The League of Skull & Bones

by MJ Fletcher

  Chapter 49

  I did the bravest thing I’ve done in a long time—I looked in the mirror. My wavy blond hair hung down past my shoulders onto my chest, the ends resting just above the scooped neckline of my red dress. Scars peeked out like a spider web spread across my chest. I reasoned that I could handle the stares it was sure to attract. The sleeves, however, I had made certain were long and covered my tattoos and scarred arms. Thigh high stockings covered my legs and were capped off with a pair of delicious red heels that I had been saving for a special occasion.

  This was the closest I’d looked like my old fashionable self in a very long time. I still had the body to carry off the sexy look, but the scars still made me nervous. I didn’t want to spend the night dealing with constant questions about their origins. Wherever we were going, I hoped it would be private.

  I tried not to think about what had happened with Merric. It continued to upset me, especially since I was still confused about the whole thing. I couldn’t deny I felt something for Merric, but I also felt for Ronan. I hadn’t been attracted to any man in a long time and now I seemed to be attracted to two. But did Merric want me to choose and how did I choose when I didn’t know what the hell I wanted? I needed time to see what, or I should say who, I really favored. But as he said, I had made my choice and supposedly that was Ronan. I cared about him and wanted to get to know him better, though I wouldn’t mind getting to know Merric better as well. And it hurt to think I wouldn’t.

  The knock at the door shook me out of my reveries and I took to the metal stairs quickly. I turned and raced across the loft more excited than I had expected. I grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open.

  Ronan was standing there with a wicked smile on his handsome face. His black suit was tailored perfectly for his athletic body and a grey pin striped shirt was accented with a black tie and held in place by a Skeleton Key tie clip. He looked so damn hot that my legs actually grew weak, not to mention how the rest of my body responded.

  He looked me up and down slowly with those gorgeous eyes of his and damn if I didn’t feel as if he was undressing me, and I didn’t care.

  The edges of his smile spread much wider, and he whispered, “Bloody hell, Jess.”

  He didn’t need to say anymore. He’d given me the perfect reaction, and it was my turn to smile. “You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said feeling mighty good about myself at the moment.

  “Thanks. Are we ready?” he asked stepping inside.

  “One minute,” I said rushing across to the kitchen counter and grabbing my bag. I made sure the device Mr. Slade had created was securely locked in a pocket dimension only accessible from the bag, and then, with a smile I was certain would last the entire night, I rejoined Ronan. “All set.”

  “Let the games begin,” Ronan said.

  We took the metro and got off in the Bastille Square with its trendy bars and nightclubs. The traffic roundabout was nearby where a massive column rose up above the streets with its statue of a naked golden angel holding the so called torch of liberty. The streets were filled with people our ages, heading to the different nightclubs and pubs. I did my best to blend in, but I still found myself nervous when I was in enclosed places and since the streets were so crowded, I felt like a sardine in a can.

  Ronan’s hand wrapped around mine and he pulled me close to him. His other arm slid effortlessly around my shoulders and he leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “Stay close, I wouldn’t want to lose you.”

  I snuggled up against him, and we made our way into one of the bars. He slipped someone a folded bill and the next thing I knew, we had two stools at the bar and Ronan was ordering us drinks.

  Two tall martini glasses appeared and I slipped my hand around the stem and took a sip, letting the alcohol burn my throat and grant me a shot of liquid courage.

  I could take on a horde of slobbering Gremlins, but a date with a handsome man left me nervous and edgy. I wished for a moment I could return to that confident girl who had the perfect body and the look that men died over.

  “Thank you.” I leaned in close so he could hear me over the other patrons and the band that blared away in the corner.

  “My pleasure,” he said. His hand brushed a strand of hair from my face and I blushed.

  Great, so apparently I was turning into the awkward teenage version of myself where I acted nonsensical in front of a man. I smiled and did my best to regain my composure. I wanted this night to go well.

  My phone buzzed in my bag as did Ronan’s in his coat pocket. We both pulled them out and checked our messages. I sighed when I saw it and looked up to see he had gotten the same message I had.

  “I guess this means we need to cut our night short?” he said.

  I was annoyed and angry that when I had finally gotten up the courage to go on a date, my messed up life had to intrude on it.

  “Not entirely,” I said.

  I reached out, slipping my hand around his tie and pulling him toward me. I leaned in and kissed him. I poured myself into the kiss, wanting the world to melt away and for only the two of us to exist. And for a moment it did, and damn if it wasn’t good. I pulled back and smiled at him.

  He nodded at me. “We can continue that later, I hope?” he asked.

  “We’ll see,” I said with what I hope sounded seductive as I stepped off the stool and made my way through the crowd and onto the street.

  I lifted my phone and checked the message one more time. According to the League, our scout team had followed Nyla’s men back to a location where they believed she was staying. This was our best chance at catching her before she learned we were on to her.

  Ronan joined me on the street, shaking his head. “It seems we can’t get a moment to ourselves.”

  “We do keep getting interrupted, don’t we?”

  “Once we are done with this, maybe we can finally resolve that.”

