“I don’t drink, you know that.” Red pulled out his cell phone.
“He’s going to tell on you.” Steve laughed and paid for his beer.
“What else is new?” Reagan watched Red walk to the back. “He probably won’t give me the credit for telling him about one of the super elders being back in action, either.” She shook her head. “Ungrateful.”
“Yeah, he did stand there and soak that right up.” Steve nodded, unconcerned. “I best not tell him any of my secrets.”
“Let’s go,” Emery said, steering me toward the door.
“Why did we agree to come here?” I asked quietly.
“Hindsight,” he answered as we pushed open the door and stepped out into the evening air.
36
Emery monitored their surroundings as best he could, keeping his hand on the small of Penny’s back. She was fucking amazing in the heat of battle, and in the future she’d be unstoppable, but right now she was extremely unpredictable.
Thankfully, Darius had showed his genius in pairing Penny with Reagan. Reagan was just crazy enough to make the situation work. She didn’t seem to want, or need, any sort of plan. She was fast on her feet and could handle close combat like a champ. She also didn’t need to own the show. When Penny had reacted in the bar, Reagan had held back and allowed her to handle it. That spoke of trust and teamwork.
He scanned the way ahead, ignoring the seemingly chaotic but actually quite organized cloud of magic hovering above them—something Penny seemed to collect and hold whenever she got into a situation that made her nervous—and headed toward a grassy area between the split in the road. People loitered in groups, standing and sitting, nowhere to go or maybe just in no hurry to get there. As far as he could tell, they didn’t present a problem to them.
Though…the surroundings looked familiar for some reason.
Adrenaline rolled through him when he spotted the tree from one of his visions about Penny. A patch of weeds rested under the hanging branches, blanketed in shadows.
Not just any foretelling. He’d sensed someone sitting under this tree, waiting for her—to take her back to the Mages’ Guild’s headquarters, probably—not a physical death sentence, but one that would crush her spirit. Based on what he’d heard from Callie, Dizzy, and Reagan, “proper” training would likely do that to her. And the Guild would do a lot more than “properly” train her.
They’d break her.
Was this a base camp of sorts? Close to the bars where magical people hung out, and tucked into a place where vagabonds loitered. It would be the perfect setup for someone who wanted to watch without getting noticed.
“Don’t come this way anymore,” Emery said with a rougher voice than he’d intended. It was his survival voice, the one he used when he was in the wilds, dealing with people who would skin him alive for his possessions if he so much as turned his back.
As he probably should’ve expected, she looked up at him with those huge blue eyes, widened in fear. An aura of her survival magic rose around her, the crystal white shrouding her like an angel. It was the most beautiful, pure, perplexing sight he’d probably ever seen. He’d never seen survival magic do that—wrap around the body and emit a vibe that would help keep the person safe.
The effect showcased her vulnerability and her desire to be protected—the reason the shifters were willing to take on Reagan and the mages for her. With the vampires, it probably did the opposite, pumping out a sort of challenge and authority to scare off newbies. Well…scare off the newbies and enrage ancient elders.
It was clear she had no idea she was doing it. Her subconscious and her magic were working together, responding to the situation how they deemed fit.
“What would happen if none of us had been trained in the current methods, Penny Bristol?” he asked, rubbing her back. “How many different ways of working magic would there be?”
“What do you mean?”
“Growing up as mages, we’re taught specific ways of doing things from an age when we don’t know how to think for ourselves. By the time we have the power to experiment with magic, we’re already entrenched in the supposedly ‘right’ way of doing things. I’ve learned a great many things out in the wilds by myself, things that have forced me to think outside of my teachings. It has given me an incredible edge over my peers. Made me the undisputed best. But I’ve still played by the rules, more or less. Bending them and breaking them occasionally, but always keeping them in mind. You…” He shook his head and glanced down the street, checking for followers. “You aren’t even using the same playbook.”
