Taken: The Pteron Chronicles

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “A few days ago. I know what you’re thinking, why did I follow after him so quick? But it’s just not like him to go off the grid. Especially not now that he has Mara.”

  “Mara is his mate?” I made sure I was following.

  “Yes.”

  “We are dealing with the same problem. Only more than one person is missing, and we know there’s a whole lot more going on than missing people.”

  Noah swung his hands. “That’s not good.”

  “No. It’s not good.” Cade frowned. “Now get us out of here.”

  “I’ll try my best.” Noah picked up a section of the metal net.

  “Hold on a sec.” I touched it again. “I think I know what to do.” I closed my eyes and focused on the tiny holes as I wrapped my hands around the metal. Heat intensified until it was almost impossible to hold on any longer.

  “Whoa. Calm down there…” Cade trailed off.

  I opened my eyes to find the metal net cut in half.

  Noah stood there with his mouth hanging open as we scrambled to our feet.

  Cade used Noah’s surprise to grab his arms and pull them behind him. “Now tell us the truth. Who the hell are you?”

  “I told you the truth.” Noah remained cool and collected. “Man, I am getting tired of dealing with Pterons.”

  I walked around so I could look at him. “When have you dealt with Pterons before?”

  “One messed with Ian’s mate. Bryant was his name. I found out later he was one of The Society’s golden boys at one time.”

  “Bryant Florence.” I hated to even say the name. It reminded me of how evil can come from any family at any time. “He doesn’t represent the rest of us.” Although I’d met another one who fit his profile now.

  “I would give you the benefit of the doubt if this clown would unhand me.”

  “Clown?” Cade gasped. “You are addressing the King of California.”

  “King of California? What?”

  I resisted the urge to laugh. “It’s a new position. Well, new relatively speaking. It’s been a few years.”

  “I don’t see what Cade’s position has to do with anything right now.” Eloise smoothed out her shirt.

  “Please, release me. You’ve already proven you’re stronger. There are three of you.”

  “Let him go, Cade.” I didn’t want to take chances, but we also didn’t need another enemy.

  Cade released him, and Noah quickly crossed the room. “Why are you guys here? To get Jim’s help?”

  “To get something from Jim.” I’d start there.

  “What?” Noah put a hand in his front pocket.

  Cade, Eloise, and I exchanged looks. Cade looked skeptical, but I didn’t see what we’d have to gain by withholding the information about the key. “We need to find a key.”

  “A key?” Noah furrowed his brow. “A key to what?”

  “For right now let’s focus on it being a key.”

  “It could be a key opening up the gates of hell for all I know. I need more.”

  “It’s to a book. Okay? That make you feel better?”

  “You traveled here to find a key to open a book?”

  “It’s a very important book.” I pulled my bag closer to my side.

  “Evidently.” Noah’s eyes zoomed in on the book.

  “It’s going to have the answers we need.” At least I really hoped it did. Otherwise, I had absolutely no idea what to do next.

  “Okay. So where in the house would the key be? That is if you think it’s in the house. Or would your uncle have it on him?” Noah seemed to have pushed aside his doubts about us.

  “I don’t think he’d have it on him.” Eloise smoothed out her hair. “Remember what Wyatt said about Georgina? This isn’t something you’d carry around. You’d want it safe.”

  “Exactly. It’s going to be somewhere very safe.” I started to think. “Or just the opposite. He might leave it in the last place someone would expect him to leave it.” Which would be plain sight. Or close enough to it. Where did people leave keys that were practically in plain sight? By the door or in the kitchen.

  I ran around Noah and out of the little room we were in. It came as no surprise when I entered the same section of the basement where I’d spent hours searching through books to help Daisy. That felt like forever ago. Most likely my idea was off, and I was going to have to retrace my steps and start searching down there, but something told me my hunch was right.

