by Fleur Smith
I risked another glance at the table of trouble and was relieved to see that the seat Louise had selected left her with her back to me. Although it lowered my risk, it wasn't enough to make me want to stand lamely by, waiting in the restaurant for someone to notice my peculiarities or for Louise to decide I was worthy of a closer inspection. Especially with the way she regularly shifted slightly in her seat, almost as if she sensed something was amiss—which, given her true nature, might have actually been the case. If she was more fae than human, it would make sense that she inherited some of their sixth senses.
With Louise and Troy back in the picture, it was clear our original plan wasn't going to work. It would have to be adapted, and quickly. Without risking the use of our emergency phones, I had no way of communicating with Clay or Ethan to confirm new plans. I couldn’t merely stand by and wait, but neither could I run. The fae would be expecting the all clear soon. All of the factors combined meant that it was time to head back to my hotel room to formulate a new idea. I only hoped the helpful check-in clerk wouldn’t come searching for me while I waited. If I did that, I could wait until six thirty. After that, I would have to leave one way or another. In the meantime, I would be able to warn the fae about the protections still being in place.
But what if Clay isn’t with me when the time comes?
I couldn’t even consider it or I would put all of us in danger by flinging myself into his arms as quickly as I could. The next time his gaze passed my direction, I checked to ensure I didn't have the interest of anyone else at the table before holding up four fingers, telling him I would be on level four. After I saw him dip his head ever so slightly, I tipped my wrist up, pretending to check the time on my watch before shifting to ask the maître-de a question I hoped he'd say no to.
With my retreat planned, I headed back to the elevator.
“Excuse me a second.” I heard Ethan's voice boom out across the restaurant, but did everything in my power not to glance back at him.
While I stared at the elevator, willing it to come quicker, I heard footsteps behind me.
I turned, hoping that it appeared like a natural motion and not a jumpy overreaction. My eyes widened when I saw Ethan heading straight toward me.
“What are you doing?” I forced the question through a forced smile when he was close to me.
“Changing the plan,” he murmured. “But they’ll think I'm coming over to hit on the poor pretty girl who was stood up by her obviously lame date. So play along.”
“And they won't question that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“What can I say? My reputation precedes me.”
“That's not something to be proud of.”
“Depends on your view I guess,” he said. “There was a time when Cl—actually, never mind.” He wisely stopped his sentence when he saw my bitch brow.
“How long does it usually take?” I asked to change the subject away from the time Clay and I spent apart. It wasn’t a secret that he’d turned to other woman for companionship, but I didn’t need the reminder when my stress already ate at me and heated my blood.
“Well, one time I got a phone number in a little under one minute,” he bragged before chuckling. “Of course, that time it was a fake number, but I still say it counts.”
“No, I mean how long before everyone starts to get suspicious that you are still over here talking to me?”
“Good question,” he asked. “Maybe you need to act like you're flirting with me in return.”
“I’m not going to pretend to flirt with you.”
“Just pretend I'm Clay,” he chuckled. “You don't seem to have any problems making goo-goo eyes at him.”
“I do not make goo-goo eyes at Clay.”
“You were making goo-goo eyes last night.” He clasped his hands and held them in front of his chest before batting his eyes and making ridiculous pouty, kissy faces. “You both were.”
“Whatever,” I laughed, rolling my eyes. For a moment though, Ethan had actually managed to take my mind off the danger in the room, which I guessed had been his purpose in the first place.
He walked back to the maître-d’s desk and asked for a pen. When he came back to me, he offered me his hand and the pen. “Write down your room number.”
“Are you this forward with all the girls?”
He chuckled. “Actually, this is slow for me. Usually it wouldn’t take me anywhere near this long for me to ask that sort of information, especially not when a girl’s been stood up. Those babes are putty in my hands.”
“You’re a pig.”
“Why thank you, sweetheart.” He winked before grinning widely at me. “Now, will you please write down your room number so that I can go back to the table and claim my victory?” He offered me his hand in a loose fist. I grabbed his fingers, prying them gently open, but he shook his head. “I have a ticklish palm.”
“You’re weird.” I grabbed the pen from him.
As I wrote the number 407 on the back of his hand, close to his thumb, he leaned in conspiratorially. “And to think I’m the most normal one of the family.”
By the time the elevator arrived, I’d finished writing and was more than ready to leave. Once the occupants left, I sought refuge in the car, which was out of sight of the table. Ethan instantly stepped forward and held the door to keep it from closing while we finished our conversation.
“So what’s the new plan?” I whispered.
“Well, you have two choices.”
“Which are?”
“You can head back to your hotel room now, and Clay and I will meet you there when and if we can get away.”
I didn’t like the sound of the “if.” Focusing on what Louise’s appearance meant for me, I hadn’t even considered the barrage of abuse that Clay was probably suffering through even as Ethan and I had our conversation.
Would Louise and Troy stop Clay from leaving the Bayview?
Going back to the hotel room was too big a cop out. I wanted to do more to help. Ethan had offered two choices; I needed to know what the second one was. “Or?”
