Taken: The Pteron Chronicles

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “He likes to cause a whole lot more than mischief,” Cade mumbled.

  “Yeah, I don’t know. There are plenty of other ways to annoy me. I think he did it for another reason.”

  “He’s a demon. He does things for his own reasons.” Cade held back as I slowed further. I wanted to get there yet I didn’t. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do if we couldn’t find the key. I wasn’t ready to face that possibility yet.

  “I wish I could figure him out.” There was a wistful tone to Eloise’s voice.

  “Figure him out how?” I asked. I preferred this conversation over discussing whatever it was Wyatt hadn’t told me. That was entirely too stressful.

  “I want to know why he’s sticking around,” Eloise said plainly.

  “You’re not buying that it’s a self-preservation thing?” I wasn’t buying it either.

  “He would survive no matter what side he was on. Even if it meant hiding out on another realm. He’d be able to do it.”

  “I’d love to pretend it’s because he deeply cares about me, but we all know that isn’t true.” He’d made it clear over and over he was only nice and helpful to me because it was in his best interest.

  “Caring takes many forms. It may all be tied to a selfish goal, but he wants you safe. Did you see how he reacted when Georgina told him to go with her?” Eloise pointed out.

  “Yet he listened. Why? Georgina may scare the rest of us, but she has no power over him.”

  “Yet another mystery to add to our ever-growing list.” Cade pointed ahead. “I think we’re close.”

  “Yes. Follow me. We’re almost there.”

  I thought back on the first time I’d visited Uncle Jim’s house. It hadn’t been all that long considering I hadn’t even known he existed less than a year before.

  I started to descend, leading us to a safe landing between trees. It was dark, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t be seen.

  On my first visit I’d been the cool and collected one while Owen went out of his mind. He was understandably worried about Daisy. I’d had no idea then that things would only get crazier for me as time went on.

  We walked up to the door of his mid-century style home. For the first time in a really long time I wished my father was with us. I’d been independent for years, but somehow I longed for that kind of protectiveness right now. It was funny. I’d spent years trying to convince Owen and his friends I didn’t need their help only to now want it. At the moment I would have to settle for relying on Cade and Eloise. And mostly myself.

  The house looked completely ordinary on the outside, but I already knew it held way more than what it appeared. I knocked wondering if we could possibly get lucky twice and find someone else there. Nothing happened. I put my ear to the door. I heard nothing inside. “I guess he’s not here.”

  “Hailey, watch out!” Cade yelled.

  I turned around just as a giant net came down on top of us.

  “What the hell?” I squirmed, trying to push the net off of us. There was no way we were getting captured again.

  There was the faint sound of gears turning before we started to free fall.

  “Not again. No freaking way!” Cade yelled as we fell down further and further.

  I was too stunned to speak. Of all the possibilities I’d considered, this definitely wasn’t one of them.

  6

  Glendale

  Time marches on. Or so the saying is. But what the common perception gets wrong is that time doesn’t march in a linear line. It moves in circles. Circles plural, continual circles that go round and round and change without warning. I used to think it was only humans who struggled with this truth, but sometimes they handle it far better than the paranormal creatures they walk alongside.

  I was half dozing, counting the different timelines I’d existed on while I waited for Georgina to return. The others had left easily ten minutes before, yet she was still preparing. If she returned with a large suitcase I was out of there. Georgina was entertaining. Strong. Interesting. But even those attributes weren’t enough to keep me waiting much longer.

  “Tell me right now what your fixation with Hailey is.” Georgina walked into the room.

  “Is that the proper way to greet your guest?” I rolled over to get a better look at her.

  “I’m not greeting you. And you are not my guest.”

  “Fair enough.” I licked a paw. “What was this you said about fixation? You believe I am fixated on Hailey?”

  “Yes. You follow her around. You mark her. What is going on?”

  I took my time with my paw before responding. “She is important.”

  “She is to me, but why to you?” Georgina put a hand on her hip. Noticeably she hadn’t brought a suitcase with her. That was something at least.

  “She is powerful.” I rolled over again so I was sitting up. “But you already know that.”

  “Stop lying.” She glared at me.

  “Did you ask me to stay around just to question me?” That wasn’t a possibility I’d considered. I’d assumed she wanted my transporting abilities.

  She sat down in the chair she’d used earlier. This got her closer to my eye level. “I asked you to stay with me because I need your help.”

  “With what exactly?”

  “You have the power to transport.” She leaned forward.

  “I do.” Okay. I was right about her intentions. “Where do you need to go?”

  “You already know the answer to that question.”

  “No, I don’t.” I flipped my tail back and forth. Sometimes it happened without me really thinking about it.

  “I’m not looking to play games, Glendale. You will transport me where I need to go.”

  I chuckled. The lady had some gumption. Not that I was remotely surprised. Still, her lack of fear was a bit surprising. “You do remember what I am?”

  “I have faced many demons in my life.”

