Vale pulled the knife out. The smooth side of the blade caught the morning light.

  With a shove, I was upright. My vision swam, but I mostly fixed it by closing one eye and aiming for her torso. I hurled the wrench.

  It hit her shoulder with a meaty thud. The flow of magic stopped.

  Vale’s eyes widened. “You—”

  “Ari, Roman, drag her to the center of the room!”

  Roman leapt over me to hit her squarely in the chest. Vale stabbed at him, but the knife didn’t do much to the bone or the hollow spaces lacking flesh. Ari closed her jaw around Vale’s arm, teeth sinking in.

  Vale screamed and frantically blasted magic at the dogs.

  Most of it missed, but one blast separated Ari’s tail from her body. Ari kept her teeth locked on Vale and started tugging.

  Roman hopped off Vale, dodged a few blasts of power, and bit her knife arm. The blade fell to the ground.

  At this point, I really should’ve tried to cuff her, but a quick poke confirmed my leg was broken. Plus, the dogs were making quick work of dragging her to the center of the space, perfectly in line with the main path between the machines.

  My vision cleared up. If I was going to cast more, I needed to get some power back. I yanked the magic out of the wall I’d cast.

  Vale stopped struggling and let them drag her. Magic concentrated around the dogs.

  “Kannu!” I screamed, flinging power I’d intended to use against Vale.

  The two spells hit the dogs at the same time, and they collapsed to the floor, nothing more than piles of bone.

  Vale got to her knees and pointed at me.

  I wouldn’t be able to dodge and keep her in position for Wayne’s shot. “Orzu.”

  Vale started to sink into the concrete, but she was too busy working on a spell to notice.

  “Fehu.”

  The ground solidified around her legs. She kept casting.

  I crawled, my broken leg dragging behind me. If I could get behind the machines.

  Six inches later, my vision blurred from the tears. I wasn’t going to make it.

  But I could kill her.

  My wand fell from my hand and I drew my gun.

  The spell flew toward me.

  I aimed for center mass and pulled the trigger.

  Vale’s head jerked, then her chest.

  The spell exploded, showering me with harmless motes of energy.

  Vale toppled over, her legs still stuck in concrete.

  “Pine?” Harris called out. “Where are you?”

  I holstered my gun. “In the corner.”

  “Don’t shoot me.” His voice came from inside the building, not though the earpiece.

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” My wand went back in its sheath. I leaned back against the wall, pain radiating from my awkwardly splayed out leg. It hadn’t enjoyed the attempt at crawling or repositioning to shoot Vale.

  Harris stepped into view. He gave me a quick look before checking on Vale. “Dead.”

  My necromancy and the splatter of things that were supposed to be inside the skull agreed. “Not to sound ungrateful for the assistance, but I thought you were doing the sniper thing.”

  “Couldn’t get a clean shot.” Wayne knelt next to me, glanced at my leg and toggled his radio. “Agent Pine needs medical assistance, broken leg.”

  “There are healing charms in my car.” I said into the microphone. “And I need an ax.”

  “Your radio is busted.” He repeated my comments.

  Past him, the piles of bones that had been Ari and Roman looked so sad. I got out my wand. It would only take a touch of magic, and they’d be back to themselves.

  The front door burst open, and Smith came in, followed by a small army of various police personnel. From there, it was a rush. They took pictures of everything. I got them to carefully bag up Ari and Roman so I could reanimate them later.

  The EMTs wanted to package me up and send me to the hospital, but I refused to go until we were done with Vale. When everything had been documented within an inch of its life, I softened the concrete so they could pull her out and then solidified it again. It went back together without so much as a ripple.

  Since I couldn’t stand well enough to wield the ax, Wayne did the wretched task for me. In one swift movement, he severed Vale’s head from her body. Using the flat side of the ax, Wayne scooted her head several feet away from her body.

  I did light the body on fire, shield it to keep the fire from spreading, and accelerate the burn. Nothing I did was going to help with the horrible smell.

