We sprinted across the lawn and stopped inside the tree line to look back at the mansion. Through the windows, I could see Blake moving from room to room, along with more Draconi guards, their red cloaks rippling around their shoulders like all the blood that stained the inside of the mansion. I’d thought that we’d at least put a dent in their numbers at the restaurant and then at the lochness bridge, but it looked as if Blake had just as many guards with him as before. Maybe even more.
“How many men does Victor have?” Felix muttered.
“You don’t want to know,” Deah replied.
“Too many for us to take on by ourselves,” Devon said. “Come on. Let’s go find the weapons and get out of here before Blake decides to start searching the forest.”
He held his hand out, indicating that I should lead the way. Oscar fluttered over and slid into my coat pocket next to Tiny, while the others fell in step behind me. I led my friends through the woods and over to the Sinclair Family cemetery.
“This is it?” Felix asked, peering into the darkness. “This is where you hid the weapons?”
“Yep.”
I headed over to the blood persimmon tree at the back of the cemetery, took hold of the trunk, and started climbing up it.
“I should have known,” Felix muttered. “You like to climb more than a tree troll does.”
I grinned and kept on going. It took me less than a minute to reach the crook where I’d hidden the two duffel bags last night. I used one of the throwing stars attached to my belt to slice through the ropes that anchored the two bags to the tree. Then I grabbed the bags and tossed them down to the ground, wincing at all the clank-clanks the weapons made, but it couldn’t be helped and speed was the most important thing right now. Devon scooped up one bag, while Felix snagged the other. I shimmied down the tree and took the lead again.
We hiked through the woods, making sure to stay deep in the trees and well away from the mansion, where Blake and the Draconis were still searching for survivors. But they didn’t spot us, and we made it back down to the scenic overlook with no problem. No one had bothered our SUV, so we loaded the weapons into the back and got inside the vehicle.
Devon cranked the engine, but he didn’t make a move to actually put the vehicle in gear and drive down the mountain.
“What’s wrong?” Oscar asked.
The pixie was still nestled in my coat pocket, along with Tiny. From the faint rumbles that vibrated against my chest, it sounded as if the tortoise had actually gone to sleep. Well, I was glad that somebody was getting some rest.
“I . . . I don’t know where to go,” Devon admitted, his forehead creasing with worry. “We can’t stay at the mansion, and we can’t just get a hotel room down on the Midway. Victor probably has people watching all the hotels, even the cheap ones on the outskirts of town. One of the Draconis is sure to spot us the second we show our faces anywhere in town.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face again, the same way he’d done at the lochness bridge. Felix had a stricken expression on his face as well, while Deah chewed her lower lip in worry.
“I know where to go,” I said.
Devon looked over at me. “Where?”
“Someplace safe,” I said. “Someplace that Blake wouldn’t be caught dead in, and someplace that Victor and the other Draconis will never even think to look for us.”
Thirty minutes later, we were back down in Cloudburst Falls, sitting in the SUV, which I’d told Devon to park behind a dumpster in an alley that was only a couple of streets over from the lochness bridge.
“Are you sure we should park here?” Devon asked, peering out the windshield at the other dumpsters and trash cans that lined the alley walls. “This is awfully close to the warehouses that the Draconis own in this part of town.”
I shrugged. “We’ve done our best to hide the SUV. If they find the car, then they find it. But they won’t find us, no matter how hard they look. Not where we’re going. Now come on.”