by Renee Jordan
The valet pulled up with the truck. We threw our supplies into the back of the cab, then we all sat in the front. It was roomy. Axel pulled the truck into the traffic and we headed to our ambush point. I stared out the window as we eased down the strip, stopping every few car lengths. I watched the tourists. They were all having fun. I envied them.
Axel turned off the Strip. The garish brilliance of the casinos gave way to Las Vegas itself, the dust of the desert painting the sidewalks and streets. The luster vanished as we moved to our ambush spot. My stomach tensed. I shifted and squirmed as I leaned against the glass.
This was such a bad idea. Stupid. Ridiculous. We were going up against armed men. Sure we had magic, but it was such a stupid risk. And for money. But I had to be do this. For Lexie. She would do it without me. I had to be there for her.
I just wanted today to be over with. Finished. Then we would be scot-free. Off to Mexico to live our lives of luxury on the white-sand beaches, sipping mai tais, and savoring paradise.
Axel backed his truck into a dusty alley. We had arrived. Lexie changed our appearance. I was Marilyn Monroe today, complete with her infamous white dress. Lexie went with Audrey Hepburn, wide-eyed with the actress's innocent beauty. I guess she was feeling nostalgic. Axel became Humphrey Bogart, complete with the trench coat.
“Here's looking at you, kid,” Axel said, trying to effect the hard-boiled detective and not quite making it.
Lexie laughed and leaned over, giving him a sloppy kiss. Her illusion fell apart as their bodies pass through her disguise. I envied them. Not their love, which I had always longed to experience, but their care-free attitude. I didn't want the fear nesting inside of me. I hated worrying. I liked to live my life, to enjoy myself.
Fear sucked.
I wrenched open the door. “Come on, Lexie. You need to get ready to make the illusion.”
“Right, right,” Lexie smiled. “Sorry.” She squealed. “Ooh, let's do this. We're gonna be set for life, baby.”
“Yes, we are.” Axel gave her another quick kiss, his illusory fedora passing into Lexie's head.
I hopped out of the truck and walked forward. I clutched my hands to my breasts. Beneath my illusion, my totem tingled. I readied to use my magic. I reached the alley's mouth and peered down the street.
And waited.
Cars drove past, ignoring us. I bit my lip, my heart thudding. I pulled out my cellphone, reaching through my illusory dress to my jeans beneath and fishing it out. If the armored car was on time, it would be here any moment.
Axel bent down and unzipped a duffel bag he pulled from the car. The assault rifles were inside. They weren't loaded, merely for show. But they unnerved me. I didn't like it when he shoved one into my hands, then the other into Lexie's. Then he pulled out the explosive he made to blow up the armored car's door.
“There it is,” Lexie said. “Spirits of illusion, conjure my desires and make them appear real.”
The light spirits rushed from inside homes and descended out of the sky as the armored car drove nearer. I stared at it. A bulky, ugly hunk of iron shaped like a delivery truck. A tank barreling through Las Vegas. A clammy chill ran down my lower back and rippled across my skin. I sucked in ragged breaths.
My heart thudded.
It would be over soon. Soon. And then no more.
Lexie's illusion went into action. A telephone pole “fell” across the road. It looked realistic. Electric wires fell and danced across the ground. The pole bounced when it hit the ground, breaking off its arms. A transformer shot yellow sparks across the ground.
The armored truck's tires squealed. Smoke rose as the heavy vehicle slid to a halt before us.
“Spirits of breath,” I cast as Axel and Lexie rushed for the back of the vehicle, “draw away the oxygen. Deny life to my enemy.”
I hated the spell. It was a spell a witch could kill a person with, stealing their oxygen, forcing them to only breathe nitrogen and the other trace gases in the air. But it was perfect to stall an engine. The cloudy spirits swarmed the armored car, flowing beneath its hood and through the grill, stealing its life. With a sputter, the armored car's motor died.
I raced to the side of the armored car, leaning beside Lexie, my hands sweaty on the gun. “We're really doing this,” I whispered.
“Yes, we are,” she grinned.
“Fire in the hole,” Axel shouted.
