Alice paused for several seconds, and it was obvious she was figuring out whether she should tell me.

  I maintained eye contact. It was a trick I’d learned from her. Why push with your words when you can simply push with your presence?

  It seemed to work. Her shoulders caved. “You know that case I told you about – the reason I was… contracted by Vali in the first place?”

  I nodded, my neck rigid. If there was one memory that defined Alice more than anything, it was the sin that had brought her to Vali’s attention. She’d been taking kickbacks from the mob.

  “Yeah, well, I’m finally coming good on my promise, and I’m investigating those assholes.”

  I frowned. “The mob?”

  “Yeah.”

  There was something about her voice, something about her posture, something about the exact tension trapped in her cheeks as they twitched around a frown.

  I took another step toward her and forgot about the flickering magical flag behind me. “What’s going on? What have you found out?”

  She tipped her head to the side, breaking eye contact on the premise of scanning the horizon. “That there’s more to the situation than I could ever imagine.” Her voice dropped down so low I could barely hear her.

  But I did hear, and as those words landed home, my back exploded with nerves.

  Sure, Vali had admitted a lot to me. I’d experienced a lot of the other realm, too. But I knew in my heart of hearts that there were still more secrets.

  Could Alice have stumbled upon one?

  I took one final step up to Alice until I closed the distance between us. I frowned as I looked deeply into her eyes, as I stared at her until she met my gaze. “What did you find out?” I asked one more time in that firm, demanding voice.

  It worked on her. “Franklin came up,” she said flatly.

  I’d been prepared for a lot – that maybe Alice had figured out the secret of the fake gods. But this? It made my stomach kick, the kind of kick where you suspect your intestines will shoot off into outer space.

  It took a while to fight past the sudden dryness sweeping through my mouth. “Sorry? What? What do you mean Franklin came up?”

  “I mean, over the course of my investigation, I started to learn things about… Franklin Saunders.”

  I took a dry swallow. “What did you find out?”

  “That he used to be a hitman for the mob.”

  A part of me fell away. Not all of me. I wasn’t in love with Franklin anymore. In the beginning, I had been. I’d convinced myself that Vali was the monster and Franklin was the angel. Ever since I’d pushed further into this magical world, I’d barely had anything to do with Franklin.

  I couldn’t forget he existed and he had his own back story, though.

  I clenched my teeth and pared my lips back. “You sure?”

  She nodded heavily. “From what I’ve discovered,” her voice was so low that even if Cassidy had crept up on us from behind, she wouldn’t have been able to pick up a whisper, “he got into magic at a young age. His father was a warlock. His father also brought him into the mob. And Franklin had a talent for getting things done. For letting heads roll.”

  I winced at that particular description.

  Though I knew that Franklin had committed a crime – something serious enough for Vali to possess him – I’d never really turned my mind to what that crime could be. Now I had to face it. It wasn’t just Alice’s description – it was the frozen, dread-filled look in her eyes. I knew for a fact that Alice had seen a lot of violence in her time. Not just as a cop, but as a detective for Vali. So for her to have that particular grim frown plastered across her face, it meant one thing – the crimes Franklin had committed shocked even her.

  My stomach bucked.

  I’d always had a talent for trusting the wrong people – from Larry, to Bradley, and quite possibly to Franklin.

  What about Vali? A mutinous voice asked in the back of my mind.

  What if I was still trusting the wrong people?

  And what if, this time, the consequences would be deadly, not just to me, but for everyone?

  Maybe Alice could see the doubt flickering in my gaze, because she took a sudden breath. “How much do you know about him, anyway?”

  “Franklin? Nothing.”

  “No, not Franklin – Vali.” Her voice dropped down low, reverberating through her chest. While the wind sounded like a howling wolf, her voice was more like an ominous rumble that preceded a far-off storm.

  It brought my attention back to the storm, and I ticked my gaze to the left, surveying the horizon as I watched the clouds marching across the city. They looked less like clouds and more like the result of some heavenly explosion. They broiled and roiled with so much energy – chased around by such ferocious winds – it looked as if they were anger itself come to life.

  Then I remembered Alice’s question. I swallowed, and my stomach kicked even harder. At this rate, I wouldn’t have a stomach anymore – it would kick itself into smithereens. “I know a little,” I admitted.

  Alice let out a gruff laugh. “But nothing you’re comfortable admitting, right?”

  I maintained even eye contact. “Right.”

  She let out a hard sigh and bared her teeth. “That’s just great. Just another piece missing from the puzzle.”

  “What?”

  She took a step back, returned her attention to the flag, and looked as if she’d lost all interest in the conversation. Then she let out another echoing, punching sigh between her clenched teeth. “The more I find out about Franklin, the more it disturbs me. That boy had magical training his whole life. It was almost as if….”

  “It was almost as if what?” I asked so quickly I could barely understand my own words.

  “Look, never mind.” Alice shrugged off my question.

  There was no way I was going to drop this. The tension twisting around my stomach told me it could be the key to something big. “No, Alice, please, tell me.” For the first time, that note of pure determination was gone from my voice. In its place was vulnerability – the kind I remembered so well because it had typified my entire existence before I’d fallen into this magical world.

