Ilya stayed alert, ready to shift to his smoke form in an instant. An instant could be an instant too late, but he wouldn’t be able to communicate with the other males if he wasn’t in human form.
Trees on either side of the entrance to the paved area. Grimshaw darted behind one while Julian took up position behind the other.
And they waited. Ilya wasn’t sure what they waited for, but they waited. Then Julian breathed in and out—and shook his head.
Grimshaw looked at Ilya and Osgood and said quietly, “Julian isn’t sensing anything yet, so he and I are moving closer. Wait until we’re halfway to the building before you move forward.”
Grimshaw and Julian drew their weapons and moved forward quickly. Quietly.
They were halfway to the building and Ilya had taken the first step to follow them when he caught a movement near the edge of the pavement. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Grimshaw turn and raise his service weapon. He saw Julian maintain watch on the building. And he saw . . .
<Karol! Get away from here!> Anger flooded him.
<I want to help. I can help.> Defiance.
A sharp look from Grimshaw, aimed at Osgood. Osgood nodded and turned his attention to the young Sanguinati.
Ilya moved closer to Julian and Grimshaw, angling his body to keep an eye on Karol.
“I wasn’t sure when we were farther away,” Julian whispered, “but something’s wrong with this place. It feels wrong.”
<What are you waiting for?> Karol asked. <I can see one of the windows is broken in the corner. I could slip inside that hole in the glass and take a look around.>
<No,> Ilya said sharply. He’d been thinking of doing the same thing himself, but the way Grimshaw and Julian held themselves, the way they watched the building, had stopped him. Cops. Warriors who had survived situations in their youth by depending on Julian’s instincts about the feel of a place.
Julian took one more step forward—and stopped. Shook his head. This time the movement was decisively negative.
Grimshaw took one step back, always watching the building.
If they all stood there much longer, wouldn’t someone in the building see them?
Ilya moved closer to the two men and . . .
Rattle, rattle, rattle.
The men froze. Ilya shifted to smoke, leaving his arms, chest, and head in human form as he turned toward the sound and saw . . .
The cape made of black feathers. The hollowed gourd filled with bones. A malformed body with a head that still looked misshapen despite what the Sanguinati bodywalker had been able to mend.
Couldn’t be. Couldn’t be. Nicolai Sanguinati had been on his way to Lakeside when he’d slipped away from his handlers and disappeared. What was he doing in Sproing? And what was he doing wearing . . . <Nicolai?>
Before anyone had time to ask a question, they heard a shrill scream.
“Help me! Ilya! Help me!”
Kira? She was supposed to be with Victoria.
“Something’s wrong,” Julian said, not bothering to lower his voice.
Ilya surged forward, then snarled when Julian grabbed one of his arms. Before he could lash out at the man or shift to smoke completely . . .
Rattle, rattle, rattle. Louder. More insistent. Perhaps the only warning Nicolai could give.
Ilya hesitated.
“Help me! Ilya! Help me!”
“I’ll save her!” Karol shouted, shifting to smoke and racing to the building and through the hole in the broken window.
“No!” Grimshaw shouted.
One hand still gripping Ilya’s arm, Julian rammed into Grimshaw, sending the three of them to the ground a moment before the building exploded.
CHAPTER 73
Grimshaw
Earthday, Novembros 4
Grimshaw gave himself a moment to catch his breath and take stock, decided a visit to Doc Wallace was needed but could wait, and rolled away from Julian and Ilya before trying to stand up.
Ilya was on his feet—if you could say that about someone who was mostly a column of smoke. The grief was expected. So was the rage. But Grimshaw didn’t think the Sanguinati leader had taken it all in yet.
Checking that the safety was still on, he holstered his service weapon before holding out a hand to Julian, who seemed to need help getting to his feet.
“I could have saved him,” Ilya snarled at Julian.
“No,” Julian replied. “As soon as Karol entered that building, you couldn’t save him. You weren’t meant to save anyone.”
“Chief!” Osgood shouted as he ran toward them. “Chief, are you . . . ? Gods, you’re bleeding!”
Grimshaw checked his hands, relieved that he hadn’t ripped them up when he fell. Then he looked down and saw the right pant leg turning wet and red around the knee. “It’ll keep.” But not for long. That much blood meant it wasn’t a minor scrape.
Sirens. Volunteer Fire Department and EMTs responding.
“Osgood, get around to Main Street and stop anyone from going into that building. And call the utilities. We have to get those shut off ASAP.” Grimshaw turned to Ilya, who was pointedly not looking at his knee—or the rhythmic gush of blood that the trousers couldn’t hide. “Would it be safe for someone like Air or Earth to check out that building? Could they be harmed if there is another explosion?”
“It will take too long for Officer Osgood to get back to Main Street,” Ilya said. “I’ve contacted Boris. He will convey your order to stay out of the building while Officer Osgood makes the telephone calls. I will ask the Elementals if any of them are willing to assist.”
Grimshaw nodded. “Thank you.”
Multiple screams followed by an anguished cry that turned into a terrified caw.
A swath of grass divided the paved lot where they stood from the lot next door, but a chest-high wooden fence formed the boundary for the lot beyond that. The screams and cry had come from behind that fence.
Ignoring his knee since he hadn’t lost any mobility—at least none that he felt at the moment—Grimshaw ran to the lane and turned left, sensing Osgood and Julian behind him. He wasn’t sure where Ilya was until the Sanguinati shouted, “Here!”
He ran into the parking area of another supposedly reclaimed store a couple of doors away from the explosion and stumbled to a halt.
Gods above and below.
He recognized the faces. They were three of the boys who had come to The Jumble on Trickster Night. They were the boys Paige and Dominique had told him were in the flea market storefront just minutes ago.