Crossroads Burning

by Nash, Layla

  “Mason mentioned that,” I said. “But it’s hard enough for us to stay here without a bunch of government types and other witches showing up and drawing attention to how different we are.”

  He made a thoughtful noise, then glanced over at me. “I’ve got my first question for you.”

  My heart stuttered against my ribs, and I almost couldn’t breathe. My fingers bit into my legs as I held myself really still. “Shoot.”

  “If you could go anywhere and do anything, what would it be?”

  I blinked. It made my chest hurt to think about answering that, because I’d never let myself hope enough to imagine those possibilities. “I don’t think I have an answer for that.”

  “Take your time.” He didn’t seem particularly perturbed, though he pushed up on his elbows to look back as Nelson called to him from the fire. “Tell me tomorrow.”

  “O-Okay.” I shot up to my feet as one of the brothers sauntered up, giving us plenty of warning.

  Mason grinned until his teeth flashed white through the darkness. “Everyone decent? Got your clothes back on?”

  “Don’t be a dick,” Lincoln said. “Everything set?”

  “Yeah.” The shifter’s gaze landed on me. “Hazel’s got the last blood test for you, Luckett. Once that’s clear, you’re good to go. Unless you want Linc here to tie you down again before bed.”

  My whole face burned like I’d spent twelve hours under the summer sun, and I figured there must have been smoke coming off my skin. I shouldered past him, muttering under my breath, “Right.”

  I didn’t hear what Lincoln said to him, but when they returned to the fire as Hazel dropped a swab of my blood into another test tube, Mason looked as chastened as any housecat had ever been. Which was to say—not much. But he gave Lincoln a wide berth, and when Nelson grinned like he’d follow up on whatever his brother said, Mason shook his head in warning.

  Hazel frowned at the test tube, which remained clear, and shook it carefully before looking at Lincoln. “What’s the order for the watch, boss?”

  “I’ll take first,” he said. “Mason volunteered to take midnight and one, then Nelson will take two and three, and you can take four. I’ll take the last watch as well. Just wake me up.”

  The witch smiled. “He volunteered? How very helpful and unlike him.”

  “Yeah.” Lincoln’s bland expression betrayed nothing. “Maybe he’s maturing.”

  “That’s unlikely as hell,” Nelson said under his breath.

  Eddie eyed all of them with a hint of disbelief. “I’m happy to stay up as well. I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’d rather help than sleep the night away.”

  I started to suggest the same, but Hazel shook her head. “The wards will do most of the work, or should, but if we have to react fast, it’s easier for us to do it than for you to wake us up. You can help out tomorrow night, once we’re done with the werewolves.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with that, since I didn’t like the idea of sitting up by myself all night long, waiting for the werewolves to come raging out of the darkness to attack us. Although I didn’t think I’d sleep a wink, wondering the same thing. Between the werewolves and Lincoln’s first question, it wasn’t going to be a restful night.

  Chapter 22

  It wasn’t. The werewolves attacked just after four. The only reason I knew the time was because Hazel and Nelson both hollered just as the snarling echoed closer, the witch having just replaced Nelson on the watch. Then sparks surged up everywhere and growling took over and there wasn’t time to think after that.

  The fire had died down but Hazel’s wards blazed as bright as noon, so I could count how many werewolves swarmed the camp as soon as I fought free of my half-collapsed tent. Nelson and Mason had disappeared and instead two lions raged and fought the half dozen enormous wolves who snarled and bit, and Hazel chanted while Eddie fired his rifle again and again with calm efficiency. I didn’t see Lincoln anywhere, and my heart surged to my throat. What if he’d been caught unawares? What if the wolves went for him first?

  I didn’t wait to find him to act. My rifle was close as hand and reloaded from the team’s ammunition, and I started firing the second I had a clear shot at the wolves. My breathing remained calm and steady, even though I wanted to hide in my tent, and I sent round after round into the beasts. The werewolves were larger than the four I’d killed, and they swarmed silently around and through the camp even with the wards. The fire had long since died from dirt kicked up and scattered around, though Eddie remained near it as he tried to help the lions fight off the eerily quiet werewolves.

