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“My guess is the sun would still be up a little bit longer if it weren’t for those clouds rapidly closing in. It will be dark soon.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I was hoping we would have been heading back before the storm came in or it got dark,” she admitted.
“Yeah, that would have been nice, but instead, we’re going in blind, in more ways than one,” Kaye agreed. “I might as well get the lamps out and lit so we don’t get caught out in the dark.”
CHAPTER 8
A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Alligator Go Down
Ravena
We turned the last bend, and my stomach sank as the moonlight shone down upon the horror in front of us.
“Is that what I think it is?” Kaye asked as she set down her lamp. I slowed our boat down to a stop to stare at the monstrosity before us.
‘Yep. It’s our death. I knew we should have taken the psyched-out Demon in the mental hospital,’ Thorn whined.
I couldn’t blame him since we were facing a massive alligator skull before us, the likes of which should only have existed in a cartoon. The jaws were open and towered above some of the branches of the bald cypress trees.
“Is there any chance that’s petrified wood in the shape of a massive jaw?” I asked no one in particular.
‘Sure, and I’m the fucking Easter Bunny that farts sunshine and glitter.’
I rolled my eyes and snorted.
“Well, according to the map, that’s the way to go, but that landmark isn’t on here. So, I’m placing my bet on the fact Julia put that up recently.”
“That would be my guess, or else someone would have to be pretty damn blind to miss a massive skull sticking out of the woods if they were looking at this from an aerial view.” I quirked an eyebrow in her direction. “So, we’re possibly looking at a ward?” I asked, knowing I was probably right. Some supes tended to look down on wanting to go back to Purgatory. They tried everything in their power to stay here on Earth, even warding their territory to warn off intruders or, more specifically, Reapers.
“Yep. We might as well arm up. Who knows what we’ll face once we hit her ward,” Kaye said as she started digging into her bag.
“Let’s put on your first line of defense.” I smiled and held up a bottle of bug spray. “Reapply?”
“Good thinking!”
After we sprayed ourselves, I threw Thorn’s back and neck armor on him. Safety first! Kaye had found a material strong enough to protect his weak points while molding and bending when he used his spikes. I swear, I didn’t know what I would do without my brainiac bestie.
“Here, don’t forget your meds.” Kaye handed me a silver bracelet with interlocking capsules.
“Yep, can’t go without this.” I gave her a smile as I snapped the small metal piece around my left wrist since Honor took up most of my right wrist and forearm. If there was a ward, it would cause us extreme nausea to the point where we would be forced to turn away. With those bad boys, that would be a thing of the past with the medicine-infused metal. Just to be on the safe side, I fasten one on Thorn’s back leg. He’d never needed one before, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
I strapped a few throwing knives into my thigh guards, and inside my jacket were a set of dampening cuffs. Purgatory supplied them to us to help suppress magic users.
“Remember, Rave—our goal is to find, suppress, and transport, one, Julia Brown, to the nearest door back to Purgatory for her trial.”
“Yes, moooom,” I mocked.
“Oh, please. You know if I didn’t remind you every time, you would go in there, guns a blaz’n.” She chuckled as she picked up an extra bullet clip and attached it to her belt. It didn’t look anything like her normal clip.
“You’re such a party pooper. What’s with the clip?” I nodded my head at her belt.
“Tranqs. New weapon with some of that dampening spell that’s in the cuffs. I’m trying them out.” She smiled proudly, her bright white teeth shined in the moonlight.
“Sweet. This should be an easy case,” I said under my breath as I picked up the pole and pushed us closer to the massive skeleton.
‘Suuuure. If you don’t count the fact we’ve already been attacked by a snake shifter, you’ve taken a dip in the swamp, it’s dark as a black hole, the winds are going to either carry us away or swallow us up, and the witch we’re after is out for revenge on the people she thinks wronged her. Sounds like we should have asked for a raise.’
‘We? Don’t you mean I should have asked for a raise? You don’t even get paid.’ I internally groaned as soon as the words left my mind.
‘Yeah. About that. Why aren’t you paying me?’ Thorn demanded.
