“So do you think that’s why Sheena assaulted you yesterday?” Jeffries went on.
“Maybe,” I said, pulling myself from Peters’s aura. “But that was kinda my fault too.”
“It was?” asked Jeffries.
“I bumped into her.”
“That’s no reason to punch someone though, is it? It’s no excuse.”
“No. Not really.”
“That’s some shiner she gave you,” Peters said, his eyes on my face.
My hand flew to my cheek.
“The fight at school yesterday has been put up on YouTube,” Peters said. “Do you think Sheena had anything to do with that?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe. She likes to cyberbully me too, so why not. But no. I think it was just some jerk from school.”
“Were you upset that it went online?” asked Jeffries.
“Yes, I was upset.”
“Why?” Peters asked. “Were you embarrassed?”
“No. I didn’t want my mom to see it. She’d worry. I also didn’t want to get suspended.”
“Did you?” asked Jeffries.
“Not yet,” I replied.
Jeffries smiled.
Peters took a breath. “Bianca, we noticed in the video you seemed to be saying something to Sheena. What was it?”
“Um, I…can’t really remember.”
“Is that so?” he said, his voice full of suspicion.
Jeffries shot Peters a warning glance. Obviously, he thought Peters’s bad cop impression was a little OTT too. A sigh rippled through Jeffries’s aura and I felt for him. Keeping your alcoholic, emotionally wounded partner in line every day must be exhausting.
“You know,” I said. “Sheena isn’t the only person who ever picked on me. I get teased on a daily basis by so many people I can’t even keep up. Sheena was just the most consistent.”
“I understand,” Jeffries responded. “It’s not easy being different in high school.”
How would he know? Mr. Tall and Handsome sitting across the table looked like he would’ve had a pretty sweet ride through the education system.
“Where did you go after the fight yesterday?” Jeffries went on. “Your school says you were absent after morning recess.”
“I left. I went to my friend Fae’s house until my mom could come get me.”
“And did she?”
“Yes. At about 3:30 p.m. Fae’s mother, Cendrine Seraphine, was there too. You can talk to her if you like.”
“And after that?”
After that, I ran through the forest as a unicorn and battled three Skadhavar. “After that we went home.”
“And stayed home?”
“Yes.”
“Can your mother vouch for your whereabouts between the hours of 9 pm and 7 am?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Well she went to bed early but…” I stopped myself, but the damage was done.
Jeffries’s brow furrowed. Peters raised his eyebrows with a smirk. Jeffries gave a nod.
What the hell was going on here?
Jeffries let out a gentle sigh. “Can anyone else vouch for you?”
Do I mention Sunder? Sunder who doesn’t even have a social security number or a driver’s license? I swallowed. I had a feeling that would not be a great idea. I shook my head. “No.”
Jeffries chewed lip, his logical blue aura carefully calculating: He could not rule me out. “Do you have any idea why Sheena would have been in the Pentacle forest last night?”
“Her friend Elise lives just out of the forest by the school,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “If she was going there she may have been trying to take a short cut.”
“Really?” he said, making a note of it. “Thank you, Bianca, that’s really helpful.”
I smiled.
“One last question. You’ve lived here all your life right?”
“Sure have.”
“Ever see any dangerous creatures in the forest?”
I hesitated. If I said no, I was lying to the police and giving them more reason to suspect that Sheena was killed by a person as opposed to an animal. If I said yes, it would be opening a Pandora’s Box of mayhem, and I had things to do. It was up to me to solve this problem, not them.
My answer was cut off by a jazzy ringtone.
“Sorry,” Peters said, fumbling in his pocket. “Peters,” he barked into his phone. He was quiet for a moment, his face crumpling in confusion. “What?” he said.
Jeffries looked up at him.
“How did it go missing? Jesus H… Are you serious right now? Dragged out of the god damn morgue?”
I leaned into his murky aura.
A bloody trail across a linoleum floor.
Sheena’s body was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“This is much, much worse than I thought,” Sunder said, pacing Cendrine’s living room.
I sat on the couch with a cup of tea in my hand. I took a sip, letting the sweet hot liquid calm my nerves.
“The Skadhavar did not kill her. They turned her. They did this on purpose.”
“But why?” Fae said from my side. “It’s Bee they want. Not Sheena.”
“Exactly,” Sunder went on. “The Skadhavar may appear like rabid beasts, but their minds are sharp.”
I’d heard the Skadhavar speak. They weren’t mindless creatures. They were calculated killers.
“They did this to get closer to Bianca,” Sunder said, coming to a stop.
Fae’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t think Skadhavar Sheena is going to hang out at school in broad daylight, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” Sunder said. He sat down on the arm of the couch. “As I’ve said, the Skadhavar are a virus. When they first turn a being, that being’s immediate response is to find their loved ones and infect them. They are welcomed into the herd but they still have human memories. Human feelings. They miss their friends, their families. Their base instinct is to go home. Or to places they know, like school.” He looked at me. “They may even attempt to seek out people they don’t like. Sheena will not be fully transformed yet. She will be in the Pre-Skad stage; she will appear mostly human, though aggressive and venomous.”
