by Fletcher, MJ
“Not anymore than I usually do, Masters.”
“I guess that’s an improvement. Why’d you come then?”
“Edgar, I won’t leave him with the First Kind... not like I was left.” The words sliced into me like a physical wound.
“We didn’t know.”
“I know.” He glared at me. “You thought I was dead, but I wasn’t.”
“I’m sorry.” I wanted to reach out and comfort him but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He was right I had assumed that the First Kind had killed him, yet I had left him to a fate far worse than death.
“No worries, Masters, I’m sure you were busy.”
“If you must know, I was a wreck when I thought you were dead.” I didn’t care what he remembered. That he would question me about it pissed me off.
“Were you now?”
“Yes damn it! Do you know what it was like watching you through that portal?”
“What are you talking about?” He shook his head.
“When we were escaping you took my place and stayed behind, you don’t remember how you were captured?” I didn’t mention that it was also when we had confessed our feelings for each other or that it had been then that we shared our first kiss and what I believed would be our last. A kiss I would never forget
“All I remember is days on end of torture and questions. And when they didn’t like my answers, it was more of the same. So excuse me if I don’t sympathize with your experience.”
“When you were gone it crushed all of us, Nightshade.” I stepped closer to him and he tensed. “I know they made you think we were the enemy, but we aren’t. We are and always will be friends. We were close.”
“I remember you and me fighting.” His voice was low.
“We only fought because of what they had made you believe.”
“I don’t mean when I came back—I mean us—whenever I think about you, I think of us arguing. Is that right?”
I wanted to cry but it came out as a laugh. “Yes, it is. We always argued, it was our thing. Just like now.”
“Yet we’re friends?”
“Yes, all of us are.”
“How was Edgar when he thought I was dead?”
“He didn’t take your loss well. You two were very close.”
“I do remember that.”
“So you’ll help us find him?”
“Definitely.” He walked to the pub’s door and pulled it open. “Shall we?” He waved his hand for me to enter and I did, heading back to the booth.
“Nightshade you made it!” Jess raced across the room and threw herself into his arms. Val was right behind her wrapping herself around him.
“Nice to see I was missed, but I do need to breathe.” He laughed as they released him and we all took our seats. Slade and Nightshade acknowledged one another with a simple nod.
“I was hoping you got my text.” Jess held onto his hand as if he might disappear if she let go.
“I did, do we have a plan?” He looked straight at me.
“I’m finishing up putting the team together, though we’re still looking for a Mapmaker.”
“I might be able to help with that.”
“Who?”
“Let me make some calls and I’ll let you know.”
“Sounds good. With Declan as our DI that should cover all the Societies, which means we can start searching for Edgar in earnest.”
“Declan?” Nightshade asked.
“That’s who was outside,” I said without meeting his gaze.
“Goldilocks?” he asked and Slade nearly spit his drink out laughing.
“You’re having a real blast tonight aren’t you?” I sneered.
“It’s funny when I’m not the target,” Slade said with a self-satisfied grin.
Nightshade cut us off. “What do we know about Edgar?”
“The First Kind needs him to access the Legend,” I said
“And they can’t use a Forget Me Not on him because of the lock I placed on him when they took him away,” Nightshade reminded.
Nightshade had thought quickly during that fight and had used a technique of the Skeleton Key Guild to protect Edgar from being manipulated like he had been.
“Correct, but they’ve started making moves already.” I explained what had happened with Emory and the HVO.
“Are you sure we can trust the HVO?”
“A question to be considered,” I said feeling the same way. “But we need them on the team for the council to sign off on our mission, so we’ve got no choice.”
“With the First Kind moving against the HVO they have something big in mind.” Nightshade leaned back in his seat, his brow scrunched as if in deep thought.
He had something heavy on his mind and I wanted to know what. “What makes you say that?”
“When I was with them I wasn’t allowed around any of the big meetings, but I would hear whispers. They have a plan and it starts with taking down each Society one at a time. This is just the beginning.”
“We need to get Edgar before they use the Legend to access the HVO dimension and take them out completely,” I said suddenly worried that we were moving too slowly at finding Edgar.
“Do we have any leads on his whereabouts?” Nightshade asked.
“Gavin has a good lead on where they are holding him.”
“Where?” Nightshade asked anxiously.
“Another dimension that is somehow locked off to us. I thought maybe it was a Skeleton Key Guild dimension but we didn’t find anything to prove that and Gavin said he didn’t believe it was associated with the Skeleton Key Guild.”
“You said it had no markings of any kind?”
“None that either of us could find.”
“I know where that is,” Nightshade said.
“You do, where?” I asked anxiously.
“There is only one dimension that is walled off and holds no markings of any kind... Storm Reach, the HVO prison.”
Chapter 7
Status: Oh crap!
“It makes sense.” Gavin’s voice crackled over the phone.
