Grave War Read online

  Nori looked up and blinked, the membrane of her eyelids sliding sideways. She stared at me as if she couldn’t quite place me or process my words, and then she twisted to stare over her shoulder at the burning amaranthine tree.

  “It’s gone.” That didn’t answer the question I’d asked, and I frowned at her. Her voice was soft, distant, and it held a note of helplessness I would never have expected to hear from the strong-willed fae. “The door to Faerie. It is just . . . gone. We’re stranded.”

  Chapter 8

  Stranded.

  A few months ago, I probably wouldn’t have cared. Direct access to Faerie being severed might have even been a relief, as that would have meant the courts couldn’t mess with my life as readily. Now the confirmation that the door was gone rocked me.

  My tongue felt too thick and dry in my mouth to speak, so I nodded, staring at the still-raging fire. If this was an attack on the winter court, Falin was in danger. Damaging an amaranthine tree was forbidden in Faerie. If this had been done by another court, it was an act of war.

  Ryese.

  I almost asked Nori if there had been roses inside, but that seemed like a ridiculous question. Besides, she was too unfocused to answer my question about Tem; she was unlikely to have noticed if a bouquet of roses had been left behind. But someone calling me Lexi had been stalking me the last two days, taunting me, had even tried to catch me in a soul chain. I couldn’t prove Ryese was behind the flowers or the explosion, but he and the Winter Queen were the only people who ever called me Lexi. Ryese had been the growing poisonous thorn in my side for months and my gut instinct was that he was behind this.

  Still, I should probably examine other possibilities as well. If I became too focused on Ryese, I might miss something that was right under my nose. That could be a deadly mistake. Also, the ABS wasn’t even committing to the explosion being caused by a bomb yet. This could be an accident or it could be a hate crime by an extremist in the Humans First Party. But most humans didn’t know the Eternal Bloom was anything more than a tourist trap where humans could buy overpriced beer while gawking at fae on display. Humans couldn’t see the outer door to the VIP section—the true heart of the Bloom and where the amaranthine tree grew—unless they knew it was there. A chameleon glamour hid the door from casual observers.

  Fire continued to lick up the blackened bark of the tree. No other fires still burned. Would an explosion on the tourist side of the Bloom have done so much damage to a pocket of Faerie? By its nature, the VIP section was grounded in this realm, a type of transition area between here and Faerie. Or was the fire still consuming the tree proof that the attack had originated in the VIP section? We were going to have to get in there if I wanted to learn more. And if there were still survivors inside, they needed that fire out now.

  I turned back to Nori. “When you were inside, could you see what is causing the fire to rage on? Is it a spell?”

  She did that strange sideways blink again, not looking away from the Bloom as she spoke. “The water isn’t reaching the tree. Part of the tree is manifesting in the human realm, but as you get closer to ground level, the bubble is still in place. I tried to fly in from the top but ended up outside the door. The water is pooling at the entrance.”

  Well, that would explain why nothing was working. The firefighters spraying water through what looked like the ruined roof wasn’t going to cut it.

  I turned to head back to the command tent and talk to the fire chief, but caught sight of four black-suited people running up the street. FIB agents that had approached the scene from the opposite cross street. Took them long enough. They must have gotten held up at the outer barricades.

  I called Nori’s name as I moved to intercept the agents. Tem still hadn’t emerged from the building. I didn’t need anyone else rushing in until we had a plan. I stepped in front of the four running agents, lifting both my hands in front of me. Their glamours were currently holding, though the panic on their faces was clear, but I knew at least one of these agents was a troll. If she ran straight into me, I was going to be hurting.

  “Nori’s already scouted inside. The door is gone.” I shouted the words, not caring that the humans milling around the scene could hear. The words created the effect I wanted. All four agents ground to a halt.

  Jaws fell slack. Glamour began to slip. One fae fell to his knees, staring at the burning tree. But they stopped, and for now that was enough. I gave them a moment to absorb the news.

