by Jaymin Eve
There were only twenty-four floors. We were right near the top, which I did not like for many reasons, but escape and safety were number one.
“What you stressing for, Jessa babe?” Maximus murmured as he sidled closer. “You’re safer than most of us.”
Oh, that’s right, I could fly.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. I leaned in closer to the grays. “Does this sanctuary hide and contain the power of the dragon marked?” I asked. All eyes were suddenly on me. “If we use our powers, can the Four find us?”
Those scary-ass quads, the only other foursome in the supernatural world besides my boys, were constantly on my mind.
Gerard smiled. “You are safe to free your energies. The protections here are unparalleled. You’re more secure here than anywhere else. You will have time to learn, train, and expand on any and all skills of the marked.”
A surge of relief flooded my body, some of the tension that had been riding me eased a little. Though Braxton’s expression did not shift, and I knew he was reserving judgment.
Often when things seem too good to be true…
Finally the ride from hell ended and we exited the metal box into a long hallway, which then branched out to four doorways. Gerard led us through to the furthest door. It had a large number on it: 2244.
Seemed we had found our home for the time being.
“Your bags should be inside by now, and you’re welcome to shower and relax. We eat in one hour. We will meet you downstairs then, for the rest of the tour.”
Gerard bowed his head and then the grays left us at our door.
Grace flicked her red hair over her shoulder as she turned to watch them leave. “How do we get into our room?”
Her quick dark eyes had picked up on the fact that there was no lock or possible way to access this room.
The cloaks did not turn back, and seemingly before we could blink twice they were on the elevator and gone. I huffed, exasperated. I really needed a shower and I really needed food. This friggin’ door had better open soon. I kicked at the wooden structure, missing it by a few inches. I’d been standing a little far back, and I didn’t really want to break their door down. I’m sure the mystics would be pissed if I started damaging their stuff.
A snort of laughter had my head flipping around. It was Braxton, actually laughing at me, which would be a real dick move, except his laughter was the most beautiful sound I’d heard in days.
“What?” I couldn’t stop a return smile from crossing my face. “You questioning my door breaking abilities?”
In one rapid movement, he leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. My heart pretty much stopped beating. I stared up at him, my eyes wide and unfocused. That had come from nowhere, and it had hit me. Right. In. The. Feels.
Tyson distracted me then. “There is magic riding this entrance.” He gently shoved me aside and started running both hands over the wood without actually touching it. He remained calm, clearly not sensing anything too worrying. Finally after a few more circuits, he slammed both hands down, right in the center of the white barrier.
The door disappeared. Like one minute it was there, and then … gone.
Maximus snorted. “Looks as if they have the rooms magically protected so only those residing may enter.”
So if my foot had connected to the door, it would have most probably gone all the way though and I’d have landed on my ass.
Tyson took the first step inside, acting as the guinea pig in case there were any other securities. I couldn’t see much beyond his broad frame, but when he didn’t get smashed by another force, I knew it was okay to follow him across.
We were about to see our new home.
Chapter 4
The space inside was huge, the size of any single level house in Stratford. The open living room and kitchen was spanned off by a hall and three doors. As we spread out to explore I noticed – just as the mystic has said – that through some sort of magical happening, all of our bags were on the white carpeted floor of the lounge. Piled together next to the dark red, leather couches. And on the glass coffee table were our passports and cash.
Stepping past this, my gaze was drawn to the large glass windows that spanned one entire side of the space, allowing for an uninterrupted view of the land. Our apartment faced the side of the sanctuary which was made up of forest and desert, and from this lofty height I could really appreciate the full scope of the zones. They were massive. The sun was shining in the sky, but I knew it was fake because there was clearly the rock of a mountain above us. Luckily magic could imitate most of the life-giving nature of sunshine. Otherwise the city would be filled by some pretty depressed, lacking-in-vitamin-D inhabitants. Yep, even supernaturals need the hit of the sun.
Tyson’s voice startled me and I spun around from the view. “Who wants to sleep where? There are four rooms, two beds in each.”
Mischa’s eyes met mine. “I’ll bunk with Jessa,” she said.
I gave her a smile. Sometimes it felt as if my twin was trying really hard to build our relationship. I wanted that too, but it was going to take more than forced proximity. Only time could create the bonds we should have had. I didn’t mind sharing with her, though I’d have preferred one of the quads.
“Sounds good,” I said. The joy that shone from her expression was reward enough.
Grace was perched in the doorway of the spacious, white-tiled kitchen. “I’m happy to be by myself. I’m used to it, and magic users don’t have the same pack tendencies. It will be easiest for me.”
Jacob shoved some of his white-blond hair back, ruffling its smooth strands. “Alright, well, I’ll share with Tyson’s lazy ass, and that leaves Max and Brax, the dynamic duo. They take up the most space anyways with their brooding and general pretty-boyness.”
Tyson snorted. “Yeah, we’d better give them the biggest bathroom, their beauty crap takes up a lot of space.”
