by S. A. Moss
I wasn’t sure if hiding was the right call. I had a sudden vivid memory of playing hide-and-seek with my dad when I was little—he’d taught me there were pros and cons of elaborate hiding places. It would be harder for someone to find you, but if they did spot you, you’d be a sitting duck.
That was what I felt like right now, and I wished I had some way of knowing if the demon was still lurking outside or if he’d gone back to Boss Man. Either way, he’d seen my face, and that couldn’t be good. If he—
All thoughts were erased when a sudden sharp pain ripped through my body. I gasped, doubling over.
Alex.
I didn’t know how I knew, but I was positive that my pain was because he was in pain. Pearl had said that a connection would develop between a Guardian and their charge, and whatever connection I had with him was driving what felt like a hot poker into my side. Shit. I needed to get to him now. Why didn’t Guardians have teleportation powers?
With an arm pressed to my side, I forced myself to stand up straight and faded in. I took a deep breath and pushed the door of the dressing room open, staggering toward the front of the boutique. The sales clerk looked up, startled. “Where did you—?”
Ignoring her, I gritted my teeth and peered out the window. Across the street and a few buildings down, I could see the faint glow of the demon’s aura. I craned my neck to look further down the street.
There!
Taking a deep breath—old habits died hard—I jerked open the door and ran out into the street, waving my hands wildly at the approaching cab. He screeched to a halt, nearly hitting me as I darted in front of him. I really needed to stop meeting cars like this.
The demon turned toward the commotion and made a beeline toward me, just as I threw myself into the back of the cab and slammed the door.
14
“Ravenswood! Windy City MMA!” I blurted in a rush.
The cab driver shot me a suspicious look, watching my eyes dart out the window towards, as far as he knew, nothing. The demon picked up speed, but before he reached us, the cabbie finally put the car in gear and took off down the street.
Peering out the back, I could see the glow of the demon’s aura as he chased us. He followed for a few blocks, losing ground until he finally gave up.
I leaned back in my seat. The pain in my side had faded to a dull ache, but it’d been replaced by a knot of anxiety in my stomach. Alex was in trouble. I’d left him alone, and he’d gotten hurt.
Guilt and worry battled for the top spot in my emotional state. I scrubbed my hands over my face, staring out the window. The cab driver attempted small talk, but I was too distracted to do much more than grunt vague answers. Lake Michigan whizzed by, and I gnawed on my lip as I gazed out at the choppy water.
When we finally pulled onto Lawrence Avenue, I sat up in the seat, tension thrumming through my body. I pressed my face against the window, hating every single car or stoplight that slowed our progress. Finally—finally—the studio came into view.
“Stop here!” I cried to the driver, and he pulled the cab over.
I reached for my wallet to throw cash at him, then realized that—duh—I didn’t have a wallet anymore.
Aw crap. This is not going to be good for my karma.
Before he could turn to me to tell me the fare, I closed my eyes and quickly faded out. I heard his startled exclamation as he looked into his backseat to find it suddenly empty.
Sorry, buddy. I hope it becomes a good enough story later to make up for the lost fare.
Slipping through the door, I ran to the studio. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was no class in session right now, and Seth lounged on the mats in the back. But Alex wasn’t here. Where the hell was he?
Panic rising in my throat, I spun quickly, looking up and down the street.
Shit, shit, shit.
Forcing myself to calm down, I closed my eyes. I knew we had a connection—I could still feel the pain in my side, which I had a sinking feeling mirrored a much worse pain in his. We were linked in some way. So maybe I could use that connection to find him.
I pictured his lopsided smile, his dimples, his light green eyes with tiny flecks of gold in them; a face I already knew so well.
A tug around my middle pulled at me from the left. Not daring to question it, I followed the pull, picking up speed as it became stronger and more insistent. Several blocks away from the studio, I pulled up short at the mouth of an alley, my mouth dry.
