Lori Devoti - Amazon Ink

You can take the Amazon out of the tribe…

Peter’s long gait closed the small space I’d put between us. “He’s starting an after-school art program. He used to teach high school. I told you I’d known him awhile.”

A response didn’t seem necessary. I concentrated on trying to regain the lead his longer legs had stolen from me.

“He has a shop not far from the school. He’s starting a class next week. I think they’ve got permission to paint a mural for some business off Regent. They’ll even get paid, but he’s going to work with the kids a bit first.”

“So, the classes…?”

“Are cheap, might even be able to work out a trade. Makis wants me to do some touch-up work on one of his older tattoos.”

Free class, some extra lip-gloss money for Harmony, and an opportunity to keep her away from spear-tossing Amazons who just might decide to enlighten her on her own heritage? Yeah. I am interested.

Peter told me he’d leave Makis’s contact information on my desk. I bent to tie my shoe while he walked in the front door. I considered going back down the hill to make sure no signs of the sketches were left behind-if we’d missed a spearhead, who knew what else might have slipped our attention? It had been late and dark, and we had been far from relaxed.

As I was weighing the risk of Peter seeing me back at the scene of the crime and raising new questions in his mind, Bubbe stepped out of the basement, escorting yet another workout-attired suburban mom-this one dressed in matching baby blue hoodie and capris. What these women spent on clothing supposedly meant for sweat boggled my brain.

Bubbe tapped a finger on the railing. “Don’t judge.”

I yanked my attention from the blond ponytail bouncing toward the parking lot and frowned at my grandmother. “I wasn’t.”

“Ha.” She pursed her lips, a light forming in her eyes I didn’t care for.

I tried to cut her off. “Could you do another sweep of the front lawn? Peter was down there. He found a spearhead.”

She lifted one shoulder in a so what? gesture. “You brought him here.”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t judge.”

She dropped her gaze to the hand still resting on the banister, but before she did, I would have sworn I saw a sparkle in her still-young eyes. “My snake is missing. Have you seen him?” She lifted her eyes and her brows-the challenge and her real question clear.

“You have a snake?” I let my lips pull down in a moue.

She shook her head. “Secrets. So many secrets. Why keep them from me?”

Or try, she meant.

I let my hand slip down the strap of my messenger bag to the keys clipped there. Pretending to struggle with the carabiner, I continued walking.

The old fraud. Like she didn’t have plenty of secrets. My grandmother was a bundle of secrets. She probably knew the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, and Atlantis. Hell, she might have been responsible for the disappearance of all three.

Muttering under my breath, I climbed in my truck and headed south.

I pulled into the dirt driveway that led to the safe camp and flipped off the truck’s motor. I’d been here only a few days before, but this was different-it was day and I was expected. What lovely greeting party would Alcippe have planned for me?

I’d thought Bubbe or Mother might have offered some advice for me-but neither had. Neither had even mentioned my trip, although I knew both were aware of it. My family…pretty much of the sink or swim on your own mindset.

I gripped the steering wheel for a few moments. The tendons of my hand shone white from the stress. I could do this. I could walk back into that house, even into the room where I’d lost my son. Maybe I’d gain something from this visit. If I could beard this lion, I could do anything.

The engine turned over so smoothly, I didn’t even realize my hand had turned the key.

Determination a hard rock in my heart, I continued down the drive.

The Amazons were out, exercising the horses, working in the garden, and, of course, fighting. The big guns were back at my house, but what looked like a pair of younger Amazons faced off with staffs, performing moves that would easily qualify them for a role in a Jackie Chan movie.

When I pulled in, horses were reined to a stop, pruners stilled, and staffs slowed. All eyes watched me. Resisting the urge to place my hands on my head, I stepped from the truck.

Before both of my feet met gravel, Alcippe was out the front door, her hands held deceptively at her sides, palms facing me. With the theme song from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly scrolling through my head, I stepped onto the path that led to the front door.

Alcippe shared my grandmother’s love of a flowing wardrobe, although hers didn’t scream of any one culture-more just hippie-shop chic. Her gray hair was pulled back, making her jaw look more square, her eyes more piercing.

“Why are you here?” She looked like she wanted to spit.

“Not to see you.”

She muttered something under her breath, and I was instantly on alert. A high priestess muttering was much like a gunslinger’s finger flickering near his six-shooter-or worse, it could be the bullet. But nothing happened, nothing I could see or sense anyway.

“Zery wants to trust you. I don’t,” she said, then turned in a whirl of purple and red, heading back inside.

Ah, an insult. Telling the tribe she was so unafraid of me, she’d turn her back.

I picked up a rock and tossed it in my palm. I considered throwing it, just to get out some aggression, and for the satisfying feel of pelting it against her back. Instead, I forgot myself even more, allowed myself to use magic. Even though I’d been hiding my growing skills from my family, I couldn’t resist pulling them out when faced with Alcippe. I murmured a tiny incantation, just something to get her attention-not show my true strength, not yet…unless I needed to.

I closed my other hand and blew into my balled fist.

As I’d guessed, Alcippe’s turned back was a ruse. She hadn’t lowered all her defenses. She immediately sensed the magic and froze.

A tornado whirled within my grip-innocent now, but if I released it, said the few words it would take to let it grow…could it reach the old woman, suck her up, and swirl her away before she had a chance to fight back?

Alcippe didn’t give me an opportunity to find out. She whirled, her hands rising from her sides. Grass shot up at my feet, wrapping around my legs. A nearby tree lurched, the roots shifting beneath my feet, knocking me onto my knees.

Then three of the young warriors were beside me. Three staffs jammed against my throat. Alcippe appeared, her face upside-down from my present state of viewing.

“Be grateful Zery gave you safe passage…this time.” Then she did spit, inches from my face.

The tornado spun in my fist, growing with my anger. My fingers loosened. I wanted to let it go as badly as I’d ever wanted anything, but I wasn’t strong enough to control the magic, not yet. I could create it, but then it would feed on my emotions, uncontrolled by my head. I might get Alcippe, but I’d also get every Amazon in the camp. I’d be unable to do anything except watch as the entire place was flattened, then the remains swept up and away.

Gritting my jaw until I thought the bone would pop, I forced down my anger, smashed my palm into the dirt and ground the life out of my spell.

“You heard her. Zery gave me safe passage. Who do you follow, the queen or her?” I muttered.

Alcippe had started moving away; at my words she stopped, but she didn’t say anything. She knew I’d called her hand.

The warrior most visible, the one whose staff was jabbed against my throat, licked her lips, but she didn’t glance at the others. I kept my focus on her, steady and sure.