The coincidences were piling up by the second.
“You okay Phira?” Jenkins asked, leaning toward me.
“No. Definitely not okay.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. I shook my head and started toward the exit. If I had to let him in on what I knew, I sure as fuck wasn’t doing it there.
We were in the Jeep and driving before I unloaded everything about Reah and the ghost and what had to have been their shared connection to Alejandro. When I finished, he looked over at me with wide eyes.
“You can’t go after him without proof of some kind, Phira. He’s too powerful. If you guys go after him and you’re wrong, his pack will come down on you, PC or not.”
“That would be suicide, Jenks.”
He shook his head again. “Their numbers are strong and climbing. If they caught you guys off guard, there wouldn’t be enough of you to win that battle.”
“Maybe now’s a good time for me to let you in on my little secret, Jenks.” I took a deep breath and let the truth fly. “Nyx, the crazy dark-eyed bitch living inside of me—you’ve met her once before, as I recall—it’s a long story, but the short version is that she once wiped an entire town from the map. Buildings, people…everything. Reduced the whole thing to ash.” His wide eyes turned to stare at me. “Yeah. And if you ever repeat that, she will vaporize you—just like Dennis—so I suggest you keep that shit to yourself.”
He turned to look out at the road before us.
“Holy shit…”
“Exactly.”
He thought for a moment before speaking. “Even still, Phira, you really need something concrete to tie those girls together—something more than your word about ghosts that nobody else can see. If you don’t have any proof, Nyx is going to have to make one hell of a mess dealing with the Northside pack. There’s bound to be collateral damage in the fight, and I don’t want that. You shouldn’t either.”
He was right. We did need something to go to my uncles with. Something they could use against the alpha. And I had a pretty good idea what that was.
Every ghost I’d seen looked as they had when they died—like their corpses looked when we found them—right down to what they were wearing. If Reah’s ghost had that necklace on, then she had been wearing it when she died. That might be evidence that could be helpful to the PC, if we could figure out what it meant. Something concrete that couldn’t be refuted.
I just had to find her body to get it…
“Turn the Jeep around,” I shouted, reaching to turn the wheel. He smacked my hand away, then did as I asked.
“Where are we going?” he asked, shooting me an annoyed look.
I let out a deep exhale, thinking that I was going to be in deep shit for what I was about to do. Taking Jenkins to the warehouse would not go over well with the family, but I needed to get there ASAP. I needed my Ouija board. Waiting for the bus just wasn’t an option.
“My house,” I replied, sinking back into my seat. “Better pray my uncles don’t kill you for it, too.”
His hands gripped the wheel more tightly, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he followed my directions until we pulled up outside the building I called home. He looked it over and scoffed.
“I’d always figured the PC could foot the bill for something better than this.”
“They could,” I said, hopping out of the Jeep.
Jenkins followed me up the stairs and into the living space. No one else appeared to be home, fortunately, but I brought him up to my room with me just in case. I didn’t want another death on my conscience.
As soon as we were in my room, my Ouija board was out and ready to go.
“What exactly are you hoping to do right now?” he asked, watching me nestle down in front of it.
“I’m hoping to get Reah’s ass over here. I need to ask her something.”
“Like what?”
“Like where her body is.” I looked up to find Jenkins staring at me, trying to put the pieces together and failing miserably. “The ghost tonight—she was wearing a necklace. I didn’t see it before, but I did tonight. Reah has the same one. If we can find it, we can give it to my uncles. Maybe they’ll know what it means. Maybe we can use it to find something more concrete on Alejandro.”
“Then get to it,” he said, waving me on.
“Here goes nothin’.”
I said a small prayer under my breath, then closed my eyes and focused on Reah’s image in my mind; more specifically, the strange stone that hung from the cord around her neck. That was the connection between the ghosts. And if she had it on her apparition, then it was still on her body.
The body she was about to lead me to, hopefully.
I opened my eyes to find her standing before me, eyeing Jenkins suspiciously. She didn’t run like she had the previous times she’d been there and heard someone coming, but she didn’t look happy about his presence. I glanced over my shoulder to where Jenkins stood. He sniffed the air, then looked down at me.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” he asked.
“Yeah, but she doesn’t look too happy about you being in the room.” I turned my attention back to Reah, who took her eyes off the lone wolf to pin them on me. “I need to know where your body is, Reah. It’s important.”
C-O-N-C-R-E-T-E
“Concrete?” Jenkins said, his tone incredulous.
I ignored him entirely, trying to sort out how to nail down where this concrete was.
“Do you know where the concrete is?”
YES
“Tell me where.” The pointer didn’t move. “Reah, please. I need to know. It’s urgent.” Again, the pointer didn’t move.
“She can’t tell you,” Jenkins said. I could hear in his voice that he was teasing out the why behind his theory. “Can she show you where her body is?”
I looked up at her to find a wry smile tugging at her lips.
YES
Score one for the lone wolf.