I squeezed my eyes shut. The world rang.
My ears buzzed. The armored car shook. A foul stench burned my nose. I shook my head and blinked as a pall of white smoke drifted from the back of the armored car. I shivered. Terror gripped my bowels.
“Come on, Penny,” Lexie shouted as she rushed around the corner of the armored car.
Metal groaned. A door swung open. Axel shouted. I had to follow them. I had to bind the guards. I forced my feet to move. I stumbled around the armored car. Axel aimed his submachine gun into the back of the open door of the armored car, the metal bent and scored black. Lexie stood beside him, raising her gun.
Loud pops cracked. I froze. Axel reeled back. His face vanished in a puff of red. He crashed to the ground, his feet twitching. Lexie screamed in anguish. She fell to her knees and grabbed Axel's shoulders, shaking him, cajoling him.
The puff of red burned across my vision, seared there like the light from a bright sun. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” gibbered from my mouth.
What to do? Have to do something? What? Axel was dead. What? Can't be here? Can't see this? A cold, clammy hand squeezed my heart. I tried to breathe, but I couldn't. The world spun around me. I stumbled and lurched, reeling from the scene. Axel dead. Not supposed to happen. Everything was planned. We were supposed to settle down in paradise.
My feet thudded. The street blurred past me. Lexie's wail dwindled. Nothing made sense. Nothing was right. I had to get away from the puff of red. Thoughts escaped me. I didn't comprehend. Over and over, Axel's death played through my mind. It consumed me. It left no room for anything else. I was lost in fear, a maze trapping me in my mind.
It shouldn't have happened. We had magic. Why did he die? It wasn't supposed to happen. What to do? What to do?
“Miss, how can I help you?”
What to do?
A hand smacked a counter. I blinked. Reality crashed into me. I stood before a bored, African-American woman, her hair thick and curly, framing a face with thick brows and lips. She furrowed them, staring at me. “You okay, Miss?”
“Yes, yes, sorry,” I said, struggling to get my bearings. Where was I? My thighs burned. My feet ached. My t-shirt clung to my body. Sweat drenched me. Curls matted to my forehead. I looked at the woman, then behind her.
A bus schedule.
I was in the Greyhound lounge.
The illusion Lexie clad me in had vanished. I didn't remember running here. I must have run for miles and miles without comprehension. It seemed like only minutes ago that I watched Axel...
Tears burned my eyes. I shook. Lexie's anguish cried through my mind.
“Are you okay, sugar?” the woman asked, reaching out to grasp my hand. She had long fingernails, each pearl-white.
“No,” I shook my head, tears beading my eyes. “No, I'm not.”
“You need to get away, huh?”
I nodded my head. I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out a wad of twenties. I looked up at the wall, glancing at the names. Somewhere far away from the puff of red. From Lexie's pain. I should have stopped the plan. I never should have let us try.
It was all my fault.
“Moonrise, Montana,” I choked and dropped the money on the counter.
Chapter Sixteen
I looked up at Thomas when I finished speaking, my throat hoarse. My cheeks streaked with dried tears. My eyeballs ached. I wiped my nose with the handkerchief Thomas had pulled out of his pocket earlier.
“And she wants to ruin your life?”
I nodded my head.
Thomas closed his eyes. He shook his head. “Another witch.”<
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His arms folded. He leaned back in his chair. I stared at him, setting the soiled handkerchief on the chair. I rubbed at my bare forearms, my flesh covered in goose pimples It was cold in here. My stomach sank.
“I need to think, Penny.” Thomas stood.
“About?”
“Everything.”
I winced at his growl. “I'm sorry. I never should have accepted the imprint. I'm...”
“Don't ever apologize for that.” His voice was a thick, deep growl.
Then he was around the table and hugging me. I stiffened in shock before melting into his embrace. His arms were tight about me. I hugged him back and buried my face into his chest. I didn't want to let him go.
But Thomas did. He released me. I staggered back as he turned and stalked out of the room. I sank back into my chair. What would happen to me? Prison? I couldn't go to prison. I bit my lip, glancing around the room.
