In a sudden motion, Kal shoved Daniel off him and rolled to stand. He still had a hold on the ley line, and it made the tips of his fine hair float. He stared at Trisk, his hatred and jealousy of her again firmly in place. It had been three years since she’d seen that expression, but it looked right on him the way his flattery and attention the last few weeks had not.
Daniel got to his feet, slapping the street dirt off Kal’s hat before putting it back on his head in case Orchid should return. Never taking his eyes off Kal, he scooped up the tire iron, hefting it in evaluation. “I should drop you in the nearest holding center and let them rip you apart.”
A smirk twitched the corners of Kal’s lips as he looked at the blisters and continued to make the wrong assumption, then he ducked at the sudden clatter of pixy wings. “You are a thumb-sucking slug turd, Kalamack,” the pixy woman said as she hovered out of his reach, hands on her hips and a bright silver dust falling from her. “I’d sooner kiss a wasp than look at you. You’re lower than a troll’s bahoogies, fouler than a fairy’s dung heap, as trustworthy as last year’s yogurt—and you smell worse. If you move, I’ll jam something into your eye.”
“You’re coming with us,” Trisk demanded, arms shaking as she gripped the gun. “Now.”
Kal scoffed, his attention shifting between her and Orchid. “Like you’d shoot me,” he said, and turning on a heel, he walked away.
Trisk’s focus narrowed, her grip on the gun tightening as Orchid’s dust turned a furious red. Beside her, Daniel gathered himself to jump him again. You keep making the same dumb mistakes, she thought as she shifted her aim low and to the left. Exhaling, she pulled the trigger.
The recoil jolted her more than the sound, and she held her breath, not wanting to smell the spent gunpowder. Kal jerked to a stop, his hands suddenly away from his body as he spun. Daniel looked almost as surprised, the tire iron dangling loosely in his grip as Orchid’s dust shifted to a smug yellow. “Move. Now,” Trisk demanded. “That way.”
“Ah, Trisk?” Daniel said, his gaze going behind them to the end of the street, and Trisk’s grip on the pistol tightened. Shit. In the distance but coming closer was the sound of a truck running at full throttle. The Weres had heard them.
“Are you insane?” Kal shouted as he ducked Orchid’s swoop at him. “You shot at me!”
“And I’ll hit you next time,” Trisk said. “Start walking.” She motioned with the muzzle of the pistol back to the car he’d been trying to break into. “Orchid, can you get in there and unlock the car for us?”
“You bet,” the pixy said, but Trisk stiffened at the sound of the chortling truck getting closer, the shifting gears loud in the still night. A feeling of being trapped trickled through Trisk. What the hell good is a gun when I have an entire arsenal of magic I can’t use?
With a sudden yelp, Orchid dove for Daniel’s hat, her sparkles quickly vanishing. “Let him go,” Daniel said, one hand holding the hat down, the other gripping that tire iron. “We can’t afford to get caught, and he can.”
“No!” Trisk’s hands tightened on the pistol, fully aware that they were obvious under the streetlamp. “We may as well be tried and convicted if he gets to Ulbrine.”
Kal smirked, content to do nothing, sure everything would swing his way in a moment. The vehicle jostled around the corner, the headlights shining on them. Trisk felt a wash of despair as she saw the farm truck with its open bed. She could run, but Kal would turn her into more of a fugitive than she already was. She stood frozen by indecision as Daniel pulled at her sleeve, trying to get her to move. “I can’t. I can’t!” she shouted, then jumped when the truck blew its horn.
No one moved when it came to a squeaky-braked halt as if waiting for them to get out of the way. A shadowy head poked out the front window. “Dr. Plank! Is that you?” a woman’s voice called.
33
Daniel spun, his face white in the stark light of the headlamps.
“What the hell?” Kal said, turning to look at the truck as well.
With a smooth motion, Daniel swung the tire iron at the back of Kal’s head as if he were throwing a softball.
“Daniel!” Trisk cried out. Shooting Kal in the foot was one thing. Hitting the back of his head with a tire iron might actually kill him, and as much as she hated the man, seeing Kal dead wasn’t on her list of things to do at the end of the world.
But it hit with a soft thud, and Kal collapsed. Eyes wide, Trisk fell to kneel beside him, checking to see that his eyes dilated in the headlamps. His aura was strong and his pulse steady.
“Is he okay?” Daniel asked, and she looked up, seeing the anger still in him. She stood, embarrassed now for her outburst, and when she nodded, Daniel let the tire iron fall with a clang. “Good. I’ll hit him again when he wakes up,” he joked, but Trisk thought there might be a hint of truth to it.
A truck door slammed, and Trisk rose, facing it. The pistol was still in her hand, but whoever was in the vehicle had called Daniel by name, and she hid it behind her.