Regen

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Regen Page 10

by Cassie Greutman


  I kicked at a tuft of grass and pretended to ignore Wade. When he acted all sweet, the way he only was to me, it reminded me of before. A couple times today he’d tried to take care of me. It had to be because I was part of the team. Had to be. Or he had some other reason, something worse. Whether it was that or not, I was going to tell myself it was. No room for that mess right now, I had plenty of others to deal with.

  It took ten minutes for Cumat to show up again. This time he had a crew. My jaw nearly dropped. More fae in one place than I’d ever seen, not counting all the ones that had stuck their head out to watch me yell at everyone that first day at headquarters. And all sizes and looks too. One guy might as well be a troll himself, he was so huge. At least he was dressed better, actually like a person except for the crazy colors of his clothes. Two more men followed them out of the woods, no doubt fae also, but nothing stood out about them.

  “What happened?” Cumat asked Wade. “At least you had the decency to drop it in a forest, not in the middle of a city this time. I’m always having to clean up your messes,” he muttered to himself without waiting for an answer. He walked around the troll, inspecting everything. “He’s big enough that we will need to do a full sweep.” He looked up into the giant’s face, nearly tipping over backward because of the height difference. “Can you drag it to the portal, Jack?”

  “Yes,” the giant said, his voice making me feel a little better. At least he didn’t sound like a troll. “Shouldn’t be a problem at all. One time I took care of two trolls bigger than this at the same time, and it was a rush job too.”

  “Good, good.” Cumat looked at Wade. “Where is the portal? Starren mentioned it when she called for a clean-up team.”

  Wade nodded toward the waterfall. “Behind there.”

  “Did you hear that Jack? Get to it so our other friends here can do their job too.”

  The giant nodded, reached down and grabbed the troll by its ankles. He leaned back, the muscles cording in his forearms, his face going red. He let out a loud grunt, gave an extra tug and the troll moved, leaving a slight groove in the ground.

  “You got this then?” Wade asked.

  Cumat turned to look disapprovingly at Wade. “Of course I’ve ‘got this.’ Don’t you think I know how to do my job?” He turned back to yelling directions to the giant without waiting for an answer.

  Wade shrugged, then started for the tree line. “Guess they don’t need us ‘til Cray comes up with something else to track. Might as well get you back.”

  “What happens if a hiker comes along and sees that giant?” I asked. “It could happen.”

  “It would have to be a special human to see any of those guys without them wanting to show themselves. Haven’t you ever used that skill? That’s something all fae share.”

  My mind flashed back to Waterton Heights, me sitting under a tree, alone, feeling invisible. “Not intentionally.” But maybe I had been invisible. Who knew? I was going to have to figure out how to do that, but I sure wasn’t going to let Wade be the one that helped me learn. Now that I was thinking about it, Mom may have said something about it in our lessons. I could probably figure it out by myself. Or ask Cray. He seemed like an okay guy. Being invisible was definitely something that could come in handy, something I needed to learn ASAP. Maybe I’d be able to sneak out of math class.

  “Wait a second, did Cumat follow me that day before he brought me in? I kept thinking I was seeing something and then there was nothing there but no one around me seemed to notice anything!”

  Wade smiled but didn’t answer. That was answer enough. He was walking in the opposite direction I thought we’d come from. Maybe I was wrong; I wasn’t very good in the woods, that was certain. I paused. No, we had come at the waterfall straight on. Wade was taking us to the left of it.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back.”

  He was so annoying. “I got that part.”

  “We have to get to a static portal. The one we came through is gone.”

  “So that portal can drop us anywhere, but we have to go to another portal to get back?”

  “That’s right,” Wade answered.

  “How far is the closest one?”

  “Five more miles.”

  “Five miles?” I groaned. Hungry had become an understatement. With the healing, swimming and walking, I was burning a ton of calories. Besides, walking was so boring. Especially when it meant I had to spend time with him. We covered some ground in silence. He must not have had anything to say and I didn’t want to be the one to start a conversation.

