Twisted Together

by May, W. J.

  For once, Gabriel didn’t talk back. He simply gave her a quick jerking nod before skirting around the bed to get to the door.

  He was almost outside when she rolled her eyes and called, “And Gabriel?”

  He paused, a nervous hand on the frame. “Yeah?”

  “Put your damn shirt on.”

  When she finally joined him on the deck about ten minutes later, he seemed determined not to acknowledge the awkward power struggle in the slightest. He hardly gave her a second glance as she walked past him and the captain, putting her hands on the icy rail and gazing out to sea.

  She’d finally ditched the lavender dress and conjured herself something new—something a bit more appropriate for the weather. The wool trench coat was stylish and fitted, patterned off something she’d seen in one of Molly’s magazines, but it was still far and away the warmest thing she owned. She’d paired it with some matching amethyst gloves and tall suede boots. Since she was in no rush to see Gabriel again, she had even thrown in a little cap to match.

  Molls would be proud, she thought as she stared out at the waves. She always says purple is one of my best colors.

  “Good thing you took off that dress,” Gabriel said quietly as he joined her.

  She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Do I have to just toss you overboard or—?”

  “I meant it’s going to be below freezing today. The last thing I need to explain to Carter is why you went hypothermic and lost two of your toes.” He raised his hands innocently and offered her an appeasing smile. “Honest.”

  Something about his coaxing yet unapologetic face made her almost smile back in spite of her better judgement. It was hard to stay mad at someone who was so completely unashamed of their actions. No matter how infuriating it might be, there was a playful stubbornness behind it that had to be almost admired.

  Nevertheless, she kept her composure as she turned her eyes back out to the ocean. “That better have been what you meant,” she mumbled, but she flashed him a begrudging grin. “Did we really have to take a boat, anyway?”

  “Well, all the roads are being watched, so, yeah,” he flashed a quirky smile that reminded her a little of Devon, “we had to take a boat.”

  She turned away guiltily, wondering how, if ever, she could explain to Devon what exactly happened last night. She was worried it might be one of those, ‘you’d totally get it, but you’d have to have been there’ sorts of things…

  The two of them watched in silence as the little fishing craft pulled up to a dock, half-hidden beneath a bank of tall grass. Once they were close enough, the captain, Petey, jumped out and hitched a rope over a sunken log, before tugging the boat closer with his bare hands.

  “Does he…?” she paused curiously. “Is he inked too?”

  Gabriel shook his head with a faint grin. “No. He’s Scottish.”

  After thanking Petey profusely, the two of them climbed into yet another black sports car that was waiting for them on a little dirt road near the water. As Rae strapped the seatbelt around her, she glanced at Gabriel curiously. He seemed just as in his element here, in the middle of farm country, as he did on the streets of London. And as he did on the fishing boat, for that matter. She wondered where it was he came from, where had he developed that confidence and all those skills. He was young, probably just a few years older than her, but there was something aged about the way he looked at things. It wasn’t necessarily wise; it was aged… deep behind those sparkling eyes of his.

  “So I’ve narrowed it down to two things in my head,” she started conversationally, gazing out at the endless fields of green, trying to avoid staring too long at the guy beside her. “We’re either going to a Braveheart reenactment, or you brought me out here because you have a secret affinity for sheep.”

  He snorted but kept his eyes on the road. “Neither. Both. It’s even worse than you imagine.”

  She grinned and turned back to the window. “Seriously, Gabriel, what’s going on? If Carter told you to break me out of jail, wouldn’t he want you to take me to my mom? My mom who is back in London? Why the hell did he want us to come all the way out here?”

  “Because everyone in London is being watched.” He suddenly pulled off the road, down a lane that was barely visible through the tall grass that surrounded it.

  Rae sat up higher in her seat and noticed they were headed to what looked like a farmhouse sitting in the center of about a million acres of rolling hills, except it wasn’t a farmhouse at all. It was way too big for that. It looked more like some sort of residential-style Scottish resort than anything else, sitting pretty as a picture against the golden glow of the rising sun. There was even a little barn in the back.

