by Kim Harrison
"Good going, Jax," Jenks was saying as the pixy hovered in a double-size box stall, making the black horse in it toss his nose at the dust sifting down. "How did you find it?"
"There's a draft," he said, dropping down to show his dust being pulled under the straw. "See? There's a trapdoor right here."
The horse swung his head to try to bite him like a fly, and Jax darted out of the way, glowing a bright red as he landed on Nick's shoulder. The man was standing in the dead center of the aisle, uncomfortable. "Nice," I said, eying the horse, who now had his ears back, evil as he swung and tossed his head, daring us to come in.
"Girls like horses," Nick said, arms crossed. "One of you can get him out."
Ivy frowned. "Oh, for God's sake," she muttered, reaching for the gate.
"No!" I shouted, seeing the not-so-subtle equine signs.
The horse lunged forward, but Ivy was quicker, pulling her hand back an instant before the horse got his teeth on her. He stomped, tossing his head with his ears back. "Little sucker," she said, clearly shaken as she dropped back to where Nick stood.
Jenks smirked and flitted into the stall, not a hint of dust showing as he avoided the horse's bite and vanished under the floorboards. An instant later, a soft electric glow leaked up through the cracks. He'd found the lights.
"Did he get you?" I said, taking Ivy's hand, but apart from a bad mood, she looked okay.
A silver dust sifted over our fingers, and I let go when Jenks rejoined us. "It's a passage, all right," he said as Ivy shook her head. "It runs under the road. This is it."
Nick crossed his arms. "With hell horse guarding it? Ivy, will your drugs work on it?"
She shook her head. "I don't have enough. He's got to weigh over a thousand pounds."
"Hit him over the head with your cast," Jenks said. "Use what you got."
Ivy just looked at him, and I sighed, standing outside easy bite range. "I'm not going to be stopped by a freaking horse!" I said.
The horse's ears flicked forward, and his nose toss took on a less aggressive slant. My breath caught, and Jenks landed on my shoulder. "Did you see that?" he said, and Ivy chuckled.
"Rachel, I think he likes you."
"No way," I said, but the monster's ears flicked forward again, followed by a happy step toward us. My lips twisted, and I gazed at Ivy, mystified.
Jenks laughed. It was the first time I'd heard it since Matalina died, and something eased in me. "Well, I know you're not a virgin to soothe a savage beast," he said, and I swatted at him, missing him by a mile. "Go pet the horse, Rachel."
Nick scuffed his feet. "We're running out of time here..."
"Go pet the horse," I grumbled. "Do you people know the bite pressure of those teeth?" Wiping my hand on my black slacks, I reached out, jerking when the horse hung his head over the wall and head-butted me.
"I'll be damned," Nick swore, and Jenks laughed again.
"I don't get this," I said, as shocked as Ivy appeared, her black eyes wide and wondering. My hands went up to touch him, and I looked for a halter to put on him so I could lead him out. But when my gaze fell on the nameplate, my jaw dropped. "Tulpa?" I said, and the horse blew at me, seeming to be disappointed that I didn't have a snack for him.
"Ivy, this is the horse I fell off," I said, seeing that she was allowed to touch the gate now. "It was like thirteen years ago. Horses don't live that long and look this good." My focus went blurry as I pieced it together. "You're Trent's familiar, aren't you, old boy," I said as I slipped inside the stall as if I belonged. Tulpa wouldn't hurt me.
"Tick tock, Rache," Jenks said, and I cooed at the huge animal, not caring what Nick or Ivy thought as I ran my hands appreciatively over his black coat, glistening with the first hints of silver. God, the muscles on him. "Come on in," I said as I shoved his shoulder, and the horse obediently shifted to the wall of the big stall. "Back. Back up," I said, my hand on his neck giving a soft pressure, and I smiled when the horse took two more steps off the trapdoor. At least Trent's horse liked me. I should write him a letter and tell him. It would make his day.
Ivy came in, and Jenks, eying the blowing horse as she found the lever and swung the small trapdoor open. Clearly the horse was used to it, making only a snuff at the artificial light at his feet. His head dropped as if searching for a familiar face coming up and perhaps an apple. Ivy started down the metal stairs, her vamp reflexes making it easy one-handed, but Nick was still in the hallway.
