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abbed a flashlight and taken off to see if she couldn't find something better. My choice was fine, but I suspected she was simply too excited to sit still.
I'd found a fallen log and sat down to pore over my notes. I was reading them through for the third time when a hand pressed between my shoulder blades, fingers rubbing the knot of tension there.
"How are you doing?" Cortez said, taking a seat beside me.
I managed a shaky smile. "It feels like I'm about to do my SATs, driver's test, and thesis presentation all rolled into one."
He squeezed my hand. "You'll do fine."
I leaned against him and he put his arm around my shoulder.
"What would you think about heading out to the Coast?" he asked. "Washington or Oregon. You might like it there. Lots of open space, and the ocean. It's not the East Coast, but ..."
"I visited Portland once. I liked it."
"We'll go there, then."
"So you're going to--?" I hesitated. "I mean, we haven't discussed ..." I took a deep breath and plowed on. "Are you coming with us? For now, I mean?"
"For now ... and for as long as I'm welcome." He slid a quarter-smile my way. "The problem, as you undoubtedly have already discerned, will not be keeping me around, but getting rid of me."
"I can live with that."
I leaned over and kissed him. When we pulled apart, he adjusted his glasses, then looked at me.
"When I, uh, mentioned the Pacific Northwest, it wasn't a random suggestion. Oregon is one of the few states without a Cabal satellite office. With Kristof dead, on a case in which I was involved, I may need to lie low for a while."
"What will happen?"
"I don't know. I can say, with certainty, that my presence won't place you or Savannah in danger. I'd never do that. The matter of Kristof's death will be handled through proper Cabal channels. If I'm in danger, I'll hear of it long before anyone comes for me. My father should be able to handle it." He shook his head. "It seems no matter how far and how fast I run, I always end up relying on my father to--" He stopped. "I'm sorry."
"Tell me."
He entwined his fingers with mine and smiled. "Later. I only wanted you to know that I'm not placing you in danger, but that it would be wise for me to keep out of sight for a while. My father may--will summon me home to Miami. I'd prefer to be as far away as possible when that happens."
Savannah burst from the forest. "Is it time?"
I nodded. "Wait here. I'll cast a perimeter spell around the site."
"We'll have everything set up when you return," Cortez said, dropping the knapsack from his shoulder.
"No, I'll do--" I bit my lip. "Sure. Thanks."
I walked until I could no longer hear the murmur of their voices, then continued another ten feet before casting the perimeter spell. Fighting my way through the thick woods, I circled the site, casting as I went. Then I looped around again, just to be sure. When I returned to the clearing, Cortez and Savannah were kneeling on the ground, laying out the final objects.
Cortez shifted to a crouch. "Is this correct?"
I took the notes from him and walked around the tableau, scrutinizing it from every angle. Along both the north and south sides of the cloth they'd laid a quartet of tools--a small pot, an athame, a candle, and a chalice. The north candle was purple, for power. The south one blue, for wisdom and truth. Off the cloth they'd left the Baggies of dirt, the juniper, and a bottle of water.
Savannah handed me a necklace, a lodestone on a strip of rawhide, like the one now around her own neck. I put it on, surveyed the tableau once again, and bent to move the blue candle an inch to the left and rotate the northern athame about twenty degrees east. They'd probably been fine to begin with, but I felt better making the adjustments. Control isn't a habit you can break overnight.
"Okay. We're almost ready. Savannah, have you buried the cloth?"
She nodded.
"Good, then you need to kneel on the north side, in front of the purple candle."
"Shall I move elsewhere?" Cortez said.
