Unraveled

by Jennifer Estep

  This bitch was the one who was already dead. She just didn’t know it yet. And the Spider was going to be the one to put her down for good.

  11

  I’d heard enough, so I shut off my phone and slid it back into my jeans pocket. I glanced over my shoulder, but the alley was still deserted, although people moved back and forth out on Main Street, heading from one block of shops to the next. Once I was satisfied that no one was paying any attention to me, I palmed a knife and looked at Roxy and Brody again, plotting the best way I could get close enough to kill them both quietly.

  My gaze moved from one side of the staging area to the other. If I could get over to that barrel full of lassos without being seen, I could crouch down behind it, then sprint over to that rack of saloon-girl costumes. Once I was in position there, I could step out from behind the clothes and hit Roxy and Brody with a spray of Ice daggers. If I used a big enough blast of magic, I could probably kill them both before they realized what was happening. Even if they survived my initial attack, I could always finish them off with my knives. They might let out a few screams, but I was willing to take that chance, now that I knew the torture they had in mind for me and my friends.

  I tightened my grip on my knife, feeling the spider rune stamped into the hilt press against the larger, matching scar in my palm. The sensation steadied me, the way it always did. I drew in a breath, reached for my Ice magic, and stepped out of the alley—

  Something beep-beeped, and Roxy turned in my direction. I swallowed down a curse and slid back into the shadows before she spotted me. She holstered her revolver, stepped forward, and picked up her phone off the vanity table, staring at the message on the screen.

  “Jim says that Lane, Coolidge, and Grayson are in the Silver Spur, trying on hats. No sign of Blanco, though.”

  Brody shook his head. “Forget about Tucker wanting her alive. I’m telling you, Roxy, you need to kill that bitch now. Not play this stupid stalking game with her. She’s not some dumb animal that I can flush out of the swamp so you can kill her on your own terms.”

  “But it’s such a fun game,” Roxy purred. “Especially since the illustrious Spider doesn’t even realize that she’s my target yet. She’s never even going to know what hit her.”

  She grinned, pulled out one of her revolvers, and started spinning it around and around in her hand again. The giant rolled his eyes. Yeah, me too.

  Forget about being quiet. If Sheriff Roxy wanted a piece of me, then I was more than happy to show her what a real outlaw looked like—and just how dead I could make her. I reached for even more of my Ice magic and crept forward—

  Laughter sounded at the far end of the alley. I whipped around and realized that two giant cowboys were ambling in my direction. Their heads were down, both of them looking and laughing at something on one of their phones, so they hadn’t spotted me yet, but it was just a matter of seconds before they would.

  I swallowed down another curse. Witnesses and collateral damage were things that I tried to avoid at all costs, so I did the only thing I could—I tucked my knife back up my sleeve, stepped out of the alley, and walked out into the staging area where my enemies were.

  “Oh, there you are!” I called out in a loud voice, waving my hand. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you two!”

  Startled, Roxy and Brody both whipped around in my direction. Brody’s hands curled into fists, while Roxy stopped spinning her revolver around, the gun pointing down at the ground.

  For now.

  They glanced at each other, obviously wondering if I’d overheard their conversation, but I plastered a benign smile on my face and went right over to them. They weren’t the only ones who could put on a show.

  I stopped in front of the giant and stared at his swollen, crooked nose, which looked like a rotten tomato that had been mashed into his face. I winced and hissed in a breath between my teeth in fake sympathy. “I just wanted to tell you how very sorry I am for hitting you. I just don’t know what came over me. It must be all these self-defense classes I’ve been taking lately.”

  I let out a light, pealing laugh, trying to play the whole thing off as a joke, but the giant was anything but amused. Brody’s fingers clenched together even tighter, his knuckles cracking under the slow, steady pressure, and his lips twisted with rage. At that moment, the giant wanted nothing more than to lunge forward, wrap his hands around my throat, and strangle me to death for breaking his nose.

  Roxy laid a warning hand on his shoulder and gave me an innocent smile in return. “Oh, Brody knows that you didn’t mean any harm, Gin.”

  “Of course not,” I chirped back at her. “It was all just part of the show, right?”

  “Right.”

  We stared at each other, both of us smiling wide as though everything were fine, and this were a normal conversation. But Roxy kept her gun out, her finger on the trigger, ready to snap up the weapon and pump me full of Fire-coated bullets, and I had my own elemental power pooling in my palms, ready to whip up my hands and blast her in the face with my Ice magic.

  But the two cowboys I’d spotted before stepped into the square, still chuckling over whatever silly video they were watching, and the moment—and our potential showdown—passed.

  For now.

  The cowboys waved at Roxy and Brody, then went over to a costume rack to hang up their hats for the day and change back into their regular clothes.

  “Well, then, I’ll leave you to get cleaned up,” I said, breaking the tense silence that had gathered around me, the giant, and the Fire elemental. “Again, I really am sorry. If you need an Air elemental to snap your nose back into place, please, feel free to send me the bill.”

  Brody glowered at me, anger turning his cheeks as red as his nose.

