Whisper of Shadows (The Diamond City Magic Novels) (27 page)

“How did they bypass the nulls?” Leo looked at me, gaze settling on my swollen jaw. “Are you up to looking things over?”

“I’m really up to not getting followed anymore,” I mumbled and then headed for the Avalanche. I just wanted to get somewhere safe where I could shower, sleep, and eat, not necessarily in that order.

I opened myself up to the trace, reaching out my senses to see what active magic was around. Neither vehicle bore any signs of a tracker. I shook my head. “Must’ve been Dalton.”

“Good riddance to him then,” Taylor said. “Let’s get on the road.” She started to walk away, then came back to me. Taking the pendant from my hand, she hung it around my neck and activated it. “No point wasting it. You look like hell.”

“Trying to set a new fashion trend,” I said with a failed attempt at a smile. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Dad. Dalton. What’s going on with the two of you?”

She gave a little shake of her head. “Later. Let’s get out of here.” She pulled me into a gentle hug, and then pushed me toward the Avalanche before retreating to the Expedition.

I climbed inside, ignoring the wormy feeling of being healed yet again. This time I didn’t scoot over to Price. I stared out the window, thinking of Vernon, thinking of how wrecked all our lives were now. A few days ago, my worst enemies were the Diamond City Tyet lords. Now I was up against every law enforcement officer on the planet, the Tyets, and a villainous stranger. Jackson Tyrell, if Vernon was to be believed. Vernon—there was another one. I had enemies everywhere. I should probably start checking under the bed and in the couch cushions. They could be breeding anywhere.

And I was a Kensington.

I leaned my head against the window. Price reached over and tucked the blanket around me. After awhile, the heal-all finished its job and shut down.

“What the fuck?” Jamie jammed on the brakes, skidding on the snow and ice. We kissed the Expedition’s bumper. It too had stopped.

“Where did he come from?” Arnow asked.

Dalton stood outside the front passenger door of the Expedition. He rattled the handle and banged on the glass. Inside I could see the shadow that was Taylor shake her head. The Expedition rolled forward. But Dalton wasn’t going to be left behind. He put a hand against the back door and vanished. A split second later, he reappeared inside.

The brakes flashed again as Leo stopped. Jamie shoved the Avalanche into park and grabbed his door handle. The rest of us followed suit. By the time I came around the front, Taylor had flung herself out of the vehicle and had yanked open Dalton’s door.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He was sitting awkwardly on the lowered seat. I didn’t want to think about the bundle lying next to him. He swung his legs down and stood. “I’ve decided to accompany you.”

“Not in this lifetime. You’re my father’s dog. Go lick his boots and let us get on with our business.”

Dalton’s face went livid, those red spots returning to his cheeks. I have to admit I was enjoying watching his discomfort. He’d put me through the grinder. He deserved a little in return. I suppressed the urge to cheer Taylor on.

“I am joining you,” he said loftily.

That had all of us staring.

“You’re what now?” Leo asked.

“You will need help against your enemies and I am quite competent.”

“And if we say no?” I asked. “Then what?”

He looked at me. “It will make helping you harder, but I will not back down.”

“Why?” Taylor folded her arms, her jaw jutting. “How do we know you’re not going to be passing information to Vernon? Hell, he used you to track us.”

“I expect Riley can unwind the tracking magic,” he said. He leveled a burning look at Taylor. “You know as well as I do why I’m joining you.”

I frowned and exchanged a confused look with my brothers. What did that mean?

“So you’ve become a white hat all of a sudden? Captain America running in to save the day?” Taylor rolled her eyes. “You can whitewash over your spots all you want, but that doesn’t change that the fact that you have them.”

“I am no better than I have ever been, and if I wanted to do the Captain America act, I’d be off doing it. I may not be the most virtuous person in the world, but neither am I so corrupt that I am willing to give that kind of evil a pass without making an effort to stop it. You can’t stop it alone. None of you can.”

“Did I miss something?” Price asked. “What the hell are you talking about? I know this can’t be about rescuing my brother.”

“The rest of us want to know as well,” Leo said.

