by Chloe Garner
“Gimme a break,” she said. “You worry more about clothes than I do.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I grew up knowing that there were fourteen different ways to dress, and only one of them was right. You grew up picking the clothes that you wanted to wear that day.”
“And who’s happier?” she asked.
“Oh, you, all the way,” he said.
“Then pick something that makes you happy,” she said. “Just don’t take too long. I’m hungry.”
He grinned and nodded.
“Roger that.”
It was strange to be in the car with Ethan.
Driving back from the cottage with Lady Harrington in Shack’s car had been different. She and Sasha had talked most of the way back, mostly asking questions about things that had been going on at school and trying to ignore what had happened at the cottage. Sasha had seemed shell-shocked at the time, and had needed the distraction. Also, the car had been packed. It wasn’t suited for six, but they’d made do with what they had and they’d made it back fine.
Now, with the car empty and quiet, Valerie was very aware of Ethan. Like a radiator, he put off a sense of him being there that didn’t have anything to block it or distract her, and she kept catching herself in the middle of not breathing. Breakfast had been fun and easy and he looked amazing in his polo shirt and slacks, nice arms, nice chest, nice waist, all of it very much who he was, and she was absurdly and paradoxically happy to be out, on the loose, the two of them.
He had his arm on the center console and she had her knees up against the dash board and they were comfortable and informal and… alone together. And she didn’t know how to act.
And she kept not breathing.
It was…
She’d never felt like this. She’d seen it, and she’d certainly mocked it, but not like this, not in her own self.
She’d had the tight-chested feeling of being attracted, the sizzle of playing the game, the eye contact, reading and telling and flirting, the sparks of those first interactions…
She wanted to hold his hand, but she couldn’t move.
He looked over at one point and smiled, like maybe he was thinking the same thing, then he reached to take her hand, putting his fingers through hers and settling back where he’d been. The touch of his skin against hers sent jolts up her arm.
Was she in love with him?
She’d… It was a cliché to say it, but she’d never really had a model of what love looked like. She knew that her mom had loved her dad, and that her dad had loved her mom, and that they had both loved her, but she hadn’t seen it. Even Hanson’s parents hadn’t really been around each other that much. Her mom had told her a lot that chemicals weren’t love, and that while there wasn’t anything wrong with them, she shouldn’t trust her life decisions to them, either.
She looked at her fingers twined through Ethan’s.
That was definitely chemical.
“I know Daphne,” Ethan said after a minute. “And I trust her enough to not be intentionally sending us into an ambush. She might hate my dad, after what you said happened to her, but I don’t think she would set us up. Especially since she has no way of knowing when we’d turn up. But we need a plan in case she was wrong about the lady she’s sending us to.”
“Okay,” Valerie said, struggling to come back to the present situation.
His skin was still touching hers.
“How much do you know about threshold magic?” he asked.
“Um,” she said, shaking her head. “I haven’t studied it.”
“Right,” he said. “So, you have to be aware of the thresholds in a house. There’s the one at the front door, and then there are thresholds at the kitchen, the bedrooms, and any sort of cozied-in living space. The more defined the doorway is, the stronger the threshold magic can be. So if you need to be able to cast something, you want to know how many thresholds deep you are, and how deep those thresholds are, does that make sense?”
Valerie considered, then shook her head.
“Not entirely.”
“Okay, let’s say it’s a tiny cabin in the woods with logs for walls and a non-standard, unique door. It may be that you cross the threshold into the house and almost nothing you could imagine casting would work anymore, because the house is tight and the threshold is aggressively protected.”
“As opposed to the school, with multiple sets of double doors and tall ceilings and more doors all the way around,” Valerie said, and he nodded.
“Exactly. The school has really weak threshold magic. The fact that the dorm hallways and the dorms themselves have the same flooring damages the threshold magic even on the dorm rooms. There’s a pretty decent threshold going into the dorm wings, because the flooring changes and because they have the curfew rules, and Mrs. Gold and Franky Frank use that in their warding on the dorm wings, but the school has really weak threshold magic almost everywhere. Shack and I use that when we cast our way out of there.”
“Okay,” Valerie said. “So are you saying I need to blow it up?”
He laughed.
“I love that that’s where your mind goes, but no. You need to not cross the threshold unless you’re sure you’re safe on the other side.”
He ran his thumb in a circle on her palm, watching traffic.
“We should leave the car as close to the house as we can,” he said. “And watch out for other people around. The more people there are around, the less likely we can get away if we have to.”
“Should only one of us go to talk to her and the other stay out?” Valerie asked. He glanced at her, then shook his head.
“Would you let me go in on my own?” he asked, and she snorted.
“No.”
“I’m not going to let you go in on your own, either.”
“It’s because I don’t want to miss what she says,” Valerie said and he grinned.
“Same here.”
“Okay, so we both go in to talk to her…” Valerie started.
“Best if we figure things out as much as we can from outside,” Ethan cut in. “At least get a feel for whether or not she’s the one Daphne intended to send you to.”
