Page 14 of Midnight Auto Parts (The Body Shop #3)

E ight patrol cars lined the road ahead, forcing Carter to drive farther down to find an opening. As soon as she threw the truck into park, she was out the door and prowling toward the scene, leaving us in our seats.

“At least she parked,” Kierce said dryly, “before jumping out and leaving her passengers behind.”

“Aww.” I poked him in the cheek then fed his earlier words back to him. “You’re adorable when you pout.”

“I must begin tracking the missing bones.” He peered out the rear window. “I can’t help Carter.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it.” I reached for the door handle. “She’ll understand.”

These events and victims were connected in ways we had yet to determine. With us pulling on one end, and Carter on the other, we would unravel the case that much quicker.

With that hope in mind, we set out into the woods, following the flow of officers to find our way.

While we waited on Carter to update us, Kierce and I hung back to avoid interfering with those who were organizing search grids and cocked an ear for any useful information.

“…both women…”

“…reported a bright light…”

“…gone when we got here.”

He and I exchanged a weighted glance, but we remained in the background until Carter arrived wearing a scowl so sharp it could carve diamonds. She noticed us but tended to her team and received a report from several officers before venturing over to us.

“Two female officers were taken,” was her curt greeting. “We’re contacting their families now.”

“Humans?”

“A white witch and a kobold,” she clipped out. “The witch, you met earlier. Byeol Kim. The kobold is Stephy Tate.”

Meaning humans, witches, and fae had been taken. Their affiliations with vampires and wargs made a fine cross section of the local paranormal population. Had I believed for a second aliens were at fault, I could grasp why they would require such a broad sampling. Since I didn’t, I couldn’t explain what, aside from gender, the victims had in common.

“The officer with the…?” I traced a circle over my cheek. “How did that happen anyway?”

“Tate laughed it off when I asked, said Kim got clipped during an arrest two nights ago.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Perks of the job.”

“Hey.” I tugged the brochure from my pocket. “Can you look into this?”

“Grandview Women’s Club?” She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you considering a membership?”

“I found that in Pink Panic. I wasn’t sure if it was junk mail or what, so I called them last night. A woman answered the phone and asked if I needed help. Not like how can I help you but are you in danger vibes. I tried to get details out of her, but she clammed up fast. It might be nothing, but it could be something.”

“Okay.” She took the paper from me. “I’ll get someone on it.”

“There’s one more thing.” I scrolled to the photo I had snapped, the one with a number I had yet to call, and as I scanned it, I got a jolt of recognition. “Can I see that for a second?” She returned the brochure, and I verified my hunch. “It’s the same number.”

“That’s the burner phone from the third victim’s car,” Carter said, craning her neck to see the picture.

“Her last call was to the Grandview Women’s Club.”

“Good work. You’ve established a link between two of our victims.” Carter’s smile came on slow. “But maybe in the future don’t touch the evidence without gloves on? I’ll have to contact forensics and let them know to eliminate you from the suspect pool.”

“I would appreciate that.”

“We would also appreciate access to the burial ground,” Kierce said. “Then we’ll get out of your way.”

With a tight nod, she granted permission before dissolving back into the heart of the chaos.

“We need a bone from each skeleton that’s missing pieces,” he told me quietly. “Then we can leave.”

“Okay.” I twisted my hair into a bun to keep it out of the way. “I’ll start here, and you can start there.”

We crawled down, separating to focus on our tasks, but this time, when I palmed the beasts’ skulls, there was a change in vibrancy. Determined to figure it out on my own, I focused on the map behind my eyelids. When that didn’t help, I decided to compare the feedback against the nearest skull. And that was when I discovered… “More bones have been taken since we were here last.”

“Yes.” Kierce simmered with rage at the further desecration. “Three more.”

“The same number of women from this last batch of disappearances.” I frowned. “What does it mean?”

“I’m not sure.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Collect your bones, and I’ll collect mine.” He thrust out a bag with a crinkling liner. “Place them in here and cinch the top closed when you’re done.”

Pocketing god bones sounded like a terrible idea. “What will we do then?”

“We’ll use them to track the missing pieces.”

“I thought only skulls could map their bones?”

“Yes.” His expression softened. “But this is similar to a witch casting a tracking spell.”

“So, just to recap, a skull knows all its bones, but individual bones can recognize each other?”

“Gods’ magic pumped through flesh and bone, from life into death, binding them into eternity.”

While I filed that away under cool new powers , I set to work selecting a small bone from each skeleton. I was tucking them into my pocket when Kierce returned for me, and we left to find Carter. She sat on the tailgate of her truck, holding a paper map while two officers indicated large areas with a marker.

“We’re leaving.” I waited as she called a break in their strategizing. “I’ll call and update you later.”

“Do you need a lift?” She didn’t glance up from her task. “I can have someone run you home.”

