Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,25

at a forest fire with a water pistol.

“Boss?” Les asked. He glanced at Coretta. She jerked her head toward Kavon, releasing Les from perimeter guard duty and Les trotted over.

“How’s Darren?” he asked.

Anita answered for Kavon. “He should be fine.”

That was less of an assurance than Kavon wanted, and Les blew out a breath and closed his eyes.

Kavon moved to Les’s side. Only when he was so close that they could share words without being overheard did he say, “I need you to look for a guide.”

A confused frown flitted across Les’s face before it vanished. “Boss?”

“It's a hummingbird guide, small.” Kavon gestured to show that the guide could fit in his cupped hand. “But very powerful. It was injured during the fight. Find it, Les.”

Les looked around the devastation, and his incredulity was evident on his face. “How am I supposed to find one hummingbird guide in all this?”

Kavon barely avoided yelling. “Have you or have you not been training with Salma?” he demanded. Right now he regretted that she was out of town.

Like Salma, Les had a guide that had patterned himself after an animal that preferred to live in groups.

Since there were always more guides on the spirit plain than shamans and adapts to partner with them, Salma had been teaching Les how to have his wasp guide call other unattached wasp guides. That trick of working with groups of guides gave Salma as much power as most mid-level shamans.

“Training is not the same as using the weapon in the field,” Les said.

Kavon needed Les to stop underplaying his power. If Pochi was dead, Kavon had no idea how other ifrit might react. Darren might call them docents, but that did not make them any less powerful. And if they lost one of their own, they might decide to fight this war the one way they knew would work—destroy every human with Talent. If that was a possibility, Kavon needed to know it now.

“Get every wasp guide from the entire spirit plane down here and get them to search for that hummingbird now.” Kavon bit down on all the other words he wanted to add. An ambulance was threading its way through the vehicles at the perimeter, and it seemed the tactical team had temporarily retreated to move their cars.

In the street, Les tilted his head toward the sky, and Kavon was gratified to see a swarm of wasps gathering around him before darting off in every direction.

Anita barked orders at the paramedics who had arrived. Her tone suggested urgency rather than panic, but Kavon still felt sick at his stomach as he watched the paramedics stabilize Darren’s neck and spine for transport.

Coretta came and stood next to Kavon. “How is he really?”

“Anita says he’ll be fine. How did you get here so fast?” Kavon knew his own tone was far too brusque, but Coretta didn’t seem to take offense.

“Don’t get angry,” Coretta said. Kavon frowned, but she spoke before he could. “We put a tracking spell on Darren, one that sent out a general alert if his heart rate exceeded safety.”

“We?” An irrational frustration rose so quickly that Kavon felt as if he couldn’t speak.

Coretta sighed. “Rima is best with tracking spells, but Anita’s Talent is focused on medicine, so they worked together, and I authorized it. So if you’re going to get pissy with someone, that would be me.”

Kavon wanted to yell that he could protect his partner. He wanted to take offense, but they had been right. Darren still might die, and Kavon would follow him to the spirit plane. Kavon turned his attention back to Darren as the paramedics raised the stretcher. He stepped forward. “I’m riding with Darren.”

Anita broke away and stood between Kavon and the stretcher. “No, you aren’t. There’s only room for one extra person to ride, and I’m the best person to stabilize Darren if he has an emergency en route. You can meet us at the Center.”

Kavon took a step back and pressed his lips together as the paramedics moved Darren. Anita hesitated as if waiting for more argument, but after a few seconds, she hurried after Darren.

Kavon turned to Coretta. “I need a ride.”

“Done,” she said. Before they could even turn toward the SUV that was still upright, Les came up to them, shielding his hand from casual view.

“Is this your missing guide?” Les asked. The hummingbird in Les’s hand quivered occasionally so his feathers all fluffed up.

“That’s your guide?” Coretta sounded scandalized. Sometimes Kavon hated the