“Come on. Let’s be serious.”
“So what do you suggest we do?”
“How bad would it be if we didn’t wipe his mind?”
“Hailey could be in danger. He’d be pissed and send people after her.”
“But he’s a jerk. My guess is this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this. Can’t we use that against him? Threaten to tell everyone about his behavior?”
“I don’t think blackmail is going to be quite enough.”
“Maybe it’s fine. We can go back in.”
“If I knew of a better solution I’d take it, but if there’s a chance we can’t erase this veil, I can’t leave Hailey at risk.”
“And Jared does have a soft side.” Vera smiled.
“Yeah well, she’s like a sister to me.”
“She’s lucky.” Vera headed back inside.
“It’s all done.” Nadia grinned. She bent down and pulled the tape off the captive guy’s mouth.
“Uh, I appreciate you getting rid of that idiot, but could you also untie me?” The guy whined from his place on the floor.
I felt anger rising. She’d done it without me being inside? I couldn’t air my grievances in front of the Were. That would defeat the purpose of what Nadia did.
“Sure.” Nadia untied him.
He smiled. “Thanks. You can always count on women to come to your aid.”
“That’s right.” Hailey smiled and headed outside.
The rest of us filed out behind her. As soon as we reached the yard I turned to Nadia. “How could you have erased his mind without me being there?”
“What?” She pouted. “You don’t trust me?”
“I trust you, but I still needed to be there.”
“We had no time to waste.” Hailey paced back and forth on the grass. “We still don’t. I don’t want to be here when the rest of his friends get back.”
“What are you doing tonight?” Nadia flipped her hair again. It seemed to be her go to motion when flirting.
“We have plans with Levi and Owen.” I shrugged. I don’t know what I was expecting to learn from her, but this time around I hadn’t even seen her manipulate his mind.
“Oh. That’s too bad. I was hoping we could get a drink.” She ran her teeth over her bottom lip.
“We still could.” Vera nodded enthusiastically. “We could grab a quick drink on our way over.”
Nadia smiled, accepting the olive branch Vera seemed to be extending her. “Great. Let’s go to Mirrored Rock.”
“A witch bar?” I wasn’t sure if that’s where I needed to be. Or maybe it was. Vera was doing this for a reason. I was positive she wasn’t actually looking forward to spending more time with this witch.
“I’m coming too,” Hailey butted in. I wasn’t surprised.
I shook my head. “Not happening. You’re not old enough.”
“I’m eighteen. I’m going to college in a few months.”
“Ask me again in a few months.” Or years. She’d always be a kid to me. Or I thought so at the time.
“Fine.” She crossed her arms.
“I helped you out big time.” And she’d forget all about it. If it was anyone else I’d have been annoyed about her tendency to do that, but in Hailey’s own way it showed that she viewed me as someone she could trust.
“It’s fine. I was totally within reason for what I did.”
“Then why did you send me the 911 message?” I narrowed my eyes.
“I was afraid.” She looked down.
“Yet you didn’t text Owen?” I didn’t really understand their relationship. Sometimes they seemed close, but other times they didn’t.
“He would have lectured me. I figured you wouldn’t.”
“Be smart next time. Stay away from these guys.”
“I couldn’t let them treat a girl that way.”
“Whatever. Thanks for coming.” She turned to Vera. “Nice to meet you.” She walked off toward where her red jeep was parked.
“Are we ready to get that drink?” Nadia asked.
“Absolutely.” Vera smiled. “I’m always looking for new places to get a drink.”
6
Vera
I’d never had any desire to go to a witch bar. I still didn’t, but I wasn’t ready to give up on Nadia’s usefulness yet. Plus, I needed to make up for my snafu. I’d been the one to pull Jared outside. Now he wasn’t even sure what Nadia did to the guy. It hadn’t been intentional, but it had been a mistake. I wasn’t going to make any more.
Mirrored Rock was like no bar I’d been in before. The name was appropriate. The walls were covered with floor to ceiling mirrors, and large faux rocks separated different sitting areas and bars. The overall effect was a tacky version of the 80s, but I got the sense that was on purpose. Whoever designed the place had quite a sense of humor. If for no other reason, I kind of liked the bar.
I stayed close to Jared’s side as we continued inside. It wasn’t that I was afraid I couldn’t protect myself, but I didn’t want to stand out or do anything else to mess things up. We needed to make this stop quick before we met up with Levi—and hopefully Allie. I wondered if Allie would be different. Had she changed as much from being with Levi as he’d changed by being with her? There was only one way to find out, but we couldn’t do that quite yet.
Nadia went right up to a large faux rock covered bar and caught the eyes of a female bartender with bright purple hair. “Three Twisted Volcanos.”
“Coming right up.” The bartender smiled before pulling down a variety of bottles.
My first thought was I was surprised she bothered to order me one, and my second was what the hell was a Twisted Volcano? I had a feeling I didn’t want to know.
“What’s in them?” Jared gestured to the large purple glasses the bartender was filling up from the various bottles. None of them had labels. There was no way the health department had checked out this place in a while.
