Page 57 of Road To Runes

The idea to take off resurfaced, stronger than ever, like a rising tide during a storm. Everyone here had their lives how they likedthem; comfortable, in order, and without the danger I brought to the table. Even Penny had an infinitely better life than she did a few weeks ago.

I pushed away from the cabinet and grabbed a handful of empty crystals and a drawstring pouch. Without allowing any more thoughts to cloud my judgement, I unscrewed the jars of the powers I couldn’t do without. I started with the powers of the Bishop family; they were the only things stopping my grandmother from paying someone to have my throat torn out after all. Troy Franklin’s power came next, alongside the powers I used the most often during my bouts of cat burgling.

One by one, I dropped a crystal into the jars. Once they had clanked to the bottom, they sucked the wispy magical essences into them, where they glowed from within. I emptied the crystals into the drawstring bag, pulled it closed and put it back on the shelf.

For a long moment, I stared at the little bag of glowing rocks. I straddled the border between staying here with the only people who had ever loved me, or leaving to protect them…and myself.

Chapter 29

“What’re you doing?”

I twitched violently, whirling around to see Hecate stretching by the door. She yawned, kneading biscuits in the rug. The shock dissipated, soothed by the relief at seeing her up.

“You’re alive,” I teased, and strode over to pick her up.

“If you were so worried, why didn’t you take me to the hospital?”

“For the last time, Hec.” I bundled her up in my arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “They won’t see you at the hospital. That’s for people.”

“Well, I won’t be seen dead at avet.”

“Now you don’t have to.” I ducked through the doorway and back into my bedroom. Recovering or not, I couldn’t risk Hecate noticing that I had relocated my most important powers. “Do you want something to eat?”

“I don’t suppose you could order in a fresh salmon?”

“You can have whatever you want.” But the sound of my phone vibrating somewhere in my room had all thoughts of takeout disintegrating.

I picked it up off the bed and checked the number;private number. My first instinct was to cancel the call. Most of the time those numbers belonged to scammers promising ridiculous and too good to be true potions. But before I cancelled it, I remembered the call I was expecting. I doubted Asher's mysterious contact would use a traceable number.

I answered it. "Hello?"

"Are you ready to hear where your next power is, little dove?" They spoke as if we were old friends.

How had they found one so quickly when my own efforts had taken ages and come up with nothing?

"I'm ready," I said.

"There's a middle-aged rancher in rural Australia who has done well to keep himself hidden so long," they said. "But nobody escapes me if I'm looking for them."

I wondered iftheyhad the power of detection. Although no way would they have told me if they did.

"He has the power you're looking for," they continued. "He can - and has - tracked down hundreds of people in his past just by looking at a picture of them."

"A picture?" Thatwasadvanced. Most supernaturals who had any sort of tracking ability or could cast a decent tracking spell would need something that belonged to the person they were looking for. This person really was good.

"That's what I said, keep up. You got a pen and paper? You're going to need to write down the address."

I scrambled, all but flinging Hecate onto the bed. She mewled with irritation, but I ignored her to barrel through to my work room and grab a scrap piece of parchment and a pen.

"Go on," I said, the pen lid clamped between my teeth as I smoothed the parchment out on the floor with one hand.

They told me the address, which I repeated back to them three times to make sure I had it right.

"So...this guy," I said. "I kinda have a rule with the people I take powers from."

"If you had any fine print, you should have pointed it out to me beforehand." They sounded irritated, but since I had the address, I didn’t care about pissing them off anymore.

“Does this guy deserve it?” I asked. “Has he done anything to warrant having his power taken off him?”

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