The Children and the Blood (31 page)

Looking at her askance, Ashe raised an eyebrow.

“He hasn’t had a chance to use it,” Spider continued, a half-smile on her face. “I think he’s saving it for after the war.”

Sidestepping to a clear stretch of dirt, the girl drew another symbol on the riverbank.

The sun was climbing past mid-morning when a shadow fell across their practice and made them both look up. Standing on the grassy edge of the drop-off to the river, Carter shaded his eyes from the glare of the sunlight on the water.

“I think we may have found him,” he said.

A shiver ran through her, starting from her middle and spreading outward in a wave. Crushing down the fires by habit, it was all she could do to keep breathing at the news.

“Blackjack called from Ohio. Elsa’s in a panic because she saw a Blood meeting up with a couple lowlifes outside a bar in her neighborhood. The description was a bit disjointed, but from what we can tell, it sounds like your guy.”

Words escaped her and she swallowed hard. “So…”

A smile pulled at his mouth. “Go tell Bus we’re heading out.”

She had to stop herself from running back up the slope.

As the others continued down the main path, she diverted through the space between two mobile homes. A narrow track led deeper into the woods, and for a few minutes, she only heard birdcalls and leaves moving in the breeze.

Clicking sounds cut through the forest ahead. She walked into a small clearing just as Bus let out a holler of victory and the rumble of an engine coming to life replaced the noise she’d heard before. Stepping back from an old truck, Bus clapped his younger companion on the shoulder and then caught sight of her by the trees.

“Hey there!” he called cheerfully. “Take a look.”

Biting her lip, she came closer and dutifully looked over the engine.

“Great,” she told him, her tone distracted despite her best efforts.

He glanced at her as he grabbed a rag hanging nearby. “What’s up, Ashe-girl?” he asked, wiping his hands clean.

“They found him.”

Bus’ eyebrows rose. “Carter say when we’re leaving?”

“Soon.”

“We’ll get the van ready.”

Motioning to the young man with him, Bus tossed the cloth at the truck and then headed for the other vehicles hunkered beneath the trees. A brown van waited at the edge of the junkyard, rusted on the outside though Bus assured them it was solid internally. For the past month, he’d been making modifications, welding in new storage areas and reworking the engine.

Leaving them to their work, she hurried back to the Abbey, half-jogging as she threaded her way toward the cabin. The living room was empty when she came in, though at the end of the hall, the door to Bryony’s room was shut and she could hear Spider and Samson talking quietly inside.

A pang of discomfort hit her. Trying to ignore it, she continued into her tiny room and pulled out the bag beneath the bed. Over the past weeks, she’d acquired a few more articles of clothing from castoffs others at the Abbey didn’t need. It wasn’t much, but she’d never before appreciated the marvelous relief that simply having something clean to wear could provide.

Such as it was, her small wardrobe fit into the bag easily, and her gun remained tucked into the holster beneath the worn leather jacket Jericho had given her. With everything else in the room belonging to Magnolia and her family, it only took minutes before every trace of her presence had been packed away.

At the edge of the room, she hesitated, her hand lingering on the doorframe as she scanned the tiny space.

It wasn’t home. It never would have been.

She shoved away from the door and headed outside.

From Melody’s cabin, Carter and Bus emerged, carrying their own bags and a few extra besides. Tossing her an empty sack, Carter jerked his head toward the main house and then began heading in that direction.

“Food,” he told her succinctly as she caught the bag.

She followed him to the kitchen, knowing Belle would happily have food to share.

But time slid past. Things took too long. The sun was crossing the sky too quickly and when they finally emerged from the kitchen, she felt like the day had already passed them by.

Even if it’d only been half an hour.

People waved to them as they headed for the gate, calling out wishes for safe travel and goodbyes. A cluster of children raced up to Bus, playfully trying to keep him from leaving before he managed to chase them away. Tala and Mischa emerged from wherever they’d been hiding, and the burrs stuck in their dense coats made Carter shake his head.

Leaning on a crutch, Samson stood on the cabin porch, his free arm around Spider’s shoulders and her forehead resting on his chest. As the others passed, the girl turned swiftly and followed them, not looking back.

