by May, W. J.
Yes, they needed the information. But no, she wasn’t willing to put one of her friends on the chopping block just to find an address. They could always go through the proper channels. “Julian, are you sure you—”
But at that moment, Molly collapsed in the little space between them, dropping several bags of airport purchases at their feet. When Molly stressed, she shopped. Then again, she tended to shop regardless, so if was often hard to tell. Both Julian and Rae scooted over automatically to make room, highly accustomed to such behavior, as the little redhead whipped out her phone and began texting at the speed of light, completely oblivious to the intrusion.
But while Rae just rolled her eyes and looked away, Devon was watching Molly with a serious expression on his handsome face. His eyes flicked to her phone before he shifted casually forward in his seat. “Who are you texting, Molls?” he asked innocently.
“What?” She glanced up before returning to the screen. “Oh, Luke. I was just letting him know where we were going and—HEY!”
Faster than sight, Devon snatched the phone from her hands and crushed it silently in his own. Rae watched the little shards of metal fall to the ground in shock, her mouth falling open as she both stared at Devon and discreetly held back her infuriated friend.
“What the hell did you do that for, Wardell?!” Molly demanded in a rage.
Tiny, almost imperceptible sparks began dancing at the tips of her fingers, and Rae took her firmly by the hands, glancing nervously around the crowded lounge.
“They’re going to be looking for us,” Devon said quietly, wiping the metallic dust discreetly onto his pants. “I’m sorry, Molls, but none of us can use our phones anymore. It’s not safe.”
Her eyes flashed dangerously as she leaned across Rae. “It was Luke, Devon. It’s not like he’s going to tell—”
“Every call can be traced,” he interrupted with only a thin layer of patience. “Every text. The second we don’t come back to Guilder; we’re going to be at the top of the PC’s watch list. Everyone we know will be put under surveillance. Even Luke.”
Molly slumped back against her chair in a huff. “Well, you didn’t have to break it. You could have just taken out the memory card or something—”
“That wouldn’t have worked.” Devon seemed just as frustrated as she was to have to be explaining such basic agency tricks. “Molls, you haven’t really been out in the field; you’re going to need to trust—”
“Oh, that’s what this whole thing is about?” she interrupted furiously. “I’m out here with the rest of you, volunteering to run all over the world, risking my life to find this lunatic, but because I haven’t been on as many agency-sanctioned missions as you’ve been, it’s suddenly not good enough—”
“That’s not what I’m saying—”
“Now boarding Flight 267 to Puerto Suárez. Calling all first-class passengers at this time…”
Saved by the bell, Rae thought as she hoisted on her backpack. She glanced back at the others as she got to her feet, but Julian was lost in a trance, and Molly and Devon were still glaring at each other, arms folded tightly over their chests. Fortunately, none of the other people in the lounge seemed to have noticed the little dispute when it happened, but they were certainly noticing now, casting curious looks at the group of beautiful, angry-looking teenagers as they filed past.
“Come on, guys,” Rae reasoned softly, positioning herself cautiously in between them. “Let’s not do this now. We don’t have the time, and we’re attracting attention.” Neither one moved, and she sighed, wishing she had some sort of tatù that could calm tempers. “Molly,” she glanced sympathetically at her friend, “he’ll buy you a new phone when we get back.”
“The second we get to London,” Devon promised.
There wasn’t much apology in his voice, but they glanced stiffly at each other, and a tentative truce was made.
Rolling her eyes, Molly pushed to her feet. She kicked Julian awake, muttering, “Whenever that will be…”
Nonetheless, she picked up her purse and headed off to the gate, leaving Devon to carry her many bags as penance. Julian trailed along behind, half in the present, half in the future, while Rae brought up the rear, watching them closely.
It wasn’t like her friends to argue, let alone in public, and it certainly wasn’t like them to get careless and slip into their tatùs. If they didn’t start being careful, they’d have more than just the Privy Council on their trail…
Once they got on the plane, things weren’t much better.
