Taste

by Claire Farrell

  The concern in his voice broke me. “They killed him,” I whispered, an aching in my throat making it impossible to raise my voice. “Someone murdered him.”

  “Ava, look around you. Is anyone there? Be aware. I know you’re upset, but this could be about you.”

  “No, it’s not… nobody’s close by. He’s been here a while. You really think this is about me?”

  “Of course. You haven’t been making friends, Ava.”

  My stomach somersaulted. “I… Peter and Emmett are out today. They’re going to the cinema.”

  “Which one?”

  I told him, and he tutted.

  “I’ll call the Guardians,” he said, “and warn them to keep a close eye on both of them. Carl and your grandmother, too. That policeman you suddenly seem to be fond of, also.” He hung up.

  I rang Peter, but he didn’t answer, so I texted him, tears standing in my eyes.

  Of everything I had seen, everything that had happened, Folsom’s death was getting to me the most. Maybe it was because his body was so small, maybe because I knew that his swollen, gnarled fingers couldn’t have done much to defend himself, or maybe because he was an innocent soul only trying to do the right thing. Why couldn’t they have left him alone? Whoever they were.

  My fingers shook so much I could barely type out a readable sentence on my phone. I attempted to text Shay, too, to warn him without revealing too much, but I had no idea if he would pay any attention.

  Next, I rang Carl.

  “They killed Folsom,” I blurted. “Are you safe?”

  “I’m fine,” he said. “Should I come? Do you need me?”

  “I… I need to get him down.”

  “Get him down? Are you at his place? I’m on my way.”

  “Wait, Peter and Emmett are out. Should I… what should I do?” I sucked in a breath, trembling all over. I was helpless when it came down to it. I could only protect the person standing next to me, and I couldn’t be next to everyone I cared about all of the time.

  “The Guardians are watching over Emmett. Wait there.” Carl hung up.

  I had to get Folsom down. That was all I could think about. He couldn’t be dead because of me. I had been standing strong for so long now. Between the deals and the children and Emmett and everything else on my shoulders, I had made sure I carried on. But Folsom’s death was breaking me. It was the final straw. The people against us pushed and pushed, and we had already gone past my limit.

  I climbed the gate, completely forgetting about my fear of heights. I winced at how tightly the wire ties had been knotted around his limbs. It took all I had to rip them, and Folsom’s small body dropped into my arms as if he were sleeping. With him over my shoulder, I climbed down, carried him into the garage, and laid him on the table. I sank to the floor next to him, my hands still shaking. I was unable to look at his body directly. I tried to count, tried to fill my head with anything but how he looked. Nothing worked.

  Carl finally arrived.

  “I should never have let you come,” I told him.

  He leaned his walking stick against a wall. “It’s fine.” He looked over at Folsom’s body and let out a great whoosh of breath. “This is bad.”

  “He was tied to the gate. They left him there, displayed him, so everyone would know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Not to make waves, I assume. Poor Folsom. What am I doing, Carl? People keep getting hurt or having to hide once I come into their lives.”

  He eased his way to the floor and wrapped an arm around me, holding me close to his side. I leaned my face into his shoulder, wondering how he always knew how to make people feel better.

  “It’s not your fault, Ava. He made the choice to stand up for what was right, but it wasn’t his fault either. It’s their fault. The people who murdered him, they’re the only ones who deserve any blame.”

  “I need to tell them. Everyone downstairs.”

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “What if someone comes? What if someone comes for you?”

  “Why would they?”

  “Gabe said—”

  “Gabe doesn’t know,” he said firmly. “I’ll come down with you if you want.”

  “But the steps—”

  “I don’t care. Ava, we’ll go down together. I’m not leaving you alone when you’re like this. You’re kind of freaking me out.”

  I made a weird noise, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound… let me come with you. Please.”

  I nodded, unsure of myself still. I had been happy, but…

  We made it down the stairs, but as we prepared to enter Folsom’s sanctuary, my stomach turned.

  “I’m scared to tell them,” I admitted when Carl questioned my hesitancy.

