“Weird,” Bria said, either exceptional at hiding the adrenaline raging through her body, or missing the huge clue the attendant had just dropped.

“Yeah,” the woman went on, blinking in confusion. She shook her head and lifted her pencil-thin, light blue eyebrows, moving on. “Honestly, they shouldn’t allow that spirit guy to work in such a busy area. Who knows what he’s dragging out of the depths, know what I mean? Both times this happened, he was here.”

“Yeah, that’s not right,” Bria commiserated, grimacing. “You have to watch him work?”

The woman waved the thought away. “He’s over in the corner, so it’s not that big of a deal. And actually, the weird dance he does is kind of neat. It reminds me of those dances the Native Americans do.” She grinned sheepishly. “Or maybe that’s just because his hair reminds me of this Native American guy I dated once. You know…” She made a flowing gestured down the side of her head. “That really pretty long black hair?” Her lips curled. “That air elemental with him gives me the creeps, though.” She shivered. “He tried to hit on me once at the solstice party, and no-thank-you.”

“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. My heart thudded in my chest. The teen had seen a man with long white hair, but if she’d only glimpsed the spirit trapper while he was using magic, she’d probably seen him in the spirit plane, where the colors were neon, like negative images. That hadn’t even occurred to me!

“I think we just saw those guys.” Bria turned to me with excited eyes but an inquisitive expression. “Didn’t the arrogant guy we just saw have long dark hair?” She put her hand up to her chest. “He was with that gangly ginger.”

“Yes! That’s him. He’s gangly, right? And such a jerk. I mean, please, I have fae blood. Do you really think I need to lower myself for an air elemental that can only get a job with a spirit person? No.” The woman smiled at someone passing by, easily masking her haughty tone. Clearly my freak show training wasn’t a catch-all, because I had not seen any of this coming. “They just finished up not that long ago. They have to go to the back of the building to get the other half done, whatever that means. All I know is, good riddance. I wish they’d just stay back there all the time. I mean, we have guests coming through here.”

“How often do they come?” I asked.

Bria shoved me and stepped in my path. “I know, right? How often do you need to deal with that?” she asked the woman. Clearly, I was way too blunt in my approach. Subtly, that was the key.

“Every two weeks about.” She plastered on a welcoming smile, perking up as a flustered older woman with a large knit purse approached the desk. She looked back at us. “Oh, right, you want the rock wall. Well, you just go—”

I stepped away, my mind racing. They were here. Right now. Two of them. We could go after them and…

And what? They were Valens’s guys and employed by the magical government. We were rogue rebels who needed to stay under the radar. If anyone saw us, we would be the ones apprehended, not them. In a building full of professionals, a couple of oddly dressed girls attempting to hog-tie a couple of suave guys in suits would certainly get noticed.

“Let’s make that appointment before we hit the rock wall,” Bria said, grabbing my arm and jerking me away. Halfway through the lobby, she said, “Get a grip, would you?

“What’s the plan?” I asked, ignoring her. My legs and arms trembled and anxiety squeezed my chest.

“We know what they look like,” she said quietly, climbing the stairs we’d just come down. “All we have to do is find them.”

“Yes. But then what?”

“What do you mean?” She pulled me into the alcove again, blasting a hard scowl at a woman looking our way. The woman ripped her notice to the ground and quickened her pace.

Oh yeah. We’d get noticed.

I said as much.

Bria slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and dropped into a crouch, ignoring me. She shoved her hand down into the bag. “A little stalking and then springing up unexpectedly will work perfectly for those clowns.”

The teen appeared right next to Bria, her eyes staring solemnly at us.

“Why is Valens keeping you here?” I asked her, shifting from foot to foot as my adrenaline surged uncomfortably. “Did they ever try to move you?”

“We need a code word for when you start randomly talking to a ghost,” Bria mumbled. “Did they ever try to shove you into a different skin?” she asked, pulling a small shoe box out of her pack.

The teen picked at her button, her gaze shifting down to Bria. “Twice. I hated it. It felt weird.”

I relayed what she said.

“I can imagine,” Bria said, setting the box down and digging into her bag again. “Then what happened?”

“It was like trying on gloves that didn’t fit,” the teen said. “They felt slimy. I tried to push away, but I kept getting forced back in, so I dropped a chair on them and left.”

After I relayed the information, Bria paused with a candle in her hand. “She left? How?”

