Chapter 25 #2
Pops’s fingers gripped the leather strip harder, and he repeated the spell words—louder this time. Once again, the crystal flared, its light nearly blinding. And still, it did not move.
Before I could ask what this meant, Pops growled, “Aurelia.”
“I cannot find her either,” Aurelia flatly stated.
“Fuck.” I rarely heard Pops utter such a crass curse. Thick palms landing on the map, Pops leaned over it, blocking out the roads and highways. His chest heaved, his breaths heavy.
I desperately wanted to believe Momma was okay. “Maybe she’s just not somewhere close by. I could get another map.” I’d only chosen a local one. “I’ve got a whole atlas in the closet. I’ll get it and—”
“It won’t help.” I’d never heard Pops sound so damn wounded. “If she wasn’t somewhere on this map, the crystal would have pointed in the general direction off the map. It didn’t so much as budge.”
Icy fear dug its claws deep into my soul. If Pops couldn’t find her then…
“Is she…?” I couldn’t say the words. I didn’t even want to think them.
Worse than that, I couldn’t even help. “I can’t search for her if I don’t have a body.
I need…” I felt like I might be hyperventilating.
Elbows on my thighs, I grasped my head, pulling at my hair.
Pops’s fingers met mine, gently pulling my hands away.
“You’ll hurt yourself.” For such a large and formidable individual, when it came to me, Pops had the gentlest of souls. “It’s not what you think. Even dead, I’d still be able to find your momma.”
My head snapped up, and fragile hope pulled my flailing pieces back together. “She’s alive then?”
“I…” Pops hedged. “I can’t say that for certain. Neither Aurelia nor I can find your momma, Erasmus. Do you understand what that means?”
I wasn’t certain I had before, but I thought I did now. “Something’s blocking you.” Anger began wedging away the misery. “Or someone.”
Pops gave a slow nod. “That is my fear. No one knows what a shadow borne is truly capable of. I don’t know how he could do this, but that would be my guess. A brownie could block your momma from my vision.”
“A brownie? But why?” I asked.
Pops shook his head. “No idea. And it wouldn’t be like them. The only other possibility I can think of is that your momma has been taken to Fairy. I couldn’t track her there, and I doubt Aurelia could either.”
“Warlock Holland is correct, at least where my abilities lay. Fairy is another dimension. The magic there works differently. I do not understand how, only that it does.”
“One must be invited into Fairy,” Pops tried to clarify, “and no one in this room has been issued that kind of invitation.” Standing to his full height, Pops stared at the useless map. “But I can’t imagine your momma is there.”
“I could ask Ray,” I quickly offered. “He might know.”
Pops gave another slow nod. “It would be worth checking on, if only to completely eliminate the possibility.”
My legs were shaky when I stood, ready to hunt down my phone. The clock on the stove caught my attention, the time much later than before. I’d been so distracted that I hadn’t realized a very important fact.
“Franklin’s not here yet.” I found my phone, woke it up, and saw that I had no new messages.
“When was he supposed to be home?” Pops asked, fresh concern hardening his words.
I swallowed thickly. “Twenty minutes ago, give or take five.” Phone still in hand, I turned to Aurelia. “You said you just saw him and he was fine. Where was he?”
“Driving. Your mate was very vocal when I arrived.”
Considering Aurelia had a bad habit of popping in unannounced, I could easily imagine Franklin’s response.
“He pulled the vehicle to a stop, so we could converse.” Aurelia’s fingers found Fuzzy Britches’s fur and began combing through it. The scuttlebutt vibrated, and a gentle hum emanated from her round body. It would have been soothing if not for current events.
“Do you know how long you spoke?”
Aurelia’s answering shrug was more than frustrating. “Time is—”
“Inconsequential, I know.” I blew out a deep breath while attempting to calm my racing brain and heart. “I’ll give him a call and—”
“I cannot locate Franklin O’Hare.” Aurelia’s coldly calm announcement froze the blood in my veins.
“What did you say?” My voice sounded like little more than ground glass.
Aurelia’s Caribbean blue eyes flared briefly before they settled into their normal hue. “I thought to check on your mate’s whereabouts. As with Lydia Boone, I am no longer able to locate Franklin O’Hare.”
