Ignited

by Corrine Jackson

  “It’s stupid, but Alcais lost his mobile phone with a little help from me. Anyway, whenever someone called the house phone, I listened in from my room.” She shuddered, and her nose twitched in distaste. “By the way, my brother and Delia are dating now. I won’t be recovering from their conversations anytime soon.”

  I imagined what they might have said and had to hold back my own shudder. Delia, another teen Healer, had been in love with Alcais forever. The two of them had bickered incessantly, and Alcais had used Delia’s powers, taking stupid risks because she would drop everything to heal him. Delia hadn’t liked me, but I’d thought she’d moved beyond her crush on Alcais after he’d hurt Erin. Guess not.

  “There’s no accounting for taste,” I said with a grimace.

  “Right?” Erin asked. “Day before yesterday, Franc finally called Alcais. They mostly talked about our patrols, but at the end of the conversation, my brother asked about a package. He wondered if it had been moved yet, and Franc said Alcais didn’t need to worry about it anymore. That Morrissey was looking after it now. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but then Alcais said, ‘I’d love to see Remy’s face when she finds out it’s gone.’ Franc yelled at him for using your name, and then they hung up soon after.” She glanced around the silent group. “I’m assuming that your father is the package.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Gabe cursed under his breath.

  Disappointment twisted my stomach in a knot. I’d hoped that Erin might actually know where my father was, or at least have some clue that would lead us to him. Now, we were back to zero. If he was the package, then he was most likely no longer in the area.

  “It had to be the Morrisseys,” Asher said, slamming a fist on the counter. His jaw worked the way it did when he was angry. Normally, I would have comforted him, but I held myself in place on my side of the counter.

  “Guys, confused here. Who are the Morrisseys?” I asked.

  “The Morrisseys are an old Protector family. They used to be friends of ours,” Lottie explained with a frown.

  “Why is that such bad news?” Lucy asked, twisting her black curls into a clip at the back of her head. A few instantly sprang free, making her look vulnerable. “If they’re friends, maybe they’ll help us. Can’t you try calling them?”

  Asher shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no. They’re not like us. In fact, they’re the opposite.”

  “You mean they hunt Healers?”

  The others remained quiet, reluctant to answer, and it was Gabe who answered my question. “He means they make a sport of hunting Healers, and they’re vicious when they do catch them. Last I saw Bram, he kept a tally of his hunts with hair he’d cut off the women.” Gabe sounded disgusted. He shook his head like he was shaking off a nightmare image he couldn’t get rid of. “We didn’t want to be like them, so we cut off contact. They weren’t happy about it.”

  I didn’t ask who Bram was. It was enough for now to know the bastard had a scoring system for Healers he’d murdered. I tried to think of something else, some other advantage. “My dad is a Protector. Is there any way to use that?” The Blackwells exchanged hopeless glances, and I let out a frustrated sigh.

  Erin wrapped her hands around her cup and asked, “If this family hates Healers so much, why are they working with Franc?”

  The Blackwell siblings shifted, all three of them staring at me. “What?” I asked.

  Asher’s green eyes burned with regret as he rounded the counter to stand in front of me. I frowned in confusion when he brushed my hair away from my face. Whatever he had to say would be awful if he felt the need to touch me while he said it.

  He laid a warm palm against my cheek. “It’s you, Remy. Remember what I told you would happen when our kind learned that you could take their immortality? Some Protectors would come after you because they want to be human again. Others would want you dead because they don’t want things to change and they don’t want you to be used as a weapon to make them mortal.”

  And others wouldn’t want me at all because they hated how my power changed them. I pressed Asher’s warm hand to my skin, wishing we could rewind things to a time before I wrote my grandfather. Asher’s eyes reflected the same sorrow that I felt.

  I cleared my throat. “Let me guess. The Morrisseys are door number two.”

  He acknowledged my guess with a dip of his chin, and his hand rubbed my back in comfort. Like you would do for a friend or a sibling.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “They’ll use your dad against you.”

