by Jamie Magee
“That’s another story, but yeah, my BFF slash sister is, with a lover from the grave that should pop up any day now. Kind of my job to have her back.”
All River got was a smirk in response. Like he knew the job description well.
“The Falcon manor will be raising the dead, for now this is your place,” Skylynn said coolly.
“Look BellaRose, I have my own issues. It’s not my fault your house is not in the Quarter. I have to be close. It was risky enough coming here when I did. But you know how it is, family first.”
“I do,” Skylynn said as her stare continued to take her in. “Perhaps a portal is needed.”
“A do what?” No way she had that much power.
“Yes. Yes, it is. I’ll work on it,” Skylynn agreed with herself.
And just like that she vanished.
Great. Awesome. Perfect.
River wanted to bail and put as much distance between her and Mason Wade as possible and what does she get in response? A portal.
She wasn’t going to wig out about it. She knew Jamison himself likely didn’t have the power to make such a thing. She seriously doubted that Skylynn did. That was a blow off tactic. One that read: I’ll let you know when your ride has gotten here. Skylynn should know better than to jack with a Sabien, they do not follow orders kindly.
“How did you know about Skylynn? You really know her mother?” Gavin asked her.
“I read about Skylynn long ago. My family tracks its members. Skylynn vanished. The term used was shadowed or something. No one talks about her, that was, until I was encouraged to come here.”
“Did you read anywhere about how to get her unshadowed?”
“Do you seriously think her mother would leave her like that if she had a choice? I’m here to help you, that’s the truth, but I’m here for my own too. Skylynn falls under that category. I’m sure there’s hope that you packed up a few answers when you came from wherever you came.”
“Skylynn is one of ours, so that makes us on the same team.”
I disapprove of your roster. River came so close to saying that. “Shall we?”
He looked at the perpetual flame on the floor as if to question if it should remain.
“Not that kind of fire,” River assured. Those were the flames of the dead and would burn a vengeful soul in a heartbeat. As far as paper was concerned, it might as well be water.
His flirtatious, ‘you’re blowing my mind’ smile was lingering on his lips once more. “This way.”
They tracked through countless clocks finally reaching a wall, then followed it down, there was a massive armoire that looked like it had a fight with a chainsaw. It was shoved out into the sea of clocks.
Gavin put his hand on the wall then the wall started to move, sliding into itself. River didn’t know why, but when it did her heart started to pound. Her soul was flooded with emotions; her mind was showing her all those dreams she had at the tail end of the flashbacks.
When the wall settled, there was a doorway that was close to five feet wide. She followed him through it, only to find another door a few feet later, he put his hand on that wall, and another door appeared. River stepped forward as she gazed at the room. It was maybe twelve by twenty, books on each wall behind glass cases; a long dark wood table was in the center.
The flood in her mind, body, soul, and emotions intensified. She knew this room. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did. She also knew this was not all of it. These were not the answers. Couldn’t be.
Gavin leaned into the door frame as his stare slid down her. “You know my buddy from New Orleans had the same look on his face when he saw this room.”
“What did Ma—your buddy say about it.” Way to go on covering that up, River.
Gavin turned, so his back was against the frame, giving her his absolute attention. “Mason didn’t say much, he looked destroyed, actually. Hasn’t been on the level since then.”
River raised her stare to meet his. She had no comment on the matter and couldn’t explain why she felt the way she did about this room much less why someone she hadn’t seen in years had an issue with it.
“You want to tell me how you two know each other?”
Awesome. This was supposedly Mason Wade’s best friend and apparently I wasn’t even worth a mention.
“How long have you known him?” she asked.
“Since about a year after he moved here.”
“So, clearly you understand that I do not know him, for if you are his best friend, and I have never been mentioned, that adds up, right?”
“It was serious, what you two had,” Gavin went on.
“You gathered that from what I said? Don’t play Clue either, you’ll never figure out who killed the butler in the parlor.”
He leaned in, one arm was above her head the other was on the door frame beside her. Apparently River had a knack for attracting dominant males, this is exactly the stance Dagen puts her in when he tries to break through the sarcasm she uses as a shield. Boys seem to have the opinion that if you can’t see anyone but them then suddenly you’ll decide to be legit.
Gavin tilted his head. “I watched Mason go through a lot of changes, and they were not all in the last week. I’ve seen him deal with every emotion; at least I thought I had. This room changed that. You coming here changed that. I’m trying to understand why. I can’t have my boy distracted at this point in the game.”
“Your boy is a player,” No denial. Some things never change. “I seriously doubt I will distract him or that he will even go out of his way to cross my path.”
“Doubt it,” Gavin said as his eyes moved down her body, and he leaned back. “Who do you think found you in the snow? Pushed his energy in you to take away whatever blow was sent at you then charged the gate like an unleashed dog.”
Speechless. Mason had seen me. Mason had…touched me.
“Are you with someone?” he asked.
“You asking me out?”
“Not going down that road again,” he said with a smirk.
“What does that mean?”
