by R. D. Brady
A tall man with red hair turned his blue eyes to her, two plates in his hands. “Morning, sweetheart.”
Her smile dimmed, and the hope that had bloomed in her chest died. But she tried to hide it from her uncle. “Morning, Uncle Patrick.”
Father Patrick Delaney, the man who had raised Laney since she was eight, placed the plates on the table. “I thought you could use a good breakfast.”
Her stomach growled in response. “I definitely could.” She took a seat before glancing around. “Where’s Cleo?”
“I let her out.”
Laney placed a napkin on her lap and picked up her fork. “This looks delicious. Thanks.”
His eyes twinkled. “Anytime.”
They ate in silence, for which Laney was thankful. Finally, she leaned back from the table, her coffee mug clasped in her hands. “I really needed that.”
Patrick watched her over the rim of his own mug. “I heard about last night. How are you doing?”
Laney shrugged. “Okay. What about the kids at the school? How are they handling it?”
Patrick sighed. “It’s hard to tell. But Sheila had a really good impact on all of them. I’ve planned a talk tonight.”
“Shouldn’t you be there?”
He watched her for a moment. “I thought someone else might need me a little more right now.”
She felt tears press against the back of her eyes. “Thank you.”
“So tell me how you’re really doing.”
The image of Sheila’s blank stare came back to her. It was an image that had played through her dreams all night long, along with visions of Victoria, Henry, and Jake.
Her uncle sat waiting patiently for her to speak. And she knew he would sit there waiting patiently until she gave him an honest answer. Patiently. In our family that’s also known as stubbornly.
She sighed, feeling Sheila’s loss and hearing the anguished cry of her husband again in her mind as if for the first time. Her shoulders fell, and she felt the failure of last night all over again. “I couldn’t save her. I wasn’t fast enough. I failed her.”
“Laney, no.” He reached out to take her hand, but she pulled it away.
He shook his head. “You need to stop thinking like this. You can’t save the world. It’s not possible.”
“But I’m the ring bearer—isn’t that my job?” she asked with more than a little bitterness. A job I seem to be failing at more and more.
Patrick said nothing, and Laney looked over at him in surprise. Usually he fired right back at her. He sat with his arms crossed, his lips pressed tightly together.
She frowned. “Uncle Patrick?”
He threw his napkin on the table. “That’s it. I’m done.”
“What?”
“You have been beating yourself up since Victoria died, since Henry and Jake were hurt. Your ego is running out of bounds.”
“My—my ego? What are talking about? I don’t think I have any ego left.”
“Really? Because as far as I can see, you’re blaming yourself for every horrible thing that happens in the world. Because you think you—and only you—are responsible for fighting back the bad of this world.”
“But—”
“Victoria has lived time and time again. She had a job, too. You are the ring bearer. She is the mother of humanity. Your job does not surpass hers. She did her duty the same way you do yours—with full commitment. And Henry and Jake were injured to allow her to do hers and you to do yours. You are not in this alone. You are part of a team. You need to start remembering that.”
“But Sheila—”
Patrick’s voice softened and Laney saw the sadness in his eyes. “Her death is horrible. But it is not your fault. The same way Victoria’s wasn’t. You need to let all that go. It’s making everything too hard for you. And it’s not fair. Not to you, and not to the people you’re trying to help.”
Laney looked at her uncle. He had told her this before. But today his anger was making the words resonate in a way they hadn’t before.
“You are the ring bearer, and that comes with huge responsibilities. But not every move the other side makes is yours to counter. That’s too big a task for any one person to take on. Measured against that expectation, you are doomed to failure. But you are doing everything you can, Laney. You found out about Sheila going missing, and you put everything into finding her. And you came closer than anyone else.”
“It wasn’t enough to save her.”
“No, but it will be enough to find those responsible for her. And I have no doubt you will find them.”
Laney looked away from his knowing gaze. Finally she let out a laugh. “I am kind of my own pity party lately, aren’t I?”
He gave a small laugh. “You could say that. I know these last few months have been difficult. But I won’t let you beat yourself up over things that are beyond your control. It serves no purpose other than to make your life more difficult.”
“Thanks, Uncle Patrick.”
He glanced around. “Speaking of difficult, where is Jake?”
Laney groaned.
“What?” Patrick asked.
When Laney and Jake had started having problems, Patrick had stayed out of it. But over the last few months he had become more and more annoyed at Jake. And he was making no attempts to hide it.
“Look, Jake—”
“Needs a good kick in the ass,” Patrick said.
“Uncle Patrick—”
Patrick put up his hand. “I won’t say anything to him, but you two are so much alike it’s scary. You both think you’re responsible for other people’s safety. You think you’re responsible for the world’s safety, and Jake thinks he’s responsible for yours.”
Laney had never thought of it that way. “That’s probably true.”
“So. Are you heading over to the office?” Patrick asked.
Laney looked at her uncle. A few more grays had worked their way into his red hair, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes had gotten a little deeper. With a pang, she realized she would one day lose him too. She’d seen very little of him these last few months. He’d thrown himself into his work at the school and she’d thrown herself into her work tracking down the Fallen. And she’d missed him.
