Page 84 of Beauty At Stake
Killian didn't protest. The explosion shook me, not him. But that's my husband. He shook things off quickly instead of letting them shake him up. And he trusted me. So all he said was, “All right. I'm gonna scry the Councils.”
“I'm going with you.” Star took my hand.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“I want to take a look.”
“Fine. We've got to go.” I motioned the other two over, and we formed a circle.
I laleked us back to the house. Or what was left of it. Sirens were already whining in the distance. All of us began to cough immediately. With a wave of my hand, I sent a breeze out—just a simple beag magic but very effective in this situation. It blew the pall of smoke out and up. With my lungs clear, I summoned another element—Water. But Star stopped me before I could let the rain fall.
“Water will damage the evidence.” Star pushed my hand down. “Allow me.” He flung out a hand, then drew it back. As he did, all the fires and glowing embers died out.
“Good call.” I sent another blast of Air to clear the smoke from that. Then I looked at the other two. “Someone divert the emergency responders.”
“On it!” Teagan said, pulling out his cell phone.
“I'll handle the humans.” Mekha ran for the road.
“Should I set a hakhil?” Star asked.
I glanced at Teagan.
“Yes, these coordinates,” Teagan spoke into his phone. “No, contact the locals first. I need them called off ASAP. Do that now. They're almost here. Yeah, I'll wait.” He glanced at me and nodded.
“No, we should be good,” I said to Star. “Between the Councils and whatever Mekha's doing, I think we'll be safe.”
“All right.” Then Star looked at the house. Really looked. “Shit. What the fuck? Did she have the whole place wired?”
Staring at the complete destruction, I again felt a shiver of anxiety. Killian could have been under all that wreckage. I pushed the emotion down. “Looks like it.”
What had been a traditional Thai house, with all the gorgeous carved wood trim, was now a relatively flat disaster zone. Beams of wood and metal stuck out of the debris like the bones of a great beast—a great beast that some giant had roasted over a campfire.
“Do they pass out villain playbooks to humans?” Star waved at the destruction. “This is Korea all over again.”
I wasn't surprised that the thought occurred to him as well. He'd seen what I'd seen.
“I blame movies,” I said. “In a way, that's what they are.”
Star grunted.
The sirens stopped.
We looked at each other and said, “Mekha.” Then we chuckled.
“At least this new hunter team is helping instead of causing problems,” Star said.
I grimaced, feeling bad for reporting Malai.
“Hey.” Star took my hand. “Being in charge comes with a lot of responsibility. She knew that. So do you. Malai fucked up and has to deal with the repercussions. You had to do your job and report her.”
“Thanks. Yeah, I know you're right.” I pulled my hand away and tried not to notice him flinch. “I still feel bad.”
“You've had a lot of that lately. I think it's time to let it all go.” Star saw my wide-eyed response and cleared his throat while he smoothed the lapels of his suit jacket. “I'm going to inspect the wreckage and see if I can find anything.”
“All right.”
I wanted to go back to Killian, but I knew Star's guards would have a fit if I left him there with just a hunter and an extinguisher. So, I watched him stroll around the wreckage, his hand out, palm down.
