Shadow's Blade, page 29
“That much I remember from our first conversation.”
We fell silent again and I steered us back toward Gila Bend, by way of Buckeye. Once we were clear of the city, the traffic thinned and we made good time. Still, I avoided the interstates and highways and after a while I sensed Neil growing impatient.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“A campground in Gila Bend.”
“Gila Bend? We’re driving to Gila Bend? Do you have any idea how far out of our way you’ve taken us?”
“Yeah, I do. But we’re avoiding highways and interstates.”
That brought him up short. “Why?”
“Gracie and I believe Saorla spelled them. I’m afraid that if we use them, she’ll be able to track us, despite the glamour I put on this car.” I cast a look his way. “I’m a pretty smart guy, Neil. I promise, I wouldn’t have taken this route without a damn good reason.”
He nodded.
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Billie’s number.
“Where are you?” she said, skipping right past “Hello.”
“On our way back.”
“‘Our?’”
“You might want to prepare Gracie for the fact that I’ve got her husband with me. Do it quietly. Let her be the one to tell the kids.”
“Okay. Everything go all right?”
“Not really, no. I’ll fill you in when we get there. It shouldn’t be long now.”
“All right. Bye.”
I closed the phone and dropped it back in my pocket.
“Nice phone.”
I laughed. “Yeah, when you’re in the PI biz you use nothing but state-of-the-art equipment. It’s a requirement of the job.”
“I can see that.” He fiddled with his seat belt, eyes on the road. “You think warning her was the right thing to do?”
“It was for me. I can see where you might have preferred to surprise them all, but it’s taken a while for Gracie and me to figure each other out. Our personalities don’t mesh that well. One way or another, she was going to be pissed at me. But I think it would have been much worse if we’d simply shown up. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s . . . I understand. She’s not the easiest person to get along with.”
“In her defense, neither am I.”
We entered the campground about ten minutes later. Neil looked around as we drove in, his forehead furrowing more and more.
“This is the safe spot where you left them?”
“Yes. They’re warded in several ways, and Saorla has no particular reason to look for us here.”
I pulled into the site. Gracie, Billie, and the kids were sitting at a picnic table, still playing cards. Gracie stood as we pulled in, but the kids barely took notice of my arrival. Apparently she hadn’t told them who was with me.
“Where are they?” Neil asked. “There’s no one here.”
I had my Glock in hand almost before the last word crossed his lips.
“If you so much as blink, I swear I’ll blow your head off.”
“What the hell—”
“Don’t say a word.”
“What are you doing, Jay?” Gracie called to me.
“He can’t see you.”
I watched her process what I’d said. It took her a few seconds, but when at last it hit her, she sat back down again, stricken, open-mouthed.
Neil stared out the windshield, squinting. “I heard her!” He grabbed at the door handle. “Where is she?”
“Don’t touch it!”
“Would you please—”
“You’re working with them,” I said, my voice climbing. “The glamour I put on Gracie hides her from Saorla and her weremancers. Which means you’re one of them.”
“I’m not!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I helped you get away from Fitzwater and the others!”
“That’s what I thought, too. But really you did very little. You claimed to cast a spell on the woman when she was down in that hole in the sidewalk, but I never saw what your spell did. The only other magic you used was a warding on the car, and I’m not convinced that did much for us.”
He looked like he wanted to cry, which only confused me more. “You really think I’d turn on my own family?”
“I can believe you’d turn on Gracie. And you might just be fool enough to believe that Saorla intends to take good care of the kids.”
“Jay, it’s all right. Let him out.” Gracie had stood once more and stepped around the table toward the car, so that she was fully illuminated by the headlights. She had on her jeans and fleece, and she held her Ruger loosely in her right hand.
“I’m not removing the glamour,” I said. “I don’t care what excuses he gives.”
Gracie nodded. “That’s fine.”
I looked at Neil again. He was staring in the direction from which Gracie’s voice had come. “I can kill with you with this,” I said, gesturing with the Glock. “I can kill you with a spell. Gracie is armed, and so is Billie. I’m going to be watching your every move. So will they. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m here to see my family. I know you don’t believe that, but it’s the truth. Now, can I get out?”
I nodded, but I also cast a spell, warding myself from assaults and transporting spells. The last thing I wanted was for Neil to magic away my Glock.
He opened the car door, and at the sound, the kids turned to look.
“Daddy!” Emmy said.
And then they both were saying it. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
They jumped up from the table and flew to him, wrapping themselves around him, shouting all the while. Neil still couldn’t see Gracie or the kids, but he could feel them, and he gathered them in his arms, kissing their cheeks. Tears shone on his face. Why would the glamour work against him if he wasn’t working with Saorla? I’d been careful with the wording of the spell.
The truth was, from the moment I first saw him outside his house until now I hadn’t sensed any deception in him. And the whole time he and I were in the car, it never occurred to me that he might not be able to see his family. Not that I had some magical lie detector in my head, but I had been a cop and a PI for a long time. I’d always had a knack for judging people’s intentions.
