Traitor

by Claire Farrell

  He looked surprised. “Block it? In theory, yes, but it would be highly unlikely. It’s a difficult trick to perform and even harder to sustain.”

  A lot of highly unlikely things had happened recently.

  He leaned forward eagerly. “Maybe we have a connection. Perhaps that’s why she sees me. It’s possible that my being around has pushed everything else away.”

  Or maybe there was something important involving Phoenix that she was meant to see. Maybe the visions were urgent because they contained a message she was supposed to understand.

  “Lucia saw Koda’s death coming,” I said after a moment. “It was a while ago, but it seemed like a clear vision.”

  “He’s old. His time will come soon, and the Council will be at odds as the quest for power begins again.”

  “Your mother might—”

  “She can’t be the one,” he said firmly, as if reassuring himself. “You didn’t see her in the UK. She was everything a leader should be, and she wants me to be happy. I had my doubts before, but she’s behaved so differently that—”

  “She’s different because you’re playing by her rules now,” I said.

  Red dots coloured the centres of his cheeks. “I should go. They’ll be wondering where I’ve gotten to. I haven’t left the werewolves alone much in a long time. There will be talk if I’m seen here. I’ve been watching my mother, and I believe there are a lot of things I haven’t learned yet. I won’t trust anyone completely until I learn more. I want an explanation as to why I gave up my memories. I’ll keep out of the way as much as possible until I can explain it to Lucia and Lorcan. Can you let them know I’m thinking of them?”

  The pain in his eyes caused a lump to form in my throat. “Of course.”

  I walked him outside, feeling as though I should say something but unable to figure out what that might be. I had felt a connection to the confused fae ever since we fought together with the werewolves. We were both struggling to find ourselves, both lost once we left the battlefield. Knowing I wasn’t the only oddball in the world was sort of a relief.

  At my gate, he hesitated. “I should go,” he said again.

  “Are you still… I mean, are you free to come and go as you please?”

  He shrugged. “I’m no longer exiled. I apparently proved myself enough for that. My desire to battle rather than deal in politics was finally of some use. No longer the disappointment.” His smile lacked humour. “My mother doesn’t want anyone to know we’ve returned early, so I’m not supposed to be seen.”

  I grinned. “Maybe people will think you’re Lorcan.”

  His face lit up. “That would be convenient. Ava, I—”

  “Ava?”

  We both turned to see Leah a few yards away, her hood covering her eyes and a bow and a quiver full of arrows strapped to her shoulder.

  A warning chill spread down my spine. “You okay?” I asked, sensing Phoenix bristle beside me.

  “I woke up. Felt power,” she explained. She tipped her head, and her hood fell. She had recently turned sixteen and managed to look innocent and wise at the same time. She was an important human, and a good ally to have, but having her around was risky, considering her ability to find power. If I took Mrs. Yaga’s path, whatever that truly was, I would no longer be able to fight for people like Leah.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s just leaving. Go back to bed.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, twisting her foot on the pavement. “The thing is, this could be a good time to go see the children if we bring him with us. Nobody would stop him, and—”

  “Leah, I can’t risk you like that. The Council could take you in again.”

  Her cheeks flushed red. “But I can help. I can figure out what they can do, what everyone is trying to use against you.”

  I sighed, surprised that Leah was being so open around Phoenix when nobody else seemed to trust him.

  He nudged my elbow. “I’m curious, too. I can take her with me. I will protect her.”

  Leah grinned, probably realising I was half-afraid to say no to the fae in case he turned on us.

  “If you tell Val I did this, I will kill you,” I warned her. “I’m going, too.”

  “Great. I already left a note for Val, though,” Leah admitted. “She might go on a rampage if she realises I’m missing, so I’m not taking any chances.”

  “Got it all worked out, eh?” I took a deep breath before facing Phoenix. “If you or any of the Council lay a hand on this girl, I will end you.”

