by E. M. Moore
He sneered, his green eyes sparkling. He loved every second of this. I never noticed just how fae he really was. “No, but I’m on to something, Sweetheart. You can run back and tell Guardian Etau we’re not sitting back anymore. Magical folk deserve answers, too.”
“So does everyone,” Velo snapped.
“Here, here,” another voice rose from the chorus of agreements and everyone cheered.
“You’re either with us or against us,” Velo said.
Jake stiffened beside me. He leaned down and spoke just loud enough so I could hear. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but this is not what—”
“I’m not on any damn side,” I spoke through clenched teeth. “I just want my brother. As long as I find him, you can have whatever damn war you want.”
“The war will happen whether or not you find your brother,” Velo said.
“So, you’re saying you know the enemy will strike again?”
“That’s what they said in the recording, wasn’t it? But that’s not the war I’m talking about, Guardian. I’m talking about overthrowing Command and their lies and their secrets. There are too many secrets.”
He sat back in his chair and downed a drink.
“You can say that again,” I said, locking gazes with Troian. “So, you’re both done being Elites then, huh? Just like that?”
Velo made a sound in the back of his throat. “They don’t care about us. Why should we care about them?
Jake tugged on my arm and he turned us back toward our table. I resisted and faced the group. “I know I’m just a pathetic Ley Line Guardian, but don’t you think you’re playing into the enemy here? If we’re divided, we’ll never be able to stand up to the enemy. So, start your damn uprising. We’ll see how far that gets us.”
I walked past Jake and all the way through the magical door into the coat closet and bellied up to the human bar—the sane bar. Jake sat on a stool next to me. “That was weird.”
I stared down the bar. There were a few old men with bushy eyebrows and even more middle-aged couples. What was weird was that they didn’t stare us down wondering what our deal was. They were so caught up in their own lives they didn’t bother thinking about what we were or who we were. I kind of liked that.
“You ever wonder why us, Jake? I mean, what the hell? We have to fight the bad guys and win, or die trying. Is that our only option?”
“I guess you could buck the system and go rogue like Green Eyes and Guardian Velo.”
“But they’re still caught up in all the politics of it. Can’t we like, get out?”
Jake shook his head. “You know you don’t want that, Cas. As soon as we find Damen, things will go back to normal. You’ll love kicking some magical creature ass when they deserve it.”
“You mean, as soon as we find Damen and kill the bad guys, things will go back to normal.”
“Yeah, but we won’t have to do it alone then. We’ll have Damen there to help. And part of me thinks these Stonehenge Ley Line Guardians won’t be all that bad either. Barbara was right. All they do in there is talk. What else are they doing? Stirring shit up. That’s it. The talkers aren’t the ones you have to worry about. It’s the silent ones you do.”
“But, Green Eyes?”
“I’m not even going to try to understand what goes through his head, Cas. Please don’t make me because I’m sure it’s a jungle of fuckedupedness and I don’t want to go there.”
“Fuckedupedness?”
“What can I say? I’m making up words. That’s how tired I am.”
I looked back toward the coat closet. “What do you think Barbara is up to? I hope she’s okay.”
“Who knows?” Jake shrugged. “She probably blipped herself out of here.”
“I don’t think she would just do that to us.”
“Well, let’s have another drink and we can wait and see if she shows back up. If not, I say we ask about a room in this place. Sounds like we might be here for a little while trying to sort things out.”
Jake flagged down the bartender and ordered us each a beer. The bartender told him to go around the corner where the lobby of the inn was to ask about a room. Jake excused himself while I sat and sipped my beer, waiting. I kept checking back at the coat room, but didn’t see Barbara again. That was too bad. I kind of liked that fae. She had heart and spunk.
Still no Jake, I got up and walked around to look at the different decorations on the walls of the pub part of the inn. There were old signs, photographs, relics. I was examining an old street sign when I saw the air shimmer in the corner of the room. Instinctively, I walked toward it. When he emerged, it was in shadows, but I still knew it was him. “You know me. Trust me. Meet me at Stonehenge. Midnight.”
