I looked away, making myself stare sullenly out the window as Sarah and Harrison climbed out of the car behind Wyvern.
“Fine, I guess I’ll take this opportunity to change into something better for the rain,” I grumbled.
Sophie turned her body slightly, giving me some semblance of privacy. I made sure her attention was fixed on scanning the area while I moved my hand to my duffle bag, finding my gun inside. The chamber was empty, that sole bullet must have been discharged.
I glanced around the limo, making sure that Wyvern, Harrison, and the three other members of my security team were a far distance from the car. When, I’d confirmed each of their locations visually, I loaded the clip, my gun giving the barest of ‘snick’ sounds.
Sophie’s attention fixed on me. “What was that?” she asked, her attention fixed on where my hands were buried in my duffle bag.
“My insurance that you won’t attack me after what I’m about to tell you.” I pulled the gun from my bag, holding it beside my leg with the barrel pointing into the seat.
“I’d never attack you,” she said, though her posture had shifted, legs opening slightly, torso leaning forward.
“I would attack me, if our roles were reversed. I’d at least consider it; it would be the first thing I considered.”
“I’m not you,” she said.
“You should be thanking all the gods in all the realms for that right now. If I was like you, your sister would be dying a traitor’s death right this very minute,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed on me, her mouth falling open. “What?” she whispered as her back stiffened to straight.
“She’s a spy. She is the one who betrayed us,” I said.
“Why would you think that?” Her voice was quiet.
“Bobby told me, it just took a couple hours for me to figure it out,” I said.
“I overheard the conversation, he didn’t say that,” she said.
“He told me not to go off alone with anyone, which bothered me. It bothered me because as far as my uncle knew, if I wasn’t with Wyvern, I’d never be alone with anyone. I haven’t been for months. I am always with my security team. Bobby vanished before reinforcements came, so as far as Bobby was concerned, that meant I was always with either you or Sarah. So the only people I could ever go off alone with was one of you two. From there it was an easy matter of deduction on who it was. Until recently, Sarah worked days, you worked nights. As the traitor would need to know the Crimson Midnight intimately to pull off what they did, it was likely they went in as a server and that’s only at night. Also, Harrison didn’t say anything when he touched Sarah’s neck, but he commented on our necks because it was obvious that we didn’t work there often.”
“This isn’t enough evidence, it’s all circumstantial,” Sophie snapped.
“That’s why I sat next to her in the limo and read through her memories. She spoke to the servers, telling them that she’d let me go with Harrison because I hadn’t been close enough to the Regina. He gave her the signal to go and she went out and got the dracon who was guarding the door. It was all a setup.”
Sophie stared at me, her lip trembling and body beginning to sag out of its defensive position. She said nothing for a full minute before whispering, “It’s my fault. Sarah has had a really hard life.”
“You want to know who has had a hard life? Lorelei. Her father was murdered when she was eight years old. She played my drunk mother’s keeper because I was too busy, Stacy was too young, and Clara was too emotionally fragile to face the reality of our situation. Lorelei went hungry for years because I couldn’t keep groceries in our fridge, even though I tried so hard. She was considered virtually useless by my entire family, shamed and beaten by my sadistic aunt and cousin, just because they could. Just because Lorelei would take a beating so Stacy and Clara didn’t have to. And now, at the age of fourteen, she’s cursed, maybe for life.” My voice broke as tears coursed down my face, “Because I couldn’t get close enough to the Regina and your sister switched targets.”
To my shock, tears coursed down Sophie’s face as well, her soul pulsed with pain and fear, permeating through the thick mist of her soul like poisonous gas seeping into fog.
“You have twenty-four hours until I tell Wyvern. Don’t even consider trying to take me out or taking anyone hostage—”
“I never would,” she said.
“I’m taking that bet. I now consider my life debt to you paid in full.”
“I understand,” she said.
“If she sneaks off to make a phone call, I ask that you let her. I’m going to steal her phone,” I said.
“I’ll help you,” she said.
“Good,” I said, reaching to my back and stowing Contingency through my portal purse. Pulling a tank top from my duffle bag, I wiped off my face and blew my nose. “You want one?” I asked, when I pulled the material away to see Sophie’s tearstained face. I picked up a shirt from the bag.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the shirt and dabbing the tears from her face.
After letting Sophie have a minute to compose herself, I rolled down the window to the limousine. “Can we come out now?” I shouted.
My phone rang in my pocket. When I answered, Wyvern simply said, “Yes,” then hung up.
The day we stepped out into bore no resemblance to the day we had exited from. The sun shone mercilessly, baking my face and my exposed arms. The only remnant of the rainstorm that had so recently dumped down around us was a strong, overwhelmingly fresh smell of wet plants.
According to Wyvern, when he met us at the limo a minute later, he, Harrison and my security team had searched the entire area including the roof of the reception center. They’d found a few vacationers loitering in the grassy area behind the center, but when they’d been informed that the Draconic Bureau was doing an investigation into the mass poisoning, they moved right along.
