The Skeleton Key Guild (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 5)

by MJ Fletcher

  Gavin and Henna followed after them, their arms wrapped around one another. Gavin had moved into the Reliquary after the battle and Henna had joined him shortly after that, having barely escaped an HVO death squad sent after her.

  Most of us were living here now and others like Emory and Mr. Miller were spending more and more time here. Val had practically moved in as well, though she was still attempting to keep up with school using one of Slade’s Impossible Engineer masking devices to keep her safe from the First Kind.

  Jess had pulled out her phone and was typing away on it. I gathered she must be working her sources on the information I had her looking into.

  “You two coming?” Val asked with a smile as she dragged Edgar away from his maps.

  “We’ll be right there.” I nodded and she left Jess and me sitting alone.

  “I didn’t get to say it earlier, I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry, Chloe. It’s not your fault, this is on Tower and the First Kind.” Jess shrugged and I wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay but I wasn’t sure it was.

  “You’ve got new information?” I asked pointing to her phone.

  Jess had been trying to find any information on my sister that she could scrounge up. “It seems like our guess was right, she is traveling with Miranda. I don’t know much more than that, just that when people do see Miranda she always has a young girl named Erin with her. No one knows much about her.” Jess looked down and I knew there was more.

  “What is it?”

  “The last two times any of our informants spotted them, they weren’t alone.”

  “Who was with them?”

  “Faith.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Status: That bitch again.

  “Faith is with my sister?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “Yes.”

  “Is that all?”

  “No,” Jess said.

  “Ms. True was seen with her as well.”

  I didn’t know if my mom had kept my sister secret from them or if they all knew who she was and were busy poisoning her against me at every turn. It made me want to make those two bitches suffer more than I already had.

  “Faith always seems to get in my way doesn’t she?”

  “What do you think she’s up too?” Jess asked.

  “I don’t know but whatever it is, it can’t be good for us.”

  “From the reports I’m getting, it seems like True has moved up in rank with the First Kind.”

  “That makes sense. They lost a lot of people at Storm Reach, someone has to fill the void.”

  “From all the intel we’ve been getting, it seems like True has taken your mother’s place and Faith has taken over for Caleb Darker.”

  I smirked. Nightshade had finally gotten his revenge on Darker for killing his girlfriend Lauren. He’d always promised he would and he finally did.

  “Tower is trying to keep the First Kind in order,” I said. ”We did damage when he lost Storm Reach. But recent moves of his make it clear that he is up to something, and I’m afraid that it might have to do with Erin.”

  “Your mom did say they would use her against you. Maybe that’s why they’ve been around Miranda and the HVO so much.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t like it one bit. We need to find Erin and get to her as soon as possible. All this is tied together some how, your dad and my sister. I know it all means something, its like I can see the pieces of the puzzle but I don’t know how to put them together.”

  “The problem is when we do find out where she’s going to be, she’s already gone before we can reach her.”

  “How the hell can that be and how do we change it?”

  “That’s just it I don’t know. It’s as if someone is always one step ahead of us and I’ve been beating my brains out trying to figure it out. So far I’ve got nothing.”

  “We’ve got to think of something.” I gripped her hand and we held onto each other.

  We were in this together. Tower was out to destroy our family. He was responsible for my parents’ deaths as well as Jess’ mom and now abducting her dad. Gran was in shock over everything that had happened with Uncle Thomas, not to mention she was still recovering from losing my mother a few months back and learning that her own daughter had been made a virtual prisoner in her own mind for all these years. Add to that her son being timelocked away and Gran was not doing well. All she wanted to talk about was finding Erin and Uncle Thomas. I’d set her up at the house in Cape May and made sure it was protected from any First Kind attacks and that she could access the Boneyard from there. It was as if getting to Erin was the one way of assuring that my mom’s capture and control had meaning. In the end she had managed to save my sister so that one day she and I could be together, to join with family. And I was damn well going to make sure that happened.

  “We will. It just seems like the First Kind keeps coming out on top no matter what we do. Our family continues to take hit after hit. Why the hell do they hate us so much?”

  I thought about Tower and seeing him through the Looking Glass mirror that had connected me to my ancestor Ichibod Masters. He had destroyed Tower’s plans back then. I wondered if Tower had been holding a grudge all these years and this was his way of seeking revenge. He did certainly seem to have it out for me.

  “Regardless of why, we need to end it here and now. We’re going to get Erin and end this threat once and for all. We’re going to make our family safe and whole once again.”

  “Good... because I’m sick of living out of this place.” She gestured around the room.

  “Let’s grab some food, I’m starved.”

  “You go ahead, I’m fine.” Jess rubbed her hands along her legs.

  “You okay?”

  She grabbed the edge of her shirt and pulled it down covering the scars she still bore from fighting off a pack of Gremlins. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” I reached out to touch the wrist she’d covered up and she pulled back.