  I reached the stairs and ran up as fast as I could. I could hear the others following me, but I didn’t glance back. The sooner I ruled this crazy idea out the better. I reached the kitchen and there it was. Hanging right beside a side door—a huge bunch of keys. There were easily a hundred of them all on a giant key ring. And if I was right, one of them was exactly what we needed.

  I took a seat at the kitchen table. By the scraping of chairs, the others did the same.

  “You think one of those is our key?” Cade asked from beside me.

  “It’s a place to start.”

  “How did you know to find these?” Noah started to move a few keys around.

  “I don’t know. I just did.”

  “It’s her Lightness nature.” Eloise scooted her chair closer to me. “She’s easing into it.”

  “I’m easing into it?”

  “Yes.” Eloise’s eyes were big. “As I knew you would.”

  I smiled. “Thanks for the confidence.”

  “Okay. How should we do this?” Noah pulled his chair in.

  “Well. Let’s start by eliminating some.” I set my bag on my lap. “It’s a really small hole, so we can get rid of any of the big ones.” I opened the ring and started to slip the keys off. “Let’s make two piles to start.”

  “Do we know what kind of metal?” Noah tossed two large keys into the discard pile.

  “Even if we did they could be disguised. We can’t toss out any that are the right size.”

  “Listen to the girl.” Cade didn’t look up from the keys he was sorting.

  The pile of castaways was rather small. Most of the keys on the ring were small—at least the ends were. Some were deceptive as in the handle was about four times the size of the end, like a screwdriver or something. I assumed that was all part of Jim’s plan. That is if I was right, and the key we needed was hidden here.

  “Are we really going to try all of those?” Eloise pointed at the much larger pile of keys that might fit the lock. “Couldn’t you just pick it out?”

  “Oh yeah, with my new found Lightness abilities coming in.” I rolled my eyes.

  “You could try.”

  “Sure. I could try.” I closed my eyes and thought about the keys. Nothing. Then I thought about the lock. Nothing either. “Nope.”

  “I know you said the color could be deceptive but is the keyhole in the silver color family or gold? I assume it’s not red.” Noah picked up a bright red key.

  “Good point. We can’t dismiss those keys, but we can prioritize the ones that are silver.”

  “Silver. Got it.” Noah returned to sorting. He was definitely motivated. He was putting a lot of trust in us, but then again he probably didn’t have too many other options. Whoever he’d turned to for help had suggested Jim as the expert. That still seemed so odd to me. Who would have sent him here? And why did they want to be sworn to secrecy? Everything had a meaning. Everything had a reason. It all tied in, I was sure.

  “Okay. Here’s the pile of silver small ones.” I pointed to the center pile. Thankfully it was smaller—maybe twenty keys remained.

  “That’s not so bad.” Noah smoothed out the pile of keys so none were on top of the other.

  “I still think Hailey should pick the order we try in. She may naturally know.” Eloise rocked back in her chair.

  “Fine. I’ll try.” I looked at the keys and picked one out. I tried it in the lock. Nothing.

  “Try again.” Eloise encouraged. I tried a second one. It didn’t work. I put it with the first. I
looked back at the pile to try again. I saw something glitter out of the corner of my eye. “Do you guys see that?”

  “No,” the others said in unison.

  “Okay.” I picked up the key that had been right under the glinting.

  “Let’s see if Glendale was right about the third time always being the charm,” Eloise said mostly under her breath.

  “You know Glendale didn’t make up that saying, right?” Cade leaned over to watch.

  “Of course. But he meant it in terms of Hailey.” Eloise leaned in on my other side.

  I inserted the key, it turned, and the lock popped.

  “Okay. I vote Hailey always tries things three times.” Cade laughed.

  This was it. We’d found the right key. The book was unlocked, yet now I was afraid to open it. More than afraid. Terrified. What was so important in this book that I had to see it? And why did everyone think I’d know what to do when I saw it?

  “Aren’t you going to open it?” Noah asked quietly. “Wasn’t that the whole point of all that work?”

