“Allen, I’m begging you to help me. I have to take Dain down and try to reconcile with Garrett before it’s too late.”
“If you’re so worried about Garrett, then leave Dain to the professionals, and go reconcile with him now!” Allen said, frustrated.
“I can’t! I have to deal with Dain, and I think you’ll see that soon enough. You and I are the only ones that can do it and not break up the family,” Alexis explained.
“How do you figure? Then Mom won’t talk to us.”
“She’ll forgive us before she’d forgive Dad.”
“No she won’t! If we banish Dain, then she’ll disown us.”
“I don’t think she will. I think she’ll eventually see our side and forgive us. However, if Dad’s involved, she will disappear.”
“You said last time we talked, that Megara is still on Dain’s side.”
“Right”
“And she’s living with you in Mom’s house?”
“Yes”
“How do you know she’s not listening to us right now and relaying that information to Dain?”
“I’m in the panic room. It’s sound proof.”
“Yeah, well I’m not,” Allen said sternly.
Alexis gasped, “So…”
He cleared his throat.
Her heart raced when she realized the only reason Allen was arguing was because Miri could hear, “This isn’t over.”
“I know,” Allen said. “However, my decision stands. I’m going to wait for the Council to find Dain.”
Alexis shut her phone and then cradled Asher tenderly.
***
Alexis spooned a spoon full of peas into Asher’s mouth and then looked over when the door to the kitchen opened.
Megara came in and looked behind her, “Silas came to see you.”
“Silas did?”
The young girl nodded, and then Silas walked past her and into the kitchen, “Hope that’s ok.”
“Sure, as long as it doesn’t include a lecture.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then have a seat.”
Silas spun a chair and sat down in it backwards to face her. He looked over her and saw that she was pale and didn’t look well, “Are you sick?”
“No”
“Why don’t you let me feed Asher, so you two can talk?” Megara asked.
Alexis handed her the spoon and then led Silas out. She checked in the foyer, but didn’t see any other heku, “You came alone?”
“Yup, just me.”
She sat down on a couch, “So what’s up?”
He sat down beside her, “Well… I worry about you.”
“You or the Council?”
“I do. Garrett told us that you want to go after Dain.”
“Well wasn’t that nice of him?”
“He’s too dangerous.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t know where Dain is.”
Silas smiled crookedly, “You’re too much like Em. You have it in your head that you’re going to go after him, and you will find a way.”
“How is… you know?” Alexis hesitated.
“Garrett?”
She nodded.
“Upset still. He’s a very loyal follower of the Council, and he feels betrayed by you.”
“I didn’t do it to betray him.”
“Not directly, no. However, by betraying Garrett and the Council, things are just going to be rocky for a while.”
“Has he started the process?”
Silas studied her eyes, “That’s not for me to say.”
She swallowed hard, “Then he has…”
“It’s bigger than you can imagine, Alexis.”
“But breaking the bond? If he’ll just give me a few weeks, things will calm down.”
“When you go after Dain, that’s going to be the last straw for him.”
“If he’s started the process to break our bond, then it’s already too late.”
“No, it’s not. It can be repaired.”
“He needs to understand that what he’s doing is hurting me too! My own husband doesn’t trust me to take care of things.”
“I’m not here to defend Garrett.”
“Then get out,” Alexis said, standing suddenly. She blurred from the room, faster than Silas had ever seen her move.
He sighed and then looked over when Megara came out with Asher, “Now she’ll start crying at night again.”
“I didn’t mean to upset her. I really wanted to just see how she is doing.”
“She’s right… Garrett is wrong.”
“No, he’s not. What your sister is trying to do goes against the Council and her husband’s wishes.”
“Then her husband needs to stop siding with the Council and at least try to see it from her side.”
“Her husband…”
“Is an idiot.” The way she said that made Silas smile slightly. She not only looked like a younger Emily but spoke just like her mother too.
“He cares about her.”
“Not enough. If he cared about her, he wouldn’t be trying to break the bond over something she thinks is important. He’s neglecting her view on this.”
“You’re too young to understand this,” Silas told her.
She started up the stairs with the baby, “I’m older than you think. You can see yourself out.”
Silas watched her disappear up the stairs and then walked out of the house.
Megara knocked on Alexis’ door, “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Alexis said, obviously still choked up.
Megara walked in and set Asher down on the floor, “It’s time.”
“For what, Megara? I’m not in that good of a mood.”
“To go get Dain.”
Alexis looked up suddenly, “What?”
“What he’s doing is ruining not only your relationship, but he’s endangering the lives of mortals. My only stipulation is that I go with you.”
“Megara…”
“No! Do not treat me like a child. I can get Dain to come out of hiding faster than you can, and I’m the only one that knows where he is. I go or I tell the Council. He can’t keep doing this.”
Alexis thought for a moment and then nodded, “Ok. You can go. Where is he?”