Then, poof.
If there was one magical ability I wanted, it was that. Think of all the possibilities. Horrible date? Poof. Gone. In your house on the couch in front of Netflix watching Orange is the New Black within five seconds. Bored at work? Poof. Gone. I’d only come back when I knew the boss would be around.
Enough of the crap already though. I trusted Troian. Even though he shouldn’t have called me a pathetic Ley Line Guardian. That was crossing the line. Big time.
I moseyed back to the bar and found Jake there. The clock behind the liquor bottles said ten p.m.
Jake followed my gaze. “Got somewhere to be?”
“Yep, and so do you. We’re meeting Green Eyes at Stonehenge. Midnight.”
“How cliché. Did he explain why he’s here and spearheading some radical movement? And, why he called you pathetic?”
I smiled. “You knew that bothered me the most, huh?”
He nodded.
“No, he didn’t mention any of that. He said to trust him.”
“And we trust him.”
I was proud of him. He didn’t even pose it as a question.
Chapter Twelve
Stonehenge reminded me of Gallows Hill in the dark. It was creepy. There was no getting around it. The stones looked like tentacles breaking up through the ground, reaching toward the star-dotted sky. And the magic, wow. My stomach was in knots feeling the magic waft over me in tidal waves.
Jake’s hands clenched at his sides. I put my hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yes,” he said through clenched teeth. “Just give me…” He took a deep breath. “A sec.”
We stopped walking toward the ancient stones and turned toward each other. Jake’s forehead was mashed together in deep lines and his jaw was tight.
“Does it hurt?” I asked.
“I think it’s only because I’m resisting it.”
“Why don’t you go back to the car? I can handle this. It’s only Troian. He won’t hurt me.”
“We know what happens when we split up.”
“It’s fine. Go. I’ll hurry and then we’ll head back to the hotel.”
Jake nodded. I could tell it killed him to turn around, but he did it anyway. I wanted him there with me, but not if he was going to be in pain the entire time. Troian was up there anyway and I’d see him soon enough. I wouldn’t be alone.
I walked faster on the dirt path toward Stonehenge. I was on the public path, the one everyone took to walk around the stones and take their pictures. Apparently sometime within the last twenty years, they had to put a fence around the stones and not let the public near it. Too many humans decided to deface the huge rocks. Peed on them, wrote on them, you name it, they did it.
A bright light came around the end of one of the middle stones and I picked up the pace. Right when I saw another one join it, I felt a tug on my leg and I was sprawled in the tall grass next to the trail. “Shh,” a voice said. “And stay down.”
It was a female voice, and sounded familiar. I turned my head to see Sasha stick her head above the tall grass to look toward the stones. We were lying next to a smaller rock that jutted out of the ground. Not near as big as the ones in the main Stonehenge circle, but big enough to give us concealment.
“Where’s Troi— Green Eyes?” I asked.
She shook her head in disgust. “I told him not to get involved with you. I could tell the first time I saw you together that he was done for, and now you’ve gotten him captured.”
My voice rose several octaves. I was way past the whispering point now. “What?”
She shot me death glare. “You blew his cover, Cas.”
“Cover?”
“Earlier, at the hotel? He was undercover. He was infiltrating the group because we’re pretty damn sure we know who is doing this.”
“Them? But they’re just talkers.”
“They are, but they also have friends who are doers. Damnit. As soon as I saw you walk into the pub, I knew he was a goner.”
I stood and rested my back against the large rock. “You were there?”
“Yeah, in the back, being a good guardian. I was trailing someone myself or else I’d have come over to your table and blown myself out of the water like you did with the fae.”
“Well, if people didn’t keep so many secrets, I wouldn’t have done that. The only thing he asked me was not to tell him anything about what I was doing. What the hell, Sasha? Did you know he was here? How come I was out of the loop?”