“Or you can take my access card and head to level six. That’s where the Rain headquarters start. We haven’t been able to find out what level Mack is on yet, but she’ll be on either six or seven, those are the holding and interrogation levels.”
It would be doing the one thing I’d promised I wouldn’t—it was charging into the Black Forest with a drawn gun all over again.
I can’t do that to Clay, can I?
What might happen to Clay if you don’t?
Either way, he could be hurt. Either way, I could be. There were no guarantees except that we were all in danger and needed to do whatever we could to leave as quickly as possible.
“Okay,” I said with a reluctant nod.
“If you do it alone, it’ll be dangerous. You’ll have to be extra cautious. The Rain elite and the Assessors occupy those floors. If any of them were to see you, they would know that you don’t belong. They will probably also recognize that you’re not human pretty fast.”
“What will happen to you if I’m caught and they discover that I have your card?” I didn’t ask what would happen to me, because I was certain that I really didn’t want to know. I knew enough about the Rain and their practices to know it wouldn’t be pleasant. If I learned the specifics, I’d probably end up rooted in place and unwilling to move another inch, possibly ever again.
“If you’re careful, you won’t get caught.”
“Touché.”
“I’m a big boy, Evie. I can handle whatever shit they throw at me. And I think you’re a big girl and can handle this. Be the badass who jumped from her truck into a river. Or the fearless chick who dove off of a cliff, hoping she wouldn’t splat at the bottom.” He held my hand for a second. He did a reasonable job of hiding his natural urge to flinch when his skin first contacted mine. “You know what all of the stuff is used for, we ran through it enough last night. Clay will kill me for even suggesti
ng this, but it’s your choice.”
Stepping forward from my position in the elevator, I risked another quick glance over at the table. Clay seemed to be in the middle of an argument with his father and Louise. I doubted he would be able to escape from them any time soon.
If at all. I tried unsuccessfully to block the thought.
Aiden, Fiona, and the rest of the fae waiting outside the hotel would be in danger if they came storming in before the protections had been lowered. I was certain they would only wait so long for our phone call before they simply took matters into their own hands.
“I’ll do it,” I said, slipping the pen into my bag.
Ethan grabbed my hand, and as he pretended to kiss it, slipped his temporary access card into my palm. “Good luck. If we don’t find you before the rendezvous time with Mom, go back to your room, and either Clay or I will meet you there. Remember only use your phone if it’s an absolute emergency.”
I closed my fingers around the card. “Do me a favor and don’t tell Clay I’m doing this.” I cast my eyes downward, feeling like I was betraying the one I loved. “At least . . . not just yet.”
Ethan agreed before heading back to the table with his family, lifting his hand up in a triumphant gesture. No doubt, he would go back and say that he’d scored the room number of the girl whose jackass boyfriend had stood her up. I headed into the elevator and swiped the card he’d given me over the scanner. Despite everything he’d done for us, part of me expected an alarm to sound as soon as I tried the card. Even though he’d hidden it well, I had seen his involuntary reaction to my touch.
When nothing happened immediately, I winced as I pressed the button for level six.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CLAY TRUSTS HIM. You probably should too. The sunbird’s quiet reassurance sounded within me for the first time in an age. She’d been quiet the whole time I’d been in Sweden with Clay, but had obviously decided I needed the extra boost.
“Yeah, yeah.”
For a brief second, I thought I saw someone on the opposite side of the elevator. The sight filled me with a sense of dread. It had only been the quickest glimpse of black and then it was gone, but it was enough to cause me to hyperventilate. Memories of the shadow and everything he’d put me—us—through rushed back through me.
He can’t be here now.
Trying, and failing, to convince myself that I was simply seeing things, I debated changing my mind and going back to the hotel room to wait. I couldn’t walk into the enemy’s lair with another threat right at my back.
But I wouldn’t be any safer sitting alone in a hotel room.
Closing my eyes, the truth became clear. If the shadow really was in the elevator with me, and if he actually wanted me dead this time, we were currently alone and he had the perfect opportunity. As the feeling of menace spiked again, I waited for the plunge of the knife. When it didn’t happen, I dragged in a breath. As I exhaled, I prepared for what I might find when the elevator doors opened.
Even if he was there, he wasn’t the biggest threat to me.
With Clay and Ethan otherwise engaged, I was going to have to complete the cleansing part of our plan by myself—laying the counters to all of the anti-fae protections along the hallways and in the doorways of the Rain headquarters. I double-checked that the cell phone I had was on silent—ensuring that even the vibration mode was off because I needed complete stealth.
When the elevator doors slid open, my knees almost buckled at the surge of fear that raced through me.
Why did I agree to this again?
The previous night when we’d been running through plans, Ethan had said that the last time he’d been at Bayview there was less monitoring on these floors because they didn’t want any recordings accidentally leaked to the press—especially given the nature of the activities that occurred in the headquarters.
