I was pretty sure it would be, too. She’d been a conduit for too much powerful magic. She was lucky to have lived. I figured she probably knew that. She’d been prepared to die. Blindness would be hard, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But it was better than dying.
So was being a werewolf.
Apparently it was a night for tough choices and compromise.
“What’s up with your eyes?”
“The magic did it. Everyone the magic hit has blue eyes. You do, too.”
Really? Wow. How weird. No matter how much I learn about magic, I’m always startled by the odd, esoteric stuff that gets left out of the textbooks.
“I have blue eyes now?” I knew he’d just said that, but I seemed to be a little slow on the uptake. Besides, I’d wanted blue eyes like Ivy’s since I was a little kid.
He nodded.
“Don’t suppose you have a mirror?”
“Nope, sorry.”
Oh, well, I could wait to see my face. At least the color change didn’t seem to have affected my vision. I could see the bustle of cleanup activity easily thanks to the full moon and the huge fluorescent lights mounted atop four big National Guard equipment trucks.
I sat, sipping my water, feeling strength seeping slowly back into me. Soon I might even be up to standing. But there was no hurry. For the moment I was content to stay right where I was.
“How’s Talia?”
“Chris says she’ll make it. He used some pretty hefty magic on her, and that helped. Still, she’s going to need a lot of physical therapy if she’s going to get full use of that arm again. They’ve taken her to the staging area for the medical choppers.”
She was going to be fine. That was such a relief that I closed my eyes, saying a quick prayer of thanks.
“You okay?”
“Hunky-dory.” He gave me a long, steady look, then asked, “Did you shoot one of their mages?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Took out the focus stone. That’s where all the power was.”
“Smart move.”
“Thanks.”
We didn’t say much after that, just sat in companionable silence. I wondered what had happened to Thomas. He wasn’t tied up on the ground anymore. But I didn’t wonder enough to ask.
I turned at the sound of footsteps some time later. “Ms. Graves.” Zach Stone, one of the lower-ranking employees of Miller & Creede, stood at full parade rest, as if we were military and I was an officer. I was startled by that but didn’t comment. His expression was too serious.
“Yes?”
“Your employee, Talia Han, gave me a message for you.”
“Yeah?”
“‘If I wanted to be in a war zone, I’d have stayed in the army. I quit.’” He extended his hand; on his palm rested my jewelry.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It was a little hysterical, but it felt really good. I took the bracelet and earring Zach offered, then the earring Bubba held out to me. Rather than risk losing them by tucking them in my pockets, I put them all on.
When I thought I was steady enough to stand without falling, I got to my feet. Turning to the nearest medic, I asked where I could find the injured mages. His directions led me right to three of them.
Emma and Matty were holding each other upright, standing silently over Isabella DeLuca. Bruno sat next to her on a rock, his body sagging with exhaustion. His head was nearly between his knees. A wool blanket much like the one I wore was wrapped loosely around his shoulders; beneath it, he wore an old Mets baseball jersey and faded jeans. His eyes were blue, his hair liberally laced with silver. It was so strange. Not unattractive, but not the Bruno I knew and loved. I felt a pang of sadness but shoved it forcibly aside. He was alive. It was practically a miracle.
“Celia.” He sat up, smiling hugely. “You did it.” He held out an arm and I ducked beneath it, letting him pull me close. I buried my face in his shoulder for a moment, taking in the familiar strength, the warmth, the scent of him that had been a part of my life for so long.
“We did it,” I corrected him. “It was a group effort.”
He gave me a weary squeeze. “Yeah, but we were losing until you showed up. And I heard you were the one who made the big shot.”
I couldn’t deny it, so I didn’t even try.
The smile faded, his expression sobering. “Even with Finn dead, and them having to fight against both us and the existing protections, we were losing. Who the hell are these guys?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Wish I did.” It occurred to me belatedly that he’d spoken of them in the present tense. “Do you think they’re still alive?” I hoped not. The force of the explosion when I’d shot the vosta had been huge. It had wiped out close to two hundred spawn. Surely nobody close to the blast could have survived.
He gave a huge sigh. “Finn’s dead. I felt that. Another of the mages was killed when you took out the vosta. But two of them survived. I’m sure of it.”