  He stayed silent and stealthy as the miles slowly trickled by. I swung my wooden sword at everything within reach. I watched Wade out of the corner of my eye. Why did he have to be such a hunk, even by fae standards? And why had he come into the lake after me? Grr, I needed to think about something else.

  There was only a ten minute span where I was semi-content whacking at foliage. Eventually the boredom outweighed the fact that I was still ticked at Wade. “Why don’t I have one of those swords like Starren’s?” I asked. “Shouldn’t I have something to protect myself with?” Plus they looked really cool.

  Wade snorted. “You don’t have one because you’d probably kill me.” Okay, maybe there was some truth in that. “And swords like that aren’t so easy to come by. Starren had to travel down into the HighCrest Mines and get the ore herself because no one else wanted to go in after it. That sword is one of a kind.”

  “What’s so bad about the HighCrest Mines?”

  “Ogres.” He glanced back and must have seen the blank expression on my face. “Ogres are similar to trolls, only with the intelligence of a high fae. The HighCrest Mines were taken over by them years ago.”

  And Starren had gone in there just to get metal for a sword? It was not a good sign that the Council thought it necessary to send someone like her after Jaden. What exactly had he done to get himself locked up in the first place? And why did they really want me to help her? I was having a hard time believing she really needed my help, especially after today. Not that the answers to those questions mattered much. I couldn’t let anything stop me. If I didn’t help, I’d be the one they were hauling away.

  I squashed a small sense of guilt about the fact that I was trading some guy’s freedom for my own. He was a criminal. And it wasn’t like I was helping kill this Jaden guy, just bring him in. They wouldn’t do anything to him unless he gave them a reason to; Starren had said so. They would get their guy, I would be off their radar, and everything would be good for all involved. Except Jaden of course.

  This trip was taking forever. Poor Cumat, in his fancy clothes. Hopefully Jack the Giant would give him a ride. Ha. Jack the Giant. I hadn’t caught that ‘til just now. Kind of ironic. All this walking was definitely giving me too much time to think. What was with those plants back in the lake? I glanced at Wade, wanting to ask him but afraid to give something away. What that something was, I had no idea.

  But this wasn’t the first time nature had helped me. That tree, when I was trying to get out of the creek last week had helped me too. I watched Wade out of the corner of my eye. Thoughts of the tree reminded me yet again of what Wade had done to me. Or tried to do, whatever. Yep, too much time for thinking, for sure. Wade finally pulled us to a stop quite a while later.

  “So,” Wade said, then stopped. “About the children’s home you lived in…”

  I eyed him sideways.

  He winced. “Never mind.”

  Okay, what was that? I would have pushed him, but it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. And he didn’t do well with being pushed anyway. When we’d first met, I’d been the one that did the pushing. Now it made me wonder if he’d just been playing hard to get.

  We’d had so many good times. I would never have believed anyone if they’d told me he’d someday hurt me, betray me. I’d loved him, and I thought he’d loved me.

  We kept on in silence, my m
ind whirling even more.

  “Here it is.” Wade finally said, sweeping an armful of ivy off the face of a large rock. A door shape glowed in the stone. He gestured for me to go ahead of him.

  “Huh-uh. I’m not going first.” Maybe they hadn’t found a way to kill me, but if they had a cage I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. If they caught Jaden without my help, they could say I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain and haul me back to Faerie. I wouldn’t put it past Wade, obviously.

  Wade rolled his eyes and stepped through. Well this was great. Now he was over there waiting for me. Maybe I shouldn’t have had him go first. Now what? If Starren and Cray’d had any luck and they no longer needed me, the three of them could be waiting to jump me. Okay, two of them, I couldn’t see Cray jumping anyone. Oh well, I was going to have to risk it. Maybe a cage on the other side, but it was that or be stuck in California, with no way home and only the small amount of cash I’d thought to bring. I stepped through after him.