Taylor licked her lips. Finally she spoke. “There was more going on in the facility.” She glanced at me. “We checked into level nine like Vernon suggested. It was—” She broke off, pressing her fingers against her lips. She shook her head. “There just aren’t words, and this isn’t the place.” She sighed and then shrugged. “I guess we let him come with us. I’ll—
we’ll
—explain when we get somewhere safe. Riley? Can you take the tracker off him?”

I raised my brows to ask,
Are you sure?
She gave a slight nod.

The spell was easy enough to find. There’s a flavor to that sort of magic. It hurt, as minor as the effort was. Worse, it reminded me just how cold I was. The burn of it pulsed inside my bones.

We loaded up again.

The Expedition rolled forward. Jamie watched it, unmoving. “I don’t like this,” he said. “I don’t like this a whole lot.”

I didn’t either. I didn’t say it. I felt like my father was pulling our strings to make us dance. It was beginning to feel like everything we did fit his plan, even when he said it didn’t. I clenched my hands in my lap. Just what the hell had we gotten ourselves into? Taylor had said we were armpit deep in trouble. I had a bad feeling she’d underestimated by quite a bit. We were so far in a hole we were halfway to China.

Chapter 19

THE SAFE HOUSE was a large cabin north of Durango in the middle of nowhere and three-quarters of the way up a mountain. We parked the cars in a dugout garage totally hidden in the hillside. An underground car like the one between Mel’s house and mine carried us up.

Mel. Who would never be there to open the door and pull me in. I wanted to cry for her, for all of us. My grief ate at my insides like acid.

We lifted her out of the Expedition and set the stretcher in a little storage space off to the side. Leo covered her with a blanket, and then he and Jamie fashioned a metal coffin around her. To keep the vermin out until we could bury her.

The thought of rats or snakes getting at her twisted my stomach violently. I turned and threw up in the corner. Taylor came and put her arms around me, and then Leo and Jamie did the same. We stood there together for a long minute, sharing our loss and love for Mel, then Taylor pushed us apart, swiping at the tears running down her cheeks.

“We’d better get going before we freeze to death. Riley’s an iceberg.”

Leo and Jamie nodded and wiped their own tears away. I was the only one who hadn’t cried. I couldn’t. Part of me didn’t think I deserved it. Or maybe I didn’t think Mel deserved to have me slobbering over her when I was the reason she was dead. Or maybe I was just too damned cold.

Price watched all this from ten feet away. He didn’t try to hug me, didn’t try to speak to me. That made it worse. Like he knew I was to blame, too. Except that he thought he’d killed her. But no one could fault him for his talent exploding on him. He’d protected all of us from the worst of it. He’d done all he could to rescue everybody before he ran dry of power.

The cabin had four bedrooms, a loft, a big kitchen, a huge fireplace and lounge, and three full bathrooms. Jamie guided Price and me to the master suite before he showed the others to their rooms.

“We’re completely off the grid here,” he said. “Nobody even knows this place exists. It can’t be spotted from the air and there are no roads in. We’re as safe as we can be. Get cleaned up. I’ll get some food going and coffee. There’s not much that’s fresh, but we’ll make do until we can fetch something.”

Awkward silence fell between me and Price once we were alone. He prowled around while I stood by the foot of the bed, watching him. I was pretty sure what he was thinking. That he was too dangerous for me, that he should walk away. Very noble. Never going to happen, but very noble.

“Bullshit,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“What?”

“It’s bullshit. Whatever idiocy is spinning around inside your skull. I’m guessing the biggie is that being with you is all kinds of dangerous and blah blah blah, so you’ve decided you should abandon me. That about cover it?”

He blinked at me, then looked up at the ceiling. “You can laugh, but it’s true, Riley.”

“It’s also true that I’m in trouble whether I’m with you or not. Imagine that. Me wandering around out there fighting my battles alone without you. How does that sound?”

“Never,” he growled.

“Never what?”

“That’s never going to happen. I’m not letting anyone hurt you again.”

I didn’t bother to tell him that that was a promise he couldn’t keep. I was winning this argument, and mentioning that would send us off the rails again.

“Does this mean you’ve decided not to walk out on me?”

He came to stand in front of me. He stared down at me, his eyes turbulent. “I should, but I’m not that noble.”