“I’ll call a Swyft.” I tugged Kierce away from the crowd and opened the rideshare app. “You and I will gather any supplies you think we might need then pick up the wagon and leave from the shop. That’ll give me a chance to check on Matty and Josie before we head out again.”

“Should we bring them coffee?” Kierce kept a hand in his pocket. “Paco told me it was a hangover cure.”

“For Paco, maybe. Pascal hates coffee.” Personal tastes carried over from life, regardless of the fact they used the same set of taste buds—Matty’s—for everything. “Thanks for thinking of them, though.”

“You don’t drink the way they do.” He sounded curious, not judgmental. “They enjoy being drunk?”

“This isn’t going to win me points, but I’m too uptight. I don’t like to lose control. I do go out drinking for birthdays or whatever, but it’s not a release to me the way it is for them. They surrender their worries to it for a few hours and feel better for it. After the hangover. I end up feeling guilty for not being responsible or panic imagining what could have happened to Matty or Josie without me looking out for them.”

Last night’s shenanigans drove home that my siblings required more than a designated driver for nights out. I was convinced they required a designated sitter for nights in too. Maybe I should break down and install baby gates. That would save me lots of hassle. Maybe those plastic twisty knob covers for the doors too.

“I can’t remember being drunk,” he admitted, “but I don’t enjoy losing control either.”

“That sounds like a challenge.” I checked on our ride. “We’ll have to buy some beer and?—”

“You don’t have to put in the effort to give me an experience you don’t enjoy.” He trailed a knuckle down my cheek. “That’s not fair to you.”

The people pleaser in me recoiled in horror at having failed him, but…

A sense of relief swept through me, loosening my shoulders, the second he passed on the idea. That told me I hadn’t wanted to do it, but I would have done for him what I often did for my siblings when an idea struck them. I would have gone along with it for his sake. I probably would have had fun, I usually did, but it was nice for someone to hear my reluctance and not push until it faded to acceptance.

“The next time Josie and Matty get a wild hair to make poor life choices, I’ll let you know, and you can decide if you want to join them.” I pictured how very fast that could go very wrong. “I’ll supervise.”

A small blue car pulled onto the shoulder several yards away, a glowing Swyft sign stuck to the windshield, and I waved to reassure the driver.

We had few safe topics of conversation, so we kept quiet during the trip, each of us lost in thought.

To ensure I didn’t forget, I texted Carter an update that might make more sense to her than to us.

Three more bones have gone missing.

Three more women too.

No surprise, she made the connection faster than Kierce or I had, but she wasn’t a cop for nothing.

Anything else?

Not off the top of my head.

Keep me updated.

“I’ve been my own boss for so long, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to get ordered around all the time.”

Kierce glanced at me, his gaze a million miles away. He looked ready to comment but remained quiet.

Soon enough, the driver pulled into the shop’s parking lot, and we exited the car.

“I thought you left with Carter?” Josie, who had been watering the herb garden in front of the office, shaded her eyes from the sun. “I didn’t expect to see you back until closing time.”

“She’s got her hands full at work.” I couldn’t resist teasing her. “Kierce and I are off to do important god things.”

“God things, huh?” She spluttered a laugh. “You got used to divinity fast.”

“No.” Kierce rubbed circles on my lower back. “You’re wrong about that.”

“She’s teasing.” I smiled up at him. “Sometimes joking can help you feel less afraid.”

Pascal exited the garage while Kierce reflected on what I had said, the mechanic flashing a wide grin.

“Francita, I had a brilliant idea after you left.” He slapped his hands together. “Come and see.”

Trailing him into the open bay, I saw his brilliance first thing. “Why is there a golf cart in here?”

Rusted from a life outdoors and dented from years of hard use, it slouched on its flat tires in exhaustion.

“I got to thinking about our exciting trip to work this morning, and it hit me that the cemetery is so close Kierce doesn’t need to learn to drive a car to help out. He can use this. It’s electric. It goes nice and slow. He can practice making turns, backing up, and using his mirrors.” He jogged over and indicated the set of side mirrors and the rearview mirror he had installed to make the poor golf cart more practical. “He can build up his confidence with this and then move to a regular vehicle.”

“How much did this cost?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “No.” That was being too optimistic about it. “How much will it cost to get it running again?”

“I got it for free,” he rushed to assure me. “All it cost me was a basket of Josie’s apples.”

Snorting at his answer, Josie folded her arms across her chest. “Then it wasn’t free, was it?”

“How much?” I pinned him with my stare. “Will it cost more than a new one to fix?”

The problem with mechanics was, they enjoyed a good project. They enjoyed them so much, they would convince themselves it was cheaper to buy a clunker and fix it themselves. From my experiences in filing invoices for many such free projects over the years, that was never the case.

“Let me worry about it.” Pascal patted the roof. “I’ll have it ready in no time.”

