I wasn’t certain if she was messing with me, or not. It was hard to tell.
“Moira, you ready?” River joined us, her hair streaked with orange and red today. She smiled at me in greeting but maintained focus on Moira. It was obvious from River’s expression that she feared being rude to Moira. It was obvious, because I suddenly felt the same way.
“Yes,” Moira agreed.
River waved a brief goodbye at me and led the way down the hall. Moira’s expression as she left was more enigmatic. I thought it was likely she really was messing with me. Her smile suggested she was…
I shrugged and started to step toward the door she had left, my second curiosity taking over now that Moira was no longer in front of the door. I wanted to see what was in the box. It was an odd shape and seemed…familiar for a reason I couldn’t place.
“I wouldn’t,” Moira called to me, without turning.
I lowered my hand from the door as Ghost passed River and Moira in the hall. He nodded at me in greeting then stepped around me to go in to the room I had been trying to enter. With another polite nod, he shut the door in my face.
Figuring I had been disinvited from the party, I left the door and went downstairs to the silver room. As I walked, I thought of the container and how it had seemed more like a prison than anything else – complete with a round-the-clock guard. The part of me that didn’t do well with having a mystery dangling over my head wanted to turn around and go back to the room. The only problem was that the part of me that loved to solve a mystery was also the part that usually got me in a whole lot of trouble. I wasn’t sure what kind of trouble my curiosity would get me in now. I figured it was best not to get in a fight with one of Reaper’s generals…not unless they earned it.
Alex was hunkered over a laptop in the silver room. She waved at me vaguely when I entered, but she didn’t take her eyes away from the screen.
“Your mission go well?” she asked still not looking.
“Yep.”
I told her about meeting Moira and the suspicion I had about the box. Alex finally looked away from the computer screen.
“You think they’re holding a person in a box?” she asked me. “Doesn’t that sound sort of unlike them?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “They were just acting…”
“Hinkey?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It felt like a prison…and I know what that feels like.”
“Ask Reaper. He knows,” Alex said.
“You think he’ll tell me the truth?” I asked.
“I’m not a fortune-teller,” Alex said, returning her eyes to the computer screen.
“No, just a pain in the ass.”
“Ouch,” Alex said dryly.
The door opened, and I saw Reaper and Daniel in the hall, outside the silver room.
“What are you ladies doing?” Reaper asked.
“Talking about you,” I admitted.
“Really?” Reaper asked, his lips lifting up in to a cocky smile. He glanced at Alex then looked at me again.
“You bet,” I said. “What’s in that room you have Moira guarding?”
Reaper’s face immediately switched to neutral. It was the face he normally reserved for business and dealing with underlings. It was the face of a leader with hidden plans and agendas. It was not the face of a friend.
“I don’t want to tell you,” he said.
At least he didn’t lie.
“What room?” Daniel asked.
“A room on the second floor,” I said. “There’s a container of some sort. I didn’t get to see it for long, before I was shut out.”
Reaper had crossed his arms in front of his body. He was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I wrinkled my nose at him and eyed Daniel. Daniel wasn’t annoyed – he was suspicious. I could tell Daniel was used to getting straight answers from Reaper – there weren’t secrets between them.
“Reaper?” Daniel asked. In that one word Daniel was able to say everything he needed to say.
Reaper shook his head. “There are some things I don’t have to tell you. There are some things that are better for you not to know.”
All three of us stared at Reaper. He took the silence as proof we weren’t buying it. Reaper’s expression cleared. He dropped his arms and his act.
“We managed to capture a prisoner the night we met,” Reaper told me.
“You’re keeping a person in a box?!” I demanded. I was mortified at the idea. A cell with a mask over my face was bad enough. A box? – That went beyond torture.
Reaper held out his hands to me. “It was her idea. After we captured her – well, I actually think she let us capture her – she agreed to give us information on Lorian’s place, in exchange for a favor. She said that the box would keep people from suspecting her motives. She’s asleep and rather comfortable, from what I can tell.”
“She?” Daniel asked.
“Let you capture her?” I asked.
“Information?” Alex asked.
“I will only tell you all those things if you sit down and Daniel stands in front of you,” Reaper said to me.
I was uncertain why he was only talking to me, but the way he said it made me nervous. A knot of tension settled in my stomach.
“Why does Daniel need to stand in front me?” I asked, stalling for time.
“Just do it,” Reaper said.
Alex stood, so I could sit in her chair. Daniel stepped in front of me. My confusion greater than the how ridiculous I found this situation I waited for Reaper to get to the point.
“When we were getting King out, a girl caught him. King thought she was going to kill him, but she didn’t. Instead of fighting, she gave up…with conditions. She tells us about Lorian – his inside operations – and we…erase her memory.”
“Erase her memory?” Alex was astonished.
“King can take away memories,” Reaper said. “His gift was how he got in to Lorian’s organization. I didn’t ask her why she wants her memories erased. I just know that is what she asked for. It’s too good an opportunity to pass by.”
“And why am I sitting in this chair?” I asked.
