“We just told you that you might die on the crossing. Which means we might die. So yeah, it’s expensive. Especially when you’re paying double. And it’s one way only.”

  “No returns at all?”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay.” We’d just have to figure it out when it was time to leave. “I don’t have any cash on me though.”

  “No problem. I’ll give you my bank details, transfer it online.”

  These girls knew what they were doing. And I had the money, though barely. Our shop paid well. Really well, considering the value of the magic we sold. But I was always funneling the money straight into my trove, so it was rare I had cash in the bank.

  At least I was covered this time. I pulled out my phone, finding the signal to be unexpectedly good, and she rattled off some numbers. I made the transfer, then looked up.

  “Ready to go?” Bree asked. “If we leave now, we can make it to the crater by early evening. Should give you enough time to make it across before dark and for us to get home.”

  “We need to get to Hider’s Haven, not the crater,” Ares said.

  “Crater is as far as anyone can take you. After that, you gotta cross on your own,” Bree said.

  Damn. “Crater it is, then.”

  “Give us ten,” Ana said. “You can sit in the back.”

  They disappeared into the house and we climbed up into the vehicle. It was a good four feet off the ground, so I had to use the tire to haul myself up into the buggy. It really should have been called The Beast, but I liked the incongruity of “buggy”.

  “This thing is awesome.” I climbed all over, checking out the construction of the platforms and the sturdy bars that held them lofted over the driver. The spikes on the side panels looked like they were coated in something thick and black. Poison.

  “With this as our ride, Death Valley deserves its name,” I said.

  “It’s an impressive machine.” Ares looked at me, eyes sharp. “You like cars?”

  “Yeah.” I almost said Duh, but then realized he hadn’t been in my trove. “But yeah, I do.”

  “Careful!” Ana shouted. “That Ravener poison will kill you in a second.”

  I turned to see her striding out of the house, a bag hanging from her hand. Her sister strode along at her side, heavy boots thudding on the sand. Climbing harnesses were wrapped around their legs and waists. Aviator goggles were propped on their heads. They looked like bad-asses—skinny, teenage bad-asses whose eyes were too old for their age. But I’d been the same once.

  They climbed up into the buggy, Ana taking the wheel and Bree sitting next to her. Ana cranked the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life, a throaty growl that would have given my Challenger Hellcat Fabio a hard-on.

  She peeled out of the town, heading for the mountains in the distance, then shouted back over her shoulder. “Bree will take the front platform. One of you on the back when I say so.”

  “What’s coming at us?” I shouted.

  “Anything! The valley changes what it throws at us.” I caught sight of her grin in the rearview mirror. “The humans call it Death Valley because of the heat. Little do they know.”

  Bree laughed. “We’re headed off the main track. Away from the tourists taking pictures. There’s a parallel valley—the real Death Valley—that only supernaturals can access.”

  “They say it’s where the magic of hell seeps up from the ground,” Ana shouted as she stepped on the gas. The buggy flew across the desert, the huge tires eating up the ground. The mountains looming in the distance grew nearer and the heat more intense.

  When Ana reached the first valley, mountains rose up on the left and right.

  “This is the main valley,” Bree shouted.

  She pulled a right, speeding over the scrubby ground toward the first row of mountains. She drove straight for one of the shallower inclines—which was still pretty danged steep—and the buggy climbed onto the mountain, tires digging in. She was a pro, weaving around boulders or steeper bits until we crested the ridge and got our first good look at the real Death Valley.

  8

  A long valley stretched out in front of us. It had to be at least a hundred miles long and several miles wide. The ground swirled in different colors and seemed to shimmer with heat. An aura of danger hung over the place, dark magic that made my hair stand on end.

  “Welcome to hell!” Ana cried.

  “She sounds happy about it,” Ares muttered.

  I grinned. These girls were nuts, but I could relate. Cass, Del, and I had mellowed a bit, but not that much.

  The buggy ate up the ground as it sped toward the valley floor. Once we hit the bottom, Bree tossed a harness into the back seat. “Back platform person, put that on!”

