Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart

by Mary K. Norris

  It wouldn’t be the first time he played hero and she doubted it would be the last. She shrugged it off.

  “What was going on?” Merrick gestured to her phone.

  “No idea. It sounded like they were chasing some kind of animal, but I have no idea why unless Felix’s pet rat got out again.” She shuddered.

  “Don’t like rats?”

  “No. In fact I’m terrified of them.”

  “Why?”

  They’d reached the station and thus her car. Merrick waited with the passenger door open, gazing at her over the top of the car.

  “Why don’t I like rats?”

  He gave a half shrug. “Why are you terrified of them? There has to be a reason, no one wakes up terrified of something without good reason.”

  She climbed into the driver’s seat. Merrick followed suit and buckled his seat belt.

  “When I was little I was locked in my aunt’s attic while playing hide and go seek,” she found herself saying as she made her way back toward Felix’s. “She used to have a lot of rats up there but I never noticed before until I was trapped for an hour up there with them.”

  She shuddered, remembering how she’d spent the hour screaming for her parents to come get her.

  “I’m afraid of sewers,” Merrick offered out of the blue.

  Sydney tapped the brake a little too quickly. “The sewer?” She snuck a look and found that he was totally serious. No way, she thought. Someone as tough as Merrick afraid of a sewer? It didn’t even make sense.

  “It was a dare my senior year of high school. The manhole was wide open, and my friends dared me to go inside. When I did the workers saw me and yelled at me to get the hell out of there. I freaked and fell into the water. It didn’t help that I used to be afraid of mutated crocodiles in the water when I was little.”

  Sydney bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “What a pair we make, huh? You’re afraid of sewers and I’m afraid of rats.”

  The dry look he gave her didn’t help with keeping a straight face. “It wasn’t funny.”

  “Oh please,” she said while merging onto the freeway. “My story of asking Brandon Archer to the Backwards Dance was way more traumatizing.”

  “You want traumatizing?” he challenged. “The first girl I ever liked, Evelyn Clark in third grade, I nailed her in the face with a dodge ball.”

  Sydney burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. She pictured a miniature Merrick standing horrified in a schoolyard while the girl of his dreams lay on the ground with a bloody nose. “You’re right, that is traumatizing. I’m surprised you ever got a girlfriend.” That last part was a lie. She was sure he had no trouble in that department. Girls were probably throwing themselves at him as soon as he could smile at them.

  “Once I stopped smashing their faces in with rubber balls they became a little more receptive,” he said nonchalantly.

  They shared a grin that set Sydney’s heart pounding. Yup, she definitely would have been one of those girls to swoon over Merrick in high school.

  She tore her eyes away from him and scanned the rearview mirror. She didn’t see any motorcycles. According to Cali, Jente drove a motorcycle, and Sydney was going to be darn sure he didn’t follow them. She’d Shield all day if she had to. The last thing she wanted was for Jente to report to Vander about any findings on Kevin’s journal. Which reminded her …

  “We need to start looking for that journal Vander is after,” she said to Merrick.

  He looked up from the case file. “Didn’t you need to wait for Felix to call you back?”

  She shook her head. “We don’t have time to wait around if Vander is monitoring everything that we do. I’m going to stop by Felix’s house and see what the heck is going down over there.”

  A half hour later she pulled into Felix’s driveway.

  As she stepped out of the Yaris she could hear shouts coming from inside. She exchanged a worried look with Merrick. “If it’s Felix’s rat that’s on the loose I’m getting out of here as fast as possible.”

  He joined her in front of the door. “Don’t worry,” he said with a straight face. “I’ll protect you.” The corner of his mouth twitched.

  Sydney glared at him. “That’s not funny.”

  She rang the doorbell.

  Cali opened it a few seconds later, took one look at them, and nearly slammed it closed right in her face. “Heeey … Syd.” She winced.

  Sydney cringed. “No offense, Cali, but don’t ever call me Syd.”

  Cali nodded. “Right. Agreed. So what are you doing here?”