Jenks put his hands on his hips and hovered. "What's wrong, crap-for-brains?"
Her head even with the floor, Ivy hesitated. "You don't have to come."
Grimacing, he eyed me and the horse. His hand on the gate prompted a sudden shifting from Tulpa, but I pushed him back. Horses were great. Once they accepted your dominance, there was no question. They sort of seemed to like it.
"Just get down the stairs, Nick," I said, and he slipped inside, almost skating down the metal framework in his haste. Jax was with him, and it was with an odd reluctance that I left Tulpa, giving him a pat before taking the stairs and unwedging the rod that had propped it open.
"Thanks, Tulpa," I said wistfully as the door shut, inches from my head. The last sight I saw was a floppy pair of lips with bristly whiskers snuffling at the narrowing crack. I turned and went downstairs, sighing at the thumps of his hooves overhead. I'd forgotten how much I liked horses.
Jenks was waiting for me, his hands on his hips as he hovered in his black thief outfit, looking better even if his grief was just out of sight in the back of his eyes. "You really get off on the big dumb animals, don't you," he said.
"Shut up, Jenks," I muttered, pushing past Nick and starting down the long, unremarkable hallway slanting downward. I couldn't help but wonder if I had picked out of my forgotten memory the word "Tulpa" as my word to spindle energy in my head. Probably.
"Cameras?" I asked as I came even with Ivy. The walls were white and I could feel the faint brush of air vents. I still thought using the ductwork would have been easier.
"No," Jenks said, wings a soft hum, then amended, "Well, just one where the elevator is. We've got a half-mile hike."
I nodded, feeling the strain of matching Ivy's vampire-quick pace. Nick gave up and began to jog, which made Ivy smirk. We looked out of place among the white halls and taupe carpeting, all of us in black but Jax: Ivy and me in leather, Jenks in his silk body suit, and Nick in a faded T-shirt and dark jeans. God, couldn't the man have dressed up a little for the occasion?
The end of the hallway was almost unrecognizable until we were on it. "Dad?" Jax questioned, and I jerked to a halt when Jenks flew in front of us.
"Yeah," the pixy said as he flushed. "Give Jax and me a minute to get the doors open without triggering something. 'Kay?"
The two pixies darted around the corner, gone. Fidgeting, I adjusted my belt pack, feeling the tiny ampoules of potion through the fabric. What if I ran into Ceri looking like her? This was so illegal it wasn't funny. Illegal, but in no stretch of the imagination deadly.
The whisper of pixy wings gave me bare warning as Jenks flew back around the corner. "We're good to go. Ivy, can you get the elevator doors open?"
Nick pushed forward around me. It's always the token dumb human who gets it first in the movies. I followed to find the hall dead-ended with the familiar silver doors of an elevator. Nick was trying to wedge the dead doors apart. Muttering "damn testosterone," Ivy strode forward, and with their joint efforts, the doors slid open to show an empty shaft. Jax hovered by my ear as we all looked up, and then down.
"Down, right?" I asked, thinking that if we had had more than a day to plan this, we could have swiped an entry card or something. No one said anything, but Jenks dropped into the darkness. Nick, too, swung into the shaft, easily grabbing the service ladder. I looked up, wondering how often they used this thing. "Down," I whispered, wishing it had been up. That half-mile hike had probably put us across the road and under Trent's business complex. I hoped.
&n
bsp; Ivy was next, trying to stick closer to Nick now that we were actually behind the walls. The metal was cold in my hands, and it felt too small as I descended.
Jenks's pixy wings clattered as he landed on my shoulder. "Hold up," he said, and I hooked an arm in the ladder and glanced down. "Nick is trying to get the door open by himself."
"Get the hell out of the way!" filtered up as Ivy pushed past him on the ladder, despite the cast. Smirking, I was slowly descending a few more rungs when a soft artificial light blossomed in the shaft. I reached for the edge and found Ivy. She extended an arm to help me in, but I still almost fell into the carpeted hallway.
Catching myself, I looked back into the elevator shaft. "Never thought I'd ever do that," I muttered, then frowned when Nick left a smeared glove print where he'd pushed the silver doors closed. Idiot.
