I’d deal it out in fucking spades.
27
Winter’s dawn along the Mojave flats was as beautiful as a tea ceremony. The outlines of the scraggly Joshua trees were backlit in baby blues, a precursor to the pastels soon to sweep the sky. Mountains loomed in lavender, and the soft desert scents were still in evidence, though like all shy desert things, they too would soon go into hiding. I’d avoided watching dawn or dusk in the last weeks because those moments broke my heart. The veil between this world and the Zodiac’s alternate reality was thinnest then. That was when troops crossed from their sanctuary back into mortal reality, so it was poetic to be leaving Frenchman Flat at this time, returning to the city coiled like a bright snake, waiting for my return.
Just like the agents of Light, I thought, spotting Felix and Micah still lined against the invisible border just beyond rogue territory. I walked toward them in the new day’s chill, the rocky desert crunching beneath my boots while eggshell and pink warred with one another in giant, silken swaths across the lightening sky.
“A pretty day to die,” Carlos remarked, watching the sparse, wispy clouds evaporate with the last tendrils of night. I gave him a sidelong look and his hands went up. “What? I didn’t mean you. Just in general.”
I adjusted the holster at my waist, and the agents of Light drew in tighter on the other side of the invisible line. In addition to the two men, there were only Tekla and Kimber. Warren probably had them guarding the border in rotations. I ran a hand over my hair, slicked into a low bun, then dropped it, aware of how much nervousness the movement contained. The Light stood across from me, wide-legged and still, and I tried to imagine what Carlos and I looked like as we approached in the cold dawn. Probably pretty ragtag. I was an outcast, with only mortal fighting skills and a mutant hound tethered to my side. Carlos was just plain disreputable in his shitkickers and dusty jeans, the scruff shadowing his cheeks a good couple of days beyond sexy.
I halted only feet from the barrier, letting the day fully claim the sky before speaking. “Micah. Tekla.”
Felix gave me a little wave and I smiled at him, but before I could get too comfortable, Kimber made her presence known. As usual she was pumped and pissed, kohldarkened eyes narrowed, chipped, black nails poised on her dart gun. Following my gaze, she smiled evilly. “I won’t miss this time.”
I considered giving Buttersnap some slack. Kimber’s glyph took on a faint glow, as if she read my mind, but I wouldn’t do it. I’d never get Buttersnap’s muzzle off quickly enough.
“Finished hiding?” she asked, tossing her long blond dreads.
“I was just taking a little siesta. Right, Carlos?” He nodded, and I nonchalantly kicked at some bramble. It tumbled over the invisible line, right to the toe of Kimber’s boot. “After all, I’m going to need my full strength to face Sleepy Mac.”
Kimber huffed so hard I doubted there was any air left in her lungs. It didn’t keep her from speaking. “In your mortal state? Better to stick to your siestas on that side of city limits.”
“Well, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?” I forced out my own mock sigh and patted Buttersnap on her great black head. Her body thrummed beneath my touch. She could barely stand being this close to the agents of Light without attacking. Io had done some sort of hypnosis on the dog, though, a mental prescription not to move from my side unless I expressly commanded it. “But unlike you, Mackie can actually get to me here. So going after him in Las Vegas is the lesser of two evils.”
She jutted out her chin, a nasty smirk widening her face. I hated smirks. “You have to get past me first.”
“Okay.”
And Carlos shot her with a tranq gun. We high-fived as she dropped like A-bomb fallout. It’d been my idea to plug her with a mortal weapon, and I’d have done it myself but this was more gratifying for us both. He never got to fire things, and looked pretty jazzed about his shot. Even Buttersnap was wagging her tail so hard her whole body shook.
Felix snickered, then sobered under Micah’s dark look. They could smell the drugs in the shot, and knew Kimber was fine. In fact, troop members routinely did worse on April Fool’s Day. It would be humiliating for her when she woke, but what was she going to do? Hate me more?
“Do you have an actual plan here, Joanna?” Tekla gazed up at me with soft eyes, her tiny frame lost in the folds of gray silk, her hair pulled back like mine, but more severely. Her voice was authoritative-she was shitstorm powerful-but permissive and fair. She wasn’t angry with me like Warren. And though I couldn’t scent their emotions, I didn’t think anyone besides Kimber was either. “Or are you going to drug every moving thing?”
“The plan,” I said calmly, mirroring her folded hands, “is to kill the Tulpa, gain the aureole for myself, thus preventing Mackie from killing me and allowing me to enter Midheaven without stripping away the last of my soul. Or, you know, dying upon entry, since I’m mortal.” I looked around. “Any other questions?”
“You’re going after Hunter.” It wasn’t a question. It was Felix at his most serious…and it sounded like he wouldn’t mind coming along.
“I’m going after Hunter.”
“We’re not going against Warren’s wishes, Joanna,” Micah said, shooting Felix a hard look before gazing down at me from his seven full feet. The soot and black fire festering beneath his skin shifted with every syllable, causing him to wince, but his eyes were still kind despite the agony. The look nearly brought tears to my own.
“I know he can be brusque, but he has reasons for everything he does. And he’s kept this troop together for a long time.”
I wanted to say the Tulpa did all of those things too, but had no desire to antagonize Micah. At least he seemed to have given himself something for the pain. His eyes were a bit too glassy and his words slid into one another where they didn’t cut off abruptly. I fought back a wince when he swallowed hard. So he’d turned his back on me. I still hated to see him like this. “I’m not asking you to go against him,” I said softly. “I’m just asking you to let me pass.”
“You mean defy his wishes.”
I yanked the old silver gun from its holster with my free hand and pointed it at Kimber, now sitting up. The liquid green vial atop the chamber caught the morning sun like it was drawing the light in. “I mean, live and let live.”
Tekla eased in front of Kimber. “There’s no need for that.”
Despite her gentleness, it reminded me whose side she was on. I used the gun to motion her aside. “Yes, Tekla, there is. Because a man is being held captive and tortured in another world, and he was driven there because of the things Warren didn’t tell him…just as he didn’t tell any of you.”
Micah shook his head. “I told you he has his reasons.”
“Yeah?” That reason was sounding more and more like an excuse to me. “Well, if circumstances were different, it could easily be any of you over there.”
“Hunter made bad choices.”
“We all make bad choices.” Most people made them in a vacuum, acting on what was known and doing the best they could. But if someone kept the truth from you, forcing you to act in its absence, then even a bad decision was a false negative. But again, it wasn’t the time. They’d come around to the same thought eventually. If they hadn’t already, I thought, noting Felix’s silent frown.
“Look, I know you have a job to do, you’re still in a troop, and Warren’s your leader. I get it. But I could use some allies.”
The ensuing silence almost sizzled in the air, and despite the coolness, it reminded me of a scorching summer day. Finally, Micah spoke up. “Where are you going?”
Tekla looked at him sharply. He continued watching me, sooty shadows sifting beneath his skin like black clouds.