Round Trip Fare

by Barb Taub

  When he brought out the other horses, Leigh Ann competently replaced the large western saddle with its smaller English cousin, saddled and mounted the largest horse in the group. At their looks, she merely said, “Dressage champion at my boarding school, two years running. I would have gotten it the third year too, if they hadn’t kicked me out over a little misunderstanding over my room party for the guys from the football team.” She caught Claire’s considering gaze. “It was an all-girls’ school.”

  Joe assured them that the mare he assigned to Zach was known for her sweet disposition and calm good sense. But Zach’s yanking on the reins and white-knuckled grip on the saddle had the poor horse dancing and shaking her head almost as soon as he climbed onto her back.

  Thanks to a middle of the night trip to the new Walmart, each member of the group wore a backpack containing a change of clothes and assorted camping equipment. Sleeping bags were strapped to the bottom of each pack. As everyone mounted except for Claire and Peter, Carey casually glanced back to see Joe aiming his cellphone at them. She met Claire’s gaze and nodded. A moment later, Joe was doubled over, gagging into the packed dirt of his stable yard. His phone flew out of his hand and landed face-up showing the picture he’d just taken of Carey.

  “There are lots of reasons to love a horse.” She leaned forward and patted the neck of her spotted pony. Deliberately nudging the pinto until its hoof landed squarely on the phone, she looked at the man retching at her feet. “Sometimes it’s no more than the sweet little way he steps on some asshole’s cellphone.” He was still curled up on the ground, shaking and gasping for air, when Iax and Anton picked him up and dragged him into the stables. When they emerged, Claire handed Hell to Iax, then climbed behind Peter, and the BMW headed out of town.

  Carey smiled to hear Hell’s excited yips as Iax zipped her into the baby sling he carried across his front. He and Anton mounted the last two horses. She whistled for Bain, and led the group out of the stables.

  Before they were even clear of Whitman, Leigh Ann reined in and dismounted. “No, really. I just can’t stand it.” She fastened a lead to the bridle of Zach’s nervously dancing horse and glared up at him. “There are rules about riding a horse, but it’s not the horse who needs to know them. From here on, you have one job. Just try to hang on.”

  An hour and a half later, Carey held up her hand. The path they’d been following headed up the ridge that bordered the St. Helens ranch, but she had the group stop behind a small stand of trees. Iax, relaxed in the saddle of a large bay, halted beside her. The imps clattered up behind them on stoic ponies, followed by Leigh Ann leading Zach’s horse. Anton quietly brought up the rear.

  From behind them, the sound of a powerful motorcycle died as Peter pulled up, Claire mounted behind him. She pulled off her helmet to aim a questioning eyebrow at Carey.

  “We turn off here.” Carey eyed the ridge and shrugged. “After last night, Outsiders might be watching the St. Helens, so I don’t think we can risk it. We only came this close to the ranch because there’s something I have to check. Please…” For the first time, her voice was thready as she handed her reins to Iax. “Just…wait here.”

  Holding the small shovel she’d strapped to her saddle, she kneeled by a boulder and began to dig where Connor had unearthed the stash of money eight years before. It didn’t take long for the shovel to reach the package buried there. Unwrapping the plastic-covered food storage box, she pulled up the lid to reveal a purple cloth bag and a sealed envelope with one word written across the front. “Midget.”

  She knew the others were staring, but she ignored them. At the nearest tree, she sank down with her back against the narrow trunk. Opening the bag, she spilled out a little plastic dancing monkey. It looked like a game piece from the old Barrel of Monkeys game Gaby had given them for their fifth birthdays. The three siblings had played over and over, even after it was clear that Carey usually won. And it had been the inspiration for the dancing monkeys quilt on her bed at the ranch.

  Returning the monkey to its bag, she turned to the envelope. Her fingers brushed the six letters written on the front, and then ripped open the flap to pull out a sheet of paper folded in thirds. Smoothing it across her lap, she stared down at the words written with familiar precision.