“I’ll pay for the repairs,” Kierce volunteered, inspecting the cart. “I could drive this to Bonaventure?”

“It’s not street legal,” I warned him, “but no one will stop you from puttering around out here.”

Golf carts, go-karts, four-wheelers, dune buggies. Lawn mowers. We shared the road with them all.

“You heard the man.” Pascal whooped and grinned. “Operation God Cart is a go.”

The urge to groan was strong, but I restrained myself. “Kierce and I are heading out.”

With only so much time left before I had to be back for Pascal at closing time, I was eager to get moving.

Unable to hug Matty without making it awkward for Pascal, I settled for squeezing Josie.

“Don’t think I don’t know I was your second choice,” she huffed in my ear. “I saw that hesitation.”

“Keep him safe.” I held her tight. “Keep you safe too.”

“Just because you died once,” she warned me, “don’t think I won’t kill you if you kick the bucket again.”

An inspection of the supply kit I kept in the wagon earned Kierce’s approval, and we set out to begin our hunt. We made it four or five miles, to a small memorial park, before Kierce asked me to pull over so we could try our luck finding the missing god bones.

“There are no graves here.” I carried the bag to a concrete bench. “I don’t sense any energy either.”

Look at me, using my demi senses like I knew what I was doing.

“We require space without competing energies for what we’re about to do,” he explained. “As it is, we can only activate one bone at a time, or we risk changing their resonance.”

“Okay.” I pretended to understand. “That sounds bad.”

A faint smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, but he wasn’t fooled. “Each bone carries a memory of itself as a whole. The hymn I’m going to teach you would isolate the strongest memory and latch onto it. That would be fine, but it then erases the others’ echoes, scrubs them clean. It renders them useless.”

“We could always go back for another bone, right?”

“How would you know which skeleton it belonged to if the bone lost its connection to the whole?”

Understanding sank in that it wouldn’t be as simple as asking a skull for help again, which, honestly, still blew my mind a little. “Oh.”

“I learned it the hard way.” His smile stretched across his face. “Dis Pater was furious.”

“ He taught you?” I pictured the smug god typing away in his office. “That’s hard to believe.”

“He was different then.” Kierce glanced away. “He was a young god and cared more for his things.”

“You’re not a thing .” I reined in my temper. “You don’t belong to him.”

“Come on.” He lifted the supply kit. “We need to get started.”

Unhappy to be shut down, I grasped there was much I didn’t understand about their dynamic. But he shied away from sharing details he feared might stoke my fury higher where his god was concerned. The only way I would get him to open up was if I learned to shut my mouth and listen without judgment.

Okay, fine, the without judgment part was never going to happen.

I was already judging Dis Pater plenty, and I didn’t know half the story.

Kierce selected a lush patch of grass and sat with his legs folded lotus style then rooted through the bag. I joined him, positioned across from him, and marveled at the ease with which he handled the supplies. I must have been wearing a dopey grin again, because he paused with an abalone shell on his palm.

“I’m not as cool as you seem to believe.”

“I didn’t say a word.” I mimed zipping my lips. “I don’t want to weird you out.”

“How are you talking if your lips are zipped?”

“Ha.” I grinned at him. “Your sense of humor is on the rebound, I see.”

“How could it not be, living with your family? You all laugh and joke so often.”

“I’m not sure if it’s good you’re picking up things from us. The world can’t handle another Talbot.”

A spark of energy broke across my senses as he removed a bone from his pocket.

“Why did it do that?” I reached out and touched it, but the static shock didn’t repeat. “Did you feel it?”

“No.” He examined the bone. “Perhaps removing it from the insulating pouch is what you sensed?”

“The pouch.” I palmed my forehead. “I should have put two and two together.”

“No.” He placed the shell on the grass. “I should have explained it to you.”

“You’re fine.” I watched him set his first bone into the shell. “You’re learning as I’m learning.”

Not everyone was a born teacher. I discovered that firsthand after I failed to teach the Buckley Boys how to read. Kierce was still remembering how to human. Expecting him to teach too? A learning curve was always going to be part of the process. For both of us.

“I should have let you do this, but you can watch this time since we have several more in case this effort doesn’t pan out.” He selected a few herbs, ones I used in summonings, and sprinkled them over the bone. “Follow my lead.”

“I…” A prickle lifted the hairs down my arms. “Nothing.” I rolled my shoulders. “Please, continue.”

The words were low and sweet and coaxing. Beautiful. Kierce had honed his voice to suit each hymn with precision, but there was a flatness in his tone that left me curious if he had grown numb to wonder from the repetition of these rites. I let him cycle through the chorus twice before joining in. Only then did he come to life, our voices twining, and a peacefulness swept over him that made my heart ache.

A clicking noise alerted me the hymn had been successful. The bone was spinning like a compass needle.

