Crimson Wind by Diana Pharaoh Francis

happening now?” Max wanted to throw up. She scraped her fingers through her hair, pulling sharply. What was happening there? “What will the smoke and those creatures do to them?”
    He shrugged. “I do not have the gift of foreseeing.”
    “Then show me. Show me what’s happening to them.”
    His brows rose and his eyes gleamed. “What will you pay?” he asked softly. “Will you come with me now if I show you?”
    “You motherfucker,” Max spat, crossing her arms tight across her stomach to keep from stabbing him through the eye. “You know I can’t. I have to help them.”
    “Will they be alive when you get there?”
    She stared at him. The bastard was taunting her. She was making him wait, so he was getting a little revenge. Anger made her shake. She drew it in, pushing it down. She sank inside herself, feeling her emotions peeling away as she withdrew. She needed to be cool-headed and focused.
    “If you want me to be faster, then why don’t you send me there through the web? Surely you can do that,” she said, lifting the arm he’d ensorcelled and tapping it meaningfully.
    “You are not yet ready for such a journey. Nor am I willing to risk it.”
    “Risk what?”
    Abruptly he pointed at the wall, and the door reappeared. “Go. I will hold you to your word.”
    The emphasis on will told her that what she suspected was true: the spell on her arm wasn’t just a gift, it was also a leash. Apparently he’d been watching too many cop shows about GPS tracking.
    “I’ll be back,” Max said, and started for the door, sidestepping so she could keep an eye on Scooter.
    The crystal walls glowed with milky blue light and, within seconds, began to melt like wax. The magic pooled on the floor and ran toward her as if she were a magnet. Max turned and fled. She knew without asking that if it overtook her, she wasn’t leaving. The bastard definitely had passive-aggressive tendencies.
    She shouldered through the door, her spell-wrapped arm turning searingly cold. She staggered, bending double, the air rushing out of her lungs as the cold swept up her arm and into her chest. Her heart spasmed, and her lungs cramped. She looked up, finding the barrier down and Niko, Alexander, Thor, and Tutresiel staring at her. Panic flared inside her.
    “The barrier!” She gasped. “Get it up now!”

Chapter 4
    NIKO SPUN AND LEAPED TO DO AS ORDERED. Alexander grabbed Max, swinging her up in his arms and jerking back to the stairs just as Niko slapped the starburst on the wall. Once again, the shimmering curtain of magic cut across the center of the vault. The blue light washed up against it and flared dirty yellow. Beyond, in the doorway, Scooter stood naked, blue magic swirling around him. Light flashed, and Alexander jerked away. He turned back a moment later, his vision dancing with spots. Scooter, the door, and the magic were gone.
    He looked down at Max. She rubbed her left forearm up and down, her attention fixed on the curtain. Her body trembled—with fear, exhaustion, or anger, he could not tell. She met his gaze, and for once there was no bite there. There was nothing there at all. Her gaze was distant, like she was looking at him from far away. She had sunk into the depths of herself—it was her version of emotional Kevlar. Whatever had happened in there with Scooter, it was bad. Worse than bad.
    “Put me down. I can walk.”
    He set her on her feet.
    “What the hell were you doing in there? Alone?” Niko demanded.
    Tyler had come back down the stairs, and they stood shoulder to shoulder. Tutresiel loomed behind, and Thor stood off to the side.
    Max looked at him, then at the others, her gaze settling on Alexander. She frowned at the bloody shreds of his shirt. “What happened to you?”
    He looked down at himself and back at her. “Hunting accident.”
    Her mouth curved reluctantly, and she shook her head before turning back to Niko. She rubbed her fingers over her arm again, holding it stiffly against her