Priceless (35 page)

“
What, you planning to kill her and blame it on the black
Coven
?
”
A
s the words escaped my mouth, I knew that was the truth of it, saw it flash in her eyes.

I put India down.
“
O
’
Shea . . .
”

“
Go save your friend.
”

A half
-
smile was all I could manage. Pulling my sword, I ran toward the woman who would be Milly
’
s death if I walked away.

24

Milly dispatched the last two black
Coven
members and dropped to her knees. The exhaustion was plain on her face
.
I knew her, and she was completely wiped out.
Her
“
friend
”
stood over her, hands lifted
,
and
her
back to me. Perhaps she thought I was the lesser threat—
that was about to be her
final
mistake.
Milly didn
’
t even try to fight back, didn
’
t even twitch
with her Coven member prepping a death spell over he
r
head
.

It gave me the perfect shot. The witch turned at the last second and tossed a spell at me, fire tingled down the blade of my sword and onto my arm, purple and deadly
, but it disappeared in a puff. Her eyes widened.
“
That cannot be.
”

“
Bitch, you ain
’
t seen nothin
’
yet
,
”
I said
.
I swung hard and true, removing the woman
’
s head, her mouth an
“
o
”
of surprise tha
t stuck with her even in death.
Her head rolled away from us to land where the pentagram
was still etched into the floor, right where the demon had died
.
That seemed
fitting.

“
You okay?
”
I crouch
ed
in front of Milly.

She started to cry.
“
They
are
trying to kill me.
You were right.
”

Without another word I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tight.
“
They have to go through me first, you know that.
”

Her sobs shook her
tiny
frame and I thought about all the nights I
’
d listen
ed
to her tell me how great the
Coven
would be once she was a part of it. How life would be good.
How much she would learn.

I pulled her to her feet, keeping one arm around her waist. I was tired too, but I hadn
’
t just fought off nearly a dozen witches and survived.

“
I
’
m so sorry
,
Rylee
,
”
she
said, her head
hitt
ing my shoulder.

“
Don
’
t worry about it now. But don
’
t think I won
’
t kick your ass later.
”

She laughed and then sniffed.
“
Let
’
s get out of here.
”

O
’
Shea picked up India and she clung to him. It was an image that stopped me in my tracks. An
auburn-
haired child in his arms made me think of things I couldn
’
t have
and shouldn
’
t want
.

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
Milly lifted her head from my shoulder.

Clearing my throat and scrubbing at my eyes, I motioned at O
’
Shea.
“
We need to switch.
Give me India, you take Milly.
”

He didn
’
t question me, just made the swap
and we started back toward the door. Milly lifted a hand, stopping us.
“
The way you came in is swarming with cops
.
W
e need to go out the back door.
”

She directed us deeper into the castle, to the top of a stairwell that was pitch black, narrow
,
and filled with the scent
of urine, feces and death.

Alex grumbled.
“
Stinks.
”

“
Buddy, you got that right
,
”
I said
,
taking shallow breaths.

“
At the bottom is the cells where they kept the children
,
”
Milly said, her voice choking up.

Kept,
as in
past tense. Shit.

It was India though who spoke next, surprising me, her voice steady despite the words.
“
They killed all the other kids.
”

My arms tightened around her instinctively. I couldn
’
t help it.
“
Do you know how many?
”

Her little shoulders shrugged.
“
I think there were at least three others. One cried all the time,
then there was
the boy next to me, his name was Jake
,
and there was another one
kid
on the other side
of me
, but that one didn
’
t say anything. Ever.
”
As she spoke, her eyes grew wide and dilated.

I shared a glance with O
’
Shea over her head. Three kids. The other three missing
kids
.

I tucked her head into my shoulder.
“
Okay. Try not to think about it.
”

“
We have to come back for them
,
”
O
’
Shea said.

Of course we did
;
I wasn
’
t in the habit of letting kids stay missing, not if I could take them home to their parents
, even if they were no longer alive. Closure was closure, plain and simple
.

We stepped into the dark stairwell, the only light O
’
Shea
’
s flashlight
that faded and flickered every time he brought it close to Milly
. It was good enough
,
though even I jumped a few times at the shadows
when they
’
d
flicker and dance
on the walls
.

“
Don
’
t worry, we disabled all the booby traps ahead of time
,
”
Milly said.

That explained it.
“
Before you even got here?
”

“
I knew you
’
d be ahead of us,
so
I convinced the
Coven
to disable all the dangers far enough in advance that no unsuspecting human would stumble into them.
”

“
But you know that isn
’
t possible. No human would have stumbled into them.
”

The
re was a
rustle of cloth
,
and then O
’
Shea put Milly down. She looked over at me.
“
They have stayed so secluded that they don
’
t even know how their magic relates to the human world
anymore
.
”

My brain struggled to wrap around th
e
thought. To be so
close-
minded that you weren
’
t even aware of
how
your magic interacted with others was beyond ridiculous, it was potentially a death sentence.

The five of us crossed the veil with no problems
,
going from
a
dark and cool
cave
to
blinking
from
the harsh sunlight burning down on us
. A
sneaking suspicion
filled
my mind.
“
Where are we?
”

“
New Mexico
,
”
Milly answered
.
“
Not too far away from where your friend
’
s bar is.
”

“
Son of a bitch, that damn fucking Doran screwed me over
!
”
I trembled to think how much faster I
’
d have been able to get to India, would have maybe even saved those other kids
,
if he
’
d given me thi
s location instead of the round
about way.
There would have been no need for the climbing gear, or battling the Harp
ie
s.

Milly touched my arm, took India from me and tucked her into the
camouflage
Hummer that was parked next to the cave.
“
Don
’
t think about what might have been. We got India out. That
’
s what matters, remember?
”

I stalked over to the Hummer and scrounged around inside
,
finding several blanket
s
,
then went back to gather up the remains of the other kids. O
’
Shea tried to come with me, but I shook him off.
“
No, stay here with Milly and India.
”

“
And if you run into that cloaked guy? What then?
”

Out of the corner of my eye
,
I saw Milly perk up, and I angled my body to block her view.

I tried for nonchalant and failed.
“
I
’
ll run away. Really fast.
”

He snorted and turned his back on me
,
which shouldn
’
t have bothered me, but it did
.
I refused to analyze the simple truth of the matter
, but
I was starting to trust the ex-agent.
My heart swirled with emotions
.
S
o much had happened in the last couple days that even I, who was used to this sort of shit going down, struggl
ed
with it.

Moving quickly, I slipped across the veil and back into the castle
’
s dungeon. The first two kids were
so
small, curled up in fetal positions as they hid from the death that claimed them,
that I easily
wrapped them in a
single
blanket
.
So frail and tiny with weight loss, they were
no burden to
pack out together, and I did my best not to think about the pain of their deaths,
or
how much their parents miss
ed
them.

On the
next trip, I went to the cell I quickly realized held Jake, India
’
s friend. On his shirt he had a
nametag,
sewn in over the right side of his chest, a soccer ball underneath it. He was still in his soccer gear from when he
’
d been snatched. Tall socks, cleated shoes and bright green shorts were his uniform.
He looked as if
he
was just sleeping, with a tousled head of blonde hair.
Crouching down, I took a deep breath, ignored the smells
,
and reached out for him with my
ability
, hoping that maybe there was a flicker of life in him still.