His cheeks heated and his stomach flipped at the idea of being caught like this. Would Rosalind be okay with it? If Aiden asked her not to tell his parents, would she agree?
“That’s just the backup in case she comes home early.” Tiago kissed his neck, making him shiver. “Prom will last for a while.” Tiago leaned back to meet Aiden’s gaze, his eyes glimmering with jaguar gold. “Want to go again?”
Aiden sucked in a breath, his body heating.
Something flickered outside. Aiden tensed, thinking it was headlights, but the color was wrong.
“Uh-oh.” Tiago slid out of bed and pulled aside the curtains. Rainbow-colored lights danced across the sky. “There it goes again.”
Aiden groaned. “Why did it have to be tonight?” Fear gnawed at him. Every time something weird happened in Shadow Valley, it ended up involving Aiden.
“At least they waited until we finished.” Tiago waggled his eyebrows.
Aiden was too worried to appreciate Tiago’s trim, muscular form bathed in the dancing light. Well, almost too worried.
The colors faded a few moments later. Tiago closed the curtains and rejoined Aiden on the bed. Taking one of Aiden’s hands, he kissed it. “Whatever this is, we’ll face it and we’ll be fine.”
The house vibrated with warning. Aiden jumped out of bed, wincing at the soreness in his body. “Shit, she’s home.” Grabbing his underwear, he yanked them on.
As Tiago also scrambled for his clothes, Aiden realized the feeling from the house wasn’t quite right. “Something’s wrong. It feels… hostile.”
Tiago froze, looking over at Aiden with wide eyes. The idea hit Aiden just before Tiago said, “My parents.”
A huge thud came from downstairs. Sick déjà vu hit Aiden. At least this time the power hadn’t gone out. Tiago’s bedside lamp was still on.
With trembling hands, Aiden pulled on the rest of his clothes. It ate up time, but he didn’t want to face danger in his underwear.
“Can you stop them?” Tiago asked in a shaky voice.
An even louder thud echoed through the house and something splintered. “I… I think so, but I need to see them.” He wasn’t good enough to control the spells by feel alone. You have to be brave. You have to protect him.
Swallowing his fear, Aiden pulled open the bedroom door and ran down the hall. His bare feet made little sound on the carpet, but his heart thundered in his ears. At the top of the stairs he lost his nerve.
Another thud, more splintering, and then a huge bang. “Santiago!” The voice was filled with a deep growl.
Aiden gripped the banister. I can’t let them take him. I can’t let them hurt him.
He pulled on his magic, tried to take comfort in the strength of it. Then he ran down the stairs and turned to face the man in the doorway.
He looked a little like an older version of Tiago, but his face was twisted with anger, eyes glowing. “Who are—”
But Aiden didn’t let him finish. Reaching a hand out, he called on the house, and wood burst out of the walls, forming vines. They rushed toward Tiago’s dad and hit him hard, sending him flying through the open doorway.
More wood tore through the carpet and pushed the broken door up, putting it back in place. Aiden wove wood and nails across it, fixing it in place.
His harsh breathing filled the sudden silence. Then a growl came from outside. “You can’t keep me from my son.”
“Leave him alone.” Aiden meant it to sound tough, but it came out like a whine.
Something creaked behind him and Aiden jumped. But it was Tiago, coming down the stairs. Aiden had never seen him look so afraid. “Can you keep him outside?” His eyes darted around the front room. “What about the widows?”
A crash sounded from the rear of the house. “Back upstairs!” Aiden shouted. Tiago’s room had only one door and two small windows to worry about. Aiden could barricade them in.
Tiago shot up the stairs, and Aiden went just behind him. Footsteps pounded across the floor, but Aiden didn’t dare look back. They made it to Tiago’s room and Aiden spun to slam the door.
A woman raced at them, teeth bared, and Aiden barely got the door shut before she hit it. Aiden pulled wood from the walls and floor and sent it crisscrossing over the door to seal it shut. After a few harsh thuds from Tiago’s mom, Aiden figured it would hold for a while.
Then he used magic to board up the windows.
