Chapter 27
“ H ow are we going to explain this?”
Tris had taken control of the scene while I tried to recover and process what I’d just witnessed.
Malakai was back, and he was watching me watching everyone else.
Arelis had pulled him out of a hole in the backyard.
He’d been squeezed and broken like the vampire by Ian’s crazy strong magic.
But also like the vampire, he was almost completely recovered.
“We need to take the fae somewhere else,” Wylen said. He was sitting on the stairs again, trying to regain some of his strength.
“I might know a place,” Kaelan suggested. “They will be secure until we can have a proper burial.”
“Where?” I asked.
Kaelan ground his teeth together. It looked like he didn’t want to tell us. “Gil has a house in Goshen Estates. There’s a safe room in the basement.” Kaelan smiled. “It’s where he likes to store his blades.”
“Blades?” Tris questioned.
“Swords. He has lots of swords.” Turning back to Wylen, he added, “It’s very secure.”
“You have the code?” Arelis appeared next to Kaelan, a small trail of wind following behind. Her wings were not visible at the moment, but otherwise, I guessed she’d made a complete recovery.
“Yes,” Kaelan said with a nod.
Arelis sighed. “Okay. I can help with the transport.”
“And what about them?” I pointed to the four dead halflings Arelis had piled in the corner. “I’m not sure I can come up with a story that can explain away all of the broken necks.”
“An explosion,” Malakai grunted. When we all stared at him, he added, “That can explain broken bones.”
“Okay, yeah, that just might work.” Kaelan was playing it super cool.
I had no idea how he wasn’t freaking out on the inside right now like me.
He acted like this was normal…seeing dead bodies and planning ways to cover up their murders with a group of supernaturals.
Like it was just another weekend for him.
“We need to talk,” Wylen cut in. Then he looked at each of us in the eye to make sure we understood. “All of us. We need to talk about Gil.”
Arelis stepped forward and set her hand on the fae’s shoulder. “We will, my friend.” Looking up at Kaelan, she asked, “Can we use the club?”
“Of course.” Kaelan smiled. “The meeting area is still in the back.”
“All right.” Arelis put her hands on her hips and surveyed the room—a general assessing the next steps. “Malakai and I will take care of the rest. Kaelan, I’ll need you to give me the code for Gil’s house. You should stay here with them and be ready for us when we are finished.”
“Please don’t kill anyone else,” I whispered. “I mean, with the explosion. Please don’t hurt the innocent.”
Tris smiled, reassuring me that he was glad I said something.
“I promise not to hurt anyone, Miss Sosie.” Malakai gave me slight nod, and I had a feeling those words meant more to him than just a simple promise.
“Thank you.”
Wylen and I stood to start making our way out of this hellhole. “Sosie?” Arelis asked, stopping me in my tracks. “Thank you for your help.” When I smiled, she added, “And don’t call your investigator. I know someone who is familiar with…with these kinds of people.”
“Understood.” In other words, she knew a special investigator who knew about her nature.
“Okay, let’s go. I’ll drive.” Kaelan helped Wylen to his feet, and Tris did the same for me. Looking back over his shoulder, Kaelan asked Arelis and Malakai, “One hour?”
“That should be enough time, yes,” the vampire said, already pressing buttons on her comm phone to call for assistance with the bodies.
We dragged ourselves up the stairs and out the front door. It looked like someone had knocked out the streetlight above the sidewalk, and once again, I marveled at how well prepared this group seemed to be. One day, I may have to ask about their previous adventures.
“I’ll drive me and Sosie,” Tris said once we walked around the corner where everyone had parked. “We can’t risk leaving her bike here.”
“Good idea,” Kaelan said. “I’ll take Wylen and meet you at the club. You can follow me.”
“Will do.”
We parted ways, Tris dragging me to my bike and Kaelan dragging Wylen to his. We were pathetic. Okay, I was pathetic. I’d only taken a beating to the head. Wylen had used up every drop of his power he had left to get the answers we needed.
Tris helped me onto the seat and strapped my helmet. As soon as he finished, my eyes fluttered shut. “No way, Willow Wisp,” Tris yelled when he climbed on the bike. “You have a concussion. No sleeping for you.”
“But I’m so tired,” I whined.
“We’ll get some coffee. Come on, you need to listen to me.” He snapped his fingers in my face. “Wake up.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But can I also get a muffin? ”
“Blueberry?” he suggested as we pulled away from the curb.
“Of course.”
A n hour later, we were sitting in the back room of Gil’s club, drinking coffee and waiting for Arelis and Malakai to show up.
Arelis had sent Kaelan a message saying they were on their way, but Delicia wanted to come, too.
Delicia was Arelis’s friend and the one who had apparently spoken to my long-dead grandmother.
So, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little bit intrigued and anxious to meet her.
Wylen was sleeping on the couch. He promised us that a nap would be good for him and that he wasn’t going to die like me if he fell asleep.
We tried to explain how a concussion worked, but he was having none of it.
Claiming his fatigue stemmed from his being in our world too long, we finally gave up and let him sleep for a bit.
Even the fresh scent of coffee couldn’t get him off the couch, and I worried because he once told me he didn’t sleep while he was hunting.
Ten minutes passed until Malakai, Arelis, and two new women walked into the room.
Arelis was speaking animatedly to the tiniest one, so I assumed that must be Delicia.
Even more petite than me, Delicia had her straight hair cut so it hung just above her shoulders with a small clip holding her part to the side.
Wearing all black like Arelis, the two of them seemed to fit together even though they were so far apart in other ways.
