Grave War

by Price, Kalayna

  A car horn sounded behind me. Apparently I’d been sitting too long. At least that meant the light was green. I flipped on my blinker, pulling forward.

  “Well, I guess I’m off to talk to your master,” I said to the cat, who was still swishing her tail. “Since you’re here, I assume that means he’s expecting me, at least.”

  The cat cocked her featureless head as I pulled into the turn, heading toward my father’s mansion. Then she launched herself at the dash of my car. The rearview mirror was gone—Tem had crushed it before hurling it from the car earlier—so the cat melted into the front windshield instead.

  Shadows spread like ink across the glass, blacking out the world beyond. I slammed on my brakes as the visibility through the glass turned to nothing, which, considering I was only partially using my eyes to see, might not have been that bad, but whatever communication spell coated the glass with the cat’s shadow also blocked my mind’s ability to perceive the road through it.

  “I didn’t mean right now, you crazy cat!”

  The darkness only deepened and another horn sounded behind me. I was still in the middle of the intersection, halfway through my turn. I released the brakes, letting the car roll forward.

  A face appeared in my windshield, tilted, oddly distorted, and very concerned. Make that two very concerned faces.

  “Alex, are you okay? Where are you?” Falin said.

  “Driving!” Or trying to. I hit my window button, rolling it down so I could look out at where I was going. Because this hadn’t been hard enough before I had two fae royals blocking the road.

  “You need to get to the pocket of Faerie,” Dugan said, and I nodded, angling my car toward the shoulder.

  “That’s where I was headed. If I don’t get in a wreck on the way.”

  “Are you driving at night?” Falin asked, concern thick in his voice.

  “Yes. And you two need to get out of my window so I don’t crash.”

  Dugan didn’t waste time with good-byes. He and Falin vanished, the shadows dispersing so that I could see through the front windshield again. That was good; now I was back to just the problem that I had to navigate Nekros while peering through the planes.

  * * *

  * * *

  The drive was excruciating, and I was shaking with adrenal fatigue by the time I pulled into my father’s driveway. I wasn’t sure how many traffic laws I’d violated during the fifteen-minute drive, but I hadn’t killed anyone, wrecked my car, or gotten pulled over by the cops, so I was counting it as a win. It definitely wasn’t an experience I wanted to have ever again.

  Of course, now that I’d reached my father’s, I had a new obstacle: I had to find a way inside. Earlier, there’d been a chance I could have talked my way in before his security or staff was informed about his disappearance. But, unless he’d reappeared while I was being held in Ryese’s circle, he’d been gone for hours now. It was almost a guarantee that everyone on the premises knew about his disappearance. They’d likely also been informed that an FIB agent had been his last visitor before he’d vanished.

  I glanced at the huge electronic gate stretching across the front drive, an eight-foot wall on either side of it. I tried to imagine myself sneaking around to some dark corner of the property and scaling the wall, and I just couldn’t. I was too damn tired for that. I’d been held captive for most of the day, my magic being drained out of me; I’d fought and run, and just navigated through pure madness to get this far. I wasn’t an action hero who could bound over walls.

  I hit the button on the intercom.

  After a few moments a scratchy voice said, “State your name and purpose.”

  There was almost certainly an APB for FIB special agent Alex Craft circulating. Most likely security here had been warned as well. But I did have another name, one that would have a lot more sway in this house, even if I’d had it legally changed as soon as I’d turned eighteen.

  “Alexis Caine,” I said, the name rolling off my tongue despite not using it in years. “I’d like to see my sister.”

  * * *

  * * *

  Security left me waiting at the gate long enough that I started to get twitchy. Had Casey refused my visit? Or was security actively calling the cops? I was the unacknowledged child, but I knew for a fact that my father had my real name on an approved list somewhere. My relationship with Casey was complicated, though, to say the least. She might not be my best ticket into the house.

  We’d never been particularly close. She’d been a young child when our father had shipped me off to boarding school because I couldn’t hide my grave magic. I’d come home during summer breaks, but I’d always been closer to my older brother, not Casey. After he’d disappeared, well, she just became the symbol of everything I wasn’t. She was the pretty, perfect daughter my father kept, while I was the one with wyrd magic who he’d hidden away. It wasn’t that we disliked each other, we just led very different lives that had little reason to intersect. She hadn’t started actively avoiding me until after the events under the Blood Moon when she’d nearly been sacrificed by a psychopath. I’d been the one to stop him and save her, but now I was a reminder of that night. I hadn’t thought she’d refuse to see me, though.

  Of course, it was possible she hadn’t even been told I was here. Maybe my license plate had been run as soon as I’d pulled onto the property and security was only going through the motions.

  I was putting my car in reverse, about to get the hell out of Dodge and try to come up with some other way of reaching the pocket of Faerie—not that I had any idea how I’d accomplish that task—when a sharp buzz sounded. With a whirl of gears, the gate rolled open. I eyed the now clear path. So my sister hadn’t refused my visit? Or was SWAT en route and security was trying to keep me on the premises until they arrived?

