The only chance we have at peace is to relocate him. And we couldn’t do that without letting him out. I wonder how I would feel about Aric if he wasn’t planning on murdering my brothers.
I get up and join my grandmother outside.
She looks up when I step onto the back patio and looks at me, really looks at me. She doesn’t smile, but the lines on her face are soft. Thoughtful.
“Grandma, are Kaius and Jerod the only men left in the family?”
“They are.”
“Holton’s brother didn’t have any children?” I know my grandfather didn’t have a brother, but there were brothers on the family tree. Elijah, for one.
“He was sterile.”
“Are you sure?”
She nods. “I’ve had a lot of time to myself lately, as you know, and your grandfather had so much knowledge at his fingertips that he never paid attention to. If you look at the history of this family, in the cases where two male children were born, one of them is either always sterile, or they marry someone who can’t bear children. Elijah died without having children, and of course, Arthur and Cecily adopted.”
It’s crossed my mind a time or two that Arthur may have adopted out of fear, but if all the men in this family had children, and those children spread out over the world, Aric would never find them all. I guess there had to be a way to keep the Y chromosome under control.
“I never thought much about it, I admit,” Grandma says. “Ervin, for all his quirks, wasn’t as deep into the superstition as his father or Owin. He wanted to keep his family close, of course, but he would have let his children travel anywhere.” She goes back to gazing at the flower bushes and butterflies. “It’s not an easy pattern to find. Until Holton’s brother was born, there hadn’t been two male children born within the same generation in over a hundred years. As you can imagine, people in this family tend not to want a lot of children. Holton’s father had one sibling, a sister, who took her own life, of course. And before that, there were twin girls, and they jumped out of a plane together. That’s as far back as I ever thought to look before. It was all the proof I needed that something was amiss, and it never occurred to me that there was even more to it.”
She looks to the open patio door and smiles. My brothers and Griffin had come to the door while we were talking, and by the looks on their faces, they heard a lot of it.
“So one of us won’t have children,” Kaius says, his voice void of emotion.
“I volunteer,” Jerod says.
Our grandmother walks up to Kaius and cups his face. “Who knows. Maybe change is on the winds for this family.” She kisses his cheeks and steps inside. “I’ll pack up the snacks for you all to take home.”
Back at Griffin’s, I sit on the floor in his bedroom, alone with the sword. I told them I was just tired, but honestly, all that butterfly crap gave me an idea. I thought back to how Aric changed me to look like Fallon. If I can change my face and body, maybe I can change other things, like a sword into a something else. To do that, I need to concentrate, and to concentrate, I need to be alone.
I place my hands on the hilt and blade and close my eyes. Wait. I’m forgetting something. I rub my hands together, whatever that is for, and place them on the sword again. I visualize a picnic basket because that’s the first thing I think of, and set my intention for it to last for twelve hours. That should give me enough time to sneak it into the tunnels. I don’t know if it’s going to fool a non-human thing, but I have to try. And if the spirit of the lake is to believed, at least he won’t be able to touch it if he does find it.
The iron vibrates under my hands, and when I open my eyes, the sword is gone.
39
Two A Day
My heart hammers as I walk through the tunnels. By the time I make it to the cavern, I’m surprised I haven’t hyperventilated and passed out.
The room is empty. Okay. I’ve never not seen him down here. “Hello?” I slide the large and empty basket from my arm and hide it under some debris across the room. “Aric?”
He breaths around me, loud and impatient. “Why are you keeping them from me?”
“Where are you?”
“Maybe I don’t want to see you. Maybe I feel betrayed.”
Don’t tell me he has feelings. I roll my eyes and start back up the tunnels. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe they’re staying away on their own? You did run our father through with a sword in about thirty seconds. They’re scared.”
His energy shifts along the walls beside me, hot and restless. “Bring them to me.”
“No.”
“So you are keeping them from me.”
“I care about them.”
“They don’t care about you.”
I stop. I’m not playing this game with him. They care. I don’t need any proof. “Where are you? I want to talk face to face.” In the cave, like medieval men.
“Come find me.”
I sigh and take the elevator up to the office floor. The back foyer is dark and silent, and the mailroom door is closed. Goosebumps race up my arms. This is not okay. It’s just after nine o’clock. The office should be filled with noise. I travel down the hall, listening for any sign of life. Voices travel down from the kitchen. I head there. The voices stop when I step into the room. Two investors stare at me, mistrust in their eyes.
“Where is everyone?” I ask.
The woman sniffs and snatches up her mug of coffee or whatever. “The plague is going around. More than half of the office has called out sick.”
A frown pulls at my lips. Is that Aric’s doing? Is he making everyone sick because my brothers are MIA? I wish could shut the whole office down, but I would only look like a lunatic if I tried and no one would listen.
“We heard the company belongs to Jerod,” the man says, bitterness clearly lining his voice. “Isn’t that great? A child with no experience is not only running our company, but he doesn’t see fit to come in and work.”
