Starcrossed

by Allie Therin

  Rory choked down any sound and quickly looked out the window, lips firmly shut.

  * * *

  The landscape changed from snow-covered trees and scattered towns to a denser city, with gray snow frozen along the sidewalks and multistory buildings pressing in along the railroad tracks. The deeper they went into the city, the fancier the buildings got, with graceful arches carved over windows and domed peaks on roofs, until the buildings abruptly disappeared, replaced by neighboring trains as they pulled into a big station.

  “Broad Street,” the conductor called from somewhere down the corridor. “Next stop’s Wilmington.”

  Broad Street station. Rory wracked his brain, trying to think how long they’d been on the train and where he might’ve heard that station name. “Are we in Philly?”

  Hyde leaned forward. “Just keep those cuffs covered,” he said, gesturing at the scarf hiding Rory’s hands. “We’re catching another train.”

  The trains were covered by small shelters, a few fire-marked remains of what must’ve been a bigger train shed around them. There were trains on every track and people hurrying every which way, just like New York.

  They took an elevated line out of the station, heading to the moon for all Rory knew. Hyde’s hulking figure was within inches of Rory at all times. His hand would reach out and rest on Rory’s shoulder in a way that would’ve looked easy and friendly to an outsider, but Rory could have sworn he could feel the claws even through the gloves and layers of clothes.

  As the train slowed, huge boats loomed ahead behind the buildings, taller than the train tracks. Not like the sleek, car-sized boat he’d rode in across the Hudson River back to Harry’s house, but the goliaths able to float a whole town’s worth of people across the ocean.

  Rory swallowed.

  They got off the train a couple of blocks before the water and walked to a four-story building. It looked like it had been nice at some point, but now the windows had been broken and then boarded, giving the block an abandoned feel. Hyde grabbed Rory by the biceps and marched him into the building. The lowest floor was a vast open space with concrete floors and bare walls, just as cold inside as it had been outside. There were several doors on the far end and Hyde pulled him that way, opening one door to reveal a small windowless room that might’ve once been an office.

  Hyde shoved him in first. Rory stumbled, half crashing into the wall. He swallowed a grunt, hunching against the wall as Hyde came in, his bulky muscles filling the office and his head nearly brushing the ceiling.

  “Back off, Hyde,” Sebastian snapped, from the doorway. “He’s already in cuffs, we can just gag him.”

  “He’s not going to shout.” Hyde held up a hand and flexed his fingers. “Not while I’m here.”

  Rory narrowed his eyes but didn’t speak.

  “Go secure the place,” said Hyde.

  Sebastian folded his arms.

  “I’m not going to hurt the precious subordinate paranormal,” Hyde said mockingly. “I know he’s valuable. Maybe you should make sure there’s no one else in the building for me to hurt. If Shelley finds them first, they’ll be having nightmares for weeks.”

  Sebastian’s jaw tightened, and he turned and vanished through the doorframe.

  Hyde came closer to Rory, rubbed his own fingers together through the glove. “I saw you flinch when I mentioned Arthur Kenzie.”

  Rory flinched again, before he could stop himself.

  “You’re so soft,” Hyde said derisively. “You think we don’t know you’re connected to the lieutenant? You called him at City Hall. How did you think we found you? Shelley has an excellent memory for the names of her fellow subordinates.”

  “Leave Arthur alone.” Rory was surprised to hear his own voice, darkly furious. But the thought of this asshole anywhere near Arthur—

  Hyde laughed, a cruel bark-like sound that echoed off the concrete. “You have no idea what kind of history Lieutenant Kenzie and I have.”

  Hyde reached for the glove on his left hand, slowly pulling each fingertip to loosen it. “Once upon a time, Lieutenant Kenzie thought he was a hero, charging in to save his paranormal friend from capture by a squadron I’d sent. We lost Ellis Taylor that day, but Kenzie was a fine consolation prize. He had vital information that Baron Zeppler wanted, and I was sent to retrieve it.”

  Hyde slowly pulled off his glove and held up his hand with its claws. “So Kenzie and I had a chat.”

