Spirited Legacy (Lost Library) (30 page)

“A safety precaution,” Max replied shortly. “We need to get Harrington, Pilar, and the tapestry back to a more secure location, back to Prague.” He looked at John. “Then you and I are going to get you as close to Worth’s as possible. If Lizzie’s magic comes back, there’s a chance she’ll try to fade to
you.
And we all know how that turns out if you’re too far away.”

“Pilar told me Lizzie could see the residual magic dissipate after Harrington dismantled a ward on your way in. That’s excellent news. Her magical battery is getting close to being recharged.” Harry grimaced. “I know. A terrible analogy.”

“But good news,” John said thoughtfully. “What’s the time frame? I know, I know—it’s not an exact science. But give me your best guess.”

Harry gave him a look. “One hour? Six? Chances are good you can get back to her before her magic returns. What I can’t figure out, is how you’ll stay under Worth’s radar if you return.”

“And how long we have before Worth has packed up and left. His hidey hole is blown. He’ll evacuate right away,” Max said. When John shot him a nasty look, he replied “Hey, we needed to get you in your right mind and a car ride worked to get us away from Worth. I’m sorry, but that was the option that seemed best at the time, even if it left him open to bolt. And it was always our backup plan to come here if we didn’t make a clean getaway.”

Turning to Harrington, John said. “You need to leave.”

Harrington nodded.

Harry interrupted them. “Bad news. You’ll need to drive out. At least to the next nearest airport.” He looked a little sheepish. “When it was clear Lizzie was not coming out, I made some arrangements to ensure Worth couldn’t abscond with her by plane. But it means you can’t leave by plane either.”

Harrington looked suspicious and angry. “What have you done?”

Harry ignored him.

“Fair enough,” said Max, almost simultaneous to John’s “Thank you.”

“No problem. It’s a temporary fix, but Worth should already know that flying is out of the question for the next two to three hours. My friend can only make very small, localized adjustments,” Harry said.

“Can you have the dragons meet us and escort us out?” Pilar asked. When three male heads turned her way, she clarified. “They wouldn’t help with a raid but would do the flyover. I just wondered if escorting us home was within their”—she fluttered her hands—“their guidelines or rules.”

Rather than respond, Harrington picked up his phone and made a call as he walked out of the room.

“Are we ready to head out again?” he asked Max. He was impatient to get back to Worth’s. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to Lizzie while they plotted and planned. His instincts were pushing him to hustle.

“My friend can give us a speedy lift home, so I’ll stay in Freiburg to coordinate our flight back.” Harry ducked his head. “I’m not much use in a fight, but I’ll be here for medical care and transport.”

Harrington walked in on that statement, and he narrowed his eyes at Harry. John could smell the anger leaking from his pores. These two definitely had some unresolved issues.

“Fine,” Harrington said curtly.

“If they do attempt to relocate by car, wouldn’t that be ideal? Or even if they drive to the airstrip?” Pilar asked. Seeing the confusion around her, she explained. “It’s doubtful Worth knows Lizzie can fade. As long as he doesn’t try to siphon her magic—if it’s back—then she can fade to a car that’s not far away, correct?”

John’s heart stuttered when Pilar mentioned Worth stealing Lizzie’s magic. It was an obvious outcome that none of them had articulated. What was to prevent Worth from simply killing her immediately? From sucking her completely dry as he had his henchman Moore in Prague?

A hand touched his shoulder, and the muscles twitched in response. He was incredibly distracted if Pilar could sneak up on him. “She’s quite valuable alive, John. She has special knowledge, and she’s a precious bargaining chip. Also, Worth doesn’t act on emotion, not that I’ve seen. He’s thoughtful, calculated really. He’ll recognize her value alive.”

John nodded. He wasn’t in a frame of mind to tell her, but he appreciated her efforts. Turning to Harrington, he asked, “What did Lachlan have to say?”

“He’s sending two men to Munich. We’ll drive to the airport, and they’ll meet us there. It’s the best we could manage, taking into account the urgency of our departure and our grounded plane.” Harrington glanced quickly at Harry and away.

