by Abra Ebner
“Jake!” I gasped. What was he doing here? How—
Jake looked at me, his eyes flashing with the toxicity of that soft, veiled light. I froze.
Jake had a look of guilt on his face, catching ever so slightly in the moonlight from the window. The room grew warm once more, and that’s when I realized what had really been the case. Jake had been my late night visitor. Jake had been the watcher as I slept—not Greg.
“Jake,” I whispered.
He stole a glance. I’m sorry, his mind read.
Greg tossed him off, seeing the opportunity. Jake fell to the side like a sack of grain, discarded with little effort. I swallowed hard, my hopes of rescue shattered because of me. Greg slowly rose from the ground, brushing himself off with an amused grin on his face.
“You’ve gotten yourself a rabid bat to protect you, I see.” Greg straightened his long black coat, smoothing his hand down one sleeve.
Jake moaned from the corner, trying to sit up. Greg approached him, eyes on me. He clenched his jaw as he kicked Jake in the stomach, getting a rise out of the horrified look on my face. Jake coughed hard, spitting blood onto the floor before slumping into it, unmoving.
“Jake!” I whispered harshly. I wanted to cry, but my breath caught in my throat as Greg’s arms wrapped around me, squeezing tight. I could hear him struggling against my poisonous skin, but it didn’t stop him. He balled me in his arms, my gaze trying to remain on Jake, hoping he was alright as I let Greg take me. My arms were weak, my heart tired. I knew that struggling was useless.
“Jake...”
Max:
Sitting in the dark office of the apothecary, I tried to think of what to do. Jane didn’t want me around, but I had to be there to protect her closer than ever, preferably visibly beside her. How can I make amends with her? How can I make her see that there are more pressing problems we face, other than the simple problem of our connection? On the whole of things, Jane needed to know that danger was out there waiting for her. I could not keep her in the dark this time.
On the desk sat a bronze rose. I was again reminded of the day when I first learned of Jane, and the rose I’d bought for Avery. It had been an empty gesture of dying love, but the look on her face was pure innocence despite that. Avery had been a harmless creature, and I was having a hard time imagining her as the Shadow Pixie in Srixon’s explanation. In all the time I had known Avery, I never once saw a glimmer of that evil. Would I recognize this new, darker version of Avery if she were standing right in front of me?
Finding her was my primary task, but from what Srixon had told me, Avery hadn’t been seen in years. For all I knew she lived halfway around the world. I bit my lip. What would she do when she saw me, and what kind of danger did she pose? Did she know about this supposed foreseen future with Jane? And in what way would Jane be important to any of it? In what way would Avery?
Jane was just a girl, just a human thrown into this world as a Seoul. I sighed, knowing that wasn’t entirely true. To me she wasn’t just a girl. To me she was everything. Jane held a spark of something I’d never seen before, and that wasn’t just our soul inside her, but something larger than that. Was my purpose here not solely to find her, but to truly be the one to protect this important being whose future was bigger than any of us could even imagine? Would she finally bring peace to the war between human and magick?
I wished I knew more, and I wished I could see this Truth involving them, but it was kept hidden for a reason, and that’s what scared me the most. From what I gathered out of Srixon’s vague explanation, it wasn’t hard to see just how big of a deal this was. I had never seen him act so grave, so serious. Bottom line was I needed to watch Jane.
I needed to watch Jane.
I stood abruptly, knowing what was required only to be knocked off balance by a sharp blow to the face. I fell to the floor, startled as I looked frantically around the room, but no one was there.
Gregory.
The pounding pain in my cheekbone stopped as abruptly as it had come. I took a moment to understand what had happened and what it meant. No other pain followed. When nothing more ensued, I stood from the floor and brushed myself off. In a snap I disappeared, headed to Jane’s room.
Appearing at the foot of her bed, I was perplexed to see she wasn’t there. I circled the bed and felt her sheets—they were cold. Disappearing again, I appeared in Emily’s room, hoping she’d know where Jane was. Her bed was also empty, but not cold. Her sheets were in disarray, thrown about the room—then there was a moan. My eyes darted in the direction of the sound, surprised when I saw Jake lying in a small pool of his own blood. Falling to his side, I carefully supported his weight and hauled him to his feet. With the back of my hand, I wiped his face with the sleeve of my jacket.
“Jake, what happened?” I whispered firmly.
Jake struggled to open his eyes, murmuring inaudible sounds from his bloodied lips.
“What?” I leaned closer and shook him gently, trying to convey the importance.
“Greg,” he managed to say, louder this time, the words draining him as he fell against me. I looked at the puddle of blood on the ground, fearing the amount he’d lost. He needed blood, and now. I pulled a knife from my pocket and cut into my own skin at the crease of my elbow, where it would flow freely. Holding Jake against the wall, I guided the slow flow of blood to his lips. He took it unwillingly.
I sighed long and hard. Jake grimaced, but the light was returning to his cheeks as his body heat once again rose well above a human temperature. After a minute, the cut on my arm began to heal over and Jake was able to stand on his own two feet, his lips pursed as though he’d just bit into a lime.
“Bleck!” he remarked. “What does Emily see in that?”