Delicia’s grin grew as she walked toward me and held out her arms. “You must be Sosie. Gods, you look just like him.” Wrapping me in a hug, she squeezed me tight. “Your grandmother has told me so much about you.”
“Grandma Dorith?” My voice hitched in my throat. Dammit, I didn’t want to cry.
“Don’t be sad. She is well. She misses you, though, but she’s so proud of what you’ve accomplished.
” Suddenly, her smile disappeared, and she tilted her head to the side.
“Oh, and she wanted me to tell you to forgive your mother. She didn’t mean to hurt you.
She just thought it was best if you never knew about Gil. ”
“My grandmother knew Gil was fae?” I asked a little too loudly.
Delicia shook her head. “No, not until you found out. But she said her daughter did the right thing, so please try to understand her decisions.”
“Are you talking to her now?”
Delicia smiled again. “Oh no, sorry, dear. I was just trying to remember exactly what she said so I didn’t forget anything. She’s a chatty one.”
I laughed. “That is for sure.”
Arelis gestured to the other woman, who was tall, redheaded, and just plain pretty. “This is Irini. She was with Special Investigator Telona when I called, so she asked to come along.”
“Special Investigator Telona?” Tris asked.
“The one who can handle our situation.”
“She means the investigator who learned the hard way that humans aren’t the only ones on this continent,” Irini said with a smile.
I held out my hand, but Irini just looked at it. When she saw my disappointment, she immediately explained. “It’s not you. I have a…gift, too. And if I touch your hand right now, I may see way too many things. I’m trying to figure out how to control it, but I’m not quite there yet.”
“A clairsentient?” Wylen pushed to his feet and walked over to Irini, completely awed by her words.
“A touch clairvoyant, yes.” Studying the tall man who kind of looked like her, she shook her head. “Gil is the only fae I’ve met, but I can see the similarities. You all seem to…glow.”
I looked at Wylen and saw nothing like that. And when Tris shrugged beside me, I guessed it was the same for him, too .
But Wylen seemed to understand. “Have you traced your own lineage?”
“No,” she said.
“You may want to do that someday.” With a wink, Wylen was almost back to himself. “Should we get started?”
Kaelan reached the long table first and pulled out the plastic chair. He left the head of the table open for Arelis, but when the vampire gestured for Wylen to take it, the fae gave her a small bow.
Once we were all seated, Wylen started the meeting. “I believe I know where Gilanders is.”
Everyone watched and waited, but it was Malakai who lost his patience. “Where is he?” he shouted. Arelis gave him a look, the kind a mother gives her misbehaving son, and Malakai instantly relaxed back in his chair.
“If the queen is behind this, then they would have taken him back to Ashtabulah.”
Irini and Delicia furrowed their brows. “The land of the fae,” I filled them in. “They’ve taken him back home.”
“Home?” Kaelan yelled. “This is his home. It’s been his home for centuries.”
“This is true,” Wylen confirmed. “And that fact leads me to believe the only way we can save your friend is by returning to my realm.”
“Are you sure it’s another fae?” Delicia asked.
Wylen threw the purple pendant on the table, and we all watched as the light danced around inside.
“This belongs to my queen. It was given to the halfling in exchange for Gilander.” He paused a moment before focusing on me again.
“They also taught the halflings how to subdue a fae with ancient troll magic.”
“Troll magic?” I shouted just before tossing a look at Tris.
Wylen pursed his lips together and gave me a curt nod. “The symbols. When carved in a certain way, they can be detrimental to our kind. Arranged to target specific family lines.”
I noted that Wylen must have been feeling better since he was starting to sound more like himself again, proper and old. Tris sat in silence while watching Wylen with a blank look on his face.
“How do we get him back?” Malakai asked when no one else spoke.
“That, I have not figured out yet,” Wylen admitted.
I looked around the table at everyone’s sad faces and was surprised that no one had suggested it yet. “We go there and steal him back.”
Malakai was the one who smiled at me first, his mouth full of sharp, white teeth, but his grin grateful.
“Sosie, Wylen is the only one who can go to Ashtabulah. And he won’t be able to come back,” Tris said quietly.
I turned to the fae. “Is that true?” When Wylen slowly nodded, I sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“At the time, it wasn’t important.”
“Wylen,” I groaned, “it is important.” My brain spun with thoughts and plans, and it only took a minute before everything fell into place. “Then I’ll go get him.”
“Sosie, you can’t,” Tris cut in.
“Why not? I’m his daughter. I’m a halfling. I can come back.” I’d said that last part with a glare tossed Wylen’s way. He should have told me this before.
I expected Tris to give me a hard time, but it was Kaelan who spoke first. “You remember Morningstar, right?”
“Yes.”
“What if you end up like her?”
The thought had crossed my mind briefly. But after tonight, I knew there was a way for me to travel with Wylen and not come back broken and confused. Tris must have seen it written on my face because he jumped out of his chair and slammed his hands on the table.
“Absolutely not, Sosie. No fucking way.”
“Tris, I have to do this.”
“You are not drinking the blood of Twinkletoes!”
Even though most of the people in the room had no idea what nickname Tris had given Wylen, it didn’t take them long to figure out what we were talking about. Wylen said nothing as Tris threw a tantrum, but we shared a knowing look that decided the next step.
“Will that work?” Malakai asked Wylen.
“Yes.”
“Then the problem is solved. Wylen will give me some of his blood so I can cross over without side effects. We will find Gil, and I will bring him home.”
“Sosie,” Tris begged, but I ignored him.
“And could someone please help me find my comm phone? I need to call my mother.”