Blind spot, p.14
Blind Spot, page 14
I wrapped both hands around the containment box and considered how to go about swapping out the stones. It was doable, as was fooling Piper while she had me test it for active magic since Prisms weren’t exactly thick on the ground. Ignoring the additional weight of self-disgust, I had to admit that the fact she had no real idea of how I would determine if the magic was active was a huge plus. I could put on a show, or not, and she would never know.
Then there was the fact that Piper had seen both stones. Had she noted the differences earlier? Would she pick up on them again? Maybe it was a good thing we were doing the testing in the middle of the night, with shitastic lighting. Less of a chance for her to catch on once I made the switch. If I made the switch.
And if I did go through with this, the trickiest part would be the containment box’s ward. I had no idea of the parameters it worked within. Wards were crafted, and the one on this box could be from Piper or Mateo. Either way, I was fairly certain it went way beyond a standard ward. It could be keyed to keep specific people and magic out. Or, worse, keyed to the actual Court Stone’s power, or some unique signature I was completely unaware of. Basically, I was about to play Russian roulette with the damn box.
As I ran through scenarios, quiet settled back into the car. Drained though I was, my magic was an intrinsic part of me, which meant it was always active on some level. Hopefully, it would be enough to protect me from whatever power still lingered in the Court Stone. I knew I couldn’t risk losing my chance to swap out the stone, so even as I plotted, I waited. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before we hit another bone-rattling set of bumps. This time, I let the car’s motion toss me around, so my shoulder slammed into the window and the box slid from my lap and tumbled to the floor.
“Shit.” I used the ride’s movement to hide the fact I’d pulled out the faux stone from the side thigh pocket of my borrowed cargos. I just had to wait until the car smoothed out before the seat restraint loosened enough to give me room to move.
“What?”
“I dropped the box.” I used my foot to nudge the box toward my seat and realized the Court Stone was no longer in it.
The car slowed. “Do you need me to stop?”
Hell no. “Nah, I can get it.” I felt my seatbelt loosen and bent forward. The box was half hidden behind my leg and the seat, which made it easier to mask my movements. Just then, the car hit another bump, and the faux stone tumbled out of my hand to roll under my seat.
“Dammit.” This time my curse was real.
I patted around the shadowed footwell, first finding one stone, then the other. I left the box behind my leg and tucked one stone under my heel. “Found it.” I held up the stone, angling it so I could see it in the light from the dashboard. This is it. Decision time. For a moment, I considered letting fate make the choice, but my pesky conscience wouldn’t let up. My fingers tightened, and I dared a small dart of power into the stone.
A faint zing answered.
My heart bled because I knew what my choice had to be. My mind screamed in denial.
“Just got to grab the box.” I shifted my legs toward the console and leaned in deeper as if reaching far under the seat. Instead, I nabbed the box. The tires found another rut and almost dislodged the faux stone under my foot. Being bent over the way I was allowed me to drop the Court Stone back into the box, retrieve the fake version, and slip it into my pocket without giving away the game. After a few seconds of fumbling, I flipped the lid closed, sat back, and straightened my legs, the containment box safe once again in my lap.
“You good?”
No. “Yep.”
We continued our trip, neither of talking as we bumped along. Finally, we joined the paved road, and everything smoothed out.
“There was a truck stop a couple miles from here,” Piper said. “We can pull in there.”
Considering I’d been unconscious during previous trips along this route, then lost in my head as I plotted, I would defer to her on the location. “Works for me.”
All too soon, Piper was pulling off the road and into one of those large truck stops that held fuel pumps, a small diner, and a convenience store. Since we weren’t looking for an audience, she picked a spot way off to the side and near the back, where a couple of picnic tables sat apart from the comings and goings. She shut down the car, undid her seatbelt, then opened her door. “Come on.”
I grabbed the box, got out, then followed her as she strode toward the three picnic tables.
She bypassed the first two and stopped by the one set the farthest back, where the building’s security lights barely reached. “This should work.” She waited until I took a seat and set the box in front of me on the table’s top. “Right, give me a few minutes to set up the ward, then we’ll get this done.”
Buffeted by my chaotic emotions, I waited as she pulled a piece of chalk from a pocket to etch warding sigils on the asphalt at the four main points around our table. When she was done, she pocketed the chalk, went to the initial sigil, crouched, touched a finger, and whispered a word I didn’t catch. A sharp snap of power zipped around us. In my head, a soft hum ignited as my Prism primed itself.
Once the ward was set, she got up and took a seat across from me, folding her arms on the table. “Okay, how do you want to go about doing this?”
Not the question I expected. “I figured you had a plan.”
“Aren’t you the one that can tell if it’s the real deal or not?”
“Well, yeah, but aren’t you the one that knows how to make it work?”
She shook her head. “Nope, to me, it’s just a stone. Even back at Amrita’s, it was just a stone.”
I was a tad bit stunned, but maybe I shouldn’t have been, considering my assigned role in this mess. Silly me, I had assumed that the Council would send in someone who knew how to handle the damn thing. Obviously, I was severely mistaken.