Tiago sat huddled on the bed, staring at the door.
Aiden wrapped his arms around him, wishing he could do more. “They can’t get in, not right now.”
“They will eventually.” Tiago was shaking.
“I’ll call for help. The police—”
Tiago gave him a look. Oh no. He couldn’t still want to protect his parents. Then he sighed. “Okay. Yeah, do it.”
Aiden went into his saved numbers and clicked on the number for the police. It rang several times before a robotic voice said, “We’re sorry, all lines are currently busy. Please try again later.”
Aiden pulled the phone away and stared at it helplessly. “It’s… it’s not going through.” Help, they needed help. “Mr. Johnson. He’ll come.”
But all he got was voice mail. Dread grew in the pit of his stomach. No police, no Mr. Johnson. Something was very wrong. Were they trapped in another barrier? But his phone had a decent signal.
The thudding against the door stopped. “Santiago, you’re only making this worse for yourself. We will take you back.”
“Oh God.” Tiago pressed his face against his knees.
Tiago’s father was outside the bedroom now too. “We’ll make sure you have nowhere to run. In a few hours the wardens here will all be dead, and you won’t be able to hide behind them.”
“What?” Tiago sat up straight.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t go to that dance,” Tiago’s mom said. “It would be a mess trying to get you out of there.”
Aiden went cold. Something terrible was happening, and prom was involved somehow. “Dylan. I have to warn Dylan.”
The phone rang and rang and rang. It went to voice mail. “Dylan, please pick up. Tiago’s parents are here trying to break in, and they said something about prom. I think you’re all in danger.”
“What’s happening at prom?” Tiago asked.
“Does it matter?” Tiago’s dad said. “What matters is we’re taking you out of here and you won’t have to worry about the wardens anymore. We’ll turn you into a proper jaguar, a proper man again.”
Aiden rubbed the side of his face, tears of frustration and fear burning at the back of his eyes. They were trapped and couldn’t get ahold of anyone.
Tiago took his arm, gripping almost painfully. “Don’t let them take me.”
“I won’t.” But God, what could he do?
He thought of calling his parents, but he couldn’t drag them into this. What could they do against two werejaguars? Get hurt or killed, that’s what. Aiden couldn’t be responsible for putting them in danger again.
But what about Dylan’s mom? Aiden pulled up Dylan’s home number and hit Call, praying. “Pick up, pick up. Oh please.”
The line clicked. “Hello?” Dylan’s dad.
Aiden almost sobbed in relief. “It’s Aiden. I’m at Tiago’s house and we’re being attacked.” He could explain it later. “Please have Bryn come help us.”
“I’ll run and get her. Don’t worry. Are you somewhere safe?”
Aiden looked at the door. “For now.”
“Okay. It’ll only be a few minutes. She went to check on the barrier when it went down and didn’t take her phone.”
“Wait, the barrier went down?” It felt like the world was falling apart.
“Don’t worry about that. Just sit tight.”
“Wait! Dylan might be in trouble too. The—the people attacking us said something about prom.”
Dylan’s dad let out a shaky breath. “We’ll get you both, I promise.” He hung up.
Aiden closed
his phone and looked at Tiago. Someone slammed against the door, making them both jump.
Slowly Tiago slid off the bed. “We can’t wait here. We have to warn Dylan and the others. Rosalind…”
“But they’re right outside. We can’t get past them.” Although maybe… if Aiden could tangle them both in vines. It might buy them a few minutes before Tiago’s parents broke out of the hold.
Tiago leaned close and whispered, “I can go out the window.” He didn’t sound happy about the idea. “They’ll come after me.”
Aiden stood and gripped Tiago’s arm. “Yeah, and they’ll catch you,” Aiden whispered back. His chest tightened and his head tingled. No, he couldn’t have a panic attack now.
“But it’ll buy you some time. I can outrun them for a while, and you can head to the school.” Tiago gave him a weak smile. “Then you and Dylan can come rescue me.”
Aiden shook his head. Unacceptable. Something could go wrong. Tiago’s parents could get away with him, and then Aiden would never see him again.