I had no idea where he was hiding but it must have been somewhere odd. My phone was able to get Old Kind signals from other dimensions as clear as day.
“You think Nightshade’s right?”
“Storm Reach is the HVO prison dimension. It’s blocked from access and contains no symbols or markings so that people don’t try to access it. I don’t like the implications though.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the First Kind has access to the prison, then they have very well placed sources in the HVO or they may have already taken them over without us even noticing. Either way it’s not good for us.”
“Talk to Emory and see what he can tell you and if he knows a way we can get in there and check it out. I don’t want to go through the HVO just in case they are completely compromised.”
“You got it.”
“Also ask him about a DI named Declan Hardcastle. I’m thinking of adding him to the team and I want to vet him. I don’t want another Faith debacle.” I wasn’t going to have another traitor in my midst.
“No problem.”
“One more thing... Nightshade is back.”
“Does he remember everything?”
“Not everything about me, I’m not sure when it comes to you. How do you want me to handle it?” Nightshade had worked for Gavin since he was a Polymorph like myself. But with his memory in question, not to mention how much influence the First Kind still had over him, it was a concern just how much I could discuss with him.
“Tread carefully, the First Kind didn’t know about our working together so I doubt they changed any of those memories. But if they did find out, who knows what they might have done to his memories.”
“He seems like himself in most ways.”
“Memory is a tricky thing. It’ll take a while until his memories clear and we can’t be certain of anything until we find and destroy the Forget Me Not that w
as used on him.”
“That would be number three hundred and twelve of things we need to do.”
“I’ll put it on the list.” He chuckled.
“Thanks, Gavin, let me know as soon as you talk with Emory.”
I tapped the phone ending the call and slid it back into my pocket. I walked back into the pub and approached the table. Val and Nightshade were chatting while Jess was laughing at something Slade was telling her. It had been a long time since all of us had been together. If Edgar was here everything would be just right. I’d missed this more than I ever realized. I had thought it was going to be difficult leaving Cape May to work in London. But I think in the end what I was really missing was my friends.
“Well?” Val asked her eyes wide with hope.
“Nothing new yet on Gavin’s end, but he agrees with Nightshade that it could be Storm Reach.”
“What are you going to do?” Val looked around the table and finally settled on me.
Everyone else followed her gaze and I figured it was time for another one of my brilliant plans. “I think it’s pretty obvious.”
“Here we go.” Nightshade crossed his arms over his chest.
“We’re going to have to break into Storm Reach.”
“Are you serious?” Slade finally joined the conversation.
“What, you have a problem with breaking into a prison? It’s not like we’re breaking out.” Nightshade peered at Slade who shook his head.
“All I’m saying is that this will be extremely dangerous,” Slade said. “No one knows anything about the prison dimensions.”
“I’m sure Goldilocks knows something about them.” Nightshade glanced my way and my shoulders sagged.
“Declan, might know something, he is HVO. But we don’t know how far he’ll go to help us. Most people don’t just rush in and betray their Society.”
Nightshade grinned my way. “I’m sure you’ll give him a good reason to.” “What’s that mean?” I snapped.
“Nothing, though you can be very persuasive.”
“Whatever it takes.” If Nightshade wanted to return to his antagonistic ways with me so be it. Maybe it would help jolt his memories of us. But I refused to let it get to me like before. At least that’s what I told myself.
“That’s going to be our plan, breaking into a prison?” Jess asked with a hint of doubt.
“At the moment, first we need to get confirmation from Gavin that the prison is our target, and then figure a way in,” I clarified.
“It sounds like all of our previous plans; incredibly risky, not thought out and little chance of survival.” Nightshade snickered.
“You got a better idea?” I challenged.
“No, I just wanted everyone to think about how idiotic we all are for thinking this is our best option.”
“Well, if you want to come up with better plans, be my guest.”
“You’re the brains behind this outfit, Masters, I just follow your lead.”
“Here I thought you just complained and got on my nerves.”
“That’s just a bonus.”
“Do you two always have to fight?” Jess rolled her eyes and pushed her empty glass away from her. “Nightshade, stop looking for a fight.”
“Just being myself.”
“Then be less of yourself,” Jess ordered. ”Now, are you boys going to go out with us tonight?”
Nightshade shook his head. “I have something to do.”
“I’ll go,” Slade offered.
“Where are we going?” Val asked.
“We’re going to show Chloe how much fun it’ll be to live here in London.”
“Great.” Val smiled, though not as brightly as she usually did.
I hoped by getting her out with us that it would cheer her up and give her a few hours of not worrying about Edgar.
We all pushed up from the table and made our way around the other patrons and out onto the streets of London. Nightshade zipped up his leather jacket and I remembered how comfortable that thing had been, or had it been his scent on it that made me not want to take it off? Whatever it had been I missed the feel of it.