Billie came to me and put her arm around me, but both of us watched Neil as he talked to the kids and hugged and kissed them. It was like a scene from some holiday television tearjerker, except I had an attack spell ready to fly, and Gracie watched her husband like a mama cat eyeing a rival.
“What do you think it means?” Billie asked.
“I don’t know. The glamour I cast was very specific. I worded it in such a way that it should only work on Saorla and those who are working with her. Which means he’s been lying to me. But . . .”
“But what?”
“He didn’t seem to be lying,” I said. “I know that sounds stupid, but I’ve learned to trust my instincts.”
“Do you trust them as much as you trust your magic?”
It was a fine question, one for which I had no answer.
Gracie sidled closer, though like me she didn’t for a moment take her eyes off Neil and the kids.
“You shouldn’t have brought him.”
“You might be right. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but things happened very fast and I really didn’t have long to think it through. For all I know this was their plan all along.”
“Whose plan?”
“Fitzwater and a few of his buddies, including two weremancers I’ve had dealings with before. I think those two were watching your old house, either because they thought that Neil might lead them to you, or because they anticipated I’d show up sooner or later. They attacked me when I got there, and Neil helped me out. At least it seemed that way at the time. But while we were inside talking, they called for reinforcements.”
“How did you get away?”
“Transporting spell to the car. I thought I was saving both of us. Now I wonder if it was some elaborate scheme to get him here.”
Gracie offered a vague nod, but she was watching the kids, her expression hard to read.
“The kids are happy to see him,” I said.
She shrugged. “He’s a good dad. I’ve told you that. I was thinking that he looked happy, too. Happier than I’ve seen him in a long time.”
“Maybe we should give you some time alone,” Billie said. “All of you.”
“No.” Both of them looked at me. “I’ll keep my distance, but I’m not letting him out of my sight until I know for certain that he can be trusted.”
“I have more power than he does,” Gracie said. “And he can’t see us. I think we’ll be fine.” To Billie she said, “Thanks. A little time alone would probably be a good idea.”
I started to argue, but Billie took hold of my arm and tugged me away, her touch gentle but insistent. “Come on, Fearsson. You’re probably hungry.”
Against my better instincts, I followed her, glancing back in their direction several times. Gracie had approached Neil and the kids and apparently said something to him. I couldn’t hear what. He looked up, but I could tell he was having trouble locating her by the sound of her voice. It was nice to know my glamours worked so well.
“Give them some privacy,” Billie said.
I faced her. “You’re right.”
She raised a hand to the bruise on my temple. “That doesn’t look so good. I wish we had some ice.”
“I’ll be okay.” I pulled her to me and kissed her. “I don’t think I gave you a proper greeting earlier today.”
We kissed again. “You didn’t,” she said. “You were too busy fighting off mountain lions and coyotes.”
“It’s been a day.”
“Well, you should have some dinner. Do you want cheese and crackers or a peanut butter sandwich?”
“Wow. What choices!”
She grinned. “Shut up. It’s the best we could do.”
We dug out the peanut butter and bread, and I made myself a sandwich. As I did, I considered again all that had happened at Neil’s house, searching for some memory that might tell me whether he had been deceiving me. Once again, I found myself thinking that I would have sensed the lies, the dissembling. During our previous encounter, the night he followed me from Amaya’s, I hadn’t found it difficult to read his emotions or his intent. He was a weremyste, a dad. I wasn’t sure what he did for a living, but he didn’t strike me as an international man of intrigue. He was a white-collar working stiff who had gotten himself caught up in magical goings-on he didn’t quite understand and didn’t have the power to influence. That was how he struck me then, and right up until the moment I realized he couldn’t see Billie, Gracie, and the kids, that was how he had struck me tonight.
“What are you thinking?” Billie asked.
“I’m trying to decide if Neil is the best actor I’ve ever seen or just a guy who’s trying to get his wife and kids back.”
“Come up with an answer yet?”
“Not really,” I said around a bite of sandwich.
“Couldn’t he be both?”
I stopped chewing.
“I mean not both,” Billie went on, “but couldn’t he be a good guy and still have gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd?”
Somehow I was on my feet.
“Fearsson?”
“That’s exactly what happened,” I said. “We have to get out of here.”
She stood as well. “You mean now? We have to take down the tents?”
I’d already left a tent and sleeping bag in Organ Pipe, but those had been cheap ones bought the day before at a sporting goods store. The tent and bag she’d gotten from my house were much better and way more expensive. But I wasn’t sure we had time to break everything down and pack the car.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she said her voice tight.
“Come with me,” I said, starting back toward Gracie and Neil. “I’ll tell all of you.”
They were sitting by the fire. Neil seemed to be telling a story, and the kids stared up at him, practically sitting on top of him. I sensed they couldn’t quite believe he was here. Gracie sat nearby, though noticeably separate from the others.
She looked up at my approach. “What is it?”
