Consequences

by Liz Schulte

  “Where do we start?”

  Jace leaned forward and plucked at the grass. “I guess with who was taken, what they have in common, and whether he was after you or Olivia when he sent you to watch the warehouse. I’ll handle the elder end of things, if you handle the guardians.”

  “And how are we using Olivia?” I didn’t like using her. In fact I hated it. But if she wanted to be cut off from us, so be it. Holden would take care of her. I knew him well enough to know that.

  “She will make an excellent distraction. While Ezra leads a crusade against her, which he will, we can investigate him.”

  “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

  “Our system is broken, Quintus. Why can I never be more than a lower elder? What makes them so much more special than us? Why can you only ever be a guardian and never an elder? Ezra is taking advantage of his position. He expects us to fall in line and never question. Who knows? Maybe all the high elders are in on this. We owe it to our people to find out and to protect them from all enemies.”

  Jace posed questions I had been asking myself. But no matter how tempting the questions were, we couldn’t usurp our entire government, could we? Yet if Ezra was killing us, we needed to know why and we needed to stop him. “Okay,” I said with more than a little trepidation.

  Jace gave me a hard, searching look. “Are you sure you want to do this? Even if we can eliminate Ezra, I don’t know if we can stop the wheels once they are in motion with her.”

  I spoke with a heavy heart. “If our actions will stop the murder of innocents once and for all, then it’s for the greater good and she would understand.”

  Jace left to start preparing, saying he would gather as much as he could from the low elders and that I should stay hidden. We needed to be strategic in our approach. It was fine with me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I transported to Olivia’s apartment. Already the illusions she generated were fading. She’d been gone too long and they couldn’t maintain themselves without her to feed them. The sleek modern apartment was beginning to poke through again and the warm softness of Olivia was only found in hints—the soft curtains around the windows, the glittering light fixtures, and velvety throw pillows. I wandered the space looking for the little pieces of her left. Holden’s black shirt was in the closet and it was untouched by her time away. If I didn’t know for a fact it wasn’t, I would’ve thought it was real. The simple shirt was a reminder of all the time and energy she devoted to him even when she was here. I shut the door.

  Nine

  The three of us stood by Femi’s car. “Nice. A ’61 MG.” It was a silver, mint condition convertible with supple red leather seats. A little flashy for me, but the sekhmet had good taste.

  “Not very roomie, is it?” Olivia looked at the car doubtfully.

  Femi slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “We can always put Holden in the trunk. That’s how I transport my bounties.”

  Olivia laughed. I let my impatience show; we didn’t have time for jokes. The damn guardian had transported directly to us, and who knew what he was telling the others now. We had to get out before they came back. “You’ll go in the trunk before I do.”

  “No one’s riding in the trunk.” Olivia shrugged. “We’re going to be cozy, I guess.”

  Femi laughed and slapped Liv on the back. “I can see you’re broken up over that. Let’s bounce.”

  Femi and I got in the car and Liv settled in on my lap. Soon we were zipping down the highway toward Chicago. I mulled over the possible reactions the demons would have to seeing me with a soul intact and a guardian at my side. They could kill us on sight. It was the most likely reaction unless I could make Malphas see how we would be more use to him alive. Olivia had a surge of confidence when it came to demons, but I wasn’t convinced she could do whatever she did at the warehouse at will, at least not yet. Perhaps we could hone the skill, but there was no time to work on it right now. She let herself be captured by the jinn which told me whatever she did was an emotional reaction, not an intentional one.

  The thought that Malphas could insist I renew my deal—that I forfeit my returned soul—continued to plague me. She thought they’d welcome me with open arms so long as she was with me—and perhaps so. They had pulled out all the stops to prevent her transformation. What did they think Liv could do? What could she do for that matter? She turned a demon to dust, and she yanked my soul of purgatory—no small feat—but how would that interest the demons? The wail of sirens behind us snapped me back to attention. I glanced over at the speedometer. Femi was pushing 120. I shook my head. Reckless.

  “Ah, shit,” she grumbled.

  Liv had been holding her light back. She always kept the light at bay; even though she was sitting on my lap, she was still only slightly glowing. “Don’t pull over.” I told her. “Do the light thing, Liv.”

  Liv’s forehead wrinkled and she shifted so she could see me better. “What light thing?”

  “Like on the way here. You had us in a bubble. No one could see us or the bike.”

  “I’ll give it a shot.”

  It took a second for the light to encircle us. Femi slowed and the cop flew past us, scanning the road for the car. I smiled. While Olivia’s ability to hide us would only work on humans, it was still useful. She kept up the orb the rest of the way to Chicago. Olivia got out of the car in front of my building and stretched. The fading sun glistened in her hair as it fell past her shoulders making copper strands twinkle. As she lifted her long slender arms high into the air, her shirt rose above the waistband of her jeans, revealing an expanse of creamy white skin that begged to be touched.

  “What?” Olivia frowned, smoothing down her hair and shirt.