  Burning bodies was an ugly business, but a necessary one. Sorceresses had been documented healing from fatal injuries. No one wanted Vale coming back. She hadn’t been in the same class as the sorcerers who made it into the history books, but she’d done plenty of damage.

  With the magical help, the body burned in less than an hour. Wayne was ready with two tubs of salt and a broom. As soon as it was cool enough, the ashes from the head went in one container and the ashes from the body into the other. He gave them a good stir to mix in the salt.

  That was a dead sorceress.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Smith broke into CJ’s safe and found the part for the particle accelerator. It would be relocated to evidence before going to its owners. I gave it a once over and didn’t find any magic, which made all of us feel better.

  With that, Smith declared my job done, at least the on-scene part. Both Smith and Wayne promised to deal with my car and the most important paperwork while I was at the hospital. I managed to get Wayne alone and make him promise to keep track of Ari and Roman. I owed those dogs.

  Then the EMTs decided I’d had enough say and bundled me up and carted me away.

  Thirty minutes later, Dr. Richards glared down at me. “I thought I told you to take it easy.”

  “Can you fix my leg?” It wasn’t like I’d planned on being injured.

  “Yes.” She pressed a charm against my forehead.

  Why in Narzel’s name wouldn’t anyone answer the phone?

  My eyelids didn’t want to open. I felt around, my hand colliding with the edge of a table. The phone rang again, vibrating the table.

  I forced my eyes open, leaned over and snagged the phone. “’Ello?”

  “Done ignoring me now?” Olivia’s voice came across the line. “That brother of yours, Drew? So young. So artistic.”

  Sheer panic drove the haze from my mind. “What did you do?”

  “You are mine. You will act like mine.” Olivia softened her tone. “It’s a shame. Who knew pottery could be so dangerous?”

  The line went dead.

  “Syed take you.”

  I tossed the sheet off. My leg didn’t hurt. It looked fine too, not even any bruising. If I could walk, I was out of here.

  I mashed the call button. While I waited for a nurse, I called Dad. He didn’t answer. I left a message warning him of the kiln and looked for pants. Mine were gone, and I had a feeling they were in pieces.

  “You rang.” Dr. Richards edged the curtain back enough to get in. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for pants. Do you have any?” I sat on the edge of the bed.

  Dr. Richards closed her eyes for a moment and then glared at me. “You are supposed to be resting. We patched you up, but that leg needs time to fully heal.”

  “Can I walk on it?” That was all I needed. One of those walking boots would do, as long as I could get to Drew’s pottery studio.

  “You shouldn’t be awake. Back in bed with you.”

  I took a deep breath and reordered my thoughts. “There’s been a family emergency. I have to go.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “You are the family emergency.”

  “No offense, doc, but I’m an officer who was injured doing her job. But my little brother,” I had to force myself to say it. “He could be dying. I can’t stay.”

  Dr. Richards knelt down and poked at my leg. “Let me know if anything hurts.” She poked it again.

  “Tender, but no pain.”

  She kept poking. “Anything?”

  “Same as before.”

  Dr. Richards stood and held out her hand. “Try to stand.”

  I eased off the bed, careful to control how much weight I put on the leg. “It feels fine.”

  “And a few steps.”

  After I made it around the room twice without trouble, she declared me fit to leave. In ten minutes, I was back in my own shoes, wearing paper pants, and holding my belt of gear. My car was at work, and had a change of pants in it, so I called a cab.

  It was the longest cab ride. Along the way, I tried calling Mom, Drew, and then tried Dad again. None of them picked up. I even tried Stacy and Brent. Neither of them answered, but at quarter to nine on a Monday, I expected Stacy to be in school, and who knew with Brent. He didn’t live with our parents anymore, and I didn’t know his schedule.

  I got to work and went directly to Fabian. I shimmied into real pants in the backseat, pulled up directions for the pottery studio, and hit the road. It wasn’t that far, only thirty minutes of driving, but today, that was thirty minutes too far. The entire drive I was over the speed limit and praying I didn’t get pulled over.