The door shuddered hard, making Aiden yelp.
“Open this door, Santiago!” Tiago’s father shouted. He kept slamming against the door, or maybe he was taking turns with Tiago’s mom. It wouldn’t hold for long.
There had to be another way, some spell… “Wait. I can look like you. Use a glamour. They’ll chase me and you can run for the school. When they catch me, they’ll realize they have the wrong person.” At least all that banging on the door made it hard for Tiago’s parents to hear them talking.
“No! They might kill you.”
Aiden swallowed past the choking fear. “I can use spells to protect myself. My magic works much better out there. I’ll be fine.” He said it as much to convince himself as to reassure Tiago.
“It won’t work anyway, you don’t smell…” Tiago blushed. “Uh, actually you do smell a lot like me.” He took a breath and hugged Aiden. “Promise me you won’t get hurt? Swear it. A fae can’t break promises, right?”
“Yeah, they can’t.” It was something magical. Aiden wondered what happened if a fae did break a promise. “I swear I won’t get hurt.”
“Okay.” Tiago pulled away, then leaned toward his ear again. “We should switch clothes. You’ll smell more like me then. It might fool them longer.”
They quickly undressed and put on each other’s clothes. Tiago’s clothes were baggy on Aiden. Then he had to hunt around for their socks. They decided to wear their own shoes since wearing the wrong size would slow them down.
Then Aiden used his glamour. It was hard to focus with the banging against the door—and was that something splintering?—but once he blocked everything out, the spell came easy.
“Oh, that’s weird,” Tiago said.
“What are you doing in there?” Tiago’s mom demanded. Maybe she’d sensed the spell. The slamming got harder.
Aiden focused on what he needed to do, fighting to keep his panic at bay. He pulled the wood and nails from one of the windows. And yes, that definitely was the sound of something breaking from the door. Aiden tried to calm his racing heart and yanked open the window.
It looked farther down than he remembered. With a quick spell, he made thick vines climb up the side of the house to give him something to hold on to. “Okay, here we go.” He turned to give Tiago a kiss.
“Wait.” Tiago held up his hands, then squeezed his eyes shut. “Sorry, it’s too weird to look.”
The absurd flash of Tiago kissing himself made Aiden laugh despite the situation. He leaned in and kissed him, praying with all his might that they’d both be okay.
A board snapped and fell from the doorframe with a thud. No time. Aiden stepped out onto the vines. With his head still in the room he shouted, “Tiago, no!”
“I can’t stay here! They’ll catch me!” Tiago stood in the middle of the room, fists clenched, shouting the lines they’d planned.
“Stop!” Then Aiden quickly climbed out the window. A few feet from the ground, he dropped, being sure to make as much noise as he could.
Then he started running.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Someone walked in the gym door, and a chorus of voices shouted for help. Only someone outside the wards could turn them off. Dylan told himself to relax. Of course people were coming in and out.
“Calm down, everyone,” the man outside the barrier said. “We’ll let you out of there soon enough. It’ll just be a few hours until we take care of the wardens.”
What?
Dylan couldn’t make out the man’s face. It was too dark and the red exit light cast weird shadows. But his voice sounded familiar.
A woman walked up to the edge of the barrier. “What are you talking about?” Ah, that voice he knew for sure. It was Principal Nejem.
Dylan took Sakura’s hand and moved closer to the principal, pushing through the crowd.
“What the hell is going on?” Sakura asked.
“Guess we’ll find out.”
The man outside shifted, and Dylan got a slightly better look at his face. Was that… Dalton’s dad? He grinned. “We’re giving all of you the freedom you deserve.” He projected his voice over the mutter of the crowd. “Once the wardens are gone, you won’t have to stay in Shadow Valley. You won’t have to hide anymore.”
“What do you mean, once the wardens are gone?” Principal Nejem demanded.
“We’re killing them,” Dalton’s dad said in a quieter voice. “We destroyed the barrier around the town, and everyone rushed out, looking for the cause and trying to replace it. It made it easy for us to pick them off.”