  “Yes. I am well aware.” I knew a lot about her. But then again I knew a lot about all the important players in the supernatural world. “And I am afraid you will be facing more.”

  “The sooner you help me, the sooner you can get back to her.”

  I pulled myself up to standing. “Don’t think you can play me. She isn’t a weakness.”

  “She’s something.”

  “She’s a child.” I stared straight into Georgina’s eyes.

  “Not a child anymore.”

  “She’s been alive less than a century. She’s a child.”

  “By those standards I’m a child too.” Georgina smiled.

  “Maybe you are.” Even taking the cyclical nature of time into consideration, humans’ life spans equaled merely a fraction of the lifetimes I was given.

  “Glendale. Quit procrastinating.”

  I was bored. Time to move things along and set her straight. “I’m not taking you to the Realm of the Dead.”

  “See you did know what I was talking about.” Georgina leaned back in her chair.

  “Of course I did. But that’s not the point.”

  “The point is you need to take me there.”

  “But you’ll never come back.” There was no question about it. Even if I wanted to ensure her a return trip I couldn’t.

  “So be it.”

  “Hailey will never forgive me.” I didn’t really care where this human ended up, but others did. That made it in my interest to keep her safe.

  “Hailey will never forgive you if you allow the baby to fall into the wrong hands.”

  “True. Very true.” Surely Hailey valued the unborn Drago more than this woman.

  “Take me.” Georgina held out her hand.

  I laid back down. “I don’t want to.”

  “When has anything ever been about want? It’s about doing.”

  “For a second I thought you were going to say it was about doing what’s right.”

  Georgina’s lips twisted into the faintest of smiles. “Wouldn’t that have been a laugh?” />
  “You aren’t prepared.”

  “Of course I’m prepared. What do you think I’ve been doing all week?” She rotated her pearls around.

  “You knew all along we were coming? What was going to happen?” This human was full of all kinds of surprises.

  She shrugged. “Maybe I did.”

  “Yet you never told anyone. Not even your son. Your grandson.”

  She scrunched up her face. “I paid a price already for looking into that horrid book.”

  “Yet you are sending Hailey to look inside it as we speak.”

  “Some things can’t be avoided.” She stared down at her hands. “No matter how hard we work to change things.”

  “Everything can be avoided.”

  She shook her head. “Not what’s prophesied.”

  “Sure it can. Or if not avoided, deterred.” I rolled around on the ground to scratch an itch on my back.

  “Exactly. Deterred. And how many times have these events been deterred already?”

  “Many.”

  “It’s time to face it head-on.”

  “No one is going to like that you are choosing yourself as the sacrifice.” In fact, there would be many upset. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea. Aside from a few whose opinion I needed to court, I rather liked the idea of ruffling some feathers.

  “Then find a way to get me home. You are powerful, aren’t you?”

  “Not that powerful.” I wasn’t one to admit to my weaknesses, but we all have limits.

  “I’m sure you know someone who is.”

  “I know someone who may be able to help.” But there would be a price. There was always a price.

  “Forget it. We don’t have the time. Take me. Worry about bringing me back later.” She moved to her feet.

  “Time all comes around again anyway.”

  “I’m well aware.” She raised her chin.

  “Are you?” I was really going to have to change my assessment of Georgina.

  “Yes.”

  “Which is why you are fearless right now.” If a cat could smile I would have been grinning.

  “Among other reasons. Also, some things are more important than self-preservation.”

  “Nothing is more important than that.”

  “See that’s where you’re mistaken.”

  “Not so.” I was tired of having this conversation.

  “Even a demon is allowed to care.”

  “You and the pixie need to stop.” I stretched, arching my back. It felt as good as it always did.

  “She’s a good pixie.”

  “She is safe. I know that.”

  “Both of the Kays got pixies this generation.”

  “That they did.” And that was rare. Siblings rarely both necessitated such an intervention.

  “Did they last time?”

  “Oh.” Of course she had to go there. “You know I can’t answer that.”

  “Does that mean you haven’t been on this loop before?”

  “They aren’t loops.” It was far more complicated than that. Maybe we had limitless time in theory, but I had no patience. “Do you really want me to take you to the death realm?”

  “It’s the realm of the dead,” she corrected.

  “Same difference.”

  “You know word choice matters. It’s respect.”

  “I don’t care about respect.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “No. I don’t truly care about anything but myself.” I slipped down again and licked my paw.

  “And Hailey. And Daisy.”

  “Yes, Daisy.” I still remembered the first time I met that girl. Such an innocent but thrown into the fire anyway.

  “You like her too. Why? Is this all about Owen then? Or the child? That family? That family is tied to you somehow. Or you are tied to it. Is it all Rose?”

  “Stop with the questions.” My patience was wearing dangerously thin. I needed to find Hailey.

  “One day you will have to answer.”

  “I will answer if and when I want to.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “You ready to go?” I sat up.

  “Yes.” She had her hands at her sides.

