Free Chase the Dark by Annette Marie

the Sahar first.”
    He nodded. “I know.”
    “So . . . what do we do?”
    Ash was silent for a long minute. His gaze was distant, his expression tired, but there was a tightness to his face, a flex of the muscles in his jaw, that spoke of anger—fury even. The cast of the shadows sharpened his cheekbones and hid his eyes, heightening the clinging sense of menace. He seemed calm enough, yet Piper’s instincts thought he wasn’t calm at all . . . more like he was murderously angry.
    But when he spoke, his voice was so weary and somber that she doubted her assessment.
    “We got screwed. I think they initially intended to take the Sahar and frame Quinn, but we ended up looking guilty instead.”
    Piper twisted her hands together. “If we didn’t have the Sahar, we’d only have to prove they stole it. What are we supposed to do?”
    He inhaled slowly and let it out in a sigh. “I’m still working on that. We can’t decide anything until we know who is responsible. We have no idea what type of power we’re up against.”
    “They’re probably Underworld daemons.” She folded her arms and looked across the lot. “Who else would be able to find and control a choronzon?”
    Ash shrugged. “It’s a possibility but the right Underworld allies could have arranged that for them.”
    She sighed. What they needed was a witness or something, someone who could provide more clues . . . someone who’d seen these people. But all the witnesses to the crime were dead or missing.
    Well, all except for one.
    “Uncle Calder,” she said.
    “What?”
    She turned toward him, excited and anxious at the same time. “Uncle Calder. We need to ask Uncle Calder what happened. He’s the only survivor aside from my father and we won’t find my father until we find the attackers.”
    Ash opened his mouth, probably to argue, but closed it again. “I think you’re right,” he finally said. “We need more information and he’s the only source.”
    “Excellent! So we find out which medical center he’s at and sneak in to talk to him . . .” She trailed off, her excitement draining away as the enormity of the challenge sunk in.
    “We should wait until tomorrow night,” Ash said, “to increase the chances that Calder will have recovered enough to talk. We can’t wait too long or they could move him.”
    “Right,” Piper agreed faintly. Medical facilities, as a rule, had tough security. Plus Calder was the only person of interest who wasn’t missing or escaped and would probably have prefect guards day and night. They also had to figure out which facility he was at. They couldn’t start phoning at random; no one would give that kind of information to unidentified callers.
    “We can work out the details after we’ve all slept,” Ash said.
    She nodded vaguely. The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. “I’ll wake Lyre and send him up so you can sleep too,” she said, shuffling to the edge of the car pile and climbing down. She was almost to the ground when Ash spoke again.
    “Piper,” he said, his voice low. “Keep the Stone close.”
    She swallowed, staring upward. Maybe it was her imagination but she was sure if she could have seen his face, there would have been a terrible, violent fury written across his features.
    . . .
    With the beginnings of a plan in place, Piper was finally able to sleep. At some point before she woke, Ash and Zwi stole them some snacks and bottled water from a store a few blocks away. Fed and refreshed, the three of them went over their plan, playing out every scenario they could imagine.
    Throughout their discussions, she kept an eye on Ash but he showed no flashes of rage or any other emotion. He looked as inscrutable as ever and slightly creepy with that soul-searing stare. His freaky factor had improved once he got rid of the blood on his arm. He’d even braided the red silk ribbon along the side of his head again to look slightly less disreputable. She