Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Whoever has taken them has gone through a gateway. My brothers aren’t just in the park playing football or messing with the charms; they’re in an entirely different realm—another realm I know nothing about. The horror almost overwhelms me.
I can’t believe it. They’ve never been out of our town, and the fae somehow kidnapped them? It doesn’t make sense. My head feels like it’s going to pop off.
I stare at the gargoyle as he finishes his phone call and addresses my parents. “Ava said there are conversations on their game console.”
“Threats?” I ask. My voice is an emotional rasp.
“No.” The gargoyle drops his voice to a gentler tone.
“It looks as if Aleric and Ledger have been bragging online about the charms. Gary Chappell has almost a cult following, and someone, one of their game buddies, told them they were lying about owning charms and asked them to meet up in the park to prove it.”
“How could they be so stupid?” Mum moans.
“The creatures they were meeting weren’t the teenagers they pretended to be,” Soren continues.
“The Claw Brotherhood?” Have they taken my brothers?
“No, Ava doesn’t think so. She said in her initial investigations and tracing of the messages, they appear to be from elves.
The meeting was over two hours ago. She’s gone through all the records and security feeds, and there are no cameras where they met.
Aleric and Ledger haven’t been seen again by any cameras.
At this time, we’re presuming that the elves have taken your sons. ”
My mum moans and covers her mouth, and Dad’s eyes fill with tears as they cling to each other.
I nod towards them. “Can Ava send them all the information—”
“If that’s what you want?”
I nod again.
“I’ll forward everything to your dad.”
“Thank you.”
Soren gives me a chin lift in acknowledgement and sends Ava a message. At the same time, my parents begin to argue, blaming each other for not watching the boys. It’s pointless pointing the finger as my brothers are old enough to watch themselves.
“It’s her fault,” Mum harshly whispers.
I smile bitterly, nod, and turn on my heel. “Soren, are we okay to go? I have a location.”
“Sure.” He frowns at me as we head for the front door.
“If the offer to help was genuine, I hope you’ve got a ley line code to get us into Faerie, as we need to go to the Autumn Court.”
“Hang on a second.” The gargoyle pauses, tying the laces of his boot. “You can track them to other realms?”
“Yeah, the other-realm tracking is news to me too.” I shrug and go to grab my trainers.
“Oh, just a second. Would you wait for me…” I bolt up the stairs, enter my parents’ room, open the safe, and remove the bag of charms. Their presence here has done enough damage.
I close the safe and head back down. My feet feel like I’ve got lead shoes, my legs are like jelly, and I can hardly walk.
Everything is catching up to me. Gosh, I feel a hundred, not nineteen.
“She didn’t mean what she said,” my dad says when I get downstairs.
Yes, she did. Mum was angry before we even knew the boys were missing. She never wanted to leave our town, and I’ve ruined everything. I dragged her family away from a perfect life. I can hear her sobbing in the front room.
“I love you, Dad.” I kiss his cheek and shove my feet in my trainers.
“I’ll get Aleric and Ledger back. Soren will send you all the information.
We still have to go over what happened with the town.
It’s bad, Dad, but we’ll talk about it when the twins are home safe.
” I pat his arm and then pat the rucksack, which I throw over my shoulder.
“And I’ve removed the rest of the charms from the safe.
You can tell her none of my dirty magic is left in the house.
Apart from the ward. If she doesn’t want that, I can send a proper witch out to put up a permanent one. ”
As that’s the magic she prefers or she can do it her bloody self.
“Don’t be like that, Kricket. You wouldn’t understand as you’re not a mother. She’s stressed. She’s frightened. It’s been a long few weeks, and she wants to go home.”
Home. I laugh manically inside my head but hope the madness I’m feeling doesn’t show on my face. “Dad, we didn’t get to talk, so you both don’t know. There is no—”
“Get out. This is all your fault,” a voice snarls. With red, swollen eyes, Mum stumbles out of the living room and towards us.
Ah, well, that was good timing. She saved me from saying things I might have regretted. I open the front door, and Soren and I step outside. I dare not look at the gargoyle. I’m so embarrassed. Behind us, Mum continues to rage.
I’m no longer listening and I clamp my mouth closed.
Arguing and shouting back is not the solution.
All it’s going to do is make the situation worse.
Of course, I want to scream at her about what has happened, about how everyone’s dead.
Everything is gone, and if she goes back there, there is nothing but soil and dust.
I can’t tell them any of that while I’m this angry and hurt. If we had a civil conversation, that would be completely different. I could deal with it with sympathy and compassion, but now I’m too scared about my brothers. I can’t deal with her pain, her worry, and her anger along with my fear.
I was protecting my family. I did protect them. Because if they hadn’t left, they’d be dead like everybody else.
“Kricket,” Dad says, his expression wary.
“It’s fine. We will get them back.”
Soren and I walk down the path, and I gently close the gate behind us. I take a deep breath. “Okay, we’ve got no video footage, so we don’t know what the elves have done. What we do know is that the charms are in Faerie.”
Soren waves his phone. “I’ve got a gateway code.
I’m still waiting on permission. The paperwork should arrive in the next half hour or so.
Ava also sent me the details of where they were supposed to meet.
Let’s go and take a look at where they were taken.
It might help. Oh, and the hellhounds are coming. ”
I shiver and push my fear of them away. I’ll take all the help we can get. Granted, it’s like using a nuclear bomb to stop a catfight, but I’ll take the backup. “Okay, let’s go and have a look.”
“Okay then, nothing girl.” On the way past the car, Soren takes the backpack off my shoulder and puts it in the boot. “They will be safe in here, won’t they?”
“Yeah. They’ll be fine.” As a precaution, I tell the charms to hide and protect themselves. I still have a pocket full of charms, so it isn’t like we’re unprotected. I glance to the side and my eyes go up and up. I take in the massive gargoyle who matches his long stride with mine.
He’s about two of me—huh, maybe two and a half—and built like a tank.
Yeah. I don’t think we’re going to have much of a problem.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” No, I’m not. I have a knot in my throat that I’m trying to swallow down, and my chest hurts.
I’m frightened to death that something awful has happened to my brothers, and my entire life is falling apart, and I’m wondering why I keep fighting so hard when I fuck everything up.
I hate this, and I hate feeling sorry for myself.
“Your mum’s a bitch.”
I rip out a laugh, then a hiccupy sob, and then I’m bawling my eyes out.
“Ah, shit.” A big arm lands across my shoulders. He drags me into his side, and I bury my head into his shirt. “It’s okay,” he whispers. I feel his wings’ warmth and weight as they come around and shelter us, cocooning us from the outside world. “It’s okay.”
He rubs my head and gently massages my neck. All the while, he whispers and murmurs inconsequential things while holding me tight.