Читать книгу The Hollows Series Books 1-4 - Kim Harrison, Ким Харрисон - Страница 40

I bent to get the paper from the top step of the church’s stoop. The smell of cut grass and damp pavement was almost a balm, filling my senses. There was a sudden rush on the sidewalk. Pulse pounding, I fell to a defensive crouch. The small-girl giggle following the pink bike and tinkly bell down the sidewalk was embarrassing. Her heels flashed as she peddled like the devil was after her. Grimacing, I slapped the paper against the palm of my hand as she disappeared around the corner. I swore, she waited for me every afternoon.

It had been a week since my I.S. death threat was officially nulled, and I was still seeing assassins. But then, more than the I.S. might want me dead.

Exhaling loudly, I willed the adrenaline from me as I yanked the door to the church closed behind me. The comforting crackle of newsprint echoed off the thick support beams and stark walls of the sanctuary as I found the classifieds. I tucked the rest of the paper under an arm and made my way to the kitchen, scanning the personals as I went.

“’Bout time you got up, Rache,” Jenks said, his wings clattering as he flew annoying circles around me in the tight confines of the hall. I could smell the garden on him. He was dressed in his “dirt clothes,” looking like a miniature Peter Pan with wings. “Are we going to go get that disc or what?”

“Hi, Jenks,” I said, a stab of anxiety and anticipation running through me. “Yeah. They called for an exterminator yesterday.” I laid the newsprint out on the kitchen table, pushing Ivy’s colored pens and maps away to make room. “Look,” I said, pointing. “I’ve got another one.”

“Lemme see,” the pixy demanded. He landed squarely on the paper, his hands on his hips.

Running my finger across the print, I read aloud, “‘TK seeking to reopen communication with RM concerning possible business venture.’” There was no phone number, but it was obvious who had written it. Trent Kalamack.

A weary unease pulled me to sit at the table, my gaze going past Mr. Fish in his new brandy snifter and out into the garden. Though I had paid off my contract and was reasonably safe from the I.S., I still had to contend with Trent. I knew he was manufacturing biodrugs; I was a threat. Right now he was being patient, but if I didn’t agree to be on his payroll, he was going to put me in the ground.

At this point I didn’t want Trent’s head; I wanted him to leave me alone. Blackmail was entirely acceptable, and undoubtedly safer than trying to get rid of Trent through the courts. He was a businessman, if nothing else, and the hassle of disentangling himself from a trial was probably greater than his desire to have me work for him or see me safely dead. But I needed more than a page out of his daily planner. Today I would get it.

“Nice tights, Jenks,” came Ivy’s weak croak from the hall.

Startled, I jumped, then changed my motion to adjusting a curl of hair. Ivy was slumped against the doorframe, looking like an apathetic grim reaper in her black robe. Shuffling to the window, she shut the curtains and slumped against the counter in the new dimness.

My chair creaked as I leaned back in it. “You’re up early.”

Ivy poured a cold cup of coffee from yesterday, sinking down into a chair across from me. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her robe was tied sloppily about her waist. She listlessly fingered the paper where Jenks had left dirty footprints. “Full moon tonight. We doing it?”

I took a quick breath, my heart thumping. Rising, I went to dump out the coffee and make more before Ivy could drink the rest. Even I had higher standards than that. “Yes,” I said, feeling my skin tighten.

“Are you sure you feel up to it?” she asked as her eyes settled on my neck.

It was my imagination, but I thought I felt a twinge from where her gaze rested. “I’m fine,” I said, making an effort to keep my hand from rising to cover the scar. “Better than good. I’m great.” Ivy’s tasteless little cakes had made me alternatingly hungry and nauseous, but my stamina returned in an alarming three days rather than three months. Matalina had already removed the stitches from my neck to leave hardly a mark. Having healed that fast was worrisome. I wondered if I was going to pay for it later. And how.

“Ivy?” I asked as I got the grounds out of the fridge. “What was in those little cakes?”

“Brimstone.”

I spun, shocked. “What?” I exclaimed.

Jenks snickered, and Ivy didn’t drop my gaze as she got to her feet. “I’m kidding,” she said flatly. Still I stared at her, my face cold. “Can’t you take a joke?” she added, shuffling to the hall. “Give me an hour. I’ll call Carmen and get her moving.”

Jenks vaulted into the air. “Great,” he said, his wings humming. “I’m going to go say good-bye to Matalina.” He seemed to glow as a shaft of light pierced the kitchen as he slipped past the curtains.