  It worked on Alice, which was unusual, because she wasn’t the kind to react well to weakness.

  She took a sigh that pushed her shoulders out and made her trademark blue cotton shirt creak as if it were an old tree in a strong wind. “It looked like he was trained – groomed.”

  Her voice was so low, I had to lean in to pick it up.

  It felt as if somebody had strapped my face with steel wire and I would never be able to make another expression again. “Sorry?” I asked through a shaking breath. “Trained? Groomed for what?”

  Though she’d been staring at a patch of cracked concrete by her feet, she flashed her gaze up and locked it on mine. “You tell me. You know more about Vali, after all.”

  Boom. What she was suggesting hit me.

  That Franklin had been groomed for Vali. That Vali hadn’t come along, found a magical sinner, and chosen to possess him. No. From the beginning, Franklin had been trained for Vali’s possession.

  I shook my head, my cheeks growing pale as a truly cold feeling started to push through my gut and climb high into my heart until it felt as if a tidal wave of ice water was smashing against me.

  I didn’t have long to assess the feeling.

  Cassidy screamed.

  Alice was the first to react.

  She shot around on her foot, the rubber soles of her shoes squeaking so loudly they almost roared above the storm.

  She grabbed the gun from her holster in a smooth, practiced movement, brought it up with two hands, and pushed forward. “Cassidy?” she screamed.

  No reply.

  Suddenly, I could feel this dark presence. It was an unmistakable energy building over the roof as if the entire building had been replaced by an electrical station.

  My skin crackled, and the tip of my tongue danced and jerked.

  The cold within me begged to be let out.

  I clutched both hands into fists and got ready to call on my magic.

  I heard a creak from behind me. It was one of the strangest sounds I’d ever experienced. It didn’t sound like a mountain splitting in half. Nor was it something subtle like a door being pushed back on its hinges. It came from everywhere all at once, as if all of reality were creaking, tilting to the side, shifting out of the way as something opened into it.

  I yanked my head to the left, pulling my attention back to the flag just in time.

  The flag stood rigid as if the invisible wind that had been chasing around suddenly stopped.

  It started to split apart. The sheet of fluttering magic that had once constituted it ripped down the middle with another one of those godawful, earsplitting, bone-shaking, belly-crunching sounds. The one that reminded me that reality itself was getting ready to shift out of the way.

  “Cassidy?” I heard Alice scream once more.

  From behind me, I swore I heard the scattering of claws. Strong, powerful claws, digging and clutching and scratching over concrete as they scampered toward their targets.

  As rigid fear raced up my back and locked my body in place, I watched the flag continue to split in two. The particles that constituted the magical sheet diffused, chased down the pole, sparked into the air, and got ready for something.

  I’d been wrong, ha? I’d told Vali we had more than half an hour.

  He wouldn’t come in time.

  They were here.

  6

  There was no question in my mind.

  I would fight with everything I had. It didn’t matter that I would reveal to my friends that I was a Drift witch – there was no way I was going to let them fall.

  Even though I hadn’t seen a single enemy yet, I jerked my head to the side, spread my palm wide, and called the Drift sword with my entire mind. I focused it into a point, plunging my attention into the cold shard of ice that always sat just above my sternum.

  I whispered to the Drift, and it responded immediately.

  In my hand, the sword formed. At first, I could feel its crackling hilt. As my fingers clutched it, that power danced through me. It exploded through my form, filling me up from the inside out and dancing through my veins until it felt as if my blood had been replaced with pure magic.

  I was aware that my skin began to glow – that those erratic, ancient runes covered every centimeter of my body. The glow of my magic was so bright, it cut through the gloom of the storm.

  It also advertised my position like a spotlight.

  The direction of those scampering claws behind me changed. They headed straight for me.

  I didn’t pause.

  I spun on my foot, slashing my sword to the side. It was just in time. Out of the gloom of the suddenly dark storm, I saw a shape leap for my throat.

  I slashed my sword into it, and as soon as the Drift sword impacted the creature’s body, it split apart in a sea of sparks.

  I saw just enough of its form to recognize what it was – some awful fusion between a gargoyle and a demon. It was as if one of the gargoyles that adorned the Art Deco buildings of the city had come to life and merged with a Hell demon.

  The creature’s eyes exploded wide in red sparks before its entire body dissipated from my blow.

  I heard Cassidy scream again, and I punched forward. I kept half my attention locked on the gate behind me.

  I could feel it opening. The diffuse particles that constituted the flag kept spinning and shifting, stuck in midair as they waited for the gods to pump more magic into them so finally they could open a gate to this realm.

  I concentrated on the sound of scattering claws.

  Whatever magical barrier had been holding back the gale abruptly shattered, and the wind that should have been buffeting this building, clawing at anything that wasn’t tied down, returned.

  It slammed into me with such force, it almost threw me off my feet. I drew magic up within my body, letting even more of it blast across my skin. It held me in place, allowing me the traction I required to throw myself forward.

  This roof was scattered with construction junk – from piles of rubble, to tools, to pylons.

  I threw myself around a pile of massive metal sheets and found Alice and Cassidy.