I lost my battle with gravity, landing on my ass on the wooden kitchen floor.
Pops was immediately at my side, his large frame crouched over me. “Erasmus.” Pops’s fingers pushed my cold, sweat-damp hair from my eyes. “Talk to me, Erasmus. Your pulse is thready, and your skin is clammy. I do not like your vitals. I need you to—”
“He has them,” I no more than whispered. “Huxley has them. I’ve been staying in the house like a coward, so he went after them.” I’d been a selfish fool. I’d thought I’d been protecting everyone by hiding away, but all I’d done was paint new targets for Tenzen Huxley to go after.
“Doubtful.” Leon’s voice wasn’t cold. It was cool like spring rain.
I had no idea when he’d woken and entered the kitchen.
When I pulled my eyes from my shaking hands, it was to find Leon’s cheeks flushed from a recent feeding.
He was alone and freshly fed, which most likely meant Phlox was sleeping it off in bed.
Pops pulled in another harsh breath. “Vampire.”
“Warlock,” Leon calmly answered before dismissing Pops by crouching down on my other side. He didn’t attempt to reach for me. Leon sat on his haunches, head slightly cocked to the side. “It sounds like much happened while I slumbered.”
My head dropped, gaze landing on the dust bunnies clinging to the cracks in the floorboards. “I think… We think Huxley has Momma and Franklin. He went after them when he couldn’t get to me. I should have—”
“I doubt there is much you could have done to change the outcome. While it is true you have stayed within the protective wards of your home in recent days, this was not true before. Huxley could have taken you any time prior. He did not. Nor did he take your mother or mate before. There is a rhythm and plan only Huxley understands.”
“But it’s me he wants,” I argued. “Momma and Franklin can’t hurt a djinn. Only I can do that.”
“Gaia have mercy.” Pops reared back but didn’t remove his touch. “There are djinn involved.”
Leon answered, “Two that we know of.”
“There could be more,” Aurelia helpfully answered. “I only saw the two.” She didn’t sound exactly put-out about the situation.
Pops grumbled something I didn’t completely understand.
Leon seemed to be the only one with a functioning, calculating brain.
“And if Huxley had taken you, threatened you with the loss of your life if you did not do what he wants, if you refused to fulfill the threat only you can make good on, would you do as he asked? Would you return the djinn’s soul making them vulnerable and signing their death warrant? ”
I was horrified. “Of course not! Only if lives were at risk. None of us know what Tenzen wants with the djinn, but I think we can all agree it’s not for the betterment of society in general.
That said, I wouldn’t hold it against the djinn involved.
I… It would be unfair to punish them. I’d only do it if absolutely necessary. ”
Leon’s obsidian eyes shimmered in the fading light of my kitchen.
The sun was continuing its descent from the sky.
“Tenzen Huxley is no fool. He’s observed you long enough to understand you are not a weak-minded individual who is easily controlled.
And if that is the case, then what Huxley needs is—”
“Leverage,” Pops all but growled.
Leon tilted his head in agreement. “And what better leverage than the two humans you love. Huxley chose his victims well. Humans are fragile beings.”
My head shot up, chin jutting out as determination filled my veins. “Fragile, maybe. Weak, never.”
Pops’s chuckle was anything but mirthful. “Huxley has definitely made a miscalculation. Lydia Boone is no wilting violet. I would not have chosen her to birth my son if that were true.”
“Franklin’s no slouch either.” Most likely Franklin was pissed.
A pulsing blue glow caught my attention, and when I looked Aurelia’s way, my eyes widened in surprise.
Most of her tattoos flared, and I doubted I’d ever seen her eyes that bright.
Fuzzy Britches was no longer sleeping. Deep brown eyes shimmered through narrowed openings, her lips pulled back, showing off her deadly maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Aurelia’s voice was cold enough to freeze the warmest sea.
“I do not like not knowing where Lydia Boone is. I do not like this feeling at all.”
Leon’s smirk was just shy of showing fang. “I believe Warlock Holland is correct. Our shadow borne has made a miscalculation. A very serious miscalculation.”