Chapter 23 Fly Away
Fly Away
ROGUE
Archie shifted after he stripped and I’ve got his clothes folded over my arms as we trudge down this never-ending road in the trees.
He pauses occasionally, the huge ass lion tilting its head to listen and sniff about before we’re allowed to continue.
He keeps looking confused, and that worries me more than anything.
It’s like he smells something he can’t identify—which tracks—but also he’s hearing things he doesn’t know how to quantify.
Put together, it’s fucking strange, and it has the hackles on the back of my neck standing up.
By the time we finally see something that looks interesting, I’m ready to throw in the towel.
All six of us stand by the enormous iron gates in front of a walled property with a large house set back on a hill.
It’s not an ostentatious mansion, just a larger home with sprawling land around it.
It has tasteful landscaping and foliage, a long drive up to a circle where what looks like some fairly fancy cars are parked.
Archie scents the bars, tossing his maned head for a moment as if saying ‘no’.
That makes Rebel frown, and he sighs as he says, “Do not touch anything. I’m going to feel out the grounds, but none of you should help. If only one of us gets hit with any magical security, that’s better than everyone getting injured. Got it?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re not as good with the earth as me. I should be the one doing it.”
“I am not arguing about who has better control over the elements, sis. You saw Arch; there’s something guarding this damn place, and he doesn’t want us hopping a wall because of it.”
Angelo holds his hand up, his gaze firm. “I agree with Reb. Even if you’re better with earth and fire, he’s skilled with air. A scent will work just as well as the connection to the ground. Plus, I’d prefer you remain unharmed, Princess. This motherfucker can get fried; we’ll be fine.”
“Gee, thanks, Ang,” Rebel mutters. He looks at Javi and Damon, who nod their approval. “Five to one, Rogue. I’m the sacrificial lamb this time.”
Of course you are; I’m always going to be outvoted, you dick.
But I let him go because I agreed to work as a team, and whether it’s weighted against me or not, this was what we decided.
Watching closely as my stepbrother approaches the gates, I wait with bated breath to see if forces repel him before he can slip his hands through to touch the ground inside of them.
Luckily, nothing surges forward to knock him on his ass, and Rebel reaches between the iron bars to place his palms on the earth inside the barrier.
“I’m not sensing magic,” he mutters as he kneels in front of the enormous structure and slides a second hand in between the bars. “Now for the actual test…”
The quiet surrounding us is almost deafening as he does his thing, murmuring in our language under his breath.
I frown, tilting my head when I realize that despite the ‘natural’ feel of the trees, foliage, and grass, what I don’t feel isn’t the issue.
It’s what I don’t hear that is much stranger.
Besides our breath and Reb’s muttered chanting, I don’t hear a damn thing.
No birds or bees or animals… not even far-off sounds of civilization.
It’s literally like a tomb, but outdoors.
That’s definitely fucking out there, and it confirms my thoughts about how manufactured this land is.
“I don’t feel magic or threats. There are dogs—two, I think—of a fairly large size, probably guarding the house proper. They aren’t outside as far as I can tell, but knowing that doesn’t tell me if they can get outside without help. They’re certainly trained, and I’d wager as guard dogs.”
Damon arches his brow. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“Because I can sense the size by their contact with the earth, and dogs that big aren’t usually meant to frolic.
They’re probably Dobermans or Rottweilers, maybe a Malinois.
People who live in big, gated homes with this kind of dog usually train them as protectors.
” Rebel pulls his hands back and dusts them off quickly as he rises. “It’s logic more than anything, D.”
Lion Archie throws his head back and makes a loud, pissed off cat sound.
I can’t say I blame him; I’d like to hop this fence and see who the fuck lives here, but I also don’t want to end up having to injure or kill someone’s pets.
I’ve got very little worry about having to kill humans or supes to protect myself, but animals are a bridge too far unless I have no choice.
We have a choice right now, and continuing our trek without that bad karma is fine.
“Then we should hit the bricks, man,” Javi says as he looks up at the sky, then back at the road. “No reason to waste time here if we aren’t going in. It proves people live in this weird pocket despite the abandoned town we came through near the portal.”
“Agreed,” I say as I nod. “Let’s keep going until we find actual beings or the fucking assholes we’re hunting down. I don’t want to get sidetracked by silly shit.”
Rebel rolls his eyes and gestures for LionArchie to lead. “I’m not distracted, simply curious. This is a fairly unguarded abode and relying on two normal dogs tells me the owners aren’t afraid of invaders. They know they can defend themselves if need be, but since we don’t feel magic…”
“You think they use regular weapons?” I ask as we walk behind the hyper-alert lion again. “Why does that matter?”
Angelo snorts, shaking his head. “If this weird place is run by actual humans, what other monstrosities are they hiding from the supe community? This is well beyond the tech either group professes to have access to. It’s beyond what Hell has access to. That’s a big deal, Princess.”
“Okay.” I think about that as we stroll along the wooded path again, biting my lip as I consider the implications.
