Page 54 of Midnight Auto Parts

That, and he wiped Kierce’s mind like tissue when the mood struck him.

“Master.” I let the word sit there between us. “I’ve heard you call him that before, and I get that you’re bound in his service, but it still makes me want to claw out his eyes then feed them to Badb.”

“No one has taken issue with his treatment of me.” His mouth curved slowly. “Until you.”

This man kept spreading fissures through my heart as I learned more about him. A living legend. A myth. A demigod or the next best thing. Yet he was kept like a pet in a cage and only released when hismasterrequired him to flit out into the human world and perform tasks for him like he was a carrier pigeon and not the Viduus. No. Not even that. Like he wasn’t a person with his own thoughts and feelings.

Except, when I met him, he hadn’t had much of either. Dis Pater had wrung Kierce dry of individuality.

“Yeah, well.” I ignored the heat blooming in my cheeks. “Someone has to look out for you.”

Kind enough to give me a moment to allow my face to cool, Kierce returned his attention to the bones. “We need to determine whether any have been taken.”

“These appear to be intact skeletons.” As if they had all gathered here to curl up and die. “The small bones, those are the tricky ones.”

I wasn’t saying Vi and I had spent time digging up skeletons, for reasons, but I wasn’t not saying it either.

Kierce raised his eyebrows, but I pretended not to notice, figuring he had done his share of skeletal reconstructions too. Though, I had to admit, likely not for the same purpose.

Prior experience in grave robbing—borrowing—convinced me magic had done the heavy lifting in excavating these remains. The sides of the pit were smooth and square without a hint of shovel or pickaxe marks.

“There’s a simple way to check.” He indicated a nearby skull. “Place your palm on the crown.”

Full contact zapped energy up my arm like a static shock on steroids, and I fell on my butt.

Good thing I had plenty of cushion. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“Are you all right?” Kierce seized my wrist. “What happened?”

“The residual magic.” I scrubbed my fingertips on my pants. “It’s intense.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so sensitive to it.” His gaze held apology. “How about you observe?”

“No.” I slipped out of his hold and slung feeling back into my hand. “I’m ready for it this time.”

A flicker of hesitation stirred doubt within me, but he read my resolve to master my new powers.

Matty and Josie knew what I was, Carter too, and they supported me. I had to be ready to support them right back if another god came knocking. To do that, I had to master my new talents. And fast.

“Place your hand on the bone,” he said again. “Then shut your eyes.”

Hissing through my teeth, I did as he asked then gasped when light flickered behind my lids. “Weird.”

“Focus on the skull,” he murmured. “Let your energy radiate down through its spine, straight to its tail.”

The light show blinked on and off, but as I stroked the bone with my thumb, grounding me to the beast, I saw a hazy outline form. It wasn’t a diagram, exactly, so much as a knowing. There was a visual element. I could picture…something…but a rush of information tingled through my skin, and I knew. “It’s intact.”

“Good.” Pride shone through his voice. “You’re correct.”

“That’s what you were doing earlier.” I opened my eyes. “You were checking for missing pieces.”

Maybe he had a hint of osteokinetic in him. And, I suppose, that meant I did too.

“I wanted to know the answer before I put you to the test.” He indicated the next skull. “Knowledge and memory reside within the skulls. You can’t ask any other bone, or it can only tell you about itself.” He let a sigh part his lips. “There are more than a dozen skeletons here.”

“We better get started then.”

The next morning, I was feeling more myself than I had since the train shed. There was a certain joy to be found in tormenting siblings with hangovers. Dare I say it was a special glee belonging to me alone. Since I was The Responsible One, I often had a front row seat for Josie and Matty’s regrets. This time, however, I had to admit they had outdone themselves.

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