“Because of who she is.”
Daniel tensed in front of me. He had obviously seen what Reaper was about to say. He stopped standing in front of me so casually. I recognized the change, but it didn’t stop me from asking the next question on my mind.
“And who is that?” I asked, wishing Reaper would get on with it. I was too impatient for long buildups.
“Anna,” Reaper said.
It was one word, but it was enough.
I jumped up at the naming and lunged at him. I was angrier than I had been since Mama Dot had tattooed my foot. I saw red.
He had brought Anna here under the same roof as me and hadn’t told me? It was almost as unacceptable as the idea that Anna was as close as two floors above me.
Daniel caught me around the waist, having been prepared for my reaction, but I was too angry to allow his touch to soothe me. All I could think of was getting to Reaper – I wanted to punish him, too. Daniel’s touch changed as he felt my resistance. He fought harder to keep me away from Reaper. I growled at the combativeness of his touch. It was holding me back. It was keeping me from the blood I wanted to spill.
I raised my hand, even as I kicked Daniel’s legs out from under him. And for the first time since the night I had faced down Cobb, I let loose with a surge of fire. Reaper, who was standing in the door, jumped back and away from the flames. As he jumped, he dissolved into mist, using his talent.
I growled again and started forward, but Daniel was not as subdued as I had thought. From his place on the floor, he swept out my legs. I hit the ground hard. Daniel took advantage of my fall. He rolled on top of me and pinned me down. I struggled against him, but he was as determined as I was. His strength kept me on the floor, though my struggling was nearly as powerful as his.
“Clare!” He tried to break through my anger. “Stop this
!”
“No!” I growled at him. “I’ll kill him...then I’ll kill her! I’ll kill them all!”
“Listen to yourself!” he said. “This isn’t you!”
Alex knew what I needed to hear more. “Clare…” she whispered from where she was cowering in the far corner, out of range of the fight.
I focused on her, though her voice was so low. Was she also a threat? Would she keep me from my goal? I looked her in the eyes and saw that her eyes were a milky white. Her whole body shook from the urge she was fighting – to turn in to a Nightstalker.
“I’m scared,” she added.
Alex was scared – she was close to turning, because of her emotions, and it was because of me. I took a deep breath. Then another. Daniel felt me relax, and his grip loosened. He sighed in relief and looked me in the eyes.
“Are you good?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“Does that mean ‘yes’?” he asked.
“No.”
“You’re fine,” Daniel said dryly.
He stood and helped me up. I let him help me to my feet and thought over the source of my anger. Daniel kept his hand on my arm as I turned to look at Reaper, who had reformed in the hall. My hands were clenched in anger, but I didn’t try to kill him. He was looking at me as if he had never seen me before.
“Seems like I’m not the only one keeping secrets,” he said. His silver eyes flashed in the muted light of the hall as he looked around. “I only kept it from you, because I feared this response…When you’ve gotten a better handle on your anger, come see me. I think we have some things to discuss.”
He turned and left without another word. I listened to every step he took, fighting the desire to follow him and beat the crap out of him. I didn’t care about answers as much as I did making him pay. Alex seemed to know what I was thinking. She nodded at me once in understanding then followed Reaper down the hall. I knew she would get answers from him that I couldn’t, even if I hadn’t been so worked up.
“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t worry about you taking care of yourself,” Daniel said lightly when we were alone again.
“My powers seem to work around friends and fail around enemies,” I said. “It doesn’t really help.”
“We will work on it,” he promised.
“How about almost killing everyone in the room when I get angry?” I asked. “Do you want to work on that as well?”
“You feel things honestly,” he said. “When you feel, you feel. That can be good, but for us…well, some anger management techniques might be in order.”
“I almost killed Reaper,” I said.
“He won’t hold a grudge.”
“How noble of him,” I said.
“What you want to do?” he asked.
“I haven’t decided,” I said. “Opening that box and beating the crap out of Anna sounds very appealing…as does beating Reaper until he cries.”
“If that’s what you sincerely want to do, I’ll help you. I’ll even beat up Reaper...until he cries,” he offered.
I contemplated what I wanted.
“Let’s go somewhere…far away from here. I need space to think,” I said.
“I can do that,” Daniel said.
He led me out of the room, where scorch marks blanketed the door from the fire I had caused, and to the cars outside. He picked the car he loved so much…the ridiculous looking one, and before I knew it, we were long gone from the school.
We drove around for hours. When we finally stopped, we were at the beach. I wasn’t sure if we were north or south of the school – I didn’t really care. By the time we stopped, I had found my emotions on the subject again. I voiced them as I followed Daniel out of the car and toward the dark waves lapping eagerly against the sand.
“How could he have lied to me like that?” I asked Daniel. “He knows what Anna did. He knows…and he keeps her here?”
“Do you want the voice of reason or the voice that agrees with your opinion?” he asked.
“Both,” I said.
“Reaper captured Anna before he knew you as a person. Once he realized your relationship with Anna, maybe he thought you would have the reaction that you, uh…had, and a wedge would form,” Daniel suggested.
