by Skye Malone
“It’s just…”
“Weird,” I finished for her.
“Scary.”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Does it… you know, hurt?” she asked.
I hesitated and then shook my head.
She drew an unsteady breath. “Is Chloe like you?”
For a heartbeat, I searched for a response. Chloe had been so worried about telling Baylie the truth, and after how things had gone the past few days, I couldn’t blame her. Sure, finding out nearly everyone around you wasn’t human wasn’t easy. But I didn’t want Baylie to look at Chloe the way she’d been looking at me for the last week. Chloe’d had enough trouble with how people treated her today.
And maybe this was her secret to share.
“No.”
“So why–”
“Baylie, she’s not. She’s just… she’s your friend. And…”
I hesitated, wishing I could do more than this. Be the one to go find her, even if I knew the odds of me getting away from my cousins were small.
“And she needs your help,” I continued. “So you go pick her up and whatever you do, don’t bring her back here. Just get her in the car and take her wherever she needs to go. And if you’re heading away from the ocean and she tells you to stop, you have to, alright? No matter what.”
She stared at me like I was insane.
“Please,” I begged her.
Questions rose in her eyes, but after a heartbeat, they died. “Okay,” she agreed uncertainly.
“Thank you.”
She nodded.
I drew a breath. “Alright. Head downstairs and I’ll try to distract–”
All four cousins vanished from my awareness.
A curse escaped me. Baylie stumbled aside as I tore across the room and yanked open the door.
I made it to the base of the stairs and found Wyatt leaning on the open doorway with his brothers by the car in the driveway beyond.
“Problem, cuz?” he asked mildly.
I shivered. He looked like a cat with a canary, if that cat was the size of a several-hundred-pound weightlifter.
And more bloodthirsty.
“What are you–”
“Oh, we just wanted your attention,” Wyatt replied. He glanced to Baylie. “Doesn’t help to go in the other room, girl. We can still hear you.” He winked at her and then returned his attention to me. “And now we’re going fishing.”
Owen grinned and then climbed into the car.
I shoved past Wyatt, heading for him.
Clay stepped into my path as the engine started. Cracks tried to spread through my skin as he grabbed me, and only the fact we were in view of the neighborhood kept me from letting them spread farther.
Baylie shrieked. I looked over my shoulder to see Wyatt snag her arm and yank her to him.
“Hey!” Maddox shouted from deeper in the house. I could feel him running toward us as I shoved at Clay, fighting to break his grip.
Wyatt muscled Baylie forward, driving her down the stairs at his side. Desperately, she swung a fist at him.
He paid it no attention.
“Take her!” he yelled at Brock, and shoved Baylie to him.
Brock caught her as she stumbled, and he swiftly wrenched her arm behind her back. She cried out with pain as he propelled her ahead of him toward the car.
“What do you think?” Wyatt called to me. “Nice bait, eh?”
Ignoring him, I twisted in Clay’s grasp and then slammed an elbow into his side. He choked, his grip loosening.
I ran for Baylie.
In the car, Owen twisted in his seat and threw open the rear door. Brock forced her toward the vehicle.
I swung a fist at his head.
Brock staggered, his hold on Baylie breaking. She tumbled to the ground.
Clay grabbed me, pulling me backward. I turned, spotting Maddox at the base of the porch steps, his arms pinning both of Wyatt’s to keep him from following.
“Hey!” Dad shouted. He rushed outside. “Break it up!”
He shoved Maddox and Wyatt apart and then stormed toward us. Behind him, Richard strolled onto the porch, his gaze taking in his sons, the car, and Baylie on the ground with one unconcerned sweep.
“What the hell is this?” Dad demanded, helping Baylie to her feet.
“Ask them,” I snapped, jerking my head toward Owen and Brock by the car. “They’re the ones who just tried to kidnap Baylie.”
“Now, hang on,” Richard interjected. “Who says they were kidnapping her?”
“Them,” Baylie said. She looked up at my dad. “They called me bait.”
Dad paused, studying her. Marks showed on her arms, red and vivid and promising deep bruises to come, while her palms were scraped and bloodied from the fall to the driveway.
And his face darkened.
“Is this true?” he asked them.
I swallowed, recognizing the dangerously low tone.
Even if my cousins didn’t.
Wyatt scoffed. “Come on, Uncle Peter. That thing is waiting for her! Maybe others are too. If we put this girl out there, who knows how many we might–”
Dad strode toward him. Wyatt’s eyes went wide and he retreated a step.
“Peter,” Richard started.
“You were going to use Baylie as bait?” Dad snapped. “For them?”
Wyatt blanched. “I–”
“Get out,” Dad snarled. “All of you. I brought you here to keep my family protected, and if you…” He shook his head. I could see him fighting to keep control. “You’re done. Go home. Now.”
“Wait a minute,” Richard protested, descending the stairs. “Now, my boys wouldn’t have put the girl in any real danger. She was just being stubborn about her friend. And besides, those creatures are still out there. You can’t honestly expect us to just leave them be, when they’re–”
“Enough!” Dad ordered. Muscles jumped in his jaw. “Enough, Richard. Go home.”
