Page 107 of Midnight Auto Parts

“Excellent.” I tugged on his arm. “Then we really need to finish up before Anunit comes calling.”

From the rough count I was keeping, I estimated we had two-thirds of the stolen bones.

As attuned to the magic as Anunit was, she would come investigate the disturbance. Though she knew it was me, and was aware of my intentions, that might not save me.

Perhaps he performed the same mental calculations before suggesting, “We could go faster if we?—”

“Nope.” I cut him off and dragged him along with me. “We stick together.”

Even with Badb acting as a scout, she might lose Anunit if she went incorporeal. Then we would have no warning we were under attack until it was too late. Kierce and I could see Anunit in either form. It made the most sense for us to watch each other’s backs until the cursed beast made her move.

“Are you certain you don’t want to learn your divine parentage?”

Had my thoughts not kept circling back to that very question, I might have snapped that a promise was a promise. Us Marys didn’t want to know our parents. That was the vow we made. Never to search for them. But if I bit off his head, it would be my own guilt I was chewing.

Because I was considering it.

And that was damning in and of itself.

Knowing who sired me might explain the sudden divine attention on me, but I had no interest beyond that in my lineage.None.I didn’t care who gave birth to me or who played sperm donor. They had both given me up, given me away, and they hadn’t looked back.

“Let’s survive Anunit first.” I clung to an easy out. “Then we’ll discuss next steps for…everything else.”

As we entered the final stretch, with only three bones remaining, we heard the first leaves rustle.

Panic banged a drum in my chest as I groped the damp earth in search of fragments, but I sensed the exact moment the sand ran out in our hourglass.

An inquisitive sound trilled into the night.

I ignored her and kept digging, but Kierce groped blindly in the dirt while staring her down.

“You came to make good on your word,”she rasped into my mind.

“I’m doing great.”I wanted to lift my head, but I couldn’t stop now.“Thanks for asking.”

“You knew the risk, and you chose to step in front of the girl.”

“I thought she was your target.”

“The elder did not deserve your mercy?”She sounded amused.“Or mine?”

“She made her decision, but I’ll grant her the grace of saying someone put the idea in her head. I would have been more sympathetic if she hadn’t doubled down on her choice, trapping these women where they would be preyed upon. She had ample opportunities to correct her mistake.”

Granted, by the time Tameka confronted Patty, I believed, in hindsight, she was already too far under Ankou’s influence to be swayed.

“I’ve got it.” Kierce tucked his find into the bag. “We need to move.”

“Keep behind me.” I shielded him as I walked, Anunit pacing us a dozen yards away. “Do you feel it?”

“There.” Kierce sank to his haunches next to me and began scooping dirt. “Keep her occupied.”

“Yes,” Anunit said dryly.“Entertain me while he plays in the dirt.”

“Did you harm any of the officers?”

“No.”Her gaze dropped away.“I have taken my tithe for the day.”

“Will you let the others go when the ward comes down?”I turned a circle.“Anunit?”

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