Page 114 of Dream Weaver

I met her during a job in Nevada. The Clark Canyon fire.

And not just that, but something about her making a scene after his brother turned her down.

My mind spun. The brother who’d been killed in a fire.

I stared at Liselle. Had she…? Would she…?

My knuckles tightened around my hammer.

“Such heroes, those firefighters…” she lamented. “And with so many other fires to fight. Wouldn’t you like to spare them one more?”

“Wouldn’t you?” I snarled.

“Of course. And it’s all perfectly avoidable — if you help me.” She leaned in. “I ask so little of you, really. Yet you stand to gain so much.”

“Youstand to gain, you mean.”

But what exactly was that?

Power,the back of my mind hummed.Unfettered power.

Liselle had been trying to siphon the energy of the vortexes with the stolen ax. Maybe she’d even succeeded but needed a more effective tool, like the brazier she’d shown me.

Those slots along the top edge are especially important,she’d said. I love how they make the smoke swirl.

Part of a recipe for magic?

“Let me spell things out,” she chirped. “You get nothing for doing nothing. But if you help me, I’ll make your custody problem disappear.”

And replace it with an inferno? No, thank you.

“You know, I don’t get it,” I admitted. “First, you try to kill me…”

Her eyes glowed. “Oh, that little storm at Devil’s Bridge was just a warning.”

No. It had been a goddamn tempest, but I doubted she’d been the one controlling it. Who, then?

“A warning?”

She nodded. “Not to mess with me. Just make me that brazier, and there won’t be trouble.”

I didn’t buy that for a minute, but I indulged her, just to gain time to think.

“And you want it done…when?” I asked.

“Tonight.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

“You can skip the runes,” she added. “Those were just for show.”

“Oh, well. In that case…” I muttered.

“Get to work,” one of the men muttered, drawing a gun.

All the blood drained from my face.

“Picture that gun aimed at your daughter.” Liselle smiled.

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