  The beasts tried to corner Eddie, drool and slobber dripping from their massive teeth as they herded him away from the camp and toward the open grassland, and the ranger’s whole body went pale. He kept firing though, and I saw glimpses of that Marine Corps training. Bullet after bullet struck the two werewolves that focused on him, but it wasn’t enough to slow them down. I dodged one of the werewolves as it leapt after Mason, and aimed my rifle at the ones going after Eddie. The ranger was my friend, and had been when no one else would be. I wouldn’t let him die. Not like that.

  The ley lines pulsed in warning beneath the earth, uneasy with the magic and spilled blood, but I focused only on the rifle’s sights. My finger squeezed the trigger and the gun recoiled. The smaller werewolf jerked as the round hit the back of its head, and its legs went out from under it and it fell. Almost dead.

  But that wasn’t enough to save Eddie. The larger beast advanced on him, even though the ranger kept firing just as I did. The damn thing had to have twenty rounds in it, but it still drove Eddie into the darkness.

  “No,” I said. I bared my teeth at it, an unfamiliar rage bubbling up in my chest. No fucking way. My bare feet slid in the bloody grass, but I could feel the earth beneath my toes. Close enough.

  Hazel shouted something and red and yellow lights flashed, and somewhere a green glow started that overwhelmed even the moon. But none of that mattered to me. The rifle fell to the ground as the ley magic surged through me, and I surrendered to the strength of it. The ley lines didn’t like the werewolves any more than they liked the dire wolves; their presence felt too wrong, an abomination, and the ley magic couldn’t tolerate an abomination.

  Other messages filtered through the ley magic, trying to warn me of other dangers, but the werewolf leapt at Eddie and I ran out of time to debate the options.

  Magic boiled out of me and shot in a beam of brilliant, blue-gold light straight to the werewolf, surrounding it and lifting it into the air. All I could think as I stared at the werewolf was Go back. Go back. Go back. Over and over, it turned into a chant in my head, a desperate plea for the werewolf to retreat, to stay away from Eddie, to disappear into the night and never reappear.

  I shouted at Eddie. “Get to the horses.” And I hoped he listened.

  Whatever magic it was I’d called from the Crossroads, it was too much to handle. It felt like I’d burn right out and be consumed by the magic as it pounded in my head in an echo: go back go back go back go back. The werewolf snarled as it floated, and as the ley magic condensed around it, the damn thing struggled and started to change. It broke and shifted, like Mason had, and then a naked man took the place of the mad beast that had tried to kill Eddie. My throat closed as I stared at him, captive in the ley magic. I didn’t want to know the beast was actually a person. I couldn’t kill a person.

  My hands went numb and I stumbled back, losing control of the magic. The unconscious man fell to the ground with a thump, but at least he stayed human.

  A lion ran in front of me, knocking me back, and I fell with a grunt. The ley lines still pulsed and surged under the earth, but I couldn’t find the connection to them. Something had disrupted it, and as I struggled to breathe, the ley magic surged into the night far to my left.

  Hooves beat the ground as Eddie charged up on one of the wild-eyed horses, and he leaned down to try to catch my hand. “Get up. You have to get u
p.”

  “Ride,” I said, holding my side. Another werewolf knocked one of the lions aside and charged, golden eyes mad with bloodlust and rage and the Bell only knew what. I scrambled on my hands and knees through the grass, sliding in the blood, and the horse spooked and ran.

  Eddie shouted more, trying to turn it around, but the horse screamed as a lion got too close and then it charged into the night. It was better that way. At least the ranger wouldn’t see me die in the dirt like an animal.

  The werewolf’s head lowered as it growled, bounding at me, and its paws collided with my chest. Bones bent and then broke, and I shrieked in pain. My knees flew into the beast’s guts, almost sending it over my head, but instead it only bruised me and dragged out another cry. The ley magic finally connected as my blood hit the dirt, and tore out of me with such force it hurt just as much as broken ribs and arms and torn cartilage.

