Sel groans and props one elbow on the door panel. “Google while we drive. For now, I’m getting us away from the house and the airfield.”

It all feels a bit too much like a family road trip to me. A deadly, demon-hunting, fugitive-from-the-magical-law road trip.

“Googling…,” Alice says, ducking her head to type on Jonas’s phone. “Okay, Talbot and Longfellow are two roads near the town of, uhhhhh, Clayton, Georgia. Up in the mountains. The roads do intersect. But, uh, there’s nothing there. It’s literally a random crossroads in the middle of the woods.”

Sel’s eyes meet mine in the rearview. He looks back to the road, a fist to his mouth. “How far?”

“Three-hour drive.”

“It’ll be dark when we arrive, or close to.” William takes the phone from Alice to help navigate. “I’m sure it’s fine. Samira’s a Liege. She wouldn’t send Bree somewhere if it weren’t safe.”

Alice pushes her glasses up and frowns. “Is this the moment when I say Jonas was a Liege, too?”

“No,” I reply. “This is not that moment, Alice.”

“Got it.”

An hour and a half later, Sel’s thumbs tap on the wheel impatiently. “We need gas.”

Alice leans forward to peer out the windshield. Ahead of us is a long, straight two-lane stretch of old highway with fields on either side. “I don’t see a station.”

“I do,” Sel mutters. He squints. “A few miles ahead on the right.”

Alice guffaws. “You can see that far?”

“Yes. The cyffion inhibit my use of aether, not my body’s natural abilities.” He glances to William. “We’ll use the cash. Get in, get out.”

“Agreed. I’ll pay ahead.” William raises his hand. “Except first I need to use the bathroom.”

“Me too,” Alice pipes up.

I grin. “Same.”

Sel scowls at all three of us in turn, looking for all the world like a disgruntled parent. “Fine.”

We pull into the gravel parking lot of a two-pump gas station that, if the lights weren’t on inside the attached store, I’d absolutely think was abandoned. The pumps themselves look like they’ve seen better days, and there’s a plywood sign propped up against one, facing the road. On it, someone has written the words SELF-SERVE ONLY in unsettlingly aggressive red spray paint.

Sel pulls up beside the pump farther from the storefront. “Let’s make it quick.”

William hops out of the SUV and strides around to the driver-side back door. As soon as he opens the door so we can join him, it dawns on me that William is probably the most innocuous-looking person in our group. Alice and I exchange glances, and I immediately know she’s thinking the same thing. We look dressed for some sort of… mildly hostile art gallery opening. Alice keeps her knuckles tucked into her back pocket, but slips off the military jacket.