Three figures stood in the shadows—Alex and two others. Alex’s eyes darted between the men, who were both slowly advancing on him. This fight had obviously been going on for a while, and it was a testament to his strength as a fighter that he wasn’t already down. He was outnumbered two to one.
But my gaze caught on the large red splotch staining his light blue shirt. He’d been stabbed. One of these guys had a knife.
The one on the left, who had shoulder-length dirty blond hair, leapt toward Alex, swinging his fist wildly. Alex’s arm darted out, blocking the blow. He pivoted, landing a punch of his own. As the blond staggered back, the second man stepped forward, raising his knife again.
Without thinking, I summoned a blast of energy and threw it at him. I’d been practicing a lot, but panic must’ve sharpened my focus—this blast was stronger than anything I’d ever thrown. It knocked him off balance, and he careened into the wall. The knife flew out of his hands, landing on the ground with a clatter. I threw another blast of energy at the knife and it skittered under a dumpster, out of his reach.
Alex and the blond guy had both hesitated briefly, glancing over in shock. Alex recovered first, and while his opponent was still distracted, Alex hit the punk with a right hook that sent him sprawling. I took the chance to hit his buddy with another blast, slamming him into the wall with more force this time. I was really getting the hang of this.
My guy shook his head and started to stumble toward Alex, so I hit him again. This time his head hit the wall with a gross yet strangely satisfying thunk, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Alex looked at him with confusion but didn’t linger on the mystery. He delivered a final punch to the blond man that left him unconscious too.
I was still trembling with the leftover energy from the fight. I’d gotten in a few fights when I was a kid—especially in the year or two after my parents disappeared, when I was angry and scared and lost—but those had mostly involved hair pulling and slapping. This was… much different. I couldn’t believe that Alex had fought these guys off for as long as it took me to get here from the Gold Coast to help. This guy was a serious badass.
The serious badass’s legs buckled, and he went to his knees before toppling over. Alex’s eyes closed as consciousness left him too.
Shit! I had no idea how bad his injury was. And he’d been fighting with a stab wound, which probably only made the blood loss and muscle tearing worse.
Dashing over to him, I threw myself to my knees next to him, searching his body for other signs of injury. He had a small slice across his upper arm and a bruise on the side of his face, but the wound on his side looked to be the worst. He needed medical help. And we needed to get out of here before those other guys woke up.
With a quick look around, I faded in and rolled him just slightly so I could reach into his pocket for his phone—another random thing I knew about him, he always kept it in his back right pocket. The phone was password protected, but like a true stalker, I’d watched him enter his passcode enough times that I’d memorized it.
With Alex’s head cradled on my lap, I dialed 911, and in disjointed sentences I described the scene to the dispatcher. Once she promised that cops and an ambulance were on the way, I hung up and set the phone down next to me. When my gaze returned to Alex’s face, I froze. He was staring up at me blearily.
I swallowed.
Oh man. His eyes, even when slightly unfocused, were really beautiful. I smoothed his hair back, careful to avoid the darkening bruise around his eye.
He lifted his hand, brushing his fingertips softly down the side of my face. “You…”
Then his eyes drifted closed again. His hand slipped. I caught it gently and laid it on his chest. When the sound of the sirens grew close, I faded out and stood back against the wall, watching as cops and paramedics converged on the alley.
Sooo, I was pretty much the worst Guardian ever.
15
The hospital room was quiet. Alex lay on the bed, eyes closed.
I hadn’t left his side since the ambulance had arrived, following him like a shadow onto the ambulance, through the hospital doors—and past the scary looking ER nurse who served as gatekeeper—and into the emergency room. He’d regained consciousness on the ride to the hospital, which the EMT seemed to think was a good sign.
After several stitches to his abdomen and a CT scan, they’d admitted him to the hospital to monitor him because of the blow to his head.
It was after 9 p.m. now, and he was conked out.
