Page 24 of Midnight Auto Parts

“Perhaps I ought to have said their powers, their divine spark, isn’t evil.”

“You would know better than me.”

Evil is as evil does.

Explaining her clientele, and their more unique requests, Vi relied on that phrase often. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to soothe her conscience or mine, but I never questioned Vi’s choices. She was a good person. I trusted her motives. If she helped someone who landed more firmly in the black than moral gray areas, she had her reasons. Ankou’s magic straight from the tap might hold myriad possibilities, but he had left his morals behind along with his humanity, if his treatment of Josie was a barometer for his past actions.

“We need to figure out who took it.” He shook loose grains from between his fingers. “And find them.”

“Would he have sent his acolytes to dispose of it?”

Its fruit would be evidence of what he had done to me, yes, but also dangerous to anyone who stumbled across it. Though, looking at it that way, he wouldn’t have given up the tree for its chaos potential alone.

For the tree to be gone, Ankou either had other plans for it, or someone else did.

Either choice would keep me up nights until we located and destroyed it.

With the amount of foot traffic this area must see on a daily basis, someone must have noticed the tree thief. I doubt anyonewould report it, though. They would likely believe either the city or the county had decided to remove it. Maybe even one of the buildings’ tenants. Not that there were many.

A grocery store. A community center. A gas station.

“More than likely, yes.”

“Let me grab a sample for Vi.”

A blight could be the result of a curse, a spell, a charm or have any number of magical origins. Figure out what caused the problem, and we were one step closer to a solution. And identifying the culprit.

When I reached Josie, she fell in step with me, tracing a path back to the wagon and my bowler bag filled with supplies. Including empty vials for taking samples. I was digging out gloves when she finally hit her limit for keeping her mouth shut. Honestly, I was impressed she lasted a whole sixty seconds.

“Well?” She leaned over my shoulder, watching me gather my things. “Were my contacts right?”

“They sensed where the god tree was rooted, but it’s not there anymore.”

“As in death magic killed it?” She read my reaction. “Or as in someone dug it up and took it with them?”

“I’m not sure.” I shut the tailgate on the wagon and threw her the keys. “But we’re going to find out.”

Maybe Carter could pull some strings, discover if any of the shops had security cameras that might have recorded the theft. That would give us a date, time, and potential ID.

“The keys are a hint to stay put,” she told the plant. “She’s bossy like that.”

“You and your new friend can wait in the wagon or go get some ice cream,” I tossed over my shoulder. “I don’t want you anywhere near this until we contain it.”

While Josie and her plant buddy wandered off, debating the merits of various trees as potential homes, I returned to Kierce.

He took a vial from my hand and followed my example as I filled mine with sandy soil, leaving room for a piece or two of splintered root. We capped them at the same time, and he passed me his. I stored them in a small velvet pouch lined with nulling fabric enchanted by a local coven for just such occasions.

“You’re smiling.”

Turning away, I packed them in my bowler bag until I could send one to Vi. “Am I?”

Missing that I meant it as a rhetorical question, he said, “Yes.”

“You’re just so cool.” I did my best to conceal my blush. “I can’t help it. I only mean to think it, but my face says it anyway. I’m sorry if it’s making things awkward.”

To have someone interested in the same things as me, capable of the same magic as me, was a delight. I tested the opposites-attract theory with Harrow. I embraced magic. He despised it. And himself for what powers his heritage granted him. The push and pull between our views exhausted me at times, but I told myself he was worth it. Relationships are work, right? I hadn’t been afraid of investing in him.

But with Kierce…

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