  “She’s nervous.” Cade sounded surprisingly supportive. “Give her a second.”

  “I’m not nervous.” I shot Cade a look—belatedly realizing that’s why he’d made the comment. He was egging me on. Either way, it worked. I laid the book flat on the table, and I opened it.

  9

  Wyatt

  “You have a whole lot of explaining to do.” I struggled to keep my cool as I stared down the creature that had tried to hurt Hailey. He looked like he was in his thirties, but I was well aware he was much older than that.

  A befuddled expression was etched onto his face, and I was sure he was trying to figure out how he’d been so easily apprehended. We were in a back storage room, the only place safe from the prying eyes of the party still going on full force. Maybe I was getting old and jaded, but it was almost sad to watch creatures so entranced in partying they had no idea what was going on around them. They were completely unaware how much lay in the balance. I also knew full well I’d probably been one of them once. We all have a past whether we live a normal mortal life or fifty of them.

  “It’s called time manipulation.” Galloway pushed in to stand between Sol and me. “Not that you’d understand.”

  “I understand all.” The prisoner straightened himself up as best he could considering his arms and legs were bound, and he was anchored magically to a pole. Magic really did come in handy.

  Dangerous, evil, and a know-it-all. My distaste for this guy knew no bounds. “Then you know what we want from you.”

  “And you aren’t going to get it.” He smirked. I wanted to wipe that smirk right off his face.

  “Think again.” Sol scowled. “I can get anything I want from you.”

  “I know what you are, Seer.” The man sneered.

  “And?” Sol crossed his arms.

  “And I can keep you out.”

  “Even Pterons can’t do that.” Sol rocked back on his heels. “So think again.” Seers had the ability to pull from nearly any creatures’ minds. I highly doubted this guy was immune. If he was, he was even more powerful than we thought.

  “And what makes you think I’m only a Pteron?” The smirk grew even bigger. My annoyance grew exponentially with it.

  “We know you are a hybrid.” What kind of hybrid was the question. I’d thought I’d seen everything before, but I had no clue what he was.

  “Hybrid is the wrong word for what I am.” Despite his precarious situation, the man was calm and collected.

  “What is the right word?” I wanted to be physical. I wanted to inflict pain—but I had to resist that base instinct. It was answers we needed, not revenge.

  “Superior.”

  And the restraint got that much harder. My hands curled into fists at my sides.

  “We should be on the same side in all this.” He looked straight at me. “I know who you are, Drago.”

  “We could never be on the same side.” Not after what he did to Hailey. He would have killed her if I hadn’t gotten there in time. I’d never get that image out of my head.

  “We would be if you could stop letting her blind you. That happened to me too. I almost lost my way.”

  “Lost your way?” I leaned over to get to his line of sight. “Right.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Then explain.” I straightened up. My patience went from wearing thin to gone.

  “Your mother was right all along. No organization is meant to last forever. It destroys the very makeup of things. It taints everything. You don’t understand, but you could if you would just open your eyes.”

  My eyes were open, and I most certainly didn’t see what he did. Referencing my mother? She was also the one who’d appeared to Hailey. It was time to get answers. “What did you do to all those people?”

  “You mean the hotel guests?”

  “Those and the others.” I cared about the innocent humans, but we needed to find out where Levi, Allie, and the rest of The Society members went.

  “The guests were moved for their safety.”

  “Their safety?” I raised an eyebrow. “Where are they?”

  “Safe.” His smirk returned. “From you.”

  “From me?” My fists tightened. There was no way he was throwing this back on me.

  “Was it not your fire that brought the building down?”

  “I only used my fire because of you.” I steadied my breathing. He was baiting me. He could sense my guilt. That was it. Nothing more.

  “Still it was your fire.”

  “And you want us to believe you knew in advance that would happen?” Sol pointed at him. “Because to say you moved them to keep them safe is to imply just that. I’m done playing games.”

