Chapter 22
Imove closer to the window, desperate to get their attention.
One, to let them know I’m still alive and more or less okay.
And two, to tell them they can’t just charge up here.
Mr. Trent needs to believe he has control over the guys.
For a few seconds, I freeze, unable to take my eyes off the cars so far below me.
Then I shake myself and fly around to the desk.
The top drawer is full of notebooks and paper.
Knowing I only have seconds before the others make a move, I yank open the top drawer and pull out a notebook and a pen and quickly write a note.
I’m alive and up on the second to the top floor. Jac is here. Mr. Trent thinks he has control over the guys. He needs to keep believing that. -Ace
Realizing that the note could actually be confusing, I shake my head and tear it out of the notebook anyway.
I fold the paper in half and move toward the broken window.
My stomach flip-flops when I get close, and looking down makes me dizzy.
Keeping one hand firmly planted on the metal frame just in case I slip, I hold out the note, close my eyes, and call upon the element wind.
“Bring this note to the hands of my friends. Bring this note to the hands of my friends.” I let go of the piece of paper. “Bring this note to the hands of my friends.”
The wind picks up, stealing my breath and reminding me how high up I am and how fast I can fall.
I grip the windowpane tighter and feel a little light-headed.
I’m running on borrowed energy, but my body is still battered and bruised.
And I’m starting to feel it. Come on…I don’t have time for this shit.
Not if I want to get out of here alive. Oh, and save five innocents and one man who I happen to love more than life itself.
I try to open my eyes and fail. My consciousness is slipping away, and I need to sit down and rest…
even for just a minute. But I don’t get the chance, and the next thing I know I’m on the verge of passing out.
I can only hope I’ll fall backward instead of forward, because no one can fly up and catch me now.
Except…I slit my eyes open. Is that…no…it can’t be. My eyelids fall shut again. I inhale deeply and force my head up.
“Hasan,” I whisper, watching him come closer and closer. He flies up into the office, barely fitting through the broken window. His arms go around me and he pulls me away from the edge.
“Ace,” he breathes, cradling me to his chest. I flatten my hand over his pecs, feeling his heart beating beneath my fingers. “Shit, you look awful.”
“Right…right back at you,” I say, trying to smile. But my ribs hurt again and I’m just so incredibly tired.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” Hasan says, and starts to stand.
“Wait, no.” I push myself up and look at his face, heart fluttering. I shift my gaze from his face to his wings. “You still have your wings.”
He smiles. “I know.”
“But the curse…I thought…it’s daytime, though. It has to be.”
“It’s broken.” He gently brushes my hair back and kisses my forehead. “We all felt it. You did it, Ace.”
I shake my head. “But I didn’t.” And then something clicks. “Jac did.”
“Jac?”
“He said the curse won’t go away until the universe is given an ‘equal loss,’ and I didn’t understand what he meant until now.
He was willing to sacrifice himself for me—and for you all.
That’s what broke the curse.” I reach up and run my fingers over the top of Hasan’s wing.
“But it didn’t break it completely. I’m so sorry. ”
“Don’t be,” he presses. “This is what I wanted, Ace. I like having the powers of a gargoyle. I like being able to fly.”
“Right.” He’s said it before too. Hasan is a warrior through and through, and taking a step down, losing strength and one hell of a defense, would actually be hard on him.
Tom and Gil have said something similar as well.
They like having the extra strength and better-than-human senses but miss looking human and being able to step into the sun.
“And the twins?”
“They don’t have wings but seem to have kept their other powers.”
“Really? I wonder how that works—never mind.”
Hasan pulls me to him again. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He looks around the room. “Where is Jacques?”
“With Mr. Trent, who thinks he has control over you guys. He also thinks I’m dead, and he has four kidnapped children upstairs with the witch who showed up at the house yesterday. I’m assuming Gemma filled you in on it.”
He nods. “Are we to take the witch out too?”
“No. She’s been manipulated by Mr. Trent, but she’s on our side.
I think. Fuck, I really hope so, because I’m counting on her to help me get the kids out.
And Melissa, the witch who tricked Gemma into thinking I was evil, is working with Trent.
Feel free to throw her off the building if you find her. ”
“Really?” He sounds a little too hopeful there.
“No. But she is wanted for tampering with a crime scene. If we find her, I’ll strip her of her powers and let her go to trial, rotting in jail like any old human.”