Julian immediately put on his sunglasses and fell into a silent trance, desperately trying to see where to go once they landed. Molly started downing little bottles of complimentary champagne like they were going out of style. And Devon…
While Devon seemed fine on the outside, Rae knew better. After all these years, she was able to read his moods almost as well as her own. He was just barely keeping it together, maintaining a carefully neutral expression, while inside, he was spinning out of control.
That’s when Rae realized that just because her friends hadn’t received the same life-altering news she had didn’t mean they weren’t just as traumatized by what had happened. They’d all been down in the catacombs, too. They’d all see the same gruesome pictures. The same bloody threats.
And they’d all decided to come along on this wild goose-chase without a second’s thought.
Suddenly, the quick tempers and little bottles of booze made sense. She wasn’t the only one hanging on by a thread; she wasn’t the only one wishing she was one of those kids in the airport, or one of the kids still partying it up at Guilder. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to go home to a carefree summer with her family, not have the weight of the world on her shoulders for once.
Get a grip, Rae. Pull it together for your friends.
“Hey.” She squeezed Devon’s leg, fixing a determined smile on her face. “You know when we get to Bolivia, I’m going to get to use Sarah’s tatù for the first time.”
The future Queen of England, with whom Rae had recently struck an unlikely friendship, had the useful ability of being able to speak and understand any language on the planet. Quite handy considering she was going into professional politics, but Rae had yet to test it out.
Devon glanced over at her in surprise before smiling tentatively himself. “I hate to break it to you, babe, but both Julian and I speak Spanish quite fluently.”
“Oh…” Rae paused, feeling rather deflated, before suddenly rallying, “Well, that may be, but can you also translate any of the fifty indigenous dialects we may run across in some of the smaller villages?” She grinned victoriously at his blank expression. “Yeah. I didn’t think so.”
For a second, he just stared at her in bewilderment—probably wondering where this sudden bout of playful energy came from. Then he angled towards her in his chair with a bemused smile.
“Are you tatù-shaming me?” he asked incredulously.
“Oh no,” she said with mock seriousness. “I would never presume that one tatù—and thus—one person, was superior to another. But if the shoe fits…”
His eyebrows shot up and he grinned for real, his nervous energy temporarily forgotten as his competitive streak rose to the surface. “Is that right? Well I’ll have you know, Kerrigan, I learned to speak four different languages all on my own. I didn’t need some fancy tatù to do it for me.”
“Four?” Rae patted his hand indulgently. “Aw, honey, that is so cute.”
“Shut up,” he chuckled, turning back to the front.
Satisfied that at least one person was temporarily back on the straight and narrow, Rae leaned across him to deal with Molly. By now there was a little graveyard of empty bottles around her, and she was hiccupping nervously as she stared out the window. Occasionally, she would reach automatically for her phone, and then glare at Devon when she remembered it wasn’t there.
“Hey, Molls?” Rae tossed a copy of Sky Mall across the aisle. “I wa
s thinking we could take some of this time to start accessorizing our new apartment. It is a thirteen-hour flight, you know…”
Molly’s eyes dilated slightly as she caught the magazine mid-spin. Thirteen hours of non-interrupted shopping? Perhaps there was hope for the day after all…
“Rae, that’s—” she hiccupped, “brilliant!”
Rae grinned as Molly started flipping through the pages, leaning back in her chair with a satisfied expression on her face. Julian was out cold, but she was sure she could think of something for him later. In the meantime, balance had been at least momentarily restored.
“Bet you think you’re pretty sneaky, don’t you?” Devon teased.
Rae glanced up with a guilty grin. Sometimes she forgot that Devon knew her just as well as she knew him.
“Yeah, well,” she sighed and curled into him, “it’s been a tough day all around.”
He kissed the top of her forehead and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It certainly has.” They were quiet for a while before he said, “I saw you left your phone in Julian’s car. Are you worried about what your mom’s gonna do when she finds out you’re gone?”