Laney shook her head. “Nope. I’ve got some time. Tell me what’s happening with you.”
Patrick smiled. “All right.”
CHAPTER 10
Taipei, Taiwan
Maura Katz gasped as she stepped out of her back door and onto the lanai. She and her husband had flown in late last night. It had been too dark to see the garden, and she had been too tired. But as soon as the light hit her windows, she made her way outside.
A single lotus flower had begun to bloom sometime while they were away. Its bright pink petals had unfurled to reveal an exquisite yellow center.
Almost in a trance, she stepped over to the flower, as if pulled by an invisible string. She sank into the grass and stared at it, unable to believe its beauty. It had sprung up from the small memorial in the garden. Her four-year-old daughter Aiko’s face smiled back at her from the picture she had placed there, carefully wrapped in airtight hard plastic to protect it from the elements. Aiko had shared her father’s dark hair and had her mother’s hazel eyes.
Maura traced the outline of her daughter’s face. “Good morning, beautiful.”
A weed had begun to encroach on Aiko’s space. With a frown, Maura yanked it from the ground. Then she closed her eyes, picturing the lotus in her mind as she focused on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She tuned out all noises, all scents. There was only the image of the lotus and the rhythm of her own breathing.
She stayed focused, deep in her meditation for fifteen minutes, before she opened her eyes again, feeling renewed. The earth felt centered under her feet, and she felt connected to all of it.
“You’ve seen it.”
Maura got to her feet with a smile and looked behind her at the tall man walking over to he
r. Even now, almost thirty years after they had met, Derek was still the most handsome man she had ever laid her eyes on. Tall, with dark hair and dark eyes, he maintained his athletic build with daily workouts.
He stopped next to her, kissing her lightly before wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “She approves.”
The lotus had bloomed every year since Aiko’s death.
But it had never been so radiant, so drenched in color and life. Aiko had been one of the thousands killed in the 2011 Japanese tsunami. The family had gone to Japan for a vacation. Derek’s grandparents had lived in Japan, and Maura’s grandfather had once been stationed there, and they wanted to show Aiko this piece of her history. But while they were at the seashore, an earthquake struck out in the Pacific, sending a wave over a hundred feet tall racing toward the eastern shores of Japan.
Aiko was swept away by the raging floodwaters, yanked right out of Maura’s arms. Both Maura and Derek leapt in after her, but it was too late. Although, Maura supposed, in a way they were among the lucky ones—they at least had found their daughter’s body.
The years since had been a blur. But then Maura had received her mission, and it had given her a reason to go on. She knew what she was doing was right—for her, for Aiko, for all the other children who lived in this dying world.
She turned to look at the lotus once more. This bloom was a sign. Aiko approved of what they were doing.
In the dark of night, she had wrestled with her doubts. But in the bright light of day, her doubts had been chased away, as they always were.
Gently, Derek turned her to face him, speaking as if he could read her mind. “You know there is no other way. The world is reaching a tipping point. If we do not turn the tide, you know how many more deaths will follow. You know how many more parents will lose their children. Families will be wiped out in wave after wave.”
Maura closed her eyes and leaned against Derek’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she felt his warmth, his strength. “I know,” she said softly.
“You have a good heart. It is one of the many reasons why I love you. But you must harden it. You must remember that they are the reason for all of this. Without them, the world would not be at this point. Without them, Aiko—” his voice cracked.
“Aiko would still be with us,” she finished for him.
“Mankind’s greed and their refusal to learn has pushed us to this action. And we must follow it through.”
She rested her head on his chest. Neither spoke for a few moments. Maura finally broke the silence. “Have the teams found the next one?”
Derek nodded. “They will move into place shortly.”
She pictured Sheila Lachowski, how she had begged them to spare her for her children’s sake. The woman deserved to die, but it had been difficult. “It’s not another mother, is it?”
“No.” Derek’s voice was filled with loathing. “It’s one of them.”
Maura looked up. “Really?”
“Yes. He is alone. We’ll take him tonight.”
Anger burned in her. One of them. The seeds of humanity’s destruction. “Good.”
CHAPTER 11
Baltimore, Maryland
Henry Chandler stood up from his desk and winced as pain shot through his leg. He sucked in a breath. He kept forgetting about it.
“You okay?” Jake asked.
Henry grabbed his cane. “Yeah. Just forgot for a moment.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Jake turned his attention back to the monitor in front of him.
Henry knew Jake was having trouble accepting the limits his injury had placed on him. Henry understood Jake’s frustration—Jake had been a soldier for the last twenty years. It wasn’t just a job. It was who he was. And now that he wasn’t, he was having a lot of trouble figuring out who that made him.
Henry, on the other hand, enjoyed his injury in a weird sort of way. It was completely new to him. He had come into his nephilim powers as a teenager, and ever since he had always healed from any injury in mere minutes. Now, strangely, it was kind of nice to feel what every other normal human felt. It made him feel more human.
