Taken: The Pteron Chronicles

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “Georgina? Levi’s grandmother?” Hailey asked for clarification even though we all knew exactly who I meant.

  “Yes. At least she had one last time I knew.”

  “Why would she have it? Why not Robert? Or Levi? Aren’t the keys passed down or something?” She asked a very logical question.

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Well, I’ve tried calling her already. She’s probably disappeared too.”

  “I doubt she has the key on her. We need to get into her house. Even if we can’t find the key, we might find a clue for who has it now.”

  “You don’t know where the other three are, do you?” Hailey raised an eyebrow.

  There was no reason to pretend. “I know where two are. They aren’t in places we can or want to go.”

  “You do know sneaking into Georgina’s house isn’t going to be easy either?” Hailey crossed her arms. “Her security is legendary.”

  “Yes, but I’m pretty sure we’ll all come out of it alive.” I let my words fall without any other explanation. Hopefully, she understood how serious I was being.

  “Okay… yeah, not interested in those other keys then.” Cade took the final bite of his jerky before crumbling the wrapper into a ball and stuffing it into his pocket. I had to give the guy credit for not littering.

  “I don’t remember you being such a scaredy-cat,” Hailey spun to look at Cade. “Wait. I do.”

  Cade smirked in response. “I value my life. Not going to pretend otherwise.”

  I didn’t wait for them to get into a full on argument. “And I have one other idea of how to find Georgina’s key if we run into a wall.”

  “What?” Hailey turned toward me.

  “Mayanne.”

  “Mayanne, the witch?” She narrowed her eyes.

  “Will you stop discussing witches with disdain?” Nadia snapped.

  “Sorry,” Hailey mumbled. “Some habits die hard.”

  “At least you’re not a vampire.” Cade nudged Nadine playfully. “Think of how she’d address you then.”

  “As if you’d address a vampire any differently.” Hailey pointed at him.

  Nadia stepped away from Cade. “Do you have what you need, Hailey? Can I release the spell?”

  “I thought it could last as long as we needed?” Hailey’s hand returned to her hip.

  Nadia stiffened. “It can, but that doesn’t mean I want it to.”

  “Why not?” Hailey threw back.

  Nadia frowned. “Because the longer I hold the spell the more likely it is another witch will notice it and figure out I was here.”

  “And why does that matter?” Hailey narrowed her eyes.

  “Long story.”

  “I like long stories.” Cade grinned. “Well, unless they are about Jared. I was okay skipping that one.”

  “I may or may not have borrowed something from a coven leader.”

  “Meaning you stole something?” Hailey shook her head. “Fantastic.”

  “Oh, like you should talk?” Nadia took a step toward Hailey. “You aren’t exactly a rule follower.”

  Hailey stood her ground. “I only break the rules when it’s for the greater good.”

  “How do you know I didn’t do this for the greater good? I am helping you now.”

  “For a price. Or did you forget that part of our deal?”

  We’d offered to pay her a handsome fee if she could give us some time without prying eyes. Nadia had been more than happy to oblige.

  Nadia shrugged. “That’s beside the point.”

  “How is it beside the point? Compensation means you aren’t doing it for the greater good.”

  “Can’t two things coincide?”

  And now this was too much arguing. I put a hand on Hailey’s shoulder. “Hey, can we talk for a second?” I was treading on thin ice, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch the woman I loved explode. Hailey liked being argumentative, but this was taking things to a whole new level.

  “Sure.” She walked off. I followed after shooting everyone a look to let them know to stay back. Hearing this from me would be one thing, if Cade got involved it would be much worse.

  “I know you’re stressed.”

  “And you’re going to tell me I should lay off the witch. I get it. I shouldn’t have taken it out on her.”

  “That’s not what I’m going to say. I’d think you’d know me better than that.” I looked into her eyes, hating the pain and fear I saw there. Where had the lightness and happiness gone? I’d seen it briefly in bed earlier, but it had disappeared again—along with all of her closest friends.

