it on us.
“Peter!” someone whispered behind me. “Duck!”
“Huh?” There was no one there but I complied anyway and suddenly a silvery dome covered Daraxandriel and me. “Rebecca?” I asked doubtfully.
“Shh! I need to concentrate.” The dome suddenly vibrated and shimmered. “I don’t think I can hold this for very long,” she said anxiously.
“You were supposed to leave with the others!”
“We got split up trying to avoid the rest of the coven and I heard you calling for help.”
“I didn’t mean you! Did the others get away, at least?”
“I don’t know.” Rebecca sounded regretful. Something hit the dome again but this time it was accompanied by a scraping, crackling sound. “Goddess give me strength,” she whispered.
“I’m going to jump out and distract them,” I told her. “You make a run for it.”
“But what about Dara?”
I looked at Daraxandriel’s motionless body. Thick black blood oozed from a deep cut on her forehead and there were scratch marks on her horns. She still hadn’t moved. I had to go to leave Rebecca a chance to get away but I couldn’t abandon Daraxandriel like this. “Damn it,” I muttered helplessly.
“Go, Peter.” That was Rebecca’s voice and yet it wasn’t. “I will add my strength to Fern’s, your friends will be safe, I promise.”
“Goddess?” I asked incredulously.
“Go, before it’s too late! Remember what we told you. The time is fast approaching.”
“But –”
“Go!”
I went. I ducked out through the dome, straight into the middle of a lightning storm that crawled over Rebecca’s shield, trying to tear it apart. The floor around it was pitted and scarred like someone had thrown acid on it and bluish smoke hung in the air. Even in my disembodied state, I felt an uncomfortable sensation crawling over my body and I quickly dodged out of the way of Morgan’s spell.
“There he is!” Mrs. Phipps stood well back, almost in the remains of the doorway, but she jabbed her finger at me.
“Where?” Morgan ceased her assault and looked around. In the sudden silence, I heard voices calling from deeper within the library, although I couldn’t make out any of the words. She made a different sort of gesture and the same greenish-gray ball she conjured in Mrs. Kendricks’ back yard appeared in her palm. She sighted along Mrs. Phipps’ finger but I didn’
t wait for her to unleash whatever it was. Instead, I ran straight at Mrs. Phipps, who yelped in surprise and ducked aside. I sped past her and raced down the stairs. “Where is he?” I heard Morgan yell behind me.
My first thought was to circle around to the back and see if I could help Dad and the others escape, but I rejected that idea immediately. All that would do was trap me among a horde of witches all trying to kill me permanently. I had to get away and hope that at least some of the others made it to the cemetery.
The whoop of a siren and the flash of red and blue strobes announced the arrival of an HPD patrol car, which jounced into the parking lot and shuddered to a halt a couple of feet from Morgan’s SUV. Barry Coombs, one of the department’s older officers, jumped out and gaped up at the cavernous hole in the front of the library before racing for the stairs, hitting the squawk button on his radio to summon backup. He faltered in surprise when Agent Morgan and Mrs. Phipps appeared on the landing above him and then continued up to confront them.
Even from where I was standing, Morgan looked pissed, but she couldn’t just vaporize a police officer out in public. Cars were slowing down in both directions on Milton Street as their drivers gawped at the destruction and people were running over from nearby shops and businesses to take a closer look. This was my chance to escape but I hesitated. Officer Coombs knew Morgan was with the FBI from her last visit so he wasn’t going to arrest her, at least not right away. I needed to slow her down somehow. I eyed her SUV and then pushed my way through the door into the driver’s seat.
Morgan’s jacket and purse lay on the passenger seat and the key fob sat in one of the cupholders. All I had to do was press the Start button on the dash, except I couldn’t do that as a ghost and every other time I materialized, I was trying to keep someone from doing something I didn’t want them to do.
“Come on!” I told myself urgently, squeezing my eyes shut and concentrating, all the while imagining that Agent Morgan was about to obliterate the SUV with me inside. “Turn real! I’ve done it twice already, I should be able to do it now! Come on, come on, come on!” I punched the steering wheel in frustration and started when the horn blared. “Oh my God,” I breathed. “It worked!” Except that Morgan and Mrs. Phipps and Officer Coombs were all looking in my direction now and I was stark naked again. “God damn it!”
I started the engine and slammed the gear shift into reverse, squealing out of the parking slot before shifting into drive and accelerating towards the street. I pulled into the lane without slowing, eliciting a discordant horn blast from the driver behind me. I wove between the cars until the library was out of sight in the rearview mirror, finally allowing myself to ease up on the gas and loosen my grip on the wheel.
Now all I had to do was make my way to the cemetery without anyone following me, except I didn’t know what cars the others witches drove, other than Mrs. Kendricks’ BMW. I’d have to take a circuitous route and see if anyone seemed to be trailing me. I glanced around at the nearby vehicles, trying to memorize the makes and models and colors, and caught the eye of the driver beside me, who gave me a dubious look. Belatedly, I realized that I was still naked and I hastily pulled Morgan’s jacket over my lap.
I turned at the next corner, trying to drive unobtrusively, although that was hard to do in a large black SUV. None of the other cars followed me but I kept half an eye on the mirror as I scanned the street ahead. There was only one other person in sight, a young woman jogging away from me along the sidewalk, but her bright red hair looked oddly familiar. Then she paused at the corner, looking left and right down the road, and I recognized her profile.
“Karyn!” She must have gotten separated from Allison during her escape and lost her glamour. I accelerated towards her, wondering if Dad and Melissa were anywhere nearby. I pulled up beside her and lowered the passenger window. “Get in!”
