Aisling leaned forward, instantly alert. “Fewer souls?”
“That’s what you would think given what’s going on, but it’s the opposite,” I replied. “We’re seeing more souls. Like ... a lot more.”
“I don’t understand.” Aisling ran her fingers over her stomach as she leaned back in her chair, making a face that caused my heart to skip a beat.
“What was that?” I rolled my chair closer to her. “What was that?”
Bewildered, she glanced to her left and right. “What was what?”
“That. You made a face as if you were in pain. You’re not in labor, are you?”
“You’re the one who needs to calm down now,” she chided, shaking her head. “I’m always in pain these days. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. These chairs aren’t exactly comfortable. My back hurts. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Oh.” I was embarrassed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you that way.”
Aisling cocked a dubious eyebrow. “You haven’t heard yelling until you steal my father’s car and the police pick you up in it.”
Oliver snickered. “Did that really happen?”
“Several times.”
“No wonder your father blames you for his gray hair.” Oliver pushed several buttons and slowly got to his feet. “The Grimlocks are sending another batch in about twenty minutes. Apparently they’re waiting for two people to return. They’re close.”
I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “Okay.”
“I’m going to run to the bathroom and then get something to drink,” he volunteered. “I’ll be back in time to watch you do the intake. You haven’t handled it by yourself yet, and I think you need to get comfortable with the process.”
Guilt coiled in my belly. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. This whole week hasn’t gone as I expected. I thought my biggest problem was going to be holding back my natural propensity to be a shrill busybody. That would’ve been a blessing at this point, huh?”
Oliver flicked my ear in a playful manner. “Things will work out. This week hasn’t been easy, but we work in a field where death comes calling regularly. Nothing is ever truly normal.”
He had a point. “Take your break. I’ll stay here and entertain our guest. By the way, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You need a break from the mouth over here.” I jerked a thumb in Aisling’s direction and ignored her indignant grunt. “I don’t blame you. I’ll take watch this time. You can have the next watch.”
“Oh, there’s not going to be a next watch,” he drawled as he moved toward the door. “I’m going to call her father and tell him where she is before that happens.”
“Tattletale!” Aisling shouted.
“I like to think of myself as a survivalist.”
Aisling watched Oliver escape the room with a dark glare, waiting until she was certain he was gone to speak again. “So ... what’s going on with you and my brother?”
The question took me by surprise. “What?” I meant to sound innocent, as if I was truly surprised. Instead I sputtered, and almost tripped over the single word. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you’re a crappy liar,” Aisling supplied. “We’ll work on that going forward. If you plan to hang with my brother, you’ll need to learn how to manipulate him. To do that, you’ll have to be a much better liar.”
I was flabbergasted ... and a bit uncomfortable. “What makes you think I’m doing anything with your brother?”
“I heard him talking to Redmond when he was getting ready for work this morning — I can’t sleep for more than three hours in a row without having to go to the bathroom — and they thought they were speaking privately so he didn’t hold anything back.”
“So?”
“So, he said he spent the night with you.”
A burning sensation crept up my cheeks. “It’s not what you think.”
Aisling studied my face. “He said that he slept in the chair by your bed.”
“Okay, it’s exactly what you think.”
“He also said he was fine with it,” she added.
“How was he supposed to feel?”
Aisling shrugged. “My brother isn’t known for being the best date. In fact, there are times when I think he’s something of a jerk when it comes to women. But he never just sleeps on the chair ... or the couch. He always gets some action.”
“That must be those world-famous Grimlock looks,” I muttered under my breath as I pretended to focus on the screen to avoid meeting Aisling’s intense gaze. “He’s handsome, so he thinks every woman wants to fall at his feet.”
“All my brothers think that. It’s not necessarily their fault because women have been throwing themselves at their feet since they were teenagers. We’re talking grown women trying to get it on with sixteen-year-old boys. It was disgusting.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“The thing is, my brother is a horn dog and I’ve never thought otherwise,” she pressed. “Last night, though, something happened that caused him to worry about you. He put you to bed, and instead of trying to put the moves on you he slept in the chair to make sure you were okay.”
“It was a chivalrous effort,” I agreed. It was also necessary due to the freezing rain, I silently added.
“It was a moment of growth,” Aisling corrected. “He was more worried about you than he was about his own needs. That’s huge for Braden.”
“Well ... we haven’t decided what we’re going to do going forward.” I was uncomfortable with the conversation. It felt like something I should be talking about with Braden, not his sister. “We need to get through this wraith crisis. Then we’ll see what happens.”
“What’s going to happen is you’re going to date my brother,” Aisling said. “I’m going to give you tips on how to control him because I like you and I want this to work.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.” Aisling smiled. “I think you’re going to be good for him. I always assumed he’d bring home some bimbo to irritate me, so I’m happy with this development.”
“I already told you that we don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t think you should bank on an outcome when it could go a different way.”