  After what felt like hours, I drove into town. It was small, with most of the shops off the main road. Usually, it was quiet and tranquil, but today, a plume of smoke came from the far side of town. The side with the pottery studio.

  “No. It can’t be another fire. Vale is dead.” I repeated that the entire way across town.

  What little traffic there was slowed, and then I saw it: the pottery studio, or more accurately, what was left of it.

  I pulled off the road well outside the police line and sat there praying Drew was anywhere but there today. If he was in the building, I doubted he could’ve survived.

  The firefighters were still dumping water on the building. Half the roof was gone. Some of it had been destroyed by fire, but there was a rather large, well, hole, that I doubted the fire had caused. Mostly because the roof hole was directly over a missing section of the exterior wall. The brick and metal rubble on the ground had once been the wall.

  My hands shook as I called Drew again. Still no answer.

  I couldn’t bring myself to call Dad or Mom, so I sent both of them a message telling them to stay away from the clan and to check on Drew. Then I got out of the car and headed to the police line. I pushed through the crowd until I was near an officer.

  With my badge in my hand in case he wouldn’t talked to me, I got his attention. “Officer, a moment please.”

  “Stay behind the tape.”

  I held up my badge. It was wrong, but I had to know.

  “Come on through.”

  I ducked under the caution tape.

  “Wilson! TBI to see you.” The officer went back to maintaining the line.

  Officer Wilson literally trotted over. His human portion was a lean man with deep set eyes and lines around his mouth. His horse half was bay with four white socks, with his tail braided and wrapped. He halted in front of me. “Lt. Wilson. I didn’t call the TBI.”

  “Special Agent Kelsey Pine.” This was the tricky part. I had to tell the truth, but not all of the truth. “You didn’t. I’m looking for a seventeen-year-old boy, about five-foot-ten with sandy-blond hair. He may have been in the building.”

  “And you care because?” He stared down at me.

  I gambled. “He’s my little brother.”

  “So you aren’t here to take my case.”

  “No. I’d like to know what happened and find my brother. That’s it.” The what was of far more interest than the how. I knew how. A quick look with magical vision verified what I already knew. Fragments of a spell coated the brick and debris.

  Wilson’s shoulders relaxed and his haunches shifted. “Kiln exploded. We aren’t sure why. Owner and a kid matching your description made it out.” He tipped his head in the direction of a collection of emergency vehicles. “They’re with the EMTs.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate the help.” I smiled and headed to the ambulance.

  “You’re the witch, aren’t you?” Wilson called after me.

  “Yes.” I pivoted back to him, forcing a neutral expression. He hadn’t told me Drew’s condition, just that he was with the paramedics. That could mean any number of things.

  His tail flicked. “Walk with me.”

  “What’s my brother’s condition?”

  “He’s fine.” Wilson’s voice lost the hard edge. “A few cuts and scrapes. He’s having trouble hearing, but that’s normal. Do you want to see him first?”

  I swallowed and shook my head. “I’ll be more help before I see him.”

  He nodded and spoke into his radio, asking them to hold the ambulance a few more minutes.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Wilson eyed the hole in the building. “I’d like your thoughts on what happened.”

  “Sure.” I kept pace with him as we made our way across the parking lot. There were a few thoughts I wasn’t going to share yet, but I could give him enough that this could still be pinned on Olivia or whichever clan member was responsible for blindly following her orders.

  “I’ve known Amberly for twenty years. She’s not a careless woman, and she takes pride in this shop. The fire fighters tell me this was a gas fire. Strong chance the kiln malfunctioned. The way they said it, they were thinking sabotage.” He stopped at the edge of the thick layer of rubble. “That isn’t like the woman I know.”

