Unfortunately, you can’t just tel a cabbie to drive you somewhere safe. An actual address is a must.
I gave him an address for two streets away from my house and then spent the entire drive fretting over that decision. The FIB had been at the house earlier, so what was the chance they weren’t watching it and waiting for me to return home? Of course, only an idiot would go home, and if I worked on the assumption that they assumed I wasn’t an idiot and thus wouldn’t go home, it would actual y be one of the safest places possible.
Yeah, okay, it was crappy logic, but the letter Caleb had mentioned was there. I knew the fae had taken Caleb, but I had no idea what had happened to Hol y. Caleb’s cryptic message made it sound like the letter would give me a clue.
It took the rest of the money in my purse to pay the cabdriver, and that was with so little of a tip that he almost ran over my toes as he drove away. Night had fal en while I’d been in the car, and I was actual y thankful that my vision I’d been in the car, and I was actual y thankful that my vision was on the fritz—light didn’t matter so much when you weren’t looking at the world through physical eyes.
I walked through backyards, stepping around forgotten toys and over sprinklers. As I neared Caleb’s yard, I tried to stay out of view of the street. I didn’t know where hidden watchers might be lying in wait, but whenever I’d had to stake out a place—not often, but for one case involving a falsified wil and some misappropriated items—I’d stayed in my car, watching for movement in the house.
“Hey, Alex,” a male voice said, and I was so tense I actual y dropped flat to the ground before I realized the voice belong to Roy. “Man, I’ve been looking al over for you.”
I pushed myself out of the dirt. “That’s good, because your timing is perfect.”
“Oh, you have no idea. I saw Bel run off last night, so I went after him. Man, that glowy stuff messed with his head.”
I guessed that by “glowy stuff” Roy meant raw Aetheric energy. I nodded. “Okay, but, Roy—”
He didn’t even pause, but paced as he spoke faster, his hands doing half the talking with him. “Wel , he and a few of his fol owers got away, and they were, like, high on magic.
Casting al kinds of random shit. Until they crashed. Now they want more. Bel sent his men to find you. Said he was going to make you open a path for him.”
Great. “He’l have to get in line.”
I waited to see if Roy would continue, but he’d apparently exhausted the story.
“So, uh, why are you hanging out here in the dark?” he asked as if he’d only just noticed the location.
“Because the FIB are after me. I need you to do me a favor. Can you see if anyone is in the house?”
“No. I just came from there. It’s empty.”
Perfect.
I stayed low as I crossed the backyard. Once I reached the back porch, the wrongness in the house hit me and I the back porch, the wrongness in the house hit me and I stopped. The wards had been busted open from the outside, and they had clearly put up a good fight before they went. I let my senses stretch beyond the now defunct wards, searching for any traps or alarm spel s. There weren’t any.
At least, not any of witch creation, and that was as good as I could ensure. I eased the back door open and slipped into the kitchen.
When I looked around, my sight showed everything in ruins, but the ruins were al where their unruined counterparts usual y sat. Cracked plates were in the dish drainer, pots and pans with rusted-out bottoms hung above a stove that should have been condemned, and even the broken chairs were tucked neatly under the bowed table—
al of which I took to mean that in reality, the house looked exactly like it always did. I think I’d expected the place to be trashed, left with obvious signs of a struggle from Caleb’s capture. But if the wards hadn’t been cracked open, I would never have been able to tel that anything at al was amiss in the house.
I didn’t turn on lights as I passed from room to room—the darkness made no difference in my vision at the moment, so turning on the lights would only alert anyone watching the house to my presence. As I didn’t know where the letter was, I didn’t know how long it would take me to find it, so it would be best to keep evidence of my search as quiet as possible.
Caleb had mentioned Hol y’s bed when we’d been on the phone, and I wasn’t sure if that was where he found the letter or where he put it, but it was as good a place as any to start looking. I crept to her room, pushing the rotted door open soundlessly. A large, weathered envelope sat in the center of a tattered comforter. I snatched it and dropped it in my purse. I needed to read it, but here definitely wasn’t the best place, as I had no idea when the FIB would be back.