Lori Devoti: Amazon Ink

With a huff, she flung her backpack across her shoulder and stomped down the steps to the front door.

“You have to tell her sometime.” Mother pushed away from a pillar and strolled forward with feline grace.

I slipped the catalog into a junk drawer, then tramped to the nook where our upstairs computer sat. It was networked to three other computers, one in the basement where Mother worked out and Bubbe conned-make that consulted with, her clients-and two in my tattoo shop on the main floor, one in my office and the other at the reception desk. I’d given up the Amazons’ nomadic way and with it their resistance to modern technology. Counting in my head to avoid screaming, I pulled out the chair and plopped down.

“Do I?” I asked.

“You know you do. Someday she’s going to notice-”

I shot Mother a disbelieving look. “What? That she’s stronger than the other girls? Or maybe more talented artistically? So? There’s nothing unusual about either of those things.”

“How about the fact that her great-grandmother is five hundred years old?”

“She doesn’t look a day over seventy.” I shook the mouse to snap the computer out of sleep mode, wishing I could snap Mother off as easily.

“At the very least, she should be working with me at the gym.” Part of being a warrior, Mother didn’t let go easily.

I gave up pretending to work. “Why? So she can learn to cleave a man’s head from his shoulders with one swing of a broadaxe? Not a much-needed skill at West High-our property taxes get us that much, at least.”

Mother wrapped a strong hand around my bicep, her gold snake bracelet brushing coolly against my skin. “The mothers of those other girls”-she nodded her head toward the TV-“probably thought that too.”

I stared at the blue background of my computer’s desktop, my shoulders tensing.

The grip on my arm changed to a stroke. “It would be good for her…she should know how to protect herself. Especially with what’s going on. You may think we’re protected because of who we are, but you can never be sure. Without training, who knows? Harmony might be too much the girl you want her to be-defenseless.” Her hand dropped to her side and her voice hardened. “That last girl, the one they found today, she was just a couple of years older than Harmony.”

A shiver passed over my skin and I closed my eyes. The dead girls delivered to me, the message-it couldn’t involve Harmony. Could it?

Mother waited, a questioning expression flitting across her face.

Forcing myself to answer, I replied, “I’ll think about it-there’s no rush.”

The buzzer sounded-signaling that my office manager and artist-in-training, Mandy, had arrived and it was time to get downstairs to the shop. We wouldn’t open for a few hours, but I’d agreed to work with Mandy this morning on some basic skills like sterilization and making stencils. Glad for the escape, I deserted my computer and stood to leave.

“You never know how much time you have, Mel. Remember that.”

Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I turned on my heel and left the room.

Mother’s words haunted me all day. I was stubborn and at times lied to myself, but I would never do anything to endanger Harmony. But had I endangered someone else’s child? By keeping the discovery of the first girl from the Amazons, had I made it easier for the killer to take the second?

If so, I was going to rectify that tonight-at least somewhat.

It was after one in the morning. I’d driven two hours as fast as I dared-south from Madison, across the Wisconsin-Illinois border to a spot in the northern Illinois woods. It had taken me another fifteen minutes or so to find the rough path that led to the safe camp-an old farmstead surrounded by trees.

There were six such safe camps in the U.S. All were located in areas as remote as possible, never too close to a major city. The closest town to the camp I was visiting had a population under two thousand. There were cities of fifty thousand-plus within an hour’s drive or so. The Amazons tended to go to one of them, where they could blend in more easily, for most of their business. The camps all had cover stories; they were explained away to any curious locals as church camps, vacation time shares, or charity operations that trained delinquent girls. And there were wards too, defensive spells that didn’t completely hide the camps but made the entrances less noticeable and would lead any intruders on meandering walks that always took them back where they’d started. Luckily, the ward used here was a simple piece of magic. To outsmart it you didn’t have to unwind it, just know it was there. Which I did.

The barn was closed up, horses left to wander freely inside the fenced area that included the house and over two acres of cleared pasture. I crept past a palomino mare, placing my palm flat against her side to calm her. Mother had the real talent with horses-came with the warrior skills-but I’d spent enough time with the creatures to at least be comfortable…and most important, to make the horses think I was comfortable. Just like Amazons-show a horse you were nervous and she’d push you as far as she could. That was the one horse skill I’d truly mastered-hiding absolutely any sign of discomfort, no matter how much the horse got in my space.

As if reading my mind, the mare turned to nose me. I shoved my hand against her velvety skin and pushed her face away from mine. With a soft snort, she wandered away.

I stood motionless, alone, staring at the dark house, wondering who was inside. Anyone I knew? Anyone I missed? Anyone I hated?

My heart began to beat loudly, my blood growing thick in my veins. My brows lowered and a growl formed at the back of my throat. At that same instant my hand brushed against the bulge in my pocket where I’d stored the two necklaces I’d taken from the dead teens. I shook my head, knocking aside the old resentments and past wrongs to concentrate on why I was here. I pulled the two figures free, holding one in each fist. A leopard and a bear: two of the most powerful totems.

Powerful or not, the totems hadn’t protected the girls. A shudder shook my body and I clenched the small figures more tightly in my hands. My thoughts were wandering, my emotions taking over. There was no time for that. I had to leave these symbols so the Amazons would find them, so they would know something was wrong, and I had to do it quickly.

Focusing on my task, I crept toward the house. A few feet away I sensed magic-protective or destructive, I wasn’t sure. I paced a few feet to my right, then my left, and quickly decided a second more intricate ward had been set up encircling the house. Perhaps the Amazons were aware they were being targeted, or maybe the current high priestess assigned to this safe camp was just more cautious than Bubbe had been when she held the position.

I paused briefly and noticed for the first time that the horses didn’t wander within the warded circle. The animals probably worked as a first line of alarm. The ward was something more…disturbing, at least to whoever triggered it.

I considered my options. Disabling the spell was my gut instinct-more to prove I could than from need-but I quickly realized the folly of such a plan. If I unraveled the spell, the Amazons would know one of their kind had left the necklaces-one of their kind with priestess skills. They would not suspect me; I was only thought of as an artisan, but Bubbe would quickly come to mind.

With that decided, I looked for a likely spot to leave the fetishes. My first thought was to tie them onto one of the horses’ manes, but I couldn’t know which animal would be ridden first. Horses were an important part of Amazon life, but nowadays more tradition than necessity. There was no guarantee the animal I chose would be ridden or groomed today-and I wanted the necklaces found soon. Instead, my gaze traveled to the horses’ replacements-a couple of battered trucks, a panel van, and a pair of ancient imports.