Either Harrington and his nephew had different priorities, or Harrington didn’t appreciate losing control. Either way, all John cared about was that Lizzie’s departure had been slowed.

Losing his patience, John said, “We’re leaving. Need anything else from us?”

“Wait.” Harrington stepped in front of them before they reached the front door. “I can tell you with some certainty that Worth hasn’t left. I laid a detection ward around the fence. Worth would find it before he passed through, and I suspect he’ll disable it soon. But it still stands and no one has passed through it.”

Noteworthy. Why wouldn’t Worth immediately remove it?

Harrington must have seen his doubt, because he said, “He may not have found it yet. He’s quite possibly busy with other concerns. Or it could simply be too much trouble and he has other priorities.”

Each group began gathering their things and splitting apart. Max, John, and Harry in Harry’s rental. Pilar and Harrington took the more conspicuous van since they wouldn’t be remaining in town with Worth.

John wasn’t mollified by Harrington’s assurances. He still drove like mad to Worth’s property. En route, Harry leaned forward from the back seat and quizzed him about his head injury.

“Fine.” He glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye and right back to the road. “Lycan, remember? Shifting heals most wounds. You should know that.”

“Don’t be an ass. Most wounds, not all. And it was your pathetic furry self who
couldn’t
shift without my help.” When John didn’t immediately respond, Harry prompted him again. “So—?”

“Like I said—fine.” John sped up a few miles per hour.

Harry started to tick off a list. “Headache?”

John sighed in resignation. “No.”

“Scalp tenderness? Light sensitivity?”

“No and no. Enough; I’m fine.”

Harry leaned into the door, bracing himself as John took a turn at high speed. “Okay.” He exchanged a glance with Max. “We’ll call that good.”

Chapter 34

L
izzie woke up in the trunk of a car.
Seriously?
Could these people stop shoving her in the trunk like she was luggage? Well, those other kidnappings had actually worked out all right. And she had to admit that waking up at all was a major win. If she was alive, there was hope for escape.

There was some reason Worth wanted her alive, and, again, she could only be thankful for that. But from there, it all went downhill.

Losing time was incredibly unsettling. And it didn’t help that she’d been shoved in the trunk, all while unconscious. Someone had touched her, and she hadn’t been aware of their hands on her body. It made her skin crawl. She needed to focus on the here and now. She took a deep breath—and inhaled the artificial fabric stink of an enclosed car trunk. The darkness of the trunk closed in on her.
No. No.
Panic would not help. Taking another—shallower—breath, she started to take stock of her condition. She found that her right cheek and jaw ached and her lip was swollen. Wiggling, she found her ankles and wrists bound, which drew her attention to her left shoulder—which was a bad thing. Her movement had aggravated her shoulder injury, and the searing pain in her left shoulder made her eyes tear up. No more wiggling. None. She panted in distress, hoping it would stop.

Several minutes passed before she was able to think about anything but the pain. She was sure there were other scrapes, bruises, and sore areas, but she couldn’t bring herself to even contemplate moving to try to discover the extent of her injuries. Five minutes, maybe ten, or an hour—she’d lost her sense of time—she was thinking about how she could investigate the trunk with as little movement as possible.

She rationalized that her abduction was completely unplanned. And they’d tied her for a reason. They may not have been able to kidnap-proof the trunk, like they had in the previous Lizzie-abduction-mobiles. She smiled. At least her sense of humor was trying really hard. If she could just get her hands to do the same. But as much as she steeled herself—as much as she told herself the pain would be over quickly—she couldn’t make her body move. Her instinctive aversion to excruciating pain was too great, and she was paralyzed.

She contemplated alternatives that kept her shoulder as still as possible. Just when she had come up with a plan, the car hit a particularly large pothole or speed bump, and she dissolved into tears and gasps of pain. She thought she might have passed out, because she realized her shoulder was significantly better than her last recollection. How much time had passed? She couldn’t let herself blackout again. Whatever she did, she had to remain awake.

It took a moment, but her plan came back to her as she became more aware of her surroundings. She felt for the taillight cover with the toe of her shoe. There was a slim chance, but she hoped that she could kick out the cover and somewhere along their route the missing taillight would be noticed. She thought it was still dark outside, and that would certainly help make the missing light noticeable. She’d prefer to remove one of the covers by her head so that she could see, but there was no way her shoulder would tolerate that much abuse. She’d pass out for sure.