  “What is this place?” she asked in awe, pressing her fingers against the window. It was beautiful, and the image tugged at her as if she had seen it before. Maybe in a painting or picture?

  Gabriel glanced at her for a moment before answering. “Everyone in London was being watched,” he repeated, “so they all came out here.”

  They pulled up into a gravel driveway beside a row of familiar-looking cars. Rae’s heart leapt in her chest as she saw Julian’s Jaguar, her mother’s old Lexus, and Devon’s over-the-top sports car—whose name he always told her but she always forgot.

  “They’re here!” she half-squealed, not bothering to hide her enthusiasm. It felt like years since she’d seen her friends, even though technically it had only been two days.

  Prison ages you, she thought sagely as she leapt from the car, not bothering to wait for Gabriel.

  The door was unlocked and she rushed inside, pausing for a moment to savor the heat and look around excitedly at the old-fashioned kitchen. There was a well-worn wooden table in the center, surrounded by a compliment of mismatched chairs, accompanied by a stack of old recipe books piled precariously atop an oven permanently coated in what looked to be tomato soup, and an old wood-burning stove that sat chugging away in the corner.

  Rae loved it! It was exactly the cozy, homey atmosphere she missed from childhood, and secretly craved.

  She was about to ask how exactly her little troop of degenerates had ended up here, but a low buzz of voices from above sent her tiptoeing up the stairs. There was a light on at the end of the hall and she paused behind the door, peeking through a crack in the wood.

  She almost laughed aloud.

  The place was set up like a war room. There was a huge chalkboard at one side, covered with what looked like a detailed map of the Guilder grounds, and piles of books and diagrams spilled off the oak table onto the floor.

  Devon stood at the center like a drill sergeant, hitting the board repeatedly with a long stick as he lectured on and on about security. Molly and Julian were sitting on two chairs pushed up against the wall, looking stressed but bored. Heaven knows how long they’d been sitting there.

  Finally, when she couldn’t take it any longer, Rae cleared her throat. “So…who are we rescuing?”

  The room went instantly quiet—for about three seconds.

  “Rae Kerrigan!!” Molly flew off her chair in a blur of crimson, little sparks flying behind her as she launched herself at her friend.

  If Rae hadn’t already been well-accustomed to her exuberance, she might have fallen over, but fortunately she knew to brace herself just in time.

  “What on earth are you doing here? We were just coming to break you out!” Molly pulled back and looked her anxiously up and down. “Did prison change you? Have you taken up smoking? What was the food like? You didn’t try conjuring anything yourself, did you? We all know how bad you are at that. That’s a great jacket by the way—”

  “Back off a minute and let her breathe.” Julian smiled warmly as he walked forward, literally lifting Molly off her feet and setting her aside so he could give Rae a tight hug. “It’s good to see you,” he murmured. “How the hell did you break—” He waved his hand as if it didn’t matter. She was Rae Kerrigan. “I can’t believe they took you away. I’ve bee
n trying to keep an eye out for what’s going to happen, but—”

  “Don’t worry. I’m okay.” Rae beamed, shaking her head. “I figured it would be too…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on Devon.

  For a moment, the two of them just stood there, staring at the other like they were lost in some sort of dream. Then she was in his arms.

  “I am so, so sorry that happened to you,” Devon whispered roughly into her hair. For once, it was him crushing her, but she didn’t really mind. She just held onto him, grinning like an idiot and soaking it all in. “I missed you so much, Rae—I was so worried. I swear I’m never letting you go again.”

  “I certainly hope this is the boyfriend,” a loud voice announced from behind them.

  Rae turned around with a grimace as Devon looked up in surprise.

  Gabriel stood leaning in the doorway, a playful smirk dancing on his face. “Otherwise I’m afraid that’s terribly inappropriate. Dude, you should see how she was with me!”