Pretending they saw nothing, Carter and Bus continued to the end of the gravel path, where Magnolia, Jericho and a handful of people stood waiting. At the sight of them, the woman smiled, and wrapped Ashe in a hug as soon as she came near.

“Take care of yourself, sweetie,” Magnolia said.

Ashe nodded.

“Was good to have you here,” Jericho told them all.

Carter and Bus agreed, and shook hands with their friends who’d come to say goodbye.

It only took a few moments, and then suddenly they were leaving the Abbey behind.

At the edge of the dirt path, Ashe glanced back. Children ran between the houses as the adults went back to what they had been doing. A dog chased off a few chickens from where he’d been sleeping, and birdcages swayed in the breeze.

And in the distance, she could see Samson standing on the porch, unmoving.

She turned away and followed the others down the narrow trail between the trees.

*****

Over the bridge guardrails, Ashe watched the river and ignored the rush hour traffic hurrying home for the evening.

“See the wall there?” Bus called from the front, glancing back at her and then pointing to a rugged stone wall running along a service road by the riverbank.

“Yeah?”

“We call that one Seagull.”

Ashe nodded, studying the scene and trying to burn the place and its corresponding code word into memory.

“You sure you’re remembering all this?”

She looked back at him. “Seagull, the stone wall by the river near the bridge,” she said, listing the locations and trying to keep the annoyance from her tone. “Tumbleweed, the abandoned lot behind the gas station off exit one-twenty-three. Angel, the northeast sanctuary door of the cathedral on East Seventeenth on the south side of the river. And Pepper, the service entrance to the sandwich shop on South McLane.”

“You forgot the pawn shop. What’s that one again?”

Biting back her frustration, she started to reply when Spider rolled her head across the headrest and saved her the trouble. “Bus, relax already. She’s got it.”

Spider raised an eyebrow at him and reluctantly, Bus gave in and turned around. Without another word, the girl rolled her head back and resumed staring out the window.

Glancing to Spider, Ashe tried not to let her gratitude show. Ever since they’d hit the suburbs, the old man had been drilling her relentlessly on the Hunter’s pre-arranged meeting places, in case they became separated. In an emergency, she’d head to the nearest one, waiting for the others or leaving messages about where she’d gone.

It wasn’t that the information wasn’t useful. Like everything else, she knew it could save her life. It was just that Bus seemed to take any slip of her memory personally, despite the massive amounts of detail he was trying to force into her brain.

Cutting across two lanes, Carter sent the van up an exit ramp and into the city. Commercial districts passed, filled with stores whose signs were so crammed on top of one another, she could hardly read them. Cars crowded the parking lots around them, and stoplights seemed to interrupt Carter’s driving every few feet.

“That–” Bus began, pointing toward a strip mall before catching himself.

“Another one?”

Faintly chagrined, he nodded. “Shoebox.”

“I’ll remember,” she assured him.

Hesitating a moment more, he went back to watching the road.

A small grin twitched her lips, and she hid it quickly.

Past banks and houses, schools and churches they drove, winding through the city till at last Carter pulled the van to a stop by a curb and sighed. “This is why I let you drive,” he told Bus, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

The old man clapped him on the shoulder sympathetically and then set to work detaching the police scanner from beneath the dashboard.

Ashe tugged up the hood of her jacket and then jumped out after Spider and the dogs. Across the street, teenagers lounging on a porch watched them, and down the road, music pounded from a house converted into a bar. Old trees cast long shadows on the cars lining either curb, while a few blocks away, traffic rushed by yet another stoplight.

Shouldering her bag, she followed Spider up the steps from the curb and past the sidewalk, and then thanked Carter quietly as he held open a chain-link gate. A yellow cottage stood atop a small rise, its walls bordered by scraggly bushes and creeping ivy.

Pulling back the screen door, Carter knocked and was instantly rewarded with the sound of a tiny dog yapping madly.

“Every time,” Bus muttered, shaking his head.

Letting the screen close, Carter sighed.

A moment passed. From the opposite side of the street, the teenagers studied them.

