“Town hall,” said Faith, with a nod toward the massive building in the middle of the square.
“Okay. We have four busses. Is there a place we can pull them up without the men noticing?”
“Yeah, the school is on the other side of town.”
She gave me directions to the school and I fired off a few messages. First to Puck, asking him what time the men would all be meeting. Then I sent messages to all the bus drivers, giving them instructions to the school.
“Is there someplace we can talk?” I asked.
She took me to a small house a few blocks away. It was clean, tidy, and mercifully empty.
“How many are coming with us?”
“All 297 of us.”
“Sunday made it sound like some women wanted to stay behind.”
“Yeah, at first they did. But over the last week they’ve all started seeing things the way they really are. I don’t have a single girl who wants to stay. Can you accommodate so many people? Most of us don’t have families to go back to.”
I nodded. “I’m actually hoping you and your friends would consider becoming part of a new Shade organization that polices the Guardians and Destroyers.”
She cocked her head. “What’s a Destroyer? Sunday mentioned them a couple of times too.”
“They’re the bad guys.”
Faith narrowed her eyes. “But the Guardians are the bad guys.”
“Only a few of them. The Destroyers are intent on creating chaos and anarchy. Most Guardians want to create peace. What I want to do is create an outside organization that can make sure they all behave themselves. We have unique talents that make us perfect for this job.”
Faith took a couple of deep breaths. “I’ve never done anything like that before. I’m used to being told what to do.”
“Then it’s time for you take some control for yourself. Will you join us?”
“Of course. I can’t speak for the rest of them though.”
“I have a feeling they’ll agree.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Did you not convince 297 of them to come to Vegas with you? That wasn’t Sunday, that was all you. If things work out, you’ll be among the first of my Majors.”
She grinned. “I have no idea what that means, but it sounds important.”
My phone buzzed. 30 minutes. Come to the town hall when it’s done.
“Go time. Puck will have all the men gathered in a half hour.”
The buses were already waiting at the school, each one with at least two council Guardians to make sure things went along as planned. Women had already started to gather outside, as well as a handful of kids. Andrea and Beth were gathering suitcases and urging people to board. The plan was to get out as fast as we could, even if that meant the buses didn’t all leave at the same time.
“I know you have every reason not to trust men, but I promise you these Guardians are good guys and they’ll get you out of here.” I paused. “Also, please do me a favor and don’t mention the group I told you about.”
Faith nodded. “Done.”
The women all looked a little worse for the wear. Most didn’t even have a suitcase. It didn’t take that long to get them all loaded up.
Just as we were finishing up, a kid about fourteen or fifteen years old came around the corner of the school and froze, glaring at the buses.
“What’s going on?”
Faith’s face went red. “Um, nothing. We’re just going for a little drive.”
The boy looked at me and then back at Faith. “She’s with that guy that just showed up. You guys are running away. Brad has to hear about this.”
He turned to walk away and I grabbed his arm. “Wait. It’s not quite what it looks like. We are planning a huge party for Brad. These are actually new girls.”
I looked over to one of the busses and saw Beth shoving girls on.
“Beth, come here,” I called.
She jogged over to me. “What’s up?” she asked, but I could see in her eyes that she knew exactly what was going on.
“Could you walk back to town with this guy and explain to him what’s going on? I’ve got to stay here and make sure everything is taken care of for Brad’s party.” I winked at her and she grinned.
“Of course, come on.”
The guy looked confused but he followed her anyway. Poor kid had no idea what was about to happen.
Fifteen minutes later Beth came back.
“He has no memory of ever meeting us. Are we done?” I nodded and searched for Faith. She was standing in between the busses, talking to Andrea.
“You’ll meet up with Sunday, and she’ll get you all settled. Puck and I won’t be far behind. In fact, we may catch up to the buses before you get to Vegas.”
“Brad’s gonna be pretty pissed off. You might have trouble.”
“The plan is to get out of here before Brad realizes you all are gone.”
I walked back toward the town hall, which took about fifteen minutes, and crept into the back of the meeting room, all my senses on alert. Sunday told me they were good at getting women to do what they wanted. Nobody had noticed me yet, as every eye in the room was on the fight that was escalating on the stage. Puck and Brad were in each other’s faces, both yelling over one another. I rolled my eyes. It was time to see if I could actually do what I wanted to.
A few men noticed as I strode up to the stage. Their power was strong and heady. Suddenly I felt warm and comfortable, so I put up a few more shields. I couldn’t afford to feel comfortable. I needed to be strong.
I climbed up the stairs to the small stage and got in between the two boys. They stopped yelling and stared at me.
I turned to Puck.
“Explain.”
“He refuses to submit. Says it’s within his right to use his power to seduce women.”
I spun around and got in Brad’s face myself. “You think it’s funny to use this amazing power you have to make women submit to your will? Being a Guardian comes with the responsibility to protect and care for the people. Your job is to offset the misery the Destroyers inflict, not to sit here and do things that are just as despicable.”
