Page 92 of Midnight Auto Parts

This thing.The angry words ruffled my feathers for no good reason. Anunit was protecting her family. As a victim of a purging that cost Anunit her entire species—pantheon?—I couldn’t blame her for what she had done to keep them safe in death the way she must have felt she failed to do in life. But more death wasn’t the answer. The scales of justice don’t balance with the more atrocities you heaped on them.

“You mentioned an inside source.” She stirred me from my thoughts. “How did that pan out?”

“That has yet to be determined. I should have an answer for you soon. Just not yet.”

“You’re not in danger, are you?”

“Not exactly,” I hedged, aware she could leak details to my sister.

“Frankie,” she warned in her best redcap voice.

“Oh.” I faked brightness and enthusiasm. “I see a customer. Gotta go. Byeee.”

“There is no customer. The shop is closed.” Kierce appeared to consider this. “You lied to Carter.”

Carter wouldn’t buy it for a minute. She knew our shop hours too well. But it did get me off the call fast.

“I did.” I winced under his questioning gaze. “I need answers before I drag her into this.”

The more she knew, the harder it would be for a witch to wipe her mind. Assuming a witch could erase a fae’s memories. Carter was old. How old, I didn’t know, butold. With age came certainty of your identity and an expectation of behavior. Carter’s mind would rebel against any inconsistencies, and a rebellious mind could cost Carter her life.

Appearing to catalog this reasoning, he tipped his head to one side. “That’s acceptable?”

Afraid I had taught him a new trick—that lying was okay to protect loved ones—I backpedaled.Fast.

“Between me and you? No. A relationship can’t survive lies, even when they’re meant well.”

The tightness in his expression smoothed before it finished gathering. “I agree.”

“Good.” I rubbed my face, tired all of a sudden. “Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested a walk.”

“You’re exhausted.” He pulled my hands away. “You’re spending too much time outside your body.”

Part of me wondered if that was why I shone brighter—I was loosening my soul’s tether to its shell.

Not the best mental picture to hold in my head when I had more trips to make before I was done.

“I hope I have a solution for that.” I quirked my lips. “We need to learn the Morgans’ ruling first.”

Uncertainty warred across his features. “What happens after that?”

“Tameka buys her daughter’s forgiveness by digging up the bones from inside the commune.”

Not gonna lie. I felt dirty phrasing it that way. I felt worse realizing that was how it had to be.

More than the hurt her daughter stealing a loaner would do to my reputation, lives were on the line here. I couldn’t turn away from the women and children inside the ward with no way out. I had to act, even if it grated on me how I achieved the action.

“The person who set the ward will sense when it begins to falter.”

That was the problem rolling around in my head too. “Could Tameka make a gap to weaken it?”

There would be a reckoning long before she dismantled the entire barrier. I had known that. But she had the best chance out of anyone. There must be a way to use her to our best advantage. The biggest one, I had to admit, was even more mercenary.

Tameka was dead. She couldn’t be killed again. The Morgans couldn’t harm her, and neither could Anunit.

That not-quite-invincibility, paired with her desperation to save her daughter, made her motivated too.

“If she starts on the farthest edge of the commune, she might have time to dig up two or three bones.” He considered this with a frown. “The person maintaining the ward will pinpoint the issue in minutes, but enough distance would buy her time before they caught up to her.”

---