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  Lachlan looked at me. “Ready?”

  “Yeah, let’s get a move on.”

  As a group, we headed down the tunnel, our footsteps silent. Tension prickled across my skin. Any minute, we could run into other patrons of the Grimrealm. Would our disguises work? Down here, it’d be damned hard to escape if they all turned on us.

  We’d walked for only a couple minutes when more magic prickled against my skin.

  Like a warning.

  Rowan gasped. “Something’s coming.”

  A blast of flame shot from the wall, right in front of us.

  I threw out my shield, the white magic bursting forth. For once, my magic obeyed me. The fire slammed into the shield, making my arms shake. It was fierce and orange, filling the whole cavern in front of us.

  “Holy fates, good work, Ana.” Caro’s face was stark.

  “You saved us from becoming barbecue,” Rowan said.

  I chuckled weakly, studying the flame. It wouldn’t let up, just kept blazing against my shield.

  Next to me, Lachlan crouched down. He was running his hand over a small mound of earth right next to the wall. “I think we were supposed to step on this to keep the flame from blasting us.” He pressed on the mound of earth, but the flame didn’t stop. “I think this stopped the flame from coming. But now that it’s started…”

  “It won’t stop,” I said.

  “I’ve got it.” Caro held out her hands, her magic swelling on the air. “Everyone back up.”

  We did as she commanded, though I was careful to keep the shield up.

  “Okay, drop it!” Caro said.

  I let my magic fade, and the shield disappeared. The flame roared forth, almost encapsulating Caro. Huge jets of water burst from her palms. It doused the flame, filling the tunnel with steam.

  I choked, the steam making the stench of my cloak even worse. When it finally faded, the tunnel looked totally normal. Caro had hit it with the perfect amount of water. There wasn’t even a puddle on the floor.

  “Nicely done,” I said.

  Caro brushed her hands together. “Kind of an expert with the H2O.”

  Lachlan stepped on the mound of dirt, and a spark of magic glittered in the air. “I think that should do it.”

  I raised my hands and called on my protective shield, forming a bubble around us. “Just in case.”

  The shield held strong, and I grinned. My little bit of practice with Lachlan had definitely helped. I made sure to focus on why I wanted this magic—to keep us from becoming crispy critters—and the shield held strong.

  We entered the section of tunnel that had been flaming. There wasn’t a single sound of breathing, so everyone was clearly as nervous as I was, even with the shield.

  About a hundred yards later, when I heard the sounds of people, I dropped the shield.

  “That was intense,” Bree said.

  “Well, hold on to your butts, because I think it’s going to get a lot more intense.” Rowan pointed to the glow of magic that lit up the exit to the tunnel. “I think we’re here.”

  I adjusted my cloak, making sure that most of my face was covered. Everyone else followed suit. We approached the edge of the tunnel, walking with a brisk stride. As we neared the exit, I caught sight of masses of people.

  If I’d been worried that wearing a full-body cloak would be suspicious, I didn’t have to be. More than half the people in the market were wearing cloaks. Apparently, if you dealt in stuff that was this dark, you didn’t want to be identified.

  The market itself was wild—black tents filled the space, with colorful signs floating above them. They advertised everything from potions to charms to weapons and clothing. People clustered around them, filling the walkways to bursting.

  All of it stank like the inside of an old dumpster that had been eaten by a giant fish that was now rotting, and I sucked air in shallowly.

  Didn’t dark magic users wonder why they stank so bad?

  Seriously, could anything be worse than this stench?

  “I can’t believe someone is trying to sell Arach’s heart down here.” Horror echoed in Bree’s voice.

  “We’ll stop them.” Lachlan’s tone was firm. “Then we’ll report this shithole to the Order of the Magica.”

  My gaze darted around the market. The stalls and people blocked a lot of my view, but the market was obviously huge. On the edges of the open space, there were shops set right into the rock, using the earth for walls.