Rae’s throat tightened as she considered it for the millionth time. What was her mom going to do? She was going to freak the hell out. That’s exactly what she was going to do. “She knows this whole year we’ve been working towards finding Cromfield…” she said half-heartedly. “I guess I can only hope she’ll trust that we know what we’re doing.”
Devon paused for a second. “Do we?”
Rae glanced up and met his eyes. “It’s best we don’t overthink that part.”
They chuckled softly as the plane revved its engines and began streaking down the runway. A moment later, they were above the clouds.
“Get some sleep, love,” Devon murmured. “We’re going to have a long day tomorrow.”
Rae shut her eyes and rested her head against his chest.
He was right about that. It was going to be a long day.
The first of many.
Chapter 3
“Sir? Sir, are you alright? You need to fasten your seatbelt for landing. Sir?”
Rae opened her eyes to see a rather concerned-looking flight attendant hovering over Julian’s chair. Jules was still out cold, locked in his visions, and essentially dead to the world. On his other side, Molly lay drooling against the window, sleeping off the booze.
“Devon,” Rae whispered anxiously, prodding him awake.
His eyes snapped open at once and instantly followed her gaze across the aisle. Using perhaps a bit more speed than was wise, he leapt to his feet, catching the attendant’s wrist as she reached worriedly for Julian’s sunglasses.
She startled in fright, but he flashed her an easy smile. “My friend suffers from narcolepsy,” he lied with surprising confidence, kneeling down and fastening Julian’s seatbelt for him. Watching the practiced movements, Rae got the feeling he had done this before. “But thank you for your concern. I can take it from here.”
Though the woman was easily three times Devon’s age, she blushed to the roots of her teased-up hair and gently squeezed his shoulder. “That’s very good of you, young man,” she purred, batting her thick eyelashes. “Be sure to take your seat as soon as you can for landing.”
Devon smiled and pulled himself politely away. “Yes, ma’am.”
As the woman vanished toward the cockpit, Rae cleared her throat loudly, her eyes dancing with amusement as she grinned at her blushing boyfriend. As the Privy Council usually paired Devon up with Julian for this sort of thing, she hardly ever got to see this hilariously persecuted side of him. She thought back to the airline receptionist scribbling her phone number on the back of his ticket receipt. Did this kind of thing happen all the time?
Devon, for one, seemed incredibly reluctant to meet her eyes, focusing instead on Julian. “Jules,” he muttered, shaking his shoulders discreetly, “wake up!”
Julian stayed frozen as a statue, eyes an iridescent white beneath the glasses, lost in the future.
Devon tried again, shaking him more roughly this time. “Julian—wake up! Come on, man, open your eyes.”
Still nothing. Even drooling Molly started to stir.
Devon glanced back at Rae and sighed. “It’s getting harder and harder to wake him. I’ve had to carry him out before. And now that he’s watching Cromfield…” He tutted and turned back to his friend with concern. “I’ve never seen him out this long before.”
“Try Molly,” Rae advised. “She can wake him.”
Unfortunately, as Molly’s roommate when they were both coming into their powers, Rae had been the victim of the ‘Molly Skye Morning Wakeup’ many times herself. She knew firsthand how effective it was.
With a grin, Devon poked the half-sleeping girl in her side. “Morning, sunshine!”
In a blur of crimson hair, Molly jerked awake, spluttering, “Cash or credit?!” When she saw her friends watching with incredulous smiles, she gathered herself together as dignifiedly as she could.
“Trapped in the world of retail again?” Rae asked knowingly. Molly rarely had nightmares, but they all seemed to center around the same thing.
Molly shuddered, pulling her coat tighter up around her. “I was wearing polyester.”
Devon made a commendable effort not to roll his eyes. “Molls, do you think you could wake Julian for us? I can’t get him out of this vision, and we’re about to land…”
“Yeah, sure.” She yawned and stretched. Then, with hardly a glance, she reached over and zapped Julian discreetly in the side, sending a few volts of electricity coursing through his body.