  Nori stepped up to my side. She still hadn’t gotten her glamour back under control, but her eyes looked focused now, so that was a good start. “Agent Mabel, there are quite a few injured fae who will need your attention,” Nori said, pulling the lapels of her jacket straight before brushing at a large smear of concrete dust on her sleeve.

  One of the agents in front of me snapped to attention at Nori’s words. Mabel, apparently. She looked over, nodding slightly. Her glamour had only just begun to slip, leaving her eyes looking like large pools in the center of her face. Not being metaphoric there. Literal pools of liquid shimmered where eyes should have been.

  The energy and noise level around us changed as the human emergency workers responded to something behind me. I turned, peering into the darkened depths of the crumbling Bloom. It took me a moment, but I caught sight of an enormous form lumbering over collapsed walls and piles of rubble. Tem.

  The troll had dropped his glamour, and he looked like an enormous yellow hulk appearing from the gloom. His suit was now more gray than black, at least what I could see of it. He was carrying multiple people, one slung over each shoulder, another in each arm. I hoped there were no neck injuries, because they were being violently jostled. Of course, that was probably preferable to burning to death, or dying of smoke inhalation, or being crushed by a collapsing building.

  Yeah . . . I wasn’t going to criticize Tem’s methods.

  Two smaller figures followed behind Tem, one holding on to his huge arm for support and nearly dragging the other. They looked like children compared to Tem, but as they cleared the last of the rubble, I realized they were both grown men, and human from the look of it.

  Tem’s gaze landed on our clustered group, and he picked up speed, heading straight for us. “Mabel, we’re going to need your skills.”

  The water fae was already moving to intercept him, as were several EMTs pushing gurneys. Good, they weren’t hesitating this time. I waited until the last person had been handed off before stepping closer to Tem.

  “How many more are inside?”

  “Alive? Not sure. The ones I pulled out were conscious and crying out. How many are unconscious but buried? I don’t know. I saw more while I was inside, but I’m not sure how many are beyond helping. The damage is . . . it’s bad.” He stared down at his hands. His formerly white gloves were coated in ash and dust. “There might be some humans too. Would-be rescuers must have rushed in. Some made it into the pocket of Faerie. Those two got caught in a secondary collapse.” He jerked his head toward the two humans who’d hobbled out with him. One was being lifted onto the closest gurney, looking pale and ashen as a paramedic stabilized his mangled leg.

  Tem straightened and turned back toward the building. “Lea, you coming?” he asked as he started walking again. At least it wasn’t a mad sprint this time.

  One of the female agents straightened—the other troll, if I had to guess, though her glamour made her appear no taller than me. She did look a whole hell of a lot more buff than me, though. Even with her glamour she looked like she could bench-press me. In truth she could probably bench-press a car.

  “Wait,” I said, holding up a hand as if I could have physically held back either troll.

  Tem turned. Without his glamour, he had no eyebrows, but the way the rough yellow skin over his large forehead bunched made me guess that the look he gave me was quizzical. Damn but it was hard to read inhuman faces when you’d spent most
your life around people who all more or less looked relatively similar.

  “Nori said the reason they can’t get the fire out is that the water isn’t reaching the pocket of Faerie. Is the building stable enough that you could lead in firefighters?”

  Tem’s thick lips tugged down around his protruding tusks. “I’m not going to be responsible for leading a bunch of humans into a collapsing, burning pocket of Faerie that can’t decide if it exists in the mortal realm or not. But the Bloom not being on fire would make getting survivors out a whole lot easier, so I’m not opposed to carrying in one of those fire hoses.”

  Well, that was better than nothing. Now to talk to the fire chief.

  Chapter 9

  Absolutely not.” The fire chief’s cheeks and forehead were bright red, his eyes hard. “This may be a fae-owned property, but I’m the incident commander. There is an active fire of unknown source, an explosion caused by suspected incendiary devices, and unknown magic at hand. No one is authorized to enter the building. You shouldn’t have sent your people in to start with, and there is no way they are going back in now that they are clear.”

