Never More

by Dana Marie Bell

  Of course, if he was wrong about the trigger point, he was toast. Simply entering the trap could have set it off. The sensation that the walls were closing in could be the illusion trap actually closing.

  Raven got to the crack he’d come in and flowed out, refusing to even breathe until he was across the street from the building that had been the illusion trap. He stared at the dilapidated home, surprised anyone had survived entering it. If not for the illusion trap, no one would dare.

  The house must have once been a beautiful piece of workmanship, with beautiful brick out front, a turret room, three stories and a chimney. But it was beginning to collapse in on itself even without the trap. The roof was sagging and filled with holes, the turret was lopsided, and the chain-link fence surrounding the property warned people that the house had been condemned and was slated for demolition…three weeks ago.

  Someone was going to get into trouble for Sayyid’s little trick.

  Raven pulled his cell phone out and dialed Liam. “Thanks, Red.”

  “No problemo. Robin would hand me my ass if I let anything happen to you.”

  Raven snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I love you too.”

  “I’m free Saturday. Wanna pick out china, bottom boy?”

  “Sure, but only if I get to top.” Raven strode toward the dilapidated house. Now that the trap was no longer effective it was possible Sayyid had left something behind, something that Raven could use to find him. “I’m going back in.”

  “Gotcha. You have that earpiece from the redcap? I can isolate the signal and use it to keep in touch without Sayyid knowing.”

  Did Raven really want to stick something in his ear that had once belonged to a redcap? “Ugh. Sure. But I get to pick the china pattern.”

  Liam laughed. “Put the earpiece in. I’ve got Robin on speed dial just in case.”

  “Will do.” Raven hung up and pocketed his phone. He then grudgingly put the earpiece in, wincing a little at the thought of redcap earwax. “Man, the things you have to do for work around here.”

  “Tell me about it.” Liam sounded like he was right next to Raven.

  Raven easily leapt over the chain-link fence and stepped through the broken front door. “I’m in.”

  “Searching for electronic signatures.”

  Raven picked his way across what was once a living room. The upper floor had completely caved in, carpeting the floor below with debris. Raven had to float in a few places that were impossible to walk on. Sifting through this would take days…if he were human.

  Raven called his friends, his beasts, his pretty little birds into the room. His ravens flowed through the broken front door, filling the living room with their joyous cries. Raven smiled and held out his arms, allowing some of them to land on him. He greeted each and every one, touching them, showing he was pleased with them. “We need to find anything Sayyid left behind, my pets. Search for anything with his scent or his signature.”

  The ravens scattered, the only sound in the house the silken slither of their wings.

  Raven glanced around the living room again, conducting his own search with the help of two of his ravens. While he used his powers to lift things out of the way, the ravens dug with beak and claw. After an hour, Raven began to tire. “Nothing. I haven’t found a damn thing yet.”

  “He had to leave something behind to anchor the illusion. Did you look in the basement? Is the staircase intact, and if so, is there one of those little hidey-holes under it, like in Harry Potter?”

  Raven sighed. “Work, work, work.” But he followed Liam’s advice and headed for the staircase.

  Sure enough, there was a cubby under the stairs, complete with a djinn sigil. “I hate you so much right now.”

  Liam laughed. “I love being right.”

  “Call Robin and let him know what happened. I need to get rid of the sigil before someone accidentally sets it off again.” And if that happened, whoever touched it would become the focus of the trap, dying horribly as the house collapsed in on them.

  There was something odd about the sigil, something that had him staring at it, trying to figure out what it was that sent his hackles into an uproar.

  “Will do. I’ll see you in a couple of days at the Dunne farm.”

  “Can you live without your toys until the wedding is over?”

  Liam chuckled. “What makes you think I’ll be without them?”

  He cut off the call before Raven could ask him what he meant. The gremlin probably had access to portable electronics nerds only dreamed of.

