Page 106 of Midnight Auto Parts

“She sees something.”

His voice, after so long in the quiet, startled me. “Oh.”

Widening her circle, Badb cruised, silent and dark as the night, until I couldn’t see her anymore.

To make up for Kierce’s distraction while he spoke to Badb, I dug twice as hard to reach our goal.

“We’re close to where Anunit is holding Carter,” he said after a minute. “She’s going to monitor them.”

Blinking clear of his connection to her, he noticed my hands, and a frown carved his mouth.

“You’re bleeding.” He glanced up at me. “You shouldn’t be.”

The rocky soil made every inch of progress twice as difficult without tools. The sharp stones must have nicked me.

“The energy from Bonaventure must have been spent healing me then holding open the gate.” The cuts didn’t hurt. I hadn’t noticed the injuries.Thanks, adrenaline.“We’ll patch me up later.”

Unhappy with that, but unable to offer a better solution, Kierce resumed his duties next to me.

Slowly, we crept around the outermost edge, my bag growing heavy. We passed close enough to Carter at one point, I swear I heard her voice. I would have written it off as wishful thinking had Kierce not clamped his hand over my wrist and shaken his head once.

Fear wasn’t a new experience for me. I had felt it plenty. For my siblings. Friends? Not so much. Most of mine were dead, which meant they were safe. Or they had been before Thunderbolt became a hotbed of divine activity. But to know Carter was nearby, in danger, and I couldn’t go to her, was a whole new and wholly unpleasant sensation.

When Badb returned to perch on my shoulder, I knew we had left the immediate danger behind us.

Except Kierce maintained his faraway look, as if his view was different than mine.

“My duck,” a motherly voice issued from not-Badb. “You’ve a terrible habit of courting danger.”

“Who are you?” I tensed when Kierce failed to react to her presence. “What did you do to him?”

“Sure, he’s fine.” She glided down to land on a fallen limb. “A bit dazed is all.”

The last time she visited me, her advice on marking a soul for Dis Pater got me killed when he arrived to collect. I wasn’t interested in what her next suggestion cost me. “You never told me your name.”

“Me?” She winked one beady black eye. “I’m just a bird.”

Before I could press for the reason for her visit, Kierce lunged where she had been with a snarl in his throat. The crow exploded into the sky, and his hands closed over air.

“Who was that?” He shot to his feet, scanning the area. “What did she want?”

“She didn’t tell me her name, andsomeonescared her off before she got down to business.” I hooked a bone and ripped it free then rose and moved on to the next spot. “We have to keep going. Whoever she is, I’m sure she’ll be back. We’ll get our answers then.”

“This is the second time an omen has appeared to you.” His fists clenched at his sides, and his jaw popped with the force of his gritted teeth. “The eyes of more than one god are upon you.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I soothed him. “Is Badb okay?”

“Thatthingwasn’t my friend.” His eyes cut left. “Badb remains with Carter.”

Casting out my senses, I located the next bone and drummed up a distraction. “What is an omen?”

“A sign of good or bad things to come.” He inhaled then exhaled slowly. “They can take any form.”

“She must be using a crow as camouflage. I don’t think twice when I see one now. I write it off as Badb.”

A faint ripple in the air stole the words from his mouth as the barrier shimmered on its mores.

“You’ve done it.” He touched the ward but only hissed from the burn. “It’s close to breaking.”

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