  Twin,

  For the past nine years, I’ve deliberately avoided you. One thing I thought I knew for sure was that it would protect you. But just like Miss Wemberly used to quote Mark Twain back in English class, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

  After I saw Marley again six months ago, I realized that I couldn’t let Narcorial use us to win the next pivot point if it means so many will die, both inside and out of Null City. The only way to stop it is if I’m not around.

  I don’t want you to be sorry, or think any of this is your fault. I was the moron who thought I knew what to do. But as I grew into my gift, I realized that it’s actually a curse. Narcorial taught me to control it and make it stronger, but not how to use it to help people or make anything better. But I can use what he taught me to stop my own heart and stop Narcorial from using my harmonia gift to get what he wants. By the time you get this letter, I will, with Marley’s help, have done just that.

  Carey, we shared our first sixteen years, so I know how pigheaded you can be, even in an emergency. Can’t you just hear Harry? “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” So I’m asking you to channel all that stubborn bad-temper into figuring out how to get as far away from all of this as you can, and stay away. It’s not your fight anymore.

  Love you, Midget.

  —Connor

  »»•««

  Looking up, she saw Claire and Iax staring at her. She got to her feet and dusted off the back of her jeans before turning to the others. “Who has a pencil?”

  Taking the pen Peter held out, she handed the letter to Claire before smoothing the envelope flat across the top of the box. “Could you read this out loud? Slowly.”

  Claire read, her voice serene as always. But when she finished and looked up, her eyes were suspiciously shiny. Zach looked appalled, and Leigh Ann was sobbing.

  Iax’s stony face gradually relaxed, and a corner of his mouth lifted fractionally as he shook his head.

  Carey looked at the numbers she’d written on the envelope, and frowned, muttering. She looked over at the letter again, then looked up and smiled back at Iax. “Does Twain mean two?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay, I’ve got it.” She scribbled again on the envelope. “Twin and Twain are both twos. So that makes it…two-nine-one-two-six-one-six.” When everyone just stared, she snorted again. “Harry always used to say that the best code is no code at all. Connor and Marley know I’d never fall for the rest of that load of prime excrement, especially the running away bit. So he just used it to hide the numbers. And he added Harry’s quote to make sure I got the second message.”

  Leigh Ann stopped sobbing. “Oh, like a phone number, you mean?”

  Claire’s thoughtful gaze focused back on Leigh Ann. Turning to Carey, she raised an eyebrow.

  “Oh, I know.” Carey murmured. “Later.” Raising her voice, she spoke to the group. “I think Leigh Ann guessed it. The numbers are one message, but there’s another one here too. When Connor talks about Harry, and an emergency, and getting away, he’s telling me to follow Harry’s emergency plan. Since that’s really where my path and Connor’s forked, that’s where I have to go.”

  »»•««

  She remembered the three rocks that were the signal to head uphill. But after more than eight years without anyone using the path, they weren’t much easier to find by daylight than they’d been in the dark the night the St. Helens burned. Behind her, Claire stepped on a twig that broke with a snap. Iax and Peter didn’t make a sound as they followed.

  She’d left Anton, Leigh Ann, Zach, and the imps waiting with the horses at the turnoff. But she didn’t even waste
her breath telling the others to stay behind. Just as Carey was sure she’d missed the turn and would have to head back, she spotted the three marker rocks. Wordlessly, she led the others up the shadowed hillside, even though the faint path from almost nine years earlier had disappeared.

  They waited in the shadows just inside the tree-lined opening onto the sheltered meadow. It looked abandoned, as if nobody had been there since the day she said good-bye to her twin. Finally, with a sigh, she signaled to the others to remain while she crossed the open field to the still-hidden shelter beyond.

  She was almost to the door, when Marley stepped out, staggered a step, and slid to the ground.

  »»•««

  “How is she?” Twenty minutes later, Peter and Iax stepped into the shelter where Claire and Carey kneeled on either side of Marley’s prone figure.

  “We can’t find anything wrong with her, but she’s still unconscious.” Claire’s voice was, as always, calm.

  “Did you find anything out there?” Carey tried for Claire’s serene tones, but inside she was screaming. Connor! Where are you?

