by Gabby Fawkes
Retta gave me a look. “Someone tried to kill you in your sleep and you expect me to believe you’re okay?”
“Yes,” I said insistently. “It’s Nik I’m worried about. Any sign of him?”
Retta shook her head. “He didn’t show at school.” She gave me a pained look. “Do you think something happened to him? Like the attacker got to him?”
I felt a fluttering of nerves in my stomach. My suspicion was that Nik had fled because I’d seen his Vanpari teeth. But it didn’t feel like my place to reveal his secret, since he’d chosen to hide it from us all. At the same time, my friends deserved to know why he’d gone AWOL.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “You see, when I chased the attacker into the garden, Nik came out the pool house to help me.” I rubbed my neck, feeling it prickle with heat. “While they were tussling he sort of … flashed me his Vanpari teeth.”
“So it was a Vanpari that attacked you,” Retta said.
I shook my head. “No. The teeth weren’t the attacker’s. They were Nik’s.”
A silence descended.
Retta’s eyebrows began to creep upwards. “Nik’s Vanpari?”
I nodded slowly. “Well, part Mage, part Vanpari.”
“He lied to us,” Retta said coldly.
“Kinda,” I murmured.
“Not kinda,” she snapped. “Totally.”
Hearing the anger in Retta’s voice made me feel like I should be more mad at him for lying too.
Aaron leaned forward on his elbows. “You guys don’t read the moon papers, do you? There are always rumors that the moon mayor is Vanpari, that she only got to be mayor because she used illegal Vanpari manipulation techniques.”
Retta interjected with a scoff. “Because of course a woman can’t get into a position of authority on her own merit!”
Aaron finished his thought. “So you can’t really blame Nik for hiding his Vanpari lineage. He probably had to, to protect his mom.”
“That and the fact the whole city’s anti-Vanpari at the moment,” Cora added.
I appreciated their more measured response. But they had less to be hurt about. They didn’t really know Nik. Retta and I were the ones he’d deceived. And while I knew I should be mad that he’d lied to me, the truth was, I felt only empathy toward Nik.
Retta sank back into the leather couch looking fraught. She ran a hand through her tight black curls. “This is such a mess, Theia. Geiser won’t stop until you’re dead. And then he’ll get in power and turn the whole city into a hellhole. What are we going to do?”
“We could start by not getting hysterical,” Lucas said.
Retta shot him angry eyes.
“What we do is keep looking for evidence,” I said. “We need actual solid proof to nail him.”
“But what?” Retta said. “It’s not like he’ll have left a paper trail. There won’t be a dossier lying around about killing his Celestial mistress, or a how-to-manual on assassinating his Elkie step daughter.”
From his swivel chair, Aaron spoke up. “Maybe not. But maybe he’s got some incriminating electronic communications. Emails written in code. That sort of thing.” He gestured to his computer.
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those super genius cyber hacker types.”
Aaron tipped his head back and laughed loudly. “Um, no. I’m a biology major. I study moss. Sorry to disappoint you. What I meant was that I could sneak into his office and snoop around.”
“Ohhh,” I said, finally figuring out what he was getting at. “You mean you could use your Shapeshifter abilities and spy?”
Aaron nodded.
I couldn’t help but wonder why he’d want to help me. Why he’d put himself out like that and do something so potentially dangerous.
“That sounds kinda reckless,” Cora said with a cautious tone.
A devilish smile played at Aaron’s lips. “Not really. I just have to put up a glimmer. Hide in his office. Once he leaves, I can get on the computer and print out his emails or something.”
“But what if you get trapped inside?” I said. “Geiser works really long hours.”
Aaron just shrugged. “It’s either that or spend all day working on my thesis.” He gestured to the computer beside him with a resentful expression. “And honestly, If I have to read one more study about lichen, I will shoot myself in the face.”
I smiled despite myself. I was touched by Cora’s offer to let me stay and Aaron’s even more generous offer to spy. I even appreciated eye-candy Lucas and his cup of coffee. I was really starting to like these guys.