She peeked over the blades of grass again. “I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with him wanting to save the day. He wanted to be the one who found Damen for you.”
She settled back in the grass, her body twisted toward the stones, but out of view. “This is just great,” she said.
“And what about you? We’re supposed to be working together. You knew Jake and I were at Stonehenge. How come we didn’t know what the hell you were doing here?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve got intel.”
My blood boiled. Who the hell had Jake and I aligned ourselves with? The trust was gone. “When were you going to share?”
The air around us shimmered. It was a pinkish color, like a rosy dusk sky. It wasn’t Troian.
Barbara popped into view. “Jeez. Do you think you guys could be louder? I don’t think they’ve heard you yet.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and if I didn’t have more sense, I would’ve stood up to throw a fit and blow all our covers.
She ignored me and looked at Sasha. “I know where they are.”
“Where?” she asked Barbara, at the same time I asked, “They? Who’s they? Damen?” my voice squeaked.
“My brother and yours.” The little fae girl glared at me.
“Your brother?”
Realization dawned on me right before Barbara said, “Yeah, a blond-headed, cocky Elite. Apparently, you know him well.” She looked me up and down and shook her head.
That was rude. “So, where are Damen and Green Eyes?”
“Green Eyes? You’re terrible at making up fae names.”
Sasha cut me off. “Focus. Where are they?”
“Right under her nose the entire time,” Barbara said, glaring at me. “They’re in Salem. Something about the jail, but I looked it up, there’s not a jail in Salem.”
I gasped. I knew where they were. Turning, I crawled through the grass until I was out of sight of the stones and then stood and ran. I heard their quiet protests behind me, but they hadn’t shared with me. No one had been forthcoming with any information that could help me.
I rounded the knoll by the car and all out sprinted. We needed to get home and fast.
As soon as I got to the car, I whipped open the door and got in. “Jake, drive. We need to go to the airport unless you think we could use the portals. Fast.”
I buckled my seatbelt and when the car didn’t start, I looked over at the driver’s side.
Barbara had him in a choke hold, a knife held to his throat.
Chapter Thirteen
“Hurt him and I will end you.”
Barbara tightened her hold and Jake winced, sucking air in through his teeth.
I extended my arm and flicked my wrist. A blade popped into my palm. I liked the Command gadget so much I “borrowed” one for the trip. I just barely nicked her skin, hoping the blade had iron in it. No, this wasn’t the way to show Troian I cared, but right now, I was so pissed I couldn’t think or see straight. “Let him go. We both know you won’t hurt him. You would’ve already done it.”
She clenched her teeth as I dug the blade in a little deeper.
“I’ll tell you where they are. I have no secrets when it comes to helping people I care about. Are you in or not? Jake here won’t play nice much longer and it’s two against one.”
She smiled a cunning fae smile, released Jake, and sat back. “I’m impressed. I’m giving you more credit now. Sasha acted like you couldn’t handle the truth. Her end goal isn’t Damen, you know that, right? It’s not even my brother. Her goal is to stop the baddies, typical Elite.”
“Brother?” Jake questioned.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Jake, please start driving toward the airport. I’ll explain everything.”
“I take that back about the credit I just gave you. We’ll be wasting our time at the airport. Drive back toward the Ley Line Guardian house in town.”
Jake spun in his seat and faced her. “If you think I’m taking orders from you after you’ve had a knife to my throat, you’re the stupidest fae I’ve ever met.”
Her eyes narrowed and her cheeks reddened. “If you want to waste time, by all means, head to the airport. If you want them back sooner, head to the fucking guardian house. I can get us through the portals.”
“The portals? They’re shut off,” I said.
“Not the one in the house. They kept it on in case the guardians came back. Since only an Elite or the Stonehenge Ley Line Guardians can go through it, it’s been of no use to me, but now that we have you—” she sneered at Jake “—we can get through it.”
