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“I think I should come with you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Are yousure?Look, Shay, I don’t doubt that you can handle yourself after that lightning show you put on. But these men areinsane.And three times your size, in case you didn’t notice.”

Yeah, they were. Insane and practically three times her size. But at least she could use illusion to slip away if need be. It was easier to conceal one person than it was two, so it would be better if Tanner stayed here.

“I won’t go inside,” she said. It wasn’t a promise, though. Depending on what she witnessed, she could end up inside so quickly. “I just want get a look at what they’re doing and who’s all in there.” Hopefully Donovan wasn’t already inside, and the reason Trey and Simon had come here was to meet up with him. If he was…gods, she didn’t know what she’d do. She opened the door, her body instantly tensing as biting air gusted into the truck. “I’ll leave the keys here. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, drive away without me.”

Tanner looked utterly horrified by the idea of her not coming back, but he didn’t argue as she stepped out into the street.

31

The Warehouse

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

In a warehousedeep in an industrial park in eastern Yveswich, two twelve-year-old boys sat on the ground. Their eyes were downcast, their arms wrapped tightly around their knees.

Paxton Slade couldn’t stop shivering, though the cause had more to do with fear than it did the cold and the wet.

Simon sat in a hard chair in the heart of the warehouse that was so crowded with junk, the building was practically a maze. His elbows were resting on his knees, his thumb flicking a metal lighter open and shut.

Trey was here, too—leaning against a wall nearby with unnatural stillness. Both men watched Paxton, the occasional glance spared for Eugene sitting next to him on the icy concrete.

“Your dad will be here soon,” Simon said to Paxton. A pause, the lighter clinking open and shut.Clink… Clink… Clink…He checked his watch. “In about…half an hour.”Clink… Clink… Clink…“He’s really upset with you, you know. Do you have anything you’d like to say?” A pause. “No?”

Paxton shook his head.

“Sorry, perhaps?”

He shook his head again.

“Why did you run?”

“Because we don’t like any of you!” Paxton said sharply.

“Hey,” Trey warned.

Simon held up a hand. “That’s okay.”Clink, clink, clink,went that lighter.

All of a sudden, the power went out, plunging the building into darkness.

An earthquake began, shaking so hard Trey lost his balance and staggered.

In the sudden darkness, Paxton and Eugene seized their chance.

They shot to their feet and bolted.

Shay layflat on her belly outside the warehouse, peering through the glass of a window that gave her a not-so-great view of the inside.

Even with the benefit of being a hellseher, it’d been hard to eavesdrop from this far away, but she’d gleaned enough about the situation to understand that Paxton and Eugene had gotten away from Simon and Trey. But the warehouse was so crowded, it was practically a maze, and the kids couldn’t find their way out. They were hiding somewhere in there, and Shay had to get to them.BeforeSimon and Trey found them.

And, even more importantly, before Donovan got here.

Now that the power was out, it was so quiet, she could hear the howling of hundreds of beasts and the chopping of rotary blades as helicopters flew over the city.

Shay twisted around, dropped down onto her ass, and scootched closer to the window. With a deep breath, she kicked the glass out, hoping Trey and Simon wouldn’t hear. It tinkled to the floor inside the building in shards and slivers.