  Cassidy was on her knees, a deep wound in her shoulder dripping blood and splashing it over the concrete. The roaring wind even caught it and splashed it behind her over a pile of broken rubble.

  They were fighting another one of those gargoyle-demons.

  This one was much bigger. It looked like the size of a small family van. Its face was half concrete and stone and half writhing black energy.

  It was truly fearsome, but that was nothing compared to its tail and claws. They were so sharp that with every step it took, it shattered the concrete underneath it as if it were a jackhammer on full power.

  As for its tail, it whipped around with such speed, it cut through the air like a sword.

  As it saw me, it yanked its head back, pulled its mouth wide, and showed me rows of broken stone teeth.

  It screamed, and a blast of stone dust puffed out and sailed toward me, caught on the wind.

  I yanked an arm up, protecting my face, lest the stone dust catch in my eyes.

  It worked, and now it was my turn to attack.

  I didn’t hesitate.

  I thrust forward, spinning the Drift sword to the side and bringing it around in a great arc as I sent a massive charge of blue magic shooting toward the gargoyle.

  Its eyes blasted wide, but it couldn’t recoil fast enough. The magic slammed into its gut and sent it spiraling back.

  Though it tried to flap its tiny stone wings or reach out its massive stone claws, it couldn’t gain purchase on anything, and it was blasted clear off the side of the roof.

  It sailed over the building, screaming as it fell out of sight.

  I twisted on my foot, returning my attention to Alice and Cassidy.

  Alice stared at me, her eyes boggling wide as she gazed from me to my sword. “What is that?”

  “No time to explain. Cassidy, you alright? Can you stand?”

  Cassidy was clutching the massive gash in her shoulder. Blood splattered everywhere, caught by the wind, and it sent droplets spraying over the rubble behind her.

  Cassidy managed a nod, though she too seemed stuck on staring at my sword. “What the hell kind of weapon is that? Did Vali give you that? I’ve never seen anything so powerful.”

  “No, Vali didn’t give it to me,” I said. “But there’s no time to explain. You guys have to get off this roof. Now.”

  Alice jolted down, scooped an arm around Cassidy’s middle, and pulled her up onto her feet. All the while, she kept her gun in one hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

  I didn’t shift.

  Though Alice had taken several steps toward the stairs that would lead down to the base of the building, she stopped. She arched her head toward me. “You’re not coming, are you?”

  I shook my head.

  “There’s no way we’re leaving you alone,” Cassidy snapped.

  “Just go, get out of here. If you find Vali, for god’s sake, send him up,” I quipped.

  I didn’t give them a chance to protest. I spun toward the flag and jolted forward.

  Though I didn’t exactly have time to acknowledge this, I’d dispatched those two gargoyles ever so easily. All it had taken was two blows from my sword.

  So I was up to this, wasn’t I?

  Whatever would be trying to push its way through the gate – I could manage it.

  They were brave words, and words that would die as soon as I made my way back across the cluttered roof to the gate.

  Magic was everywhere. It was more powerful than anything I’d ever felt. Chaotic, too. It was nothing like the dark, cold heart of the Drift. Instead, it was angry and violent – the kind of force whose sole purpose was to destroy, not create.

  It was thick, and the closer I pushed toward the gate, the more I felt it until it seemed as if I was pushing through wet sand that was being piled against my body.

  “What the hell is happening?” I heard Alice scream from near the door.

  I bared my teeth and tried to push forward. When that didn’t work, I slashed at the air. Weirdly, it helped. I heard invisible strings start to snap.

  But it didn’t happen quickly enough, for the gate was about to open.

  I felt a sudden rush of air chase past me. It caught my hair, blasting it over my shoulder and around my face in a whipping mess.

  There was a pop. Not the kind of pop you’d expect if something small exploded or if you jumped on bubble wrap. It came from reality itself.

  It ricocheted over the roof and echoed out over the city. It pulsed through my body, undermining my power and sending me to my knees.

  I heard Cassidy and Alice scream. I fought against the weakness crushing me to whip my head to the side. I narrowed my eyes and tried to pick my friends out through the rubble.

  I could see nothing. For suddenly, darkness descended.

  The storm that had been raging above became so chaotic it looked like a thousand years’ of storms on fast forward. The clouds began to descend and push low over the building as if we were high up on some mountainous peak. The clouds themselves went from the broiling dark gray clouds of a rain-laden storm to being pitch black as if they belonged to the most toxic smoke you could imagine.

  The feeling of them as they rushed past my skin, as they collected through every crack in the roof was like the Devil himself come to visit.

  Unsurprisingly, the clouds cut visibility down to zero. Though I slashed at them with my sword, fighting against the weakness in my body, it didn’t matter. They were too thick and too powerful.

  Though in Vali’s cell when I’d questioned Bradley, I’d been able to see through the darkness with naught but my power, now it wasn’t enough. This darkness wasn’t normal – it felt like a rift had formed in reality itself.

  I couldn’t see, but I could still hear. Beyond the roar of the wind, I heard footsteps. Heavy, whoever was striding toward me clearly wore armored boots, and the metal plating clanked and clunked against the concrete as they took another step forward, then another, then another.