“We just follow it?” I gawked as it fell still. “It’ll adjust as we approach?”

“Yes.” He lifted the shell with care. “This will guide us, like to like.”

The cool factor was too high for me to resist a tiny squee that erupted into full-on plotting.

I wonder if Josie and Matty would donate a toe bone each?

I could string them on a necklace and use them to find my siblings no matter where they had gone.

Yeah. No. That was a creepy intrusive thought even for me. And yet…

No.

Definitely not.

I was certainly not lopping off their pinky toes in their sleep.

Probably.

Though it would give just the tip a whole new meaning.

“You drive,” Kierce, oblivious to my scheming, said, “and I will course correct for us.”

“Works for me.” I paused at an alert from a text message. “Let me check this first.”

We got in the wagon, but I waited to crank it until I finished skimming Carter’s update.

We have a development.

Oh?

Over the past six months, officers have responded to 911 calls made by Tate’s neighbors at the apartment complex where she resides. Complaints about screaming, objects shattering against the shared walls, threats of bodily harm yelled down the halls for anyone to hear. There’s also a record of a violent altercation between Kim and her boyfriend in the front yard of their rental house.

How have the men not been arrested?

Domestic abuse is complicated no matter who the victim is, but a cop getting beaten at home?

They must have worried that information would tarnish their reputations within the department.

They’re damn strong women, both decorated officers, and it pisses me the hell off this was happening to them. I could tell when I interviewed the other officers on their shift that the news wasn’t surprising, but they would never rat on one another.

What do we know about the woman who went missing with them?

Not enough.

I’m sending some of our people—from the 514—to interview family members of all the victims. See if we can’t pin down other similarities. There’s got to be another common thread we can tug on.

The first victim married into a warg pack, so the alpha would have handled issues from within, and the vampire clan would have dealt with any incidents the second victim reported. What are the odds of your people determining whether the wife and donor had any pending complaints?

They’ll do their best, but we can only press so hard without just cause.

Let me know what you learn.

Same goes for you.

“The local police departments would have interviewed their families already, wouldn’t they?”

“That’s why agencies like the 514 exist. To help humans, and others in need of protection from large paranormal organizations, get justice. But it’s an uphill battle.” I pulled out and began driving in the direction the bone pointed. “Anyone pitting themselves against a pack or clan or the Society—whoever—must be ready to fight for their convictions. The 514 is so new the badges haven’t lost their shine. I’m not sure how far they’ll get with the victims’ families.”

“You worked with them for protection from the Society,” Kierce ventured, as if only just realizing it.

“I did.” I kept the part where Harrow blackmailed me into it to myself. “I needed the 514’s help in the event the Society took issue with my loaners killing their vampires.”

“Lyle killed them.” Kierce sounded thoughtful. “You didn’t need the 514, in the end.”

“No, I didn’t, but there was a part there in the middle where I couldn’t sleep at night for fear I had cost a person their life. Then it was lives .” I still carried that guilt. “I’m glad the 514 didn’t have to go to bat for me. I don’t want the Society to remember I exist.” I took the next turn at Kierce’s instruction. “The 514 was able to keep my name out of the official reports by presenting evidence of a dybbuk to the Society.”

Harrow had been willing to lie for me, though. I would never forget that. Too bad I also couldn’t forget what he had done to Matty. Hard lines were harder to stick to when the person crossing them had been a friend.

“You’re not a necromancer now,” he reminded me gently. “The Society has no claim to your actions.”

“I’m part necromancer.” I let his words circle my brain. “That’s always been the problem.”

“That was before.” He didn’t mention the dying part. “You’re a demigoddess with a death affinity now.”

The unbearable weight that had crushed my lungs since I came into my magic lightened enough for me to take a full, deep breath and consider what he was telling me. “I’m not the same person I was.”

“You’re still you, Frankie.” He gestured for me to turn again. “You’re the same person at heart.”

“The Society can’t touch me.” I spoke the words out loud like a talisman. “I’m free of them.”

As good as the affirmation sounded, I couldn’t shake years of conditioning in the blink of an eye.

The Society, and how it wielded its influence, had terrified me for too long.

“You’ll come to believe it.” Kierce read me with ease. “In time.”

Time I, more than likely, had in abundance. I would outlive the few necromancers who had heard of me, such as the sentinel who came to arrest me that long-ago night after Lyle turned me in and Harrow took the blame. There was bittersweet comfort in knowing I would regain my anonymity. One day.

A warm sensation in my pocket drew my hand to feel around for the source. As my fingertips brushed the bag holding my portion of the bones, I hissed at the contact burn. “What’s happening?”

“Hold still.” He noticed my pinkened fingers and pushed my hand clear. “Let me get them.”