He ignored her question. “Why does your energy tense up when I speak his name? Did it end badly, or are you with someone?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re dating someone,” he clarified.
“I didn’t say that.”
He raised his brow.
“Look if you think I have been sitting in the Quarter studying my ass off and ignoring the male population while Mason Wade is up here wooing socialites you’ve lost your mind.” He didn’t say a damn word, he just stared. “I don’t want to talk about it. We were kids. How do I get these glass panels open? Do you have tools down here? If not I need you to swoosh me up to my room.”
He held her stare for a second then moved into the room, he pulled a drawer on the table showing her where the tools were, then pointed to the control for the panels.
She was getting things set up when he turned to leave.
“Wait, where are you going? How do I get back?”
“You’re not scared are you?”
“Not at all. I would just like to know where the bathroom and vending machines are.”
He tried not to smile, he really did, but there it was.
He pointed to the right, “Walk to the wall, press the marble stone, a magic staircase will appear. Once you reach the dome room, climb the stairs to the third level, seven doors down take a left, three doors down you’ll find your room.”
“That easy, huh?”
He shook his head as he vanished from her sight.
Chapter Seven
Can my life get any more freaking twisted? Mason growled to himself.
Skylynn was expecting Mason to be out of sorts when he tracked her down. She’d sent a missile right at him. One named River Sabien. Mason asked why she couldn’t give him a heads up; she wasn’t very forthcoming with her answer. She said this was a war, and sometimes we have to deal with things we’d rather not. Bottom line: River
was needed at this moment and any screw up Mason committed as a whacked out teen, was null and void.
She knew more. Skylynn always knows more than she admits. She even outright confessed to Indie that she moved circumstances around so that Gavin and Mason would end up in Indie’s life.
Which means Skylynn played cupid with Mason’s parents, her little love arrow took him from River, took a lot more than that from him, and when he argued his point, Skylynn said that at all times we have freewill—if that wasn’t a stab to his heart, Mason didn’t know what was.
Maybe his parents really did love each other, and just had a three-year fight for kicks and giggles, as Phoenix would say.
Mason expected Indie to read him like a book, she always could. He’d never told Indie about River because girls connect more than guys do. Indie would have figured out that in some way she was the rebound of a lifetime, that she resembled River, had the same outlook on life: it is what it is. Indie would have figured out she was mending more than the grief of him losing his brother; she was filling a void.
When Indie and Mason split, she’d told him that they were not right together, that he wasn’t her two beats. Mason wasn’t mad at her for saying so, not at all. He knew what the rush of real love felt like. He’d lived it. He’d let it go.
He did avoid Indie for a hot minute after their first break up, for a host of reasons. One, he couldn’t figure out how to tell her she was right, two he didn’t know how to tell her about the rebound thing.
He ended up just telling her he needed her friendship. And they went on from there. If she had known, she would have made him go home, made him call, made him swallow his pride.
Much like she did tonight. That’s just how Indie is, she stares a problem down until it’s solved. Her words were starting to sink in right about the time Phoenix popped in on their conversation.
Mason doubted Phoenix had even laid eyes on River, he’d been out and about too much, yet he knew with one look what Mason was going through. His words stabbed Mason’s soul. “Man up. Take what the Creator gave you or watch fate give it to a man that can handle it.”
At first glance, you’d think that was Mason’s sire telling him to stop with the melodramatic crap or he’d find someone else to be Indie’s wingman, but it wasn’t. Those words were spoken by a man that almost lost his girl days ago. The odd thing, the thing Mason can’t get past, is that he could swear Phoenix had said them to him before, he just couldn’t figure out when or why.
Mason decided to man up.
He wanted to wear himself down so he would not scare the hell out of River if he started to flash around the room or something. So, he ran the gamut of the grounds, fifteen times, even manifested himself out to his favorite rock-climbing site, scaled those dark snow covered rocks in the woods with nothing more than a t-shirt and jeans, twice. When he called himself out on his stalling maneuvers, he headed back to the manor and showered, put on some good jeans and one of his favorite shirts.
If he focused he could track River. He had given her energy to take away her pain when she was hit before and until she burned it off he had a connection to her. He knew she was out and about. Gavin? Mason had his number at all times. He knew they were under the basement of the manor. Mason shifted to face them both.
Right when he appeared he saw River stepping up to Gavin, leaning that beautiful head of hers back so the length of her neck was begging to be touched, she said something to Gavin and he gave her that grin of his, the one he rarely uses, but clearly means he’s into what’s in front of him.
Mason zapped himself right out of there. That was hard to swallow. It was not like he had a claim on River or anything, but seriously Gavin had to know there was a history there after the way Mason acted this afternoon. And he still made a move? Mason and he made a pact years back to not pull another Indie—that no other girl would balance out like that again.
I saw it wrong. That’s what he told himself as he zapped all around the manor, not caring who saw him appear or disappear. Indie was going to kill him when her entire wait staff bailed on her. Mason had seen more Hail Mary’s today than a years worth of church would afford him.
