Page 2 (1/2)
Chapter Two
Trent rose to his feet, stupidly staring at the tree and the foaic
"Get down!" I shouted as I yanked hi, I pulled hiht over me and to the patio on asp, eyes wide and hair askeas already reaching a quick thought out to the ley line in the backyard Power flowed in, familiar but painful in my rush, and before Trent had tossed the hair froh my mind In an instant, I relived the five-minute process toup around us, me at its center as in all undrawn circles Trent sat up, his head even with my shoulder "Stay down!" I hissed, and we both jerked as twolittle diold aura Beyond it, the pixies were raveyard, and I cursed my stupidity I’d told Jenks to keep his kids centralized, effectively shutting down our first line of defense
"Jenks!" I shouted as I stood, my circle inches fro old-dust trail still glittered, showing that he had flown straight up, getting the sitch A shrill pixy chirp drew ate My eyes met the would-be assassin’s, and the attacker ducked
"There!" I shouted, and , I furowled at Trent "Put yourself in a circle"
"Rachel"
I turned, angry as I took in his tightly pressed lips and angry green eyes as he ed to be ticked that I’d pulled hi at you, notto see if he did as I’d told hi as I broke y into myself My bare feet were alun would have been handy right about now, but Al had o and no one would sell h wood of the gate, adrenaline sending it crashing into the bushes
"Ms Morgan, look out!" shrilled a pixy, and I jerked back at the puff of air
"Crap!" I exclaiate s the way I’d coround between e chair Miracle of one inside The slightly itchy feeling in the back of ht have been the assassin setting up a trap
A dark-haired pixy landed on the fence, his hands in fists as they rested on his hips "He’s running now, Ms Morgan," Jurateful sh it, Ju just over e, and a wicked grin spread across my face
He was fast I was faster, and I raced after his slirazed the , I fell on him He had tiainst the co cement
We hit with a jar that knocked lasses falling off "You tap a lineand you won’twake upuntil next week!" I panted when I caughtall the way up to , I put my knee in the small of his back and twisted his arm around his own neck, ready to snap his wrist if heso fast I couldn’t understand theht the words "intruder" and "Papa" Just where was Jenks, anyway?
The eun and the pixies worked as a teaht down to the cherry red color And the blue splat balls? They were al Trent?" I exclaiot in your splat balls, Jack? Maybe we should find out together? Real personal like?"
Breathing hard, the reen eyes Green eyes, blond hair, lanky build, tan: Was he an elf? An elven assassin? Not a very good one, though And where the hell was Jenks?
The sound of running feet pulledDa away!
"Are you after Trent or uy under me and, furious, I thunked his forehead into the cement
The man’s eyes showed his pain "Why do you even care?"
Huh?
There was a squeal of ultrasonic sound, and Jenks’s kids dropped back to make roo silver sparkles and a zip strip from my charm cupboard to hit the et her?"
Her? I slipped the zip strip around thebetter "Jack" didn’tin with, but better safe than sorry I was spared the decision of what to do by the sound of Ivy’s cycle at the far end of the street Jenks darted aith a second zip strip, leaving his kids to sweetly tell ht to do to the man under me He moved when the subject of wasps entered the conversation, and I yanked on his arlittered over her, then she gunned it, roaring pastover the lawns Ivy was a tad more protective of me than Jenks, and with a silent fury she ran the wo, I watched the worass as she slid to a front-face halt Jenks’s children left me, and the woman slowly sat up, her hands in fists over her head as they surrounded her, bright sparkling spots of potential death in the sunshine
"Kids!" Jenks’s voice was shrill "We’ve talked about this! Lunkers are a no-kill species! How come you never listen to ht be over "Get up," I said, breathing hard as I eased up onout Jerking up and away, I stood, grabbing for his foot It sht it Deterreen eyes met mine, and when I went to snap his ankle, he sideswipedto keepto turn it into solasses Daain foundatwith hi back to us, the zip-stripped wo before her with an escort of exuberant pixies holding swords
"He’s got a knife!" I exclaimed, teeth clenched as I did an X block, then dove under his arm to make him twist his own knife into his side And there I stopped, breathing hard as I pressed the blade, still in his grip, into hi it was right over his kidney Jeez Louise, the curtains of the house across the street wereWe had to take this inside before so I needed was the IS out here
"You’ve lost, Jack!" I shouted as I pinched his wrist until he let go of the knife, then wrenched his arot Jill," I said as he grunted, "and no way are you getting that bucket of water into bust your crown! We clear?"