Dylan’s mouth dropped open. Was that really true? This went so much further than protesting. This was what Morgan had promised him, to kill all the wardens and leave Dylan free to go wherever he wanted.
“You can’t be serious,” Principal Nejem said, looking like she wanted to punch him. “Even if you could do that, don’t you understand what that would cause? If we break the treaty, the American government will come after us. We’ll be hunted—”
Mr. Rhodes leaned close, eyes glowing yellow. “Like the wardens hunt us now? They murdered my son.”
Mr. Johnson came up to join the principal. “Those were corrupt—”
“They’re all corrupt!”
Principal Nejem clenched her fists. “Let us out of here right now. They’re just kids, and you’re terrifying them. Would you do this to your son?”
“Don’t you dare.” Dalton’s dad growled. “They can be scared for a few hours. They’ll get over it.” He spoke louder again. “Once we’ve… cleaned up, we’ll let you all go. We’re not here to hurt you.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Well, except you,” he said to Mr. Johnson.
“You’re going to get us all killed!” It was hard to tell in the weird red light, but Mr. Johnson looked like he was shaking. Dylan wondered what it was like for him knowing that his—friends? colleagues?—were being murdered.
“We’ll survive.” Mr. Rhodes’s gaze shifted. “Dylan, I didn’t expect you to be here. Hmm, well. Unfortunately, I can’t let you out without dispelling the whole barrier. I would have asked you to join us, but you’re still a bit young.”
Dylan let go of Sakura’s hand and stepped closer to the barrier. There was a weight inside him, and he couldn’t figure out how he felt. “Are you really killing all the wardens?”
“We’re certainly trying to. All the wardens in Shadow Valley at least. We’ll get to the others, although that will take time,” Mr. Rhodes said. “Would you like to help?”
Exactly what Dylan had wanted… or thought he wanted.
“Dylan, no,” Sakura said.
Mr. Johnson turned to stare at him, eyes tight and jaw clenched.
Dylan couldn’t deny that some part of him still wanted it, or at least liked the idea of no one being able to stop him. He thought of Aiden, how his friend always had faith in him. Believed that he was good despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Not just Aiden, but
Tiago and Hanna. Maggie, Sakura, Izume… his parents. All the people who had voted for him to stay in school. Dylan rubbed his sweaty palms against his pants. “I appreciate the offer, but… no thanks.”
Mr. Rhodes’s face tightened for a moment before turning neutral. “Well, you’ll have some time to reconsider. And you’ll benefit from our actions regardless.”
A walkie-talkie chirped. Mr. Rhodes pulled it from his belt, turning and walking away. “Go ahead.”
“Section two is clear. We’re moving to help at the station,” a woman’s voice said. “How’s the school?”
“All contained, no problems.”
“Good to hear. Station’s an issue, but we knew that. And I got word section six is a problem. The dragonkin showed up.”
But Dylan was here… “Mom,” he breathed. She could handle herself against anything.
Right?
* * *
Aiden took a quick glance to make sure a car wasn’t coming before he ran across the road. They’d taken the bait. Tiago’s parents growled and called to him as they chased Aiden through one yard after another.
They were so damn fast. At least they hadn’t changed into jaguar form yet. If they had, they would have caught him for sure. They could do it at any second though, and Aiden had to get as far away as he could to give Tiago a chance.
A fence loomed ahead of him and he leapt, higher than he thought possible. Maybe it was his magic. It hummed through him, making him hyperaware of the plants and trees around him. It wasn’t as strong as being in the woods, but nature still alerted him to the obstacles in his path.
Like the wall straight ahead. Aiden shifted course slightly to avoid it and came out onto a front lawn. Then he crossed another street.
Sirens blared in the distance. A lot of sirens. What was going on?
“What were you doing with that boy?” Tiago’s father yelled. Oh God, he sounded so close. “I can smell his stink all over you.”
A small hill, a strip of grass between houses, an alley. Everything was a blur. Aiden kept sucking in air, pumping his legs.
Zen and the Art of Major Magical Control Page 17