  Ares grabbed it, shoving his legs through the straps.

  “Hey!” I shouted.

  He buckled the thing around his waist and grinned wryly at me. “I’m sure you’ll have your chance to kick some ass.”

  “I’d better.” I’d see to it.

  “Hook the harness to the bar on your platform in case you get knocked off the vehicle—the heat of the sand can kill you if you lay on it too long.” Bree pointed to the red button on the front of the harness. “Hit that if you need to release the harness quickly.”

  “Got it.” Ares climbed up onto the back platform as Ana drove like a bat out of hell across the flat, arid land. He latched his harness to the bar.

  “I recommend kneeling on one knee,” Bree shouted as she climbed onto the front platform and hooked her harness on. Her black hair whipped in the wind. “If you end up on the ground, keep running. Don’t stand still on the hot ground.”

  The sky was a cloudless blue as the buggy raced across the plains. The mountains rose high on either side of us. Ahead, the ground almost appeared white.

  “Badwater coming up!” Ana shouted.

  The buggy hurtled toward the white surface. It looked a heck of a lot like the Rann of Kutch, the salt plains I’d gone to in India last week.

  Until a massive crystal of salt speared out of the earth, right in front of the buggy. Ana dodged it by an inch, driving like a pro, but another one speared out of the ground in front of us. There was no time to dodge without the buggy rolling.

  My heart leapt into my throat. We were screwed.

  Magic swelled on the air as Bree threw out her hands. A massive sonic boom hurtled toward the salt spear, blasting it to pieces. Ana drove straight through the rubble, laughing.

  But the spears continued to surge out of the ground. Ana dodged what she could. Bree blasted the rest, avoiding a collision that would crush the front of the buggy.

  They were an amazing team, but eventually, more spears started to pop up in front of us. More than Ana could dodge or Bree could blast.

  My mind raced, trying to figure out what I could conjure. I hadn’t yet learned to throw my destroyer power in front of me, and it was too slow for this.

  Ares slammed his hand against the red button on his harness and leapt from the buggy, hitting the ground running. He sprinted ahead of the buggy, his vampire speed in full effect.

  My breath caught in my throat. I’d never seen him go so fast. This was Ares unleashed. He hurtled toward the salt pillars in the distance, slamming into them with enough force to blast them apart. They crumbled beneath the brute force.

  Bree whooped a war cry at the sight, sending sonic booms at the other pillars, smashing them to bits. Ana dodged the rest, weaving the buggy through the spears of salt like this was a deadly game of Frogger.

  Ana and Bree were a hell of a team.

  Finally, the salt flats ended. Ana drove by a sprinting Ares, who leapt up and grabbed the rail on the back of the buggy, swinging onto the back platform. Sweat dripped down his face and he was panting, his chest heaving like he’d run a marathon in ten minutes. Which he kind of had.

  “Not bad, vampire!” Bree shouted. “Now clip on your harness!”

  “Safety first!” Ana cackled as she hit the gas and plowed forward.

  We really were in Mad Max—Bree just needed a guitar that shot flames. Though I had a feeling she’d use it as a weapon before making music with it.

  Ahead of us, stone arches loomed in the distance. We hurtled toward them, the buggy eating up ground. Ana drove under the first one, which was easily forty feet tall.

  “Get ready!” she shouted.

  The ground ahead of us heaved upward, a massive figure growing up from the dirt. It was shaped like a man, but it was made of gravel and at least twenty feet tall. It grabbed up a scoop of earth, which was really just a giant rock, and hurled it at us.

  Bree blasted it out of the sky with her sonic boom, but the next one was aimed for Ares. In a flash, he conjured his shadow sword. His magic flared, the scent of a cold winter morning at odds with the heat all around us. His shadow sword pulsed with the power, and when it collided with the rock, the stone exploded in a blast of powder.

  Ana drove through the arches, trying to dodge the rocks that the giant hurled. As we neared the beast made of gravel and sand, Bree shot her sonic boom at a slender spear of rock that protruded right over the monster’s head. It plummeted from its perch, crashing onto him. The gravel that created him crumbled to the ground.

