Chapter Seventeen #2
“Oh shit,” I breathed out. “It happened again.”
Mandal gave me a startled look, but all he said was “Yes. That’s why Remy ordered me to bring you to the other tower.”
The magical one attached to this hotel by the freaky garden bridge. “Okay, but why do you have blood on you?”
“I ran outside to search when Ellie’s parents first sounded the alarm.
I saw someone with a large bag disappear into an exterior basement access door of a nearby business, so I followed him.
” Mandal’s mouth curled down. “It wasn’t a kidnapper with Ellie.
It was a jittery employee unloading supplies. He slashed at me before I could speak.”
I winced, but I didn’t ask to see the wound. Mandal was moving too naturally for it to be serious. Plus, he was now almost hopping in impatience. Answering my questions had cost him seconds that he obviously hadn’t wanted to spend.
I held Belle more securely and started walking again.
Mandal looked relieved as he ushered me out of Remy’s room. The hallway wasn’t empty. Brendan and his guards were there, waiting by the iron-framed doors that led to the physics-bending garden path that connected this hotel to the magic one.
Brendan smiled at me, but his gaze looked subdued. “Are you coming with us?”
“Yes,” Mandal said, placing his hand over the door’s old-fashioned iron knockers. He whispered a series of words, and the doors cracked open. Guess he had his own passcode for it.
“Come,” Mandal said, gesturing to me and Brendan.
We followed him, Brendan’s guards bringing up the rear.
I didn’t pause to admire the lush flowers or floating sky lanterns this time.
I hurried after Mandal, giving Belle a few pats to soothe her warning growls.
She didn’t like being carted around like luggage.
Soon I’d have the scratches to prove that.
Mandal had a password for the gargoyles, too. Belle tried to run as soon as she saw the twin stone statues move. I had to scruff her to hold on to her, earning myself the expected scratches, but I couldn’t risk her darting off into the fog. She might fall several stories into whatever was below.
Finally, we were on the gilded roof with the white couches and marble walls. Mandal gave a curt nod at Brendan’s guards.
“Stay with them until Remy or I come back.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
“You want us to stay on the roof?” I asked in surprise.
Mandal had already started walking away, but at that, he paused. “It’s the safest part. No one can access it without the passcode.”
“Or Brendan could jump off the side of it and fall to his death.” Did they all forget that he was impulsive? Hell, if Brendan thought he was back on that pool deck, he might yell “Cannonball!” all the way down.
Mandal gave me an impatient look. “Nothing can cross in or off this roof without the passcode. Even your cat would bounce back if it tried to leap over the side. You four are safe. Now I need to help Remy find Ellie so she can be safe, too.”
“Who’s Ellie?” Brendan’s lower lip started trembling. “I don’t remember her, but I think … I think I love her.”
My heart broke. Brendan experienced all the cruelties of advanced dementia despite his being magical versus medical.
I made a go gesture at Mandal, who looked all too happy to comply. The fog closed back into an impenetrable barrier as soon as he passed through it.
I let Belle go. She gave me a final scratch and then ran under the opposite couch. Since I knew she couldn’t go far, I went to Brendan and had him sit on the couch next to me.
“Ellie is a sweet little girl with red hair and freckles,” I told him. “You do love her, and she loves you, too.”
Brendan started to tremble. “Then why can’t I remember her?”
I hugged him, feeling helpless. I’d promised to try to heal Brendan’s mind, but that would be under controlled circumstances. If I pulled on my power now, the Beast could break out, and with Brendan and his guards trapped on this roof, it would be a slaughter.
“It’s okay,” I said, stroking Brendan’s head in the way my mom used to stroke mine when I was upset. “Ellie knows you love her, and Remy will bring her home safe.”
I hoped that was true, but Brendan’s kidnappers had tried to kill Brendan within minutes of grabbing him. Ellie had been gone for three hours, at least. If she was taken by whoever had ordered Brendan’s kidnapping, it might already be too late.
Please, let it not be too late!