  “We found a trail.” Peter pulled Claire into his lap and wrapped arms around her. Wordlessly, she leaned into his embrace.

  Iax nodded. “Tomorrow, we can track him.” He eyed the couple across from them, and raised an eyebrow to Carey.

  Shaking her head, she sat back on her heels. “It’s getting too dark to do much more now anyway. How about you guys go down and get the others while Claire and I keep an eye on Marley? There’s a little meadow with rainwater in the trough where we can leave the horses for the night, and we’ll all just have to stay here. Maybe by morning, Marley will be able to tell us more.”

  »»•««

  Carey leaned back against the earthen entryway of the little shelter, one hand absently playing with Bain’s ears. In front of her, she could barely pick out the dark edges of sleeping bags. Zach and Leigh Ann were pointedly at opposite ends of the meadow. Somewhat disturbingly, the imps slept in a pile, two opened bags beneath them and the other two completely covering them.

  They had made their dislike of Hell clear, giving the tiny dog a wide berth ever since sharing the back of the semi. So of course she was sprawled at the top of the imp stack, grumbling and snoring tiny puffs of smoke whenever the bodies beneath her shifted. Anton spread his sleeping bag next to the imps, which surprised her until she remembered that as a demon, his House probably shared the imps’ Fallen Court home.

  When Carey said she’d remain in the little shelter with Marley, Iax had a brief stare-down with Peter and Claire before spreading his bag deliberately in front of the entrance. She wasn’t sure where the couple had bedded down, but suspected that they had slipped into the woods for privacy.

  In the moonlight, a warm summer breeze scented of surrounding pines carried the occasional shuffle or sigh from the horses, and the even breathing of her little army. She remembered the last time she’d been there, when her grief over Harry and the others at the St. Helens had at least been shared by her twin.

  “He was still alive yesterday.” Marley’s voice was soft behind her in the darkness.

  Carey turned to see Marley’s eyes were open, their usual dark blue now a deep purple in the moonlight. “Connor?”

  Marley closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to be gathering her strength. “He helped me get away from Narcorial’s army. But he drained himself. Even with everything I could give him, he was so weak. He brought me here to wait for you, said he had something to do. But I don’t see how he was even walking.”

  Carey had so many questions, but the one she asked first was a surprise. “Is he still…Connor?”

  Marley’s eyes drifted shut, and she didn’t answer for so long, Carey was about to take her wrist and feel for a pulse. As she moved over the other woman, however, Marley’s lips curved slightly, and she shook her head. “He’s still Connor. He never smiles, and he hardly talks.” Then she opened her eyes, and her hand closed weakly around Carey’s wrist. “But Carey, now there’s more to him. And not all of it’s good. You have to be careful. Very careful.”

  Carey covered Marley with her sleeping bag, pulled her jacket around herself, and leaned back against the wall. With a sigh, she pulled out the envelope with Connor’s note and dialed the number. It rang twice and then went silent.

  Moments later, she felt the vibration signaling a text message.

  Midget. Take care of Marley. Love you.—Moron

  She ran her finger over the message screen, debating before texting back, OK. Love you. But that was all. Long after she’d turned off the phone to conserve its charge, she cradled it in both hands. She didn’t know how much time passed before she felt Iax pull her onto his lap and wrap his sleeping bag around them both. She leaned back until she could see his hard, beautiful face in the moonlight, and wasn’t sure when she fell asleep again.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  July 2011: St. Helens Ranch, Whitman, Washington

  Breakfast was water, leftover raisin granola bars—the imps had snagged all the ones with chocolate chips—and bickering. Well, Carey amended to herself, Leigh Ann bickered while Zach egged her on with his look of hurt amazement. If she’d been holding a lit candle and he’d been tossing handfuls of gasoline, the air between them probably couldn’t have been any hotter. Meanwhile, the imps sat in a row, muttering darkly about the lack of coffee and warily watching the baby hellhound barking at their feet. Anton, as usual, sat apart, his black eyes taking in everything and that faint smirk barely curving his lips.

