Chapter 59
Rafe
I didn’t ask why Skye was in the Craig Manor. I didn’t ask why she hadn’t told me what she was up to. I didn’t react to Willow or Zephyr standing beside her in Lauren’s bedroom. I didn’t even react to Isaiah guarding the bedroom door.
But Wyatt did.
“What the fuck?” he hissed at Willow after checking Lauren was asleep.
“Dude, don’t even start,” Zephyr whispered harshly.
Aiden strode over to Skye, pulling her into a hug while I scratched my head.
Lauren…looked bad.
Really bad. Worse than I’d ever seen.
“Jesus, Wyatt,” I breathed. “You didn’t tell me it’d come to this.”
“I told you she could barely walk unassisted,” Wyatt replied with a wince.
“Lauren told us her pills are kept in Richard’s safe. In his office.” Skye said from around Aiden.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Okay. I’ve gotten into it before, I could probably get into it now. But we need to be quiet. There’s seven people here that shouldn’t be. We’re going to draw attention.”
“There’s like, no one in the house. I checked.” Zephyr said, clutching Willow tighter to him, and I almost scrunched up my nose. They were weird. They acted like Zephyr would carry Willow around on his back if allowed.
Wait a minute. That was an amazing idea. I looked to Skye, deciding she was short enough that I’d be able to strap her to my chest and her feet wouldn’t drag.
Skye narrowed her eyes at me like she knew I’d just had a crazy idea.
“Well, that’s easy for you to say but–”
“Jeeves!” Willow practically shrieked.
What–
We all turned just in time to see who I assumed was Dick’s fucking butler –my father hadn’t even had a butler– standing in the doorway, his eyes wide.
And then he ran.
All seven of us jolted, lunging toward the doorway and smashing into each other as we raced to get to the hallway.
I made it over the threshold just in time to see Skye teleport into the hall, then Zephyr stepped through a moment later, tearing down the stairs.
“What the fuck is his affinity?!” Skye cried. “I can’t grab him!”
Hmm. Interesting, but I wouldn’t put it past Richard Craig to only employ Shields and Paralyzers to keep himself protected.
Confident one of the seven people in our group would catch him, I shadow-walked down to Richard’s office. This was probably where Jeeves was headed anyway.
It was oddly quiet in this room, and I scrunched my nose at the stale smell of cigarettes. Richard didn’t smoke anymore, but the smell must’ve seeped into the drywall.
Ugh. I was glad Aiden had quit that habit. It was awful for his health, and as one of Skye’s Links, I needed to make sure my Link-mates lived very long, healthy lives for her.
I lifted Richard’s douchey self portrait off the wall behind his desk, revealing the safe, then groaned.
The last time I’d been here, I was stealing some books on healing for Skye.
This safe was different than the one I’d cracked before, which meant Richard had changed his safe since then, which also meant he’d probably noticed the missing books.
Ugh. He was so observant over the wrong things.
But he hadn’t murdered Wyatt, yet, so maybe he hadn’t noticed the missing court ledger.
There was a loud yelp from behind me, and I turned to find Jeeves on the ground, with Zephyr and Isaiah on his back as he struggled. Jeeves’ eyes were wide on me, like he couldn’t believe I’d made it down here before him.
“Bring him in just in case someone shows up,” I said.
Skye appeared in the doorway, grimacing at Jeeves’ squirming. She teleported to stand beside me, studying the safe while Zephyr and Isaiah dragged the butler inside.
“How are we doing this?” Wyatt asked me from the door. “Willow’s alone with her mom.”
“Someone needs to stay with them,” I said.
Isaiah and Zephyr made eye contact, then Isaiah nodded, climbing off of Jeeves. “I’ll go,” he said.
Zephyr remained sitting on Jeeves’ back while Wyatt pulled the door closed.
“Rafe?” Wyatt prompted.
“Alright. Shut up, honeybuns. Let me work.”
Wyatt’s eyes flared. He took a step forward, only stopping when Skye teleported to stand in front of him. She murmured something to him that made Zephyr gag and Aiden laugh while the shadows began spilling from my fingertips, slipping into the cracks along the safe.
