Page 54

TWENTY-ONE

Thorn

As soon as we arrived in view of the tall, white hospital building, my combat instincts shot a twinge through me. I materialized on the vehicle’s sofa by the driver’s seat and thumped the back of that seat. “Keep driving past. Someone’s watching. We don’t want them realizing there’s anything odd about this vehicle.”

Bow nodded, the centaur’s hands tight on the steering wheel. Had it only been minutes ago that we’d been chuckling and exclaiming over… I couldn’t remember what now, only the exhilaration that had come with the supposed brilliance we’d stumbled on. Diving into the shadows and back out again had felt like leaping through the frigid flow of a mountain waterfall, wiping my senses clean.

That “grass” the equines had given me had been potent in its effects. It had certainly loosened up something in my mind while I’d inhaled the smoke, but the uncertainty of what I’d actually been thinking in that loosened state left my nerves on edge. Perhaps not a substance I’d partake of again.

Sorsha sat rigid at the other end of the sofa, her fingers curled around the edge of the leather seat. “Did you see Company people out there?” she asked.

“I’m not sure of the exact threat, but someone hostile toward us is monitoring the place. Several someones. And I can’t imagine what other party would match that description.”

She shifted her weight. “I have to get in there. I have to see her and make sure she’s okay.”

“What good will that do?” Omen demanded, his posture tensed where he was leaning against the kitchen counter across from us. “You aren’t a doctor, and your powers have nothing to do with healing. You can’t help her with her injuries. Company people have seen you before—they’ll notice if you go in. And given how thorough they are, I think we can assume they’re watching every entrance.”

“It’s my fault they attacked her,” Sorsha said. I didn’t fully understand why this meant she needed to visit the woman—wouldn’t it be more sensible to steer clear and avoid drawing further danger?—but her voice was so raw it squeezed my heart.

Omen did not appear to be similarly affected. He motioned sharply at her. “So, get whatever details we might need to inform our plans over the phone, and leave it there. She abandoned our cause. You don’t owe her anything.”

Sorsha glared at him. “Maybe not in shadowkind terms, but humans don’t work like that. I’ve known Ellen for more than a decade—she and Huyen helped me get back on my feet after Luna died. I owe her a hell of a lot more than the last few weeks can decide. I’d be an actual monster if I didn’t make an effort to show I care.”

“Well, it looks like you’ll have to do that over the phone. Because you’re not walking through any door on that building.”

I glanced back toward the hospital, taking in the rows of glossy windows all the way up its dozen or so floors… and the neighboring office building, darkened at the end of the day, standing right next to it. The memory of Sorsha snatching the flower pot from the apartment balcony flashed through my mind.

“Maybe she doesn’t need to use a door,” I said before they could keep arguing. “I could slip into the place through the shadows, find a room that faces the building next door where I can open a window, and she could jump across.” I looked at Omen. “I’d make sure our mission remains uncompromised.” I wasn’t sure how well I could hold to that statement, so I didn’t make it an outright promise.

Omen’s jaw worked, but Sorsha had perked up a little from her despondence. “That’s perfect,” she said. “I’ll just pop in, see if there’s anything I can do or anything they can tell us that’ll help us crush these bastards, and pop back out. You know Thorn would never let me get up to anything ill-advised.” The smile she gave me was both sweet and a little sly.

“I could drive around the other side of the block and park there,” Bow offered. “The tour bus guise is pretty multipurpose—we can stop just about anywhere without looking strange.”

Omen threw his hands in the air. “Fine. A quick ‘pop’-in. But if you’re not done in half an hour, we’re leaving without you and you can find your own way back.”

Bow brought the bus to a surprisingly smooth stop less than a minute later. Sorsha sprang up immediately. “Be careful,” Snap said with a worried frown.

Ruse moved to stand. “It might be easier with more than one of us?—”

“Everyone else stays put,” Omen said in a cutting tone. He jerked his head toward the doorway as he fixed his gaze on Sorsha. “Your half hour has started. Get a move on.”

Sorsha mouthed a quick “Thank you” to me on her way out, already opening up the pack of lock-picking tools Ruse had gotten her this morning to replace her old ones. Our lady was so sure of herself and so stubborn. By the realms, I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake in offering to orchestrate this surreptitious entrance.

