“Get in!” he shouted, the squeal of pixies and their darting shapes adding to the mess.

I opened the front door, shoving Pierce to the passenger side only to have Ivy shove me to the middle of the long front seat of my mom’s Buick. “How did you know we were in trouble?”

“You’re always in trouble, Rachel,” he said, fixing his hat firmly back on his head.

“You’d think she wasn’t glad to see you,” Ivy said, pushing the accelerator down even before her door was shut.

Pierce only grinned as he leaned me upright. “No magic, Rachel. I promise. I opine I can make a fist of saving you without any at all.”

Jenks dove in the open window as we tore down the road, all of his kids shrilling in excitement. My hands went over my ears, and I cowered. “Jenks!” the hyped-up vamp shouted as she waved her hand in front of her face. “Get your brats under control! I can’t see!”

A sharp whistle reverberated through the moving car, and I gasped. Crap, we were headed for a tree! “Look out!” I screamed, and Ivy jerked us back on the road.

“Holy shit!” Jenks shrilled. “Watch where you’re going, Ivy! My kids are in here!”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed!” she said, rolling the window up with one hand as she awkwardly drove with the one in a cast.

My elation shifted to dread. “Nick,” I said, turning to look behind us at the fading glow of Trent’s guardhouse. “We have to go back!”

“Are you nuts!” Jenks shouted.

“Quid me fiet,” I said, touching Ivy’s shoulder, and I shivered as our curses untwisted and we became ourselves again. “We have to go back for Nick,” I said as Ivy turned off the lights and we drove in the dark. God, I hoped her night vision was better than mine. “He sacrificed himself to save us. You heard him!”

Pierce was silent in the corner, but Ivy wasn’t saying anything either. The car jostled into the night, never slowing. “We are not going back for Nick,” Ivy finally said.

“How can you?” I admonished, looking back at the black road. “He sacrificed himself so we could get out. Damn it, we left Jax, too. We wouldn’t have gotten out without them!”

“I think you wouldn’t have gotten caught without them either,” Pierce said sourly.

“I don’t believe this!” I shouted. “You’re ditching him! After what he did?”

Jenks landed on the dash, glowing brightly. All his kids were in the back, adding to the noise. “Turn it on, Ivy,” he said grimly, and I hesitated in my feeling of frustration.

“Turn what on?” I asked, and Ivy twisted, unbuckling her belt pack and tossing it to me.