Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
SKYE
It’s supposedly my day off, but since I’m living at the estate right now and Kieran’s swamped, I’m spending the afternoon in the office with the restock orders while Kier and Josh handle the guests.
This morning Ewan wrangled some time to drive me around the countryside in our continuing search for a spirit for me to talk to.
Considering how awful I am at navigating, I’m getting really familiar with the area.
When I mentioned that to Dad, he laughed.
A lot. And then told me that since I grew up here, I should already be familiar with the area.
Whatever.
My phone dings, and I snatch it up. Restock ordering is boring—even if this is spam, it’s better than calculating how many new bars of soap we’re going to need for the guest rooms. But it’s not spam; it’s Connor.
You free? Bringing some of the Collective people to the estate. They want to talk to you.
That doesn’t sound at all ominous. But I’m very curious to meet them, so I text back that I’m free, and he tells me to come to Gabe’s cottage in fifteen minutes.
Screw that. I save the order and meander out to reception to tell Kieran where I’m going.
“Con’s bringing them here?” From the way his eyes narrow, Connor’s going to be sleeping in his car tonight.
“Probably just to talk to Gabe and me,” I say quickly. “I bet they don’t even come to the house.”
He still doesn’t look happy, but I leave before he can think of any messages for me to pass along. Truthfully, I’m not sure why they want to meet me—Gabe said none of them are conduits, so it’s not like they can teach me anything that he and Con can’t.
I march up to Gabe’s cottage and rap sharply on the frame of the screen door. He appears a second later, a surprised expression on his face.
“Skye. Hey, what’s up?”
I step back as he opens the door. “Connor said to meet him here. He’s bringing the Collective people to meet me.”
“He didn’t mention it,” Gabe says dryly. “Tell me, does your best friend think you’re an extension of him like mine does?”
I remember the time when I was thirteen and Tom got put on dish duty at his family’s restaurant because we skipped school, and he assumed I was going to do it with him… and I did. “Sometimes.” Why did I do that, again?
“We’re too nice, Skye. Come on in.”
I hesitate. “Actually, could we sit out here? It’s a great day.” The sun is bright, but it’s not as hot as it has been lately, and there’s a nice breeze.
“Sure.” He comes out and lets the screen bang closed, then waves me to the chairs on the tiny porch. “I’ve been meaning to ask… how are things with you?”
The side-eye I give him makes him snort a laugh. “Did you also know I was crushing on my straight friend?”
“I didn’t know,” he quibbles. “But there might have been a vibe. And anyway, turns out he’s not so straight. So maybe your instincts were bang on track.”
“Yeah, I like how smart that makes me sound, but I don’t think it’s true.”
We’re laughing as Connor’s car meanders down the single-lane path toward us, followed by another one that I don’t recognize. Con stops and parks right beside the cottage instead of pulling behind it to Gabe’s little parking area, which is a clear indication this visit isn’t going to last long.
Doors open and people get out. “Gabe!” someone calls. “Good to see you.”
Gabe and I get up, but while he leaves the porch and goes to greet the newcomers, I stay put. Connor comes to stand beside me.
“They’re curious about you,” he murmurs. “And Josh, but since he’s working today, they’ll have to wait to meet him.”
That surprises me, and then I realize why. “Scared of Kieran?” I taunt.
He sniffs and says nothing.
“He’s mad that you brought them here.”
His head snaps around. “You told him?”
Before I can answer, Gabe brings the visitors forward. “Skye, meet some associates. Randy, Jill, Mart, this is Skye, our conduit.”
The woman—Jill—smiles big. “Love your hair.”
I manage a return smile. “Thanks. I like yours too.” It’s cut super short, showing off her incredibly shapely skull, and is glossy raven black all over. I’d never be able to pull off that kind of avant-garde look.
“Connor told us about the adiut,” one of the men—I don’t know which—says. “Are you okay? That’s a freaky thing to have happen.”
Warming up a little, I nod. “Yeah, it was unexpected. But I’m fine.”
Gabe says something about me being tougher than I look, and while they’re all distracted, I take them in.
They’re all wearing the same thick leather wrist cuffs that Connor and Gabe have, but otherwise, their styles are very different.
Jill’s in ripped jeans, Docs, and a tank top that shows off her tattoo sleeves.
One of the men is wearing cargo shorts and a short-sleeved button-up—he looks kind of like a middle-aged suburban dad.
The other one is decked out trendily from head to toe, looking like he just stepped out of an Abercrombie catalogue.
I guess demon hunters are just people like everyone else.
Tuning back into the conversation, I chat with them about how it felt to discover this whole other world existed, and the adjustment I’ve had getting used to being a conduit.
It turns out that trendy guy—Mart—didn’t grow up in a hunter family like most of them do.
He had a college roommate who experimented with the occult, and he discovered his abilities on the fly one night when he had to get rid of the demon the idiot had summoned.
