by Tamar Sloan
Mr. Rodriguez’s eyebrows shoot up only for him to quickly bring them back down. “Of course she would.”
He moves onto the next student who groans about getting a D minus, but Arielle tunes them out. Was Mr. Rodriguez surprised that she’s planning on staying on top of her assignments? Or her belief that her mother would be coming home…
“What was that about?” Lizzie whispers beside her.
Arielle stills, wondering how she’s going to explain the complicated mess her life now is.
“Oh, goodness me,” Lizzie exclaims. “I shouldn’t be prying. I’m so sorry, I’m supposed to be making friends, not being a nosy newcomer!”
Arielle shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. My mom went missing a few days ago.”
“Oh god, that’s awful,” Lizzie says, her hand flying to cover Arielle’s. “Please, let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“Sure.” Arielle tries to draw up a smile. Lizzie is being sweet, but this isn’t something she can talk about with anyone.
Mr. Rodriguez clears his throat, and Arielle turns to the front of the room with relief. She should’ve stuck to going solo, it would’ve been easier.
“Today, we’re going to discuss your midterm papers. For those, we’re going right back to Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas,” he announces with a flourish.
Arielle tries to focus, she really does. But everything that’s happened keeps intruding, and for some reason, thoughts of Reign are at the forefront. Is he okay? What happened during the questioning? Have they pressed charges? Arielle frowns. Why does she care so much?
Lizzie lets out a muffled gasp. “You know Reign?”
Arielle glances down, realizing she’d idly scrawled his name on her notebook. “Ah, yeah. I’m assuming it’s the same guy.” How many Reigns could there be in the area?”
“A body as hot as sin, a face that shouldn’t be legal, and the personality of Oscar the Grouch?”
“Yep. That’s him,” Arielle says wryly. She turns to face Lizzie more fully. “How do you know him?”
Lizzie flushes delicately as she glances at her pink manicured nails. “Oh, we used to be…friends.”
The layers that are added to the word ‘friend’ aren’t lost on Arielle, although she pretends it doesn’t grind right down her spine. Of course Reign has beautiful girls falling all over him. And of course Reign would partake of the goods being offered. It makes no difference to Arielle.
Lizzie looks up, her gaze searching. “Have you seen him recently? Is he okay?”
“I’m not sure,” Arielle says tartly. “I haven’t seen him since he was arrested.”
The moment the words are out, Arielle regrets it. Reign’s business isn’t hers to share.
“Arrested?” Lizzie asks in horror.
“Look, I have enough on my plate right now with my mom and everything. I don’t know anything else.”
Mr. Rodriguez’s voice rises as he starts to create a timeline on the board and Arielle faces the front again, glad for the distraction. Hopefully, Lizzie will take the hint and the conversation will be over. Arielle really needs to focus on how to do well in her term paper.
“Columbus is widely accepted as the first European contact with Central and South America. And excluding a brief Norse habitation several years earlier, the first contact with North America,” Mr. Rodriguez says as he continues to scrawl on the board. “Once we’ve covered the key dates, we’re going to explore how accurately the history books have depicted him.”
Arielle has just started to take some notes when Lizzie sighs. “Reign was always getting in trouble. Hanging out with those foster kids didn’t help.”
Arielle hides her surprise at that statement, along with the need to defend Mac. She flips a page in her notebook. This is no longer her business.
“Do you think he’s still in there?” Lizzie’s hands are twisting in her lap. “Do you think they’ve got enough to arrest him?”
“I’m not sure,” Arielle hedges, keeping her gaze on the board even though her gut clenches. “Maybe.”
“That’s awful. I mean, I know he can be an ass, but he’s a good guy. He doesn’t deserve that. If I’d known, I would have…”
Arielle’s pen stops mid-word. “You would’ve what?”
Lizzie shakes her head as if she’s already dismissed the idea. “Oh, nothing. I doubt it would make a difference.”
“Would what?” Arielle presses. If there’s some way to help Reign, she wants to know about it.