  “Then what are you going to say?”

  “I’m going to say we need to keep moving. We need to find the key.”

  “Okay.” She nodded. “You really think this book has answers?”

  “I know it has answers. The question is will they be the right ones.”

  “Right as in the ones we want to find?”

  “Yes. Sometimes answers bring more problems, but right now we need any information we can get.” I had no other ideas. That wasn’t like me. Usually, I had limitless plans.

  “We have to find Allie.”

  “I know.” I reached out for Hailey. “I know.”

  “We have to take down Randolph. We can’t let anything happen to Owen and Daisy’s baby…”

  “I know.” I looked into her eyes, hoping my eyes could express a fraction of what I wanted to say. She was strong—stronger than nearly anyone I knew—but we all have our breaking point. I couldn’t let her get any closer to hers.

  “Do we wait for nightfall and fly, or track down a car?”

  “We take a car.” Wasting time wasn’t an option. I’d lived through many things, but the disappearance of so many creatures, especially ones as powerful as the King of The Society, wasn’t a frequent occurrence.

  She nodded. “Good. I want to keep moving.” Great minds think alike.

  3

  Hailey

  It was all a dream. It had to be. A really bad dream I was struggling to wake up from. But if it was a nightmare, why was Wyatt there? Maybe that was the part that was supposed to keep me from going insane. I liked being independent, but he had lived so much longer than I had and knew so much more. And he gave my badly damaged confidence some resuscitation. I tried to remember what life was like a few short weeks before. Things were changing so fast I couldn’t keep up.

  I stared out the window and watched the city disappear. Our best hope was finding a key at Georgina’s house. That might involve breaking and entering. I’d grown to love the matriarch of the Laurent family, and she liked me well enough, but that didn’t mean I felt great about the plan. The whole thing would have been easier with Allie around. She probably had an extra key to Georgina’s place. But then again, Allie’s absence was at the core of the problem we were trying to solve. Had it only been yesterday when the threat had seemed far away? I’d been worried about getting Allie and Levi to believe me. I’d have never imagined things morphing into this kind of problem instead.

  I sat in the front passenger seat with Wyatt behind the wheel. Cade and Eloise sat in the back. Troy and Sol were still nowhere to be seen. I hoped their travels were productive, and they found someone. Anyone. We needed help. Finding the key or not, we still had to face powerful demons.

  “Too bad Georgina won’t be home.” Cade leaned forward toward the front. “Although I’m not sure if she’d be happy to see me.”

  I turned to look at him. “Has she ever been happy to see you?”

  “No… not exactly.” He rested a hand on the back of Wyatt’s seat.

  “So maybe it’s better she won’t be.” I debated trying to call her again, but if we were being tracked that wouldn’t be a good thing. Even if by some miracle she was there, it would be better to appear unannounced, regardless of whether we weren’t met with a warm welcome.

  “She’d probably blame me for all of it,” Cade mumbled.

  “
Why?” Eloise spoke for the first time since we’d left the city. She’d been sitting silently with her hands in her lap. I didn’t know her well enough to determine if this was typical behavior for her or not.

  “She just will. Either that or she’d blame Hailey.” Cade leaned back in his seat.

  “It’s not as if any of this is my fault.” Yet I felt guilty somehow. As if I should have acted faster. I’d wasted so much time in that light tunnel portal thing. “We’re lucky we even know who’s behind it.”

  “Yeah, but you think that would matter to Georgina? The saying ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ is used for a reason.” Cade stretched his legs out in front of him.

  I groaned. “Wonderful. Maybe it’s good she’s likely not there. Facing her wouldn’t be fun.”

  “You’ve faced far worse things.” Eloise’s voice was soft, but it was also pointed.

  “I have.” And I’d even had to face some of them alone. This time at least I wasn’t alone.

  “And you generally come out on top,” Eloise added.

  I turned around. “Generally come out on top? Aren’t you supposed to be my Guardian Pixie?”

