Midnight Falls (Sky Brooks Series Book 3)

by McKenzie Hunter

  “People will respond better to him,” she admitted.

  Sebastian smiled. “Then, during your drive you should work on your people skills.”

  “I’ll go with her,” Winter offered.

  “No, it will be difficult to get information with any outsider; but it will be even more difficult with you present,” she said apologetically. She kissed her softly on the cheek and then looked at her brother.

  “I’ll go with her,” Josh offered.

  Abigail considered his offer for a moment. “Okay.”

  “Me too,” Ethan said, but it wasn’t an enthusiastic offer. It was obvious that he was going for Josh’s sake.

  She studied Ethan, taking in the inhospitable person with the infamous reputation. Her attention lingered on the stern grayish blue eyes and features that never seemed to relax. Her voice was light and pleasant as she refused the offer, “That will be unnecessary. Josh will be just fine.” He had an advantage that extended further than his charismatic personality. Josh was a witch, a very powerful one. Most people desired to curry favor with him.

  Gideon had stayed on his bed for some time, quiet most of the time, but occasionally he would question Kelly: “How are you?” “Are you in pain?” and “Are you usually this quiet?”

  She answered the questions with much effort, perpetually distracted by her legs that remained splayed out and would only stay straight because of the meticulously placed pillows around them.

  “I’m hungry,” Gideon announced an hour after his sister left. I wasn’t sure who he was talking to. The only people left in the room were Dr. Jeremy, Gavin and me. Sebastian, Winter, and Ethan had left minutes after Abigail had.

  “And I should care?” Gavin asked.

  “I doubt my sister is going to be forthcoming with any information if she comes back to find me starved and mistreated.” He grinned, and then took a whiff of himself. “And I could really stand for a shower. It’s been a couple of days.” He looked in Kelly’s direction, “It’s going to get a little ripe in here, and I don’t think she’s going to appreciate that.”

  “Come with me,” Dr. Jeremy said, more amicable than Gavin as he escorted him to another room across from the clinic. He would keep him close, in order to watch him and restrict access to the rest of the house, but it was obvious he really didn’t want him near Kelly.

  After he had showered and been given something to eat, he stayed in the room across from Kelly for just a few minutes, with the door wide open and refusing to allow anyone to close it. He surfed the channels for a while before becoming bored with that and found himself in the room with Kelly. She didn’t mind the visit, but for some odd reason Jeremy did. Each time he entered the room, Jeremy met him at the door before promptly asking him to leave.

  The lord of mischief didn’t let a thing like inhospitality stop him; he cruised throughout the house, going into rooms that weren’t locked, and the ones that were, he simply froze the lock and then broke them. He’d done it about four times before he found himself face to face with Gavin. “I don’t find you amusing at all. Break another lock and…” the threat lingered, but his searing dark gaze easily finished the sentence.

  The miscreant smile stayed on Gideon’s lips and eventually worked its way to his eyes that seemed a little too mischievous. He spun on his heels a little too theatrically for my taste, and headed to his assigned room and plopped on the bed. His hands resting behind his head, the door open for all to see, he watched a show that barely held his attention.

  Just like everyone else, I had gotten my fill of Gideon and Gavin, but I was reluctant to leave the house until Kelly was better. I found Winter downstairs in the media room, staring at the soccer players on the screen on a television that resembled a cinema screen. Well, the television was on, but she was clearly distracted. Standing at the door, I watched her for a long time trying to come up with the right opening sentence. Everything I came up with seemed obtrusive and unnecessarily nosey.

  “Gideon is really pushing his luck with Gavin,” I said to Winter. The rumored deviant that plagued his legacy was in rare form. “Gavin doesn’t like getting a dose of his own medicine.”

  “Gideon’s an ass and so is Gavin. Either they will end up falling in love or kill each other, who knows? And honestly, who cares?”