I stood by his bedside, guilt and regret roiling my stomach. I hadn’t been wrong. He was a badass. But he was human. And I was supposed to be his Guardian. I was supposed to keep him safe, and no matter how I looked at it, I’d failed.
I reached out, brushing my hand over his. I was still faded out, but he stirred at the contact anyway, and I jerked my hand back quickly.
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly. Even though he couldn’t hear me, I had to tell him.
A movement in the doorway drew my attention. The door didn’t open, but several figures passed through it.
Pearl, Arcadius, and Owen. And the latter two looked pissed as all hell.
Crap. Busted.
Pearl shot me a sympathetic look as Arcadius stormed forward. He gestured angrily to Alex. “What is the meaning of this?”
“He got hurt. He was attacked by two guys. I tried to help, but—”
“We know about the attack. We believe it was two wraiths in human bodies. There’s been a spate of those recently, and we’re looking into why.”
My brows rose at his words. What did that mean? The Council had told me it was a wraith that had taken over Silver’s body. If these were wraiths, why hadn’t they crawled out of the two men’s bodies like the other one had? Because the men weren’t dead?
I was yanked from my thought by Arcadius’s growl. “What I want to know is what led up to this. How did those men get past you?”
I swallowed. “Well, that’s not really a fair question. I mean, I died, what a week ago? I wake up in some place you call the Shroud, you tell me I’m a Guardian, some mysterious Seer gives me an assignment, and the next thing I know I’m responsible for keeping this guy alive—with no training and basically no guidance from you guys! The only one who’s given me any answers about anything is Pearl!”
I’d built up a pretty good head of steam by the time I finished, my anger at myself converting easily into anger at him.
Arcadius shifted his weight back a bit. “It is true we expected this assignment to be an easy one for you, even with the recent surge of Fallen activity. Watching over an individual is usually a much easier assignment than controlling the Fallen. If we’d known, we would have given you more training.” His expression gentled a bit. “Cam. What happened?”
Shoot. It’d been nice having the moral high ground for a brief moment. I took a breath, bracing for the fall. “I don’t… exactly know. I wasn’t there when it started.”
Whatever softening I’d seen in Arcadius’s eyes was immediately erased. His back shot ramrod straight, and he glared at me. Owen, towering over all of us, raised his eyebrows.
“What?” Arcadius’s voice was low.
“I was…”
“Yes?”
“I was following up on a lead about my parents.”
Owen crossed his arms, and Arcadius’s mouth set in a thin line.
Before they decided to fire me and banish me to the Wild or something, I quickly went on. “But then I felt this pain, and I knew that Alex needed help. As soon as that happened, I jumped in a cab and raced back as quick as I could. I, uh, couldn’t pay the cab driver, so I just faded and ran. I found two guys attacking Alex in an alley. I smashed one of the guys into the wall—I’m getting much better at that, by the way.” I glanced gratefully at Pearl. “And Alex hit the other one while he was distracted. Then I called 911.”
“You faded out in front of the cab driver?” Owen’s booming voice made me jump.
“I had to! I feel really bad about skipping out on the fare. I never did that when I was alive!” I insisted defensively.
Arcadius narrowed his eyes. “That is entirely beside the point, Cam. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us. We gave you three directives to follow, just three, and tonight you broke two of them. Tell me right now why I shouldn’t take you off this assignment and send you back to the Haven.”
My jaw clenched. “What? You can’t!”
No way could I go back there! I’d just gotten back to Earth. I was closer than ever to getting answers about my parents. And…
Unconsciously, my gaze shifted to Alex’s sleeping form. I wasn’t sure if it was a sense of duty to my assignment or the fact that I was beginning to genuinely like Alex—but I really didn’t want to leave him behind.
Arcadius’s stern tone, however, brooked no argument. “I can and I will.”
“Who would watch over Alex? The Seer assigns Guardians their tasks for a reason, right? It’s not random. That means I’m meant to be here, Arcadius! Please! Let me prove it to you.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but a nurse entered the room at that moment and we all shut up. She walked over to Alex’s bedside and flipped open his chart.
