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“Yep.” He took a sip and sighed appreciatively. “You two have a knack for coffee. And cake.”
“The latter is absent today, I’m afraid. How did the investigations go last night?”
He grimaced. “Exactly as you’d expect. The Empusae know what they’re doing—there wasn’t much in the way of magic or spells to be found.”
“Was that because they would have faded by the time you arrived, or because they’re not using magic to trap their victims?”
“The latter, I suspect. From what I’ve read so far, Empusae use their bodies to entice their victims into their arms, and that gels with what you saw in Jeni’s mind.”
Meaning Aiden had updated him. “I don’t suppose you’ve any idea how many people they kill in an area before they move on?”
“No, but that is perhaps a question Belle could ask your White Lady. If she’s been tracking these things for so long, she surely must have some idea.” He studied the road ahead for a second. “I ran into your tracer today.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hmmm. She had a heap of questions about what I knew about you and your past. I repeated the guff you told me when we first met.”
“Was she convinced?”
“Doubt it. I suspect her spider senses are tingling, and that’s always dangerous when it comes to a tracer.”
I shrugged, pretending a calm I wasn’t feeling. “There’s nothing we can do about her. Not without setting off her senses more.”
“Oh, I know that. All the same, Eli and I created a redirection spell for you.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a palm-sized wooden disk deeply etched with witch runes. Though the magic was inactive, the thick lines of it swirled around the disk, providing intriguing glimpses of the power and complexity of the spell. “It’ll haze your aura and stop the tracer from using it to track you. All you have to do to turn it on and off is touch the disk.”
“How did you tune it to me?”
“I didn’t. It’s a general spell that’ll work for anyone who happens to be within the small set radius.”
“What if she’s actually following the SUV? Red Outbacks aren’t exactly a dime a dozen around these parts.”
“Which means you’ll just have to pay more attention to what’s behind you.”
“Any idea what she drives?”
“A white Corolla hatch.”
My gaze automatically flicked to the rearview mirror. Nothing. “Given how many of them are on the road, I could spend the next few days desperately avoiding totally innocent Corollas.”
He chuckled softly. “I’d offer the use of Eli’s car, but I’m afraid that hair of yours will give the game up as easily as this SUV.”
“I could use a glamour spell in combination with your anti-tracker disk—it would at least buy me some time.”
To do what, I wasn’t entirely sure. But the mere fact the prophetic part of me thought I might need it made me more than a little uneasy.
“That’s a good idea. We can swap cars later tonight, if you’d like.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Hadn’t you better check with Eli first?”
Ashworth waved the comment away. “Your SUV is brand new—he’s not going to forsake the chance to test her out, trust me on that.”
“I thought you were the car nut in the family?”
“Only in that I enjoy rebuilding them. In every other way, he’s as keen on them as me, no matter what he says to the contrary. Did you not know he used to be a rally driver when he was much younger?”
“Before or after all the sport?”
“During.”
