“Nothing to worry about Mercy.”
I spun around and faced her.
“It’s just you and me.”
Flynn made his way over, and her grin became genuine. She placed a hand on his chest and purred. Purred. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Morgana,” he said, even though I’d told him what she called herself.
She lost some of her smile. “Morgan.”
“How can there be two of you? Seems impossible.”
Her smile grew, and she rubbed his chest like he was a work of art. Well, she may have been right about that.
“Maybe I’ll tell you after one of your famous pony rides.”
“Really,” I accidentally said out loud.
She glared at me. Flynn took a step back and moved next to me. He slung an arm over my shoulder.
“Actually, I wore this for my girlfriend. I hoped she would get the hint.”
Her eyes flicked over us. “Girlfriend, I thought she was your wife.”
The wife thing had been our cover in Fairy. It hadn’t worked or saved us for any of the vile things Mab had planned for us.
“Girlfriend, wife, ball and chain, what’s the difference? She’ll kick my ass if I even think about someone else.”
“That’s not what you told my sister.”
“How would you know what we talked about?” There was something about his question that led me to believe he was up to something.
Morgan didn’t even blink when she answered. “Because we are all part of mother. She sent a piece of herself to seduce you and another to earth to find out more about her.” She pointed at me. “Seems you had us all fooled with wanting a better life and one away from her.”
I blinked up at Flynn. I’d thought he had wanted that. He’d told me as much when we were there.
She shifted her attention back to me. “Where is it?”
“I don’t have it.”
She pressed a sharp nail in the center of Flynn’s chest. “What do you mean?”
Out of my periphery, I saw Flynn open his mouth. No words came out but there was alarm in his eyes. I jerked her arm away and shoved her. She went sliding across her ice.
“Flynn,” I said. But, he didn’t speak.
I did the only thing I could with the second I had before she’d be in my face again. I fused my mouth to his and pushed power from me to him. He gasped. I spun because I heard her coming.
“Wait, you don’t understand,” I said holding up a hand. I needed to get her attention. “When I told Tristrom I was handing over the scepter to you, he stole it. He said he was going to gather an army and destroy Fairy before he’d let that happen.”
She stopped, and it was almost comical with her leg bent in mid stride. She lowered her foot and looked more like a normal person. “Tristrom is here as well?”
Her expression had turned thoughtful.
“Yes.”
“The boy is too stupid to do this on his own.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. He thinks there are Fey who are sympathizers to his cause. He believes he can lead a rebellion into Fairy and take it over.”
“And you just let him have the scepter,” she said, mouth turning into a snarl.
“No. I didn’t expect him to take it. And not because he’s stupid, but because I thought he would care what would happen to my friend.”
She glared, eyes narrowed at me a little while longer. “If he’s here, I know who else is. And if something will get him back here sooner, it will be her. You contact him and make sure he returns with the scepter by tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll raise my own army, and if I don’t have what I want, I will decimate you, this town and everything in my path to get it.”
She waved a hand, and the ice that covered houses, the sidewalk and most of the street returned to her like a good pet and absorbed into her skin. Then she got in a car that was parked on the street. Liam was driving. He didn’t even glance at me as he passed. He was under some kind of thrall. I had to get him away from her ASAP.
My street came to life within seconds of her departure. We got back in the car and pulled up to the drive. My neighbor had come out to get the mail and waved. I waved back, but hurried inside the house.
Sebastian and Tristrom popped in the living room at the same time.
“How did it go?” Tristrom asked.
Pounding footsteps crested the basement stairs and Rune and Mia joined us.
“Not so good. She bought most of the bait, but Tristrom, I think you should head to the hospital. She said she knew who she could use to get back at you.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t think about Cece.”
“Neither had I. It might take her time to figure out where she is, but she could google her name. There had been a news story about her being found.”
“Can I borrow your car?” he asked me.
“Sure, but…” I glanced at Sebastian. He looked a little worse for wear and not in appearance per se. He just looked tired. “I’m sorry to ask you,” I said, directing my statement to Sebastian.
He glanced at Rune then back at me and nodded. He placed a hand on Tristrom, and they were gone.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Mia asked, but not me. Her eyes were for Flynn.
“Nothing is guaranteed, but it should,” Flynn said, and took my hand, and Mia watched. She glanced away, but otherwise didn’t comment.
A growling noise took everyone’s attention. Rune’s face reddened.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to being human again.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry. Let me make dinner.”
“Why don’t I call and order pizza? We’re supposed to go home tonight. Just waiting for the all clear from Dad.”
I squeezed Flynn’s hand appreciating the gesture. “It’s okay. You know I like to cook, and there’s food here. It will be less we have to pack up.”
“Fine, but I’m helping.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really, anything to be close to my boo.”
I laughed. “Boo, is it now? I thought the word was bae?”
“Bae, what the hell is bae? It’s sounds stupid. I like boo.”
As I shook my head and walked off, he patted my butt.
“Too much PDA,” Rune teased.
