Authors: Charlotte Abel
He set his new helmet on the sidewalk and pulled out his phone. He wasn’t supposed to call Vince unless it was an emergency, but he didn’t have a clue how to find his clan. Besides, he wanted to know how Channie was doing.
Vince answered on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. Sorry to alarm you, but we’ve had a slight change of plans.”
Vince wasn’t happy about ‘babysitting sleeping beauty’ while Josh and Hunter were ‘cavorting all over the countryside.’
“You think I like this?” Josh took a deep breath to get himself back under control. Yelling into the phone wasn’t going to do anyone any good. “I’d gladly trade places with you, but I can’t. I have to ‘seek out my clan and the gifts they bestow.’ The Book of the Dead was very explicit.”
“Yes, it was. So explain to me why Channie’s mother is still breathing.”
Josh gritted his teeth. “Wisdom thinks she can cure her.”
“Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know… Maybe? Okay, probably not, but according to the book, I’m not supposed to kill her until I’ve cleansed my heart of spite and hate.”
“The fact that you didn’t kill her immediately proves that you already have.”
“I told Wisdom I’d give her two weeks. Can you maintain the protection spells around Channie a little longer? If you can’t, I’ll call Shep and tell him to go help you.”
“Just do what you need to do then call me when Prudence is no longer a threat. I’d rather my daughter-in-law not hate me.”
“Is she awake?”
“Not yet. Ezra is still trying to find a safe house that meets our needs.”
“Where are you keeping her?”
“At Ezra’s.”
“And you can’t wake her up?”
“You’re the one that cast the spell keeping her asleep until she’s in the safe house.”
“Is she waking up enough to eat? What about the baby? Can you check on him? Do a magical scan or something?” Josh couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about the baby when he cast the spell. He held his breath, waiting for Vince to answer.
“She eats whatever I put in front of her and I make sure it’s nutritious. Only a master healer would consider scanning a baby in the first trimester and only if it was medically necessary. But as long as Channie’s healthy, the child will be fine. In fact, the extra rest is probably good for both of them, considering the stress she’s been under.
When Josh exhaled, his energy left with his breath. He felt as if he’d just won a close race—relieved and completely drained. “How many Veyjivik rebels do you think I need to find to satisfy the Book of the Dead?”
“Trust yourself. Be strong, yet humble.”
“You don’t need to quote the Book of the Dead to me. I know what it says.”
“And you’ll know when you’ve met its demands.”
“Do you have anyone I could call to get things started?”
“I’ll call Rider and set up a meeting.”
A sudden wave of vertigo forced Josh to sit on the curb. He recognized the sign as a precursor to a major flashback. They slammed into him, one after the other.
Rider taunts him with freedom if he can win a race against his horse. Fear, worse than any he’d ever felt before, consumes him. He has to protect Channie.
He flies down the mountain, racing a horse. If he wins, Rider will let him live. If he loses, he’ll kill him. ‘Protect Channie,’ is his only thought—his only hope.
He sails off a blind cliff, snapping his wrist.
Rider breaks his back.
A gun fires. He runs up the mountain and finds Jimmy dead on the ground, Channie pressing both hands against Hunter’s right shoulder. Bright, red, arterial blood pulses out between her fingers. She looks up at Josh. Tears stream down her face, carving trails of white through the blood. “Help me.”
The roar of Hunter’s motorcycle snapped Josh back to the present. A rush of energy burned away the residual disorientation from the flashbacks. He slipped his phone into his pocket and motioned for Hunter to join him.
Hunter cut the engine, tucked his helmet under his arm and trotted over.
Josh pointed at the open box containing the intercom system. “Look what I got for us.”
“Sweet!” Hunter got right to work. He didn’t even look at the directions, but had his intercom installed and working in less than half the time it had taken Josh.
“You seem to have a knack for electronics.”
“I’ve always liked to figure out how things work and fit together. But this was easy.”
Josh’s phone buzzed. The number was blocked, so he assumed it was Rider, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He pressed a finger against his lips and made sure Hunter was paying attention then put it on speaker. “Hello?”