“I didn’t mean to drag you all into this,” I told them, feeling guilty.
“We all hate Geiser,” Cora assured me. “He’s a jerk. Anything to stop him getting into power and making things even more segregated.”
“Besides,” Aaron said, standing up from the couch and cracking his knuckles, “this is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me for years.”
Then, right before my eyes, he transformed into a mouse.
I gasped. I’d never seen a Shapeshifter transform before. It was really baffling to think Aaron was still there behind the glimmer, that it was all a trick he was playing on my brain. It did feel pretty intrusive to know that I couldn’t trust my own eyes when in the presence of a shifter.
“How’s this?” Aaron asked, his voice sounding incongruously huge in comparison to the tiny little brown mouse he now appeared to be.
“I guess that will work,” I replied.
“Cool. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I watched as he scurried out of the warehouse. Then I slumped back against the couch, exhausted. Retta studied me with a worried expression.
“What do we do about Nik?” I asked. My chest hurt just thinking about him. I really wanted him here with me. “What if he decided to go to Bear Mountain to find Elliot?”
“Then he’s even more of an idiot than I thought,” Retta replied.
If she’d meant it as a joke, a bit of gallows humor to lessen the tension, it didn’t work. I couldn’t even rouse a wry smile.
She reached forward and patted my hand. “I just hope he’s worrying about you as much as you are about him,” she said with a sigh.
“Was that an air of disapproval I heard there?” I asked.
Retta flashed me her intense eyes. “Theia, you’re pining after a guy that abandoned you when things got messy. You’re too good for that kind of shit. As your friend, it’s my duty to point that out.”
I frowned. Abandoned was a pretty loaded word. I didn’t count what Nik had done as a form of abandonment. Cowardice maybe. Shame. But abandonment?
“You’re being too hard on him,” I said.
Retta shrugged. “I don’t know. You were almost murdered. The people who care about you stuck around to keep you safe.” She gestured toward Cora and Lucas. “But what did Nik do? Ran at the first sign of trouble.”
I shook my head. Retta was playing psychologist and getting it all wrong. “He ran because I found out he was a Vanpari.”
“Well, don’t even get me started on that,” Retta replied. “First off, he lied. Big no-no. Second, he’s Vanpari. That alone should be enough to put you off.”
Now I was starting to get a bit irritated. “Why? I don’t have a problem with the Vanpari.”
“Neither do I,” Retta replied. “But that doesn’t stop the fact that they’re at the bottom of the social hierarchy.”
“So what? I’m Elkie. That puts me pretty low in the pecking order, too, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Elkie versus Vanpari is hardly comparative,” she contested. “The Vanpari have been treated like scum for centuries. They’re the most marginalized minority in the country. They had the worst terms of the peace treaty than anyone.”
“Actually,” Lucas interrupted. “The Sirens got the worst deal.”
“True,” Retta said, allowing herself to be corrected. “But they just noped right out of the whole thing. They saw the deal
, saw how shit it was, and jumped into the ocean never to be seen again.”
Lucas folded his arms. “It wasn’t quite like that.”
I wasn’t in the mood to witness them descend into an ex-lovers tiff. Retta clearly wasn’t about to argue the nuances either.
“Point is,” she continued, “Nik being Vanpari has consequences. For your safety. Your economic prospects. For your future kids.”
Kids?
“Retta!” I cried. “I’m not about to marry the guy!”
She held her hands up into a truce. “I’m just saying he comes with baggage. My advice? Don’t fall in love with him.”
I shook my head, my cheeks burning. If Nik didn’t turn up soon, there’d be no kids in our future anyway. There might not even be a future at all.
20
About an hour passed before we heard the sound of the large metal door slide open. Everyone turned as Aaron walked in.
“Did you get anything from Geiser’s computer?” I asked, jumping up from the couch where we were all sitting.
Aaron strode over. “First things first,” he said, placing his cell phone on the table. “Listen to this.”
