“Two.”
Sirens of the law hounds sounded in the distance.Big Betty crested the hill.They’d only be out of line of sight for a few seconds.
They dipped below the crest.
“Three!”she shouted and lent all of her magic to Katu.He leapt forward.She slammed back.Eep, maybe a little too much of a goose there—and hit the dead zone of the ramp—sending Cha reeling forward, clipping her forehead on the dash.Ow.
Katu clawed and scrabbled, still with enough momentum to make it.Cha was no help now, except as moral support, which was not really her forte.“You can do it, baby cat!”she encouraged, pushing on the dash as if it would help.Big Betty’s momentum changed, hitting the bottom of the hill and slowing a little as she began the climb up the next.They be in sight again in another moment and they’d all be screwed if the fae law spotted them.
Fortunately, the slight slowing was just enough for Katu to slide forward onto the flat of Big Betty’s bay.The elephant carriage raising the ramp back into place gave Katu’s ass just enough of a solid smack to push him the rest of the way in.
And enough to smash into the outer layer of crates, sending black pixie dust flying.
Cha let out a breath of sheer relief, then held her breath until the live dust deactivated—the stuff was shit to breathe—as the darkness of the cargo hold closed in around them.Fortunately, the low-grade dust Nerd Girl had gotten them would lose potency fast exposed to the air and wouldn’t be any worse than breathing ash.Not great, but also much less likely to mutate your lungs.She kept her ears peeled—was that a thing?—for the sound of the law hound sirens approaching, growing ever louder, even muted by Big Betty’s walls.
Big Betty chugged up the hill, going slower than she normally would, giving every indication of being simply another ponderous cargo truck plodding along toward the Obsidian depot.Cha waited, now holding her breath for other reasons.Though… why did people do that?It wasn’t like the fae, despite their preternatural hearing, would detect her presence inside Big Betty that way.The sirens got piercingly loud, then faded again.
Cha patted the dash.“You did again, baby cat.Saved our asses.”Betty rumbled.“You too, Betty.Thanks!”
She climbed out, taking the wand with her just in case, and again triggered the transformation to change the carriage back into the cat.Magic shimmered in a wave, the light-bending properties of the enchantment creating a prismatic effect.The carriage gave a last cooling purr, then shivered into the jaguar that was his original body.The metallic scales of the jag’s shell clicked smoothly back into glossy black fur, the carriage compacting into feline form, legs extending and becoming big, soft paws that touched ground.Katu sawed a happy greeting and shoved his head under her hand for ear skritches.She obliged, then let out a squawk of laughter when he reared up, laid those big paws—claws carefully sheathed—on her shoulders and knocked her over.
They rarely had the opportunity when not at home to play like this, and Katu had stressed over the escape, so she rolled around with him, letting him close soft jaws on her shoulder, growling lightly in kitten play.She growled back pretending her fingers were claws, tickling his ribs and belly.
Then she got them up.“Thirsty, baby cat?”
He sawed an agreement, as she figured he would.It took a lot out of the carriage animals to transform back and forth several times in a short time frame.She wouldn’t have transformed him now except that it would be easier to disguise one jaguar if Big Betty got pulled over and inspected than a whole-ass carriage that had just blown the Obsidian border.
Going to the tank of ambrosia Dy kept on hand for emergency top-offs like this, Cha poured a bowl for Katu and let him drink his fill.The fae-sourced liquid gave off a cloying honeysuckle-sweet scent.The enchanted carriage-beasts could live on regular food, like the animals they’d been born as, but to transform to and run as carriages, they needed the fae fuel to keep going.Humans called it ambrosia, because of the nectar smell and how much the animals loved it.The fae would never say where it came from, but charged top coin for it.
Good thing Katu could fill up now, because hard to say when they’d get another chance.The usual refueling stations were out of the question.Now that they fae knew she’d crossed into Obsidian, they’d likely have people watching the very few outlets with human food and ambrosia pumps.Where they didn’t have watchers, they’d put up posters around Obsidian calling for her immediate arrest on sight.Humans would never betray her, but the Obsidian service fae would leap at the chance to betray a human, suck up to the law, and earn a little coin—priorities in that order.
She could potentially go back.Get Dy to create a ley line to take them back over the border, tuck her tail between her legs, and flee to the relative safety of human lands.Not that the fae wouldn’t arrest her there, but it would be more difficult for them.She could go into hiding.
For the rest of your life?A snide voice that sounded remarkably like Azul’s musical one murmured in the back of her mind.
Shut up,she told him.You were the one who had better things to do than hang with me, remember.
Not better.Necessary.
Yeah yeah.
She cut off that line of thought.Better to think about how to proceed from here.She hated to admit that going with Lenorae might have been smarter.So, she refused to admit it.Thing was, she didn’t have any other ideas for getting to Citrine that didn’t involve her likely arrest and likely final incarceration in Moonstone jail.
No matter how she sliced it, their mission plan was fucked.
~10~
Situation Normal, All Fucked Up
“Well, we’re fucked,”Dy commented as Cha pulled herself through the sliding window that led from Big Betty’s cargo space into the cab.
Cha wedged herself into the seat.“Move over, Warg.Ugh!” The purple polka dotted creature licked the side of her face again with an enthusiastic and decidedly slimy tongue.“Can’t you stop him from doing that?”
“And miss watching you squirm in misery?”Dy slid her an amused look.“Not a chance.Besides, he was here first.Andyouare not supposed to be.”
“Don’t remind me,” she replied sourly, kicking back and propping her boots on the broad dash.
“Don’t put your feet on the dash,” Dy reprimanded in the same tone she used with her kids.“Were you raised in a barn?”