Cursed: Out of Ash and Flame by E.C. Farrell (epub e ink reader .txt) 📕

Ha! I knew the lights weren’t straightforward.

With one last look at my strange guide, I turn to face the light, a linear existence most are quite comfortable with. Power drags me forward. Faster and faster, I fly until the glow fills my vision completely. Then, in a burst of ash and fire, I stumble back into the middle of a crowd of Amazons and gargoyles.

Regaining my balance, I rest my hands on my bare hips and look down at Hank, who still squats where I lay before. “Why so glum, big guy?”

Hank wipes his cheeks with the edge of a finger. “What took you so long, kid?”

I press a hand into his massive shoulder. “That’s a conversation we’re going to have to have over some tequila later, right now, I need some new clothes. We’ve got a water spirit to save.”

“Wait just a moment,” the shifter says, her claws now absent but her ire most assuredly not. “We—”

“Don’t have time to argue right now.” I unzip the backpack Hank so helpfully brought along and pull on the only set of clothes remaining inside. “As I’m sure you know, Yaritza is fast and smart and if we don’t get on her level, we’re going to lose Max. Now...” I hop on one leg as I slide the other into a pair of jeans. “The buyer is Iris Smith, a member of The Tribunal. So, things are a little sticky.”

Zipping the backpack up once again, I haul it over my shoulder, and march right through the group, my two awesome gargoyles at my sides like sentinels. Brynn leaves her wings open and wide. They form a sort of shield, keeping the Amazons from getting too close. Ironic considering a few days ago she’d beaten the snot out of me.

Men and women dressed in black sit or slump against the other vehicles in the parking lot. Most are tied up, but a handful are clearly unconscious. That’s what you get for attempting to fight gargoyles. Well trained bounty hunters or not, it’s a losing battle, one best not engaged in.

The Amazon shifter sprints out in front of me, walking backward to face us. “If the buyer is a Tribunal member, then we should turn her in to them. What evidence can you provide?”

Readjusting the straps on my shoulders, I click my tongue. “The contract. But we’re going to have to catch up to Yaritza and Max to get that, because she’s the only one with access to that documentation.”

At the van, Brynn curves in a wing to brush the Amazon shifter aside, eliciting a growl. “We can deal with legal fall out later. Right now, that’s not the priority,” she says. “I thought the Amazons understood that better than anyone. But you’ve always been a bit bound by the rules, haven’t you Dharma?”

The Amazon shifter — Dharma apparently — attempts to stomp around Brynn’s wing, but its stone strength holds her back. Black fur creeps up her arms. Then one of the other Amazons — a blond wearing goggles and a gray jumpsuit — smooths a hand across her shoulder.

“We can fight about all this later,” she says in an accent I don’t have the cultural knowledge to peg. “Right now, we should concern ourselves with rescuing the boy.”

Though a hardness lingers in her jaw, Dharma’s claws retract, and her fur disappears. “We’ll need to catch up, they already have quite the start on us, and we’ve had trouble scrying on them in the past.”

“We also can’t travel nearly as fast as Yaritza does,” I say. “Even if Hank, Brynn, and I fly we won’t be able to catch up with them quickly. None of you have water bamfing powers, do you?”

The woman wearing the goggles side steps Dharma. “I have a spell that can transport a small group instantly to a specific location, but I can only use it once a day, so we’ll just have one shot. That is, if you can pinpoint our target.”

That’s tricky. Especially since I suspect Yaritza will keep moving, striving to get to Iris Smith as fast as possible after all the delays. Not to mention the fact that I attacked her. Even more troubling is the fact that we still don’t have anything to convince Iris to put an end to her bounty. No Aline, no testimony about Joel.

Again, I wonder if she ever had a witch try and speak to his spirit, but I brush the question aside. Right now, I don’t have an answer for that. Right now, I have to focus on trying to rescue Max.

I stuff my hands into my back pockets. “We’ll never nail down Yaritza. She’s not going to stop until she can fulfill the contract at this point. But Iris is less likely to move anywhere. I think. In theory. Hopefully. So, we go to her instead.”

Hank elbows me gently in the shoulder. “Good plan.” He turns his attention to the woman with the goggles. “How many can you send?”

“Three,” she says. “Or I can take two with me.”

I gesture to myself with a thumb. “Count me in. I know Yaritza better than anyone. Hank or Brynn should come along too. Their gargoyle moral high groundness might convince Iris to listen.”

Dharma’s fingers tighten into fists, eyes wide under low eyebrows, a combination of shock and fury. “One of us has to be included.”

Crossing one leg over the other, I sway back against the side of the van. “So, our magical transportation specialist comes with us. What’s your name?”

Goggles’ focus darts to Dharma, then flits straight back to me. “Laurien.”

“I’ll try to track down Aline, convince her to turn herself in,” Brynn says. “Or see if I can find any information that might help convince Iris to end this without violence. Plus, I’ll put a bow on our friends here.”

She nudges one of the rival bounty hunters with the toe of her boot.

Though Dharma grumbles about it, she agrees to go with Brynn