  Bree whooped.

  But another monster appeared farther in the distance, as large as the first. It hurled more rocks, right at us.

  Bree blasted them out of the air.

  Ares cut them down with his sword.

  I felt spectacularly useless.

  Until one of the rocks glanced off Bree’s shoulder, throwing her back into the buggy. Her harness kept her from flying out, but she dangled limply in the passenger seat.

  I hit the red button on her harness, allowing her to collapse into the seat, and leapt upon the platform. We were nearly to the monster, but without Bree’s power to blast a rock onto his head, we were in a pickle.

  We were nearly to him, a hundred meters away. I had only a second to think.

  The arch above his head caught my eye. In a flash, I conjured a bow and an arrow that had a grappling hook end. A long rope trailed from the back of the arrow.

  I aimed for the arch, firing. The arrow flew straight and true, sinking into the arch above the monster’s head. I grabbed the rope, leaping off the platform and swinging through the air.

  Behind me, Ares roared. I swung for the giant’s head, realizing suddenly how insane this plan was. I neared him, hoisting myself up onto the rope and praying that he was a conglomeration of loose gravel and not a solid rock monster.

  Man, I’d be so screwed if he was one big rock.

  I swung for him, feet first, my boots colliding with his head. He crumbled, collapsing through the ground. Victory soared through me, quickly replaced by panic. I was swinging straight for the solid rock wall. An image of the Wile E. Coyote smashing into a cliff while chasing the Road Runner flashed in my head.

  An insane laugh welled within me, but I managed to twist myself just enough to plant my feet on the wall and push off, swinging for the buggy as it sped by. I released the rope and landed in the back seat, an awkward pile of shaking limbs and trembling muscles.

  “You’re insane!” Ares pulled me up, his gaze frantic with worry.

  “You ever need a job, you call us!” Ana cackled, speeding out of the arches and away from the threat of gravel monsters and flying boulders.

  Death Valley was insane.

  Panting, I climbed up so that I was standing on the back seat, my butt propped against Ares’s platform. Ana was leaned over the seat, looking at me and shaking her head. “Stone cold.”

  “Thanks.” I searched the terrain ahead of her. “There’s sand dunes up ahead.”

  “The Gauntlet,” Bree said. “Haven’t seen that one in a while.”

  “The obstacles change frequently?” I asked.

  “Depending on the season, or the valley’s mood, yeah.” Ana slowed the buggy to a stop before the sand dunes and Bree leapt out, crouching by one of the tires.

  “What’s she doing?” I asked.

  “Letting out some air,” Ana said. “Better for sand driving.”

  Bree raced around the buggy, finishing the job, then jumped back into the passenger’s seat. Ana took off.

  Bree ducked below the seat, looking for something. She popped up again and tossed two pairs of steampunk-looking goggles back at us. “Put those on.”

  I tugged them on, the world suddenly going strangely reddish.

  “The color will help you see the snakes.”

  “Snakes?”

  Bree shot me a grin as she tugged hers down. “Yeah. Big ones. Better get those swords ready.”

  Ana looked at Bree. “Ready to take the wheel?”

  “Yeah.” Ana took Bree’s place—all without slowing the vehicle.

  Ana climbed onto the front platform, then looked back at us. “Get ready for some heat. And swords at the ready.”

  “It’s always summer in the gauntlet.” Bree laid her foot on the gas, speeding toward the golden, rolling sand dunes.

  I called upon my magic, conjuring a long blade. But if there were going to be snakes… I conjured a shield as well, handing it to Ares. Then I conjured another.

  As soon as the buggy passed over onto the sand, it slowed slightly, the tires plowing over the golden stuff.

  Suddenly, the heat was intense, a pounding fire that beat down upon my head. Sweat rolled down my face. I’d been in deserts before, even magically enchanted ones, but this was incredible.

  Rain began to fall from the sky, sizzling when it hit the hood of the buggy. A drop hit me, burning like fire. I yelped.