I remembered Sophós, Sunder’s beloved teacher. The way his body had started to change; black venom dripping from his mouth. How he’d forced Sunder to keep away from him.
Back, boy! We can’t lose you too!
I swallowed hard. I thought of Sheena, going off in search of her loved ones. Seeking out her family to infect them. Her mother. Her sister. Her father. The father who abused her mother, making Sheena into a cruel and broken person.
Agent Peters’s voice replayed in my head: Her father’s in town at the moment. He’s very upset, as you can imagine.
Sheena wouldn’t go to school. She’d go home. To him.
“Right now,” Sunder said, getting to his feet, “we must find Sheena before she infects anyone. My guess is that she’ll be looking for you, Bianca. She’ll go to school. Then who knows what could happen. We—”
“No,” I said. “I know where she’ll go. You said that Skadhavar hunt out family. Well, what about a family member that also happens to be your biggest enemy? Sheena’s father is violent. He hurts her mother. Maybe Sheena and her sister too. I saw it.”
“That makes sense,” Fae said. “After all, Sheena was in the forest because her dad went crazy after she got suspended. It’s kinda his fault she got turned.”
“We need to find her before she finds him,” Sunder said. “If she turns anyone else then we may lose control of the town.”
“How exactly are we going to fight her off?” I asked. “You said yourself I’m not ready.”
He looked to Fae. “How is your glow these day
s?”
Fae bit her lip. “I haven’t used it in years.”
Sunder’s face fell.
“Wait, what’s a glow?” I asked, looking from Fae to Sunder.
“I’m sorry, Sunder,” Fae said, her eyes on the floor. “I couldn’t control it. I kept setting everything on fire. I had to go to a psychologist for child pyromaniacs! I almost burned down the whole house.”
“Your pyro phase?” I said. “I remember that…”
“It was just easier to stop using it. I don’t even know if I can summon it anymore.”
“Well Fae,” Sunder went on. “You’re going to have to try. Right now.”
Reluctantly, Fae stood up. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, holding her hands in prayer. Her gold aura flickered with light. Slowly she took her hands apart. Between her palms was a tiny ball of light.
“What the…?” I mumbled.
Sunder looked at me, pressing his index finger to his lips.
Fae stared at the tiny ball of light and slowly moved her hands apart. The ball sparked and fizzled out. Fae groaned and dropped her hands.
“Try again,” Sunder said.
Fae repeated the process a few more times. Finally, she was able to hold the tiny ball of light in place. As she moved her hands further apart, the ball grew larger. Then, she twisted it, breaking the ball in two. She raised her hands, turning her palms upwards, a glowing ball of light hovered above each one. She smiled.
“Magnificent!” Sunder beamed at her.
I felt a tiny pang of jealousy in my gut. All I’d managed to do was take advantage of him in my mind.
“Look, Bee!” Fae sang, a wide grin on her face. “I did it!” Her aura bloomed, seeking my approval.
A few days ago Fae was simply my semi-famous best friend who made videos about makeup. Today she was a fireball-producing faerie in charge of keeping me, the unicorn, tamed. I smiled back at her.
Fae’s eyes were still on me when a fireball fell from her hand, landing with a hiss on the wooden floor. “Oh no!” she yelled. Fae stomped at it with her socked foot, still holding the other fireball over her head. As she hopped around, the remaining fireball jumped from her hand and hit the drapes, setting them alight.
I grabbed a woolen throw from the couch. Sunder ran to the kitchen and filled a large pot with water.
“Watch out!” called Sunder. He hurled the load of water towards the drapes. With a loud sizzling hiss, the fire died.
I took in the damage. The room was full of smoke. The floorboards were scorched. I looked up at the drapes. The once-beautiful cream-colored drapes were a blackened mess of rags. There was no saving them.
Fae followed my gaze then let out a wail. “Nooo! Cendrine’s going to kill me! She got those drapes hand made in Paris!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I can’t believe you never told me you could make fireballs with your hands,” I said, squeezing soapy water from a sponge and bringing it down to meet the charred floor. “I seriously believed you were a childhood arsonist.”
Fae stopped scrubbing and sat back on her heels. “I know, Bee. I’m sorry.” She chewed her lip for a moment, then went on. “I wanted to talk to you about it so bad. It was awful keeping it a secret from you. Do you have any idea how hard it was trying not to set everything on fire? Having to pretend I was some weird pyro kid?”
I shook my head.
“I had to keep matches on me at all times as a cover. That way at least they’d know how I started the fires. It was a stressful time. Child protective services got involved. Honestly, I think Cendrine was almost at her wit’s end. Thank god for Veronica. I gotta say, your mom was a lifesaver.
“She was?”
Fae nodded. “She was great at helping me calm my mind. The more I worried about starting fires, the less I could control it. Veronica taught me how to refocus my mind. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
My jaw tightened. My own mother had known all about Fae’s fire problem and hadn’t told me. I wondered what else she and Fae had shared that I didn’t know about.
I stopped scrubbing. “I don’t think this is going to get much better.”
