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An hourafter leaving behind the smoking remains of Henry & Sons, I spot a pair of black vans sitting on the side of the highway and pull up behind the nearest one.
I send my magic sweeping forward, touching briefly on the five people inside to make sure Trent and his people hadn’t been waylaid and replaced with more of Berdherst’s men.
When the souls waiting for us are familiar, my shoulders relax.
While I had scrubbed the magic off the license plate, there’s no way for us to know if other trackers were put on our vans, which means Lia and the kids are no longer safe with us.
So we called in the only backup we trust to finish this job for us.
I turn to Lia. “This is where we part ways. I’m sorry we couldn’t get you settled in person.”
“You’ve already done enough.” She pats her large purse, where she stashed the portal gun I gave her. “We’ll take it from here.”
Throat tight, I hop out of the van, and Anny scrambles onto my seat from the back and leaps out beside me.
My hand settles automatically on her head, and a surge of ley line energy rises to my fingertips, calling to the well of magic inside me.
Trent jumps out of the van nearest us and squints. “Is that your familiar, Flint, or did you trade your fox in for a dog?”
Pride shoots through me that my illusion fooled even someone who knows about Anny. It took a lot of trial and error to extend the glamor I use on my face to encompass Anny’s entire body. But now when people look at her, they see a Shiba Inu.
“Nope, she’s still a fox under there.” I stride forward to meet him at the back bumper. “Thanks for meeting us halfway.”
The man’s salt-and-pepper beard splits with a grin, and he claps me on the biceps. "Anything for our old friends."
Savannah slides the side door open, hops out, and straightens, the top of her closely cropped black hair reaching the top of their work van. “Where are the babies?”
“They’re not babies.” I eye the black tattoos on her bare arms, nearly invisible against her dark skin. “Don’t give them any ideas. They’re still impressionable.”
She rubs her hands together, her biceps bulging, and strides to the side of my van to open the door.
Elizabeth pokes her head out of the driver’s window of the van farther down the road. “Should I turn around to make unloading and reloading easier?”
At my nod, she pulls out onto the empty highway to perform a quick U-turn and backs onto the side of the road with the noses of the black vans now touching.
Marc drives up a few minutes later and cruises past us to pull in behind her.
“Jerry, wake up and get a hustle on!” Trent barks out. “We need to be back on the road in thirty minutes!”
A small, lanky man tumbles out of Elizabeth’s van and strides over to help Marc open the back doors.
While they work, Lia settles the kids in Trent’s van. The adrenalin from the fight at the old gas station, followed by a sugar overload, has left them cranky and half asleep.
Hopefully, they’ll sleep through the rest of this journey and wake up safely in their new home. If not, then Savanah will keep them entertained.
Anny chases after them, scrambling into the van to get more pets before she loses her rapt audience.
I hop back behind the wheel to turn my van around.
Trent pops open the back doors and grabs a box, and I hurry around to help him.
Since I was transporting the kids, there are far fewer items to transfer, and we make quick work of it. Once we finish, we walk toward the other car to help them.
As we pass Trent’s van, the sound of laughter drifts out.
Trent smiles. “Savanah’s good with kids. She’ll keep them riled up so they sleep hard tonight and won’t have to think about why they had to move.”
“It’s your funeral.” I shake my head. “You have a long drive ahead of you.”