The wizard barely had time for a second snort of laughter before he flew through the air and smashed into the glass windows to the left of where I’d just been standing. He clattered to the floor in a messy tangle of limbs. I was surprised to see that that the glass and paneling seemed to have suffered no damage. They must have been reinforced to withstand the weight and strength of supernaturals crashing into them. A great idea with our hotheaded natures.
Braxton was standing in the spot from where his brother had just taken his little flight across the room. He looked calm, deceptively so, arms hanging loosely as he locked eyes with Tyson. The magic user was already on his feet, streams of gold threading the brown of his eyes. This was about eight seconds from World War Ten – the other nine counted only the major battles between the quads over the years – it was time to end this now. I stepped to the center of the room, between the boys, and held up both of my arms.
“Stop! If you two fight, I’m going to tear you both a new ass–”
“Jess!” Horrified, Mischa cut me off. Her over-the-top fear of crudeness of any description was enough to lighten the tension.
“I’m going to shower and change,” said Grace gently, as if the boys weren’t squared off to fight. “We should all hurry. We only have forty minutes to meet back with those fey.”
She maneuvered through the room, avoiding Tyson, before grabbing her bag and entering the closest bedroom. Within moments I heard the sound of running water.
This was my chance to end the secrets between us.
I waved my arms. “Bring it in.”
Our group tightened until Mischa and I were the center of a hulking mass of males. Five sets of eyes locked in on me. Tyson’s were back to honeysuckle brown, already over his shitted-at-Braxton moment.
“I need to tell you something.” I focused on Jacob and Tyson. I didn’t mince my words, quickly detailing the dragon marked abilities, my dual shifting and what had happened in Vanguard. “I didn’t say anything when we first escaped because of Grace. It’s not the sort of information which should be general knowledg
e.”
The silence was heavy, filled with anger and slivers of hurt and mistrust. I didn’t drop my eyes. I forced myself to see and feel every facet of pain visible in Jacob’s leaf-green eyes and Tyson’s honeysuckle.
The quad wizard was uncharacteristically somber. “Do you have any more hidden information? Because I’m about done with all the secrecy.”
Braxton and Maximus stepped closer into me. I’m not sure they even realized they had done it, their instincts always to protect me, even against their brothers.
I shook out my hair. “No more secrets, I promise. I agree with Max, we can’t fight effectively if we don’t have all the information, so full disclosure.”
It might have been what I said, or the fact that truth rang clearly in my tone, but the tension slowly filtered out of the boys.
Jacob folded me in his arms. “I adore you, but sometimes you’re a real asshole.”
I chuckled. He was right, sometimes I was.
With everything fixed between us all again, I gathered my bag – a large black duffle which had been stored in my closest for emergencies but never used – and followed Mischa into the second door past Grace’s. I had no idea what the hell sort of clothes Louis would have packed for me. It didn’t much matter anyway, I didn’t care as long as it wasn’t ruffled or lacey. Once we stepped into the surprisingly large room, decked out with two double beds and a full length mirrored-door closest, I threw my stuff down and crashed onto the soft bed.
Mischa stood over me, hands on her hips. “You doing okay? I can’t even imagine how you’re still going after the last few days.”
I scooted forward, placing my elbows down on the bed so I could prop myself up. “I’ve never understood why people say things like that. It isn’t as if I had a choice. Trust me, I would much rather be lying bikini clad on a beach getting my tan on.”
Mischa laughed. “You’ve never even been to the beach.”
Rub it in why don’t you.
I shrugged. “We have to keep moving forward, there’s no other option.”
My bluntness didn’t seem to offend her. Instead she smiled. “You are so literal, I was really just sympathizing with everything you’ve been through.”
Oh, right. Humans were weird with that “say one thing and mean another” crap. Mischa had zero actual human in her, but some of their tendencies rubbed off on her while she’d been hidden in their world.
“You want to shower first?” she asked.
I dropped myself back onto the comfy bed. “Nah, you go ahead.”
She turned away to riffle through her bag. “So do you think this place is just a sanctuary for dragon marked?”
I’d been running the possibilities through my mind since we’d entered the mountain. I had many theories. “I do get the feeling there is more to it than a simple sanctuary.” It was pretty ironic that a world which had been allegedly created to shelter supes from the wrath of the dragon king, was now used to protect his “marked” supernaturals. Someone, at some point in time, had manufactured a genius switcheroo.
Mischa continued to chatter about the different zones, leaving the bathroom door open. I mumbled and nodded, but truth be told I think I might have fallen asleep for a bit.
“Gah!” I yelled as hands shook me, bolting upright. “What? What happened?” My head swiveled left and right, but there seemed to be nothing in the room except my clean, soapy-scented sister. Her hair was damp and she had on new jeans and a long-sleeved tank.
“Your turn.” Her grin was a little wicked, as if she’d enjoyed shocking the shit out of me. Nasty. Probably payback for falling asleep on her.
I rolled off the bed, the little nap I’d had rejuvenating me. My main exhaustion was due to an egregious, horrific, shameful lack of food. I was used to eating regular meals and that had not been happening much lately. My last full meal had been … shit, at least twelve hours ago.
My bag looked to have all the essentials. I just grabbed what I needed and stepped into the blue tiled bathroom. I didn’t close the door either, naked wasn’t a big deal.