  Roxy, however, gave me another innocent smile. “Oh, we have a healer on staff, so that won’t be necessary. I was just about to call and get him to come over.”

  I nodded as though the information pleased me.

  “Actually, Gin, I’m glad that you’re here,” Roxy said. “I know that y’all probably want to explore the park and the hotel for the rest of the day, but I was wondering if you and your friends would like to join Brody and me for an early lunch tomorrow before the high-noon show. It would be a chance for me to speak to Finn about the resort and for all of us to get to know each other better.”

  I would rather have carved out her heart with a butter knife than break bread with her, but I played along. “Of course. Sounds like fun.”

  “Great!” Roxy chirped. “Just show up at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning at the Feeding Trough restaurant on Main Street. I’ll set everything up.”

  I nodded at her, then at Brody. “Again, I’m so very sorry, and I hope that you feel better soon. Y’all take care now.”

  I smiled at them again, turned around, and walked out of the square at a normal pace. My shoulders tensed, and I reached for my Stone magic, ready to send it rushing out through my entire body. I wouldn’t put it past Roxy to shoot me in the back, especially if she thought that I’d overheard any of her conversation with Brody. She might want to find the jewels, but she wanted me dead too so she could add another trophy to her wall.

  But I didn’t hear the distinctive click of her thumbing back the hammer on her revolver, and I rounded the corner and stepped back into the alley, out of sight of the staging area.

  Not out of the line of fire, though. Not even close.

  * * *

  I left the alley behind and headed back out onto the main drag with its shops, crowds, and costumed characters. More than ever before, I felt like people were watching me and analyzing my every move. Every time one of the cowboys, gold miners, gamblers, or saloon girls sashayed past or smiled at me, I eyed them, wondering if they were going to text Roxy my current location the moment my back was turned. Probably. My shoulders tensed again, still expecting a bulle
t to blast into my back at any second, but I forced myself to step into the crowds.

  I found my friends in the Silver Spur, right where Roxy had said they were. Part of the Silver Spur was an old-timey mercantile shop, with soaps, elixirs, and other goods, while the other half featured designer clothing, including the hats that Finn and Owen were both trying on. Bria leaned against a nearby rack of fringed leather vests, looking bored.

  “What took you so long?” she groused. “I’ve seen about as many cowboy hats as I can stomach.”

  She jerked her head at Finn, who was staring at himself in a full-length mirror, admiring the white Stetson on his head and trying to talk Owen into buying the same hat in gray. Before I could answer her, Finn strutted over to us. He was also wearing a green-and-white paisley bandanna around his neck and white leather chaps bedazzled with pale green rhinestones over his jeans. He looked like some country-western singer about to go onstage. All he needed was a shiny guitar.

  “Hey, Gin!” he called out, turning around in a circle and making the rhinestones shimmer under the lights. “What do you think? Is this me or what?”

  I forced myself to smile at him. “It’s totally you.”

  He grinned and signaled one of the clerks to ring it all up for him.

  Owen walked over and tipped his gray Stetson at me. “Ma’am,” he rumbled, “do you like it?”

  I reached up and tipped the hat back on his forehead. “Wear it for me tonight, and you’ll see just how much I like it, cowboy.”

  He laughed and went to get in line with Finn to check out.

  The Silver Spur was busy, and it took twenty minutes for the clerk to wrap up Finn’s new duds, along with ­Owen’s hat, and for us to finally leave the shop. I glanced up and down the sidewalks, but I didn’t see anyone obviously watching us. I knew they were there, though. I could feel their gazes on me and my friends. We needed to get out of the theme park and back to the hotel, up in our suites where I could tell the others what was going on, and we could plot our next move.

  But once again, Finn had other ideas. “Come on. Let’s get some hot chocolate.”

  He set off down the sidewalk, and Bria, Owen, and I had no choice but to follow him. Finn strolled over to a food cart sitting at the entrance to one of the alleys, where he bought hot chocolates for all four of us, before leading us over to two iron benches that were set close together, facing each other. Finn and Bria took one bench, with Owen and me sitting across from them on the other one.

  Finn took a sip of his hot chocolate, then glanced around and leaned forward, staring at me with sharp, knowing eyes. “What’s going on, Gin?”

  “Why do you think something’s going on?”

  “Because normally you would have mocked me mercilessly for buying rhinestone-studded, white leather chaps. As well you should have. But you said that they looked great. That’s not the snarky, sassy Gin Blanco that I know and love.” He paused to take another sip of his hot chocolate. “Plus, there’s a cowboy who’s been following us from store to store, texting on his phone the whole time. He’s behind me now, leaning against a post and trying to look casual.”

  My gaze slid past Finn, and sure enough, that cowboy was right where he said. I should have realized that Finn would have clocked someone watching him. He might not be a bona fide assassin like me, but Fletcher had trained his son just as well as he had me.

  “Plus, you were gone a really long time,” Finn added. “Normally, I would have said that you had to stop, kill someone, and hide their body, but there isn’t any blood on your clothes.” He gave me another stern look. “So spill it, Gin. What kind of trouble did you get into?”

  I sighed, realizing that it was confession time. “Well, you’re right. I didn’t actually kill anyone, although I certainly wanted to. . . .”

