Free Ghost Key by Trish J. MacGregor Page B

superior to her and her tribe, and yet he had given his word he wouldn’t attempt an escape. He had lied.
    Dominica closed in on him, then propelled herself the final yards and crashed into him, her essence melting into his, and they plummeted into the hotel courtyard. She heard Whit shouting that he had Maddie restrained, and sensed Gogh nearby, with the box and its ELF field that would trap Von. She and Von tumbled, rolled, and suddenly she vaulted away from him and Gogh nabbed him like an insect to flypaper.
    Dominica instantly sought Maddie, and found her inside the barracks kitchen, bound to a chair, gagged. She dived into her again, right down through the middle of her skull, and quickly fitted herself into the young woman’s body.
    “Nica?” Whit leaned over her, anxiously scanning her host’s face. “If it’s really you, what’s our code word?”
    “Pensacola.” It was where she and Whit had gone recently in their natural forms and had seized a couple of tourists to enjoy sex and good wine and a fantastic sunset. He knew she had blocked these memories from Maddie, that their code was genuine.
    He quickly untied her, removed her gag, and wrapped his arms around her. “We won this round.”
    This round, but how many more were there in the future that they wouldn’t win?
    Gogh barreled into the kitchen with the rectangular box clasped in his hands. Behind him were Jill, Joe, Liam. Jill was back inside Marion, who looked exhausted, her face shiny with perspiration in spite of the cool air.
    “Now what?” Gogh asked anxiously.
    “Disengage from the net.”
    They did so, their lights blinking out like stars at the edge of sunrise. The white noise she had grown accustomed to, the communal voices in the brujo net, went silent. “Make sure we have six votes cast,” she said, and told him what they should say. “This is the official record. We’ll enter it into the net later.”
    While Gogh scribbled frantically, Whit went over to the counter, opened the cabinet under the sink, and brought out lighter fluid, rags, a box of kitchen matches. He put everything into his pack, glanced at Dominica, and tilted his head toward the door. She nodded, walked to the pantry, and removed five kayak paddles. She handed them out and picked up the wooden box with despicable, twisted Von inside.
    “What should I do with the votes?” Gogh asked.
    “Just leave them on the table,” Dominica said. “I’ll take care of them later.”
    Jill blew out the candles and they all followed Whit out of the building.
    Once they were outside the hotel, they took different routes to get to the same place—the prayer rug of a beach just beyond the city park, where their yellow and red kayaks were neatly lined up on the sand. Still silent, they got into the kayaks and set off, Dominica in the lead, headed for Atsena Otie Key, the original Cedar Key, now a deserted island with deserted beaches, its inland overgrown, infested with mosquitoes, and home to a graveyard that all brujos avoided.
    The night was splendid, clear and cool, with a slice of moon just visible now above the horizon. They would start the fire on the far side of the island, so that no one on Cedar Key would see the glow. By morning, every member of her tribe would understand that when a brujo broke a law, there would be consequences.
    *   *   *
    Maddie felt Von’s distress and terror and it tore at her. She reached out to him, one consciousness to another, and tried to comfort him. You won’t be annihilated, Von. You’ll be freed and will be able to move on into the afterworld.
    They’re … going to burn me, to—
    Von, you died already. All they’re doing is freeing you to move into the afterworld, to get to where you’re supposed to be. Hold on to thoughts of love.
    How … how can you stand it, Maddie? When … when she went after me, slammed into me, it … it was … horrifying, like being buried alive.
    I’ve learned to do whatever I have to do to