  So instead of trying to break his brain figuring out the geekiest geek in the universe, Raven worked to abolish the sigil his half brother had left behind. One misstep would cause the trap to spring.

  Raven hated djinn illusion traps. He was not a fan of anything with an oops, you’re dead theme. At least when it was aimed at him.

  It took some time to work out what order they needed to be erased in, but Raven eventually got it. It helped that he’d seen this particular set of symbols before, but Sayyid liked to change things up by altering the symbol order. But once you figured out the key symbol, the rest wasn’t nearly as difficult.

  It was the raven symbol that had him freaking out just a little bit. Either this trap had been meant for him, or for his birds. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense, the only mark that was out of place in a relatively normal djinn death trap.

  Raven pressed the symbols in order, confident he’d gotten it right. When he pressed the last one, the sigil flared a bright green, the color of Robin’s eyes, and disappeared.

  The house creaked ominously. If he was wrong, and the sigil had been all that had been holding the crumbling house up…

  He called a warning to his ravens, telling them to get out. He swiftly flowed through the house and out the front door as it collapsed behind him, flying up and out of the way of crashing debris. He’d avoided the obvious trap, only to set off the less obvious one. At least all of his ravens had made it out safely, working together to break windows or find access points they could crawl through.

  “You did good, my pets.” The ravens flew around him in a dizzying display of aerobatics, making him smile as he stood in the middle of them. It had been a while since he simply played with them, so Raven gave in to his urges and joined his friends in flight.

  Chapter Six

  “Aw,” Michaela cooed. “Look at this.”

  Amanda steered the tiny brunette away from the frothy concoction of lace and taffeta. “Can you at least party like it’s nineteen-ninety-nine instead of eighteen-seventy-nine?”

  “But—”

  “No, Michaela. You’d look like one of those old crocheted toilet paper hiders my grandma put on her powder-blue toilet. You know, the ones with the Barbie doll cut in half so its legs were now made of pillowy poop paper?

  “Poop paper?” Michaela giggled.

  “Don’t laugh. The thing was creepy as hell.” Amanda steered Michaela toward the much more modern, sleek designs that would suit her tiny frame. “Here you go.”

  “They look like nightgowns.” Michaela’s pout was adorable. “Blech.”

  Amanda sighed. Michaela was drawn to the dramatic and sparkly gowns, ones that would overwhelm her. The dress would wear her rather than the other way around.

  Ruby took hold of Michaela’s other arm. “Well, maybe we find something shiny that’s less poufy?”

  Michaela nodded eagerly. “That could work.” She freed herself easily and bounced off like an over-eager beagle.

  Amanda leaned up against the wall wearily. “Hey, Moira?”

  “Hmm?” Moira took her gaze off of the peach bridesmaid gown she’d been ogling since they walked into the bridal store.

  “Why doesn’t Michaela have a wedding gown yet?” The wedding was only days away. There was no way she’d have a
gown fitted and ready to go in that short amount of time.

  Moira smiled and winked. “You’d be surprised what can happen in the Goodfellow family when they set their minds to something.”

  Amanda shook her head. “It would take a miracle for her to get a gown now.”

  “Perhaps.” Moira sighed. “The gown she wanted to wear was…destroyed, along with several other things, by a very bad man.”

  Amanda straightened up. This was the first she’d heard of this. “What happened?”

  “There was an explosion.” Moira grimaced. “I can’t say any more than that.”

  “Has the case gone to trial? I mean, did they catch the guy who did it?” No wonder Michaela clung so tightly to Robin. She must be far more traumatized than she let on, poor thing. Amanda would have to make sure Michaela had the best possible shopping experience ever.

  “Yeah, they caught him, but, um, he died during the capture attempt.”

  “So that’s one worry off her mind, right?” Amanda pushed off the wall and tracked Michaela, finally finding her back by the poufy monstrosities. “No. Bad Michaela.”

  Michaela whined, but allowed Amanda to pull her away from the humongous ball gowns.

  “All right.” Amanda rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Short, full length or hi-low?”

