by LJ Rivers
I mused, happy Nick had come around, yet something was nagging at me. “I think,” I said, “I think this is just the tip of a giant iceberg. This was organised like there was a chain of command and someone outside with higher authority, cash changing hands. Who knows how far up the chain goes? We haven’t seen the half of it, I think.”
“Now, that’s a chilling thought.”
I nodded, brushing the thought away for later. “Then what? I mean, what happened next with your escape?”
He shrugged. “Once I wiggled my way out of the ropes, the rest was pure adrenalin—panic and anger. I knew I had to find you. So, I got a hold of a metal rod and swung it like a supercharged Sir Ian Botham on MagX.”
I had no idea who this Botham-bloke was, but knowing Nick, he was probably some sort of sports hero.
“Got room?” Jen asked, taking a seat next to me. She was back in her human form, naked as a baby, showing bloodied teeth in a wide grin.
“Always.” I didn’t care that she was naked, or about the jolts of pain coursing through me as I swung my arms around her. “I’m so, so happy you came.”
“So am I, pup,” Jen cooed.
Nick cleared his throat, and I sat back to look at him. His gaze wavered, shifting every which way, and underneath all the grit on his cheeks, I could swear they were turning a rosy pink.
“Should maybe find you some clothes,” he mumbled, scrambling off outside.
I laughed. It hurt, but it was good to laugh.
Nick returned shortly after with a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt. “The best I could do. Might be some blood on it, though. He angled his head away from Jen as she accepted the clothes and proceeded to slip into them.
“Thanks,” she said. “You’re free to look now.”
After a few seconds of hesitation, Nick sat back beside her. “Nice of you to join us.”
“And not a moment too soon. I tried tracking you all day. Took a train yesterday morning, and have been running around farms ever since. Might have scared a sheep or ten. We knew you were likely somewhere in Hertfordshire or nearby, but it’s been a real bitch to catch your scent. Not like we had a lot to go on. But then, tonight, it was there—plus, the raging fire was a dead giveaway. I trailed you through the woods, and found you in this mess.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks. It had been a close call. If Jen hadn’t shown up when she did, I would probably be dead. And if Nick hadn’t saved me before I was injected with more human blood, we wouldn’t have escaped at all.
“Thank you for saving my ass,” I said firmly.
Jen nodded.
“Both of you,” I added.
Nick shrugged. “Team effort.”
Jen’s already arched eyebrows rose as she regarded Nick with bright eyes before shifting closer to him. “Guess I owe you thanks as well, for saving my girl.”
Nick flashed a grin, his battered chest rising, and I briefly worried that his wound would deepen by the motion, but he didn’t seem to notice it as his attention was strictly for Jen.
I left them by the fire to check on the other Mags. They ranged in age. I remembered seeing the youngest boy in one of the cages, so small and terrified. He wasn’t badly hurt, however, and Oliver kept him entertained with some story that made the boy giggle. Most likely, Oliver was boasting about himself, so I passed by them to the old man who sat in a corner, his back resting against the wall.
Silver hair trailed backwards from his forehead, running all the way down to his waistline. His chest rose in shallow breaths, hairline gashes crisscrossing across his forearms, and blood seeping from his stomach.
I rushed over and knelt by his side. “It’s all right,” I mumbled. “I’ll help you.”
His eyelids parted slightly and his amber eyes, faceted with green specks, peered out at me. He gave a tilt of his chin before his eyelids drooped again.
Taking a deep breath, I summoned back the warmth nestling in my veins. It was weak, but it was there. I placed my hands over the man’s stomach, and a dim light shone underneath my palms. Beads of perspiration coated my forehead as I maintained the magic for as long as I could. The blood finally stopped flowing, and the wound closed enough to contain it. No longer able to keep it up if I needed it again for anyone else, I willed the magic back inside. He wasn’t completely healed, but he wasn’t dying at the moment either. It would have to be enough for now.
“Car,” Jen called, her ears pricking up.