Richard watched him for a moment. Contempt twitched his lip. “Coward.”
He jerked his chin at his sons. “Let’s go.” He turned to head back inside.
Wyatt stared at him. “You can’t be serious. They’re–”
“You heard me,” Richard retorted.
“No!” Wyatt shouted. “No, you’re not…”
He exhaled sharply and ran for the car.
“Wyatt!” his father yelled.
I moved to intercept him.
Clay grabbed me and spun, trying to toss me aside. I stumbled and then threw an elbow back, hitting his midsection.
The car door slammed. Owen hit the gas.
He and Wyatt sped away.
Clay chuckled. I turned as he stepped back, holding up his hands with a smirk.
I slammed my fist into his face.
“Hey!” Richard barked as his son staggered.
I ignored him, looking to Baylie. “Where is she? Where’d she ask you to meet her?”
“M-Mariposa Beach.”
“Noah!” Maddox called.
I glanced over and then caught his keys from the air.
“Hold on!” Dad snapped, starting toward me.
I ran for Maddox’s car.
Behind me, I could feel Clay trying to catch up, with Dad close behind. From the porch, Richard yelled protests, while Maddox kept Brock from joining the chase.
The key fob nearly broke under my thumb. The locks on Maddox’s sports car popped up.
I swung inside and slammed the door. Clay grabbed at the handle. He snarled at finding it locked, and then raised an arm to smash through the glass.
The ignition turned over. I crushed the pedal to the floor as his arm swung, and the car surged forward, leaving him stumbling.
I raced from the driveway.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chloe
On a secluded park bench at the edge of the sand, we sat surrounded by bushes and watched the c
rowds of people.
Who made me feel like they were staring at us, even when I knew they weren’t.
I wasn’t sure how fast Baylie would get here – if she’d needed a cover story to leave, that could take some time – but as the minutes crept past, I could feel my anxiety building. Whether or not it’d been Noah she’d worried about, Baylie had still tried to hide the fact she was speaking to me. I didn’t know what that could mean, but it couldn’t be a good sign.
And meanwhile, the whole ocean lay in front of us, filled with people who’d tried to hurt me and Zeke in one way or another.
I swallowed, watching the waves roll in. Those people weren’t psychic, however. They wouldn’t just magically know that, out of all the miles and miles of coastline on the Earth, we were sitting here.
Drawing a shaky breath, I twisted on the bench to look back at the busy street and tried to make myself believe the words.
“You alright?” Zeke asked quietly.
I glanced to him. His face tight, he didn’t look at me, but kept his gaze on the crowd on the beach.
“Fine,” I replied, turning my attention back to the road.
A minute crawled by.
“Chloe, if she doesn’t show–”
“She will.”
My gaze flicked to him, and then returned to the street. Somewhere between a city road and a scenic highway, the wide thoroughfare bordered the beach parking lot and was filled with everything from convertibles to minivans rushing along in either direction.
But not her car.
“What the–” Zeke began.
I turned as he rose to his feet, his eyes locked on the beach. Heart racing, I followed his gaze.
Niall was walking at the edge of the tide.
A breath left Zeke. He started forward and then paused, throwing a quick look back as though torn between going toward his brother and staying by me.
I got up and followed him down to the sand, scanning the area as I went. Niall caught sight of us as we came closer.
He grinned with relief. “There you are. We’ve been–” He glanced to the crowds and tossed a nod at someone there. “We’ve been looking all over.”
“What are you doing here?” Zeke asked. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. Woke up a few hours ago. Jirral told me where you were headed and,” he shrugged, “we’ve been looking ever since.”
I glanced over as several men walked up, something in their stance and eyes giving them away as dehaian. They nodded to Niall, and then took up positions near us and returned their attention to the crowds.
“Are you guys alright?” Niall continued. “What are you doing out here like this?”
Zeke twitched his head toward me. “She’s got a friend coming to pick her up.”
Niall paused. “Zeke, this place is…” He lowered his voice as several kids ran by. “Damn, I mean, it’s crawling with mercenaries. I don’t even know how you missed them to get here.”
“We didn’t.”
Niall’s brow furrowed and then he seemed to see the thin line from the knife slice on Zeke’s chest. He blinked. “Look,” he managed, “you need to come back home. Both of you. Ren–”
Zeke shook his head. “No way. Not with what happened to her last time we were there. She needs to get out of here, Niall. There’s no other option.”
“But that’s the thing.” Niall let out a breath in a tight chuckle. “Ren, um… he believes you. About her, and the–” A pair of surfers jogged past. “The Sylphaen.”
“He does?”
Niall nodded. “He found Liana, Zeke. Or, I mean, his soldiers did. Found her a few miles north of Nyciena. She was swimming like hell from something, and didn’t even spot them till it was too late. She cracked, though. Told him everything after he… well, he’s Ren. You know how much of a jackass he can be when he wants something.”
I shifted uncomfortably at the words, and Niall gave me a sympathetic look.
“And he doesn’t still think Chloe was involved?” Zeke pressed.