“If you had a girl who looked like this, you’d do the same.”
“True,” Rune agreed, which almost made me stutter my step.
Sebastian thought Rune’s attraction to him was because of the vampire turning effects. Rune said he hadn’t thought about a girl since turning, so it wasn’t just a passing thing. Yet, he hadn’t contradicted Flynn. I had too much to worry over. I started dinner. I picked something that wouldn’t smell too much.
Later that evening, Flynn was up close and personal with me in my twin bed.
“You aren’t eating much these days. What aren’t you telling me?”
It was something he didn’t need to worry about. I didn’t think it was as important as everything else going on. I switched subjects.
“I thought you couldn’t be this close to me. Didn’t you say your urges were too strong?”
His nose brushed mine, and I thought he was about to kiss me.
“I’ve got everything under control, just don’t make any sexy sounds or get undressed in front of me. That would be my undoing.”
“So let’s talk about AP Calculus, Physics or Macroeconomics?”
“Let’s not. Let’s play a guessing game.”
I knew I shouldn’t ask, but I did anyway. “What guessing game?”
“Like if I guess the color of your underwear or bra, you have to take it off.”
I shoved at his chest hoping to send him over the edge of the bed, but he grabbed my bottom and glued us together.
“What? Is that some game you’ve played in the past?”
He looked me straight in the eye and said, “I never played games, and I never had to, to get a girl out of her clothes.”
&nbs
p; “Okay, TMI. I get I’m the prude girl, so not your type and so not in your league.”
It was dumb, but insecurity had crept in like a stalker. What if I ever went there with Flynn and not in some dream? Would he judge me against the countless other girls he’d been with?
He let go of my bottom and settled to his back barely staying on the bed.
“No, I’m not in your league. You deserve someone better, someone who won’t paw on you all the time.”
I rolled to my side and placed my head on his chest. “I know you’re wrong. I think…”
My words trailed off. Luke hadn’t shown up. Any further talk I had, both should hear. Still, his absence shouldn’t have been a big deal. He didn’t have a role in the first part of our plan, but I’d expected him to be there, and he wasn’t. That had me worried. Had he gotten in trouble from revealing himself to his mother? Was that the last time I was ever going to see him?
“Have you heard from Luke?” I asked.
“No. Why?” Flynn tucked an arm around me.
“I’m afraid maybe he got into more trouble than he thought he would.”
His other hand smoothed down my back to comfort me. “Don’t worry. They need him.”
My jumbled thoughts landed on another subject I needed to talk about.
“Speaking of Luke, did you know about his will?”
His hand stopped. “You found out about that?”
“Yes. Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Maybe, because of your reaction. Besides, you can only access his trust fund to pay for your college at least for a while.”
“How do you know so much?”
He shrugged. “I have a trust fund, and we talked about it once. When he made his will, he told me he was transferring it to you and that all the same rules would apply.”
I lifted up my head because I wanted to stare at him. “I’m not sure what I’m more disturbed at. That you have a trust fund too or that neither of you bothered to tell me.”
“It’s all good, Mercy. His family has more money than God. Well, we do too. But still, it’s just money, and he wanted someone deserving to have it.”
Luke hadn’t told him that I’d become the ‘spiritually’ Mrs. Bishop then. And he didn't seem to remember our conversation on the plane. I quickly shifted the topic.
“Do you even know what it’s like to be poor?”
“Yeah, I got a glimpse of that staying here.”
I shoved him off the bed that time. He went down laughing. It was the calm before the storm because the next day, hell froze over knee-deep in frozen shit.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The next day, Flynn wore a Stay Calm, I have a Girlfriend tee shirt to school, which should have been funny. Instead, I worried about the afternoon to come.
Thankfully, Nina didn’t show again. I should have been concerned about what her absence meant. Instead, I relished not seeing her face, which only reminded me that Luke still hadn’t made an appearance.
Flynn and I skipped school after lunch, with Mom and David’s permission. They were well informed of what we were planning to do. David left things up to us after we convinced him our plan would work. None of us wanted Mom in the line of fire in her ‘condition’.
I had to lie to Maggie about my reasons for leaving school early for her protection, and it sucked. I told her straight-faced Mom was having an ultrasound, and then we were all going to dinner after as a family. She made me promise I texted her details. I told her I would, but it might be late. I felt bad for the lie, but I couldn’t have her family more involved than they already were.
One of Sebastian’s jobs was to look out for Liam and get him out of the line of fire when things began. Only Tristrom and Sebastian hadn’t returned last night from the hospital. I hoped everything was okay. I couldn’t chance calling about CeCe’s condition with her family at the hospital. I would be caught lying about who I was. My powers of voice didn’t work over the phone. And CeCe’s disappearance was still a matter of a police investigation. I couldn’t risk them tracing the call back to me and questioning me about why I would want to know about a girl I shouldn’t know. She didn’t live in my school district.
