Frost Line Read online

  The senator would have a come-apart if Elijah wasn’t found—by Derek, not by the police—and soon.

  Let the senator stew. Derek scrubbed a hand over his face, disgusted by the senator, and not all that willing to kill a kid. He’d thought he could do the job with no problem, but then he’d looked Elijah in the eye, seen the kid’s innocence, his fear, his devastation. The woman the senator had killed had been a cheating whore. Sammy was a moron who was a waste of skin. The kid? The kid hadn’t done anything wrong. Elijah hadn’t lived long enough to make the kind of mistakes that would bring Derek, or someone like him, to his door. Some people deserved to be taken out of the gene pool, but not a kid who’d just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Fuck a duck, maybe he did have a few morals, after all.

  Still and alert, Esma crouched in a cluster of overgrown shrubs by the corner of a brick home that was presently unoccupied. The bushes that offered her a place to hide were thick with shiny green leaves so spiny that they would be almost dangerous, if she wasn’t covered head to toe, and an abundance of bright red, inedible berries. It was some kind of holly bush, she thought, but she wasn’t well-educated on the plant life of all the worlds. All she cared about was the good cover the plants offered.

  A For Sale sign posted in the front yard leaned precariously to one side. From her position she could watch the front of the house where she’d found the Moon card, tucked high on a shelf. There was a lot of activity there on this morning. Thank the One she had found the card before the law enforcement entities of Seven had, though they might not have realized exactly what it was. Even if they had, what could they have done with just one card? Nothing, the way she could do nothing. But as long as she had the card, no one else could access the deck’s power, either.

  She hated to hide in this way. As a Hunter she always preferred a fight to subterfuge. But this moment of this assignment on this world dictated that she stay out of sight and wait patiently. Well, she would wait, but she had never been patient. She didn’t belong in the neighborhood and on a day like today if she showed herself she would be noticed. Everyone was on alert and would be alarmed by any and all strangers.

  Policemen came and went. Friends and neighbors who had heard the news about murder and a missing child came by to stand and gawk, to find out whatever they could from any officer who would talk to them, to organize search teams or contact anyone who might know where the child was.

  That damned old woman who had seen Esma and Stroud and mistaken them for friends of the dead woman was talking her head off. If the detectives weren’t in the house interviewing her, then she was standing in her front yard, bundled up in her winter gear, chattering with the neighbors and waving her arms for emphasis. There were moments it was obvious she was genuinely upset, but she also reveled in the attention.

  She had probably described the people she’d seen in Amber’s backyard in great detail. Nosy old women always remembered everything.

  Esma and Stroud had split up, since the neighbor would have the cops looking for a couple. It was their bad luck that the woman had walked out of her back door when she had, to admire the snow. Esma didn’t know what Stroud was doing; he’d simply disappeared. He should have informed her of his plans, but he hadn’t. Then again, she hadn’t told him she’d found the Moon, either.

  For all she knew he was hiding out in another world, avoiding both her and Veton.

  She slipped two fingers into the right front pocket of her blue jeans and let them slide over the treasure there. The card didn’t feel thousands of years old; this kind of paper hadn’t even existed on this world when the deck had been created. The magic in the cards had caused them to morph over the years; instead of fading, the colors were more vivid than ever. The writing shifted so that the words were readable by whoever viewed it. The material the cards were made of had become stronger over time, more resilient.

  The Alexandria Deck was, in an odd way, a survivor.

  It had been good luck that had led Esma to the card that had been hidden in the kid’s bedroom, good instincts that had led her to keep the card’s existence from Stroud. That in itself was proof that she didn’t trust him. She couldn’t say why she didn’t, because she and Stroud had worked together before and he’d never shown himself to be treacherous. Still … this deck of cards was the most important thing she’d ever encountered. If Stroud had found it what would he have done? Would he have killed her so he could seize control of it?

  She might as well have the entire deck. Why not? The Alexandria Deck would be worthless without this card, without every card. And shouldn’t she be the one in control of it?

  It was impossible to mistake what she’d found for anything other than what it was. An instinct had called Esma into the house and up the stairs and to the child’s room. A faint glow had marked as otherworldly the card there. It was heavier than a single card should be; she had noticed the heaviness when she’d first lifted the card and she felt that weight as the Moon rested in her pocket.

  Fewer than three days, and Lenna had to be back in Aeonia. Or dead. Veton’s order to kill Lenna if it became necessary was still shocking.

  Then again, he was the Tower. He loved chaos. He was chaos.

  Esma had enjoyed more than her share of chaos in her life, but she called upon strength and willpower daily. If she considered any one of the Major Arcana cards her own, it would be Strength.

  Chaos came and went. Strength was a quality any man or woman would wish to possess for a lifetime.

  Esma preferred to see Lenna returned to Aeonia rather than kill her and watch what disasters might befall all the worlds, but she still wanted to be able to take the deck to Veton. She wanted to fulfill the mission.

  So did Caine. It was a part of who they were, an important aspect of their training. There was nothing worse than to fail. The problem was, they weren’t working on the same mission, which meant she and Caine were adversaries. That wasn’t good, for her, because Caine was Caine and beside him all other Hunters were ordinary, even her.

  Which meant she had to be smart. She had to keep on when others would have given up.

  Esma crouched so long her legs began to ache, but she ignored the ache and maintained her position. Eventually the house began clearing out, the gathered gawkers began to thin and go home. A police car was parked at the curb, but no police officers were inside the house—which had been designated a crime scene—at the moment. Searchers were in the wooded area behind the house, scanning the ground for the second or third time, looking for a child, terrified that they would find his body.

  As soon as she was sure the house was empty, she teleported herself into Elijah’s room. The place had been thoroughly searched, as she’d expected.

  She needed to be here. If Lenna had hidden the card in Elijah’s room—and that was the only explanation that made sense—then she’d be back for it sooner or later. Esma hoped it was sooner.

  She stood by Elijah’s bed, well away from the window, the card heavy in her pocket, a Hunter’s knife equally heavy in her hand. She stretched, working the kinks out of her muscles, preparing herself for confrontation. Lenna and Caine would come here for the Moon card; since the house was now empty, they might pop in at any moment. She was on alert. She didn’t want to hurt anyone if it could be helped, and she certainly did not want to remove Strength from this world and every other.

  But she wanted the deck. She would complete her mission.

  An early-morning visit had verified what Caine had suspected would be true. The street where Elijah lived—had lived—was far too busy for him to be popping in and out. A child going missing was always big news. It was disturbing, as it should be, and the neighbors were all searching, visiting one another to share their concerns, thankful that their own children were safe. They were on alert for anything and anyone they might deem out of place.

  Find Uncle Bobby. Find a safe place for Elijah. Collect the Alexandria Deck and return Lenna to he