Brad laughed and looked around me to Puck. “You got your girlfriend giving empty threats too? We can do what we want, you can’t stop us.”
I took a step closer to him so that our noses were nearly touching. “You have no idea what I’m capable of, do you?”
His eyes went wide and I knew I had his attention. “You see, I’m a Shade. A strong one, and I can suck that pitiful power right out of your body and you’ll have no way to recover it or use it ever again.”
He laughed. “Yeah, right. Shades can’t do that.”
“Girls can.” I grabbed his hand and searched for his energy. Then I tugged at it. Not so hard to actually remove any of it, but just enough that he felt it.
His eyes went wide with fear and his mouth dropped open.
I let go of his hand.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded.
“That was me almost taking your power, you don’t actually want me to succeed next time.”
I turned to Puck. “He’s all yours. I expect he’ll listen to you now.”
Puck was all grins. I’d done exactly what he’d wanted me to do. He stepped around me. “Now, I’m leaving Gage here to help you all figure out what’s next. He is a Major Guardian and you will all report to him. Once he feels like you understand what is expected of you, he’ll turn you over to the Major Guardian over Reno. If any of you want to transfer to another area, I can make that arrangement.” Then he turned to me. “Let’s go.”
“How many Guardians did you leave here?” I asked as we left the town hall.
“Six. Gage and five Minor Guardians. They are going to guard all exit roads from Jena and make sure no one gets away. We want them all confined here for a least a week while they calm down and get used to how we do things, then we’ll figure out the rest.” He grabbed my hand an
d leaned into me. “You were great in there. Seriously.”
“Thank you.”
“If you were a Guardian you could officially be on my team.”
I sighed. “Can’t I do that as a Shade?”
He shook his head.
“Why not? Is it because you want to be able to control me? Because I don’t want you to be my boss.”
“Is that what you think? Naomi, I don’t think anyone could control you. But that’s beside the point. I want you to be a Guardian because then there will be no questions as to where your loyalties lie.”
“What makes you think I’m not loyal to you? That’s unfair.”
“That’s not what I meant. I know you are loyal to me, but the rest of the Guardians don’t. As long as you are a Shade, they’ll never trust you.”
I crossed my arms. “Then they are just going to have to get used to not trusting me, because I’m not going to become a Guardian.”
Puck was silent as we drove out of town. He pressed down on the gas and I knew that at the speed he was going we’d catch up to the buses in no time.
His phone rang and he slowed down a bit as he answered it. The phone was hooked up to the car’s Bluetooth, and Ginny’s voice came through the radio speakers.
“Puck, Sunday’s been taken.” Her voice was raw with panic.
“Calm down. What do you mean?”
“After dinner she went to answer the door and never came back. When I realized she was missing, I went outside and no one was there.”
“Are you sure she didn’t just go for a walk or something? Sometimes she likes to wander. You know that.” What he said was true, but something didn’t feel right about this.
“There was a note. Do you want me to read it to you?”
“Yes, please.”
“We know you have Julian and Raven. Return them to us and we’ll return your spunky friend. Don’t wait too long though, or she may not come back whole.
Custos and Perdere. Puck, what are we going to do?”
“Ginny, calm down, I’m going to make a couple of phone calls and send a few guys your direction. When they arrive, tell them everything you’ve told me and give them the note. They’ll start tracking Sunday’s power. I’m coming home as fast as I can.”
Panic rose in my chest. Sunday was kidnapped by some pretty vicious Guardians and Destroyers. She was smart and strong, but could she withstand this?
Puck hung up the phone and slammed his hand on steering wheel. “Damn, damn, damn.” He took a few deep breaths and handed me his phone. “Dial Tobias.”
I did, and he talked to Tobias for a few minutes. He told him about the kidnapping, then asked him to grab a few men and begin the search.
After he hung up, he looked at me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, even though that was not how I felt. “Do you think she’ll be all right?”
He grasped my hand. “I’m sure of it.”
“I didn’t know you had trackers.”
“I don’t need them very often, but they’re essential when Destroyers take my men. My trackers are quite good, actually. They’ll find her quickly. Getting her out is another story as I expect she’ll be heavily guarded.”
“How will they find her?”
“They can track power. I call them my K9 group because they act like dogs on the trail.”
I hadn’t really thought about the fact that Guardians already had a policing system in place, and it worked most of the time. But it wasn’t efficient.
“Naomi, I’m going to ask you to do something and you’re going to want to say no, but I’m begging you to follow my orders, just once.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t want you looking for Sunday.”
“What? Why? Sunday is my responsibility, I will most definitely be there to search for her.” I clenched my fists. He was being so unreasonable.
“It’s not that I don’t think you are capable of it, it’s just that I really need you to look after the women in those buses. I wanted to help with that, but now I can’t. You can. I know you’ll be worried about her, but please trust me when I say that I will find her.”
