The Pagan Stone Page 0,98

the mouth of hell without a parachute, Gage thought, he'd be doing the same. But it wasn't any of them, and there was a good reason for that.

"We'll draw straws." Fox stood scowling, hands jammed in his pockets. "The three of us. Short straw goes."

"Excuse me." Quinn jabbed a finger at him. "There are six of us here. We'll all draw straws."

"Six and a fraction." Cal shook his head. "You're pregnant, and you're not playing short straw with the baby."

"If the baby's father can play, so can its mother."

"The father isn't currently gestating," Cal shot back.

"Before we start talking about stupid straws, we need to think." At her wit's end, Cybil whirled around from her blind stare out of the kitchen window. "We're not going to stand around here saying one of us is going to die. Gee, which one should it be? None of us is willing to sacrifice one for the whole."

"I agree with Cybil. We'll find another way." Layla rubbed a hand over Fox's arm to soothe him. "The bloodstone is a weapon, and apparently the weapon. It has to get inside Twisse. How do we get it inside?"

"A projectile," Cal considered. "We could rig up something."

"What, a slingshot? A catapult?" Gage demanded. "A freaking cannon? This is the way. It's not just about getting it into Twisse, it's about taking it there. It's about jamming it down the bastard's throat. About blood-our blood."

"If that's true, and without more we can't say it is, we're back to straws." Cal shoved his own coffee aside to lean toward Gage. "It's been the three of us since day one. You don't get to decide."

"I didn't. It's the way it is."

"Then why you? Give me a reason."

"It's my turn. Simple as that. You jammed a knife into that thing last winter, showed us we could hurt it. A couple months later, Fox showed us we could kick its ass back and live through it. We wouldn't be sitting here, this close to ending it, if the two of you hadn't done those things. If these three women hadn't come here, stayed here, risked all they've risked. So it's my turn."

"What next?" Cybil snapped at him. "Are you going to call time-out?"

He looked at her calmly. "We both know what we saw, what we felt. And if we all look back, step by step, we can see this one coming. I was given the future for a reason."

"So you wouldn't have one?"

"So, whether I do or not, you do." Gage shifted his gaze from Cybil to Cal. "The town does. So wherever the hell Twisse plans to go next when he's done here has a future. I play the cards I'm dealt. I'm not folding."

Cal rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not saying I'm on board with this, but say I am-we are-there's time to think of a way for you to do this without dying."

"I'm all for that."

"We pull you out," Fox suggested. "Maybe there's a way to pull you out. Get a rope on you, some sort of harness rig?" He looked at Cal. "We could yank him back out."

"We could work with something like that."

"If we could get Twisse to take an actual form," Layla put in. "The boy, the dog, a man."

"And get it to hold form long enough for me to ram the stone up its ass?"

"You said down his throat."

Gage grinned at Layla over his coffee. "Metaphorically. I'm going to check with my demonologist friend, Professor Linz. Believe me, I'm not going into this unprepared. All things being equal, I'd like to come out of this alive." He shifted his gaze to Cybil. "I've got some plans for after."

"Then we'll keep thinking, keep working. I've got to get into the office," Fox said, "but I'm going to cancel or reschedule all the appointments and court dates I can for the duration."

"I'll give you a ride in."

"Why? Shit, right. Napper, truck. Which means I've got to swing by and see Hawbaker again this morning and check with the mechanic about my truck."

"I want in on the first part," Gage said. "I'll follow you in. I can run you by the mechanic if you need to go."

Cal got to his feet. "We're going to figure this out," he said to the group at large. "We're going to find the way."

With the men gone, the women sat in the kitchen.

"This is so completely stupid." Quinn rapped the heel of her hand on the counter. "Draw straws? For