“Tarian grym!” I screamed as the bullets fired from the bull elk’s gun. A blue shield formed in front of Candy and me. I had no doubt that I could survive the attack, but bullets still stung something fierce, and I had no interest in getting the wind knocked out of me or nursing welts for the next two weeks. Besides, if even one of the bullets went through me and hit Candy, she would likely die. If anyone was going to kill that girl, it would be me.

“You won’t get away with this!” The Elkman screamed.

“Get away with what?” Candy shouted behind me. “We were just standing here.”

“Liars!” I heard footsteps charging down the stairs above me. “Die!”

I didn’t want to get involved in a gang turf war, and I didn’t want to kill a bunch of innocents, either. Not that a cadre of criminal guards was innocent in the grand scheme, but they hadn’t done anything to me. I wanted to keep it that way. “Porth i Lili.”

A portal shot open from my extended hand. I pushed Candy backward so that she fell into it, and I walked through after her. We stepped out of the portal on the Hollywood Hills, and I closed it behind us. Dozens of cruisers filled the tiny street. Firefighters worked diligently to put out the blaze from the explosion while medics sifted through the wreckage for survivors. The denizens of the surrounding units were out in the street en masse, giving statements to the police and blocking the way in and out.

I certainly didn’t want to get into it with the police, but I wasn’t about to leave Lily either—not when I just got her back. “Follow me.”

I turned from the alley down the street. Lily was parked several blocks from the carnage but within the radius of the police perimeter. I unlocked the door and pushed Candy inside. She crawled to the passenger’s seat before I slid into the driver’s and started the car. Lily’s engine got the attention of a beat cop with a bushy mustache.

“Hey!” He shouted, flagging me down. “Nobody can leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I rolled down the window to greet him. I had to think fast. “I just want to pull my car into the garage.”

“You live here?” he asked. “I need to get a statement.”

“I’m afraid we didn’t see anything, officer. We heard some kind of explosion, and it rocked our apartment, but by the time we got outside, I think it was all over.”

He flipped open his book. “And what apartment complex do you live in?”

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I pointed to the building on the left. “That one. Unit 4.”

The cop furrowed his brow and flipped his book. “That’s the Gunderson’s residence. I talked to them half an hour ago.”

“Yeah,” Candy said, leaning over. “We were staying there for the night.”

“They didn’t say anything about guest—” The officer mushed his mouth into a scowl. His hand went instinctively to his gun. “I need you to get out of the car.”

“I don’t have time for this.” I pulled off my glasses. “Anghofio.” My eyes shifted and turned, hypnotizing the officer. “You never saw us, got it?”

He nodded. “Saw who?”

“Excellent,” I replied. “Now, clear a path for me.”

I put my glasses back on and put the car in gear. The officer shook his head and looked at me, concerned. “Hang on, ma’am. Let me clear a path for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Why don’t you do that all the time?” Candy asked.

I pressed my forehead, trying to prevent a migraine from setting in. “It takes a lot of energy, and I don’t like talking to people very much.” I rolled the car forward, following the officer’s lead until we had passed him. “Porth i'm fflat.”

A green portal arose at the end of the alley, and I gunned the car toward it. Inches before hitting the edge of the hill and careening off, we made it through the portal and into the garage under my townhouse at the other end. I had moved since the Solstice when a group of thugs ransacked my apartment. I didn’t give notice. I just left. That’s why I paid top dollar, so I could do things like that. I was getting sick of the beach anyway and moved back to Palms, which was more centrally located.

I backed into the parking spot and placed the car in park. “Now that we have a second, what just happened?”

“I was going to ask you the same question,” Candy said. “Did you blow up that house?”

“No!” I said, indignant. “Somebody else did that. And they killed everyone. I expected to come back and grovel to Benny. But when I found him, he was dead, and you were alive, so I’m going to ask you again…what is going on?”

“I don’t know!” Candy screamed. “I was down there with Benny, trying not to heave my lunch from the sewer smell when I heard a bunch of footsteps above me. Benny ordered his guards to be on alert, and then the shooting started. They must have had machine guns or something because I had never seen so many bullets go off so quickly before. One of the trobl—tribblin—”

“Troglodytes.”

She nodded. “Right. Sorry. One of the—those guys pushed me into the sewer with his last bit of energy. I don’t think they ever saw me, but I saw them—they massacred that poor rat.”

“What did they look like?”

“I don’t know.”

“You said that you saw their faces!” I growled.

“No, I said I saw them. They were wearing masks or something, and it was only for a second before I went to hide. I stayed put until you found me.”

“You know this looks bad for you, right?”

“How?” She lifted her hands in a hopeless gesture. “I’m a victim here.”

“Well, Benny was alive before you came along, a known traitor, and since I started looking out for you, Benny is now dead, and the attack went tits up. And, hrm, which one of us was working with a known enemy of both Benny and me—that would be you.”

“You’ve been with me every step of the way since you found me. How could I be working for them? Seriously, you wouldn’t even let me pee alone.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know how you could do it, but I’m going to find out.” I put the car into drive. “And I know the perfect alien to help us.”