by Lola Gabriel
Penny blinked several times, her eyes gritty as the light shone directly in her eyes. She put her arms over her face to block it out and groaned, rolling onto her side and away from the piercing rays of the… sun?
She bolted up abruptly and realized she was lying on a bench in Louis Armstrong Park. A policeman stood over her, a baton in his hand. His eyes were dark blue like Reef’s, his hair was blond.
“Ah, so she lives,” he chuckled. “You can’t sleep here, honey. You need to move along, all right?” His nametag read “Reeve.”
I fell asleep on a park bench, Penny thought. He looks like Reef. He’s a cop. Did I dream this?
“What day is it?” she mumbled, but the cop had already moved on, leaving Penny to stare around in bewilderment. She looked for her purse, but she had nothing on except a pair of jeans and a—
Reef bought these for me! She leaped from the bench and again looked around for her bag, knowing it wouldn’t be there. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her purse, but if it was anywhere, it was in the Hollows. I have to find Violet again and get back there. I have to tell Reef I’m okay, or at least get a message to him somehow.
Penny couldn’t even begin to understand how someone as small as Violet had managed to get her back to the portal and onto the park bench, never mind through the palace, undetected. That was the least of her concerns at that moment. She hurried in the direction of the church, the place where the portal had been, but when she raced down the path, there was no such structure.
“Excuse me,” she called out to a random couple walking by. “Have you seen a church around here?”
They stared at her blankly for a minute before the man cleared his throat. “Uh… I think there’s one on Baronne—”
“No. I mean a church here, a little chapel. Like a wedding chapel,” Penny babbled. They shook their heads, the looks they gave her not lost on her, but she couldn’t give up. A building doesn’t just up and walk away, she snarled to herself. It’s here. It has to be here. If I have to sit here for the rest of my life until I find it or Violet, I will.
The hours passed, the sun began to lower in the sky, and Penny knew that any hope she’d had of finding what she was seeking had disappeared the minute she’d agreed to leave with Violet.
14
Things at the office were taking much longer than Reef would have liked, and when he finally finished doing what needed to be done, he rushed out, barely giving Elsa a second look. Matters had been tense, to put it mildly, and he often caught Elsa staring at him with a look of disdain. Reef knew in his gut that there was some working going on behind his back to locate Penny and that their fleeting sense of security was just that. He’d tried to maintain some cautious optimism around her so that she didn’t react, but Penny was not stupid. She had to know that their situation was just a house of cards, ready to collapse at any minute.
As Reef left the Authority offices, his only desire was to return to Keppler’s suite and be with Penny like he’d been doing every day. He still had a stop to make, though.
“Yari,” Reef sang as he entered the lab. “It’s been three days. Your time is decidedly up. What do you have for me?” There was no response, and when Reef stepped into the lab, he realized that the scientist wasn’t there. “Yari, I hope you’re not avoiding me.”
He pushed further into the sterile room, his blue eyes darting about, but it was quickly obvious that the creature was nowhere around. Reef grunted and glanced at his watch. There was no reason for Yari to have left—the lab wasn’t unlocked, which indicated that he intended to return.
Maybe he saw me coming and hid, Reef mused, plopping onto a swivel stool. He wasn’t going anywhere until he spoke with the vampire. He’d have to be back at some point. Reef had already given Yari extra time to figure out a serum, but the doctor claimed he was no closer to finding an antigen than he had been at the start.
“I don’t understand the pathogen,” he complained. “If I don’t understand its makeup, how am I supposed to find a defense against it?”
“I don’t know, Yari. I thought that was your job.”
“I’m doing everything I can,” he swore, but Reef didn’t believe him, not for a minute. He sensed that Yari was procrastinating, hating the fact that he was playing two sides.
When this is all said and done, Wilder and I are going to have a really long discussion on boundaries. If I have to bring in Owen and Lennox to put him in his place, I will.
In the meantime, Reef dared not antagonize his brother, especially when he didn’t know what Wilder knew. Clearly, he hadn’t figured out that Penny was hiding in the palace, but eventually, it was bound to come to light, no matter how careful they were.
Reef drummed his fingers on the table and waited, glancing again at his expensive Piaget and grinding his teeth together. His urge was to check in on Penny first, but he had a feeling that the second he stepped out that door, Yari would come scrambling back and disappear again.
Reef decided to try him on his cell. The call went straight to voicemail. Frustration was growing in him as he decided what to do next. He rose from the stool and looked around, a thought occurring to him. What if Yari already had concocted the serum and was keeping it as leverage or something? Where would he have it?
Reef wished he’d thought to get a better description of what it looked like when he’d spoken to Penny about it, but it was too late for regrets now. He moved toward the fridge and hoped for easy labeling, though he knew he was setting his expectations too high.
“Tsk, tsk, brother. Nosing around in sensitive material.”
Reef’s neck stiffened, but he didn’t show his surprise as he turned to face Wilder. “Last I checked, the palace owns this lab, too,” he replied evenly. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Odd place to come looking for me,” Reef snapped, his face flushing. Yari sold me out, that bastard! When I get my hands on him…
“You underestimate me so badly, all of you,” Wilder grumbled, a note of self-pity touching his voice. “When will you learn that I’m the reason things remain under control around here? You all run amok, doing whatever the hell you want to do, and I’m the one left to clean up your messes.”
