Fire Water (6 page)

Her face morphed into a fake expression of reluctance. “I don't know, I've got a pretty busy social schedule.” Dropping the act, she grinned. “Of course I'll help out.”

“Cool!”

“Once you're settled, we can sit down and start on the application for Meadowlake, too. Since it's summer, the deadline has already passed to apply, but I can probably grease a few wheels to get him a space for the fall.”

“That would be great, Pen. It would majorly suck if we moved and he couldn't get in.”

She nodded. “I hear you. I've already talked to my friend in the admissions office. She said there should be no problem.”

I looked down at the beer can in my hand. “Did you, uh, talk to the financial aid office, too?”

“I did.”

I looked up. “And?” This entire plan hinged on the ability to get a discount on tuition; otherwise there was no way I could afford to send Danny there.

“They said there'd be no problem transferring the discount to Danny since I'm his aunt.”

I snorted. “You told them he's your nephew?”

“African Americans can have white relatives.” She laughed. “Besides, he's totally family.” She smirked. “Just not by blood.”

“Kate?” Danny called from the doorway of the bedroom.

“What's wrong, buddy?”

He yawned and wiped sleep from his eyes. When he opened them again he finally noticed Pen standing there. Without another word, he threw himself at her for a hug. She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. “It's good to see you, too, dude.”

I smiled at the pair. Even though Danny was about to start middle school, he sometimes forgot that and showed signs of the little kid he used to be.

“Pen and I were just talking about how much you're going to love Meadowlake,” I said.

Danny pulled out of the hug with a frown. “I don't have any friends there.”

Pen leaned down to look him in the eye. “You will,” she promised. “There are lots of nice kids there. Plus, the school has really cool computers for all the students to use.”

His eyes opened wide. “Really?”

She nodded. “You'll even be able to take a video game design class.”

Danny looked at me like he couldn't believe his luck. “Awesome! My old school only had one computer and you couldn't play any games on it because it was so slow.”

I smiled at him. “See? I told you.”

“I guess I can give it a try,” he said, trying to play it cool.

“Once you guys get moved into your new house, we can set up a time for you to take a tour of the school,” Pen said. “You're going to love the library.”

He frowned. “Books are lame.”

I shook my head at him. “You know what else is lame? The fact you're up way past your bedtime.”

“Aw man.”

I pointed toward the bedroom. “See you in the morning.”

He hugged Pen one more time before he dragged himself back to bed. Once the door was closed, Pen turned to me. “He's getting so big.”

I nodded. “I had to buy him new shoes last week and he's already in the men's sizes.”

She shook her head. “I remember when he wore light-up shoes with superheroes on them.”

“It makes me feel old.”

Pen laughed out loud, the sound coming from her belly and bursting forth like a song. “Girl, shut up. You're only twenty-two!”

At the ripe old age of twenty-seven, Pen considered me a baby. But while most twenty-two-year-olds were just finishing college, I'd graduated from the streets of the Cauldron, which made people like dogs—aging seven years for every one they survived. I knew what she meant, though. Sometimes I felt seriously old, but I really did have my whole life ahead of me, especially now that I was finally about to start a new chapter. Still, I couldn't let Pen's comment go unanswered. “Oh, that's right. I forgot about your advanced age. Maybe I should have a ramp installed in the new house for your old-person scooter.”

She chuckled and took a swig of her beer. “For real, though. I feel like it's only good things for you from now on, Kate. The hardest years are behind you.”

I held up my can for a toast. “To the future: May it be filled with good fortune and even better friends.”

She tapped her can to mine. “And lots of super-hot dudes.”

“Amen, sister.”

I arrived at the docks the next morning to find Cap'n already on the boat. “You're late,” he snapped.

I glanced at my watch. I was five minutes early, but I let the comment slide. After the tension yesterday, I'd decided to take Pen's advice and try to just get my last two days on river patrol over with. “Good morning to you, too.”

