Black Magic Sanction Part 37

Coming forward, Ivy cracked the door, and Jenks slipped out. She counted to ten and then pushed the door entirely open. "Let's go," she said, face grim. "We just spent all our luck."

My knees were shaking at the near miss. They still didn't know we were here. I hoped.

Nick was sober as he came into the brighter light, and after a quick look behind us, we continued forward. We found Jenks hovering at a juncture, and my heart sank. We were lost.

"That way," Ivy said, pointing to the right, but Nick shook his head and pointed left.

"No," he said, looking determined. "You're right that magnetic resonances are capable of hiding the opening to the vault, but the vault isn't where the resonances are being generated. The vault is where the line is being pulled out of its channel."

Nick pointed the other way, and I sighed. G.o.d, not again. We'd already decided this.

A dangerous glint came into her already black eyes, Ivy said, "Fine, you go that way, I'm going the other. To the vault."

"We are not separating," I said, thinking Nick would rat us out.

"Trent won't put his vault next to a magnetic resonator where people work every day," Nick said irately. "The resonator is warping the nearby ley line, and where the line dips, that's where the vault will be, not the resonator itself. Watch, I'll prove it."

He turned to me, surprising me when he said, "Rachel? We're too deep for a line, right?" I nodded, and he added, "Reach for one." My eyebrows went up, and he said, "Just do it!"

"All right, all right," I muttered, relaxing just enough to do it. We were too deep for me to reach a ley line. Three stories at least. But my breath caught when I felt the faintest glimmer of strength not that far ahead and to the left. "I don't get it!" I whispered, telling Jenks with my head toss to get the camera's looping on the left corridor, and he buzzed off. "We're too deep."

"You've got to be kidding me," Ivy grumped, but when Jenks's ultrasonic wing sc.r.a.pe made my eyeb.a.l.l.s hurt, I started forward.

"It's just devious enough to be true," I said dryly. They couldn't hear the pixy signals. Lucky them.

Nick all but sauntered beside me, and Jax joined us after we turned the corner. "It's Trent's magnetic-imaging system," Nick said. "Trent is going to use magic as well as technology to keep his vault closed. And for that, he'll need the ley line, unexpectedly pulled downward by a very powerful magnet, something no one would think twice about in a facility such as this."

He was right, but how had he known such a thing was possible?

"I'm telling you Trent won't use magic to close his vault," Ivy grumped. "He doesn't like magic."

But his security expert loved magic. And his dad had, too.

The hallway dead-ended at an encouragingly formidable set of double doors. The line had to be behind them, though; they were the only doors in the entire hall. The carpet was pristine, no coffee stains or sc.r.a.pes. The air, too, felt stale. Jenks was at the camera in the corner, and when Jax took his place, the more experienced pixy dropped down to hover with us as we faced the oak doors. Reaching past Nick, I tapped it with a knuckle. Thick.

"Well, wonder boy," Ivy said sourly, "let's see what's behind door number three."

"It'll be there," Nick said indignantly as he slid a wired card into the card reader and proceeded to play Mr. Accountant on the attached device.

I shook my head, brow furrowed. Dropping back to where Jenks hovered, I fidgeted. Beyond the door were untold riches-my ticket to getting Trent, the coven, and Al off my case. Was I a thief if I was going to give it back? Did I care?

"Are you sure those cameras aren't recording?" I asked. Down at the end of the hallway, Jax huffed, and I tossed a strand of hair out of my eyes. "I feel like I'm being watched."

"This would be easier easier if it was if it was quiet," quiet," Nick said, and Ivy frowned. Nick took his fingers from the keypad and cracked his knuckles. A slip of pixy dust dropped down to lubricate the electrons as much as for luck, and Nick hit the big green b.u.t.ton. Nick said, and Ivy frowned. Nick took his fingers from the keypad and cracked his knuckles. A slip of pixy dust dropped down to lubricate the electrons as much as for luck, and Nick hit the big green b.u.t.ton.