Whether I had or not, the thing needed to be done swiftly. I stepped back into the shadows and trailed behind her out through the general haze of the dusk across the street. She ducked down an alley to weave toward the office building out of view, and I raced straight to the bright walls of the hospital.

It wasn’t, I realized once I’d squeezed through the shadow around a doorway, the most ideal environment for a shadowkind. Stark lights glowed all across the hall ceilings and reflected off the pale walls. I leapt from one thin patch of darkness to another until a trolley of operating equipment carried me the rest of the way to a stairwell. It was fortunate that the size of my physical form had no bearing on how I filled out the shadows.

The caller who’d notified Sorsha of the attack had told her that her injured friend was on the fifth floor. I rushed up that far and then dashed through the patient rooms on the side of the building that faced the offices. Finally, I entered a darkened room where the bed lay empty. I emerged from the shadows by the window, yanked out the screen, and shoved the lower pane high.

Sorsha spotted me from a fifth floor office room farther down. She gave a quick wave there, vanished, and reappeared directly across from me in a matter of seconds.

The buildings had only a five-foot gap between them. I stepped to the side, and she threw herself across that space with only a slight oomph as she caught the window ledge with both arms. She scrambled inside, bobbed up to peck me on the cheek, and hurried out to the hall.

I had the distinct impression that I’d hardly go unnoticed with my broad human body in the clothes I’d chosen for comfort several centuries ago, but I wasn’t going to let her charge off completely undefended. With another leap into the shadows, I followed her to her friend’s room.

A few figures from those meetings of hers stood outside the doorway. They all stiffened at the sight of Sorsha.

“What are you doing here?” asked a young man whose soft face didn’t show any of the strength he’d built up in his musclebound body. During my time on the battlefield, that would have marked him as easy pickings, barely worth the time it’d take to knock him off his feet. I might have judged it worth the effort anyway after his sneer at the lady.

“I had to come,” Sorsha said, her back stiffening. She glanced past him to the other figures. “How’s she doing? Is she awake?”

“Huyen’s in with her now,” one of the women said flatly. “From what she said, Ellen is still pretty out of it. They hit her hard—concussion, broken ribs, all that.”

At that moment, another woman strode out of the hospital room, her face tight with worry. Her mouth pulled even tighter when she saw Sorsha. Without a second’s hesitation, she grabbed our mortal’s arm and yanked her farther down the hall. The soft-faced man slunk closer, presumably to listen in, which only increased my desire to punch his face in.

“You have to get out of here,” the woman snapped in a harsh undertone. “This is all because of you and your crazy crusade.”

Guilt flashed through Sorsha’s expression. “I didn’t mean—I tried to make sure we were careful.”

“Obviously not careful enough.”

“I’m so sorry, Huyen.” Sorsha set her jaw. “I know it doesn’t make up for the attack, but—you can tell her we’re going to bring down the assholes who did this tomorrow night.”

The woman sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you kidding me? Do you want to screw us over even more? The people who attacked her asked her to pass on a message: to tell you and your friends to stay out of their business. They nearly killed her, you know. I didn’t even want you coming here—Lila shouldn’t have called you.”

Sorsha swallowed audibly, her shoulders drooping. “I’ll go. I just wanted to see—when I heard—” She shook her head. Then her gaze jerked back up with a flicker of concern. She raised her voice so it would carry to the cluster by the door. “Did anyone call Vivi?”

The woman who’d spoken to her earlier nodded. “I tried. Went straight to voicemail. Either her battery’s dead or she was on the subway or something.”

“Okay. Okay.” Sorsha looked as if she wanted to make a run for the injured woman’s room after all—I collected myself in the shadows in case I needed to clear the way for her—but then she spun around and hurried to the other room where she’d entered.

As soon as she’d shut the door, she pulled out her phone. I emerged into the physical realm next to her.

She answered my question before I had to ask it. “They went for Ellen—why wouldn’t they go for my best friend too? If they’ve identified the Fund members, they’re not going to buy Vivi’s phony story about her grandma’s car getting stolen anymore. Shit, shit, shit.” She grimaced at the phone, which I supposed hadn’t connected with Vivi, and shoved it back into her pocket. “I’ve got to go to her place. They jumped Ellen right outside her apartment. Vivi would usually be working late today—if I can get there first?—”

“Where are we going?” I asked as she clambered into the window.

Sorsha glanced back at me. “I don’t expect you to come. Omen was pretty clear that he didn’t approve of getting even this involved. You can let the others know I’ll meet you all at the bus lot on Lincoln Road.”

