Page 23 of Time's Fool

And then something else, a rising rage that I didn’t take time to understand, because I was busy tearing through the middle of the group and lashing out with my feet.

I struck two witches in their chests, one of whom fell off of her broom, then swung back around and knocked another into the water. I threw a potion bomb at the remaining three, who scattered as I sent the broom straight into the frigid waves, which I quickly discovered were too murky to allow me to see anything. Until I resurfaced a moment later, gasping and streaming with water, and punched another witch in the face.

She wasn’t shielded, my acid bomb having taken care of that, and looked dazed, clinging to her broom as I stole her orb. It worked for me about as well as it had for her, which was not very well at all. But it was better than nothing, and the broom cut through the roaring tide easily, allowing me to deep dive with no effort.

But try as I might, I couldn’t find the vamp. If he’d been a human, I would have assumed that he’d been knocked unconscious on impact and carried downstream, but that isn’t something that happens to vamps. Unless they’re dead, a little voice said, which made a cold hand grip my heart again.

Damn it! I didn’t care if the creature lived or died, except that the latter resulted in my not getting paid! So, I had better find him.

But the water was too churned up here for decent visibility, as I was almost on top of one of the starlings. Enough to get the compression effect as the rushing current upstream tried to force its way through the too-small arches, and burst out of the other side with almost lethal force. I found that I had to lean into the broom just to stay put.

Who designed this thing, anyway?

I didn’t know, but I remembered hearing a common saying the last time I was in London, something about wise men going over the bridge and fools under it. It was referencing the number of people who had drowned trying to navigate through the arches, especially when the tide was going out as it was now—and those were professional boatmen! Shooting the bridge, as it was called, was not advised, which was why most passengers traveling downstream opted to get off before the bridge and walk around it, before boarding again on the other side.

Assuming their boats had made it through, that was.

Some didn’t, with fifty boatmen dying each year. I wasn’t going to risk joining them, because the vamp wasn’t here, and the witches were coming. I saw them break the surface far above my head, haloed by the strange lights they carried.

And immediately zero in on me because of the orb I still held. I let it float downstream, since it wasn’t helping anyway, and saw some of them break off to chase it. But others were smarter and spread out, looking for me.

Or looking for the vamp, because they still didn’t have the ring, did they?

They wouldn’t be sticking around if they did. I spared a thought for the leader’s expression when she found out that they’d hexed her target before getting her prize back! And then almost swallowed the river in shock when somebody grabbed me from behind.

I thought it was a witch, and turned with a snarl and a spill of bubbles, only to see the vamp, his dark hair streaming about his face, his eyes glowing amber bright. And a finger coming up to his lips. As if we could talk down here anyway!

We sped up and out, bursting through the surface of the water behind an arch, where I gasped and choked and the vamp pounded me on the back for a minute, until I put up a hand to stop him.

“You . . . have it?” I gasped, clinging to my dripping broom.

He nodded, looking slightly wide eyed himself. And showed me his hand, where the ring glowed a soft blue around one finger, seemingly content with its watery surroundings. “But I lost half of the portal,” he said. “We’re going to have to leave this place the old-fashioned way.”

“Not . . . a problem.” I patted the broom. “We have this. But I thought . . . you wanted the witch.”

“I do, but not at these odds.” His jaw set. “We’ll lay a trap for her later. As long as we have the ring, she’ll come to us. Today has proven that, if nothing else.”

“But she’s here now,” I argued, because I really wanted this bitch. “And we don’t know what she’s planning. We may not get another chance—”

“Whatever it is, she needs this first,” he flashed the ring again, sending blue ripples dancing on the underside of the arch.

“Or maybe that would just make things easier for her. It’s obviously powerful, but we don’t know what it does. But if we catch her—”

“We’re not catching her.”

“—we can learn what she’s planning, what all of this is about. And stop the revenant attacks at the same time—”

“Not tonight.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “The witches think we’re in the river. Most of them are searching for us out there. We can grab her while they’re—”

“I said no!”

“—busy. These may be the best odds we’ll have—”

“Damn it, I won’t risk you again!”

I stared at the vamp, wondering if I’d heard right. But I didn’t have time to find out, because the broom suddenly went haywire. It looked like the witch I’d mugged had lived, and wanted her ride back.

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