“No offense, Alton, but you look like hell,” O’Halloran replied. “You’d slow us down.”
He shook his head defiantly. “I’m coming with you. I’m not leaving you to do this alone, and I won’t slow you down.” He let go of the sofa and somehow managed to stand on his own two feet, a sense of determination radiating off him. “Astrid, you should still stay here and be our command center, but I’m coming whether you like it or not. You’ll need all the help you can get out there, especially where covens and interdimensional access points are concerned. The SDC’s secret passageways aren’t the only things I’ve got up my sleeves.”
“You were practically dead a moment ago, Alton!” Santana pleaded. “You need to rest.”
“Not until Katherine is actually dead,” he retorted. “This isn’t negotiable.”
“And what if you keel over while we’re out there? We don’t have a way of sending you back to Krieger.” I was worried. Really worried.
He looked me straight in the eyes. “I’ll manage, Harley.”
“Dad, maybe it would be best if you stayed.” Astrid put her hand on Alton’s arm in a vain attempt to get him to sit back down.
“I can’t stay here. There’s too much at stake,” he insisted. “Plus, I’m the only person who knows where Tobe will have gone. If this Kenzie individual doesn’t have any Hermetic Batteries, or doesn’t have enough for our needs, then Tobe will be our last option for getting more.”
I frowned. “What do you mean? Tobe was at the SDC.”
“He was, yes,” Alton replied with a smirk. “Did you honestly think he’d just sit there in the Bestiary and wait for Katherine to come in and stake her claim on him and his wards, too?”
“Would I look really stupid if I said yeah?” Finch murmured.
Alton gave a weak laugh. “Tobe is a highly intelligent creature. As soon as he heard about Harley being taken, he’d have begun his exit protocols. He won’t have been able to take all of the monsters with him, but he’ll have taken as many as he could and gone into hiding. I discussed these protocols with him myself, as soon as Katherine’s victory started to become more than a possibility. We had them set in stone after you all returned from the Tartarus mission. And, fortunately, I didn’t say anything about them to Imogene, and neither did Tobe. It was purely between the two of us.” He paused, as if about to land a winning swing. “So, if you want to find Tobe, you need me.”
“Or, you know, you could just tell us where he is,” O’Halloran shot back. “Save yourself an aneurysm or cardiac arrest.”
“Chaos is still out there, in little pockets. I need some of that in order to recover from this state I’m in.” Alton leveled his gaze at O’Halloran. “It’s the only way I’ll heal faster. If I stay here, I’ll get worse, so I’m choosing to act instead of languish. These Hermetic Batteries may be my only remedy.”
“You’re hoodwinking us is what you’re doing,” O’Halloran complained. “I didn’t think you capable of blackmail, Alton. Shame on you.” His tone was half teasing, half deadly serious.
“You’d leave me here otherwise.” Alton smiled. “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.”
“Who’s pretending? I’d leave you here in a heartbeat—you know, since that’d be more likely to save your life. But, hey, it’s your funeral. Don’t let me stand in the way. And don’t expect a eulogy, because you won’t be getting one. I’ll just have ‘should’ve listened’ carved on your headstone.” O’Halloran shook his head, but what more could we say? We needed all the supernaturals we could get our hands on, and that included Tobe and his menagerie of beasts.
Alton chuckled. “Noted.”
“So… Alton, you’re with us, then.” I sighed reluctantly. “And if our first port of call is Kenzie, then we need to get to San Diego.” I was about to suggest we just go straight to Tobe to get those battery things from him, but we still needed burners and any other protective items she might have. Plus, if Kenzie did have some Hermetic Batteries, then backups would always be useful.
“The cult will be eyeing up every single port of entry, every single train and bus station. If there’s a mode of transport leading to San Diego, you can bet your ass that the cult is watching it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve popped holes in every hot air balloon they can find, just to be on the safe side.” O’Halloran glanced at us all as if we were soldiers in front of a general. “Katherine wants you, Harley. Obsessed would be an understatement. So, we’re going to have to be careful.”
“And let’s not forget we’re human now,” Wade added.
Finch smirked. “Yup, straight up Homo sapiens. No Homo magicus.”
Wade cut back in. “Which begs the question—how on earth do we get from Southern Mexico to San Diego without being detected?”
“I’m insulted.” Kadar folded his arms across his chest. “You think I’m stuck in Raffe’s body for the good of my health? All this tasty Chaos, and you’re likely thinking about hitchhiking to San Diego, or worse. I am pure, rippling Chaos, ladies and gentlemen. And I’ve been part of Raffe for long enough to know how to perform that curious little chalk-door spell.”
“Sorry,” we chorused. With our magic gone, it was hard not to paint everyone with the same magicless brush.
“Apology accepted.” He smirked. “The only problem is, I don’t know exactly where this Kenzie lives. If I have to think our way there, we may end up in Dubai.”
“Problem solved.” Astrid brandished Smartie at the djinn. On the screen, she’d dragged up a satellite view of Kenzie’s apartment building.
“Who needs magic when you have technical wizardry?” Finch chirped, though I could tell his heart wasn’t in it.
We do, that’s who. But we’d get it back, one way or another. We’d definitely get it back… right?
Five
Harley
Taking the chalk Finch had stolen from Remington’s office, Kadar approached the nearest wall and began to draw.
As he whispered the Aperi Si Ostium spell, the lines crackled, sinking into the wooden planks and forging the three-dimensional doorway. The whole time, he kept looking back at the picture on Smartie’s screen, no doubt fixing the location in his head to make sure we ended up in the right place. Well, there was only one way to find out.
He pulled the handle and swung the door outward, revealing the shady grime of a back alley. I recognized the neighborhood.
“You did it!” I gasped. This could be chalked up, quite literally, as a win for us.
Kadar shot me a withering look. “Gratitude for the vote of confidence. I get the feeling this won’t be the last time you forget how useful I can be.”
He stepped through to the alleyway, the rest of us following close behind. I brought up the rear, casting a glance back at the weird mist on the lake before crossing the threshold. Please don’t let it kill anyone. The four who were remaining at the cabin might’ve had Zalaam, but my Purge beast was crazy powerful. I hoped they’d never find out just how powerful.