INVISIBLE FATE BOOK THREE: ALEX NOZIAK (INVISIBLE RECRUITS)

by Buckham, Mary

  Van knew he owed the mage and it was payback time. So for another four-minutes he’d bite his tongue, keep his chant steady, and refuse to give into the what-ifs.

  He glanced at the girl witch and gave a steady nod. He knew if he stopped chanting Alex could be lost on the other side. He wouldn’t do that to his worst enemy.

  “So you’re saying she’s okay?” Sabina’s voice sounded thin and reedy.

  Van offered another nod.

  The kid blew a puff of air that made her dark bangs dance as she turned back toward the house. “Good.” Then her nerves seemed to get the better of her as she continued to whisper. “I mean you both know what you’re doing and I don’t, and worry never fixed a thing. My dad used to say that. A lot. Not that it ever helped. But if there was something I could be doing you’d tell me.” She glanced at him again.

  He nodded.

  “Okay. Then I won’t panic. Not yet.”

  He wasn’t sure if he should be thankful for small favors or not. Until he noticed Sabina go still, her focus now one hundred percent on the mansion in front of them.

  The mansion where two men and what looked like a shaggy huge dog had just exited. The dog looked like a cross between an Otter hound and a Great Dane. Butt ugly but huge and powerful, and if Van’s guess was right, a shifter or Were. Most likely shifter because Weres tended to be more predatory animals.

  This one was not a happy beast though, barking, and agitated. But why?

  His father looked calm enough, his posture a little stiff and formal, but the other man, the druid Van had met this morning, looked like a country squire, his hand gestures expansive, a smile wreathed across his face.

  Van brought his Duovid binoculars to his eyes while continuing to chant. Then he increased the magnification until both faces came in sharp and unrestricted.

  With greater clarity the subtleties came into range. His father’s tight-lipped expression told Van loud and clear not all was well. And the other man’s movements through the viewfinder they appeared less casual and more a way to defuse nerves. Even the dog’s antics looked less benign and more assertive.

  If Van dared stop chanting he’d have uttered an oath. As it was he glanced at his watch.

  Alex had less than three minutes.

  A sharp bark from the dog had him scanning the front door again where the druid seemed to be asking Van’s father to return inside the house.

  No, demanding. His dad threw off the hand placed on his arm and then froze, as if struck by magic.

  A smug expression creased the druids face as his lips moved.

  A spell.

  Triple FUBAR.

  Before Van could move, his dad was walking stiff- legged back into the house, the dog tearing around him, the druid calling orders to whoever was just inside.

  Alex had just run out of time.

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  “Your warlock is not here,” a male voice slapped against me. I twisted toward it so fast I almost toppled. But there wasn’t a soul around. Just that glowing pinkness, fast becoming my least favorite color.

  “Who are you? Where are you?”

  “Here.” A form shimmered in front of me, more a faint shadow than a body against the glaring light. As if someone was having fun increasing a dimmer switch to bright-holy-hell-Pepto Bismal level. “Does seeing me help you?”

  “Not really.” Was he kidding? There was something familiar about his voice though, even if all he looked like was a puff of charcoal smoke. I took a stab in the dark. “I know you.”

  “We’ve met before.”

  Like that meant something. Then I remembered. A few weeks back, and my first visit to the shamanistic spirit plane, someone helped me there. Well, technically, I had to twist his insubstantial arm by promising a future favor to get him to find a friend, if that’s what I could call Franco. Pain in the patootie was more like it.

  “You need my assistance again,” Ghost Guy said. He sounded so sure I had to check myself. “And here you’re supposed to be so powerful.”

  “Don’t think so.” On both counts. I sucked as a witch, with magic burning me more than helping anyone. Then there was the whole ask- for- help thing. Owing a strange spirit one favor was bad enough. No way was I going to sell my soul to him a second time.

  He spoke with a snarky get-with-the-program tone, “You can’t run from your troubles, Alex Noziak.”

