Page 157 of Coerced

“Maddy,” he’d rumbled.

Then he’d carefully laid the scalp on the bench and returned to searching the room without a second look at it.

As a warrior, I admitted a small part of me wished I was that hardened. The rest of me, though, prayed I never would be.

#

Gigi and Kerry came back within a few minutes of each other, by which time I had myself under control. The edges of the sky were getting lighter; dawn wasn’t far off. Mira sealed the room tighter than a tomb, and we decided to look around in some of the other buildings. Before we separated into pairs, Kerry stopped Mira and held out his hand. Coiled up in his palm was a grace of refuge.

“Take it,” he told her. “Long as you wear it, it’ll protect you from anything Holy or Divine, like Rome said. So if you decide you wanna go to the Sanctuary, you’re set.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” She raised her eyebrows.

“No. I want you to stay with us, but you should have the choice. Look, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and my gut says this is the right thing to do.”

“All right. Thank you.”

She went to take it, but he jerked his hand back.

“You gotta promise to always keep it on unless you’re giving it back to me.”

“Okay.” She nodded.

“And don’t lose it or pass it on to anyone else. If you don’t want it or don’t need it anymore, give it back to me and me alone.”

“Okay.”

“It’s really important, Mira. It was entrusted to me. Now, I’m entrusting it to you.”

“I understand. And I promise. I won’t take it off or lose it or give it to anyone but you.”

“Your word is good enough for me.” He dropped the necklace in her hand and watched as she put it on.

I didn’t know why he was making such a big deal out of this. Sure, a grace was special, but it wasn’t rare or irreplaceable.

Maybe he doesn’t know that. He hasn’t spent more than a few months at the Sanctuary, and I doubt Diabolical markets deal in graces of any kind.

Then the girls went to the left and Kerry and I to the right. We found a garage-type building and realized this was where our friends had been kept. At least, there was bedding and cots strewn about and the bathroom sink was still damp.

And Kerry swore he could smell a trace of Gemma in the air.Ididn’t, but I wasn’t going to argue with him when he was dropping power like a shower of sparks from a welding torch.

“Kerry!” Gigi came in with a scream and made us both jump. “Gemma lit the candle! The bird found her! She lit it!”

“Where?”

She pointed and he took off running.

44. Incoming!

Gemma

Although demons can’t enter Holy ground, they can surround it - and it didn’t take our pursuers long to do so. Their constant chittering set my teeth on edge and, I have to admit, I started to panic a little.

While I poured healing into Monkey, I told myself we had time. We could survive for a while on the supplies I’d managed to scrape into the crate before I fled Castle’s office, and Tara found an old hand water pump outside the back door. After priming it with one of our few water bottles, she worked the metal handle until the rusty brown liquid became clear, cold spring water.

And surely we wouldn’t have to hold out under siege for long. Kerry was on the way. I didn’t know how far the little metal bird had flown, but it couldn’t have been too far, could it? I might get to see him any minute now.

Oh, Kerry. My sweet boy. My fierce tiger. Where are you? I need to see you!

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