“Have some damn respect,” I say, letting my voice wax harsh and annoyed. “Three people have died in my family in the last week. You try losing three relatives and see how well you function. Everyone will be back, but we have some very serious family issues to take care of.”
The man averts his eyes. I turn my glare on the woman, who also looks away, and then I leave to explore the rest of the floor.
The plague? That’s very suspicious. I hope it’s nothing serious. I get to the main lobby and find the reception desk empty. Okay, something is severely wrong. I know Astrid. She could lose a limb and she would still clock in. She does still work here, right? Didn’t I see her Monday? I walk further across the room and stop when I see my dad’s office. Crime scene tape still hangs from the closed door. My stomach flips over, and I turn my eyes to the shadowy corners.
Aric’s energy coats every inch of these walls.
“Aric?”
His laughter echoes along the ceiling, but it’s not going in any particular direction.
“Jade?” David stands in the lobby behind me, looking distraught and insecure.
“Is everyone really sick?” I ask.
He nods. “Forty-three people called in this morning. Twenty-one called in yesterday. Sixteen Monday. There’s barely anyone left, and they’re all swamped and stressed. They’ll probably get sick soon too.”
“What about you? Are you feeling okay?”
“I don’t think I’m catching anything, but I’ve been better.” The phone rings at reception. He doesn’t move to answer it. It just rings and rings and rings.
When he doesn’t say anything else, I brush the wild baby hairs away from my face and start for the elevators. “Well, I’m going to head out. I hope whatever it is gets better.” I’m not in the mood to chase Aric around. I’ll just have to come back later. At least the sword is safely inside the building.
David races after me and skids to a stop once he’s blocked my path.
“What?” Apprehension crawls up my back. He’s acting
weird. And that’s not a word I would ever use to describe him.
“You don’t want to know what’s bothering me?”
I back away from him and fold my arms over my chest. “I didn’t want to pry.”
“I don’t care if you pry. If anyone can pry into my life it’s you.” He steps closer to me, forcing me to retreat some more. “I want you to know everything about me.”
My throat constricts. “David—”
“I know you don’t have feelings for me. That’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to.” He advances on me some more. “You’re a beautiful girl.” He shakes his head. “So beautiful. You’re rich. I’m plain. I’m dull. And I make less in ten years than your trust fund investments make in one month. I get it. I’m not of your…what’s the word? Ilk?”
I try to step around him, and he blocks my path again. “David. I don’t know what you think is my type, but obviously, money isn’t something I look for in a guy. I just don’t feel that way about you. It’s not something people can force. It’s not personal.”
He bites down on his lip and gives me a hard stare. “So you say. No hard feelings either way.”
“I need to go.”
“Hanging out with Griffin?” He swallows. “I notice he hasn’t been around either.”
Griffin stopped by yesterday to run an errand, but mostly he’s staying out of the building, if for no other reason than because it makes the rest of us anxious. I don’t want anyone I care about stepping foot inside this building, relative or not.
“He’s been around,” I say, at a loss for anything better to say.
“Been around you?”
“He’s been around the office. But I have seen him. He’s helping me and my brothers with some family things.”
“Hmm.” David leans in closer to me and sniffs. “You smell nice. Like amber. Did you know that?”
I bolt for the elevators. He grabs my arm and forcefully jerks me back. Pain vibrates up my arm. “David, what—”
He slams me back against the half-wall. “I need to talk to you, and you’re just trying to run away.”
I push him away from me. “Jesus, David, seriously? What the hell is the matter with you?”
His face reddens. “I’m sorry. It’s just…” His hands ball into fists. “I try so hard to get your attention, and you just never give it to me.”
He’s lost his damn mind.
“Astrid is missing.”
I shrug and inch towards the elevators. “Maybe she’s just not coming in.”
“Astrid never misses work. You know that. Some virus wouldn’t keep her away.”
“I don’t—”
“She called me this morning, and she—she sounded strange. She left me a voicemail. Can you listen to it and tell me if you notice anything?”
Tension lines my shoulders. “Fine. Play it.”
He pats around his pockets. “I think I left my phone in the mailroom.”
“Well, go get it.”
He frowns. “You’ll leave while I’m gone.”
I sigh. “Fine. I’ll come with you.” I gesture for him to lead the way and make sure I stay a safe distance behind him.
He opens the door to the mailroom and disappears inside without bothering to turn on the light.
Agitation fills my chest while I wait. Thirty seconds. A minute. Longer? “David?” I step closer to the dark opening. “You know what? Why don’t you just call me later and tell me what it says?”
“You have to hear it.” His voice travels out of the darkness. It sounds strange, like he might be crying or stuffing his cheeks with marshmallows, which would be a truly un-David-like thing to do. At least during work hours. The glow of his screen lights up his face. “Listen.”
I step a little closer. “I don’t hear anything.”
“You don’t?” What I can see of his face is expressionless. “I’ll turn the volume up.” I reach inside the room and flick the light on.
