Grave Dance (Alex Craft, #2)(104)

“Alex Craft.”

Tucker’s vest had ABMU stitched on the front. anti–black magic unit? When John arranged backup, he didn’t skimp.

Or maybe I was earning a reputation for trouble.

I left Tucker showing his gun to several of the uniformed officers and used my ability to sense magic to track where Hol y’s ruby amulet had fal en. I found it in the grass near the foot of the bridge. Then, clutching the amulet in my fist, I made my way to the three col ectors, who were huddled over the charmed disk.

“You okay?” I asked, nodding at the raver.

She shrugged the shoulder of her uninjured arm. “I’l heal, but this has gone too far. We’ve got to find that accomplice.”

“I don’t think they’re going to show here,” the gray man said, spinning his cane like a baton, his colorless eyebrows drawn tight. “I told you this sounded like a trap. And judging by the escalation of the aberrations, I believe you have gone from potential tool to potential threat. That one was out for your life, the compulsion spel included just for good out for your life, the compulsion spel included just for good measure.”

I didn’t disagree.

I clutched Hol y’s amulet tight as my trembling fingers threatened to fumble it to the ground. “So, what now?”

Death moved closer to me, wrapping his arm around my waist, which earned him a frown from his companions. Not that he seemed to care. “Now we try to figure out where the accomplice wil go next. We have to find him, or her, before the ritual is attempted again. And hopeful y before any more of these”—he hiked his thumb at the copper disk—“are created.”

I agreed. There must have been thirty souls in that construct. Where was the reaper col ecting the souls? He had to be reaping in more than just Nekros—we’d had a lot of unexplained deaths, but not that many.

I frowned at the disk. “Are you thinking the accomplice is a witch who can work glamour or a fae who can craft spel s?”

They looked at each other and shook their heads. Yeah, okay, the accomplice was a big mystery. I’d never heard of a human who could use glamour. Of course, even those fae who could use Aetheric energy—like Caleb—couldn’t create a jumble of spel s like those contained in the disk.

So a real y, real y rare something, who had found a relic that al owed interaction across planes. I gnawed at my lower lip. Occam’s razor said the simplest solution was typical y

right. So maybe we’re not looking for one accomplice who can use multiple types of magic, but two accomplices.

I fidgeted with the amulet in my hand. There was more than just Hol y’s magic woven into it. Tamara’s was also present. As a gift last year, Tamara had charmed al of Hol y’s favorite pieces of jewelry with a spel that would al but prevent her from losing them. She could not only track the amulet, but the charm made the amulet actively try to return to Hol y by urging whoever found it in Hol y’s return to Hol y by urging whoever found it in Hol y’s direction. I could feel the charm, and it was active, but it wasn’t urging me anywhere. That meant Hol y was either dead— unacceptable—warded, or otherwise out of the spel ’s range.

Possibly somewhere like Faerie. The glamour, the archaic runes, the location of the lost col ector— everything keeps pointing back to Faerie.

“If we assume the accomplice is a witch, and judging by the runes she’s using, a very old one, we are most likely looking for a changeling.” I glanced at the sky. We were far enough from the city that the light didn’t reach here, so for as far as I could see, everything was inky darkness speckled with hundreds of pricks of light. I had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt late, or early, depending on your perspective. “Rianna told me that the magic of Faerie protects changelings except during sunrise and sunset. If changelings are caught out of Faerie during those times, al their years catch up to them. We can’t be more than a few hours from dawn. The changeling is probably heading back so he or she isn’t caught by dawn.”

Which meant I was going to Faerie.

Decision made, I colected PC and waited for the FIB to arrive. The gray man and the raver left, but Death waited with me. I sat on the bridge, leaning against his shoulder.

“Wake up, Alex,” he said, shaking me gently.

I pried my eyes open. Agent Nori, her suit as crisp as if she’d just finished starching it, strol ed across the bridge. I pushed to my feet, resituating PC in my purse as I stood.

“Miss Craft,” she said, hitting al the consonants hard.

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, I have a warrant for your arrest.”

“But you aren’t real y arresting me, are you? Because I haven’t done anything.”

haven’t done anything.”

She frowned, her eyes cutting to the side as if judging who was in hearing range. “No. I’m not. You’re being taken to Faerie for your own protection.”

“Great. Then let’s go.”

The look she gave me was torn between suspicion that I was pul ing a trick and the possibility that I was an idiot. I seriously hoped I wasn’t the latter.

The accomplice was acting in Nekros, and the only door to Faerie led to the winter court. Rianna had demonstrated that it was possible to not belong to a court and stil use its door, but I was hoping I’d find the accomplice in the winter court. I was also hoping that going wil ingly would earn me some favor. Yeah, lots of hoping and not a lot of facts, but I had to work with what I had. I wished Falin were here. He knew Faerie, and he would know the best way to search for the accomplice—and Hol y—once I got there.