“Holy freaking hell!”
I spun around, my shirt clutched in my hands. Mischa had actually cursed so I was expecting, like, flying vultures to have descended in our room. But no, her eyes were locked on me, and suddenly I remembered the mark on my back.
She took a step closer, one hand raised as if she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out. “Is that … the dragon mark?”
I twisted so she could appreciate the full picture, it was so difficult to see in its entirety, the black and red continually moving and shifting. Almost like the shimmering scales on a dragon in flight.
“Will mine look like that?” She touched a single fingertip to one edge, I guess to see if it felt different than skin. It looked like a three dimensional image. I’d expected it to feel raised too, but it wasn’t.
“I have no idea,” I said, “Gerard did say that my mark was larger than any other he’d seen, but I don’t know about you. If the Four weren’t hunting our asses, I’d say we should get Louis to remove your spell.”
It was the only way to find out.
Mischa must have realized that I was still standing there, half naked and waiting to shower. “Sorry, I’m wasting your time,” she said, backing across the room.
I finished undressing, forcing myself not to dwell on the massive mark. The shower was awesome – large powerful jets, plenty of hot water. I washed away the last twenty-four hours and almost felt like myself as I dressed in ripped black jeans and a simple white tank. After brushing out my long hair and securing it in a ponytail, I pulled on black biker boots to finish the outfit. I was ready to go.
The bedroom was empty. I noticed Mischa had unpacked, putting our clothes into the large wardrobe. Our crap took up about an eighth of the space provided.
I could hear voices as I ventured into the living area. I was the last out; they had been waiting on me.
A knock on the door had us all spinning around. I was closest, so I started along the hall, but before I could press my hand to the panel and activate the unlocking mechanism, I was muscled out by four large pains-in-my-ass. The quads formed a line of defense before Tyson triggered the magical opening. I wedged my way through to find a male standing on the other side.
He was average height – short for a supe – and had a head full of silvery hair, another one of the mystic cloaks, only he was sans cloak, wearing a simple pair of cotton slacks and a loose-fitted white shirt.
“I am Quale.” He did not smile or encourage any sort of warm feelings, but there was something around the dark blue eyes, a few shades off purple, which told me that this guy was pretty closely linked to Louis.
The Compasses backed up a foot or two, and with a wave of Maximus’ hand, he was allowed to enter. It was pretty hard in the supernatural world to prove anyone was who they said they were. Firstly, we didn’t carry identification, and any we had was generally fake. Mostly we judged on power level and whether we could kick the stranger’s ass. If we were weaker, we proceeded with caution. If they were weaker, we didn’t really give a shit who they were.
This male was strong, but there would be very few beings who could take on our pack. We were pretty secure in our awesomeness.
The door slid shut behind him, fortifying our apartment again. I backtracked to the living room, sinking into a sofa, next to Mischa and Grace. The quads spread around the room but didn’t sit. They wouldn’t give up their dominance. My animals were starting to demand I stand too, but before I moved, Quale sat across from us. My wolf settled again.
The male tented his hand in front of him. “I’m glad you made it here safely, Louis contacted me a few hours ago. I have been waiting for your arrival.”
I leaned my upper body forward, trying very hard to get a read on him, but he was like the other cloaks. Some sort of weird hybrid fey.
More than ready for food, I didn’t waste any time. “How do you know Louis? And can we contact our paren
ts?”
His expression remained passive as he focused on me. “There are no traditional contact methods out of the sanctuary, but Louis wanted me to assure you that all of your parents are fine.” No traditional contact, but clearly there was some way. “The Four are still around Stratford, but they have caused no further trouble.”
That was a huge relief and worry at the same time. Those other quad bastards just did not give up.
Quale’s piercing eyes roamed over all of us, as if he was memorizing our features. “As for Louis, well, I’m his older brother.”
I froze, my mind taking a few moments to register what he had just said. “I don’t … understand. Louis did not seem to know much about the dragon marked. If you’re his brother…”
“I am a much older, half-brother. I was born with a head of silver hair, as all mystics are. My mother recognized the signs and knew I was just like our grandfather. I was sent to this sanctuary long before Louis was born. We have never met, only communicated.”
Maximus hulked his massive body closer to Quale. “What exactly is a mystic?” The others hadn’t been forthcoming with information. Hopefully Quale would be more inclined.
“It is … complicated.” For the first time the fey seemed unsure of his words. “Since you are here, it is best that you understand … our fey forefathers were chosen, they formed a council to the dragon king – they were destroyed with the king, but in the next generation some of their offspring were born with the mystic’s traits. We bore silver hair and also have a mark, but it’s not the same as yours.” He nodded at Mischa and me.
“You were hunted also?” Braxton asked.
Quale lifted a hand and rubbed at the corner of his right eye, looking uncomfortable. “Yes, we were. And still are.”
“Why?” I asked.
He worried at his lips, just for a split second, before the stoic expression descended again. “We are to form the new council for the dragon king. It’s our duty to protect his marked ones and to make sure he rises again.”
Well, fuck-a-ding-dong.