If she made it back to the lot at all. Did she really think she could tackle a band of attackers on her own—or that I’d let her attempt it?

“No,” I said firmly, striding over to join her. “We have each other’s backs—isn’t that how you put it? We’ll do this together. Omen can wait.”

“Are you—oh, fuck it, there isn’t time. Thank you.” She shot me a smile and leapt back to the office building.

I flung myself after her, stretching myself to cross the entire space as little more than a blur of thicker darkness in the hazy evening dimness. On the other side, Sorsha dashed straight for the door she must have jimmied open.

“Thank heavenly heathens Vivi just had to live right in the middle of downtown,” she said, racing toward the stairs. “Her apartment is only six blocks from here.” A wild laugh hitched from her chest. “We might even make it back before Omen’s thirty-minute deadline is up.”

We sprinted through the alleyways and along a busy street lined with restaurants and shops, Sorsha’s sneakers smacking the sidewalk and me soaring through the shadows where I could move faster and without obstruction. She only slowed on the fifth block, with another jab at her phone’s screen. I hurtled ahead of her but stopped where I could still hear her voice as it pealed out with relief.

“Vivi! Please tell me you’re not home yet. Oh, geez, if you squint you’ll probably see me down the street.” She started walking again at a brisk clip. “Don’t come any closer. We’ve got to?—”

I’d already peered ahead to where a familiar figure with a puff of black curls and a sleek white outfit stood outside a shop at the other end of the next block. Or rather, she was standing outside it when my gaze first located her. An instant later, two figures in plated vests charged from around the side of the nearest building.

Sorsha’s voice cut off at her friend’s shriek. She propelled herself forward as fast as her mortal feet would carry her.

I reached the attackers even more swiftly. Leaping from the shadows at the last second, I plowed my fist straight into the nearest miscreant’s throat.

The man fell with a sputter of blood, but the other attacker hauled Sorsha’s friend through the doorway next to him. Sorsha and I charged after them—and two more Company combatants rushed in after us, the first raising a gun and the other flicking one of those whips of light that made my entire being twitch with discomfort.

A thick, meaty scent filled my nose. We’d barreled into a butcher shop. I managed to kick the gun from the one man’s hand with a snap of the bones in his wrist. Then I raced after the man who’d grabbed Vivi, who was now hauling her through another doorway at the back.

Sorsha and I burst into a room of hanging carcasses, vibrant red and pink etched with paler lines of fat. The smell rolled over us in a thick wave, but Sorsha didn’t hesitate even as she coughed. She launched herself straight at her friend’s captor.

My first instinct was to hurl myself after her and take the fellow down for her, but I forced myself to stop and quite literally have her back instead. I ripped a thigh off one of the cow carcasses and slammed it into the man who’d come in behind us before he could slash either of us with that unnerving whip.

The strategy worked out well enough, as Sorsha clearly had her side of the battle under control. She dodged to the side at the last second and heaved an entire carcass into Vivi’s attacker, pummeling him in the head with the raw meat.

The man grunted and teetered; Vivi tore free with a yelp. When the man lunged after her, his hand jerking upward with a pistol in its grasp, Sorsha tackled him.

Sparks shot up. The waft of heat she’d conjured browned the carcasses above them, turning the raw meat stink into barbeque.

Our attacker with the whip hadn’t been dissuaded yet. He flung the arc of light toward me, and I dove under it, ramming into his legs. As he toppled, I threw myself around both the weapon and the venomous plates of his armor. I rammed the beef thigh into his mouth hard enough to puncture the back of his throat.

“Eat that, villain,” I said, and swiveled around to discover that Sorsha had managed to bury her foe under three of the heavy carcasses. The cords they’d been hanging from dangled with blackened ends where they’d been burnt through.

She caught my eye, and I found myself smiling at her, a rare sense of elation filling my chest. I hadn’t enjoyed combat in eons. But this… this had been good. What a battle was meant to be: comrades conquering evil side by side. Protecting each other wasn’t all it came down to. I had to give my companions room to be the warriors they were capable of becoming too.

Perhaps I could make sure this war was won the right way after all.

Vivi was braced against the far wall, breathing hard, her sleek white outfit now streaked with blood. “Sorsha?” she said tentatively, her eyes wide.

The lady held out her hand. “Come on, Vivi. We’re getting you out of here.”