“We are going to Zee’s—” Buns begins, but I cut her off.
“No, I’m not going to Zee’s island. I’m going to Dominion. You can take me, or I can take Reed’s car now and try to find them on my own, but I’m going with or without your help. I’m going to take a shower now, and when I get out, you can tell me what you’ve decided,” I say with authority. I strip off my Gancanagh clothing and hand them to Buns, saying, “Burn these for me.” Then I get into the shower and try to wash the stink off of me as Russell had suggested earlier.
I let the shower wash away the sticky, sweet smell that has been clinging to me for days, but there is no water that will wash my soul clean of my memories, however much my spirit is desperately wishing for it. I had let Brennus break me and I would have given him whatever he wanted if Russell hadn’t shown up to free me from him. I have to cover my mouth so that no one will hear the racking sobs that are tearing out of me. Slowly, I gain control of myself. I watch my blood mix with the water going down the drain from the bites on my neck that won’t heal.
Turning the shower off, I step out, tying the belt of the robe that Buns has left for me. When I walk out into the bedroom, I find Russell lying on the bed. He looks like he had probably sat down on the end of it, but had fallen back on it in exhaustion because his feet are still on the floor. One arm is shielding his eyes from the light that is on overhead. I walk to the switch, turning it off so that it won’t wake him up. Walking toward the door that leads out to the common area, I plan to ask Buns if I can borrow something to wear, but I stop when I hear Russell speak.
“Red, what can I say to make ya change yer mind and not do this?” he asks, his voice sounding pained.
“I have to go. You know that, don’t you?” I reply as I turn and approach the bed.
“Knowin’ something with yer head is very different than knowin’ it with yer heart…or yer soul,” Russell says without lifting his arm from his eyes. “My head knows why yer doin’ it… but my heart can’t see it. I love Zee like a brother, but if he comes back and ya don’t…” he doesn’t say anymore because he doesn’t have to, I know what he means.
“Russell…I…I can’t do anything else. I have to go.” When I see his look of anguish, I crawl up on the bed next to him and press my wet head against his chest. His arm snakes around my waist, pressing me closer to him. “If it was you in there, I would go… I would give you whatever I have and whatever I am to protect you… we are linked, you and I, but I’m also linked to Reed. I owe it to him, too.”
“He’s not gonna thank ya for goin’ in there and riskin’ yer life for his. He’s gonna be really pissed off,” he says, and I believe him. Reed will probably be extremely angry. I betrayed him, and then I show up to “protect” him… yeah, he’s going to be livid.
“I’m not operating under any false hopes, Russell,” I reply as I lie perfectly still, listening to him breathing. “You think I don’t know what those guys are going to think, if they are still alive? They are going to think I betrayed them and they are going to be hostile toward any attempts that I make to help them because first and foremost in a Power’s mind is that they don’t need protection,” I say as the thought of what I’m about to do causes my stomach to tighten painfully.
“Yeah, well that might just be a male trait ‘cuz I felt the same way when I saw ya in the Seven-Eleven with Freddie,” his says in a stern tone.
“Yeah, but you got over it,” I say.
“Red, ya almost tore yer heart out for me, it was kind of hard for me to stay mad at ya,” he replies as he sighs heavily. “But, I wanted to be mad at ya.”
I lift my head thoughtfully, looking him over to fix his image in my memory. This is the first time I have seen Russell without his wings since before the Gancanagh took me. His sandy hair is a mess and needs to be cut, falling well past his eyes, but it looks sexy anyway. His skin is so smooth now, angelic in every way, tough and luminous. He could probably use a shave, but the scruffiness he is sporting just makes him look more rugged and powerful. He looks so young without his wings, but looks are so deceiving, because although his body is young, his soul is old.
“How old are we, Russell?” I ask tiredly, lying my head back down.
“Old,” he says.
“Have we always been human, I mean, before this?” I ask, because now we are both human and angel, but what could we have been before…now that we have proof that there are other beings out there just walking around and breathing the same air.