  I smiled. “Nothing.” She was even more tempting now than she was as a human. It was hard to say what had changed, but Olivia was beyond mesmerizing. I couldn’t afford that at the moment. I had to be sharp, focused, and two steps ahead of the game to keep us alive. “You coming?” I asked Femi who was still sitting in the car.

  She nodded. “Later though. I’m going to run over to the Office and check in with Sy. I’ll be back.”

  “The Office?” Olivia asked.

  “Sort of a central place where all bounties are posted.”

  Olivia waved as Femi drove off then turned to me with a wary expression. We went up to my apartment in silence. She sat on the couch and stared at me for a long while without speaking, but I didn’t mind. I was glad she was here.

  “Thank you, Holden,” she said in a quiet voice.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “I know you’re risking a lot doing this. I wanted to say thank you before things get out of hand. I do appreciate it.”

  “How far do you want to go with this?”

  Her brow furrowed, and she bit her lip.

  “I need to know now how far you’re willing to take this.”

  “As far as I need to.”

  I nodded. Well, being free was good while it lasted.

  “Do we have a plan?”

  “Not yet. We need to convince them we’re worth more alive than dead before they kill us. Once we do that we can do whatever we want.”

  Olivia frowned. “What do they value?”

  “Strength, cunning, power, results…” I let my voice trail off.

  “How do we show that?”

  “That’s a very good question, and I think I know someone who will at least have an idea.”

  Baker was an infinite supply of Abyss knowledge. While I spent most of my existence avoiding notice and skulking around in shadows, he got to know everyone and everything. Baker had proven how valuable he was in helping me set up the jinn organization for maximum strength, but now I needed him to help me exploit its weaknesses.

  Ten

  Holden moved to the chair closest to me and sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I wasn’t entirely honest before.”

  Struggling against the disappointment trickling into me, I met his gaze. H
olden’s mouth twitched, pleased he’d pulled off a lie I hadn’t recognized right away.

  I frowned. “I’m so happy you figured out how to lie to me.”

  I could hear his reasoning that sometimes lying was for the best, but he didn’t voice his opinion. “I did have someone I could’ve contacted.”

  “Why wouldn’t you say that?”

  “It’s none of their business.”

  I shook my head. “Sometimes you have to trust people.”

  “You trust people too often and they never deserve it.”

  “But you trust this other person?” I couldn’t imagine the type of person Holden would deem trust-worthy. In the short time I’d known him he hadn’t trusted anyone, including me. Suspicion was his second skin.

  He thought about it then spoke slowly. “I trust he’s loyal to me at the moment. That doesn’t mean the tides couldn’t change with power.”

  “He’s a jinni?” Holden always told me never to trust any of his colleagues. Why would he trust one of them now?

  “No. He’s my advisor.”

  “You have an advisor?” I gaped.

  Holden’s mouth set in a straight line. “I was in over my head. I never wanted to lead the jinn or anyone, but it wasn’t like they gave me a choice.”

  “So where’s this advisor now?”

  Holden tapped his foot a couple times and searched my eyes. “With your mom.”

  “Um, wait, what?” My initial shock morphed into anger that filled the room. Holden had involved her in this? I wanted this world as far away from my remaining loved ones as possible, but now he had her in the center of it. Accusations and threats streamed through my head, but I bit my tongue and held them back. “Why?” I growled.

  The air between us ignited, and Holden’s eyes narrowed. “To protect her, not that you care.” He bit off each word, his own resentment not far from the surface.

  What the hell was he talking about? “Excuse me?”

  “It’s not like you’ve ever called or visited.”

  My jaw fell open. I recognized that tone and blank expression. He was mad at me on behalf of my mother. “I couldn't talk to her. It was against the rules.”

  He shook his head.

  “You can't be mad about this. I didn't have a choice.”

  “The Olivia I love would’ve worried less about the rules and more about what she felt. You let her suffer for no reason. And she has suffered—worse than anything a jinni could have done to her.”

  My eyes filled with tears, and I cursed them.

  “And I know what she feels like.”

  I mulled over what he said, and my sadness and regret were replaced with something darker. What choice did I have? First of all, I was dead. Mom would’ve keeled over from shock if I showed up one day. Second, I would’ve been put in guardian prison or whatever for contacting her. Third, it’d put her in danger to know about this world. Fourth, where does he get off being self-righteous? He's the one who killed me. I bet he didn't tell her that. Fifth, how dare he use my mom against me? Every moment that passed in silence made me more defensive. My fury grew until I couldn’t see straight. “Do you talk to her a lot?”

  “Every week.”

  It wasn’t fair that Holden could talk to my mom whenever he wanted, and I had to pretend to be dead. It wasn’t fair he threw that back in my face. I wanted to talk to her, I wanted to explain, but it was made clear I could not. No contact with anyone from my past, that’s what they said. The smug look on his face made me want to punch him. And for a moment punching him even seemed like a good idea. It was clear I couldn’t be near him right now. I stood up to leave the room, and he held out his arm.

  I jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of breaking your rules. Why are you mad? Why?” I looked away from him too angry to talk. Holden rolled his eyes. “Grow up.” He stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He dialed with his back turned to me.

