Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

" H oly fuck!" Colby's voice sounded across the floor.

In the next instant, about half of the spectators screamed. The other half swiveled heads in bewilderment, wondering what the others were reacting to.

Not everyone could see magical beings. There was now no doubt who in this gym came from shaman clans.

Phantomwalkers , Aine of the dragon council had called them. These things were much different from the rock formation, which had been creepy, but not ghostlike. The skull creatures hung noiselessly above us, ragged robes floating. An icy chill emanated from them, making my breath fog.

My first panicked thought was for Mick, who didn't burst inside the gym to fight. Had they hurt him? Or had he been the one to send the warning through the mirror?

If they'd harmed Mick, I'd know, I told myself. The bite of his magic in my ring would alert me. But how they got past him worried the hell out of me.

I found myself gripping the ring, willing it to tell me what had happened, while my feet were frozen to the floor. Literally. Ice welled up around my boots and adhered me to the wood.

Gabrielle was similarly shackled. Ice crept up the legs of her sweatpants, imprisoning her in place.

Before it could trap her entirely, she whipped the whistle into her mouth and blasted it over and over. White fire came out of her hands and streaked toward the phantoms. They ducked out of the way, spun, and reformed in a line.

Gabrielle spit out the whistle. "No!" she roared. "You get out of here, right now! No way am I letting you fuck up my game. It's the semifinals ."

Her shouts distracted the Phantomwalkers long enough for me to call up a burst of Beneath magic to crack away the ice that bound me.

The phantoms watched Gabrielle with their black-holed eyes as though they didn't know what to make of her. They were focused on dragons and hadn't expected the crazy that was Gabrielle, I thought gleefully. I'd make sure they didn't see my brand of crazy coming, either.

I grabbed whatever wind I'd heard outside and found a thunderstorm building, though many miles to the west, nearer the Crossroads. I let that storm ground me, weak as it was from here, while I called a hot ball of Beneath magic to my hand.

Without a sound, I threw it at the Phantomwalkers, my feet coming off the floor with the effort.

The phantoms sprang apart in alarm, and my magic tore through one of the roof beams. I swore one of my old teachers sent me a scowl.

Gabrielle had the whistle in her mouth again, the ice that had held her down now in melting shards around her sneakers. She shot herself into the air the moment she was free, Beneath magic dancing in her hands.

I added my power to hers as Gabrielle torpedoed the Phantomwalkers, letting out a long trill on the whistle as she charged them.

Gabrielle passed right through the line of wraiths as though they were insubstantial and smacked hard into the wall beyond. Her whistle fell from her mouth, bouncing on its cord around her neck.

I feared Gabrielle would tumble to the ground and prepared a cushion of magic to catch her, but she rallied. She spun, pushing off the wall to take another run at her target.

"Colby," Gabrielle yelled. "Warm it up a little!"

Colby had been sensibly herding people out of the gym. My father and Gina were also guiding them while leaving themselves, thank the gods. Gina had the bowling bag looped over her shoulder, and my father hovered protectively near her.

Colby broke from the crowd and directed a blast of dragon fire at the phantoms.

The beings shrugged it off, as the rock creature had, but Gabrielle dove right into the stream of flame. She shrieked as it seared her, but I realized what she was doing. The Phantomwalkers had frozen her when she'd tumbled through them, and she was trying to counteract their icy magic with Colby's fire.

Half her team, including my cousins, remained on the gym floor, in spite of the other coach shouting at them to flee. The girls raised fists and voices, yelling their encouragement .

"Get 'em, Coach!" "Send 'em back to hell, Ms. Massey!" "Teach 'em not to mess with us!"

I pulled out my shard of magic mirror. "Where is the storm?" I bellowed.

"I don't know," it screeched back at me. "I'm so scared I have my eyes closed."

It didn't have eyes, but I didn't have time to debate that right now. "Can you channel some of whatever storm is going on near Magellan to me here?"

"I don't know." The answer was more thoughtful and less panicked. "Let me try."

Gabrielle battled above me, smacking the phantoms again and again with white streaks of Beneath magic. A few of the Phantomwalkers dispersed into tatters of cloth, but too many remained. They were oblivious to Colby's dragon fire, but he stood stolidly below them, unwilling to leave Gabrielle.

