Spellbound (Otherworld 12)

I answered.

"Savannah? Oh, my God, I didn't think you were going to pick up." Roni sounded out of breath. "I'm in trouble and I need your help. They're after me."

"Get rid of your cell phone. Like I said, that's how they're tracking you. Buy a prepaid if you have to. Get on a bus going someplace where you don't know anyone. Pay for the ticket in cash. Find a cheap motel and hole up there. If you still need help next week, maybe I--"

"Next week?" Her voice crackled with panic. "She's after me now, Savannah. My cousin found me here in Riverside and I got away, but she'll find me again, no matter what I do. I know it."

"Riverside? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was following you, but then I lost the signal this morning so I went to your hotel to wait, but you haven't come back and she's going to kill me, Savannah. She's going to kill me!"

Adam motioned that he wanted to speak to me. I told Roni to hang on, and put her on hold.

"Let's get her to a safe house," Adam said. "Call Paige. See who's in Miami that they can spare--Aaron, Clay, Elena, Karl."

I took her off hold. "Roni? We have a plan. A friend of ours will fly in and escort you to a safe house. All you need to do is lie low for a few hours. Ditch the phone. Take a city bus. Find a crowded place and wait."

Silence.

"Roni?"

"N-no, please," she said.

I sighed. "It's the best I can offer so--"

"Please, Chrissy. Whatever happened to your mom, I didn't have anything to do with it. Please, just leave me alone."

"So you can send your black magic friends after me?" a young woman's voice said. "To kill me, too?"

A yelp. Then a young woman came on the line. "Do yourself a favor, witch, and mind your own business."

Click. The line went dead.

sixteen

We went to the hotel. I didn't need to persuade Adam. We did proceed with caution, though, knowing we could be running headlong into a trap.

There was no sign of Roni. Not surprising. As crazy as her aunt had been, she hadn't attempted to kill me in the lobby.

I thought of suggesting we split up, but Adam was still touchy, so I swallowed the urge and let him take the lead. He went back into the parking garage, where I'd fought off Roni's aunt Rachel, thinking Chrissy might try the same idea her mother had planned for me--a forced jump off the roof. There was no sign of them on the empty top level, though. So we searched the rest.

That took a while, circling and circling, looking and listening for any sign of trouble. If only I had my sensing spell, things would have gone so much faster. And my light ball, for illuminating dark corners. And--Well, all my spells really.

"That's it for the garage," Adam said when we'd finished the bottom level. "We'll try the hotel stairwell next, then the basement. Let's just hope Roni wasn't stupid enough to let her cousin lead her into a guest room or we'll never find her."

The hotel stairwell proved empty, so we went down to the basement. That's where the gym was located, meaning that part was open to the public. Definitely not the place where you'd take a person t

o kill her.

There were several off-limits areas, too. We checked doors. The third one was open. We snuck through to find ourselves in the beast of the building: the mechanical room. Despite the chug and hiss of the air-conditioning units, the place was hot enough to broil a pig.

We stuck together, snaking along the aisles. When my pant-leg caught, I whirled to see a hand holding it and my fingers flew up, ready to cast. Adam knocked the hand from my leg.

"I-it's me. Roni."

She'd wedged herself under some kind of fan unit. The floor was slick with blood.

"Shit," Adam said. He reached for her, but I caught his arm.