The guy nodded, but I didn’t ease up Spitting my hair out of myup the ith the woh over her head Jenks’s kids orking together to shift the knife to the sidelines Slowly I started to sotten them Hot damn!
"Hi, Ivy," I said as she scuffed her booted feet to a halt "Get the errands done?"
The slightly Asian-looking wo as she held up her pharun and several knives showed through the thin plastic Her lips were closed to hide her sood
"You want to take this inside or bag the-trash pickup?" she asked, her black eyes going to the deceptively eht sun, evidence that she orking toin the sun would help; so would the wind now carrying away the scent of sweat and fear
"Inside," I panted I was out of breath, but Ivy wasn’t She was six feet of lean, athletic living vaht black T-shirt It would takeassassin on her bike to ood, Jack?" I asked the ht pole, and when he nodded, I let up He gri another knife and more blue splat pellets in a clear, crush-proof plastic vial to her bag I held my hand out for the splat balls and I refilled his hopper, fast enough to azine away, I hefted the splat gun, thinking it felt good in my hand "This is my house," I said as I indicated the church "If you do soet whatever’s in the hopper, and the laill be on my side Clear?"
They didn’t nod, but they didn’t spout threats, either
"Move," I said, and with an obedience that told me the potions were nasty, the two of them started up the cean to relax
Ivy looked at the gun, her brow furrowed "It looks like yours," she said
"You noticed that, too?" Eying the attackers, I pulled one side of the door open Jenks’s kids entered the church first-three of theuys, then us "Are you okay?" I asked Ivy
She ss, small until she died and becareat at ht, or food brought out the worst in her, and this was all three "Not a problem," she said as the dark foyer took us One of these days, ere going to invest in a new light fixture, but the sanctuary beyond it was a bright wash of light, the sun colass s toroom furniture, my unused desk, Ivy’s exercise mats, and Kisten’s burned pool table I still hadn’t had it refelted My bare feet squeaked over the old oak, and I shoved Jack toward the small hallway at the back of the sanctuary
"Trent is here already?" Ivy asked, clearly having s the grit froed an assassin in my bare feet and a bikini If this showed up on the Internet, I was going to be peeved "Last I knew, he was I told hio into the kitchen and wait" Assassins usually traveled in threes, but these were elven I didn’t know their traditions
"He’s in there," Jenks said derisively as he dropped down to us "I don’t think they’re real assassins They didn’t know any ley-line ic to be deadly, Jenks You of all people should know that"
Jenks snorted "I don’t think they know any They stink like elves, but they’ve got so ed, guessing as much by the almost indifference Jenks’s kids had shown the two attackers The lanced back as we entered the dark hallway, and I sly "All the way to the end," I directed as we passed the his and her bathrooe, industrial-size kitchen I clearedas Jack and Jill whispered between the about blood and daisies as we entered the sunlit kitchen to find Trent safe within a circle of his ownbetween the cluttered center counter and the sink, full of dirty spell pots The bright, cheerful gold of his circle was free of any de me uncomfortable He’d just been under my aura and had seen the ly Black Permanent-mostly
The kitchen was hands down my favorite room in the entire church, with its expansive stainless-steel countertops, fluorescent lighting, and center island counter withabove it and in the open cabinets below it There were two stoves, so I didn’t have to stir spells and cook on the sae took up a wall Bis, perched atop it, was asleep next to the skull-shaped cookie jar The little gargoyle had probably been trying to stay awake after sunup and ed He’d be down until sunset nonoisy Pixies were flitting in and out through the one smallover the sink Ivy’s coainst the inside wall, but the space felt like mine That Trent had been in here alone sort of botheredeverywhere, too excited to perch in one place, and they were starting to give"Look, Ivy! Elf under glass!" Jenks said, and I sighed, even as a sh me and Trent dropped his circle
Like one entity, Jenks’s kids swarrimace when Jrixibell asked if she could ht be elves, but they weren’t full-blooded like Trent The pixies were al the froray-skinned kid could sleep through this was a wonder, but he was, his leathery wings lying close to his back, his black-fringed ears drooping, and his lionlike tail wrapped around his clawed feet in slus for their attention "Okay, you lot!" he shouted "Jumoke, Jack, Jixy, Jhan can stay if you’re quiet! The rest of you, hit the garden Evens take cleanup Odds on perimeter Not a butterfly crosses the lines without so! And watch the splat-ball et out there with salt water And no dropping moths into the puddles to see what the charms do! Clear?"