  “Yes.” Confusion crossed her face. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Nothing.” I faced forward. “Nothing at all.” It wasn’t worth the energy of trying to explain the whole concept of being my personal cheerleader. Evidently that wasn’t part of her job description.

  “You don’t have to come out on top this time. You just have to come out with a key.” Wyatt cracked a smile.

  “And that’s going to be easy.” I was trying to tone down my sarcasm, but it still slipped out.

  “I never said it would be easy. But it has nothing to do with upsetting anyone. If she is there, which would be great news for us whether she’s angry or not, she’s going to help. She has the same goals as we do. You’ve never let fear of what others think get to you before. Why do it now?”

  “I’m not letting it get to me.” I wasn’t letting anything get to me. I just hated wasting time in the car. I wished we could just fly in the daytime. It would be a whole lot faster. But I knew it could bring attention to the paranormal community, which we couldn’t afford.

  “She’s just in a mood.” Cade chuckled.

  I turned around. “Watch it.”

  “What? It’s true. I’ve known you for years, and you’re never like this. It’s been an insane few days. I get it. Wyatt gets it. Eloise gets it. Everyone gets it.”

  “I get it.” Glendale appeared suddenly on my lap, pushing the leather bound book halfway off the seat. I caught it before it hit the floor as I tried to process his sudden arrival. No matter how many times you see a cat appear out of thin air, it still seems incredibly unnatural. “Uh, hi.” I slipped the book into my backpack. I couldn’t risk anything happening to it.

  “Hi.” His yellow eyes glowed. “Always nice to see you, Hailey.”

  “Yeah, sure. Great. Where have you been?” I believed in getting right to the point.

  “Busy.” He licked his paw.

  “Busy doing what?” I was filled with a mix of annoyance that he’d been gone so long and hopefulness that he had news. Also, although I’d never admit it, relief that he hadn’t disappeared too.

  “Trying to help your friends. The big one and the pretty one with the tail.” He continued his grooming.

  “Hunter and Anastasia? Are they okay?” With everything else going on I’d pushed their plight to the corner of my mind, but that didn’t mean I’d forgotten about them.

  “Still down in the maze; Veronica set up an enchantment that won’t allow me to transport them out.”

  “But they were there? Still?” That was good news. Sort of. Being stuck in her maze was awful, but at least they hadn’t disappeared.

  “Yes. I saw them. Still there. Still breathing. At least they were when I left.” Glendale’s tail swished from side to side, nearly hitting me in the face.

  “Glendale, was that last bit necessary?” Eloise snapped.

  “Yes. Yes, it was. Hailey wanted details. She got details.”

  “Not those kind of details.” Eloise was not a Glendale fan. That much was obvious.

  “Picky, picky.” Glendale started to swish his tail again.

  I moved my head to the side to avoid his long tail. I’d learned not to touch him more than I had to.

  “Back to the enchantment.” Wyatt put his hand on top of mine where it rested on the center console. “She’s doing that for one reason. She’s trying to lure us in.”

  “I might also add I brought your friends food and water. I should get some credit,” Glendale interrupted.

  “I should hope you would’ve done that.” Eloise sighed.

  “You forget I’m a demon. Don’t take my generosity for granted.”

  “Demon or not, you can care for others.” From a glance behind me, I could see Eloise had turned beet red.

  “That goes counter to what I am.” Glendale’s tail stopped moving.

  “But not who you are.” Eloise’s words were sharp.

  “Oh wow.” Cade laughed. “This conversation is too much. Guardian Pixie and demon go at it about what a soul really is.”

  Glendale hissed.

  Cade held up his hands in front of him as if in defense. “Just saying.”

  “Just saying what?” Glendale barred his teeth at him. “Anyway. The dragon was starting to talk about more important matters.”

  “More important matters than who you are?” Eloise sounded hurt. Almost wounded. Since when was she so concerned with Glendale’s well-being? Maybe the disappearance of so many paranormals had made her value who was around. Either way, I couldn’t worry about it much at the moment.