Alex’s eyes fluttered, and he looked up.
“How are you feeling, Alex?” she asked, making a few notes on the chart.
He grinned weakly. “Like I got stabbed.”
She laughed. “Well, you did. I heard you tried to stop a mugging, and those two men attacked you? That’s incredibly brave. The world needs more people like you.”
Alex blushed. “Brave or stupid. At least the woman they were trying to mug got away. And I’ll live, right?”
“You will. The doctor just wants to keep you here for a night or two to monitor you.”
“Did they figure out who called 911? I asked the police, but they said no one was at the scene except the two guys.”
“I don’t think they did find out. The call was made from your phone though.” She smiled at him again. “Looks like you have a guardian angel.”
Owen snorted lightly. I could feel Arcadius’s glare burning a hole in my head, but I didn’t dare look over at him.
Alex nodded thoughtfully. “Guess so. I just wanted to thank whoever it was.” He leaned back. “So a couple nights in the hospital, huh? Any chance they’ll accept payment in martial arts lessons? I have insurance, it’s just… not great.”
As she swapped out the bag of whatever they had dripping into his IV line, her shoulders drooped. I was sure she saw this exact scenario a lot. “You just worry about getting better before you worry about anything else, okay?” She patted his leg. “Anything else you need before I leave?”
“No, thanks. I’m just tired.”
She squeezed his leg again and left. When the door closed behind her, silence echoed in the room for several beats. Then I turned to Arcadius. “Whether you like it or not, and whether I messed up or not, she’s right. I’m his Guardian. I need to be with him. Please give me another chance.”
He sighed, and I recognized the look on his face. It was the same expression my dad had worn when I’d finally won him over with a well-placed, “Pleeeeeease!” when I was little.
Finally, he nodded curtly. “You may stay. But I am going to have Owen teach you how to use your powers more effectively. It was our failing that we sent you into a difficult assignment with
out enough training. We still don’t know why wraiths are attacking humans.”
I blew out a relieved breath. “Great! I mean, not about the attacking bit, but about me staying. And learning more from Owen. Thank you.”
He nodded and then placed a surprisingly gentle hand on my shoulder. “Your determination is admirable. I can see that you’re becoming attached to him. Just don’t get… too attached.”
Thank goodness I didn’t have a pulse because if there’d been any blood flowing through my veins it would’ve all raced to my cheeks. I nodded stiffly. “I’m not. I mean, I won’t.”
“Good. Owen will return tomorrow to help you train.” Arcadius and Owen both stepped back, but instead of joining them, Pearl stepped forward.
“Can I speak to Cam quickly before we go? I have a question about the face recognition software on new phones. I’ve missed out on so much this decade!”
Arcadius’s indulgent smile made his face seem more human than the imposing mask he usually wore. He nodded, and he and Owen slipped through the door.
I turned to Pearl. “I honestly don’t know much about those kinds of phones. Mine was one step up from a flip phone.”
She grabbed my arm urgently. “It’s not about phones. I overheard Owen and Arcadius talking before we came here—I don’t know why they’re not telling you, but they think these attacks are being deliberately carried out. And Adele is convinced it has something to do with you.”
My mind reeled. “What?”
“What’s been happening is not normal. Usually the few Fallen that manage to slip from the Shroud to Earth are like feral animals—dangerous, but only in a certain way. Most Fallen do what pleases them in the moment, driven by their most base urges. They can’t get along with each other well enough to work together in groups. This sort of Fallen activity has never happened before, at least not that I know of.”
I hesitated, processing her words. “I saw what I think was a demon today. He hadn’t taken over anyone’s body like the wraiths do, but he was walking down the street with two humans. I was faded out, but he saw me and chased after me. And, Pearl? He didn’t look like a feral animal. He looked like a trained guard dog. Except he had tusks and a face like a pig.”