Burnt flesh tickled my nose seconds later as he withdrew his hand, along with the bones that had melted through the insulated fabric containing them. “I’m pulling over.” I jerked the wagon off the road and threw her in park. “Why are they a million degrees all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know.” He kept hold of the bones, despite his blisters. “They must be?—”

“Drop them.” I gripped his wrist and shook his hand empty. “Don’t just sit and watch your skin flake off.”

“Your seat.” A sliver of white bone glinted on his palm. “I know how much this car means to you.”

“The car is spelled, and even if it wasn’t, that’s your hand .” I reached for my bowler bag and pulled out a tin of healing salve I had left over from one of Aretha’s many treatments. “You are more important to me than a hunk of metal.”

The wound had cauterized so quickly there were only dried flecks of blood and exposed tendons.

Gently, I applied a thick layer then wrapped his hand with a bandage. His accelerated healing would kick in and do the heavy lifting, now that he was eighty percent healed, but this would help with the pain. And it must be excruciating. Yet Kierce hadn’t so much as winced at the charring.

“Thank you,” he said thickly, his head so low I could only see the part in his hair.

“Now.” I wiped my hands clean and packed away the supplies. “Any ideas what went wrong?”

The two bones from my pouch had fallen onto the floorboard after singeing the seat, which was repairing itself before our eyes, but they seemed to have finally quit smoldering. They weren’t eating holes in the floormats anyway. But the shell, herbs, and bone we had been using for directions had taken a spill.

“They must have reacted to…” his lips parted as he glanced out the windshield for the first time, “…that.”

A wall of shimmering energy, at least a mile wide, cascaded before us in a rippling curtain that reflected the forest back at us.

“Now we know why they wanted the bones.” I reached for my phone, aware Carter ought to hear about this before anyone else. “They used them to build a ward.”

Any hope the missing bones had no link to the abductions gasped its last breath.

So did any hope we could blame this on aliens, tractor beams, or flying saucers and call it a day.

We found something.

Drop a pin and send it to me.

Maybe come alone?

That bad, huh?

Definitely not good.

“Carter is on her way.” I pocketed my phone. “We need to lock down the burial ground.” I sat back with a grunt. “Any idea how we do that?”

With a sweep of his hand, he indicated the watery barrier. “There’s only one way.”

“We can ward the grounds until after the case, but then what? We can’t leave it there forever, can we?”

“We could, but out of respect for the old gods, we won’t force them to rest in a fractured peace.” He appeared to choose his words with care. “There are Alcheyvāhā burial grounds all across the world.”

“How do they handle security?”

“The locations are only known to the gods, and, for brief periods, god bloods like me. Anyone else who stumbles across them isn’t allowed to retain that knowledge.”

Dread coated the inside of my mouth. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“The bones have leached so much power into the ground, it would be foolish to relocate them.”

“You would create more areas rich in death magic.” I followed his logic. “The soil alone would be a powerful ingredient in spells, and practitioners would pay through the nose by the ounce if it hit the black market.”

Put that way, it was smarter to contain them in their original resting places. Someone must be watching over the sites, but Dis Pater was quick to tug on Kierce’s leash and demand he handle suppression, which was odd now that I thought about it.

“Out of all the death gods, in all the pantheons, in all the world, why is Dis Pater in charge of this?”

“Gods have their various duties. They must each contribute in order to earn their portion of the worship that fuels their existence. The preservation of Alcheyvāhā burial sites is one of his. That’s been true for as long as I can remember.”

“So, you’ve done this before?”

“Dealt with the aftermath of a discovery? Yes. But no one has ever taken a bone. Let alone several.”

Hard as it was to trust his recall, knowing Dis Pater poked holes in it as it suited him, Kierce must have been given back all his memories.

“I’m missing something here.” Brain whirring, I faced him. “What happens after we collect them?”

“We’ll return them to their places and ensure no record remains of the findings.”

“Um, about those records.” A sour taste rose up my throat. “People don’t count, right?”

“There can be no evidence left behind.” The weight of his words pressed down on his shoulders, and he traced the edge of the bandage crossing his palm. “The information is too dangerous for any mortal to possess.”

“By mortal , I assume you mean non-god .” I puffed out my cheeks. “You can’t have Carter.”

“I know.”

“You can’t have the others either.”

“I know.” The shadow of a smile darkened his features. “That’s one of the many reasons why I…” A blush tipped his ears red. “I respect you.”

“You’re cute when you get all flustered.” I pinched his cheek. “I respect you too.”

Had he been a different sort of man, say, one like Ankou, he wouldn’t have warned me. He would have let the 514 help him achieve his goals then killed anyone who held enough information to be a threat to his mission. But even Kierce only had so much room for interpretation of his orders. I would have to remember that and prepare my own contingencies.

“There are witches who can wipe minds.” I mulled over that option, aware it meant I had to consort with black witches because of its taboo nature. “Maybe Aretha will have a less illegal—and invasive—idea.”

A few weeks ago, I would have called Harrow and gotten his opinion. But that wasn’t an option now.

