The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (10 page)

“Don’t do that again.” Uncle Archie was standing at the bottom of the stairs, squinting against the bright sun, and he wasn’t happy.

“I trust Nightshade; he isn’t working for the First Kind.”

“The Skeleton Key Guild thinks differently.”

“Really?”

“That’s why they asked us to look into this. They believe he has friends in the Guild who might try to protect him.”

“He broke away from the control of the Forget Me Not the First Kind used on him.”

“That may well be true, but a Forget Me Not is a powerful device and it still may hold sway over him. Then the Guild could very well be right, Nightshade could be part of the First Kind.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“You don’t think they would send him back as one of your friends to try and get to you?”

 I thought about the First Kind and how they had used Faith to betray me, not to mention that my own mother was a traitor. I couldn’t think of Mom without remembering how she had killed Dad. With all that in mind, I couldn’t put anything past them.

 “I suppose.” I glanced over my shoulder at Nightshade’s townhouse as we walked away.

“You have to be willing to deal with all possibilities, Chloe. I know he was your friend, but he is no longer the same person you knew and there is no saying he ever will be. Just consider yourself lucky that he was only a friend and not someone who meant more to you.

“Right.” Like say the man I’m in love with but stupidly never realized until it was too late. Then that would really suck, wouldn’t it?

“You have to follow my lead on these things. Now what do you think he could want with a Gremlin Collar?”

“I honestly don’t know and I doubt he’s going to just come out and tell me.”

“Let’s meet with my Guild contact and inform him of what we know so far and then we can go from there.”

“Okay.”

Uncle Archie opened a portal and we stepped through returning to the Old Town section of London. He pointed to an outside café and we took a seat at an empty table.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I didn’t want to have this conversation now. “I’m fine.”

“You can talk to me, you know.”

“I know, Uncle Archie, but honestly that’s all anyone has wanted me to do and I’m sick of it. No offense, but no one can come close to understanding how I feel about what happened to Dad or what’s going on with my friends.”

“I see your point.”

“What I want is to move on and deal with it, my way.”

“And your mother?”

“I’ll deal with her in due time.”

“Chloe?”

“Don’t, you really do not want to talk to me about her.”

Bless my uncle, he changed the subject. “Okay, you’re going to be moving in with your friend, Val?”

“Yeah, I’ll probably head home to Cape May tonight and gather the last of my things, and then I’ll be good to go.”

“It’s not unheard of for Old Kind to stay at home while they apprentice, you don’t have to move to London. You can commute from Cape May if you’re more comfortable with that.”

“No, I want to move.” I didn’t feel like explaining to him how since Dad and I had moved around so much in my life that I felt bottled up staying in one place too long. Plus the house on Mission Way would always remind me of Dad, and I needed to keep focused now.

“Up to you.”

The waitress came over and took our lunch order, Uncle Archie got himself some chips and I ordered a tea. I wasn’t hungry after the morning I’d had.

“What have we here?” DeAndre Morgan’s voice drifted in from behind me.

 He walked around to stand in front of me, his height blocking the sunlight flashing across the table. His dread locks bounced as he yanked out the chair next to me and plopped down.

“DeAndre, this is my niece, Chloe Masters.”

“We’ve already met.” DeAndre laughed.

 I grinned awkwardly recalling how he had tracked me for months at the time the truces had fallen apart, for spying on the Skeleton Key Guild. Now he was Jess’ mentor. I looked around expecting to see her with him.

“I sent your cousin on an errand,” he said.

 I nodded, and then took a sip of my tea feeling uneasy around him.

Uncle Archie turned and grinned at me. “Is there anyone you haven’t met?”

 “Your niece does have a knack for making herself known.”

“So I’m finding out.”

“Any news I can bring to the Guild?” DeAndre asked.

“We spoke with Nightshade this morning and he says he doesn’t have the Gremlin Collar, though I suspect that’s not true. Chloe seems to think he is trustworthy.”

“Do you now?”

“I do,” I spoke up placing my tea cup down. “I want him as part of my team looking for Edgar Magnus.”