“Jenks!” I called after him. “We aren’t leaving for at least an hour!” It didn’t take that long to say good-bye.

“Yeah?” came his faint voice. “You think my kids just popped out of the ground?”

Face warming, I flicked the switch and started the coffee brewing. My motions were quick with anticipation, and a glow settled in to burn in my middle. I had spent the last week planning Jenks’s and my excursion out to Trent’s in painful detail. I had a plan. I had a backup plan. I had so many plans I was amazed they didn’t explode out my ears when I blew my nose.

Between my anxiety and Ivy’s anal-retentive adherence to schedules, it was exactly an hour later that we found ourselves at the curb. Both Ivy and I were dressed in biker leather, giving us eleven feet, eight inches of bad-ass attitude between us—Ivy most of it. A version of those assassin life-monitoring amulets hung around our necks, tucked out of sight. It was my fail-safe plan. If I got in trouble, I’d break the charm and Ivy’s amulet would turn red. She had insisted on them—along with a lot of other things I thought were unnecessary.

I swung up behind Ivy on her bike, with nothing but that fail-safe amulet, a vial of saltwater to break it, a mink potion, and Jenks. Nick had the rest. With my hair tucked under the helmet and the smoked faceplate down, we rode through the Hollows, over the bridge, and into Cincinnati. The afternoon sun was warm on my shoulders, and I wished we really were just two biker chicks headed into town for a Friday afternoon of shopping.

In reality, we were headed for a parking garage to meet Nick and Ivy’s friend, Carmen. She would take my place for the day, pretending to be me while they drove around the countryside. I thought it overkill, but if it pacified Ivy, I’d do it.

From the garage, I would sneak into Trent’s garden with the help of Nick playing lawn-service guy, spraying the bugs Jenks had seeded Trent’s prize rosebushes with last Saturday. Once past Trent’s walls, it would be easy. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

I had left the church calm and collected, but every block deeper into the city wound me tighter. My mind kept going over my plan, finding the holes in it and the “what ifs.” Everything we had come up with seemed foolproof from the safety of our kitchen table, but I was relying heavily upon Nick and Ivy. I trusted them, but it still made me uneasy.

“Relax,” Ivy said loudly as we turned off the busy street and into the parking garage by the fountain square. “This is going to work. One step at a time. You’re a good runner, Rachel.”

My heart thumped, and I nodded. She hadn’t been able to hide the worry in her voice.

The garage was cool, and she wove around the gate, avoiding the ticket. She was going to drive right on through as if using the garage as a side street. I took my helmet off upon catching sight of the white van plastered with green grass and puppies. I hadn’t asked Ivy where she had gotten a lawn-care truck. I wasn’t going to, either.

The back door opened as Ivy’s bike lub-lub-lubbed closer, and a skinny vamp dressed like me jumped out, her hand grasping for the helmet. I handed it to her, sliding off as her leg took my place. Ivy never slowed the bike’s pace. Stumbling, I watched Carmen stuff her blond hair under the helmet and grab Ivy’s waist. I wondered if I really looked like that. Nah. I wasn’t that skinny. “See you tonight, okay?” Ivy said over her shoulder as she drove away.

“Get in,” Nick said softly, his voice muffled from inside the van. Giving Ivy and Carmen a last look, I jumped into the back, easing the door shut as Jenks flitted inside.

“Holy crap!” Jenks exclaimed, darting to the front. “What happened to you?”

Nick turned in the driver’s seat, his teeth showing strong against his makeup-darkened skin. “Shellfish,” he said, patting his swollen cheeks. He had gone further in his charmless disguise, dying his hair a metallic black. With his dark complexion and his swollen face, he looked nothing like himself. It was a great disguise, which wouldn’t set off a spell checker.

“Hi, Ray-ray,” he said, his eyes bright. “How you doing?”

“Great,” I lied, jittery. I shouldn’t have involved him, but Trent’s people knew Ivy, and he had insisted. “Sure you want to do this?”

He put the van into reverse. “I’ve an airtight alibi. My time card says I’m at work.”

I looked askance at him as I pulled off my boots. “You’re doing this on company time?”

“It’s not as if anyone checks up on me. As long as the work gets done, they don’t care.”