In a chorus of affirmation and disappointment, they dispersed, the eldest children Jenks had asked to re to the overhead rack I exhaled in relief, and realizing that I was standing like Jenks with my bare feet spaced wide and my hands on my hips, I droppedat the floor beside the fridge, and they gingerly lowered theazines off her chair with a booted foot They hit the floor with a thuainst the wall Deceptively cal to look aggressive as she took her hair out of its ponytail and let the strands fall where they h the , they were stuck
A breath of self-preservation made me toss a roll of paper towels to the wo, but the man’s forehead was scraped where I’d thunked hi else The harsh ripping of the paper sounded loud, and folding up a sheet, Jill dabbed at her jaw and passed the roll to Jack
"Move, and I’ll be on you like a demon," Ivy said "Do, please"
Jack and Jill looked at each other Together they shook their heads I kept one eye on thelasses, setting the two splat guns and five knives on the counter, looking right at ho n on the handles to help with the grip I didn’t like that one of the guns looked like mine I wondered as in thehiotten hiood enough to be taken seriously And ould elves wantthey were here for Trent
"Did they tell you who sent theain
"Not yet" Turning to the Big surprise I flicked a glance at Trent It was a no-win situation If I was tough, he’d think I was a thug If I was too nice, I’d be a pushover Why I even cared what he thought was beyond me
Jenks dropped down to the led at the s began slipping an eerie black dust In a whisper of sound, Jenks darted close and then away The intruding elf yelped, his hand s his head where Jenks had been I frohen I saw the wad of hair in Jenks’s grip I didn’t like this Jenks was usually easygoing, round than people, but his land had been violated, and that brought out the worst in him
"Ease up, Jenks," Ivy said as she came forward to touch Jill’s face "You needones" She made a little trill of sound as the wohed as Ivy started to vamp out
Think, Rachel, I mused silently Don’t just react, think "Guys," I said, conscious of Trent watching "We need to find out what’s going on without leaving any traces"
"I won’t leave a mark," Ivy whispered, and Jill paled "Not where you can find one"
"They er, tracing the wohtened in disappointo," Ivy said "Even if it wasn’t much of an attack"
I winced "Maybe we should call the IS?"
Jenks snorted, and frohter Yeah, bad idea
"Mind if I hurry this along? I have an idea"
It had been Trent, and, as one, we all turned to look at hi before him in his best Peter Pan pose, his hands on his hips and his red bandanna tucked into his waistband "The day you have a good idea will be the day I eat fairy toe jaood one," I scoffed But ic Like a blanket rubbing the wrong ild, elven ic scraped acrossatto drawit was Trent Elves were the only species that dared to use wild ic Even de with the horrible power It couldn’t be the two elves on the floor They had zip strips on "Trent, no!" I did not have a clue as to what he was doing, and with a satisfied glint in his eyes, he clapped his hands
"Volo te hoc facere!" he exclaifro
I will you to do this? I thought, clutching my robe around me An enthrallment spell?
But I think it was, and I stood at the table and stared at Trent, aghast The rims of his ears were red, and his jaas clenched in deter forward and out of Ivy’s reach "That was a black spell!" I yelled, and he retreated to the table, his eyes falling from Jack and Jill They were motionless, almost slack-jawed, eyes unfocused and hands lis to survive unless told "You enthralled them, didn’t you!" I exclaimed, and he bowed his head When it calea up next toover them as they blinked vacantly