Chapter Sixteen
Freya
P iss, vomit, and sea salt flavored the air, and early summer tourists crowded the streets. Salespeople called out to them, offering everything from beignets to t-shirts to genuine voodoo collection items. Our group walked past all of the chaos in search of some real magic.
Someone grabbed my arm and was burned by the heat of my magic an instant later. With my fist raised, I stared down the older salesman. He backed away from me with a shocked pout.
I sneered. “I do not like this place.”
Arion rubbed against my legs, and Walker chuckled, though he was just as uncomfortable as I was in the old, bustling French Quarter of New Orleans. Though he was as handsome as ever in his Wranglers, hat, and boots, a frown marred his face. Every time someone passed by him too closely, he lurched out of their path and muttered, “excuse me.”
I was surprised he hadn’t yet pulled the Sol Sword on anybody, which was strapped to his spine, though I had glamoured it from human sight. I wore jeans, combat boots, and a button-down blouse, all of which clung to my sticky skin in the oppressive humidity.
“I dunno,” Cadence said, “I kind of like it.”
In her floral top and sun hat, she fit right in with the tourists. The girl had truly packed as if we were on vacation.
“Of course you do,” Ryder said and ruffled Cady’s hair. “You like anywhere trouble can find you.”
She playfully shoved the werewolf but didn’t argue. I smiled but kept my senses peeled to our surroundings. The chimera could be lurking around any corner. Though the things sold in gift shops were poor knockoffs of voodoo, old magic lingered on these streets as surely as the grime and salt. New Orleans was a haven for any supernatural looking to hide in plain sight.
“Oo,” Cadence said and pointed to a man who waved an advertisement like it was on fire. “Ghost tours tonight. We’ve gotta go to one.”
“You’re making my point for me,” Ryder said.
Cadence snuck her tongue out at him and pouted to her brother. Her emerald eyes grew impossibly round.
“Please, Walker?” she said in a voice like syrup. “We’ve never gotten to travel.”
Walker actually appeared conflicted. The power Cadence held over him transcended magic.
“Have you forgotten we’re here on a dangerous, life-or-death mission?” he finally said and lifted his hat to run his fingers through his hair.
Cady frowned, but a bustling coffee shop quickly snagged her attention. She pointed at it and grinned.
“Okay, fine,” she conceded. “No ghosts, but everyone has to eat. Can we please get beignets?”
Walker shrugged, and Ryder claimed he was hungry enough to be on death’s door. As we veered toward the legendary Café du Monde, I nudged Cady with my elbow.
“Nice work,” I whispered.
She frowned, but mischief danced in her gaze. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You gave them a ridiculous idea, so your slightly less ridiculous idea would sound more reasonable. Those are pretty solid manipulation tactics, kid.”
Cadence giggled and reached down to scratch Arion between his ears. “Just wait till you try the sugar-coated, fried goodness, and you’ll be thanking me. I looked this place up on the way here and we have to try it.”
Like usual, Cadence wasn’t wrong. Twenty-five minutes later, I inhaled at least two cups of coffee and lost track of how many beignets I consumed. My coven would’ve been repulsed by the sheer gluttony, but for once, I didn’t care.
Cady groaned. “That was delicious, but I think I might be sick.”
“I told you to stop at beignet number five,” Walker said and sighed.
“Bathroom,” Cady muttered and raced through the café.
Walker stood, but I waved him off. “I’ve got her.”
I found Cady stuck in a dense line. As the young witch clutched her stomach, she accidentally bumped into the woman in front of her. The woman turned, and my breath caught.
She was so beautiful, she didn’t seem real.
In the light that filtered through the windows, her rich brown skin shone like lost treasure. Her upturned eyes mirrored the elegant slant of her broad cheekbones, and her hair was coiled into delicate braids that trailed down her back. She wore a simple yellow sundress that failed to hide her lush figure.
As her dark gaze met mine, I shook myself.
“Hi,” I greeted. My voice snapped Cadence out of her own daze. “Would you mind if she goes in front of you? She’s a bit sick.”
The strange, lovely woman chuckled. There was something familiar about her, yet I was certain we had never met.
“Of course,” she said, “that’s actually what I was just offering.”
As the bathroom door swung open and a middle-aged woman walked out, Cadence didn’t give the woman a chance to second-guess her decision.