  We usually didn’t have long, obtuse silences, but now it was there, permeated by the many questions I had that I was sure she wasn’t going to answer.

  “Ask your question, Sky,” she finally said, “or do you plan to keep standing there breathing like a rhinoceros with a sinus infection for the rest of the day?”

  “Abigail isn’t back; it’s been three hours.”

  “Her brother is here, she will come back. For him, she will do anything,” she said softly. But it was the things that she didn’t say that drew my attention. If it were to save Winter’s standing with the pack, I doubt she would have the same confidence in Abigail’s return.

  “How’s Kelly?” she asked.

  “Pretending to be fine?” And she was: the smile remained, bright eyes and a rehearsed platitude of “I’m fine” came so easily it was starting to sound recorded.

  Winter stood and slowly started to walk throughout the room, “I shouldn’t have brought them here. I shouldn’t have gotten us involved,” she finally admitted, after pacing the room for several moments in silence.

  “Of course you should have. He would have died without our help. Could you have lived with yourself if he had?

  “No.”

  “If it were you, she would have done the same,” I said confidently.

  She looked grim. “I am not as confident as you are that she would have.” Then she turned her back to me and continued pacing. Lithe, swift, predacious movements that only reaffirmed my comfort with our friendship—or whatever it was, and the knowledge that I would never be on the other side of those silent steps coming after me. “In every relationship there is always someone that cares more and is more invested,” she said, looking up briefly. “I was that person in my relationship with Abby. She can be callous and cruel sometimes.”

  Callous? Cruel? Coming from Winter, a person that once tried to kill me in cold blood, I couldn’t imagine what atrocities Abigail was capable of: did she snatch the walkers away from the elderly, rip away toddlers’ pacifiers just to see them cry, trip people just to laugh at them as they crashed onto the ground?

  “Do you really think someone tried to kill Gideon because he is a potential ruler of the elves?”

  “Underestimating people can be a fatal mistake. Typically, elves aren’t malicious or unkind, but power can corrupt even the mildest person. They choose a new leader every ten years, but their father led to nearly sixty. If Gideon is in that position, I am sure, even doing a mediocre job, he can ride on his father’s legacy for a while. He may not want it now, but once in there, I doubt he will be willing to give up the position so easily,” she said, shrugging off a thought that brought a deep frown to her face. “I think power can be addictive to anyone, even Gideon. Abigail wants it for him. The elves aren’t progressive in all things, and a woman will never be their leader. If one could, Abigail would have jumped at the chance.”

  There was something troubling behind Winter’s eyes before she turned her attention back to television, but she was too distracted to really care what was on. “Will you check on Kelly? I am sure she would like company instead of having Dr. Jeremy mothering her.”

  The boundaries of our friendship had been established long ago. We weren’t going to sit in front of the television chomping down on chocolates while watching absurd reality shows. But it had changed significantly over the years and this was about as close as I was going to get to having a girls’ night with Winter.

  At the four-hour mark everyone was getting more agitated. Josh hadn’t returned any of our calls and neither had Abigail. Tension was running high, and staying in the house was more difficult with every minute that passed. But leaving wasn’t an option u
ntil I knew what was happening with Kelly. I was struggling to remain optimistic, so I just looked in on her from the small window in the door. Dr. Jeremy wasn’t being overly nurturing. In fact, he was at the desk, ignoring her, and looking at the odd creature that had left her paralyzed. After searching the computer for several minutes, he went to the library and continued that cycle of going to his desk in the clinic, pacing, and then back to the library. He did that for nearly an hour. The frown lines deepened and the tension formed an unappealing scowl that didn’t relax. The last time he went to the library he took his laptop with him and a picture of the sleeper. His frustration turned more to agitation, but it had a lot to do with Mercury rising tonight. The felidae gravitated to it the way canidae were drawn to the moon. He fidgeted too much, took too many breaks, drank too much coffee, to the point where Sebastian came out of his office and meet him midway between the library and the clinic.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Dr. Jeremy, whose eyes were usually warm and expressive, was now distant and withdrawn. He nodded absently.