Why did Lexie have to come and ruin my life? She escaped jail. Why?
I knew why. I deserved to have my life ruined. I should have stayed with her. Helped her. Been there for her. Or I should have never gone along with Axel's stupid plan. If I had been strong, he would still be alive.
If I had been stronger or if I was in position faster. If I used my wind magic to disarm the guard before Axel was shot. If I had only done a million other things I wouldn't be in here right now. I wouldn't be stuck.
“It sucks, doesn't it,” Lexie said.
I squeaked and jumped in fright. I turned around, almost falling backward over the interrogation table. The air rippled and Lexie appeared in the corner of the room, a twisted smile on her face. She was skinnier than I remembered, her face pinched and squeezed, almost bony.
“Lexie?” I squeaked.
“The way you blubbered to that cop. He really believes you're worth saving. He doesn't know how terrible you are.”
“He does. I told him.”
“He didn't believe it,” Lexie sneered. She cast her gaze around the room. “This is bigger than a cell, you know. And you'll share it. You'll have three other women living with you, shoved into a small space, a single toilet and sink to share with them. Enjoy the freedom of this room.” She spread her arms wide and turned around. “It's wonderful being able to do that and not touch anything.”
My stomach twisted. Flashes of bars, orange jumpsuits, and day after day of the same monotonous routine. “What do you want, Lexie? Why are you here?”
“To help you.” She threw her arms around me. I didn't move as she hugged me. “We're friends. I'm here to help you get out of trouble.”
“I don't need your help,” I muttered.
“You sure?” She looked around the interrogation room. “I think you do. You're facing prison, Penny. I know how terrible it is.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Her every word battered me. I flinched before them. “I'm sorry, Lexie. I'm so sorry.”
“For what? Being such a wonderful friend that you ran away while I cried over my dead boyfriend? Or when you abandoned me to the caring embrace of the justice system?”
“I'm sorry for ever making you leave home,” I whispered. “I'm sorry I dragged you to LA and then abandoned you. I am. I really am, Lexie.”
She smiled at me. “And now it's all better.” A sneer crossed her lips. “Penny has apologized for being a cunt.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I was a cunt, Lexie. I was. But you don't have to do this. I could have helped you. You could have started over in Moonrise.”
“Too late for that.” My totem tingled as she threw her hand out. “Spirits of metal, work the mechanisms and release the lock.”
Earth spirits, rolling like rocks, appeared out of the stones and the metal of the door. They rolled up to the lock. It clicked and the door opened a crack. Lexie winked at me, cast her invisibility spell, and strolled to the door.
“The way's open for you, Penny,” Lexie called. “You can stay here and accept your punishment, or you can meet me at the bus station. I have our tickets.”
The door widened. Her laugh lingered as she strolled out of the interrogation room.
I stared at the open door. Fear clutched at my stomach. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to leave Thomas behind. Pain beat in my heart. But if I didn't leave, I would go to prison. Lexie saw to that. She made sure every cop in Moonrise and Olson knew who I really was.
Either way I would lose Thomas.
I hated Lexie as much as I wanted to fall to my knees and beg for her forgiveness. I deserved her anger, her punishment, and resented her for ruining my life. My totem itched beneath my shirt as I reached out for my magic.
I wasn't a light witch, but I could manage an invisibility spell. The light spirits rushed to me, they zipped around me, bending themselves, cloaking me in a shell. The world grew distorted. My stomach heaved as I moved. It was like I peered through a fishbowl, everything bent and twisted.
But I could see well enough.
I stepped into the hallway and marched down it. I trembled, my stomach twisting. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to go to prison. Lexie left me no choice. Damn her. I worried my lip as I walked down the hallway.
I made no sound. The spell did more than bend light around me. The light spirits muffled my footsteps and hid my scent.
When Thomas walked by me, he didn't see me at all. I huddled against the wall. My hand wanted to reach out and touch him, to hug him. I wanted to hold him one last time. Instead, I drank in the sight of his strong face tense with worry. I breathed in his musk.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He didn't hear me cocooned in my magic.