  Go back go back go back go back

  The blue-gold magic hit the werewolf and sent it flying. It disappeared in midair with a puff of fur and a spray of blood, and I panted with the effort of reining in the cascade of power. It threatened to consume me as well, bursting out of every cell in my being.

  Tears obscured my vision and I couldn’t see the stars. I couldn’t see Lincoln or even whether he was still alive. Maybe he’d perished first thing and I’d never get the chance to avenge his death. My fingers dug into the dirt and I prayed for the first time in a long time. Dying in the jaws of a werewolf was one thing, but dying because I couldn’t control my own magic was just tragic.

  Chapter 23

  A low voice reached me through the inferno, and something warm wrapped around my hand. “Stop fighting it. I’ve got you. Just let it go through you.”

  “It’s too much,” I said, or maybe I just thought it. I couldn’t feel my mouth. I couldn’t feel anything but pain and the slight pressure of someone holding my hand.

  “I know.” Another deep breath, and the voice grew stronger. “Trust me.”

  I didn’t trust anyone. And I sure as hell didn’t trust a random voice out of the darkness as I lay dying. But the choices were clear—trust the voice and do what it said and maybe die a little faster, or try to hold on my own way and die a bit slower. So I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped, exhaling and letting the magic take over. It felt like I became a ley line myself, aligned with the vast spiderweb of power running under the earth, and the voice murmured under its breath as the power built and flowed and threatened to carry me away.

  It wasn’t a bad way to end, all things considered. I had the presence of mind to siphon some of that magic heal my broken ribs, even though it wouldn’t matter for much longer, and it became harder to breathe as the pressure of ley magic increased. Even carving a little off to ease the pain in my side didn’t make a dent in the blistering cascade. It felt like standing under a waterfall with the weight of thousands of gallons of water pounding on my head, dragging at my limbs, threatening to send me spinning away into nothingness.

  Then, from far away, a green glow drifted into the torrent of blue-gold magic. It felt strange, the green power, both foreign and familiar. It didn’t fight the ley magic but joined it and then started to split it. The green magic spread, slowly claiming me and peeling away the overwhelming presence of the ley power.

  The voice murmured, “That’s it. Push it away. Gently. Just peel away from it.”

  What he said made sense and didn’t make any sense all at the same time. The pain sparked in my shoulder and side once more, but I exhaled it away and started to deflect the ley magic out of me and back into the earth. The green magic glowed around me, sliding into every bone and joint. It marked me, just as the ley magic had marked me the first time I used it, but I couldn’t regret it too much as the ley lines retreated and the world slowly returned around me. The ley magic peeled away and slowly faded, though my muscles twitched with the lingering static and power.

  Every part of me was cold. Except my right hand, where Lincoln’s fingers twined with mine, and my forehead, where his other hand rested. He knelt next to me in the blood and mud, his expression serious and lines stacked up around his eyes, and when he found me looking at him, he exhaled.

  The stars had faded with the hint of false dawn in the east, but that didn’t make sense. It had still been deep night when the werewolves attacked, and we sure as hell hadn’t been fighting for three hours. It might have felt that way, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes from the time Mason and Hazel raised the alarm to when I saw the werewolf stalking Eddie and no sign of Lincoln and I thought...

  Tears burned my eyes and my mouth flopped open as I gasped for air. He’d just disappeared. Maybe been bitten. What if he’d been turned and Hazel and the others had to kill him? What if they asked me to help? What if I’d been the only one left, and I had to kill him—kill all of them—myself? My back arched and my heels dug into the earth as the emotions tried to escape and I struggled to cry out, to ask for help. I couldn’t force all the fear and grief back down, there was too much of it to hide away. It had to be okay. They had to be okay.

  Lincoln’s eyes searched my face, and the concern in his gaze worried me more than the hint of green that still clung to him. And to me. To both of us. He took a deep breath. “Tell me your name.”