  “Who the hell are you?” Julian asked sharply from the corner, looking the new guy up and down with obvious dislike.

  Gabriel peeled himself away from the door frame and strode forward. “Oh, I’m sorry, how terribly rude of me not to introduce myself. I’m Gabriel. Gabriel—”

  “—Alden,” Devon finished flatly. “I know who you are.” He turned to Rae in surprise. “What’s he doing here?”

  An incriminating flush spread up Rae’s neck, and she bit her lip. “Actually, it’s kind of a long story. You see, Gabriel was the one who—”

  “I got her out,” Gabriel interrupted. “Busted her out of the Guilder Detention Center, while you guys were sitting around here just talking about it; saved her ass, protected the package, you know, all that jazz.” He glanced at the chalkboard with a sarcastic little smile playing about his lips. “Nice drawing, by the way.”

  Devon’s eyes flashed and he took a sudden step forward. “Listen, it’s not like—”

  “I’m sorry,” Molly cut him off, wandering over to Gabriel and looking him up and down with wide eyes—eyes just as shameless as his own. Once she was finished, she turned to Rae with a girlish, conspiratorial grin. “Um…whoa.”

  Rae rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know.” Gabriel flashed a cocky grin behind her and she continued, “And trust me, he does too.”

  “Wait,” Julian was still putting two and two together, “Gabriel Alden…” He shot Devon a questioning glance, and Devon nodded with a rather pained expression. “You’re the guy who was hired by the Privy Council?”

  “Just three months ago.” Gabriel clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder, purposely ignoring t when Julian pulled deliberately away. “Already risen up the ranks to ‘senior informant.’ You know, I can’t be sure about this,” he leaned back against the table and shot Devon a bright smile, “but I’m pretty sure I climbed the ladder even faster than the golden boy over here. Imagine that.”

  Devon forced a tight smile. “Imagine that.”

  Again, Molly butted in. “But if you work for the Privy Council and are so high up, why on earth would you help Rae break out of jail? Aren’t you supposed to be on their side?”

  Gabriel grinned widely. “Well, our dear Rae is right—it is a long story. And it all starts with this little lavender dress—”

  Casting all pretense aside, Devon blurred across the room with the supernatural speed of his ink. His hands had balled into tight fists, and, judging by the look on his face, he was about to end Gabriel’s little ladder-climbing once and for all.

  However, whatever was going to happen between the two no one would never know, because at that moment the door pushed open once more.

  The five teenagers turned as one to see the pale, tear-stained face of a beautiful woman in her early forties. A woman who happened to look very much like Rae.

  “Mom!” Rae breathed, rushing towards her.

  Much to her surprise, Beth caught her by the shoulders and held her at an arm’s length, looking her up and down as if unable to believe it could be true.

  “Rae?”

  The next second, both mother and daughter were in a bone-crushing embrace. Rae’s shoulders relaxed in relief as she rested her head on her mom’s shoulder. She hadn’t realized how shaken up she’d been by the last forty-eight hours until this very moment.

  Of course, there was the previous month to consider. A fact that, unfortunately, hadn’t escaped Beth’s notice either. She took Rae by the shoulders and pulled back again. They were the same height, but somehow there was something in her mother’s eyes that made Rae feel about two feet tall.

  “Well now that you’re out of jail…you have a lot of explaining to do, young lady.”

  Rae’s eyes slid behind her mother to a picture on the wall. She stared at it for a moment. Was that her mother… and Uncle Argyle?

  “Rae, pay attention.” Her mother moved, blocking Rae’s view of the old photograph of two young kids.

  Thankfully, the international road-trip recap took a lot less time than Rae had imagined. Her friends, who had gotten to Scotland two days previously, hadn’t been so lucky. Rae assumed from a lot of her mother’s long-suffering sighs and already-answered questions, that she’d probably spent the last forty-eight hours interrogating each and every one of them.

  “I still don’t know why you didn’t tell me,” Beth said for the twelfth time. They were perched on two easy chairs in the war room. The others had discreetly made themselves scarce. “I’m your mother, Rae. That’s supposed to mean something.”