  “I’m all for that,” I said.

  “How do you want to handle this?”

  “We hit them hard and go straight for Nyla. She won’t be expecting us and that will end the threat.”

  “Agreed,” he said.

  “I’ll inform LaReina of the plan.”

  “No,” I said.

  I wanted to keep this from as many people as possible. If LaReina was working with Nyla or someone else in the League, then I needed to keep them out of the loop as long as possible. This way I could get in and deal with her without interference.

  “The League needs to know what our plan is,” Ronan said.

  “The scout team has likely already told LaReina and if she has half a brain, she knows what the plan will be.”

  It was true she would know of the location and figure out our plan. But I didn’t need to give her anymore advance notice than that. If she was going to warn Nyla, I wasn’t about to give her a heads up.

  “Alright let’s do it,” he said.

  I was still dressed for our date and not at all ready for a fight with a bunch of zealots out to get me. I needed to make a quick change. I glanced around and noticed an alleyway next to the building.

  I grabbed Ronan’s tie and pulled him along with me into the dark alley. Anyone who noticed us would assume we were any other drunk and enamored couple, slipping off for some privacy.

  “What’s going on?” Ronan asked.

  “Shut up and hold this,” I said as I shoved my bag into his chest.

  He grasped it and looked up and down the dank alley to see if we were alone.

  This night was certainly memorable since I did the second thing I hadn’t done in a very long time—standing nearly naked in front of a man I reached down and grabbed the hem of my dress and yanked it up and over my hips. It slid past my stomach and my skin tingled as the cool air brushed it. I gave a hard yank and it slipped past my breasts and over my neck and head until I stood in the alleyway in thigh high stockings, heels, and matching bra and panties. This is not how I wanted Ronan to see my body for the first time. But I als
o wasn’t going to run into a fight in a dress. This wasn’t some Hollywood movie. I needed to be able to move and fight freely.

  Neon lights from the streets illuminated the alley and highlighted my scarred and imperfect body. I stood bare and exposed in front of a guy I liked.

  He turned from looking over the street to me and damn if his mouth didn’t hang open. He stared speechless at me, his eyes roaming over every inch of me as if he couldn’t get enough.

  “I like the thigh highs,”—he paused and cast another glance over me— “and everything else.”

  “Shut up.” I laughed and threw my dress over his head.

  I stepped closer to him and opened my bag as he held it. I activated my abilities and opened my personal dimension inside the bag. I reached in and pulled out a pair of jeans and shimmied into them and traded in my heels for a pair of trainers.

  Ronan shook the dress off his head, and I scooped it up and pushed it into my bag, moving objects around to find what I needed. The device Mr. Slade had created was visible, and I moved it off to the side.

  “You think it’s a good idea bringing that to where Nyla is located?” he asked nodding toward the device.

  “No, but I’m sure as hell not leaving it laying around for someone else to find.”

  I grabbed a shirt, slipping my arms through and pulling it over my head. I was ready to go and start a fight, but there was one other thing I had to do first.

  I slipped my hand around Ronan’s neck, eased him close, and kissed him hard and quick before grabbing my bag from his hands and turning to walk out of the alleyway. He watched as I walked away, his mouth hanging open.

  “You coming?” I asked with a laugh.

  Chapter 50

  The portal opened onto a hill with fields of red wheat swaying back and forth. Ronan and I stepped out into the warm air and took deep breaths. The dimension was oxygen rich, so I took a moment to let my body adjust. Old Kind physiology makes it easy for our bodies to accommodate each new dimension we enter. After a few moments, I could feel my lungs expand to accept the environment.

  Twin suns sat far in the distance in the cloudless sky. The area was filled with rolling hills that intersected with several roads.

  I took my bag in both hands and pressed the snaps on its rim. The fabric rolled up inside the rim, which expanded outward to become thicker while it flipped out from the sides, becoming a sizable metal and fabric belt. I looped it around my waist and pushed a series of buttons along the side that expanded, turning into small pouches.

  Ronan glanced at the new belt and smirked. “Where’d you get an Impossible Engineer belt?”

  “It helps to have friends,” I said. Slade had given me it to me on my last birthday, though I hadn’t found a use for it until now. The belt could be transformed into several different objects all of which accessed my private dimension.

  I pulled open one of the pouches and took out a pair of brass goggles with a leather head strap and slid them over my face. Two discs on the brass edges were connected to a series of gears that lined the edges up to the lenses. I placed my fingers on the discs and spun them, forcing the gears to churn.

  The lenses warped and a series of calculations popped into my field of vision. Information scrolled by at rocket speed about the dimension and its location in the universe. I slowed the spin of my fingers and the information slowed down. I was looking for one specific signature from the goggles.

  Old Kind power signatures detected.

  The words glowed before me and I tapped the discs, accessing the feed of intelligence. The goggles had found six Old Kind signatures nearby and provided a map to their location within five meters.

  “There is Old Kind here,” I said yanking the goggles off and offering them to Ronan.

  He took them and slid them over his eyes. “You do have the best toys.” He took a look. “This location appears to match up with what the scout team supplied us with.”