  His amusement at the threat didn’t help my fear. I had seen Phoenix fight. I had heard rumours of the scope of his mother’s power. I really didn’t want to go up against him, but I would if necessary.

  “Come on,” he said. “My driver’s waiting.” Seeing my hesitation, he nodded. “He’s mine now. Don’t worry.”

  I decided not to think about what that meant. He strode off, leaving Leah and me to trail behind him.

  “That was a dangerous move,” I whispered to Leah. “You don’t know him.”

  “I know enough,” she replied, jutting her chin stubbornly. “He feels like Lorcan.”

  “Don’t let Lorcan’s goodness confuse you. We can’t trust anyone. That’s our default mode. Remember that, Leah.”

  “You trust him.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Maybe I’m not the best judge of character.”

  She patted my arm. “You’ve done okay so far.”

  Not always.

  The car was outside the cul-de-sac, and I recognised the driver as someone I had once threatened. His head bopped in time with obnoxiously loud music, and he sang along, never missing a word.

  Leah exchanged a glance with me. Phoenix opened the front door on the passenger side, and the driver jumped about a foot in the air, his face paling. His fingers fumbled with the radio. I smiled at him, and he blessed himself. I popped open the back door, and Leah and I slid into the car.

  Phoenix snapped out directions.

  The driver hesitated. “It’s just that… we’ve been warned, you know?” The man looked as though he was trying to figure out which order was the most life-threatening.

  “Who am I?” Phoenix asked coolly.

  “I’ll take you, but—”

  “Silence.”

  The driver clamped his mouth shut and drove us to the grounds where the children lived. The grounds were beautiful, but the building reminded me of an asylum. We had risked death to rescue those children from Hell, but they were trapped again, waiting to be used by yet another master. I had failed them in the worst way, and I owed it to them to figure out a way to get them back to their families. Besides, I felt a connection to them because Emmett would have been trapped amongst them if somebody from the slave market hadn’t decided to get rid of him first.

  We got out of the car at the gates to find sleeping Guardians in the security hut instead of alert warriors.

  “This is weird,” I whispered. “Leah, get back in the car.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “We’ve come this far.”

  “We’ll edge around the wall,” Phoenix said, gazing around. “If we just—”

  I held up a hand to silence him and pointed to a small garden on the left. From previous visits, I knew a bench was there, surrounded by trees and plants and well hidden, particularly in the dark. Two sets of racing heartbeats had alerted me.

  Leah nodded and strode toward the shrubbery. She felt something, just as I did, and she had apparently forgotten the meaning of the word caution. Phoenix hurried to lead the way, and I kept at the back to ensure nobody could get to Leah without going through either Phoenix or me. The place could have been under attack, but I didn’t sense any rage or bloodlust in the air.

  We crept beyond the trees, where I heard giggles and whispering. On the bench sat a figure straddled by a teenage girl with her skirt around her hips. I covered Leah’s eyes without a second thought. She pulled away my hand with an embarrassed groan.

  The b
oy froze and then laughed, the sound ringing loudly in the night air. The girl automatically adjusted her skirt. He gripped her tighter and leaned his chin on her shoulder, his dark hair falling into his eyes. She pressed her face against his neck, shaking with laughter.

  “I remember you,” he said, looking at me.

  As we approached them, Phoenix said, “I take it you two have something to do with the sleeping Guardians.” He sounded slightly impressed.

  “You helped us,” I said. “You helped fight against the guards in the slave market.”

  “And look where it got me,” the boy replied. “Prettier place, but a prison all the same.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m trying to change that. What did you do to the Guardians?”

  He patted the girl on the back. “Some of us have skills.” He grinned. “What are you sneaking around for?”

  “We just want to take a look around. If we go inside, will there be any Guardians awake?”

  He shrugged. “Hard to tell. Her tricks can be kind of unstable. We left the side door open. Go in that way. If anyone’s around, it’s probably just kitchen staff.”

