by E. M. Moore
If we didn’t leave right now, we were going to be late for our flight. Hell, maybe that was Jake’s plan. He did not want to fly.
I had mixed emotions about heading back to Stonehenge. Last time, I’d almost died, but I also thought it was the best place to look for clues. That was the last known location of my brother, and the enemy for that matter. For that reason alone, Stonehenge better be crawling with Elites looking for clues.
I’d just thrown myself on the couch in a huff when the house started to tremor. I jumped up and waited at the foot of the stairs for Jake to walk through. He stepped onto the landing with a backpack flung over his shoulder, and the same black Elite attire on, with a slightly more casual look. He passed for just another traveler. I looked down at my own outfit and hoped I did too.
“Sorry I took so long,” he said.
“Yeah, we need to go. Now.”
He held his hand out and curled his fingers. “Dagger?”
“What?”
“Well, I don’t think the TSA will appreciate us getting on the plane with a bunch of weapons. I knew you wouldn’t want to leave your Damascas behind so I stopped by one of our Wiccan Elite’s so he could spell my sword into secrecy.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope. But don’t get too excited, he’s only sixty-five percent sure it will work.”
Sixty-five percent sounded way better than zero. I pulled my trusty Damascus from my waistband and held it out to Jake. He took it and sprinkled magical dust over it from a small container. I didn’t know exactly how magic worked, but I sure appreciated it in times like this. Magic or magical creatures weren’t bad when used for good. It was when they were used for bad that made me go all pissy Guardian.
“Thanks, Jake. Good thinking.”
We drove to the airport in near silence. I let Jake drive because commuting into Boston was not on the top of my list of fun things to do. He got us there in one piece and only uttered “Massahole” once. I’d call that a win.
We got our tickets and went through security without a hitch. I’d made Jake go first in case his sword set the metal detector or x-ray machine off, but whatever his Elite friend did, worked. Once we sat down by our gate, I turned to Jake. “It just occurred to me that I’ve never been on a plane. I must watch too much TV because it was so easy to make the decision and go online to purchase the tickets. Now that I’m sitting here though, I’m realizing that I have no idea what the freak I’m doing. Oh my god. Did you ever watch that movie Final Destination? We’re going to die. And if we cheat death in the plane crash, it’s just going to come after us anyway.”
Jake chuckled heartily. “You’re crazy. I bet my idea of calling the fae doesn’t seem so bad about now. We can still—”
“Hell no.”
“Did something happen between you two?”
My cheeks went hot. “I’ve seen Tr— him get called when he didn’t want to go and it was terrible. Whatever he’s doing, I’m sure he’s busy.”
“You called him once,” he reminded me.
“Yeah, when I was actually in trouble and not just having a transportation problem. Do you really want to listen to his sarcastic remarks if we call him now? He’ll never let it go.”
“True.”
“Just drop it, and we’ll get on this damn plane like the Guardians we are and suck it up.”
“You’re the one worried about it.”
Twenty minutes later we were on the plane, tables up with our chairs in the upright position watching the ground whisk by as we gained speed to take off. Jake grabbed my hand and we squeezed the life out of each other. I’d rather face down a demonic spirit any day then take off from a domestic airplane. “Holy shit,” I said when we were finally in the air, the plane tipping to turn. “Let’s never do this again.”
Jake didn’t laugh. He only squeezed my hand harder. I would have loved to have seen his face, but that would mean I’d have to open my eyes and that was not happening.
The plane shook and I thought I would break Jake’s fingers.
“Favorite memory of Damen?” he said through clenched teeth.
“What?” I asked. My eyes sprung open and I immediately closed them. The seat in front of me was vibrating.
“Let’s get our mind off it. What’s your favorite memory of your brother?”
I leaned my head back against the seat and thought. There were so many good memories. It was hard to choose one. “Ooh. I got one,” I said. “Remember when Damen was dating Tricia in high school and she accidentally walked in on him using the weyfinder. Oh my god. She freaked out. Grandpa had to take her to Frankie’s to get her memory wiped.”
He laughed aloud. A big bellowing laugh. “I remember that. He broke up with her right after. It was kind of sad because she had no idea why and it wasn’t as if he could explain it to her.” He changed his voice and pretended to be my brother. “‘Yeah, so, you saw me doing something you shouldn’t have seen, and I can’t look at you the same way now after you flipped your shit’”
“I wonder what happened to her…”
“Remember our friend Rich? He dated her in college. Of course, I don’t know what happened after that. For all I know they could be married about now.”
“Married? Wow. I guess you guys are at that age.”
“Not just us. You, too.”
“Meh. Forget that. What’s your favorite memory of Damen?”
“Hmm,” he said. “I think it was when your Grandpa Marston sat us down and told us that being a Guardian was so much bigger than us. We were in awe that we were chosen for something like this. That’s like every young kid’s fantasy. They want to save the world, except, it happened in our case. We were the chosen ones. We got to make a difference. I remember looking at Damen and thinking, ‘This is awesome. We’re somebody.’ You know?”
“I totally get that. I’d rather be in the know then have all this hidden from me.”