“Well,” Lizzie says hesitantly. “My dad is the Commissioner. I thought that if I talked to him…” She shakes her head. “It’s probably too late.”
Arielle straightens, urgency filling her tone. “You should totally talk to him.”
“It’s just that we’re not close. We’re not exactly on good terms.”
“But he has enough pull to get Reign out,” Arielle pushes. “It’s definitely worth a try.”
Lizzie chews on her lip. “I suppose so.” Suddenly, her face brightens. “Reign would be super grateful, wouldn’t he?”
Arielle hides her grimace at those words. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”
Mr. Rodriguez claps his hands. “And that’s a wrap, folks. I’m looking forward to learning whether you believe Columbus was a hero or a villain.”
The bell rings as if to finish his sentence and the students start to pack up. Arielle starts to do the same but stops.
“So, you’ll speak to your dad?” she asks Lizzie.
Lizzie’s smile is borderline euphoric. “I’m going to give it a red hot go.” She leans forward, wrapping her hand around Arielle’s. “You’ll let me know if you hear from Reign?”
Arielle smiles through clenched teeth and nods. “Of course.”
They swap numbers and Lizzie turns away so fast her cornsilk hair flairs out like some shampoo commercial. With a jaunty wave, she’s gone, leaving Arielle to pack up and head to her next class.
Arielle knows she should be happy. This is a sign that she’s doing the right thing by being here. If she wasn’t at school, she wouldn’t have been able to help Reign. Heck, it’s possible he’ll score not long after he gets out.
But as she tucks her books against her chest, Arielle can’t find anything that feels good. In fact, she didn’t think it’s possible, but she’s feeling even more miserable.
27
Reign
“You’re wearing a groove in the cement,” Colt points out from where he’s sitting at the table.
Reign keeps pacing across the basement—from the map that pinpoints the seven abductions, to the saggy sofa that he spent the night on. He’s missing something. He can feel it.
Gabby shakes her head from the seat beside Colt. “You could’ve walked to Sinclair Mansion and back by now.”
Reign stops beside the map, punching his fist into his hand. “That’s it! That’s what I’d forgotten!”
Colt pushes upright, his gaze suddenly intense. “Forgot what?”
“So, we know that Kane was mighty interested in Sinclair Mansion.”
Gabby nods. “Far more interested in that than your whoopsie on the wrong side of the law.”
“Exactly,” says Reign. “But we don’t know why.”
Colt flops back into his chair. “And we have no way of finding out.” They spent hours going around in circles last night, each time reaching the same dead end. “We go anywhere near Kane, and he’ll find any reason he can to arrest us.”
“Except I just remembered something he said when he first started questioning me.”
“Illegally interrogating you,” Gabby points out.
Reign nods. “Yep. All the more reason this is significant. He flouted the rules so he could find out what he could.”
“Well?” Colt asks.
Reign grins. “I’m building suspense, okay?”
Colt raises an eyebrow while Gabby bites her lip, looking like she’s trying not to smile.
“Not only did Kane know I was at Sinclair Mansion, he knew two men were found dead not far away. I thought he was throwing that out to intimidate me, but…”
Colt leans forward, his hands on his knees. “Demons clean up after themselves.”
“So do angels, actually,” Gabby adds. “All supernaturals do.”
“I suspected as much,” Reign says triumphantly. “They don’t want humans asking too many questions.”
Gabby gasps. “So, how did he know about them?”
“Bingo,” Reign says with satisfaction.
Colt’s eyes widen as he turns to Gabby. “He’s a demon?”
She shrugs. “It’s possible. You guys can cloak your true selves.” But then her eyes widen, too. “Do you think he’s after the Grail?”
“The Holy Grail?” Reign asks, frowning. The last thing he needs right now is some reference to Joseph and his hallucinations.
“Yep, the one and the same. Sierra has spent half her life searching for it, which is what we suspect had her kidnapped.”