  “I can’t be skeptical of everything,” I muttered to myself, as I let the car roll forward. And I needed inside that house. The shadow cat had returned to the shadow realm after opening the connection in my window. I was sure Dugan would send her back if I didn’t get to the pocket of Faerie soon, but I’d rather avoid any more makeshift communication attempts.

  The gate shut behind me, and I cringed with the sound of it locking into place. I was committed now. No easy way out. I just hoped I would find Casey waiting for me, not a small battalion of security guards.

  It was with more than a little trepidation that I parked and made my way up the front steps. A butler met me at the front door, which I took as a positive sign. Even better, he led me to a small drawing room off the front foyer.

  “Miss Casey will be around shortly,” he said, gesturing toward an ornate, but uncomfortable, love seat in the center of the room. “Would you care for some refreshments?”

  I didn’t intend my meeting with Casey to take long, I’d simply needed an excuse to get into the house. I’d probably also need her permission to get upstairs and to the warded and locked suite that now contained a pocket of Faerie. But, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it had been a very long day.

  “Refreshments would be amazing,” I said, my stomach rumbling at the thought of food.

  He gave a small nod and then let himself out of the room, leaving me inside alone. I didn’t sit in the seat he’d indicated, but paced as I waited. The seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, and I fidgeted looking toward the door. Maybe I should try to sneak upstairs and skip seeing Casey at all. Of course, if I did that, there would be quite an uproar and security would be searching the house as soon as someone discovered I’d left this room. I could wait a few more minutes for Casey.

  I continued pacing, walking faster as the seconds ticked by. There was a large mirror over the unlit fireplace, and I caught my reflection as I passed it. Then I stopped, wincing as I turned to study my face closer.

  I had seen a lot of my reflection over the last few hours, but my grime-streaked face a
nd curls caked to the side of my head looked a whole lot worse in this pristine sitting room than they had under the harsh lights of the stone room where I’d been held. The butler was clearly worth every penny my father was paying him because he hadn’t even blinked at my appearance.

  I was scrubbing at the gray smudges on my cheek when the door finally opened and Casey walked into the room.

  “Alexis, what is going on?” she demanded before the door fully closed behind her. Then her eyes landed on me and she stopped, whatever sharp words were on her tongue stalling. “Are you okay?”

  I dropped my hand, giving up the futile attempt at not looking like I’d just been dragged through a war zone. Casey, of course, looked perfect.

  She always dressed like she’d just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine, and today was no different, though the neckline of her blouse was perhaps higher than it would have been in years past and I could feel the tingle of magic from the concealment charms she wore to hide any remaining scars from that night nearly seven months ago. Her makeup and hair were perfect as she stood in the doorway, looking exactly like the socialite she’d been raised to become. Except that there was a fragility in her blue eyes now, a suspicion and distrust not of me but of the world, that had never been there before.

  “I, uh . . .” I ran a hand through my hair, but my fingers tangled and flakes of mud fell from my curls to the very expensive-looking rug. “Hi.”

  Casey frowned, finally walking the rest of the way into the room and letting the door swing shut behind her. With her initial shock at my bedraggled appearance having passed, her gaze turned to critical disapproval.

  “What is going on?” she demanded again.

  “It’s been a long day.”

  Her frown deepened. “Do tell. The police were here for most of the afternoon. Daddy is missing.”

  I’d been prepared to hear that news, and yet I still had to fight not to cringe, to school my face neutral. She studied me for several seconds, her lips compressed in a tight line. Then she walked across the room and settled herself into one of the chairs. Her posture remained perfect as she crossed one leg over the other. That was why the chairs didn’t have to be comfortable—you perched on them, you didn’t sit and relax.

  “Imagine my surprise,” Casey said, smoothing the edge of her skirt over her knee, “when the lead detective held up a picture of you and asked if I recognized you. He said you were the last one seen with Daddy.”

  “And what did you tell him?” Because my relationship to our father was relatively unknown, but not actually secret. Anyone looking hard enough could find it, but if the press caught wind of the fact that the governor’s estranged daughter was suspected in his disappearance, it would be quite a scandal. My mind flashed back to the last image I had of my father, blood seeping through his shirt and dribbling from the corner of his mouth, and a sick, guilty feeling twisted my stomach for my first thought being of what he’d think of the damage to his career. Wherever he’d vanished to, he might be beyond caring about scandal.

  “I avoided the question, of course.” Casey hissed out the answer in a whisper as a knock sounded on the door.

  The butler walked in, carrying a tray, which he placed on the small side table to the left of Casey. He filled two cups with coffee from a steaming pot and then looked to Casey, who nodded her thanks, dismissing him without either ever speaking a word.

  I didn’t exactly rush the tray, but I’d grabbed my coffee before the butler even made it out of the room. I cupped it between my hands, letting the warmth sink into my fingers as I inhaled the scent. Casey gave me a disapproving look as she meticulously adulterated her own cup with cream and sugar. I ignored her as I examined the rest of the tray, selecting a large shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate before retreating farther away to devour my spoils. The coffee was strong and bitter and the cookie soft with just a hint of sweet. In other words, both were perfect and I made quick work of the cookie, wondering if it would be horrible to grab another, considering Casey hadn’t even selected her first yet. It wasn’t like I was worried about my younger sister approving of my manners, so I walked over and studied the carefully arranged tray.