“And to do something about it at the same time. As Guardians, we make a difference.”
“Aww,” I nudged him in the arm and we finally looked at each other, shaking plane or not. “You going all soft Mr. Badass Elite?”
“Nope. But don’t tell anyone either. I’ll cut you.”
Chapter Eight
The plane wasn’t so bad, looking back at it. Once we were up and in steady flying mode, the cabin didn’t shake and I let go of Jake’s hand. I was pretty sure we both had tiny, crushed bones deep in our fingers somewhere.
“Who are you texting?” I asked as we waited at the car rental desk at Heathrow for the attendant to come back with our keys.
“Sasha,” he said, not looking up.
My eyebrows raised. “You’re on texting terms?”
He moved his gaze up and over his phone to stare at me. “We’re supposed to be working with them—her and Cappy--so I thought it was necessary. You remember them from our trip to the dungeon, right?”
“Yup. Sure. I was there. I didn’t know you guys had exchanged numbers. And, I thought I was the smartass one?”
“Who do you think you learned it from?”
“The Elite must have beat it out of you.”
He shook his head. “They don’t beat us, Cas. Think of it like military basic training, and Elite drill sergeants? You don’t want to mess with them.”
Jake smiled over his shoulder as the lady returned. She had a cool British accent. Everyone did. Funny how that happened when you were in a different country.
I took out my phone and Googled the distance between London and Stonehenge. “Well, we’ve got a couple hour drive ahead of us now.”
“Good. It will give us time to strategize. Who exactly do you think we should talk to first?”
“Stonehenge’s equivalent of Mayor Hawthorn. There must be somebody who is the human go-between. Who knows about us and keeps it quiet for the sake of the area around them. We need to see what he noticed before the bomb went off. Also, he’s a human, and if my theory is correct, it’ll be good to look him
in the eyes and see what we can make of him. Does he hate the magical world? Did he set off a bomb to try and kill us?”
“Command thinks you’re heading in the wrong direction.”
“I could give two shits what Command thinks.”
Jake was damn near close to rolling his eyes. “Always hostile.”
“They’ve screwed this up so far. Do we really want to follow their advice? Just the fact that they think we shouldn’t pursue Stonehenge means we probably should.”
“Calm down, Cas,” Jake said. He hugged me to his side and squeezed. “I didn’t say I disagreed with you. I just wanted to let you know where Command was at with this whole thing.”
“How did you get them to agree with letting you come then?”
His lips split into a wide grin. “They think you’re better supervised.”
“Oh, fu-”
Jake put his hand over my mouth.
“-mk dem.” It was all muffled, but he got what I meant.
We got to our rented vehicle, a small silver car. It was less badass than my SUV back home, but it would have to do. “Don’t forget you’re driving on the left side of the road,” I warned him.
He didn’t even bother to answer as he backed the car out of the space and exited the parking garage. Right outside the airport was a little hairy, but once we got onto the highway, driving wasn’t a big deal.
“Here,” Jake said.
It was the first we’d spoke in a while. I was admiring the scenery whipping past the car. There were a lot of patchwork open fields, and when I did see a house, they looked so different than in the US. Many weren’t stick-built at all and some even had thatched roofs. Crazy.
“Cas? You there?” Jake asked.
“Sorry. What’s up?”
“Could you take my phone out of my pocket and text Sanders? Maybe he can find the human go-between for us so we know who we’re looking for once we get there.”
“Great idea.”
Jake propped his hip up and I pulled his cell phone out. I turned the screen on and smiled. It was a picture of all three of us when we were younger. “Is it under Sanders?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I scrolled down in his contacts and shot Sanders a text. He answered to give him a few minutes to look it up.
“It’s pretty here, huh?” I asked.
Jake nodded. “Different from back home.”
“And a lot different from Command,” I pointed out. “I don’t think you should have left.”
“Command?” Jake asked, disbelief coloring his words.
“No. Damen and me. You shouldn’t have left.”
“We’re really going to talk about this again? The decision was made a long time ago. I thought I was doing what was best for all of us.”
“I think you were wrong.”
Jake’s arms tensed on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“Would you ever move back to Salem?”
“I need to see your brother first, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
“You think he’s mad at you?” I asked, turning in my seat to face him.
Jake leaned back in the seat and rubbed the back of his head. He was silent for a little while. “Yes.”
He seemed lost in thought so I reached over and touched his leg to get his attention. He jumped.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to bring you back to the present.”
A small smile crossed his face. He took his hand off the steering wheel and squeezed mine on his leg. “No, I’m sorry. You…shocked me out of my train of thought. That’s all.”
His hand was hot in mine. He ran his thumb over my fingers and I closed my eyes, relaxing in the familiarity.
“What do you think, Cas? Is Damen mad?”
“I think he might slug you, but he’ll get over it. That’s what guys do, right?” I asked, eyes still closed. “Fight it out and be done with it while girls hold on to stuff?”
His thumb stilled on my skin and my eyes opened immediately.
“Will you ever be able to let it go?”
His intense gaze seared into mine. “I think so,” I answered honestly. “But it will always be a memory.”
