“Josh,” I said. He looked up from his place next to Austin, his expression somber, wounded. I continued softly, “Leave the bodies as is, but you will need to remove all evidence that we were here.”
His desperate gaze flicked over the bodies.
“Josh! Get it together.”
His head snapped toward me, his eyes flashing anger for a moment, but then common sense returned. Someone would’ve heard the commotion and called the police. If not, the bodies of our friends would be found sooner rather than later. Eventually, four dead bodies were going to attract a police investigation.
There would be time to grieve. For the moment, we had to be practical.
His expression somber, Josh muttered his chant as he waved his hands around the room, illuminating with glittering blue light anything that revealed our presence in the brownstone. With another spell, those traces quickly disappeared.
CHAPTER 18
Persistent rain pummeled the windshield of the rental car as I drove us back into the city. In the passenger seat, Josh looked like a ghost of himself as he stared out his window and chewed his nails, while Sky fidgeted her anxiety behind him. I needed to think but couldn’t focus beyond my hatred of Marcia.
My fault.
I wondered how many more people I was going to get killed. I glanced at my fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, but couldn’t shake the vision of Austin’s and Orchid’s bodies that had been seared into my brain.
Arriving at the hotel, we escorted Sky to her room before I gestured for Josh to follow me into mine. Once inside, he began to pace.
“She blames herself,” he said, meaning Sky.
“It’s not her fault.”
He stopped, suddenly defensive. “So it’s mine?”
I opened the minibar, picked out a handful of shot bottles, and retrieved clear plastic cups from the bathroom. “That’s not what I said.”
His frown deepened as he returned to pacing. “If I hadn’t let Samuel take me in the first place, she’d never have had to make a deal with Marcia.”
I poured two whiskeys and handed the cup to Josh, then poured my Scotch, only to down it in one gulp, leaving me wondering why I’d bothered with the cup.
Get your mind clear!
He sipped as he worried a path into the carpet.
“We need to get out of here and regroup,” I said.
He nodded. “The pack should buy Sky’s house. We need to get her out of Chicago as quickly as possible, preferably somewhere far away. Texas, maybe.”
“You’re overreacting.”
He turned on me, his anger bolting to the surface. “You don’t get it! Marcia can kill Sky anytime she wants, just by getting close to her. She’s toying with us.” He nodded to himself. “She won’t hesitate to kill Sky just to punish us more. And she’ll have the perfect alibi. She can always claim that she had no idea Sky was anywhere near her.”
I stared down into my empty plastic cup for a moment, then threw it at the wall across the room, only to watch it merely flutter a few feet then tumble lightly to the floor.
“There has to be another way to break the curse,” I said.
“And risk killing someone else we care about?” He started to pace again, then suddenly stopped. His back straightened. He turned toward me with a glint of hope. “The Clostra.”
“What about it?” I growled.
“The books are full of remedies to magic. There are spells to eradicate us, spells to eradicate magic altogether. There must be a spell—”
“To break curses,” I finished for him.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve found part of it, I just didn’t realize what I was looking at.” His hope quickly deflated. “We’ll never get the third book from Samuel.”
I brought out my phone to change our flight. The sooner we got back, the sooner we could hunt down Samuel. Finding him wasn’t going to be easy. “Everyone has a price,” I said.
“We can’t just give him the books, not without knowing what he wants from them.”
“No. We’ll find another price.”
After a short conversation with the airline, I’d changed our flight to eight in the morning, then texted Sky with our new itinerary. Once finished, I met Josh’s gaze.
“Pizza,” he said, reading my mind. “I’ll get Sky.”
“Let her be. We’ve got a lot to talk about, and I don’t want to get her hopes up. She’s been through enough today. What are you doing?” I asked as he brought out the napkin-wrapped pot cookies from his pocket.
He stared back at me. “You really have to ask?” He extended one of the cookies to me, but I declined. “All the more for me, then.”
