Whisper of Shadows (The Diamond City Magic Novels) (26 page)

“If so, what do they want?” Arnow asked.

The obvious answer was us, especially Price. Before I could blurt that out, she continued.

“Mommy Dearest said her people wanted you dead,” she said to Price. “But if so, then why didn’t they just napalm the place? Hit it with bombs? Coming in like this, in force, says these people want you alive. So maybe she lied, or maybe it’s somebody else. Maybe whoever it is is after something else altogether. But if they
are
here for you, then they’ve got to be fairly confident they’ll be able to take you down. Likely they’ve got a mountain of nulls or binders and a lot of firepower.”

“All the more reason to get the fuck out. Move it!” Dalton ordered.

We all jumped to obey. Dalton and Taylor led the way with Mel’s stretcher. Leo and Jamie went next.

“Are you coming?” Arnow asked as I bent to pick up a rock.

“In a minute,” I said, considering it. If our pursuers had a tracer—which they would, and probably a good one—we needed to null out or we’d be followed and captured in nothing flat. But the trace was already laid down. Nulling it now wouldn’t help. I needed to reel it up. Which wasn’t possible. Unless I could find a way. Given how many impossible things I’d done already tonight, this had to be a piece of cake.

I moved down and sat under a tree, my back to it. Arnow watched me impatiently.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Trying to keep them from following us,” I said absently. “You should shut up now. Go tell the others to keep going. I’ll follow when I can.”

She said something crude and also anatomically impossible, and then stormed off. I focused on the power inside me and drew it up. God, but it hurt. I’d overused my power to the point that the slightest working hurt. This was going to be a lot more substantial than that.

I took a breath and let it out, closing my eyes as I sorted out how to get rid of the trace we’d already laid down. Since learning to travel through the spirit dimension, I’d discovered that nulling didn’t do away with trace, it just hid it. So maybe what I wanted to do was hide the trace we’d already laid down, not actually destroy it.

I reached into the icy spirit space and gathered up all our trace, including what we’d laid down when arriving. I twisted all the strands around the rock as an anchor and also as a conduit for my power. Then I started building the null.

I let myself sink entirely into the process. I dug for power. It moved like sludge inside of me. I reached deeper, searching for the source of my magic and dragging it out of myself. I didn’t know how much it would take, but I had to make it enough. I sucked whatever energy I could out of the protective nulls on my belly and head. I hadn’t had a chance to recharge them, but a little was better than nothing.

As I sank deeper into my work, the world spun away. The rock in my hands was the only island of solidity. I couldn’t feel the snow under my butt or the tree against my back. My eyes weighed too much to open, even if I wanted to.

Deeper and deeper. I drove down relentlessly, searching for every little scrap of power I could muster. The null glowed in my mind’s eye. Was it enough? I didn’t think so. It didn’t feel any different from one of my normal nulls. It needed more. And I needed to tie the power to our trace. I started weaving them together. That’s when I realized how it could work. Elation bubbled through me.

Bubble may be too strong a word. It oozed as best it could, like tar through beaches of salt and sand.

I set about creating spirals along each of the trace ribbons. I soldered them into the null and spelled each one to spring out as soon as the null was activated. They’d fling outward as far as the magic had strength to send them. Where the coils slid over someone’s trace, it would disappear.

After I finished the spells for the direction we were going, I turned it back to where we’d come from. Sooner or later, our pursuers would find our trail, but if they didn’t know we’d crossed the wall, or which direction we’d gone when we came up out of the underground, it would take longer. We needed that time to get away. I needed to make this work.

Only I’d reached my limits. Hell, I’d gone way past them, and if I didn’t tie off the null soon, it would explode in my hands. I’d be dead, and the whole attempt would be useless. The trouble was, I could tell that it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop yet. I
had
to find more power.

I don’t know when I realized that magic was building around me. I could feel it in the air against my skin. I snatched at it, pulling it in. It had a flavor. Like Leo, sweet, biting, metallic. More flowed round me. Jamie. A different metallic, and sour with heat. And more. This time I didn’t recognize it. It burned me almost, but with a cold so deep it hurt. The taste was like summer berries and winter wine. It had to be Dalton. Price was out of gas, and neither Taylor nor Arnow had any magic to offer me.

I grabbed what was given and poured it into the null. Its magic swelled. When it reached the level where I thought it would do the trick, I tied it off before letting go of the others’ magic.

While passing out at that point seemed like a good choice, I wasn’t allowed. I found myself on the ground, with angry people all around me arguing in loud whispers. My hands wrapped the rock in iron claws.