  Glendale made a noise that suggested he was about to cough up a hairball.

  Eloise groaned. “Fine. I’ll stop. For now.”

  “If she’s trying to lure us in, it’s a trap.” I took the opportunity to move back to the important conversation.

  “Of course it’s a trap.” Glendale rolled over onto his back. He had no problem getting comfortable on my lap.

  “For all of us?” Wyatt changed lanes to get around a slow-moving pick-up truck. “Because the who is important.” He slowed down slightly once we were moved over into the right lane again. “That’s going to determine how we handle it.”

  “It’s probably for me.” I’d been the one Veronica had wanted in the beginning. My family was somehow in the center of this—whether for good reason or not.

  “We don’t know that for sure.” Wyatt squeezed my hand. “But it’s likely.”

  “Wow. You’re admitting it.” I was waiting for him to deny it.

  “Does that surprise you? I’m not going to lie to you.”

  “No.” I nodded. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “And I’m glad. I don’t want life sugar-coated.”

  Cade’s face came into view beside me. “I’m sure he’d give you plenty of sugar.”

  I went to swat him away, but he was already back in his seat. “Cade!”

  “Just saying. Sometimes life is easier that way.”

  “I don’t want easy. I want the truth.”

  Wyatt let go of my hand and turned on the radio. “Hailey is the likely target. So what does that mean?” He flipped through a few stations.

  “Nothing at the moment. We stick with the plan. Get the key.”

  “Oh, a key.” Glendale rolled onto his side. “I take it you mean a key to the book.”

  “You know what the book is?” I studied him. As always when he was around, I was searching for some sort of physical evidence of the demon he really was.

  “It’s a book of prophecies. I’ve been wondering when it would turn up again.” He turned his head so he was looking at the book.

  “Have you seen the inside then?” He had my attention.

  “Of course.” Glendale flipped his tail again. It made contact with my hand, but I didn’t care.

  “When?”
Wyatt hit scan, and the radio continued moving through stations. Most of which weren’t coming in.

  “Dates aren’t important. Don’t you agree, Dragon?” There was something in Glendale’s voice—the way he rolled his eyes toward Wyatt—that didn’t feel right.

  “I agree.” Wyatt straightened in his seat. “We need to get into the book.”

  “Of course. And where are we going to find the key?” Glendale righted himself.

  “We?” I let the skepticism seep into my voice. “You’re in on this now too?”

  “I’m sitting here, aren’t I?” He stared at me as if daring me to disagree. “I already decided what side I was on. It would be a little late to jump ship now.”

  “He may be helpful,” Eloise pointed out. “Getting us inside. Since he can go pretty much anywhere.”

  “Yes, I can, but I’m not going into that place alone.” Glendale’s whiskers stood on end.

  Cade laughed. “Afraid of an old lady?”

  Glendale arched his back. I pushed him off my lap before his claws could dig into me. He hopped onto the dashboard in front of me. “Georgina isn’t old. And she isn’t just a lady. It would be good to have some fear of her.”

  “She’s not going to be there.” I resisted the urge to pull him off the dash. He was a demon after all, not to mention he’d probably destroy the dash in the process. We’d borrowed the car. At least I assumed that’s how Wyatt had found the aging Nissan. “Everyone else has disappeared.”

  “Not everyone. Just everyone you’re concerned with.” Glendale purred.

  His words hit me hard. “Who else have you seen?”

  “I already told you about your friends.”

  “Who else?” I was losing patience by the second.

  “No one you know.” He pawed at something invisible. Sometimes he did things that made it so hard to remember he wasn’t really a cat.

  “Glendale.”

  “Yes?” He asked innocently.

  “You’re lying.”

  “What makes you say that?” He continued to paw—but this time with his other one.

  “I just know. I can always tell.”

  “You don’t know that. I may lie all the time. I am a demon after all.”