Priceless (24 page)

“
Bumps!
”
Alex screeched from the back as we started to bounce down the track. I didn
’
t take it easy, despite O
’
Shea
’
s grunts of displeasure
as he was jostled in the passenger seat. This was something Alex loved and I wouldn
’
t deny him this small pleasure, not with each day being one
closer to the day
the pack might finally catch him.

“
Slow the hell down, Adamson.
”
O
’
Shea snapped after his head got thrust into the
not-so-well-
padded roof.

“
Almost there
,
I think
.
”
I
took
a deliberate sharp turn in order to hit one last big rut in the road. Alex squealed and I couldn
’
t help laughing.
“
Enjoy the ride, Agent. You never know when it might be your last.
”

He glared over at me, but said nothing, his hand gripping the Holy Shit handle with decidedly white knuckles.
“
Fuck
.
”
He muttered
it
just low enough that I had to strain to hear him.

I couldn
’
t resist poking at him.
“
What was that?
”

“
FUCK!
”
Alex screeched from the back of the Jeep
,
and I burst out laughing. A glance at O
’
Shea and I caught a smile twisting his lips.

“
Admit it, that was funny
.
”
I gunned the Jeep and slammed on the brakes so we skidded through the loose scree.
I mean, who had a werewolf yell o
ut
“
fuck
”
in the back of their J
eep?

“
No.
”

Of course, that only made me laugh harder. Never had I been so distracted on a case before, but in a weird way it felt like a good fit.

I turned the Jeep off.
“
Here we are.
”

Lucky enough, I
’
d been right and there were no
“
uglies
,
”
so to speak. But then, the gateway through the veil wasn
’
t open either. The
mineshaft
wasn
’
t particularly narrow, about two and
a
half people wide.
Walking around the edge of it, I let my fingers trail over the metal rim, feeling the jagged cuts where grappling hooks would have been jammed in, in order to repel down. In my mind I tried to imagine how it would look.

“
There
’
s j
ust enough for two people and a kid
,
”
O
’
Shea said, coming to the same conclusion I had.

Damn, how many others had this
Coven
stolen?
“
Have there been a lot of other missing kids lately? You know, ones with no leads?
”

O
’
Shea gave a sharp nod.
“
Three. All in the last six months.
All within a two day drive of here.
”

Double damn, that was not good.

Leaning over the rim, I put my weight in my heels as I stared into the pitch black hole. How terrifying would it be as a little kid
,
to be forced to go there with people in cloaks, people you didn
’
t know or trust?

I took a deep breath, the faintest scent of sage wafting up to my nose, a common herb burned in all
Coven
s.
“
Alex, come smell
.
”

Loping over to me, he stuck his head down the pipe
.
I laid a hand on his collar, just in case.

“
Witches
,
”
he
grunted,
then
took another sniff.
“
Demons
.
”
H
e whimpered
,
and on the third sniff
,
he cocked his head.
“
One more.
”
He took a long drag and
cur
led his lip
,
showing his teeth.
“
Don
’
t know. Funny smell.
”

Hmm. It was never good when Alex couldn
’
t identify a scent.
“
Okay, let
’
s go get ready.
”

“
That
’
s it?
”
O
’
Shea asked, peeking into the pipe.
“
We don
’
t dive in?
”

“
Not without the right gear
—
of which you have none
.
M
ine is all back at my house
,
where the pack is currently staked out
. Which means  we need to go where I can get us the right weapons.
Unless you have a grappling hook, harness and rope stowed away in your pant
s
pocket?
”

He didn
’
t answer except with a glower.

I cast out for India while O
’
Shea mulled that over. She was not any easier to trace here, but I could feel her. The fear was almost gone, but the most important thing was that she was alive. They
—
the
Coven
—
hadn
’
t used her for a sacr
ifice yet.

O
’
Shea followed me and Alex back to the Jeep.
“
You didn
’
t kill her, did you?
”

I froze between one step and the next, but didn
’
t turn around to face him.
In a way, I was surprised it had taken him this long.
“
You final
ly believe me?
”

The shuffle of clothes told me he
’
d shrugged.
“
I
’
m having a hard time with believing any of this, but I
’
m seeing it whether I want to or not.
”

“
Maybe one day I
’
ll tell you the whole story
,
”
I said, knowing that would
pique
his interest.

He caught up to me in split second
,
grabbed my arm
,
and spun me to face him.
“
You didn
’
t tell us the truth?
”

In all the interrogations after Berget had gone missing, I
’
d adamantly stuck to my story. We
’
d been at a park, she
’
d been on the swings one second, gone the next. Nothing else to say. But how was I going to explain to the police what had really happened?
It was bad enough they thought I was guilty, that I thought I was guilty
,
even though I
’
d done nothing. All along, that was the problem. I hadn
’
t saved her and that made me guilty in my own eyes. In our parent
’
s eyes.

“
You
’
d believe me now, because you
’
ve seen what the world holds in truth. But not then
,
”
I said, brushing his hand off my arm.

We started to pile into the Jeep when a
hair-
raising screech spun me around, my eyes searching the skies above
for the only thing that could have made th
e
sound
.

Harpies
;
three of them
.
They were each the size of a large cow, well over a thousand pounds per, and
had
greasy brown feathers cover
ing
their lumpy,
bird-
like bodies.
While legends sometimes pinned them as having the upper bodies of beautiful women, that wasn
’
t quite true.
Hypnotizing e
yes ma
king
you believe they were beautiful were the main gear the Harpies employed when it came to seduction.
They didn
’
t look like much as far as being dangerous, but the two sets of claws
—
one off the bottom of their feet and one set
at
the tips of their wings
—
were enough to cut a man in half with a single squeeze. They could rip my Jeep open like a tin can and have us for dinner without breaking a sweat.

Damn it all to
mother
fucking hell
,
this was about to get ugly. The last time I
’
d faced Harpies had been
five
years ago
,
a
nd that had only been one Harpy
. It
’
d taken
Giselle and Milly at my side
to knock her out
,
and we
’
d barely made it out alive.

I pulled a sword out as the first Harpy struck, her claws skimming precariously close to my stomach, ripping through my thin t-shirt
and exposing the flak jacket below
. Spinning, I swung my blade overhead, arcing toward where the Harpy
’
s wings should be. My aim was true and the spelled sword cut deep into what would be the bicep of the Harpy, taking her right wing completely off. Howling and flailing, she rolled on the ground, brilliant red blood spurting in a fountain from where her wing had been only moments before.
She flopped on the ground, arterial spurts shooting
out
around us.

That had been lucky, like as in ridiculously so.
Of course, there were two more
,
so I wasn
’
t counting us out of danger just yet.

“
Get in!
”
I r
an
for the Jeep.

O
’
Shea listened
for once
, and the doors slammed shut as I peeled out.

“
No smell Harpies
.
”
Alex whimpered. Of course he hadn
’
t
smelled them before
;
no doubt
,
they
’
d
w
atch
ed us
from a distance, flying in high enough.

“
It
’
s okay
,
”
I said, though it wasn
’
t.
“
O
’
Shea, you
’
re going to have to take the wheel, or take one of my swords and try to fend them off.
They
’
re territorial
,
so you just have to buy us time.
”

“
You drive, I
’
ll fight.
”

“
Don
’
t look them in the eyes, no matter what
.
”

O
’
Shea took my offered
—
and bloodied
—
sword and rolled down the window.

“
Why?
”

We hit a bump and I fought with the steering wheel, no longer enjoying the
pot-
hole filled road.
“
Think a version of the
spell that was on you and me, except you
’
d get to
‘
knock boot
s
’
with
them
,
and then they
’
d eat you.
”