Shit, maybe I should’ve stuck with switching it out for the fake one. “So, you don’t know how to make it do what it’s supposed to do?”
She eyed the box, clearly thinking it through. “No, I have a couple of ideas, but if I’m wrong…”
“Yeah, let’s not go there then.” That was the last thing I needed.
“What did you do before? To make sure it was real?”
Already super unhappy about lying to her, I stuck as close to the truth as I could without admitting I could basically “see” magic. “Part of being a Prism is being able to detect active magic.”
She studied me. “And it was active at Amrita’s?”
Thinking of the unholy chaotic mess of magic in the hall of horrors, I shuddered. “Oh yeah.”
Her gaze dropped to the box then came back to me. “Is it now?”
It was my turn to study the object under discussion, because I wasn’t sure I could pull this off looking her in the eyes. I could tell her yes, but that would invite questions I wasn’t willing to answer and possibly force an outcome that included us making tracks back to the valley tonight. There was no way I could leave Zev behind, so I had to play this out to its deceitful end. “I’d have to take it out and hold it to tell.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment.
I looked up to find her staring at the box, her brow furrowed as she thought something through. Finally, she appeared to make a decision, because she sucked in a deep breath then blew it out. When her eyes met mine, they were determined. “Right, so can you cover my ass while you’re doing it, or are you all tapped out?”
It was a legit question, but it also meant Piper was putting a shitload of trust into me, which only added to my guilty conscience. I would be lucky if it didn’t crush me under its weight. “I’m good, at least for this.”
She unfolded her arms, shook them out, and rolled her shoulders. “Okay, then let’s get it done.”
I wasn’t sure what would happen next, but I didn’t want to risk it. If I’d replaced the stone with the fake, this wouldn’t be so nerve-wracking, but it was too late now. Hell, it would not surprise me in the least if the stone decided to pull some unexplainable shit while I was trying to con Piper.
Better safe than sorry.
I extended my Prism over both of us, limiting it so it didn’t brush the ward lines. It was uncomfortable, like stretching an overused muscle, but more than expecting the unexpected, I didn’t want to take the chance that she had some way of being able to tell if my shield was in place or not.
When I had things as contained as possible, I flipped the lid and dumped the stone into my palm, closing my fingers around it. I let my inner eye widen until I could see the shimmer of Piper’s power as it flowed around her. Beyond her was the ward, a translucent, blue-tinged dome. I recognized another, fainter shimmer that hugged the area nearest the building as a standard grid of a security ward. A throb just behind my eyes warned me not to press my luck, so I turned my attention to the stone cupped in both hands. Not really wanting to poke at the thing, I put on a show for Piper, pretending to study it.
That pulse of emerald was still there, deep in the heart of the stone. Again, the temptation whispered to nudge it, see if maybe I could use the stone to convince Piper to work with me. Maybe not tell the Council.
“Rory? You okay?” Piper’s concerned voice cut through the tempting whispers like a knife.
I forced my gaze from that beguiling ember and looked at her, my thoughts a little sluggish. “I think so.”
She studied me for a moment. “You sure? You don’t look so good.”
I shook my head, my mind clearing. “Yeah, I’m good, just tired.”
“So? Is it active?”
There was only one answer I could give her, so even though the words tasted like ash on my tongue, I said, “Not that I can tell.”
“You’re sure?”
“As much as I can be, yeah.”
Some of her stiffness disappeared as she stopped bracing for the worse. “Then I’d say the spell worked.”
“So it appears,” I choked out around the rising tide of guilt. Before it could take me under, I dumped the stone back inside the box, flipped the lid closed, and set it back on the table. My stomach rolled, and under the table, my foot bounced a couple times before I caught it and stopped. I pushed the box toward her. “You better ward it just to be safe.”
She reached out and traced a complex sigil over the lid.
I held my breath as in front of my psychic eye, power ignited along the path she etched and locked the containment box inside a magical cage. Seeing the thick strands of the magical web that now held the box made me grateful I’d made the decision I had. The magic that bound the box was so complex, it made me dizzy and left me with no doubt this ward would not play nice with a fake object.
Across from me, Piper picked up the box and got to her feet. “Well, that was easy.”
Luckily, she had turned away, so she missed my flinch. I cleared my throat as I pivoted on the bench to get up. “Yeah.”
She went to the first sigil and used her foot to smudge it, breaking the ward. “Ready to call it a night?”
I got to my feet as a backwash of power swept over us then blinked out. “So ready.”
Once she’d scuffed out all the sigils, she turned to head back to the car, leaving me to follow.
With each step I took, my conscience’s whispers followed.
Sixteen
We were minutes away from the safe house, and I had fallen into that kind of dull haze that happened after sitting in the passenger seat for too long. The adrenaline dump didn’t help either. So when my phone vibrated with an incoming text, it startled me. I sat up and dug my phone out of one of the many pockets of the borrowed cargos. Heart in my throat because I knew it couldn’t be anything good, I checked the screen.
For a moment, the world stopped. Then anguish-driven rage set in, icing through my veins and leaving my mind strangely clear.