I chuckled with relief. Hearing him act like the Jake I knew was a good sign.
He wiped a hand across his continually perspiring brow, streaking it with blood. “Emily’s gone.”
I looked at the stain on the carpet. “Greg took her?” I didn’t see how, but I could smell the lingering burn of his flesh.
Jake nodded. “Yeah.”
“Did you hear anything else?”
Jake rubbed his stomach. “He was going on about how he needed her, and then something about Avery. I can’t be sure just what that means. I was pretty livid at that point. It’s hard to know just what he said.”
I gave him a reproachful glare. “You shouldn’t have been here…” I put my hand on his shoulder. “…but I’m glad you were.”
Jake shrugged. “I can’t help it.” I could see the look in his eyes, the look of a man barred from what he loved—a look like my own.
“She has Wes, Jake,” I reminded him, as I have before.
Jake became flustered. “I know. I know that.” He began pacing. “Can we just…” he stopped, helplessly holding his hands in the air before slapping them against his legs. “Never mind.” He gave up. “There are more important things to do right now than discuss this, don’t you think?”
I had to agree. “How did Greg take her?”
Jake snorted. “Like anyone does—hands around waist, ‘come on darlin’, you’re mine’, you know?”
I shook my head. “I get that, but he’s supposed to be somewhat… allergic to her.”
Jake shrugged dramatically. “I don’t know! I just walked into this. How am I supposed to understand that?”
I shook my head. “And you remember nothing about where they were going?”
Jake thought for a moment, being cooperative. “No. I don’t think he bothered to mention that.” Jake’s jaw clenched. “He’s a real jerk.”
“I know that.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “So are you.”
My head tilted as I glared. “That’s not helping this situation.”
Jake grumbled.
I took a moment before adding to the circumstances. “Jane’s gone, too,” I admitted, ashamed that I’d lose track of what was most important to me as an angel, and a man.
My head dropped.
Jake approached me, brows raised. “Taken?” he asked.
I shrugged, conveying it wasn’t quite like that, at least not initially. Jane had simply left me.
Jake snorted. “She left, didn’t she? I’m not surprised. With your track record…” He stopped talking as he saw the look on my face. Shrugging his shoulders he bravely added, “Just sayin’.”
I denied my desire to blow up at him, fixing my hands at my sides. “I need to find Avery.”
Jake’s brows lifted with surprise.
“Will you help me?” I added, further swallowing my pride.
Just then, two owls flew through the window. I knew one was Wes, but I didn’t recognize the other. Wes looked up at Jake, and then to me.
“Emily’s been taken,” I said bluntly.
Wes looked to Jake. His mind raced with confusion, his thoughts still directed toward me as anger rose in the waves of his mind.
“Yes. Jake was here when it happened.” I tried my best to remain neutral.
Wes’s eyes narrowed at Jake as the questions continued to pour out of his mind.
I shrugged. “I don’t know why, Wes. Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s right there.”
Wes’s feather’s fluffed in defiance. Diverting my attention away from them, I briefly looked to the new owl behind Wes for an explanation as to who she was. The owl divulged her relationship to Wes openly.
“You’re his sister?” I asked in a whisper while Jake and Wes were occupied.
Her head tilted.
“I never knew.” I added.
The wild owl flew through the window then, landing beside Wes’s sister. Everything began to make sense.
Jake shifted his weight and shook his head, bringing my attention back to him. “I’m not here to take your girlfriend, Wes, so chill out.”
I gave Jake a warning look to behave, hoping Wes wouldn’t see it. Jake only glowered.
“I can’t take your girlfriend,” Jake added, sounding shamelessly disappointed by that fact. “Remember? There are rules.”
Wes chortled sharply.
“If there weren’t rules?” Jake laughed. “Then things would be different.”
Wes lunged at Jake but his sister stepped in, grabbing his tail with her beak.
I cringed and swiftly closed the distance between me and Jake, pinching his arm and giving him my last warning. “Stop.” Now is not the time to tell Wes about this. I cleared my throat, addressing everyone. “Has anyone seen Jane recently?” I felt ashamed to ask. I should know.
Jake was the first to answer. “She’s been hanging out with this new pixie friend of hers, Navia. She doesn’t seem to care much for us anymore, or you, apparently.”
My teeth ground together. That was a low blow. “What pixie? I haven’t seen a pixie.”
“Last I saw them was at the Halloween party earlier tonight,” Jake added.
“What was this pixie like?” I asked again.
Wes scratched at the floor to get my attention, explaining her to me in great detail—too much detail.
I swallowed hard. My gut was telling me that something about this new friend of Jane’s wasn’t right. I felt my hand begin to shake—it was too much of a coincidence; besides, pixies didn’t make friends with Seouls, only Shadow Pixies did because they liked the death surrounding them. My next statement proved difficult to say aloud.
“I’m afraid that pixie she’s with is a very old friend of mine. I’m afraid she’s with Avery.” Those simple words put an end to the tension in the room.
Wes’s already large owl eyes were now larger. He hopped over to Emily’s bed where he slid under the covers, his head popping out the other end—human.
“What?” he gasped.
