Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,63

of this arrangement was about to begin.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Graham

I was past Birmingham, Alabama, and about five hours from New Orleans. Brooding a little, as I drove through the south, seeing the struggles of America that I thought I might work toward in the government, and now the landscape of my country seemed foreign. I thought I was a part of this world, and I wasn’t. I was from somewhere else.

I was thinking about Helena a lot. I didn’t even have a suitcase. I didn’t want to go to my apartment alone. I thought the wizards might be watching me. So I just had a wallet, a few new outfits I grabbed at Target on my way out, and an uncertain future.

My future had been so close. I would have surely won the election if I fought for it. I woke up the morning after my loss in the hospital feeling like a truck rolled over me.

Now…

I felt free.

This was about when I noticed that the same old Rolls Royce with darkly tinted windows had been following me for a while and was still there after I stopped to get gas.

Fuck.

I tried to call Helena but I knew her phone didn’t work at the house. I tried the landline at the house instead, but no one picked up. They might be banging on stuff and not even hear it, and there was no answering machine. I couldn’t tell them I might be in for a second wave of trouble. My body wasn’t going to handle this twice.

They won’t do magic in view of humans… Even Piers attacked me in the corner of a lonely parking lot.

The road was fairly empty, but I stuck close to a minivan that was cruising down the road ahead of me even though it meant going slower. The minivan was full of kids who kept looking at me. When a truck full of workers pulled on from an exit going faster than the minivan, I sped up and got behind them instead. If I could just stick close to another vehicle the whole time, they probably wouldn’t try anything.

And then I would lead them straight to Helena.

This was not ideal.

But they probably already know where she is. So we might as well face the threat together.

My body was tense and anxious, and that continued tension was making me ache all over. I wasn’t up to a fight. Was Jasper? I doubted it. Piers was picking us off one by one.

Too much of a coward to face us all at once, huh?

I didn’t need to know much about the wizard councils to know that he pissed me off. I had grabbed a grilled chicken sandwich when I got the gas, and I was so busy anxiously keeping close to other drivers that I didn’t touch it until it was cold.

When I pulled off the highway, I was alone on the road. The car was right on my bumper. I sped up, blazing down a residential road, gritting my teeth.

An arm extended out the window, a wand pointing toward me in my rear view mirror. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

A bolt shot out at me and I jerked my car sideways to dodge it, but nearly drove off the road into some shallow water on the side. I corrected, my wheels bumping back onto the pavement just in time before I lost control. My heart was thrumming in my ears. I was close to Greenwood Manor now, and yet still too far.

I saw at least two people in the car. In fact, they looked like women. Maybe Piers hadn’t come at all. How many wizards were in on this?

I tried calling Helena again and this time, someone picked up.

“Hello, Ston speaking.”

Who the fuck was that? I didn’t have time. I hung up as I hit a bend in the road and I saw the witch’s hand attempting to take another shot while the curve exposed more of the side of my car.

There was a cop waiting on the side of the road, holding up a speed tracker.

I didn’t dare hit my brakes, but the witch had to hold off on her spell. The cop jumped into his vehicle and got in behind us, flashing his lights.

A speed trap had never been so useful. The cop was right on the Rolls Royce, a muffled voice blasting out telling us to pull over. I definitely wasn’t going to stop. I had to take advantage of this human and pray that he didn’t