by Karen Lynch
There hadn’t been any Fae storms in New York since the big one a few weeks ago. This one had the light display and some electricity, but it was mild compared to the last storm. Thanks to my handy amulet, my feet stayed planted on the ground.
“It’s okay,” Dad called to a young couple standing by a grave a few rows over. “Looks like it’s already moving off.”
I shifted restlessly. He was right that the storm was dissipating, but why did I still feel the magic?
Mom tugged gently on my arm and whispered. “You alright?”
“I don’t know.” I rubbed my arms through my coat sleeves. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
The words had barely left my mouth when the tingling intensified into pins and needles. Mom sucked in a breath, and I followed her gaze to the lights that had appeared in the sky above us. Was this a second storm or the same one?
The light dimmed as if a cloud had blocked out the sun, and my scalp prickled with a new sensation. Dread.
“We need to go.” I grabbed Dad’s arm and started toward the car, pulling him and Mom with me. I would have run, but Mom wasn’t strong enough for that yet.
“Jesse, what is it?” Dad asked.
A loud crackling filled the air, which felt charged with static electricity and made my hair stand on end. The cemetery was suddenly bathed in a purple glow that caused memories of another storm to flash through my mind. Fear threatened to choke me, and all I could think of was getting my parents away from here.
Behind us, someone shouted. A second later, there was a snap followed by a small explosion. We turned to see pieces of black marble spraying out from where a headstone had stood a few dozen yards away.
“My God,” Mom uttered.
Magic surged around me again. Before I could move, a bolt of purple lightning obliterated a statue, sending stone shrapnel in every direction. I watched in horror as a jagged column of electricity scorched the grass and sped away from the destroyed statue.
Toward us.
I spun and grabbed Mom. Throwing her over my shoulder, I ran.
We’d barely gone ten feet when another explosion rocked the air. I pushed Dad to the ground and dropped Mom beside him. Throwing myself on top of them, I tried to shield them with my body as pieces of stone and debris pelted me.
It took a minute for me to register the silence. Rolling off my parents, I lay on the grass and blinked up at the puffy white clouds in the blue sky. My breath came out in ragged pants that had more to do with the adrenaline coursing through me than exertion.
“Jesse!” Dad scrambled over to kneel beside me. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” I gave him a reassuring smile and sat up.
His eyes went to the side of my head, and he frowned. “You’re bleeding. Let me look at it.”
I reached up to gingerly touch my head and realized I’d lost my cap. The area was tender, but there was only a small cut. “It’s nothing. You know head wounds bleed a lot.” I lowered my voice. “And I heal fast.”
“I don’t care. I still want to check it.” He pushed my hand away and examined the cut. “You’ll live.”
I shot him a sideways look. “Told you.”
“Caleb,” Mom said in a choked voice that had the two of us jerking our heads in her direction. She was on her knees, her face a mask of anguish as she stared at what remained of his grave.
I jumped up and ran to the edge of the crater where the tiny grave had been. Shock rippled through me when I saw the fragments of white marble littering the hole. Only a piece of angel wing identified it as the headstone that had stood there minutes ago.
My stomach knotted as I scanned the hole, praying I would not see pieces of the coffin or its contents in the debris. The last thing my mother needed in her fragile state was to see the skeletal remains of the baby she’d buried.
I let out a breath when I couldn’t find any coffin remnants. The crater looked to be about five feet deep. Maybe the lightning hadn’t reached the coffin at all. It was hard to tell with the loose dirt at the bottom.
Something glittered at the far edge of the hole, partially buried beneath a small chunk of marble. I leaned forward for a closer look and frowned when the object refracted the sunlight like a prism. A crystal of some kind?
“Help! Someone, please help!” called a woman’s voice.
I swung my gaze in the direction of the young couple Dad had spoken to. The man lay on the ground, and the woman knelt beside him. Less than ten feet away from them was the remains of a shattered headstone.
Looking behind me, I saw Dad with his arms around Mom. Neither of them appeared injured, and she needed him more than she did me.
I skirted the hole and ran to the couple. The man’s eyes were closed, and a shard of stone protruded from his chest. The woman had her bloody fingers wrapped around the piece of shrapnel, about to pull it out.
I placed my hand over hers to stop her. “No. We can’t move it.” I racked my brain for everything I knew about first aid and looked around for something to staunch the bleeding. Of course, there was nothing because we were in the middle of a cemetery.
Unzipping my coat, I yanked it off. Thankfully, I’d dressed in layers. I pulled my hoodie over my head and used it for padding around the stone shard. I instructed the woman, who told me her name was Julie, to hold the padding in place while I reached for my phone in my coat pocket.
A fortysomething woman hurried toward us. She dropped to her knees beside me, and the first words out of her mouth sent relief washing over me. “I’m a doctor. The paramedics are on the way.”
I stood to give her room to work. Shivering, I pulled on my coat and zipped it up to my chin as I got my first good look at the carnage around me. A statue and three graves, including Caleb’s, had been destroyed. A zigzagging trail of gouges and scorched grass showed the lightning’s path of destruction.