  “I need to go upstairs,” I said without preamble as I snagged a second cookie, this one gingersnap.

  The color drained from Casey’s face, her gaze moving toward the ceiling as if drawn there against her will. There were two floors above us, and a lot of rooms, but I knew exactly which one painted the thin sheen of horror across her features. I’d had nightmares for months after the events that went down in Casey’s old bedroom. From the haunted look in her blue eyes, I guessed Casey still had those nightmares.

  She tore her gaze from the ceiling and seemed to shake herself, her composure falling back in place as she took a dainty sip of her coffee.

  “Did you know you’re glowing?” she asked, watching me consume my cookie with censure in her eyes.

  Oh yeah. I’d forgotten she hadn’t seen me since that fun little change. Because this wasn’t already complicated enough. But I didn’t have the time or energy to have a heart-to-heart about all the changes in my life, and I doubted Casey would actually care. I shoved the last bite of cookie in my mouth, considered snagging a third, but decided that might be pushing it. Brushing my fingers off on my pants—which, considering everything those pants had been through today, probably actually made my fingers dirtier—I decided to simply ignore her question and repeat my earlier statement.

  “I need to go upstairs,” I said again before taking a deep swig of my coffee.

  “If there is something of Daddy’s you need, you’ll have to go through his aides or secretaries. Or the police.”

  “I just need to visit a room.”

  “Which room?” The question was so casual it betrayed itself, as did the way her knuckles turned white where she gripped her coffee cup.

  I just looked at her.

  She slammed the cup back on the tray, coffee sloshing over the rim, onto her hand, but she didn’t seem to notice, her eyes hard and fixed on me. “Why? Why would you want to go in there, Alexis?” She pushed to her feet and stormed toward me. My sister wasn’t a tall woman. Even in her heels she was a full head shorter than me, but right now, she looked fierce, her eyes shiny with tears that sparkled with hot anger. “Where is Daddy? Did you really see him today? What happened? Where is he!”

  I didn’t step back, but the urge was there. Instead I let my mind travel back to this afternoon. A lot had happened since then, but the horror I’d felt when my father had collapsed was still there, and I let it show in my face. Even if we didn’t get along, he was still my father and what I’d witnessed had shaken me.

  “I saw him today,” I said, again feeling the panic, the fear, the sorrow. I wanted to look away from Casey, to not share those raw emotions as she was more stranger than friend, even if we shared blood. My father had confided recently that he wasn’t actually related to Casey, she was just a backup of our mother’s DNA for his grand planeweaver breeding program. But he’d raised her, and she deserved to know what had happened to him. So I met her gaze, let her see the emotion in mine.

  “I was there when . . . when it happened,” I said, biting my lower lip because this was hard, the words resistant to being spoken. “He . . . he was attacked. Hurt. And then he vanished.”

  She studied me for several heartbeats, and then her eyes narrowed. She shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Alexis. What do you mean he was attacked and then vanished? People don’t just vanish.”

  And hadn’t I had the same thought? But he had disappeared, not even taking his clothes with him. I had no idea how it was possible, but it was undeniable.

  “Look at me, Casey,” I said. “Like you said, I glow. This is hereditary. Dad? He isn’t human. And he vanished.”

  There was an edge to my voice, something sharp and cutting. I wasn’t yelling
. Not yet, but that was a possibility too. I’d had a long couple days. This conversation? It wasn’t helping. I needed to wrap it up and get upstairs. To work out a plan to evacuate the stranded fae and to figure out what the hell to do about Ryese.

  Casey stared at me like I’d sprouted a second head—or like I’d just stated my glow came from the fact that our father was fae. Wait, yes, that was what I’d just done.

  She turned, her heels clicking on the ground. “You should leave, Alexis. I can’t have this conversation right now.”

  Now it was my turn to blink in surprise. She didn’t spout denials, proclaiming the purity of our father’s humanity. She didn’t even seem that shocked by the news, only by the fact that I’d voiced it.

  “You knew?” My question was a whisper because I’d had no idea until I’d seen the proof with my own eyes half a year ago.

  “I live here. Daddy is . . . complicated. And then there is you. And you weren’t here before Bradley disappeared, but I was and he was doing things humans just don’t do, not even witches . . .” She trailed off. I gaped because I’d never known that. Our older brother had vanished when I’d been away at boarding school. I’d only found out when the headmistress called me into her office and let me know that my brother was missing but my father felt it would be best if I stayed at school and kept my normal routine.

  “And now Daddy’s vanished.” Her voice quivered, but it didn’t break. “The investigators who were here earlier are questioning if you’re involved. There is video of you walking out alone, but they suspect that could be glamour because you look fae.” She paused to sweep her gaze over me, and I knew what went unsaid was that I didn’t just look fae, but she didn’t state the obvious. “And you’re saying Daddy was attacked before he vanished. By who? How?”