Chapter 13

I slumped in an uncomfortable swivel chair, staring listlessly as Aaron paced the length of the office, over and over. Ezra stood at the window, peering through a gap in the cheap plastic blinds.

We'd gone to ground in a rundown industrial neighborhood in the Eastside. Our car was parked in a back lot, and we'd broken into a small, shabby office building belonging to an HVAC company—a struggling one, by the look of things.

"Did Robin and Amalia go home after the Odin's Eye ambush last night?" Aaron muttered as he swept past. "I know their address isn't registered, but still not smart."

"Robin isn't a combat mythic." Ezra tugged on the blinds, closing the gap he'd been looking through. "But Zylas is a hunter. He knows the danger. If they went back, it's because they had to."

"Who attacked their apartment? Was it that Grand Grimoire team?" I thought of how swiftly Zylas had plowed through combat mythics in the museum basement. Would those Grand Grimoire mythics have even slowed him down? "Was Zylas the one who blew out the wall?"

"He'd only use magic as a last resort." Ezra folded his arms. "Same reason I can't use Eterran's magic to defend us."

Claiming the charges against Ezra were bogus would be difficult to pull off already; if anyone saw him using demon magic, we'd have no chance of convincing MagiPol not to execute him. And Robin had the same problem. She couldn't afford any witnesses blabbing about her illegal contract with Zylas.

"Does it matter who attacked them?" Aaron growled, pacing back across the room. "We can't contact her and we can't search for her—not while every guild in the city is hunting us."

My hands clenched. "We have to search for them. Without them, we can't do the ritual."

Aaron came to a halt and pressed both hands to his face. He pushed his fingers up into his hair, and when he finally turned to me, his expression was as bleak as I'd ever seen it.

"We'll be caught before we have any chance of finding her… and we don't even know if she's alive."

Silence fell as we let that terrifying possibility sink in.

"Can we hire an Arcana mythic to set up the ritual for us instead?" Ezra asked.

"If Kai were with us, maybe." Aaron paced another circle. "We could look for a rogue Arcaner, but—shit, guys. I've never hired a rogue before. We're just as likely to walk into a sting as find a rogue guild."

I pressed my hands tightly together. I could think of one mythic who knew his way around the rogue underground, but I had no way to contact him—and no desire to put Ezra's life in his hands a second time.

"All mythic attention in the city is on us," Aaron continued, "and even rogues will have heard about a demon mage bounty. Approaching anyone would be a huge risk."

"Then what?" I asked. "How do we set up the ritual?"

"I think…" He blew out a breath. "I think we need to get out of the city."

I was shaking my head before he even finished. "We can't do that."

"We run for it," he repeated. "We fall back on the plan we made with Darius six years ago in case Ezra was ever discovered. Everything's already arranged. We flee north to Alaska, and once we're far enough away, we can find a mythic who'll do the ritual."

I stood up, shoving the office chair. It rolled into the wall with a thump. "But what about Kai? He's in MPD custody right now! Are we just going to abandon him? What about the Crow and Hammer? The guild could be disbanded. One week to prepare the ritual is already pushing it. If we disappear for two or three weeks, we'll never be able to convince the MPD that Ezra is innocent!"

"I know, Tori." Aaron's gaze was quietly distressed. "I just don't see any other option."

Turning away from him, I shoved the chair into the wall again. Despair warred with a dozen other emotions—frantic fear, seething fury, suffocating guilt. Everything hinged on the ritual, and without Robin or Amalia, we were screwed. Why had they disappeared? Why weren't they helping us? We'd made a deal! I'd given them the damn amulet!

I shoved the chair a third time. The impact jarring up my arms didn't distract me from the churning fear and anger. The bang of it hitting the wall didn't drown out the voice in my head telling me we were doomed.

It wasn't fair! We'd been so close! We'd been minutes away from separating Ezra and Eterran. Now every possible worst-case scenario was playing out before our eyes and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Nothing!

As a shout of despairing fury wrenched from my throat, I grabbed the chair and swung it into a filing cabinet with all my strength. It struck with a ringing clang, but it didn't help, and I reached for the chair again.

Ezra stepped in front of me, blocking my reach, and wrapped me in his arms.

For a second, I considered shoving him away. I didn't want comfort. I wanted to rage and scream and curse at the whole damn world.

His arms tightened, sturdy and unyielding. "Breathe, Tori."

I realized my chest was heaving with fast, furious inhalations. Jaw tight, I buried my face in his shoulder and focused on slowing my lungs. Gradually, the agonizing tension in my muscles released and the raging storm of emotions quieted.

Ezra rested his cheek on my head. "Kai is in MPD lockup, not a dungeon. He may not be comfortable, but he's safe. And Darius knows how to handle the MPD. He'll protect the Crow and Hammer."

Eyes squeezed shut, I didn't answer. Kai wasn't being tortured, but I had no reason to trust the MPD. And neither did Darius, who could only play loophole chess with them for so long before he ran out of moves.