The dozen or so other people in the cemetery had recovered from their own shock and were making their way toward us. We were lucky there hadn’t been more casualties.
The doctor had control of the situation, so I went back to my parents, who now stood at the edge of the hole where Caleb’s grave had been. Mom’s face was ashen, and Dad’s arm was around her shoulders, supporting her.
“He’s… he’s gone.” Her body looked ready to crumple in on itself. I’d seen and endured a lot in the last few months, but nothing gutted me more than seeing my formidable mother so vulnerable.
“We don’t know that,” Dad said softly, his helpless gaze meeting mine. “I don’t think the lightning went that deep.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “He’s right. All I see is bits of headstone.”
She straightened a little. “How could lightning do this? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I have.” As bad as this had been, the storm wasn’t half as strong as the one I’d been in on the ferry. I kept that to myself. I seemed to have the extraordinarily bad luck to always be around when a storm occurred. If not for the fact that they were happening in other cities around the world, I’d be a little paranoid.
The sound of sirens reached us and quickly grew louder. Within minutes, the cemetery was overrun by emergency vehicles and police cars. Mom, Dad, and I talked to a police officer as the injured man was tended to by paramedics and loaded onto a stretcher. I found my cap and covered the blood in my hair so the paramedic who came to check on us wouldn’t see that my head wound was healing already.
We were still talking to the police when half a dozen agents arrived to take command of the situation. Two of them started in our direction, and I scowled when I recognized Agent Daniel Curry. There had to be a hundred agents in this city, yet somehow, I always ended up with this one.
“Agent Curry, good to see you,” said my father, who had no clue about my dealings with the man. As far as my parents knew, Curry had merely been the agent who’d rescued us from Rogin Havas’s basement. I saw no reason to tarnish their good opinion of the agent be
cause I didn’t like him.
“I’m glad to see you both recovered.” Curry smiled and shook their hands, and then he introduced Agent Will Ryan. I’d met Ryan before and liked him despite his partner.
Agent Curry sent the police officer away to question someone else, and then he turned to me. “You seem to have adapted well to your new circumstances.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s not as if I have a choice.”
“I’ve heard it takes months for new faeries to adapt to the iron in a city.” He eyed me shrewdly. “You don’t appear to be bothered by it at all.”
I shrugged. The Agency knew nothing of my goddess stone, and I intended to keep it that way. “We Jameses are very resilient. Look at my parents. They finished their treatment months faster than the doctors said they would.”
Dad smiled at me. “Jesse excels at everything she does.”
“So it would seem.” Agent Curry looked around. “You were all here when the storm hit?”
Mom nodded. “We were visiting our son’s grave, and…” Her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes.
“Your son?” For the first time since I’d met him, Agent Curry’s businesslike mask slipped, revealing his surprise. My guess was his investigation into my parents hadn’t gone that far into their background. When he’d followed me to the cemetery in December, I’d assumed he knew I was visiting my brother’s grave.
“Caleb,” Mom said, recovering her composure. She pointed to the hole a few feet away. “That was his grave.”
Both agents turned to look at what was left of the grave, and Agent Ryan walked over to peer into the hole. “The lightning ended here. Where did it strike first?”
I pointed out the first headstone that had exploded. “The statue was next. After that, we ran and hit the ground.”
“Then we’ll start over there,” Agent Curry said. “I’m glad you’re all okay.”
Dad nodded. “We’re very lucky.”
The agents said their goodbyes and walked off. I watched them go for a moment before I faced my parents. “I’m ready to go home. How about you?”
Mom shook her head. “We have to take care of Caleb’s grave. We can’t leave it like this.”
“The cemetery has people who will do that,” Dad said. “We should get out of their way so they can get to work.”
“You’re right.” She gave the hole one more look and smiled wanly at me. “I don’t feel like going for Thai anymore. How about I make my meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner?”
“Even better.” My stomach let out a loud growl, and Dad laughed. I felt lighter when some of the old spark replaced the sadness in Mom’s eyes.
We headed for our car, which was parked on the now crowded road that cut through the cemetery. There were no less than two ambulances, three fire engines, and half a dozen police cars with their lights flashing. I spotted three shiny black SUVs that must belong to the agents and two news vans.
The police were blocking the media and a small crowd of spectators from entering the scene, so the reporters and their cameramen were forced to record from the road. One of the reporters saw us and started our way, prompting us to pick up our pace. Even Mom was laughing when we reached the car and jumped in.
Dad started the car and maneuvered around the other vehicles, but he had to stop for the people who were in no hurry to move out of the way. We had to wait until a police officer came over to herd them off the road.
A lone figure standing in the shadows beside a tall headstone on the other side of the road caught my eye. At first, I dismissed him as another one of the curious onlookers until I realized his attention was not on the area where the storm had hit. His head was turned slightly, and he was watching us instead.
The sun came out from behind a cloud, bathing the mysterious man in light. My stomach lurched.
It was one of Queen Anwyn’s personal guards.
Chapter 5
I would know that face anywhere. He was one of the two faeries who had warned me to stay away from Prince Rhys.
I stared into his cold eyes, unable to look away until the car started to move again and the faerie disappeared from view. I let out a breath and sank back against the seat, but my heart still beat a rapid tattoo against my ribs.