  I didn’t correct his assumption that I’d been the one to send my people in. “There are still survivors inside, and your efforts to extinguish the flames from outside are not working. We know why they aren’t working. Let my agents put out the fire from the inside.” I almost added that I wasn’t asking permission, just giving him a heads-up on our plans, but I didn’t actually know how far my authority extended on this scene. If I overstepped, would I get thrown out? Arrested? That wouldn’t speed up the process of getting help to those inside nor answer any of the questions about what had happened.

  Outside the command tent, I could see Tem pacing. He wouldn’t wait much longer. With or without permission, he was going back inside. It would be nice if I could secure him some official backup.

  “She’s right.” This from the anti-black magic task force leader. She looked from the fire chief to me and then back again. “The fire isn’t going out. My team hasn’t been able to isolate a magical reason—at least not from out here. And your team hasn’t made any progress in extinguishing the fire. Civilian lives are always a priority. We need to get to those trapped inside. If her team knows how to fight the fire more efficiently, we should give it a try.”

  The fire chief’s cheeks puffed out in his outrage, and he shook his head. But after a silent moment he gritted out the word “fine.” Then he turned on his heels and marched out of the command tent. “Let’s get your team suited up.”

  I followed the chief toward one of the fire rescue vehicles. Nori, Tem, Lea, and a fourth agent whose name I’d already forgotten trailed close behind. Mabel had opted to remain with the survivors who had already been pulled from the rubble, and the last agent who’d accompanied us to the scene was interviewing witnesses. It wasn’t until we reached the vehicle that I realized we weren’t alone. The ABMU task leader had followed us, two of her officers bringing up the rear of the group. The chief gathered several helmets and fire jackets before turning, his arms overloaded. He gave a disparaging glance over my small crew and then noticed the ABMU agents. His scowl deepened.

  “Not you too,” he said, staring at the task force leader.

  “The magic at the scene needs a closer inspection. My team isn’t making much headway from the outside. We will get a better understanding inside,” she said, holding out her hand to accept some of the protective gear.

  He stared at her a moment, and then tossed a helmet in her direction, shaking his head but not fighting her. Beside me, Tem crossed his massive arms over his chest.

  “No,” he said, his deep voice causing every eye to move to him. I cocked an eyebrow, but he just shook his head. “No humans. I don’t mind walking in there and fighting the fire. I can carry people out. But I’m not leading humans in.”

  “You don’t have to lead me or my team anywhere,” the task force leader said. She was an inch or two shorter than me, which made her at least three feet shorter than Tem, but she glared up at him with enough confidence in her spine that it seemed to equalize them. “We are going in.” She turned toward me as she said these last words, the challenge clear in her face.

  I considered it a moment. The dangers of the fire and collapsing building aside, taking them with us meant leading them into a pocket of Faerie. Of course, Nori said the doorway was down, and with the destruction, most of the inherent dangers of the Bloom to humans were likely not an issue. If she planned to take her team in regardless, they would be safer going with us than going in alone.

  I nodded, and the hardness in the ABMU leader’s face softened slightly. Tem opened his mouth to argue, but I met his gaze and said, “They go.”

  We stared at each other a moment, Tem’s lips pressed tight around his tusks. “I can’t protect them,” he mumbled.

  “We aren’t asking you to,” the task leader snapped back, sliding into a heavy fire jacket.

  Tem glared at her, but the argument seemed to be over, so I turned and accepted the helmet and flame-retardant jacket the fire chief handed to me. Tem continued to grumble as I shrugged into the heavy coat—the thing had to weigh thirty pounds. He did not approve of my decision to enter the building, but we’d already had this argument. I wasn’t sending my team in somewhere that I wasn’t willing to go myself.

  “I don’t need that,” Lea said as the chief attempted to hand her a helmet.

  “You’re not going in that building without some protection.”