“Pack a bag for Asher. We’ll somehow trick Miri into watching him while the three of us go to South America.”
Alexis stood up and started packing, “Allen’s in. We just have to get him away from Miri long enough to talk to him. South America, you say?”
“Yes, he’s feeding freely off of a tribe near Peru that’s never even seen a white person before.”
She gasped and looked at her sister, “He is?”
“Yes, that way authorities will never figure it out. They think they’re being tormented by demons and leave him sacrifices to keep him out of their village. He feeds off of those.”
“That’s…”
“I know,” Megara said, and then went off to pack.
***
“Alex!” Miri said, smiling. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
Alexis forced a smile, “Things are rough with Garrett and I right now, and I need some time with my brother.”
“He’s out on guard duty right now. Why don’t you come in?”
“Actually, I may go find him. Can Megara and Asher stay here?”
“Sure, come on in,” Miri said, and opened the door.
As soon as Megara took Asher inside, Alexis headed out for the castle. She knew Allen’s post was just outside of the front doors during the day.
“Good morning, Miss Alexis,” the other guard said, bowing to her.
Alexis smiled, “Nice to see you again, Harris.”
“Didn’t know you were coming,” Allen said to her.
“I didn’t either. Can we talk in private?”
Allen nodded and then called for someone to replace him. Once another heku was at the door, they started to walk out along the pasture where Emily used to kee
p cows.
“I know where he is,” Alexis whispered, checking around for heku.
“How?” Allen asked.
“Megara told me.”
“So, she’s on our side now?”
“Yes, but I had to agree to let her go with us.”
Allen stopped walking, “No.”
“She had a point, Allen. She’s the only one that can get Dain to come out. It’s worse than we thought. He’s feeding off of native South American tribes! They think they’re under demon attack for God’s sake.”
Allen sighed and looked around, “We have to stop him.”
“Now’s the time. If we can get Miri to watch Asher, then we can go now.”
“We can’t just drive to South America. The second Dad gets wind that we’re missing, he’ll put an ATL out on our cars.”
“I know. We need to fly it.”
“I can’t fly yet,” Allen said. “I just barely started learning.”
“We could fly commercial.”
“There’s another way…”
Alexis looked over when he sighed, “What?”
“Well I know someone who can fly.”
“We know a lot of someones who can fly.”
“This one is a good friend though, and I trust him to do this without interfering.”
“Who is it?”
“Niccolo”
“Isn’t that the heku that’s in jail for abandoning Mom on an island and going through her things?”
“He’s a good friend, and I suggested he join the Cavalry. He was wrongly charged.”
“So, he didn’t leave them stranded?”
“Ok, well, that was right, but it wasn’t intentional.”
“Why in the world would he go through Mom’s things? She thinks he tried them on.”
“He did not! Oh my God. How can she think that?” Allen asked, shocked.
Alexis shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“Well, I warned him about Mom and some of her… issues.”
“Issues?”
“The only time he was questioned about going through her belongings was in front of Mom! They never asked him in private and wouldn't listen when he tried to explain. They kept saying to wait for the trial.”
“What could possibly have kept him from telling the truth, even with Mom around?”
Allen smiled slightly, “There was a mouse in her bag.”
Alexis froze and then frowned, “What?”
“He heard scratching and realized there was a mouse in her bag somehow. He reached in and disposed of it. He knew Mom was terrified of mice and didn’t want her afraid of the yacht, so he didn’t want to tell her.”
“Why didn’t he tell someone?”
“He tried! They would only listen when Mom was around! By the time he was sentenced, he didn’t think he could get out of it, so he just decided to do his time.”
“That’s terrible.”
“He was trying to protect Mom and got in a lot of trouble.”
“He should have said something.”
Allen sighed, “He’s told the prison guards several times, but they won’t listen.”
Alexis started walking again, “Do you trust him?”
“Implicitly”
“He can fly?”
“Yes”
“But he’s in prison.”
“Then we break him out,” Allen told her.
“Wouldn’t you get kicked off the guard staff for that?”
“Going after Dain is going to do that.”
“That's true. Megara and I will get Niccolo. You see if you can gather anything we need without tipping Miri off.”
“Let’s meet at the yacht. We’ll never make it off the island in a car after breaking someone out of the prison.”
“Yacht then, in 30 minutes?”
Allen nodded and then blurred away. Alex was just reaching the castle when Megara met up with her and gave her a nod to let her know she was aware of what they were doing.
They both glanced at each other before walking down the stairway to Island Coven Castle’s prison.
“Wait, you can’t be down here!” the closest guard said. He was ash before the other one realized it, and then he made the mistake of looking over at Alexis also.
“Niccolo?” Megara called out when both guards were ash.
“Who is that?” someone asked from down the 4th row of cells.
Alexis and Megara followed his voice and looked in at a stark clean cell with a heku looking up from the bed.
