Only the Lost

by Amanda M. Lee

  She slid him a sidelong look. “We’ve already talked about this. You agreed it was unfair to keep me locked away from the action. You said ... .”

  He shook his head to cut her off. “I know what I said, but I’ve changed my mind. You’re on house arrest again.”

  “Oh, that’s big talk,” Braden challenged. “We both know you won’t be able to back it up. You can’t keep her locked away from this. It’s not fair and it’s going to blow up in your face.”

  “It is,” Aisling agreed.

  “I don’t care.” Griffin looked determined. “Dealing with the idea of you dying is enough to cripple me. The thought of losing your soul forever ... no.” He fervently shook his head. “I won’t risk that for anything.”

  “You don’t have a choice.” Aisling was matter-of-fact. “I can’t turn away from this. You know that. If the revenants get a foothold, it won’t only be me in danger. It will be Lily. We have to stop them now or risk losing everything.”

  “Oh, good grief.” Griffin rubbed his forehead. “You just said that because you know I can’t argue with you.”

  “Oh, if only that were true.” She flashed him a smile. “It’ll be okay. I took one down with a real estate sign. It’ll be much easier with a sword.”

  Griffin didn’t look convinced. “I want you to have backup at all times. No going at this alone.”

  “Deal.”

  I sighed in relief when it appeared a potential fight had been headed off. When I turned to Braden, though, I found him watching me with somber eyes. I knew what he was thinking.

  “I can’t make that promise,” I offered. “I will do my absolute best to have backup, but I can’t promise not to go after them if I see an opening. You have to realize that.”

  “I do.” He forced a smile that didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. “We’ll figure it out.”

  That’s as close as we were going to get to compromise. “We will. But now I want to eat my weight in ice cream and then get some sleep. I’m officially exhausted.”

  He winked. “Your wish is my command.”

  WHEN I WOKE IN HIS bed the next morning he was already conscious and watching me. His expression was contemplative.

  “Oh, don’t be a pain,” I complained, groaning as I stretched my arms over my head. “I don’t want to start the day with a fight.”

  “I have no intention of picking a fight.” He was sincere. “I was just ... thinking.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what he was thinking about, but I asked the obvious question. “About what?”

  “You.” A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. “You’re kind of pretty ... and I’m kind of fond of you.”

  “Kind of?”

  “Just a little bit.” He held his index finger and thumb about an inch apart. “It’s not out of control or anything.”

  I didn’t believe that. He felt the same way about me as I did about him. I knew, because he often couldn’t control the rush of emotions that overtook him at the oddest of times, and I felt the same things he did because we were connected on an emotional level.

  “I’m kind of fond of you, too.”

  “I know.” The words were delivered with equal parts charm and ego. “I’m the sort of guy you can’t help but be fond of.”

  “You’re ... something.” I stretched again, taking a moment to feel each muscle. Surprisingly, I wasn’t sore. I didn’t feel as much as a twinge. “We need to talk to your father and come up with a plan for fighting the revenants. We should be able to take them. I mean ... Aisling, Paris and I were outnumbered. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as it could’ve been. We weren’t at risk of dying.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” he acknowledged, his fingers linking with mine under the covers. “Reaper guards aren’t trained for heavy combat. We have special teams trained for things like that, don’t get me wrong, but the guards weren’t helpless. They should’ve at least put up a fight.”

  I thought about what I’d seen in the vision. “I don’t think they were expecting what happened. They didn’t see the danger until it was directly on top of them.”

  “That’s the same thing that happened to the guards outside the hospital wing.”

  I shifted to stare at his face. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know.” His jaw was stubbled with a night’s worth of growth and he looked criminally handsome. Seriously, nobody had the right to look that good so early in the morning. It made my heart roll in pleasure ... and my brain start chiding my hormones for picking now to become active. “Have we considered that they can somehow camouflage themselves?”

  It was an interesting notion. “We saw the revenants right after they rose ... or whatever it is they did. I have no idea where they were hiding. We searched that house, and there’s no way they managed to hide from us in each location. That means they were somehow hiding in another way … perhaps even underground.

  “When we saw the revenants, they looked exactly like Ray Smith did the night we took him down,” I continued. “They weren’t hiding anything and they came straight for us.”

  “Well, that would seem to indicate they can’t change their appearances ... except we know they can. They looked like normal humans when they appeared on our side of the gate. They only changed after.

  “For Ray, it was after he died. For the others, they didn’t die as far as we know. Perhaps it’s possible one of them was injured in a fight, but there’s no way all five of them went down.”

  “I didn’t really think of that, but you’re right. Maybe it wasn’t about Ray’s death at all. Maybe there was some sort of trigger built into each man.”

  “But why? Why were they taken in the first place? How did the revenants manage it? Why did they take only the one group of men?”

  Something occurred to me. “Maybe it wasn’t only one group of men. Maybe it was multiple groups of men at different locations. I mean ... think about it.” I was starting to get excited as a specific idea built in my head. “What happened to the cadets here wasn’t common knowledge. What if each location had a similar incident around the same time and they opted to keep it to themselves?”

  “That sounds like a pretty large conspiracy.”