  “Only six signatures though,” I said shaking my head.

  “What?”

  “Nyla is supposedly this big cult leader, and she only has six people around her? Something doesn’t make sense here.”

  I didn’t like going into a fight with a bad feeling and something about this situation was all wrong. Maybe it was the people I was dealing with and their lack of willingness to give me the information I needed. I still wasn’t sure who I could trust. Gran wanted me to try and discover peoples’ loyalties, and yet I felt I was no closer to that goal. LaReina seemed to have something to do with this, and I still wasn’t sold on the League.

  Merric had warned me about trusting people. But how could I trust him when I knew so little about him. I had a feeling that his secrets went much deeper than I could imagine, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was imperative to learn what mysteries surrounded him. Unfortunately, I doubted he would ever trust me again.

  The only one who I felt as though I could trust was Ronan. He’d followed through on everything he’d ever told me, and he had disobeyed LaReina to warn me about Nyla. Ronan was there for me, and I didn’t care what happened, but I was going to see this relationship through to the end. No matter how it went.

  “I agree.” He pulled the goggles off and handed them to me. “You think it’s a trap?”

  “Could be, but we also need to take her down. I say we get a closer look and see if we can take a shot.”

  Ronan nodded in agreement and we began walking down the hill. I slipped my goggles into their pouch and snapped it shut.

  I squeezed my hands into fists and slowly activated the Artifact. I didn’t want to draw too much power from it. I only wanted to get a feel for my surroundings and that wasn’t something I was willing to give more of my life energy to learn.

  The power roiled up through my arms and settled over my body like a warm blanket. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was gaining more control over the Artifact. But most likely, the power of the Artifact was working on my mind to make me access it.

  I could swear it was trying to talk to me, almost as if it had an awareness of its own.

  I pushed my senses out and searched the area. The Old Kind was close, and they were all Skeleton Key Guild members. Each of their Keys was with them and they ranged from novices to expert, but there was only one who I would call a true threat—Nyla.

  This was all wrong. If she was this big, important leader, why was she surrounded by so few people? I didn’t like this one bit, but I didn’t share my thoughts with Ronan. I didn’t want to drag him into my crazy musings.

  If LaReina was behind this, and she was attempting to get the Artifact from me through Nyla, wouldn’t she have more people here ready to spring a trap? Or they could be waiting a dimension away, looking for the right moment to strike.

  We crossed over a road and made our way up another short hill and as we neared the crest we slid into a crouch, hiding ourselves among the red grass. At the foot of the hill was a two story blue home with a wraparound porch. Two men rested lazily in chairs on the porch while a third worked under the hood of a car in front of the house. The other three signatures I sensed weren’t in sight.

  “What the hell is this?” I said shaking my head.

  “Maybe we caught them unaware,” Ronan replied.

  “This doesn’t look like the head of some all-powerful cult.”

  The surrounding area had no other buildings only a dirt road leading away from the house. If they were housing more members, it wasn’t close. Every instinct I had was telling me I was being deceived, yet I had no idea by whom.

  “What do you want to do?” Ronan asked.

  “The only place we can get answers is down there.”

  “We attack?”

  “We do, but I want Nyla alive,” I said looking at him through narrowed eyes.

  “Agreed,” he said.

  “We do this quick,” I said and activated the Artifact. Power flowed from me and I lifted my hand, opening a portal directly beside us.
r />   I leapt through and opened on the other side of the porch. I came through, my hand glowing crimson, ready to attack.

  Chapter 51

  I brought my fist down, shattering the jaw of the man sitting in the chair. He didn’t have time to react. He fell to the porch floor in a heap. The man across from him was beginning to stand when a small portal opened and only a hand came through with a solid hit to his stomach.

  Portals flashed all around him as one punch after another came from each of them. He couldn’t defend or stop them and the final blow was a kick to the stomach that sent him flying off the porch. Ronan stepped through the final portal and straightened his tie, winking at me.

  The final man, working on the car, had pulled out his Skeleton Key and activated it. He stared between us and the door of the house.

  “Where is Nyla?” I demanded.

  “In here,” her voice called out from inside the house.

  I spun, kicking in the front door with such force that it ripped off its hinges and flew across the room, crashing into the wall. I stepped in cautiously, still not feeling good about this and spotted Nyla sitting at a table watching me intently.

  “That wasn’t necessary,” she said.

  “It makes no difference. What does make a difference is that this ends now, Nyla. I’ve got the device and if you try and stand against me you’ll lose.”

  Ronan stepped into the room and Nyla stared at him for a brief moment, and then turned back to me. She sighed and ran her hand along her chin. “We don’t have to be enemies, Jess.”

  “You killed DeAndre. Do you seriously think that you and I could ever be buddies?”

  Ronan tilted his head, glancing at me.

  “DeAndre was holding you back. I did you a favor by dispatching him. I realize now we could work well together, and I’ll even forgive you for hurting me as you did.”

  “You are a total nut-job do you know that?”

  “You think this is the end, Jess. You’re wrong. This is only the beginning. You’ve no idea of the game you’ve stepped into here.”