  I popped out in a small room similar to Starren’s. The only difference was that this one was bare. Wade was just walking out the only other door. So nice of him to wait and see if I followed him through the portal or not. I took off after him into the long hallway.

  He stopped but didn’t turn to look at me. “It could be a while before Cray locks on to the next target. See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Trish.”

  I ignored him, pushing past him and charging down the hallway. All I could concentrate on was getting to my bike. I needed to see Nina, just to know she was okay. I wouldn’t put it past the fae to snatch her on some lame charge, just to get me to try harder or some other stupid excuse and the more I thought about it the more worried I got. The hallway was empty, none of the heads sticking out of the doorways right now.

  Going about normal life the rest of the day was going to be awkward after spending the morning fighting trolls. Not sure how to explain about my phone, I decided to just not bring it up.

  Nina was working in the flowerbeds when I got home. After leaning against the house in relief for a second, I scooted forward, trying to sneak past her. No such luck. “Trisha, the school called.”

  Crap.

  “Apparently one of your teachers was worried about you today.” Nina straightened and wiped a gloved hand across her face. “Mrs. Hemp? She said you were acting strangely. Is everything okay?”

  I bit my lip in relief. The doppelganger was working, at least the school still thought I was there. “Sure, everything is fine.” It was fine now, at least.

  Nina looked me over good, an eyebrow arching perfectly by itself. I looked down. Shoot. I’d forgotten about the state of my clothes. “You’re sure nothing is wrong?” she asked.

  “Wrong? Oh no, nothing is wrong at all,” I said, big cheesy grin on my face, blood drips all over my clothes. Hopefully it looked like paint from over there. My fae blood must believe in sarcasm to let me get that half-truth out.

  “If you need to talk, I’m here. And if someone is bothering you, we will get it handled.” I didn’t answer and after a second of staring straight at me, she went back to pulling the last of the dead branches out of the flowerbed. Whew. She was going to ignore the fact that I had skin showing in all kinds of places the clothes I was wearing weren’t designed to show. Oh well, weren’t holey jeans the ‘it’ thing right now?

  “What was your bike doing outside of Wade’s apartment all day? Is he giving you rides to school?” And wham, she got me by surprise. Were they spying on me? How did they know my bike was there?

  “No, he isn’t. There must be a ton of bikes in this city that look like mine.” Nina’s look told me she didn’t appreciate my little side step. “Really, Nina, I’m fine.” I could have told her that we broke up, but I didn’t want to talk about it right now. I turned and headed for the house.

  “Trish, wait.” She pulled her gloves off.

  I stopped but kept my back to her, keeping her barely in sight out of the corner of my eye.

  “You know you can trust us, right? With anything? You are our daughter.”

  Could she just say that? Just feel that way for real? I didn’t know how she could. Plus, she was probably thinking my secret was a school bully or some other teenage problem. How was I supposed to explain this? But at least she was trying. I might like it here, a lot, but that didn’t mean I could completely trust her. I knew better than to trust anyone. And I was starting to trust her too much. I needed to nip that in the bud. So while every part of me screamed to go over and give her a hug, I didn’t listen. “Thanks. May I go now?”

  She sighed, the sound so sad it made me want to break down and try to make her feel better. But no. That was probably what she was trying to get me to do. “Sure. Just be ready for supper on time.”

  That wouldn’t be an issue. I was starving again. But the whole bike thing, that was an issue. I was going to have to be more careful about where I parked it. And about who was watching me on my way to school.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning I got to headquarters early enough to wave goodbye to the other me. She stared at me blankly before waving back, then heading out. Man, I was going to look even more stupid than I actually was until we found Jaden. I’d spent the whole night going over homework that somehow had been waiting for me on Starren’s desk. I didn’t ask. Other Me probably stuck it somewhere when the teacher handed it to her and dropped it here. The homework had taken a lot more effort last night since I hadn’t been in class that day, even if I didn’t usually pay much attention. The rest of the team was waiting for me when I got back to Starren’s office, carefully counting doors so I didn’t walk in on some other fae doing some other fae thing that I probably didn’t want to know about.