“Thanks!” she said and hurried into the bathroom.
“Your sister?” the woman asked with a confused expression. Cady and I looked nothing alike.
“No,” I said, “um, a friend’s sister.”
The woman smiled bittersweetly. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but my own urge surprised me. I wasn’t one to pry into strangers’ lives.
What’s with this girl?
Something about her made me want to be unnecessarily nice. I cast out my magic to try to sus out some strange power she possessed but found nothing. If she had any magic, it was hidden by the city's power.
“She’s cute,” the woman said. Her voice was like music. Her accent wasn’t quite American, British, or African, but some strange combination of each.
I smirked at the woman’s description of Cadence. The girl was cute and a bit bloodthirsty.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “she’s a good kid. Thanks for letting her interrupt the line.”
She waved me off. “It’s no problem. I’m only using the loo because I have long travels ahead.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
She stiffened, and her smile became forced. Her white teeth flashed. “Across the sea.”
Hot, sticky blood raining down from the sky.
A slash of white teeth between lush lips.
This was her.
This was the girl from my vision.
Was she the chimera?
I struggled to believe it. The girl had less magic than I possessed in the tip of my pinky, but the tracking spell had indicated that the chimera would travel by sea.
As my heart raced, my magic thrummed, and the woman’s nostrils flared. Though no magic of her own was detectable, she sensed mine.
“Excuse me,” she said.
When she turned to leave, I grabbed her arm. She twisted free from my grip with surprising deftness and escaped into the fray of the restaurant.
As the ladies behind us in line whispered and gawked, I pounded on the bathroom door without taking my eyes off the woman.
“Cady!” I yelled. “Time to move.”
The woman slipped out of the café, and I cursed.
“Stay with her,” I told Arion and pointed at the bathroom door.
As I weaved through the crowded cafe, I pulled out my phone, but the goddessdamned thing was dead. I hoped the others would find me without it.
I stepped outside and squinted against the sunshine but quickly spotted the woman. She walked briskly down the street with her head down, but she moved with supernatural grace that stood out among the humans.
On the sidewalk across the street from the woman, I trailed her but did my best to keep my pace nonchalant. I couldn’t afford to draw any attention to witch-kind after Walker’s stunt with Nathan. Exposing magic to humans once in a lifetime was deadly, but doing it twice was egregiously foolish.
Farther and farther up Decatur Street, she walked. The sun beat down on us, and sweat trickled down my spine. When she turned left, I raced across traffic to keep up with her. A car horn blared, but I ignored it.
So much for not drawing attention.
As I followed the woman, another thought occurred to me. She had mentioned traveling across the sea, yet she walked farther and farther from the port. She could’ve lied, but she hadn’t spoken the words like a lie. She had spoken them like a truth she hadn’t meant to share.
As we approached an intersection, the woman disappeared from my sight. One minute, my eyes were trained on the back of her head, and the next, she was gone.
Maybe she has some magic after all.
Humans milled around me, but the dark purr of power caught my attention. Transfixed, I stared at the open door to the towering, gray mansion.
The beaming sunlight dimmed around the old, gray building. Its awnings, balconies, iron grillwork, and stone were in good condition, but its energy was darker than the rest of the city. It reeked of decay. Death and darkness loomed in every one of its refined edges.
It reminded me of the dread I had experienced in my vision.
As I stared at the creepy building, I grew more and more convinced that the chimera waited for me inside. Maybe the woman’s true power lie in her ability to conceal her magic until she wished to use it on her enemies.
From the way she had ran from me, she certainly considered me an enemy.
Desperate to capture the creature, I crossed the intersection without another second of hesitation. Cars zoomed past and tires screeched. Drivers barked curses at me, but music drifted from the mansion’s depths. I drew closer and spotted a black and white marble floor cast in the golden light of intricate chandeliers. Elegantly dressed dancers waltzed across it in perfect rhythm.
Was the chimera capable of crafting illusions?
Dark magic still thrummed in the air, despite the lovely scene.
Maybe the illusion is like the chimera herself, I thought. Lovely on the outside but dreadful on the inside.
There was only one way to find out.
In front of the mansion’s doorway, a chain and padlock pooled on the ground. I stepped over both and walked inside.
As the front door slammed shut, the spell broke, and chaos descended.