“Niccolo?” Alexis asked.
He frowned slightly, “Yes.”
“We need your help.”
His eyes grew wide when he saw Alexis start to unlock his cell, “What are you doing?”
“Allen sent us. Can you fly?”
“Well… yes. I’m incarcerated though.”
“We need your help. This is going against the Council, against our Dad, against probably every heku out there. However, we need you.”
He stood up, “Allen sent you?”
“Yes”
Niccolo nodded, “What does he need?”
“We need a silent transport to Peru.”
“Against Council wishes?”
Megara smiled, “They didn’t tell us no.”
“That’s because we didn’t ask,” Alexis added.
“Let’s go,” Niccolo said, and headed out after them. He ducked his head any time they passed a guard, and Alexis and Megara successfully distracted them.
Once on the yacht, Allen turned it and set off for the mainland.
“So, fill me in,” Niccolo said, joining him on the bridge.
Megara and Alexis waited on the deck and looked out over the ocean while Allen filled Niccolo in on as much information as he needed to do his part in this.
“You’re leaving something out,” Niccolo said, glancing down at Alexis.
Allen nodded, “To protect you. The less you know, the better. I just need you to take us to Peru, and then wait there for us to return.”
“If it’s a dangerous mission, I can help.”
“It’s our mission though,” Allen told him. “Then when we get back… I’m going to force my father to listen to you.”
He sighed, “It won’t help. I was sentenced.”
“They don’t know the truth. You’re perfect for the Cavalry, and the last thing you need is to wait out a prison sentence.”
“I bet I’m kicked out of the Equites when I’m released.”
“I bet not.”
“I will be! Not only was I sentenced to a prison term… now I’m going off doing God knows what.”
“You won’t be in nearly as much trouble as we will be.”
“You’re the Elder’s kid.”
“I’ve told you… he’s actually harder on us than anyone else.”
“What plane are we going to take?” Niccolo asked, again glancing down onto the deck.
“Mom’s plane.”
“The one the enemy gave her?”
“Yes, but Dad’s kept it in good working order. It was moved closer to Island Coven when the Equites got that new jetliner.”
“Ok, well I’m in too deep now.”
Allen smiled, “You’ll be better off not knowing what we need.”
“I guess.”
“Would you stop checking out my sister?” Allen laughed.
Niccolo looked over at him, “I wasn’t!”
“You were too. Now focus on getting us to Peru.”
When they arrived at the hangar, Alexis turned the two guards to ash, and then they all crawled into Emily’s airplane with Niccolo in the cockpit.
Allen crawled in next to him to help with flight checks.
"Ok, ma sono sicuro che passerò un sacco di guai,” Niccolo sighed, just as the plane took off heading South.
Allen smiled at him, “You’re not going to be in that much trouble. We’ll tell them we threatened you.”
“It’s not going to help.”
“How long do we have?” Alexis asked, peeking into the cock pit.
“About 13 hours,” Niccolo stuttered.
Allen just grinned and sat back for the flight.
***
“So you want me to just wait here?” Niccolo asked when the three Winchesters started off the plane.
“Yes, and don’t answer any questions if the Council somehow finds you,” Allen told him.
“How would they find me?”
“I don’t know…”
“Well I don’t know anything.”
Allen got into the driver’s seat of their rented car and waited for the others to buckle in before driving off, “So he’s agreed to meet us?”
“No, he’s agreed to meet Alexis and me,” Megara said. “He’d freak if he knew you were coming.”
“Perfect”
“You can’t sneak up on him, so we need a plan,” Alexis told him.
“We need to figure out how to distract him long enough that that bloody heku hearing doesn’t kick in,” Allen said.
Megara leaned up to the front seats, “Dain’s under the impression that Alexis and I are fighting. Would one huge argument distract him?”
“Why does he think we’re fighting?” Alexis asked.
“I told him we were. That’s why I’m bringing you along. He wants to talk to you about how you treat me.”
“That could work,” Allen said. “I’ll stay back until you two get into a good argument, and then I’ll sneak up. I can’t overpower him though.”
“Well he’s not going to look me in the eye,” Alexis said.
“I wish I could ash,” Megara said, sitting back on her seat.
“If he and I get into a fight, he may not even be thinking clearly enough to realize he’s looking at you,” Allen said.
“How far do we have to drive?”
“Another hour or so until we can go in on foot.”
“Should we call Mom?”
“Why?”
“I bet she’s scared.”
“No, if Dad gets wind that we’re missing… the entire population of Equites will be looking for us.”
“There’s no Equites in the Amazon.”
“Yet”
Alexis watched out the window for almost an hour before she spoke again, “It’s going to come down to Allen and me restraining Dain long enough that I can look into his eyes.”
“You and me?” Allen asked.
“Just because I choose not to use my heku strength, doesn’t mean I don’t have some of it.”
Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series Page 31