  Acid rain. Made of actual acid.

  Ana knelt on the platform, raising her hands to the sky. Her magic swelled, bringing with it the scent of rain, and it shined from her hands, forming a barrier over us like a dome. The magic was gray and opaque, some kind of surreal mist that blocked the sun and acid rain.

  I had no idea what her gift was, but it was working. The heat lowered to a bearable level. But Ana looked like she was about to collapse, the effort making sweat pour down her face and her muscles tremble—as if she were Atlas, holding up the world.

  “Ana’s got the heat under control,” Bree yelled. “But it’s all you now! Goggles on!”

  A moment later, sand whirled up to form a tornado around us. It pinged against my goggles, blurring my vision even more. But through the whirlwind, I caught sight of a slender green whip of a thing.

  Snake!

  It darted toward me, fangs white enough to shine. I thrust my shield up, swinging out with my sword. The blade sliced through the neck of the beast. The head dropped to the ground.

  From the back platform, Ares took out one of his own. Ahead, Ana kept the blazing sun off us. The wide back seat made a pretty good platform for fighting sand snakes, which popped up every few meters, striking for the vehicle. Some collided with the spikes, shriveling and dying within moments. But those with better aim, I took care of.

  One struck straight for Bree, fast as lighting. I lunged for it, slicing it through the body as her hand whipped out and grabbed it around the neck, squeezing it tight. She kept her other hand on the wheel.

  I laughed, amazed at her sheer badassery. She was only a teenager.

  She chucked the snake to the dirt and put her hand back on the wheel, driving us over the sand dunes like a pro while her partner held the weight of the sun on her shoulders.

  Finally, after we’d slain countless snakes and Ana looked like she was about to pass out, we exited the sand dunes. The sandstorm died and the valley opened up in front of us. Ana dropped her shield and the sunlight returned, the heat dissipating and the horrible acid rain disappearing. Immediately, Ana collapsed into the front seat, panting.

  “Not bad!” Bree shouted.

  I stood on the seat, surveying the terrain that we’d driven into. The mountains still loomed on either side and the desert stretched out in front of us. Scrub brush grew low on the grounding patches, eking out a living in this tough terrain.

  “You guys been doing this long?” I shouted.

  “Three years.” Ana dug some water out of the footwell of the buggy and tossed us bottles. “It suits our magic, which can be a little out of control sometimes.”

  “Doesn’t matter in the valley,” Bree said.

  She had a point. Cass had once had a lot of trouble controlling her magic. This would have been a good place for her. Out here, there was nothing but sand and monsters to witness your wildness.

  Bree stopped the buggy and jumped out, a steel tank of compressed air under her arm. She refilled the tires, then climbed back in and cranked on the engine. It roared to life and we zoomed off.

  Wind whipped my hair as we drove through the valley, having a brief reprieve from the challenges. We passed a ghost town in the distance. The sight of the empty ramshackle buildings sent a shiver down my spine. What had happened to those people?

  Bree slowed the buggy and called out, “Almost there!”

  Eventually, she pulled to a stop beside a large crater. It at least half a mile across, with sides that sloped down to a flat bottom hundreds of feet below. Though it appeared empty, dark magic welled up from the bowl, making me shiver.

  “This is where we leave you,” Ana said. “Good luck.”

  “Any tips?” I asked.

  She grinned. “Don’t die.”

  “And Hider’s Haven is a bit farther along,” Bree said. “Won’t be easy to get to, especially if you don’t have an invitation.”

  Shoot, we definitely didn’t have one of those. Not that we could worry about it now. I climbed down out of the buggy, followed by Ares. The girls looked down at us from their seats.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I said. “You sure you’ll make it back across okay?”

  They grinned. Bree said, “We’ve got some aces up our sleeves. We’ll be fine.”

  “Really?”

  “The desert takes a rest at dusk,” Ana said. “Only quiet time of the day. It’s why we schedule our journeys like this. Gives us a chance to get back safely. You were just lucky you showed up when you did or we’d have had to wait till tomorrow to cross.”

 

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