I was torn, desperate to find out what had happened to Mick, and also to make sure the egg was safe. But Gabrielle needed my help, and her girls were still here … and so was my grandmother.

Grandmother stood at the foot of the bleachers, hands on her cane, glaring up at the phantoms as though ready to scold them. Gabrielle, above her, destroyed another. Its ashes rained over Grandmother, dusting her gray-black hair, but she didn't flinch.

My young cousins started throwing basketballs at the phantoms, and their teammates soon caught on. Grabbing all the balls stacked up in racks, they hurled them upward, granny-style, smacking the ghouls right in their skulls. Their aims were perfect—no wonder they won so many games.

The balls didn't damage the phantoms but at least diverted their attention. Gabrielle used the opportunity to strike and double-strike, clearing out more of them.

"Got it." The mirror's voice was unexpectedly chirpy. "One thunderstorm, coming your way."

The mirror's surface crackled like a glowing spider web. The glass went dark immediately, and then blasted bright again. I heard a faint rumble, as if the sound came through a weak radio signal.

My body tingled as the magic buried inside me flared to life. I stood taller, the confidence that my storm powers brought me wrapping me in assurance.

I grabbed the lightning on its next flash, married it to my Beneath magic, and shot it at the Phantomwalkers.

A flying basketball exploded midair. The girls below shrieked and ducked out of the way of the falling rubber shards.

Gabrielle's laughter was maniacal. She dove for the phantoms, wrapped her magic around mine, and streamed the lot into the ghouls.

They keened. I gathered power from another lightning strike and whacked them with it.

Grandmother, as if waiting for a cue, raised her walking stick and sang long notes in Navajo—at least, I thought it was the Diné language. Maybe not. I couldn't understand a word.

Her wailing voice tangled in the mix of magic from me and Gabrielle, and our combined powers formed a whirling mass of white and black. Streams of magic shot from this seething ball into each of the phantoms, shattering them into fragments.

Three of the Phantomwalkers remained intact. They flowed together, merging into one giant creature with three skull heads. Instead of turning and attacking me, Gabrielle, or Grandmother, they sought a high window and streamed out into the night.

"Janet, you must go after them," Grandmother commanded me.

I was racing for the exit before Grandmother finished the sentence. Gabrielle landed with a thump next to me as I flung open the double doors.

I shot out into the dark parking lot, Gabrielle right behind me. The team followed her with an energy I envied.

Many of the spectators—families and friends of the girls or those from the local community—were still there. It warmed my heart that they'd stayed to make sure we all got out safely, but on the other hand, there were now more people in danger.

"Mick!" I yelled into the crowd.

I didn't see him, but I did spy Dad and Gina with a clump of my aunts and cousins. Gina, thank all the gods, still held the bowling bag.

The three-headed phantom swooped at those gathered in the parking lot. People screamed when the wraith neared them—its icy coldness burned me as it swept by.

My aunts were trying to shoo my dad into his truck, admonishing him to get away. Dad stood stubbornly, ignoring them, Gina as resolutely next to him.

I reached my senses into the mirror, looking for another round of lighting, but I found nothing. Either the storm had dispersed, or the mirror had lost its ability to direct it.

Gabrielle shot more Beneath magic at the combined phantom, and I joined mine with hers. The huge Phantomwalker evaded most of the stream, but I saw it flinch when stung by the blast's tail. Though the Phantomwalkers were learning to avoid our strikes, they couldn't brush off our magic as they could dragon fire.

The phantom bundle turned and swooped at Gabrielle and me, determination burning in their black eyes.

Grandmother stepped out from the gym and raised her cane once more. Again, she chanted the words—ancient ones, I decided, which was why I knew they were Diné but couldn't comprehend them.

Her voice rose to meet the stars and the faint wisps of clouds that floated among the blackness. The phantom-being arrested its strike at me and Gabrielle and dove for her.

"No, you don't!" I yelled. I leapt in front of Grandmother, Gabrielle right beside me. I turned toward the creatures, staring right into their leering skull faces.

The sound of wings broke the night. Not dragon ones. These wings had feathers, and spread themselves in a black wave, blotting out the stars.

