“Rylee sad,” he grumbled, his arms awkwardly circling me.
“A little. But I’ll be okay.”
“Harpy sad too.”
I’d forgotten about that little detail. I stood, brushed my face off as though I wasn’t crying and strode to the door. “Where is she roosting, Alex?”
He bolted out the door and I trotted after him. He made a beeline for the half-rotted barn. Pushing the door open, I stepped into the mote-filled air. The light streamed through the broken slats and gave a picturesque scene, if not for the Harpy dozing in the old hay.
“Eve?” I didn’t step any further into the room. As it was, I could leap out and slam the door if I had too. Alex, though, had no qualms. He trotted forward and stuck his nose under her chin. “Evie.”
She fluttered awake, her eyes blinking slowly. “Hello, Tracker.”
“You can call me, Rylee,” I said, my hands itching for a weapon, even though she had claimed sanctuary with me. Harpy’s were not trusted for a reason.
“Rylee, then. I chased away the pack that was here; it didn’t take much.”
That explained that. Maybe having a Harpy around wouldn’t be all bad. I nodded my thanks. Alex, though, didn’t hold back, almost throwing himself at the young Harpy; she brushed him off, but not in an unkind way.
“What are you going to do?” Her voice was devoid of any emotion.
It hit me that she was depressed, which made sense. I’d lost my sister, I knew what it was to lose a beloved sibling and think you should have somehow saved them.
Breathing in the scent of hay and years of dust, I made my way over to her, sat down, and talked. About Berget, about my life, about how I wanted to save those kids who got snatched. Her eyes went wide as I opened up to her like I’d only ever done with Milly, and Eve seemed to sense it.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
By now Alex was laying across my lap.
“Because I know what it is to be lost, to want to find your own path, one that can maybe redeem the past,” I said, my voice thick with sorrow even to my own ears.
She nodded slowly as she took it all in. “May I help you? Would you let me?”
That was not expected, and it was my turn to nod slowly. “Yes, you could help me. But I have to ask, Eve, how can you be so accepting of me? I killed both of your sisters.”
Her feathers fluffed up. “In our culture, it is the strong who survive, the strong who are revered. You were able to kill my sisters; they were not strong enough. You outsmarted them. I would learn from you so that I do not follow in their footsteps. It is often our way to train with those who have killed our family members.”
Wow. Shock filtered through me. That was not what I expected, not at all. “Okay, you have strengths I could only ever hope for to tap into when searching for kids, but don’t you want to go to your own kind?”
Eve snorted and fluffed her body. “They kicked us out because we … no, I cannot speak of it yet. They don’t like me, or my sisters.” Her throat caught, and I placed a hand, gingerly, on her wing, feeling the tremble of emotion ripple through her body. It seemed I was bound to pick up strays and outcasts.
Leaving her there, I went back inside the house, passed on my usual routine for the first time in years, showered, went to bed and lay there staring up at the ceiling, Alex stretched out across my legs. Thoughts of O’Shea, Milly, Eve, Alex, India, and Giselle ran through my mind until, finally exhausted, I fell asleep, hoping the morning light would give me some guidance as to what would happen next.
Chapter Twenty-seven
A week later, India and her parents met me at the hotel where I’d first met them. While Maria and Don were grateful, they were reserved. India had no such qualms.
I stepped into the room and she ran toward me, arms outstretched. Scooping her up, I held her tight. Today, she smelled only like baby powder, no scent of blood.
“How are you feeling, kid?” I put her back down and crouched so we were eye to eye. I rubbed at the spot on my body where the demon’s scorpion tail had pierced my prone form in the pentagram. Nothing seemed to have come from it, but there was a dull ache that wouldn’t go away. It was particularly bad at night. For now though, I’d ignore it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and all that jazz.
“Okay. I like Danny.” Danny was the therapist I’d set them up with. She also happened to be a true psychic who would be able to help India train her abilities.
“That’s good. She’s a nice lady.”
We visited for a few more minutes before I headed toward the door. India grabbed my hand, pulling me down to her level. “I have to tell you something.”
Smiling, I tipped my head so she could whisper into my ear.
“Berget says that Giselle is the key to finding her.”