  “Sorry,” she sighed and shook her head, “not used to letting people see the scars.”

  “Maybe Rosalita has something that can help with them.”

  “I guess,” she said, “you think she has anything for the nightmares?”

  “I didn’t know, Cuz.”

  “Why would you? It’s not your fault, Chloe. I just need to learn the new normal, that’s all.”

  “I’m here if you need me.”

  “I know you are and I appreciate it. Let’s just concentrate on getting my dad and your sister back. Then we can take out these bastards who messed with our family.”

  “Agreed, now let’s get some food.”

  “You go, I could use some alone time.”

  “This place getting too crowded for you?”

  “Yes.” Jess looked over her shoulder at the door where everyone had exited. “It’s just that the Reliquary is getting kind of full. I could use some space.”

  “People getting on your nerves?” I chuckled.

  “Yeah, you could say that.” She lowered her gaze, the edges of her mouth turning down in a frown.

  “Is it Gavin and Henna?” Jess had had a crush on Gavin a while back and I didn’t think she was enjoying seeing them together.

  “No, I’m so over that.” She shook her head.

  “Then what?”

  “Nothing, it’s stupid, go eat something.”

  “Cuz, you can tell me. It’s okay.”

  “It’s just that I’ve been spending a lot of time around everyone and —” She kept her head down and ran her hand through her hair.

  I slid my arm across her shoulders and hugged her tightly. She flinched but let me hold her for a minute and I could feel the scars through her shirt. “Tell me.”

  “No, it’s stupid.” She shook her head like she could make the feelings go away.

  I took a deep breath and pushed it out slowly. “Is it Slade?”

  “What? No!” She arched an eyebrow and l
ooked at me as if I had lost my mind.

  I’d thought it was a pretty good guess considering I had been involved with him for a while. I thought perhaps she was feeling uncomfortable to tell me for that reason. “Well who then?”

  “No one,” she said in a whisper. “There’s no one and I’m beginning to doubt that they’ll ever be anyone. I’m no good when it comes to men. I pick ones who like me as a friend or I pick guys who,”— she threw her hands up in the air— “it’s useless, I’m useless when it comes to guys.”

  “No you’re not. I thought the same thing about myself and I found someone in spite of it.”

  “You found Mr. Perfect.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, though Nightshade would probably agree with you.” That brought a smile to Jess’ face, though it didn’t last long.

  “Who’d be interested in me now anyway?” She waved her hand up and down herself.

  I was beginning to understand. Jess had always been the most beautiful girl to me and always dressed in the height of fashion or started a fashion trend. She had guys and even girls looking more than once at her, though lately she wasn’t dressing like the fashion icon she had been in the past. Instead she was in long sleeved t-shirts and jeans most of the time, trying to hide her scars. She’d been doing it ever since Storm Reach. She’d been hurting and I hadn’t realized how much until now, and I could have kicked myself. I’d been so wrapped up in Nightshade that I hadn’t been paying much attention to anything else. Not cool. Not cool at all.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re gorgeous. Any guy would want you,” I said.

  “Thanks, Cuz.” She pulled her hair back in a ponytail. “But I’m not buying it.”

  Jess’ luck had gone from bad to the worse in the last few years. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how and I didn’t want to say stupid things just to make her feel better.

  “I’m terrible at this love thing.”

  “I know how that feels.” I said.

  “Please, you and Nightshade are wonderful together.”

  “Remember what it took us to get here, plus half the time we fight like we might kill each other. I don’t think that’s how relationships are supposed to work.”

  “Only the good ones.” She chuckled.

  “Maybe.” I smiled and wished I could do more to help her. But in the scheme of things, with so much going on, there wasn’t anything we could do about it right now. But as I had found out, love wasn’t an easy thing to deal with.

  “Go eat something.” She patted my knee. “I’ll be fine.”

  I stood, wanting to join Nightshade and the others, but feeling guilty about leaving her alone.

  “Go,” she insisted, shooing me away.

  I left reluctantly and turned just before walking out the door to see Jess staring out the window. My heart broke to see her sitting there alone and I almost joined her until I remembered how I wanted to be alone when feeling down and so I figured I’d give her this time. I left wondering how the hell I could help her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Status: The calm before the storm.

  “Are you kidding me?” Slade was trying to contain his laughter as Gavin explained how last month he had fought two First Kind bare naked. It was a story I’d heard a few times and it still made me chuckle.

  Henna sat beside Gavin at the dinner table smiling and looking lovely as usual. She and Gavin had been inseparable since he’d found her in the alleyway. It was nice to see a couple who actually loved one another as they did.

  Edgar and Val sat next to them, Val listening to the story and grinning while Edgar had his head buried in a map on the table in front of him.