Jake’s phone buzzed in my hand. I read the screen off to him. “Glen Stark, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. There’s a street address, too. I’ll put it in the GPS.”
We were driving into Amesbury within a half hour. The town looked ancient. Historic Salem was old, but Amesbury made Salem feel like New York City. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but damn, it was like we were in a different world. All the houses, the way the downtown buildings were, it was a different look than anything I’d seen in the US.
“Well, Toto, we aren’t in Kansas anymore,” Jake said.
“I second that.”
The GPS told him to turn right and we ended up just on the outskirts of the small town. The house was small and unassuming with a simple white front and two windows that faced the street. Jake parked the car and I got my bag together. Weyfinder? Check. Damascus? Check. You never knew when you were going to need things like this.
Jake nodded and then we both got out of the car at the same time. He walked up the sidewalk to the house first and then knocked on the front door. We looked so out of place. All the houses around us were white and here we were standing on the stoop all dressed in black. If we were trying to go incognito, we were failing. Big time.
An older woman opened the door. As soon as she saw us, her smile faded.
Jake put on his charming smile, but I had a feeling that wasn’t even going to work. “Ma’am,” Jake said. “We’re looking for—”
“I know who you’re looking for. My Glen. How many times do I have to tell you I haven’t seen him and you, you people, won’t answer any of my questions.”
Her face shook with emotion. I slipped past Jake and put my hand on her shoulder. She reminded me of my grandfather. Well, at least my grandfather at that stage in life. “I’m sorry to hear about your Glen. We had no idea. We’re here for answers ourselves. My brother is also missing after what happened.”
For the first time in history, someone gave Jake a dirty look and smiled at me. I immediately liked her.
“I’m sorry to hear that, child. I wish I knew where Glen was, I really do. He had been on edge for about a week. He never told me anything about anything so I couldn’t even help. If you find your brother, will you ask for my Glen?”
“Of course,” I answered.
She held up a finger and retreated into the house. I looked at Jake. His brows were furrowed. Probably because this woman seemed to like me better than him. Ha. It was bound to happen sometime.
The woman returned with a small photo in her hand. “This is my Glen. Please, please ask around for him. The police—the regular police—know nothing and don’t know where to start. You though, you might have a better chance.”
I took the photo from her fingers and smiled. “I’ll do my best, Mrs. Stark. Don’t give up hope. I haven’t.”
The old woman cupped my cheek and then slowly shut the door between us.
Jake sighed. “I feel bad for her.”
“Me too.”
“And…we don’t know any more than we did.”
“Yes, but we have the opportunity to help one more if we figure this out. Glen Stark,” I said as I turned and walked back to the small silver car. “He would have had the Ley Line Guardian here as his primary point of contact. I say we find him next.”
Jake took out his cell and sent off a text. Most likely to Sanders. I was glad we had someone on the inside at Command to help with this kind of thing.
“I’m sure the Elite have already tried to get in touch with the Guardian here.”
“They haven’t shared that information though. We need to know what he knows and if Command isn’t going to give us what we need, we have to follow back around. We can’t leave any stone unturned.”
Jake’s lips tipped up. “You’re
good at motivational speeches. Maybe after this you can drop guardianship and go on tour.”
“As a motivational speaker? You’re just…wrong.” I shook my head. “Wrong.”
We got in the car. Jake’s phone beeped in his hand. He read the text aloud. “The Guardian lives at Dingham Street. Number 100. Troian is missing again. Is he with you?”
I gasped. Jake looked at me and frowned. “Didn’t you just see him?” he asked as he shot off a quick ‘no’ to Sanders.
“Yes, but when I went to tell him I was going back to Salem, he wasn’t there.”
“When was that?”
“A— Wait. Is Sanders going to be sharing this information with Command?”
He frowned. “Well, it is kind of important.”
“I’m sure Green Eyes has his reasons if he’s not there. He’s probably out doing something useful like we are instead of hiding out in Command scared like everyone else.”
“Cas…”
I shook my head, looked away from him and stared out the car window. Mrs. Stark had pulled the curtain back and was staring out at us. I tried to smile for her, but Jake interrupted. “You know it’s not that easy. We’re soldiers. The fae can’t just leave whenever he feels like it. General Etau is not going to stand for this again. He’s just screwed himself out of Elite status.”
“Then I’m sure he has a good damn reason for doing so.”
“He better have the best goddamned reason and I don’t think even that will save his ass from expulsion.”
Chapter Nine
The address Sanders sent us to was huge and stone-built. When we walked up the steps, there were five names on the mailbox. “Do all these people live here?”
“It’s Stonehenge. They probably have that many Guardians. The ley line is very powerful here.”
“Even more so now. If Mayor Hawthorn fires me, maybe I can look for a job here.”
“Mayor Hawthorn can’t fire you, Cas,” Jake said, a quizzical look crossing his face. “You’re a Marston. Who the hell is he? No one. A Marston, or someone appointed by a Marston, guards the ley line in Salem. That’s how it goes.”
I scanned the names, wondering who to start with. “I wonder how all these guys got this job.”