  “It reminds me a bit of Hider’s Haven in Death Valley,” Bree said.

  “Just a lot bigger,” Rowan added.

  They were right. We’d only been in the haven once—it was actually the topic of the story I’d tried to tell the bullfrog—but the haven had been a much smaller, a less evil version of this place.

  I stepped out into the market. “Let’s find Grimaldi’s. Stick close together. If you get separated, leave.”

  Together, we pushed our way through the crowd. The feeling here was just plain dark. Like I was in a nightmare come to life. I brushed past a few people, and terrible images flashed in my mind. Death and torture.

  Were they sending those thoughts into my head? I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.

  A strong hand gripped my own. Immediately, I knew that it was Lachlan. His comforting touch helped force away some of the images. I clung to it. All around, objects sat on tables. Weapons, grimoires, potions—mostly poisons, from the look of them. And a whole lot of things I didn’t recognize, and didn’t want to recognize.

  Dozens of scents hit my nose. We passed a food vendor, and the savory scent actually smelled good. Which somehow made the whole situation worse, once it mixed with the nasty scent of dark magic. I didn’t want to find anything appealing about this place. Not even hot dogs.

  Vendors shouted at customers as we passed, hawking their potions and spells. I ignored them all, until an old woman caught my free hand, pulling me away from Lachlan.

  I looked down, startled. She wore a black cloak over her stooped frame, and her black eyes seemed to see right into my soul. “Dearie, dearie, I’ll tell your fortune!”

  “No thanks.”

  She gripped me harder, her dark eyes burning. “Dearie, you should listen to your elders. You’ll learn things you want to know.”

  A chill ran over my spine.

  Somehow, I believed her.

  Maybe it was her magic, but I really believed her. I sank onto the little stool in front of her tent.

  “What are you doing?” Bree hissed.

  “Is this safe?” Lachlan gripped my shoulder. Even his touch couldn’t shake me away from the fortune teller’s grip.

  Her eyes continued to burn into mine.

  “Just a moment, guys.” I could hear them grumbling, but I only had eyes for the fortune teller as she swept around the little table and sat behind it. She leaned toward me, holding out a wizened hand. For a moment, it looked smooth and young, then it flashed back to old.

  “Give me your hand, dearie.”

  I did as she asked, letting her grip my palm. But she didn’t study it, reading the lines and creases that I thought fortune tellers would normally go right for.

  Instead, she stared hard into my eyes. My brain seemed to vibrate, and it felt like she was looking right into my soul.

  “You’ll find what you seek in the circle of stones.” Her voice wrapped around me, sending a shiver across my skin.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Questions you want answered will be revealed to you within the circle.”

  She meant the stone circle at the Protectorate. She had to. I wanted to ask more—did she know which pantheon I was from? Did she know if my mother was still around in her ghostly form?

  No.

  Selfish.

  I was here for Arach.

  “But I’m looking for Grimaldi’s,” I said.

  The fortune teller’s eyes flicked to mine. Confusion, then understanding. “Of course.” She pointed behind me, and I tu
rned.

  There, at the edge of the market, was a sign high in the air. A circle of glittery red stones gleamed in the light.

  I turned back to her. “That’s it?”

  “That’s their symbol. Go there and you’ll find what you seek.”

  “So you…you didn’t mean that I’d find answers about my past in the circle of stones?”

  “Things always have more than one meaning.” She stood and held out her hand.

  I pressed a wad of cash into it, and she seemed pleased. I turned to my friends, all of whom watched me with concern.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  Together, we pushed through the crowded market, headed toward the casino. My mind raced over what the fortune teller had said, but as we neared the edge of the market, I shoved the thoughts away.

  We’d have to be alert for this. Totally on our game. Casinos in the human realm often had tons of security, and I doubted this would be any different. It wouldn’t be nearly as easy to blend in the casino.