  “I need to talk to Felix.” She tried to get a look at the house around Cali but Cali was too tall.

  “Oh. Yeah. That.” She looked behind her then back at Sydney. “Give me a second.” She disappeared. “Felix, get your pansy ass out here,” Cali cried into the house.

  Merrick’s eyebrows rose.

  “You get used to it,” Sydney told him. “Trust me, the more insulting the name the more endearing.”

  Felix opened the door. His left arm was wrapped in white bandages that were spotted with red —

  “Is that blood?” Sydney grabbed his arm. Felix hissed in pain. She released her grip. “What happened? What’s going on with you guys?” Cali came up behind him. They exchanged looks.

  Felix ran his hand through his hair. “We didn’t want to say anything, but remember when I brought your car back from … wherever?”

  She didn’t like where this was leading. “Yeah?”

  “Well, I might’ve brought something else back with it.”

  Sydney’s gaze dropped back to the bandage on his arm. “What do you mean you might’ve brought something back with it?”

  Felix stared at his feet. “See that’s the thing, we don’t really know what it is. We think it’s a cat. But we’re not sure. We can’t tell if it was a cat at one point that just spent too long wherever it is things go when they are Erased, or if that goo your car was covered in mutated it. I didn’t want to worry you about the goo without knowing anything first.”

  “Is it safe for her to be driving that thing?” Merrick asked Felix with a jerk of his thumb toward her Toyota.

  She remembered the claw marks on the top of her back seats, as well as the dents and scratches that marred the side of her car.

  Felix shot Merrick a dark look. “I wouldn’t do anything to endanger Syd’s life.”

  That seemed to satisfy Merrick.

  “You say you think it’s a cat,” said Sydney. “Do you want me to take a look at it? I usually know a cat when I see one.”

  She could read Felix’s reluctance. Felix had a very strong protective streak, one she would never hold against him.

  “Sure,” he said at last and opened the door for them.

  Sydney swallowed thickly as she followed after him. Merrick placed a comforting hand on the small of her back. There one second, gone the next. She wished he kept it there, then flushed at her own thoughts. Her traitorous eyes sought the hallway they’d made out in. Her whole body grew warm and she pulled her eyes away as Felix led them into his living room.

  The room was a disaster.

  The sofas were shoved haphazardly away from the middle to clear an open space. Tables were shoved against the walls. Coasters littered the floor along with art supplies and papers.

  In the center of the room sat one of Sydney’s medium sized kennels. Atop that was Felix’s extra-large water cooler that they’d brought to the beach numerous times. She could see miscellaneous objects sticking out from the cooler, no doubt to help weigh it down.

  “Is that — ?” She pointed to the kennel.

  Felix gave her an apologetic look. “We stole one of your kennels when we dropped Luke off with Niella.”

  “You left Luke with Niella?”

  Felix held his hands palms out. “He was the one who wanted to see the clinic. Niella was going to do some paperwork and offered to give him a tour.”

  Luke was interested in her
clinic? The thought made her smile. She’d always wanted to hire more help, to expand her clinic, but never got around it.

  A crash from inside the cage took the smile right off her face.

  The sulfurous smell got stronger the closer she got to the kennel. A small animal paced within.

  Felix had taken one of her nicer kennels, which meant little light could penetrate through the thick plastic walls. She hunched over to try to get a glimpse through the door.

  Merrick peered into the large cooler and whistled. “What’s with all the weight?”

  Cali crossed her arms. Sydney noticed a white bandage on the back of her left hand. “Trust us, that thing is fucking strong.”

  Sydney swallowed another lump of fear as she crouched closer to the front of the kennel. “Why didn’t you guys tranquilize it?”

  Cali and Felix cast each other worried glances. Felix answered first. “We did.”

  Sydney waited. “And?”

  Guilt blanketed his face. “And,” Felix drew out, “we might have plowed through nearly your entire stock of sedatives last night to keep this thing knocked out. But today the last one we had wore off in eleven minutes.”

