“It’s bullshit,” Will said. “Your mom tried to scam the Nasts by claiming you were Kristof’s daughter.”

“Excuse me?” Mom walked out of the darkness, bow case in hand, the glow seeping through. “I didn’t ever claim Kristof was her father.”

Will gaped as she strode past him and Jake to catch up with me. “You’re … You’re Eve Levine?”

I looked at Mom. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever been identified after me.”

“I’ve been dead too long.” She waved at a pile of refuse. “You boys crawl in there and hide, since you seem to be pretty much useless otherwise. Savannah and I will secure the building. They must be surrounding it now. Taking their time because we’re trapped.”

When Will opened his mouth, I expected him to say that’s why he’d advised against coming in here. Instead, he said, “So she’s not a Nast, right?”

“That isn’t exactly important right now, but because I hate being called a gold-digging slut, I’ll confirm it. She’s a Nast. Now hide.”

Will looked like someone had hit him in the gut. Mom waved for me to join her as we circled the perimeter.There weren’t any windows, which made it safer for us. We walked quickly along the walls, taking turns casting sensing spells. There was no one out there. Not yet. As Mom said, we were trapped, so they were taking their time closing the net.

Mom took her sword from the case and slung it on her back. “It won’t help against guns, but it’s easier than lugging it around.” She left the case on a crate. “Now, we need to figure out how to get a message to—” She stopped. “Cell phones. Have you called—?”

“No service. That’s the first thing I tried.”

“Right.” She shook her head. “I really have been dead too long.”

“I’m sure Elena saw what happened. I only hope they didn’t get grabbed by whoever’s out there.”

“Oh, we know who’s out there. Benicio Cortez decided not to let us handle this after all.”

“Lucas would never—”

“Benicio would. And he’d go behind Lucas’s back to do it.” I’d like to think Benicio would never order a team to open fire while I’m in the vicinity, but it’s never wise to presume on your importance to him. But I could presume on the importance of someone else.

“If he puts me in danger, he loses Lucas as heir,” I said. “That he can’t risk. With Hector and William dead, he’s only got Carlos, who’d find a way to overthrow him then run the Cabal into the ground.”

My mother made a noncommittal noise in response.

We continued our rounds. There were two more exits—one small door and one set of big, drive-in ones. Both locked. Both guarded, according to Mom’s sensing spell.

“Okay,” I said as we came around to the front of the warehouse again. “I say we use the van. Break out the doors and keep going. I’ll drive—”

“I’ll drive. You’ll be in the back.”

“With the others.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about—”

“I do. Not enough to risk my life, but enough to take the time to tell them to get in the van.” I looked at her. “I know that’s not what you’d do.”

She patted my back. “Like I said, you’re not me and I don’t want you to be. We’ll spare the extra minute to get them to the van. Jake’s got the keys anyway. Now—”

Mom yanked me behind a pile of planks. We peeked out just as light seeped through the darkness ahead, the door opening. Two figures entered. When the door shut again, everything went dark. I could hear the faint shuffle of their footsteps.

How could they see? Without Mom’s sword, we’d be blind. There weren’t any night-vision spells—

Night-vision goggles. First sniper rifles, now high-tech surveillance gear. There was no way the anti-reveal folks were that well equipped.

A Cabal would be. The Cortezes certainly were.

Was I wrong about Benicio? No. Lucas says never underestimate his father’s capacity for duplicity, but nothing was as important to Benicio as his Cabal, shortly followed by his youngest son. I may doubt Benicio’s affection for me, however much that stings, but I don’t doubt Lucas and Paige’s.

Betray Lucas and Paige’s trust by sending in snipers without warning me, and Benicio would lose Lucas and ultimately his Cabal.

Could Carlos be behind this? He was pretty inept, but he had his supporters, those who’d rather have a guy in charge that they could control. They might do this for him. Then blame Benicio, and drive a wedge between him and Lucas.

For now, it didn’t matter who these guys were, only that they could be from a Cabal, meaning very well armed and very well organized.

To the van, then. First, though, to Will and Jake. We weren’t getting far without those keys. We also weren’t getting far with that big-ass sword glowing like a neon sign on Mom’s back.

“I can do that,” she said when I suggested a blur spell. “But it’s still going to show in the dark. I should go back for the case …”

She squinted into the gloom of the warehouse.

“The glow doesn’t penetrate far,” I said. “Just use the blur.”

She shook her head. “You go. I’ll distract and slow them down.”

“No—”

“Yes.” Her tone changed to one I remembered well, the one that said I wasn’t having cookies before dinner and if I kept bugging I wasn’t having cookies at all. “I’ll be right behind you, baby. Remember, the worst thing they can do to me is send me back where I came from.” She touched my cheek. “As much as I love being here with you …”

“You want to go back.”

She blinked. “I didn’t mean that. Only that—”

“Yes, Mom. You want to go back. Not this second, but eventually.” I managed a wry smile. “I’m a big girl. I can handle that. Your life is there. He—Dad’s there.”

She paused. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call him that.”

I hadn’t. But from the look on her face, I should have. Even if Kristof wasn’t “Dad” to me, that is what he was to her—father of her child, love of her life. She loved me, too, but he was there and her life was there, and she knew I was fine without her. We were fine without each other.