The teen shrugged. “Teleported to the other side of the building. When they came for me, I just teleported again. Finally, they stopped looking.”

Bria braced her forearms on her knees after I’d relayed the girl’s answer. “Huh. They clearly didn’t have someone strong enough to control the soul.” She tilted her head and pulled back the lid on the shoe box. “Stands to reason, I guess. They said she was a strong class five. Still, moving something as big as a chair in the afterlife?” She lifted her eyebrows and pulled out something furry. “That’s intense. No wonder Valens wants her trapped here. He probably wants to keep her in the rafters in case he can scrounge up someone strong enough to use her.” Bria glanced up at me. “Like you.”

I recoiled. “Ew. I wouldn’t want to force a soul to do something like that.”

“How do you think you’ll ever make money?” Bria gently pulled out another furry thing and set it next to the first.

“Not like that,” I mumbled. I squinted through the low light of the small alcove, trying to make out the shapes she was lining up on the ground. Bria added a third before closing the box and putting it away. “What are those?”

She glanced at the people walking by in the hall. “Rats. And we have to do this somewhere more private.”

“Rats?” I took a step away. The teen’s eyes widened and she blinked out of sight.

Bria looked up in confusion. “What’s the matter? They’re dead.”

“What are you doing with dead rats in your backpack?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down but having a hard time of it.

“To seek so that I can destroy. I just need to animate them, set them on the trail, and hopefully they’ll find our guys before they leave the building. I have a couple standby souls who love scurrying around in these little bodies. I just let them have at it until the bodies decay out from under them. Least I can do, right?”

I took another step back as she collected the bodies and stood, looking down the hall. “Let’s find a bathroom, and then let’s find our guys. We’ll get them today, I know it.”

I had no doubt she was right. My problem was, what would we do when we did get them? And how would we keep from setting Valens on our trail?

35

Kieran

Kieran leaned his elbows against his desk, the middle of his chest throbbing. The strange ache he’d felt since leaving Alexis’s house had intensified until about an hour ago, when it had slowly but steadily diminished into nothing but a soft hum. That was when the other feelings had begun. Inexplicable anxiety, random uncertainty, bouts of excitement, and now, intense worry.

He scratched at the center of his chest, knowing the feelings had to do with Alexis in some way. Knowing she’d formed a sort of connection between them, and now he was getting a smattering of her emotions. He had a vaguely similar situation with his Six, whose intense emotions he could occasionally feel, but while he could suppress his awareness of the Six, he couldn’t seem to do so with Alexis. Every surge of emotion caught his attention. Every degree of rising or falling intensity jogged him out of his thoughts.

He looked out of his window of his office at the blue of the bay, one of the better views in the building. The feeling of worry intensified before another emotion took over. Something like fright and disgust mixed together.

Alexis had left her house earlier with Bria. The guys had seen it on the camera and notified him. Judging by the GPS tracker, the BMW had been left behind. That meant Bria had driven, except Zorn had verified that Bria’s car had also been left behind…in a random neighborhood.

Bria only stole cars when she didn’t want to be tracked. When she was doing dangerous work that might have repercussions.

He blew out a breath. Why had he pulled the detail off of Alexis’s house?

But he knew why. He trusted her with every fiber of his being. He couldn’t help it. When she’d looked at him with those big brown eyes and agreed to give up the investigation, he’d bought it. He’d forced himself to tear her presence from his life, believing that she’d keep herself hidden. Keep herself safe.

And maybe she’d meant it in the moment. Maybe she hadn’t lied. But clearly, Alexis Price could not be trusted to stay out of the action. And now he knew.

His phone vibrated against the desk. Zorn’s name came up. The girl knows where Alexis has gone but won’t say. Should I force it out of her?

The girl was Daisy.

He texted back. Ask Mordecai. Tell him that Alexis might be in danger.

Mordecai wouldn’t play games.

A rush of shimmering air magic flew past the window. Like a big blanket, it shifted as it settled, attaching to the walls.

He looked away and returned to his computer. Valens did a fairly useless territory marking every couple of weeks or so, probably intending to prove that he had the staff and resources to “protect” the entire building. No easy feat, sure, but what was the point? It didn’t stop anyone from entering, and it didn’t harden into a forcefield of any kind. It was just there, only visible to a select few and hardly noticeable at that. Unless it was fresh, he couldn’t even see or feel it.