After a moment, he shook himself and took another sip of his tea, then set it down on the counter as he came over to stand in front of Noah. He didn’t say anything, just leaned up on his toes and nuzzled against Noah’s cheek like a cat.

Cat kisses. Noah remembered Rose calling it that when the family cats would rub against her. He wrapped his arms around Lindsay and nuzzled back. Really, they were marking their territory, but it was all the same as far as he was concerned.

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured in Lindsay’s ear. He would have been surprised if Moore hadn’t been hot on their heels. She had more resources than they did, and all the same information. Knowing gave him certainty about what they faced, and how much it needed to be destroyed.

Lindsay hummed his agreement and nodded. “It has to be.”

Chapter Fourteen

This rest stop looked a lot like the one Lindsay saw last week. Maybe all the Ohio rest stops looked the same. The similarities made it hard for Lindsay to shake the feeling he’d been here before—caught in a loop of failing and surviving, but never catching up to Moore...

This time, though, they’d already seen where they were going. The site of the former Mound Labs was down the road, and they’d scouted it as best they could before coming back here to regroup. Ylli had a camera, and Lindsay had risked hiding him under the illusion of a turkey vulture to get some shots of the installation.

“We’re going to have to use one of those busses to get in,” Lindsay said, turning away from the highway to look at the others.

“You can make sure no one notices if I board the next one.” Noah was sitting on the ground, back to a tree, watching Zoey work. The girl had bonded with the sparkly pink computer Ylli had put together for her to the point that Lindsay half-expected her to disappear into the screen like Alice down the rabbit hole. “We can’t take her in, and that means someone needs to stay with her. As much as I want to get Dane back, that has to be a priority.”

Lindsay looked around. Neither Ylli nor Kristan would be able to get themselves out if things went wrong, and sending Zoey in was a ludicrous proposition. Lindsay wasn’t sure what he’d consider things going “right”, at this point, except all of them walking away alive and whole.

“I should go.” He’d escaped Moore more than once. He could do it again.

“Over my dead body,” Noah said flatly. “First, because it will be my dead body if I get Dane out but lose you. Second, because that girl you said talked to you... How the hell do you think she found you? She can do it again, she’ll feel you if you get into her sphere, into the place she considers hers.”

Lindsay didn’t want to send Noah in there, hated the idea, but Noah was right. Lourdes knew him, and she might not be the only one. The hunters were still out there searching for him, the feel of them growing stronger in Lindsay’s mind the closer he was to the lab.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll kill you again myself.”

“I’ll be fine.” Noah gave him a wry smile. “If I can’t kill me, who’s gonna do it? Get me in and give me some cover, okay?”

“All right.” Lindsay could do that. “We’ll get you on the next bus that comes in for gas.”

They’d already tracked two busses that had pulled in at the same gas station. That would give them an opportunity for Noah to slip on board as a stowaway.

“I’ll get you in there and stay with you to make sure nothing goes wrong.” That would keep Lindsay from going crazy with worry that he was sacrificing Noah to save Dane and would end up losing both.

He’d never dreamed he’d be in that kind of position. “We’ll follow the bus, get as close as we can. Zoey and Ylli can handle the security system from outside to help smooth your way once you’re in.”

“And you can stand around and look cute,” Noah said to Kristan. “Or try. Practice.” She threw a stone at him and he rolled to his feet, laughing.

She got up as well, brushing dirt and grass from her jeans. “Just for that, you can drive.”

“Everything’s going to be fine.” Noah came over to Lindsay.

He had said the same thing last night. Lindsay wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him.

He caught Noah’s hand and raised it to his mouth to kiss the soft, new skin of Noah’s palm. “Yes. I’m going to make sure of it.”

Noah kept telling Lindsay it would all be okay because he was desperate to believe it himself. Hope wasn’t something he was very good at. In the past, he’d been adamant that he’d simply used up all his hope waiting for his magic. But with the second life Lindsay had given him, he’d had such things restored to him, as though he’d been refreshed.

He and Lindsay were alone in the front of the passenger van they’d rented through one of Patches’s friends. The thing would seat fifteen and yet Ylli, Kristan and Zoey were holed up in the back. Noah guessed it was an attempt to give him some time with Lindsay. It was endearing, really. Kristan, at least, wasn’t usually that subtle, even if it was a very small value of subtle.

As he pulled into the truck stop where the busses were known to refuel, Noah was scraping all the optimism he could find out of the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t fear of Moore or Lourdes. It was fear of failing. He couldn’t let Lindsay down.

“If Ylli’s friends are right, we won’t be waiting long,” Noah said, partly to remind himself that he wouldn’t have long to spend worrying before he had to simply act.

Lindsay’s fingers crept up Noah’s thigh. Before it got into salacious territory, he flipped it palm-up.

“Let’s get ready.”

Noah parked the van as far from the lights as he could, but left it running. Kristan would come take his place when he got out. He tucked his hand into Lindsay’s and held on.

“So, what’s my illusion this time?” He managed to come up with a smile for Lindsay.

“Any preferences?” Lindsay smiled back at him, but it looked strained. “I take requests.”

“Just don’t distract me.” Noah squeezed Lindsay’s hand. “Which leaves out the naked pictures of you.

Anything that works for you. A piece of jewelry or a watch, something that won’t look too odd from the outside if I see it or fiddle with it before I remember not to do that.”

Lindsay looked down at their hands and turned Noah’s so that it lay palm up in his. His expression was a study in concentration, as though he were searching for something under Noah’s skin. His fingers were frigid and pale against Noah’s dark skin when he laid them over the inside of Noah’s wrist.

“You made me a garden of them once.” Lindsay revealed a red-gold rose on Noah’s wrist, like a tattoo, but made of his magic. Noah remembered his mother’s garden, alight with magic on the blooms, and the fire roses he’d brought to the empty gym where Lindsay let him touch his magic without fear.

“I’ll plant you a real garden of them someday,” he promised.

He unbuckled his seatbelt to turn and cup Lindsay’s sweet face in both hands. Lindsay’s lips were cool and soft when they kissed. He hardly registered the sound of the van door sliding open as the others got out. Lindsay wasn’t just the reason he was going in; Lindsay was his reason to come out alive.

“I think we scared them off,” Lindsay whispered. He didn’t give Noah a chance to answer before he was wriggling out of his seatbelt and sliding across to kiss him again.

Whatever the reason, Noah didn’t care. He slipped one arm around Lindsay, holding him close and kissing him like he could somehow imprint on Lindsay the promise that he would be back. He knew Lindsay would blame himself for anything going wrong, and that was the last thing Lindsay needed.

“The bus is here,” someone outside murmured. Slowly, Lindsay pulled back.

“Let’s get this done.” Noah kissed him one more time, a soft kiss on the mouth. “I’ll trade off with one of the passengers. Make sure the driver opens the door.”