The door swung open. “Oh!” cried an old woman. “You–”

She cut off as a small, fluffy dog charged the door, barking furiously. “Mitzi! Quiet!” she commanded, though the dog paid no mind. “Quiet!”

At her helpless look, Carter opened the screen and stepped inside. Torn between fierce determination and cowardice, the little animal retreated, still barking for the world to hear.

Bus groaned quietly and followed.

“You got here sooner than I expected,” the old woman said, sounding flustered as she herded the dog toward the basement stairs. Shutting the door on the noise, she exhaled in relief and put on a pleasant smile as she waved them all farther inside.

Spider closed the door behind her, but Ashe barely noticed. A time capsule surrounded them, as different from the neighborhood outside as another reality. Floral wallpaper covered the walls, edged by dark mahogany trim. Pale rose carpet absorbed the sound of their footsteps and thick satin curtains shrouded each window. In the living room, a vintage couch and loveseat occupied two walls, and from beneath the lacy shade of a gold-plated lamp, the porcelain forms of a shepherd and shepherdess dangled.

And on every wall, pictures hung. A much younger version of the old woman smiled out at the world from the arm of an equally youthful man, and though the scenery and decades shifted from image to image, the subjects remained.

A lifetime, chronicled in gilt frames.

“I don’t believe we’ve met, dear,” the old woman said to her. “I’m Elsa.”

Blinking, Ashe dragged her gaze from the walls and introduced herself.

“A pleasure,” Elsa replied. “Well, I’ve got the bedroom down the hall set up for the girls,” she continued to the others. “But I’m afraid you boys will have to take the living room. There’s some blankets in the hall closet…”

Stepping aside, she waited for Bus to precede her. Glancing to Carter, the white-haired man worked to keep a straight face as he dutifully headed for the designated closet.

“You kids must have had a long drive. I can brew some tea before dinner if you’d like? Or I might have coffee. I… where’s Samson?” Elsa asked suddenly, glancing around.

“He needed to stay behind,” Carter told her. “Is there a place I can set these bags?”

Distracted by the question, she nodded and showed him another closet as Spider slipped down the hall toward the bedroom. Ashe followed.

A twin bed and a lower trundle sat in the small room, matching quilts covering them. Spider glanced between the beds. “You want that one?” she asked, motioning for the twin.

“Doesn’t matter.”

Shrugging, the girl dropped her stuff by the trundle and busied herself with sorting through the ammunition in her bag.

Hesitating briefly, Ashe set her own bag down and then headed back to the living room. The kitchen adjoined the room by way of a dining area, and beside the polished white sink, Elsa was instructing Carter on how to prepare the salad. Ignoring them, Bus nudged aside the thick curtain by the back porch and studied the yard, while Tala and Mischa flopped onto the floor nearby. The dull thud of music from the bar undercut the quiet, and occasionally someone outside would shout.

Ashe glanced around, uncertain what to do, and then crossed to where Bus was standing. “So what now?” she urged softly.

“Dinner.”

She paused uncomfortably.

“Take it easy, girl. Carter’s got a couple things going right now, but don’t worry. We’ll find your monster.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Look around,” Bus said quietly. She surveyed the quaint decor, still lost. “We’re damn near the heart of wizard territory. And yet…”

He saw the understanding come into her eyes as she glanced at Elsa.

“She seems so…” Ashe trailed off, unable to find the right word.

“Oblivious? Trust me, she’s not. At least, not underneath. She’s just determined to pretend the war isn’t happening, even if it gets her killed.”

Impatience churning, Ashe watched the woman. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked finally, working to set the frustration aside.

“Keep watch on the front. And for the love of everything holy, don’t freak if you see anything. Elsa won’t handle it well.”

Taking a breath, she started to nod and then froze, suddenly realizing that if the Blood showed up, she wouldn’t see anything at all. She wouldn’t know them from the kids across the street, while they could spot her in the window and tell instantly what she was. And then there was the issue of wizards coming by, and protecting her friends while not giving herself away.

Heart picking up speed, she made herself keep breathing. She hadn’t thought this through. In all the training and planning, this fundamental issue simply hadn’t crossed her mind.