“Ya know, Red, that’s a good question…I’ll have to look and see, but later…when I can think. I’ve been up for days and I’m havin’ trouble thinkin’ right now.”
“Oh…okay…I feel really old…ancient…” I say drowsily. Hearing Russell’s heavy breathing, I know that if I continue to lay here for even one more second, I will be asleep too and I can’t do that yet. Pushing myself up off Russell’s chest, I crawl off the bed. Standing up, I feel light-headed.
Tightening the belt of the robe more securely around me, I push the bedroom door open to the common area. Buns is curled up in one of the big chairs that faces the bedroom. She probably heard our entire conversation, but it doesn’t bother me because I have no secrets from her anymore. Now that the worst has happened, I can see no reason to ever lie or mislead her again. She watches me take the seat across from hers. “Where’s Brownie?” I ask as the plane begins moving forward, taxiing the runway of the small airstrip.
“She’s going to fly us to Quebec,” Buns replies, getting up and going to the bar to pour me a glass of water. “I would take you up there, but she’s really upset about where we’re going, so I think we had better leave her alone for a while until she calms down.”
“Thank you,” I say as she hands me the glass, and then she picks up a lap blanket from one of the other chairs, wrapping it around my shoulders.
“What’s in Quebec?” I ask her before I down my water, watching her sit back in her seat across from me.
“Dominion is in Quebec—well, a private island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There is an estate there where Pagan and company took Zee and Reed after they left Crestwood. As far as we can tell, they are still there, but our intel is not very good because Powers are really good at keeping secrets,” she says. “Almost as good as Seraphim are.”
The water I just swallowed almost chokes me, but I manage to get it down. I set my glass on the beautifully polished wood table between us and look into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Buns—I never meant for anything like this to happen. I thought I could protect you all if I left and it turned out that—I was so blind—I tried and…” I stop talking because I can feel that the thread that ties us together is still there, but it’s stretched taut and frayed. She isn’t trying to be cold to me, but I have hurt her by what I have done. “If there is a way to bring Zee back to you, I’ll find it, I swear it.”
“The only way I’m ever going to forgive you, is if you come back,” she says, sniffling again. “Because Brownie is really hard to live with since you’ve been gone, you know,” she says, rubbing her eye. “She just checks the email constantly and she has kept up with all of Reed’s monitors. She caught your call to your voicemail and she even figured out the tower it originated from right before we got the call from Russell.”
“You would have found us?” I ask.
She nods. “Reed thought you would call your voicemail sooner or later. He would sit at the computer all day and night waiting to see when you would make that call. When Pagan came, he managed to wipe all the computers clean, but he made Brownie promise him that she would keep watching for you,” she says as tears leak down my face.
“I can’t be too late, Buns—if I’m too late, then—I can’t be too late,” I plead with her, like she has the power to change the circumstances of the situation.
“Evie, you’re wrecked. You need to go and get a few hours of sleep because you’re going to need it. You can’t walk into their compound like this,” she says, indicatin
g my stressed out appearance. “These are Power angels. They despise weakness. You have to go in there like you are the authority there. You are the Seraph. You outrank all of them and they must listen to you, otherwise you’re all dead,” she says harshly, but it’s not because she is mad at me. It’s because she is freaking out in a way I have never seen her freak out. I have never seen her anything other than at ease and in complete control of her environment.
Her demeanor strikes a cord in me and I clamp down on my emotions. If I have to lock them away and never bring them out into the light of day again, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it takes to be successful in this mission because this is the most important mission I have ever had. “I hate that angel caste system. It reeks and I doubt that they will see me as the superior rank, but I will sell it for all it’s worth, if it means getting what I want… what I need,” I say tonelessly.
