- SIX
Cece
"I'm really starting to feel like a third wheel here," Doyle's voice said, sounding amused, making me jolt upright in the dark. Behind me, Onyx made a grunt and shuffled away, making me understand why I was so warm. Jasper was on one side of me, Onyx the other. It was like a protection sandwich.
"What time?" Jasper asked, sounding wide awake and I imagined he hadn't slept yet again. He released me a little carelessly and moved to stand, giving me a sinking feeling in my stomach that I had no business feeling.
"We have about three hours until sunrise so if we hustle, we should have plenty of time." He shuffled his feet and I looked up to notice how tense he was. Easy-going, light-hearted Doyle was freaked. "Are we splitting up to cover..." he started.
"We're staying together," Jasper said with finality, working tension out of his neck. I felt a rush of relief which made me seem a bit like a chicken, but if we were heading into somewhere that freaked out both Doyle and Jasper, I definitely knew I should be scared out of my mind.
"Alright," Jasper said a moment later, taking what had to have been his last swig of water. "Let's get this shit over with."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me and Doyle to fall silently behind.
--
Jasper
I was wishing I could do it alone as we got closer.
I should have found some sort of comfort in having them with me.
Doyle, at least, provided strength, knowledge, and good instincts.
He was a solid asset. I could hear Cece's slow, tentative footsteps behind me, her feet still sore.
I was putting both of them in unnecessary danger.
I could sense Doyle's apprehension and I knew he knew enough of my family from reputation as well as stories Jade must have told him, to be shit-his-pants scared.
But what he didn't understand was that Jade had only vague recollections of our childhood, and the ones she did have were shrouded in her sweet, lovable, but wholly naive brand of goodness and optimism.
If she had been exposed to even half the shit I had been exposed to, I was sure there was no way Doyle would be helping out at all, no matter what loyalty he felt to me and Jade.
Cece was a mix of confusion, apprehension, and a strange swirling sensation I couldn't place.
She was going to slow us down. My instinct to protect her was going to make me choose the safer routes to keep her out of harm's way and, in turn, that would make us slower and increase the risk of getting caught.
But I couldn't leave her either. Not in The Green when she seemed to be like catnip to every Dark, Light, and unaligned fae there was. Granted, she had her dog. And as big and fierce as I was sure he could be, he was still no match to half of what was out there lurking.
So she had to come. Case closed.
I had to accept that.
And I had to resign myself to the fact that I would have to live with the guilt if anything happened to either of them.
I took a deep breath, touching a tree I used to fall out of all the time as a kid, and felt the border to my ancestral land all of five feet in front of me. "We're here," I said, my voice dead.
--
Cece
Here was, well, nowhere. At least it seemed like nowhere. It just looked like any other part of the woods.
"We are going to go in behind the stone building," Jasper said and Doyle nodded. "That's the barn. From there, we have no cover until that well to the left. We are just going to have to run for it until we get to the house."
What stone barn? What well? What house? I couldn't see anything.
"Here," Jasper said, reaching for my wrist and pulling me forward a little roughly and making Onyx whine at him.
He situated me in front of his body and I blinked into the darkness for a long minute before it all finally came into view.
The barn, the wall, the house that wasn't a house but a sprawling mansion.
"Come on," Jasper said, obviously ready to get moving, pulling me along with him.
Behind us, Onyx let out a loud grumble and we turned to find him lowering himself down onto the ground like he wasn't going to come, like he was conflicted about it, but he couldn't do it.
"No, you have to come," I said, my tone almost a bit hysterical. "Get up. You have to come. I'm not safe yet, remember?"
"It's no use," Jasper said, his tone dismissive. "He doesn't want to go on my parents' land. I don't blame him," he said, paused, then sighed. "Let's go," he said, his grip even more punishing as he took off.
I went up on my tiptoes to help my sore feet as we all ran soundlessly across the field.
The moon peaked out from behind a cloud, illuminating the compound for the first time, casting it in an eerie glow.
It really was a hauntingly beautiful home, looking like it housed some sort of monarchy with its perfectly piled gray stones, not so much as a corner out of place.
