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“No one has.”Delia sounded sad, hollow.Not the hard-charging, sure-of-everything prosecutor he remembered.“We won’t let antimagic terrorists hold our city hostage.”
The spotlight zeroed in on a huge dirt lot that ran the length of two city blocks.Tall, skinny silver grids lined the space like a giant version of the erector set Perry had played with as a kid.“What is this place?”
“Our stop,” Mark called.“I’ll be landing us on the street.Smooth and easy.”
What part of this weird covert operation was anything smooth or easy?“On the street?Is that even legal?”
“It is now.”The man set the helicopter down without any hesitation.
“This is a high-voltage substation.”Delia unbuckled her harness.“Well, it’s a no-voltage one for now.”
Perry shoved open his door, not waiting for the chopper’s rotor blades to stop theirthwap-thwap-thwapbeat.The restaurant across the street had plywood pushed patchwork-style in the windows.The sign over the door had been smashed, and only half the lettering remained.The stench of spoiled food and smoke rolled over him.The taqueria had fared better than the discount store to the left with shattered glass, ransacked shelves, and spray-painted walls.A darkened traffic light and dead power lines creaked above.Papers whirled along the pavement like tumbleweeds.
Delia lifted a hand over her nose, and he struggled not to do the same.Was that rancid meat or rotten eggs?Either way, it reeked.
He needed to hurry this along for so many reasons.“What do you need me to do specifically?”
“Restore the electricity.”She sounded as though she fought a gag.“Bring the grid back online.”
“Okay.”He had no idea how to do that.He was running out of time to figure this out.
“I’ve called in our arrival.”Delia’s black jumpsuit hadn’t wrinkled or gotten dirty in the hostile negotiations or their flight.Knowing her, she’d had a designer outfit in her closet for armed takeovers.“A witch engineer will be waiting at the front gate to let us in and facilitate the transference of power.Mark will stay with the helicopter.”
“No way.”The big man rounded the front of the chopper, his hand over the gun strapped to his hip.“I’m not leaving you alone with the traitor who tried to kill us.”
“I have him.”Delia made it sound as though Perry was a naughty puppy who’d chewed her shoes.
Mark shook his head, biceps bulging and jaw clenching like an action figure from a superhero movie.“He’s a walking Taser, and you’re unarmed.”
“I’m an elemental.”As if to prove her point, the foul-smelling air swirled away from her.“I’m always armed.And we can’t abandon the helicopter here unguarded.”
Perry didn’t have time for a lover’s quarrel.“The Senate sliced, burned, and salted the compulsion wards out of me.I won’t hurt her.I swear it.”
“Riiight,” Mark drawled.“I don’t care what they yanked out of you.You’re still you.Still a selfish, power-tripping bastard.”
“You tried to kill my wife.”His queen.“So I suppose we’re even.”
“Not hardly.”
“Wasting time.”Perry started toward the gates where a woman in a neon yellow safety vest and hard hat stood, looking their way.
“He doesn’t even know what he’s doing,” the other man argued.
Totally true.Not that he’d admit it.He kept going, not looking back.“It’ll be like jumping a giant car battery.”
The quick click of Delia’s heels told him she’d wrapped up the discussion and followed him.Good because every moment counted with Vori’s blood vows, Petra’s power play, and Kradnovtl’s ruin.He needed to be back with her.Now.Not arguing about who would babysit him.
“You must be the weather witch,” the engineer said to Delia.
Perry kept his mouth shut.Of course, any witch would presume the woman was the one with active powers.No one imagined he might possess magic.She wasn’t wrong.The Legacy had powers.But not the kind they needed now.
“I’m Delia Donovan.We spoke on the phone along with my grandmotherSenatorDonovan.”The title proved all they needed for the engineer to unlock the gate and show them inside.“My…assistant.”She tipped her head in Perry’s direction.
He choked on a snort.
“Here are your flashlights.Follow me please.”The engineer led the way through the towering metal skeletons that glowed a faint bloodred under the crimson moon and the bouncing beams they carried.The combination of red and silver made Perry think of Artanya’s banners, and he shivered at the memory.
“It’s not that cold,” Delia whispered.“Nervous?”