His eyes shot open with a gasp as he jumped in his seat, falling back when he hit the leather restraint.
“And that’s why we always wear our seatbelts,” Devon teased lightly. He clapped his friend on the shoulder, his eyes taking in every minute detail though he kept his face free of concern. “Are you okay? You were out for a while there.”
Julian glanced around, clearly disoriented, before his eyes struggled to focus on Devon. “I don’t…” He took a deep breath and squeezed his hands into fists. “Yeah, I think so.”
Rae bit her lip, climbing out of her chair and kneeling next to Devon in the aisle. “Your nose is bleeding again,” she said softly. Julian’s hand came up to his face as she and Devon shared a worried glance. “Jules, I know I said we needed your tat—ability, but not at your expense.” She caught herself just in time, not sure who might be listening. She lowered her voice, “You just got a handle on these more intense visions of yours. Maybe you shouldn’t be pushing it with Cromfield—”
“Don’t be silly.” He wiped his face clean and gave her a reassuring wink. “I’m fine. And besides…I now know the name of the village where Cromfield is heading.”
“Excuse me,” the sharp voice of the same flight attendant who’d been melting over Devon interrupted their conversation, “you all need to return to your seats now.” She seemed considerably less taken with him now that her eyes fell critically on Rae kneeling by his side. She did, however, pat Julian comfortingly on the arm before she left. “You just hang in there, sweetie. We’re landing soon.”
Julian’s dark eyes shot up in confusion, as Rae and Devon, both fighting smiles, retreated across the aisle and buckled in for landing.
* * *
The second they stepped outside, the hot Bolivian sun hit them like a slap to the face. Not only was it hotter, but it was also more humid than anything Rae had ever experienced before. The air felt thick, like a turtleneck around her throat. She gulped a couple of deep breaths, feeling a bit like she was drowning, before dropping her bags in defeat on the sidewalk. The formfitting black spy gear the four of them were still wearing from the church wasn’t helping things, and, already, she could feel her hair sticking to the back of her neck. She envisioned curls and ringlets forming from her straightened hair. “Well, this is just lovely!” She took off her heavy London coat and stuffed
it into the nearest bag. “Really fits the climate.”
Molly smacked her shoulder with a grin. “Hey—I packed the best I could, alright? It’s not like any of us really had a South American wardrobe.”
Devon was all business, running his fingers back through his suddenly damp hair as he hailed a taxi. “First things first: Jules, you said it was to the north?”
Julian nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a little farming village right on the border. There should be a hotel nearby. We can stay there for the night after we find the kid.”
“The kid?” Molly asked in surprise. “How do you know he’s a kid?”
He was about to answer, but, at that moment, a cab pulled up to the sidewalk and the four of them climbed inside, rolling down the windows to try to create a little breeze. Devon muttered some instructions to the driver, and, a second later, they were flying up the street, merging onto some kind of interstate.
Once they were safely on their way, and it was clear the driver was no longer paying attention to them, Molly lowered her voice and asked again, “So…how do you know he’s a kid? I guess I kind of pictured him as our age.”
Julian shook his head. “Cromfield’s files on all the hybrids were more extensive than just what we found at the church. I saw the kid in his mind. He’s only about seven or eight. I don’t think he even knows he’s going to have powers yet. He’s still years away from getting his tatù.”
“Well, then this can be a nice little surprise for him,” Rae murmured as she gazed out the window at the Bolivian countryside.
For whatever reason, she had pictured all the hybrids as teenagers as well. It was just easier to think of them as being already tatùed and in some way capable of defending themselves. She hadn’t imagined that some of the names on the list might be children.
The four of them were silent for the rest of the two-hour drive. Julian caught up on some of the sleep he’d missed on the plane, Molly stared out the window, nervously chewing her lip, while Rae and Devon simply held hands, both quietly thinking about what was to come.