By the time our pizza arrived at the restaurant table, the pot cookies had obviously done their job. Josh gobbled his first two slices while I stared at mine, the images of dead friends killing my appetite. Watching him eat made me wish I’d taken one of the cookies after all. Since the restaurant didn’t serve liquor, I ordered an IPA.
Josh seemed happy to have the pie to himself while I watched. Between bites, we debated how and where we’d find Samuel and what he’d want in exchange for helping us. We were just making progress when Sky wandered into the restaurant, apparently drawn by the contents of the dessert case.
I frowned, annoyed at the interruption as our discussion came to an abrupt end.
“She couldn’t have just found us by accident,” Josh said. “We’re ten blocks from the hotel.”
“No. She found me last night as well.”
We watched as she licked her lips at a piece of red velvet cake on the counter, then walked to a table near the front window before she noticed us staring. Her expression hardened. She seemed about to walk out when Josh gestured for her to join us.
She glanced at the door once more, then reluctantly ambled over to our table.
“Have a seat,” he encouraged her, then bit into another slice.
As she dropped into a chair, she took in the untouched slice on my plate, the glass of beer I lifted to my lips. She turned her attention to Josh, but couldn’t help throwing me sideways glances. It occurred to me that she felt abandoned because we hadn’t invited her to join us. I didn’t have time for niceties.
I took a long pull of beer, trying to swallow my irritation.
Josh asked her between bites, “Did you get our messages?”
She glanced at her phone, surprised to find my messages about the flight.
Josh gestured an invitation to the pizza. Sky helped herself, reluctantly at first, but after the first bite she regained her enthusiasm. He helped put her at ease by rambling into an inane conversation that allowed them both to forget, for the moment, what we’d experienced earlier. I understood his intentions. I also understood the role the pot cookies played.
I didn’t need that kind of distraction. I needed to figure out the angles and come up with a plan to break Marcia’s curse that wouldn’t get anyone else killed.
With another long pull, I finished my beer and rose to my feet. I put some cash on the table, setting my empty glass on top of it, dropped my crumpled napkin onto my partially eaten slice, then slid out of the booth.
Josh called after me, “Are you going back to the hotel?”
“I just need to get out of here,” I said, glancing between him and Sky, then walked away.
“You know how he is,” I heard Josh whisper. “Don’t take it personally.”
Absorbed in my irritation, I ignored the rain beating down on me. After a few blocks, I calmed enough to feel embarrassed. Leaving Sky at the hotel had been callous. I’d let my tactical mind get the better of me, forgetting that she’d been through a traumatic ordeal. For Josh and me to go out to dinner and leave her behind was unforgivably inconsiderate. No wonder she’d seemed angry when we’d invited her to join us.
I’d witnessed and delivered so much violence in my life that I’d become largely immune to it. Looking around at the pedestrians on the street, I wondered how many of them could witness the deaths of th
eir friends, of four people murdered in a horrible fashion, and then go to dinner. What Sky had endured this night would’ve left those people curled into fetal positions in the gutters.
I stopped on the sidewalk and shook my head. Any other night, I’d take the lesson of my mistake and let the consequences fade with time, but tonight wasn’t like most nights. Sky deserved better.
I walked back to the restaurant. By the time I arrived, Josh and Sky were gone. I texted both of them, but the only response came from Josh.
“I found a place that serves late-night pie!” he declared.
“Is Sky with you?” I texted.
“Went for a walk. You were a real ass, btw.”
I sighed, pocketed my phone, then walked back to the hotel. Eventually, she’d return. Considering how rarely I gave out apologies, I could use the time to formulate one.
She walked into the lobby two hours later, looking unnerved and soaking wet from the rain. Rising from my chair to meet her, I was greeted with a dismissive look as she walked past me to the elevator. Once inside, she jabbed a button repeatedly, trying to close the doors before I could join her, but the elevator was too slow to respond. Accepting my presence with an exaggerated sigh, she tried to ignore me as we rode to her floor. Something was off about her. She was angry, resentful, but her rapidly beating heart betrayed more; she was frightened.