  “I’ll tell them,” he said, pulling me to him for a hug. “It’s okay. Everyone else is fine.”

  I nodded. Tears sprang to my eyes again, tears for one brave goblin who had tried to keep his wife’s spirit alive by doing something that would have made her proud. I led Carl through the door.

  As soon as the others saw my face, they knew. All of the people there depended on Folsom, on that one soul who made sure they survived.

  “We’re so sorry,” Carl said. “He’s gone.”

  A couple of people wrapped their arms around the person next to them, clinging to each other in their sorrow. Some wandered away to mourn in peace and probably contemplate their uncertain futures. I didn’t know all of their names, hadn’t spoken to every single one of them, but I felt the pain of each and every one.

  The part-fae twins hugged me, and a vision flew in front of my eyes, thanks to Lucia. Two hooded figures. Tall, broad. I prayed one of them hadn’t been Aiden. I glanced at Lucia, but she shrugged almost imperceptibly, her pale eyes full of sorrow. She had known, and she hadn’t told. She couldn’t, not without risking everyone in the sanctuary. Folsom had been the sacrifice to keep the rebels safe.

  “What happened?” Val was the only one brave enough to ask the question.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know yet. He’s… his body is upstairs, but I don’t know who did it or why.”

  “You know why,” Val said. “He was brave. He didn’t bring them down here.”

  I thought of his broken body and nodded. “He was definitely brave.”

  “We’ll all want to say goodbye,” Leah said softly. The teen looked as though the world weighed heavily on her shoulders, and I wished I could give her freedom. “He wanted to be buried under the tree behind his home. It’s where his wife was laid to rest. He mentioned it to me only a couple of weeks ago.” She looked away, scraping her top lip with her teeth.

  “I’ll see what we can do,” I said. “It has to be safe.”

  “An hour would be enough,” Val said. “We’ve enough fighters to protect ourselves for that long.”

  I nodded, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “I’ll try to organise something. We need to go, but I’ll be back. Try not to worry.”

  “I’ll keep them calm,” Esther promised.

  When Carl and I got back upstairs, my phone rang. Gabe.

  “I couldn’t make contact with the Guardians on Peter and Emmett, so I went to find them. They had already come for the boy,” he said breathlessly. “We fought them off, but more could come. We’re on our way to you. Peter says it’s the only safe place.”

  “Do you need me to meet you? Is everyone okay?”

  “We’ll find you there.” He disconnected.

  I retched again. “They were attacked. They’re coming here. He didn’t say anything else. I don’t know if they’re okay. We need to cover the body if Emmett’s coming here. We need to—”

  “Calm down.” Carl laid his hand on my arm. “Sit. I’ll deal with it. I’ll speak to Gabe about the funeral, okay? You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “Go back down when you’re done. I’ll follow you when they get here. I need some air,” I mumbled, stumbling outside. Everything was f
alling apart, and I had no control over any of it.

  I waited by the gate, desperately counting, needing something to make sense. Peter’s car pulled up, and he parked at an angle. I ran to open the doors, and I almost fell over when I saw the bruise on Emmett’s cheek. I had to stay strong for him, but a violent rage brewed within me. I couldn’t allow my enemies to pick off the people in my life. I had to fight back. I had to fight first. We had to stop being victims to higher powers.

  “Inside,” Gabe said.

  I lifted Emmett and ran with him. I heard the others following, but I hurried down the stairs, not pausing for anything. The four of us made it down the stairs, but I couldn’t take any chances. We hurried into the sanctuary; I kept checking behind us. There was nothing, and nothing made sense.

  Esther ran to greet us. “What happened?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

  “Let them sit,” Carl said.

  We all moved to take seats around the long table in the common area. Peter and Gabe had been injured, too. Nothing serious, but my heart hardened. Emmett sat next to me, and I held his hand as tight as I could without hurting him.

  “Two humans tried to take Emmett,” Peter said.

  “Humans?” I asked. Then my heart fell. “You mean shadows, right?” Had they been the figures from Lucia’s flash of a vision?