She started, raising her hand, and then blinked at me. “Peter?” She looked in through the window and her eyes widened. “Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”
“It’s a long story,” I said tersely. “Just get in. Have you seen Dad and the others?”
Karyn hesitated with her hand on the door latch and then climbed in beside me, relocating Morgan’s purse to the console. “No, I haven’t,” she said warily, closing the door as I started forward again.
“Damn it. How did you get away?” I debated looping around the library to try to find the others but I decided that was too risky. Instead, I turned north on Cooper Street.
“It wasn’t hard,” she told me. “Things were pretty wild back there.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her looking me over. “Where are we going?”
“With any luck, to meet up with the others.” I had to stop at the intersection when the light turned red, which did nothing for my nerves. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel as I checked the mirror, trying to remember if I’d seen the car sitting behind me before.
“Where?” she persisted.
“Didn’t you hear me back in the library?” I asked her doubtfully. “Where were you going just now?” I took my first good look at her and my heart skipped a couple of beats. She was wearing a completely different top and her pupils were definitely dilated. “Oh, shit,” I breathed. “You’re Karin.”
“Surprise,” she smiled. “Took you long enough.” She placed her hand on the dashboard and something flashed under her palm. The SUV’s engine immediately sputtered and died. “Just sit tight while I call Mrs. Kendricks.”
Like that was going to happen. I whipped Agent Morgan’s jacket off my lap and threw it in Karin’s face as I flung open the driver door. I jumped out into the street and sprinted straight for the intersection, ignoring the blare of car horns all around me.
A car going forty miles an hour travels about sixty feet in a second and comes to a full emergency stop in one hundred and twenty feet, give or take. That assumes, of course, that the driver reacts immediately to the emergency. The guy I jumped in front of obviously wasn’t expecting a naked teenager to suddenly appear out of nowhere, so the double streak of rubber he left on the road was a good two hundred feet long. The cars behind him had a little more warning but they still had to swerve left and right to avoid higher insurance rates. The drivers piled out of their vehicles, looking whiter than ghosts, and started shouting among themselves and looking all around when my splattered remains were nowhere to be found.
I stood in the middle of the chaos, watching Karin climb out of the SUV looking shaken and angry at the same time. She observed the proceedings for a few seconds before quickly walking away in the other direction, ignoring the calls from the onlookers to come back. I turned away and continued north, letting my breath out in a shaky sigh. That had been close.
It was clear that the witches were out searching for us, which was good news in a way. That meant at least somebody in my team had managed to escape. Dara and Rebecca? I wondered hopefully. With the Goddess helping them after I distracted Agent Morgan, they had to be able to sneak out. Assuming Dara woke up, I amended gloomily. I heaved another sigh and continued on towards the cemetery.
I turned east after another block, keeping a careful eye around me for any young females. Karin had been on foot but the witches would cover more ground in their cars. In theory, none of them could see ghosts, but Rebecca didn’t know she could until it happened so I couldn’t rely on that.
What are we going to do now? I asked myself bleakly. They turned our trap back on us and probably captured a few more of us. What am I going to do if they threaten to kill Dad or Melissa or anybody else? Turning myself in to them won’t stop them and even if the incubus ends up controlling all of the witches, he can’t afford to let Dad go. Dad knows too much. He’d be able to contact Agent Prescott and maybe Prescott could get hold of the Circle of Nine and some of the other demon hunters out there. Crap. That’s what we should have done in the first place. It was stupid to think we could handle this on our own. Everyone trusted me and I screwed it up. That was a sou
r truth but I wasn’t going to give up just yet. The incubus couldn’t control Dara and Olivia but that meant they were still in danger. I had to help them however I could but first I had to find them.
I paused to get my bearings. I was on Wellington Street, which would take me over to Young Street. South on Young for a couple of blocks, east on Parker, and voilà, I’d be at the cemetery. And the Whataburger, I mused. I hadn’t eaten all day, not that I had any money on me and the store’s No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service policy almost certainly implied No Nudity. I wasn’t actually hungry, though, or thirsty or tired, which was odd.
I wonder if the Dread Lord’s curse restarts me every time it makes me human. Maybe I haven’t been in corporeal form long enough to get hungry. Did Olivia ever notice that? She ate meals with us but then she preferred to stay in human form whenever possible. Except she can’t anymore, I sighed. Man, this whole day has really sucked.
I continued on, lost in my gloomy thoughts. The blat of a horn turned my head, though, as a car accelerated around another and sped towards me. I backed up, preparing to jump through the wall of the store behind me, but the car just continued on out of sight.
False alarm, I told myself. The other car, though, was moving awfully slowly, well below the normal speed limit, and I eyed it uneasily. It was a black Dodge Charger, the sort of vehicle that was constitutionally incapable of going that slow. The windows were down and as it neared, I saw Cruz peering left and right, obviously searching for me and the other escapees. She looked right at me and I shivered at her dilated eyes but she continued on without any sign that she’d noticed me.
I waited until she turned at the next intersection and then hurried on until I found a gap between the buildings. The incubus didn’t have enough manpower – or witchpower – to cover every street in town, so I hoped the others had enough sense to stick to the back roads.
The alley I found myself in was a typical member of the species: narrow, lined with dumpsters and empty wooden pallets, and strewn with discarded cans and wrappers. I was frankly happy that my ghost nose didn’t work as I jogged along, scanning every shadowed corner just in case a witch was hiding there, although I couldn’t imagine why one would be.
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