  “Great.” I took a deep breath and stepped back. Asher’s hand trailed down my arm until he held my hand, his grip light and friendly. It hurt to be this close to him and not be able to have more. He still cared, though, and that mattered. I squeezed his fingers. “Do you know where the Morrisseys might keep him?”

  The Blackwells shared another look and answered at the same time. “London.”

  I picked up my coffee to occupy my hands and faked a smile. “I guess we’re going to London, then.”

  It took all of a day for Lottie Blackwell to arrange for fake passports for the group, and I was afraid to ask how she’d worked that miracle. By the next night, we were watching a terrible in-flight movie on a red-eye flight to London. Once again, we’d had to go through the process of ensuring that we weren’t followed, and the fear didn’t ever seem to really fade anymore. I’d ended up seated next to Asher—was Lottie trying to punish me?—while Gabe sat next to Lucy three rows in front of us. Erin and Lottie were on the other side of the plane, a row back.

  I still couldn’t believe that Erin had decided to come with us. I’d brought up the whole kidnapping charge her mother would slam us with, but she’d argued that she was safer with us. Franc’s men had followed her into Muir Woods, and she didn’t feel safe going home when they had proof that she was helping me. This time, she wouldn’t be able to convince them that I’d tricked her. After three seconds of imagining what Alcais would do to her if she returned home, I caved. Anyway, as she’d told me, it wasn’t my decision to make.

  “Not everyone is your responsibility,” she’d said in the kitchen. It wasn’t meant unkindly, but I’d taken the hint especially when Gabe muttered, “Hear, hear,” under his breath.

  Well, then.

  Most people on the plane had fallen asleep, but I couldn’t rest with Asher next to me. It would have been so easy to let myself lean on him, so I worked that much harder to stay away. I’d folded myself into the window as much as I could to give him space. I’d never been part of a couple or summarily uncoupled. How was I supposed to act around him? I was too tense to sleep, worried that I would crash out and slobber on him. Did my powers work in my sleep? With my luck, he’d be entirely human by morning.

  “It’s weird.”

  I started at Asher’s low voice and raised my brows.

  “Not hearing you anymore,” he said, tapping the side of his head. “I can tell you’re upset right now, and normally, I would have been able to hear you. I’d gotten so used to it that it was like your thoughts were a part of me.”

  He rested his cheek on the headrest to study me, and I did the same. He looked sad and tired, and I missed how we used to be. Once upon a time, I would have kissed him and held him to make that expression go away.

  “Why didn’t you notice that you couldn’t hear me anymore?” That had bothered me a lot. Had he distanced himself from me so much that he didn’t care by the time our bond broke?

  “I thought it was your doing. That you were blocking me all the time. When did you know?” he asked. “That our bond was broken?”

  “Since the day of the funeral,” I admitted. “I guess that subconsciously I wanted you to know that I was hurt. I left my guard down, but you acted like you couldn’t hear me. Even with everything that’s happened, you never would’ve been that uncaring.”

  “Thanks for that, at least.” He shook his head, the disappointment and anger plain on his face. I made to turn toward the window
, but he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his hurt gaze. “You know I would’ve helped you if you’d asked, mo cridhe. You know that. So why didn’t you ask?”

  My eyes flickered closed at the old endearment, but that didn’t stop the tears from leaking out. “I couldn’t,” I said in a halting voice, jerking my chin away from him. “You broke up with me because my powers are making you human. To heal me, you would have had to open yourself up to more of that. I couldn’t ask you to do that when you made your feelings about it clear. We shouldn’t even be sitting together like this.” I gestured to how close we were, and Asher grabbed my hand out of the air, refusing to let me go when I fought against him.

  “Remy, don’t,” he said, touching a thumb to my cheek. He used it to wipe away a tear, but more fell to replace it. “I’m so sorry.”

  I stilled. “For what? Breaking my heart? Protecting yourself?”