I let out a breath. Puck was putting me in sole charge over 297 women Shades. This was unbelievably convenient. In addition, if he was out searching for Sunday, that meant he’d probably never stop to ask too many questions about what happened to the girls. But I didn’t want to jump on this at Sunday’s expense. Plus, if I gave in too easily, he’d be suspicious.
“Puck, Sunday relies on me. Please let me come with. Elizabeth can take care of the girls.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Naomi, I trust you and I just want you to trust me. I can get Sunday back. You will do much better working with Elizabeth. There are nearly three hundred of them, Elizabeth can’t handle that on her own.”
I took his hand. “I do trust you. I just hate the thought of Sunday out there on her own. Promise me you’ll get her back.”
Puck squeezed my hand. “I promise.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to overtake the busses and have you get on one of them. Then I’m going to speed home. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Thank you.” I was grateful for this opportunity, but if Sunday didn’t make it back alive, I’d never forgive myself.
Sunday
If I were kidnapped and dumped in the desert, I’d survive. Easily. I knew which cacti I could drink from and which ones I could eat. But trapped in a tiny room—that is my worst nightmare.
I SAT UP, AND MY HEAD felt fuzzy. I was in a small room with no windows. The mattress underneath me had bumps and lumps. I stood and my legs wobbled a little bit. A sandwich had been placed on the nearby table, along with a note.
We’ll be back in a few hours. Eat this. You won’t get anything else for a while.
I took a bite of the stale sandwich and walked up to the door. It was wooden and heavy. I tried the handle, just to be sure, and found myself truly locked in.
My head spun and I sat back down. There was literally nothing else in the room except a small pair of white gloves on the table. The floor was hardwood and the walls were covered with awful pink and blue floral wallpaper.
This whole situation sucked because I knew that they were never going to let me go and they were extremely powerful. We didn’t know where Julian and Raven were right now. That meant that if I was going to be rescued, there would be a fight. A big one probably. My only hope was escape, though that would not be happening in this room. There was a vent but it was only big enough to fit my hand, not my whole body.
The door handle jiggled and I jumped, not sure what to expect. Without knowing what was on the other side, it didn’t make sense for me to try to escape that way yet.
The door opened and both men stood there.
“Sunday, love, you need to put on those gloves,” said Custos.
“Why?” I asked.
“We’ll explain later, but if you don’t put them on, we are shutting the door and you won’t get any answers.”
I did as I was told, and I felt my power completely shut off. I hadn’t felt that way since that stupid rose took my power. I moved to rip them off.
“Not so fast. We won’t come in as long as your power is active. We don’t want to take any chances. Your power will still be intact when you take them off after you are released,” said Custos.
I didn’t know whether to trust him or not, but I figured I didn’t really have much of a choice, since I didn’t want to be stuck here indefinitely. The best course of action was to build trust, in order to gain a little bit of freedom, so I could plot my escape.
I put my hands in my lap.
“Very good, now come with us. This isn’t a very nice room for talking.”
The hallway was made of dark wood and every few feet there was a door. I wondered how many bedrooms this place had.
Custos waved his hands in the air. “You should be aware that escape is pointless. The house itself
is a maze and has over twenty-five thousand square feet. The entire estate is surrounded by an enormous brick wall. You can’t get out.”
“Why do you have such a big fence?” I asked.
Custos laughed and pointed to the man walking behind me. “To keep him and his family out. Ironic that that we are here together now. But parents will do just about anything for their children. Well, except you, child. I don’t expect your father will come to your aid.”
“What do you know of my father?” I asked, surprised that Custos even mentioned him.
“We know everything about you, Miss Sunday. We know how your mother died and all about Naomi, Puck, and Jason.”
Raven’s dad interrupted. “We also know about Naomi and the little club she’s trying to start.”
We entered a large room with several uncomfortable-looking Victorian couches.
“If you know all of this, then how come you can’t find Julian and Raven?” I asked.
Both men scowled.
“Because Puck has done something to hide them. When he gives them back, we’ll give you back. In the meantime, you should know we aren’t barbarians. Well, I’m not, he may be,” said Custos. Raven’s dad just snorted in response.
“You will have free reign of the house as long as you keep those gloves on. If you take them off, we will lock you up.”
“Can I wander around outside?” I asked.
“Sure. Just don’t get too close to the fence. There is more to it than just its height. If you touch it, it could kill you.”
“Is there anyone else here?”
“Just the housekeepers and the cooks. My children are all out on the hunt for Raven and Julian. Hopefully no one has killed each other yet.”
“You know, none of this would’ve happened if you would’ve just let them be together.”
“That can’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“Do you know who I am, child?”
“Sort of.”
“What do you mean, sort of?”
“Raven told me about you two.”
He laughed. “Exactly what did she tell you?”
I squirmed and lied, because saying it out loud just sounded stupid. “Just that you were very powerful.”
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Custos and I am the first Guardian.”
The Thorn Chronicles-Books 1-4: Kissed, Destroyed, Secrets, and Lies Page 70