It was a slow process, and it took her several tries before she could gauge how hard she could kick without jostling her arm so much she risked passing out. She finally got into a rhythm, and after several good solid kicks she was starting to worry she wouldn’t be able to do it. Then her boot—and was she ever thankful she’d chosen boots—made solid contact and the plastic cracked. She continued to kick, hoping all the while that her activities would go unnoticed by Worth and his men.

After a few more solid kicks, she’d managed to crack most of the plastic. She was pushing it out with her toe when she was startled by the sound of an intermittently blaring horn. The noise surprised her, and she rolled and bumped her injured shoulder. Her head immediately began to swim. She was on the verge of passing out when it occurred to her there might just be a reason someone was honking.
Dammit.
She fought back the blackness that was closing in on the edge of her vision. She clenched her teeth, panting in short, sharp bursts. She desperately needed to stay awake for a few moments longer.

Chapter 35

M
ax was driving. He had insisted after they’d arrived at their surveillance point near Worth’s compound. Max claimed he’d barely survived John’s driving and would prefer to be killed—if it came to that—by Worth and not one of his best friends. It hadn’t been long before they’d spotted a car leaving with four occupants. It had to be Worth.

Max had tailed him, but it was John who laid on the horn when they’d seen the pieces of Worth’s taillight fall away.

“What the fuck?” Max had asked in confusion. But being the smart man he was, he also leaned to the left out of John’s way.

“It’s her. Which means she’s awake. Which means she can fade if she knows we’re here. If she knows I’m here,” John said.

“And she has her magic back,” Max added.

“Yes. Given the alternatives, I’m willing to gamble.” John was convinced this would work. But if it didn’t— “Be ready to do some creative driving. And get closer.”

“Closer?” Max asked with some concern. “We’re already…got it.” At the blaring horn, Worth’s vehicle had increased in speed, pulling away from their car. “You have a backup plan besides chase the bastards and hope we don’t kill her and us in the process?”

But before he could get an answer from John, a bizarre thing happened. A transparent, almost ghost-like Lizzie appeared in John’s lap. Max’s sudden jerk on the wheel caused the car to skid momentarily, and it consumed his attention to keep all four wheels on the road. By the time Max had regained control of the car, Lizzie—solid and quite real—was sprawled in John’s lap. And she was screaming.

Max pulled over to the side of the road immediately. All four occupants piled out of the car and onto the grassy area next to the road. It didn’t take long for Harry to diagnose a dislocated shoulder. He turned to Lizzie and asked, “Bad news or good?”

She was sprawled on the ground with John holding her as still as possible. She’d already thrown up once before Harry had been able to do anything, so she was trying desperately to stay still. “Shit.” Lizzie panted in pain. “Bad.”

“We’ve got to move the head of the humerus back into the shoulder socket.” Harry was atypically grim.

Pale and sweating, Lizzie just looked at him as her chest heaved.

“It’s going to hurt,” he added.

John was done with the delays. “Fix this already.” Lines of tension radiated around the corners of his mouth and eyes.

Lizzie grunted in agreement.

Harry took Max aside, presumably to give him instructions. When they returned, Harry spoke directly to John. “Keep her still.”

Sweat poured off her face, and every small breeze made her teeth chatter and her body shake with cold. John gripped her hand and pushed wisps of hair away from her face.

As Max and Harry moved into position, Lizzie gasped, “The good news?”

Max and Harry shared a glance and then simultaneously pushed and pulled. In the blink of an eye, Lizzie was out. John gathered Lizzie’s now unconscious form close to his chest. Taking up position next to her on the grass, he raised his eyebrows a bit when Harry spoke.

Harry belatedly answered Lizzie’s question, “You won’t be awake for long. T
hat
is the good news.”

Harry performed his healer magic hunched over Lizzie’s shoulder. He worked longer than John would have expected. As time passed and Lizzie didn’t wake, he asked, “Shouldn’t she be awake by now?”