I sprinted for the door as fast as my body would allow, and opened it halfway, shielding my body as I looked outside. It was too soon to be Paddock.
A Volkswagen Transporter pulled up outside. I readied myself for whatever was to come, sucking air into my lungs. The passenger door opened.
And out stepped Charlie.
My heart bounced. I flung the door wide open and darted forwards, pain be damned. We met in an embrace. She sobbed into my hair, and my tears crept back as well. Only this time, they were tears of joy. Charlie was here. I didn’t want to let go, but we couldn’t stay like that forever. Reluctantly, I stepped out of the embrace and met her gaze.
Her jaw dropped. “Holy cow, Ru!”
“I know.” Gently, I wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I wish I had found you sooner.”
“It’s all right. You’re here now. Come to think of it, how are you here? Jen call you?”
“Nah, she’s been wolfing it out. I’ve spent the time since your disappearance looking at satellite images, trying to find your dang weathervane somewhere in the fudging haystack. I narrowed it down to three farms—you really ought to take an art class—then matched the name to the letters you gave me.”
“You brilliant little digiwizard,” I said.
Another car door opened and shut, and Duncan strolled towards us.
“Duncan! You’re out!” I gave him a hug, and he hugged me back.
“Heard you were in trouble.” He slid his fingers through his hair. It was clean for a change, soft and shiny. Everything about him was sleeker than I remembered. Rehab must have been good for him. “I just—” He spun slowly, his face shifting out towards the scene of the recent fight. “This is mad. I can’t believe my stupidity.”
I squeezed his hand for reassurance. “You’re clean now, though, right?”
“As a whistle.”
The purr of an engine sounded somewhere by the main road before another car came up the driveway. I stiffened, slipping straight back into fight mode.
“Easy,” Charlie said. “I rang him.”
Brendan!
The car parked next to the Volkswagen, and Brendan stepped outside.
I froze at the sight of him, my emotions wild and shifting inside. He locked eyes with me, those stunning, breath-taking eyes. The breeze ruffled his hair as he sped up and ran towards me.
Warmth. Safety. The spicy smell of his aftershave. It was all-consuming as his arms slid around my waist, his hands carefully caressing the bare skin underneath my shirt at the small of my back.
“I was so scared,” he breathed.
I buried my head in the nape of his neck, inhaling the scent of him, feeling his warmth spread through me. My fingers laced in his hair while his hands moved over my hips, then back up to my waist. His grip was firm, yet gentle. The world around us disappeared for a moment. All my hurt and anger seeped away from me, and all I felt was a burning desire, hope, and something else, something strong and glorious that made my heart expand in my chest, my breath slowing steadily before his lips grazed my collar bone, sending sweet shivers through my body and my pulse rising.
I lifted my head to face him, his breath an invitation on my lips. I closed my eyes and leaned into him, his heart beating steadily along with my own.
“Is he here?” someone said, ripping me out of my euphoria.
Brendan’s arms slipped away from me as Teagan pushed him aside and took his place.
I blinked and licked my lips. My unkissed-by-Brendan lips.
“W
ell?” she asked, her hands on her hips.
I nodded.
“Teagan!” Oliver swooped past me to scoop Teagan up and into his arms. I jumped back to avoid Teagan’s dangling feet kicking me in the chest. He put her down and kissed her with raw, unabashed passion, making my cheeks flush.
I glanced at Brendan, who held his palms out to me and shrugged. Our moment had passed, and I became suddenly aware of how I had to look—not to mention smell.
Oliver unlinked himself from Teagan to look at me. “They need you inside, Ru. There’s a woman in there, Ivy, in dire need of healing. We don’t have time to wait for an ambulance.”
Brendan stared at me and his brows deepened, confusion written in the way his expression shifted. No time to worry about that, though, so I took a deep breath and hurried back inside.
The woman, whom I expected was Ivy, lay in the centre of the room. Her black-as-night locks were braided in a hundred small braids, fanning out around her head. Her skin would have been a rich brown, I thought, though it carried a greyish tint. Her eyes were open but vacant.
