"Hell," I growled. "You're the representative? How the hell did the Council let you onto that team when we're practically the same age? They called me a child." The injustice of it made my temper flare sharply. They allowed Karen to be on the team and had refused me? Heck, I'd beaten her. I was better. And they'd still said no?

   Karen crossed her arms. "That's because you are, according to magick law. Not that you'd know that, Reilly, having grown up alone." she spat. "I'm not an apprentice anymore. I graduated the day before I was asked to help the Council." Her eyes glinted. "Funny how they asked me and not you."

   "That's because I'm not under their control, unlike you."

   Tate finally wedged his hand onto my arm. "Okay, okay. What's going on? Roxie, what's happening?"

   Karen looked over my shoulder and some of the hatred left her face to be replaced with surprise. She blanched. I gritted my teeth. "Tate, meet Karen."

   "My name's Daniella Jones," she snapped. "Quit calling me Karen."

   "Only a Karen would ask that."

   "Jones?" interrupted Tate. "Not Malerie Jones, right?"

   Glee glinted in Karen's eyes at the recognition. "The same. I'm her daughter." Damn. I'd forgotten that Karen's mother wasn't some nobody. Karen does actually have some power behind her.

   Tate nodded. "I didn't know she had a kid."

   "That was intentional, on her part." Karen offered her hand, blatantly ignoring me. "What's your name?"

   I stepped to the side to allow him to shake hands. "Tate Leon," he said. "I'm friends with Roxie."

   "Friends with Roxie? You'd be the first," she snorted.

   "Like you'd know," I scoffed. "You don't even know what that word entails, much less how to have one."

   "Okay," muttered Tate, "so you two hate each other. Good to know." He raised his voice. "We should probably get moving. Are you ready to go, Roxie?"

   I nodded stiffly. Tate bobbed his head and ushered us out of the room. "Oh, yeah. She wanted the TV on." He disappeared back inside. I glanced at him. Right. The seer lady had recommended we leave the TV running. I didn't know why, but after that freaky display yesterday, Tate was probably right to obey her.

   Karen watched him, her lips parted. She looked at me, bewildered. "And where did you find that guy?" No doubt she was admiring him.

   "He stalked me for a day," I snorted. "Looks are deceiving."

   Inside, Tate covered his mouth to cough and avoid laughing. He could hear us clear as day. He left the TV's sound on and stepped outside. The door clicked shut. "So, where are we going?"

   Karen turned annoyed again. "Well, we're currently stationed where Dani was seen last. She showed up at some town in Florida yesterday." She turned and started walking down the hall. I exchanged a grumpy look with Tate and followed her. "We've been following where she crops up and then--"

   Tate cleared his throat. "I'd prefer if we were with the rest of the team before you give us any information." He gave me a pointed look. He must be able to hear someone following us. I nodded slightly to show that I understood.

   Karen shook her head. "Okay, fine." Her tone said that she didn't understand. I checked down the hall before we got into the elevator, wary of being followed. Dani would be wanting to use me to get the rest of the team. If we were followed, it'd be my fault.

~

    We got to the end of town without problem. Tate hadn't said a word. I got the feeling he was too focused on sifting through his senses to track whoever was following us. Karen reached over her shoulder and her other hand pressed a button on the strap across her shoulder. The latches holding her staff released and she brought it to her front. I was immediately glad I never had to bother with that.

   "You know evasive tactics, right?" I asked her quietly. 

   Karen snorted. "Of course I do."

   "You ever had to actively ditch a tail?"

   "Well, no--"

   I grunted. "Good to know. You're going to have to run through every trick you know. I'm going to set spell traps behind us." I lifted my hand and summoned my staff. My fingers caught it once it appeared. Tate automatically grabbed my shoulder without really looking. He still focused on the road behind us.

   Karen's eyes narrowed. "Are you being followed?"

   "We are, right now." Tate lifted his hand, eyes narrowed down the street. "But if we leave when I say, then the person won't be able to see us when we leave. It'll give us a few seconds."

   Seriousness took over Karen instantly. Her foot shifted back into a defensive position. "Fine. I'll get us there and you guard the rear. Think you can handle it?"

   "Oh, please." My tone was sharp. 

   "Then let's go, now!" Tate's hand tightened. I readied myself as Karen grabbed my other shoulder and I felt myself get pulled into the nex tunnel. All air was sucked out of the area and blackness took over. I focused as much as possible as Karen dragged us randomly through the lines to ditch any stalkers.

   Crimson seeped from my arms and I felt like my lungs were going to explode before Karen finally dropped from the nex line. Tate looked green again. I swatted her hand off of my shoulder. "Any sign, Tate?"

   "I've no idea," he muttered. "Nex lines . . . not my thing."