The red light on the pad went out, and the green one lit. There was a faint buzzing, and Nick grabbed the card out of the reader with jaunty swiftness and turned the handle. My gut clenched, but the twin doors opened silently. "QED," he said, gesturing for me to go first.

Ivy caught my shoulder. "In my family, that means quite easily dead. I'll go first." Giving Nick a mistrusting once-over, she went into the dark room. Fluorescent lights flicked on at her presence. It worried me, but it was unlikely they'd monitor the lights when there were other ways to detect people.

"It can't be this easy," I said as I followed her with Nick tight on my heels. Jax was with him, and Jenks slipped in an instant before the doors shut.

"Maybe because it isn't," Ivy said, and I stared at the blank walls of the large room.

"Where's the vault?" I asked, then turned to Nick. "Where's the freaking vault!"

"Right in front of you," he said, and I spun, in a really bad mood. "Rachel, where's the ley line?" he added, and frustrated, I hesitated.

"Uh, right here," I said, eyes going wide. "You don't think the way into the vault is... through the ever-after?" I asked, and Nick smiled deviously. "But you can't do that!"

It was a beautiful thought if it could be done, though. The perfect door. If the magnets were unpowered, the line wouldn't even come close and the door wouldn't even exist. Closing my eyes, I reached for the ley line, shocked when I found it, bent and running through the wall just as he'd said it might. A quiver went through me. Trent's dad had gone into the ever-after with my dad and come out, not bought a trip from someone. He could s.h.i.+ft from reality to the ever-after and back using a ley line. And so could Trent, apparently. He must really really not want me to know he could if he had risked everything last summer buying our way in and out of the ever-after. not want me to know he could if he had risked everything last summer buying our way in and out of the ever-after.

Nick's smile was wide when I opened my eyes, and he pushed himself from the wall. "So where's the door?"

Heart pounding, I scanned the empty room. "Right in front of us. Let me pull up my second sight and see what's going on." d.a.m.n it, Nick knew witches couldn't do this. But he thought I could? But he thought I could?

It was weird, how the magnets had pulled the line deep into the earth. Weird, and really clever. But even that thought vanished when I brought my second sight up to find that instead of the expected rock and rubble of being underground, we were in an open s.p.a.ce, with tall ceilings and flat floors, colorful banners, and the phantom sound of eighties music done instrumentally.

"Holy. c.r.a.p," I gasped, shocked when I recognized it. It was the demons' mall. Al had taken me here once when he was out of powered rock from Pompeii. My hand went to my throat as I saw the demons and familiars going about their business. I'd be unseen unless they used their own second sight. I was like a ghost, not really in the ever-after but just looking at it. I turned to the wall, blinking. It was gone, a coffeehouse catering to demons and familiars alike in its place.

"Whoa. Dudes," I said. "Ivy, you're not going to believe this. It's a mall." It was times like this that made me glad demons couldn't pop over to reality whenever they felt like it but had to be summoned. Nothing could stop them from looking, though.

Nick grunted, and I turned from the juxtaposed views of the wall and coffeehouse to see him, seemingly standing in the mall, oblivious to demons demons going past. Nick's aura was a lot darker than the last time I'd seen him. Jax, on his shoulder, was a spot of rainbows. "Can you get in?" Nick asked. going past. Nick's aura was a lot darker than the last time I'd seen him. Jax, on his shoulder, was a spot of rainbows. "Can you get in?" Nick asked.

Feeling ill and disoriented from holding two visions of reality, I blinked, deciding that his black s.m.u.t was a lot thicker. The mark that Al had given him was like a black hole, sucking in all the light around it, twin to the new one on his shoulder. Seeing him waiting for an answer, I nodded. "Probably." Witches couldn't s.h.i.+ft realities by standing in a ley line, but I wasn't a witch. s.h.i.+t. s.h.i.+t.

Nick bobbed his head. "There should be a panel on the other side. Just hit open. You've probably got thirty seconds to get me in so I can enter the code to disable the alarm."