Nothing was guaranteed. No one was safe.

Including us.

I gripped fistfuls of Ezra's shirt. The worst thing for Kai, for Darius, for the Crow and Hammer, and for us would be getting caught. Ezra would be killed. Kai, Aaron, and I would be convicted of capital crimes for protecting him. The Crow and Hammer would be disbanded.

The best way to help everyone was to get out of the city before we lost our chance.

"All right," I whispered. "When do we leave?"

"We'll wait for morning," Aaron answered, and I started, surprised to find him leaning against the desk right behind me. "The Grand Grimoire guys saw our car. All the bounty hunters will be watching for a white sedan, so we'll try to blend in with the morning commuters."

I nodded, my cheek pressed to Ezra's chest. Untangling my fist from his shirt, I grasped Aaron's warm hand and entwined our fingers, connecting the three of us together.

As long as we were together, I could hold back the dark despair.

* * *

Curled against Ezra's side, the floor cold and hard under my butt, I wearily listened to the low rumble of his voice as he and Aaron debated the best route out of the city. The three of us were tucked in a corner of the office, leaning against the wall and waiting for the first tinge of dawn to touch the horizon.

I let their voices wash over me, my eyes closed. I was exhausted, but also wired with anxiety. My thoughts spun and spun, and it was so hard to quiet my mind enough to catch a little sleep. The unpleasantly hard floor didn't help, but there was nowhere remotely comfortable in this barren office to sleep.

"… wasn't expecting Sabrina to show up." Aaron's voice filtered through my jittery drowsiness. "I never suspected she might not be a diviner."

I cracked my eyes open, frowning. "What are you talking about? Why wouldn't she be a diviner? She predicted where we'd be with her tarot cards."

"Have you ever seen a tarot reading include something as specific as a location?" Aaron asked dryly. "Tarot cards are all about your present state, big decisions, directions your life is taking, that sort of thing."

My frown deepened. "Her readings haven't been super specific, but everything she's predicted for my future has come true."

"Everything?"

"Yeah."

He rubbed his stubbly jaw. "I'd say that's further confirmation that something's fishy, then. Diviners are usually vague about the direction your future is headed because tarot cards aren't reliable that way."

Ezra nodded. "I was surprised when she predicted you'd save my life back in November."

I massaged my temples. "How can you believe in her predictions but not believe she's a diviner?"

"I never said I didn't think she could predict the future. Whatever she can do, knowing where to show up to help us is next-level predictive power. I get why she would hide it."

My gaze flicked up to Ezra. How many other guild members hid their secrets within the ragtag group of misfits known as the Crow and Hammer?

"You know what'd be nice?" I muttered. "A future prediction about us winning the lottery and spending a month in Hawaii."

"Aaron doesn't need to win the lottery," Ezra pointed out.

Aaron leaned his head back against the wall. "If you're craving a tropical vacation, I can just tell my parents I'm interested in checking out the IEA's Polynesian branch. They'll fly us there for as long as we want."

I was too tired to remember what IEA stood for. Some huge Elementaria guild. "Yeah, just don't mention that Ezra is a demon mage."

Aaron grunted.

"What do your parents think of your promotion?" I asked after a moment. "Did you tell them?"

"Nope." His smile was surprisingly relaxed. "I don't need to hear what they think. I'm happy about it."

I grinned, finding happiness in that even with everything else going on.

Now we just needed to fix this whole mess so he could go back to enjoying his promotion instead of fleeing for his life as a wanted rogue.

I climbed off the floor and stretched again, my muscles painfully stiff from a night sitting on the floor. More out of habit than hope, I called Robin's number—straight to voicemail—then pocketed the phone and picked up my combat belt, which I'd left on the desk. My fingers brushed the empty pouch at the back. Still no Hoshi.

We gathered up our things. I shouldered the precious backpack with the ritual, demon blood, and cult grimoire, and Aaron strapped Sharpie against his back under his jacket. Ezra donned his steel-reinforced gloves, then pulled his leather coat on over them.

This was as ready as we'd get.

My stomach grumbled miserably as we slipped out of the dark office. We'd eaten—sort of. The HVAC company's staff room had included a vending machine of drinks and snacks. We'd smashed the glass and dined on chips, chocolate bars, and bags of trail mix, washed down with bottles of water. Not exactly nutritious, but better than nothing.

Once we were out of the city, Aaron could access one of his secret bank accounts. With cash in hand, we could buy real food, but that wouldn't be happening for hours yet.

We approached the back door, and Aaron cracked it open to peer outside. A line of large work vans with company logos on their sides filled the lot, and our old white sedan was tucked between two of them. I wondered where Sabrina had gotten it. As far as I knew, she didn't own a car.

Dawn was a mere suggestion of light in the eastern sky, and the still air was fresh and crisp. Seeing nothing moving in the lot, Aaron opened the door all the way.

Ezra clamped his hand on Aaron's shoulder, halting him. The aeromage stood unmoving for a moment, then slammed the door shut.

"There are people out there."