She nodded.
“Okay. And then we talk to her and we, what? What are we trying to get her to do? Help us?”
“I thought that part was obvious,” he said. “Isn’t that why Daphne gave you her address?”
“But help us how?” Valerie asked. “Could be that she’s just some source of information who would be willing to tell us stuff. What questions would we ask? What do we think she knows that we don’t?”
“She’s not a part of the war,” Ethan said. “I’m pretty sure my dad would have mentioned her at some point.”
“You didn’t recognize Gemma’s name either,” Valerie said.
“So, okay, I’m assuming she would be on our side, if she were involved,” Ethan said.
“Gemma isn’t,” Valerie said. He frowned.
“Simpler when I’m just with the Council,” he said.
“Simple things are rarely true,” Valerie answered. Susan Blake’s voice.
He grunted.
“But they’re so much simpler.”
She settled lower in her seat again, looking out at the highway.
“I just wish I could talk to my mom, first,” she said. “She would know what to do.”
He looked over at her.
“No,” he said after a moment, looking out at the road again. “No, you’re the one who knows what to do. Here and now. I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t send you in front of the Council on your own, like ever, but you get away from us every single time. You know what to do. Your mom taught you. And you’re really good at it. She’s doing what she knows how to do, off where she is, and you know what you know to do, here and now with us.”
She licked her lips.
“Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I’m doing what I know how to do.”
“They’re afraid of you, Valerie. I know you think this is just about
getting a line on your parents, but they had the whole Council there. Every one of them. It’s not just about her. It’s about you, too. They’re trying to manipulate you, not her. You see it?”
“Future asset,” she said quietly, and he shook his head.
“No. Asset now.”
She looked over and he nodded, his jaw stiff.
“I’m sure.”
She sighed.
“I’m not ready. Daphne said it, too, that I’m too young. That I should wait until later.”
“But we can’t,” he said. “Things are happening, and we have to react now. You matter.”
She sighed.
“Okay.”
Neither one of them had a functioning phone.
Once they got to North Carolina, they had to stop and figure out where to buy a map.
Which was not as easy as Valerie would have assumed.
Eventually, they managed to get a map that got them to the right city, and then they stopped again for an early dinner and to go looking for a detailed city map.
Eventually, Ethan just decided to ask their server to look it up on her phone, and he wrote down the directions on a napkin.
“Out there, huh?” the woman asked. “You got kin around these parts?”
“Visiting a friend,” Valerie said, and the woman gave her a friendly nod, moving on with her day.
They found themselves on a narrow country road, barely two lanes with trees all the way up to the asphalt on both sides. Ethan seemed comfortable and at home, so Valerie just sat back to enjoy the drive.
It was pretty country.
He looked at the napkin, slowing and dodging his head from side to side.
“This is it,” he said.
“There’s nothing here,” Valerie said, and he shrugged.
“I can see that. Just keep your head up, okay? This is where we’re going.”
He came to a full stop - there was no one else on the road to bother - and looked at a two-rut dirt road through the trees.
“You think it’s like school?” Valerie asked. “That there’s a big estate on the other side of a cast line?”
“Hadn’t thought of that, but you could be right,” Ethan said, easing the car off the road.
“At Von Lauv, it looked like an abandoned lot until you got past the cast line,” Valerie said, sitting forward.
They rolled.
“I don’t think this is going to suddenly disappear,” he said. “This is made for a sturdier car than this one.”
She nodded.
She hated to imagine trying to do this after a hard rain.
“You did use a cabin in the woods as an example,” she said. He nodded.
“Yeah.”
The trees cleared up and Valerie sat further forward, looking for… something.
What she found was a trailer on a hilltop and a huge black vehicle parked next to it. No signs of activity, though the yard was scattered with various things, a chest of drawers and an actual lockbox chest, bits of wood that might have been pseudo-weapons, shooting targets.
“Did you get the address right?” she asked, and Ethan shrugged.
“You know as much as I do,” he said.
“This is some redneck who’s going to shoot us for trespassing,” Valerie said, looking around quickly. “Maybe we should go.”
“We just knock on the door and say we’re lost,” he said. “There weren’t any signs posted.”
“Have you never had someone shoot at you?” Valerie asked.
“No,” Ethan said, stopping the car and looking at her. “Have you?”
“I’ve had friends who were there,” she said. Well, kids at her school had been shot at. It was close enough.
“I don’t like it here,” she said.
“You can stay in the car,” he said. “If you want.”
The door to the trailer opened and Valerie stiffened, bracing hard against her seat. The man in the doorway gave them a big-armed wave and Ethan opened his door and stood.
“We’re lost,” he called.
“No you’re not,” the man in the trailer called back. “Come on up.”
Trap.
Trap trap trap.
She was only just short of being able to pull Ethan back into the car with her mind.
She needed to shut it down and get them out of here.
She opened her door and got out carefully, trying not to step in wet mud and keeping the door between herself and the trailer.
“We’re looking for Samantha Angelsword,” she said. “That’s not you.”