  The stalls thinned out a bit toward the edge, and we lingered briefly near one that sold some kind of strange-smelling beverage that bubbled in an iron cauldron. The casino was one of the buildings that had been built right into the earth, and it was unmarked besides the glittering circle of red stones that were stuck into the rock wall above the door.

  Two burly guards stood at the entrance, each wearing a dark green suit. They had their hands crossed in front of them and their cold stares directed out at the market.

  “Twenty bucks our names aren’t on the list,” Bree muttered.

  “No kidding.” I looked at Lachlan. “Think you can freeze them?”

  “Definitely. Then move fast.”

  “No need for the speed,” Bree said. “You freeze them, I’ll make us invisible.”

  “Perfect.” We were a good team. “Lachlan will lead the way in, and we’ll go single file after him.”

  Everyone nodded.

  I didn’t feel Lachlan’s magic this time—no doubt, he was trying to hide his not-evil signature—but the guards froze in place. They didn’t so much as twitch. If you weren’t paying attention, though, you wouldn’t even notice.

  A half second later, my friends disappeared. I started for the door to the casino, bumping into someone slightly. One by one, we filed through the door, entering a dimmed lobby. There was a hostess standing at a gold-lined table, but she was frozen solid, too.

  Well done, Lachlan.

  “Everyone here?” I whispered.

  There was a chorus of three yeses and one aye, and we all hurried past the hostess. As soon as we’d passed her, Bree and Lachlan dropped their magic. As a group, we strode right into the casino.

  I tried to act like I belonged here, but the sheer opulence of the place made my jaw drop. Literally. It was embarrassing.

  The whole place was done up in gold and gems and velvets. Many of the patrons wore cloaks like ours, but others were dressed in tuxes and ball gowns. Still others wore rougher clothes, but the waitresses seemed to be just as attentive to them.

  In the casino, all money was green.

  There were a half dozen games that I could spot off the bat, though I couldn’t have identified them. All the tables were crowded full of people. We drifted toward one of the many bars set up along the edges of the huge room.

  There were two more entrances that I could see, both toward the back.

  “We should split up and guard the entrances,” Lachlan said.

  “You should hunt for the target, Ana,” Bree said. “You’re the ones who got us here. You and Lachlan take this one. The rest of us will guard the doors and keep an eye on you.”

  “Thanks, guys.” I smiled at them.

  They melted into the crowd, their cloaks disappearing between the tables.

  “Let’s go,” Lachlan said.

  I followed him out into the crowd, drifting between tables, pretending to look for a game to play. In reality, I was looking for a pale demon with blond hair and sawed-off horns. Normally, demons didn’t look very human, but there were the rare exceptions.

  The longer we walked, the more I felt the prickle of eyes on the back of my neck.

  “You feel that?” I asked.

  “Aye. Someone is watching.”

  “The guards?” I glanced around, spotting at least eight guards.

  “They’re looking for cheats. Not sure they’re worried about us.” Lachlan rubbed the back of his neck. “But someone is definitely watching.”

  My skin crawled as we searched, tension ratcheting up. Whenever I caught sight of my sisters or Caro, they looked alert, too. This place was definitely dangerous. For all the glitter and gleam that coated the surface of it, the underbelly was dark.

  When a hand roughly grabbed my arm, I bit back a scream. My heart thundered. I couldn’t start a scene, but if management had caught us…

  We were screwed.

  13

  I glanced back, dread uncoiling in my stomach.

  My friend Claire stared back at me, shock on her face. She wore a fabulous red dress and black stilettos. So much makeup covered her face that I barely recognized her. But it was definitely her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I know. What are you doing here?” And dressed like that? Normally, she only wore her fighting leathers or jeans and a T-shirt.

  “Come on.” She tugged my arm. “We need to get out of the crowd.”

  I followed her toward the edge of the casino, Lachlan at my back. Claire strode through the tables like she knew the place. But she wasn’t a gambler. I sniffed.

  Her magic smelled different. Like rotten meat and gasoline.