The shorter guard with lightly tanned skin and blond highlights in his brown hair cleared his throat. “Hey, Brendan? Want a sandwich? There’s a fridge up here. I can make you one.”
“A cheese sandwich?” Brendan asked with a hopeful sniffle.
“Sure,” the guard said.
I smiled at the guard over Brendan’s shoulder. Brendan hadn’t stopped crying, but now he shook a little less. “Thank you,” I said. “What’s your name again?”
“I’m Travis,” the shorter guard with the highlights said.
“And I’m Sam,” said the taller one with longish black hair and cedar-toned skin.
“Nice to officially meet you both. I’m Raine.”
Travis grunted. “We know, ma’am.”
I sighed. “Just Raine. C’mon, Travis, we look the same age. I might even be a year or two younger than you, Sam.”
“We’re not human,” Travis replied. “Our species ages twice as slowly as yours, so we might look your age, but Sam’s turning seventy next month, and I’m eighty-seven.”
Why did anything surprise me anymore?
“You stopped stroking my head,” Brendan said in a sad way.
I continued to do it while fighting that helpless feeling. I wanted to be out there looking for Ellie, too. It felt so futile to just sit here and wait.
“Remy has amazing powers,” I told Brendan, but I was saying it to myself, too. “He might already know where Ellie is. Even now, he could be going to get her.”
“No.” Brendan sounded even sadder. “If he didn’t find her right away, someone blocked his power so he can’t locate her.”
My brows went up. That sounded surprisingly specific.
I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Travis almost dropped the cheese sandwich he’d been assembling.
“The fuck did he just say?” he whispered to Sam.
I’d accidentally healed some of Brendan’s mind when I fixed his fractured skull. Maybe this was one of those memories that had been inadvertently repaired? If so, it could be important. Brendan had known numerous ancient, dangerous spells. He might know one that could block—or unblock—Remy’s power.
“Oh?” I asked in a casual tone, still stroking his head. “Tell me more.”
Brendan lifted his head, a new fire sparking in his periwinkle gaze. “You could fix it!”
I hid my sigh. Now he was speaking nonsense. Whatever flash of insight he might have had, it was gone.
Travis went back to making his sandwich.
“I wish I could, Brendan,” I said with all sincerity.
Brendan grabbed my arms in an unexpectedly strong grip. “You can! Give Remy your blood. It will unclog any blocking spell.”
“Your blood?” Sam repeated in disbelief.
“Yes.” Brendan gave a bobbing nod. “She’s a—”
“Cheese!” I shouted, which was ridiculous, but it distracted Brendan from saying beithíoch. Brendan’s guards were undoubtedly loyal and well-vetted, but the fewer people who knew what I had inside me, the better.
“Cheese sounds delicious,” I went on in a falsely bright tone. “Travis? Can I have a cheese sandwich, too?”
Both guards gave me a look that said I was fooling no one, but I didn’t care. They could know I was hiding something, as long as they didn’t know what it was.
You wouldn’t last a day before others would kidnap you to use the Beast’s power for themselves, Remy had warned me. Tell no one about the creature inhabiting you.…
Wait. If others could use the Beast’s power for themselves, then so could Remy. Maybe Brendan was right. Maybe my blood could unclog a blocking spell.
I jumped off the couch. “Take me to Remy,” I told Travis.
He exchanged an uneasy glance with Sam. “Sorry, ma’am. We were both ordered not to let anyone leave until Remy or Mandal gave the all clear.”
Arguing with them would waste too much time. I had to go to the source of their orders. I grabbed my cell and called Remy. Each ring scraped across my nerves. Pick up, pick up, pick up.…
“Are you safe?” he finally answered without saying hello.
“Yes, but I have to see you right now.”
He made an impatient noise. “I can’t. Ellie’s missing—”
“And your spell is blocked,” I interrupted, my heart starting to hammer. “Right?”
Silence. Then Remy said, “How did you know that?” in a tone that raised all the hairs on the back of my neck.
I wasn’t about to go into detail. Not with an audience of two very interested guards, one who wasn’t even pretending to make that sandwich anymore.
“Never mind that. I know how to unblock it.”