“It’s just that I’ve never seen them act like this.”
“If all goes as planned, they won’t be an issue for you much longer. We’re here now, and we’ll deal with them.” One way or another, I added silently. Whatever they were up to, the only thing I knew with absolute certainty was that it was not good.
13
Thirteen
I was laden with packages when we left the store. Cole insisted on going first, his hands cocked and ready for battle, but the alley looked empty except for Kade’s truck. Luke immediately hopped out when we emerged, grabbing the packages from me.
“How could you go shopping without me?”
“Just get in the truck,” Cole ordered. “You can argue about that later.”
“I want to argue about it now.”
“Get in the truck!” Cole gave Luke a hard shove, and at that moment the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
I turned to find two robed figures standing at the junction where the alley met the street. I couldn’t make out facial features, the hoods made that impossible, and the robes were too bulky to determine if they were men or women.
“Baby, get in the truck,” Kade ordered, his wide eyes fixed on the figures.
I opened the back door and frowned when I looked toward the other end of the alley. Another two figures stood there, unmoving and eerie.
“How are we going to get out of here without running them over?” Luke asked, the argument about shopping at least temporarily discarded.
“Just get in,” Kade instructed.
Luke and I climbed in the back while Cole hopped up front. Everyone fastened their seatbelts while waiting for Kade to make his decision.
“You can’t hit them,” I said when Kade began to edge forward. “We can’t explain to the cops that we’re being terrorized by people in robes. When we kill these people down the road, a prior incident will reflect badly on us.”
“I have no interest in killing them,” Kade said. “I’m not particularly thrilled with the idea of them touching my truck. They could put a tracker on it.”
“They know where to find us,” I pointed out, an idea forming. “Go forward slowly. I’ll get them to move.”
“How?”
There was only one way I knew of. “I’ll make them want to do it.”
Kade gripped the steering wheel tighter and took a deep breath. “Okay, but I’ll have to stop if they don’t move.”
“They’ll move.” I pressed my eyes shut, gathering my magic, and then aimed it at the two people blocking our way. Kade’s progress felt achingly slow, but it gave me enough time to start poking around.
“They’re shuttering,” I muttered.
“I can throw some fire at them,” Cole offered.
“And what happens if someone sees?” I challenged. “What happens if their robes catch fire? What if someone gets us on camera?”
“Then you have to do it.” Cole was matter-of-fact. “Can you get past their barriers?”
“I don’t really have a choice.” I closed my eyes again, and this time when I went in it was with the force of a wrecking ball. Briefly, the old Miley Cyrus song popped into my head, and it was that music I used when I forced my way into their minds.
Run!
It was a one-word order, propelled with enough force that I knew the moment it registered on the figures. They froze for a split second and then scattered, leaving the alley exit open for us.
“Go,” I barked at Kade. “Don’t slow down.”
Despite my urgency, Kade slowed enough to check traffic before pulling out onto the street. Luke and I craned our necks to look for the magically-battered individuals as he drove away from the store. Both appeared safe, though listing to the side, when we cruised through the first light.
“Well, that was exciting,” Cole said with a bright smile. “Who knew when I joined the circus that I would be running from a crazy cult only a few weeks later?”
“It’s always exciting when you’re with the circus,” Luke drawled.
“Yes, always exciting,” I echoed.
“Are you okay?” Kade sounded anxious. “Do you need me to pull over?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “I usually don’t go for brute force when it comes to infiltrating people’s minds because it can cause damage, but I didn’t see that I had much choice.”
“Definitely not,” Cole agreed. “Did you see anything while you were in there?”
“No. They’re shuttered well. It feels ... external.”
“How can they do that?” Kade asked.
“Someone cast a spell or did something else to block them off. I’m not sure.”
“Then that’s another mystery we’re going to have to uncover,” Cole said. “We’re building quite the list.”
“We should find a place for dinner,” I said. “I want a big drink at whatever seafood place you find.”
“Seafood, huh?” Kade cracked a smile. He knew I had a fondness for shellfish. “I think that can be arranged.”
“Thank you.”
“And while they’re finding a restaurant, you can tell me why you dared to go shopping without me,” Luke groused.
I bit back a sigh. “That sounds like a delightful evening.”
WE SETTLED ON THE PIRATE’S HOUSE, a restaurant supposedly famous in Savannah. It was on Broad Street, boasted themed drinks (including glasses) and food, and had a kitschy vibe I absolutely loved. If we hadn’t just been silently threatened by cult members, I would’ve made an endless series of peg leg and rum jokes.
“This place is kind of fun.” Kade slipped his arm around my waist as he tugged me behind the hostess. “Is this okay?”
He was worried about what happened at the store but didn’t want to admit it. Instead, he was allowing his anxiety to bubble over in the form of menu worry. It was the last thing I wanted to deal with.
“If I could move into this restaurant, I totally would.”
He looked relieved. “I love you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“I love you too.” I found just saying the words was enough to soothe me. “It’s okay.”
We were barely in the dining room when at a nearby table we found Zoe, Aric and Sami viewing menus. Perhaps sensing me, Zoe jerked up her chin. Her expression was unreadable, but then she broke into a smile.