  Rory’s stomach turned over with horror. The scars on Arthur’s chest—

  He was coming off the wall before he’d realized it, fueled by a rage that burned hot as fire.

  Hyde slammed him back into the wall, hard enough to jolt the air from Rory’s lungs. “He told me nothing.” Hyde’s hand gripped Rory’s throat. “With more time, I could have broken Kenzie. But his paranormal friends came blazing in to rescue him and we lost him. And I had to tell the baron.”

  Claws pricked the skin of his neck as Rory struggled for breath. “The baron was unhappy with my failure.” Hyde’s hot, foul breath ghosted Rory’s face. “As punishment, he took my blood to see if it would unlock his relic dagger.”

  He bared his teeth, showing pointed fangs. “I took the name Hyde because I could shift at will. After the relic, my magic was no longer mine to control. The baron took my fully human form away and the blame is on Kenzie.”

  Rory clenched his teeth. “Blame’s on you,” he choked out, glaring up at Hyde. “You shoulda left him alone.”

  Hyde’s nostrils flared. A claw dug in deeper, and Rory felt the wetness of his own blood on his neck.

  “Hyde, stop!” Shelley stepped in through the doorframe, lips pursed. “We are taking him back to the baron and we need him alive.”

  Hyde closed his eyes for a moment. “I am so very tired of you telling me what to do.”

  He let go of Rory’s neck and Rory slumped forward, breathing hard. Hyde took a step toward Shelley. “You go on and on about the baron like a lapdog when he betrayed us all.”

  “What?” Shelley narrowed her eyes. “He sent us here for glory.”

  Hyde laughed, too loud, too mean, the sound unhinged. “You naïve fool.”

  Shelley’s face went red. Sebastian appeared in the doorframe just behind Shelley, his eyes on Hyde.

  “Sebastian’s figured it out. Haven’t you?” Hyde wiggled his claws at him. “He knows why the baron really sent us here.”

  The tension in the air rose a notch. Still catching his breath, Rory shrank into the wall.

  “Think about it, Shelley.” Sebastian leaned against the doorframe. “Baron Zeppler was going to come himself with an entirely different group. At the last second, he pulls out and gives Luther Mansfield false names, sends us in secrecy instead.”

  “Because he values us more!” Shelley jabbed her finger into her own chest. “Because he knows I can lead a team on a mission of this importance.”

  “Oh, please,” said Sebastian. “He sent us here to die.”

  “You heard what that mobster confessed.” Hyde licked his lips. “You heard our ship was nearly drowned. By Gwen.”

  “Zeppler won no matter the outcome,” said Sebastian. “He knew we’d either get the relic for him, or Gwen would succeed and drown us all.”

  Shelley’s face had grown even darker red. “Why would he want us dead?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Sebastian said tightly, as he came into the office, towards Shelley. “He’s only a telepath who can read both of your minds. He must be well aware that Hyde hates him and that your magic has driven you mad as an opium addict.”

  “How dare you—”

  “That lodestone is the only reason you’re lucid right now.” Sebastian ignored Shelley’s squawk to add, “And of course I should have seen that the baron wants me gone. He was never counting on not being able to have my thoughts.”

 
“You two are wrong.” Shelley took a step back, toward the office door. “The baron will hear of your lack of faith when we reach Hamburg.”

  “We’re not going to Germany, you stupid bint,” Hyde snapped. “That ship waiting for us is London bound.”

  “What?” Shelley clutched her chest. “You can’t go back to London. You defected.”

  “I still have contacts. I’ll bring the relic and the subordinate paranormal with me. They’ll forgive me everything.” Hyde sneered. “And I’ll bring that lodestone too.”

  Shelley sucked in a breath, her face murderous. “I won’t have it! I’m sending a telegram right now. The baron will have you dead before sunset, you’ll see!”

  She shoved past Sebastian out into the building just as Hyde roared, his jaw distending and teeth lengthening, his face twisting into its grotesque other form as he lunged for Shelley, faster than any human should move, his claws already extended.