“Then it’s settled. Now promise me you won’t try. Unless you don’t want me anymore. Only then.” My voice shook a little with the last.

He pulled me up against him, pressing his forehead to mine. “Not want you?” he asked raggedly, then shook his head. “That’s not even possible. I love you, heart and soul. Look what I did to you. I came so close to killing you with my own hands.” His voice dropped and turned agonized at the memory.

“Not your fault.”

He gave a harsh bark of humorless laughter. “I should have known you. I should have protected you. Instead I hit you. I had my hands around your neck. This talent turns me into a monster. How can you possibly still want me in your life after all I have done to you? After all you’ve suffered because of me?”

“Every relationship has issues.”

That made him smile despite himself. “I’m serious.”

“So am I. Nothing that happened was your fault. I love you. What more do you want me to say?”

His hands cupped my face, and his thumbs pushed my chin up until I met his gaze. It bored through me. His kiss turned my bones to liquid gold. His tongue delved inside my mouth, tasting and branding. Where he touched, heat blossomed and the flames crackled through me. I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him tight. The kiss was an affirmation of all I felt. We’d been together—I’d been inside him—and had shared ourselves on a level beyond words, beyond the physical. But I needed the physical. I needed to touch and hold and be held. I needed to hear the way his breath turned ragged, to feel the way his hands ran over my back and clutched at me. I needed his heat and his smell.

Too soon he lifted his head. His sapphire eyes had a skim of white over the top—like pearly frost. A tremor ran through him. A wind swirled around us and picked at the curtains and bedspread. Price pushed at me, his eyes closing, his face pulling into a mask. I held him, my hands fisting into knots on his torn coveralls.

“Pull it back in,” I said. “You can do it.”

He shook his head, his mouth rimming white.

“I—It won’t.” He shoved harder. He opened his eyes, and the white was more pronounced. “I’ve got to get out of here before I hurt someone.”

He thrust me back, breaking my grip. I leaped forward, wedging myself between him and the door and planting my hands flat on his chest.

“Stop,” I said. “You can handle this. You know how. Just do what I taught you.” A weird electricity sparked on my arms and in my hair like static on steroids.

His mouth twisted and his forehead furrowed with concentration. “I can’t—”

“You can. Relax. Just calm down and release your pull on the magic.”

His attention turned inward. Though the wind in the room didn’t increase, neither did it disappear. Price gave a hard shake of his head as if to clear it.

“Just feel the flow,” I said. “Look for that place where it feels like it’s coming from and close the door on it. Visualize.”

Sweat dampened his skin. His mouth pulled down. His entire body shook with the effort of what he was doing. I held my breath. I couldn’t let him lose control. I also couldn’t stop him. He had to stop himself. I was too depleted to get inside him again.

I slid my hands up to press against his cheeks. “Relax. Don’t fight who you are. Let your instincts guide you.”

I wished I could be more useful. Like tell him to turn this dial, flip that switch, press that pedal. But it wasn’t that easy. Magic was personal. You learned by trial and error and depended on an instinctive knowledge that came with being what you were. Price’s talent had been suppressed so long, and he was so afraid of it, of losing control, that he was fighting against his magic, rather than embracing it. The result could get more than ugly.

“You controlled it enough to create cocoons, to close your bullet wound, and to create barriers to keep yourself contained. All without knowing a damned thing about what you were doing. Remember that. Remember what I showed you when I was inside you.”

All of a sudden the wind died. The room still felt tight with pressure, as if it were holding its breath, and the hairs on my arms still twitched and prickled with magic energy.

“Good,” I crooned. “You’re doing it. Just a little bit more.”

Another minute passed. Then the pressure lightened, and the magic in the room dissolved. Price staggered back, bending and catching his hands on his knees, panting hard. Before I could move or say anything, he straightened up. His eyes were once again back to normal.

“I have to get out of here. I have to get away from you and anybody else until I can get this thing under control,” he said without preamble.

“No.” I lifted my chin. “We’re in this together. I’ve helped you twice now. I can do it again.”

“And if you can’t? I’m a fucking walking disaster. I’m not safe. Hell, kissing you set me off. What happens if I get pissed or hell, if I have a nightmare? We don’t know what I might do. It’s too damned risky.”