  I gagged slightly.

  What the hell was going on?

  She pulled us to the edge of the gambling hall, right between two big potted trees. A bench sat pressed against the wall, a perfect place to get away from the crowd.

  I looked at Lachlan. “Can you block the sound?”

  He nodded.

  Claire visibly relaxed. “No one can hear?”

  “No one,” Lachlan said. “You don’t have to whisper.”

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked. “Does Connor know you’re here?”

  “My brother doesn’t know everything,” she said. “He wouldn’t approve of this job.”

  “You’re on a job?” I asked.

  “Why the hell else would I be in a place like this, stinking like an old butcher shop right before an arsonist went to town?”

  Okay, she had a point.

  “I’m hunting a mob boss.” She tapped the black diamond necklace that hung around her neck. “This makes me blend in, though. A bit like your cloak, but prettier.”

  “This place has a mob?” I asked.

  She gave me a deadpan look. “It’s a casino. Of course it has a mob.”

  “So the Order of the Magica knows about this place, then,” Lachlan said.

  “They do.” Claire spent most of her time working as a freelance mercenary and odd-jobs-woman for the Order of the Magica. “They don’t want to take this place out entirely, but they do want to clean it up some.”

  “Why don’t they want to take it out?” I asked.

  “The Order’s not all good,” Claire said.

  “That’s the truth.” They hunted FireSouls like Nix, and she certainly wasn’t bad. They might be the government, and they might try to take care of most supernaturals, but they didn’t always do a good job. They certainly didn’t hesitate to let their prejudice run wild.

  My gaze traveled from Claire back toward the crowd of gamblers, finally landing on a mop of messy blond hair. Two sawed-off horns stuck out.

  I gasped. “That’s him!”

  She nodded. “I assumed you were looking for someone. Which one is it?”

  I nodded toward the card table where the cards floated in midair, directed by a mage who acted as the dealer. “The blond demon. We’ve got to ask him some questions
. Problem is, I don’t know if he’ll talk.”

  “Oh, he’ll talk,” Claire said. “You just got to get him into the Room of Truth.”

  “What’s that?” Lachlan asked.

  “This is the mob, right? So they’ve got to make people talk all the time. But regular old beatings don’t work great for supernaturals. We’re used to getting the shit beaten out of us. And often, we’ve got scary people on our tails anyway. So they’ve got a room that has been imbued with a truth charm. Get your guy in there, ask him some questions, and bam! You’ve got your answers.”

  “Perfect.” I liked this plan. “But how do we get him in there?”

  “We can’t grab him, or people will be suspicious,” Lachlan said.

  “Pretend to comp him something,” Claire said.

  “Comp?”

  “Give him something on behalf of the casino. He’s got a major gambling problem. He’ll go anywhere if you promise him credit or a better table.”

  I looked down at my cloak. “He’s not going to follow me anywhere.”

  “We’ll trade clothes,” Claire said. “I’d do it for you, but he’ll recognize me. I see him here all the time, and he knows I’m not staff. But I just arrived today, so he hasn’t seen this dress. We’ll trade clothes and stinky charms, and you lure him in.”

  “You’re a lifesaver.”

  She grinned. “The boss isn’t here tonight, so my plan was a bust anyway.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the wall. “We’ll find a bathroom and get changed.”

  Ten minutes later, I teetered out of the bathroom on Claire’s stiletto heels. We were the same size, but heels had not been a part of my life in…well, ever.

  I liked them; I’d just never had time to wear them. It wasn’t easy to run for your life in heels. Now I was suffering for that inexperience.

  Before we’d gone to the bathroom, Claire had shown me where the Room of Truth was located, and I’d used my comms charm to alert the others. They’d act as guards, and once we’d gotten our target into the room, we’d make quick work of questioning him.

  If Arach’s heart really was for sale in this awful place, I didn’t want to give anyone enough time to make an offer on it.