“I don’t like it when you talk like this,” I said.
“Like I make sense?” he asked.
“Yes,” I agreed.
He shrugged and sat down in the sand. A cool breeze played over us as I joined him. I sat as close him as possible, needing his warmth as much as his understanding. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me even closer.
“She’s the reason I fear…fear. She made me fear being afraid,” I admitted to Daniel, meaning Anna. “She’s the reason that when I sleep I always wake up in a cold sweat, my heart pounding, the memories of my time in hell…” I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can stay in the school.”
“We have options,” Daniel reminded me.
“Yeah, well, being rich and owning a bank gives you those sorts of options,” I said dryly.
“You own half,” he pointed out.
“Don’t remind me,” I said.
“I will if I want to.”
I sighed. Leaving didn’t feel as easy as he made it sound. Having options didn’t mean they were genuine options. The Saints provided us a way in to the Watcher’s world that we had been previously lacking.
“But I can see why Reaper didn’t want to tell me…even if I don’t like it. If I had someone who had hurt him trapped in a box, I’d be a little cautious, too.”
Daniel nodded and didn’t say anything. He held me and I realized I didn’t have to make a decision about Reaper or the school right now. All that mattered was that Daniel was holding me – that was as good as perfect. If I focused on the way his arm felt around me and the sense of steady presence – a presence I knew would never abandon me no matter my choice – I wouldn’t feel all the bad things and difficult memories. The present mattered more than what would happen in the future.
I focused on that and tried not to feel overwhelmed from such a long day. I had been told once that time for a Watcher moved differently than normal time; seconds could feel like days. Today, I felt that difference.
Chapter 14
When we got back to the school, I was still uncertain where I stood on the issue of Reaper.
I walked an emotional tight-wire of indecision. My indecision was not left to fester long. Reaper was smarter than that. He was waiting for us in the gravel of the front drive as we pulled up. His face was apologetic, and his hands were tucked in his pockets – it was a gesture I was all too familiar with. It was something Daniel did when he was trying to act innocent and boyish. But he was not Daniel; his charm would not work on me.
My heart sped in remembered anger when I saw Reaper, but I managed to steady my emotions. Daniel’s hand on mine as we got out of the car helped tremendously. His thoughts encouraged the calm.
Reaper didn’t waste any time.
“First, I am sorry. Second, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Third, if you want Anna gone, I can arrange to have her memory erasure sped up. I was working on a…timeline but that can change.”
“Alex made you apologize didn’t she?” I asked suspiciously.
“No one makes me do anything I don’t want to do,” Reaper said. He smiled ruefully. “Though…she might have said a few things to point out my…‘lack of consideration’ and ‘my inability to act with decency and respect toward someone loyal to my cause, when loyalty is rarity.’ She also called me a ‘toolbag.’”
“Sounds like Alex,” I said begrudgingly.
I forced down some of the anger, knowing that Alex would say the things I couldn’t. She would also fight dirty, and I nurtured the idea that she probably called him worse things than ‘toolbag.’
“I forgive you for not telling me about Anna, but I don’t know if I can handle being so close to her. Not when…” I shook my head at the memories. “I don’t know
.”
“When you do know…” Reaper said.
“You’ll be third…maybe fifth to know,” I promised.
“I suppose that will have to be good enough,” he said. Reaper looked at Daniel. “We good?”
Daniel nodded at his friend. “No secrets like that again, though. Next time, I won’t stop her.”
“Fair enough…speaking of that…” Reaper looked at me again. “What happened down there? Why do I get the feeling you’re keeping a secret from me…a secret that’s perhaps more deadly than mine could ever be? A secret that endangers my people.”
“Living endangers your people,” I retorted.
“That wasn’t a real answer,” Reaper pointed out.
Daniel made a decision – it was one I wouldn’t have made under the circumstances. He put a hand out to Reaper, as if he were asking to shake hands. Reaper took the offered hand with a perplexed expression on his face. The two men shared a moment of wordless communication then Reaper dropped his hand again. He looked at me with increased respect and confusion. The confusion outweighed the respect, and I sensed Daniel’s story had created more answers than questions.
“You don’t know even know how to control it, or why it happens before the change?” he asked me.
“No,” I said.
“And the fire only happens when you get mad enough?” Reaper asked.
“So far,” I agreed.
“No wonder Marcus wants you so badly,” Reaper said. “Someone who can do the things you can do, before your birthday…without even changing…you’d be an asset to whichever organization you commit to.”
“You should keep that in mind,” I said pointedly.
“I will,” Reaper agreed. “I think a priority might be to train yourself to control your power. While I’m a fan of a good scare, and a good fight, I don’t necessarily like my friends to be the ones I’m fighting.”
“Then don’t lie to me again,” I said.
“I’m going to take care of her training,” Daniel said, ignoring me. “Starting tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Reaper agreed.
“Clare and I are going to go to our room now, if there isn’t anything else,” Daniel said.
03 Saints Page 24