  DI Emory had joined us and sat at the head of the table. His hair had begun to turn grey and even though he laughed along with the rest of us, his eyes were sad. He kept glancing around to each of us when he thought we weren’t looking, almost as if it was the last time he’d see us.

  Nightshade sat next to me wearing his lopsided smile, but I knew him well enough to realize he had other things on his mind. He was already working on his plan for the Skeleton Key Guild.

  There was part of me that wished we could run away from this. If it wasn’t for my friends and sister, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I sure as hell wasn’t doing this for the Doorknob Society or any of the Societies for that matter.

  I slipped my hand through Nightshade’s and he squeezed it tightly. After everything I had lost, I couldn’t bear the thought of possibly losing him again. The last time that had happened, I had nearly gone off the deep end. No one knew just how close to the edge I had come when I thought he was dead. I couldn’t deal with that again.

  I was relieved when Jess joined us after a while and even Mr. Miller, my old Impossible Engineer teacher, showed up. We talked late into the night, telling stories and laughing. I had a feeling that this was going to be the last time we would have a chance to be together for some time, and I reveled in it.

  DI Emory was the first to depart and I couldn’t help but notice the sorrow in his goodbye. It sent a shiver up my spine and made me worry for my friends.

  Slade and Mr. Miller were the next to go with Slade reminding me to text him in the morning so that we could meet with the Engineers, and I could try to convince them to join our cause.

  The others all slipped off to their rooms, and Nightshade and I found ourselves alone.

  “Do you have a plan yet?” I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him.

  “I figured I would carry you to bed, and then enjoy you.” He laughed and I punched his shoulder.

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  “I’ve got a few ideas.”

  “Tower is still in control of the Guild. This is going to be beyond dangerous.”

  “There are more factions in the Guild than you can count. You can bet at least some of them want to take Tower down. I’ll be fine.”

  I pulled his hand to my chest, to rest over my heart. “I don’t intend to lose you again.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Masters. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m pretty hard to kill as it is.”

  “Promise me.”

  “Only if you do the same.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “You don’t exactly play it safe. I want to make sure you’re going to be okay.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I let go of his hand and stepped away from him.

  “That’s not a promise. I want to know you aren’t going to take any stupid risks.”

  “Is that what I do, take stupid risks?”

  “Don’t do this.” His eyes narrowed and anger simmered in them.

  “Do what?”

  “Use this as an excuse to push me away.”

  “They have my sister and destroyed my family and you don’t want me to do anything stupid? Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to sit here and try and plan this out when all I really want to do is find Tower and kill him with my bare hands?” My voice had grown louder till I was finally shouting at him.

  “I also know what it’s like to lose the people you love. I don’t want to suffer that again.” His voice remained calm, though it was tinged with anger and sadness.

  “I can’t promise you that.”

  “And I can’t either.”

  His words hit me like a speeding train and I stared at him realizing how precarious this whole situation really was. I didn’t know if he was going to make it through this or even if any of us would.

  I lowered my voice, though I would have preferred to scream, better yet, hit him, but it was pointless. “Always have to make a point, don’t you.”

  “You know me, Masters, I like being right.”

  “Slade’s right, you’re a dick.”

  “And you love me for it.”

  “Shut up.”

  He stepped closer to me and slid his hand into mine, then leaned down and pressed an ever so gentle kiss on my cheek. I tried to ignore him, but failed mi
serably. I needed him too much. I turned my face so that our lips met and got lost in the kiss, letting my troubles melt away if only for a while. After much too short a time, his mouth broke away reluctantly and he rested his forehead against mine.

  “I want to show you something.” He took my hand and pulled me from the room and through the Reliquary. I was familiar with only about a quarter of this place and continued to discover new rooms and places daily. Edgar said it was his goal to map the entire place. I estimated it would take him at least a year.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  “As long as it isn’t a broom closet,” I chuckled.

  “I seem to remember someone enjoying her time in a broom closet with me.”

  “Excuse me, you were the one enjoying it.”

  “Really? I was the one breathing heavy and rubbing against you?”

  “I remember that much differently, thank you very much.”

  It had been a couple of years ago, and the first time Nightshade and I had ever really been alone, stuck hiding in a broom closet as First Kind searched for us. Leave it to us to get up close and personal in that situation.

  “Of course you do, that’s back when you were pretending not to be interested in me.”

  “Always with the comments.”

  He stopped walking and turned to me, looking down into my eyes and smiling. “Would you rather I found a closet for us?”

  I punched his arm and laughed. “Just show me whatever this is, damn it.”

  We passed the Great Room and went through a series of hallways till we reached a set of stairs I didn’t recognize, and we took them up a dozen floors. An arched wooden door with an ancient handle was at the top of the final landing. Nightshade pulled the door open to reveal a large balcony.

  The whole of the dimension was laid out before us. The sky was purple and filled with billowing clouds that sparkled with light. The sounds of distant creatures echoed toward us.