We all crowded forward as a male voice came from the speakers. “Heidi’s party is the perfect opportunity.”
“Who’s that?” Retta asked.
“Conrad,” I told her, thinking of the rake thin Mage and his bold, shiny suits. “Geiser’s PR guy.”
We quietened again to listen to what he was saying.
“We’ll get some excellent press coverage and a wave of support from the parent demographic. And it won’t be strange to have the paparazzi there to capture the whole thing. Tomorrow evening would be the best. It’ll smooth over the bump of Vivian walking out, and the whole thing will be forgotten.”
“What are they talking about?” Cora asked, frowning.
“Sounds like Heidi’s egg hatching ceremony,” I replied. “I guess they think Mom will cave and come back for it.”
“And score them some points with the family demographic,” Retta added in a wry tone.
“I thought the egg hatching was a right of passage for a Mage kid,” Cora said. “A private family thing rather than a media event.”
“It’s meant to be,” I told her. “For Geiser to turn Heidi’s into a publicity opportunity is pretty gross.”
The recording cut out.
Retta’s head snapped up to Aaron. “That’s all you got?” She sounded irritated. “Some stupid conversation about an egg party?”
Aaron frowned at her. “No. I also got this.” He produced a piece of paper from his pocket.
“What is it?” Cora asked.
“A contact,” Aaron explained. “Kevin Edward. Conrad and Geiser were talking about needing his help again. I figured he might be a henchman, or something. You know, like the one who tried to stab Theia last night? A lead. Maybe he can be convinced to turn Geiser in.”
Hope blossomed in my chest. “That’s great, Aaron,” I said, feeling buoyed for the first time in days.
I took the paper with the address on and folded it into the back pocket of my jeans, then I grabbed my jacket from where it was slung over the back of the couch. I didn’t want to waste even a second. If this Kevin guy was a henchman then convincing him to talk might be a way to bring down Geiser.
Retta grabbed her jacket. I noticed Cora, Aaron and Lucas were all pulling theirs on as well.
“Are you guys coming?” I asked, surprised.
They all nodded.
I was touched. But Retta looked mortified. She locked her eyes on Lucas.
“You don’t have to,” she said, her tone practically begging him not to.
A small smile twitched at the corner of his lips. “And miss out on all the fun?”
“There’s not enough space in my car,” she added quickly.
But Lucas’s smile grew even wider. He grabbed a pair of keys sitting on the counter. “No problem. We can take the van.”
Retta’s eyelids closed slowly with frustration. She turned on her heel and headed out of the warehouse, shaking her head.
“The van?” I asked.
Cora smirked. “Just wait and see.”
We headed outside. Lucas disappeared off around the corner, swinging his keys on his finger as he went. Retta stood on the sidewalk with her arms folded, looking miffed.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She let out a sigh between her teeth. Just then, a van the color of snot appeared around the corner, belching smoke. Lucas waved from the driver’s seat and tooted the horn.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, laughing.
We bumped along the streets. There were no seats in the van, just scatter cushions covered in mandala designs. It smelled of cigarettes and other smokable substances.
Retta looked extremely displeased. A Sugar Plum in a hippy van was a pretty amusing sight to behold. I got the distinct impression she’d been driven around by Lucas in this van a lot while they were dating, or whatever they’d been doing in the past to cause all this tension between them now.
“I really wish we weren’t heading to Brownsville,” Retta said, grimacing. “That’s a really shitty part of town.”
“You didn’t expect Geiser’s henchmen to be Manhattanites, did you?” I joked.
It wasn’t easy to see out the murky windows, but I could tell we were heading farther and farther into the bad neighborhoods. It was dusk now, so there were a lot of moon Demonborn milling around, types I’d never seen before. It was the sort of place that made my alleyway run-in with the Incubus look like playground banter.
We ended up outside what appeared to be the back of a Chinese take-out. Lucas killed the engine and we all exchanged curious looks.
“This is where Geiser recruits his henchmen?” I said with uncertainty.