  Finally, Claire picked up Carey’s shovel and slammed it against a rock. Everyone jumped. “It’s too early. You can all just shut up, or I’ll make you wish you had.” Leigh Ann rolled her eyes, Zach looked like a kicked puppy, and the imps ignored her.

  But all subsided when Marley came out and sank onto the log between Claire and Carey. For a long moment, nobody spoke. Finally, Marley shook her head. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

  Carey looked at Claire, who nodded. “We figured you’d tell us when you’re ready.” She paused, sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, and blew it out. “But first I have to tell you. About Laurel…”

  Marley held up a hand. “I heard my guards talking. I’m so sorry. How’s Frankie?”

  “Not good.” Carey shrugged. “She moved to Null City.”

  “Okay.” Marley’s chin jerked sharply, as if reaching a decision. “Here goes. I can’t remember much about…before…but the first thing I ever knew was belonging with Hadriel, like a sister, and together we served Raziel. But when Raziel was imprisoned, Hadriel sent me to serve the elders.

  “I did everything Narcorial and the other elders asked of me.” She pressed her lips together and her voice was grim. “Every. Thing.” For several breaths, there was silence. “And I told all of it to Hadriel. Finally, he said the only way to protect Raziel’s Book was for him to Fall and help win the pivot points. I found out that to set up what he needed, he had to accept a shortened life-thread. So I decided to come too. But since I was created relatively recently, I wasn’t bound by their ban against influencing humans’ free will. So I didn’t have to actually Fall.”

  “What happened?” Carey’s voice was flat.

  “Of course Narcorial figured out what we were up to. He might not be able to act directly against humans, but he could always find people willing to do what he wanted. Some believed in his cause, but most were just after the money. They call themselves Defenders.”

  Carey snorted. “We call them Outsiders.”

  Marley nodded. “They burned the St. Helens, killed Hadriel—Harry—and left me for dead too. But Narcorial didn’t know that I hadn’t actually Fallen. At least, I didn’t Fall until Connor healed me, and I had to become fully human. Carey, you know how you’ve always said they let us get away from the St. Helens that day?” She paused and put a hand on Carey’s arm. “Because here’s the thing: Narcorial doesn’t actually need to win the next pivot point. He jus
t has to make sure that you don’t win it. So he figured that all he needed to do was keep you and Connor apart.”

  “But he did more than that.”

  “Yeah, he sure did.” Marley closed her eyes briefly. “Connor has free will. Narcorial couldn’t act directly, but no way would he pass up what Connor could do. So he trained Connor in using his harmonia concord gift, and worked hard to convince him the fate of the entire world—of all of Creation—depends on getting rid of Raziel and capturing his Book. But it wasn’t until Narcorial told your brother it was the only way to keep you safe, that Connor became one of the leaders of the Defenders.”

  Carey froze. Behind them, Iax growled a curse.

  “Carey!” Marley’s hand tightened on her arm. “No, it’s not like that. Connor is smart. It took him a while, but he figured out Narcorial’s real agenda. He was already pulling back, working to rein in the Defenders. So when Connor disappeared, the only play Narcorial had left was to keep the two of you from going after your pivot point together. He captured me and tried to have you killed.”

  Iax growled again, and Marley leaned closer to Carey, dropping her voice to a murmur. “Who’s the Neanderthal?”

  “That would be the one who dropped off Connor’s picture that day. Meet former Warden Iax Zahavi, Kurt Jeffers’ own personal one-man secret army and lizard-roaster.”

  “Are you and he…”

  “No. He tried, but he couldn’t last the distance.”

  This time, Iax’s growl sounded more like a groan.

  Ignoring him, Claire stood. “We need to decide what to do next. Do we track Connor or Raziel?”

  Marley looked at Carey, who shrugged. “I had to give up my connections to ride the Metro. But I’m pretty sure they would say we do both.”

  Marley nodded absently. She opened her mouth to comment, but her eyes fastened on the ring on Claire’s finger. She pointed. “Claire?”

  “You remember Peter Oshiro from the Academy?” Claire pointed her own finger at Peter, who smiled. “The wedding is in August. I’m going to need one more bridesmaid.”