Jess was discussing with the others where we were going for the night. I stepped toward Nightshade and tried to think of some way to break through his jumbled memories and help him remember at least a little something about us, but nothing came to mind.
“Sure you don’t want to come with us?” I asked, wanting so much to spend time with him even if he didn’t remember how it had been between us.
“No, I have plans.”
“Oooh, mysterious,” I teased not wanting to show my disappointment.
“Not really, Masters, it’s just a date.”
My stomach plunged like it would on a roller coaster. “Like a date, date?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know you were dating?” It sounded dumb even as I was saying it but my level of shock was probably somewhere between hurricane and tornado level.
“I didn’t think it was something I had to inform you about.”
“You don’t, it’s just that with your memory issues I thought, like you know.” At this point senseless words simply poured out of my mouth even though I silently screamed at myself to shut up. It wasn’t working, and I wished I could crawl up into a ball and disappear.
“No, Masters, I honestly don’t know.” He looked directly at me, his brow furrowing.
Heat tinged my cheeks and I knew they had to be flaming red. I wanted to die.
“You could bring her.” Yup, I had crossed into full time crazy mode, just what I wanted. The guy I was into bringing his date out with us so I could see them together all night. I needed my head examined.
“No offense, Masters,” he leaned in closer to me and whispered, “ but I was looking for something more private.”
I shivered at his nearness while my blood boiled at the idea of him with someone else. Was this how he had felt when he used to see me with Slade? And the worst was that I couldn’t even blame him. It wasn’t like he remembered me the way I wanted him to.
“Um, yeah, of course,” I stumbled over my words and grinned an insane grin. “Sorry, stupid of me.”
“Why don’t you give Goldilocks a call, I’m sure he would come out to play.”
He wore that lopsided grin of his that always drove me nuts. I wanted to slap it off his face and scream at the top of my lungs. Instead I gave a short laugh and stood there like a total moron.
“I’m staying in London so you can get in touch with me here.” I was trying to find any way to regain a semi-intelligent demeanor instead I was spouting stuff like a talking parrot.
“Keep in touch and I’ll let you know about the Mapmaker.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and turned, walking away. Glancing back over his shoulder, he called out, “Enjoy yourself.”
Not likely, I thought as I watched him disappear down the street. Great, so now instead of going out and having a good time with my friends tonight all I would be thinking about was Nightshade out on a date. Damn it, I was turning into one of those emotionally wrought girls I hated.
“Everything okay?” Val came to stand beside me as I stood with my eyes glued, definitely glued since I couldn’t take them off the increasingly distant Nightshade.
“He can’t come because he has a date.”
“Are you serious?”
“Apparently.”
“With who?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you want to follow him?” Val was entirely serious but only a crazy psychopath would do something like that. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t remember me, and he needed to have a life and hadn’t I just been talking to Declan about going on a date. I mean how nuts would I have to be about this guy to follow him on a date?
My response was out of my mouth before I could stop it. “Yes.”
Chapter 8
Status: Note to self: You’re an idiot.
“Which way did he go?” Val peeked ar
ound the corner of the street looking for Nightshade while I stood behind her completely mortified with myself for going through with this. But then again I wasn’t about to stop.
“To the left,” I whispered and lowered my head in shame. We’d made an excuse to Jess and Slade, telling them we’d meet them in a little while. I think Jess knew what we were up to, though she played clueless, but Slade had no idea.
We’d been following Nightshade for fifteen minutes now. He hadn’t used any portals, choosing instead to walk to wherever he was meeting his mystery date. It was lucky for us since I didn’t want to drag Val around through portals. Regular people could handle maybe one or two portals jumps at most before getting sick.
“I see him.” Val pulled back and flattened herself against the wall beside me.
“What’s he doing?”
“He’s just standing at the corner.”
“You think he’s meeting her here?”
“Seems likely.”
“Okay.” Here I was hiding on the side of a building waiting to see who Nightshade was dating. Perfectly sane, that’s what I kept telling myself.
“You want to try and get closer?” Val whispered.
All I could imagine was us sneaking in closer and tripping over one another and the look on Nightshade’s face when he realized we were following him.
“I think this is good for now.”
Val snuck another peek and I heard her breath suck in sharply.
“What?” My stomach roiled again, worse than any roller coaster ride could cause it to.
“Someone’s here.”
I grabbed her shoulder in a vice-like grip and leaned over peeking out beside her. We were like two characters out of some old movie, our heads sticking around the corner.
A woman was walking toward Nightshade waving. She had long dark hair and was wearing a skin tight dress that left little to the imagination. But I couldn’t really see her face.
“Okay, so she’s dressed like a slut.” Val’s voice dripped with venom.
I smiled. She was trying to keep my spirits up and I hated to admit that it was working. “Can you see her face?” I asked.
“Not really.”
I had gone completely insane at this point, nothing else mattered. We were on a mission and failure wasn’t an option. “We need to get closer.”