I had a good reason to be hopeful that the corridors here weren’t highly monitored. If they were, I would be in trouble. It wasn’t only the fact that they would instantly know I was a stranger that worried me. The fear that was building in my chest caused my skin to heat rapidly, and there was no way I would go undetected by an infrared heat sensor if any existed in the halls.
With the knowledge of how sinister some of the deeds done by the Rain could be, I half expected the hallways to be darkened and menacing. In reality, the walls were mostly white, broken only by artwork and the occasional relief set in plaster. Unique burgundy tiles, with what appeared to be a haphazard design printed on them, covered the floor. In a number of places, the random patterns formed one of the symbols Ethan had described in his demonstration the night before, a circle with three lines forming a hatchet-like shape in the middle.
I glanced around quickly, ignoring the sensation in my chest warning me that I shouldn’t be there, because it was right. I really shouldn’t be, but it was too late to change my mind. I was already committed and far too invested to back out. My hopes that finding Mackenzie would be a relatively easy task fell as I considered the sheer quantity of doors lining the corridor. There was also a whole other floor above that we would need to search through as well.
Pushing my worries over how impossible actually finding Mackenzie would be out of my mind, I concentrated instead on the relatively simple task of searching for the markers that indicated anti-fae protection.
During his brief outline the day before, Ethan had warned that the symbols would be on the floors, walls, and ceiling in intermittent locations throughout the building. I had to be certain that I broke the lines of every symbol I could and placed counter protections at every single one. Aiden had made it clear to Ethan that even one set of protections remaining in place would be enough to send any fae that dared to wander near it to their knees in blinding agony. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t know if I’d missed one until that exact thing happened.
Heading to the left as I exited the elevator, I stalked quietly along the hallway. I listened intently for any sound. I scanned the immediate area for any protections and, as I found them, broke their lines and then hid the appropriate counter-charm nearby.
The only thing I wouldn’t necessarily be able to see was the iron. Ethan had said that the designers had incorporated the metal into these very walls, so I did what I could to leave a few obsidian and amethyst crystals from my necklaces, together with a few drops of vanilla essence, at regular intervals along the corridor. All I could do was hope it would be enough overall power to counteract the effect of the iron.
I didn’t risk entering any of the rooms as I moved along the hall—partly because I was worried about any occupants, but also because I was concerned about their contents. I had no idea what horrid secrets those closed doors hid, and I wanted to keep it that way.
When I reached the end of the corridor, I saw that it formed an “L” shape as it led into another hallway. Along the length of the next section, a series of windows and glass doors stretched from floor to ceiling. It heightened the risk for me exponentially. Anyone in those rooms would easily see me walk past.
With my heart lodged tightly in my throat, I edged toward the first two glass doors, which faced one another only a few yards after the corner. One had blinds drawn. Artificial light, and the murmur of voices, spilled out from behind the glass. Risking a quick glance at the other, I saw the window was open but the room behind was dark and appeared empty.
I started to believe that, if my luck held, I could actually clear the way. Dropping as low as I could to stay out of the potential line of sight of any occupants in the room, I crept past the windows and the door. Continuing down the hall, I moved with caution past each opening, overly aware of how exposed I might be if anyone stole even the slightest glance into the corridor.
After going as far as I could in one direction, I spun around to head toward the elevator. As I neared it, a bell sounded and the light above the elevators lit up indicating the car was heading down. My previous confidence fled as the moment of potential discovery gr
ew closer. The occupants of the elevator would easily spot me if I wasn’t careful.
Running back to the corner, I reached it right when the elevator doors slid open. I hid behind the wall, barely out of sight, and tried desperately to come up with a plan in case whoever arrived on the floor came my way.
The darkened, seemingly empty room stood a few feet behind me; I figured it was my best chance. I could only hope it was as empty as it appeared. It was as solid an escape plan as I could develop with the limited time and resources I had. It also occurred to me that maybe some hidden camera had detected me and the occupants of the car were going to enter the hallway actively searching for me. In which case, it wouldn’t matter where I hid; I’d be hunted down in no time.
I pressed myself against the wall and silently said a thousand and one different prayers. Listening intently, I heard what sounded like a large group spill out of the elevator. They spoke loudly among themselves, and I was instantly able to pick out Ethan’s and Clay’s voices. I breathed a little easier. At least if the group of five caught me, one would definitely fight with me, and another hopefully would too.
It sounded like they were heading the other way along the main corridor, and I risked a quick glance out from my hiding space to confirm it. Once I glimpsed their retreating backs, I slumped against the wall and tipped my head back to breathe a small sigh of relief.
Even though it was unlikely, there was the possibility that if they were discussing Mackenzie I might have been able to find out some valuable information if I was close enough to hear it. I risked following them at a distance. Although there were no shadows, I tried to press myself against the wall and move as silently as I could as I crept behind them.
They’d barely covered half of the hallway before Clay’s voice rang out in a gut-wrenching cry of pain. The sound was so loud that it seemed to echo off all of the walls, and rushed straight into my heart like a bullet shot from a gun. The instant Clay’s cry had echoed through the hall, the group stopped and a confused commotion broke out around them.