My face went wry. Sitting on a canister of bug killer, I shoved my boots out of sight. Nick had found a job cleaning artifacts at the museum in Eden Park. His adaptability was a continual surprise. In one week he had gotten an apartment, furnished it, bought a ratty truck, got a job, and took me out on a date—a surprisingly nice date including an unexpected, ten-minute helicopter tour over the city. He said his preexisting bank account had a lot to do with how fast he had found his feet. They must pay librarians more than I thought.

“Better get changed,” he said, his lips hardly moving as he paid the automated gate and we lumbered out into the sun. “We’ll be there in less than an hour.”

Anticipation pulled me tight, and I reached for the white duffel bag with the lawn care service logo on it. In it went my pair of lightweight shoes, my fail-safe amulet in a zippy bag, and my new silk/nylon bodysuit tightly packaged into a palm-sized bundle. I arranged everything to make room for one mink and an annoying pixy, tucking Nick’s protective, disposable paper overalls on top. I was going in as a mink, but I would be damned if I was going to stay that way.

Conspicuous in their absence were my usual charms. I felt naked without them, but if caught, the most the I.S. could charge me with was breaking and entering. If I had even one charm that could act on a person—even as little as a bad-breath charm—it would bump me up to intent to do bodily harm. That was a felony. I was a runner; I knew the law.

While Nick kept Jenks occupied up front, I quickly stripped down to nothing and jammed every last bit of evidence that I had been in the van into a canister labeled TOXIC CHEMICALS. I downed my mink potion with an embarrassed haste, gritting my teeth against the pain of transformation. Jenks gave Nick hell when he realized I’d been naked in the back of his van. I wasn’t looking forward to changing back, suffering Jenks’s barbs and jokes until I managed to get in my bodysuit.

And from there it went like clockwork.

Nick gained the grounds with little trouble, since he was expected—the real lawn service had gotten a cancellation call from me that morning. The gardens were empty because it was the full moon and they were closed for heavy maintenance. As a mink, I scampered into the thick rosebushes Nick was supposed to be spraying with a toxic insect killer but in actuality was saltwater to turn me back into a person. The thumps from Nick tossing my shoes, amulet, and clothes into the shrubs were unbelievably welcome. Especially with Jenks’s lurid running commentary about acres of big, pale, naked women as he sat on a rose cane and rocked back and forth in delight. I was sure the saltwater was going to kill the roses rather than the aggressive insects Jenks had infected them with, but that, too, was in the plan. If by chance I was caught, Ivy would come in the same way with the new shipment of plants.

Jenks and I spent the better part of the afternoon squashing bugs, doing more than the saltwater to rid Trent’s roses of pests. The gardens remained quiet, and the other maintenance crews stayed clear of Nick’s caution flags stuck around the rose bed. By the time the moon rose, I was wound tighter than a virgin troll on his wedding night. It didn’t help that it was so cold.

“Now?” Jenks asked sarcastically, his wings invisible but for a silver shimmer in the dark as he hovered before me.

“Now,” I said, teeth chattering as I picked my careful way through the thorns.

With Jenks flying vanguard, we skulked from pruned bush to stately tree, finding our way in through a back door at the commissary. From there it was a quick dash to the front lobby, Jenks putting every camera on a fifteen-minute loop.

Trent’s new lock on his office gave us trouble. Pulse pounding, I fidgeted by the door as Jenks spent an entire, unreal five minutes jigging it. Cursing like a furnace repairman, he finally asked for my help in holding an unbent paper clip against a switch. He didn’t bother to tell me I was closing a circuit until after a jolt of electricity knocked me on my can.

“You ass!” I hissed from the floor, wringing my hand instead of wringing his neck like I wanted. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You wouldn’t have done it if I had told you,” he said from the safety of the ceiling.

Eyes narrowed, I ignored his snarky, half-heard justifications and pushed open the door. I half expected to find Trent waiting for me, and I breathed easier upon finding the room empty, lit dimly from the fish tank behind the desk. Hunched with anticipation, I went right for the bottom drawer, waiting until Jenks nodded to tell me it hadn’t been tampered with. Breath tight, I pulled it open to find—nothing.

Not surprised, I looked up at Jenks and shrugged. “Plan B,” we said simultaneously as I pulled a wipe from a pocket and swabbed everything down. “To his back office.”

Jenks flitted out the door and back. “Five minutes left on the loop. We gotta hurry.”

I bobbed my head, taking a last look at Trent’s office before I followed Jenks out. He buzzed ahead of me down the hallway at chest height. Heart pounding, I followed at a discreet distance, my shoes silent on the carpet as I jogged through the empty building. The fail-safe amulet about my neck glowed a nice, steady green.