“The 514 might have someone on staff,” he offered, thinking along the same lines as me.

“True, I considered that, but it would leave a paper trail. And I don’t want Leer to have any clue what the 514 has stumbled across. We can tell Carter, to help her protect her people, but that’s it. Leer strikes me as the kind of man who would leverage a find like that to his advantage. Especially since he’s expanding his reach. He could get himself, and innocents, killed for it.”

“We’ll find a way,” he promised me, tilting his head. “Badb says Carter is here.”

While we waited for her to park, Kierce and I exited the wagon and began examining the barrier.

“This is the same as what Dis Pater uses at his home.” I held a hand several inches away from it. “Right?”

“If multiple bones were used in its creation, which seems to be the case, it’s far more powerful. Unless it’s meant to stand against gods, one is enough. Two is an excess. More than that is…” He struck me as being at a loss, which told me he had never come across such protections. “It makes me wonder what’s worth so much risk to protect.”

I was starting to suspect I knew the answer, but I wanted to see it for myself first.

“Dis Pater told me you can’t just appear in his living room. How do you get inside his ward?”

“He has made an exception for me. The magic recognizes me.”

“Hmm.” I wet my lips. “I’m going to try something.”

I touched the curtain of magic, tasted the spark of creation, and darkness flooded my vision.

Ash and smoke filled my mouth as I coughed and spat on the grass next to me.

“Frankie.” Kierce framed my face with his hands. “What possessed you to do that?”

“I can astral project inside Dis Pater’s protections.” I pounded a fist into my chest. “It was worth a try.”

“It wasn’t worth the risk.” His silver eyes reflected me back at myself. “You could have…”

“…died?” I injected humor into my voice. “Been there, done that.”

“Death is multifaceted.” He brought his forehead down to mine. “Don’t tempt fate.”

“I’m sorry.” I thought back to the seconds before contact. “I felt called to it.”

“You were mumbling.” He withdrew, his hold on me never wavering. “What did you dream?”

“Wouldn’t I have to be asleep to dream?” I focused on those moments before my eyes opened, but the wisps of recollection failed me. “If I was talking, I don’t remember what I was saying.” A shiver chased down my spine. “Do you think it was Ankou?”

Now would be a great time to confess he had visited my dreams, but I couldn’t form the words.

“I don’t know, but I promise we’ll find out.” He released me when footsteps pounded toward us. “She’s awake, Carter.”

“What possessed you to stick your hand into a ward?” She crouched over me. “Are you trying to get me killed?” Her glare raked over me. “Your sister knows you’re involved in my case. Do you really think she’s the forgiving type? Josie? I would come home to find that damn plant from Little Shop of Horrors waiting for me in my bedroom.” She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “I get that you’re a demigoddess, and that’s great for you. The rest of us aren’t so lucky. I haven’t lived this long to be taken out by a vengeful dryad. Can you imagine the shame? I’m a fucking redcap.” She wiped sweat off her brow. “Why am I so afraid of her?”

“You’re smart.” I patted the top of her head. “That’s why.”

“You could always ask her to return home,” Kierce suggested, eager to put distance between her and me. “I could find somewhere else to stay.”

“Oh no. No, no, no. She’s made friends with my plants.” Carter’s gaze held a manic gleam. “I didn’t even have plants until she bought them. They’re hers . They’re on her side. Who knows what they would do to me if I kicked her out? I might wake up with a vine wrapped around my neck.”

As gently as possible, I asked, “Should you live with someone who terrifies you?”

“I…” She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. “I think that’s what I like about her.”

“Um. Well. Yes.” I cleared my throat. “Just make sure you’re open about where you stand, okay?”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” she growled at me, which wasn’t a great sign.

“Perhaps you ought to walk off your temper.” Kierce tightened a hand on my shoulder, like he could pick me up and snatch me away if she showed signs of aggression. “You’re Frankie’s friend, but you’re still a potential threat.”

Either Carter was getting better at ignoring my blood, or I had healed before she got a chance to catch a good whiff. She hadn’t seemed affected by my minor injuries. Just angry at herself getting stuck between a rock and a rabid dryad. Unless… Had godhood cured that problem too? Altered my blood until the scent no longer attracted her? “She’s not going to murder me and wet her cap in my blood.”

“He’s right.” She rose and took a step back. “I shouldn’t come at you in anger when you’re weak.”

“ Injured sounds nicer than weak .” I pushed into a seated position. “This was my fault. I wasn’t thinking.”

What transpired between Kierce, Dis Pater, and me wasn’t a level of transparency I could offer friends or family yet. Too much of it was Kierce’s private business. I had been swept along with him, not given the tasks myself. Until I got a handle on that part, I owed it to Kierce to conceal aspects of his duties.

Otherwise, I would be as good as volunteering those same friends and family for erasure when the time came.