“I’m not even going to justify that with a response. What do you want, Wilder?”
“Yari is not doing your bidding anymore. I know you’ve been hiding the mortal girl.”
“What I do or don’t do is none of your damned business, Wilder! How many times do I have to explain that to you?” Reef exploded. “You don’t run the Hollows! We all run the Hollows!”
“And as I explained to you, when your choices affect the fluidity of our ways, you put us all at risk.”
“Where is Yari?” Reef snapped. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Yari isn’t coming back. I’ve moved him and his family out of the sector and out of your reach.”
Reef’s face flushed with anger. “I’ll find another way to get what I need.”
“You won’t, at least not through the means you want.” He stared at his brother uncomprehendingly.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Reef finally barked. “And I really don’t have time to engage in a power struggle with you. Know this, though, Wilder; you and I are going to have a big problem soon.”
“The problem isn’t me—it’s you. Why would you do something so stupidly careless? You hid her in Keppler’s suite? In my palace?”
Ice blocked Reef’s blood flow, and he paled to a near opaque. “What did you do with her?”
“Nothing,” Wilder grunted. “She left on her own.”
Reef snorted, but there was no mirth in his expression, and he pushed past Wilder. “If you hurt one hair on her head—”
“I didn’t. Not to say I wouldn’t have if I’d found her first. She’s gone, brother. Left with that sprite you’ve been hunting to no avail.”
Reef paused and spun back around to ga
pe at his brother. “Wilder, you’re a lot of things, but lying is not something I could ever attribute to you. Don’t start now.” Wilder sighed and stalked forward, thrusting his handheld tablet into Reef’s hand.
“They walked out of Keppler’s suite not even two hours ago.”
Wilder hit a button on the touchscreen, and Reef’s brow furrowed in confusion as he saw Penny and a small, dark-haired girl moving through the corridors purposely. Neither seemed the least bit concerned about being detected, and Reef saw why—the sprite he assumed was Violet had enabled a protective shield around her. No one would have seen them until they were long gone, their bodies not appearing on camera for at least an hour.
“Where did they go?”
“Back to the portal. I saw them leave myself.”
Reef gaped at him in shock. “When? How?” he demanded, more consternation flooding his body. Penny wouldn’t just leave without saying anything. It didn’t make any sense. She loved him.
“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this, Reef, but Elsa has been reporting to me. She has doubts about your ability as the head of the Authority ever since you helped that girl get away.”
“Elsa?” Reef choked. “She’s been working with you?”
Wilder shrugged. “I guess she finds me more trustworthy. And who can blame her? You’re smuggling mortals into the damned palace. Of all the harebrained things to do!”
Reef was at a loss for words, his head swimming.
“No,” he said firmly. “There’s no way that she would just go without leaving some kind of message.” He stalked out of the labs without waiting for Wilder’s response, but that didn’t stop his brother from calling out after him.
“Why? Because she manipulated you into helping her? Told you that she loved you?” Wilder yelled scornfully. “I thought you were smarter than that, Reef. You’re supposed to be tougher, more…” His voice faded out, but the words echoed through Reef’s skull, reverberating dangerously, and he felt bile bubbling in his stomach.
It had never occurred to him that someone on his own team would betray him. He’d never imagined that maybe Penny had always known where to find Violet, but it was clear she had gone with the sprite without question. Still, he refused to accept Wilder’s explanation, no matter what the security footage showed. Penny must have left a message for him somewhere in Keppler’s suite.
I have to get back there and check. Reef shifted, flying through the palace at top speed, knocking back anyone in his path. He didn’t stop to apologize. Time was of the essence now. What if Violet had taken Penny under duress? He hadn’t seen a weapon, but that didn’t mean the sprite hadn’t cast a spell over Penny. Reef had seen Violet’s face now. He could run it through the recognition software and see what popped up. He would find Violet, and he wouldn’t go easy on her.
Inside Keppler’s suite, Reef froze, staring about in disbelief. Wilder had already had a decontamination team come through and clean the place from top to bottom.
He wasted no time. If there was a message, it’s long gone now, he thought grimly. Slowly, he moved back down the corridor, trying to level his jumble of thoughts. If Violet meant to harm Penny, she wouldn’t have taken her back to the Sunside. She would have turned her in for the bounty. There is nothing to take from this except that Penny used you to stay alive. That you never meant anything to her.
A feeling of sick rolled around in Reef’s gut, and he remembered how Penny had looked at him with such wide, guileless eyes. It had all been a trick. How could he have been so stupid?
“Mr. Parker!” Elsa gasped when he wandered back into the security room, He pushed his way to the control boards and stared at the screens, pushing a bunch of buttons to bring him back to the portal. As Wilder had said, there was footage of Violet and Penny entering the access, disappearing through the door without so much as a backward glance.
She just left. Just like that.
“Mr. Parker, I’m sorry we didn’t get to them—”
The look Reef gave Elsa seemed to stop her from speaking instantly, and she returned his stare with concern. “I know what you did.”