“Untie the lines.”

I did as instructed as quickly and quietly as possible. Unlike the day before, the sun was shining and the sky was the kind of blue that only happened on a perfect summer day. A nice breeze was coming off Lake Erie, which chased away the worst of the river's funk.

“You done yet?” my grumpy partner said.

“All set,” I said cheerfully.

For some reason my determination to be in good mood only made him grumpier. “What's got sunshine coming out of your ass today?”

I smiled sweetly. “Just looking forward to another day in your company, Cap'n.”

He frowned and made a disgusted sound before turning to the wheel. For the next half hour, neither of us spoke as he navigated the boat through the river toward the Bessemer Bridge. I wasn't sure why he'd decided to head that direction since he seemed to prefer spending most of his day in the quieter and cleaner waters upriver. But I didn't dare ask him with the mood he was in. So I just sat on my bucket and enjoyed the sun on my face.

Soon the shadow of the Bessemer loomed overhead and we officially reentered the stretch of river along the Cauldron. I rose and went to the side of the boat. Sunlight didn't improve the look of the tent city. Instead of blending into the gray sky and mud, it stood out like a discarded old boot against the cheery blue sky and yellow light.

The good news was the motorboat was nowhere to be found. Maybe the potion dealers were off sunning themselves like the lizards they were.

With a sigh, I turned my back on the tent city and turned to see what Cap'n was doing. I was shocked to see him watching the tents as intently as I had been. For a man who'd refused to intervene the day before, he certainly looked interested in it.

“Your friends are gone.” The words were spoken in a grudging tone, as if he was trying to budget his words to me.

I shrugged. “They're out there somewhere.”

He nodded and turned his eyes back to the river. “Soon they'll be someone else's problem.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?” I walked to the control panel and leaned against it so I could see his face.

“Paperwork went through. Tomorrow's my last day on the river, too.”

My brows rose. “That was fast.”

He glanced out the corner of his eye. “No sense dragging out the inevitable.” For a man who'd just received news he would soon be free to do whatever he wanted, he didn't sound very optimistic.

“Why don't you sound happier?”

He shrugged but didn't respond. I let the matter drop because he clearly wasn't eager to talk about it. So with a sigh, I went back to my bucket. Only five more hours until I could cut loose for the day.

We didn't speak much for the next couple of hours. At noon, we docked at a filling station upriver and ate our sandwiches. I sat on the prow of the ship with my legs hanging over the water. He stayed under the covered area, as if he wanted to spend every possible moment he had left behind the wheel.

The water up in this part of the river was cleaner than farther down the waterway. Under my feet, little fish swam just beneath the surface. I threw in a couple of chunks of bread for them to fight over. I leaned my head back and looked up at a bird circling overhead, waiting for his chance to swoop down and get his own lunch.

Traffic near this section of the water was lighter, too. During the first fifteen minutes of the lunch break only two boats had floated by, both fishing boats headed farther upriver where the fish weren't poisonous.

It wasn't until I was done with my food and preparing to haul myself toward the back of the boat that the sound of a motor buzzed in my ears. I looked up to see the same speedboat we'd seen the day before zoom past, headed downriver. The driver of the boat was the lanky guy with long hair. His shorter partner wasn't with him. He sped past without looking in our direction.

I leaped off the deck and moved as fast as possible along the narrow edges of the boat to reach the back. “Did you see that?” I asked. “It was him.”

Cap'n had been snoozing. At my raised voice, he fell off the stool. “Tarnation, woman, you scared the piss out of me!”

I shook my head to dismiss his complaints. “The potion dealer from yesterday just sped past. We have to follow him.”

Cap'n righted the cap on his head and took a deep breath before answering. “Why would we do that?”

I threw up my hands. “Because he's either on his way to deal potions or he's on his way to their hideout.”

Cap'n tilted his head. “Hideout? You sound like Nancy Drew.”