“Is this Jet?”
“Yeah.” Josh spoke before thinking. He probably shouldn’t have identified himself so quickly. And how did this guy know his racing nickname? “Who are you?”
“The man that gave you the race of your life.”
“Rider?”
“Yep. Where’re you at, boy?”
“Thayer, Missouri.”
“What kind of transportation you got? Please tell me you ain’t on a bicycle.”
Hunter never missed an opportunity to brag about his bike, so Josh knew the make and model without having to ask. “Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R.”
Rider whistled, obviously impressed.
“Meet me at the north end of the Walmart parking lot in Bowling Green, Kentucky at four o’clock.”
Hunter cocked his head and gazed off into the distance. He mumbled under his breath as he touched each finger of his right hand with his thumb. “Three hundred and eighty miles to Bowling Green. Ninety miles an hour on the straights. Half that on the curves. Minus one fuel stop and speed traps.”
Hunter snapped out of his mathematical trance and silently mouthed, “Two o’clock.”
Josh nodded. “We can be there by two.”
“Well, I cain’t.”
Josh didn’t see any reason to sit around and wait for Rider to arrive. “Can we meet you somewhere closer to your current location?”
“Bowling Green has a large population of influential and disgruntled mages ready for a change of leadership.”
“We’ll be there at four.” Josh ended the call and buried his phone in his backpack. “I can’t believe you figured all that out in your head.”
The corners of Hunter’s mouth turned down as he locked his gaze on Josh’s eyes. “I might be uneducated, but I ain’t stupid.”
“I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m actually impressed. I couldn’t do all that without a calculator, or at least a pencil and paper.”
Hunter’s easy grin returned. He twisted his mouth to the side as he shook his head. “I ain’t offended.”
Josh strapped his new helmet on. “At least there’s no rush to get to Bowling Green. Promise me you’ll keep it under eighty miles an hour.”
“I’ll consider it…if you promise to quit hanging on so tight I cain’t breathe.”
A tingle of energy lifted the hair on the back of Josh’s neck. “Hunter? Please tell me that’s you.”
~***~
Hunter jammed his helmet on and screamed for Josh to get on the bike. They burned rubber out of the parking lot.
Josh felt marginally better when two men jumped into an antique car. “It’s okay. No way is that old beater gonna keep up with us.”
“That old beater just happens to be a classic 1968 Chevy Impala.”
Hunter’s voice came through the helmet speakers crisp, clear and full of anxiety.
“So?”
“You ever heard of a muscle car?”
“Oh…crap.”
“Hang on.”
Hunter leaned forward and goosed the throttle.
Josh knew enough about two-wheeled physics to know that he needed to mold his body to Hunter’s, especially around the curves. He also knew he needed to trust Hunter’s instincts, no matter how much his own screamed at him to take control.
A sudden rush of vertigo was his only warning. He locked his wrists around Hunter’s waist and held on tighter as the flashback washed over him.
Blinding flashes of light. Curse after curse slams into his shield. He darts in and out of traffic. Brakes squeal. Horns blare. Channie climbs into the back seat and unloads her gun into her mother’s car. Steam pours out of the hood of the Lexus as it falls further behind.
When the flashback ended, Josh glanced over his shoulder. The muscle car was riding their ass. A yellow, ‘sharp curves ahead’ warning sign with a snake-shaped arrow gave him hope. It didn’t matter how much power the trackers’ car had, two wheels were faster than four around hairpin curves.
The suggested speed was twenty-five miles per hour. Josh was pretty sure Hunter more than doubled it. A quick peek at the speedometer confirmed it.
Hunter hugged the right shoulder of the road then swerved into the left lane well over the solid double yellow lines. He leaned the bike so far to the left as he cut the corner, Josh was afraid his knee would scrape the pavement. Hunter straightened the bike, but immediately leaned it to the right.
Josh looked over his right shoulder as they came out of the second curve and grinned when the Impala fishtailed around the first turn. “Why aren’t they trying to curse us?”
