Page 30 of A Brighter Yellow
“Good call,” said Anna, pulling out her phone and texting a message. “There were security cameras. But there has to be another way in.”
“Pretty sure there was a ward on the front gate. There was a symbol carved into the side of the call box.”
Anna wrinkled her nose unhappily. She’d been focused on Elliot and hadn’t noticed that.
“I think we should head back to town. I can do some spellcasting and figure out how big an area is being protected. But I’m going to need some supplies.”
Anna made a grumbling noise of discontent. “What if he is doing something to Charlie right now?” she demanded.
“Us getting caught isn’t going to do her much good,” said Ochre. “We need a plan.”
“I have a plan. It’s grab Elliot and rip his intestines out,” said Anna.
“Solid plan,” said Ochre drily. “But what if there are others? That looked like a big property. It had security cameras and an electronic gate. That’s not exactly cheap. And that was dirty magic at the front gate. It feels like there’s more going on here than we know about.”
Anna knew he was right, but she couldn’t stop picturing Charlie in pain.
“Uh,” said Ochre. “Um… Your pocket is being… Have you got something magic in your pocket? It’s kind of burning a hole in my leg.”
Anna put both feet down and stood up to dig in her pants pocket. Inside, she found the charm necklace she’d found at Charlie’s office.
“It works!” Anna shrieked and clutched the charm to her chest, cradling it in both hands in happiness. “Oh, she must be wearing hers.” An unexpected tear trickled down her face as a wave of relief hit her body, and she sat back down on the bike.
“Hey,” said Ochre, putting his arms around her and hugging her tight. She relaxed back into him, reveling in the feeling of having someone hold her up. “What’s going on? What is it?”
“Charlie was worried about me,” said Anna. “She wanted a way to know I was OK when I was out on missions. I had to leave before she finished working out the spell on these necklaces. She said they should work both ways though.”
Hurriedly, Anna slipped the necklace over her head. It dangled between her breasts now, but when she transformed she could at least be sure that it wouldn’t break and pop off. As soon as she put it on, the half-heart piece flashed a greeny-yellow settling into a rhythmic pattern for about fifteen seconds before going quiet. Anna stroked the charm and watched it flare to life again.
“That’s her heartbeat,” said Anna. “Not too fast. That’s good. The color is too yellow. That’s not so good. But it’s not red. So she’s… she’s OK.”
“It works both ways, right?” asked Ochre, his voice soft against her ear. “So now that you’ve got yours on, she’ll know that you’re OK, but she’ll also know that means you put it on and you’re here.”
“Yes!” Anna took a shaky breath realizing the truth of Ochre’s words. Charlie would know that Anna would come for her—help was on the way. Anna felt ten times better than she had a moment ago. Although, possibly that had a lot to do with Ochre’s arms being around her. She took another deep breath and then jumped as her phone went off.
“Text message,” said Ochre, pulling away from her.
“Thanks,” growled Anna, grabbing her phone.
That is an old army bunker. Everyone in town knows about it. Some weird militia bought it last year. Do not recommend taking it on by yourself. Meet me back in town.
Steve included an address for them to meet at, but Anna stared at the rest of the message feeling frustrated. She was close enough to Charlie that their necklaces had activated, leaving now felt like she was stabbing Charlie in the back. On the other hand, taking on a militia on her own sounded like a bad idea.
“Weird militia,” Ochre said, reading over her shoulder. “See? We need a plan.”
“Yeah, I got it,” snapped Anna and started the bike again. Every time it felt like she had control of the situation, everything seemed to change, and she was back to square one. Ochre probably thought she was entirely out of her depth.
Episode 15
The Trailer
Anna
When they arrived at the address Steve had sent, it turned out to be a small storefront with a People for the Trees sign in the window. Steve was waiting for them and waved them over to a beater pick-up truck.
“Hey,” he said when they pulled up alongside him.
“Weird militia?” demanded Anna, who had been thinking about Charlie the entire ride back.