“Shut it!” someone said louder than the others. Arnow. Her voice chopped through the other voices like an ax. “Bitch at her later, but right now, see if that null she made can be activated and let’s get the hell out of here.”

Someone lifted me up into a sitting position.

“Riley? Can you stand up?” That was Taylor.

I made a sound like gargling marbles.

“Someone will have to carry her. Should you make another stretcher?” That was Arnow. Funny how she was in the thick of things. Couldn’t trust her at all, and yet she was still helping. She
had
said she wanted to be friends. Plus she needed my help. And she wasn’t too eager to get caught here, either.

“Can you get the null?” Jamie. He sounded rough, like rusted gears.

Someone pried up my fingers.

“Got it,” Leo said. Immediately after, I was pulled up and over someone’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“Are you sure you can manage? You’re in bad shape.” Taylor again.

“Just go.” Price’s voice rumbled above my left ear where my head dangled upside down against his chest. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“I’m activating the rock,” Leo said, and as soon as he did, an electric rainbow ran through me all the way down to my core.

“Jesus! What the fuck was that?” Dalton, and he didn’t sound pleased.

I was, though, because he never lost his cool and I’d managed to break it. Points for me!

“Whatever she did, it feels like it’s working,” Arnow said. “Let’s get going before it stops.”

That jolted everybody into action. Price strode beneath the trees, his sandaled feet crunching in the snow. The silence of the night echoed in my head. It was so quiet. Except for us, the world might have been dead.

Twigs scraped along my shoulders and caught in my hair as we pushed through the bushes into the cave. Once there, we paused again.

“They’re bound to have found the helicopter,” Taylor said without preamble. “They may be already pushing down into this cave, depending on how good their tracking is.”

“We left our vehicles farther out,” Leo said. “I doubt they cast their net that far. And thanks to Dalton, we camouflaged them, plus set up trigger alarms. If anybody discovered them, we’ll know before we get there.”

“On the other hand, if they did find them and then followed you into the caves, that won’t do a lot of good,” Arnow pointed out.

Even though I couldn’t open up my eyes to save my life, I could hear Leo’s shrug of dismissal. “We ran wire along the cave path. Jamie and I will know if anyone’s there.”

“It’s either that or going undermountain back into the city,” Jamie pointed out. “We can find our way—we’ve both spent years exploring the caves and mine systems. It’ll take us days, though, and even if we had that kind of time, we’re bound to run into booby traps and mine guards. Without water, food, and shoes for Agent Arnow and Clay, I don’t see that we’ve much choice.”

It’s about that time that I remembered the key in my pocket. Vernon had said I could use it to summon him. He’d help us. No doubt he would. But at what cost, especially now that Price had found his power? No thank you. Anyway, I couldn’t have moved to get the key if I wanted. Not that Dalton couldn’t summon Vernon. I couldn’t forget that he was my dad’s henchman. Loyal only to him, not to us. A snake in the grass, a fox in the henhouse, a turd in the pool. We simply could not trust him.

Having settled on a goal, we set out again. Nobody spoke except to offer guidance in the darkness. I couldn’t even muster any fear of being under a billion tons of dirt and rock that was about to collapse on us. That was a better prospect than getting caught, and was I too damned tired anyhow.

I’m not sure how long we traveled. Forever it seemed. Price never spoke to me. His breath rasped in the quiet, and his feet made a scraping sound that reminded me of fingers on a chalkboard. I was entirely uncomfortable, and all the blood rushed into my spinning head. Plus I was cold. Aching cold. The kind you feel right before you fall asleep in the snow and die.

At some point the null quit working. Hopefully it would keep pursuers off our trail long enough for us to get completely away.

The sun was well up when we reached our exit. We had to crawl out through a two-by-two-foot hole that was about twenty feet up the side of a steep ridge. To get me out, Price settled me onto my back and pushed my arms up over my head. I watched him. His sapphire eyes met mine, and then other hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me through. Gravel dug into my back and a few bits got shoved down into my waistband.

Price was swift to crawl through after that. I couldn’t see much. The sun was just coming up. I tried to stand up, but my body ignored me. Instead, Price hoisted me again and carried me down to where the two vehicles waited and set me on my feet.

“We’re clear,” Jamie announced.

“I wish we could be sure,” Taylor said. “Riley? Can you tell if anyone’s out there?”

“No!” Price shouted, gripping my right hand. “She’s given too much already. God—”

He broke off with an animal sound, his hand tightening on mine so that it hurt. I didn’t mind. Neither did I let it stop me. What I had to give was his and theirs. My family.