Then I was out the door and striding past the sergeant's desk to my freedom. I pressed open the glass front door. The sergeant looked up, frowning at the opening door, then shrugged and went back to his writing.
The alarm blared as I walked down the sidewalk.
They knew I had escaped.
Chapter Seventeen
The Moonrise Bus Depot stood before me. I clutched my hands to my breasts as the light spirits danced around me, hiding my form. I trembled as I stared at the small, simple structure. Five years ago I had stumbled out of the Greyhound bus into my new life, still in shock from witnessing Axel's death, reeling from my betrayal of Lexie.
She was in there. I could feel it. An unnatural stillness clung to everything. It permeated the world, draped over it like cheesecloth. Spirits danced around the building. She had warded it. Life spirits subtly turned away anyone who wanted to go inside the depot. A scruffy man almost made it to the door before he shook his head and walked away.
Thomas's face flashed through my mind. He had nestled in my heart, making his den there. I was supposed to love and care for him. I accepted that when I let him imprint me. I wanted to love him and care for him.
And I wanted to snuggle up in his arms and be held. More than anything. I closed my eyes, imagining him holding me. Fresh tears trickled down my cheeks at the memory of his warm strength. I wanted to ask him to come with me, to flee.
But he was a cop. He had a life here. I would ruin it all with my selfishness.
I ruined everything with my selfishness. Lexie hadn't wanted to go to LA, but I made her. She hadn't wanted to commit the first robbery. It had been Axel's and my idea. She was just along for the ride. And my selfishness reared its ugly head when I fled.
I took a deep breath. I had to stop being selfish. I needed to march in there and fix Lexie. I didn't know how. But I broke her. I owed it to her. She was my best friend for so many years. Flashes of our childhood dashed through me—tea parties in her brother's tree house, not caring that our plates and cups were chipped and didn't match; watching fireflies dance over the swimming hole, giggling at the neon green; riding our bikes down Meeker Hill, the pink tassels at the ends of our handlebars snapping in the breezes as we peddled faster than the boys. Double dates; holding her hair as she threw up after prom, her stomach reacting to bad oysters; crying on her shoulder when
my first boyfriend, the supposed love of my life, dumped me for Mindy Eidison; using fake ID's to buy our first wine coolers then trembling in fear as we hurriedly downed them behind the library before we were caught.
We both threw up after that.
I never should have run. I should have helped her, kept her safe. We should have come to Moonrise together.
I clenched my fist and strode forward.
The Olson City Police Cruiser pulled up to the curb with a screech of tires. Thomas stepped out, the car rocking on its shocks, looking so strong and fierce in his uniform. His eyes swept across the ground, washing right over me. But he couldn't see me or smell me.
“I know you're here, Penny,” he said. “I can feel your pain.”
I froze. He walked around the car, sweeping his gaze around the sidewalk before the depot. Life spirits, visible only to a witch, rushed at him. They circled around him, nudging him, pushing him, driving him away from the bus depot. His teeth grit.
“Dammit, Penny, show yourself.” His eyes, almost all black, flashed as he searched. “Please, Penny.” His hand touched his heart. “I feel you're close. Your pain calls to me. Let me help you.”
Tears fell hot down my face. I took a step towards him and paused. I couldn't. He was too good a man to follow Lexie and me. We were broken girls. Trash. I turned my back on him and walked to the bus depot. The life spirits ignored me.
More swarmed past me to Thomas.
“Penny,” he snarled. “Don't. Talk to me. Let me help you. I can get you out of trouble. You're mine. Shifters help each other. Veronica and the rest of her pack, a few of the guys on my squad, others. You don't have to run. We can figure out a solution.”
My hands squeezed tight. Why did he have to make this so hard?
My invisibility dropped. The light spirits rushed from me. Thomas sucked in a deep breath as I turned. “I'm not running from you. I'm protecting you.”
“Penny,” he said, striding towards me. The life spirits swarmed him. The closer he stepped to the depot, the more they worked to keep him back, obeying Lexie's command. He shook his head, confusion striking his face. “Are you...casting a spell on me?”