“Any other Fae in this room with healing power?” I called. I was exhausted, and my powers had just run a marathon.
Heads shook all around.
I sighed and knelt beside Ivy. “Hey,” I said. “I’m Ruby.”
Her auburn eyes caught my gaze swiftly to reveal a hint of awareness. There was still time if only I could summon enough power to help her.
“I don’t see any wounds.” There were plenty of bruises but no open wounds. I had no idea where to focus my energy.
“She took a pretty heavy hit,” Oliver said as he and the entourage from outside joined me by the woman. Brendan was there as well, though he kept his distance, standing in the shadows beside a window, light streaming past but not on him.
“Right,” I muttered, shaking my head.
“I think her rib cage took the worst blow. Internal bleeding would be my best guess,” Oliver offered.
It was the best I had to go on, so I leaned forward, one hand above Ivy’s heart, the other on her forehead.
Nothing happened. I was drained and hurt and simply miserable.
Charlie crouched opposite me, handing me a bottle of water. “You are the most amazing person I know. If anyone can find the strength, you can.”
I smiled weakly and swigged the water down. If Charlie had this much faith in me, I should too. Again, I reached for my magic, for the calm centre of my being. There had been so much death, and my anger and fury still lingered in my veins. Pushing through the hate, the remorse, my sadness and my fear, I found one last strand of light. The sensation of serenity and hope, of happiness and love. I focused on it, picturing the sliver of warmth in my mind. A blast of light erupted from my palms, briefly illuminating the entire room before surging back, the light folding over Ivy, rays of healing spilling under her skin.
Ivy held my gaze then, her eyes growing alert and wise. The hint of a smile spread out, and I released the magic, feeling it flow back to rest in my blood once more.
“That was a rush.” Ivy rose by the flat of her hands. “Thank you.”
I nodded at her, quickly surveying the wide eyes and the other injured all around, then stood and strode back outside. The weight of everyone weighed heavily on my shoulders. I had managed to draw on a last hair of energy, but that was all I had left to offer. I could sense it as I stood there in the middle of the evidence of the carnage I had wrought. I let out an exasperated breath.
This was my doing. Sure, the ‘Sentries of Camelot’ played their part, but I could have found other ways. I could have locked them inside force fields and given them a bump on the head before tying them up. Yet I had chosen fire and destruction every step of the way. How many had I killed last night? I hardly recognised who I was anymore. Not only that, but according to Mordred, my life was a lie. Dad had been a Harvester, and if he had been here last night, I would have surely torched him along with all the others.
A tear swam from my eye. I would get the answers I needed one way or the other. First, though, I had to help the injured Mags, and I knew exactly who to call, even if I didn’t want to. I couldn’t wait around for Paddock and his task force. That would place the Mags here on record, listed as Magicals for anyone to know, which meant public hospitals were not an option. They needed care, however, and I had nothing left to give. Certainly not to that many people.
I inhaled sharply and rang Mum.
Twenty-One
I rested my head against the passenger window as the Volkswagen sped north. The hum of the engine was a constant reminder that we were getting closer by the minute. I only hoped it wouldn’t be too late to save everyone. We had filled the two cars with as many as we could. Unsurprisingly, Oliver had a way with cars, and when the smaller cars were both full, he had hot-wired one of the vans on the farm. It was a chore to fit everyone inside, but we made it work. He had taken charge of his own car after that, and Brendan had volunteered to drive the van after there was no longer room for me to go with him. He hadn’t said a word to me after I healed Ivy, and maybe he never would again.
Charlie stretched forward from the back seat and put a hand over mine. “Don’t worry, babe. He’ll come around.”
I hadn’t breathed a word about Brendan out loud, yet somehow, Charlie just knew. She didn’t have an issue with Jen or me being Mags, perhaps Brendan would understand in his own time? I had my doubts.
