here?” Jetta asked me.
“Ashling Irwin is an Air witch of much renown and as such is also a seer. It would be very like one of her caliber to feel the need to be here,” Perun answered before I could.
Jetta raised her eyebrows at me, clearly not trusting Perun.
“That’s true. She feels things all the time. It’s why she always seems to show up when I’m either in trouble or causing it,” I said.
“The police officer said that he had just chased out a lady who picked up a girl here. She was in a Prius,” Ashley said.
“Why did she head east?” Ian asked. “Why not down the hill?”
“More of them came up the hill moments after she fled. Maybe thirty or forty,” Perun said, again jumping in before I could.
“She headed home, to Rowan West. She’ll activate the wards and hunker down.”
“Will that keep them out?” Jetta asked.
“We seriously beefed up the wards since last year, when we had an incident. I’ve made some other modifications to the security as well. But we have to get going. I’m not going to rely on wards,” I said.
“You are greatly outnumbered. There were well over fifty that I saw, which means others as well,” Perun said.
“Right. Anyone wants to stay, it might be a good idea. I’m going,” I said, heading for Beast. Caeco, Mack, and Jetta were right beside me. Ashley was racing to catch up, her father and bodyguard alongside her. Justin was closest to the cars, so he just turned and headed back. That answered that question.
We whipped out into traffic and raced toward home. Neeve looked out the window and muttered “adexe eache.”
“What?” I asked.
“The steeds. They leave marks on the roadway. I should have noticed,” she said, pointing over my shoulder from her spot directly behind me. A quick glance showed a patch of ripped asphalt, just three holes and crumbled blacktop.
“Their claws leave those marks,” she said. “It’s distinctive.”
They rode horses with claws? I had heard of the Wild Hunt, but discounted it as fable. Now it was after my aunt and friend on claw-footed steeds. We were grossly outnumbered and racing the clock.
But they were going to be facing two witches on their home turf and here’s a little piece of ageless wisdom for you, boys and girls: never, ever face down a witch in her home. Witches are, by training and genetics, a paranoid lot. We tend to build layer after layer of spells, wards, and traps for any who would attack us in our beds. After last year’s revenant infestation, Aunt Ash and I had gone all out. The Wild Hunt was in for some schooling.
Ve vill kill them all!
WTF? Spoken words, in English, with a creepy German accent, echoing through my head. I reached down and pulled on the book. It pulled away from my skin with a wet reluctance, not the clinginess it had displayed before, but the sticky yucky feeling of drying fluids, like… blood.
Chapter 40
“They took you, Ashley? This Wild Hunt?” Caeco asked. I stealthily poked and prodded at the book under my shirt. She glanced around at the motion, so I quit.
“Yeah, a couple of years ago,” Ashley said. Her father looked scary grim beside her.
“What happened?” Caeco pushed.
“My father and grandfather killed about a third of them. Then the dragons showed up,” Ashley said. “Declan, you’re speeding. We can’t get pulled over.”
No sooner had Ashley said the words than a cop car came over the hill, hit his lights, and started to turn. I was in no mood for cops. Pretty certain I was bleeding under the book and I don’t really like to bleed. Makes me grumpy. I waved my right hand and the lights died, the cruiser stalled, and the cop was forced to pull to the side of the road.
“Oh,” Ashley said.
“That’s handy,” her dad commented.
“Emergencies only,” I said. “So what do we need to know about them?”
In the rearview, I could see Neeve press her lips together and look out the window while Ian answered.
“They’re tough. Real tough and real fast. Steel and iron is best for damaging them. There will be hounds—like giant Irish wolfhounds that have no fur and teeth like scissors. Then there are goblins—short, squatty ape-like things made of muscle and more muscle with wicked claws and teeth. They’re much faster than they look, stronger than a man, and will rip you to shreds. The steeds are more lizard than horse: claws, teeth, and a long, whipping tail.