  “Full length. I think short is too informal, and hi-low looks like a samba dancer.” Michaela must have seen another sparkly dress, because she was off like a shot.

  Gebus. It was like trying to track a free-range toddler in Toys“R”Us.

  “Okay, fine. You want sparkly. What’s your budget?” Amanda raced off after her, only to find her looking at…well, it was sparkly all right. Amanda wouldn’t be caught dead in it, but it wasn’t her wedding.

  “I dunno. Robin said pick whatever I want and he’d take care of it.” She held out a black credit card. “He gave me this.”

  Amanda nearly had a heart attack. “Put that away.” She glanced around, praying it hadn’t been seen by any predatory bridal consultants. With that card she could be shopping for anything, anywhere.

  No wonder she was acting like a free-range toddler. She really had been given the entire candy store.

  “So. We can look at anything sparkly. Hell, you could have diamond-encrusted toes if you want.” She started sorting through the gowns, ignoring the sharp tac-tac-tac of a pair of high heels marching toward them. “How about this?”

  Michaela stared at it. It had a crystal, sweetheart neckline bodice with a swirling multilayered chiffon skirt. “Nope. I think I want halter style, or cap sleeves.”

  Amanda nodded. “Given any thought to mermaid?”

  “Excuse me, can I help you?” A chirpy, way-too-cheerful voice spoke to the back of Amanda’s head.

  Moira pulled interference duty, directing the salesperson toward the bridesmaids’ gowns. At least Michaela had made a choice on those, going with a sapphire blue that went well with all of the ladies’ complexions. Each girl was allowed to pick her own style dress, so long as it was in the correct color.

  Amanda had been surprised to be included, but the moment Amanda and Michaela met, they’d instantly clicked. Michaela and Melissa made an interesting addition to Ruby and Amanda’s little circle of two.

  “Michaela? How about this one?” Speaking of Melissa, she held up a gown that had Amanda drooling.

  “I love you, little sis,” Michaela sighed.

  “You like it?” If she didn’t, Amanda was willing to mortgage her soul for it. The gown was a mermaid style done in champagne and gold, with a sweetheart neckline and thick halter straps that led to an open back. Dotted with crystals, it sparkled when it moved. Best of all, it had a brush train, flowing out around the wearer’s legs and giving Michaela that hint of pouf that she wanted without overpowering her.

  It was perfect.

  “It’s perfect.” Michaela touched it, and it shimmered, almost as if it was reacting to her. She drew a sharp breath and grabbed the gown. “I need to try this on.”

  And she was off, practically running for the dressing rooms, Melissa and Amanda hot on her heels.

  Why no one stopped them, Amanda didn’t know. The saleslady should have made another attempt to help them, but apparently Moira was very good at distracting the woman, because Amanda hadn’t seen her since. In fact, Michaela got into a dressing room with no fuss whatsoever.

  Melissa went into the room with her sister, and from the cooing and crying coming from the room, Michaela had found her dress. When she stepped out, Amanda had to sigh.

  It really was perfect. It flowed around Michaela as though made for her, even down to the length. They could buy this right off the rack and Michaela could wear it tonight if she wanted.

  “Well?”

  “If you don’t buy this I will beat you stupid,” Amanda breathed.

  Michaela laughed. “Isn’t it perfect?”

  “Now you just need a veil, sis.” Melissa wiped her eyes dry. “Something with tiny little crystals in it.”

  “And the perfect shoes to go with it.” Amanda stood. “You stay here and bask in your gorgeousness. We’ll take care of the details.” She held out her arm to Melissa. “Shall we, Melissa?”

  Melissa looked startled for a moment, but she took the arm Amanda held out to her. “Let’s.”

  The two ignored Michaela’s giggles and headed right for the tiaras and veils. “What do you think of this?”

  “Mm.” Amanda made a face. “Not with that dress.” Not with any dress, as far as Amanda was concerned. “What about this one?”