My pulse increased and a smile curved over me as I found Jenks at the door to Trent’s secondary office. This was what I had missed, why I had left the I.S. The excitement, the thrill of beating the odds. Proving I was smarter than the bad guy. This time, I’d get what I came for. “What’s our clock?” I whispered as I came to a halt, pulling a strand of hair out of my mouth.

“Three minutes.” He flitted up and then down. “No cameras in his private office. He’s not there. I already checked.”

Pleased, I slipped past the door, easing it closed as Jenks flew in behind me.

The smell of the garden was a balm. Moonlight spilled in, bright as early morning. I crept to the desk, my smile turning wry, since it now had the cluttered look of one that was being used. It took only a moment to find the briefcase beside the desk. Jenks jimmied the lock, and I opened it up, sighing at the sight of the discs in neat, tidy rows. “Are you sure they’re the right ones?” Jenks muttered from my shoulder as I chose one and slipped it into a pocket.

I knew they were, but as I opened my mouth to answer, a twig snapped in the garden.

Pulse hammering, I jerked my thumb in the “Hide” gesture to Jenks. Wings silent, he flitted up to the row of light fixtures. Not breathing, I eased down to crouch beside the desk.

My hope that it might be a night animal died. Soft, almost inaudible footfalls on the path grew louder. A tall shadow moved with a confident quickness from the path to the porch. It took the three steps in one bound, moving with a content, happy motion. My knees went weak as I recognized Trent’s voice. He was humming a song I didn’t recognize, his feet moving to a spine-tingling beat. Crap, I thought, trying to shrink farther behind the desk.

Trent turned his back to me and rummaged in a closet. An uncomfortable silence replaced his humming as he sat on the edge of a chair between me and the porch, changing into what looked like tall riding boots. The moonlight made his white shirt seem to glow past his close-cut jacket. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but it looked as if his English riding outfit was green, not red. Trent bred horses, I thought, and rode them at night?

The twin thumps of his heels into his boots were loud. My breath coming faster, I watched him stand, seeming far taller than the extra inch the boots gave him. The light dimmed as a cloud passed before the moon. I almost missed it when he reached under the chair he had been sitting on.

In a smooth, graceful motion, he pulled a gun and trained it on me. My throat closed.

“I hear you,” he said evenly, his voice rising and falling like water. “Come out. Now.”

Chills raced down my arms and legs, setting my fingertips to tingle. I crouched beside the desk, not believing he had sensed me. But he was facing me squarely, his feet spread wide and his shadow looking formidable. “Put your gun down first,” I whispered.

“Ms. Morgan?” The shadow straightened. He was actually surprised. I wondered who he had expected. “Why should I?” he asked, his mellow voice soothing despite the threat in it.

“My partner has a spell right over your head,” I bluffed.

The shadow that was Trent shifted as he glanced up. “Lights, forty-eight percent,” he said, his voice harsh. The room brightened, but not enough to ruin my night vision. Knees turning to water, I rose from my crouch, trying to look as if I had planned this as I leaned against his desk in my silk and spandex bodysuit and crossed my ankles.

Gun tight in his grip, Trent ran his gaze over me, looking disgustingly refined and smart in his green riding outfit. I forced myself to not look at the weapon pointing at me as my gut tightened. “Your gun?” I questioned, sending my gaze to the ceiling where Jenks waited.

“Drop it, Kalamack!” Jenks shrilled from the light fixture, his wings clattering in an aggressive noise.

Trent’s stance eased to match my own tension-laced, casual poise. Motions sharp and abrupt, he took the bullets from the gun and tossed the heavy metal to my feet. I didn’t touch it, feeling my breath come easier. The bullets clattered dully into a pocket of his riding jacket. In the stronger light, I could see evidence of his healing demon attack. A yellowing bruise decorated his cheekbone. The end of a blue cast poked beyond the cuff of his jacket. A healing scrape showed on his chin. I found myself thinking that despite it all, he looked good. It wasn’t right that he should look so confident when he thought he had a lethal spell hanging over him.

“I only need to say one word, and Quen will be here in three minutes,” he said lightly.

“How long do you take to die?” I bluffed.

His jaw clenched in anger, making him seem younger. “Is that what you are here for?”

“If it was, you’d already be dead.”

He nodded, accepting that as truth. Standing wire-tight across the room, his gaze flicked to his open briefcase. “Which disc do you have?”