  It felt like a command, not a request, and with the green magic backing it, I found myself answering without thinking about what I said. “Anastasia Temperance Luckett, daughter of Margaret Mercy Luckett, daughter of Helene Charity Luckett. Guardian of the Crossroads.”

  I blinked. It was truth, all of it, but Gran warned us never to give our full names out. True names had power, and offering it up like that... I shivered. He knew my full name and where I came from, the names of my ancestors. With the green glow still surrounding him, there was no telling what kind of magic he could do.

  “Good,” he said, and some of the worry lines faded. “I thought we lost you for a second.”

  My voice rasped and burned with each syllable. “What happened?”

  “The werewolves attacked. You and Eddie killed one, then you very rightly told Eddie to run. You managed to turn one of the werewolves back to human, but another pinned you down. From what I saw, when you reached for magic, there was too much there and it overwhelmed you.” His thumb stroked my forehead, over and over, in a soothing caress that had me closing my eyes again. Bell and Book help me, that was nice. Lincoln’s fingers tightened on mine, though, and I looked at him again, still dazed and dreamy from his touch. “Stay awake for a bit longer, baby.”

  Baby. I wanted to preen and roll around in the sound of his voice calling me that. I wanted to absorb it and hold it in my heart for the rest of my life. “The green magic. What is it?”

  “You saw that?” He made a hmming sound in his throat, a grumbly rumble in his chest, and his thumb paused before it started stroking my skin once more. “Very interesting. That was my magic, Anastasia. I couldn’t let the ley lines drag you away.”

  “You know about ley lines?” That made everything a lot simpler, at least in my dreamy thoughts. They couldn’t really be a secret if he already knew about it.

  “We know a bit,” he said. Lincoln glanced up at someone on the other side of me, then looked back down at me. “But I’ve never seen anything like what happened here. We have a lot to talk about. For now, though, I’m going to have Hazel look at your ribs. I think the werewolf managed to break a few of them, and we need you whole so we can explore that cave.”

  It felt like weights dragged my eyelids down and the peace of sleep threatened to pull me under. I was completely exhausted, more drained after the ley magic was done with me than I’d been since the first time I tried a spell on my own. It felt like the ley magic drained me as it went. “But we killed the werewolves.”

  He leaned down and his lips ghosted over my forehead, where his thumb had been. “That might not have been all of them. We still have to check. Now be a good girl and let Hazel fix you up.”


  He started to move away and I couldn’t bear it. My hand reached for his, catching at his sleeve, and Lincoln hesitated next to me. I took a shivery breath, the taste of the morning air too fresh and strong in my lungs. Inhaling pudding might have been easier. “Wait. The one I changed back—is he okay?”

  Lincoln’s lips compressed and I knew in a heartbeat that the man hadn’t been saved by my magic. He’d just changed back physically, but the wolf remained on the inside. The federal agent sighed and squeezed my fingers again. “I’m sorry. He died with the others.”

  My eyes burned and I didn’t realize it was from tears, tracking hot and furious down the sides of my face, until Lincoln wiped them away. I’d really thought turning the werewolf back to human might have saved him. He deserved another chance. Maybe there was something that could have been done. It wasn’t fair that he died just because some other jackass with a virus bit him. A knot formed in my throat and made it more difficult to breathe, and I choked.

  Lincoln was immediately next to me once more, leaning down until I could see nothing but his face. “Hey. Look at me, Anastasia. It’s not your fault.”

  “I could have saved him,” I said, even though I didn’t know if I could have. I would have at least tried, which was more than they would have done.

  “No one changes back,” he said. His palms rested against my cheeks, holding my face so I couldn’t look away. “He was still the werewolf, just in a man’s form. He would have bitten and turned all of us the moment he had the chance. There wasn’t anything to do for him, other than putting him out of his misery.”

  I didn’t believe him. If the Crossroads and ley magic had taught me anything, it was that there was always a way. Except when the Lucketts tried to leave Rattler’s Run. Lincoln sighed, wiping away the tears. “We can talk more when you’re feeling better. Hazel is going to give you something for pain, then she’ll heal you up as much as possible.”