I let myself drift into trace sight. It was easy enough. Coming out would be harder. I was closer to that world right now than the real world; closer to dying than living.

“No one,” I said, and slumped, resting my head on Price’s chest. The trace dimension didn’t let go of me. I floated in the cold dark full of spun ribbons.

“Riley?” Price said and shook me.

“Mmm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Mmm.” Eloquent I was not. Neither was I okay. But I was in my element. In the trace. Surely that couldn’t be all that bad.

He shook me again, and ran a hand over my forehead and face. “She’s freezing.” Though the words were quiet, they were edged in panic. “Her lips are blue. So are her hands.”

“Give me a minute,” Leo said, and I heard the crunch of footsteps in the snow. A minute later, he returned. He and Price juggled me, wrapping me in a blanket. Then one of them held a bottle of water to my lips.

“Drink,” Price commanded.

Obediently, I swallowed the trickle. Suddenly my thirst became overwhelming. I gripped the spout with my teeth and sucked on it like a baby. I gulped, and Price pulled it away.

“Easy now,” he said, then offered it to me again.

I finished it, and then I heard the crackle of paper.

“Open your mouth,” Taylor ordered.

I did, and a piece of chocolate settled onto my tongue. Sweetness burst in my mouth, and I moaned, even as my stomach growled. As it did, reality tugged me and I pulled away from the trace dimension. That’s when I realized I hadn’t just opened myself up to the sight. I’d slipped inside it. Just over the edge, not far, but far enough to risk my life.

The water and chocolate gave me enough strength to steady my legs, though it didn’t make me feel any warmer. Neither did the blanket. I made myself stand on my own, though Price kept his arm around my waist.

We loaded into the two vehicles. One was a blue Expedition. Leo and Jamie folded down the rear seats and set Mel’s body inside, covering her with another blanket. Then Leo, Taylor, and Dalton climbed into the front seat together, which was a whole lot of awkward with the bucket seats. Taylor ended up sitting half on Dalton’s lap and half on the console.

Jamie got behind the wheel of the Avalanche, with Arnow up front beside him. Price laid me on the backseat and got in with me, putting my head in his lap. For the moment, I felt safe.

I should have known better than that.

Chapter 18

AS WE DROVE slowly out over the rocky and rutted road, Price continued to feed me chocolate. He ate a protein bar, offering me bits. Eventually I was able to eat on my own. I struggled upright and drank another bottle of water, all the while snugged up against his side. Jamie had the heat on high. Even so, I felt like a Popsicle. Even Price didn’t heat me up, and given his anger, I should have been on fire.

I wasn’t quite sure what I’d done to piss him off this time. Neither did I ask. I didn’t need to be the floor show, with Jamie and Arnow the audience, and anyhow, I didn’t regret anything. Except Mel.

“I’m sorry about your stepmother,” he said suddenly, as if reading my mind.

“I’m sorry about your mom.”

His lips twitched and twisted, then settled back into a flat line. He wasn’t ready to talk about her. Fine by me. I didn’t have much to say that didn’t involve a lot of four-letter words. But then he surprised me.

“Better she’d died than yours.”

I couldn’t disagree with that, so I said nothing.

We’d only gone a little over a mile when Jamie stopped. Leo jumped out of the Expedition and came back to talk to us.

“Thinking of heading southeast into Durango for now. They’re going to have Diamond City blockaded pretty good.” He peered over Jamie’s shoulder at me. “You doing okay?”

“Never better.”

Price made a growling sound in his throat. “Liar,” he said.

“I’m not dead yet, anyhow.”

“Too close.”

“I’ll give you that,” I said, seeing that I was only stirring his anger hotter. I really didn’t want to be arguing with him. I held his hand through my blanket, more to disguise the fact that my hands were made of ice than anything else.

“What’s in Durango?” Arnow asked.

Jamie and Leo flicked a look at her and then exchanged a meaningful look. Jamie nodded. “Let’s go.”

As Leo returned to his vehicle and Jamie rolled up the window, Arnow repeated her question.

“What’s in Durango?”

“A safe house.”

“How safe?”

“Very.”

Considering I didn’t even know about it, I figured it had to be. Anyway, it was somewhere that the feds probably didn’t know about, and until Dalton got there, neither would Vernon.

Despite the fact that we were still in danger, that at any moment someone could swoop in on us, I fell asleep.

I couldn’t have been out long. I came awake when the Avalanche jerked to an abrupt stop.

“What’s wrong?” I asked groggily, knuckling my eyes. My brain felt slow as cold molasses.