There seemed to be three levels that included a basement with tiny, barred windows.
Out front was a sprawling stone porch with giant planters placed on it, spaced perfectly apart and spilling over with greenery.
Jasper released my arm when we got behind the stone building and I tried to gasp for air as silently as possible, the sound seeming unnaturally loud in the overly quiet night.
"Alright," Jasper said on a whisper, not sounding winded at all, his warm breath on my ear.
"I am going to run to the well. Check around, then run to the side of the building.
At that point, Doyle will run to the well.
When he is behind the building, you run to the well.
Then run like hell to the building. Okay? "
No. None of that was okay seeing as most of it required me to do it alone. And the thought of not having one of them beside me was bone-deep terrifying. But that was the plan and I had to nut-up and swallow my fear and do it.
Before I could even swallow my saliva and agree, Jasper was running.
He moved like a breeze, almost invisible.
He stopped behind a well that was straight out of a freaking movie, small and round brick with a pitched roof and a bucket on a string.
He squatted down low, his knees brushing the ground, but he was still visible above the bucket, being so tall.
He turned back to us suddenly and I would swear I caught a look of absolute terror in his eyes before he saluted Doyle then ran like hell toward the building.
Beside me, Doyle had seemed to shake his fear.
His shoulders were lax, his breathing even.
And then he smiled at me. Actually smiled.
"It's just an adventure," he told me. "Think of it like a game.
All you have to do is keep getting to the next spot.
Take a deep breath. Pay attention. Run like hell.
We will be waiting for you. You can do it. " He paused. "Say it," he urged.
"I can do it." And in that moment, I was pretty sure I could.
Then Doyle was gone and he took with him all the comfort I had been feeling. He crouched behind the well, barely pausing at all, before making the dash for the house.
"This is Winters' land!" was screamed, making Doyle stumble. He looked back over at me for a moment, eyes wide and fearful, unsure what to do. But he was in plain sight and he needed to get hidden. So he ran.
And I was completely and utterly alone.
Fear choked me, literally choked me, making it impossible to breathe or swallow.
I caught motion from over by the house and saw Jasper step out of the shadows, watching me.
And I knew he sensed the fear, the way it made my skin tingle, the way it was almost intoxicating in its power.
He wanted to run back for me. I knew it like I knew we were in deep, deep trouble.
He wanted to be the good guy and come back and save me.
But he couldn't do that.
He was more important than me right then. He knew the house. He knew where Jade could be. I was useless.
I took a shaky breath, trying to calm myself down and focus.
I knew he could feel and see things if I felt them strongly enough. Though I wasn't sure how far away that power worked so I took everything in me and silently screamed through every cell of my body: Go. Go go go. Find Jade. Please.
I watched as he faltered back a step, like the words landed with impact. His brows drew together, his lips parted. Still considering, still trying to decide if he needed to save me or not.
Jasper, please go.
His head bowed then, looking defeated, and he turned and went.
Then I was alone, dreadfully alone. I took a breath and tried to think. Glancing over my shoulder confirmed what I already suspected- it was too far. I would never make it back to the tree line without being seen or caught.
"I am going to find you. You might as well show yourself now," the gruff, harsh voice called and I could tell it was in motion, getting closer.
I needed to hide. I was a sitting duck. I backed away from the corner of the barn, my hand on the stone, feeling for a door.
Footsteps sounded closer and I could almost see a shadow of a man over by the well.
But then I lost sight, going around the other side of the barn and my hand found a latch, the kind you'd stick a padlock through to keep it closed.
I reached for it, pulling it gently, praying it didn't make some godawful metallic sound.
But it didn't and I slipped inside, holding my breath, carefully closing the door behind me.
I released my breath.
Then realized I maybe should have gone on holding it.
Because it wasn't a barn, not really. True, there was a stone floor covered in straw and breezeway doors that were tightly shut. But there were no stalls, no farm equipment, no animals.
No, there was a dresser, a table, a chair, and a bed. Then, finally, there was a semi-circle horseshoe-like piece of metal sticking out of the stone floor with a large chain hooked into it.