  “Cray has another hit,” Starren didn’t even take time to say hello. “Let’s head out.”

  I followed them to the portal. Starren stayed focused and ignored everything. Wade totally ignored me. What was wrong with him? Polite yesterday and now this today? That guy had issues. At least Cray had the decency to smile at me. I returned it. We stepped through the portal together and instead of ending up in the forest, this time we were spit out in a dark, dirty alley of some city.

  A strange sense of déjà vu swept through me, of not knowing where I was, making it hard to breathe for a second. It was okay, this was a city, not a forest. And people flowed by in both directions. I wasn’t alone. But I still needed to know where we’d ended up. “What city is this?” I asked.

  “San Francisco,” Cray answered after waiting a second to see if either of the other two would.

  San Francisco. See, not that bad. It was a cool city. I glanced at the others to see if they had noticed my near panic attack. Starren hadn’t, or was acting like she hadn’t. Wade was watching me. I sneered in his direction. The whole panic attack thing was his fault. I caught myself getting upset and nipped it in the bud. When he saw my look change his face went impassive.

  Jerk. But it didn’t matter. No way he could ruin this for me. Hadn’t been to San Francisco in a while, and it was a neat place. Maybe we could hit Chinatown after checking out Cray’s lead. They had the best restaurants.

  Cray closed his eyes for a second. “About a mile from here.”

  “Ugh, why do these trips always involve so much walking?” I asked. “Can’t the portal get us any closer?”

  “We can’t pop in too close, we don’t know his ability. If he has anything like Cray does, he’ll feel the portal being used and he’ll be gone before we have a chance to lock onto him,” Starren answered.

  That made sense, but it didn’t make me feel much better about the walking. “I still don’t get how you don’t know what his ability is.”

  “It hadn’t manifested yet when he escaped.”

  I stopped dead. “You mean this guy is younger than I am?”

  Starren glanced back at me and kept walking. I jumped forward to keep up with her. “Possibly. Part of the reason he is
considered so dangerous is that he is a direct descendant of a previous royal couple and has not had his eighteenth birthday yet, so his powers are undetermined. The fact that he escaped without them is disconcerting, once he has his power we don’t know what he’ll do.”

  “When is his birthday?” I asked, stepping over a trolley line. Glad I noticed it before I fell flat on my face.

  “November ninth on a human calendar,” Starren answered.

  “You mean we have less than a week to catch him before he becomes a super-villain?” I squeaked.

  Starren’s forehead crinkled in the first sign of confusion I’d ever seen from her.

  “A bad guy with powers,” Wade interrupted. “She made me watch a lot of superhero movies.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. A man walking toward us gave me a funny look. I gave him a glare and went back to the conversation. “Is there any way to know what powers he might get once he turns eighteen?”

  “No accurate way,” Wade said. “We can do some guessing, considering his family line. But if we get it wrong, things won’t go well for us, preparing for one ability and he actually has another.”

  “So, being descended from the royal couple, he’s a prince or something?” And we were hunting him down like an animal?

  “No, he is a descendant of a previous royal family,” Starren said, like that should make things obvious.

  “We aren’t humans. Our leaders aren’t chosen by who’s next in line,” Wade explained. “His grandparents led the fairy court for a hundred years, then were exiled.”

  “What did they do?”

  Wade shrugged.

  Did they not know anything, or was that his way of avoiding the question? “Why are you worried about him having his powers when he isn’t eighteen yet?”

  “The birthday we were given for you was false, who is to say his was recorded correctly?” Starren answered.

  “And the fact that sometimes the royal line comes into their powers early,” Wade added.

 

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