When the elevator opened, we stepped out. I followed her to her door and slipped past her inside once she’d unlocked it. Determined to ignore me, she walked into the bathroom, picked a towel from the rack, slipped off her shirt, and went about drying herself with a surprising lack of modesty. Scrutinizing her from the doorway, I wondered what had happened during her walk that could explain her surprising shift in mood.
Rubbing her hair with the towel, she walked past me into the main room and finally lost her patience. Stopping at the end of the bed, she turned and demanded, “What do you want?”
I remained still, observing the subtle shifts in her expression, the way her body betrayed the fear behind her mask of anger. “Occasionally,” I said softly, “I can be a little rude. Today I was. I’m sorry.”
She turned away, unable to hold my gaze.
“I went back to the restaurant,” I explained, slowly walking toward her, “but you weren’t there. Where were you?”
She shrugged. “I went for a walk.”
Too casual, I thought. Too dismissive. My eyes narrowed. Intuitively she lowered her towel to cover herself, as if suddenly afraid to be seen.
“Did you enjoy your walk?” I asked.
She found something on the carpet to stare at, then nodded.
“Thirteen,” I said.
“What?”
“When you are not giving me the full truth, your respiration drops from fifteen to thirteen times a minute. You blink six times instead of your usual eight times, and your heart rate jumps to between sixty-nine and seventy-seven instead of sixty-four. Shall we try this again? Where were you?”
She bit her lower lip and said nothing. While she was searching for a way out of the conversation, I slid my hand into hers. “I hate when you lie to me.”
“And I celebrate with a dance-off each time you do it to me,” she snapped.
“I don’t enjoy keeping things from you. Often it is to protect you when I hold back information from you.”
Turning her head aside, she brushed her chin against her shoulder. “I don’t want to tell you.”
I nodded, releasing her hand. “Our flight is at eight. I will meet you in the lobby at nine.”
As I walked to the door, she asked with a suspicious tone, “What is the Vitae?”
I froze, too surprised to show indifference. A moment’s hesitation had just betrayed my greatest secret. Very few people knew about the fifth protected object. Sky hadn’t just gone for a walk, hadn’t just talked herself into a strange mood. She’d talked to someone who knew more than they should, someone with an agenda.
Was this also part of Marcia’s plan? If she knew about the Vitae, Josh was in grave danger.
Glowering, I turned to Sky and slowly stalked toward her. “What do you know about it?” I demanded.
Bravado wilted to fear as she backed away from me. “It’s the fifth protected object that you and Sebastian want to pretend doesn’t exist.”
“Did you discover this on your walk?” I asked as she backed into the corner of the bed and stepped around it.
“I met with Samuel today,” she blurted, challenging me as I towered over her.
“What?” Shocked, I stumbled back a step. “And?”
She shrugged, as if their conversation had somehow been innocent. “We discussed the protected objects. He says that the Clostra is rumored to have spells that will not just kill us, but that can dissolve the symbiotic relationship between us and our animal halves,” she added in a rush of breathy excitement.
The thought of being separated from my animal half was akin to losing all of my limbs and being left a useless cripple, yet she seemed genuinely hopeful at the prospect. I backed away from her, horrified as she continued.
“A spell to remove magic from the world. We wouldn’t change anymore. He thinks it can make us all whole, normal. I wouldn’t have to worry about protecting the Aufero, because without magic, there wouldn’t be a need for it to exist. We would be normal.”
She’d grown up thinking her wolf was a monster, the result of a curse. Despite her seeming progress, two years with the pack had done nearly nothing to change her mind. Samuel had seen her weakness and known just how to exploit it.
“And you believe him?” I said.
