Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,28

were dealing with kids playing tricks, it was just as likely we weren’t.

“How much longer are we going to do this?” Monty swung his pack around and pulled out a flashlight. Its sudden brightness had me blinking rapidly. “There’s no trail, no chance of a trail, and—”

He cut the rest off as Tala’s phone rang. She quickly answered. “Danny? What’s happened?”

She listened for a few minutes and then added, “Good. Thanks for letting me know.”

“What?” I asked the minute she hung up.

“Danny’s two mates just returned to the motocross site. They’re all heading home.”

Relief stirred. “Did they say anything else about the lost kid?”

“Only that he appeared to be heading to the old open cut mining site, which isn’t great news. That area is fucking dangerous.”

“I take it that means we’re still continuing on?”

She eyed the darkness doubtfully for a second. “Given I’ve not heard anything to indicate there’s a kid out—” She cut the sentence off abruptly. “Did you hear that?”

“What?” Monty said, voice tense.

“Listen.”

I cocked my head, trying to catch whatever Tala had heard. The rain was fierce, and the wind had picked up, whipping through the tree branches and making them creak and groan in protest.

There was nothing … The thought froze as I heard it—a shout. It was not only distant, but hadn’t come from the throat of a kid. The voice was too deep—too masculine—to be that of a kid.

“It came from the left,” I said.

Monty glanced at me sharply. “I’m not hearing anything, so why are you?”

“Enhanced senses, remember?” My gaze went to Tala. “It’s a man, not a kid.”

“That’s what I thought.” Her voice was flat. Hard. “Let’s move.”

She took off fast. The light from Monty’s flashlight bobbed across the shadows, briefly illuminating the thorny bits of scrub that tore at our clothes and faces. I slipped on the muddy ground more than once, but I was managing to keep up with Tala, and that was the main thing.

Another shout, this time etched with fear.

Tala swore, and her form shimmered, moving easily from human to wolf.

“Tala, no!” I shouted. “Not without us.”

She didn’t listen. I swore, quickly created a tracking spell, and tossed it after her. The spell caught the very end of her tail just as she went around a stand of saplings, and immediately began to spool out, giving us a glittering thread of silver to follow.

We raced on, slipping on the treacherous ground, the rain belting into our faces and the flashlight doing little now to light the way. The thread of my spell continued to run out in front of us, a lone line of hope in the bitterly dark night.

There were no more shouts; we might well have been alone out here. And I wondered if that had been the whole point. If we were dealing with a supernatural entity, then maybe he was after something juicier than a mere werewolf this time.

I shivered and thrust the thought away. I didn’t need the fear of it. Not now. Not when Tala was out there alone, facing who knows what.

Five minutes later, the spell stopped spooling out. I slowed and wrapped a repelling spell around my fingers. Monty did the same, and as one, we walked on cautiously. The trail led upwards, the ground becoming stonier and harder to traverse. We were obviously nearing the open cut mining site.

A silhouette appeared against the skyline above us. My heart leapt into my throat a second before I realized it was Tala.

I released the tracking spell. As the bright remnants floated away on the wind, I clambered up the rest of the slope and stopped beside her. “Anything?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was grim. “We’ve got another fucking body.”

Chapter Five

“Not a kid, I hope,” Monty said.

“No, but that doesn’t make the situation any better.” Tala’s voice was curt. “There’s no fucking phone reception in this area, so I’ll have to go back a few klicks to call it in. Will you two be all right up here?”

“We’re more than capable of protecting ourselves,” Monty said. “But there’s no reason for you to be haring off—Lizzie can simply contact Belle and get her to ring the rest of your team.”

Tala glanced at me, eyebrow raised in question.

“Give me the precise location,” I said, “and I’ll contact her.”

She did so. I passed the information on to Belle and then added, “She’s on it now.”

“Thanks,” Tala said. “That’ll at least save us some time.”

“Where’s the body?” Monty asked. “We might as well make sure there’s no