Page 66 of Midnight Auto Parts

The two bones from my pouch had fallen onto the floorboard after singeing the seat, which was repairing itself before our eyes, but they seemed to have finally quit smoldering. Theyweren’t eating holes in the floormats anyway. But the shell, herbs, and bone we had been using for directions had taken a spill.

“They must have reacted to…” his lips parted as he glanced out the windshield for the first time, “…that.”

A wall of shimmering energy, at least a mile wide, cascaded before us in a rippling curtain that reflected the forest back at us.

“Now we know why they wanted the bones.” I reached for my phone, aware Carter ought to hear about this before anyone else. “They used them to build a ward.”

Any hope the missing bones had no link to the abductions gasped its last breath.

So did any hope we could blame this on aliens, tractor beams, or flying saucers and call it a day.

>We found something.

>>Drop a pin and send it to me.

>Maybe come alone?

>>That bad, huh?

>Definitely not good.

“Carter is on her way.” I pocketed my phone. “We need to lock down the burial ground.” I sat back with a grunt. “Any idea how we do that?”

With a sweep of his hand, he indicated the watery barrier. “There’s only one way.”

“We can ward the grounds until after the case, but then what? We can’t leave it there forever, can we?”

“We could, but out of respect for the old gods, we won’t force them to rest in a fractured peace.” He appeared to choose his words with care. “There are Alcheyvaha burial grounds all across the world.”

“How do they handle security?”

“The locations are only known to the gods, and, for brief periods, god bloods like me. Anyone else who stumbles across them isn’t allowed to retain that knowledge.”

Dread coated the inside of my mouth. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“The bones have leached so much power into the ground, it would be foolish to relocate them.”

“You would create more areas rich in death magic.” I followed his logic. “The soil alone would be a powerful ingredient in spells, and practitioners would pay through the nose by the ounce if it hit the black market.”

Put that way, it was smarter to contain them in their original resting places. Someone must be watching over the sites, but Dis Pater was quick to tug on Kierce’s leash and demand he handle suppression, which was odd now that I thought about it.

“Out of all the death gods, in all the pantheons, in all the world, why is Dis Pater in charge of this?”

“Gods have their various duties. They must each contribute in order to earn their portion of the worship that fuels their existence. The preservation of Alcheyvaha burial sites is one of his. That’s been true for as long as I can remember.”

“So, you’ve done this before?”

“Dealt with the aftermath of a discovery? Yes. But no one has ever taken a bone. Let alone several.”

Hard as it was to trust his recall, knowing Dis Pater poked holes in it as it suited him, Kierce must have been given back all his memories.

“I’m missing something here.” Brain whirring, I faced him. “What happens after we collect them?”

“We’ll return them to their places and ensure no record remains of the findings.”

“Um, about those records.” A sour taste rose up my throat. “People don’t count, right?”

“There can be no evidence left behind.” The weight of his words pressed down on his shoulders, and he traced the edge of the bandage crossing his palm. “The information is too dangerous for any mortal to possess.”

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