  “What?” She whipped her gaze up to Felix’s face before dropping it back to the cage. The creature inside didn’t look any bigger than a beagle. She squinted against the shadows inside the container. “Do you have a flashlight?”

  Felix dug inside the cooler and pulled out a huge camping flashlight.

  Sydney clutched it to her chest. Merrick crouched down next to her. “Do you want me to hold that for you?” he offered, pointing to the flashlight.

  She shook her head. “I got it.” She steadied her trembling hands, something she was always good at. You had to have steady hands to be a surgeon and she’d learned at a young age to repress her shakes even while nervous.

  She inhaled once and flashed the light inside the kennel.

  The creature shrieked. The metal door banged as the thing rushed it.

  Sydney fell back. Merrick caught her in his arms, the warmth of his chest on her back a small comfort.

  “T-that’s not a cat.” She stared unblinking at the container. A hiss came from the shadowed corner in the far back.

  Felix squatted down in front of her. “You’re sure?”

  She leaned back against Merrick for comfort. His arms tightened around her.

  Cali’s eyes watched them studiously.

  Sydney didn’t care, her mind was awhirl with images of what she’d just seen. “I’m all but positive,” she told Felix. “Cats have fur, unless it’s a breed like the Sphynx, but that didn’t look anything like a Sphynx. Its skin was … was discolored.” She didn’t even have a name for the color. Purple? Red? Some kind of maroon? Cali would be better at describing the color — she was the artist. Sydney was just the vet. “And don’t get me started on the anatomy,” she mumbled. The whole body had been misshapen. The arms and legs were too long, the joints in the wrong places and bent at unnatural angles. And the eyes …

  Merrick’s arms tightened around her as she shivered. “Could this have been a side effect of some kind of radiation exposure?” Merrick’s breath tickled her ear. She suppressed another shiver and realized that the back of her body was pressed firmly to the front of his and that she could feel his reaction to her nearness pressing against her. On the heels of that thought came the horror that Felix and Cali were witnessing every minute of it.

  She wanted to shoot from Merrick’s arms but knew that would draw more unwanted attention than if she slowly extracted herself.

  She held her hand out. “A little help here?” she said to Felix with a wiggle of her fingers.

  Felix leaned over and grasped her hand, pulling her from Merrick’s lap. “Could that be possible?” he asked.

  “What?”

  He motioned to Merrick, who was getting to his feet. “The radiation exposure. Could massive amounts of radiation do that to a … cat?”

  She stared at the kennel. “I’ve never seen radiation do that outside of movies,” she said truthfully. “Its body is all wrong, Felix. I don’t know what to tell you.”

  His expression fell. Cali wrapped her arms around his waist. “Radiation might not be ruled out completely,” she said to him. “You could be Erasing things to Fukushima. Right into the heart of the melted nuclear power plant.”

  Felix didn’t look like he believed it, but he put on a brave smile anyway. “Yeah, maybe.”

  Sydney had known Felix for years and she knew how afraid he had been of his powers. He used to be terrified of where he might send something after Erasing it. They’d both hoped that once he became full-forced that he wouldn’t have to fear Erasing anything ever again, but apparently life just wasn’t that simple.

  Chapter 15

  After more cautious studying of the “cat,” Felix Erased it back to wherever it came from. Sydney didn’t mind seeing it go. She and Merrick stayed and helped rearrange Felix’s living room back to its original form. By the time they finished Sydney had two missed calls from Joel.

  She stepped out into the hall to get some privacy and called him back.

  “Hey,” Joel picked up cheerfully. “What were you up to that kept you so busy?”

  She filled him in on Felix’s cat from hell.

  “Holy shit. Seriously?” Joel said when she finished.

  “Seriously,” she told him. “I don’t know what could have done that to a cat, Joel.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s gone now,” he said, picking up on her unease. “And if you’re worried about your car I’m sure if you ask Felix real nice he’ll Erase it for you again.”