“Company,” Price answered tersely.

He helped push me upright. Through the windshield, I could see that we were on pavement. The road was narrow, and trees grew close along the sides. Leo’s Expedition had stopped ahead of us, blocked by a gray Hummer. I glanced behind us as another rumbled up to close off our escape.

“Riley, get the guns,” Jamie said quietly.

I leaned down and reached for one of the drawers at the bottom of the seat. There were two, side-by-side, each full of a variety of weapons. Price moved his legs to let me access the one beneath us. Inside were four .45 autos with a dozen full magazines as well as boxes of bullets. There was also an assortment of explosives.

I passed two guns to the front seat, even as Price fished one out for himself. I took one out, checking it. Like the others, it was loaded. I handed out spare magazines.

“Give me a couple of grenades,” Jamie said.

I did as requested. Price was rifling through the drawer and taking whatever struck his fancy. I wasn’t going to bother with anything but the gun. At this point, I wasn’t sure I had the wherewithal to actually shoot straight, much less lob a bomb. Everything I was trying to protect would probably end up in the blast zone.

The doors on the Hummer behind us opened and several black-clad goons got out, followed by—

“Vernon,” I said, my lip curling, just as Jamie started swearing.

“Isn’t that your father?” Price asked. “I thought his name was Sam.”

“It was. Now it’s not,” I said, and I grabbed the door handle, jumping out before anybody could stop me.

Strengthened by fury, I stormed around the rear of the vehicle, my hand white-knuckled on the grip of my gun. I’d forgotten I was holding it.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, aiming it at him.

Two of his goons jumped in front of him and another lunged forward and knocked my arm up with all the force of a sledgehammer breaking concrete. I let out a squeal of pain. He grabbed my forearm, holding it over my head as he twisted the gun out of my grip with his other hand.

At that point, someone—Price—plowed into him, knocking him down. The goon didn’t let go of me until I was falling too. I landed on my stomach and caught a boot to the jaw. My head snapped, and I yelped and rolled away. Stars and splotches whirled through my brain. I lay still, trying to get my bearings.

Hands hooked under my arms and lifted me.

“Riley? Are you all right?”

I blinked at my father’s question. All right? I wanted to tell him I hadn’t been all right since my mother died, but I let the words die before I spit them at him. I hung between two of his soldiers, one a man, the other a woman. I’d have shaken them off if I could, but my knees were made of rubber and the ground kept shifting up and down in rolling waves.

“Riley?” Vernon repeated. He pinched my chin gently and turned it to get a look at the damage to my face. “That looks ugly. You may have broken your jaw.”

“Right.
I
broke it,” I croaked, and as much as it hurt to talk, he probably was right. “You had nothing to do with it. Or my fingers.” I held up the hand that had been holding the gun. Two of my fingers were swollen to twice their size. I thought the goon must’ve popped them out of joint.

“You were pointing a gun at me. My people are paid to protect me.”

I cut to the chase. “What do you want? Why are you here?”

Before he could answer, more hands gripped me from behind, and I was pulled away from his two minions. I stifled a moan as my head jostled and spikes of pain jolted through my jaw and up through my eye sockets.

“Keep your filthy hands off her,” Leo snapped.

At that point, I was willing everybody to keep their hands off me. I was getting to feel like a prize in a game of keep-away. I pulled myself away to stand on my own.

My vision was finally clearing. Price and Vernon’s goon had separated and stood panting and having a staring contest. Vernon was flanked by the two black-clad minions who’d picked me up off the ground. Another six circled around, surrounding us.
Us
included Dalton, which surprised me. He stood just behind Taylor, a little on the outside, but definitely not joining Vernon’s crew. On the other side of Taylor was Arnow and then Price. Jamie and Leo stood on either side of me, both looking ready to commit murder.

For a long moment, nobody spoke. Vernon scrutinized us. He exchanged a look with Dalton that I couldn’t read at all.

“What do you want?” I repeated finally, when no one else spoke.

“I came to offer my help. None of you can go home. You just went to the top of the FBI’s most-wanted list, plus a couple dozen other agencies’. Not to mention becoming a valuable commodity to every underworld organization in existence. I can protect you.”

“Use us,” I corrected. “Don’t act like this is some gesture of kindness and goodwill. You want us in your pocket.”

Vernon gave a little shrug. “It certainly benefits me if you aren’t in the power of others. Should you choose to work for me, I would definitely make it mutually beneficial. But more importantly, I would not like to see you come to harm.”

I snorted. “If that were true, you’d have been in there trying to help us.”

“Mel’s dead,” Jamie announced at the same time.