I let out a sigh. “I guess the Ouija board is coming with us on our morbid little scavenger hunt.” I looked at Reah as I collected the game. “And you too.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It took forty-five minutes to weave our way through the city toward our final destination. When we finally descended into the bowels of an underground parking structure, my blood went cold. Reah seemed more and more agitated the closer we got to her body—like she needed to be reunited with it more than anything. I wondered if, once she was, she’d be gone like the others. The thought made me sad.
I wasn’t quite ready to see her go yet.
I started to ask her which way we needed to go next, but she disappeared before I could finish the question.
“Shit!” I shouted, turning around in the Jeep to see where she’d gone. Then I spotted her. She was standing next to one of the massive support pillars, her palm pressed against it. “Oh my God,” I whispered before telling Jenkins to stop. I was out of the Jeep and running toward her in the nearly vacant level of the parking garage.
“Phira!” he shouted after me.
“She’s there,” I said, pointing to where Reah stood.
Seconds later, the two of us were beside her, trying to sort out exactly how we were going to exhume her body.
Step aside, Sapphira. I think I’m far better suited for this task than you.
Nervous but without any other ideas, I let Nyx take control.
Jenkins looked over at her black eyes and took a step back. Reah, however, didn’t flinch.
“What are you going to do?” Jenkins asked. He sounded nervous.
“This will take some concentration,” Nyx said. “You might want to go get the car, wolf. I’m not certain how my endeavor will affect the structural integrity of this place.” He swallowed hard before running back to get the Jeep. Nyx turned her gaze to Reah. “I will be as delicate as possible.”
I could feel the power surging through Nyx, immense but controlled. She slowly unleashed it on the concrete pillar before her, bl
asting it away to a fine dust. She carved through it like a sculptor, eventually creating what looked like the statue of a beautiful woman. Instead, it was a sarcophagus of sorts that held the body of the ghost at her side.
Nyx stopped for a moment, refocusing her energy as she prepared to cut through the thin layer of remaining concrete. She aimed for the neck, passing her hand over it as she pushed that energy out toward it. In a cloud of dust, a dull, ordinary stone wrapped in cord was exposed.
I tried to ignore the desiccated corpse it was attached to.
Nyx reached in and singed the cord until the stone fell into her hand. The second it hit, we both felt the rush of magic from it.
“What is this…?” Nyx said under her breath.
Jenkins got out of the Jeep and came to stand beside her, but before he had a chance to ask any questions, the pillar cracked, and the two bolted for the vehicle. Jenkins drove like a madman, circling his way out of the lower level. When we reached the street, we sat there idling, waiting for the rumble of the collapse to echo through the air. When it didn’t come, Nyx let me take over.
“I need to get TS over here now to fix this,” I said, pulling out my phone. The second he answered, I filled him in on where we were. Though he was working for my father, he said he’d have Trey bring him right away. Then he hung up.
“So…what now?” Jenkins asked.
I had to think about that for a second. We needed to let the others know about what we’d learned that night. We needed to meet up ASAP. A family huddle was in order.
I called Nico and waited for an answer.
“Nico!” I said, cutting off his greeting. “Where are you? Who’s with you?”
“I’m with Alek and Cooper. We’re on the north side of the city. Why?”
“Meet us at Jenkins’ bar.”
I hung up before he could interrogate me any further. Then I called Ferris and Muses and told them to do the same.
Jenkins let out a loud sigh before putting the Jeep in gear and driving off toward his place. It sounded as though he was looking forward to this meeting about as much as I was.
Jenkins and I stormed through the back entrance to his bar. The place had closed shortly before our arrival, but most of the staff was still there, Michael included. He shot us a look of concern as we made our way toward Jenkins’ office.
“There’s a bunch of guys waiting for you,” he said, his eyes narrowed at the office door. “They wouldn’t wait out front.”
“Thanks Mikey. Why don’t you head home for the night,” Jenkins said, taking the broom from his hand. Michael hesitated, looking over at me.
“I don’t think she should go in there. Those guys…they are not good men. I can tell.”
God love him, big balls was worried about me.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” I said with a wink. “It’s really them you should be worried about.”
He seemed unconvinced but didn’t have time to argue as Jenkins ushered him out the door. It slammed behind him, cutting off his slew of Spanish curses.
“He’s growing on me,” I said, heading back to Jenkins’ office.
“Yeah, he’s a good kid.” He reached past me to open the door, holding the knob for a second longer than necessary. “Are you going to tell them about…where we stopped before we went to the parking structure?”
“Hell no, Jenks. Spilling that detail is the last thing I need to do tonight,” I replied, thinking about how crazy they’d go if they knew I’d compromised the warehouse. “Just don’t make me regret that decision.”
He nodded once, then opened the door.
The Fates lined the far wall. My brothers took up the chairs surrounding the desk, with Cooper sitting in Jenkins’ seat. Muses lingered off to the side on his own like an unwelcome interloper.
“Why did you make us all come here?” Nico asked, sounding every bit as irritated as I’d expected.
“Before we start, I want to make one thing clear: Jenkins gets immunity for his involvement tonight. Got it?”
The tension in the room increased.
