Chapter Thirty-Six
U ntil his pocket beeped, shattering the moment.
I stepped back from his touch and pretended to smooth down my attire.
He pulled out the pager, watching the screen with concentration. “The van is picking us up in two minutes.”
I surveyed my surroundings and found us standing just at the beginning of the alley, two big dumpsters to our right, where staff from the restaurant disposed of the old food. One of the lids was open, the smell wafting toward me, and I had to hold my breath to keep from gagging. No matter how long I lived in the city, the smell of rotten or spoiled food never got easier to process.
A sleek, black van owned by the Order pulled up, barely missing the curb, screeching as it halted just as the doors slid open, revealing a disheveled Baron in the back. “Hurry, Emilia and Cillian are already there.”
“Why am I not surprised those two were chosen,” Josh hissed as he got into the back of the van. I followed suit, finding no seating but instead black crates taking up most of the space. “This is really bad timing.”
“Yeah, well, we weren’t expecting the pit stop,” commented Baron, giving me a quick look.
“Nobody was.”
“What are in those?” I asked, ignoring their obvious conversation about me.
Josh grabbed my hand and placed it on one of the handles. “Before you go through the windshield.”
“As for the boxes, those are spare bows and makeshift bombs,” answered Baron. He took his position in front of me, grabbing his handle.
Why would they need makeshift bombs? While my mind tried to keep up with everything going on, I peeked at Josh, who held on tight to his handle, looking straight ahead.
Chloe looked over her shoulder from the driver’s side. “Hold on!”
She put the van in drive and peeled away from the curb, skirting hard into oncoming traffic and barely missing the minivan behind us. I lost some of my footing and almost collided with Josh’s back, but Baron gripped my arm and held me in place.
“I’m not used to standing in a moving vehicle,” I admitted.
Baron smiled, and when he did, so did his eyes. “I can see that.” Then he winked like he wasn’t just bitching about the inconvenience of picking me up, but I couldn’t help but giggle, because he had a charm about him.
I peeked back over to Josh, his eyes catching mine out of his peripherals.
Josh , I said.
I watched him stretch his neck, massaging it at the same time. The action was somewhat attractive, and I caught a glimpse of black ink just under his shirt when he stretched forward, but I wasn’t getting his attention to pant like a dog in heat. He deliberately chose to ignore me.
Josh , I hissed.
What? he hissed back. The tension was inevitable in his shoulders, as he rolled them back. What the fuck was his deal?
Are you going to ignore me all night? I snapped.
No, I’m trying to clear my head. I don’t have time for petty conversations, and neither should you. Your focus should be on the mission, he chastised.
Anger sizzled under my skin . Are you serious?
Hundred percent.
How did you find me, Josh?
Not an appropriate time to ask me, Remi.
Fuck you, it is.
I saw his jaw clench as if he were holding himself back from shouting at me. Good. I hoped the restraint hurt.
Please don’t make me ask again, I muttered.
Please don’t, your voice is grating, Josh deadpanned.
I gripped my dagger in the sheath, not missing the glance from Josh, his eyes wandering down my thigh.
Are you going to use that on me? He chuckled.
Do you want to find out? I threatened. The sudden urge to pierce him in between the eyes had me grasping the pommel until my knuckles turned white.
The van continued to swerve through traffic as we rocked back and forth, never letting go of the handle no matter how bad it began to hurt my fingers.
I heard his audible sigh. Father Benedict assisted me with your whereabouts.
How?
You’re not going to like it.
Something told me to press further. Tell me, now.
Chloe bolted through a red light, jerking our bodies around as we entered the highway.
It requires my blood and your hair.
Excuse me?
Now’s not the time to have this conversation. Next time, don’t go through drastic measures and maybe keep your phone on too, he reprimanded.
What the hell? His blood? My hair? What kind of sick freak collects someone’s hair to locate their Scarlet?
Who builds a mental wall up and hides from the world ? he muttered.
“We’re taking the tunnel. It’ll get us there faster,” announced Chloe from the front.
Baron groaned. “I hate the tunnel.”
“It helps to skip all the traffic,” mentioned Josh.
Not quite sure what they meant, I looked at Baron. “What’s the tunnel?”
“The tunnel was built about twenty years ago. It’s a way for us to travel throughout the states without getting caught in traffic.”
Chloe veered the van onto a random exit, still somewhat in the city, and swerved between cars, dodging every possible side swipe, or almost collision. I was thankful I only drank water back at the restaurant.
It was only a matter of time before my family realized my disappearance, but I let that concern sit in the back of my mind as I focused on the present.