  Rae dropped her eyes down to her lap. There was an obvious answer here, but one that she absolutely couldn’t say. Although it was through no fault of Beth’s…Rae hadn’t had a mother in a long time. “It does mean something,” she said quietly. “It means everything—you have no idea. It’s just that…”

  With gentle fingers, Beth reached out and smoothed down Rae’s hair. “It’s just that you’ve been getting by on your own for a long time now. I’m sure it can’t be the easiest thing to make room in your life for someone when you’re so used to taking care of yourself.”

  Rae peeked up through her lashes. “He had to be stopped, mom. He was out there killing people just for…just for being like me. You were living at Guilder, under the protection—and therefore the surveillance—of the Privy Council, the very people who weren’t supposed to know what we were doing. I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t call you. And I didn’t want to try to bust you out and take you along because…”

  Her voice trailed off in embarrassment, but much to her surprise Beth simply laughed.

  “What? Just say it, Rae. We both know what you’re thinking.”

  Rae threw up her hands in exasperation. “Because I feel a little protective of you, okay? I lost you once, you know? I’m not exactly eager to repeat the whole ordeal.”

  Beth was still chuckling as she pulled Rae in for another huge hug. “While I admire this courageous side of you, I’m the one who’s supposed to be protecting you. Not the other way around.”

  Rae rolled her eyes and grinned. “Haven’t you heard the news? You probably need protecting from me. I’m, like, number one on the Privy Council’s ‘crazy’ watch list.”

  Beth’s face hardened and she took Rae’s hand, helping her to her feet. “I’m afraid you’re a bit more than that now. I’m afraid you’re also, officially, a fugitive.” She sighed as she led Rae downstairs to where the others were waiting in the kitchen.

  The tension in the air was immediately clear. There seemed to be an unofficial line between Gabriel and the other three; a line that all of them, even Molly, seemed unwilling to cross. Beth saw it at the same time and sat down squarely in the middle at the kitchen table, gesturing for everyone else to do the same.

  “Molly, Julian, Devon,” she looked at Devon sharply as she said his name, “Gabriel here risked his life upon Carter’s orders to free Rae from the Guilder Detention Center. He deserves our thanks, don’t you think?” She cast Devon anothe
r pointed look.

  Devon sighed quietly, before crossing the kitchen and extending his hand. “Thank you,” his face was hard, but the words were sincere, “for what you did for Rae. Because she’s my girlfriend, I’m sincerely grateful.”

  Beth sighed impatiently, and Molly stifled a giggle.

  Gabriel merely grinned. “No problem, man. It looked like you were well on your way with your little tunnel drawing, but I figured someone had to step up to bat first.” He gave Rae a devilish wink, and she rolled her eyes in disgust.

  A muscle twitched in Devon’s jaw but he tried to maintain composure. “We were all being watched. That’s why we couldn’t break her out ourselves. That’s why we had to come here to Scotland to regroup and come up with some sort of plan.” His expression grew suddenly smug. “It’s also probably why Carter chose you: Because you’re nothing to Rae. Who would suspect you?”

  Gabriel smiled innocently. “Who indeed?”

  A strange, heated implication hung in the air between them, and before tempers could boil completely over, Rae loudly cleared her throat.

  “Moving on…where are we with Cromfield? Were you guys able to come up with any information as to his whereabouts?”

  “In the forty-eight hours since we went to Scotland and you were carted off to jail?” Julian scoffed and then dropped his tone as he teased her gently, “Uh, no, Rae. We’ve been a bit occupied.”

  Rae was not to be deterred. “Well, we’ve got to get started. I think the best place to begin is to map out a list of everywhere we already know he’s been: Dates, locations, activities. We’ve got to create some sort of timeline that we can—”

  The front door swung open with a loud bang, and everyone sitting at the table whirled around in alarm.

  “Actually, I may have an idea about that.”