“Lucky it was a very minor one, and the circle was solid,” he says.
“Or neither of us would have made it. I was in the middle of freaking out over what I was convinced were superhero powers that came from a mosquito bite when a hunter who happened to be nearby and had sensed the demon tracked me down.”
“A mosquito bite?” I laugh as he shrugs.
“I wasn’t looking forward to being BuzzMan.”
“Skye!”
I turn in the direction of Daniel’s voice. He’s striding toward us with a determined look on his face.
“Hey! Josh said you had to go to tow—” I’m cut off when he wraps me in his arms and kisses me fervently. Dimly, I hear cheers and wolf-whistles, but most of my brain is occupied with the bone-melting kiss.
Finally, he lets me up for air.
“Hi,” I breathe, staring up at him. Pretty sure there are stars in my eyes. I definitely feel like he took me to them and back.
“I love you.”
The world drops away, and my breath freezes in my lungs.
“I know it’s soon. Too fast, maybe. But I do. I loved you as a friend for a long time, and now that we’re together, that love is so much more.” His dark eyes search my face. “I just want you to know that. I love you.”
I work moisture back into my mouth. “Really? Oh my god. I love you too!” I didn’t make any wishes that night I was stargazing, but the stars must have heard them anyway.
Daniel’s face breaks into a grin, and he kisses me again, then puts me firmly away from him. I feel suddenly cold without his arms around me. “I’ll see you later,” he says.
“What? You can’t tell me you love me and then leave,” I protest.
“Gotta get back to work. Tonight, I’m all yours. Oh, and your dad wants us to go over for dinner one night.”
I stare after him as he walks away, an extra swagger in his stride.
“I have no idea what just happened, but I get why you moved here, Con,” Jill says.
We laugh—well, they do, but I’m still trying to get my brain to work right. Then Dan stops and comes back.
“Ooh, we’re getting a second act!” Mart enthuses, and I wish I knew him well enough to affectionately flip him the bird.
To my surprise, Daniel’s attention isn’t on me, but on Connor and Gabe. “This might not be important,” he starts. “I don’t know why I thought of it… but I talked to Skye’s dad in town. He said…” He stops and turns to me. “Your mom visited him.”
I don’t know why I’m surprised, but it reverberates through me like a shockwave. “What for?”
“To talk about you. To ask questions about you and your friends.”
It’s a bit late for her to care about my friends, isn’t it? I’m all grown up.
I frown. That’s weird, though. “She asked questions about my friends?”
Dan nods. “I ran into Lenore too, and she said the same thing. That your mom was asking questions about you, the estate, and the people you work with.”
Connor swears loudly, and I jump. “What?”
“Fuck. I fucked up,” he admits, clenching a fist. “That day in the bakery… something seemed off with her. But Jennie raced us out so fast I couldn’t get a read, and then you said she might have cancer, so I let it go.”
There’s no need for me to feel bad over a stupid comment, but I do. Because suddenly I’m wondering if Mom coming back isn’t just about me. “You think she’s… involved?” How? Being a conduit isn’t hereditary, so it would be a hell of a coincidence if she was one too.
“What’s the story here?” Jill asks. All signs of fun have been wiped from her face.
Connor glances at me for permission, and I nod. Why not? The whole town already knows the story, and if Mom’s somehow tangled up in this… Daniel moves closer and takes my hand. His big, warm, rough grip closing around mine makes it a little easier to breathe.
“Skye’s mom left twenty years ago, no direct contact, never returned until last week, when she showed up and tried to talk to Skye. Coincidentally, the same day he had contact with the adiut.”
Gabe pinches the bridge of his nose. “It could still be a coincidence,” he says, but it’s not convincing. “What sense did you get?”
Connor shakes his head in frustration. “Off. Something wasn’t completely right. If I’d had longer, if I hadn’t been worried about Skye, I would have checked.” He shakes his head again, and I know he’s mentally kicking himself.
“You said something about cancer?” Randy asks me. “Could that be it?”
I start to shake my head, then grimace. “I thought maybe she decided to come home because she was sick or something. You know, Hallmark movie moment when the prodigal realizes they need to mend bridges? Then she didn’t say anything like that, just started tearing apart my life, so I assumed she doesn’t…
but I guess she could? I don’t know. She’s been trying to call me,” I add.
“Should I…?” Her messages haven’t hinted at her being sick, but maybe it was a conversation she wanted to have face-to-face.
“Call her,” four voices say in unison.
“Ask her to come here,” Gabe adds. “We can isolate her a little better than we could in town. And it will cut down on the gossip.”
“Okay.” My hand is shaking a little as I pull out my phone. This day has not gone how I thought it would. “Uh, here here?” I gesture to his cottage. “Or—”
“Here,” Connor says immediately. “And we don’t tell Kieran about this just yet. The last thing he needs is an ulcer.”