Mouth set in a grim line, she demanded, “You’re sure this wasn’t another out-of-body episode?”

“No.” I flexed my fingers. “This was me learning how mosquitos feel when they hit the bug zapper.”

“We need to mark the boundaries of this ward,” Kierce told her, his tone apologetic. “The next person to touch it might not be as fortunate.”

Hard to tell with me as the control whether it would kill a normal person. Or if it had spanked me harder because it was forged with god bone, and I had god blood. Most wards of this magnitude included a spell component that repelled the curious. Because they couldn’t very well hide a secret with a stack of bodies piling up outside their front door.

“We have a few good witches on the 514 payroll.” Carter palmed her phone. “I’ll get them out here.”

“This will only get harder. The secrets.” I owed her the warning as well as myself. “Between you and me, and you and Josie.”

“There have always been aspects of the job I can’t share with others. Josie will have to understand that.”

“She might not forgive you for withholding information relevant to Frankie’s safety,” Kierce said softly.

“Yeah. I’m aware. Trust me.” She tapped out a message. “That’s why I don’t do relationships.”

“I don’t want to get in the way if?—”

“Something would have to be there before that concerned me, and there’s not.”

Had she not sounded so certain that she was telling me—and herself—the truth, I might have dumped a bucket of ice-cold reality over her head. But she had a big case on her hands, one with missing officers she ached to locate, so I decided to let her puzzle it out for herself in her own time.

Before she finished texting, her phone rang, and she answered with a growl. “What?”

An idea was forming, one she wouldn’t like, so I was glad for someone else providing her with a target.

“We need to know what’s in there, and I’m thinking if the ward repelled me, it’ll repel the witches too.” We might be in it for the long haul if we hoped to break through. We could be there for hours. Or days. “We only found one set of human remains. The other victims could still be alive. If there’s even a slim chance they’re in there, we need to extract them as soon as possible.”

Stormy gray eyes growing darker, Kierce didn’t miss a beat. “You want to attempt astral projection to the other side.”

“Both times I was in Dis Pater’s home, I made it out okay.”

“We don’t know how or why you materialize where you do,” he argued. “You won’t be following me this time. How will you know where to go or how to get there?”

“I have to talk to Vi.” I bit my bottom lip. “She can walk me through it.”

“She hasn’t contacted you since…” He left the rest unsaid. “Do you have a way to reach her?”

Calling was out, I knew that. He did too. But, in extreme emergencies, I did have a second option.

“I have a workaround, but I hate using it.” Surveying the undulating ward, I accepted I had no choice. “I’ll owe someone a big favor after this.” I stalked after Carter. “We need to leave. Will you be okay here?”

“Backup is three minutes out.” She eyed me with caution. “Where are you going?”

“Home.” I dusted off my pants. “I need to consult with a friend who might have some insight.”

“Good.” She aimed a sharp glance at Kierce. “Protect her.”

“With my life,” he vowed, his eyes sparking silver, his glamour slipping a bit more.

We made quick work of reaching the wagon and strapping in for the ride.

“Brace yourself.” I set my phone in its holder and dialed on speaker. “This could get ugly.”

“The fuck?” a gritty male voice answered with disbelief. “I thought you done lost my number.”

“Hey, Jean-Claude.” I aimed the wagon toward the shop. “Can you do me a tiny favor?”

“Ha.” He groaned low in his throat. “There ain’t no such thing as tiny favors with you.”

“I need to speak to Vi.” I flexed my hands on the wheel. “It’s an emergency.”

“That twat Rollo still playing gatekeeper?”

“Yep.”

“Fine, fine.” He exhaled, and I swear I could smell his clove cigarettes. “What you want?”

“Smuggle Vi your phone.” I held my breath. “Rollo doesn’t police your access like he does mine.”

“That’s ’cause I helped bring his dumb ass kicking and screaming into this world, and I can take it kicking and screaming right back out again.”

A laugh tickled the back of my throat, but I held it in. “What will I owe you for this?”

“A month with Momma Jean and a case of Josie-bee’s peach chow chow.”

“Done.” Relief left me giddy. “When should I be ready?”

“Gimme an hour.”

“You’re the best.”

“Tell me what I don’t know.”

The call ended with Kierce studying me with interest, so I set about explaining myself.

“Jean-Claude is Vi’s family doctor. He lives next door to her in the Quarter. Momma Jean, his namesake, is his grandmother. Her favorite thing in the world was the peach chow chow Josie cans when she gets her hands on Chilton County peaches from Alabama. So, I’ll get my chat with Vi, but it’ll cost me an out-of-state loaner for a month and a few jars of Josie’s finest.”

“Would you like me to go with you to New Orleans when the time comes?”

Used to making the drive solo, I grinned at him. “Vi would be thrilled to meet you.”

Focus drifting to his hands, he asked, “What about you?”

