I struggled against the magic that bound me, sucking more strength from me with every second. My vision was starting to blur and my legs to tremble.

“I can’t answer them,” Mac said. “Not without touching the charm.”

Shit, shit, shit.

I tried to hobble to her, hoping I could press my forehead against the charm. Or maybe fall against her.

Instead, I toppled over onto the ground, hitting it so hard that my vision went black for a moment. Footsteps sounded from the floor above. Or maybe that was my imagination.

Were guards coming?

Was I going to be discovered here, next to the torn-open body of the victim?

Fear chilled my skin.

“My, my, what have we here?” A feminine voice sounded from my left.

Out of the corner of my eye, I barely caught sight of Coraline. She stood in a cloud of pink light, somehow projecting her form into the morgue. Her dark hair was streaked with green that matched the brilliant emerald of her eyes. She tapped her foot, staring at us. “Got yourself into quite a pickle, Mac.”

“Get us out of here, and I’ll tell you the code to shut her up.”

“Oh, you will, all right.” Coraline raised her hands and began to chant. Magic sparked around her palms, and a faint white light surrounded Mac and me.

The evil that gripped us so tightly seemed to loosen, but Coraline didn’t stop chanting. Her brow furrowed from the effort, and she grimaced. “Powerful dark magic.”

Her own power continued to work, and I struggled, finally able to move my limbs a bit. Coraline grunted and forced more of her magic toward us.

“Hurry,” Mac said. “Guards are coming. Humans.”

“You idiots.” Coraline shoved another blast of magic at us, and the darkness that bound me finally disappeared.

I gasped, scrambling to my feet.

“The code, Mac,” Coraline demanded.

“Macbeth O’Connell is the most amazing Magica ever,” Mac said.

“Seriously?” Coraline raised her brows.

“Say that, and Hecate will shut up.” Mac grinned. “Can we get a ride back to Guild City with your nice portal there?”

“No.” Coraline and her pink light disappeared.

“Damn it.” Mac turned to me. “We need to get a move on.”

“No kidding.”

I turned back to the body as a pair of guards burst into the room. Both were men of average height but grim demeanors, though their faces blanched when they saw the results of my amateur autopsy spread out around the room.

“Raise your hands,” demanded the younger one, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.

Instead, I shoved my hand into my pocket and drew out a freezing charm. I chucked the thing at them, praying it would work. The dusty blue cloud exploded into the air, and the men froze solid.

“That ought to buy us a few minutes.” I turned back to the body. There was no point in trying to put it back together. The guards had seen what we were doing. Fortunately, I still didn’t look like me.

I grabbed a plastic bag and shoved my gross gloves in them, then put it in my pocket, not wanting to leave anything with my fingerprints behind. I put my leather gloves on, then wiped the scissors and clamp off with a paper towel, getting rid of any prints, and returned them to the table.

Mac and I hurried from the room, skirting around the frozen guards and moving as quickly as we could without full-on running. We made it to the top floor and strode toward the main exit.

I prayed there were no other guards in the building.

We were nearly to the main doors when they opened, and two new cops walked in.

Shit.

They both got a good look at our faces, and I prayed the potions were still working.

“Other way,” I whispered, and we spun on our heels and hightailed it deeper into the building.

“Hey, you there!” shouted one of the cops.

“Run.” I sprinted down the hall, fumbling in my pocket for the other freezing potion bomb.

Finally, my fingers closed around it. I grabbed it and chucked it behind me, looking back in time to see it explode in front of one of the cops. He froze solid, but the other one wasn’t in the line of fire. He kept running for us, face twisted in a grimace.

I sprinted on, pushing myself until my lungs burned. Mac easily kept up, as her legs were longer than mine. We raced down the hall, taking the first right, and sprinted to the end. An office on our right had an open door, and we dashed inside. A large window beckoned, showing the street beyond.

“Thank fates we’re on street level.” Mac grabbed the chair from behind the desk and tossed it at the window. The glass shattered.

Wow, breaking out of windows was getting to be a habit with me.

An alarm shrieked as we climbed out and landed on the pavement. We sprinted away from the building. I looked back in time to see the officer lean out the window, his gaze on mine.

