Page 93 of Midnight Auto Parts

“I didn’t notice motorized vehicles on the inside,” I murmured. “They would have to track her on foot.”

That would give her a head start if she moved fast enough.

“Holding the bones will make her a target in more ways than one.”

“Anunit will notice her too, especially if she carries them on her person.”

Scenarios poured through my head, visions of how it could all go wrong, including what I would tell Camaro’s family if I returned her to them in pieces. Theotherfamily business was falling apart and falling to the wayside as this divine drama disrupted our lives.

From the time my powers manifested, and I learned who the Society was—and what they did to people like me—I had lived on the fringes. I had kept my head down and been careful to only offer services they deemed beneath them or were incapable of providing. That was my comfort zone. Not this.

To blackmail and coerce good people in bad circumstances wasn’t me.

But I was doing it anyway.

“You don’t want to force her.” Kierce dipped his chin. “I wish there was a better way.”

“Me too.”

Ready or not, it was time to return to Commune Doom.

The entire commune was in an uproar, so finding Tameka was easy. She was the one with her hands tied behind her back with rope while Patty quizzed her on what evils she had welcomed inside the ward. I had to admit, it was clever. Blaming her for the deaths of her fellow refugees. Short-sighted, though. As an excuse, it would only buy them twenty-four hours before the others learned the truth.

Unless the Morgans found the victims’ bodies and hid them first.

“You did this to us.” Patricia cast her voice for all to hear. “You brought death within our midst.”

Rosalie, I noticed, elected not to be present. That, or Patty purposely excluded her.

“We only just got here.” Keshawn stood on the fringe with her hands in fists. “What about the ones who died before we arrived? If you had been honest about the threat, if you had sent word through the club, I never would have come.” Her chest heaved. “Ibrought my momma here. Why is she being punished?”

“Keshawn…” she gentled her voice, “…you’ve helped women all over the country to relocate during your tours. Tours of duty, we call them.” She softened her features. “You more than earned your place here. So many of the women and children present owe their lives to you.”

“I couldn’t have done it without Mom,” Keshawn protested. “She’s the reason I got to travel?—”

“She might have been a rising star on the monster truck circuit, but you are so much more.”

Might have been.

Notmight be.

The reasons for the torches and pitchforks became evident, and I could have kicked myself. Or Keshawn. The Morgans had believed Tameka was alive. The truth must have come out when she went to them to ask for permission to remove the bones to their rightful place. Now that she had given them a doorway, the Morgans would be fools not to walk through it if they had no intention of honoring the request.

“The Morgans are gonna run.” Vi sounded as tired as I felt. “Bet the other one is packing their bags.”

How did they expect to cross the ward? Had they stayed because they could leave at any time? Or had the same person who goaded them into using the bones offered to protect them as part of the bargain?

“We need to defuse this situation more than we need to check escape routes.”

“How do you figure we’re going to do that? Your loaner is the only one who can see us.”

“There is that.” I tunneled my fingers through my hair.“Think, think, think.”

An insane idea sprang to mind that would either fix the problem or create a host of new ones.

“Anunit.” I spread my hands. “We summon her.”

“We’re trying to save these peoplefromher.” Vi had earned her right to sound skeptical of my plan. “Not ring a dinner bellforher.”

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