“Not really. I’ve never been this far past Phoenix before. Uncharted territory.” He glanced over at her, the warm western sun flashing off his teeth as he grinned.
Even though impatience was still dancing through her, to the point that she’d had her feet pressing against the footwell, as if that would make the SUV move faster, she couldn’t help smiling in return. “Well, I guess we’ll have to take our chances.”
Another grin. “Or hope that I get a good enough signal in Blythe that I can find something promising on Yelp.”
“That works, too. My powers of divination aren’t really designed for picking out restaurants.”
He nodded, still smiling. That smile slowly disappeared, though, as he stared out at the road ahead. “Do you feel like we’re missing something here?”
Caitlin didn’t bother to ask what he meant by that. “I feel like we’re missing out on a whole lot of somethings. Do you want to be more specific?”
“Matías. What’s his endgame? What’s he using all this dark magic for?”
“Besides getting laid?” A grimace pulled at her mouth. The words had slipped out before she could stop them.
His tone grew gentle, as if he knew just how much that part of her friends’ current situation upset her. “Yes, besides that.”
“I don’t know.” She stared out the side window so she wouldn’t have to look directly into the sun. The golden-brown landscape rippled past, broken by manzanita bushes and cactus and the odd ocotillo, its strange undersea-looking branches tipped by bright orange flowers. “That is, I don’t know if these are the same guys who had a run-in with Connor and Angela a few years ago, because obviously they didn’t exchange names. If they are, it might just be a grudge thing — I mean, they kidnapped witches from both clans, so that has to send some kind of message. But….” The words trailed off, because she knew deep down that this wasn’t anything as simple as a grudge, that Matías’ actions spoke of a far deeper motivation than merely trying to get back at the prima and primus of the McAllister and Wilcox clans.
The thought tickled at the back of her mind. Was Matías somehow behind Maya’s mysterious wasting illness? But she’d been sick for months, according to Alex. Then again, they really didn’t know how long the warlock had been lurking in de la Paz territory. Caitlin waited to see if she’d experience that strange inner nudge, the one that told her that her suspicions might be right, but she felt nothing. Probably better to tuck the idea away for now. They were already doing everything they could to find Matías, and adding to Alex’s worry wouldn’t help anything. Besides, those inner twinges weren’t infallible; so far she hadn’t experienced anything she could call a false positive, but they also didn’t chime in on every single notion or idea she might have.
He spoke then. “But you don’t really think it’s just a grudge.”
“No.” She turned back toward Alex. By then the sun had begun to slip down behind a range of jagged mountains to the west, so the light wasn’t quite so painful. “I can’t say why for sure.”
“Another feeling.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. So far those feelings have been mostly right, so I’m willing to go with following this one for now. I just wish that one of these stupid visions would show the front of the house or apartment or wherever it is they’re holed up. Something where I could see a street number or an address. That would be a hell of a lot more useful than seeing them — ” She broke off then. No point in going over it again. Alex knew what she was talking about.
He gave her a grim nod. “That’s the tough thing, I guess. Some powers are easier to control than others. Mine’s pretty concrete — I mean, all I have to do is imagine that shield coming up around me, and it just appears. But when you’re a seer…when you’re tapping into time and space and all that…it’s a lot less cut and dried. So I don’t think you can give yourself too much grief over not being able to pinpoint it the way you’d like. At least we know more than we would have if you didn’t have that power at all.”
True, Caitlin thought. And maybe I could have lived a long time without knowing some of it. She didn’t say that to Alex, though. Instead, she pulled in a breath and looked ahead, at the unending ribbon of black pavement that lay ahead of them, and hoped they wouldn’t reach their destination and discover this had all been a colossal waste of time.
* * *