  I marched up behind him. “I want to talk to her.”

  “No,” he said without looking at me.

  I stomped my foot. “I’m not joking, Holden. I want to speak to her now!”

  He whirled around so fast I flinched. “I said no.”

  “You can’t stop me.” I took a step forward to close the gap, not at all deterred by the fire in his eyes. He had no right to keep me from at least hearing for myself that she was okay.

  “If you were so concerned about her, Livi, you should have done something about it before now.” He took a menacing step closer that would’ve pressed our bodies together if I hadn’t stumbled back to avoid the physical contact. “You need to think about someone besides yourself for once.” His voice was low and bitter as he continued to back me up with his steps. The back of the couch hit behind my knees. “Now sit down and shut up. If your mother is going to find out you’re alive, it’ll damn well be in person.”

  That pompous ass! Who did he think he was? I was about to push myself off the couch when Holden’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

  “I’m the one who took care of her the entire time you were gone. I’m the one who’s going to risk everything to keep you alive. I am the one who will have to resell his soul to make your plan work. I am the one who makes all the hard decisions with no gratitude. I am the one you didn’t deem worthy to know about your return.”

  His words sent ice through my veins. Damn shared thoughts! “You’re the one who sent a strange, fellow criminal to ‘protect’ her.” I mumbled not wanting to back down, but his words rang inside of me making it impossible to continue. I sulked on the couch and Holden ignored me. He hit send on his phone and leaned against the opposite wall, eyes on me. I listened to his end of the conversation.

  “Is she okay? Any trouble?” He paused, his face not giving away anything. For all I knew my mom could’ve been smiling and having the best time or lying dead on the ground, Holden was stone.

  “Obviously, I’m not dead—what do you mean prove it?—damn it, Baker, I don’t have time for this. I’m already dealing with one pain in the ass, don’t be another. And for Christ’s sake speak normally.” Whoever this person was, he annoyed Holden, which was good. Holden needed more people to get under his skin. “Yes, I’m with the skirt. Make sure Marge is in a safe place and will stay there, then come to my place. Be quick about it too.” Holden hung up the phone.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m ‘the skirt’ now?”

  Holden shook his head with a disgusted look. “You’ll see.”

  “So why him?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Out of everyone, why did you choose to trust this person who annoys you?”

  “He’s been loyal and useful.”

  “And?”

  “What do you mean ‘and’?”

  “You told him about my mother and me because he was loyal and useful? I’ve met lots of nice non-criminals and haven’t told any of them about you.”

  “First off, you told Femi, let’s not forget that. Second, I haven’t told him anything about you. He surmised there was a girl and because he doesn’t know your name, and because he’s Baker, he calls you ‘the skirt.’ He didn’t know anything about your mother until I realized what was happening and sent him to St. Louis to protect her in case Juliet decided to use her against you. Baker may be a criminal, but he isn’t a dumbass, which is more than I can say for your guardian.”

  “Well, he knows a hell of a lot about me now, doesn’t he? How did you get my mother to go with him? Have you been influencing her?”

  Holden closed his eyes, his jaw flexing. “He went as me, so I’m sure she left with him, no problem. Your death wasn’t easy on anyone. Marge needed someone to talk to who was close to you, and hell, so did I. If you don’t like the way I handled things, then maybe you shouldn’t have abandoned us. Maybe you should’ve come back and dealt with the mess you left behind rather than hiding from it.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have killed me.�
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  “Right, because you’ll be so happy in this life.”

  “At least I was willing to try.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” He shook his head and paced. “There is no trying. You either succeed or go to Hell, that’s it. Jinn don’t get to live happily ever after. Even now to pull this charade off, you may have to hurt, coerce, and kill people. Your hands are going to get dirty. There’s no room for a conscience or for overthinking or even for bitter pity parades. I’ve never met anyone less suited for this life than you. But here I am, helping you again, and you’re still fighting me.”

  I flopped down on the couch and stared at the wall.

  “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.” I heard Holden’s footsteps, then the bedroom door slammed.

  After about ten minutes I peeked my head into his room. He was lying on the bed breathing evenly. A trickle of annoyance that he could go to sleep after our fight ran through me, but I pushed it back. I thought about going in and apologizing, but it’d be better to keep the distance I’d established. I went back out to the living room and stared at the stark, boring space. We could do better than this.

  Eleven

  I ended up staying at Jace’s house. He thought it would be easier to stay under the radar there and at least it wasn’t home. Jace left to start digging up what he could about the disappearances. I began making my own list of guardians I knew were missing. As I wrote down names, the injustice of the situation took root deep in my stomach. How could our elders have let this happen? Even if they didn’t have a hand in it, their pacifism all but invited the jinn to keep killing us. Anger felt hard and foreign in my chest. If this was what Olivia felt when she wanted to kill the demon who took Juliet from her, now I understood better. Perhaps that was why Olivia was sent to us. She wasn’t the type to stand by while things like this happened. She would have inserted herself into the middle of whatever trouble was going on, not pawned it off on a subordinate with partial information.