“When you first met me, you said that I just needed to will it, and it would be so. Or something like that.”
“Yes, I did. I remember that. I didn’t know you were a natural, then.”
“What’s the difference?”
He blew out a breath and shrugged, looking for the car. “I mean…there shouldn’t be a difference. I will things into existence all the time, after working out the recipe, as you call it. But if I’d known you were a natural, and not a witch with very little power, I would’ve told you to get those spells into your head. Learn the guidelines so you didn’t hurt yourself or someone else. Study, study, study.”
“But after you figured out I was a natural, you still didn’t say that.”
“By then we didn’t have time. You had to learn as quickly as possible, so there was no time for the standard approach. Maybe we got lucky in how it worked out.”
Emery stopped in the place they’d left the car. The red Toyota was still there, but the white sedan was missing. Instead of Reagan’s car, pushed back a little too close to the Toyota, there was a brown station wagon taking up what could’ve been two spots. “Wasn’t it here, or am I remembering incorrectly?”
Penny pointed at the Toyota before looking beyond and then behind her. “It was here. I remember getting out and seeing from this angle. So yeah, it definitely had to be here.”
He laughed. Didn’t do a thing to calm his growing anxiety, but it tickled him that she even had a unique way of remembering where a car was parked.
“Crap,” he said, his smile dropping away.
“Hondas go for a lot of money at chop shops,” Penny said. Her face fell as she eyed a Honda up the street, in better condition, and then another across the street. Her face fell. “Granted, they typically boost them in groups.”
“Do you know that from TV?”
“No. Veronica had a Honda once. It disappeared when all the others in the neighborhood did. The police said that’s what happens sometimes.” She pointed at the Toyota. Then a Mercedes up the street. “If you were going to steal a car, there are much better options.” After a pause, she said, “Let’s go. Now.”
“Good idea.” He grabbed her arm, silently keeping her at his pace. He should’ve remembered her speed. Soon she was yanking at him, wanting to go faster.
A backward glance didn’t tell him much. People ambled along the sidewalks and streets, ready to enjoy the night. No one looked their way, and certainly nobody stared. But then, anyone watching them wouldn’t want to be obvious about it. A glance every now and then would be enough.
Regardless, no one had randomly stolen Reagan’s broken-down car, which bore its fair share of bad paint and dents. They needed to get to shelter, now.
“What’s the situation with Darius?” he asked. “Do you trust what Reagan is telling you?”
“She’s a terrible liar, so yes. She didn’t need to say a word, though. We do not want to mess with the extreme elder staying with him. Trust me. Her and I don’t seem to play nice together. But Reagan seemed more worried about us staying in the bar. Maybe Darius’s house is safe?”
Emery licked his lips, glancing behind them again. Nothing had changed, and he didn’t see anyone he’d noticed on his first sweep, which meant very little. “Maybe. Or maybe getting us out of the bar was just a precaution. We could chance going back.”
She clenched her jaw and said something under her breath that sounded like “nuck fuggets.” “The car getting stolen right now is fiercely bad timing.”
Bad timing for us, great timing for the Guild. They’d clearly taken advantage of the situation.
“You got that right.” He pulled her to cross the street. “I know you are more knowledgeable now, and can do things on your own, but—”
“It’s fine,” she cut in, looking away right before they continued on down the sidewalk. Houses rose on either side and pedestrian traffic reduced a little. “I don’t mind being manhandled as long as the person doing the manhandling is someone I trust that also has an idea of what to do in the given moment.”
“That makes things easy,” he said, teasing but also meaning it.
“It seems my mother’s training has really come in handy. I keep getting thrown in with headstrong jerks. My complacency melds just fine.”
“That’s not very nice,” he said with a grin, clutching the back of her shirt. He had no idea what might pop out at them. At all costs, they needed to stick together. Since his first reaction to danger was to do a spell, and hers was (usually) to run like hell, keeping contact was necessary.