Strange Brew

"No!" I shrieked. "I need the police!"

The delivery guy lent me his cell phone and I called the precinct, getting Rick, the desk sergeant and then Lieutenant McAllister.

"Mac," I said. "Mac, we need help… there are kids… they're in cages…" I managed to spit out the whole story. I don't know how long it was before Mac and a bunch of squad cars and ambulances and other official vehicles showed up… I sat down on the curb and drifted, shock finally crashing over me. I'd almost died. I'd come within a handspan of it. But I wasn't—I was here, exhausted and dirty in a dress that was too big for me.

A pair of feet in combat boots came to an abrupt halt in front of me. "Su

"Luna!" There was chaos around us, officers carrying out the children, more of them searching the house, radios and sirens filling up the morning like electric birdcalls. Madison looked at me as a paramedic carried her to his ambulance, but she was too weak to do more than stare.

I needed to forget about the night under the ground, the dull hopelessness on the kids' faces. I went to hug my cousin, and then froze.

I was standing a few feet behind her.

Trying to describe seeing yourself staring back at is like trying to describe a visit to Willy Wonka's factory—nothing you say will ever do the moment justice.

"Luna," I heard myself say urgently. "Who's that?"

"You bitch!" I launched myself at her. "You glamour-wearing bitch!"

Luna held us apart as fake-me cowered and I spat invective that I had learned from Luna but never had the occasion to use.

"I don't know what's going on!" Fake-Su

"Luna, it's a blood witch glamour!" I screamed. "She's not me!"

"Everybody shut the hell up!" Luna bellowed. She leaned over to me, back to the fake Su

"I've been in a freaking cage all night," I muttered. "Give me a break."

"What the fuck is that thing I've been having coffee with down at the precinct?"

"A witch using my blood."

I was prepared for Luna to turn around and beat seven kinds of hell out of the fake me, but I wasn't prepared for Not-Su

"Nobody move!" he/she ordered. Luna shook her head, rubbing her temples.

"This is the weirdest gods-damned morning I've ever had."

"We're all going to get in the car and drive out of here nice and calm," said Not-Su

"Oh, dude, somebody is hurting for this," Luna assured it. "The therapy alone is going to take months."

A shadow loomed up behind Not-Su

"Get real," I snapped, to keep her… its?… whatever, eyes on me. "You're in the middle of a damn police raid. Where are we go

Troy materialized, holding a portable fire extinguisher. He said, "Excuse me."

Not-Su

Luna let out a breath. "Took you long enough, Mac."

I stood over the glamour, looking at my slack face. "How'd you know that wasn't me, Mac?"

"Maybe because you'd never go insane and grab my gun?" Luna snorted. "You're way too mild."

Troy put his hand on my shoulder. "Su

Luna sat me on the hood of her car and got me a water bottle, although I think we both wished it was a glass of scotch. "So Nielsen stole your blood from the courthouse, made that thing look like you and sent her back here, while entrapping you and using a bunch of kidnapped kids to raise her power for… what?" She shook her head. "You damn witches never make a lick of sense. Why does she have such a hard-on for you?"

"They turned into Trotter, his attorney, and a prison guard," I recited. I was tired of telling the story, and remembering the sick, twisted-up magick that Nielsen commanded. And remembering how useless I'd been. I curled my fists in my lap. "Maybe… after the courthouse… they wanted me out of the way." It couldn't be because I was a real threat. I was nothing next to Nielsen's skill. It galled me.

"At least now we know how every witch trying to replace O'Halloran is getting picked off," Luna muttered. "ASA Batshit has access to all of his case files and known associates. Soon there won't be any competition. Just her."

My head snapped up. "Luna." I had it, the flash and the tumbling of dominoes that comes when everything that's been whirling around your brain suddenly clicks together. It was sort of a rush. Also, sort of nauseating.

Luna blinked at me. "What? You look like you just swallowed a marble."

"If there's just her, she won't have a hope of cementing control over the city," I rushed. "Nobody even knows she's a witch. She hides it with this big green emerald thing."

"How very Indiana Jones," Luna said dryly. I waved her quiet and went on.

"But if she gets Trotter on board, then she has a mouthpiece," I cried. "He's the last of the O'Halloran circle."

"He'd never do it," said Luna. "And anyway, he's going to prison."

Her face lost color as she arrived at the same station as my train of thought. "Hex me."

"Trotter wouldn't do it, but the glamour would," I said. "And thanks to that explosion-happy idiot in court, Nielsen will get a mistrial."

"She'd have to pop the real Trotter." Luna's finger drummed against her desk. "Prison guard, you said?"

"Yes…" I started, but she was already in the car. I followed her, and we fishtailed onto the street and the freeway in the direction of the Los Altos federal prison.

We drove northwest through sunrise, and into morning, Luna in grim silence, me in a slightly panicked one. My stomach twisted. What could I do against Nielsen? She'd wipe the floor with me.

Los Altos is a clump of gray at the top of gray cliffs with the blue Pacific washing the bottom. Bolted to the bedrock, it has a reputation of being nearly escape-proof. That is, if you weren't being set upon by a couple of witches bent on your death.

The guard at the outside wall didn't want to let me in, but Luna snarled at him until he relented.

We ran through a maze of industrial-lit hallways until we came to the ad-sec block. Luna fetched up against the desk, panting. "You got a Nathan Trotter in custody?"

"Yeah," said the guard, "but you're going to have to wait your turn, Detective. He's meeting with the state's attorney."

Luna hit the desk. "Shit."

"Open the door," I said. "It's an emergency."

The guard yawned. She looked like she was waiting to get her nails done. "Give me one good reason."

"The state's attorney is a witch bent on taking over Nocturne City and instigating a new reign of magickal warfare. She's here to kill Trotter and replace him with a bespelled blood witch. Oh, and she locked me in a cage."

The guard blinked. She looked to Luna, "An emergency, you said?"

"Lady, just open the gods-damn door!" I bellowed, making both Luna and the guard jump.

"Okay, fine," she grumbled, buzzing us in. Luna jerked her sidearm out of holster, shoved it at the guard, and stormed through the gate. "Nocturne City cops," the guard said under her breath, the way you'd say Donkey-licking bondage freaks.

Luna ran ahead of me down the hall to the visitor's room. Through the wire-mesh door, we could see Bentley and Nielsen sitting with Trotter, who was pushed as far back against the wall as he could get.