  Did I look like I was running? No. I was trying my damndest to get some straight answers but who did I get stuck with? Attitude on steroids.

  It’d be nice to know where I was and how I could find Bran quickly. As long as a question wasn’t seen as a favor, I should be okay.

  I started with the easy question first. Sort of warming him up. “Where am I?” I waved my hand and then added, “I mean, I know I’m in the Spirit realm but where exactly?”

  “Exactly where you need to be.”

  I hated zen crap. I didn’t have time to play twenty obscure puzzle games.

  “Since you can’t help me.” Or won’t. “I’ll be moving along.”

  Not that I had a clue where to look for Bran. The spell to call a warlock seemed like a complete bust.

  “You’ve been sent here to find something,” Ghost Guy said, giving me chicken skin.

  “You mean other than Bran?” I blurted out before I realized what I’d said. So I scrambled to make clear I wasn’t asking for help. “Just curious. No deals.”

  “Not to worry.” He spoke as if he could read the secrets of my mind. Which was downright creepy and raised the hairs along my arms that much more. Maybe he was more ghoul than ghost, which didn’t make me feel better. Ghouls made fae look like nice folks. Ghosts being all spirit, I should be able to handle as a shaman. At least in theory.

  Then I remembered. Tick tock.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of time,” I said, looking around to see if there might be any other options than Mr. Let’s-make-a-deal here, but except for the lightness, the plane was empty.

  The ghoul shrugged his shoulders as if it was no concern of his.

  “Can you help me find Bran or not?” I demanded, listening to Van’s voice start to change. Was something happening in the earthly realm? Were Van and Sabina being attacked?

  I turned, fear making my skin clammy, my voice tight. “Never mind. You’re no help,” I whispered, prepared to return. A failure.

  “He’s not here,” the ghoul said, surprising us both as his form became clearer. Not corporeal but less vague. Now he looked like he might be in his late twenties, early thirties. No way to tell when he might have lived, but if he was able to materialize as he was, it was a darn good clue he’d possessed a body at one time.

  “Why should I trust you?” I asked. Yup, that was me. Kick the gift horse in the mouth. But if he lied, and Bran was already dead, we’d fight our way into that house on a fool’s errand, and any casualties would be solely my responsibility.

  “Because I speak the truth. Your mage is not here. Yet.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “You’ve run out of time,” he said with what might have been a smile. The smile a snake gave before it struck. “You will return. We shall bargain then.”

  Not if I could help it.

  I swallowed, knowing I didn’t have a lot of options. Stay and keep hunting for Bran who might not be here and risk Van and Sabina at the very least. Or trust this ghoul with an agenda and risk us all back on the earthly plane.

  I was getting damn tired of hard choices.

  You know the old saying? Seek safety in danger. Guess that meant back to the physical realm it was.

  I braced myself, closing my eyes at the same time, though I really, really hated to do that so near to Ghoul Guy.

  “Till next time,” his voice echoed as I followed Van’s chant down a long, dark tunnel.

  Interesting, before I’d always popped from one realm to the other. What was up with the tunnel?

  Wooden beams stacked upright like an un
derground passage. A coal mine or train tunnel maybe? Row upon row of layered beams, but colored orange and red. Beside and above me. A tunnel of blood-orange color. Like a mineshaft but illuminated by the walls instead of any specific light source. The path looked like gravel with bloodstains saturating each small, sharp rock. And that smell. It intensified, enough to make me want to wrap my sleeve across my nose. What the heck?

  Was the blood a nightmare? Could be, but it sure felt real. The pounding of my heart increased even though I’d slowed my pace. My breath chugging in and out. The fear kicking through me as if any minute something horrible was going to jump out at me.

  “Get your ass over here,” Van snarled, breaking the chant.

  I ran. Ran like all the wraiths of hell were chasing me. Ran in the direction I’d last heard his voice.

  “Van? Van, are you there?”

  Only silence.