  She smiled. “Maybe I’ll have him Erase another Yaris from a car lot and then bring it back right away, that way I won’t be out a car. I can’t keep borrowing yours.”

  “You know I don’t mind,” he said absently. “But hot damn, are you considering thievery, Syd? I never thought I’d see the day. I’m so proud of you.”

  “I’m not seriously going to ask him.”

  Joel’s voice dropped. “Aw, come on. A little bad will do you good.”

  “Except when I get caught with a stolen car.”

  “Where’s that never ending optimism? Besides, I doubt you’d ever get pulled over. When was the last time you drove over seventy miles per hour on the freeway?” He made a few thinking noises. “Oh, I remember, when I accidentally broke my toe a year ago on that old, clunky metal frame you used to have on your bed.”

  “You screamed like a little girl.” She laughed.

  “I did not.”

  When she hung up with Joel she felt lighter inside. She’d missed their easy conversations. She missed the uncomplicated friendship between them.

  “Everything all right with Joel?”

  Sydney jumped.

  Cali had snuck up behind her. Her shoulder propped against the wall, arms crossed over her dark purple thermal top.

  Sydney tucked her phone away. “Yeah,” she said with some relief.

  Cali studied her carefully. “You still care for him, don’t you?”

  Sydney’s relaxed muscles instantly stiffened. “What are you talking about? Of course I still care for Joel. He’s one of my best friends.”

  Cali’s gaze never wavered. “But that’s all you see him as, isn’t it? A friend.”

  Sydney’s lips formed the protest but the words never came. She’d been with Joel for nearly three years, he was her first love …

  And suddenly she realized that she already viewed him as her first love and not her only love. Because she had moved on. Somehow, somewhere deep inside, she’d lost the intimate connection with Joel. She still wanted him in her life but now when she pictured his arms coming around her, she only felt comfort. There was no heating of her blood, no tickling awareness of his body, she only thought of him like an older brother. Like Felix.

  Cali took a step toward her with her arms out as if to catch her. “Are you okay? You just went white as m
y canvas.”

  “I’m over Joel,” she mumbled numbly.

  Cali tried to catch her eye. “Sydney?” She gave her shoulders a little shake. “Are you with me?”

  Sydney blinked. Never in a million years would she have thought this would happen. She was going to have to break Joel’s heart.

  Her stomach twisted violently.

  Cali backed up. “Okay, now you look green. What the fuck did you eat for lunch?”

  You’re going to break up the entire guild.

  Tears burned the back of her throat. She blinked her eyes rapidly to keep them at bay and looked into Cali’s eyes. She watched her carefully.

  Everything Sydney wanted to tell her stuck in her throat. What if Cali thought her change of heart was a betrayal? Cali didn’t have any qualms about speaking her mind. And Sydney didn’t want to hear her worst fears voiced aloud.

  She clamped her mouth shut.

  “Sydney?” Cali searched her face.

  “I’m fine,” she lied. “I could use some water though.”

  Cali disappeared down the hall. Had Cali heard what she’d said? That she was over Joel?

  What do you think?

  She’d mumbled in front of a Silencer. Cali probably heard her loud and clear.

  Not even ten seconds later Felix came down the hall. “Can I talk to you?”

  She tampered down her sudden fear and nodded. Felix led her into his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

  “What’s up?” She tried to sound unconcerned.

  Felix ran a hand through his hair. Never a good sign. “Merrick just finished asking me a whole bunch of questions about Mirror Mates. That’s what’s up.”

  Sydney wrapped her arms around her waist to stop the trembling. She’d completely screwed up. “What did he want to know?”

  “Everything. What it felt like, how do you know if the woman you think is your Mirror Mate is the one? Sydney — ” He ran another hand through his hair.

  Terror froze her in place. Her whole world was crumbling. Chaos everywhere. No order. Now Felix suspected that she and Merrick were Mirror Mates and Cali knew she no longer had sexual feelings for Joel. If they put two and two together …