Nadia tilted her head to the side. “Vodka and a few other things.”
“It’s the few other things that worry me.” Jared leaned away from her slightly.
Nadia shrugged. “You’re a Pteron, what could any of it do to you?”
“She’s not a Pteron.” He touched my arm. The contact was warm and comforting, the way his touch always seemed to be.
“You think I want to drug your friend?” Nadia asked incredulously. “She’s the only reason you’re having a drink with me.”
I nodded, pretending to agree even though I didn’t. She wanted Jared, and I realized drugging me and getting me out of the way could give her easier access. I’d accept the glass, but I wasn’t ingesting a single drop of it.
The bartender set down the three glasses, and we each took one. No money exchanged hands, which made me wonder if Nadia had a permanent tab there or something. I wasn’t curious enough to ask. I’d taken plenty of free drinks before in my life.
Nadia led the way over to an empty table tucked behind one of the gray rock walls.
“Interesting décor.” I attempted polite conversation as I slid into a white plastic seat.
Nadia laughed. “It grows on you.”
“You get used to looking at yourself from every direction?” Jared watched his reflection in the mirror directly in front of us.
“I wouldn’t think you’d mind the view.” Nadia rested her hand on the white lacquer finished table.
“Are you implying I’m vain?” He turned to her.
“I’m implying you’re easy on the eyes.”
“Oh.” Jared moved in his seat as though he were trying to find a comfortable spot. He was nervous. I didn’t like him being nervous. He was supposed to be cool and confident. We needed that more than ever. I always needed to be in control, but I couldn’t be. Not this time.
“It’s really cool what you did back there.” I pulled the conversation back to magic. It was the only reason we were sitting in this mirrored place.
“Manipulating his mind?�
� Nadia sipped her drink.
“Yes. I’ve never seen anything like that.” I laid it on, hoping it had its desired effect.
Nadia pursed her lips. “Humans miss out on a lot.”
I swallowed down the part about me being a bear. I didn’t need to draw attention to that. “Is it hard?”
“It’s a skill that comes naturally to us.” She lifted her chin.
“That’s cool. What else can you do?” I hoped my interest was coming off as normal.
“Almost anything.”
“Really?” I leaned forward on my elbows.
“Yes.” She smiled.
“Can you make love potions?” I picked up my drink as though I were going to drink it.
“Of course. That’s easy.”
“How about make someone freeze in place?” I set down my drink. Hopefully she’d missed that I didn’t actually drink it.
“Easy.”
“Can you time travel?” I tried to give enough examples to make the time travel thing sound natural.
She set down her drink. “Most can’t.”
“But can you?” Jared leaned toward her slightly.
She looked all around us. “It’s not something I’m going to advertise. I could get in a lot of trouble."
“You must be crazy powerful to do that.” I hoped I was hitting the right mix of impressed yet normal.
“My family is one of the most powerful around.”
“Why can’t you tell anyone about it?” I asked.
“It’s a sign of our power. The Society would probably want to use me or destroy me.” She gave Jared a look. “Don’t even think of turning me in or I’m spilling what Hailey is up to.”
Jared held up his hands. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Could you show us how you do it?”
“You have a hankering to go back in time?” She tapped her purple nails on the table.
“I want to see the future.”
“Oh. Even I can’t do that.” She put a hand to her throat.
My chest clenched. “Why not?”
“The way we do it involves starting with a memory. We can only go to a time and place we’ve been in some way. Once we reach that time we can move freely, even to places we’ve never visited before.
I felt a wave of relief. “But you can go back? Like if you time traveled now, you could come back here?”
“Of course. Otherwise you could mess everything up. It’s not time travel like in the movies and stuff.”
“The future would be cool, but going back to the past could be cool too.” I forced a smile.
“We could try it. But only if I know I can trust you.” She looked at Jared. “Interested in doing a little experimenting?”
He coughed. Her eyes weren’t talking about that kind of experimenting. That seemed to snap the real Jared back. “Maybe, but like I said we have to see Levi.”
Her face fell slightly, but she recovered. “Tomorrow night then?”
“Sounds perfect.” Hopefully we’d figure something out first, but now we had a backup. Still, we needed to make sure Allie and Levi met. I wasn’t taking any risks. I also needed to make sure of something else first.
“Can I borrow your phone?” I asked Jared. I’d let Nadia have a few minutes of face time with him. Maybe she’d like me even more that way. We needed to keep her on our side for now because she might be our only ticket to getting back to real time.
“My phone?” Jared’s eyes searched my face for answers.
He wasn’t going to get them until I could put my fears to rest. “Just for a second. I forgot mine.” I didn’t forget it exactly, but it was the easiest way to describe it in front of Nadia.
“Okay.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket and handed it to me.
I accepted it. “Be right back.” I walked around the rock formation and toward the back of the bar. I found a spot by the restrooms and dialed one of the few numbers I’d ever bothered to memorize.