Elsa balked and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Parker. I didn’t have a choice. He—”
“How did Yari know to get the bodies, Elsa?” The question instilled sheer terror in her eyes.
“I may have told Mr. Wilder about them,” she muttered. “I’m sorry.”
“But Violet never came through the access that night to collect the group,” Reef continued, the picture becoming clearer. “If she didn’t know the group had died, why wouldn’t she have come through? Unless someone warned her.” It wasn’t a question, and Elsa slid back on the wheels of her chair, shaking her head.
“I-I have no idea,” she choked, but Reef knew he was on the right track.
“You’re working with Violet. Why? For a few bucks, Elsa?”
“No! I don’t know what—” She couldn’t finish her denial, and she dissolved into a puddle of tears, shaking her head vehemently.
“You’re going to purgatory any way you look at it,” Reef told her flatly. “How long will depend on you.”
“Oh, Mr. Parker,” she wailed. “It wasn’t about the money. It was about my nephew.”
Reef stared at her. “You better start explaining better than that, Elsa.”
“My sister adopted a boy,” Elsa babbled. “And he’s being hunted by his birth parents. They have money, lawyers—they won’t stop at anything to get him back!”
“So you thought endangering everyone for a few bucks would help your cause?” Reef snapped contemptuously. “Are you really that stupid?”
“It’s not about the money,” Elsa repeated. “It’s about bringing my nephew here and hiding him where his biological parents can’t get him. They’re terrible people.”
Reef’s face twisted into a dubious understanding. “Violet is your sister,” he groaned. “That’s why you were helping her.”
Elsa nodded miserably. “No one was supposed to get hurt. We didn’t even want the mortals to get hurt. If you hadn’t scared them or hidden Penny—”
“What about Penny? What did you do with her?”
“Nothing!” Elsa exclaimed. “Violet waited for a clear moment to go for her and smuggle her back to the Sunside without being detected.”
“And I suppose you helped her with that, too.” Elsa shrugged, her eyes fixed on the ground. “Why didn’t she wait for me?” Reef demanded. “Why would she go like that?”
Elsa shook her head again. “I’m sorry, Mr. Parker, but if you had the choice between living and dying, I’m sure you’d pick living, too. You can’t fault her for leaving without saying goodbye.”
But Reef knew that wasn’t true. In a simple act, Penny had diminished everything they had, cheapening it, making him feel used and tawdry.
“Did she leave a message for me?” Reef asked, even though he was sure he knew the answer.
Elsa bit on her lip. “Not that I know of,” she murmured. “I’m sorry.”
“I need to speak with your sister.”
Elsa’s back straightened, and she shook her head. “No,” she said flatly. There was no room for argument.
“It’s not a request, Elsa. You’ve double-crossed me.”
“And I will pay the price for that,” she replied. “I am not giving up my sister. There is nothing you can do to make me change my mind.”
They stared at one another for a long moment, and a fusion of appreciation and ugly envy sliced through Reef simultaneously. I wonder what it’s like to love your sibling so much that you’re willing to sacrifice it all for them.
He didn’t dwell on the thought, because another struck him like a blow to the gut that he couldn’t ignore. If Penny had wanted to say goodbye, she could have taken the serum from Violet and waited for him. She could have left a message through Elsa somehow. There were a million ways she could have ensured he knew she still cared about him, but she didn’t exercise one of them.
/> The truth was that he had just been a pawn in Penny’s fight for survival, and now that she was free, she didn’t need him anymore.
Reef’s head dropped as the reality weighted his body.
“Mr. Parker—”
“Go put yourself in the barracks. I’ll set up your banishment.”
He didn’t recognize his own voice. At that moment, he wasn’t Reef Parker, head of Hollow Authority and dragon prince. In that being’s place was a broken, devastated man.
15
Days and nights rolled into one, and Penny no longer knew who she was or what was happening. She heard her parents talking about her, but their words didn’t make any sense, as if they were speaking a foreign language around her.
“She needs counseling. Wherever she was, whatever she was doing all that time, it did something to her,” Pat whispered. “She won’t get out of bed, Amanda.”
“I can’t drag her out by her hair, Pat,” her mother retorted. “She keeps rambling that she feels hollow.”
“I know,” her father murmured. “I’ve heard her screaming out about reefs in her dreams, and when I wake her up, she is furious.”
“Could she have been kidnapped?”
“I have no idea what to think, but she needs to see a doctor. Let’s see if we can’t find someone to make house calls.”
That had been weeks earlier, or at least what Penny perceived to be weeks. She had no sense of time. All she had was a feeling of deep, abysmal emptiness, which only grew darker with each passing day. There was no reprieve from the loneliness and longing she felt. Penny knew there was only one thing that would cure that: seeing Reef again, but he had yet to materialize.
How could he have just forgotten about me? Did something happen to him?
She played every possible scenario in her head, perhaps that he’d been hurt or somehow captured, but that didn’t add up. He was a dragon prince, ruler of the Hollows. He was untouchable. So why hadn’t he come for her? That only left the devastating realization that he was glad she was finally gone and therefore no longer a burden to him.