“Son of a bitch,” I swore, lunging. I slammed into him, knocking him flat on the cobbles. Teeth gritted, he gripped my wrist, squeezing until the splat ball rolled from me.

“You will shut up!” I shouted from atop him, jamming my arm into his throat so he couldn’t speak. He fought me, bringing his hand up to smack my cheek.

My breath hissed out in a pained gasp as he hit the bruise Al gave me. Catching his wrist, I snapped my cuffs on him. Spinning him over, I wrenched his arm out from under him. Knee on his back, pinning him to the pavement, I snapped the other ring about his other wrist.

“I am tired of your crap!” I exclaimed. “Nobody tries to put a black charm on me, and nobody traps me in a boat with a bomb. Nobody! You hear me? Who in hell do you think you are, coming into my city and trying to take over?” Rolling him over, I snatched David’s paper from behind his coat. “And this isn’t yours!” I said, holding it high like a trophy.

“Ready for a little trip, witch?” Lee said, his eyes dark with hate and blood leaking from his mouth.

My eyes widened as I felt him pull more from the ley line he was already linked to. “No!” I shouted, realizing what he was doing. The cuffs were FIB issue, I thought, kicking myself. They were FIB issue, lacking the core of solid silver that the I.S. issue cuffs came standard with. He could jump. He could jump to a line if he knew how. And apparently he did.

“Rachel!” Ivy shrieked, her voice and the light cutting off with a terrifying suddenness.

A sheet of ever-after coated me. I choked, pushing Lee away, clawing at my mouth, unable to breathe. My heart beat wildly as his magic raced through me, etching the lines both physical and mental that defined me. The blackness of never flooded me, and I panicked as I felt myself exist in splinters everywhere but nowhere sure. I teetered on madness, unable to breathe, unable to think.

I screamed as I snapped back into myself with a wrench and the blackness retreated to the pit of my soul. I could breathe.

Lee kicked at me, and I rolled away to my hands and knees, thanking God I had them again. Cold rock bit through my nylons, and I sucked in the air, gasping, gagging at the choking smell of ash. The wind whipped my hair into my face. My exposed skin went icy. Heart pounding, I looked up, knowing by the ruddy light coating the rubble I knelt in that we weren’t in Lee’s drive anymore.

“Oh … crap,” I whispered as I took in the setting sun glowing through the remains of shattered buildings.

I was in the ever-after.

Thirty-Two

The frost-rimmed rocks beside me slid, and I jerked out of the way before Lee’s foot could connect with my ribs again. Red and small, the sun crept behind the shadow of a broken building. It looked like Carew Tower. Nearby were the remnants of what might be a fountain. We were at Fountain Square? “Lee,” I whispered, frightened. “We have to get out of here.”