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“What spell?” Jaz asked.
“A tracking spell—but if we don't damn well move faster, we just might lose her.”
Jaz swore, but the SUV didn’t noticeably increase its speed. We were obviously already at its top.
“How long will the remnants of the spell last on the car once the connection breaks?” I asked. “And will you be able to sense it if we get close to it?”
He motioned to another street then glanced over his shoulder. “I created the spell on the fly, so it could fade within minutes or it could last a couple of days.”
“If it did last, then it at least still gives us one means of finding the vehicle even if the tracking thread snaps.”
“Yes, but finding the car won’t help us find the entity. She’ll be long gone.”
“But maybe not her spore.”
“That depends entirely on how quickly we can find the car.”
“So we drive around until you find the damn thing,” Jaz said. “Because the sooner you two know what you’re dealing with, the better off everyone else is going to be.”
Monty grunted and continued giving directions. The chase soon led us out of Castle Rock, off the main roads, and deep into a heavily forested area.
As the trail moved from paved roads to gravel and then onto what was little more than a rough track, the silken thread that was the connection between Monty and his spell broke.
“She’s driving a damn Focus,” I said immediately. “She can’t have gotten too much further up this track—the car isn’t equipped to deal with this sort of road.”
“Unless she’s using some sort of magic to force it through,” he said.
“Why would an entity capable of creating fireballs and stealing human flesh bother? Even dark spirits have energy limits—she’s more likely to abandon the car and run than make a futile attempt to force it through the damn trees.”
“It would seem the latter is the case.” Jaz slowed the SUV down and pointed. “There’s a car in the trees up ahead.”
“Stop,” Monty said.
The SUV slid to a halt and dust plumed, briefly cutting the Focus from sight despite the brightness of the headlights.
“Stay here,” he added. “I’ll make sure it’s safe.”
“Jaz can stay here but I’m sure as hell not. It may take two of us to pin this bitch down.”
Monty didn’t say the obvious—that my magic probably wasn’t going to be strong enough to handle this entity if his failed. He simply got out and moved to the front of the SUV. I scrambled out and joined him.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“Hard to tell whether she’s still there or not, as the whole car is practically vibrating with the force of her nature.”
And that force was very dark. It definitely wasn’t Alice who’d run from her mother’s house—and that meant the body was probably hers. But I doubted the skin beside it was. This thing was obviously—for whatever reason—shedding one skin and then stealing another.
I glanced at Monty. “What do you want to do?”
Power stirred around him; the spell was one I recognized but had never actually tried simply because we’d run just as they’d begun teaching us the more complex stuff. He was creating a demon snare.
“I’ll take the direct approach,” he said. “If she’s still there, she’ll sense my magic and react to that. You move around the side and hit her only if you sense my magic failing.”
Tension wound through me but I didn’t say anything. I simply nodded, moved into the trees, and carefully made my way through the shadows, making sure I kept the same pace as Monty. If I got there before him, the dark spirit might well attack, even if it was also aware of Monty’s magic.
So much for you being sensible and it being Monty’s job not ours, came Belle’s thought.
He’s battered and beaten. If this thing is here and attacks, he might need magical help. Not that my magic alone would have much hope if his did fail, but there were glittering, silvery threads of wild magic drifting through the trees here and—
