“She’s alive?” My voice cracked.
Diego nodded.
“How did you know it was her?” Kaira cut in, her voice full of suspicion.
When Diego answered, he looked at me. “Ojitos bonitos. She has your beautiful eyes.”
My throat felt like it was closing up. It was what the slave girl had said, too. Diego could be lying, since he’d been with me when the slave girl had spoken to me. One look at his face, though, and I knew he wasn’t.
“Where is she?” I shook Diego hard enough that his head slammed back against the wall. “Where is she?!”
“All I’ll tell you is that you won’t be able to get her without me.”
“Get Michael,” I snarled without looking away from Diego.
“Bri,” A.J. began uncertainly.
“Get Michael!”
“I’ll do it,” Kaira said, giving Diego a death glare before she left the kitchen.
Silver sparkled at the edge of my vision. I blinked furiously, refusing to let my tears hit the floor.
“Believe it or not, I’m not doing this to punish you,” Diego told me in a low voice. “It’s an even trade—what you want most for what I want.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t speak.
“It won’t matter if your Whisper forces me to talk,” Diego continued. “You won’t be able to reach her without me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I was a Steel. I would tear apart whatever cage was holding my niece with my bare hands.
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind, I remembered what that slave girl had told us when we were searching the foreman’s office. She’d said the littlest ones were on Level 1 and only the foreman could get to them.
“Bri.” Diego leaned close enough so only I could hear him. “If you let your Whisper force the information out of me, you’ll know I’m telling the truth. And you’ll also be crossing a line you won’t be able to uncross. You and me…we’ll be finished.”
“We already are,” I said in a voice I barely recognized. I was shaking, even in my titanium form. I was so angry. “We were finished from the second you tried to use Lilly against me.”
“I wouldn’t have had to if you’d kept your word,” Diego snapped, his anger rising to match mine.
“You’re using a child to manipulate me,” I said, unable to keep my voice down or stop my tears from falling. “My own family.”
“And I’m trying to save all of us from a Super Mag losing their shit and destroying the whole city,” he shot back. He jerked his head at my friends, who were poised to grab Diego if he tried his vanishing trick. “You all claim to care about Boston, but you’re so obsessed with your idea of equality that you’re blind to the threat my kind poses. I’m the only one who has the balls to do what needs to be done.”
“Oh yeah.” I laughed bitterly. “You’re a real do-gooder.”
Click. A titanium tear hit the tile floor and bounced off. Click click click click.
“Bri, honey.” A.J. tugged on my arm, trying to get me to let Diego go. “Can I talk to you for a hot second?”
“I heard shouting,” Yutika said, coming into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her hair like a turban. “What are we—Oh, hey Sexy Cinnamon Man.”
Diego didn’t respond. His attention stayed locked on me as he and I continued our faceoff.
I let go of Diego when I heard Michael and Kaira’s footsteps coming down the hall.
As soon as Michael stepped into the room, his gaze went straight to Yutika. His posture slouched, like he was trying to make himself less threatening. For several seconds, the two of them just stared at each other.
Michael’s hands opened and closed at his sides. “Yutika, I—”
His attention flicked to the wall, where the image of the news article was still posted. All the color drained from his face. He staggered.
I managed to grab his arm before he fell.
“Michael?” Yutika asked anxiously.
“Smith, switch it,” Kaira hissed. She planted herself in front of the wall, trying to block Michael’s view of the massacre with her body.
The wall went blank, but the damage had been done.
“Why?” Michael asked, his stunned expression transforming to one of betrayal. He gave Smith an accusing look. “I thought we didn’t pry into each other’s pasts.”
Smith began twisting the cord of his hoodie around and around his finger. “I was looking into Felix Remwald,” he explained. “This has nothing to do with you.”
Michael’s chest rose and fell as his gaze searched all of us for the truth. I got the sense that we’d done something unforgivable…I just didn’t understand what it was.
“Smith traced a million dollars that was paid to the mine foreman,” Graysen told Michael. “It came from a blind trust that Smith linked back to Felix Remwald.”
“And then, Gray remembered that Felix was dead, and so we were just trying to figure out what was going on,” Kaira said quickly.
“What does that massacre have to do with Felix Remwald?” Michael demanded, his voice uncharacteristically harsh.
“He was a teacher at the school,” I said, needing him to know we hadn’t betrayed him.
“No, he wasn’t.” Michael shook his head.
“His name is on the list of faculty and staff casualties,” Smith said.
“Show me a picture of him.”
“Michael, what’s going on?” Yutika asked. Her voice was gentle, but her eyes were wide. She seemed a little afraid of him.
At that moment, I thought we all were.
I glanced back to where I’d left Diego. A curse died before it passed my lips. The heat of his magic and scent of cinnamon were gone. He must have camouflaged himself and disappeared while the rest of us were distracted.
He’d be back, I thought bitterly. He still needed me for the Agent S. And right now, whatever was going on with Michael was more important than Diego.
