Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

>>Sure. Yeah. I’ll do that.

>Good. I exhaled through my teeth. Thanks.

Asa let me walk off my mad on the way to the parking deck, and I vented to him the whole time.

“Do you feel better?” Asa palmed his keys. “More importantly, do you think it will work?”

“I feel…ready to tear out the pages and use them as toilet paper if it doesn’t.”

“Then let’s hope it does.” He stepped back as the liftgate engaged. “The last thing you need is for its magic to clog your septic tank.”

From the SUV, we loaded backpacks with gear for mausoleum spelunking.

“What’s in this?” A gallon of sand was my guess. “It weighs a ton.”

“This and that.” He pressed a hefty metal flashlight into my hand. “Keep this at the ready.”

“Hags aren’t repelled by light.” I tested its unexpected weight. “I could crack a skull with this.”

“We don’t know what condition the tunnels will be in.” He took a flashlight for himself. “If we have to fight our way out, we need to see what’s around us.” He hesitated. “Your power is diminished with Colby cut off from you. That means we rely on your magic as little as possible.”

“Until we need it.”

“Until we need it,” he agreed with grim acceptance that told me how worried he was for me.

“I made it ten years as a white witch without drawing on Colby, and I didn’t die once.”

“While I respect that—” he stroked my cheek, “—I’m of the opinion once is one time too many.”

Black witches were hard to kill, and I had enough accumulation in me to keep me alive unless someone relieved me of my head. Probably. Healing grievous wounds took years or decades, but it could be done. There was a slight chance someone with my pedigree might even survive having their heart taken.

But I was in no rush to find out how much immunity my lineage offered now that I practiced white craft.

Especially when the risks I took with my life gambled with Colby’s as well.

>>Biscuit shop girl’s number has been disconnected.

“Aedan again?”

“Clay.” I shook my head. “The number the cashier gave him has been disconnected.”

The pattern emerging left me convinced we were being played. We just had to figure out by who.