All at once, he felt a rush of energy. He hesitated, collecting where he was, readying to fight. Skylynn had arrived, but Gavin was still chill. River wasn’t in distress either. Mason debated on popping down there for a hot minute. Long enough for him to call himself every name in the book. When he did go, what did he see and hear? His boy leaning into his ex, asking her if they ended badly, or if she was with someone. River said both.
Mason bailed again. She knew he was here at this manor. She knew she was walking into his lair and was cool as a cucumber about it. Meaning she was long over him.
Who was I kidding? Why would she be single? Mason had not only fought his twin over her but every single guy that looked her way. The Sabien twins along with Raven BellaRose were the girls on every boy’s fantasy list. And he let her go. He didn’t try hard enough to prove his innocence. Instead, he did what he was accused of; he hooked up with Indie.
Mason was about to pull a total girl move but he didn’t care. He dialed his cousin’s cell. Soren answered on the first ring.
“If it isn’t the walking dead,” Soren said when he picked up.
“Who is River hooking up with?”
“Good to talk to you, too.”
“Soren, it’s been a rough week.”
“I heard. You want to hang up with me and call our grandmother, your mom told her if she stepped foot in that hospital she was going to have her arrested.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“No, sir. Jamison called your Dad, or rather Jamison’s lawyers did. We had permission to come see you, but then you pulled out, so we halted a bit, we knew you needed space and not the drama.”
Mason loved his mother. He really did. But he was going to kill her. You could only wave the paranoid card so long before enough was enough. At least now he had an excuse to give her the cold shoulder for a bit. “I can’t believe she did that.”
“Right, because your mom is so open to this side of your family.”
Mason swallowed a curse.
“I didn’t expect River to take off like she did,” Soren said in a disconnected tone, Mason could hear a video game in the background, meaning Mason only had half his attention.
“Thanks for the heads up,” Mason grated.
“And spoil the surprise? It played out like a movie in my head. You know, jackass in a hospital bed, hot girl rushing in, old flames spark. Roll the credits please, because I’m a G-rated kind of guy.”
“BS I’m not in a hospital and for the record the people I’m with called her up here to read text.”
“Yeah, Raven was saying somethin’ like that. Coincidence, I suppose.”
“Right.” There was no such thing in the mind of that side of Mason’s family. Coincidence was fate waving a flag.
Cue the odd pause.
“Wait,” Soren said. “You don’t think we laid a spell on you or something? Innocent, man. If that went down it was parental figures, not me and the girls. It was a bold move to send her up there, we have our own drama down here.”
“What drama?”
“A lot has changed, man.”
“Like what?”
“Like you could not wrap your head around it.”
He thought I was going to have issues wrapping my head around something? Me? If he only knew…
“Does it have to do with the prickles?” That was always River’s warning sign, it meant bad mojo, and she was never wrong when she felt them.
“You could say that.”
“Damn it, what is it, Soren?”
“This is the first voice to voice call I’ve had with you in years. You think that a text on my birthday or holidays gives you the right to call me up and ask what my deal is?”
“Yeah I do. What’s changed?” Mason growled.
“Fine, big boy. Make sure you take not
es so your Mommy can have a freakout and break our Grandmother’s heart a little more. I’m a supernatural guardian. So are the twins. We faced some pretty hard shit and more is to come. I’m talking walking evil that wants to rip Raven in two along with anyone who guards her, which is us. So there you go. I need my girl back and if you send her back broken hearted and Raven gets hurt, or Ash, you and I will have more than words.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Yes, I’m serious. This is not some made up backwoods witchcraft deal. Something is about to go down, so maybe you need to get out from behind your drum set, come off that mountain, put the drink down, get to bed at a decent hour and wake up and look ‘round because odds are, we’re not going to walk out of our grave as easily as you did, cuz. I have three girls I have to protect. Twenty-four-seven. And in case you have forgotten they’re by no means pushovers. It’s all I can do to keep everyone at peace. By the way, Ash was coming after River. I didn’t talk her down until she reached the airport security gate. You’re welcome.”
“There has to be a way to stop them from fighting.”
“With each other? That’s just bickering, never lasts.”
“No, not the bickering, in this war.”
“War? What did River uncover up there?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know about a war?”
“Let’s just say our blood must be a high commodity in the guardian market.”
Cue another odd pause.
“What happened to you, Mason?”
“Too much. Who are you fighting? Who’s coming after you?”
“I don’t know,” Soren said blankly.
“You said you had drama. What’s going on now?”
“Nothing beyond a five-year mark.”
“What happens at that mark?”
“The dead rise, or should. Something like that.”
Mason let Soren’s comment hang there. His mind was firing off far too many circumstances, and coincidences, none of them he wanted River near.
“Told you it’s messed up.”
“You have no idea,” Mason breathed.
“To answer your original rude ass question, I don’t know if River is seeing anyone. She’s still an island, man. Keeps to herself, spends all her time with her nose in a book. I’d bet my dinner that’s what she’s doing this very second, she works best at night.”