Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

"Savannah . . ." She didn't look over at me, but I felt like I was ten again, when we'd been walking back from dinner and a group of supernatural thugs stepped into our path. She'd been right to send me away then. But I wasn't ten now and even with my sporadic spells, I could fight. Hadn't I just proven that?

"We can take them," I whispered. "Two are already injured."

The children shuffled forward.

"Stay where you are!" Mom said, her sword cutting through the air.

The children hissed and snarled, but their gazes followed the sword, and they stopped moving.

"You saw that operative," Mom whispered back. "That was a supernatural. A trained guard. We're not--"

One of the boys charged. I launched a knockback. It failed and I was about to jump forward when Mom swung her sword. The boy was still at least five feet away. A warning strike, I thought, but then the tip sliced through his shirt and an orange glow oozed through. Mom deftly skewered the demon and yanked the sword back. The boy collapsed. The Tengu was impaled on Mom's sword, a glowing miasma of red and orange, rolling on itself, a glimpse of eyes and teeth and claws appearing, then vanishing so fast they seemed a trick of the mind.

The sword sliced the orange and red cloud in two, a shriek rending the air, then fading as the two halves evaporated.

I looked down at the boy, still on the ground. His chest rose and fell. Unconscious. There was a line of blood on his shirt, but a thin one, a f

lesh wound.

"Anyone else doubt I'll use the sword?" Mom said.

The children had gone still.

"I need you to get Jaime," Mom said to me. "There might be more of them out there. She needs help. I'll be fine."

She was right. The first Tengu's scream had brought others running, but that didn't mean there weren't more still searching for Jaime.

"Okay," I murmured.

"Thank you, baby."

I backed away until I was sure Mom had the mob of demon children under control. Then I loped down the path.

ELEVEN

One advantage to being in the forest? I knew my sensing spell was working. In the police station, a negative result could mean either the place was empty or my spell failed. The forest is never empty. I got back plenty of small blips.

It didn't work every time. In fact, it fizzled more often than it sparked. But as I searched, I stopped casting it every few feet and used the spell judiciously.

I picked up one ping that was larger than a rabbit, but not big enough for Jaime. It could be a deer, but I hadn't seen any signs of them, so I guessed it was another child. I steered clear. No sense fighting if I didn't have to.

The Tengu inside Sara said it could detect Jaime's scent in the woods. That could mean she'd buried herself under leaves, as we'd tried with the sword. But diving into rotting vegetation would definitely be Jaime's last choice. I had a good idea what she'd done. It was a simple ruse that wouldn't fool most humans, but the Tengu weren't accustomed to tracking anyone in our world.

So I walked with my gaze on the treetops. Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of something burnt orange. Jaime's blouse. I squinted harder. Her face peered out between leafy branches twenty feet up. She didn't say anything, just eyed me and reached for the branch above, as if ready to climb higher.

"I'm not possessed," I said. "Paige had me take an extra dose of anti-possession tea when I was in Miami."

She came down about halfway, then settled into a Y. "They're still around. One passed by just a minute ago."

"Mom's holding most of them at bay. I can handle the stragglers. She's the one they really want anyway. As usual."

"Tell me about it," Jaime muttered as she lowered herself another branch. "We don't need anti-possession brews. We need anti-Eve brews." She paused, sighed, then said, "She's okay, right?"

"She was last time I saw her, but I'd like to get you someplace safe and go back to help her."

"Right. Sorry."

"You're lucky that ruse worked," I said. "From what I recall of Tengu folklore, they're supposed to be avian spirits. Like birds of prey."