me. “The amusement park is a long way off by foot. And the coven, they’ll be watching for me. They made sure to tell me to come alone.”
“They want you too then?” I asked the question but already knew the answer.
Penny sighed and leaned on the table. “Yes, I believe they hope to trap me. There are spells that could turn even an old lady like me into one of theirs. They’d only keep me as long as I was useful, then they’d kill me too and steal my power, I imagine. I’d hoped Missy would get here before something like this came up. Together, we could actually stand against the young ones. They might be powerful, but they have no experience.”
I put my hands to either side of my head and paced a small circle in the kitchen. There had to be a way to get Charlotte out safe and sound without risking Penny. There had to be. “I hate to ask, but is Missy actually coming? Should we—” I swallowed my pride, “—wait for her?”
For Gran and Charlotte, I would work with Missy. For Gran I would do a lot of things.
Penny shook her head and I tried not to feel relieved. “Don’t know. She said she was coming, but it’ll be on her time frame. As always.”
Of course, it would. I started my pacing again, thinking through our options. There was one I kept circling back to.
“I know the amusement park is abandoned, but do you think there’s a map of it online?” I scrambled through my hip bag and pulled out the cell phone that I’d never returned to Crash. I did a search for the abandoned amusement park, and several pictures popped up. I grimaced as I scrolled through the images of the dilapidated buildings, sunk under water, cringing at the faded paint, leering clowns with eyes hanging loose, and rusted metal ride parts. Each seemed to be taken under a gloom-filled sky, as if for maximum effect.
“Gawd damn, that’s freaky,” I muttered as I scrolled through the images until I found a map. I tried to make it bigger, spreading and pinching my fingers on the screen with no effect. It refused to expand.
Penny didn’t speak as I paced and stared at the screen, just let me be as I worked the problem through in my mind. I don’t know how much time slid by as a plan slowly formed. It might not be perfect, but it was far better than going in half-cocked by the seat of my very comfortable leather pants.
I closed my eyes and worked over the plan in my head. Satisfied, I showed the map to Penny. “Any idea where in here they might be?”
She looked at it closely, moving it around with her finger. “Here, they said to meet me at Jocos Mardi Gras.”
I grimaced. Of course, they’d chosen the worst of the rides with a big leering joker character hanging over the very dark entrance to a tunnel.
“Okay, here. Nemeth can take you in his cab. . .” I pulled the card out of my pocket and flipped it over. “He’s fae so I’m confident he can get you there safely. Make a deal with the coven, even if you can’t break the spell, but keep them busy for as long as you can. I’ll get Charlotte out first, then I’ll get you out, okay?”
It was the best plan I could come up with short notice, and I hoped I’d gotten it right.
“What about you?” Penny asked, her eyes sharp and considering. “What have you got planned, exactly?”
A hard smile slid over my lips and a burst of adrenaline rolled through me. Fight or flight, and I was fixing for a fight. “I’m going to bring the cavalry.”
*_*_*
As soon as Nemeth drove off with Penny, Nemeth rattling on about how honored he was to meet her, I roused the rest of the house, which was basically Suzy and Eric, and filled them in on the situation.
“Charlotte was taken by dark witches, Penny is going to distract them, and I’m going to get Charlotte out. You in?”
Suzy flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder, her bright blue eyes sharp and glittery with a predatory gleam that hadn’t been there before. “I thought you’d never ask. Let’s see what they think of a mostly untrained siren. Make them all climb over each other.” She grinned and gave a rather lecherous wink, which made me smile. Yeah, Suzy was going