“All quiet?” Porter asked his deputy. The woman nodded and said she hadn’t seen or heard anything but a raccoon.
The wind was stronger than ever, making Arjenie glad she’d brought her heavy jacket. Night had firmly fallen while they were on the way here, and while she had pretty good night vision, the sky was seriously overcast. She couldn’t see well at all.
A few feet away, Benedict had his head up, looking around. Or maybe smelling around. Clay and the twins climbed out of the truck with a dual slamming of doors.
Arjenie had a flashlight in her backpack, but she couldn’t resist showing off a little. “Shazzam,” she whispered—and a ball of light sprang into being a couple feet above her head.
The word was a trigger, not the spell itself—which she’d learned from Cynna, who’d gotten it from Cullen, who picked it up when the two of them were in Edge. It was an almost purely spoken spell—those were rare—but everyone who wasn’t a sorcerer like Cullen had to add one physical component: a drop of their own blood to link it to them. Once cast, though, the spell could be held in abeyance for days. Arjenie usually recast the spell once a week so she’d have it ready if she needed it.
“Nice!” Uncle Clay said, hands on hips as he studied the mage light.
“What the hell?” The sheriff was dumfounded.
“Arjenie! Is that mage light?” Seri’s question sounded more like an accusation. “You know how to make mage light and you didn’t—”
“Can’t be mage light,” her twin informed her. “No one knows how to make mage light. The secret to it has been lost since the Purge. It’s a trick—but a pretty cool one.”
Arjenie chuckled, enjoying herself. “Guess what? The secret isn’t lost anymore.”
Aunt Robin came closer, studying the ball of light appraisingly. “Excellent. Can you make it brighter or dimmer?”
She had told her aunt and uncle about the spell, intending to teach it to them over the holiday, so they weren’t as delightfully flummoxed as the twins. “Dimmer is easy, but you can’t make a single ball of mage light any brighter than this. You have to add more mage lights, and that takes a lot more focus. This one”—with a thought, she made it bob—“I can carry without paying it any attention, and the power drain is really small, but if I add more I have to focus, and I lose power faster. I carried three once, but I was very distracted. Cullen—I told you about him—has carried six and was still able to hold a conversation.”
“I’d like to meet him sometime.”
“When you come out to visit, you will.”
“That’s the damnedest thing I’ve seen in a long time,” Porter said, “but we aren’t here to enjoy this, uh, mage light thing of Arjenie’s. Robin, you said you’d need to set your circle near where the body was found. That’s down in the draw. We’ve swept the immediate area, but don’t—Turner. Where are you going?”
Benedict had started for the truck. “Hitchhiker.”
He didn’t get a step farther before Havoc launched herself up out of the truck’s bed, landed with her mouth in gear, and raced to Robin, her tail waving madly.
“How in the world—!” Robin snatched up the little terrier, who wriggled and tried to lick her face. “I could have sworn she was in the house. I guess she snuck out.”
Seri grinned. “And hitched a ride in the back of the truck. That’s a new trick, isn’t it?”
“And not one I want to encourage. Into the cab with you, young lady.” Robin carried the terrier back to the truck, where she opened one door, put the window down a few inches, and locked Havoc safely inside. “Sorry for the interruption,” she said to Porter.
“Glad you caught her. Like I was saying, stick to the path and don’t wander once you’re down there. I’ve got two deputies keeping an eye on things.”
“Might be best if I go ahead and Change,” Benedict said.
Sammy had wandered over to the crime scene tape. He had a flashlight and aimed it down that path, which seemed to drop off pretty steeply. “Looks rough,” he said. “Arjenie, did you bring your cane?”
“I won’t need it.”
Porter frowned. “I didn’t think about that. You’ve got a bit of a hitch in your gallop. Should be okay once you get down, but the path’s not easy.”
“She’ll let us know if she needs help,” Benedict said absently. His attention seemed to be on Havoc, a small frown between his eyebrows.
“Arjenie?” Sammy hooted. “Drag her up a mountain and she won’t admit she needs help, even when she’s tumbling off of it.”
That brought Benedict’s focus to her obnoxious cousin. “You’re wrong. She’s stubborn, not stupid. She wouldn’t jeopardize the rest of us or the mission through misplaced pride.” Now he looked at her. “I’m going to Change before we head down. Come with me and take charge of my clothes?”
Silly heart. It had speeded up. Arjenie beamed at him, feeling all fond and warm. He trusted her to know her limits—to push them sometimes, sure, but at the right time and place. Which this wasn’t. Her family, wonderful as they were, never seemed to think she might know more than they did about what her body could and couldn’t do.
“Sure,” she said. “Wouldn’t want that nice jacket to lie around in the dirt.”