  “That hat would crack before my skull.” She stepped backward, as if repulsed by the helmet.

  The fire chief made a disgusted sound. “Fine. You’re not my responsibility and you won’t weigh on my conscience.”

  As I wasn’t impervious to collapsing walls, I donned all the gear the chief had given me, double-checking all my straps and buckles as I walked. Two firemen met us at the edge of the sidewalk in front of the Bloom. They handed off the hose to Tem, giving us a brisk but succinct rundown of how to operate the hose and valves. Then they retreated back behind the three-hundred-foot safety perimeter that had been established across the street.

  I glanced around at our group of five fae and three witches—or at least I assumed all the humans were witches; all three carried enough charms to stock one of the shop displays here in the Quarter. The humans were all wearing full protective gear, and as I watched, the male witch in the back clipped a small token to the front of his jacket and activated the spell inside it. I was close enough to feel that it was a heat resistance spell. There were already several such spells active in the gear we wore, but I guessed one more wouldn’t hurt. My team was far less protectively dressed. Nori had accepted a helmet but not a jacket as the heavy coat would interfere with her wings. Lea and Tem had rejected both. The final fae—was his name Moor? I thought that was what he’d introduced himself as—was dressed in full gear. I guessed whatever type of fae he was, he didn’t have a ton of natural armor like the trolls.

  “Ready?” I asked, stepping forward into the shadow of the building. I received a chorus of grunts and affirmatives in response, but when I started forward, Tem stepped into my path.

  “I’ll take point—I’m the one with the hose,” he said, and then he leaned down so that only I could hear his next words. “Stay close to me. If this building starts collapsing, I need to know where you are. You’re the one the king tasked me with.”

  Right. Which meant the rest of the team and the humans were on their own. Still, it was good to know I probably wouldn’t be crushed to death. Not by a building at least. Maybe by a troll shielding me from said collapsing building, so yeah . . .

  Tem led the way into the building. At first it was just a matter of stepping over bits of debris that had been blown clear, but soon we were climbing over what remained of the facade. Lea dropped her glamour. She wasn’t quite as tall as Tem, but she still had a good
two feet on me, and that extra height gave her an advantage in scrambling over debris piles. Nori simply flew over them. Moor proved to be a satyr, and while I would have thought his hooved feet would have been a detriment, he moved like a mountain goat, easily finding steady footing on the shifting rubble.

  The person scrambling beside me tottered, and I threw out my hand, catching her elbow and steadying her. The ABMU task leader glanced at me and gave a small nod of thanks as she straightened. Through the plastic of her face shield, she gave me the briefest smile.

  “I don’t think we were introduced earlier,” she said once she had her footing under her. “I’m Lieutenant Martinez.” She held out her hand.

  It was a bit of an awkward angle for a handshake, with us among the rubble and nearly side by side, but I accepted her hand. The handshake was quick but firm and friendly. I’d already liked her direct, logical assessments, but my respect for her increased.

  “Alex Craft,” I said. Probably should have added “special agent in charge,” but she knew that and it didn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Besides, I didn’t want to waste the breath. Finding my footing in the rubble had me breathing hard already.

  The January air was hot from the fire, and under the heavy fire jacket, I was sweating by the time we reached the door that normally would have led to the VIP area. Water pooled everywhere, filling every crevice and churning in muddy swirls of ash and dust around my boots.

  Half the wall had collapsed here, transforming where the door had been into a jagged opening. A limp arm hung out of one of the nearly submerged piles of rubble. One of the witches rushed forward, kneeling in the water to check the wrist for a pulse.

  “Dead,” I said, not moving any closer to the body. I was shielding hard against the press of the grave, but seeing the body gave it an extra push as it raked against my mind. A shiver ran over me even under my heavy fire coat. I wasn’t sure if the man had been crushed in the initial explosion or drowned under the torrent of water, but the impression sliding against my mind was that he had been fae and old. Very old.