Thinking back to all the times her mother made her sleep in the barn as a punishment, Cha had to nod.“Pretty much, yeah.Besides, Betty doesn’t mind.”But she put her feet down and sat up.“The hounds went right past?”
“Yes.Didn’t even blink at us.We’ll see how long that lasts.What happened?”
“What you’d expect.Handed over my papers expecting the usual andbam!” She hit one fist against the palm of her hand.“Suddenly there’s a guard on me making noises about an arrest warrant from Moonstone.”
Dy sighed.“I guess we should have factored that in.I thought, however, that Prince Charming had taken care of that.”
“Yeah, well, apparently the cloak of princely protection only works while you’re physically under it,” she replied, feeling sulky about the whole mess.
“Did you get your papers back?”
Fuck.She’d forgotten.Not that she could have, if she had factored that in.“No such luck.”
“I kind of figured that would be the case.What do you want to do now then?I can get us back over from here, but the deeper into Obsidian we go, the harder it will be.And you’re undocumented now.”
“I do have several sets of false papers hidden in Katu.”
“True.And you have the platinum coin for bribes, at least while we’re in Obsidian.”
“Ah, about that…”
Dy gave her an incredulous stare.“Youlost anotherplatinum coin—do you have gaping holes in your pockets or something??”
“I tried to bribe ram’s horns with it, but he took the coin and tried to arrest me anyway.Mistakes were made.”
With a sigh, Dy stared out the front window at the unfurling black ley line.“Then we’re back to what you want to do now, except with the knowledge that we’ve gone another degree into fucked.”
Shedidn’twant to run for home and safety, but… “Do you have ideas?”
“This is your party, babe,” Dy answered, hard blue gaze on the ley ahead.“Your man candy we’re after.We don’t have long until we hit the depot and another inspection.I’ve got to pass that on the up and up unless we want the hounds chasing Big Betty, too, and now we don’t have you to play distraction.”
“Don’t remind me.”Cha drummed her fingers on one knee.“I did transform Katu back to animal form.He and I can hide in the secret compartment if it comes to that.”
Dy softened and flicked her a sympathetic smile.“How is he?”
“Oh, he thought it was fun.Nothing rattles that cat.”A siren wailed in the distance up ahead, getting closer.“Ears pricked.They’re coming back.No…” she corrected after listening another moment.“They’re sitting still and we’re gaining on them.”
“You always did have good hearing.Better get in the compartment in case they decide to pull me over.”
It sat ill with her to cower in the back while Dy dealt with the law.“I’ve got a few minutes.Why did you want us to take the risk of berthing instead of giving me a side ley?”
Dy didn’t answer immediately.They drew closer to the sirens.Cha thought it was only some of them, which would make sense.Half to keep searching ahead; half to backtrack.Who imagined they’d send so many hounds after little old she?
The path box lit up on the general channel.Dy punched it open.“Heya, all you mortal riders,” a voice drawled.“Willy Nilly here with breaking news if you’re headed farther up and deeper in.Dusties built a fence and feeling frisky.Watch your ass.”
Great.Just great.“A ley block.Of course.And inspecting everyone,” Cha said aloud.
“I think I should carry you to Citrine,” Dy said slowly.“Not just for this inspection.If we make it through, I think you should stay hidden through the rest of Obsidian and all of Moonstone.”
“The whole time?”Cha was appalled by the idea.
“It’s not that long.A bit more past the depot.Then overnight through Moonstone.You can sleep.”
They’d planned it that way, to make the pass-through Moonstone during the night as the day was far too bright for human eyes.“What about you, though?”
“I can keep myself awake.Really, it’s smarter for only one of us to power through the night without rest.”
“This wasn’t the plan,” Cha grumbled.