  If he left me here, in this blood red, endless tunnel, I’d … I’d … oh crap, please don’t leave me.

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  I was gulping air, my heart pounding, my muscles firing with after burn as I jerked upwards, an arm swinging across me, pressing me into the earth.

  “What the—”

  “Shhh,” Van hissed into my ear. “They’ll hear you.”

  They? Where? Oh, yeah, back in the physical realm. Thank the Great Spirits.

  I released a sigh that came from the soles of my feet.

  Van whispered in my ear, “Get ready to run.”

  Run where?

  I was shaking, that kind of tremble you get when every muscle in your body has been maxed.

  “On the count of three,” Van said, mumbling something into his head mic to the rest of the team.

  Out of the fire and into an inferno. What was going on?

  I raised my head enough to find my own answers. Five Weres fanned out before us, moving toward where we huddled as if they knew exactly where we were.

  The protection spell I’d cast earlier?

  Oh, peanuts and pistols, I should have had Sabina keep up the chant while I was gone. Now I didn’t have enough magic left in me to cast even a How and Why spell.

  I could feel Van vibrating next to me, ready to shift. But even in his wolf form, there were too many Weres for him to take on. Unless…

  “Sabina, you run to the left. I’ll veer to the right. Van, we’ll try to divide and conquer.”

  He snorted. “Tarrington High?”

  “You got it, bro. Ready to rock and rumble?”

  “You get hurt and Dad’ll kill me.”

  “Pshaw, we’re Noziaks. Noziaks don’t die.”

  My stomach was cramping with fear as I rose to my knees. Stealth didn’t matter anymore. It was time to play the game.

  “One,” Van said, crouched. Sabina mimicked him. Smart girl.

  “Two.” I creaked my neck and hoped like hades I didn’t fall in a heap, my legs failing me before I could even get started.

  “Three.”

  We all burst out from under the tree at the same time, yelling like the Sioux or Pawnees, hell bent for leather in three different trajectories.

  Weres could be taken by surprise, and bless them, that’s exactly what happened, giving us a few vital seconds to gain ground until they split and started charging.

  One after Sabina.

  Two head-on into Van.

  Three after me.

  Chapter Sixty

  WTF? How’d I get so lucky?

  Legs charging, lungs chugging, heart rat-a-tat-tatting a million miles a second. If I’d been just a witch/shaman I couldn’t have outrun any of these guys even in their human forms. For the first time since I’d woken up in that crappy laboratory, I was thankful for whatever abilities I now had due to Van’s shifter bite. Not that I’d tell him that. We were siblings.

  I ran as if the hounds of hell were hot on my tail. Which they were. I heard one shift but didn’t dare glance over my shoulder to see what he’d become.

  The angle I was blazing across the lawn arrowed me toward the old carriage house. What then?

  A stack of crates huddled beneath the far eaves. If I could reach them I might, just might be able to use them to climb on the roof.

  Not that the Weres couldn’t too, but higher ground usually held the advantage. And I was looking for time. Time for Van to take out his two opponents. Time for the team to arrive. Time to come up with a better plan.

  Mostly the last one.

  I hit the boxes and scrambled up them the way I’d once seen a kitten clamor up a tree with a badass Doberman nipping at her. Using both hands and knees I clawed my way onto the slate tile roof, thankful it wasn’t wet because even dry there wasn’t a lot of traction. Before I was fully sprawled across the hard surface I used my foot to kick off the last box. The box and the Were flying up it.

  I smacked the Were, right in his open mouth, which was just enough oomph to topple him and the boxes backwards.

  But I wasn’t home free. Not by a long shot.

  Face fully pressed against the slate, I turned my head enough to look behind me.

  Thank the Great Spirits, the one Were who had shifted had become a boar. Wicked dangerous on the ground but no climbing boxes for that one, and if he shifted back to human form, it’d take him a bit to recover his strength. One Were down, two to go.