“It’s protected by the Keepers of the Grail, entrusted to them by angels,” Colt adds. His mouth twists. “And wanted by demons for its power.”
Reign nods even though he’s not sure how his body’s moving right now. He’s frozen in place as he tries to figure out how he feels about this information. The Keepers of the Grail are real.
Which means…
Reign sits on the arm of the sofa, his legs suddenly weak. Surely not. His stomach clenches painfully, last night’s pizza suddenly unhappy to be there. Joseph was telling the truth?
He rubs his forehead, disclosing a piece of information he wasn’t going to. “The men who abducted me, they had…demon faces.” The same Hell-face Reign saw in the cop car that was chasing him. “They must’ve been demons, too.”
But Colt shakes his head. “They were just men, Reign. Angry, violent men, but just men.”
“But…” Reign swallows, wanting to see this conversation through, but also wishing he never started it. “Didn’t you just say demons can cloak themselves?”
“Not when they’re dead,” Colt states flatly.
“Maybe it was the fear of the moment?” Gabby asks gently. “Especially after seeing my wings and all?”
They’re suggesting he was too terrified to think clearly. That he was…hallucinating. Reign focuses on the relief that threads through him, growing and amplifying it until it drowns out any other emotion that’s trying to gain traction.
This is what he wanted to hear. He can’t believe that, even for the briefest of seconds, he was considering the alternative—that he’s some Keeper tasked with protecting the Grail. Not only is that ridiculous because street rats like him lack the necessary traits such as honor and integrity for such a task, but Reign already knows how it would end if he did.
He’d screw it up.
Reign twists his face into a wry grin. “Time to lay off the happy juice, from the looks of things.” He strides over to the map, keeping his back to Colt and Gabby. “So, in summary, we have a theory, and not much else.”
Colt sighs behind him. “Essentially. Although we now have an idea as to why Kane is so interested in Sinclair Mansion.”
“A pretty solid idea,” Gabby agrees. “It’s why that’s our next question.”
Reign’s eyes scan the seven red pins on the map. Each one representing a woman ripped from her life, leaving nothing but fear and confusion behind. “And we have more pressing things to focus on,” he points out.
The missing women, one of whom is Arielle’s mother.
Turning back to the others, he voices what no one else has. What he’d never say if Arielle was here. “If Sierra’s not dead already, then it’s only a matter of time before that changes.”
Gabby’s hand shoots out to grip Colt’s. “Sierra's a fighter,” she whispers. “She’d do everything in her power to get back to Arielle.”
“And we will find her,” Colt says firmly, squeezing Gabby’s hand. “We have to.”
Reign glances at the door, wishing he could be out there doing more than just talking about this. For a moment, he’s tempted to leave. To go find the answers they so desperately need. But he crushes the idea the moment it sparks. Kane, a detective who’s possibly also a demon, wants him too bad.
His jaw tightens. “Let’s hope Mac finds out something useful.”
MAC
Mac kicks at a milk crate in the middle of the dingy living room and it crashes into the wall with a gratifying thud.
“Where are you?” she huffs into the empty room.
This is the third time she’s visited the hangout in her search for Darnell and Rico, and the third time she’s come up empty. In fact, the place looks like they haven’t been here at all in the past day or so. No new takeout boxes or soda cans, no drug paraphernalia lying around.
It’s like they’re avoiding the place.
Ducking through the half-hanging door, she stands on the porch, her hands on her hips. In fact, everyone has been avoiding her.
Each person she’s run into has suddenly remembered they’re supposed to be somewhere, have a drug-induced case of amnesia in relation to the past two days, or have a long story to tell her about some fight they saw between two or three people she’s never heard of, never letting her get a word in edgewise.
No one saw or knows anything about a white van, even though one of the women was abducted not far from here. Mac’s spent enough time on the streets to know that’s a load of crap. Knowing everything about everything is how you stay alive out here.
