Chapter 18
If Herm’s truck was dusty on the inside, it was positively filthy on the outside, and a thick layer of desert-road dirt caked everything—especially the license plate.
Still, he fit right in between the high-end convertibles and the oversize ranch trucks, driving sedately through St. Unoc’s streets as if he were in from his spread for the day.
Benedict was to my right, my staff between us. Herm was driving, obviously, and my knees were high as my feet were over the drivetrain. Pluck had parked it in his lodestone, and I fingered the knotted cord about my neck as Dana’s accusations swirled through my mind.
Shadow spit, I thought as I ran my nail over the rills of glass created not on earth or in space but somewhere in between, suspended as we were between mage and Spinner.
Do you have any idea how irritating that is? fizzed through me, or us, rather, and I let the amulet go.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Maybe I should have taken that dross drift off her.”
Benedict took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “What dross drift?”
Herm, doing a slow thirty-two mph behind a landscape truck, snorted.
Sighing, I gripped Benedict’s fingers tighter in mine. “She can’t really believe that Pluck and I are responsible for this. I don’t understand where Dana’s attitude is coming from.”
“I do.” Herm eased to a halt, brakes squeaking as his eyes fixed on the truck before him slowly running the red light.
He didn’t say another word, but his expression was clear.
Pluck and I were guilty until they found someone else to blame, and even then, I might take the rap because the university didn’t want the expense of putting in shadow escape valves.
Catching Thoth might not even make a difference because as a weaver I’d carry the stigma from his actions, and retractions seldom got the attention of the original sensational lie.
No, if I wanted to find a balance between shadow and light, I had to prove my innocence. And Marty’s. Now.
Grimacing, I let go of Benedict’s hand to push the hair from my face. “Herm, is the hospital on the way to your safe house?”
“No-o-o-o…” Herm’s drawl was full of thought as he ran a hand over his bristly chin.
“But finding a way to sneak you in to see Cameron is high on my priorities.” He glanced in the rearview mirror in suspicion.
“Settle in at your safe house first. Get yourself acquainted with the locals. Give me a couple of hours to coordinate with Lev. He’s been there most of the day. ”
“Locals?” Benedict questioned when Herm pushed the accelerator and the truck roared, trying to pick up speed so he could make the next light.
Pluck’s worry tangled through my thoughts and I rubbed my wrist, remembering the snapping sensation. We’d have to go into Cameron’s dreamscape again. If Thoth was there…
Grinning, Herm pulled to the curb and put his truck into park. “Here we are.”
Benedict’s brow furrowed. “Ah, Herm?”
I followed Benedict’s gaze across the street, realizing we were behind the memorial gardens. Is he joking? I thought as his “locals” remark finally made sense.
“I suggest avoiding the stairs.” Herm leaned across Benedict and me, smacking the glove box until it opened. “Henry will ping university security until I take the garden off the system.” He blew out his breath as if tired. “I’m going to need a nap after this.”
“The auditorium?” I questioned, and Herm slammed the glove box shut, a small bag with an electronics store logo on it in his hand. “With the memorial shadows?”
“How are we supposed to get down there if we don’t use the stairs?” Benedict asked, choking when Herm’s grin widened. “The well?”
But Pluck fizzed happily at the idea. It’s perfect. Even when they realize you’re there, which they eventually will, they won’t dare follow you.
For good reason, I mused, worried.
“Down the well, yes,” Herm said confidently. “Benedict, you’re good with earth magic. You can’t tell me you haven’t jumped out of a two-story window before.”
Benedict flushed. “Okay, I can slow our fall to where it’s safe, but the shadows…” His words faltered, and he glanced at me for reassurance—reassurance that I didn’t have.
“Ah, I don’t know, Herm,” I said as Pluck bubbled and fizzed, eager to get into the dank space. “Going down to ask a few questions is one thing. Staying there is another.”
“Petra, I don’t know where else to take you.
” Worry pinched Herm’s eyes. “For all his skills, Pluck is vulnerable. He can destroy anyone who tries to touch you, but doing so enforces their very fears. He’s fighting with one hand behind his back, far too easy to put in a bottle, chained by his desire to become a part of society, as are you. ”
Suddenly my protests and reluctance to spend the night in the dark seemed petty. I owed him. Owed him big. “Thank you, Herm. It’s a good place.”
His shoulders slumped in relief. “I’ll have the security system offline in about an hour. You have your phone?” he asked.