“I’m willing to take my chances.”

“I’m not.”

“Too bad. You can never hide from me. I can find you anywhere, dead or alive. So if you try to go running off, I’ll be right behind you.” I grinned. I wasn’t losing this argument. I had all the weapons. “Think about it. How much trouble could I get into doing that? I mean, I’d be on my own. Think of all the chances I’d probably be taking. All the seedy places I might go. All the dark alleys I’d wander down. I’d probably get careless and who knows what could happen then?”

He rubbed his hands over his face. “Christ. You would, wouldn’t you? Just to drive me insane?”

“Yep. See, here’s the thing. I’m really not willing to do without you. No matter what. So is it settled? Can I safely shower without having to worry about you scurrying off somewhere?”

He nodded.

“Good. Because I’m really tired, really hungry, and—” I didn’t finish. We still needed to bury Mel. To grieve. Bleak loss sucked at me, and I hardened myself. I couldn’t fall into that now. Later. Now I had to be strong. We all had to be strong.

AFTER I’D SHOWERED and Price had disappeared into the bathroom, I checked the closet and found a selection of men’s and women’s clothing, all of it with the tags still on. Nothing fancy. Jeans and tee shirts and sweaters, mostly, plus underwear. The last was all basic cotton, but in a variety of styles and sizes. Jamie and Leo had been prepared for a wide range of visitors. I found an outfit that fit, and got dressed. The pants were a little long, but I turned them up. I pulled a sweater over a tee shirt and donned a pair of thick wool socks before returning to the bedroom.

I lay down to wait for Price, but almost instantly stood up again. I felt fidgety. I paced restlessly, looking out the window to see a world of white, and then paced again. All that had happened in the last forty-eight or so hours tumbled through my head.

I heard the water shut off, and a few minutes later, Price came out, a towel wrapped around his hips.

“Clothes are in the closet,” I said. “There should be something that fits.”

He disappeared inside and returned, wearing a similar outfit to mine. “Ready?”

Thunderous blows to the door interrupted before I could answer.

“Come on, you two! Come see the news!”

I ran to the door and flung it open, but Taylor had already fled back up the hallway and toward the stairs. I followed, with Price hard on my heels.

The scent of garlic and tomato sauce wafted up to us from the kitchen. It should have tantalized my hunger, but foreboding knotted my stomach tight. We found everybody else in the living room, watching the big-screen TV above the fire crackling in the brick fireplace.

On the screen was an image of violent destruction. Fires burned up mountain ridges in the background, and in the foreground, right behind the blond reporter, was a smoking black hole in the ground. It looked like a meteor had hit. The hole must have been the size of a football field. The ground around it was melted into slag. Black smoke billowed through the air. Emergency vehicles from every agency under the sun parked around the perimeter, lights flashing like a patriotic disco. It might have been a scene straight out of an end-of-the-world horror flick.

“Is that—?” I broke off.

“Think so,” Jamie said, never looking away from the screen. A wooden spoon in his hand dripped tomato sauce onto the wood floor. It looked like blood.

“Sh!” Taylor said. “Listen.”

“. . . targeted attack. We have no word yet on casualties, though we have learned that at least one hundred and twenty people are unaccounted for at this time,” the reporter said. “Again, for those of you just tuning in, this morning at around nine thirty a.m., a massive explosion and fire destroyed the Marchont Research Center, fifteen miles southeast of Diamond City. Sources have determined that the event was magical in nature and incinerated everything down to bare stone. Searchers have not yet located any survivors.”

“Who would do this?” Taylor asked. “There were people trapped in there.”

“Better question is who could do it,” Dalton said. “And why.”

Something in his voice caught my attention. I looked at him. “You already know.”

He met my gaze, his unworldly silver eyes ringed with blue. “So do you.”

“Jackson Tyrell.” When you watch the news later, know that he was behind it. Those had been Vernon’s words. I wasn’t the only one who remembered.

“Who is he? Why would he destroy the place?” Arnow asked.

She gone pale and her hands trembled. She must’ve known more than a few people inside.

“I don’t know,” Dalton said. “What I do know is that there are now no witnesses to what happened there. It is also likely the FBI will blame all of you for the destruction.”