“Having tech way out of line with admitted advances means it could belong to humans—which is bad for everyone in the Earth realm—or it means the supposed rebel groups have it, which is bad for every realm. Right?”
“Exactly, Dragonfly,” Javier murmurs. “The important question is what they plan to do with it, and how big is the scale? Can they make a ton of these little hidey-holes where armies or whatever could be amassed, then deployed? Are they developing them to hold prisoners where no one will ever find them again? The possibilities are grim and endless; it makes my bird restless to consider a cage like this even if it is large. It’s not real, and it’s definitely worse than a black site. ”
When you put it that way….
We fell quiet after Javier’s declaration, and I know it’s because we were all thinking about the horrors that any group of baddies could inflict with this shit.
It’s a game changer for all the species, even magical ones, because who knows if it can be paired with that kind of power to make some giant supe Faraday cage?
I don’t like this one fucking bit, and how it’s been created and hidden from the officials and agents and all the damned people who should have figured it out—in every realm—is frightening.
I will not say that, though, because none of them have comforting thoughts to share, either.
Archie finally pauses at the edge of the trees, and I notice the light is much brighter beyond his perfectly still pose.
We’ve reached the edge of the odd forest, and he’s scoping out the terrain ahead.
I walk up beside him, careful to rub my palm over the huge mane so he knows I’m there.
No good can come from spooking an apex predator, even if it’s your boyfriend inside the furry suit.
“Guys, look at this,” I whisper as my eyes rove over the sight in front of me. “What the fuck is this shit?”
Beyond the tree line is a campus of some sort—a very wealthy one.
There’s a large Gothic style building that might be an admissions or main building with a trickling fountain in front.
The road we’ve been following ends as the cobblestone pavement starts, and the path makes a roundabout around the water feature, then heads east to an open square.
It’s surrounded by six large buildings that might be dorms—but I’m guessing because it feels like this place is a school and it could be damn near anything for all I know.
Past those structures, there’s another extensive building that could be a gym or athletic center, and behind it, a fancy ass building that might be a church.
“What the actual goddamn fuck is this place?” Rebel says as he joins Archie and me. “It’s enormous.”
“I know,” I reply as I turn to look down the edge of the land, noting it’s on a large body of water that flows outward towards a thick group of trees that look as solid as a fucking wall.
On the other side of the banks, I see the same deciduous trees we’ve been walking through, so we might have been able to turn south at some point and see what’s in the middle of that forest. “This reminds me of the campuses for the schools overseas we visited. Remember when we were like ten?”
Reb nods, continuing to scan the horizon as his body tenses. “Yeah, a little. I think you’re right, though. This is definitely a facility for training or a school or something like that. By the looks of the outside, it’s a well funded one, too.”
“Not by humans,” Damon says as he looks at his phone. His brows are furrowed, and he’s scratching his chin as he scrolls with one thumb. “My scanners are fritzing out like crazy, which means whatever beings are housed here, they’re not basic meat suits.”
“And there are demons here besides us,” Angelo adds. When I look at him, I’m surprised to see horns, wings, and a tail adorning his frame. “Powerful ones… more powerful than that idiot Darkstar and our father.”
Before I can question his statement, Archie shifts back to his bronzed, naked self. I blink, handing him his clothes quickly so I don’t get distracted by the sight of his damn muscles. I’m worried, not dead, and he’s very appealing to look at without his skivvies on. “Why did you shift?”
“Smells,” he says as he pulls on the bottoms first. “There are also shifters here. In fact, if I were a betting cat, I’d say we’ve got a full house of supes meeting here. Might even be all the baddies in one place.”
“We should take them out,” Rebel grunts as his wings pop free. “Stop this whole nonsense dead in its tracks.”
Yeah, and kill a shit ton of other people who might not be involved, plus we have no idea if the leaders are all here.
“If you scorch the earth without figuring out where the blight is coming from, it will return, and when it does, it will be mutated.” I arch a brow at him as I shrug.
“We don’t know who’s in charge or even if they’re here.
They could rebuild, especially with pocket portals or dimensions or whatever.
It’s much easier to recruit disenfranchised people since that damn plague the humans didn’t get control of. ”
“Fuck,” Reb says as he buries his hands in his hair. “You’re right. Balls out, no intel isn’t good for keeping the bastards from reappearing somewhere else with even stronger plans. I just hate wasting the proximity.”
“If you and Sparkles stay with Archie, perhaps Angelo, Javi and I can use our ability to fly to get closer.” Damon pushes up his glasses as he squints at the campus again.
“We have faster and less complicated flight mechanics, plus having three of us means we can split the facility into thirds to see what we can find.”
“What if they have… air defense…or something?”
Angelo chuckles and winks at me. “Then it will be lucky that we all have magic to avoid being targeted. Stop worrying, Princess.”
When in the world's history has saying that ever helped someone actually stop worrying? A quarter past never, that’s when.