I sagged against the door and forced myself to think about something other than Brendan. We were only about an hour away from Mum’s clinic, and though I had not seen her for weeks, I wasn’t looking forward to the talk we were bound to have. I had lied to her, kept things from her, and she would know that now. Then again, if Dad had been a Harvester, she had to have known. And if she did know, then what else was she lying about? Up until now, I had been so sure that Dad’s MagX overdose wasn’t his fault, that he was somehow forced to take it or given it by accident. After watching how the officers all helped themselves to the drug, I was no longer certain. Maybe he just wasn’t the man I thought he was.
“Professor Kaine asked for you, by the way,” Charlie said.
“He did?”
“Uhuh, he came by our flat yesterday. Said something about trying to contact you for some sort of private tutoring or something. The professor seemed really worried about you.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. I was supposed to meet him for another training session in the boiler room yesterday morning. “I’ll have to text him.”
“Already done. I told him you were safe and sound, taking a few days at your mum’s place. What is he tutoring you for anyway?”
“It’s—I’ll tell you later.” The phone buzzed in my pocket, and I answered the call.
“It’s Paddock. Got your text about leaving the farm. You neglected to tell me you left with all the bodies, too.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I asked, sitting up straight.
“I mean there’s nothing here, no people or bodies at all. We’ve just arrived, Travers and his men too. They’re sweeping the area, but besides a burnt down farm and a lot of scorched earth, there are no signs that there was ever anything but a farm here.”
I shook my head in disbelief. How long since we left? Not long at all. And someone had already wiped out all the evidence? I shuddered at the thought.
“I swear, I’m telling the truth,” I said.
“I believe you. In fact, I’m kind of glad we don’t have a ton of police officers’ bodies to deal with, though we’re bound to get a bunch of missing persons reports. Your friend Charlie has been a great help, though. The money trail is enough to establish corruption, and the chat room for Sentries of Camelot, well, Charlie’s been a tremendous help cracking the code names there as well. The things they’ve shared in that chat room alone should be enough to shut down this group for good.”
“Really?” That was great news. Though I might have shut down a good chunk of the so-called
Sentries of Camelot myself, there would surely be more of them than those guarding the farm.
“Don’t go getting too excited, though,” Paddock said. “Someone was feeding them money and giving them instructions, but not even the Yard has been able to crack the source. In either case, Sentries of Camelot is history. Travers has some big names on his list. I’d watch the news for the next couple of days if I were you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Tip of a very large iceberg, I thought.
“Tell Charlie to stop poking around the police network from now on though, all right.”
I smirked at the phone. “Will do.” Another thought occurred to me then. “By the way, how is that skater boy doing? Is he safe?”
“No worries. The boy is perfectly safe and sound. I thought about what you said about him needing protection, and Travis has taken him into a witness protection program. Turns out that the skaters were all Mags, and Fernsby had been on their tail for a while. The bandana I found, the girl he killed before our trip to the skatepark—they were all part of the same crew.”
The pieces clicked together in my head, and I sighed with relief. “I appreciate everything you’ve done. Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it.”
He ended the call, and I slumped back in the seat again.
Duncan turned the volume up on the radio, and Ozzy Osbourne told us he was a dreamer. Charlie tuned in, bellowing the lyrics behind me. Duncan winced and shook his head before he changed the channel, leaving us with “Moves Like Jagger” instead.
“Thanks for coming to help,” I told him.
“My program was done last week. I had planned to take a couple of weeks somewhere to just relax, but when Charlie said she needed a car, and that someone had kidnapped you and Nick, what else was I supposed to do?”
I smiled at him. He had come a long way since I first met him back in Craydon. The constant jitter of his hands was nowhere to be seen, and he looked content—happy even. At least some of us were. I had a hard time letting go of my grim mood. We had stopped to fill gas and grab a quick bite, which helped, but my body was aching all over the place. I was stiff and sore, and no matter how I shifted my weight on the seat, my back complained, my arm hurt, my head hurt. Everything just hurt.