“Most Powers, not our Powers, but most Powers only respect strength. They are attracted to beauty and you have that in spades,” Buns says. “We are going to milk that for all it’s worth. If we have to use every weapon we have on those tools, we will. I have some things we can do, but I’m serious about you going to sleep now. We have a few hours before we make it to Quebec City. We have to land there and boot Russell and Brownie off the plane. Russell can’t come with us to the St. Lawrence. Dominion can’t know about Russell,” Buns says.
“Agreed,” I say with relief that they already have a plan to take care of Russell.
“Brownie is going to charter another private plane and take Russell to Zee’s island. He can see his family while he is there and you won’t have to worry about him, we’ll take care of him,” she says.
I know that Buns is really telling me that she and Brownie will continue to take care of Russell for me if I don’t make it back. I almost start to cry again because I’m so grateful to her for that, but I don’t allow myself the luxury of tears. I can cry all I want when this is over… or never again, which will be okay, too.
Buns continues, “We may have some problems when we get to Canada because we didn’t file a flight plan for this so we’re going to fly below the radar until we get there. Then, we’re going to have some explaining to do. I’m leaving all of that up to Brownie, because if there is one thing she is good at, it’s handling humans.”
My mind is racing, thinking of how the authorities are going to respond to a jet full of illegal “teenagers,” but I have more on my mind to worry about than the Canadian Mounties. “Brownie can handle anyone,” I agree tiredly.
“Evie, go rest. You’re exhausted. I’ll wake you when we near Quebec,” Buns says, trying to hide her worry.
I nod to Buns before stumbling to the bedroom. I crawl onto the bed with Russell. I wake up when we are landing, held tight in Russell’s arms. I fit there like I had been created to be there. I can’t deny that. Seeing the misery in his eyes, a poignant ache is engulfing me because this is goodbye—neither of us knows if we will see the other again. I have crossed lines with Russell that I shouldn’t have crossed. I should have protected him more. I should have been a better friend to him. I should have given him what he needed. He has paid a steep price for loving me, but maybe, when he is not forced to be at my side, he will be free.
“Russell…” I begin to say.
“Don’t,” he says, closing his eyes.
“Don’t what?” I ask.
“Don’t say whatever yer gonna say,” he says stiffly.
“How do you know what I’m going to say?” I ask, a little ticked off that he’s not letting me tell him goodbye.
“I can see it in yer eyes and I’m not havin’ it,” he says roughly. “Yer comin’ out of there. If I didn’t believe that ya are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met, who always manages to get her own way, then I’d never let ya do this.”
“I’m not stubborn,” I say with irritation in my tone.
“Red, yer like a cat. Ya can’t make it do anythin’ it doesn’t want to do,” he says, and I can tell he means every word.
“I thought you are all about herding cats,” I reply.
“Naw, I said it’s pointless to try,” he replies as he leans down and brushes his lips against mine. When I respond, he deepens our kiss. His hand snakes through my hair, pulling me toward him, while I press against his side. A storm blows up in me, I want to pull him closer and push him away at the same time. Unable to do either, I decide, that if he is not going to let me say goodbye with words, I will say it this way.
I kiss him until he pulls back and looks in my eyes. “Y’all are always sayin’ how things are never unconditional. Well, yer wrong. My love for ya will always be unconditional, so ya have to come back, no matter what.” I pull him to me and bury my head in his neck and he holds me until we hear a knock on the door.
“Sweetie, you should get dressed. We are getting a police escort to the hangar and I’m sure we’re in for some interrogating from SQ,” Buns says when she pops into the room.
She gives us a brief cover story while I change out of the robe and into jeans and a t-shirt. We are supposed to pretend that we are rich kids on summer break from school, party hopping across the country. We thought we would head over and check out Quebec, since it’s so close. She tells us to play dumb, which is harder than I thought it would be because I have never been a rich kid, so I have no idea how I’m supposed to act.