Her words, so simple, set me back on my heels, and I had to kneel down to catch my breath. “How?”
India shrugged, keeping her voice low. A look over her shoulder, she waved off her parents, who had tensed at my apparent shock. “I can see them, the spirits. Your sister, she stayed with me. Told me things. She said that it wasn’t your fault. That she’s too far away for you to find. But—” India twisted her hands around mine. “Berget says that Giselle can help you find her.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I whispered.
She shrugged. “It’s what she told me. Will you still look for her?”
I nodded. “I’ve never stopped.”
“That’s what I told her too.” India wrapped her arms around my neck. “I told her that you would always come for the missing children. Everyone knows that.”
A lump formed hard in my throat, one that I couldn’t swallow past. India made me swear I’d stay in touch. I could barely nod, and struggled to get out to my Jeep, where I laid my head on the steering wheel and finally let the tears flow.
Berget was still out there, and she didn’t blame me for not finding her. It took me a long time to pull myself together, but for the first time I felt … free of the guilt.
Jake pulled through, though he was going to be in a wheelchair for a while; both of his legs had been broken and quite badly, but he was alive and had no memory of what had happened to him. I visited him in the hospital, only once, and while he was sleeping. He wouldn’t remember me anyway. From what the nurses told me, he already wanted to be just like his new hero, Agent O’Shea. Jake wanted to be an FBI Agent when he grew up. Boo-yah.
Milly moved out of the Coven and in with me, Alex and Giselle, who’d come to live with us until we knew what would be best for her. I was happy, yet I had no desire to hear Milly and O’Shea ‘knocking boots’ in the room across from me, so I implemented a ‘No Sex at the House’ rule, which she seemed to be fine with.
Two weeks after Agent Valley visited me, I got a phone call from him. I didn’t answer. I still wasn’t ready to face that particular choice yet. Worse yet, the stack of papers on the Arcane division of the FBI had gone missing; most likely it got grabbed in one or the other raids on my place, so I had no further knowledge than what Valley was willing to give me, which wasn’t enough to sway me.
All and all, life went back to as normal as it could, at least for me.
That is, until the phone rang and Dox’s voice came through on the other end, his voice heavy with sorrow, his words telling me my time off was up.
“Rylee, we’ve got a problem.”
Authors Note
Thanks for reading “Priceless” I truly hope you enjoyed the start of Rylee’s story, her friends, and the world I’ve created for them.
If you loved this book, one of the best things you can do is leave a review for it. Amazon.com is where I sell the majority of my work, so if I can only ask for one place for reviews that would be it.
Again, thank you for coming on this ride with me, I hope we’ll take many more together. The rest of The Rylee Adamson series, along with my other novels, are available in both ebook and paperback format from Amazon.
&
nbsp; Enjoy!
Shannon Mayer’s Amazon Author Page
About the Author
Shannon Mayer lives in the southwestern tip of Canada with her husband, dog, cats, horse, and cows. When not writing she spends her time staring at immense amounts of rain, herding old people (similar to herding cats) and attempting to stay out of trouble. Especially that last is difficult for her.
She is the author of the The Rylee Adamson Novels, The Nevermore Trilogy, A Celtic Legacy series and two contemporary romances. Please visit her website for more information on her novels.
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List of Characters
The Rylee Adamson Series
Priceless (Book 1)
Immune (Book 2)
Raising Innocence (Book 3)
Blind Salvage (Book 5)
Contemporary Romance
High Risk Love
Ninety-Eight
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
The Nevermore Trilogy
Sundered
Bound
Dauntless
Urban Fantasy
A Celtic Legacy Trilogy
Dark Waters
Dark Isle
Dark Fae
Copyright © Shannon Mayer 2012
All rights reserved
Published by HiJinks Ink
www.shannonmayer.com
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise)without the prior written permission of both the owner of the copyright and the above publishers.
Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Or deliberately on purpose, depending on whether or not you have been nice to the author.
Original illustrations by damonza
Mayer, Shannon
Table of Contents
Praise for Priceless
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Also by Shannon Mayer
Acknowledgements
Authors Note
About the Author
Also by Shannon Mayer
Copyright
Priceless (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 1) Page 18