We hadn’t left Mom’s house last night. David thought it was better to minimize what the Fey knew about us. They assumed we lived in that house. So we stayed. Flynn stopped by his house on the way to school so that we could change. It was a quick stop, but weird being in my room. I’d started to become attached to the home I’d known most of my life. Being back at David’s would be an adjustment again.
We found Tom, Brent, and Doug, were already there when we made it home. They were in the kitchen eating. David had gotten it catered. The smells of meat permeated the house. I nearly gagged. I dropped my bag and exited the house. Flynn’s stomach led him to the kitchen. So I slipped out without being seen, or so I’d thought.
“Still not feeling well.”
I glanced over at Mia, who stepped outside, closing the door lightly behind her.
“I think it’s just too many smells.”
“Uh huh,” she said, not believing me at all. “Sups don’t get sick in general. If we do, it’s one of two reasons.”
An SUV pulled into the drive.
“One is that we’ve been hexed by a witch. The other…”
Chris and his pack of wolves spilled out of the SUV. I hadn’t seen the pack in ages. Chris had always been pretty nice. It was Mike, the guy who followed him who creeped me out.
He stared at me in a way that gave me the chills and not in a good way.
“Hey, are we late for the party?”
Chris eyed Mia as she did him. “Smells like dinner.”
I thumbed a finger at the door. “Go for it. Plenty for all.” If I knew David, there would be.
“Mia, why don’t you show him the way?”
After she nodded, I wondered if that had been a good idea. Doug seemed to like Mia and Mia him. And wolves weren’t ones for sharing. Our relationship with Chris’s pack hadn’t been a good one after Mike had picked a fight. I groaned, but I couldn’t go inside. I sat on the porch. It wouldn’t be long.
I didn’t think much about what Mia said. I knew what the second was. If we were poisoned by something, hexed by a witch. Witches were the common theme. It was a matter if the spell was cast directly by a witch or if someone had bought a spell from a witch. Either way, I knew I needed to get a witch to remove the hex from me.
The witches, who came to ward David’s house, had little time. To add warding Luke’s house meant they would have to come back another day to figure out what had happened to me. Besides, David and Mom didn’t know I was still sick. They thought I was better, so I didn’t press.
It didn’t matter. I was an heiress, which sounded weird. I could pay on my own to get a witch to remove the spell. I wouldn’t have to burden David and Mom with my problem. I only felt bad when I was near food.
I sucked in the fresh air and stared at the sky. It was perfect without a cloud in sight. “Luke, where are you?”
Nothing.
A crash sounded from inside. I jumped to my feet. When I reached for the door, it swung open, and Sebastian came out. He shook his head and made me take a step back.
“What happened?”
“Short story, it was a mess at the hospital. The girl’s family didn’t want Tristrom to go near her. I had to use the power of persuasion to convince them to go home and give him some time with her. Then I left him. Some time later, he fell asleep next to her. When he woke, her eyes were frozen open. The monitor alarms had been silenced, and she slipped away. Her family showed up and thought he had something to do with it.”
“Frozen? They know he’s Fey?”
“Not exactly, they just thought somehow he caused her death. According to the doctor's, she’d had a less than ten percent chance of survival.”
“Oh my gosh,” I said trying to push my way passed him.
“Mercy, give him time. You know how you fe
lt.”
His clipped words reminded me, and my shoulders sagged. Luke dying had nearly killed me. I could imagine what Tristrom was going through, and no amount of words would help. He didn’t need words. He needed time.
“We’re going to have to do this without him.”
“And Luke?” he asked.
I glanced up at Sebastian. “So you noticed?”
“That the golden boy isn’t near?” I nodded. “My skin doesn’t itch, so yeah I noticed.”
I gave him my best mean glare.
“Don’t bother trying to look tough. You look like a puppy.”
“Thanks,” I said turning away.
“It’s okay to be soft. There are good uses for soft girls.”
A waved a hand. “Don’t even go there. It doesn’t work for you.”
“What? You don’t think I want the same things Flynn wants? I’ve had plenty of females. Maybe I’m not as crude about it as he is. Mercy, we could make it work.”
I stepped back. His eyes flashed red. His words had to be influenced by Belial. Sebastian didn’t talk that way.
“This is weird. You’re like my brother. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a hot guy. Still, it’s weird to hear you talk that way. You’re like a really good friend.”
“Friends with benefits.”
I laughed. “Now you’re totally being like Flynn. Besides, you have other people to worry about. What’s going to happen to Rune?”
His eyes found a spot opposite me to land on. “Look who’s talking. Don’t you have other things to worry about?”
“I do.” As much as I didn’t have words for Tristrom, I could still be there. “I’m going to handle that now. And you need to stop avoiding Rune. He deserves better than that. He’s your best friend.”
With that, I went inside and wrapped my arms around Tristrom without saying a word. His grief, anger, and heartbreak felt like my own. And no one else in the house except maybe David or even Mom could sympathize the same. I didn’t begrudge him tears as I held him.
“Well, what do we have here? Human emotions at their worst.”
Sacrifice of Mercy Page 26