  “Hyde stop!”

  Sebastian’s shout came too late. Rory’s cry was drowned out by Shelley’s far louder one—and then her scream was abruptly cut off by a horrible squelch.

  Rory covered his mouth, the handcuffs stinging his face and bleeding neck as his knees gave out and he slid down the wall to the floor. He curled his legs to his chest and screwed his eyes, trying to cover his ears against the sounds.

  And then it was suddenly terribly silent.

  Rory lifted his head, breath coming in shaky gasps as he looked over at the blood-splattered Hyde and the furious Sebastian.

  “You didn’t have to kill her,” Sebastian said sharply.

  Hyde made an animal snarl that echoed off the walls of the room.

  Rory flinched. Sebastian didn’t. “Go ahead, Mr. Hyde.” He spread his arms in invitation. “That relic may have warped your magic so that I can’t stop you, but I won’t go down without a fight.”

  Hyde stood, and Sebastian wasn’t short but Hyde towered over him. The air began to crackle with Sebastian’s magic, Rory’s skin breaking out in goose bumps as Hyde drew himself up, like he was about to lunge—

  And then he deflated, his beast form receding until he’d returned to mostly human save for the claws and subtle fangs.

  “Thank you,” Sebastian said, voice still sharp. “Shelley was consumed by her dream-reading, harmless enough without the lodestone. You could have just let her be.”

  “Don’t defend her,” Hyde said, lip curling. “She was going to tell Baron Zeppler to kill you and probably ask for a front-row seat. I have better plans. I sent telegrams as soon as we discovered we nearly drowned.”

  Sebastian folded his arms. “Telegrams to London?”

  “Come with me.” Hyde’s voice dropped to a more soothing register, his accent becoming less gravelly and more refined, completely at odds with the blood still smeared on his face. “Come to London, Sebastian.”

  “And why would I?” Sebastian said flatly.

  Hyde bent closer to his level as Rory huddled against the wall and stared. “Because your cousin is still there.”

  Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

  Hyde smiled, wolflike, his fangs fully visible. “The baron didn’t want you, did he? He wanted your cousin. Has it paid off, sacrificing yourself in her place? Has Zeppler helped your family like he promised or are you now a prisoner in his web like the rest of us?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sebastian said tightly.

  “I know all Zeppler will ever do is find a way to ruin you, like he ruined Shelley. Or me. Or Gwen.”

  Sebastian looked away.

  “Ally with me instead,” Hyde said softly. “We’ll take the boy and the relic. A ship departs for London in two hours—we’ll be on it.”

  Sebastian looked at Rory. “Giovacchini is more powerful than he looks. He practically exhales magic with every breath. How are we going to make him cooperate for a week?”

  Hyde’s tongue swept out to lick a stray drop of Shelley’s blood off his lip. Rory choked back vomit.

  “Leave transporting the boy to me,” said Hyde.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Getting anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard from New York would have been faster by train, but Arthur would have had to be certain where he was going, or he could end up blowing past Rory and wasting time trying to find his way back. The roads were hardly in straight lines, so Arthur had tied the compass to his steering wheel with his bow tie and done his best to follow it, pushing his Cadillac’s V-8 as fast as it would go.

  But as the first hour passed with no wavering of the compass’s direction and no sign of Rory and the paranormals, with a churning in his gut, Arthur thought he might now know where he was going. The governor had shut down the ports around New York to search for the murderer. If Hyde wanted an Atlantic-crossing ocean liner to take Rory and a relic back to Germany, and he couldn’t leave from New York or New Jersey, he’d have to have found another port. And if Arthur had to place a bet, he’d be betting on the smaller but perfectly serviceable Port of Philadelphia.

  At Trenton he was forced off the main auto routes to stay on the west side of the Delaware River. It was maddeningly slow going, but the compass needle hadn’t wavered, and Arthur was just going to pray that meant Rory wasn’t being moved.