As it turns out, the Canadian Mounties don’t have anything to do with us. The Surete Du Quebec, which means Quebec Security, or SQ, however, is all up in our grill for our unscheduled stop in their city. Russell, being led out first by the police escort, has most of the officers milling around him. I think they are a little nervous about him, due to his size. Watching the rain dampen his t-shirt, he bends down deeply in order to avoid hitting his head on the roof of the police car when they load him in the back. A moment of panic sweeps through me as his car drives away. I’m afraid for him. Maybe I should’ve gone to Zee’s island first, and then left from there to go to Dominion, but it’s too late to second guess my decision. I feel an urgency to get to Dominion as soon as possible and I have to rely on my instincts now as much as I can.
The inspectors at SQ separate us all into different rooms before they ask me leading questions like, “What are da bomb sniffin’ dogs gonna find on yer plane, eh?” and “Why doncha tell us why yer really here, eh?”
It’s strange to listen to the investigators speak because they speak French in Quebec, but since I don’t speak French, they speak to me in English that is a mixture of a French-Canadian accent. At least they aren’t evil faeries, so I can deal with the strange accents. I pretend to be Lillian Lucas, since that is the passport that Russell had thought to pack for me on the day I was taken by the Gancanagh. He is pretending to be Henry Grant and we are barely able to tell Brownie and Buns about it before we are separated.
Sitting in a room that contains a faux wood laminate table and metal folding chairs, I realize that it’s no bigger than the cell the Gancanagh had locked me in just days ago. But, since the SQ investigators don’t have fangs, or toxic skin, and they are giving me all the water I need, not to mention breakfast, I’m having a hard time taking them seriously. In fact, I fall back asleep for a while when they leave me alone, presumably to check out my story. Picking at my breakfast, I can’t really eat it. The best I can do is eat the dry toast, but it’s sitting like a lump in my stomach, churning like I have eaten grease.
My neck is a source of suspicion. I can’t get it to stop bleeding, and even though Buns had given me a silk scarf to wrap around my neck, after six hours of being detained at the airport, it begins to show through the scarf. I tell the police that I have a blood disorder that makes my blood thin so that I have trouble clotting when I cut myself. This garners me some sympathy from the police and they seem to act nicer to me after that.
After over ten hours in the airport detention area, Investigator Crawford, a burly-looking man with a penchant for pulling his pants up too
high, lets me out of my interrogation room. He leads me to an area where I see Russell and Buns sitting together on an anemic looking bright red sofa. They are speaking in voices that are too low to be overheard by the humans. It sounds like Russell is filling Buns in on what he saw while in the cave with the Gancanagh. Hearing him mention Brennus, a burst of fear shoots through me, causing me to stumble a little as I approach them. Seeing me, Russell stands up, moving down the couch so that I can sit between them.
“Are ya okay, Red?” Russell asks in a cautious tone as he watches my beefy-looking police escort walk away once I had taken a seat. He doesn’t wait to hear my answer, but pulls me closer so that he can check me out for himself.
“Yeah, I fell asleep and my neck hurts from waking up slumped over on the table, but other than that, I’m fine,” I say as my eyes evaluate him to see that he looks no worse for the interrogation. “How’d it go?” I ask.
He reaches up and rubs my shoulders for me while he says, “I like Canada. Nice police—too nice. They gave me breakfast,” he says, cracking a smile. I love his smile, it’s so honest and encompassing, I think as I try to memorize his handsome face.
I want to smile back at him, but anxiety that has been building in me for the past few hours has me wanting to pace the room and claw the walls to get out. Reed and Zephyr aren’t in the custody of the nice police that will feed them breakfast. They are with the Powers who don’t dispense mercy to anything they believe to be their enemies. Dire consequences…that’s what Reed said he faced if he helped me when I first met him. I should have listened to him. I should have left school when he told me to, but I was too selfish to do that.
Buns smiles, saying, “You bet they’re nice, but don’t think everyone gets this treatment. They think we’re rich kids on holiday who are more than willing to wire them all the money in fines that they’re extorting out of us,” Buns says, shrugging. “Once they saw everything basically checked out, they started adding up our punishment.”
Intuition: The Premonition Series Page 37