I crossed my arms. “Look, all I'm saying is we should follow him. See where he goes.”

“I don't—”

“You got something better to do?” I said pointedly. “Perhaps finish your nap?”

His jaw set. “Cool your jets. I was just about to say that I don't think it's a bad idea.”

I paused. “Really?”

He nodded.

“Well…fine then.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “You have to untie us first.”

“Oh, right.” I quickly untied the lines as Cap'n flipped the ignition. A roar sounded from the engine, and the water behind the boat boiled. I hopped back in. “Let's go!”

The boat took off from the dock at a surprising speed. In all my time on the craft, Cap'n had kept the throttle low, but now we were really moving. The speed and the wind made me tighten my knuckles on the control panel. I glanced over at the old man, who had a determined look on his face.

“What made you suddenly change your mind?” I asked.

His mouth tightened into a determined line. “If I'm leaving, I'm going to do it in style.”

I smiled with a mixture of adrenaline and relief. “Let's go kick some ass, Cap'n.”

“Hell yeah!” He gunned the engine, and we took off like a shot through the water. The motorboat had a head start on us and we were entering a part of the river with more traffic, so we didn't have to worry about him seeing us trailing him.

We followed for about ten minutes before I saw the motorboat veer off the main river into a tributary that branched off to the right. Cap'n slowed our speed and followed at a distance. The water was narrower here, but luckily was still deep enough to accommodate our craft. “This is Breakneck Channel,” Cap'n said. “It dead-ends about five miles from here.”

Speaking of dead ends, if I thought the Steel River was polluted, it was nothing compared with the sludge we floated on now. “This water is totally stagnant,” I said.

“No freshwater feeding into this stretch,” he explained. “No real life at all.” He nodded to the empty factories along the route, which had been closed down for years.

“Which means no customers along this route, either.” That supported my second theory, which was that he was headed toward their hideout.

Up ahead, the motorboat pulled up next to a large boat that resembled a houseboat, but the miserable state it was in made it look more like a floating tenement. I pulled out my binoculars and took a look. The lanky dude made quick work of tying the smaller boat to the larger one and hopped aboard before disappearing inside the door on the two-level structure on the deck.

“There's an old mill road that runs long this stretch of water,” Cap'n said. “I'm gonna drop anchor and we can continue on foot.”

It was a good idea. It would be foolish to roar up next to the other boat. That kind of move would only invite gunfire. Approaching on foot gave us the added advantage of stealth so we'd know what we were up against.

Several minutes later, we ducked behind a stand of trees parallel with the houseboat. I'd brought the binoculars, but Cap'n confiscated them. “There are at least two men inside. Looks like they've got a lab set up, too.”

He offered the glasses to me. When I looked through them, I saw Lanky and Shorty arguing next to a long table set up with a variety of glass tubes and flasks. “A floating lab,” I said. “It's kind of brilliant.”

“How you figure?”

I handed the binoculars back before answering. “Labs on dry land are tricky. Lots of wizards cook in their kitchens or bathrooms. But it's dangerous because if the fuzz puts pressure on you it's hard to move a lab. It can be done, but usually only in deep night. Putting a lab on a boat, though, gives you the ability to move it in broad daylight without anyone questioning you.”

He nodded. “Sometimes I wonder what boys like that could accomplish if they put their ingenuity to good uses.”

I smirked at him. “For a criminal it's not about getting ahead, it's about the thrill of getting away with it.”

He shot me a look, but I ignored it. “How do you want to play this?”

He pursed his lips and looked over the boat with his naked eyes. “We gotta go in hard and fast so they don't have a chance to shove off. You enter through the aft and I'll come in stern side. We'll meet in the middle.”

I nodded. “A little shock and awe, huh, Cap'n?”

He grinned. “You look way too excited about this.”

“Damned straight.”

He nodded and his smile faded a little. “Just don't get shot.”

“Yes, sir.” I saluted him.