Whatever Werther had done to drive the ghosts away, though, isn’t happening. Wanderers and Echoes, a handful of Haunts tied to the street corners where they died. That gives me an idea.

“Speed up,” I say. I haven’t felt a draw on the pool. Hell, I didn’t even feel Werther casting, so he’s using his own power. Probably just to make some dickhead “look what I can do” point.

The most efficient way to not tax his reserves would be to center the spell around himself. He can keep the borders of the effect set and the only drain on him is maintenance. Which means as long as he’s close by we’ve got no one to see us, and no one in our way.

Letitia guns the engine. The three cars have been keeping their distance even though there’s no one between us and them. Now that we’re putting on speed, they’re moving closer, but still staying behind us.

With no one watching, all the rules of car chases have gone out the window, except one. He can still wait us out. The question is, can he keep the spell going longer than we have gas to keep driving?

“We want to end this, we need them to catch up,” I say. I check the ammunition in the Browning. I’ve still got over half a magazine.

“Yeah, I figured that,” Letitia says. “Only what happens when they do?”

“You’re a mage,” I say. “Do magic.” I slide open the window at the back of the cab, and sight for the least expensive looking car, a BMW with blackout windows, and pop off a few rounds. Though none of them hit, and if any had it’d be a miracle, the formation breaks. The cars spread out.

I sight along the Browning’s barrel at the same car. It’s pulled to the left into the next lane. Instead of pulling the trigger, I focus on the car, weave a spell together, and let it loose.

“Bang,” I say.

The front of the car explodes, throwing chunks of the engine out onto the street. With Werther concentrating on his mass go-away spell, any defenses he has covering the cars aren’t going to be as strong. I figured putting some distance between them left the other cars out of the zone and wide open.

I try it again at the second car, which has just pulled into the lead, covering the third. The spell goes off fine, but about 30 feet behind them. They’re close enough for Werther’s protection spells.

“You got one?” Letitia asks.

“Yeah. But the other two are still on us.” The seeds of an idea start to grow. “Hold on to something in case this doesn’t work.”

“In case what doesn’t work?”