Wyvern excused my team to go ahead to secure the inside of the building, waiting with me by the limo. There were large locking mechanisms on all the doors. The building had been locked and contained, as the crimes were still under investigation—or so Wyvern told me.
Harrison also waited near the center’s closed entrance doors. He was looking away, giving us the illusion of privacy, though I would bet a couple bills that he could still hear us.
“There aren’t going to be any…” I trailed off what I was asking Wyvern, not exactly sure how I could ask if there were no bodies still in there without sounding insensitive.
“It’s cleared of bodies, though it’s still pretty dirty in there. The Draconic Bureau has already examined it for lingering poison and it’s clear of that,” he said, ducking his head into an understanding look. “What was going on between you and Sophie?” he asked. His hands came up, fingers just barely not touching where I am sure my eyes and cheeks were still puffy.
“I just got emotional thanking her for saving my—” I paused what I was saying. Looking up into his eyes, I said, “I’m lying. I’m sorry.”
A small smile touched the edge of his lip. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“I was talking to her about something important, something really important, but I’m not ready to tell you. I promise to tell you when I’m ready okay? Can you wait to find out from me?”
He stared deeply into my eyes, as if he could dive down and find the truth hiding in there. “You don’t want me to find out from anyone but you?” he asked.
“I promise to tell you at this time tomorrow, I swear it,” I said.
He closed his eyes, his jaw working. Finally, he said, “Okay, but if you wait any longer I will demand the information from Sophie.”
“Deal,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-four
The reception center was basically a roof held by pillars above walls of glass. I had forgotten that when I had pictured the massacre. It was probably beautiful at any other time. Now red tape draped around the windows, and the floor was littered with plastic cups and broken
glass. Personal items like purses and jackets littered the ground in clumps. Looking through the windows, I halted. Glancing back at the position of the sun, I looked back to what I had thought was a reflection of the light.
“What is that, just next to where Sarah is standing?” I asked Wyvern, when he stopped beside me.
“The—” I looked back to the sun again, then back to the light in the reception center, just to make sure. “The balls of light?” I said it like a question.
Wyvern narrowed his eyelids, looking through the window. “Where Sarah’s walking?” he asked.
“There, where she was standing a minute ago,” I pointed through the window to the spot where the balls of light sat over broken glass in the middle of the floor.
“I can’t see anything,” Wyvern said.
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” I whispered. “No one else saw them either?”
“No,” he said.
As I entered the reception center, the heavy implications of what I was seeing drummed into my head. They were about the size of a baseball and bright red, like a flower just after it bloomed.
Grabbing Wyvern’s shoulder, I went on my tiptoes to whisper into Wyvern’s ear, “We should keep this between us.”
“We’ll need Harrison’s ability,” he said.
Glancing over my shoulder at Harrison, I turned back. “Just him. If this means what I think it means, no one should know it’s possible.”
Wyvern said in a normal voice, “Everyone, please secure the perimeter. Harrison, you are welcome to go or stay as you wish, but I would appreciate your help.”
I waited by Wyvern as everyone exited, catching Sophie’s eye as she passed me.
Sophie gave me the barest nod as she walked out of the reception center. I waited until they had walked far enough away that even the were-eagles probably couldn’t hear me.
“I’ve never once in my life seen a soul without a body. And you said that there were three Dracs that died here? It has to be theirs…” I asked.
Wyvern put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re not going near them,” he said.
I blinked up at him, the three orbs still reflecting in my vision. “You’re kidding, right? I’m the only one who can see them…”
“You see souls here?” Harrison asked, stepping up beside Wyvern.
“No! You can look at them from here. I draw the line at you getting near souls that are floating in a room because they’re cursed!”
I gave him and insincere smile and snapped, “They’re not floating, they’re sitting on the ground. And, I went into a cursed soul, the Regina’s soul, I’m fine.”
“I don’t smell anything,” Harrison said, sniffing the air.
“They’re all the way over there,” I said, pointing to the other side of the reception center. When I turned to show Harrison, Wyvern’s grip tightened on my shoulder. I rounded on him and grabbed his hand, trying to dislodge it. “I draw the line at: this isn’t your decision to make. This might be our one chance. If I can examine the souls with my power, I might be able to—”
The tendrils of Wyvern’s soul expanded rapidly, slamming into me. His pupils contracted into slits, then blinked back to normal. His breaths came faster and faster.
“Whoa, there,” I said, holding up my hands.
His nostrils flared, then slit up his face before receding again.
“Don’t—don’t—calm down Wyvern.” I grabbed his arm but his soul hit my fingers like electricity. After recoiling, I forced my hand back and pushed my fingers into the electric surge, grabbing his bicep.
“I’m trying here!” Wyvern growled down, his teeth sharpening, his voice reverberating through the room. “You keep trying to kill yourself! The two people I care most about are determined to die! You’re going to kill yourselves!”
I forced myself to grab his other arm and made a shushing sound. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m safe.” Stepping in closer to him, I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and hugged him. White hot anger sloughed off his soul, while other tendrils wrapped around me. I considered pulling them into myself, but knew that without being able to feed it to my grandfather, I’d just injure myself with little effect on him. I whispered in a calming tone, “I’m not trying to kill myself… and neither is she. She’s safe, I’m safe, we’re going to be safe.” I was sure he was talking about Honua.