At that, Vernon went still as stone. He hadn’t known. That was strange. I’d assumed Dalton was telegraphing our whole mission to him somehow. Maybe Vernon only had Dalton lojacked and had to debrief him for the rest.

“I am sorry,” Vernon said, looking away into the trees. Emotion flickered over his features, almost like grief. But then he faced us again, his face blank as paper. “I hope that she did not suffer. Who was responsible?”

We met the question with silence.

“I killed her,” Price said finally.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Leo spoke the words before I could even open my mouth.

“Like hell it wasn’t,” Price ground out. “If not for me, she wouldn’t have been there. If not for me, she wouldn’t have end up crushed to death.”

“If not for
me
,” I corrected. “I’m the reason she was there.”

“She was there because she chose to be,” Taylor said.

“Because we’re family and we have each other’s backs,” Jamie added with finality. “No matter what.” He gave Vernon a pointed look. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that kind of loyalty, would you?”

“I’m here to help you,” Vernon responded.

“Because we could be useful to you,” Leo said. “No thanks. We can take care of ourselves.”

“No, you can’t,” Vernon said. “You’re powerful and resourceful, but you have no idea what you’re up against.” He looked at Price. “I can get your brother back for you. You won’t have to risk yourself or anybody else.” He flicked a glance at me.

“See? That’s the difference between us and you,” Taylor said bitterly. “We’re going to help him because he needs it and because he’s our family now. You couldn’t give a shit if your kids are in trouble. You’ll only give a hand if there’s something in it for you. Far as I’m concerned, that makes you number one on my most disgusting fathers list.”

She spit on the ground to punctuate her repulsion, something I’d never seen her do before. Taylor did not spit. Ever. Fashion divas did not spit.

“No,” Price protested. “You can’t help me, especially after what I did to—”

I was about to jump on him when all three of my siblings rounded furiously on him.

“When we want your opinion, we’ll give it to you,” Jamie snapped.

“Shut your pie hole.” Taylor prodded a finger into his chest.

“We’ll help if we goddamn want to,” Leo said.

“And you can learn to like it,” I whispered, my lips and jaw having swollen so much that making words was more effort than it was worth. I wanted to smile. And cry. Dear Lord, how I loved them.

Price looked dumbstruck. For that matter, so did Vernon. As much as he could, anyhow. As far as I could tell, he hid his feelings behind a face frozen by massive doses of Botox. All the same, his eyes widened, and something flickered in their depths. Maybe disappointment, maybe surprise. Maybe it was indigestion. At that point, I was past caring.

“We need to go,” I said. The words slurred. I winced as I realized that two of my teeth were loose. I probably had a waffle-stomper pattern on my face.

Vernon looked around us and finally took a long breath and let it out. “Jackson Tyrell is a name you should get to know,” he said finally, totally out of left field.

“Who the hell is he?” Jamie demanded, scowling. His arms were crossed, and he still held his gun. That surprised me. I thought Vernon’s minions would have disarmed everyone.

“Look it up. But when you watch the news later, know that he was behind it,” he said cryptically.

“Behind what?” I asked.

He looked at me. “You’ve still got the key? Remember, I’ll come if you call.”

With that, he nodded to his goon squad, and they all headed back to the Hummers.

“Shouldn’t you go with them?” Taylor asked Dalton.

Vernon paused as he started to get into the vehicle. The two men exchanged another look. Dalton looked away, scanning each of us, ending at Taylor. Something flashed between them. A secret of some kind.

“You need me.”

I wasn’t sure if he was telling her that or asking. I also wasn’t sure if he meant all of us or her in particular.

“I don’t need to worry that the guy who has my back might also stab me there,” Taylor said. “None of us do. Anyway, you belong to him, right? You owe him a debt you can’t repay, or something, so you should go get busy on that.”

He jerked as if slapped, red spots burning in his cheeks. “I have done nothing to betray you. Any of you.”

“But you will, first time dear old dad asks you to,” Taylor said. “We can’t afford to trust you. We’re up to our armpits in trouble already. So go.”

Dalton stared, his mouth moving like he wanted to say something. Then he shook his head and shoved past her. He dug in his pocket and held something out to me. “Here. Maybe you should get a few of your own.”

I reflexively held my hand out. He dropped yet another heal-all pendant and chain in it before crossing to Vernon’s Hummer and squeezing into the front seat. The doors slammed, and a minute later, they disappeared up the road and we were left alone in the wilderness.

None of us said anything for a long moment, then Jamie looked at Leo. “We’ve got trackers somewhere.”