Free Waylaid by Kim Harrison Page A

Jenks had bailed, and he flew at head-height back to them, grinning and trailing a bright silver dust. “I found my cat,” he said, darting up when Carnac jumped for him.
    “That’s my cat,” Peri protested as Rachel scooped the tail-swishing cat up and mule-kicked a locked door open. It was a storage closet, and Peri stared until Rachel shoved her in, wine almost spilling.
    “That busted lock on the doctor’s bunk won’t stop them for long,” Rachel said, struggling with the wiggling cat, which was pawing for Jenks as he tormented it, darting up and down like a demented yo-yo.
    “W ine,” Peri said as she proffered it, amazed there was still some in it. “You know the charm?”
    Rachel beamed. “I think she believes us, Jenks.”
    “Say the words!” Peri shouted. There was a sudden pounding on the door, and she shoved the wine at Rachel, moving to get between them and the door, should it open.
    “Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again ,” Rachel said, cat in one hand, wine in the other, and Peri turned, seeing Jenks landing on her shoulder. Carnac’s eyes went black.
    “As I stand here with my trusted friend, who can replay time and make it bend,” Rachel added, and Peri blinked. It wasn’t the same words that Jack had used, but maybe this was better.
    “Who should know. Of the truth. That lies in her brain. Memories remain. Through her I spin, to my line.”
    Rachel raised her glass, pink with Jack’s blood. Saluting Peri, she took a sip. Nothing happened.
    Panic iced over Rachel’s eyes , the cat wiggling in her arms. “What did we do wrong?” she said, frantic. “I can’t stay here, Jenks. I can’t!”
    The pixy, too, looked scared. “I don’t know, Rache. There’s enough mystics in this room to choke a horse.” He hesitated. “I hope we haven’t changed something by being here.”
    “I don’t care!” Rachel wailed as Bill pounded on the door. “I just want to go home!”
    “You didn’t say the magic word,” Peri said suddenly, and Rachel’s fear hesitated.
    “Abracadabra?” Rachel said, her eyebrows high in disbelief.
    Peri gasped, letting go of the doorknob in shock as the draft ended and time meshed with a savage sureness. A flash of red light seemed to blind her, and a soft thump and angry cat yeowl was like fingernails on a chalkboard as she reached out for the memory of Rachel . . . and the mall . . . and a little man . . . There was a little man, wasn’t there?
    And then it was gone.
    Pain lanced through her head, and Peri fell to the door, barely conscious as Bill and Jack boiled in. She looked up, finding herself in a closet. Carnac crouched in a corner, scared and eyes black, as Jack and Bill stood in the doorway, shadows against the brighter light from the hall.
    I drafted , she thought, gathering up the confusion like a familiar blanket and shoving it aside, refusing to let it rule her. Why am I in a closet?
    “Peri?” Jack said, dried blood on his face as he knelt by her. “Are you okay?”
    “Holy crap, Jack,” she exclaimed, touching his face. “What happened to you?”
    Jack stood up, his eyes flicking up to Bill. “I ran into a wall.”
    She reached up, and he extended a hand, helping her rise. Her quick motion slowed as vertigo took her. An odd dust coated her arms, but when she brushed at it, it vanished. She breathed deep, thinking she smelled sun and wind. “Why am I in a closet? With Carnac?”
    Bill’s eyes roved over the interior of the small closet. “She’s not here.”
    “Who?” Peri asked, and Bill pressed his lips together. A man’s fast steps sounded in the hall, and he turned as one of the night security at Opti Health slid to a halt. Why are we at Opti Health? she wondered, no longer believing Jack’s story about walking into a wall.
    “Sir, we can’t find her,” Harry said, gaze flicking to Peri and back to Bill. “There’s no trace, and the camera’s aren’t working. They’re all stuck