Taking a sharp right, we ended up in a narrow alleyway, the van barely skimming by between brick buildings on either side. Chloe slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, picking up speed, heading straight at a closed garage door. My heart ended up in my stomach, clutching the handle with both hands for dear life. Why hasn’t she slowed down?
I closed my eyes, waiting for impact, or hoping Chloe would come to her senses, when the van suddenly came to an abrupt halt. I felt like the air was knocked out of me, struggling to control my labored breaths, like I ran a marathon.
Open your eyes, Rem. Josh’s voice, a soothing tone, coaxed me out of my panic state.
“You missed the best part,” deadpanned Baron. He breathed hard through his nose, sporting an ashen face.
Taking notice of his shaky appearance, I wasn’t even going to attempt to ask how we managed to bypass all that heavy traffic.
Chloe put the van in park and exited the vehicle only to slide open the back door, gesturing for us quickly to exit. Parked a few spots down sat an identical van but no sign of Emilia or Cillian.
Josh followed my line of sight and scowled. “Impatient pricks.”
Chloe yanked me aside and clasped the same amethyst pendant Josh had worn underneath his shirt around my neck, whispering a few words while she clenched it in her fist.
After she released it, I touched the smooth stone as it hung from my neck. It was cool to the touch; even under the lampposts, it glittered.
Chloe handed me a folded piece of paper. “Two words. One to conceal, one to reveal. Right now, you’re concealed. Nobody can see us but each other.”
Tucking the paper in one of the many pockets on my pants, I surveyed the landscape. About seven three-decker apartments sat untouched for what seemed like years. With boarded-up doors and half-shattered glass windows, only a small overgrown patch of grass was left behind. It even had a junkyard of beat-up cars.
The street we parked on was empty. Not a single pedestrian in sight. Some of the lampposts flickered the muggy summer heat hanging in the air. Whatever material they used to make our fighting gear prevented any chance of sweating to death.
“Where are the others?” Josh questioned, adjusting his quiver and bow.
“Probably ran ahead because we were late,” commented Baron.
Chloe pulled out her pager and flipped the screen up, revealing a wider view. “I guess they shot a tracker on one. That could explain their disappearance.”
“Leaving four trainees out in the wide open is a rookie mistake.” Josh got his bow ready, pulling a sleek arrow from the quiver.
I was either going to die or get seriously hurt if I didn’t get my shit together.
“Any casualties?” Baron queried as he dragged one of the black crates from the back out onto the pavement.
“Just one.” Chloe pointed to a dead man by the steps, slouched over; his skin had a powdery complexion. Most of his clothes were ripped to shreds, showing wounds in all different angles, blood gushing from the one on his stomach. “He looks fresh, which could also explain why they’re not out here waiting for us.”
My anxiety made my stomach turn. The poor guy never had a chance. “I thought the original fleet cleaned out the nests?”
Baron tucked a makeshift bomb in his quiver, handing a second to Josh. “Looks like more showed up.”
“More victims, more Magidoz. Who knows? That’s why we have the bombs,” affirmed Chloe.
I gulped. “What if there’s more victims?”
“If there’s more, we will cross that bridge when we get there.”
That wasn’t reassuring, and the longer we debated this, the more civilians could be suffering or dead. Was I about to shit my pants from fear? Yeah, but knowing innocent civilians were getting killed awakened something inside me.
I took a step closer to the apartment, but the cape snagged on something. “What the hell?”
I twisted, struggling against the hold that appeared bunched up in the back to find Josh grasping the material, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Chloe and Baron are taking the front; we’re going out back. Let’s pray the other four are already underground.”
He dropped his hold on my cape to then line the arrow up with his bow. “I want you to lead the way.”
“Is that wise considering I’m new to all this?” I asked nervously. There was a solid chance my stupid ass would walk us right into the claws of a Magidoz demon.
Apprehension must have been obvious on my face because Josh lowered his bow, using his free hand to cup my cheek. “I’m sorry I’m making this difficult for you. I don’t mean to come off like an ass, but I know you can do it, Remi. You were born to be a Scarlet.”
His words caught me off guard. I tried to scramble my brain after his apology, one I didn’t expect nor think he would need to give.
I swallowed a hard lump in my throat and stepped back from his hand, watching it drop to his side. There was a good chance he spoke those words to get my ass into gear, and I got it, but in some twisted way, I wanted it to mean more, and it was wrong. I knew that.
Even now, as we stood inches apart, my body called to his touch, begging for it to come back to caress my skin.
Josh’s face dropped back into that serious expression. How quickly that sincere speech disappeared into thin air.
I rolled my shoulders and unsheathed my dagger from the holster, nodding once to both Chloe and Baron as we made our separate ways to the vacant apartments.