The Undead Pool (The Hollows #12)(121)
Author: Kim Harrison

“We have only five miles of road,” he said, pushing me forward as Etude looked over the edge at us and extended a clawed foot for me to sort of . . . step into. Past it, the ground raced, grass and rocks a blur. My mind was telling me his foot was safer than a harness, but I’d seen what happened when the huge gargoyle let go of the van.

“Come on, Rache!” Jenks prodded, pulling the hair behind my ear. “Scott did it.”

Scott has a second life to look forward to, I thought, and the mystics in me buzzed about it, wondering how that made a difference. It doesn’t, I told them, scared as I glanced through the front window to be sure there was no turn coming, and then . . . stepped into Etude’s grip.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” I shouted up at Etude’s craggy face, and Bis, his son, went spinning by, enjoying the wind.

The older gargoyle smiled. His thick grip on my waist shifted, the thick pads pressing almost painfully as he gave me a jiggle until my back rested against his leg. “Easy as cake!” he shouted, and with that being my single warning, he spread his wings. The wind snapped them open, and I gasped, my hands clenching the thick claw encircling me as we were yanked into almost a standstill.

“Ow . . .” I breathed. My lower chest hurt, but we weren’t as far back as I had feared. Etude tucked me under him, his huge wings beating as he closed the gap. Ahead in the moonlight, the track ran straight into oblivion, but the bike path veered away. Ivy. Trent, I thought. There wasn’t enough time.

“I’ll get you as close as I can. Scott will catch you,” Etude said, surprising me when he lowered his great head to break the wind. “Ready?”

Oh God . . . I thought, then nodded. Letting go of his gnarled foot was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Just a few feet below me, the train rocked side to side. Scott reached up to touch my feet, then my knees, and finally my waist just under Etude’s claw.

“What happens when you let go?” I shouted.

“Let go?” Etude called.

“Wait!” But it was too late, and Scott’s grip on me tightened as Etude’s fell away. Our balance was off. I clutched at the vampire, my chest hitting his face as he went down on a knee.

“Got you,” he said, voice muffled as the wind whipped over us and the train rocked.

I hadn’t known you could be scared and embarrassed at the same time, and as the roof of the car hit my knees, I forced myself to let go of his shirt. “Sorry.”

“Not at all,” he said, grinning.

I was just in time to see Trent ripped away from the van, his exclamation muffled by wind and the sudden distance. Pulling the hair from my eyes, I looked ahead at the ribbon of gray road. Ivy stood at the door, her expression clear in the dim light, David and Edden beside her. There wasn’t enough time left for her to make it, much less the two men. Etude might not be able to catch up once the van veered off. Ivy knew it as well as I.

“Catch me!” she shouted through her cupped hands, then ducked inside.

“Is she nuts?” Jenks shrilled in my ear, and Scott became three shades lighter.

The van accelerated, and Ivy reappeared at the door, looking back at us. “Ivy, no!” I yelled. “Etude can do it!”

But she was climbing onto the roof as David and Edden protested, the wind ripping her topknot to a long streamer of black. My heart pounded. Trent hadn’t caught up yet, and I wedged my foot under a handhold, slowly standing up against the wind. Scott blocked a tiny slice of the wind, and I looked past him. The bike path was going to turn. She wasn’t going to make it.

Lips set, Ivy inched to the front of the van, turned, and ran for the back.

“Hold on, Jenks!” I screamed, watching, then blinked as a layer of mystics seem to peel off my awareness, swirling thickly within the space of my aura as Ivy propelled herself right off the end of the van, feet still going as she leaped into space.

“Ivy!” I shouted, leaning into the wind, grasping. She was going to make it. She was going to make it! She had to.

“Got you!” Scott exclaimed as she fell into us. We dropped in a sliding tangle. My ankle twinged, and I gasped as my foothold caught and pain stabbed through it. The force of the wind vanished, but still it roared. My hands burned with wild magic. Don’t let go. Don’t let go! Eyes shut, I clenched her arm. We slowly slipped, and then . . . settled. Ivy was safe.

She just had to jump, I thought sourly, then thanked the mystics. I wasn’t sure what they’d done, but I knew they’d been there. “Jenks, you okay?” I called out, hearing his swearing and knowing he was fine. I squinted up to find Etude blocking the wind. Bis was on his dad’s shoulder, his tail wrapped around his dad’s neck and literally white with fear. Trent was sandwiched facedown between Etude’s massive foot and the top of the car. Etude’s other foot was halfway through the outer skin of the roof, and his tail was wrapped around Scott’s leg to keep him from sliding off. Ivy was in the vampire’s arms. Slowly I let go of her wrist, and she looked up, thin bands of brown around her irises. Crap on toast, Nina was going to get her killed with all this risk taking. She never would’ve jumped otherwise. Not my careful, precise Ivy.

Shaken, I looked behind us. The road was gone. “You idiot!” I shouted as I untangled myself and sat up. “You could have been killed! Why didn’t you wait for Etude!”

Ivy smiled at me over Scott’s shoulder as she gave him a thankful hug. “He needs to save his strength,” she said, hair streaming in the wind. “Is Jenks okay?”

“I’m fine!” he yelled, but I don’t think she heard him, and I nodded.

Etude’s foot lifted suddenly when Trent wiggled, still facedown on the roof of the car. Almost dancing, the big gargoyle shifted back. The man looked shaken but okay, and he grimaced as he felt his midsection carefully as he sat up. Turning to the road, his anger eased when he saw it was gone. Thank you, Nina.

“I don’t think I’ll fit in the car,” Etude said, taking Bis from his shoulder and setting him on the rocking roof. “Bis, let me know if you need me.” His smile widened until his black teeth showed. “My world breaker.”

Bis flushed a pleased black, but I was uneasy as I looked at them: Ivy, Bis, Trent, Scott, and Jenks tangled in my hair. If any of them died or hurt themselves, I’d never let it go. “Let’s move!” I shouted, and Scott nodded. Staying low and never entirely letting go of the roof, he inched his way to the connecting bridge. It was covered to facilitate moving from car to car when necessary, and the moon glinted on the edge of steel as he cut a flap in the thick plastic and gestured us forward.