Feigning confidence, I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. “Huntington. If anything happens to me, it will go to six papers and three news studios along with the missing page of your planner.” I pushed myself off from his desk. “Leave me alone,” I threatened flatly.

His arms hung unmoving at his sides, his broken one at an angle. My skin pricked, though he made no move, and my veneer of confidence slipped. “Black magic?” he mocked. “Demons killed your father. Shame to see the daughter go the same way.”

My breath hissed in. “What do you know of my dad?” I said, shocked.

His eyes slid to my wrist—the one with the demon scar—and my face went cold. My stomach knotted as I remembered the demon killing me slowly. “I hope it hurt you,” I said, not caring that my voice quavered. Maybe he’d think it was in anger. “I don’t know how you survived it. I almost didn’t.”

Trent’s face went red and he pointed a finger at me. It was nice to see him act like a real person. “Sending a demon to attack me was a mistake,” he said, his words sharp. “I don’t deal in black magic, nor do I allow my employees to do so.”

“You big fat liar!” I exclaimed, not caring if it sounded childish. “You got what you deserved. I didn’t start this, but I’ll be damned if I don’t finish it!”

“I’m not the one with the demon mark, Ms. Morgan,” he said icily. “A liar as well? How disappointing. I’m seriously considering withdrawing my offer of employment. Pray I don’t, or I won’t have any reason to tolerate your actions any longer.”

Angry, I took a breath to tell him he was an idiot. But my mouth stopped. Trent thought I had summoned the demon that had attacked him. My eyes went wide as I figured it out. Someone had called two demons—one for me, one for him—and it hadn’t been anyone at the I.S. I’d stake my life on it. Heart pounding, I reached out to explain, then shut my mouth.

Trent went wary. “Ms. Morgan?” he questioned softly. “What thought just percolated through that head of yours?”

I shook my head, licking my lips as I took a step back. If he thought I dealt in black magic, he’d leave me alone. And as long as I had proof of his guilt, he wouldn’t risk killing me. “Don’t back me into a corner,” I threatened, “and I won’t bother you again.”

Trent’s questioning expression hardened. “Get out,” he said, moving from the porch in a graceful movement. Shifting as one, we exchanged places. “I’ll give you a generous head start,” he said as he reached his desk, snapping his briefcase shut. His voice was dusky, as rich and abiding as the scent of decaying maple leaves. “It may take ten minutes to reach my horse.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused.

“I haven’t run down two-footed prey since my father died.” Trent adjusted his hunter-green coat with an aggressive motion. “It’s the full moon, Ms. Morgan,” he said, his voice thick with promise. “The hounds are loosed. You’re a thief. Tradition says you should run—fast.”

My heart pounded and my face went cold. I had what I came for, but it would do me no good if I couldn’t escape with it. There was thirty miles of woods between me and the nearest source of help. How fast did a horse run? How long could I go before I dropped? Maybe I should have told him I hadn’t sent the demon.

The distant sound of a horn lifted through the black. A baying hound answered it. Fear struck through me, as painful as a knife. It was an old, ancient fear, one so primal it couldn’t be soothed with self-induced delusions. I didn’t even know where it came from. “Jenks,” I whispered. “Let’s go.”

“Right behind you, Rache,” he said from the ceiling.

I took three running steps and dove off Trent’s porch. I landed in a rolling crouch in the ferns. There was an explosion of a gun. The foliage beside my hand shattered. Lunging into the greenery, I bolted into a sprint.

Bastard! I thought, my knees almost giving way. What happened to my ten minutes?

Running, I fumbled for my vial of saltwater. I bit through the top and soaked my amulet. It flickered and went out. Ivy’s would turn and stay red. The road was less than a mile. The gatehouse was three. The city was thirty. How long would it take Ivy to get here?

“How fast can you fly, Jenks?” I panted between foot strikes.

“Pretty damn fast, Rache.”

I stuck to the paths until I reached the garden wall. A dog bayed as I climbed over it. Another answered. Shit.

Breathing in time with my strides, I ran over the manicured lawn and into that eerie wood. The sound of the dogs fell behind me. The wall was giving them trouble. They’d have to go around. Maybe I could do this. “Jenks,” I panted as my legs began to protest. “How long have I been running?”

“Five minutes.”

God, help me, I silently pleaded, feeling my legs begin to ache. It felt like twice that.