“And you’re deluding yourself because you’re not ready to deal with what you’re feeling,” Aisling noted. “I find that just as cute as the way Braden asked Redmond if he would look like a schmuck if he bought you flowers.”
My mouth dropped open. “You shouldn’t be telling me this!”
“I have a big mouth. Everybody knows it. Braden should’ve made sure I wasn’t eavesdropping in the hallway if he wanted to keep his secret. That’s on him.”
I wanted to shake her to keep words from tumbling out of her mouth. “I think we should change the subject. In fact ... .” As if on cue, my phone rang. I was relieved when I reached for it. Any distraction was welcome at this point. “Hello?”
“Izzy, it’s Braden.” He sounded frazzled, and I was instantly alert.
“Hi. Is something wrong?”
“We have a lot of somethings going wrong over here,” he said, his voice devoid of all traces of warmth. “First, my sister is missing. She took off in my father’s Bentley. He is spitting mad. We’re searching every fast-food restaurant in a ten-mile radius.”
Guilt threatened to overwhelm me and I swallowed hard. I really should’ve called to let him know where Aisling was. “She’s with me. You don’t have to worry about her. She’s been sitting in the gate room watching us work all afternoon.”
I could practically hear the string of profanity running through Braden’s head on the other side of the call. “She’s with you?”
“Yes. I fed her. Don’t worry. She ate a burger and fries.”
“I’m not worried about her eating. I’m worried about her dying.”
“She’s perfectly safe here.”
“No, she’s not,” Braden barked. “That’s w
hy I called. We just had a confirmed wraith sighting. It was one of the gargoyles in Bub’s group and we know where the wraith is heading.”
Something about the way he phrased the statement caused my stomach to roll. “You’re about to tell me something bad, aren’t you?”
“I am,” Braden confirmed. “The wraith is heading straight for you. It’s probably already on the bridge, not far from the island. You need to find a place to hide ... and you’re going to have to take my sister with you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We’re on our way. We’ll get there as soon as we can. It’s storming, though. Traffic is a mess because the freeways are flooding under the overpasses. We’re on our way, but it’s going to be tight. You’ve got to figure out a way to hold off the wraith until we get there.”
“Okay.”
“I ... will be there as soon as I can.” He sounded lost, but my mind was working at a fantastic rate and I couldn’t worry about what he was feeling.
“Okay,” I repeated. “I have to go now. I need to get your sister out of here.”
“Good luck.”
“I think I’m going to need it.”
Twenty-Seven
“We have to get out of here.”
I intended to be calm, soothing and something of a protective figure when I informed Aisling it was time to flee. Instead, I panicked.
So much for being good in a crisis, something I’d always believed I was.
Aisling, who sat in the chair with her feet propped on the table and a package of licorice resting on her huge stomach, gave me a dark look. “I’m not leaving. Your friend Oliver bought me a huge stack of candy when he fetched my hamburger earlier. I’m eating it.”
I pinned her with a serious look. “We have to go.”
“Why? Do you turn into a pumpkin at eight or something?”
“No.”
Aisling grew quiet as she gnawed her licorice and furrowed her brow. “Who was on the phone?”
“No one.” It wasn’t that I wanted to lie to her so much as I was desperate to keep her from panicking. Things were bad enough without adding Aisling’s special blend of attitude to the mix.
“Who was on the phone?”
“A telemarketer.”
“A telemarketer, huh?” Aisling chewed, thoughtful. “Was it Braden? You can tell me if it was. Do you guys have a date? I’ve already told you that I think it’s great. You’re much better than any of the other women he’s dated, trust me.”
“That’s lovely.” I made up my mind on the spot and strode around the table to grab Aisling’s arm and force her to her feet. “You can tell me all about these women, but after I get you out of here. We can’t stay.”
For the first time since I’d ended the call with Braden, Aisling seemed to grasp that something had changed. Her expression turned serious. “What’s going on?”
I wanted to lie, keep her from freaking out and making so much noise the wraith would have to be deaf not to find us. Instead, I realized that time was critical and I had no choice but to tell the truth. “The wraith is coming.”
“Which wraith? The one who went through the gate?” Aisling did the opposite of panicking and instead bit into her licorice and calmly chewed while talking with her mouth full. “How do you know that?”
“Braden told me. It’s been sighted on the bridge. It should be here any second.”
She swallowed hard as she tilted her head, giving the appearance of great thought. “Are they coming? What am I saying? Of course they're coming. My brothers and father love a big rescue.”
“They’re coming,” I confirmed, hoping that would make her feel better. “I don’t know how long it’ll take them to get here. There’s a storm. Braden said the freeways are flooded in some places.”
“Okay.” Aisling forced a smile as she planted her feet on the ground and stood. The groan she emitted was enough to set my teeth on edge, but she was standing, and I considered that a win. “Where are we going?”
“I was thinking we should go to the casino.” I put my hand to the small of her back to prod her toward the door. She waddled — there was no other way to describe how she moved — and her pace was slow enough that I wanted to scream for her to move faster. “There should be at least a few people there. I haven’t visited the building yet, but it’s got to be better than waiting here.”