Two bodies hang and swing from the ceiling. David Davis and Astrid Rames. Nooses made from David’s tie and Astrid’s purse strap are tied tight around their necks. The blood vessels in their faces have burst, turning their cheeks black and purple.
I don’t realize I’m screaming until the man I ran into earlier wraps his hands around my arms and drags me from the room.
“Oh my god! Colleen, stay back! Call an ambulance.”
“What’s going—”
“Now!”
She runs off, and after he deposits me by the utility elevators, he takes off after her.
Fake David curls around the doorframe, a smirk on his face. “What’s wrong, dear Jade? You don’t like my message?” His face and body melt away and are replaced by Aric’s burning green eyes and golden skin. He grabs me and pulls me close to his face, his fingernails digging so deep into my shoulders they burn.
“Bring me Kaius by this time tomorrow, or two more people will take his place.” His body dissolves into smoke, and he escapes through the vents before the investor makes it back down the hall.
He glances around as if looking for something, his eyes wide. “I thought I…” He shakes his head and helps me to my feet. I don’t even remember collapsing. “Get out of here. Don’t come back. I’m calling McGregor and seeing if he can get this office shut down. This is…” He shakes his head again. “Go on. Go! I’ll get everyone else out.”
I run down the hall to the main elevators. The utility exit was closer, but it’s also closer to the tunnels.
The woman from the break room screams into the phone by reception, speaking so fast and so erratically her words are bordering on nonsense.
Aric’s laughter fills my head and chases me all the way back to Griffin’s.
40
He’s Always Listening
I turn my back to the mirror and inspect the raw gashes on the backs of my shoulders. So much for being safe. He promised he wouldn’t hurt me. Another thing he lied about. But it’s not like I didn’t know this was coming.
The shirt I wore to the office is shredded and bloody and burnt in several places.
“What are we going to do?” Kaius’s angry and panicked voice travels down the hallway. “We can’t let her fight for us. Look what he did to her!”
“If you go in there, he’ll kill you,” Jerod says, close to seething. “She’s stronger than we give her credit for. She can do this.”
“You can’t expect me to just stand in here, comfortable, while some…I don’t know, ghost thing, shreds into our sister and hangs everyone who works for us!”
I wrap a robe around my body and step out into the hall. “Stop it.” They stop glaring at each other and turn to me. “We have to be quiet.” I make a writing motion with my hand. “He can hear us.”
“Are you serious?” Kaius sees the truth on my face. “Fuck!”
Griffin hands him a pad of paper and a pen. “Can he see us?”
I shake my head. “But he knows where we are.”
Jerod runs his hands over his face, then accepts another pad and pen from Griffin. They scribble furiously and thrust their notes in each other’s faces, probably continuing their pointless argument.
Griffin comes down the hall and hands me some ointment. “Do you need help?”
I shake my head but pull him into the bathroom with me anyway. I free my shoulders and try not to flinch too much while he dabs ointment onto my back.
His heavy breaths are the only current sound in the apartment. “Don’t go after him.”
I meet his eyes over my shoulder. “I have to.”
“Jade.” He keeps his voice low, though I’m pretty sure volume doesn’t matter to Aric when it comes to eavesdropping. “These are claw marks. Like something an animal would make. He isn’t human. He’s going to hurt you.”
“He will, but he isn’t going to kill me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“If he kills me, he dies.”
He stops circling ointment on my wounds for a moment to s
tare at me. “You’re sure?”
I nod.
“How bad can he hurt you?”
“As bad as I can stand and still live.”
He shakes his head and shifts some to reach my other shoulder. “There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t. And we need to talk to about something else.”
His lips form a line, but he drops it.
I appreciate everyone wanting to look out for me, but there’s nothing they can do. They’ll only get themselves killed. I’m not going to let that happen.
When the ointment is applied, Griffin affixes large bandages to my skin and then leaves so I can change. The claw marks burn and throb, like tiny flames burn inside the wounds. I put on an over-sized shirt and baggy lounge pants and join the guys in the living room.
Kaius and Jerod continue their non-verbal arguing. I take Kaius’s pad and write: Stop fighting. I have to do this. Everything will be okay. Just trust me.
Kaius writes back: There has to be something else we can do. I’m worried about you.
I respond: I know that, and I appreciate it, but the most helpful thing you can do is stay far away from the office.
Kaius tosses the notepad to the coffee table and huffs in silence.
I grab Jerod’s notepad next and write: We need to evacuate the entire building. Then I underline “entire” four times.
Kaius leans forward to read it and frowns. “How?”
I throw my hands into the air. McGregor informed the guys an hour ago that he was shutting the office down for the rest of the week, at least, but that isn’t good enough. Aric can travel anywhere inside the building, plus the sidewalks. He would probably rather get people I have some kind of connection to, but he’ll take anyone. I know he will.
Jerod’s face lights up for a moment. He writes: Possible black mold infestation threat. We’ll put everyone in hotels. I’ll call Joseph from PR. He knows a guy.
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