  Gabe nodded. “I saw it. They were cloaked with darkness. I arrived as these two were trying to fight them off. They were as strong as any of our Guardians. Very disturbing.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Coyle.”

  “Possibly,” Gabe admitted. “I’m certain both were controlled by demonic entities. Neither man survived the attack, but we hurried here.”

  “Couldn’t risk anything else,” Peter said. “I knew this place would be more secure than home.”

  “Mrs. Yaga—”

  “This is more secure,” he insisted.

  I knew he was right. “Why now? Why not me? I mean, it would make the most sense to take me out first.”

  “You’ve made it clear that doesn’t work,” Peter reminded.

  “Well, this has to end,” I said. “Where’s Coyle? I’m going to remove his head from his body.”

  Gabe made a frustrated sound. “He’s supposed to have left with Reuben. Fionnuala made a last-minute change. We still haven’t heard from either of them.”

  “Let me guess, Gideon’s gone off the radar, too.” I could tell by his expression that I had guessed correctly. “Shi… sugar.”

  Peter rolled his eyes. “So he’s stuck here. Emmett’s stuck here until we find Coyle.”

  “You’re both stuck here until I find Coyle,” I corrected.

  “Don’t even start,” he said. “There’s no chance of me sitting in here hiding when people are out there trying to take my son.”

  “I doubt they want your son,” Gabe said. “Not that he isn’t… pleasant, but it seems more like a distraction. That’s what worries me. Distraction from what? Perhaps someone watched you in order to find Folsom and sent the humans after the boy to cause mayhem and confusion.”

  “Does that make Folsom a distraction?” I asked. “Or a punishment?”

  “Maybe both,” Val said. “But who would have anything against him? I mean aside from whoever wants to find out what he’s been hiding. They could only know if they were spying on us. They could only know if they were involved in the slave market because that’s when everything came to light.”

  Gabe ran his hands through his hair as if he wanted to yank it out. “We shut that down.”

  “We all know that somebody powerful was involved,” Carl said. “It couldn’t have been so easy.”

  Val replied, “He’s right. They gave us what they didn’t particularly want. Not enough children, not enough guards, and then the death of anyone in the Council’s cells waiting to be questioned. Pretty clear messages.”

  Esther nodded, tapping her fingers on the table. “This is important. Maybe the distraction is because they’re setting up the slave market again.”

  “Or taking the children back,” Carl said.

  I nodded. “You said it yourself, Gabe. Some of the kids are vicious, and you haven’t even dipped into what they can actually do. Maybe somebody wants to take them back.”

  “Or steal them for themselves,” he said pointedly.

  I ran my finger along the brand around my wrist. “Maybe this means we’re getting too close to something. To the truth maybe.”

  “Enough speculation,” Peter said. “We need to do something.”

  “Like what?” Cam said as he strolled into the room. “Hello, cousin.”

  Gabe all but fell out of his chair.“You!”

  “Small world.”Cam took a seat. “You can’t do anything until you have an answer to at least one of your questions. Speculation can get you killed.”

  “Do you have answers?” Gabe leaned across the table, his eyes fierce. “Or are you here to cause problems?”

  “I’m atoning,” Cam said pleasantly. “Something we have in common. I’m sad that Folsom’s time has ended, but there’s always something larger afoot.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Esther snapped. “He enjoys the sound of his own voice. Ignore him.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked Emmett when I felt him shiver.

  He nodded, but his eyes turned cold. “I wasn’t going to let them take me, Ava. I wasn’t going to leave you.”

  I hesitated, unsure of his mood, but I patted his hand. “Of course not. It’s over now. You’re safe here.”

  “I need to fight,” he said. “What if they come to the house? Dad’s right. We need to fight them.”

  “Hold on a second,” Peter said when I glared at him. “I definitely did not mean you. You’re staying here, where I know you’ll be safe.”

  Esther sighed. “I’ll watch over him if we’re both going to be stuck here.”