Fae cringed at the floor.
I shrugged. “I’m sure Cendrine will understand.”
“Maybe I’ll buy a rug.”
“You’re a faerie,” I said. “Surely you know some kinda distraction spell or whatever?”
A series of loud thumps came from overhead. My eyes darted to the ceiling above. “You think he’ll find it?” I asked Fae, who was still pouting at the ruined floor.
“I’d say so. It’s been up there for as long as I can remember. I used to try and prise it open for fun. Never budged.”
The thumping traveled down the stairs. Sunder reappeared in the doorway hauling a large wooden chest behind him; it filled the room with the energy of oak and time. Symbols I didn’t recognize decorated the wood, twisting elegantly around the lid.
“You found it!” Fae cheered.
“I did. Somehow. It’s like a fortress up there.” Sunder came to stop in the living room and rolled up his shirt sleeves.
Fae laughed. “It’s like an ‘other realm storage center’ in our attic. Cendrine stores things for everyone, and it’s getting out of hand. There’s even an old cauldron up there somewhere.”
Sunder wiped his hand across the lid, then clapped his hands together, sending a shower of dust into the air.
The chest was bound with two leather straps and sealed with a large brass buckle. Sunder undid the leather straps, unthreading them carefully, then he moved on to the buckle.
“Wait!” called Fae.
Sunder looked up.
“I need to see this! Do you have any idea how long I tried to open that thing? I swear it’s fused together.”
Sunder chuckled. “It’s not fused. It opens just fine.” He placed a finger to the buckle. The metal fastening flicked open instantly. “You just have to be me.”
“Wow,” Fae said. “Fingerprint I.D. Just like an iPhone.”
Sunder lifted the lid slowly, cautiously, like its contents could be dangerous. Then his face softened. “It’s been so long,” he said as he placed his hands inside and brought out a small hunting bow. It lay flat across his palms, no bigger than a harmonica.
“Really?” I said with a laugh.
Sunder looked up at me.
“It’s just, I thought it would be bigger.”
Sunder grinned, then looked down at the bow. Slowly, before my eyes, it started to grow.
Bigger and bigger until it was almost as tall as him.
“What the…” Even though I’d just witnessed Fae produce fireballs from her hands, this was remarkable.
Sunder chuckled and smiled at me. “Compacting charm,” he said. “Saves space.”
“Oh,” I said. “How practical.”
“To be honest, I’d forgotten I’d used it.” He laughed again. “I was as surprised as you when I found that tiny bow in there.” He held it up in front of him with a straight arm. With the other hand, he drew the string towards his nose, cocking his elbow at a forty-five-degree angle. “Hello old friend,” he said quietly.
Sunder lifted a small leather quiver from the box. “Ah,” he said. “Arrows.”
Once again, he laid the quiver on his palms and focused on it. It, too, grew much bigger. He pulled the cap from the quiver and multiple arrows with colorful tips poked out. He lifted one, brought it up to his nose, and inhaled.
“Ah, savage sycamore and phoenix feather. A quick and lethal combination.”
“Phoenix feather?”
“Don’t worry, they give them willingly. Before they burn and turn to dust, their feathers are harvested—they have many uses. When the birds regenerate from the ash, they’re reborn with a full new set.�
�
“Now that’s a sustainable business model!” Fae said with a grin.
“Ah of course,” Sunder said, lifting up a small baton.
“Does this one grow too?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Yes. But not in the way you think.” He stood up and with a deft movement, flicked the baton. Suddenly it was not a baton anymore but a long spear, with sharp-pointed tip. Just like the spear I’d seen him using in the vision he’d sent me.
The last thing he took from the box was a thick leather belt. He strapped it around his waist and secured it at the front. The buckle was large and bronze and it held more intricate engravings. He compacted the spear again and secured it to his belt on a loop. He slid an arm and head into a strap on the quiver and turned to face us, holding his bow. He looked like someone fresh out of Middle Earth.
“Well, hello, Legolas!” I said.
Fae and I erupted into laughter.
He squinted back at us blankly. “Who is this Legolas?”
“Really?” Fae managed. “You haven’t heard of Legolas?”
“You know,” I said, swallowing my laughter. “The archer from Lord of the Rings?”
“No, I do not know,” Sunder replied, clearly unimpressed. “We need to leave. The quicker we get to Sheena’s house, the more chance we have of preventing her from turning her father or her whole family.”
I thought of Sheena turning her father. If anyone deserved to be turned into one of those horrible things it was him. But one more Skadhavar meant one more I would have to kill.
“Here.” Fae handed me my phone. “Not fully charged, but better than nothing.”
“Thanks.” I took it from her. I held down the ‘on’ button, and after a moment multiple alerts filled the screen. Most of them were obsolete: a text from my mom telling me she was going into work after all, another asking me to call her urgently, and one from Fae telling me to come over after the police interview. The last text was from an unknown number. I thumbed it and the message filled the screen.
Hey Bianca, Caleb here. You still on for the prom? I know things have been crazy lately, but I’d still really like to go with you.
Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1) Page 13