Rowan rubbed his face. “Gabriela has Sofia.”

“Where is she?” Gretta said.

Rowan shrugged. “She wasn’t making a lot of sense. She said she could see an ‘A’ on a mountain when she looked out the window.”

“That sounds like Sentinel Peak. Unless somebody has painted it recently, there’s a big white ‘A’ on the side. Did she say anything else?”

“She’s a kid. She was rambling. She said they made her eat waffles and that it was super sticky.”

Gretta looked off into the desert for a moment, thinking. “There’s a Waffle Barn just to the southeast of Sentinel Peak. Maybe they had it delivered, or one of them ran to get it?”

“There are Waffle Barns everywhere,” Rowan said. “I doubt that means much.”

“There are only a few hotels down by Sentinel Peak, and maybe only two that could see the ‘A’ from a window. And there’s only one Waffle Barn down there, and it’s not far off the freeway. We need to get down there.”

“Sure, but we have no ride, we’re both exhausted, and even if we get down there, there could be a hundred possible rooms.” Rowan scratched his head. “You know, I’m not used to being the voice of reason and logic. Eff it. Let’s get a car and go. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

Gretta playfully chucked him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit. Let’s go steal a car, get into a car chase, and fight a bunch of armed people who can also do magic!”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “You’ve gotta have a better inspirational speech than that.” He rubbed his chin. “Let’s try this again from ‘eff it!’”

“Eff it,” they said in unison, both grinning like maniacs as they started jogging south through the desert toward the city.

While they were an hour out of town, running at the speed of a tiger, as a pair of humans too tired to shift, they were jogging considerably slower. When they started, the stars were clear and sharp against the deep violet sky, stretching endlessly over the open desert. But after an hour, the sky grew hazy, the glow of the approaching city bleeding out the starlight. Their footsteps crunched against packed dirt, the dry air thick with the scent of creosote and dust. Almost two hours later, as the night chill started to make their noses run and ears sting, the first flickers of city lights appeared on the horizon.

“It’ll take all night to run to Sentinel Peak,” Gretta said between gasping breaths.

Rowan pointed without missing a step. “See that hotel?”

Gretta nodded. “Sure. What about it?”

Rowan smiled. “It’s pretty nice. Looks like they have a valet service.”

“So?” Gretta managed to ask.

Rowan’s smile turned into a grin. “So, valets have cars and keys, which we currently do not.”

“We aren’t valets,” Gretta said.

“We are tonight,” he said. “Let’s get closer and see what we can manage.”

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When they reached the hotel parking lot, they slowed to a walk, and Rowan gestured to a shadowy place around the corner from the door.

“Walk with me like we’re going to go in, but then pretend you forgot something back in the car,” he said.

Gretta’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

“That’ll give me an excuse to stand there picking my moment to act without anybody wondering why, and it’ll give you a chance to wait near the parking lot exit so I can pick you up on the way out.”

Gretta sighed. “I feel bad about taking somebody’s car.”

“They’ll get it back, or insurance will cover it,” he said.

She frowned. “It’ll never be the same, and it’ll be a huge hassle to deal with.”

“I thought we needed a car to help Sofia,” Rowan said.

“We do,” she said. “I just feel bad about it.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Rowan said. “I was starting to think you would come to the dark side.”

“Never,” she said, but she was smiling.

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll take a really nice car that belongs to a real asshat,” he said.

“How will you know?” she asked.

He lowered his voice since they were getting close. “Because it’ll be a really nice car.”

Gretta slowed down and started patting her pockets. “Oh,” she said loudly enough for the folks at the door to hear. “I forgot my phone. I’ll be right back.”

Rowan gave her a wink as she walked away. For some reason, it made him feel better that she was a terrible actress. He looked back to the valet driver and the host at the podium, who had noticed the exchange but were now back to business watching for cars.

Rowan saw a bright yellow luxury sports car that screamed wealth pulling into the lot and decided he needed a distraction to make this work.

With a wave of his hand toward the host desk, he willed an illusion of a rattlesnake into existence, complete with an angry hiss and a rattling tail. Both men leaped back as they looked down.

The host held both hands out, eyes glued to the illusion. “Watch out, there’s a rattler!”

The valet glanced toward the car, but when the snake moved his way, his attention switched.

The yellow sports car stopped at the valet station just as Rowan walked up and opened the door for the driver. With another wave of his hand, he wore a valet uniform identical to the man staring at the snake.

A tall, dark-haired woman in dazzling diamond earrings and a matching necklace slid out of the car. A man in a sports coat stepped out from the passenger side.

She dropped her keys in his waiting hand and stepped around as Rowan slid into the plush leather seat.

Rowan waved his hand again, and a second snake appeared, which caused the man in an oversized blue blazer to start shouting.

Snickering, he put the car into reverse and smoothly drove toward the parking lot exit where Gretta waited. He stopped long enough for her to hop in.

“Go! Go! Go!” she said. “They know you are stealing the car.”

Rowan dismissed the illusionary snakes, letting them fade into nothing. Then he waved his hand, washing the car in a subtle light gray.

Gretta frowned. “Um… Why does the hood look like asphalt?”

“When they call the police, they’ll look for a yellow car. By blending us into the pavement, even a helicopter will have a hard time spotting us at night.”

Gretta glanced behind them. “Won’t other cars have a hard time seeing us?”

Rowan smiled. “We’ll just go faster than everyone else.”

“I don’t like this plan. We need a new plan,” Gretta said.

“Is Waffle Barn open all night?” Rowan asked.

Gretta was gripping the grab handle with her right hand and had her left on the dashboard. “Next time, I drive!”

Rowan smirked. “You can drive if you want—just hold the wheel while I scoot over.”

Gretta’s eyes widened. “No! That’s fine. You drive this time. You do know that I’m not a god, right?”

“Sure, but you seem to have that astral thing down pat. The only way I can seem to get there is by getting killed.”

Gretta’s grip tightened as they swerved around a semi-truck. “Would you say you’re trying to reach the astral right now?”