“Yes.” I touched my pocket. “I’ll need a charger by tonight, though.” I looked at the auditorium’s rear gate. “And somewhere to plug it in,” I finished faintly. Where was I going to find a plug? The only power to the auditorium ran to the salvaged bathrooms.
“Give it to me,” Herm said, hand outstretched. “Ben, yours, too. I’ll drive them around with me today and turn them off on the expressway going east.”
I took a breath, then exhaled, feeling stupid.
“Use this in the meantime.” Herm handed me the bag. “Ben, that water I mentioned is in a cooler in the truck bed. It won’t be cold, but you can fix that.”
That he could, and I looked in the bag to see the phone still in its box. Herm was good at this. “Thanks,” I said as I handed him my phone, and he tossed it up onto the dash with Ben’s.
Motions slow, Benedict got out. I slid across the seat, feeling as if everything was moving too fast. There were only three cars in the huge lot, the parking space not yet repurposed, and yet I felt as if we were being watched.
Tugging my cap lower, I scuffed the butt of my staff on the warm pavement and squinted at the shade by the door.
Pluck was hiding in his amulet, and I held it, taking the brunt of the sun for both of us.
“See you in a few hours,” Herm said loudly as Benedict slammed the door shut. Saying nothing more, he drove away.
Benedict squinted at the sliver of the quad visible between the buildings, a small cooler in hand. “You put dross on Dana? When?”
Heat billowed up from the pavement, but my fingers were cramped with cold from the lodestone. “Herm put it on her. She brought it up from the basement. Remember when she skinned her hand on the fireplace? I guess he didn’t like her assuming one of us would pick it up.”
It was my life in a nutshell. Uncomfortable, I headed for the small rear service door that opened to the garden itself. Benedict met my pace stride for stride as he scanned the area, but no one came back here and it was likely we’d gain the grotto unseen.
There were no cameras, and the tiny door in the brick wall was little more than a way to satisfy the fire codes.
Benedict broke the lock with a well-placed piece of magic, and we went in, being careful to shut the door behind us.
It was nearing noon, and the gardens with their shady nooks and cooling water fountain made a pleasant place to eat one’s lunch.
Today, though, it was empty thanks to the university having shut the grounds due to it being a high-shadow zone.
“Looks clear,” Benedict whispered, and we eased out into the sun.
No cameras, Pluck fizzed as I followed Benedict to the well set over the original floor of the sunken auditorium. Aasta kept breaking them until the university got the hint.
Aasta, I mused. I liked knowing the shadow’s true name, but it wasn’t her that my mind went to but the half-drowned slim man who had pulled me from the floodwaters to the top of Cameron’s car.
Kahu, Thoth had called Pluck, both there, at the tunnel, and again at the records building.
Clearly it was an image that Pluck had used before, attached to a name he no longer wanted to be known by.
Thoughts swirling, I touched Benedict’s hand as we made our way down the walkway running between newly planted cacti and succulents. The aggressive chatter of a hummingbird was familiar and soothing. Benedict laced his fingers in mine almost shyly, and our pace slowed.
Hey, is Benny going to be okay down there? I asked Pluck as I remembered Aasta’s reaction to Cameron.
He will be tolerated, fizzed and bubbled through me. Every city shadow knows he made the inert dross that hides under the floor. But I doubt they have returned.
I scuffed to a halt at the raised edge of the well, propping my staff against it before peering down into the blackness. You sure?
His concern laced through my query, and I wasn’t surprised when Pluck hazed out of his lodestone, puddling onto the top of the wall briefly before slipping into the well and clinging to the shadowed side like a bat. I will check, tangled about my thoughts, and then he was gone.
Oblivious to our conversation, Benedict set the cooler atop the wall. “That’s more than two stories down.”
“Is it too far?”
“No.” He squinted at where the surrounding walls met the sky. “Herm was right. I’ve jumped out of windows before.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” I stared into the well as Pluck’s presence became faint. I thought it odd that from here, it looked pitch-black down there, even with the spot of sun at the bottom.
“Okay.” Benedict exhaled, the lodestone on his ring suddenly sparkling. “Sit on the wall. Legs in. On the count of three, I’m going to give you a little shove and you’ll fall. It might seem fast, but it’s about half speed. You’ll land as if it’s only three feet down.”
My eyes widened. “Shove me? I don’t think so. I will shove myself.”