His arms came around me, fingers digging into my back. Where our skin touched, I felt his arm beveling into rough, reptilian skin, then smoothing out, back and forth.
“We’re safe, now just focus on breathing, okay?” I whispered. “Think calm thoughts, like playing your instruments, or flying—”
“Not that thought,” he growled.
“Okay, playing your fiddle in front of a large audience, they’re dancing and cheering, but all you can concentrate on is playing, feeling the instrument in your hands, moving with your bow. And I’m there, smiling and laughing, and so is everyone you want to be there. You finish your song, and everyone cheers. I whistle at you and give you a wink, a really exaggerated wink.”
His cheek pressed onto my forehead, almost painfully, as his breath slowly evened out over about five minutes. His skin stopped its periodic roughening, settling into soft skin. After his breath had returned to normal, he said, “You just woke from a coma this morning, after you were revived from being shot from the air. My dragon is much too close to the surface for you to throw yourself into danger.”
“I need to find out how to cure this. I’m so scared that I’m looking at Lorelei and Bobby’s fate,” I whispered.
“Not at the price of that being your fate.”
“Let her at least guide me to the souls,” Harrison said in a low, quiet voice from directly beside me. When I looked over, I noticed his hand was a little outstretched toward me, as if he was poised to grab me away from Wyvern. His gaze connected with mine. “And I would appreciate you telling me how close I am to them so that I do not touch them.”
Wyvern took a step back from me. As his hands released me, I took my first deep breath and rocked a little on my feet. Meeting his amber gaze, I whispered, “Feeling better?”
“Not entirely, I’d rather you guide him from here,” he said.
“If I express my opinion, are you going to freak out?” I asked in a calm voice.
Wyvern smirked. “Maybe.”
“Well, if you’re calm enough to be sarcastic… Harrison proposed something that is just right halfway between what I want and what you want. You said you are some kind of awesome compromiser, so compromise.”
He glared between me and Harrison for a full minute while his brow furrowed and lips pursed. “Do not touch the souls,” he finally said.
“Sold. And, I’m just going to pretend you said it like: Dakota, would you not touch the souls, please?” I said in a lighthearted tone.
Wyvern looked to Harrison, who was still standing close, then back to me. “I hurt you.”
Harrison carefully stepped back and though his head turned, I could tell his attention was still on us.
“No, I’m fine. And, trust me, I’m the last person in the world you’d need to feel bad about having a panic attack in front of. Once, I squeezed Lorelei’s hand so tight, I bruised all of her fingers. I didn’t even know until after, because she didn’t let go of my hand.” I took Wyvern’s hand in mine, the zinging sensation sparking between us. The electric white hot anger had almost completely depleted, and his soul again felt contained. I leaned in and whispered, “But, you don’t need to worry, I’m not nice enough to let you hurt me. So if you had, I would have punched you. Maybe I just passed a little of my crazy on to you. You sure you don’t want to give it back?”
Wyvern just responded with a knowing smile and stayed at my side as we walked to the souls.
“Stop there,” I told Harrison who was a few steps before us.
I kicked the trash aside and kneeled down before the souls and motioned for Harrison to do the same. When he sat dir
ectly at my side, Wyvern sat at my other side.
“They’re only about ten inches from your arm,” I whispered to Harrison.
His blue gaze met mine. “Show me, please,” he whispered back.
I let go of Wyvern’s hand to hold both hands up about three inches from the nearest soul. “It’s only a couple inches from my hands. There are no outer layers, only true soul.”
“Outer layers?” he asked.
“Souls have layers, three layers around the true soul. These don’t have anything around them, just the core.”
He lowered his head until the tip of his nose was just beside my hand.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep inhale. A moment later, he exhaled heavily, then inhaled again.
“There is…” He paused what he was saying, again taking a deep inhale and exhale. “There is something… it does not smell like dracon magic.” He rocked back away from the souls.
“Does it smell like this?” I asked, fumbling the wristwatch off my wrist.
When I handed the watch over, Harrison held it to his nose. “I don’t think so… will you help me get near the soul again?” he asked me.
I moved my hand back to inches from the soul.
When Harrison again inhaled the scent of the soul, he immediately moved his head back and exhaled, before inhaling the scent of the watch. “Different.”
“Witch? Sorcerer?” Wyvern asked.
“No, their magic is somewhere between dracon magic and this. Say that dragon magic smells like a fire, and this—” Harrison held up the watch, “—magic smells like the ocean. A witch’s magic would be like standing upwind from the fire and next to the ocean; a dracon’s would be like standing downwind. But the magic on these souls…” he returned his gaze to the spot where the souls were, “They are like a fragrant flower far from the ocean or fire.”
“What else is there?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” he said.
I turned to look at Wyvern. “Do you know of anything?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“So someone or something is using non-dracon magic to… I’m not sure exactly… damage the soul so much it can’t move on?” I said. Looking up at Harrison, I asked, “Is this what Lorelei smells like?”
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 23