I swore wearily. Two new enemies, enemies strong enough and smart enough to have survived the equivalent of a magical Hiroshima.
“Celia.” Isabella’s voice drew my focus. She looked so frail, with her eyes bandaged and her hair snow-white, but she sat rigidly upright, her spine as straight as if it was reinforced with a steel rod despite the exhaustion she had to be feeling. She still wore her robe, but it had been bleached a white so pure it was almost painful to look at.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You did well. You should be proud.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You’re welcome.” She sighed. “I owe Isaac an apology. Apparently he was right about you. He will no doubt want to rub my nose in it.”
Isabella DeLuca was admitting she was wrong. She was going to apologize. Holy crap. I stood there blinking. I knew I should say something but couldn’t seem to come up with anything to say that wouldn’t be seriously tactless. Bruno gave me a weary grin, but it was Emma who threw me a lifeline.
“Before I forget,” she said, “Kevin called. He and Michelle are both fine. They didn’t eat anybody.”
“Oh, good.”
Bruno’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t interrupt.
Emma continued. “He said they’ll meet us for breakfast at Irma’s Diner at nine—if you’re okay with him.”
“Why wouldn’t you be okay with Kevin? What happened?” Bruno asked.
“It’s a long story,” I told him, “and not important.”
He didn’t believe me, but he was too tired to push for now.
Emma and I shared a look. What had happened at the cabin wasn’t something Bruno ever needed to know about. And ultimately, it really wasn’t that important. I’d known for years that Kevin Landingham was a werewolf. I just hadn’t realized what it meant—not until I saw him smile at me through the bars of the gate, met his gaze as he tried to climb into the helicopter after me. I knew now that there were times when Kevin looked at other human beings as food.
I couldn’t blame him. Not when I had the same problem.
33
I was late for breakfast. I’d been right. The authorities wanted their questions answered. Rizzoli had shown up somewhere along the way, so while the powers that be were insistent about getting information, they were pleasant and polite about it. I overheard one or two interesting bits of information while I was waiting around. Warden Davis had vanished from the prison, and his magic signature was one of the four at the other site.
The authorities weren’t happy with me. They were even less happy with John. But the evidence was clear. The other guys had demons and spawn, and in the middle of the desert were two dead mages who were supposed to be locked up in maximum security on the upper floors of the Needle.
We’d saved the day. Again.
So eventually they cut me loose. The first thing I did was telepathically contact Queen Lopaka—my cell phone, like everyone else’s, had been confiscated, both to contain the leaking of information to the Internet and as evidence of what happened. At my request, my aunt agreed to call King Dahlmar and to apply her own political pressure, along with the King’s, to help John Creede.
Since I didn’t have a car, I caught a ride with Bruno. He agreed to drop me off at the restaurant, but he wouldn’t be staying. He was headed to UCLA Medical Center, where they’d taken his mom for treatment. Matty had flown there with her—as a fellow patient. He’d overstrained his magic and they wanted to keep him for observation.
We didn’t talk much on the drive. We both had a lot on our minds, and it wasn’t far from the Needle to Irma’s.
I knew Bruno was thinking of his mother and his brother, and worrying about John. They’d been rivals for my affection, but they were also friends. If there was anything Bruno could do to help the other man out of his legal difficulties, I knew he’d do it.
My thoughts were about the guys who got away and what that might mean for my future. I was glad to set that aside when I got out of the car at Irma’s and joined my friends for a victory celebration.
Emma and Kevin exchanged meaningful looks, but I ignored them, the same way Kevin ignored the adoring looks Michelle was casting his direction. She was young, she was smitten. I didn’t worry about him doing anything inappropriate.
Michelle tore her gaze away from Kevin long enough to meet my eyes. “Ms. Graves, I want to thank you. Your quick thinking saved me. I’d be dead if you hadn’t had Kevin do what he did.” She was so earnest, it was ridiculous. She was only a few years younger than me, but somehow she managed to make me feel ancient.
“It’s not going to be easy.”
“No, of course not.” She smiled when she said it, flashing white teeth and deep dimples. “But Kevin’s agreed to mentor me until I get full control of my beast.”
I turned to him, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. He ignored me in favor of taking a big bite of rare steak, juices dripping from his fork onto the plate. Then again, maybe that was an answer.