Oh, please don’t catch us.

14

Carrow

Mac and I raced away from the morgue. Behind us, the cop jumped out of the window, tripped, and landed on his knees.

Oh, thank God for luck.

We ran faster, leaving him behind as we turned one street corner, and then another. As we sprinted down the pavement, we tore off our stolen white coats, chucking them into an alley as we passed. I kept the badge since that probably had my fingerprints on it. Police sirens sounded from a street away, and my heartbeat thundered.

“Are those for us?” Mac demanded.

“Oh, yeah, they’re for us.”

“Damn it. I don’t want to go to human jail.”

“Same.” We turned right, and I spotted a cab. With the cops on our tail and the Tube station still several streets away, it was worth the splurge. I shot my hand up in the air, praying.

The cab spotted us, changing lanes to come to a stop at the curb.

“Thank you.” I climbed in, Mac following. “Covent Garden,” I told the driver. “The market.”

If the cops made the connection between us and this cabbie—unlikely, but I was paranoid—I didn’t want to lead them straight to the Haunted Hound.

He nodded. “Be there in a jiff.”

My heart thundered the whole way to Convent Garden, then the entire way to the Haunted Hound. Once we made it to the safety of the pub, Mac sagged against the door. “Thank fates we’re back.”

“They can’t get in here?” I asked, searching the small crowd warily. No one turned toward us but Quinn, who smiled at us from the bar.

“Not unless they have magic.” Mac straightened. “Now, it’s time for a drink.”

“And they don’t. Have magic, I mean.” Finally, I relaxed.

Mac looked at me, her eyes wide. “You changed back.”

“To myself?”

“Yeah.”

“So did you. When did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I was in such a panic, I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Could it have been when the guards were chasing us?”

“Maybe.”

Shit. They had looked right at us. Had they seen my real face after all?

I drew in a shuddering breath. They might not get me for the murder, but I didn’t want to be caught desecrating a body. I rubbed my hands over my face.

Mac grabbed my arm. “Come on. Let’s get that drink. I’d say we earned it.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

She pulled me toward the bar, where Quinn waited. Handsome as ever, he eyed us up and down, taking in our disheveled appearances and heavy breathing. “Have fun, ladies?”

“Sure.” I sat, staring at the offerings behind the bar, having no idea what I wanted. My mind spun with everything that had happened.

“Two Hound’s Prides,” Mac said.

“Coming right up.”

“What’s a Hound’s Pride?” I asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Not really, actually.”

“That’s what I thought.” She grinned. “But it’s just a local ale, made here.”

“Great. Perfect.”

Quinn set two pints in front of us, and I grabbed one gratefully, drinking half of it in huge gulps. I looked up at Mac. “What the hell was the dark magic that froze us like that?”

“Necromancer magic, probably.”

“Did my mobile’s flash make it go off?”

Mac shrugged. “Maybe it didn't like the light. And you did reveal his work.”

“But…why? What was the point?”

“There probably was no point. It could be a magical remnant of the spell that was performed when the person was murdered. All magic decays, and when it does, dangerous things can happen.”

“How is it different than the little spiral shaped burn mark?” I asked.

“The spiral is the generic mark of the necromancer. That big star burn is something else entirely. Part of his magic, yes, but it’s more specific.” Mac shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what it means.”

Eve appeared at my side as I set the pint down. She wore a flowing purple dress, and her wings glittered under the lights over the bar. Her raven flew behind her, but no one acknowledged the bird, so I didn’t either. That topic seemed to be off-limits. She took a seat next to me. “You finished with your mission?”

“Yes. Thank you for the potions. They saved our butts.”

“Success?”

Mac grinned. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

Mac, Eve, and Quinn all stared at me, radiating helpful energy.

“Well, what’d you find?” Eve asked.

I pulled the mobile out of my pocket. Normally, I wouldn’t share my clues with anyone. Now, I had a lovely, weird magical crew that seemed willing to help me, and it was freaking cool.

I pulled up the picture and laid the mobile on the bar.

Everyone leaned over to look at it.

“Ew,” Eve said. The raven sitting behind her on the table twitched.

I grimaced in sympathy. “Truer words never spoken.”