An image popped up on the wall of a man who looked distinctly like Edwardian Remwald. Felix had the same shrewd, intelligent expression. His black hair was slicked back, and he wore a crisp suit. He had a moustache and a trimmed goatee. With the exception of minor feature differences, I might have mistaken him for his brother.
“He never worked at the school,” Michael said.
“And you know this, how?” Yutika asked carefully, like she already suspected what he was going to say.
The same, awful assumption was growing in my mind, too.
“Because.” Michael swallowed. “That was my school. And I was at that massacre.”
CHAPTER 36
Michael had gone out with Sir Zachary, saying he needed to go for a walk. The rest of us stood in frozen silence as we tried to digest the twin bombshells Michael had thrust on us.
The first was that Michael’s actions in California now made more sense. After what he’d been through, it was a miracle he’d managed to stay sane at all.
The second revelation was that Felix Remwald hadn’t been an employee at the school. That meant either the newspaper had made a mistake, or—
“I guess it’s possible he’s still alive,” Graysen said, tapping his fingers on the table. “He’d be in his sixties now.”
“But there’s nothing,” Smith muttered from behind his laptop screen. “No credit card receipts, no bank accounts…nothing.”
“Remember those receipts in the foreman’s office?” I said. “Maybe Felix sends the foreman out through the mine’s supply shaft to do all his shopping, while he stays hidden in the mine.”
“It’s possible,” Kaira said thoughtfully. “But to stay down in that mine for—”
“Fifteen years,” Smith said.
“I would say no one is nuts enough to do that,” A.J. said, shaking his head. “But these are the Remwalds we’re talking about. They’re a special breed.”
“Okay,” Yutika said, drawing out the word. “But if his brother was alive and just chilling in
the mine all this time, then here’s what I don’t get. Why did Edwardian bother with giving all those clues to Pruwist and the other board members? I get that he had his memory wiped so he could keep everything a secret when he was arrested. But couldn’t his brother just have given him a call later to remind him what he forgot?”
“They probably figured Edwardian would be monitored and his thoughts might not be secure,” Graysen suggested. “Felix would have had no way of knowing when it was safe to reach out to his brother. Edwardian must have thought the only safe route was for him to be the one who made contact after he put the pieces back together.”
Kaira held up a finger. “But that would only make sense if Felix Remwald is actually alive and behind all of this.”
“It doesn’t really make a difference whether he’s alive or not,” I said, feeling antsy. All I could think about was Lilly.
“Kaira.”
The single word came from Oliver.
We turned to Smith’s father, who I was pretty sure we’d all forgotten was even in the room. He marked the spot in his book, closed it carefully, and stood up.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Now?” Kaira asked, still looking like she wanted to punch someone…namely Diego.
Get in line, I wanted to tell her.
“Now,” Oliver agreed. “In your office.”
When Graysen started to follow, Oliver added, “Alone.”
“What’s wrong?” Graysen demanded, looking from Smith’s dad to Kaira.
“Nothing,” Oliver said. He left the kitchen without another word, heading for Kaira and Graysen’s study.
Kaira and Graysen looked at each other. They seemed to have an entire, silent conversation in the space of a few seconds. There was something strangely intimate about it, and I looked away.
“Do you know what this is about?” Kaira asked Smith.
The Techie shook his head.
“Alright, I’ll be right back.” Kaira brushed her hand down Graysen’s back as she stood up.
“So, I guess there’s nothing else to do right now. We’ll enact operation mine take-down in the morning,” Smith said.
“Uh, yeah,” Graysen said. He didn’t even look at Smith. All of his attention was on the hallway where Oliver and Kaira had disappeared. His expression revealed nothing, but his fingers tapped incessantly on the table.
A minute later, Oliver reappeared in the doorway. I couldn’t read anything from his expression.
“She wants you,” he told Graysen before disappearing again.
Graysen was gone without another word.
“What do you think’s going on?” Yutika asked in a hushed voice.
The rest of us exchanged worried looks.
“Okay, all of you,” Ma said, coming over and pursing her lips at the sight of our still-full bowls. I didn’t think I’d have an appetite again until I had Lilly back, and the rest of my friends seemed just as uninterested in food. “You all need to get some sleep before you collapse.” She made a shooing motion with her dish towel.
There was no way I’d ever be able to sleep with tomorrow looming over all of us, but there was no bucking Ma when she was in one of her moods. So, we helped clear the table and headed upstairs.
There was a light on under Kaira and Graysen’s bedroom door, but I couldn’t hear anything that would offer a clue about what had happened. I would have been more worried, but my mind was at capacity for horrible thoughts for the day.
As I mechanically went through my workout routine and got ready for bed, my only lucid thought was that Lilly was alive. Well, that, and the fact that I was going to wring Diego’s neck for using my niece to control me.
Even as fury ate through me, I couldn’t help the niggling guilt that was there, too…that I’d forced his hand because I’d gone back on my word.
But preventing MRP from getting out into the world was worth betraying a single person’s trust.
I idly tossed my phone from hand to hand as I lay in bed. After I’d come down from my initial rage at Diego, my first instinct had been to call Brent and tell him that Lilly was alive. But then I’d remembered what my mom had said about Sarah not surviving. I couldn’t give them false hope. The only thing that would help now would be to get them their daughter back. And I would…or I’d die trying.
