Shay shook her head. “I owe that bitch.” She nodded toward Lily. “And Yulia fucked over her father.”
Lily gave an angry nod.
Yulia pointed her wand at the sky. She was now all but screaming in Russian. Floating glyphs painted the air around her, and her eyes started glowing azure. Blue flashes appeared in the sky.
Daniel aimed his gun at the witch. “Whatever she’s doing, it’s not good, but I don’t think even this baby will be enough to get through her basic shield.”
“I’ve got something that will.” Shay holstered her gun, jogged to the back of the overturned SUV, and pulled out the Masamune tachi. She hurried back over to Lily and the CIA agent. “I just need her distracted. If I can get close with this, I can end all of this.”
Daniel nodded. “Just be ready to go when I give the signal.”
Lily frowned. “But what’s the signal?”
“Oh, you’ll know.” He winked.
Dozens of encircled hexagonal patterns of light winked into existence in the sky around the trio. The stones that had floated around Yulia before now whirled around her so fast that they looked like twisting blue ropes.
Daniel snapped his fingers. The force field disappeared, and the golden orb dropped to the ground. Lily sprinted forward but not directly at Yulia. She opened fire.
The CIA agent pulled the trigger on his silver pistol. A thin needle shot out. When it reached the witch, it exploded. Blood dripped down cuts in her face, and she jerked her wand down.
Shay sprinted forward, raising her sword.
This shit is over, Yulia.
A deadly hail of dozens of ice lances blasted from the sky. Lily whirled and spun. The projectiles embedding themselves behind or in front of her.
Daniel slapped his watch. The frozen missiles bounced off an invisible forcefield mere inches from his body.
An explosion of pain shot through Shay’s back and leg as three lances impaled her. She continued her charge, her sword raised high. Each step was excruciating, but she was so close now. So damned close.
Yulia glared at her and aimed her wand.
Too late, bitch.
With a scream, Shay pierced the witch’s heart with her sword. She pushed forward until the blade stuck out the other side.
Yulia blinked and coughed up blood. Her wand dropped to the ground, along with the blue stones.
The tomb raider coughed up blood as well and managed a laugh before falling to the ground.
I win.
Yulia stumbled forward a few steps. “But I was to be immortal.” She fell to the ground face-first and stopped breathing. Her crystal-blue eyes stared at Shay.
“Fuck,” Shay moaned, rolling onto her side. She coughed up more blood. Each breath hurt.
Lily and Daniel rushed to her side.
The tomb raider looked up at Lily. “You okay, kid?”
The girl nodded quickly, tears streaming down her face. “Shay, you’re dying.”
She winced and forced herself onto her knees. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Just…get these things out of me, and I can use a potion.”
Daniel gave her a grim nod. “Hold her, Lily. Sorry, Professor Carson, this is going to hurt like hell.”
“Just do it,” Shay barked through gritted teeth.
The CIA agent leaned down and yanked out the first lance. He pulled out the second, and then with a mighty kick knocked out the third. Shay screamed each time.
She fell to the ground trying to reach the potion in her belt, but her hand wouldn’t move.
Fuck. At least I took down that bitch. Sorry, James.
Lily ripped the potion out of her belt pouch. “Just stay with me, Shay.” She uncorked the potion.
“Glad I could help you get revenge for your dad, Lily.”
“Screw that, just stay with me.” Lily poured the potion down her throat.
Shay smiled as the darkness took her.
Shay didn’t awaken to a boring angeltopia or a fiery inferno. She blinked her eyes, trying to take in where she was. Soft leather seats, the back of a car. They were moving.
Someone was talking. Lily?
“Yes. She’s okay. We’re getting a ride back to the airport. Yeah. Yeah. No one blames you for not being able to stop weird magical interference. Talk to you later.”
“Was that the Pizza King?” Shay asked. She was still unsure how much Daniel had figured out about her and didn’t see any reason to give him free information. A CIA agent of all people could understand the need for code names.
Lily looked over her shoulder. “Oh, you’re awake. Yeah, that was him. He was freaking.”
“I’m not dead?”
Daniel chuckled from the driver’s seat. “Not yet.”
Shay shook her head. “Yulia?”
“Oh, now, she’s dead. Very dead. Nice job, by the way. She’s killed more than a few people who work for the Company.”
“And what about the artifact?”
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stone. Shay couldn’t read it, but she recognized the style of the writing. It was extraterrestrial, the same kind as the other stones she’d either examined or had images of.
“It’s not an artifact,” the CIA agent explained. “At least not in the magical sense.”
“You’re not gonna let me keep that, are you?”
Daniel shook his head. “I will let you take pictures of it, though. Consider it a bonus for taking down Snegurka.”
Shay snorted. “Pictures aren’t worth thirty million dollars.”
“You know what they say—money isn’t everything.” He grinned. “I do apologize, though.”
“Nah, you saved our lives. That means something.” Shay stared down at the alien stone. The Fixer had said the magical underworld was in an uproar, but why would any of them, let alone, Yulia, be obsessed with recovering an alien stone?
Chapter Twenty
That evening after dropping off her gear at Warehouse Three, Shay headed immediately to Prophecy Affiliates, hoping they were still open. She could never tell, given they didn’t post any business hours.
Madge acts like the gnome’s so busy, but I never see anyone else here when I come.
The pixie sat in her little chair again reading a ridiculously tiny magazine. Shay wasn’t sure if the size of the magazine or the fact that anyone still was reading paper magazines this far into