“I’ve already met you.” I poked his shoulder, teasing him. “But I would love for you to come with me.”

I regaled him with stories of my time in New Orleans as I drove with an eye on the time, most of them—like my first Mardi Gras—were slightly edited versions of actual events. Had I told him the full truth, the reason why I didn’t drink even when visiting Vi, I might come off less as responsible and more as a lesson learned the hard way.

After I parked the wagon, Kierce and I took the stairs up to my apartment at a jog. The allotted time ran out as my butt hit the couch, Kierce right beside me. Stuffing down my guilt, I prepared to pitch my idea.

Phone held in a death grip, I dialed Jean-Claude with my fingers crossed. “Hello?”

“Rollo will start patting down my visitors if he figures out what you’ve done.”

“I’m so sorry, Vi.” I couldn’t stem the tide of words given the opportunity to speak them to her. “I should have told you sooner. It’s my fault you got hurt. I should have sent you away the second you?—”

“I’m grown, and grown folks do what they do.” She scoffed at me. “What happened out there?”

Afraid of the consequences of involving her further, but aware she was already neck-deep in trouble of my making, I tested a hunch. “Do you know anyone who can wipe memories?”

“I know all sorts of folks.”

“Do you have a more specific answer for me?”

“Depends on if you’ve got a more specific question for me.”

“Let’s say a whole lot of people have been exposed to a whole lot of information they shouldn’t know.” I figured, with Vi, the blunt approach would work best. “Let’s also say there’s a higher power who has plans to erase those people, permanently, rather than risk that information leaking.”

“I would say you’re gonna need two things: a technomancer and a powerful witch.”

Carter had volunteered witches from the 514, but using them created a new set of problems with erasing memories. Namely theirs. Same with the technomancer. A big guy. Built like a tank. Bald. Wore a nice black suit with a lifelike white moth broach. We had been expecting a woman, but he did a bang-up job of identifying and removing the cameras and microphones Armie had hidden all over our homes and the shop, so I trusted him for this gig too. Not that he would thank me for that faith in his talent if he left with money in his pocket but holes in his memory.

Still. Needs must. “I can swing that.”

“Then you’re set. Get the witch to soften the memories into a blur. It’s easier on the mind if they can’t recall specifics than if a block of time outright disappears from their recollections. It’ll get you in less trouble too, if you get caught. You, for whatever damn fool reason, are tempting fate with your antics. For someone who’s kept clear of the public eye, you’re stripping naked and dancing in the spotlight these days.”

The smell of ozone filled my nose, and I noticed Kierce’s fingers crackling with energy.

Lacing my fingers with his, thrilled I could touch him this way, I told him, “She didn’t mean it literally.”

“Your young man’s there? Hello, young man.”

“I’m not young.” He watched his powers dance across our skin. “And, perhaps, not wholly a man.”

“Such is the way of gods, yes?” She gentled her tone. “Nothing and everything all at once. Unique even amongst yourselves. I’m not surprised to learn Death done sunk his hooks in my Frankie, but I warn you. I’ve seen what the love of gods does to mortals. They don’t survive it. Frankie might be more like you than me these days, but her heart’s soft. She’s a good girl. She’s my girl. Hurt her, and you won’t survive me .”

Solemn in the face of her threat, he paid her the respect she was due. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now, cher , you know Papa Legba and I go way back. Loas protect me, and I am not afraid.”

The subtle reminder she had gods and spirits on her side too eased my worries a smidgen, and the prod for me to get to the point of the call wasn’t lost on me either. Not when we had so little time before her grandson came to check on her. Then we would both get in trouble with Rollo, and I had caused enough of that for her to last a lifetime.

Swinging my gaze to Kierce, I asked for permission he granted with a nod that promised we would figure out how to protect those already exposed to the knowledge of the burial ground’s existence. I should’ve stuck to my guns when it came to keeping my divine experiences to myself, but I needed help, and it was Vi who had always saved me from myself. Magically speaking.

Thirty minutes later, Vi was cursing me in Creole I couldn’t translate. I spoke fluent Vi, though, so it was safe to assume she was calling me an idiot, questioning whether I had a brain in my head, or demanding if I wanted to die from stupidity. Those were the top three her apprentices got hit with most often. Or maybe that was just me.

Another twenty minutes later, she had run out of steam and promised to call me the next morning.

As much as I hated to end the call without an actionable plan, I refused to push while she was recovering from the ordeal I had put her through. That left me with a free night and a few possibilities on how to spend it.

First things first, I had to drive the Suarez du Jour to Bonaventure and get Matty back.

With Carter working, and Matty not tied down to anyone, there was no reason us Marys—plus Kierce and Badb—couldn’t stay in, watch a movie, and begin healing the rift created by my secrets.

And, if luck was with me, I might have thought up a way to do a little covert detecting of my own.