 DeAndre shook his head. “The Guild is going to deny that request. Nightshade is on their radar; they think he’s been compromised. They’ll never agree to him being their representative on your team.”

“It’s my team,” I said intending to have my way on this. If Nightshade has been compromised it’s up to me to find out. The real question is what would I do if it proved to be true?

“That doesn’t matter. They won’t let him be part of it,” DeAndre said.

“I don’t care what they say. My team; my choice.”

“You should care,” Uncle Archie said. “The truces may be back, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people looking to cause trouble.”

“He’s right, Chloe, you need to tread carefully here,” DeAndre warned.

“I choose my team; it’s that simple.”

“Is every member of your family this stubborn?” DeAndre asked Uncle Archie as he waved over the waitress and ordered himself a drink.

“Sadly, yes.”

“Fine, Jess can be the Guild member on my team as far as the Guild is concerned,” I capitulated. “No one has to know what I have Nightshade doing.”

“Would the Guild accept that?” Archie asked.

“They would probably go along with Jess as the representative, but if they get wind of Nightshade; they’re not going to be happy.”

“Before that happens I might have enough on Nightshade for it not to be an isssue,” Archie said.

“Then it might work. I’ll inform the Guild about Jess as your choice for your team.”

 DeAndre leaned back in his seat and though he spoke with my uncle, his glance fell much too often on me. He’d never been able to prove it had been me who he had been hunting that one night and I know it irritated him.

 “Just what do you have on Nightshade?” DeAndre asked.

“Greenstreet sold him the collar,” Uncle Archie said.

“Did he now? I take it you explained to him how the Societies feel about the matter?”

“We made it very clear.” Uncle Archie wagged his finger between us.

DeAndre crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at me. “Did you use that temper of yours to scare poor Greenstreet?”

 “I did what Uncle Archie asked me to do,” I said bluntly and took a sip of tea.

“Of course you did.”

I didn’t care for the way he studied me, as if he knew more about me than I wanted him to.

“How does the Guild want us to proceed?” Uncle Archie asked.

“The Guild wants to find out one way or another if Nightshade is compromised. He won’t be getting any help from us, so do whatever you need to prove that his loyalty remains with the First Kind.”

 “Is this how you treat all Guilders... guilty until proven otherwise?” I snapped, thinking how his own kind had deserted Nightshade, leaving him completely on his own and that got my blood boiling.

DeAndre leaned forward, his dreadlocks falling over his shoulders. “You think we’re being too harsh on him? If he is a traitor it could prove fatal to all the Societies. The Guild wants to be sure, so we’re doing what is necessary.”

“Right, just like DS wanted to be sure and did what was necessary when they kicked my dad out for no good reason.” I sat back in my seat and stared at DeAndre with such anger that I was surprised daggers didn’t fly out of my eyes and stab him.

“This is different.”

“Right, Nightshade was captured and forced by the First Kind to do whatever they wanted. But the Guild would rather leave him on his own than try and help one of their own recover from the hell they had put him through. I get it perfectly.”

“Chloe.” Uncle Archie’s sharp retort was meant to remind me to be respectful.

“Respect is earned, Uncle Archie.” I pushed away from the table and stood up. “Dad taught me that and he also taught me to trust my instincts. I’ll handle Nightshade my way; you handle him yours. I’m done for the day. I’ll call you later, Uncle Archie.”

I didn’t wait for a response; I walked away from the table. I wrapped my arms around my sides hugging myself as soon as I was out of sight. I knew I shouldn’t have blown up like that but I was frustrated. It was bad enough I was upset about Nightshade, but now to have everyone putting doubts in my mind as to whether or not he could be trusted. It bothered the hell out of me.

I shook my head not wanting to hear the whispers of doubt. Unfortunately they wouldn’t go away. Could it be true? Could Nightshade have sided with the First Kind? I didn’t want to believe it. However, it would make sense that they would want someone keeping tabs on me like they had when I was under Faith’s control with the Forget Me Not. It’s not like I was aware of what Nightshade had been up to recently. I just learned about his new girlfriend. He could be doing anything and what was this damn Gremlin Collar all about?