I gaped upward, and Gabrielle clutched my arm. A giant crow flapped its wings, hot wind stirring my hair and sending dust across the parking lot. Its head, huge now, held white feathers mixed with dark, and its eyes were pools of blackness.

Only Grandmother didn't react to the crow's sudden appearance. She continued to chant, her voice rising and falling in beautiful notes.

The phantoms ignored her to meet the new threat. The crow cocked its head to fix them with one glittering eye as it watched them approach.

The Phantomwalker split from its clump back into three separate entities and tried to attack. The crow wheeled aside, coming around to strike them with his huge claws .

He ripped into one phantom, which screamed as it fell to pieces, disintegrating before it hit the ground.

The crow wheeled on his large wing, fixating on the remaining two. They backed away, then suddenly turned and fled, streaking across the sky until they disappeared in a flash of light. A bang, like a sonic boom, followed.

The crow gave a croaking caw, almost like a laugh, before it flapped into the sky. It looked back at Grandmother, and I swore I saw it wink before it skimmed away toward the dark horizon.

Grandmother lowered her cane, and her song ceased.

Those gathered in the parking lot were silent for a moment, then they began to excitedly chatter, as humans do when suddenly released from fear.

Colby headed for us. "Damn," he said, gazing in the direction the crow had disappeared. "Good thing it didn't do a dump before it left. That would have been ginormous."

Gabrielle laughed and flowed to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I was thinking the same thing."

The opposing team's coach, who'd rounded up her players, started for the gym. "We'll schedule a rematch," she announced to Gabrielle as she passed. "Come on, girls. Let's get your things."

Her team enthusiastically agreed as they trotted after her.

"Sure," Gabrielle muttered at the other coach's back. "A rematch. Because we were winning."

The teams' families and friends, breathing sighs of relief, began to pile into cars and trucks for the ride home. Those who lived closer walked out of the parking lot, heading for nearby houses. Supernatural shit didn't get anyone down for long.

The only one missing was Mick.

I shouted for him again as I scoured the dispersing crowd. I expected him to come strolling out of the darkness, saying he'd followed the beings to get more info on them or was keeping others safe, or something.

But he didn't appear.

"Dad." I jogged to him. "What happened to Mick?"

Pete met my gaze with one equally as worried. "I don't know, Daughter. I haven't seen him." Gina, still protectively holding the bag, also shook her head.

My panic rose. I lifted the shard of mirror I'd been holding so tightly it creased my palm. "Where is Mick?" I demanded of it.

"Don't know, sugar," the mirror said in a small voice. "He must have dropped me. Out in the desert somewhere."

The mirror didn't always know directions unless it could see exactly where it was. If Mick's shard lay in dead grasses pointing at the ground, or up at the dark sky, it couldn't guide me.

I let out a few choice words about mirrors, Phantomwalkers, and dragons foolish enough to follow them.

Nitis came out of the desert beyond the parking lot, clad in sweatpants and a jacket, as though he'd raided a men's locker room for them. His hair was sleek and straight, the white threads almost glowing among the dark.

He shot Colby a glance as he passed him on the way to Grandmother's side. "Next time, I will bless you with some droppings."

Colby tried to assume an innocent expression, but Gabrielle laughed. Her laughter was tinged with hysteria, fear, and relief. She held Colby tighter.

"You took your time, Old Crow," Grandmother snapped at Nitis.

"I was following Mick." Nitis turned to me, his dark eyes serious. "They have him, Janet. He fought but was captured. I was trying to find out where they were taking him when I was called back."

"We needed you," Grandmother said defensively.

Nitis nodded. "It is why I answered. You and your granddaughters bested many, but they would have overcome your defenses and stolen the egg."

I barely noted their exchange, or the fact that Nitis included Gabrielle as a member of Grandmother's true family.

"Where did they take him?" I nearly screamed at Nitis. "Which way?"

Nitis pointed north, in the direction we'd gone yesterday to hide my motorcycle. The desert out there was vast and empty.

I ran to the edge of the parking lot, holding the mirror in front of me, as though I expected it to penetrate the gloom and pinpoint Mick.

"Mick," I whispered. The wind took my words and wafted them into the darkness, the name floating into the night.