the lip of the destroyed outer wall with a quick jump and then bouncing me along the rubble of what was left of it.
I looked back to see Fancy Pants and the other gals escaping, taking advantage of the situation as they scrambled over the debris and out to the freedom of the back lawn of the police station. Edna saluted me. “Get that piece of fae ass. Trust me, you won’t regret it!”
I couldn’t respond, mostly because the air was being repeatedly knocked out of me with each bump of my butt or hip hitting the ground. Expulsions of air escaped my mouth as if I were the one running.
“Dying. Slow. Stop. Please!” I yelped, even though I knew he was rescuing me.
Sarge bounded along, and all I could think was that I was going to covered in bruises by the end of this little jaunt, but better that than dead. A minute or two later he slowed to a stop next to a black van that looked suspiciously like one of the council vans I’d seen Corb and Davin use in the past.
The side door was open, and two men in black hooded robes pulled me in. Sarge followed with a leap and proceeded to swipe his long, pink and panting tongue up the side of my face. The hooded figures started shutting the door, and Kinkly shot in through the rapidly shrinking opening. A third figure in the driver’s seat got us moving with a lurch that threw me against Sarge’s black-furred body.
“Dog breath,” I said and then gave Sarge a hug around the neck. “Thanks. I think. I’m going to need a hot bath to work out the bruises.”
He gave a woof and winked a big golden eye at me, then lay down in the back of the van at my feet. I turned to the two robed figures in the back.
“Who do I have to thank for saving me, besides Kinkly and Sarge?” I lifted a hand, and Kinkly high-fived me.
“That went better than I thought it would,” she said.
Corb threw back his hood first. “In case the police saw us, we needed to make sure we couldn’t be identified.” He reached over and pulled me into a tight hug, and I just breathed in his cologne and the ocean scent flowing beneath it, his magic a distant tingle that soothed away some of my fear. “You okay?”
“Considering I was basically put on death row for no reason? Peachy,” I mumbled against his chest, clinging to him. I’d known Corb longer than anyone else in my new life, and the familiarity of his arms was comforting.
The other figure cleared his throat.
I turned, still in a half hug with Corb, to see Roderick throw his hood back. “The council does not know I’m helping you. And it has to remain that way. Understood?”
“So why are you here?” The question popped out before I could catch it. Roderick was a bit of a mystery, and I still wasn’t sure about his loyalties. He seemed intrigued by me—not in a romantic sense, more like a scientist trying to identify a new bug and wondering just what it was capable of.
And if he could make use of it.
“Because I do believe that Celia—your gran, that is—was on to something. She was killed for what she knew, and that means it was important. You are our best shot of finding out what that was, despite what the remainder of the council believes. You have ties to your gran that only come with blood.” He frowned and smoothed out his cravat. “A shift is happening in the shadow world. Change does not come easily for those of us who have lived a long time. We must be ready to deal with it.”
I stared at him. “How many are on my side in the council?”
“One short of the number you need to make this all go away,” Roderick said.
Well, hell. That was . . . good and bad. “Any chance I could convince them to come around?”
He shook his head. “There are political undercurrents in the council. People vying for more power. It’s a bad time to be on their radar.”
Awesome, just my luck.
The van careened around a few corners and then slid to a screeching stop. The door was yanked open, and the person who stood waiting beyond it was completely unexpected. I stared up into his gold-flecked blue eyes, one arm still around Corb’s waist. “Crash? I thought you were