"Alarm?" Ivy said, probably thinking that's why I looked sick. "You didn't say anything about that before."

He turned to her. "And you thought the vault was being hidden in a magnetic resonator. Roll with it, vamp. Or can't you function without a plan to blow your nose?"

"Uh, Rache?" Jenks interrupted, looking worried. Rainbows spilled from him, his aura falling like pixy dust. He knew what it might mean if I could do this, and I hoped he'd keep quiet about it.

"Just... let me see," I said, then faced the blank wall, shaking out my hands and trying to find a sense of calm. This wasn't like trying to jump from one line to another. I simply wanted to slip into the ever-after through a ley line. Just go into the ever-after, walk three paces, then get out of the line. Right into a demon coffeehouse. Great. And hope that when I reappear in reality, I'm in an open room and not buried in dirt. If Trent could do it, maybe I could. I'd never be trapped in the ever-after again, either, provided I could find a ley line.

"Rachel," Nick said, bending close. "There is a room behind the wall. Why have a lock on an empty room? I trust you. You can do this."

I eyed him and his s.m.u.tty aura, and he took his hand off me. How come he knew I was different? This didn't smell good at all.

But closing my eyes, I strengthened my second sight. Once more, the red-tinted burnt amber smell enfolded me. The ley line ran right through the wall. Best to take two steps maybe.

"Rachel?"

"I'm fine, Ivy," I said, my voice harsher than I had intended. "Jenks, don't even think about it." Just do it, Just do it, I thought, and then I stepped into the line and let it take me. I thought, and then I stepped into the line and let it take me.

The smell hit me, jerking my eyes open. Noise jangled, a hundred conversations, arguments, loud gossip. s.h.i.+t, I'd done it. I didn't know if I should be happy or depressed. It sounded like Takata being piped in. It was hot, and sweat threatened to break out. Pus.h.i.+ng my hair back, I took a shallow breath. I was what I was. The door to the coffeehouse was ahead of me, THE COFFEE VAULT painted on it in big silver letters. You ve got to be kidding. You ve got to be kidding. It was too obvious to ignore. Grasping the handle, I pushed open the door and went in. It was too obvious to ignore. Grasping the handle, I pushed open the door and went in.

Two demons looked up, the laughter of their joke still showing on their faces. Dressed in leisure suits I wouldn't be caught dead in, they looked me up and down, a.s.sessing how high I was in the familiar hierarchy. I felt naked without Al, and I gave them a bunny-eared kiss-kiss. "Hey, hi," I said, feeling stupid. "Just pa.s.sing through." d.a.m.n it, I shouldn't be able to do this.

The better dressed of the two eyed me. "Who the h.e.l.l do you belong to?"

Ambivalent, I let the door shut behind me. There was a room mirroring this one in reality. I could sense it, like an unheard echo. "I'm Al's student. Nice to meetcha."

The second demon smacked the first on the shoulder. "See, I told you she was alive."

Alive? I thought, wondering what the gossip had been. "Toodles," I said, blowing him a sarcastic kiss and stepping from the line and back into reality. I thought, wondering what the gossip had been. "Toodles," I said, blowing him a sarcastic kiss and stepping from the line and back into reality.

The noise cut off with a suddenness that almost hurt. The air was cooler. Dark. Black. In the corner, a shadow moved. s.h.i.+t, something was in here! Not a demon, Not a demon, I told myself, panicking. They couldn't just slip into reality like that. Not like I could. I told myself, panicking. They couldn't just slip into reality like that. Not like I could. This is good, right? This is good, right?

Heart pounding, I backed up into the wall I'd just walked through. Not taking my eyes off the moving shadow, I fumbled, finding the light switch. Light flickered into existence, and I sighed. It had been me. The movement had only been me, my shadow reflecting off the ornate mirror propped against the wall.