This is a new safe, Wyatt told Skye. He must’ve just installed it.
Skye stared behind me, at the flag on Richard’s wall, depicting the Pilgrim’s symbol.
Suddenly, the office door opened, revealing Willow.
“Willow,” Skye started.
“Skyes,” Willow snarked. “Don’t start. I’m here to question this fucker.”
Skye blinked, then shrugged, stepping aside. Wyatt looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it as Willow stepped up to Jeeves.
“What were you doing in my mom’s room?” she demanded.
“I…I…it’s t-time for Master Craig’s Key to t-take her m-medicine.”
Wyatt’s gaze darkened and Willow growled like a tiger cub, then lurched forward, grabbing the butler by his collar. Zephyr’s eyebrows disappeared under his coils, but didn’t move forward to stop her. None of us did.
“You’re the one forcing my mom to take these pills,” Willow hissed. “Why?”
“Following…orders,” he choked out.
“From?” Wyatt hedged.
“M-master Craig,” he wheezed.
“Ah-ha!” I said as the safe snicked open. Shadows burst from behind the safe door, twirling around my arms as I wrenched open the heavy door.
A shadow snatched a bottle of pills, pushing it into my hand.
I tossed the bottle to Wyatt, who squinted at the label before shaking his head.
“Whatever these are, I don’t think they’re from a pharmacy.”
“Where does he get these from?” Willow demanded. “What are they?”
Jeeves didn’t reply, and Willow dropped him. He groaned as his head bounced off the hardwood.
Wyatt grabbed him, then shook him. “Answer her,” he snarled.
“Don’t know,” Jeeves whined, then…began to cry?
“Ugh,” I took several steps back while Wyatt shook the man again.
“I don’t know!” Jeeves wailed, and Wyatt dropped him so that his head bounced off the hardwood again, then glanced at Skye.
“What do we do?” Skye asked, her silver eyes darting across each of us.
“I don’t know, but– what?!” I glanced down at the shadow prodding at my leg, blinking several times as it darted around in circles.
“Rafe, we don’t have time–”
“Stop,” I held up a hand, watching the shadow dart around.
“Rafe,” Skye murmured, her tone much more gentle than Wyatt, but still carrying an edge of exasperation.
“Don’t ask me how I know this, but that shadow just communicated to me that there’s a silent alarm on the safe.”
There was silence for about two seconds, and then Aiden cried, “Fuck!”
“How long do you think we have?” Skye asked Wyatt.
I pulled out my phone, firing off several messages as my Chain moved around me before turning back to the safe to check the books inside.
“I don’t know where he was today. He could be hours or minutes away,” Wyatt said.
Willow ripped the Pilgrims’ flag off the wall, then ripped it in half before leaving it in pieces on the floor.
We…did not have time for that.
But whatever.
Mom’s Concubine
Bring her here
I’ll have a room prepared. I’m calling Holmes
Me
No Holmes
Richard Craig might flip. He’ll come for her
Mom’s Concubine
He can try
That was weirdly ominous, but it also filled me with a bit of pride.
Raaz didn’t ask any questions at all, he’d just agreed to help. Was that because I was his Crown Prince, or because he was free to bang my mom?
Ugh.
None of the books inside the safe were of use to us. The siblings didn’t need to read about healing anymore.
There was a sudden commotion behind me, and I spun around, my heart leaping when Willow screamed and Skye gasped.
Jeeves had Skye.
He’d been forgotten while we coordinated our escape. Skye blinked in and out, her teleportation affinity malfunctioning like it had when my shadows held her.
Fuck.
Jeeves was a Shield.
Aiden’s arms ignited, and I didn’t even care. I moved toward them, freezing when Jeeves moved to wrap his forearm around Skye’s neck. Skye wasn’t weak by any means, but he was much larger than her. He had her pinned by brawn alone.
Skye squirmed, twisting until her hand was trapped between his arm and her neck, then she gasped as he tightened his hold anyway. The ground rumbled, then stopped abruptly as Jeeves pressed a knife into her side.
“Stop! What do you want?!” Willow cried.
“Let me go,” Jeeves said shakily.