“Well, shiver me timbers,” she drawled. “Great minds think alike.”
The hostess slowed her pace. “Do you know each other?”
“We do,” Cole confirmed. “I don’t suppose we could bother you to be seated together? I know it’s a pain since you’ve already got them settled, but we tip like rock stars if that helps.”
The hostess smiled. “It shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”
“Thank you so much.”
We stood to the side and watched the restaurant staff push two tables together. In short order, everybody was seated and supplied with menus. Sami strategically placed herself between Cole and Luke before her parents could object. They looked weary enough that they didn’t even put up a fight.
“You can entertain her for an hour,” Zoe said to Cole and Luke.
“Just don’t take your shirts off,” Aric warned.
“We’ll try to refrain,” Cole said dryly, his eyes on the menu. “Oh, I’m getting the Skull Crusher.”
“I was thinking about that,” I said. “I’m going with Pirate’s Pleasure instead.”
“And I’m getting the Bloody Pirate,” Luke said, grinning. “I love a good theme drink.”
I flicked my eyes to Kade. “What about you?”
“I’m driving.” The set of his jaw told me he was having a hard time.
“We can call someone from the fairgrounds to pick up your truck,” I said. “Naida and Nixie don’t drink.”
“They don’t drive very well either.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed, forcing his eyes to me. “It’s only a few blocks. We can leave the truck here overnight i
f we have to. We can always call Max for a magical assist.”
He held my gaze for a long beat and then relaxed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worked up over what happened.”
Zoe was instantly alert. “What happened?”
I told her about our afternoon. When I got to the part about the figures in the alley, her curiosity turned to annoyance.
“Too bad I wasn’t there,” she muttered. “I would’ve introduced them to a new sort of pain and shredded those stupid robes into small enough pieces to choke them with it.”
Aric’s smile was blasé. “You’ll have to excuse my wife. She enjoys doling out bodily harm and grotesque visuals.”
“Totally,” she agreed. “Next time, I guess.” Her eyes drifted back to the menu. “I want a drink.”
“That’s fine,” Aric said. “We can make Sami watch us on the walk back to the hotel.”
“Oh, I’ll watch you guys walk right into traffic if you get drunk and embarrass me,” Sami warned. “I’ll laugh the whole time.”
“It’s such a gift to be loved by one’s only child,” Aric drawled, mock-clutching at his chest as Zoe snickered. “I want a Dark and Stormy.”
Zoe nodded. “I figured you would. I’m getting the Chatham Artillery Punch. Apparently it’s got kick.”
“So do you, baby.” Aric leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “How do we feel about appetizers?”
I couldn’t contain my surprise at their calm. “Is that all you guys have to say? Aren’t you even a little worked up about what happened?”
“I think it was freaky,” Zoe replied. “I also think there’s something inherently wrong with people who wear robes in public unless they’re getting the mail or going to Walmart.”
“That was a dress, not a robe,” Sami snapped. “Stop telling people I wore a robe to Walmart.”
Zoe’s smirk was mischievous. “Let’s get appetizers for the whole table. Dinner is on us, by the way. I want the fried green tomatoes for sure.”
“I don’t like tomatoes,” Sami countered.
Zoe ignored her. “Get the low-country spring rolls, too. Oh, and the mussels and clams. The corn fritters sound good. And the crab dip.”
“So, the entire appetizers menu,” Aric said dryly.
“Except the calamari.”
“I love calamari,” Luke said.
“I want a themed drink,” Sami announced. “I want something in one of those cool cups. You have to order it for me because I’m not old enough to drink.”
“Or we can just order you a Shirley Temple and buy one of the cups,” Aric said. “They are kind of cool.”
“Whatever.” Sami turned the frown she reserved for her father into a smile by the time she pointed it at Cole. “Did you miss me when you were gone today?”
Even though it had been a tense afternoon, Cole grinned. “Maybe a little. I did get to visit a cool magic store, though.”
“Those places are kitschy tourist traps,” Sami said. “I’m not allowed to go in them.”
“This one was the real deal,” I said, giving the menu a once over while telling them about Honor. “She wasn’t strong, but she was authentic. She also had some amazing stuff for sale. I spent an entire paycheck.”
“I can vouch for that,” Cole said. “I’ve never seen you shop before, so I was understandably surprised.”
“I still can’t believe you went shopping without me,” Luke groused.
I ignored him. “Some of it was ingredients, the sort that it’s always good to have in supply. She had a few other one-of-a-kind items. I’m happy with my purchases.”
Zoe chuckled. “That’s all that matters.”
“We need to talk about the cult.”
“Hold up.” Aric lifted a finger to quiet the conversation and shot the incoming waitress a flirty wink. He placed our drink orders, made the special request for Sami’s non-alcoholic drink, and then ordered the entire appetizers menu as promised. After the waitress left, he turned back to me. “Sorry. We shouldn’t feed the gossip machine here if we can help it.”
“Right.” I exhaled heavily and leaned back in my chair, resting my knee against Kade’s because he seemed to need the contact as much as I did. “I don’t know what to do about them. We don’t even know if we’re dealing with all men, all women, or a mix.”