Jax was busy with the hall camera, and if I hadn't known we were several stories underground, I'd swear we were in an upper interior hallway with the usual flat beige-and-white carpet, wooden doors, and frosted windows that looked into the offices, all of it combining to give the illusion of an upstairs office.
Jenks hovered to inspect the clean door while Ivy finished putting her tiny spray bottle of cleaner in her belt pack. "We need to move in stages," the pixy said. "The cameras down here won't stay tripped unless you're right there babysitting them, so we're going to leapfrog it. Jax will hold one camera as I scout to the next, and so on. There will be some time where you'll show, but it can't be helped. Shouldn't be too many people watching. It's between shifts."
"Got it," I said around a long exhale, then eyed the nearby camera. The only evidence of Jax was a silver dusting slipping from it, almost unseen in the bright light. I had a fleeting thought that I hoped I could trust Jax; then I berated myself.
"Give me a sec," Jenks said. "Jax will tell you when I've got the next camera."
I didn't even have time to nod before Jenks took off, skimming just below the ceiling and around the corner. Almost immediately I heard a faint, almost ultrasonic wing scrape, and I winced when Jax shouted for us to move.
"Let's go," Ivy said, breaking into a jog. Nick was quick to join me, and we loped down the empty corridors, the pixies trading off their positions as each one found the next camera.
I was starting to think that we just might be lost down here and that the pixies were leading us in circles when Jenks doubled back. A spike of fear dropped through me at the glitter of orange dust. "Back!" he said, waving his arms. "Someone's coming!"
Nick turned to run, but it was too far away to hope to get around the last corner. I grabbed his arm to keep him from moving as Ivy kicked the handle of the nearest office door. It popped open, and I shoved him in. Ivy was close behind, and I crouched, holding the door shut with an ear pressed to the crack.
"Stay put," I heard Jenks whisper, knowing he was talking to Jax, who couldn't possibly hear him. "Just stay put, son."
The scent of vampire twined around me like a vine, and I stiffened. I glanced up to see Ivy standing right over me, tense and listening to the approaching steps. It sounded like two people, and I hoped the frame wasn't visibly damaged. Feeling my attention on her, Ivy looked down and smiled, sharp pointy canines catching the light. Just when I forget what she is.
The voices of the two people chatting grew stronger. "It's two lab guys," Jenks said. "You want their cards? They might help in getting out."
I had an image of two geeky guys tied up and shoved into a closet, scared and noisy. "No," I said, standing up and backing away from the door. "Not worth the risk."
His wings clattered in indignation. "It's not a risk."
Ivy had her ear to the door, her cast held tight to her middle. "Shut up. Both of you."
Brow furrowed, I held my breath as they passed. Ivy slowly stood. Her hand went to the door; then she froze at a sudden shout.
"Shit," I whispered, adrenaline spiking at the sudden thumping of running feet. We'd been spotted.
Ivy tensed, suddenly four feet deeper into the room and ready to hit whatever came through the door, but the feet continued on without a pause. Relief slumped my shoulders when someone shouted they'd hold the elevator.
Coming forward, Ivy cracked the door, and Jenks slipped out. She counted to ten and then pushed the door entirely open. "Let's go," she said, face grim. "We just spent all our luck."
My knees were shaking at the near miss. They still didn't know we were here. I hoped.
Nick was sober as he came into the brighter light, and after a quick look behind us, we continued forward. We found Jenks hovering at a juncture, and my heart sank. We were lost.
"That way," Ivy said, pointing to the right, but Nick shook his head and pointed left.
"No," he said, looking determined. "You're right that magnetic resonances are capable of hiding the opening to the vault, but the vault isn't where the resonances are being generated. The vault is where the line is being pulled out of its channel."
Nick pointed the other way, and I sighed. God, not again. We'd already decided this.
A dangerous glint came into her already black eyes, Ivy said, "Fine, you go that way, I'm going the other. To the vault."
"We are not separating," I said, thinking Nick would rat us out.
"Trent won't put his vault next to a magnetic resonator where people work every day," Nick said irately. "The resonator is warping the nearby ley line, and where the line dips, that's where the vault will be, not the resonator itself. Watch, I'll prove it."