I shrugged. “I came upon some information that may suggest that this old friend of mine, Avery, may be out to get Jane. From what you tell me of Navia, I believe it’s the same person,” I explained. “I’m not sure just why, or what she wants with Jane, but I can assure you it’s not good.”
Wes’s gawking expression didn’t change. “I know who Avery is, Max. You don’t have to refer to her as your old friend. She was your fiancé,” he added bitterly.
I glanced at Jake, my patience with him just about worn out. “You told them, didn’t you?”
Jake nodded brazenly.
He was really testing my trust today. I shook my head. “How much has she been around?” I asked Wes, not wanting to hear Jake speak.
“Like every living second since you left, it seems.” Wes laughed, but nervously. “She gave me the creeps she was so gorgeous. I can’t believe you were engaged to her once.”
Jake snorted, taking another jab at Wes. “I thought you loved Emily,” he challenged.
“Jake. Stop,” I demanded, my voice booming and on edge.
Wes grinned, amused by my anger toward Jake before turning his attention back on the main subject. “Her name was Navia, though, not Avery. Are you positive you’ve got it right, because pixies all seem to look the same to me,” Wes added.
I nodded. “It has to be her.” Avery used to tell me all the time how she wished she had a more distinctive name, like Navia.
“So, it’s really her?” Wes recognized the truth on my face.
“I think that’s what the man is saying,” Jake snapped.
I nodded again, more slowly, still ignoring Jake. “I think so. She’s extremely dangerous, too. I don’t think you can even understand how much.”
Jake frowned, looking at his hands. “She’s a Shadow Pixie, isn’t she?”
I allowed myself to answer him this time, nodding gravely.
Jake shook his head. “I knew there was something funny about her.”
Wes swore under his breath. “Well, this can’t be good.” He grunted. “Even if I don’t know what a Shadow Pixie is, it just sounds bad. Not to mention the fact that Jane and Avery both are, or were, romantically involved with you. That’s never a good thing. It’s like two roosters in a cage.”
Wes knew enough about disgruntled ex-girlfriends to see that the two of them being friends was a premeditative and dangerous thing.
“What the heck does Avery want to do with Jane? If she wanted to kill her she would have done it, considering the fact they’ve been locked at the hip the last week. Avery didn’t really appear violent toward Jane, either,” Jake interjected naively.
Wes and I both looked at him.
Wes laughed. “Just because she hasn’t done anything to her doesn’t mean she won’t. Chicks are crazy. Avery’s probably just playing with her first. It doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces together as to why. Avery probably wants revenge for what Max did to her. She’s just playing it cool until the right opportunity comes along to… do whatever.” Wes looked at me nervously.
Jake ignored the look of concern Wes and I were sharing. “At least I’m not the one naked under a sheet right now.”
Wes’s sister chortled angrily at Jake, Jake disregarded her anger.
Wes shook his head. “Lame rebuttal, man—lame.”
I could see where this was going. I’d been here with Wes before. “Come on, guys. Seriously… stop.” Aside from removing their tongues, I didn’t see how this was ever going to end. It was better to just move on.
Their glares both turned to me.
“Alright then, smarty pants. What do you propose we do?” Wes’s anger was transferred, his sister still perched like his shadow, fluffed and ready to defend Wes’s honor should I threaten it.
I sighed long and hard. “We just fix it.”
Wes:
I spiraled to the ground with Stella outside Emily’s room, watching Jake climb from the window as though he’d done it before. How had he gotten there faster than me, and all the way from Winter Wood? Yeah, right. He had been closer than that.
I’d woken the minute I felt her heart surge to life. I knew that Emily wasn’t just having a nightmare. The fear from her was eminent, and her every heartbea
t was like a drumming alarm. Granted it took me a moment to gather myself and Lacy, but I had arrived as soon as I could. There was no way anyone could have been faster, aside from Max, maybe—apparently—but that was Max.
My talons ripped at the dirt below my feet as I considered the possible reasons for Jake’s timely appearance. They were all bad.
Max stood beside me, looking down at me. I looked up at him. I didn’t like the look on his face. It was pity. Why was it pity? What did he know? Like I said, having Max get there before me came as no surprise—it was Max. But the sweaty vampire? A slow, clumsy guy? Was he really agile enough to arrive before me? For the most part he was just human. He couldn’t fly, couldn’t even run very fast.
He must have already been there?
Was he involved?
Was he… I chortled loudly. Stella nudged me, trying to calm me.
Max scowled. “Concentrate on finding Emily, Wes, not that. You’re driving me nuts.”
His remark only made me angrier. Of course I was concentrating on finding Emily. She was all I cared about. Lacy flashed me some images of a hug, comfort—it was our way of communicating. Stella flashed me similar images, but with a bit more zest to it. I tried to reprimand her, thinking it was hardly the time. Stella looked hurt, but she was just a bird.
Annoyed, I quickly flew up to the window of my room. Lacy followed me. I dove in, landing on my bed and gathering some clothes in my mouth. Lacy did the same and we quickly changed, creeping down the stairs as quietly as possible and out the front door. I was going to need to be able to communicate more openly, so for right now, the animal in me was going to have to wait.