It was another picture of Zev, and clearly, the Heretic was losing patience. Zev’s head was hanging down, his dark hair damp with sweat or blood—I couldn’t tell which. I had no idea how he was even sitting up, but his wrists were cuffed to the chair. His shirt hung in shreds from its collar, unable to hide the plethora of slices and bruises that now decorated his skin. I couldn’t look away from those cuts. Something about them bothered me.
Was that—? I enlarged the picture, trying to see past the violence and blood.
Motherfucking son of a bitch. Those are runes. I was going to kill this asshole if it was the last thing I ever did.
“That Zev?”
Piper’s question broke through my rage, and I concentrated on keeping my tone casual instead of snarling back the way I so wanted to. “Um, yeah, he’s going to try and call me back in a little bit.” I couldn’t look away from the horrific image. My mind tried to unravel the markings and their intent, but I wasn’t having any luck.
“Is everything okay?”
Her careful question made me realize that I didn’t have myself as locked down as I thought. “Yeah.” It hurt, but I cleared my screen, turned the phone face down, and held it against my thigh.
We drove under a streetlight, and I caught her frown before she turned back to the road. “You sure? You seem a little pissed.”
“Just frustrated,” I said as I forced my shoulders to lower and my spine to ease so I could sit back. “We need to talk, and we’re not getting a chance to connect.”
Clearly, my lame-ass excuse sound plausible, because she said, “I’m sure he’s not any happier about it.”
“No, I’m sure he’s not.”
She pulled into the safe house’s parking space, shut off the engine, and got out of the car. I grabbed the containment box from the floorboard and followed her up the stairs.
She waited until I joined her at the top before she released the security sigil, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. “Home sweet home.” She stepped inside and hit the light switch.
The soft illumination spilled over the threshold and joined the pool from the porch light to nip at the night’s shadows. Caught between the light and dark, I hesitated for a moment as the urge to turn and rush off into the unknown clawed at me, but cold practicality won out. I came inside and shoved the door closed behind me.
Piper dumped the key fob on the counter then turned, only to wince. “Ouch.”
“You okay?” I set the containment box next to the key fob then headed to the sink.
“Just a muscle spasm.” She twisted her torso to the left then to the right. There was another flinch, but she did the torso twist again then blew out a long breath. “So, are we flipping for it?”
I pulled out a glass from a nearby cupboard and set it under the thin spout next to the faucet. “Flipping for what?” I asked as I filled the glass with filtered water.
“The bed.”
Glass full, I took a drink and turned to her, eyebrows raised.
She motioned toward the bedroom. “I’d offer to wrestle you for it, but I’m thinking we’re both battered enough, we can try another option.”
I leaned back against the sink, one arm folded over my waist, the other holding the glass. Under the bright lights, I couldn’t miss the dark, bruised half-moons coming up under her eyes that joined her earlier collection of injuries, or the tiny lines of strain radiating from her mouth. She looked like shit, and I was pretty sure I was a close second. “Since you were nice enough to let me nap earlier, why don’t you take the bed. I’ll stick to the couch.”
“You sure?”
Despite her question, I could tell she was trying to be polite. “Yep, I’m sure.” Especially since I had other plans for tonight. I managed a small grin. “Besides, I might be up late, waiting for a callback.”
As if that were all the reassurance she needed, she caved. “Gotcha. Then I’ll set the security and take this”—she picked up the box—“and call it a night.”
Striving for casual, I said, “I need to get my charging cord from the car, so why don’t I set the security.” I turned back to the sink as I took another drink.
“Works for me.” Piper set the box back down on the counter. “You familiar with a level-four ward?”
There were two types that the Guild used, so I asked, “Security or protection?” One would hold an intruder in place until the ward was released. The other would kick an intruder’s ass then instigate a secondary level of lockdown. I didn’t want to mess with either.
“Protection.”
Right, my ass had been kicked enough today. “If it follows standard pattern, yeah.”
“Good, then come here. I’ll get you keyed in.”
I set the glass aside and followed her back to the front door.
She traced a familiar protection rune just above the light switch inside the entryway. It lit up. She looked over her shoulder to make sure I was paying attention. “Watch.”
I nodded.
She traced another symbol next to it, and this time, I recognized it as part of Mateo’s Family crest. She connected the two with a familiar knot pattern. “Babestu.” Then she turned to me. “Did you get that?”
Silently, I repeated the word, paying special attention to the intonation that sounded vaguely Spanish. When I thought I had it, I said it back. “Babestu.”
“Good enough.” She stepped back and motioned me to take her place. “To release it, reverse the order and say, ‘Ireki.’”
I did as directed, and the ward released.
“Right, then if you’re good, I’m ready to call it a night.” She went back to reclaim the containment box. “Need the bathroom?”
“Yeah, thanks.” I headed in and did my business. While I was washing my face and avoiding my eyes in the mirror, a familiar brush of power ruffled my Prism. Worried, I quickly swiped a towel over my face and yanked open the door.
Piper was standing with her back to me in front of an armoire in the corner. She looked over her shoulder. “You done?”
“Yep.”
She turned back to the armoire, closed the doors, and did something I couldn’t see, but that flutter of power was back. When she turned around and caught me watching, she said, “I was locking up the stone.”