He headed for the coffee machine and poured himself a mug. And more human is something I’m okay with.
Laney appeared in the doorway. Henry smiled, put down his coffee, and wrapped her in his arms. “Hey. How you doing?”
Laney sighed and hugged him tightly. “Better now, thanks. Anything new with Sheila’s killer?”
“No. The SIA still don’t have any leads. No old grudges, no video. They’re coming up dry.”
“Maybe we should look into it.”
“Laney, Sheila’s death is horrible, but we need to let the SIA handle this one. We have too many other things going on. And we don’t even know if there’s a link to the Fallen.”
She sighed. “I know. I just—I saw her, Henry. No one should die that way.”
“Where’s Cleo?”
“My uncle took her back to the school. I figured I’d probably be off the grounds depending on what we find. And I thought she might help some of the kids.”
Henry looked down at her. He didn’t like how pale she looked, didn’t like the dark circles under her eyes. He frowned. “You need more sleep. Why don’t you go get some? Nothing here needs your attention that badly.”
She stepped away from him. “Jake said the ME’s report was in.”
Henry shot Jake a look. He loved Jake like a brother, but he didn’t like how he had been behaving around Laney lately. “I see.”
Laney took his arm. “It’s all right. We’re all right. It’s just—a rough patch.”
Henry nodded. “Okay.” They walked over to Jake together.
“Hey,” Laney said lightly.
Jake looked up with a brief smile. “How was your sleep?”
“Deep,” Laney said, sinking into a chair two away from him.
The exchange was perfectly polite, and it made Henry want to throttle the two of them. They loved each other—more than anything. And right now, they were acting so polite that it was as if they were strangers.
Henry took one of the other seats. “Laney said the ME’s report was in.”
Jake hit a few buttons on his keyboard. The screen above the conference table came to life. Then he tossed two copies of the report on the table.
Henry picked one up and scanned it. He’d already seen the crime scene photos, which he knew he would be unable to forget any time soon.
“Any surprises?” Laney asked.
“Yeah, the cause of death,” Jake said.
Henry scanned the form. That can’t be right. “She drowned?”
Jake nodded. “Her lungs were full of water. They’re testing to see if the water can tell us anything. But it seems she was drowned before the bloodletting and before her heart was removed.”
“I’d say that was good news, except I hear that it’s a horrible way to die,” Henry said, looking up. Laney sat silently, her face pale. “Lanes?”
“Uh, nothing. It’s, um, nothing. Is this my file?” Laney pointed to the second copy of the report.
“Yeah,” Jake said.
Laney picked it up. “I’ll go through it and see if anything jumps out. See you later.”
She walked out of the room with her shoulders slumped. Henry watched her go, wishing he could do something to help her. He noticed Jake watch her as well, but he didn’t say anything either. He just turned back to the table when she was out of view.
And that was it for Henry. As soon as the door closed behind Laney, Henry whirled on Jake. “What the hell are you doing?”
CHAPTER 12
Her knees curled up to her chest, Lou sat in Cleo’s cage watching Cleo prowl around the outside. Sheila, Jimmy’s mom, had been killed. Lou shook her head. It was so wrong. Jimmy and Jillian were without their mom.
Just like me. Lou’s grandmother was gone, and she’d lost her sister Charlotte just last year. She’d never known her dad. At least Jimmy and Jillian s
till had their dad.
Her gaze strayed to the Chandler School for Children. It was a brick monster of a building that even had turrets. It had been a high-end boarding school before it had fallen on tough times. Now it was Lou’s home.
For a while there, Lou and her sister had been barely getting by, but now here she sat, at a school that looked like a smaller version of Hogwarts. She even had a private room with a window seat and velvet curtains. She spent her days going to school, in self-defense training, and hanging out with friends.
I should be doing more. She’d been thinking this for months, but Sheila’s death had really brought the feeling home. Lou had abilities. She could help. And she knew the Fallen were causing more and more problems. Even though she was young, there must be something she could do.
Besides, the adults were basically being sidelined right now by the government. They’d spent the last few weeks in Washington, DC, taking meeting after meeting to justify their actions with the Fallen for the last two years.
Lou shook her head. By her count, Laney, Henry, and Jake had saved thousands of people at this point. And instead of being thanked, they were being interrogated. And that was on top of Laney and Henry losing their mother.
And here I am sitting on my butt, wondering what TV show I’m going to watch tonight. It’s not right.
Cleo came over and laid her head in Lou’s lap.
Lou told herself she had come outside for Cleo’s sake, but right now, she wasn’t sure. She lowered her head to Cleo’s. “Hey, girl. How come you always know when I’m down?”
The giant cat seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to people’s moods. Whenever Lou felt out of sorts, Cleo would stand next to Lou or rub up against her. Lou thought of it as a Cleo hug.
Cleo looked up, and Lou stared into her eyes. They were undeniably leopard eyes. They were round, yellow, and never seemed to blink. But at the same time, there was something almost human in them. When Cleo looked at you, you felt like she really understood.