It rang and rang without answer, so I hit end call. I was about to walk back to the table, when my phone rang. I watched as the familiar numbers showed up on the screen. With trepidation I picked up. “Hello.”
“Vera?” Murphy barked out. “Is that you?”
“Yeah… hi.” Just the sound of Murphy’s voice made me angry. I’d never hated someone more. He’d used me, and I’d let him. He’d convinced me to turn my back on everyone I loved, and I’d never forgive myself for falling for his promises and allure.
“Where the fuck are you? And what phone are you on?”
“I went on a trip, but I’ll be back.” Once again I went with the simplest explanation.
“A trip? You went on a trip? How fucking lovely. Did you think that maybe sneaking out on me would be a bad idea?” His voice dripped with sarcasm and annoyance.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’ll be back.”
“You better come back. Otherwise I already told you what’s going to happen.”
Chills spread across my body. “I’ll be back soon.” I ended the call. We needed to get back to reality fast.
7
Jared
Something was wrong. Vera tried to hide it, but the worry was clear on her face. She wasn’t the type to worry much about herself, so it had to be about someone else. My bet was on Casey. There was no one in the world she was more protective of than her little sister.
I waited until we were a few blocks from the Mirrored Rock before asking her. “What was that phone call about?”
She looked out toward the street. “I had to know for sure whether I’m missing from the place where I’m actually supposed to be at this time.”
“And are you?” I already knew the answer. She wouldn’t be upset if she weren’t.
“Yes. Murphy is angry. I don’t have much time.” She sighed.
“We’ll make sure we fix this in time…” Just the mention of Murphy’s name made me angry, but I knew it was worse for her. I didn’t know much about Vera’s past relationship with him, but I knew it couldn’t be good.
“What if we can’t?” She glanced over at me. “We have to accept that it’s a possibility. We need a plan B.”
“Then we get Casey ourselves.” I knew explaining things to her wouldn’t be easy, but we’d do what we had to.
“When?” Vera’s shoulder brushed against mine.
“Let’s get to Levi and Allie now. As soon as we’re done with that we call Casey and see what we can do without messing up this timeline any more than it already is.” We’d done enough damage already.
“We can’t let her get hurt.” A tear spilled down Vera’s face. Vera didn’t cry. She was even more worried than I’d thought.
“I won’t let that happen.” I pulled her into my arms. “I know my history with Casey is messed up, but I care about her. Not only is she your sister, but she’s Levi’s half-sister.”
“Aside from that, do you care about her?” Vera pulled away. Her eyes were wide as she waited for my answer.
I nodded. “Yes. I do.”
“Good. Then let’s get to that meow place.”
“It’s called The Cat’s Meow,” I corrected.
“Whatever.” She started walking again.
I kept pace beside her. “You should know something about it.”
“What?”
“It’s a karaoke bar.” A tourist karaoke bar, which made it that much worse.
“That’s fine, because we’re not going there to sing.”
“No we’re not.” I turned into an alley and pulled off my shirt. “Ready to head down there?”
“Yes. I don’t want to waste any time.” She looked out toward the street and then back at me.
“Let’s do this.” I released my wings and moved behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist before taking off down toward the French Quarter.
The flight was quick, and I landed a few blocks away from Bourbon. Landing any closer would have put us at a greater risk of
being spotted.
After a cursory look to make sure no one had noticed us land, I pulled out my phone and texted Levi. At The Cat’s Meow?
He texted back. Yes. There’s someone here you should meet.
Be right there. I smiled. He’d met Allie after all. That was one thing checked off our to-do list. I showed the screen to Vera.
She laughed. “I guess when something is meant to be, it happens no matter what.”
“I guess so.” I was in a much better mood as we made our way into the bar.
I glanced around the crowded club. The front bar was packed, as was the area around the raised stage. Two middle aged women were singing a rendition of “Born to Be Wild.” It wasn’t the worst karaoke performance I’d witnessed over the years, and I appreciated that they weren’t singing “Like a Virgin.”
I continued my perusal of the room, and I noticed Levi and Owen at a table in the corner. The seats across from them were pulled out.
“Hey, you made it.” Levi grinned.
“Where is the girl you want me to meet?” I glanced around again for Allie. I hadn’t expected him to let her out of his sight for long. He’d been nearly obsessed the first time he’d met her.
“They went to the bathroom.”
“Okay, cool.” I’d been worried for a second.
“Hi again, Vera.” Levi got to his feet and fixed a smile at her. “I’m glad you decided to show up.”
“I’m not here to interrupt anything.” She hung back at my side.
“What would you be interrupting?” Levi walked around the table and toward her.
Something was wrong. He should have been too blinded by Allie to even notice anyone else. On top of her being his soulmate, Allie was an enchantress. She called to him like a drug.
“Sorry we took so long.” A girl with black hair tied into a braid walked over. Her left arm was linked with a blonde whose face I would never forget.
“Tiffany?” My mouth fell open. She was the last person I’d expected to see, and her presence wasn’t a good thing.
Storm: The Empire Chronicles Page 6