Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

Jake was already inside the warehouse, bent over Lori. I knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. There wasn't one. I crouched there, staring down at her lifeless body, her swollen stomach. Jake was sobbing that we needed to call for help, someone had to call for help, his voice barely audible now, just repeating the same loop.

A car door slammed. Then I heard a shout, so hoarse I couldn't tell if it was Andi or Will. A moment later, someone hit the warehouse door, as if falling against it.

"Let me in," Will croaked. "I've been shot."

Mom cut me off, shoving me behind the door. "Stay there."

Will pounded now. "Open up! Damn you, open the door!"

I stumbled to the wall and plastered myself against it. I checked my cell phone. No service. Of course. Blocked, I was guessing. If you're going to launch an ambush, you're going to be smart enough to keep anyone from calling for help.

Staying behind the door, Mom opened it. She didn't help Will in, just waited until he staggered through, then slammed it shut.

"I've been shot, you bitch," he muttered, cradling his arm.

"That's no reason to let the rest of us die with you. Not when you were the idiot who told them to get in the cars. I don't hear an engine running. Can I presume Andi won't be joining us?"

"They got her."

"Shot through the car window, right?" I said as I cast a light ball.

He glowered. "Are you going to help me or do you want me to grovel first?"

"Neither," Mom said. "Savannah? Get in deeper. I'm putting a perimeter spell on the door. Then we'll need to scout for more entry points."

"Savannah?" Will said. "I thought her name was--"

Mom snapped our glamour spells. Or I presume she did, because Will's expression went from "What the hell?" to "What the hell?" in an eye blink.

"I know you," Will said, staring at me. "You're Lucas Cortez's kid."

Mom's eyebrows shot up at that, but she only said, "Go deeper, Savannah. Now."

I crawled back to Jake, ignoring Mom's protests. I touched his arm. "She's gone," I said.

He shook his head, tears falling on Lori's body. "Sh-she can't be."

"You know she is," I whispered. "And you know she wouldn't want you to sit here, waiting to get shot."

"I don't care," he whispered.

I looked down at Lori and I thought of her in the meeting house, talking about a new life for their child. That's all they'd wanted. All any new parents want, I suppose. Lori and Jake weren't stupid. They weren't evil. They were just two kids, not much older than me, in love, having a baby. They'd joined to secure the future of that baby, no matter how misguided that was, and now that child would never be born, and I think, of everything that happened, all the tragedies I'd seen since I met Giles, this was the worst. The one that made me want to run outside and scream, "I don't care what all of you want--look at what you're doing!"

Instead I took a deep breath and told Jake, "She'd care. She'd want you to live. You know that."

I took his arm. He let me lead him away.

If you've seen one warehouse, you've seen them all. Well, not exactly, but when you run with the crowd I do, you see a lot of abandoned or little-used warehouses. They're the hideout of choice for supernaturals up to no good. This one looked like all the rest--a huge cavernous space filled with crap.

"You're Savannah Levine," Will said, following us as I pushed aside a box to clear a path. "You work for Lucas Cortez. He's your guardian."

"Savannah Levine," Jake whispered, as if to himself. "Your dad is--was--Kristof Nast."

"It's bullshit," Will said. "Your mom tried to scam the Nasts by claiming you were Kristof's daughter."

"Excuse me?" Mom walked out of the darkness, bow case in hand, the glow seeping through. "I didn'

t ever claim Kristof was her father."