  With the sheer number of spell fragments, I wasn’t going to be able to identify the exact spell used. The fragments were on both the metal and the brick, as well as the random bits of pottery in the debris. If I’d been planning on using magic to the most fantastic effect, I’d have put it on the kiln, though it was hard to say if the spell was on the surface or the inside. “Does Amberly have magic? Is she a hedge-practitioner? Have you seen her use charms?”

  “Magic?” He snorted. “She’s a fey. I’ve never seen one of them muck about with magic. Amberly doesn’t use much in the way of charms, at least no more than anyone else.”

  He was right about fey. They had power, something different from elves but not magic as witches knew it. They didn’t touch magic. I’d often wondered why, but I’d never asked. “Then I regret to inform you that there was sabotage, of a magical variety. The spells remnants are in too many fragments for me to get much, but what I can see is fairly evenly distributed. Is there as much debris inside as here?”

  “No.” He motioned in the general direction of the building. “The kiln was a few feet from the corner. The gas line came in from the back wall.”

  “So, maybe the explosion came from where the gas entered the kiln? That might focus the force like this and blast the kiln into tiny pieces.” Or the spell had shaped the charge. It was impossible to say.

  Wilson gazed into the building. “Charm or direct spell?”

  I didn’t hesitate. “Direct spell based on the residual magic.”

  His head titled and he looked at me. “I don’t know of any reason a witch would want to hurt Amberly.”

  This was dangerous territory. If a witch happened to show up and be helpful, I’d be suspicious if I was in his hooves. “I can’t speak to motive, just spell fragments.”

  Wilson finally nodded. “I’ll take you over to your brother. Need to ask Amberly some more questions.”

  The crowd had continued to grow, with what looked like half the town lined up next to the police line. Two officers kept them back. This would be the talk of the town for months.

  We rounded a firetruck, and I spotted Drew standing next to an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket. Dust coated his hair, and his cheek was bruised. His nose twitched, and he pivoted. His eyes went wide when he spotted me, and he hurled himself in my direction.

  I ran a few feet to catch him. He was safe. My eyes closed, which did nothing to stop the tears from leaking out. He was safe.

  Drew leaned into me like he had when he was eight and a coyote pack had chased him through the woods.

  My arms tightened around him. I’d never have forgiven myself if he’d been hurt because of me.

  “Oww,” Drew yelped. “Ease up. I’m bruised.”

  “Sorry.” I stepped back to get a good look at him.

  He had a cut through one eyebrow. If it scarred, he’d be able to tell all the girls about his brush with death. His shirt and shorts were torn in a few places, his knees were scraped, and he had a bandage on one hand, but it could’ve been so much worse.

  “What happened?”

  Drew pointed to his ears.

  “Right.” Occasionally, there were downsides to werelynx hearing. “I’m going to let a professional heal it.”

  He sighed.

  I tugged my wand out of the thigh sheath and wrote the words in the air.

  He shrugged.

  I spelled out my previous question. “What happened?”

  “Ohhh.” His eyes widened. “The kiln exploded. I think it was the kiln, anyway. I arrived a few minutes before nine. Amberly showed up and let me in. The kiln should’ve been cool and ready to unload, but it was still hot, and then it started making this noise. Amberly shoved me out the door right before the blast. She protected me from the shrapnel.”

  I’d have to thank her for that as soon as I was done with Drew. “Why weren’t you in school?” I wrote.

  He gave a cheeky grin. “Remember? I worked it out where I come here in the mornings. Afternoons are math, science, and literature.”

  Knowing Drew, he’d probably smiled at his teachers until they agreed. I ruffled his hair. “So glad you’re okay.”

  The grin faded. “Me too. When I saw the building...”

  I pulled him in for another hug.

  Drew leaned into me.

  To me, he’d always be a mix of his current age and the eight-year-old who knew his sister could save him from the coyotes. And I always would, be it coyotes or a power mad minister.

  Drew pulled back. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

  “I called. Hopefully, they’re on their way.” I quickly penned the words. “I won’t leave until one of them is here with you.”