Page 174 of The Ampersand Effect

Her mind started spinning. She couldn’t stifle this sensation slowly crawling its way up her spine, tingling and chilling her all at once. The skin over her freshly laid ink rippled with goosebumps—a rather alarming sensation, in direct contrast to the mild burn that had been weakening since Dagný finished it last night.

Instinctively, she looked up at the airport TVs, something subconsciously drawing her eyes to their bright screens. The sound was off, but the local Grayport news anchor was interrupting the regular broadcast with an emergency update. Something sinister slithered and coiled in the pit of her stomach.

A red banner scrolled at the bottom of the screen:City of Aetheridge ablaze—electrical storm triggers wildfire in drought-stricken city and surroundings.

She was on her feet before she could think, her phone ringing in her hands before she could get it to her ear. She called Grier on instinct, hoping—praying—that her gut was wrong.

It rang only once before connecting. But Tobin’s relief was abruptly replaced by a new, oilier fear when Grant’s anxious voice connected where Grier’s familiar timbre should have been.

“Tobin?” he asked, sending a new wave of goosebumps flooding through her entire body.

“Grant?” she breathed his name, the fear in her voice only exacerbating her rising unease. “Where’s Grier? What’s going on?”

“We can’t find her. She ran out of the funeral and no one’s seen her…” Grant trailed off, his unspoken terror hanging ominously over an unknown edge, making the hairs on the back of Tobin’s neck stand on end.

“Tobin?” Grant probed delicately. He didn’t wait for her to answer, “The city’s on fire. Some of the fields outside of town— really, anything that can catch fire has caught. We’re going up like a tinder box. The forest, too…”

Tobin heard the implication. Grant knew his sister better than anyone. Between him, Alix, and Maren, they’d already divided and were scouring the likely places she could have fled. If she wasn’t where she usually sought refuge, she’d have searched for solace in the only place left—the forest.

“So, you’re thinking what I’m thinking?”

“She’s in the forest. We just don’t know where,” Grant admitted, his voice edged with agitation and the rising fear it overshadowed.

“I have an idea. But can you check her location at all? Was she still wearing her watch? You should be able to use her phone to trace it.”

“I didn’t think of that.” Grant’s voice faded as he tore the phone from his mouth to open Grier’s FindMy app. Tobin heardhim inhale sharply before he said, excitement breaking through, “Her watch’s last known location was a trailhead on the west side of town—leading into the coastal forest.”

The clearing.

Tobin’s heart panged at the confirmation of what she’d already suspected. “I know where she is.”

“But how do we get her out? The mayor’s issued evacuation orders, and the interactive incident map shows there are already three separate fires burning in that area. It’s only a matter of time before they converge. No one can get in through the trails.”

Tobin walked as she listened, forming a plan in her mind while steadily increasing her pace toward the bank of rental car counters. She silently thanked whoever had the idea to create unmanned kiosks as she breezed past the line of people waiting for a representative.

“We’re not going in through the trails,” she said, selecting the sportiest sedan on the first page of rental options. Speed was of the essence. “We’re going through the air. Specifically,I’mgoing through the air.”

A pair of keys dropped into the kiosk’s slot; in an instant, they were in her hand. She sprinted out the doors into the blustery Grayport afternoon, frantically scanning for her rental.

“But how? Aren’t you in Iceland?” Grant asked, incredulous.

The edge of hope sat thickly on his tongue. It spurred her on.

“Grayport—but not for long,” Tobin said as she slid into the

driver’s seat and started the ignition. “I’ll be in Aetheridge in twenty minutes. Can you meet me at the hangar?”

“Grayport is a forty-five-minute drive! On a clear Sunday at three o’clock in the morning… how are you going to be here in twenty minutes?”

“I’ll drive fast, Grant. Just meet me at the hangar. I’ll give Eddie a heads-up.” She ended the call and headed toward theexit terminal. As soon as she passed through security, she dialed Eddie and merged onto the interstate.

“Tell me you’re on your way,” Eddie deadpanned, an unfamiliar breathiness to her voice that Tobin immediately understood to be controlled hysteria. The tear in her friend’s normally ironclad composure was startling, but not entirely foreign. They’d suffered many wars in their years as friends and colleagues. Still, it did nothing to quell the steady churn in Tobin’s stomach.

Things are worse than I thought…

“I’m on my way from Grayport—any chance you can get me an escort? I’d rather not come in with a tail of Grayport’s finest.”

Eddie scoffed, barely fazed by Tobin’s request amidst the chaotic rain battering the aluminum roof of her vehicle, which was currently setting pace at eighty miles per hour while she expertly weaved through traffic.