“This is the place,” Lucas confirmed.
We clambered out the van and headed to the door. I tried the handle. To my surprise, it opened immediately.
“Hello?” I called into the darkness.
Inside, it was very dim. The smell of grease was overpowering. I could just make out a row of industrial-sized metal ovens.
My call was met by silence. I glanced over my shoulder at my friends, gave them a quick shrug, then stepped cautiously inside.
They followed me in.
“Anyone else getting a really creepy vibe from this place?” Cora whispered.
“I’m definitely getting a vibe,” Aaron whispered back. “Oh wait, it’s just the smell of food making me hungry.” He grinned.
I dialed up my Elkie sight and glanced around the grimy kitchen. Other than stacks of supplies in cardboard boxes and towers of packaged noodles, there was no sign of life.
Just then, Retta grabbed my arm tightly.
I looked at her, frowning. “What is it?”
“This is a Vanpari den,” she squeaked.
“A what now?”
She pointed up.
Slowly, my eyes roved up to the ceiling. There, hanging upside down like bats, arms folded against their chests, were three sleeping Vanpari.
Everyone jumped a mile.
I thought the whole Vanpari sleeping upside down thing was a rumor! What the heck was going on?
Shocked, I staggered backwards. My butt knocked into the metal counter, making a row of pans swing perilously back and forth. Then, in a chain reaction that made me wince, they all came crashing to the ground.
Immediately, the group of Vanpari’s eyes pinged opened. Now three sets of eyes were pinned on me.
I gave them a sheepish wave. “Hi,” I said meekly.
The Vanpari moved quickly, too fast to really process. In a flurry of black, they leaped down from their sleeping spots and surrounded us.
“Oh shit,” I muttered.
My fist tightened around my bow. I wasn’t afraid to fire off a warning shot but I didn’t want things to escalate. I really did not want to add murdering Vanpari to the growing list of
traumas I needed therapy for.
As I glanced from the cold gray eyes of a teenage boy, to the even colder gray eyes of a teenage girl, I realized the third figure was someone I recognized. It was the Eclipse kid I’d saved from Trevor.
“I know you,” I stated.
The younger Vanpari boy looked stunned.
“I saved you from that Celestial,” I added.
“Oh yeah,” Retta added. “You’re the Eclipse kid Trevor was beating up.”
Everyone hesitated. The older Vanpari boy frowned and looked down at the freshman kid. “Is it true, Cal? She’s the one who saved you from Trevor?”
With a little reticence, the kid, Cal, nodded.
No one moved. This new bit of information seemed to have locked us all into a truce. But finally, the older boy dropped his fighting stance. The other two followed suit.
I lowered my bow and let out a long exhalation.
“I’m sorry, what have I missed?” Cora asked. “Why are we not fighting?”
Retta explained. “A couple of days ago, me and Theia stopped one of the jocks from our school beating up this kid.” She gestured to Cal. “A jock who went on to pummel Theia and let slip he was doing it for Geiser. And now a stolen address from Geiser has led us here.” She folded her arms and flicked displeased eyes from one Vanpari to the next. “Which is a lot of coincidences, don’t you think?”
“You broke into our den,” the older boy said, deflecting the issue.
“Actually, the door was unlocked,” I told him.
The older boy rolled his eyes at the girl standing beside him. “Sandra, how many times have I told you to lock the door?”
The girl, Sandra, looked embarrassed.
“Stop side-stepping,” Retta said. “You guys are Vanpari traitors working with Geiser!”
The older boy sucked his cheeks in and set his jaw firm. He looked reluctant to speak, which was fair enough, considering we’d barged into his home while he was sleeping and now Retta was accusing him of being a traitor to his own kind.
I touched her arm lightly. “Maybe we should build up to the heavy accusations?” I said. I looked to the older Vanpari boy. “I’m Theia. This is Retta, Cora, Aaron and Lucas. We’ve already met Cal. And that’s Sandra, right? So are you Kevin?”
