The Rising (Darkness Rising 3)

"No one left," I whispered. "No one at all."

"Could have told you that," Ash said.

I glared over at him.

"What? I could have. Cabals are geniuses at this kind of thing. They've been around since the Inquisition. That's hundreds of years of experience acting like good corporate citizens while they do stuff that would make the Mafia take notes. They'll cover up your deaths and they'll hold your parents prisoner until they've rounded you all up. And the beauty of it? Your parents won't even realize they were prisoners. They'll just think the St. Clouds were being really, really helpful."

He eased back on his branch. "I knew they'd never let you near them."

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"You wouldn't have listened."

There was no response to that, so I lay on the branch, staring down, sifting through the remaining friends and families for someone left that we could contact. Maybe. If we were careful. And desperate. When I saw Brendan Hajek over by the washrooms I turned my attention to him. He started heading in the opposite direction--away from the service area. I glanced back to see his mother, the local veterinarian, helping remove the posters from the stage.

So Dr. Hajek had volunteered for clean-up duty and Brendan was using the break to wander off for a bit. Alone.

"I need to talk to Daniel," I said. "I'm going down. Can you cover me?"

"What?"

Ash had been peering at something and jumped when I spoke. I had to repeat myself.

"No, we need to stay here."

"There's no one around. I can dash--"

"You need to stay here, Maya, until those guys are gone." He pointed to a cluster of strangers beside the stage.

"You know them?" I said.

"No, but they're obviously Cabal goons."

They looked like normal mourners to me. The two guys in suits could be security--they were certainly big enough--but everyone else just looked ordinary. Until one of them took a two-way radio from his pocket and stepped away from the group, and I followed his gaze to see another "ordinary-looking guy" across the park, also on a radio.

"Why are they still here?" I said. "Almost everyone's gone."

"You're not." He swore under his breath. "They knew you'd come. They must have. They're searching the park now."

"Okay, we knew that might happen. We'll lie low until everyone's gone."

We continued watching. Another car arrived and a woman got out. She looked as ordinary as the rest of them. Older, maybe in her fifties, with short graying hair. She wore a stylish jacket and slacks.

Ash cursed and scrambled up.

"What?" I said.

"Witch."

I peered at the woman, who looked more like a prep school teacher. "How can you tell?"

"By the long black hair and pointed nose." He shot me a look. "I recognize her, obviously. The St. Clouds only have one witch, as far as I know, and that's her."

"One witch? Are they rare?"

"No, it's just that sorcerers don't like working with them and vice versa."

"Okay, so . . ."