“They’re tracking you,” I said, speaking to Neil.
“What?”
“That’s why the glamour is working against you. You’re with them in a sense; you’re helping them. You just don’t know it.”
He kissed each of the kids, set them on the ground on either side of him, and stood. “Then get me the hell away from here. We’ll get back in the car, and you and I will just drive. We can lure them into the desert.”
It was the type of thing a devoted father would say, one who hadn’t been lying and plotting against his family. Despite the danger I knew we were in, I was glad. The truth was, I wanted to trust him. Moreover, his idea wasn’t half bad. Except . . .
“I’m not sure we have that much time. And the glamour on Billie’s car won’t work at night. They might not see the vehicle itself, but they’ll see the glow from the headlights.”
“Right. That’s what we want, for them to follow us.”
“I think Jay’s point,” Gracie said, “is that you might not last long out in the desert with Fitzwater and his friends. And even if you do, it means more running for the kids and me. Without a car, this time.” She looked at me across the fire. “Is that about right?”
“Yeah. I was thinking of trying something new.”
“Oh, boy,” Billie said in a whisper. She knew me well.
“Emmy will know when they’re close,” I said to Neil, “and when they are, I’ll put the same glamour on you that I’ve put on the others. All of us will be hidden. But the weremancers will be close enough that they won’t retreat. They’ll come looking for us, and while we’re hidden by my spells, we’ll take them out one at a time.”
“What about the kids?”
“Billie and the kids will stay hidden in her car, which also has a glamour on it. Worse case scenario, she drives them away from here, and we do whatever we can to disable Fitzwater’s car.”
Neil pondered this for a few seconds before asking Gracie, “What do you think?”
“I’m tired of running away,” she said. “And I think what Jay’s suggesting might work.”
“I’m not crazy about it,” Billie said. “You’re making me the last line of defense for the kids, and I don’t have access to magic.”
“They want me alive,” Gracie said. “The kids, too. I can’t say what they’ll do to you, but they’re not going to hurt the three of us. I don’t know if that helps or not.”
“It does, actually.” Billie looked at me. “Okay, let’s do this.”
I handed her the key to her car. “Where’s the pistol you were using earlier.”
She pulled it from the pocket of her jacket and held it up for me to see.
“Is the magazine full?”
“Yep.” She pulled back the slide and released it with a chiming of steel, like an old pro. “And now I’ve got a round chambered. You do what you have to do, Fearsson. We’ll be all right.”
Okay, I wasn’t proud of this, but I don’t think she had ever done anything that turned me on more. Not that this was the time.
“What if you’re wrong?” Neil asked me.
“What do you mean?”
“What if they’re not tracking me? What if they’re not on their way here after all?”
“I’m not wrong.”
As if on cue, the sound of approaching cars reached me. This was open desert; there weren’t any buildings or mountains around to deflect the sound. The cars were coming from the east, their engines purring, most of the noise emanating from their tires. Late models, if I had to guess, I would have said they were sedans or SUVs. Probably two of them. I hoped it was only two.
“Mommy?” Emmy said. It came out half as a question, half as a warning.
“We hear the cars, sweetie. Is it them?”
She nodded. “It’s him.”
I was sure she meant Fitzwater.
“These guys have to use cars?” Billie said.
“Not always. Saorla could transport them here if she wanted. But she still can’t find me. And we’re not in the middle of nowhere, or out at my dad’s trailer. We’re near a town, and so they’re choosing to be cautious.” I faced Neil. “You ready?”
“I guess.”
I cast the glamour once more, putting it on both of us, and again making certain that it rendered us invisible to Saorla, as well as Fitzwater and the rest of the weremancers. I knew that the sorcerers in those cars would feel the spell, but that was all right: more bait for the hook.
As soon as the pulse of magic touched the air around us, Neil’s eyes widened. He was looking in Gracie’s direction, and now, it seemed, he could see her. He faced the kids, and the smile that lit his face couldn’t help but make me smile as well.
“There you two are,” he said, breathless, his eyes shining again.
“Well, yah,” Emmy said, sounding more like a jaded teenager than an eight year old.
I hated to rush the moment, but we really didn’t have time for this now.
“Kids, come with me and Billie.”
We led them over to Billie’s car. The kids climbed in the back with their blankets and stuffed animals, and huddled down in the footwells. Billie positioned herself on the back seat, the .380 still in her hand. I handed her the Glock as well.
“Don’t you—?”
“I have a back-up weapon,” I said. “And the Glock has more firepower.”
She eyed the Glock. “I don’t like this one.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “They’ll probably be warded against bullets. If you fire, aim low or high. The shot may rebound, and if you aim center it has a better chance of hitting you.”
“What’s the point if they’re warded?”
“It gives them something else to think about. And it may be that they won’t be warded after all. The other thing, which I learned in my battle with Cahors, is that wardings against bullets don’t work nearly as well at close range. If you’re close enough, the power of the weapon might overwhelm the power of the spell.”
She nodded, taking it all in.