  “You should go and change now, it will do you good. Just go for an hour or so. It will calm you. Relax the mind. It isn’t helping that you are worried about her,” Sebastian said.

  Some were-animals were so in tune with the nuances of that which called them that days before they lay in anticipation of it. Steven was often distracted and on edge days before a full moon. The call was a tender ballad that they answered willingly. We knew it was coming but we could feel its presence hours and sometimes days before. For most it had a calming effect, a gentle reminder of our relationship with it. Some went into their animal form hours before they were forced.

  For years it was a scream to me and there was nothing calming about it. It wasn’t a gentle reminder, but a siren that left me on edge. I never thought I would get to the place where I was now. It didn’t calm me, but now the relationship was amicable. Twelve years later, I still didn’t have the same affinity for my animal that the others did. I didn’t hate her or sedate and lock her in a cage anymore, but we weren’t one. I waited until I was forced into my change. My wolf was one of the things that I begrudgingly accepted, like the pimple that showed up on my cheek once a month and the dying hope that there was ever going to be an M&M diet.

  I stood on the patio and watched as he changed in a swift movement. I like to watch the felidae when Mercury rose and they changed into their various forms. Dr. Jeremy morphed into a ravenous, massive tiger that was diametrically opposite to his thin frame and aristocratic appearance. He was a beautiful creature. Deep stripes highlighted his silky coat and the majestic way he commanded the area with long graceful strides made him look like he was performing an elaborate dance. The beautiful, predacious creature quickly made me forget about the gentle, kindhearted physician that hosted his body.

  For fifteen minutes I watched Dr. Jeremy run through the bosk, disappearing often behind the crowded trees and thick, viny grass while I entertained the idea of leaving. But I just couldn’t until I knew Kelly was okay. I never understood why she was so enthralled by this world, and now she was a casualty of it.

  Gavin sat on the edge of Kelly’s bed, offering her a sandwich.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said, and pushed it and the cup of water to the far end of the tray table. Kelly refused to eat or drink ever since I had taken her to the bathroom nearly two hours before. When I’d left the room to give her some privacy, I could hear her sobbing from the other side of the door.

  “If I go and get you Albert’s, will you eat that?”

  She nodded.

  With a wry smile, she relaxed against the pillow after he left. “Good, that should take him at least an hour, I need the break. I appreciate the concern, but…” she admitted. Most of the were-animals’ concern seemed overly intrusive and overbearing. On the surface, it appeared to be innocuous, kind, and benevolent, but you pulled back the curtain and found an overenthusiastic obsession that toed the line, very closely, to psychopathic and possibly stalker-like behavior. It wasn’t done out of malice. They just didn’t know how to rein it in. Everything was always extreme.

  “Have you seen him drive? He’ll be back in about a half an hour,” I said. He drove like he was trying to place in the Indy 500. Once he was behind the wheel, all you could see was just a glimmer of the dark blue Lotus as it sped away.

  “I may stay like this,” she whispered after moments of silence. The troubling thoughts had added years to her appearance and her eyes had lost all glint of hope.

  I wouldn’t lie to her, but what I could say with confidence was, “If it is at all within Sebastian’s ability, you will not stay like this.” I had accepted long ago that this pack didn’t care about titles. They didn’t want to be the “good guy” nor did they care if they were considered the “bad guys”; they were the people that got things done. They never really cared which guy actually achieved the goal as long as it was handled.

  “But it’s not within his power, is it? This is an elven creature. He doesn’t have any control over that. No one even knew what it was. How is he going to fix this? How is anyone?” The sob caught in her throat.

  Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. Ugh. When had I become that person? She was sad and scared; tears were appropriate. But she didn’t cry. She inhaled a deep breath, relaxed the frown lines that marred her face, and plastered that genteel infectious smile that had become her mask. You couldn’t see it without reciprocating.