  I watched her. There wasn’t even the barest hint of fear in her eyes. Interesting. “I hope I find a way to bring you back.”

  “All I’m asking of you is to take me there. After that you are off the hook.”

  “You are relying on my care for the Kays. You think that will be enough to motivate me to find a way.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we will all disappear and none of this will matter.”

  “It will always matter.”

  “See I knew you had a sentimental side.” She smiled in a sad sort of way.

  “It’s not my side I’m worried about.” I was done chitchatting. I wrapped my tail around her leg, focused, and transported us to the last place anyone ever wanted to be.

  7

  Wyatt

  I hated being in New Orleans without Hailey. It was a great city, but one filled with far too many memories. Hailey kept me grounded. She kept me in the here and now with an eye toward the future instead of the past.

  Walking the streets of the Crescent City without her brought me back to the past. Unfortunately I had a lot more digging into my past to do before I got to see her again. I was also going to have to face Owen, and that was a whole other can of worms. Not only did I have bad news, I also had to explain why Hailey wasn’t with me and admit she was also a hybrid now—just like him. The parallels were there. Random chance would never have created two hybrids in one family, but as my mother would have told me, nothing was mere chance. Fate had its hands in everything. And to makes things even worse, I was going to have to show up with someone he hoped to never see again. Someone Daisy never wanted to see again. That is if I could find her. Glendale had seen Violet in South Carolina, but that didn’t mean she was there now. There was only one reason she would have been at Angel Oak. It was to get back to her home, and I couldn’t follow her undetected. That’s where the pit stop in New Orleans came in.

  I took the streetcar. It seemed the easiest way to blend into the crowd. I was in desperate need of some new clothes, but shopping wasn’t in the plans. Instead, I stood in the back of the car—ignoring the stares of the tourists riding up St. Charles Avenue to either marvel at the mansions or go exploring in the Uptown District. My visit wouldn’t be anywhere near as exciting or pleasant. I couldn’t go directly to Violet or Owen. I needed to make sure I wasn’t being followed or going to make things worse for Owen’s growing family. That was easier said than done. I was going to need a professional to pull this off. Unfortunately most professionals I knew were hard to trust. I needed someone I could completely buy off—to ensure they wouldn’t double cross me. Thankfully I knew where to find exactly that.

  I pulled the cord and got off the car with a nod at the driver. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being followed—in so much as a glance could tell me anything. If someone didn’t want to be spotted they wouldn’t be. Still, it didn’t hurt to cover all your bases.

  I headed down Magazine Street and turned right alongside a large warehouse. I continued back behind it into a small alcove that was part of the loading bay.

  The slight discoloration of one section of the air was the only sign that this was anything out of the ordinary. I held my hand out, and it slipped right through the air. I steadied myself before stepping through the entryway.

  The loud music assaulted me as soon as I walked through the portal. I wasn’t surprised. The man I was coming to see liked to throw parties. They were all well and good as long as you were there as a guest rather than as the entertainment.

  Thankfully I’d only come as the former.

  I was grossly underdressed. I’d stood out while walking among the tourists, but there was an accepted ideology about how anything goes in New Orleans. Therefore seeing a guy in ripped, dirty clothing wasn’t an immedia
te red flag. Here, at this hidden realm party, even clean everyday clothes would get noticed quickly.

  The stares and eye rolls started immediately, but thankfully I didn’t recognize anyone. I was in no mood for chit-chat, or worse: trying to come up with an excuse for what was going on. I had to be very careful in what I shared until everything was over.

  The first room I walked through was pretty typical—white walls, wood floors. The usual stuff. Then I stepped through a set of long sink curtains and found myself outside. Light flooded in from the open roof, and cushioned seats surrounded at least a dozen brightly colored palm trees.

  Most of the seats were packed, but there was one in the corner where only one girl sat. She was wearing a hat that covered most of her face, yet there was something a little bit familiar about her.

  “Hey. What are you doing here?” A voice asked from right beside me.

  I spun around and came face to face with Sol. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Troy?” He’d left before we’d returned to the remains of the hotel to investigate.

  “I got a tip that fedora guy is here. Did you hear the same thing?”

  The fedora guy? We hadn’t heard anything about him. “No. Who’d you hear it from?”

  “The who doesn’t matter.”

  “Seriously? With everything else going on you’re going to be shady?” Trust was at a premium.

  “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” He glanced all around him. I wasn’t the only one concerned about listening ears.

  “You do realize we are on the same side? At least we were.”

  “We still are. I’m here on a tip. Why are you here? Where’s Hailey?”

  “We had to split up. Far too much to do.” And I wasn’t happy about it. Not at all.

  “And you are doing what then?”

  “Looking for Franklin.” Sometimes putting a few of your cards on the table can make all the difference.

  “You need to cover your trail.” He nodded.

  “Something like that.”

  He leaned in, “Listen, you have to tell me. Where is Hailey?”

  “Why do you need to know?” Suspicion set in.