high above it all. As I watched, the pixy dropped something.
"Ivy!" I shouted, clenching my eyes shut. "Down!"
I heard her drop, and the grunt of someone falling on her.
A boom of sound ripped through the night, shaking the ground I pressed into. My ears went numb, and I looked up, my hearing muffled. The two men watching me had collapsed to the pavement, out cold. Dust hung in the air, and what movement there was, was scattered.
I got up, awkward and clumsy. Ivy was pushing men off her, knocking them senseless as they tried to figure out what had happened. "Let's go!" I shouted, not hearing myself. People were starting to get up. We had seconds.
Staggering, I reached her. "Let's go!" I shouted again, almost getting hit when she didn't recognize me right off. Then I shrieked when she grabbed me and threw me over the gate.
I screamed, landing hard on the road. "Son of a bitch!" I said, only to be jerked to my feet by Ivy, her cast not slowing her down at all. "Are you trying to kill me?"
Her eyes were black, and without a backward glance, she started hauling ass, dragging me until I found my pace at her side. Damn it, the painting was still in the car. But we were out and running. Memories of being chased by Trent and his hounds slammed into me, and I ran faster. The pavement seemed to rise up to hit my feet, every strike felt clear through my thin-soled running shoes. We couldn't make it back to Cincy, but the alternative was not pretty. I prayed Jenks was okay. My hearing was coming back. I could hear a claxon honking behind us, and someone was shouting to get the gate open, but I'd bet the circuitry was dead. I felt a surge of hope and started to angle into the woods, but Ivy grabbed my arm, stopping us.
"Car," she panted, and I looked up into the glow of approaching headlights.
"You want me to lie down in the road, or should you?" I said, only half kidding, freezing when the car swerved to the right, spinning in a wobbly, terrifying half circle around us. I could have cried when I saw Pierce in the front seat, covered in pixies. He was saving my ass again. Even so, I swear, if he did any black magic, I would give him to Newt myself.
p>"Get in!" he shouted, the squeal of pixies and their darting shapes adding to the mess.
I opened the front door, shoving Pierce to the passenger side only to have Ivy shove me to the middle of the long front seat of my moms Buick. "How did you know we were in trouble?"
"You're always in trouble, Rachel," he said, fixing his hat firmly back on his head.
"You'd think she wasn't glad to see you," Ivy said, pushing the accelerator down even before her door was shut.
Pierce only grinned as he leaned me upright. "No magic, Rachel. I promise. I opine I can make a fist of saving you without any at all."
Jenks dove in the open window as we tore down the road, all of his kids shrilling in excitement. My hands went over my ears, and I cowered. "Jenks!" the hyped-up vamp shouted as she waved her hand in front of her face. "Get your brats under control! I can't see!"
A sharp whistle reverberated through the moving car, and I gasped. Crap, we were headed for a tree! "Look out!" I screamed, and Ivy jerked us back on the road.
"Holy shit!" Jenks shrilled. "Watch where you're going, Ivy! My kids are in here!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed!" she said, rolling the window up with one hand as she awkwardly drove with the one in a cast.
My elation shifted to dread. "Nick," I said, turning to look behind us at the fading glow of Trent's guardhouse. "We have to go back!"
"Are you nuts!" Jenks shouted.
"Quid me fiet," I said, touching Ivy's shoulder, and I shivered as our curses untwisted and we became ourselves again. "We have to go back for Nick," I said as Ivy turned off the lights and we drove in the dark. God, I hoped her night vision was better than mine. "He sacrificed himself to save us. You heard him!"
Pierce was silent in the corner, but Ivy wasn't saying anything either. The car jostled into the night, never slowing. "We are not going back for Nick," Ivy finally said.