“But this Trent guy?”
I swallow hard. “He needs to be stopped. He has no magic of his own, and has relied on charms and potions, but he’s much older than he appears thanks to some sort of youth elixir.
If he was arrested and thrown in jail, it would only be a matter of time before he aged fifty years or more, and everyone would know something is up. ”
“I’ll take care of him, Ace,” Hasan assures me. “You’ve never killed a human. Let’s keep it that way.”
Nodding, I push myself up a bit more. “We need a plan.”
“You get the kids, I’ll deal with that fucker Trent.”
“That’s the plan?” I hike my eyebrows. “Where is the plan in the plan?”
“No need to overcomplicate things. Can you stand?”
“Yeah.” I let him help me to my feet. “What are the others doing?”
“Waiting for orders.”
I let out a small sigh of relief. It’s busy enough down there on the street in front of the building that no one should get suspicious of them.
It’s still early, too early for the businesses to open just yet, but I know dedicated employees will come through the doors below soon enough.
I don’t want them to get mixed up in the carnage.
“Tell me everything you know about this place,” Hasan says as he looks around the room. “What happened in here?”
“I kind of set it on fire.” I make a face and shrug.
“This is Mr. Trent’s office. There’s a hidden staircase behind the bookshelf that takes you upstairs to what I’m guessing is a living room.
It looks like Mr. Trent has been living in the penthouse on the top floor for some time as he investigated me.
The other magical children are in a room up there as well.
Rachel is trying to get them all together so they can cast a protection spell on the space to protect themselves while I take out Trent. ”
“Is he alone?”
“There’s at least one armed guard and a butler-slash-guard, but he’s currently unconscious because I took his energy. He might wake up soon and tell Mr. Trent that I’m not dead.”
Hasan looks at me incredulously. “You’ve been busy.”
“Just a little. Oh, and I also might have found out that Mr. Trent was the one who killed my parents, not a demon.”
Hasan’s dark eyes widen. “Should I say I’m sorry? Is that the right thing to say?”
“Yeah, but don’t be. Because if it’s true, I’m getting my revenge.”
Hasan’s lips curve into a smile. “You will.”
“Okay…” I take a step away from Hasan and move to the desk.
My head is spinning. Closing my eyes and slowly letting out a breath, I give myself a few seconds before reaching for the notebook and drawing a map.
“There’s a good chance this isn’t the right layout of the place.
I was also drugged and knocked out for a decent amount of my time here.
” I tap the pen on the paper. “But I think this is where Jac is. Now we just need a reason to get you here.” Chewing on my lip, I move over to the hidden staircase and push on the shelves, making the door slide back again.
Hasan won’t fit with his wings, but he moves in and tips his head up.
“I can hear them. Jacques is still there. He…he doesn’t have wings?”
I shake my head. “He’s completely human.”
A line of worry forms between Hasan’s eyes. Jacques is completely human…and completely vulnerable.
“After the curse broke, you could still sense me, right?”
“Right. It was as if you summoned us again.”
“But I didn’t, so…this might be a long shot.”
“What might be?”
“Trying to send you all a message. Telepathically.”
“What do you want to send?”
I look at the stairs again. “If I can get Jacques to somehow tell Trent that he’s calling you or something…you know, getting you all here to be under Trent’s control, then it puts you here with no questions asked. Play along and pretend you’re under his control until I give you a signal.”
“There’s a balcony,” Hasan starts. “On the floor above us. We can land up there and say we were summoned. Jacques is smart. He’ll know to go along with it.”
“Yes! That’ll work, but—shit. Jac told Trent he loses his powers during the day.” I chew on my lip and scramble to come up with something. “Though, honestly, he’s such a motherfucking dirt bag he might not question it. He’s power-hungry and believes he has control over you.”
“So it’s worth a shot?”
“I think it’s our only shot. We don’t have a whole lot of time.
He’s going to figure out I’m not dead and that he doesn’t really have control over you guys.
” I tear another piece of paper out of the notebook.
“I’ll write the others a note and use magic to send it down.
You can’t be flying back and forth. Someone will see you. ”
“Or you could just call them.” Hasan pulls a cell phone from his back pocket.
“That would be easier.” I punch in Gemma’s number. She answers on the first ring.