  “How are they treating you here?” Phoenix asked.

  “Same as anywhere else. Now, do you mind? We don’t get much time alone.” He gave us a lopsided smile that was pretty endearing, but the hardness remained in his eyes.

  Again, I was forced to remind myself that the children had been raised in death and blood and fear. The boy in front of me had killed, been trained to kill. Emmett might have gone through the exact same thing.

  We left them there, the girl’s giggles erupting as soon as we were out of sight.

  “Maybe we should have separated them,” I said, feeling a little uncomfortable at the realisation that both teens were probably only a little older than Leah.

  “We don’t have time for a scene,” Phoenix said. “You said he helped you before?”

  I exhaled loudly. “When we finally got to the market in Hell, he was one of the guards. The ones who aren’t sold have to work there. He turned on the guards who attacked us then asked us not to hurt the children.” I thought of Emmett with a pang. “They grow up fast in the market. But I’m not so sure they know how to handle the things they’ve gone through.”

  Leah trembled next to me.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  She nodded. “If it wasn’t for Val, I’d be one of them. I’d be stuck here. Emmett, too. Even Dita if things had been different. Imagine if someone like you had ended up here. This is just another prison. You can’t let this keep happening, Ava. You have to stop it.”

  I took her hand. “I’m doing my best, Lee. It’s just taking longer than I expected.”

  “My mother won’t let that happen,” Phoenix said in a low voice. “You’d have to kill her first, and you would never get close enough to her to cause her harm. She would kill you before you could attack in any case. I don’t think you realise what she can do. If her sights are set on these children, forget them.”

  “Then I’ll have to convince her she’s wrong,” I said firmly.

  He scoffed, “You are nothing more than an ant to her. She’ll step on you and forget your name immediately.”

  Leah stepped right up to Phoenix and put her hands on her hips, looking fierce for the first time since we had met. “Ants work together for the good of the colony. They do what’s best for everyone, and they survive. Your mother only cares about herself.”

  He shook with fury. “You know nothing about my mother.”

  I stepped between them. “Calm down. She’s a teenage girl. Take your anger out on me if you can’t control yourself but don’t even think about putting it on her.”

  “We should hurry,” was his reply. “We don’t have much time.”

  He turned abruptly and headed for the building. Leah and I had to jog to keep up with him.

  He stayed silent until we grew close to the end of the driveway. “I should go in first. Scope out the situation.”

  “Maybe we should stick together.” I gazed at the building. “Leah’s probably safer with you than me when it comes to Guardians.”

  Leah looked paler than usual.

  “You okay?” I asked her.

  She nodded, looking determined, and took a step forward. “Let’s get on with this.”

  We snuck around the building to the side door and into the kitchen. The area was strangely empty of life, but as soon as we stepped outside of the kitchen, Leah gasped and sagged against the wall.

  “It’s too much,” she said. “There’s so much here. I can’t…” She shook her head.

  Phoenix lifted her into his arms, gentle despite his earlier anger. “We should leave.”

  She struggled against him. “I’m fine. We’re here. We can’t turn back. If we just walk around for a bit, maybe I could get used to how it feels.”

  Phoenix nodded, but he didn’t put her down. He carried the girl as if she weighed nothing, and I followed, sending my other senses outward in an attempt to gain an early warning.

  “It’s so overwhelming,” Leah said in a small voice. “It’s worse than I expected. Whoever has control of the people in these walls will win any battle at all, but it’s self-destructive. There might not be anything left afterward. It’s out of control.”

  “What can you feel?” I whispered.

  “Power that hasn’t been controlled. It’s all over the place, wreaking havoc. It feels like… chaos. There’s a natural witch in here, one who hasn’t been taught. Her power’s so raw that… we need to get out of here. It’s dangerous. If a fight breaks out, the fear and anger could provoke a disaster.”

  Phoenix didn’t hesitate. He led us back the way we came. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted him to see more, to hear more, but if Leah was scared, then I would listen.

