“He’s chanting a spell,” Kato said. “Bastard shouldn’t be able to get in here, though.”
Shouldn’t? Maeve was not reassured.
“Kato?”
He spun at the sound of Grace’s soft voice. “Amata,” he said, walking over to put his arm around her. “You shouldn’t be out here.”
“Yes, I should,” she said clearly. “Something’s happening, and I want to know what. I’m pregnant, not brain dead.”
“Sotiris is attacking the house,” Lili informed her, “but we’re—”
She was interrupted by a sound like ripping metal. Not one piece of metal, but a hundred, all being shredded at the same time.
Maeve swung her gaze back to the big screen above the door, where Lili had now enlarged a single video feed. “Are those . . . storm shutters?” she asked, glancing at the others.
“Hurricane shutters,” Lili breathed. “Ten times stronger, locked in place, the whole house . . . Gods above,” she whispered. “He’s taking them all down.”
“All?” Kato demanded. “Impossible.”
Lili shook her head. “No, just the front of the house, near the center.”
“Bastard’s trying for the door.”
“There has to be more than metal out there, right?” Maeve insisted in disbelief, her gaze going from one to the other of them, then back to the security feed. “Nico’s a sorcerer. There must be magical wards or something, too.”
“Right.”
“Can he break those?”
Kato nodded. “It’ll take time, but yeah. Probably.”
Maeve’s fists clenched. She knew what had to happen. She just didn’t know . . . could she do it? Was she strong enough? She searched the office, looking for a solution that wasn’t there. She caught Lili’s shiver as she stared at the screen, Kato’s fierce expression as he wrapped the pregnant Grace in his arms, as if physical strength alone could protect them.
Then she swallowed her doubts and said, “Lili, can you get into Nico’s vault?”
Lili raised her head and stared, her pale eyes blinking as if coming out of a dream. Or a nightmare. Finally, she said. “Yes, but—”
“This is more than important, Lili. It’s vital.”
“Then, yes.”
“Good. I know what he wants, and it’s in that vault. It looks like a big rock, but it’s a lot more than that.”
Kato’s shocked gaze fixed on her. “The hexagon?” he whispered.
“I think so. It’s in the vault..”
“You can’t turn that over to him,” he insisted, distrust clear that she’d even think of betraying Nico like that.
“And I’m not going to. I’m going to give it to you, then you three are going to get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving without—”
“You have to. Nico told Dragan and me that thing is linked to Sotiris somehow, that he senses when it’s nearby. That’s why he’s here. He knows it’s here, because I’m here. And he knows all the big guys are at the stadium dealing with his magical fucking bomb.”
“Right, but I’m here, too, and he doesn’t know that,” Kato said confidently. “I parked on the street, then came in the side. And I sure as hell would have noticed if he’d been standing in the front yard.”
“Can your magic hide you, like Dragan’s does? So Sotiris can’t sense you?”
“Yes. He can’t read my mother’s magic. It’s too old, and too black.”
“Perfect,” she said, fisting her hands again so he wouldn’t see them shaking. “If he doesn’t know you’re here, he’ll think there’s no one to stop him. He doesn’t see me as any kind of threat, because he knows I have no magic and—”
Sotiris renewed his assault at that moment, a concussive thunder so heavy that it hurt her ears and seemed to go on forever. How long could he keep this up?
Lili winced in pain and sat down, her shoulders hunched.
“Kato,” Maeve ground out, teeth aching from the unforgiving din of Sotiris’s attack. “You’re the only one who can get through Nico’s wards, the only one who can conceal all of you and the rock, and get away from here.”
“I can get us all out. No one needs to stay.”
“I have to stay,” she said softly. “If we all leave, he’ll know. But what if you take the rock and leave the box here? He might think the thing’s still here, right? At least long enough for you all to get safely away. It’s been sitting in that box forever, so it might have absorbed some of the rock’s . . . I don’t know . . . smell? Or whatever it’s called. Won’t it?”
“A little maybe, but not—”
“And if I make sure he sees me—just a glimpse—so that he knows I’m here, he’ll assume the rock is, too. Because it will be until the last minute, when you conceal it with your magic and leave. On the other hand, if he does manage to get through the door, and there’s no one here at all, he’ll know immediately that it’s been taken away and he’ll start looking for it again. And that damn rock will leave a trail for him to follow.”
Kato’s jaw clenched, but he said only, “Lili, call Nico.”
“It’s ringing,” Lili said, already on the phone.
“Kato,” Maeve said, demanding his attention. “I’m no martyr, for fuck’s sake. I just don’t want to be the reason why everyone dies. Why Dragan dies. I endangered everyone when I stole that thing, and then brought it here—”
“You couldn’t have known what—”
“I didn’t, but it doesn’t matter. I still did it. And if Sotiris gets the hexagon or whatever the fuck it’s called, Nico will lose his best and maybe the only sure weapon he has. It weakens Sotiris, don’t you understand? It drains his magic.”
“I know what it does, for fuck’s sake. Grace, get your jacket and shoes, yes?” he added in a softer voice.
“I can shoot a damn gun, Kato,” Grace insisted.