I bit my lower lip. “The ones they sunk, were they from the shadow world? Some of them were vampires.”

“Yes,” she said. “They were the ones who worked with the humans, trying to help them. And in the end it got them killed. My mother said it was a big part of why the shadow world keeps to itself, even now. But the vampires made it worse. They drew a lot of heat for it, which is why they were wiped out by the rest of the shadow world after that.” She paused and the air grew heavy with the weight of her words. “I think,” she said, “there are a lot of people who would want to meet us now, but the past has shown us that humans aren’t capable of sharing. We are too frightening for them.”

I gave a slow nod. “Yes, I can see that. Similar to what my gran told me. She always told me it was safer this way. That the best way to look after those in the light was by staying in the shadows.”

Suzy was very still as we stood there staring out over the river, the past flowing around us as surely as the water before us. I shook myself and the spell—if it was even that—broke. “Let’s go see that tarot card reader.”

She blinked a few times and then nodded. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

10

Suzy led the way down the stairs on River Street to the actual water’s edge of the Savannah River. The water lapped at the banks below the walkway, splashing up here and there. She was clearly bringing me to a different tarot reader than the one Sarge had brought me to at the start of training. Then again, there had to be hundreds of tarot readers in Savannah. To the left of us was someone else walking down River Street, enjoying the cool air no doubt. But unlike us, they disappeared over the edge of the street toward the river itself.

“Where is this tarot reader?” I asked. I mean, what if she was leading me to my death? Completely possible seeing as a) she had lost her job defending me and then b) I had basically kicked her ass in a verbal spar that was nothing but hard truths.

“He’s in one of the old slave’s quarters. A very old man, but good at what he does,” she said, picking her way along the path.

I frowned. “Enslaved.”

“Right,” she said. “He dabbles in darker magic, and the blood and death here work for him.”

My feet stuttered and it wasn’t because I’d stumbled or had a muscle cramp. “Why are we not going to Annie from before?”

“Because she won’t tell you shit. She gives you a card and then says nothing. She’s not going to deliver any bad news like a real tarot reader. We need to figure out what we’re doing, you know? The Hollows is out, so we need to find new paths.”

I frowned. “Maybe I don’t want bad news. I’ve had a lot of that lately.” Besides, I had a habit of picking death cards, and that was the last thing I needed just now.

“If you don’t know what’s coming, how do you stop it?” She looked over her shoulder and raised a perfect eyebrow in an enviable arch. Damn it. I didn’t try to out-arch her—I knew when I was beat. Besides, she had a point. Maybe knowing what was coming, good or bad, was not a bad thing.

Maybe I’d be able to use whatever the tarot reader said to figure out who was shooting at me? Or maybe why they were shooting at me.

“The tide is out, which is going to make this easier.” She jogged ahead of me down the path. Of course she didn’t know about the whole gunshot thing. The second I tried to break into a jog, the still somewhat wounded calf cramped up and I yelped. She looked back at me. “You need to hurry. If the tide comes in while we are still with him, we’ll be trapped.”

I forced my aching legs to move, wincing with each step of my wounded leg, limping along behind her, feeling every bounce of my hips and even a ripple under my bra strap along my back. Back fat is a real bitch, let me tell you.

Suzy ducked suddenly to her right, as if stepping directly into the seawall, but of course it was an opening into one of the old enslaved quarters. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the only light came from sputtering candles placed here and there to lead us further into the depths. I couldn’t help but notice not only the shackle bolts that still hung from the ceilings and walls, but how shiny they were. As if they were still in use.

Jaysus lord, this was maybe not the best idea.

My guts twisted as we went further into the tunnel, far deeper than was prudent given that we might need to scoot back out quick.

“Ah, Suzanne, lovely to see you. And you brought a friend.” The tarot card reader’s voice tugged at my dusty memory banks. Okay, I wasn’t that old, but it felt like it at the moment. I was tired, sore, sweating, and tired (yes, I meant to write tired twice). I wanted to go home, and bury my face in a bowl of ice cream chased with a good dose of whiskey, and yet here I was tagging along with Suzy as if I could keep up with her.

Suzy slowed. “Where is Dracus?”

I glanced at her and tried to get a look at the speaker in the shadows. “Dracus is . . . otherwise occupied. I was just leaving.”

I was guessing Dracus was the tarot card reader that Suzy had wanted to see, but if that was the case, then, “How did you know her name?” I asked. “If you aren’t the tarot card reader?”

