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They bowed their heads and plugged a nostril, snorting the crystals off the worn leather. Shay tried not to think about how dirty this truck and pen was—or how badly the drug made her nasal passages burn. How people did this kind of shit for fun was beyond her.

“I don’t think I can handle anymore, my brain’s buzzing,” Shay slurred, massaging the bridge of her nose. She felt congested, and she sounded like it, too. She’d probably snorted the equivalent of half a line, and she was already high as a kite. How did other Darkslayers do this?

But the pain in her ribs was…gone. It was gone. She could draw a full breath without wincing. She wondered how long it would last.

“Me neither,” Tanner said, wiggling his nose like a rabbit in effort not to sneeze. He dusted off his hands, sat back in his seat, and shut his eyes. “Let’s see if this works.”

They were silent for several minutes as they focused. The drug made Shay feel buoyant, as if she were floating out of her body. Drifting toward the stars. Her soul seemed to settle back into its vessel at precisely the same moment the glowing grids that made up Yveswich’s city blocks reappeared, sharper now, in her mind like a map.

She pictured Ivy’s face as if it were a browsing window she was pulling up on her internal computer. The map in her head spun around, then began moving in a blur, pulling toward her target.

As abruptly at it started moving, it spun like a compass needle disrupted by a magnetic field, and then hit a wall, the glowing roads in her mind going dark and colorless.

Hidden, then. Wherever Ivy was, her aura was hidden, whether it was by talisman, Nacht Essentia, or a spell-protected building or vehicle.

Or she was dead. But Shay refused to view that as an option.

She tried Travis next. Then Kylar. Lace. Jewels. And finally, Aspen.

No dice.

Shay chewed her lip. Thinking… And decided to try someone else.

She knew without a doubt that Paxton was hidden—if not, Don would’ve already found him, easy peasy. So she pictured the face of his friend instead. Eugene Lavin—Kylar’s little brother.

Her eyes flickered faster behind her lids, streets and coordinates floating through her brain like computer code?—

Eugene’s location dropped like a pin on her inner map.

She opened her eyes. Tanner was watching her, waiting for her to finish.

“Any luck?” she asked him.

“No Darien, no Jack, and no Roman,” Tanner said.

Shay’s heart sank.

“I think they were wearing talismans last night, though,” he added—for his own benefit and hers. “What about you? Anything?”

“I can’t find Ivy or the others, but I found Eugene.” She shifted the truck into drive, foot hovering on the brake. “He’s not far from here, and I’d bet you anything he’s with Paxton.” And with Eugene’s aura suddenly visible, Don would be hot on his trail.

“Wait—” He blinked. “We’re not going to find them… Are we?”

“I think we should. Maybe, if we find them, we’ll find the others. Besides, with Donovan looking for Paxton, he and Eugene might need our help. Or maybe they’re lost or something.”Or maybe Roman really is with him,her heart added.

She told it to shut the hell up.

“Or maybe Donovan already found him?” Tanner suggested, looking worried. “He’ll be all over Eugene once he realizes his aura’s visible—he’ll think the same thing we are: that Eugene will lead him straight to Paxton. I thought the goal was toavoidDon, not throw ourselves at him.”

It was. It one hundred percent was, but?—

She thought it through. Maybe it made her crazy, but— “I’ll take my chances?—”

The city shook with aclapthat resembled thunder. The keys rattled in the ignition, the steering wheel juddering against Shay’s palms. She flattened the brake pedal under her foot as the truck began to roll forward.

“Was that you?” Tanner whispered.

Shay shook her head and turned in her seat, looking west.