  Using fingers, knees, elbows and anything else I could to scurry higher on the roof, I did. I’d give the remaining Weres about two minutes to reassemble those boxes and be after me.

  At least I had a chance to catch my breath and see how Van was doing. He was still in his human form but using his speed and strength against his two opponents. Given his military training I wasn’t worried about him. He was probably having fun.

  But where was Sabina?

  Oh, oh, there she was, splayed on her back against the grass, using her legs as battering rams against the Were trying to pin her down.

  Teen human against Were? She had seconds at most before the guy broke her legs or simply smothered her by throwing his weight on her.

  Where was the rest of the IR team?

  As if I’d conjured them, I watched the new girl, what was her name? Nicki. That’s right. Nicki came racing from around the back of the house, a bullet on course to do some wup ass on that Were. Of course he was too stupid, or too focused on beating up on a kid to notice what was about to come down on him.

  Go, Nicki!

  Jaylene and Mandy were close behind Nicki but even as far away as I was, I could hear the snap as she plowed into the Were. Smack. Crackle and pop.

  That Were went over like a deflated sandbag as Nicki pummeled him into the ground. He didn’t even have a chance to send up a Mayday to his buddies.

  Ling Mai had been smart to bring in a shifter to the team.

  Jaylene waved Herc forward to help Sabina crawl to her feet before Jaylene headed toward Van.

  I threw my arms up and started shouting but already the Weres after me had managed to pull themselves up to the roof’s edge. No way could Jaylene or Mandy make it to me, and even if they did, they were no match against angry Weres. And these two were pissed, snarling and raging. I could actually see the face of one already morphing into an elongated snout. Not a canine one but what looked like an ape.

  Just great. Something that was even more nimble than I was on the roof.

  I started racing to the ridgeline, slipping backwards as much as scrambling forward. Once on top there weren’t a lot of options and zip weapons.

  Did I have enough magic left in me?

  Only one way to know for sure. Bracing myself with my butt on the ridge I faced the Weres, one who had already reached the roof but was finding it as hard to navigate as I did, and the other, the ape already swinging himself from crate to slate. By the time he landed with a loud thud he’d fully changed into a mid-size gorilla.

  Not good. Not good at all.

  Sucking in a much-needed breath, I raised my hands.

  “Air to wind
, Earth to dust.

  By water and by fire.

  Trouble to heed and trouble to find.

  Compel. Coerce. Constrain.

  I thee call. I thee command.

  Threat be gone. Power be bound.”

  Human Were stopped but Gorilla Guy didn’t miss a beat. His long arms swung at his sides, his bulging forehead looking like a battering ram, and then there were his teeth, thirty-two of them, barred in a primordial snarl.

  I know in the wild gorillas can be gentle vegetarians, but this one didn’t seem to have gotten the memo.

  “Hey, monkey, monkey, can we talk?” I whispered, wondering what now? That’s when I saw it. A small skylight, halfway down a small hip roof, off to my right.

  No idea where it went but it went somewhere and that’s all I needed to know.

  Throwing myself toward it I half slid, half rolled toward the opening, catching one hand on the metal casing.

  I’d nearly ripped my arm off. Holy Goddess, that hurt.

  My back was to the window so no time to check out what was beneath it as I rolled on top of it, battering it open with my feet.

  Not my smartest move.

  Chapter Sixty-one

  I curled myself into as small a ball as possible, protecting my head as I plummeted what felt like miles into a shadowed darkness.

  St. Jude, protector of desperate situations, must have been watching over me as I smashed onto the hood of a car, crumpling it, and knocking the wind out of me.

  But I was alive. I could work with that.

  Rolling off the hood I landed in a crouch by the front wheel of a compact French car, already scrambling for another exit.

  Looking up, I could see the gorilla darkening the shattered window. Wouldn’t take him long to follow.

  I glanced around. A few gardening tools in a corner. Stone walls. Concrete floor.

  A doublewide door was closed behind the car. If I could open it fast enough, I could be back outdoors. Where the boar Were waited.