There was no way his presence here was a coincidence. Was he tailing us to report back to the queen, or did he have a darker reason for being in the cemetery today?
We were halfway home before I calmed my racing mind enough to remember the odd crystal I’d glimpsed in Caleb’s grave. I’d completely forgotten about it after I’d gone to help the injured man. I hadn’t thought much of it when I saw it, but now I had a chilling suspicion it had been put there deliberately. Some Fae crystals could store and generate enough energy to light a room or power an entire building. Could they also be used in other ways? Such as attracting an electrical storm full of Fae magic to a specific location?
I tucked my suddenly cold hands between my thighs. We hadn’t told anyone we were going to Caleb’s grave today, so there was no way the Seelie guard could have known we’d be there. But what if my parents and I hadn’t been the target? What if the queen had seized upon an opportunity to destroy the only physical evidence that could prove my brother was not dead? Us being there when the storm struck would have been a bonus.
I should tell Dad, but the thought of adding to his burdens made me feel sick. He was still recovering from his goren addiction and trying to cope with the truth about Caleb. On top of that, he was helping Mom, who needed him more than ever now.
We stopped for groceries on the way home, and I shivered when we pulled into the exact same spot I’d parked in the day the queen’s guard had warned me to stay away from Prince Rhys. As we left the store, I couldn’t help but scan the parking lot, afraid to find one of them waiting for us.
I was so wound up by the time we parked on our street that I jumped when Dad’s phone rang. He picked it up from the console and hesitated a second before he answered it. I knew something was up when his eyes flicked to me in the rearview mirror before he averted his gaze.
“How did you hear about it so fast? No, the paramedics checked us out. We’re all okay. We just got home.” His voice lowered a notch. “She had a small cut on her head, but it’s probably healed by now. A healer? I don’t think that’s necessary.”
My suspicion about the call morphed into anger as Dad spoke, and the anger quickly boiled into fury. Lukas couldn’t talk to me, but he had no problem calling my father to check up on me. Oh, hell no.
I unhooked my seat belt, nearly ripping it out of the seat, and leaned forward to snatch the phone from Dad. “If you want to know how I’m doing or anything else about me, you ask me.”
The only response was silence from the other end of the line, and that got to me more than anything he could have said.
“That’s what I thought.” I hung up and thrust the phone at my father, who watched me with a mix of concern and admiration. Grabbing the two bags of groceries on the seat beside me, I opened the car door. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”
Mom’s soft laugh cut through some of the tension in the car. “We’ll be up in a few minutes.”
I barely felt the cold as I stalked toward our building. I knew my parents had stayed behind to talk about me, and I didn’t care. I was so over this. Over him.
Letting myself into the apartment, I set the bags on the table and pulled out my phone to text Violet. Let’s go out tomorrow night. Somewhere fun.
Her response was immediate. Who are you, and what are you doing with Jesse’s phone?
Ha, ha. You in?
Her answer was an eyeroll emoji followed by Do you even have to ask?
* * *
“You’re not having fun.” Violet’s mouth turned down in a pout.
“I am.”
Lorelle, Violet’s Fae girlfriend, smiled from across the tall bar table we stood around. “If you don’t like Navi, there are
other clubs we can go to.”
“Navi is great. I was just thinking about something.”
Violet leaned in. “Your mom?”
“Is it that obvious?” I let out a sigh. Today, Dad had gotten word that the storm at the cemetery had completely destroyed Caleb’s coffin. We hadn’t told Mom, but we couldn’t keep it from her forever. The news had put a damper on my plan to go out, and I would have canceled if Dad had let me.
“Your mother is one of the toughest people I know,” Violet said. “She’ll be back to kicking ass in no time.”
I straightened my shoulders. “You’re right.”
“I’m always right.” She waved over a waitress and ordered another round of nonalcoholic drinks for our table. Normally, she’d be drinking some fruity cocktail, but she’d passed on that because Lorelle and I didn’t drink alcohol.
After the waitress returned with our drinks, Violet excused herself to go to the restroom, leaving me alone with Lorelle. Lorelle knew about my conversion, and she’d taken me under her wing tonight when I had confessed I hadn’t been out to a club since becoming a faerie. I wished she wasn’t Seelie because it would have been nice to have at least one female friend in Unseelie when I finally went to court.
I studied Lorelle’s face as she watched Violet walk away, and there was no mistaking the tenderness in her expression. She cared for my best friend as much as Violet did for her. I was happy for Violet, but I was also worried. I couldn’t help but think about Jackson Chase and Princess Nerissa’s tragic story. They’d fallen in love, and it had destroyed them.
“She’s crazy about you,” I said quietly.
“She is unlike anyone I’ve met.” Lorelle swung her gaze to me, and her eyes held a sadness I hadn’t seen there before. “I know what you are thinking. You are afraid she will be hurt when we have to part.”
“Violet seems worldly to people who don’t know her well, but she has a big heart, and she feels things deeply.” I turned more to face Lorelle. “I like you, and I can see you care about her. All I’m asking is for you to try not to hurt her.”