"So you're the Spider," she muttered. "I suppose I should thank you for killing Connor and Celia. Now, I won't have to bother with it-or share the bounty with them."
I gave her a cold, hard smile that was as wintry as the landscape around us. "You're assuming that you're going to live long enough to collect."
Liza returned my smile with one of her own. "Oh, I will, Spider. Don't you worry about that-"
I rushed her, trying to take her by surprise while she was still talking, but the bounty hunter had been expecting the move and raised her whip. I threw myself to one side, but the leather streaked through the air like black lightning. The blow opened up a deep cut on my cheek, burning my skin almost as much as Mab's elemental Fire had. I hissed again.
"What's the matter, Spider?" Liza laughed. "Don't you like the feel of my whip?"
My eyes narrowed, but I didn't say anything. Instead, I began moving to the left, trying to get into her blind spot. But she turned with me, and the two of us circled around and around, like two dogs fighting over a bone that lay between them.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Another round of shots rang through the woods. Someone else must have tried to approach the house, and Finn had killed him for his trouble. Still, I knew it wouldn't be too much longer now before the bounty hunters decided to storm the structure en masse. I needed to get Finn and Bria out of there before that happened.
Trying to end things, I darted forward, but the bounty hunter raised her whip again. This time, the weapon cut through my leather bustier and opened a stinging gash on my chest, right above my heart.
"By the time I'm through, you'll have more cuts than any you ever made on one of your hits," Liza crowed, flicking her whip back and forth.
"The hell I will," I snarled.
Too late, the bounty hunter spotted the hard anger in my face. Liza backed up and raised her whip even as I charged her again. The leather sliced through the air toward me, but this time, instead of ducking it, I caught the leather in my hand, even though it opened up another deep cut on my palm.
And I didn't let go.
The bounty hunter tried to jerk her whip out of my grasp, but I used my Ice magic to numb my fist, so I wouldn't feel the whip cutting into my skin. Then I moved toward her, one quick step at a time. Once more, Liza tried to tug the whip out of my grasp. When that didn't work, she turned and started to run.
But by then, it was too late.
My knife sliced into her back, and Liza joined her other two dead friends on the forest floor.
I plodded over and retrieved the knife I'd thrown at Connor, breathing harder than I would have liked. The fight with Mab had taken its toll on me, and I'd just used up the remaining scraps of my magic to defeat the bounty hunter. My heart raced, my lungs burned, and my legs trembled with the effort of just standing upright. Not to mention the blood that dripped out of the fresh cuts on my skin. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to get Jo-Jo to heal me, then crawl into bed and sleep for twelve hours. But I couldn't do that. Not until Bria and Finn were safe, and the three of us were far, far away from here-
A branch creaked somewhere farther back in the forest.
I whirled around, silverstone knives up and at the ready. Looking, listening, straining to see what new danger might be waiting in the dark.
Nothing. I saw and heard nothing.
Maybe it had just been the wind rattling through the trees, a branch collapsing under the weight of the snow, or a wild animal drawn by the smell of fresh blood. But I didn't believe that. Not really, not deep down in my gut where it mattered. Because Gentry was out there somewhere, with Sydney and her rifle. Nothing I could do about it now, though. Getting Finn and Bria out of the house was my first priority. I'd deal with everything else later-including Gentry, should she decide to show herself.
The snow started to fall once more as I ducked down and slid into the tunnel.
Chapter 21
Fletcher Lane's escape tunnel reminded me of a coal mine that I'd been in not too long ago-low, squat, and round, with rough, uneven, earthen walls supported by thick wooden beams. The air smelled as old and musty as a dust-covered book long forgotten on a shelf. Dried-up leaves littered the entrance, and they crackled like cellophane under my boots as I moved farther inside.
The leaves gave way to hard-packed dirt, worn smooth and shiny by the tread of countless feet across it over the years. Fletcher had told me that the tunnel had once been used by bootleggers back during Prohibition, a hiding place for them and their mountain moonshine to rest before continuing their journey. Even now, all these years later, the rocks underfoot muttered with worry, tension, and fear of discovery. The on-edge sound matched my own mood perfectly.
I'd picked up one of the bounty hunters' flashlights before stepping inside so it was easy enough for me to make my way down the tunnel. Still, I sidestepped carefully to avoid disturbing the spiderwebs that stretched from one wooden beam to the next like wispy threads of silver silk. If any more of the bounty hunters discovered the tunnel, I didn't want them to realize that I'd been in here-or that I'd taken Finn and Bria out this way.
Ten minutes later, I reached the far end of the tunnel. I walked up a series of steep steps to a heavy metal door and banged on it three times with the flashlight, then three more times, then still three more times-a long-standing signal Fletcher had taught Finn and me should we ever need to get into the house this way.
I'd barely finished tapping on the door when I heard the bolt screech back. A second later, the metal door opened, letting light from the house stream into the tunnel. I shielded my eyes against the glare and looked up to find Bria staring down at me, her gun pointed at my head. She wasn't taking any chances. Good.
"You all right?" I asked.
Bria lowered her weapon and moved to one side so I could climb up out of the trapdoor that was set into the floor of Fletcher's cluttered office, right behind the old man's desk.
"I'm fine," she said.
She looked no worse for wear-despite the fact that she didn't have on a shirt and had just thrown her long wool coat on over a pale pink camisole and a pair of jeans. Her bare feet were stuffed into a pair of my sneakers. A missing shirt and socks. That must have been as far as Finn had gotten to undressing her before the two of them were interrupted.
"Where's Finn?"
"A few rooms over still picking off bounty hunters," Bria said.
"Get him, and let's get out of here," I said. "I had to drop a couple of the more curious ones out in the woods already, and I want to be clear of here before the others start searching the area around the house and find their bodies and the entrance to the tunnel."