Slowly my pulse eased. Before me, large racks held old clocks, locked metal boxes with faded index cards, and slatted crates. One side of the room held a huge chest freezer. Actually the entire room looked a lot like Nick's bas.e.m.e.nt in a much higher tax bracket. If I was lucky, there wasn't a camera. I thought of the demons at their table, able to see me with their own second sight but unable to cross over, and I s.h.i.+vered. The Coffee Vault, indeed. At least I'd never be trapped in the ever-after again.

Spinning to the wall behind me, I found the thin lines of a door and the expected keypad. "Come on in, guys," I whispered, and hit the green b.u.t.ton.

There was the hum of machinery, and I backed up. The two panels slid apart like the doors in a science-fiction movie to show Ivy, Nick, and Jenks, hovering with brow furrowed. "Rache?" Jenks questioned.

"We'll talk about it later," I said, and Ivy b.u.mped Nick when he bent to pick up his stuff. Scowling, he caught himself and followed her in, immediately plugging his card into the panel.

"Cameras?" Ivy asked, scanning the room, and when negative wing chirps came from both Jenks and Jax, she went to the canvas display. "So this is Trent's bas.e.m.e.nt," Ivy said as she started leafing through the hanging canvases, arranged like posters in a pagelike display. Nick made a satisfied grunt and pulled the card from the reader.

"We're good," he said, his gaze fixing on the picture Ivy had turned to. "That's it," he said, eyes eager as Ivy paused at a really small painting. It was hardly a foot by a foot, showing a dark background of snowy mountains and a castle, the foreground taken up by a satisfied-looking young man in a red robe and funny hat, fur around his collar and three downy feathers in his lapel. That the man looked like Trent was almost anticli-mactic.

"That's it?" Jenks said, landing on my shoulder as we eyed it. "It's not very big."

"Kinda ugly, too," I said, getting a funny feeling about this. I didn't want to say this was too easy, seeing as I'd used a door neither a witch nor a demon could open, but everything was going too well.

Nick was spreading a black silk cloth on the coffin-size freezer. "It's not the size, Jenks, it's how you use it," he said, smirking. "It doesn't need to be big if it looks like Trent."

Well, it did look like Trent. Jenks wasn't laughing, his hands on his hips as he moved out of the way while Ivy took the picture to Nick. "It stinks. Almost as bad as you, Rache," he accused.

"I smell?" I said, flus.h.i.+ng.

Holding the canvas at the unpainted corners, Ivy frowned at him. "You were in the ever-after," she said, one shoulder lifting in a shrug, and I took a step back from them, feeling unclean. Great, I hadn't even noticed.

Oblivious, Nick carefully took the picture from Ivy, making a production out of rolling it up in the black cloth to put into the mailing tube he'd been carrying across his back like a sword. I couldn't help but sourly wonder if it was stamped and addressed to his latest girlfriend.

While the two of them discussed who was going to carry it, I unzipped my belt pack and brought out the hoof pick. I'd leave it here where Trent would be sure to find it. If he didn't make the connection that he was going to get the painting back, I might be in trouble.

Jenks joined me, and together we looked at the beautiful inlaid wood one last time before I set it on an open display case, bright with mirrors and lights. "I should have done this a long time ago," I said softly, wondering if I'd ever get my entire memory back. But who really remembered anything about being twelve?

"Oh my G.o.d," Jenks said, eying the statue next to it. It wasn't any bigger than he was, but I felt myself warm as I looked more closely. It was two men and a woman, buck naked, doing the nasty. At the same time. One in front, one in back. She looked like she was enjoying herself, though, ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s heaving and back arched, which kind of made it hard for the guy in back, but by his expression, he didn't care. They had pointy ears, the woman sporting a cute pageboy haircut and the men having hair past their shoulders, wild and feral.

"What is it?" I said, wanting to pick it up but feeling it might leave me sullied.

"Tink's d.i.l.d.o, you're asking me?" he said with a snort, but he didn't elaborate. Not even one rude gesture or comment. The unusual restraint was clear evidence of his depressed state.