“Not after Liana started spouting off crazy shit, talking about Chloe being some ‘abomination’ thing. Real end-of-the-world type stuff. Finally got the truth through even his thick head.”
I shivered, though from memories of the Sylphaen’s babble or the possibility Ren finally believed I wasn’t a spy, I didn’t know. But I looked to Zeke, and I could see the cautious hope in his eyes.
He wanted us to go back, I could tell.
Nervously, I bit my lip. This was great for him. Wonderful, really.
But spies could still be there. They could still try to hurt what family Zeke had left.
I shook my head at the look in his eyes. His brow drew down.
“There could be more out there,” I reminded him quietly.
“And there are hundreds of soldiers on alert now. They won’t–”
“You don’t know that.”
A breath left him and he looked away. His brow furrowed. “You don’t belong back there, Chloe.”
“Zeke, I have to–”
“You don’t.”
I grimaced and turned my gaze away, unable to meet his eyes.
Niall glanced between us. “We need to get moving. Like I said, those guys are everywhere around here.”
I nodded. “You both should, yeah.”
Zeke scowled. “I’m not leaving you here.”
Frustration rose in me. “I can’t–”
“He’s right,” Niall interjected. “Chloe, what are you going to do if those Sylphaen guys are following your friend? They’ll probably leave anyone else alone if you’re not around – I mean, they don’t care about them, right? But if you’re there, and it’s just you two on the highway somewhere…”
Worry clouded his eyes.
I looked away.
“You’ll do your friend more good keeping them out of this,” Niall finished. “And Zeke’s right. Home is safer. Ren… well, you might’ve noticed he’s a bit territorial. If he thinks you matter to our family,” he glanced to Zeke briefly, “he’ll keep you safe.”
The grimace returned to my face. I couldn’t do this to Baylie. Not again. I’d disappeared only a few days ago, when I’d left with the dehaians rather than go back to land.
That hadn’t been my choice. But this was.
“I know this is hard, Chloe,” Niall said. “But–”
“They could kill her,” Zeke finished quietly. “You know that too.”
I hesitated, my gaze flicking to him while my mind tossed up recollections of what those psychos had done to other girls in their efforts to find me. Shivering, I tried to push the thought away.
It wouldn’t go.
“Please,” Zeke pressed. “You–”
“Okay,” I snapped.
I looked away. I knew they were right. It hurt and it sucked, but I knew they were right.
Zeke seemed to release the breath he’d been holding. He glanced to Niall. “How do we want to–”
Tires squealed in the parking lot, followed immediately by a sickening crunch of metal. We spun to see a light pole lurch sideways, while screams rose past the rows of parked cars.
I started forward. Zeke snagged my arm.
Panicked, I looked back at him.
“If it’s them,” he hissed.
Zeke twitched his chin at the guards. “Go. Check if there’s a girl in the cars.”
Two of the guards nodded and then ran toward the accident.
I shrugged off Zeke’s arm, my gaze on the parking lot. But even by letting my eyes change a bit and risking the faint glow that came with my sharpened vision, I couldn’t tell much past the glare of the sunlight and the lines of parked cars.
Seconds ticked by.
“We need to get going…” Niall urged in a low tone.
I shook my head, not looking away from what little I could see of the accident. “Not yet.”
He made a frustrated sound. I i
gnored him, my heart pounding while I watched to see if anyone climbed from the vehicles. Sirens rose in the distance, racing closer.
The guards came back.
“No girl in either car,” one of them reported quietly, keeping an eye to the beachgoers around us.
I swallowed. “What about the guys, then? What did they look like?”
“Chloe,” Zeke started.
“If Noah was–”
“We need to go,” Niall interrupted. “Zeke, if the Sylphaen are around…”
“Come on,” Zeke said to me, reaching out to take my arm again.
I jerked away.
His mouth tightened. “Please, Chloe. This is going to attract attention, regardless. We don’t want anyone spotting us standing here.”
For a heartbeat, I stared at him, wanting to argue even though I knew he had a point.
“Fine.”
Niall glanced to the guards. “Meet up in twenty, eh?”
They nodded. All but two of them walked away.
“Come on,” Zeke said to me.
With a last look to the accident, I followed him in the opposite direction of the other guards. We walked down the shoreline until finally we reached a place not far from where Zeke and I had first arrived.
Niall gave me a grin and then headed into the water. Swimming away from the shore, he continued along for a few minutes, and then suddenly dove beneath the waves.
Zeke glanced back the way we’d come. Confused, I followed his gaze.
From his tower, a muscled young man scanned the water, a yellow life-preserver stashed by his side.
But for the moment, he was looking in the other direction.
Zeke waited a heartbeat more, watching the young man check toward us and then return his gaze to the crowd ahead.
I followed Zeke into the water.
A quiver ran through me at the touch of the waves, and I took a quick breath, concentrating on not letting my skin change. As the water deepened, we began swimming through the tide that kept trying to push us back toward the shore.
Zeke made a small noise of approval. I glanced back.
On the beach, a police officer was walking toward the lifeguard. Calling out to the young man, he motioned to the parking lot as though asking a question.
The lifeguard turned, looking toward the accident.
“Go,” Zeke said.