“But the one in Salem is turned off.”
Jake turned and started the car. He did a 180 and sped back in to town as he took out his cell phone and touched the screen. “Sanders, we need you.”
I relaxed back in my seat, knowing Sanders would arrange to accept us through the portal and get one set up to Salem. When Jake hung up, I explained everything to him including who Barbara was related to. I was pretty sure I heard him mutter, “Figures.”
“Now it’s your turn, fae,” Jake said in the rearview mirror. “Fill in the pieces. Who was Sasha trailing?”
“The mayor of Salem.”
My hands clenched and I gasped. Mayor Hawthorn was my responsibility. I should have been the one tracking him down. And I would have if I’d known he’d needed tracking. “She got good intel on him then?”
“Yes, at first, she was tracking Guardian Velo, but she soon found out he was just a planner. That was when she saw him meet with your mayor. She didn’t know who it was at first, but put two-and-two together.”
“How long has she known he had Damen?”
“A couple days. She didn’t know where, though. That’s why I spied on them at the stones.”
“Mayor Hawthorn was at the stones?”
“Yep, inspecting their dirty work and talking about how they got my brother. Mayor Hawthorn recognized him from your house. It doesn’t even sound like he knows for sure my brother was spying on them, but they can’t afford to take any chances right now.” She stretched out on the backseat from side window to side window. “Now, are you going to tell me where they are?”
“There’s two possible places.”
“The old witch gaol,” Jake finished. “Or Salem city had a jail, which is now luxury apartments.”
Barbara sighed. “Luxury apartments sound way better than a witch gaol.”
I groaned. “The witch gaol is just a business now. There’s a basement with cubicles where they used to keep the witches.”
“That’s alarming. Can you imagine sitting in there every day thinking about who else used to sit there, sle
ep there, starved there? Ew.”
Jake’s jaw twitched. He didn’t care for Barbara in the first place, but I was guessing now since she’d held a knife to his throat, he’d never like her. Who could blame him?
A phone vibrated somewhere in the car. It wasn’t mine and Jake didn’t go for his either. “So…” Barbara started. “I know you don’t really like Sasha right now, but she would be an asset in all this.”
My head hurt. A lot. I leaned back in the seat as the GPS told Jake to take a right. We looked at each other after he’d successfully made the turn, and he shrugged. I was sure he was thinking the same thing I was. It would make sense to have Sasha on board. I did not care for her blaming Troian’s capture on me though. How was I supposed to have known what he was doing? Neither one of them told me anything.
I pulled my pack onto my lap. “If she can keep her mouth shut, I’m okay with her being there, I guess.”
“That was mature.”
“You’re a pain in the ass,” Jake told Barbara. He looked at her through the rearview mirror and shook his head. “Maybe we should make a rule you don’t talk either.”
“Why do you two get to make all the rules?”
“Because we’re the ones who were honest this whole time!” I yelled. I took a few steadying breaths and tried again. “Don’t you see that keeping secrets led to all this. If I’d known where Damen was earlier, I wouldn’t have been in Stonehenge and there was no way I would’ve blown your brother’s cover. He still would be infiltrating the bad guys instead of holed up somewhere by Douchebag McDoucherson.”
Jake nodded in approval. Barbara just made a small noise that sounded like, “Hmm.” I couldn’t tell if it was in agreement or not.
“On the topic of your brother, did anyone try calling him?” I asked.
Barbara’s voice got small, and tired-sounding. “I did,” she said. “They must have him magically tethered in place. Some witches can do that. It’s a terrible thing, too, because…”
“It hurts him when he’s holding on to tight.”
I watched her reaction from the side mirror. Her head snapped to attention and she bore an inquisitive hole into the back of the passenger headrest. She kept quiet, but I was sure that my answer made her ask herself a lot of questions. Like, just how close were me and her brother?