He grinned wider.
“No, but I’ve got to see this,” he said. “Come on, I’ll drive you over.”
She shook her head quickly as he grabbed a jacket from somewhere back in the trailer and came out, spinning a set of keys around his finger.
“No,” she said. “We can drive.”
“Nah,” he said. “That beauty of a machine isn’t made for around here. Not on that road. But it is in my perfect garage. What is it?”
“Japanese import,” Ethan said, closing the door.
Hadn’t he been the one who had been talking about how careful they needed to be?
Valerie stepped away from the car, looking at the stuff all over the yard.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Jason Elliott,” he said. I’m Samantha Angelsword’s brother in law. Geez, I’m going to get a kick out this.”
“She isn’t here?” Valerie asked. “This was the address I got.”
“Nope, she’s over at the house,” he said. “You picked the wrong driveway.”
“It’s really confusing,” Ethan said. “There aren’t any road numbers.”
“We have a hell of a time getting mail up here,” Jason said, nodding. “Your friend over there is pretty cagey, huh?”
“She’s kind of had people chasing after her for a while,” Ethan said. “We’re both on edge watching for ambushes.”
“Well, either you’re here or you aren’t,” Jason said. “Your call. You don’t want to take the back path down to the house in that low rider. Might high middle, actually, as I think about it. So you can ride with me or you can not, but I give you my word, you’re safe while you’re here. I don’t let the bad ones in here, and my friends are pretty good about making sure I live up to my word.”
“Maybe we could just walk,” Valerie said.
“Normally I’d tell you to suit yourself, but it’s going to get cold again tonight, and it is actually possible to get lost out here in the dark. Sam’d find you, no doubt, but it would take a manhunt and tramping around out in the woods, and I do enough of that in my day job. So. Here’s what I’ve got.” He took a step forward toward her and reached back over his shoulder, closing his hand around… a sword that she totally hadn’t even seen there on his back before.
He was wearing a freaking sword.
He drew the blade, a huge length of metal that rivaled the length of his arm, and he held it out across his body, flat.
“This is Kha’shing, and I bear her name. I am the Dragonsword. I give you my word that you will be under my personal protection so long as you remain here at my home today.”
“You carry a sword,” Valerie said.
“The warding on that is awesome,” Ethan said, stepping forward. “Wow.”
Jason’s eyes were level on Valerie, and she closed her eyes and sighed.
“If I’m here, I’m here. But I’ll warn you that I’m not defenseless, if you’re lying to me.”
He grinned.
“Good girl. Come on and load in. She’s waiting for you.”
He went and opened the back door of the SUV, raising an eyebrow at her, then motioning to the front door for Ethan and walking around to the other side. Valerie went to get in as Jason put the sword back into the sheath on his back - how had she missed that? the thing was almost level with the top of his head, a dragon’s head for a pommel - and got into the car. He looked back at her with a frien
dly smile that felt too easy to be faked - he was genuinely likable - then he offered his hand to Ethan as Ethan closed the front door.
“Didn’t get your name,” he said and Ethan nodded.
“Ethan Trent,” he said. “And this is Valerie Blake.”
“Nice to meet you, Ethan. Mind giving me a sneak preview what you’re here for?”
“We need help,” Valerie said, and he looked back at her as the vehicle rocked over a large bump in the dirt track.
“Well, that’s pretty generic,” he said. “Let’s start with what’s chasing you?”
“Magic users,” Valerie said.
“Human,” he said, nodding. “Strange to say it, but not really my thing.”
“Humans aren’t your thing?” Ethan asked, and Jason shook his head.
“Nope. Mostly I worry about demons. But Sam? Yeah, she can help with that. We’ve had a few things like that come up recently, actually.”
“You hunt demons?” Ethan asked, and Jason nodded casually.
“When I need to. The human stuff… well, unless you’re talking immortals, I’m probably not going to be able to engage. Got enough proving myself going on right now, I can’t go take on the mages. That’s New Orleans stuff.”
“What’s in New Orleans?” Ethan asked.
“All the mages,” Jason said. “And Jalice.”
“What’s a Jalice?” Valerie asked, and he shook his head.
“Just hope she’s not here right now,” he said. “Woman is a pain in my side.”
“I don’t understand,” Valerie said, and he shook his head cheerfully.
“Sorry. I’m kind of underslept right now and punch drunk. Sam’s the one to explain stuff, anyway. Glad to know we don’t have to worry about demons glitching in on you, at least.”
“Glitching,” Ethan said thoughtfully. “Yeah, no, they have been hiring demons to try to get her, too. Just, it’s all magic users who are sending them.”
Jason glanced over once more, nodding with a genuine interest.
“What’s in it for the demons?” he asked.
Valerie hadn’t thought about that.
“Money?” Ethan asked, and Jason laughed.
“Maybe, but I’ve never known a demon to do something without at least one ulterior motive,” Jason said. He jerked his chin forward as they rounded a final bend. “That’s the house down there,” he said.