  He didn’t answer my question, but placed his hand on my thigh, palm up, to twine our fingers together. The warmth of his hand reminded me of better times, and I relaxed, unable to fight him. Chaos and confusion flooded through me. Was this his way of trying to show he still cared? Did he want me back?

  “You haven’t told Gabe about us.”

  The statement came from left field and added to my confusion. “It didn’t seem to be my place to tell him. Why does it matter?”

  He gave me a sad half smile. “It matters. Don’t you wonder why he came back?”

  I frowned. When Gabe had called, I’d told him to check in with Asher. I’d assumed it had to do with that. “Because of you. He was worried about you. And with Lottie joining us, he probably wanted to be back with his family.”

  Asher tilted his head to the side. “I’m sure he’s happy to see us, but his being here has everything to do with you.”

  He sounded angry, and this whole scene began to make sense. Lottie knew we’d broken up and wouldn’t have put Asher next to me on this plane unless he’d asked. Not out of kindness to me, but to protect Asher. And now Asher held my hand when he’d made it clear that he hated touching me. This was about jealousy, not love or wanting me back or missing me. He didn’t want me, but hell if he’d let his brother be my friend without staking some kind of claim. My stomach twisted. I should have been angry, but mostly I felt stupid for thinking he might want me back.

  I took a deep breath and let him see that he’d hurt me. “This isn’t fair of you,” I told him in a wounded voice. “Don’t make me out to be the cheating girlfriend. You pulled away from me months ago.” He wanted to deny it, but I needed to have my say. “Do you understand what that did to me to have you disappear on me like that? I tried to be patient and understanding because I know better than anyone what you went through. I swallowed my pride every time you pulled away, and I can take a lot from you because I do get it. But this”—I looked down at our joined hands—“it’s unkind, Asher. Don’t give me hope where there is none. Because if you haven’t changed your mind about us, and this is about competing with Gabe, it’s mean and I don’t deserve that from you.”

  He had the good grace to look ashamed, and he didn’t protest when I gently pulled my hand from his.

  “Remy . . .” he started, his voice thick with apology. “I didn’t mean—”

  “Let it go,” I interrupted. “Really.” Let me go. If you don’t want me, stop making me care.

  I turned away, crying, and he passed me his drink napkin without a word.

  The silence became awkward after that, and sleep more impossible than before. At one point, Gabe passed down the aisle on his way to the bathroom. I frowned at the grim smile on his face, but he moved on without saying anything. Asher thought Gabe had returned because of me, and I didn’t know what to think of that. This wasn’t exactly the time or place to figure it out, either. With the Morrisseys out to murder me and . . . Something about that day in the woods had been bugging me, and I hadn’t been able to pinpoint it.

  I frowned. “Asher, how did Gabe know where to find us?”

  Asher set aside his phone, abandoning whatever he’d been doing. “He called Lottie. In fact, he beat us to Muir Woods. He was already scouting the place when we arrived.”

  I shifted in my seat, running the day through my mind. Something didn’t sit right.

  “Why?” Asher asked.

  “No reason.” I hesitated, but the nagging feeling wouldn’t go away. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “What?”

  “You all described the Morrisseys as brutal killers out to get me.”

  “Right.”

  “Did you recognize those Protectors in Muir Woods?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’d never seen them before. Listen, I see where you’re going with this. Those men weren’t part of the Morrissey family, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t working with them.”

  “Then why didn’t they attack us?”

  “They did. I was there, remember?”

  I thought back to the confrontation. “Not really. I attacked first when they wouldn’t let you go. Before that, the leader said he wasn’t there to hurt us. He wanted to talk. That doesn’t sound like the Morrisseys you described. If those men worked for them, they would have tried harder to take me out.” I leaned forward. “Asher, that man had me. Before Gabe showed, my heart blew. That man knew I was down, and he didn’t act on it.”

  Asher looked up, lost in thought. “Come to think of it, I don’t think they meant to break my arm. I went after one of them, and he defended himself. I think he expected me to be using full strength.” His smile was wry. “I’m guessing he didn’t know what to make of the new, weaker version of me.”