He turned to me, surprising me when he said, "Rachel? We're too deep for a line, right?" I nodded, and he added, "Reach for one." My eyebrows went up, and he said, "Just do it!"
"All right, all right," I muttered, relaxing just enough to do it. We were too deep for me to reach a ley line. Three stories at least. But my breath caught when I felt the faintest glimmer of strength not that far ahead and to the left. "I don't get it!" I whispered, telling Jenks with my head toss to get the camera's looping on the left corridor, and he buzzed off. "We're too deep."
"You've got to be kidding me," Ivy grumped, but when Jenks's ultrasonic wing scrape made my eyeballs hurt, I started forward.
"It's just devious enough to be true," I said dryly. They couldn't hear the pixy signals. Lucky them.
Nick all but sauntered beside me, and Jax joined us after we turned the corner. "It's Trent's magnetic-imaging system," Nick said. "Trent is going to use magic as well as technology to keep his vault closed. And for that, he'll need the ley line, unexpectedly pulled downward by a very powerful magnet, something no one would think twice about in a facility such as this."
He was right, but how had he known such a thing was possible?
"I'm telling you Trent won't use magic to close his vault," Ivy grumped. "He doesn't like magic."
But his security expert loved magic. And his dad had, too.
The hallway dead-ended at an encouragingly formidable set of double doors. The line had to be behind them, though; they were the only doors in the entire hall. The carpet was pristine, no coffee stains or scrapes. The air, too, felt stale. Jenks was at the camera in the corner, and when Jax took his place, the more experienced pixy dropped down to hover with us as we faced the oak doors. Reaching past Nick, I tapped it with a knuckle. Thick.
"Well, wonder boy," Ivy said sourly, "let's see what's behind door number three."
"It'll be there," Nick said indignantly as he slid a wired card into the card reader and proceeded to play Mr. Accountant on the attached device.
I shook my head, brow furrowed. Dropping back to where Jenks hovered, I fidgeted. Beyond the door were untold riches—my ticket to getting Trent, the coven, and Al off my case. Was I a thief if I was going to give it back? Did I care?
"Are you sure those cameras aren't recording?" I asked. Down at the end of the hallway, Jax huffed, and I tossed a strand of hair out of my eyes. "I feel like I'm being watched."
"This would be easier if it was quiet," Nick said, and Ivy frowned
. Nick took his fingers from the keypad and cracked his knuckles. A slip of pixy dust dropped down to lubricate the electrons as much as for luck, and Nick hit the big green button.
The red light on the pad went out, and the green one lit. There was a faint buzzing, and Nick grabbed the card out of the reader with jaunty swiftness and turned the handle. My gut clenched, but the twin doors opened silently. "QED," he said, gesturing for me to go first.
Ivy caught my shoulder. "In my family, that means quite easily dead. I'll go first." Giving Nick a mistrusting once-over, she went into the dark room. Fluorescent lights flicked on at her presence. It worried me, but it was unlikely they'd monitor the lights when there were other ways to detect people.
"It can't be this easy," I said as I followed her with Nick tight on my heels. Jax was with him, and Jenks slipped in an instant before the doors shut.
"Maybe because it isn't," Ivy said, and I stared at the blank walls of the large room.
"Where's the vault?" I asked, then turned to Nick. "Where's the freaking vault!"
"Right in front of you," he said, and I spun, in a really bad mood. "Rachel, where's the ley line?" he added, and frustrated, I hesitated.
"Uh, right here," I said, eyes going wide. "You don't think the way into the vault is... through the ever-after?" I asked, and Nick smiled deviously. "But you can't do that!"
It was a beautiful thought if it could be done, though. The perfect door. If the magnets were unpowered, the line wouldn't even come close and the door wouldn't even exist. Closing my eyes, I reached for the ley line, shocked when I found it, bent and running through the wall just as he'd said it might. A quiver went through me. Trent's dad had gone into the ever-after with my dad and come out, not bought a trip from someone. He could shift from reality to the ever-after and back using a ley line. And so could Trent, apparently. He must really not want me to know he could if he had risked everything last summer buying our way in and out of the ever-after.
Nick's smile was wide when I opened my eyes, and he pushed himself from the wall. "So where's the door?"