A soft knock came at my door.
“Come in,” I called.
I’d learned my lesson from Diego’s unexpected visit the other night and was now fully dressed.
The door cracked open, and Yutika poked her head in. She was wearing flannel pajamas and fuzzy socks.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked before noticing Yutika’s puffy eyes.
“Can I—” Yutika’s voice cracked. “I don’t really want to sleep in our room…alone.”
“C’mere,” I said quickly, flipping back the blanket and scooting over to make room for her.
Yutika settled back against my mountain of pillows and rested her head against my shoulder. For several seconds, we just sat like that. I wasn’t sure what Yutika needed to hear right then, so I kept quiet and waited for her to speak first.
“Michael thinks I’m avoiding him because I can’t cope with the violence of what he did in California.”
I’d assumed the same.
“That’s not it, though,” Yutika continued, nestling deeper under my covers. “I mean, it was shocking and gruesome, but our lives were in danger. He acted to protect us, so I can’t really fault him for that, can I?”
I shook my head, recognizing that Yutika just needed to talk through her feelings without interruption.
“I love him.” Yutika toyed with a loose thread on my blanket. “So much it hurts.” She pressed her hand to her heart.
“I know.” I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. “He loves you, too.”
There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind about Michael’s feelings. He and Yutika might not be as openly affectionate as Kaira and Graysen, but their love was just as obvious. It was there in the way they looked at and spoke to each other, and in the little touches they thought the rest of us didn’t notice.
“It’s not enough though, is it?” Yutika’s gaze searched mine.
“What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.
Yutika wipe away an errant tear.
“I was never cool with him keeping his past so secret, but I thought it was something we could work through. I thought he would come to trust me enough to open up. But he never did.” Yutika scrubbed at her eyes. “I learned more about his past today than in the whole time we’ve been together.”
“I think,” I said carefully, “if I’d been through something like that, I would be doing everything I could to forget. Talking about it would make me relive it over and over again.”
It was why I hadn’t even mentioned Lilly to my friends until I’d been with them for more than a year. And I was a social creature. Michael was much more reserved.
“I understand that,” Yutika said. “That’s what makes this so hard. I’m not mad at him or disgusted or scared. We talked a little while ago, and I told him I didn’t need anything from him this second but that I had to know we could move forward at some point.” She huffed out a breath, making her bangs fly off her face. “I even told him he could write it all down if he didn’t want to talk about it.”
Yutika turned her face away from me as she wiped away more tears. I passed her the tissue box on my nightstand.
Yutika blew her nose loudly before saying, “He said he didn’t want to drag me into that bloody part of his life. He said he couldn’t give me any more of himself than he already had.”
“He’s trying to protect you,” I said, hating that two of my best friends were in pain.
“I get that, too,” she said. “But I realized that, emotionally, we’ve gotten as far as we’re going to get.” She laughed darkly. “I know more about Diego’s history than I do about Michael’s. How messed up is that?”
I started a little a
t the mention of Diego.
Yutika reached for the channel changer and switched on the TV, making it clear she didn’t want to talk any more. We cuddled up together and hunkered down for a marathon of Magic Bachelorette reruns.
“Your bed’s really comfy,” Yutika said half an episode later. She yawned.
Yutika had less appreciation for Magic Bachelorette than A.J. and me.
A few minutes later, her snores cut through the drama unfolding between the bachelorette and her ex-boyfriend, who had shown up unannounced. I lowered the volume but kept the TV on, just in case shutting it off would wake Yutika.
I pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned over, wishing I could fall asleep so quickly. I’d be needing all of my strength in the morning. I closed my eyes and tried to empty my mind.
It was hopeless. Yutika snored like a banshee. She was also a terrible blanket hog.
After about fifteen minutes of watching the clock and shivering, I got up and tiptoed out of the room. There were plenty of spare bedrooms in the house, but I wasn’t tired. I padded downstairs, planning to make hot chocolate and curl up on one of the couches to finish my TV binge session alone.
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one of the Seven with insomnia. Smith, Michael, and A.J. were sitting at the kitchen table. Sir Zachary, who was wearing a doggie bathrobe and had been asleep in one of his extra-fluffy beds, trotted over to greet me.
A.J. and Michael had mugs of coffee in front of them and were talking quietly. Smith was sitting apart from them, a can of grape soda in one hand and his laptop balanced on his knee. His headphones were in and his back was turned to Michael and A.J.
When I glanced at the laptop screen, it was dark. Smith was staring at the blank screen, his gaze unfocused.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen him not doing something on his computer. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I knew better than to try to ask him if he was okay.
Smith shied away from emotions the way most people avoided the flu.
“Is she okay?” Michael asked when he caught sight of me.
I nodded. “Sleeping now.”
Michael let out a sigh and hung his head. A.J. patted his arm and said something too quiet for me to hear. Michael dragged a hand down his face. He looked terrible.
Steel for 5 (Mags & Nats Book 3) Page 25