“Fuck you dude, let her go,” Zephyr snarled.
“You think I’m afraid of you?!” Jeeves cried. “Master Craig will kill me if he finds out I let his Key get taken!”
Skye’s face was turning pink.
“I’m going to do a lot more than kill you if you don’t let her go,” Aiden warned.
“Please,” Jeeves scoffed. Skye sucked in another breath as he dragged her back a step. “None of you can touch me. That’s why Master Craig trusts me.”
“Oh, my God. You’re such a loser,” Willow hissed.
Skye made a strangled sound as Jeeves tightened his hold again, and my heart pounded so hard my vision blurred. She was trying. She was trying so hard not to show how affected she was.
Zephyr looked like he was seconds from losing it. He’d seen this all before, hadn’t he? When his father was strangled in front of him after the massacre. Now he was helplessly watching something similar happen to his sister, and–
The loud sound of electricity surging buzzed through the room. Skye squeezed her eyes shut, and then several things happened at once.
Willow threw out her hand, sending a sudden stream of water at Jeeves.
Sparks flew.
Zephyr grabbed his sister, then dropped her, crying out as Jeeves began to convulse. Zephyr rolled, unconscious as Skye scrambled to her knees beside him, coughing and sputtering, her cheeks flushed.
“Shit!” Willow cried, dropping to Zephyr’s side as Wyatt dove for him.
Jeeves was completely unconscious, steam rising off his skin.
Aiden was sweating.
I grabbed Skye, pulling her into my chest, realizing now that I could barely hear since my heart was pounding.
“That was you?” I whispered to Aiden.
He nodded, his skin unusually pale as he watched Wyatt check Zephyr. I pulled him into my arms along with Skye, hugging them both while my chest heaved.
“Good job,” I whispered.
“He’s fine,” Wyatt announced, sitting back on his heels.
“Oh,” Skye said. “That’s not good.”
She began to slide down my side, and my stomach dropped when when I noticed a red stain on her side.
“Wyatt,” I gasped. “Wyatt. What is that? What’s happening?”
Wyatt had her flat on the ground in seconds, his hands pressing on the admittedly small wound while she blinked at the ceiling.
“Baby?” Aiden leaned over her. “You okay?”
“I think you zapped me,” she wheezed, then winced. “Shit, Wyatt.”
“Sorry,” Wyatt breathed. “Fuck, okay. That wasn’t too bad. It was the knife. It wasn’t bad.”
“What the fuck is going on,” Zephyr groaned.
“Zeph-y!” Willow cried, leaning over him and beginning to sob.
“This is chaos,” I said to no one in particular.
The girls suddenly gasped again, and I turned, feeling dizzy from how much bullshit we’d encountered just in the last thirty minutes.
Shadows held Jeeves, who’d tried to lunge at someone else. They squeezed and choked him, and Willow hid her face in Zephyr’s chest as Jeeves’ eyes began to bulge.
But not Skye. No, Skye stared at him, her head tilted curiously.
“He’s coming,” Jeeves choked out, looking to Wyatt. “Master Cr-Craig will h…h-handle this. You were su…supposed to be better than h-him.”
Wyatt stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. “I am better than him,” he said. “Let me show you.”
He placed his hands on Jeeves’ shoulders. Skye’s eyes widened slightly, and then–
A loud, wet ripping sound cut through the tension.
Jeeves barely began to scream before the sound died.
Two thuds followed.
Willow cried out, hiding her face in Zephyr’s chest again.
Thank God.
Wyatt had finally cut someone in half.
Both pieces of Jeeves flopped on the ground, writhing around as the nerves died. Skye crouched down into a squat, her head still tilted to the side as she examined both pieces of Jeeves, slowly going still.
“Huh,” she whispered.
Something about her curiosity, her fascination over something so morbid was quite attractive to me, but I’d have to reconsider it later when I had more time.
I looked to Wyatt, then Zephyr. The three of us nodded.
Let’s get Lauren and get the fuck out of here, I said.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t done having heart attacks today.
Fortunately, the last one wasn’t for something bad.
Willow glanced outside to the yard as we entered the hall, and then she screamed.
“MIA?!”