Mac skips down the stairs, avoiding the one that’s little more than a death trap if someone were to put their foot through it, and makes her way to the pavement. She’s not going back to Reign and the others without some sort of information.
She’s just about to stride away when a noise has her stopping. It’s little more than the rustle of a garbage bag, but she’s always had sensitive hearing, and she most definitely heard it. Turning to the alley down the side of the house, Mac narrows her eyes. Her eyesight is as sharp as her hearing.
A cat leaps out from behind a dumpster, yowling as it streaks down the alley toward her. The mangy looking feline barely looks at her as it disappears under the stairs of the house. Even though the noise was just explained, Mac waits. If she were to put money on it, that cat looked like it just got shoved. Plus, why would it leave a dumpster and run toward a human?
She goes as still as the rotting building beside her, barely breathing. Just as she suspected, Darnell’s head pops up from behind the dumpster a moment later.
Mac stalks toward them. “Lost something?”
Darnell leaps to his feet, shocked fear stamped across his features. “Mac!”
“Surprise,” she growls as she stands a few feet away in the middle of the alley, blocking their exit.
Darnell shuffles uncomfortably as Rico does the opposite. His body unwinds as he slouches, his gaze becoming hooded. “Hey, girl. Where ya been?”
Having my mind blown, Mac thinks, in the best way possible. Although learning about the supernatural has overturned Reign’s world, for some reason, it was far less of a paradigm shift for her. It just…made sense.
“Having my nails done,” she snaps back. She turns her gaze to Darnell, knowing she won’t get any answers from shifty Rico. “What were you two doing out here?”
“Dumping anything that’s hot.”
Mac doesn’t point out the stupidity of doing that just outside the house they’re using as their hangout. “Why?”
Rico leans a little to the left, shifting subtly in front of Darnell. “Maybe we’ve seen the error of our ways.”
“Wonderful,” Mac beams. “Then if you know anything about a white van taking a woman several days ago, you’d tell me.”
Rico’s face instantly shutters, his relaxed pose gaining tense lines. “Sure we would.”
Darnell nods. “If we knew something, which we don’t.”
Mac strides f
orward, slamming her hands onto each of their chests and shoving them back against the dumpster. She’s had enough of the run arounds, the evasion, the lies. She has enough history with these two for them to trust her.
“People’s lives are at stake. Tell me. Now.”
Darnell lifts his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Honest, Mac. If we knew anything, we’d tell ya.”
She can’t believe she invited these dropkicks to the hangout. “I’m not in the mood for games, Darnell,” she snaps. “Reign’s in trouble and he needs our help.”
Darnell shifts uncomfortably again, but before he can say anything, Rico is knocking away Mac’s hand. “Then your lover boy needs to make better choices, don’t he?”
He shoves past Mac. “Come on, Darnell. We ain’t hanging around here.”
Darnell slips past Mac but then hesitates. “The cops are looking for Reign,” he says quietly as if trying to explain. “Some detective came looking for him.”
“And?” Mac demands. “That’s enough for you to turn your backs on him?”
“It’s not just that!” Darnell half shouts. “Some girl called Lizzie was also snooping around, asking after him. He’s getting a little too popular for our tastes.”
Anger sizzles up Mac’s spine. “After he gave you a place to stay? After he was your getaway driver?”
Darnell’s gaze slips away as Rico shrugs. “He’d do the same.”
Except Reign wouldn’t. Despite his opinion of himself, Mac knew Reign was different from every other lost and forgotten kid she’d met, and she’s spent her entire life in the foster care system. He’s not like these two.
“Cowards,” Mac spits. “You don’t have the balls or the brains to be half the guy Reign is.”
Darnell winces as Rico’s lip curls. He takes a step forward and Mac draws in a breath charged with anticipation. Rico has no idea what he’s up against.
Because Mac isn’t just fighting to find these missing women. Reign may not be her lover boy as this douche has insinuated, but he’s still her everything. Her best friend. Her brother in arms against a society that’s forgotten them. They’re family, one forged by connection, not blood.