“Good point.” Aisling was almost at the door when she pulled up short and froze in place.
I was so intent on getting her out of the room, I didn’t notice she was no longer moving until I smacked into her back. “Don’t stop!”
“Shh.” Aisling pressed a finger to her lips and remained focused on the hallway outside the door. She was so serious, I knew right away something bad was about to happen.
“What is it?”
“Someone is out there.”
“How can you tell?”
She shrugged. “This isn’t my first wraith fight. Believe it or not, before I had a baby firmly planted on my kidneys, I fought them all the time.”
“Great. I’ll have a T-shirt made up in your honor,” I drawled. “We need to get you out of this room right now except … there’s only one exit.”
“I think it’s too late for that anyway.” Aisling remained rooted to her spot as a shadow danced in front of the opening. She didn’t retreat, which would’ve been my first inclination in her position, and instead braced herself.
Thankfully for both of us, the figure that rushed through the doorway didn’t belong to a wraith.
“Oliver?” I’d forgotten he was in the building, so I was understandably relieved. “I’m so glad you’re here. We need to get out of this building. There’s a wraith coming.”
Oliver’s eyes were blank as he glanced between us. Finally, he took me by surprise when he wrapped an arm around Aisling’s waist and swung her heavy frame off the ground. He didn’t look as if he was straining in the least as he curled her body against his chest. “It’s not just one wraith. I counted five, and they’re already at the front door. I saw them on the monitors when I was in the vending room.”
My heart twisted. “Five? That can’t be right.”
“I don’t know what the other four wraiths want — though I can hazard a guess — but the big one is with them. I recognize it from the day it came back through the gate. It seems even bigger than it did that day, if that’s even possible.”
I licked my lips as I glanced around the room. “What should we do? There’s no way out of here.”
“That’s not entirely true.” He strode toward the newly-discovered library. “There’s one way out.”
I scrambled to follow, casting a furtive look over my shoulder in case the wraiths attacked, and did my best to ignore Aisling’s protests.
“Put me down, you Neanderthal,” she groused, frustration evident. “I’m more than capable of walking.”
“Not fast, you’re not,” Oliver shot back, his eyes narrowing as he searched the dim room. His gaze fell on a large window at the back of the space. I’d noticed it earlier — it seemed to look out into nothing — but Oliver seemed happy with the discovery. “There’s a passage back there. It’s old and probably dirty, but it leads to the outside. You should be able to escape that way, Aisling.”
“You must be joking.” Aisling glared into the darkness. “I’m not going in there. It’s probably filled with snakes.”
Oliver made a face. “Why would it be filled with snakes?”
“Because they prefer hiding in dark places ... and, yes, I heard how dirty that sounded the second it left my mouth. It’s too late to take back, so we’re going to pretend I didn’t say it, okay?”
“I don’t care if you turn into the filthiest talker in all the land,” Oliver shot back. “You’re going.” He lowered her to the ground and pushed her closer to me before lifting a chair and aiming it at the glass. “Don’t even think of arguing,” he called over his shoulder. “I know you’re thinking about doing some
whiny thing that makes your father and brothers kowtow to your every whim, but I’m not one of them and it won’t work on me.”
I couldn’t help being impressed as Oliver heaved the chair through the glass, the noise causing me to jolt as I focused on the door to see if anything — wraith or otherwise — would race in our direction. The doorframe remained empty.
“Hold on a second.” Oliver poked his head through the opening he’d created and stared into the darkness. If I didn’t know better — truly, it was impossible for him to make anything out — I would think he actually saw something important. “You’re clear.” He grabbed Aisling again and started feeding her through the opening despite her protests. “You have a straight shot. The hallway is dark, but there’s nothing on the ground to trip you. Take small steps. If you have your phone, use it as a flashlight. The corridor isn’t long. Hopefully you won’t have too much trouble opening the door at the other end.”
Something occurred to me. “How do you even know there’s a door at the other end?”
Oliver’s eyes flashed with impatience. “Does that matter now?”
“It does to me.”
“Well, we don’t have time for a long story,” he said. “Suffice it to say I’ve been here for a long time. I was here before this room was hidden from the world. I knew about this corridor before it was closed off ... and that was a good five years before the library was dry-walled over.”
That couldn’t be right. The room had been closed for at least fifty years. Oliver was thirty — maybe thirty-five if he moisturized a lot. There was absolutely no way he could’ve been around when the library was in use. “I don’t understand.”
“And I can’t explain.” Oliver’s gaze was furtive as he balanced Aisling on her feet. “I’ll stay behind and try to hold them off, try to keep them from jumping through the gate, which I think is their intention. You two need to run for safety.”
I immediately balked. “No way. I’m staying with you.”
“You’re not.” He was firm. “I have the best chance of surviving this. If the wraiths get their hands on you it will be over.”
Only The Lonely (A Death Gate Grim Reapers Thriller Book 1) Page 25