As soon as it was full dark, we put my plan in motion. Jude had liked it—jackpot!—and now all we had to do was make sure it ran flawlessly.
No problem.
Ha. As if.
But I had my sisters and friends at my back, along with Lachlan. I wasn’t sure if he could be called a friend, but in a fight, I was glad to have him at my side.
“Ready?” Rowan asked.
“Yep.” I climbed up onto the buggy, then jumped into the driver’s seat.
Our plan was to use the buggy to search the massive port for our targets. We had a dozen Protectorate members taking their positions around the port. They were perched on top of cranes and towers of shipping containers, getting as high as possible to get a good view of any activity. Using comms charms, they’d direct us where to go.
Bree and Rowan climbed onto the front fighting platform. It covered the hood of the car and was surrounded by a single railing to keep them from flying out when I made crazy turns.
Cade and Lachlan took the back platform, while Caro jumped onto the bench seat next to me. She could stand and fight from there—every spot on the buggy was a fighting spot. Ali and Haris took the back seat, crowded in with a pile of shields that we’d probably end up needing in a fight.
Jude stood on the ground, catching my eye. “Good luck, Ana.”
“Thanks.” I sucked in a steady breath.
Please let me be right about this.
Sure, I wanted to ace the Academy. Though ace was a bit generous. I’d settle for passing.
But there was way more at stake here. This would be our last chance to retrieve the spell—I could feel it. We’d had two near misses now, and they were about to hand the magic off to the person who had bought it.
We couldn’t fail.
“Harnesses!” I said. “Safety first!”
Bree grinned at me, then snapped the climbing harness around her waist. It was attached to the railing surrounding the platform and was our version of a seat belt.
As soon as everyone was buckled in, I hit the stealth button. Then I cranked the key in the ignition. It was as silent as an electric car, but I could feel it rumble under me.
I pressed on the gas and took off, trying to recall my memory of the map of the port. Caro had a cell phone just in case we needed to use GPS.
“Testing, testing.” I touched the comms charm at my neck.
“Katie here.”
“Jude here.”
“Hedy here.”
All of the team members who were perched around the port reported in. Most had binoculars, though a lucky few were wearing Hedy’s eyesight enhancement charms.
I drove relatively slowly through the darkened port. It was a maze of tiny roads through the piles of shipping containers. I kept my senses alert, feeling for any signs of dark magic.
“There are so many hiding places,” Caro muttered.
“I know. It’s crazy.” Every nook and cranny could contain a guard or a demon. The hair on my arms stood up. How many would they bring for this operation?
“Ana?” Hedy’s voice echoed out of the comms charm. “I see some activity in the northwest corner. Can’t say for certain what it is.”
“Thanks, Hedy.” I turned left, having a vague instinct where the northwest corner was located. “Caro?”
“On it.” She pulled out her phone and began to give directions.
The atmosphere in the buggy was tense as we prowled through the alleys created by the shipping containers. They loomed tall overhead, blocking out what little light there was.
“On your tail!” a voice sounded from my comms charm. “Coming up strong. Look out!”
It was Jude. She must be above us, sitting on one of the cranes.
I didn’t dare look back. “Hear that, guys?”
“Aye,” Lachlan said.
The sound of a low growl sounded, making my skin go cold. On the front platform, Bree turned around. All the blood rushed from her face.
Ah, hell.
I caved, glancing in the rearview mirror.
I nearly screamed.
12
A massive monster ran behind us, gaining speed as it approached. Fangs the size of steak knives filled the beast’s mouth. It was shaped roughly like a mutant dog, but the similarities ended there. Scales covered the creature’s body, and its eyes burned like hellfire.
“What is it?” Fear shivered in Caro’s voice.
“No idea.” My heart thundered as the footsteps pounded behind us. “But we’re definitely in the right place, because he’s a guard dog if I ever saw one.”
“Potion time,” Ali said.
I divided my attention between the road ahead and the rearview mirror.
Ali and Haris climbed onto the back platform, handing out potion bombs to Lachlan and Cade, who had sheathed their swords. The beast was only twenty feet off now. They hurled their bombs. The colorful glass spheres flew through the air and exploded against the beast’s hide.
It stumbled, then righted itself, plowing after us. Its footfalls shook the ground. I could feel it, even through the buggy.
“I knew I should have put spikes on the back of the buggy,” I muttered. Coated with ravener poison, they’d have paralyzed the beast.
“Next time,” Bree said as she climbed onto my seat, then scrambled into the back. Rowan followed, her face pale but determined.
My gaze darted between the road and the fight. The guys were hurling bombs, but the monster kept coming!
Crap.
I pressed on the gas, driving as fast as I dared through the narrow passages.
“Turn left!” Caro said.
“Hang on, guys!” I veered left, driving along the massive dock. A huge tanker was tied up next to us, looming ten stories overhead. The scent of dark magic rolled over me.
We were on the right track.
I swerved around a massive pile of ropes, sparing a second to glance back at my friends.
The monster was so close that its face filled my rearview mirror. My friends were hurling potion bombs as fast as they could, but they clearly weren’t penetrating the hide of the massive beast.
Then it happened, so quickly that I almost didn’t realize what was going on. Lachlan unsnapped his harness, then leapt off the back of the truck, right onto the monster’s head. He barely avoided its jaws, grabbing onto the horns and pulling himself onto the top of the creature’s skull.
He wrapped his strong legs around its neck, then called his sword from the ether and plunged his blade into the back of the creature.
Holy fates!
I glanced forward just in time to see another huge pile of rope. I swerved, barely avoiding it, my heart thundering in my ears.
“A little warning!” Bree cried.
I looked back in the mirror in time to see the monster stumble and fall, the scent of dark magic exploding out from it. The reek of garbage made my eyes water.
Lachlan jumped off the creature just as it exploded in a poof of black dust.
I slowed the buggy briefly, giving him enough time to race back to it and jump on.
My mind spun as my friends congratulated him.
Lachlan had had no magic and no backup, and still he’d jumped right at the jaws of that great monster. If the beast had had quicker reflexes, it could have jumped up and bit him straight through the middle.
“That’s one crazy guy.” Jude’s voice echoed through my comms charm.
“No kidding. Any more of those beasts coming up?”
“No, that’s the only one I saw. But you’re getting pretty close. I imagine they’ll have set up guards around the periphery, just in case—”
A flash of movement flying through the air ahead made me lose track of Jude’s words. A figure leapt from the top of the barge and landed in front of the buggy with a thud.
A demon, at least ten feet tall and built like a Mack Truck stood in front of us.
“Crap!” Caro said. “I don’t have my magic, and I can’t throw to save my life.”
And everyone else was in the back. “Grab the wheel!”