“Immunity for what?” Ferris asked. He folded his arms across his chest in an aggressive manner, which made me nervous. The Fates were usually so calm and rational. If they weren’t on my side regarding Jenkins, we were dead in the water.
“The fight club was up and running tonight,” I said. “Jenkins was called in to officiate some matches. He was on the fence about going but didn’t want things to get out of hand. I told him he could as long as I went with him to investigate.”
Ferris’ stiff posture relaxed a bit.
“Fine. He has immunity for his actions tonight.”
“What happened at the fights?” Cooper asked, leaning forward to prop his elbows on the desk.
I took a deep breath and filled them in. I told them about the fight and the return of the nameless ghost and the necklace. I told them about Alejandro and my suspicion that he was involved in both ghosts’ deaths. Then I told them about Reah’s body and what we’d found on her corpse. I reached into my pocket and withdrew the cool grey stone, holding it out for the room to see.
It was so quiet in there you could have heard a pin drop.
“Why am I just now learning about this Reah?” Muses asked, his tone as cold as ice.
Cy cleared his throat. “Phira told us the other night that a ghost came to her. One that claimed the Northside alpha killed her.” Muses eyes blazed with anger. “There was no apparent connection between her ghost and what happened at the fights—”
“So you kept it to yourself?” Muses’ irritation made it clear he wasn’t looking for a response.
“The other ghost was wearing this exact same kind of necklace,” I explained when Muses’ anger started to make me itchy. “It can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
He turned that anger on me, shooting me an incredulous glare that begged me not to be stupid.
“Of course it’s not a coincidence.” His eyes narrowed as he took a step closer to me. I instinctively took a step back into Jenkins. I felt a flare of protectiveness enwrap me. “Describe the ghost from the fight to me,” Muses said. There was an edge to his tone—one of knowing. He couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from my hand that held the necklace.
“I don’t know…I didn’t really have time to take her all in. I was too busy trying to shut down the fight before we had another dead guy on our hands—the kind that couldn’t tell us anything helpful.”
“What color was her hair?”
“Blonde? NO! Light brown.”
“Her height?”
“I don’t know. The cage is elevated, and she wasn’t close to either fighter, so I had no point of reference.”
“Could you draw a sketch of her?” Ferris asked, sensing my growing frustration.
“Ferris, I can sing like a bird, but I can’t sketch for shit. Unless a stick figure rendering of her would be helpful, we need to find a different way to ID her.”
Silence bloomed around us for a moment until Muses crushed it with an unwelcome idea.
“Show her to me,” he said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
“Are you high?” I stared at him with every ounce of distrust I felt for him flaring in my eyes. “You lay a hand on me and we’re gonna have ourselves a problem.”
“Damn right,” Cooper said, standing up. Muses cast him a dismissive glance before returning his attention to me. Cooper’s low growl let my uncle know exactly how he felt about that.
“It’s the only way,” Zale said softly. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was already cringing at his own words. He knew how well I’d receive his truth.
I didn’t argue. I didn’t speak at all. Instead, I just glared at Muses, who now stood only a foot or two away from me, doing little to hide his delight at my discomfort.
“Phira?” Jenkins asked, putting his hands on my shoulders.
“I need to find the answer she holds inside that head of hers,” Muses said.
“And true to form, Sapphira is fighting the inevitable.” My creepy uncle turned his attention back to me, and it was all I could do not to shudder at the thought of him touching me again. Of outing more than he was supposed to. Again. “Honestly, Sapphira, I thought we were past this.”
“Nope.”
“Are you really so childish that you would risk the lives of others to avoid these dire consequences that you’ve conjured up in your mind?”
Selfish… Gabe’s assessment of me rattled through my brain. Was I so childish that I would risk lives to avoid a repeat of the last time Muses had probed around in my head? No. No I wasn’t. But before I could say as much, a voice called from just outside the office. Seconds later, TS entered the room. He pushed past Jenkins and me to face Muses.
“What’s going on?” he asked, staring my uncle down.
“Muses wants to root around in my head to see the dead girl I saw at the fights.”
TS looked back at me, his expression tight. “Do you trust him to do only that?” he asked.
I shook my head no. “But I’m—”
“Then we find another way.”
“If we could identify the girl, we might be able to unravel this case,” Ferris said.
“And we might actually be able to hunt the killer instead of standing around coddling Sapphira,” Muses added.
“She has no reason to trust you,” TS countered, stepping closer to Muses. “You ruined that the moment you overstepped your duty two years ago.”
“I did what I had to so that you could do your job, or have you forgotten that? And given that Meiren somehow knew of her, it doesn’t seem as though you did it very well.”
TS moved too quickly for my eyes to track, but by the time they caught up, I found Muses pinned against the far wall between Cy and Ferris.
“You took advantage of her.” TS’ words were little more than a growl as he crushed his forearm against Muses’ throat. “And I did everything within my power to wipe what happened in Little Church from existence. I don’t know how Meiren knew about Sapphira, but believe me, I will find out. I hope for your sake you didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Dead Zone (Blue-Eyed Bomb Book 3) Page 15