"Ivy?" I called. This was too good not to share, timetable or not. "You gotta see this."

She came closer, Nick trailing behind as he capped the top of the tube the picture was now stashed in. "Whoa," she said, nose wrinkling. "Elf p.o.r.n?"

"It's my ticket out of this life," Nick said, and Ivy grabbed his wrist when he reached for it.

"Hey!" I said as he twisted out of her grip, frowning at her. "We're not here to steal a statue. Didn't you learn anything from last time, Nick?"

Expression angry, he picked it up, the small statue fitting neatly in his palm. "I'm not walking out of here without something to show for it. And don't tell me you didn't expect me to help myself. That's the only reason I agreed to this, and you know it." His blue eyes were mocking, daring me to say anything. Just once, I wished I could be wrong.

p.i.s.sed, I barked, "Put it back!"

Jenks rose from the shelf, and Jax chimed out, "Uh, Nick? An alarm just went off."

Ivy's eyes went a deeper black. "You son of a b.i.t.c.h." "Put it back!" I shouted. "Put it back now!" Nick shoved it into a jeans pocket, where it made a small bulge. "Doesn't make a difference. Let's go."

"You idiot!" I exclaimed. "It does does make a difference. I'm not here to take anything I can't return!" make a difference. I'm not here to take anything I can't return!"

He smiled from the keypad, using only half his face. "You won't get caught. Promise."

Promise? What in h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean? With a satisfied smirk, he dropped his card into the reader, hit two b.u.t.tons, and the doors slid open to show the first empty room. With a satisfied smirk, he dropped his card into the reader, hit two b.u.t.tons, and the doors slid open to show the first empty room.

Ivy was a blur of motion, picking him up and throwing him to slam against the closed twin wooden doors to the hall. The gadget swung from the reader, and I lunged for it before the wires snapped. Almost crosseyed, Nick gasped for air as Ivy pinned him, her cast under his chin. The hidden door started to close, and after yanking the card free, I slipped through. I had time for one glance at the hoof pick, and then the door shut. Jenks was a blur beside me, and Jax was already with Nick, screaming at Ivy to let him go.

"Ivy, we might need him to get out!" I exclaimed, dropping his equipment by the closed hall door. "I've got a spell to make him look like Trent. Don t give him a bruise you can see!"

Scowling, she thought for three seconds, an eternity for her. "We're not using those."

I touched my belt pack, my heart pounding. "Yes, we are."

Shoving him into the doors, she dropped him. "You know I don't like your magic."

The faint honking of a claxon was obvious, and my pulse was fast. It felt good, and I rocked to the toes of my feet as Nick rubbed his neck, his c.o.c.ky mood now sullen as he gathered his equipment. G.o.d, I was not going to get excited about this. But it had been ages since I'd done anything even remotely resembling a run, and I was riding the high already.

"I'm carrying the picture," I said, s.n.a.t.c.hing it from Nick and draping the tube over my back. "Everyone, take what I give you and swallow it. Ivy, I mean it. Don't give me any c.r.a.p."

The room went silent but for pixy wings as I pulled out a vial, gave a sniff, and imagining the faint scent of tea mixing with the reek of burnt amber, I downed it. All eyes watched me as I made a face. "Tastes like lemon pop," I lied, shoving the vial away and bringing the next out.

"I'm not drinking that," Ivy predictably said, but this one smelled like horse under the burnt amber stench, and I handed it to Nick.

"Nothing happened," he said, and I made a face at him like he was being stupid.

"I've not invoked it yet." Dummy. Dummy.

"Who takes the s.m.u.t?" he asked as his fingers encircled the tiny vial, and Jenks bristled.

"I do, now drink it!" I said, handing Ivy the last one. "I'll invoke them together. You uninvoke it by saying the invocation word again, so don't say it until you mean it. Got it?"

Ivy hesitated, and Jenks got in her face. "Do it, you chicken-s.h.i.+t vamp!" he yelled, and she did.