  Outside, Phoenix put Leah down, and she knelt on the grass, breathing deeply.

  “They need to be trained,” she said. “They need to be taught control. They need to be separated. There’s too much going on in there. Poor Emmett if that’s what he lived with all those years.”

  My blood ran cold at the memories of Emmett and his night terrors, of the things he had hinted he had to do to survive in Hell.

  “Do the Council know exactly what they have on their hands?” Leah was rarely unruffled, but she looked horrified. “If people find out, they’ll want to kill them. It’s like you, Ava. They thought it would be better if you were dead than risk what you could possibly do, right? That’s going to happen here when they’ve stopped being useful, or when word gets out. Except they could probably protect themselves as a group. There would be a bloodbath. We have to do something.”

  “We should get out of here,” Phoenix said, but approaching footsteps sent us all on red alert.

  “Run,” I hissed. “Get her out of here. Leah can’t stay here, Phoenix. You saw her. This place would kill her. Move!”

  He hesitated.

  “You promised,” I said pleadingly, and he nodded.

  I ran toward the footsteps, hoping to hold them off long enough for Phoenix to take Leah to safety. I jogged the length of the building and met three Guardians. The first, a dark-haired giant froze, staring at me in confusion, while the second cracked his tattooed knuckles, a sly smile on his face.

  “What are you doing here?” the third asked in a commanding tone.

  “Needed to check up on everyone. Make sure they’re still here and safe.”

  He took a step toward me. “That’s our job.”

  “Don’t really trust the tattoos.” I nodded at the second one’s hands. “And I’m pretty sure he isn’t on the same side as me.”

  The dark-haired Guardian calmly took a step toward me, catching my attention while the second swung out some kind of metal chain and whacked me in the shoulder.

  Yelping with pain, I yanked at the metal. It slipped out of my fingers, but my tug pulled the Guardian off balance. Swearing, he dropped the chain and unsheathed a knife.r />
  “Enough,” the dark-haired one said, sounding confused by the tattooed Guardian’s action.

  “As long as she’s still breathing, it’s never enough.”

  The dark-haired Guardian frowned. “Our orders aren’t to murder her.”

  “Self-defence,” the tattooed one said. “She’s probably here with all of her rebels.”

  I laughed scornfully. “Yeah, we’ve just overrun the place. Can’t you see all of those invisible fighters?”

  “A distraction,” he said. “While the others kidnap the children or murder them in their beds.”

  “He could be right.” The third fled. I didn’t exactly blame him. In fact, I wished I could run away, too.

  “We’re not killing her,” the dark-haired Guardian said firmly.

  “We all have our orders,” the tattooed Guardian said, smiling as he slit his companion’s throat. He advanced on me without even glancing back to see if the other Guardian had fallen.

  I backed up in disgust. “Killing your own now?”

  Not all of the Guardians were on the same side. Too many took orders from someone they held more loyalty for than the official Council, someone who was becoming so sure of themselves that they were taking more obvious measures to gain control. The more steps I took, the further away the truth seemed to lead, but I had my suspicions.

  The remaining Guardian was large, at least a foot taller and a hell of a lot of pounds heavier than I was, and he had something I didn’t: an eagerness to die for his cause. I accepted that my causes could one day lead to my death, but I wasn’t trying to speed up the process. Still, my biggest reasons to survive had left me. I also had a lingering injury, and taking a life sometimes left a bad taste in my mouth. But those tattoos definitely stirred the heat in my blood.

  “So whose bitch are you anyway?” I asked, narrowly avoiding another strike.

  Madness flashed in his eyes. “You won’t live long enough to see for yourself.”

  “You can’t kill me. Don’t you know how many of your brothers I’ve killed all by myself? What’s so special about you?”

  He laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “You think we would waste our best warriors on the likes of you? The rest of us were busy dealing with more important matters while you danced with lesser men.”