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I shot him a sympathetic smile, and he grinned back. He was probably the only one on duty in the garage today. “Much appreciated,” he said. “If you’re sure you don’tmind…”
“Oh, it’snothing.”
A strange pressure wafted against me as I approached the gate. My stepmother’s spell. I stopped by the hinges, my chest tight. All at once I felt very, very certain I did not want to pass beyond these walls. I suspected if I’d tried to, my feet would have turned me right around of their ownaccord.
That was fine. I wasn’t here to leave anyway. I could work around herspell.
I dripped the oil onto each of the hinges. Then I paused for just a second to snag the ribbon on one. Against the outside of the bars, where it would barely be visible from thisside.
There. I’d put out mycall.
I’d just have to hope that one of my guys saw it intime.
* * *
The window’s screen made a faint grating sound as I tugged it out of the frame. I winced and stopped to listen for any movement outside or in the rooms aroundme.
Crickets chirped in the dark yard below. The warm evening breeze teased through my hair, carrying the scent of the garden’s hyacinths. Faint strains of the jazz music Derek was playing on his computer filtered from his open window to mine. That wasall.
I let out my breath and set down the screen. I’d claimed I was going to bed with a headache right after we’d finished dinner, so I didn’tthinkanyone would bother me until Celestine came calling at midnight. But I’d needed to wait until it was dark enough that even the weekend staff had been sent home, other than the few who lived on the property. Dark enough that I could expect the shadows to properly hideme.
The cloth bag I’d tucked my supplies into bumped against my back as I climbed onto the ledge. I’d raided the common magicking room before dinner. The simple linen dress I’d changed into had come from theretoo.
I hitched the loose skirt up to my thighs. The rough bark of the oak tree bit into my fingers as I grasped the oak’s branch and clambered all the wayout.
It was a nerve-wracking descent, clinging to the trunk and easing my way down from branch to branch as quietly as possible. Finally I was close enough to the base to lower myself to the ground. I crept across the soft grass along the side of the house, ducking beneath the level of thewindows.
At the back corner, I stopped and peered around the side of the manor. My pulse skittered. In the hazy light of the solar lanterns that hung around the patio, Celestine’s man Douglas was strolling through the back gardens. His gaze swept the shadowygrounds.
But he was positioned to catch someone sneaking out the back doors. I backtracked a few steps and dashed for the tallest hedge that bordered the outer boundary of the gardens. There, I dropped to my knees. The sharp evergreen smell of the hedge filled my nose as Ilistened.
No running footsteps, no shouts of alarm. He hadn’t noticedme.
My heart kept thudding. I slunk along the hedge until I reached the last short grassy stretch before the darker sprawl of the forest. I peered through the brambles, trying to make out Douglas’s position. Only a bit of the light from the patio penetrated the dusk this far out, but I didn’t want to take anychances.
There. He ambled a little farther to the left, and then he turned on his heel to face the patio. I pushed forward, my bare feet pattering across the grass and onto the uneven ground of the forestfloor.
I ran several paces through the trees and stopped in the thicker shadows. There, I listened again for any sign ofpursuit.
None came. Exhaling in a rush, I pulled my flats from my bag and tugged them onto my feet to give me a little protection against the pebbles and roots. Then I hurriedonward.
Speed mattered more than silence now. If the guys had come, I didn’t know how long they’d been waiting—or how long they could keepwaiting.
The bridge Kyler had picked for our emergency meeting spot lay about a twenty-minute walk northeast of the manor. I hit the stream first and treaded along its rocky bank. The burble of the water was faintly soothing as it guided me on into the deeper woods. The moon was rising, but its pale light barely touched the forestfloor.
The trees parted where the stream widened to almost a river at the bridge. The arching structure was built of stones now so worn and lichen splotched you’d almost think they’d grown right out of thestream.
Four figures were standing around it. A choked noise of relief broke from my throat as I scrambled the last several feet to meetthem.
Kyler reached me first, pushing off the side of the bridge and striding forward to catch me in his arms. He kissed me hard, and for a second it almost felt as if everything was all rightnow.
He drew back, his hands resting on my shoulders, his eyes dark in the dim moonlight. “Are you okay? What happened? You have no idea how worried we’vebeen.”
The other guys gathered around us. I dragged in my breath. Everything wasn’t all right yet. It might not ever be. And the time I had to try to make it right was slipping away with every thump of mypulse.
“My stepmother knows I’m starting to figure out something’s wrong,” I said. “She found the phone you gave me. I don’t know what else she might have noticed. She decided—she decided they have to do the consort ceremony tonight. To make sure I’m already bound to Derek and under their control before my father getshome.”
Kyler’s eyes widened. Damon swore. Seth stepped closer, his brawny shoulders tensed. “We won’t let them hurt you. Do you need us to get you out ofhere?”