   "I set out a few random traps," I replied. "Hopefully they don't lead a direct trail. Anyone that runs into them will be wrapped into a net and probably forced from the nex line." I'd never actually tried anything like that, and had no if it would work, but I prayed it would.

   "And how many innocent mages did you just snare?" Karen asked slyly.

   My glare bored into her. "We weren't followed, were we?"

   Her jaw clenched. Piercing eyes bored into my face. "Why were you being followed?"

   "Why do you think? Dani wants me dead." I looked around. The sight of marsh trees outlining a small, Floridian town would have tricked me into thinking I was back in the Ghost Realm, had I not been able to see buildings nearby. The sun had risen enough to make the air warm up and humidify.

   Tate glanced to the side. I followed and a shadow materialized. Almost like a polaroid was forming before my eyes, a man darkened into substance until he was real. He was of average height with salt-and-pepper hair. Dark blue eyes, nearly the color of navy, sat starkly against his ghostly skin. I took a step back in alarm. Another demon? I thought they were rare!

   Karen snickered at my reaction. The demon scrutinized me, curious. He didn't say a word. Tate watched him uneasily. "I'm assuming," I said pointedly to Karen, "that by your reaction, he's with you."

   "Yes. Look who I found, Gene." Karen sounded far from thrilled. "We've got ourselves a loose cannon." I glowered at her indignantly.

   The demon's expression didn't change. He merely jerked his head in one direction and turned. As he walked away, his body dissolved until he was gone. Karen started walking that way. I shot a contemptuous at Tate as I followed after her. Just my damn luck, I'm stuck with the one apprentice I couldn't stand.

   "Who all is on this team?" Tate asked Karen.

   "There's five of us," said Karen. "Seven with the two of you. Gene and Jennifer and demons. They work as Informants for the Council. Erlan and Caze are trackers. I'm the transportation. All of us are fully capable of defending ourselves, so there's no need for a guard." Her tone was snappish. 

   I didn't even bother with a response. If Karen thought she could handle Dani if Dani went after her, then she was kidding herself. I'd beat Karen and then Dani had beat me. Granted, I wasn't planning on allowing Dani to beat me again, but Karen was bounds and leaps away from being able to match Dani's power. No one came close.

   Gene the demon reappeared as he hopped up the stairs to a restaurant. An IHOP, of all things. Karen snapped her staff back into the clasps and walked up the steps. The restaurant only had a few tables occupied, but I could immediately find where the magicks were. They were unnaturally good-looking. The humans had instinctively given them a wide berth.

   Gene sat down beside a thin, blonde woman. Her roots were starting to grow in a dark brown. She looked nearly human, if I weren't able to see something leaning against the wall under the table -- a sword sheath. She smiled at Gene as he sat down. Across from them sat two younger men, likely somewhere in their thirties. 

   The first was a guy that was so ripped that he looked cramped in the small space. Dark brown locks frizzed off of his head as if he had touched something electric. Chocolate eyes roamed the room. He shifted uneasily next to the other guy, who had dirty blonde hair and sunglasses. A cap was pulled over his head to cover pointed ears. His skin was free of any blemishes or freckles. I observed two black straps around his wrist, probably where some sort of weapon was hidden. So the first guy was a shifter and the second appeared to be an elf, because his long hair was tied back.

   The booth had enough room for the three additions, since it was a circular booth in the corner. Karen plopped beside the elf. She leaned back as best she could with her staff across her back. The female demon blinked at me. "You're Roxie Reilly. The woman that was trained by Alexie."

   I nodded. "That's me. You're Jennifer, I take it?"

   She looked amazed. Her gaze turned to Karen. "How did you manage to get her to help us? At least, I'm assuming that's why you brought her here."

   Karen snorted at the same time that the shifter did. "Neither of these two are happy about this arrangement," he chuckled. "I can smell the hate from here."

   Tate surveyed him, amused. "Who are you?"

   "Caze," he informed, getting up halfway to offer his hand. The elf shifted to the side to allow him some room. Tate grasped his hand.

   "A council member told me that we had a new volunteer," said Karen. "He did not tell me who it was."

   "You don't need to sound so annoyed," I said, folding my arms.

   Jennifer cleared her throat. "Alright. Well, thank you for helping us, Roxie. Who is your friend?"

   "I'm Tate," he offered.

   She nodded. "Well, I'm Jennifer. This is my husband, Gene. He doesn't say much." Gene dipped his head. "We're both demons. Caze here is a bear shifter. Beside him is Erlan. They are two of the best trackers that the age has to offer. And I see you already know Daniella."

   "Nice to meet you," I said. "The Council added us here to help protect you guys. Dani knows there's a team after her, so it won't be long until she finds you."