“Yes,” she answered in a rush. “He could have been dishonest about a lot of things, but he wasn’t. He doesn’t think that magic should exist in any form, and I think I agree with him. Think about it. If we can do a spell that rids this world of magic, that makes us all normal, then this … this world of dominance, curses, bad magic, and manipulation ends. It would just be an ordinary life that I think we all deserve.”
I choked back my anger. This wasn’t the time, or place. Samuel was nearby. I took a moment to calm myself before asking in a deliberately neutral voice, “Where did you meet him?”
“Well, he kind of grabbed me off the street.”
I should’ve never left her with Josh. “Did he drop you off at the hotel?”
“No, I walked.”
“Do you have a way to contact him?”
She nodded.
“A phone number or an address?”
“A number.”
“Is he still here in the city?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You should call him,” I advised. “Let him answer whatever questions you have, and when you’re done listening to his spiel, you pick whose side you want to be on.”
“There isn’t a side to choose. I am trying to help,” she insisted. “He’s not our enemy.”
“You don’t have to be enemies to be on opposite sides of an issue. He wants to rid the world of were-animals and magic, and the way I see it, that seems to be where you stand, too.” I scowled, weighted by my disappointment. “I guess I was right about you all along. We shouldn’t trust you.”
Frustration screwed up her expression until she blurted, “Now you know how I feel about you and this pack.”
“Whether you believe it or not, I have never enjoyed keeping things from you, or from anyone.”
“I think you and Sebastian go to great lengths to keep this pack safe. You act as gatekeepers of information that I think people should know, and because of that I don’t—no, I can’t—trust you. I get it: I spilled my guts to a fae and gave in to their magic while you held strong. I am weak. Yay for you … you were right. I hope you enjoy whatever prize you win for being correct.”
“I don’t think you’re weak,” I said softly.
“Whatever you think, it’s a hindrance. You think things are easy for me? Three years ago I had a boring life that I kind
of enjoyed. Now I am part of a pack I can’t fully trust because of all the secrets. I am a Moura Encantada without the object I am supposed to be protecting. I host a spirit shade that I’m afraid may be Faerie, that I may not be able to control. I watched four people die today because of me. You think I am okay with it? Well, I am not. I’m tired, frustrated, and scared.”
She was honest, at least. Perhaps I’d overestimated her, put too much on her. I’d agreed to bring her into the pack to protect her. I’d come to regret that, but for the wrong reason. She wasn’t ready. She might’ve never been ready. The rest of us joined the pack with our eyes open; we wanted the life of the pack. For Sky, it was a necessity, a choice between the danger she knew and the danger that crept out of the shadows.
I slowly wrapped my arms around her and hugged her to my chest, gently stroking her hair. “The Vitae has nothing to do with you,” I whispered. “I swear it does not. The less people know about it, the better. Will you please trust me on this?” When she didn’t answer, I pulled back to look in her eyes. “Please trust me.”
Seeing the sincerity in my eyes, she frowned, nodded.
I couldn’t ask for more than her tacit trust without revealing more of my secret, something I’d spent my life protecting. Backing away from her, I sighed and turned toward the door. Opening it felt like walking away from something I cared about, something I couldn’t retrieve once I’d left it behind. With one foot over the threshold, I hesitated, then turned back.
Taking her hand, I led her to the edge of the bed. “Have a seat.”
She watched as I paced in front of her, running my fingers through my hair and taking deep breaths. Was I making a mistake? I didn’t tell secrets. I kept them locked away, but I didn’t want to hold back from Sky. Either I opened up to her now, or there would forever be a separation between us. After a moment, I made my decision and settled onto the bed next to her.
“Children always bear the sins of their parents,” I started, then took another deep breath before continuing, “My mother was very similar to Josh: very powerful and very tenacious, which gained her quite a few enemies and provoked the Creed too many times. She performed a forbidden spell to help a friend and it was discovered. The punishment was death—but not hers. They wanted her to live with the consequences of her mistake, so she had to choose one of her children.”
Midnight Shadows (Sky Brooks World: Ethan Book 3) Page 33
