What could possibly be here in this sleepy Austin apartment that would help them?
Robin took a moment to make sure that Reykon was situated so it looked like he was just asleep and not, in fact, dying of a stab wound. Then, she slipped out of the van, still wearing the one-size-too-big jacket. The thought occurred to her that she probably looked like a druggy. She couldn’t worry about that now.
She approached the door slowly, a stream of adrenaline pricking her senses. She had no clue what lay on the other side. Possibly, men that would take her to Magnus. Possibly, someone to help Reykon.
Robin stood directly in front of it and raised her hand to knock before she could convince herself otherwise.
Two strong knocks, and then she stepped back.
A woman answered the door. She had piercing green eyes and dark curls that spread around her face in a graceful cloud. Her skin was a light, creamy brown, complete with warm, soft features and an inviting smile.
“Hello?” she asked in a polite voice.
Robin froze for a moment. She’d spent so much time trying to get to the correct place that she hadn’t given any thought to what she would upon arrival.
“Reykon Thraxos sent me,” was what came out.
The woman’s eyes widened slightly, and then she opened the door all the way. “Come in.”
Lucidia
“Maxine,” she said, kicking the dust on a gravel road somewhere in Texas. Clay and Megan lounged around the car, which was about ten feet behind her. “I can’t explain.”
“The whole fucking world is looking for you, you know.”
“Yes. Are you going to help me or not?”
Maxine sighed. “Probably. I just want you to know what a big inconvenience it is.”
“I owe you a steak dinner, then,” she growled.
“Fine. Run it by me again?”
Lucidia let out a controlled breath. “The mission that you told me about, the one in Portland?”
“Yeah?”
“That girl was my half-sister, the one that I was supposed to kill.”
“But…”
“I didn’t.”
Maxine whistled. “That explains it. God, you’re number one on the wanted list.”
“Yeah. So now, she’s somewhere in Texas, on her way to Magnus, and I need to find her. Stat.”
“How do you expect me to find a tumbleweed in an entire state of tumbleweeds?”
“Reykon had a tracker on her. He had to. It’d be hooked up to Demonte’s database, or whatever. You can find it, right?”
“Hacking into Demonte? God, you know how much trouble I can get in?”
“You live on trouble, Max.”
She paused for a moment and then let out a controlled breath. “You’re a real shit friend.”
“Are you going to do it or not?”
“I need a half hour. What am I looking for?”
Lucidia felt a weight lift from her shoulders. “There are going to be a bunch of Xander and Demonte agents across the state. You’re looking for one that’s separate, traveling either alone or with only one other agent.”
“Gotcha. No promises.”
Lucidia hung up and let out a long breath. When she turned around, she noticed that Clay’s posture had stiffened and he was hunched, ready for a fight.
She looked at Megan, who now stood in front of Adonis Strexos. His arm was crooked around Megan’s neck, and she was clawing at it, struggling against the tight grip.
Adonis was looking right at Lucidia with a determined, cutthroat stare.
Robin
She stepped in the apartment and looked around. There was a kitchen directly in front of them, small, and a hallway to its right. To their left sat a square shaped living room. There was a window in the main room, with the blinds closed, casting a yellow-gray haze over the space.
It smelled like herbs and tea, and there were plants growing everywhere.
Everywhere.
And not just growing, either. Flourishing.
Plants were spilling out of their pots, blooms cropping up everywhere. The whole apartment seemed to shimmer with life.
The woman put a hand on Robin’s face, and she flinched back.
But as the woman found her face again and set her hand there, Robin was immediately filled with a calm feeling, and she knew that the woman was a friend. Robin felt like she’d been hypnotized, like her mind had been cracked open and this strange, beautiful, ethereal woman was looking inside.
She couldn’t move. And she didn’t want to move.
Everything seemed perfect, right here, with this stranger’s hand on her cheek, and the smell of earth and herbs and tea.
And then, the woman pulled back and called down the hallway for someone named Dag.
Just as the woman’s hand left her face, the calm, soothing feeling went with it and Robin hung there for a moment, coming to her senses and realizing what had just happened.
She was getting pretty sick of people – supernatural people – influencing her. It was starting to piss her off.
But she was even more concerned about Reykon.
“Reykon – he’s in the car. He’s badly hurt,” Robin said, her voice tinged with concern.
“Dag will get him,” the woman said, a delicate scowl creping her eyebrows.
A man walked out from the second room. It was immediately apparent that he was her brother; the resemblance was shocking. She seemed to be the older of the two.
Dag wore a simple shirt and Levi’s, with the same green eyes, coarse hair, and light cocoa skin.
He gave Robin a nod of acknowledgement on his way out the door.
“What if someone sees?” Robin asked, her mind whirling as she struggled to figure out who these people were and what motivations they had.
The woman put a hand around her shoulder and steered her over to the couch. Robin sat down automatically, only questioning why she’d done it after the fact.
“My name is Willow,” the woman said, sitting next to her so that their knees were diagonally touching. She took both of Robin’s hands in her own.
They were warm and soft. Robin stared at Willow, looking deeply into her eyes. “You’re very pretty,” Robin whispered. She felt completely relaxed and wasn’t sure why she’d said it.
Willow smiled, a beautiful gesture that lifted her eyes. “I take it you’ve never met a witch before, Robin.”
“A what?”
Dag entered,