  “You can come in,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet Gideon’s gaze as he rested against the doorframe, where he had only been for only a few seconds. I sensed him when he first moved, and I think Kelly saw him.

  He nodded, bowing his head in a histrionic gesture. Kelly, like me, seemed to be intrigued by Gideon’s looks and those of his sister. The only difference between them was the length of his hair, which was shorter and lighter. His lips were too fine and bowed, and the thick long light hairs that veiled his eyes were too delicate. His narrow face and long, straight-edged nose were identical to his sister’s. Although an average height, he was thin, just a couple of meals away from being considered a waif. Three days without shaving and there still wasn’t a hint of a shadow on his face. He spoke in a light tenor and was very calming.

  “We haven’t officially met, I’m Gideon.” He extended his hand to Kelly and she shook it.

  “Kelly.” She didn’t seem to mind that it took him too long to release it.

  “You fixed me,” he said, moving closer to her. He was a space invader, but it bothered me more than it did Kelly.

  She shrugged. “I guess I did.”

  “Thank you,” he said, keeping his firm hold on her hand as his smile broadened.

  Staring at her leg, he asked, “Do you mind?” as his hands hovered above her legs.

  She tensed as he moved closer. The sky crackled once and the gentle drizzle of rain was a soft drum against the window. The soothing flow of rain falling at a slow rhythm had its intended effect; Kelly relaxed comfortably against the pillow, listening to nature’s ballad, one created for her by Gideon.

  His fingers brushed over her leg, “You can’t feel this, can you?”

  She shook her head.

  “Doesn’t really matter, I have a light touch anyway,” he admitted, his lips curved into a light smile.

  I thought, Are you freaking kidding me? You’re flirting now? Really?

  “Are you going to get to your point soon?” I quipped.

  “Is she always this impatient?” he asked, grinning and sliding closer. Sparks formed along his fingers, Kelly focused on the flickers of light that intensified causing his fingers to tremble. “May I?” he asked.

  Desperation had made her devoid of logic and common sense and I felt I needed to intervene. I grabbed his hand. “What do you think you’re going to do, jump-start her leg? No, it’s not going to happen.”

  With hopeful desperation, she said, “We can at least try. I’ve seen odder things ha
ppen here.”

  Perhaps there were remnants in her of an optimistically naïve person that was able to have hope in the impossible. I released his hand and stepped aside.

  The bright colors sparked in his hands, brighter than before. I suspected some of it was for melodrama, and at her assent he touched her legs. They made short spastic movements for several minutes, but when he moved his hands the movement stopped. Her legs lay out to the side as immobile as they were before.

  He repositioned her legs with the pillows. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “It was a long shot,” he admitted. His smile melted into a dour look of regret.

  Regret or not, it wasn’t going to help make the red welts go away before Dr. Jeremey came back. He noticed them seconds after I did. His brow furrowed, his hand extended and soon I could feel the frost chill the room as it formed on his hands. The temperature dropped so much that my lips started to tremble. He rested his hand against her leg. She couldn’t feel his icy touch, but after nearly ten minutes, when he removed his hands, some of the redness lingered but the welts had gone away.

  There was something unsettling about him and his skills. I had to admit, I didn’t like elemental elves. They were freaks. I understood the hypocrisy in my feelings; after all, I changed into a wolf every month and on some occasions just for the heck of it. But there was something odd about controlling something as puissant as the weather. The ability to have nature at your control and manipulate it at a whim was disconcerting. How powerful were he and his sister to be able to perform such acts?

  He made himself comfortable once again, with an incessant focus on her. “You’re not a were-animal, so how did you get yourself mixed up with this lot?” he asked.

  She shrugged a response

  “Oh come on. I’m sure it’s an interesting story,” he said with a smirk.

  “Not as interesting as you probably imagine.” As if she had been trained by the best, she dismissed his curiosity quickly.