  “Of course I knew. I know all.” His eyes were bright. He was enjoying this entirely too much.

  Sol marched toward the prisoner, removed his sunglasses, and tucked them into his pocket before putting his hands on either side of his head.

  I watched—eager to see what Sol could get out of him. I was also ready to watch that smirk disappear.

  Sol grunted. He removed his hands and replaced them. Then he removed them again.

  Our prisoner laughed. “I told you it wouldn’t work.”

  “What are you?” Sol sputtered.

  “Shouldn’t you ask who I am first?”

  “I don’t care about your name.” I didn’t want to personalize him. I wanted answers.

  “You should care. It’s Xander.”

  “Oh? Naming yourself after an Alter-Warlock, I see.” He was even more full of himself than I’d originally thought.

  “Not named after him.” The smirk grew.

  “You are not Xander. He died centuries ago.” I was getting increasingly frustrated with this jerk.

  “His body did. Your question was what I am. The correct question should be what am I not? I am not a single soul.”

  Sol and I exchanged glances. I debated whether it was even worth continuing to talk to the guy. We might need to resort to far more extreme measures. “You are trying to tell us your body harbors multiple beings?”

  “I am talking of souls. Not beings.” He closed his eyes.

  “We have other methods of getting answers from you.” I shook him. He didn’t open his eyes. We were desperate, and I was prepared to take as desperate measures as necessary. I shook him again. Nothing.

  “He’s not dead.” Sol stepped back. “He’s breathing.”

  “But he can’t be asleep.” I pushed him harder. “There is no way he could fall asleep that fast or sleep through this.”

  Sol kicked him. Still nothing. If he wasn’t sleeping, the guy was really good at pretending.

  Music spilled into the small room as Franklin slipped inside, closing the door tightly behind him.

  “I know nothing about souls. Or maybe that’s code for something.” Galloway watched on as she leaned against the wall.

  Franklin leaned back besid
e his daughter. Watching them together in nearly identical poses made it crystal clear they were related. “If you want to know more about souls, find yourself a pixie. They know all about that.”

  A pixie huh? “We could get a Guardian Pixie.” I thought of Eloise and everything she’d said about Glendale’s soul.

  “And where are you going to find one of those?” Galloway put a hand on her hip. “They aren’t exactly just flying around waiting to be found.”

  “Hailey.” Sol and I said at once. “Her Guardian Pixie will be able to help.”

  “And where is she again?” Sol asked.

  I walked away from Xander—even though that clearly wasn’t his real name. I didn’t really believe he couldn’t hear. “She went to find Jim.”

  “Who isn’t there.” Franklin eyed Xander warily. Clearly thinking the same thing I was.

  “Exactly.” I really hoped they managed to find the key anyway.

  “Do you want to go?” Sol rubbed the back of his neck. “Or should I?”

  I wanted to go directly to Hailey, but that didn’t mean I could or should. I’d strayed from my role already by questioning Xander. “I have to find Violet first. And then some others.”

  “You know we have all the time in the world.” Galloway waved her hand around.

  “Not really.” Manipulating time in one place didn’t necessarily give you more somewhere else. It was on too small of a scale.

  “Fine. I agree. Our time isn’t the only one. I can get you to Violet quickly and quietly. Why doesn’t Sol go ahead and find this pixie?”

  I thought about it. I had no reason to doubt my trust in Sol, considering I was relying on him so much already, but I hated sending anyone else to where Hailey was.

  “I’m not going to get to Hailey. I’m going to get Eloise.” Sol picked up on my thoughts. “And you know what’s going to happen if you don’t protect Owen and Daisy.”

  “I know.” I couldn’t afford to even think about the possibility of something happening to either of them or the baby. It was too awful. “Go. And make sure they’re safe.”

  “I will.” Sol nodded. “You think they’ll still be at Jim’s?”

  “I don’t know, but it would be a good place to start.” I had no idea how long searching for the key would take.