  “Too delicate.”

  They argued back and forth for a moment before a tiara literally jumped out in front of them and landed at Melissa’s feet. “Huh.”

  Amanda checked where the tiara had been sitting. No air vents, no furry woodland creatures, no Moira darting away. “That’s weird.”

  “But look.” Melissa held up the perfect tiara. Instead of silver it was gold, and the gems were so realistic looking she’d swear they actually were real. “It’s perfect.”

  “Someone’s looking out for your sis.” Amanda frowned. She could have sworn she heard a chuckle. A masculine one. But no one was near them, and no men had entered the store since they’d gotten here. “Let’s go see if the fairies are willing to show us a veil.” Melissa’s laugh was the best. It was a cross between Betty Rubble and a sneeze. “Think the fairies can find me a boyfriend?”

  “Me first.” Amanda bumped her shoulder into Melissa’s.

  “I’ve seen the way Raven stares at you. I think you have a shot with him.” Melissa began sorting through veils, looking for one to complement the tiara.

  Amanda fingered the small gold feather earring Raven had put on her. “Maybe.”

  A soft, shivery sensation curled around her ear, like a feather stroking her skin.

  “Mm-hm.” Melissa held up a veil. “This is the one.”

  “How do you know?”

  Melissa turned the tag, her hand shaking and her face pale.

  There, in elegant script, was written Reserved for Michaela Exton-Goodfellow.

  Amanda clapped three times. “Yup. I now believe in fairies.”

  Amanda stood on the front porch in jeans that were painted on and a charcoal-gray crewneck sweater that looked a size too big. Her hair was in a sloppy ponytail, and her makeup was minimal. She looked relaxed and at ease, holding a cup of something hot in her hands as she stared out into the night.

  She was beautiful in the moonlight, glowing with life even as she stood quiet. Every now and then her lips would quirk into a half smile, as if she was thinking of something particularly amusing, or she’d sigh after sipping from her mug, licking her lips to catch a stray drop. Just watching her was a pleasure beyond measure.

  He approached her silently, unsure how to explain the lack
of car. He’d flown to confront Sayyid, not thinking beyond getting to his brother and ending the hunt. Now he had to explain to his human mate where he’d been. He could lie, say he’d been to Shane’s workshop, but doing so sat ill with him. Besides, he’d promised he’d explain everything when he returned.

  “Welcome back.”

  He stilled. How had she heard him? “Thank you.”

  “I forgot to mention something earlier before you left.” She smirked at him as he came toward her. “Ruby double-dog dared me to ask you out on a date.”

  “Did she?”

  Amanda nodded. “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me why Ruby’s hiding something from me, and I’ll take that dare.”

  “Done.” Raven held out his hand, pulling her toward him when she accepted it. He wrapped her up in his arms, ready to fly her away when the moment came. “It has to do with what I needed to explain to you anyway.”

  He watched as she stared at him, the confusion on her face slowly morphing to impatience. “Why am I getting the feeling everyone else around here knows exactly what is happening except me?”

  “Not everyone. Michaela’s relatives know nothing yet, but they will have to be informed.” Raven knew how much Michaela adored her brothers and sister. The thought that Robin would force her to abandon them was unthinkable. “There’s a lot to talk about. Things that could get you killed.” Raven’s hand clenched, bunching up the back of her sweater. “I’m not going to allow that.”

  “That’s…good to know.” She stared at him for a moment, the thoughts flitting through her written all over her face. Fear and worry were predominant. “Is Ruby in danger?”

  “You two are very close, aren’t you?” He wished he’d had that kind of connection with someone, anyone, in his life. Even his mother had been forced to keep her distance or earn the Dark Queen’s wrath. He was beginning to get that with Robin, and a little with Liam. He hoped to have it with Amanda. As fiercely protective as she was over Ruby, she’d probably be ten times more so over a cherished lover.

  “Yes, we are.” Her shoulders squared. “She is in danger, or you would have said something.”