The tomb raider walked deeper into the tunnels and turned at what she hoped was a familiar junction. A few more minutes of travel had her questioning whether she’d made a wrong turn. Everything looked the same. Shouldn’t there have been some sort of numbers or something?
Damn, these kids have memorized these layouts without any real landmarks that I can see. Impressive. They could do a lot if they got out of the tunnels and just settled down to something approaching a normal life. They are smart and resourceful.
Shay burst out in laughter, the sound echoing in the tunnel. What did she know about normal life? She was a tomb raider who used to be a professional killer, and she was dating an alien. Compared to her, a bunch of magical orphans who called these tunnels ‘home’ was the definition of normal.
Wait a second.
“Fuck.” She stopped and looked at the different tunnels leading off from her current junction.
I think I know where I am, but damned if I know where to go from here. This was a dumbass plan.
Shay took a breath and raised her fingers to her mouth. It was time to try what Lily had taught her. The bird call came out half-strangled, but at least she managed decent volume. She tried a few more times, then crossed her arms and waited.
The scuffle of footfalls and murmurs came from a nearby tunnel. Shay didn’t go for her gun. The last thing the tunnel kids needed was to think she’d pull a gun on them without good cause. She’d earned their trust, and she didn’t want to squander it by overreacting.
The footfalls grew closer, and Harry emerged from a tunnel, followed by Lily, Casey, and a few other teens.
Harry offered a polite nod to Shay, but it was Lily who stepped forward.
“What did you need, Shay?” Lily asked, confusion on her face. “I’m guessing it’s important if you’d come to the tunnels and use that call to get our attention.”
Shay nodded. “Have a job, and I need your help. I have to recover an artifact, but it’s guarded by an invisible army that technology can’t detect. I don’t have a decent magical means to spot them either.”
“And you think my divination will help?”
“Yeah. You’re perfect for the job, but I’ll be honest—this shit might get dangerous. I want you to know that up front.”
Lily snorted. “And taking on the Ice Witch wasn’t dangerous?”
Harry frowned and crossed his arms, but he didn’t say anything.
Just stay out of it, kid. I know you’re into her, but it’s her decision to make. No one likes an overbearing man.
Harry shook his head. “If it’s so dangerous, why not bring more backup? The more eyes, the better. We could help.” He gestured around. “All of us.”
“Didn’t you hear me? The army’s invisible. Eyes are useless. You can hear them, but that’s about it.”
He shrugged. “Fine. The more ears, the better.”
Shay shook her head. “No can do, ki…Harry. Tomb raiding isn’t like stealing from a few Demon Generals, especially when we’re talking magical guardians. You wouldn’t be more ears. You’d just be more targets.”
“We have magic.”
“You have unreliable magic.”
Harry squared his shoulders. “And what do you have?”
Shay smirked. “A magic sword that I’ve used to kill several magical creatures. So I’m good.”
Harry blinked. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that response.
Lily patted him on the arm. “It’ll be okay. I can take care of myself, and Shay can kick ass. She’s proven that to us and then some.”
Shay nodded. “Look, Harry, I can’t be responsible for all of you. This isn’t a local job. Your knowledge of Los Angeles and the tunnels would be useless. It’s going to be in the middle of a field near a forest, not a city, so your movement skills would be useless.” She gestured to Lily. “And I’ve been training her.”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t like the idea of her doing something so dangerous by herself.”
The other teens nodded in agreement.
“She won’t be doing this by herself,” Shay countered. “I’m doing the heavy lifting. I just need her to point, and I’ll slice.” She glanced at Lily. “Like I said, I’m not gonna bullshit and claim there’s no danger, though. It’s your choice.”
Lily nodded, a determined look on her face. “It’s time for me to pay back the two thousand I owe. If it hadn’t been for you and Peyton, those Triad guys might have tracked me down or hurt my friends. You cleaned up for me when I made a mistake, and I don’t forget that. And I haven’t forgotten how you helped us with the Demon Generals.”
Shay grinned. “If we pull this off, your share will be a lot more than two thousand.”
At least we’re doing this in the middle of the day,” Lily mumbled as she stepped out of the truck.
Shay laughed. “Yep. No reason to make this shit harder than it already is, but maybe we’ll get lucky. See anything, Peyton?”
“Nope,” he replied through their earbuds. “I’m searching on UV, visible, and IR. Minor temperature differences, but nothing else. Certainly nothing that looks like an army of ghosts.”
The tomb raider stared at the simple stone crypt. At ten feet long by eight feet wide, it wasn’t all that large. There were no decorations on the outside except a carving of an oak tree on the front door.
Thirteen stones were evenly spaced around the crypt, all thirteen yards away by her estimate. All had large runes that appeared to have been burned into them.
Scorched patches of land peppered the inside of the runestone circle. The glint of sunlight on shell casings from outside and inside caught Shay’s attention, along with the dark stains on some of the stones and surviving grass. There’d been a battle here recently.
Your friends, Professor?
Shay knelt near the