  I thought back to the group in the living room yesterday. “And besides you and a minor cut for Lucy, nobody was hurt, right? That doesn’t seem off to you, considering how vicious the Morrisseys are?”

  His jaw tightened. “It does now.”

  I tried to understand what this meant. If those men in the woods hadn’t been working with the Morrisseys, who were they? Was Franc working with different Protector factions now? To do that, he chanced bringing hell down upon his community. A few Protectors might be willing to deal with my grandfather for access to a limited supply of Healers. Add more Protectors into the mix, though, and the supply diminished. Simple economics. Franc would have a disaster on his hands working with different groups, not to mention his people would find out and hang him.

  I glanced over at Erin, making out her blond ponytail over the seats. Suddenly, I was glad that she had decided to come with us. I didn’t trust her brother to look out for her if the Protectors got tired of scraps. And Franc was perfectly capable of feeding her to the Protectors when he decided she was no longer useful to catch me. Once we found my father, I’d have to help her find a safe place to stay. Then I’d have to find my own haven. I sighed, pushing thoughts of the future away.

  “I hate this,” I said. “Not knowing who is after us. Are we going to be safe in London?”

  “As much as we ever can be. We’ve never told anyone about this house. We wanted a little hideaway in case anything happened.”

  I almost moaned at the word little. How were the six of us going to get along crammed into a tiny house?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I was going to have to talk to Asher about his sense of proportions. His family’s “little” hideaway turned out to be a huge terraced Victorian house on Chapel Street, situated at the heart of London in Knightsbridge. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the neighborhood was affluent. We passed exclusive shops that I would never dare to enter and fancy homes that looked more suited to the movies than real life. I didn’t know people who could afford to live like this. Except somehow I’d become part of this world when I’d met Asher.

  He’d gone ahead in another car with Gabe so they could check things out in advance. Once they secured the house, they’d let Lottie know it was safe for us to approach. The house didn’t have a garage, so Lottie instructed our driver to p
ull over on the tree-lined street to let us out. One tall bricked home butted up against another here, giving the appearance of a solid wall of buildings. A black wrought-iron fence and gate lined the sidewalk, blocking off the front doors and what appeared to be a staircase that led to a basement-level courtyard.

  I stared at the house in shock, counting four floors aboveground, plus the basement. The second floor up from ground level had balconies opening off floor-to-ceiling windows, and neat planters decorated every window. I had the absurd thought to wonder who looked after those plants when the Blackwells weren’t home. Geez. They probably had staff.

  I followed the others into a bright entranceway. Morning sunlight lit the whole area, sending prisms of light through the giant chandelier hanging above us. We went up the staircase directly in front of us, and I peeked through a doorway into another room. Walnut floors shone from a recent waxing. Nutmeg brown walls blended well with expensive tan furniture that invited a person to sit by the fireplace. I took one step into the room and glimpsed a grand piano.

  That was enough for me. I’d never felt so out of place, and I’d been comfortable at the Blackwells’ home in Blackwell Falls. If that place had seemed a mansion, this place was pure decadence. I wouldn’t be able to sit on the furniture without freaking out that I’d break something. Someone bumped into me.

  Lucy stumbled to a stop beside me, her eyes bigger than mine. “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

  Our eyes met and we both giggled. Lucy sobered a second later and wandered away, and I was sorry the moment had ended. At least I wasn’t the only one feeling like I’d walked onto a movie set. Erin disappeared into the next room to explore, looking just as shell-shocked.

  Lottie opened the curtains over the windows that faced the balconies. She’d never been more Queen of the Manor.

  “How many rooms do you have here?” I asked.

  “Well, you saw the entrance hall downstairs, but that’s not really a room. On the ground floor, we also have the dining room, kitchen, library, and toilet. This is the drawing room we’re in now, and back there is a conservatory and roof terrace. One floor up is Gabe’s room and his bathroom, and the top floor has two more bedrooms and a bathroom. There’s also a lower floor with a wine vault, family room, and another bedroom and bath.”