I looked around realizing I’d walked a couple of blocks without thought to where I was headed. I wasn’t familiar with this section of London that well, so I sat myself down on a bench to clear my head. Uncle Archie was probably ready to strangle me and who knew what DeAndre was telling the Guild about me.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out and saw Gavin’s number blinking across the screen. I tapped it, eager to get my mind off my present problems “Hello.”

“Chloe, I found him. I found Edgar.”

Status: Time for a plan.

“Where is he?”

“Storm Reach Prison and I think I found a way in.”

“So it’s an HVO dimension?” I asked.

“Yes, and the weird thing is that the way I found in isn’t giving off an HVO signature.”

“How can that be?” If it wasn’t an HVO signature that opened a portal into their own dimension, then that didn’t bode well for us at all.

“I think the HVO is way more compromised than we ever thought. You need to come speak to Emory right away.”

Gavin’s voice wasn’t only filled with worry, it held fear. I didn’t like the way this was going at all. “Where are you?”

“I’m going to the Reliquary. It’s the only place I believe is safe.”

Alarm bells went off in my head. I’d been trying to get Gavin to hide out at the Reliquary since things had turned bad at the Mapmakers Union Hall. But he’d felt he was safer on the run. If he didn’t think there was anyplace left to hide, then things had to have taken a turn for the worse.

“When?”

“Now, hurry.”

The phone disconnected and I slid it into my pocket and pulled out my Doorknob. I activated it and created a portal and stepped through, using my evasion tactics just in case someone was tracking me. I jumped one portal after another until I had gone through over ten dimensions, and then I finally opened a gateway into the Reliquary.

“What took you?” Gavin was leaning up against the far wall next to the Skeleton Key Guild portal entrance waiting for me as I exited the portal.

I glanced around the room at the five symbols baring the mark of each Society and the three empty ones for the missing Societies, relieved to have made it here without a problem.

“I took precautions.”

 The Reliquary was ancient, how ancient we had no idea, but it had been around since at least the time of the real First Kind and may very well be as old as the Tavern at the End of Time.

“Where is Emory?” I asked.

“In the great room.” His eyes lowered as he spoke and I knew something was wrong.

“What is it?” Like I needed more added to the pile of problems I was already dealing with.

“Talk to Emory.”

 I brushed passed Gavin and made my way down the corridor to the Great Room. Emory was resting on one of the couches, his legs up and his face contorted in pain. One of his hands rested on his stomach where I imagined he’d been injured. I’d always been impressed by Emory’s size and presence, but for the first time he seemed smaller and worn out, almost deflated of strength. His face was lined with worry and his shoulders sagged.

“What’s going on?”

“Hello, Chloe.” He didn’t look up, instead he let out a deep sigh. “I was wondering when you would get here.”

“Gavin said we need to talk.”

“I imagined he would say that after what I told him.”

“What was that?”

“The HVO lost control of Storm Reach two months ago.”

“What?” I said stunned by the admission.

“The truces were down and we didn’t want anyone to know. Our own people turned against us. We don’t know if any of our men in the prison remain loyal, but we’ve sent wave after wave of DI’s to try and retake it and we’ve lost each time. Our ranks are depleted, and with how I had been set me up, my best guess is that the HVO has been completely compromised.”

“You mean what I think you mean?”

“The First Kind is in control of the HVO.” His head dropped in defeat and his voice trailed off.

 I paced back and forth across the room. Gavin was right to be fearful, this was a lot worse than I thought. With the First Kind in control of the prison dimension their ranks would swell with members, not to mention how many DIs were on their side.

“Does this mean all DIs have turned to their side?”

“No, I doubt all of them have turned, though it would be easy enough to take over from the top and place the people you want in charge. Remove loyal members like me by setting us up and the younger ones would follow orders, as they have been taught to do, and before they knew what was happening, it would be too late.”

 His softly spoken words had at least given me hope that Declan hadn’t been turned yet. This was bad and all I could think was how much worse this could make things. The First Kind already had control of the Mapmakers Artifact and now they controlled Storm Reach. The thought of the Artifacts sent a chill up my spine.