“It’s a mix,” Luke said. “I caught their scents in the alley. I know there were women there.”
“How can you be sure?” Sami asked.
“One of them was menstruating.”
Sami’s eyes went wide as she looked at her father. “Can you really smell that?”
Aric chuckled. “You can, but let’s not talk about that over dinner.”
“Especially given my drink,” Luke teased as he poked her shoulder. “I know at least one of them was a woman. I’m pretty sure there was a woman on each end because I smelled perfume that was decidedly female.”
“So, we’re dealing with a mixed cult,” Aric said. “What does that tell us?”
“I’m not an expert on cults,” I replied. “You said you’ve dealt with one before.” I looked to Zoe. “Maybe you’re the expert.”
She scowled. “I’ve dealt with two. One was run by this absolute megalomaniac who wanted a rare magic book so he could bolster his power.”
“What did he want the power for?” Luke asked.
“Probably because he had a small penis,” Zoe replied. “Who knows why any of these power-hungry idiots do the things they do?”
“Obviously you didn’t give him the book,” I said.
Zoe and Aric exchanged quick looks and then she shook her head.
“No. I killed him instead.”
“I’m sure that was the right thing to do.”
“It was the only thing to do,” Aric said as he rested his hand on his wife’s back and lightly rubbed. “That was a long time ago. Once we took out the head jerk, the rest of them scattered like rats.”
“What about the second cult?”
“That was the one that thought I was the Candyman,” Zoe replied. “They were young and dumb, but they had magic, and they almost killed Aric.”
“They didn’t kill me,” Aric said. “They just ... hurt me.”
“You could’ve died.”
“You saved me, like you always do.”
“Oh, geez.” Sami grimaced. “Do you guys have any idea how gross you are? I’m a teenager. You can’t talk mush to each other. You’re going to shrivel my ovaries and make me hate men if you’re not careful.”
“That only makes me want to do it more,” Aric drawled before sobering. “Technically the Academy could’ve been considered a cult. It had all the earmarks, though the structure was different.”
“True,” Zoe noted. “Charismatic leaders both times. They were mission-based in both iterations. They also crumbled the second we took out the leader. What about you guys?”
“We’ve crossed paths with a few cults,” I confirmed. “I told you about the one.”
“Yeah. They sounded freaky.”
“There was a cult in Florida that one time,” Luke interjected. “Remember the ones who were trying to draw in shark shifters because they wanted to skin their fins?”
“They were sick bastards,” I said. “They thought they could sell the shifter fins to shamans and get rich. I’m not convinced they were a cult, though. It was more that they were sociopathic money grubbers hiding behind a made-up religion.”
“They sound like jerks,” Zoe agreed. “Obviously we don’t know enough to be certain right now, but this cult feels different.”
“Are you saying they don’t have a specific goal?” I asked. “That seems unlikely.”
“Oh, they definitely have a goal. I just don’t think they’re doing it for money. Power seems to be the name of the game here.
“The Candyman cult, those girls wanted a talisman that was destroyed when we were in college,” she continued. “It could, in theory, raise zombies and enslave
vampires. My roommate and I smashed the crap out of it because we didn’t want it to be used against us again.
“Anyway, the girls managed to track the talisman to us and assumed we still had it. One of them wanted to use it to bring her mother back from the dead. It wouldn’t have worked even if we hadn’t destroyed it.
“These people are sacrificing girls for a purpose, and I guarantee there’s nothing good that accompanies human sacrifice.”
I was right there with her. “We need to find the leader. If we can take him or her out, the others will likely scatter.”
“That needs to be our goal,” Zoe agreed. “How we’re going to find this individual is beyond me, though.”
“Yeah. We need to figure out a way to draw the leader to us.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“We still have to try.”
14
Fourteen
Dinner turned into a festive affair. Once we realized that we were talking in circles, we turned the conversation in a fun direction. Sami proved to be a well-rounded child, despite what I was certain was sometimes a fraught childhood, and the joy she took in torturing her parents was something to behold.
“Once, I was at summer camp and all my friends turned into zombies,” Sami said, her lips pink from a nonstop string of Shirley Temples. She was hopped up on sugar and practically bouncing off the walls. “They didn’t want me to go to summer camp but gave in because I was sad, so they hid in the woods, in the truck, and spied on me.”
“I think this story is going somewhere good,” Kade grinned.
“Then I’m telling it wrong.” Sami’s expression soured. “So, I was playing with my friends and suddenly they turned into zombies.”
“They weren’t technically zombies,” Zoe countered. “They were overcome by a spell.”
“It’s the same thing.” Sami’s eyes flashed. “This is my story. I had to listen to the one where you changed my diaper in the middle of a festival — and that story isn’t even true — so I get to tell my story.
“Anyway, I was getting ready to kill all my friends when my parents swooped in,” she continued. “My dad picked me up like I was a baby and my mom held them off with magic. It was a pretty lame rescue, especially because I had everything under control. When we got back to the truck, do you know what I found?”
Mystic Caravan 11 - Freaky Mage Page 13