car.
“You pick the worst times to get frisky with your boyfriends,” Kristan muttered. She was driving an old Volvo, one of the mismatched stable of cars the family kept in the garage.
“I’ll start by not setting her on fire again,” Noah said, holding the back door open for Lindsay. He’d have a heart attack if he had to ride all the way to Wildwood with Kristan at the wheel and Lindsay in the passenger seat. It would be easier if he sat there.
Kristan might have been a pain, but she was a fast driver. Noah turned the radio on to a local station, looking to pick up any signs of a disturbance, trying to distract himself. He cracked his window and lit a cigarette, ignoring how his hands kept shaking.
“Hey.” Kristan snapped her fingers and held her hand out imperiously. She had better control of her magic than Noah had expected—he didn’t like her a damn bit, didn’t feel anything pleasant about her. Still, he lit her a cigarette and passed it over. “Thank you,” she said, changing lanes without signaling and sliding the Volvo between a dump truck and a bus.
“Yeah, yeah.” Noah tried to keep from putting his foot through the floorboards. “Just...don’t crash.”
“I’m not stupid.” Kristan narrowed her eyes as she pulled out to pass the bus on the right.
Noah was about to argue the point when he saw that she was headed for the exit into Wildwood. Not much farther.
They didn’t go more than a block off the exit ramp before the problem was apparent. Traffic lights were out all over town, and in the distance, a Ferris wheel sat unmoving against the perfect blue sky.
Kristan parked in a pay lot near the boardwalk, but when Lindsay got out of the car, he pointed the other way. “I think it started over there.”
When Noah turned, he understood. Across the street, a motel sign was flashing neon blue in a pattern he recognized: S-O-S.
“I need to see .” Lindsay was halfway across the street before Noah realized he was moving.
Lindsay didn’t stop at the sign. He vaulted the fence around the pool easier than Noah would’ve expected from someone who looked that fragile, and pounded up the stairs, clanging metal announcing every step. So much for stealth. Good thing everyone else was too frantic to notice them. The motel guests were milling about anxiously, in and out of their rooms, unsure whether to seek shelter or flee the building.
“Can you call Ylli?” he asked Kristan. He didn’t want to interrupt Dane and he was sure Cyrus didn’t carry a cell phone.
“I’ll take care of it.” Kristan reached into an inside pocket of her summer jacket and Noah caught sight of what looked like a gun holster. Vivian’s people were more in the world, maybe it was her choice that they protect themselves. Guns were useful things—there was little way to track a mundane murder back to a mage.
Lindsay was already past the first landing and Noah decided to get his priorities straight. He took the stairs two at a time to catch up. It was shocking how unfit he’d become and how fast Lindsay was for someone who looked like he’d been kept indoors his whole life. At the edge of the narrow walkway around the motel, Lindsay gripped the rail and, for a moment, Noah thought he was going to vault that, too, and launch himself into the pool below. Instead, he stared into the distance, searching the skyline for more signs of the new mage’s manifestation.
“You can feel through your magic, yes?” Noah looked around, turning to see the chaos spreading through the city.
Two blocks from the motel, he watched a delivery van plow through an intersection and slam into the back end of an old car, sending it spinning out of control. The car wrapped around a lamppost and, even at this distance, Noah could feel the dull thud of the fuel catching fire. He snapped his magic down on it and the flames went out, but there was nothing he could do about the rest.
“We need to make these people stay still .” His
“You pick the worst times to get frisky with your boyfriends,” Kristan muttered. She was driving an old Volvo, one of the mismatched stable of cars the family kept in the garage.
“I’ll start by not setting her on fire again,” Noah said, holding the back door open for Lindsay. He’d have a heart attack if he had to ride all the way to Wildwood with Kristan at the wheel and Lindsay in the passenger seat. It would be easier if he sat there.
Kristan might have been a pain, but she was a fast driver. Noah turned the radio on to a local station, looking to pick up any signs of a disturbance, trying to distract himself. He cracked his window and lit a cigarette, ignoring how his hands kept shaking.
“Hey.” Kristan snapped her fingers and held her hand out imperiously. She had better control of her magic than Noah had expected—he didn’t like her a damn bit, didn’t feel anything pleasant about her. Still, he lit her a cigarette and passed it over. “Thank you,” she said, changing lanes without signaling and sliding the Volvo between a dump truck and a bus.
“Yeah, yeah.” Noah tried to keep from putting his foot through the floorboards. “Just...don’t crash.”
“I’m not stupid.” Kristan narrowed her eyes as she pulled out to pass the bus on the right.
Noah was about to argue the point when he saw that she was headed for the exit into Wildwood. Not much farther.
They didn’t go more than a block off the exit ramp before the problem was apparent. Traffic lights were out all over town, and in the distance, a Ferris wheel sat unmoving against the perfect blue sky.
Kristan parked in a pay lot near the boardwalk, but when Lindsay got out of the car, he pointed the other way. “I think it started over there.”
When Noah turned, he understood. Across the street, a motel sign was flashing neon blue in a pattern he recognized: S-O-S.
“I need to see .” Lindsay was halfway across the street before Noah realized he was moving.
Lindsay didn’t stop at the sign. He vaulted the fence around the pool easier than Noah would’ve expected from someone who looked that fragile, and pounded up the stairs, clanging metal announcing every step. So much for stealth. Good thing everyone else was too frantic to notice them. The motel guests were milling about anxiously, in and out of their rooms, unsure whether to seek shelter or flee the building.
“Can you call Ylli?” he asked Kristan. He didn’t want to interrupt Dane and he was sure Cyrus didn’t carry a cell phone.
“I’ll take care of it.” Kristan reached into an inside pocket of her summer jacket and Noah caught sight of what looked like a gun holster. Vivian’s people were more in the world, maybe it was her choice that they protect themselves. Guns were useful things—there was little way to track a mundane murder back to a mage.
Lindsay was already past the first landing and Noah decided to get his priorities straight. He took the stairs two at a time to catch up. It was shocking how unfit he’d become and how fast Lindsay was for someone who looked like he’d been kept indoors his whole life. At the edge of the narrow walkway around the motel, Lindsay gripped the rail and, for a moment, Noah thought he was going to vault that, too, and launch himself into the pool below. Instead, he stared into the distance, searching the skyline for more signs of the new mage’s manifestation.
“You can feel through your magic, yes?” Noah looked around, turning to see the chaos spreading through the city.
Two blocks from the motel, he watched a delivery van plow through an intersection and slam into the back end of an old car, sending it spinning out of control. The car wrapped around a lamppost and, even at this distance, Noah could feel the dull thud of the fuel catching fire. He snapped his magic down on it and the flames went out, but there was nothing he could do about the rest.
“We need to make these people stay still .” His
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