“They’re trackers. Most of them don’t have much magical ability. It’s what makes ‘em so mean.”
Hunter straightened the bike as they shot out of the fourth curve. There was no sign of the Impala.
“Rider healed my broken arm. That takes a ton of power.” Josh still had a small lump on his head where it’d smacked the floor after he’d healed Liz.
“Rider’s not really a tracker. He’s more of a bounty hunter.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A tracker ain’t got no conscience. They’ll chase a man down just for the thrill of it. A bounty hunter does it for money.”
“Rider was toying with me.” The man had teased Josh with the promise of letting him go if he could beat him to the bottom of the mountain. Josh had accepted the challenge even though he was on a bicycle and Rider was on a horse.
“He wouldn’t have healed your arm if he didn’t want you to escape.”
“Maybe.” And Vince had claimed the man ‘held him in the highest regard.’
Josh’s heart sank when the Impala’s throaty growl echoed off the mountainside. “I think they’re gaining on us.”
Hunter swore and swerved around a dead armadillo.
Josh’s stomach lurched as the bike wobbled. Damn. That was close.
The impala skidded around the last curve then grew larger in the side mirror as it barreled down the straightaway.
“Come on, Hunter!”
“This would be a good opportunity for you to practice a killing curse.”
Josh’s mouth fell open as he watched a man lean his head and shoulders out of the passenger side window. “Shit! He’s got a gun!”
Hunter swerved from side to side without slowing down as the man fired on them. Bullets pinged off the pavement all around them.
Josh was tempted to raise his shield, but magical shields didn’t stop bullets. One hit the left side mirror, shattering it.
The next one could hit him, or Hunter. Cursing their pursuers was perfectly justified. It was self-defense—a matter of life and death—but Josh didn’t know if he had the balls to actually kill someone. He thought of how Channie had saved them from her evil mother by shooting up her car. He didn’t have a gun, but maybe he could do the same thing with magic.
Josh sat up straighter, putting just enough space between his chest and Hunter’s back to slip the sapphire pendant out of his shirt. He focused on the energy roiling behind his navel and pictured the Impala’s tires blowing out.
Four rapid bangs, like firecrackers, drew Josh’s attention. He watched in horror as the car swerved off the road in slow motion. It clipped a fifty-foot pine tree, sheering off the right front fender then tumbled down the mountainside. Josh knew that the sound of screeching metal, groaning wood, falling rocks and shattering glass would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Hunter didn’t even slow down. The car was still bouncing and rolling down the mountainside like a discarded toy when they roared around another curve, leaving it all behind—except the guilt.
Even though their pursuers had been shooting at them, Josh didn’t feel good about killing them. And there was no doubt in his mind that the trackers were dead. No one could have survived a crash like that.
“Slow down.”
No answer.
“Hunter?”
“We ain’t out of danger yet.”
~***~
No one else followed them, but Hunter never slowed down. By the time they made it to the rendezvous point, Josh was emotionally, magically and physically drained. But the sight of Rider rolling into the parking lot in a wheelchair hitched to a miniature horse, brought a grin to his face. Josh had enough flashes of Rider to appreciate what being able to interact with a horse must mean for him.
Rider waited for Hunter to cut the engine then gently slapped the reins against the horse’s back. The tiny animal trotted up beside them.
Josh climbed off the bike and greeted Rider as if he remembered him with a single nod. “Hey.”
Hunter went straight to the little horse and squatted down to scratch under her chin.
Rider didn’t waste any time with pleasantries. He handed Josh a piece of paper then glared at the motorcycle. “I don’t want that thing scaring Lil’ Miss. Wait twenty minutes then go to that address.”
Josh opened the GPS app on his phone and typed in the coordinates. It took a while for the route to load but when it did, he heaved a sigh of relief. He was saddle sore and not looking forward to getting back on the bike, but they were only a couple miles from their destination—an abandoned warehouse in a railroad yard.
Four spotlights, from four different directions. shone down on them.
A woman’s voice called out. “Is that them?”