No Humans Involved

I grabbed the door before she could get it open. Her head swung my way, eyes filled with a fury that made my stomach go cold. I stood my ground, and again she blinked it back.

'Something's happening,' she said. 'I have to go.'

'We aren't supposed to leave the house.'

'I have to go.' Each word was icy with warning. A shudder, then she looked at me. 'You'll be fine. Just stay here. Whatever happens, stay here.'

She tried yanking open the door, but my foot acted as a stopper. 'What good will that do? You have the gun.'

A flare of frustration, jaw setting, then another hard blink. She yanked the gun from her waistband and slapped it into my hands.

'There. Now-' She jerked the door so hard I stumbled back. 'Stay here.'

EVE WAS right. This was a setup. If Hope really was chasing some 'chaos event' in the garden, she wouldn't leave her gun behind.

But if it was a setup, why give her weapon to me? Maybe it wasn't loaded. Clever ploy. Let me think I was armed, so I wouldn't try to escape or fight when someone came for me.

I turned the gun over in my hands, trying to figure whether there was any ammunition. It was an automatic. Marksmanship was one of Jeremy's hobbies, mainly bows and rifles, but he had a pair of revolvers and had shown me how to use them once. Had this been a revolver, I'd have been in luck. As it was, I had no clue. Even if I could tell whether it had ammo, the gun might be buggered up so it wouldn't fire.

But why leave me in a house filled with potential witnesses… and security guards? I'd offered to come along. Why not just say 'sure'?

Maybe because that wasn't May's plan and Hope didn't dare mess with the plan. But why not try to convince me to go with Jeremy in the first place?

I remembered when Jeremy first asked Hope to stay with me. She'd wanted to argue. I recalled Karl, carefully studying her reaction. Maybe her expression had suggested she was up to something, and when she'd seen his suspicion, she hadn't dared argue. So May had switched to a backup plan-this one.

Did that make sense?

Damn it! In my gut, I didn't believe Hope would turn on me. Even seeing that flare of anger in her eyes hadn't changed that.

But I couldn't ignore the possibility. I needed to get out of this room.

I WENT downstairs with every intention of hanging out with the guards. But then I started to wonder whether that was safe. We knew these people had magic, including something like a binding spell.

Would human security guards, ignorant of the supernatural, be able to protect me? Could they get killed trying?

Even if sticking close to big men with guns convinced the group to keep its distance, it wouldn't resolve the question of Hope's allegiance. If she was on May's side, she'd just try again, another way, and maybe that time I wouldn't see through the ploy.

The only way to know was to follow her.

AS I slipped out the side door, I eased the gun out and wrapped my hand around the grip, finger on the trigger. It would help if I knew how to fire it. I told myself it didn't matter. As Eve would say, bluffing is enough. Act as if you can shoot it-and more important, will shoot it-and that should give any would- be attacker pause.

I slid through the shadows along the side of the house, heading for the rear. Ahead, a yellow ribbon of crime scene tape waved in the breeze, broken from its moorings, as if someone had walked right through it. Hope? Breaking the tape hardly seemed wise but, if not her, then who? Last time I'd looked, the officers guarding the gardens had retreated to their cruiser.

I darted behind a hedge, then stood on tiptoes to see over it. There, about a dozen feet ahead, Hope walked into the garden with the slow, deliberate pace of a sleepwalker.

'What the hell are you doing?'

I almost fell backward. Eve's glare was murderous.

'I don't know what you think you're doing, Jaime, but you get your ass back in-'

I cut her short with a whispered explanation as I snuck around the hedge, following Hope.

'I don't care what your reason is. Get back in that goddamned house right now.'

'It's not a setup. Look at her.' I waved toward Hope as she banged her shin against a garden wall and kept walking, oblivious. 'She's in some kind of trance.'

'She's luring you in. Making you curious. Making you think it's safe to follow.'

I kept moving. 'I've seen her when she gets a vision and that's just what she looks like.'

'And she can't fake that? Don't be-' Eve bit off the rest with a click of her teeth. Then she strode in front of me. 'Stop and look around, Jaime. Notice anything about where you are? And where you're being led?'

I glanced over my shoulder at the hedge, which wrapped around the garden, cutting me off from the view of anyone stepping out the side or rear doors. Then I turned to see Hope heading toward the most secluded corner of the yard.

'She's not following any 'chaos trail,' ' Eve said. 'She's leading you to a spot where no one's going to see what happens next.'

Damn. She had a point.

I glanced back at the house.

'Finally,' Eve breathed.

'Jaime?'

Hope was walking back through the garden.

'What are you doing out here?' she asked, blinking like a wakened sleepwalker.

'Damn it, Jaime, ignore her-'

'I was worried about you.' I lifted the gun. 'You left this behind.'

She frowned and looked down at her waistband, as if trying to figure out how the gun got from there to my hand. Eve shoved me toward the door, but her hands passed through.

'What happened?' I said.

'I'm… not sure. Someone…' Hope shivered. 'I think someone was killed back there. Just now. I can still feel it.'

She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering, but her expression wasn't one of fear or concern. She looked almost… rapturous. The hairs on my neck rose.

'Don't listen to her bullshit,' Eve said. 'She'll say anything to get you-'

I tuned her out. Hope glanced over her shoulder, toward that far corner.

'I think we should check it out.' Her voice was high with barely contained excitement.

'Do you?'

Her gaze stayed riveted to that deepest, most remote, shadow-enshrouded corner of the garden. My fingers tightened around the gun. Eve had gone silent now, tense, as if waiting to jump in, as if she could jump in.

Hope motioned for me to follow, took a couple of steps then, seeing I hadn't moved, wheeled back. Her fingers grazed my arm. Eve started a cast. A spell? But it wouldn't work in my dimension.

Hope's fingers wrapped around my arm. I raised the gun. Eve lifted her hands over her head, something materializing between them.

I swung the gun. A crack as it connected with Hope's temple. Her eyes went wide. She stood there, staring at me in disbelief. Then her knees gave way and she crumpled to the flagstone path.

I dropped beside her, my hands going to the side of her neck.

'Forget her,' Eve said. 'Get your ass back in that house before they realize you didn't fall for the bait.'

Hope's pulse was strong. I pushed to my feet.

'Good,' Eve said. 'Now grab the gun and, next time, try firing it, presuming it still