Suzy stiffened as if just realizing she didn’t know this new dude.

Laughter rolled to us through the darkness. “I know many, many people. I make it my business to know them. Especially the talented ones that the Hollows Group bring in.”

“Bree, I think we should go.” Suzy took a step back, and in theory, I was right there with her, except that something stopped me. Instead of going back, I stepped up beside her and got my first good look at this guy who knew her name, but shouldn’t.

There were candles stuffed into random nooks along the curved wall, held in place only by dripping trails of wax. The smell of fetid sea water and marijuana was strong, and if the plumes of smoke around his head were any indication, he was the source of the smoke. I made myself take the space in, trying to memorize it like Eammon had been instructing me. That was the best way to prepare oneself to fight, bargain, or run. Or so Eammon had said. I’d yet to put it into practice.

The man sat behind an old card table with green felt peeling at the edges, something that almost certainly was not his own. The legs were probably rusted, but I couldn’t see them. At the four corners of the table stood long black taper candles that sputtered pale blue flames. I tried to look past him into the confines of the tunnel, but there was nothing but darkness.

“Not ominous at all,” I muttered under my breath. Apparently not as quietly as I thought because Suzy shot me a look.

“I can read your cards for you. I am as good as Dracus, or perhaps even better.” He spread his hands over the table, showing off a deck of tarot cards.

Suzy seemed drawn forward, her feet moving even as I tried to grab her arm and stop her.

There was no way she thought this was a good idea, or I was a monkey’s uncle. My mind leapt back to our lesson from the day before, the recognizing and breaking of spells.

The problem? I was no good at either, but I still tried. The smell of weed was the only thing I could pick up on, and if I weren’t careful, I’d be higher than a kite. Could that be covering the scent of the spell? Because I was sure that Suzy was under some sort of compulsion.

Suzy flopped a hundred-dollar bill onto that green felt table, and I shook my head. “Suze, this is a terrible idea. Take your money, let’s go.” I touched her and got a zing up my fingers. Yup, she was definitely under a spell.

Damn it, could I not get a single break?

The tarot reader turned his head my way. The way those candles lit the shadows instead of his face made me think that he was eyeless, and I didn’t like that. Until those dark holes where his eyes should have been flashed a bright pink, of all colors. My lips twitched. “Okay, Pink Eye, that was weird but hardly terrifying. You can get drops for that, you know. Any pharmacy should carry them over the counter.”

He snarled and Suzy hissed something at me that sounded like shut the duck up.

“You are insolent,” he said.

And with that one word—insolent—I knew who he was. Or sort of knew who he was.

“Douche Canoe’s friend,” I whispered and took another step back. Suzy didn’t move. I reached for her and tried to drag her toward the exit. How the hell had he come to be here? Had he somehow followed us? The figure on the top of the river’s edge had been him, I was suddenly sure of it. Which meant he’d somehow known where to find us.

A tingle of apprehension curled through my feet, up my legs, and settled into the pit of my stomach.

“This is a bad idea. We need to go. Right now,” I said.

“Would you be quiet? I like his voice,” she said, but there was no heat in it. More like she was drugged. Or in this case, spelled.

I clamped my mouth shut, mostly because I realized right then how much danger we were in. Suzy had no idea, but I did. This fellow was one of the bad guys and had, only yesterday, put a spell on the entire Hollows Group, yours truly excepted, and threatened their lives. What if there had been more to that spell than keeping them all from talking? There could have been anything in it. Tracking. Compulsion. You name it.

“Pick your card, half-breed,” he growled at Suzy.

She sucked in a sharp breath but still reached forward and took a card, sliding it across to him.

“It is the Fool,” he all but purred. “That’s rather fitting, don’t you think?”

“I am not a fool!” she yelled, and the sound of her screech rebounded through the space. I took a step back and bumped into something . . . skeletal. I froze until I peeked over my shoulder to see Robert there, swaying side to side, his long hair hiding his face as always.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered the words, or more accurately mouthed them.

“Friend. Trouble.”

Oh, that was not what I wanted to hear, but let’s be honest, I was not surprised. I slowly turned back to the rickety table, and the man on the other side of it, who would probably kill me if he figured out I was the one who’d put the kibosh on the bigfoot sacrifice ceremony. Oh, and that I’d escaped his spell.