  “You both should stay here.” I gestured at Peter and Carl. “Gabe can’t watch all of you.”

  “That’s the problem.” Gabe cleared his throat. “There were Guardians watching over Emmett, but nobody was around when the attack happened. That concerns me.”

  “Who has control over the Guardians?” Peter demanded. “Specifically?”

  “Koda and Fionnuala have the ultimate say, but—”

  I interrupted Gabe to ask, “So one of them called off the Guardians?”

  “Not necessarily,” Gabe said. “They could be dead. They could have been slacking. They could—”

  “Stop making excuses for them,” Esther said. “The whole thing stinks. Oh!” Her eyes lit up. “Robbie might be able to find out.”

  “The tech guy?” Gabe asked.

  “Yeah,” Esther said. “He’s, um, been doing me some favours.”

  Gabe rubbed his palms against his eyes as he sucked in a breath. “Do you have any idea of how dangerous that is? Who could be watching?”

  “Like Peter keeps saying, we have to do something,” she protested. “Robbie’s not in danger, right?”

  Gabe shrugged. “Probably not. He’s just a human.” He caught my glare. “Ahem, no offence,” he muttered. It kind of tickled me that he was on his best behaviour all of a sudden, but in a way, that proved how seriously he took the latest situation.

  “If something’s up with the Guardians, does that mean we can’t attend Folsom’s funeral?” Carl asked.

  “His funeral?” Gabe sounded confused, as if we were going to ditch poor Folsom in the nearest dump.

  “Yes, his funeral.” I frowned at the angel, daring him to argue. “He wanted to be buried behind his house. We’re all going, so you have to make sure nothing bad happens.”

  Gabe rubbed the bridge of his nose before nodding. “Fine. We can do that.”

  “What next?” Peter asked. “What exactly are we aiming for here? I mean, we can’t stay down here forever. There has to be an end. So when is it?”

  I looked at Gabe. “You need to find out where
Coyle is. Remember, if one of my people gets hurt, so do you.”

  “I’m fully aware of that,” he said, a sardonic smile on his face. “But I can’t summon people who don’t want to be found. There’s not a lot I can do when someone goes to ground.”

  “You can look,” I said. “Where’s Lucia?”

  Val called over the twins. Kate followed Lorcan as closely as Lucia. Cam tensed at Kate’s presence.

  “Any useful visions?” I asked Lorcan.

  Lorcan shook his head. “Nothing new. It’s getting a little suspicious. We’ve been wondering about it for a while, but it’s as if someone, or something, is blocking her. She sees a little, but nothing particularly useful.”

  Except the hooded figures. If someone could block images, perhaps they could project them, too. That person could give Lucia the one vision that could have revealed everyone if she had let Lorcan know, the one vision that could have led to more deaths. My heart rate quickened.

  “Who could do that?” I wondered aloud.

  “They’re out of the ordinary,” Cam said. “It’s impossible to say.”

  “Fae?” Carl asked. “Is that a fae thing?”

  “The fae have a million and one uses, depending on their pedigree,” Cam explained. “No useful answers there either.”

  “Do you have to be so negative?” A growl erupted from Esther’s throat. Her patience had already worn thin.

  Cam shook his head. “Not negative. Realistic. No point wasting your time thinking about something that doesn’t have a concrete answer.”

  Gabe stood abruptly, his eyes still on Cam. “Your sense of justice has changed dramatically, cousin. Much like your appearance.”

  Cam laughed as if genuinely amused. “Change attacks even the most virtuous, or so it would seem.”

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Gabe said, turning to me. “If I have to protect your humans, I need to figure out what’s going on. I’m leaving.”

  “I’m going, too.” I frowned as almost all of my friends got to their feet. “Alone.”

  “It’s too risky,” Peter began.

  I held up my hands. “I need to check on people. The cul-de-sac, my grandmother.” I swallowed. “Oh, crap.”

  “What?” Peter asked warily.

  “Shay called me before. Said he was in a bit of trouble at work for asking questions. You don’t think…”