Jenks flew ahead, pixy dust sifting from him to show me the way. The silent pillars of dark trees loomed and vanished. My feet thumped rhythmically. My lungs ached and my side hurt. If I lived through this, I promised myself I was going to run five miles a day.

The calling of the dogs shifted. Though faint, their voices sang sweeter, truer, promising they’d soon be with me. It struck like a goad. I dug deeper, finding the will to keep to my pace.

I ran, pushing my heavy legs up and down. My hair stuck to my face. Thorns and brambles ripped my clothes and hands. The horns and dogs grew closer. I fixed my gaze on Jenks as he flew before me. A fire started in my lungs, growing to consume my chest. To stop would mean my death.

The stream was an unexpected oasis. I fell into the water and came up gasping. Lungs heaving, I pushed the water from my face so I could breathe. The pounding of my heart tried to outdo the hoarse sound of my breathing. The trees held a frightened hush. I was prey, and everything in the forest was silently watching, glad it wasn’t them.

My breath rasped at the sound of the dogs. They were closer. A horn blew, pulling fear through me. I didn’t know which sound was worse.

“Get up, Rachel!” Jenks urged, glowing like a will-o’-the-wisp. “Go down the stream.”

I scrambled up, lurching into a slogging run in the shallows. The water would slow me down, but it would slow the dogs down, too. It would only be a matter of time before Trent would split the pack to search both sides of the stream. I wasn’t going to get out of this one.

The pitch of the dogs singing faltered. I surged out onto the bank in a panic. They had lost the scent. They were right behind me. Visions of being torn apart by dogs spurred me on though my legs could hardly move. Trent would paint his forehead with my blood. Jonathan would save a lock of my hair in his top dresser drawer. I should have told Trent I hadn’t sent that demon. Would he have believed me? He wouldn’t now.

The burble of a motorbike brought a cry from me. “Ivy,” I croaked, reaching out to support myself against a tree. The road was just ahead. She must have already been on her way. “Jenks, don’t let her go past me,” I said between gasps for air. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Gotcha!”

He was gone. I stumbled into motion. The dogs were baying, soft and questing. I could hear the sound of voices and instructions. It pushed me into a run. A dog sang clear and pure. Another answered it. Adrenaline scoured through me.

Branches whipped my face and I fell into the road. My skinned palms stung. Too breathless to cry out, I forced myself up from my knees. Staggering, I looked down the road. A white light bathed me. The roar of a motorbike was an angel’s blessing. Ivy. It had to be. She must have been on her way before I broke the amulet.

I got to my feet, listing as my lungs heaved. The dogs were coming. I could hear the thump of horses’ hooves. I started a jolting, weaving jog toward the approaching light. It rushed upon me in a sudden surge of noise, sliding to a halt beside me.

“Get on!” Ivy shouted.

I could hardly lift my leg. She pulled me up behind her. The engine thrummed under me. I gripped her waist and struggled not to fall into the dry heaves. Jenks buried himself in my hair, his tight grip almost unnoticed. The bike lurched, spun, and leapt forward.

Ivy’s hair flew back, stinging as it hit me. “Did you get it?” she shouted over the wind.

I couldn’t answer. My body was trembling from the abuse. The adrenaline had spent itself out, and I was going to pay for it in spades. The road hummed under me. The wind pulled my heat away, turning my sweat cold. Fighting back the nausea, I reached with numb fingers to feel the reassuring bump of a disc in a front pocket. I patted her shoulder, unable to use my breath for anything other than breathing.

“Good!” she shouted over the wind.

Exhausted, I let my head rest against Ivy’s back. Tomorrow I’d stay in bed and shake until the evening paper came. Tomorrow I’d be sore and unable to move. Tomorrow I’d put bandages on the welts from the branches and thorns. Tonight … I’d just not think about tonight.

I shivered. Feeling it, Ivy turned her head. “Are you all right?” she shouted.

“Yeah,” I said into her ear so she could hear me. “Yeah, I am. Thanks for coming to get me.” I pulled her hair out of my mouth and looked behind me.

I stared, riveted. Three horsemen stood on the ribbon of moonlit road. The hounds were milling about the horses’ feet as they pranced with nervous, arched necks. I had just made it. Chilled to the core of my soul, I watched the middle rider touch his brow in a casual salute.

An unexpected pull went through me. I had bested him. He knew and accepted it, and had the nobility to acknowledge it. How could you not be impressed by someone that sure of himself. “What the hell is he?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jenks said from my shoulder. “I just don’t know.”