   All five at the table stiffened. "She knows about us?" asked Erlan sharply, speaking for the first time. His voice had a sharp, foreign accent. He was alarmed.

   I nodded and leaned back. "She does. But she doesn't know where you are. We ditched a tail on the way here, so that should still be right. Even though she knows you exist, she can't find you yet."

   "It wasn't going to last long," said Jennifer, solemn. "We've been appearing in places that she was in last. She was just here yesterday morning, way before sunrise. A human saw her appear from thin air and started to get fussy. The local Enforcer reassured him, but he notified us immediately. It wasn't going to take too long before Dani realized."

   "How much do you know?" asked Tate. I finally decided to sit down beside Jennifer, taking the rest of the space on the booth. Seeing as how Karen had taken the only place that could fit two people, Tate and I were forced to sit separately. He sat beside Karen.

   Karen rapped her fingers on the table. "More than anyone else, but not much," she admitted grudgingly. "She does appear to have a location where she's calling home, but we haven't been able to follow her to it. The way she travels through the nex lines . . . it's impossible to track."

   "And her name is an alias," added Caze. "There's no record of a Dani Darhk in any of the community meetings over the years. She obviously was an apprentice at some point. But her name is invalid in every system."

   "I suspect it's a play on her real name." Jennifer tugged on her ponytail. "Something she'd be able to respond to."

   I glanced at Tate, dubious. "You know more than just that, surely." They hadn't even mentioned Dani's little posse, yet.

   "Not much," admitted Erlan, his eyes narrowing into slits and his voice rumbling with frustration. "She's working on something. We are unsure as to what. We're currently working on taking every one of her sightings and the direction in which she left in the nex lines. Even though we can't follow, we can see that much. Using that information, we'll be able to calculate where she's headed every time. It's been the same direction most of the time, until she got here. This time, Dani headed straight north."

   "You have to know she's working with more people, right?" They've got to know, right? There's no way they don't know.

   Gene leaned back and his fingers rubbed his palm. Caze shared a look with Jennifer. Karen frowned. "That would be completely out of character."

   They seriously don't know. Some of the respect I'd gotten for these people disintegrated. "Well, she is. She's got at least six friends. Two of which are dead." I stared at her, bewildered. "How could you not know that?"

   "We've seen no evidence of that," said Erlan slowly. "What have you seen that suggests she has allies?"

   I snorted. "They attacked me. Twice."

   "And you're sure they were aligned with Dani?"

   "They told me outright that she was their superior." I ticked off my fingers. "There was one vampire -- dead -- and a shifter. He's dead too. The fae is still alive, along with the demon he was with. There's also a polar bear shifter, but she ought to be in custody or hospitalized. The last one . . . we don't actually know what she was."

   "They have a demon?" Jennifer asked sharply.

   "Yes, they do."

   "And the fae?" rumbled Erlan. "A common fae or one with an ability?"

   "One with an ability," answered Tate. "He seemed to be able to manipulate electricity. Actually blasted us across a room with it." Okay, good to know that wasn't normal.

   Karen swore. "Damn it. She's hidden that incredibly well. If she can cover up something that large, I'm scared to think of what else she could be hiding."

   Caze opened his mouth to speak when a phone buzzed. Karen pulled one from her pocket and scanned the notification. Her lip pulled. "A sighting. Dani was just spotted westward."

   "Perfect." Jennifer made as if to leave. I scooched out of the way to allow her to exit. She stood up and snagged the sheathed sword from under the table. "That's what we needed. If we can find where she used the nex line, we'll be able to trace her direction. It'll narrow down where she's always going. That's what we've been waiting for," she told me. "With that, we'll be able to pinpoint the state and hopefully the city where she's holed up."

   Everyone quickly got out of the booth. My heart picked up a pace in anticipation. "Where was she seen?"

   Karen pocketed her phone. "Some town in Nevada. I've no clue why she would be there."

   Dread rapidly pooled into my gut and made it feel like a molten liquid had been poured in. It cooled and hardened rapidly, gaining weight the longer I stood. The blood must've drained from my face because Tate saw my fear. Genuine, actual fear.

   "What town?"

   Karen saw my expression. Her eyebrows rose. "Why does it matter?"

   "What town?" I gritted out, my fists clenching. I swear to God Dani, if you dare--

   "Fine. It's Carson City, Nevada." 

   The weight in my stomach caught my heart in a vise grip and it skipped a beat in agony. Tension coiled my limbs like a cobra. Outrage caused sparks to fly from my hands. Tate quickly grabbed them in his and covered my skin, shooting a glance at the nearby humans. 

   Carson City. It was the only town name I knew in Nevada, leaving no room for doubt. Dani had found Simone.