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of North Dakota seared my eyeballs, making them tear up. Bugger.
    Blindly, I groped in the back seat, grabbed the two bottles of salt water, and then shut the door with my hip. I wasn’t worried about being heard or detected. I was an Immune, unable to be detected or affected directly with magic; it was a perk that went with the territory.
    “Do you have a plan?” Giselle asked.
    “The usual.”
    “So you mean no plan.”
    “Exactly.”
    Plans went awry and people fell apart. In my mind, it was better to always go in hot, and adjust yourself as the shit hit the fan.
    We walked to the front door and I hesitated. I might not set off any alarm system, but Giselle would. I glanced over at her and she lifted a single eyebrow at me. We’d done this many times before she’d lost her sanity and we needed very few actual words to communicate. I handed her the two bottles of salt water first.
    Then I crouched down so I could carry her on my back. My crossed sword sheath dug into me, but it was a minor irritant. Did my Immunity flow over Giselle like a cloak?
    Fucked if I know, but it was the best we could do with what we had.
    Giselle’s ability lay in reading people, seeing the future, seeing the past. But she had once been a wicked ass fighter. She’d learned to fight because, like me, her abilities didn’t provide the sort of power that someone like Milly had. We were both fighters in the physical sense and could kick Milly’s ass around town in that arena; our one major advantage over her. Of course, the chances were good that the bitch witch wasn’t alone. Nor did it help that Giselle was so out of shape, and wasted from the madness.
    The doorknob was cool under my touch and I twisted it with care, easing the door open. Poking my head in, I spotted stairs across the lobby, and no one waiting for us.
    Yet.
    Shifting Giselle on my back, I walked as fast as I could across the lobby, doing my best to soften the sound of my boots on the marble floor.
    “Opulent for a Coven who has no ties to the world, isn’t it?” Giselle noted, her voice low.
    I was thinking along the same lines. Milly had claimed the Coven had no ties with the secular world, that they were woefully ignorant of the humans, and even at times, other supernaturals. But this place didn’t give me that feeling, not by a long shot.
    There was even a computer at the desk, which meant that there were humans here.
    We made it all the way to the third floor before I put Giselle down and pulled my two blades out of their sheaths. There was only a single door between us and Milly, and my heart pounded. I could do this; I had to.
    My hands were slick with sweat, my muscles trembled, and it wasn’t the climb of the stairs that was doing it.
    Giselle reached over and put a hand on my forearm.“Steady, Rylee. This must be done. Much as we hate it.”
    A sharp nod was all I managed. One breath in, I lifted my right leg and slammed the heel of my boot into the door, banging it open.
    Milly wore the same skin tight green dress she’d had on the previous day, and had her back to us. Four other people in the room faced us, hands raised. Shit, four witches against the two of us. The odds were definitely not in our favour.
    The witches facing us wove spells, and based on the cannonballs rapidly headed in my direction, they knew to choose spells that wouldn’t directly attack me, instead opting to hurt me with other things. Big nasty things that would smash my brains in if I wasn’t careful. Shit, shit, shit! Milly had told them.
    “They know!” Was all I managed before spinning to dodge the cannonball that came spinning toward my head.
    Giselle threw the two bottles of salt water, one right after the other, but only doused a single witch. Not enough.
    Milly had set the trap, and we’d walked right into it.
    “Giselle, get out of here!” I yelled, knowing that she wouldn’t leave, but I had to try.
    Milly moved away from me as I dodged and ducked the