Page 103 of Demon's Bluff
And then we both jumped at the sudden thud at the bare wall. Plaster chipped and fell.
They were trying to break in.Why?I thought as the muffled sound of splintering drywall grew louder. Trent’s security knew how to move through the ley lines.
And then I figured it out. Everyone in Trent’s security knew how to move through the ley lines. Theyknewdemons were waiting to snag them if they tried.Son of a fairy-farting whore…
“Elyse, we have to go,” I said as the cracking of the wallboard became louder. “The ever-after is the only way out. We’ll get to the surface and walk to a ley line.” And still she stood there, staring at me. “Put on your robe!”
Her chin trembled in what I thought was anger. “You planned this. This entire charade was to sell me to Newt for that damned mirror with no witnesses. There’s no way to rekindle a used ley line charm, and I believed you! You’re going to sell me to Newt!” Head shaking, she retreated as the wall splintered.
“Elyse…” I protested.
“I’ll take my chances with Kalamack,” she added bitterly. “I’m not the one who arrested him at his wedding. I’m the little girl you kidnapped from camp as a hostage.” She turned to the widening cracks. “Help me! Please! She’s going to sell me to the demons!”
“You little…” Furious, I lunged for her. She yelped, backpedaling tocrash into Trent’s elf porn. We went down, me atop her. A thought flickered through me of Boz and Clemt, either laughing their asses off or taking bets as to who was going to win.
Elyse howled, clearly pissed as she tried to shove me off her.
“Put on the robe! I am not trying to sell you!” I shouted, then jumped as energy zinged through me. It was Elyse, flooding me with raw power, straight from the line we had fallen into.
I didn’t have time for this, and I pulled the fizzing energy in, forcing it into established patterns worn painless from use. Her power hummed, tasting of salt and lilac as it filled my chi. I added to it, jaw clenching when I shoved it right back.
Elyse screamed in pain, and then she went slack. I’d knocked her out.
“Get away from the woman!” someone demanded, and my attention jerked to the ragged hole in the wall. It wasn’t wide enough for them to see me yet, and when it was, they’d start slinging spells.
“If I wanted to sell you, I would have done it already,” I said, pissed to the ends of the earth as I shoved myself up and off her. The display case was shattered, statues rolling and glass tinkling as I grabbed her robe and hat, giving them a little shake before stuffing them into my shoulder bag. Had she learned nothing from the last time we argued?
“Ow…” came a whisper, and I stomped over to Elyse. Motions rough, I took the splat gun from her holster, then rolled her over with my foot to reach the one at the small of her back.
“Can you walk?” I yanked her up, struggling to manage her weight. “If you’re lucky, I singed your synapses so you can’t do anything that will get you killed.”
“Rachel…” she slurred, a hand going to her head. “You will rot in Alcatraz for this.”
“Yeah, well, I have to get you home first.” She couldn’t stand, and my stomach muscles clenched as I caught my shoulder under hers and took her weight. Behind me, chunks of plaster hit the floor as they widened the hole. “I won’t let you be taken,” I said as she blinked at me. “And if someonedoes take you, I will get you free. I promise. But we have to get out of here. They won’t dare follow us into the ever-after or they would have jumped in here already.”
“Wait…” she rasped, alarm widening her eyes. “Rachel, no!”
“Do me a favor and don’t do any magic,” I whispered. And with me in my spelling robes and her in her I.S. sweats, I shifted both our auras to match the line and we were gone.
Chapter
25
In less than a heartbeat,we were there, the acidic bite of burnt amber scorching my lungs until it retreated to a background annoyance. Elyse was deadweight, and I let her slide to the spotless floor of the coffeehouse, filling my chi with energy as I looked up to see that not only Boz and Clemt but everyone in the shop was watching with rapt attention.
“Got it,” I said, and the entire place erupted into noise, gold coins representing favors exchanging hands. They’d all been watching, and I shoved my alarm down deep. The next thirty seconds would either make my life harder or impossible, and I ignored Clemt as he shifted his bulk closer.
Elyse was at my feet, and I tugged her up as the conversations began shifting away from us, the noise continuing unabated. Boz had noticed my transposition stone, and I tucked it behind my robe, then shifted my shoulder bag higher. Elyse began coughing, bent double as she tried to adapt.
“You’re a thief.” Clemt narrowed his goat-slitted eyes suspiciously.
“And agirl,” Boz said, leering. “You have some stones on you, Red. Tell you what. You give me that book and amulet that you stole, and Clemt and I will let you walk out of here. I’ve had my eye on that book ever since that Kalamack shit put it there.”
Book?I turned to Elyse, furious. “You took one of his books?” I exclaimed,and her unrepentant gaze flicked to me as she finally got a full breath of air. “Youtriggered the alarm. I thought it was me!”
“It shouldn’t be in an elf’s possession,” she said as if that made it right.
“Agreed.” Clemt held out his hand, and I backed up a step with Elyse.