  “It doesn’t have to be. Reapers are naturally secretive. What if each location kept it quiet?”

  “But we don’t know that it happened at different gates. That’s all supposition at this point.”

  “Do you think there’s a way we can find out?”

  “Only one that I can think of.” He cast me a sidelong look. “We’ll need Dad to call in a few favors.”

  “Will he do that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “So ... what are we waiting for?” I moved to climb out the bed, but he stopped me with a wicked gleam in his eye.

  “Breakfast is still an hour away,” he pointed out. “We have a little time to burn.”

  I knew how he planned to burn it. “Seriously? We’re dealing with life and death here.”

  “An hour won’t change that.”

  I sighed. “Okay, but if we get yelled at by your father for being late I’m totally going to blame you.”

  “I can live with that.”

  MOST OF THE FAMILY WAS GROUPED around the dining room table when we finally made our way downstairs. We were only three minutes late, but since Cormack prided himself on timeliness I wasn’t surprised by the glare on his face when we headed toward our usual seats.

  “I’m so glad you could join us,” he drawled. “I hope this potential apocalypse didn’t cut into your play time.”

  “We’re good,” Braden replied dryly. He was used to his father’s attitude and clearly didn’t care if he was upset. “What’s for breakfast?”

  “It’s a normal breakfast,” Aisling announced, morose. She looked as if someone had kicked her dog for no good reason. “It’s just simple stuff ... eggs and corned beef hash. There’s not even any biscuits and gravy.”


  I found her reaction humorous, bordering on ridiculous. Braden, however, was equally upset. “No way.” He shook his head and glared at his father. “Why don’t we have a waffle bar? Or pancake bar?”

  “Or omelet bar?” Aisling whined. “You know I could eat from the omelet bar seven days a week. That’s my favorite.”

  “I hate to agree with my wife, especially over something so frivolous,” Griffin interjected.

  “But you will,” Cormack muttered.

  “An omelet bar would’ve been good this morning,” he argued. “I mean ... we’ll all be fighting monsters and stuff to save the world. We could use the protein.”

  “And you can have protein in regular eggs.” Cormack was firm. “Given how some of you behaved yesterday, punishment is still in effect. Since I expected two of you — and you know who you are, Griffin and Braden — to exert some control over this situation, you’re being punished as well.”

  “What about the rest of us?” Redmond complained. “I don’t have a girlfriend. Cillian’s girlfriend always behaves herself. As for Jerry ... he’s annoying but never puts himself in danger. Why are we being punished along with the bad ones?”

  “You laughed and encouraged the bad behavior.”

  “We always do that. We’ve never been in trouble for it before.”

  “Well, times change.” Cormack sipped his juice. I could practically see the glee wafting through his mind. He was enjoying himself, which only proved his children picked up the majority of their behavioral cues from him. It really was a distressing display.

  “Well, this blows,” Redmond complained as the kitchen staff started delivering platters to the table.

  Everything looked and smelled delicious, and I immediately dug into the corned beef hash. “My grandfather used to make this when I was a kid,” I offered, grinning as I reached for the egg platter. “We didn’t have much money so we had to make do. We could make a meal out of corned beef hash and eggs — sometimes three times a day — for only a couple of dollars.”

  Instead of being charmed by the story, Aisling shot me a withering look. “I hate it when you say stuff like that. It makes the rest of us look entitled.”

  “You are entitled,” Griffin shot back, his plate heaped with food. “There’s nothing wrong with a normal breakfast every now and again. It makes you appreciate the special breakfasts even more.”

  Her eyes were dangerous lavender slits. “I’m done talking to you this morning if you’re going to say things like that.”

  “Okay.” He patted her knee under the table and glanced around the table. “Speaking of people who enable Aisling on the breakfast front, where is Jerry?”

  “He’s already at work,” Aidan volunteered. “He has a big wedding coming up — it’s for a prominent family and means a lot of money for our honeymoon fund — and he refuses to work from here. Dad arranged for two men to watch him, but Jerry doesn’t know that. He thinks he’s safe simply because he watched ninja movies when he was a kid.”

  Cormack smirked. “He is safe. The odds of these creatures even knowing about Jerry are slim. The guards are simply a precaution. He’ll be fine.

  “It’s the rest of us who have to be careful,” Cormack continued. “With that in mind, I don’t want anybody alone. Everyone is working in teams. If you even think about arguing with me, you’re in trouble.” His eyes were on Aisling when he delivered the last line.

  “I’m fine working with a partner,” Aisling offered. She’d finally started adding food to her plate. She waited long enough to see if her father was playing a cruel joke on her and then gave in. Apparently her hunger was greater than her mouth ... which was saying something. “I want to pick my partner, though. I don’t want to work with Braden.”

  Braden sneered at her. “Right back at you.”

  “You’re not working with Braden,” Cormack confirmed.

  “That’s good. I don’t want to work with Cillian either.”

  “Hey!” Cillian shot her a look. They were close in a way the other Grimlock siblings couldn’t claim. It was a quiet closeness. When either of them needed some downtime, they went to each other. It was an interesting relationship. “I can’t believe you just said that to me. I’m supposed to be your favorite.”