  While we sipped our hot chocolates, I told my friends everything that Roxy and Brody had said about working for Tucker and the vampire wanting us to find the hidden jewels for him.

  When I finished, Owen looked at me. “So that’s what was going on in the lobby earlier when you ran into that luggage cart. You thought you saw Tucker and were going to chase after him.”

  I nodded. “Guilty as charged, but he disappeared before I could get to him. But he’s around here somewhere. He has to be.”

  The four of us fell silent, clutching our empty cups. To the casual observer, it looked like we were just taking a break from the festivities, sitting on the benches, having a warm snack, and people-watching. Oh, we were people-watching all right.

  “The cowboy’s gone, but there’s a giant miner in his place, glancing over at us every minute or so,” Owen said.

  “The saloon girl working that popcorn cart is checking us out too,” Finn added.

  “And I see a gambler up on one of the second-story balconies, looking right at us and texting,” Bria said.

  I nodded. “I don’t know how many folks work for Roxy and Brody directly, but we have to assume that any of the resort staff could be on their payroll and a potential threat. Not to mention Tucker lurking around, and any men that he might have hiding in the shadows with him.” I looked at my friends. “The way I see it, we have two options. We can hightail it out of here, head back to Ashland, and regroup.”

  “Or?” Finn asked, even though he knew as well as I did what the second choice was.

  “Or we can stay and search for the jewels. According to Roxy, Tucker thinks that Deirdre gave you some clue about where she hid them, or that I can somehow find them with my Stone magic. Maybe he’s right about that.”

  I kept my voice neutral, even though I burned to stay here. I didn’t care about the gems and how valuable they were. Not in the slightest. For me, this was all about Hugh Tucker. The vampire had been three steps ahead of me for weeks now, and I wanted to turn the tables and beat him at his own game. I wanted to take away something that he cared about, for a change. But most of all, I wanted to have him at my mercy—or lack thereof—so I could finally carve some answers out of him about my mother and the Circle.

  But staying at the resort would be dangerous—maybe even deadly. Nothing that we hadn’t faced before, of course, but we’d come down here to relax and take a break from the constant danger in Ashland. Not get ourselves into even more trouble.

  Oh, I’d be happy to take on Roxy, Brody, and every other person here if it meant getting closer to discovering the members of the Circle, but this wasn’t my choice to make. Not really. Because Tucker had lured Finn down here, had sent him the resort deed, and had gotten his hopes up about learning more about Deirdre. So he should be the one to decide.

  I looked at Finn. “So what do you want to do? This is your weekend and your resort, so it’s your call. Right, guys?”

  Bria and Owen both nodded, and the three of us stared at him.

  My foster brother tapped his finger against the side of his cup, staring down into the dregs of his hot chocolate as though they were tea leaves that would somehow reveal the future. After several seconds, his finger stilled, and he raised his head, staring at Bria and Owen, and then finally at me.

  So many emotions flashed in Finn’s eyes. Worry about the danger we were in, hurt that Tucker had manipulated him again, disappointment that he hadn’t learned anything new about Deirdre yet. But all of that melted away, hardening into a stubborn determination that I knew all too well—the same determination that Fletcher had instilled in me, as well as his son. In that moment, Finn seemed more like his old self than he had in weeks.

  “Fuck it,” Finn said, a grin spreading across his face. “Let’s find those rocks and shove them down Tucker’s throat.”

  I grinned back at him. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  12

  We left Main Street behind, walked back to the hotel, and rode the elevator up to the seventh and top floor where our suites were, like everything was normal.


  Then again, my friends and I being in mortal danger with enemies all around was perfectly normal. Vacation. Heh.

  All the while, we kept an eye out, but the theme park and hotel workers just watched us. Roxy and Brody must have told their minions to leave us alone for the time being. At least, until we found the jewels for them.

  The elevator opened, revealing a long hallway with only a few doors set into the walls. We stepped forward. The elevator doors closed behind us with a whisper, and the only sound was our soft footsteps on the thick gray carpet.

  “This floor is all penthouse suites,” Finn said. “Our rooms are over there.” He swept his hand out to the left, indicating a couple of doors on that side of the hallway.

  “And according to the room number on that key Ira Morris gave me, Deirdre’s suite is there.” This time, he pointed to the right, where a single door was set into the wall.

  Of course there was only one door and one suite on that side. Deirdre wouldn’t have wanted to share a single inch of space with anyone.

  Finn stared at that closed door for a moment, then turned away, pulled a plastic key card out of his pants pocket, and opened the door to his suite. We all trooped inside, and Finn and Owen put their packages down on a table by the door.

  Actually, it was two suites in one, with each area featuring its own spacious living room, bedroom, and bathroom, with connecting double doors in the middle. Our luggage was sitting in the foyer in Finn and Bria’s suite, although both living rooms had a table featuring an enormous fruit basket, along with platters of chocolate-dipped strawberries and other gourmet treats.

  “Here’s to your stay and our great new partnership, Roxy,” Bria said, reading the note on the fruit basket in her and Finn’s suite.