  * * *

  Hyde had cuffed Rory to the radiator and then disappeared, leaving Rory alone with Sebastian. Rory drew his knees to his chest, making himself an uncomfortable ball next to the radiator as he watched Sebastian lean against the wall. He’d taken off his coat, and underneath he wore a vest and dress shirt, the shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal the tattoo on his wrist.

  “So is it Sebastian or Sebastiano?” Rory said, pronouncing the name in Italian.

  Sebastian glanced at him for a long moment, like he was deciding whether to answer. “Sebastián,” he finally said, emphasizing the final syllable.

  Was that Spanish? He was probably Arthur’s age, and his posture was just as noticeably straight. “I thought Spain didn’t join the war?” Rory said, eyes narrowed. “Did you fight for Baron Zeppler, like Hyde?”

  Sebastian shook his head and said, “American army. My father’s Spanish. I grew up in Puerto Rico.”

  “But you got a cousin in London?”

  “You’re familiar with her work.” When Rory furrowed his brow, Sebastian added, “Isabel paints.”

  Paints? But—Rory’s eyes widened. The paranormal painting at Luther Mansfield’s home that had trapped his mind in its spinning dancers. “How d’you know about that?”

  “We know almost everything that happened that night and on Coney Island. If you didn’t want anyone to find out, you needed to kill the guards instead of letting them run to tell the world what they saw.”

  “I’m not much of a killer,” Rory said tightly.

  “The world is probably lucky for that.” Sebastian turned, enough that he was facing Rory. “Because you’ve got quite a lot more magic than you let on.”

  Rory set his jaw. “Lots of subordinate paranormals have too much magic.”

  “They do. But there are subordinate paranormals, and then there’s you.” Sebastian raised his hand, and Rory’s skin started to prickle. “You don’t fall to my magic.”

  Rory’s skin was starting to prickle. “I don’t even know what your magic is.”

  “Enervation.” At Rory’s blank look, Sebastian added, “I can weaken magic.” He gave Rory a suspicious look. “Most magic.”

  Rory tried not to squirm too obviously. “That’d be a handy power if you were a witch-hunter.”

  Sebastian smiled without humor. “It would, wouldn’t it.” There was something heavier in his tone, but the next moment, Sebastian had dropped his hand, and the prickling sensation disappeared. “Unless it’s a witch like you.”

  “My magic’s not that special,” Rory protested. “I couldn’t e
ven see you in the past.”

  “That’s different. That’s because of this.” He held up his left hand, so Rory could see the swirling tattoo on his inner wrist, intertwining lines of colors over the pulse point. “Isabel’s magic joined with mine. The tattoos act like a whirlpool, trapping magic around me like one of her paintings.”

  Sebastian leaned closer. “But it doesn’t explain why my magic doesn’t weaken yours. You fell to Isa’s painting; what’s strengthened your magic since then?” He cocked his head. “Does it have something to do with how you stopped Gwen’s tidal wave?”

  Rory hunched into the wall. “Who says I did?”

  “Something stopped it. You were the only one on the beach with her when the guards ran away.” Sebastian considered him. “The guard told us you see history. That you scried the amulet Gwen used to move the tide.”

  “You mean, the amulet that’s yours now?” Rory said hotly. “The Zhangs have your cousin’s painting too, you know. Why not steal that back when you stole that amulet relic?”

  He scrunched his nose. “Stole it?”

  “Yeah,” Rory started hotly—and then cut himself off as Hyde’s footsteps echoed just outside the office.

  A moment later, Hyde loomed in the doorframe, hands behind his back. “Ready to earn your keep?”

  Rory huddled against the radiator as Hyde came into the office, brushing past Sebastian. He knelt in front of Rory and held out the box in his hands.

  Rory blanched.

  “You know what this is.” Hyde smiled maniacally. “The pomander relic.”

  Rory stared at the box, sweat beading on his brow. Having the box open at the library over in Midtown had given him a vision all the way on Central Park West and 75th.

  A vision Arthur hadn’t immediately woken up from.

  Hyde ran a claw over the lid of the box with a grating scratch. “Did Sebastian tell you Gwen’s hired hand said you see the past? Did she tell you we believe him?”