  “I’m her favorite,” Redmond countered.

  “No, I’m her favorite,” Aidan snapped. “We shared a womb together. It doesn’t get closer than that.”

  Griffin cleared his throat. “I’m her favorite. I believe I’ve already stated that multiple times. And, if I have a vote, I would prefer she be paired with Cillian. He’ll be researching in the library all day and that’s a perfectly reasonable job for Aisling.”

  “Under normal circumstances, I’d agree,” Cormack replied. “I don’t want her at headquarters. I think it’s unlikely that the revenants would return there, but you never know. Besides, I have a meeting with Renley this morning and it might get loud. I don’t want her there in case it also gets ugly.”

  “Okay. Then where is she going?”

  “Well, I’ve given it a great deal of thought and come up with a plan. Aisling is going to Belle Isle with Izzy and Cillian. There’s a library there and they can all conduct research between normal gate duties.”

  Griffin balked. “I don’t think the gate is safe.”

  “It’s as safe as anything right now.”

  He didn’t look convinced. “No. I don’t want her on that island.”

  Perhaps it was because Griffin was setting his foot down. Perhaps it was because her father sounded so sure of himself and she owed him a morning free of strife. I couldn’t be entirely sure. Aisling’s motivations were often murky, including now. That’s why I was instantly suspicious when she started talking.

  “I’ll go to the island and do research,” she said, pinning Griffin with a death glare. “I want to do my part to help. Don’t bother arguing, Griffin. It’s already decided. I’m going to the island.”

  He stared at her for what felt like forever and then nodded before reaching for his coffee. “Good enough.”

  I was expecting more of a fight. Apparently, so was Aisling.

  “Wait a second ... .” Suspicion lit her face. “What just happened here? You guys planned that, didn’t you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Griffin averted his gaze and focused on his father-in-law. “What are you talking to Renley about?”

  “Secrets,” Cormack replied, grim. “There are far too many of them regarding what happened at the gate. I want to know exactly what happened sixty years ago and why it was covered up.”

  That was a relief. I thought we were going to have to push him into questioning his boss. “You also might want to ask if there’s any reason to believe similar incidents happened at other gates,” I volunteered. “It’s just an idea, but I’m starting to wonder.”

  Cormack’s eyebrows drew together. “You’re starting to wonder what?”

  “If the revenants had this planned, why focus on Detroit? Doesn’t it make more sense to set things in motion at each gate?”

  He shifted in his chair and I could hear the gears of his mind working behind his eyes. “I didn’t consider that, but you’re absolutely right. Enacting something like this in one location is folly. It has a better chance of working if multiple locations are under attack at the same time.”

  “Would Renley tell you if that were the case?” Griffin queried. “I mean ... will he be open with you?”

  “He’d better be. My family is at risk. I don’t care how he wants to handle things. From here on out, they’ll be done to my liking.”

  “Kind of like how you tricked me into doing research today,” Aisling groused. “Everything is coming up roses for you right now.”

  “Suck it up.” It was clear Cormack had no sympathy for her plight. “You’re going to be in the safest location we can arrange, and you volunteered for it.”

  “Only because you tricked me by using my own husband ag
ainst me.”

  “You’ll be smarter next time.” Cormack’s grin was charming as he slid his gaze to me. “It’s going to be a long day for you, but that’s your penance for allowing her to manipulate you. I have a feeling you’ll learn quickly from here on out.”

  I had a feeling he was right.

  Twenty-Two

  Cillian sent Aisling and me ahead. He promised to join us as soon as he collected a few books — something he had to carry out at reaper headquarters — which meant I would be traveling with Aisling.

  Alone.

  “I like your sister, but I think I’ve had my fill of bonding with her for the week,” I explained to Braden as we said our goodbyes in the driveway.

  He chuckled as he stroked my hair. “She’s a lot of work,” he agreed. “But she’s not always terrible. She’s actually fairly good in a crisis.”

  I studied him for a beat. His relationship with his sister was always a curiosity. They’d been at odds for a long time. Cormack once told me it was because they were the most alike, although he added that Braden, who was unnaturally attached to his mother, struggled the most after his mother died. Aisling did, too, in a way. As the lone girl, she’d lost the only other female in the house and it was difficult.

  Maxine filled in a lot of the story for me. She was involved in the final battle, at least on the periphery. She helped the soul of Lily Grimlock return to fight for her children. She had the inside scoop, so to speak.

  I didn’t know much. I knew that Aisling was taken by the thing that wore her mother’s face, that plans were in place for that thing to steal Aisling’s body (it was the only way for it to become whole again) and that the Grimlock males arrived as a group to fight. Aisling was pretty much in control of her destiny at that point, thanks to the return of her real mother, and she took off after the evil version. Braden followed.

  I wasn’t aware of the specifics of the battle. No one wanted to go into that much detail, and I couldn’t blame them. At some point, Braden was in danger. One of the balconies in the abandoned theater they were fighting in gave way and he was at risk of falling to his death. Aisling put herself in danger to save him. She held on even as the Lily creature begged to be saved over her son. Aisling ignored her pleas, and with the help of her father and brothers managed to save Braden.