“I am not. I’m hard everywhere.”
Julia laughed, then gasped when he wiggled his eyebrows.
“What’s happened to you!”
“Too much time around randy teenagers,” he moaned.
“And not enough time around this one,” Julia said slyly.
Cayne reached out and cupped her hand, then brought it to the zipper of his jacket.
Julia made a hissing, sizzle-like sound.
“I think we’re the only people in the room.”
“And we’ve got something to celebrate,” Julia murmured.
So they did. For a while. So long, in fact, that they were still locking lips when Meredith barged in the door looking totally dejected.
“It’s not the place. At least I don’t think it is,” she said. “I didn’t see a tiger anywhere. Just that damned top hat.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
After many years of that traditional foster kid reflex—Don’t Get Your Hopes Up, Dummy—Julia was having a tough time dealing with her disappointment. She had gotten her hopes up. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She gritted her teeth, which only caused her head to throb. But at least she wasn’t crying. She felt like crying. Which was lame. So lame.
She was The One, wasn’t she, she asked herself as she and Mer collapsed on the couch. The One didn’t cry. The One kicked ass. Whose, she wondered warily. Cayne’s? They’d already done away with Samyaza. What was next? A Nephilim genocide? The thought made her throat ache with unshed tears.
She scrambled off the couch so Meredith couldn’t feel her feelings, held up a finger—be right back—and raced into the bathroom, where her hyper-sensitive gag reflex gave her a scare.
But she didn’t get sick. She just sat there with her forehead resting against the toilet’s lid, not even caring if the thing was clean because either she would die of something else or she wouldn’t be allowed to die. She shut her eyes and thought back to the compound. Dizzy and her threats. What else can you do? Besides seeing auras and healing people. And Meredith telling her: Nathan was almost as eager to meet you as I was. She thought about the time they’d been meditating, a special ritual designed to heighten everyone’s abilities. And Julia’s had gone haywire; auras had popped up everywhere, the force of it knocking her flat on her butt. Nathan had thought she’d had a seizure.
At the compound, she’d been able to ‘Float’ to random places. Places other than the ones on the other side of a given wall—something Meredith had said was strange. She’d even gotten close to the prison, where Cayne had been, and which was super off-limits.
And now, apparently, other Chosen’s powers wouldn’t work on her. That poor little boy—Everett?—couldn’t hurt her. Thierry couldn’t float her away.
Dizzy had been able to make her dizzy, so what did that mean?
A knock interrupted her thoughts. Moaning softly, Julia pulled herself up using the marble sink and asked, “Who is it?”
“Me.” Cayne’s voice was strong and quiet.
“Me, too!” Meredith said. “Come out, Julia. Talk about it.”
Julia exhaled. She ran her fingers through her snow-damp hair and blinked at her reflection in the mirror. Should I be wearing mascara like Mer? Rubbing her eyes, she turned and opened the door.
Cayne and Meredith were side by side; Cayne’s arms were crossed, while Meredith’s hand was on her hip. When she saw Julia, she stretched out her arms, prompting Cayne to take a cautious step back.
“Come on,” she said, pulling Julia into a casual hug. “Spill.”
Julia shook her head. “It’s okay now. I’m fine.”
Cayne arched a brow, but before they could get any further, the room phone rang, and Meredith bounded to get it. “Yeees,” she answered with flair. “Oh, hi Carlin. Oh no.” There was a pause, during which Cayne stepped closer to Julia/ He held out his hand, and Julia took it.
Across the room, Meredith was saying “Hmmm,” and wearing a skeptical expression. Satisfied she wasn’t listening to them, Julia squeezed Cayne’ hand gently and grabbed his other one, so they were facing each other, holding hands like a couple at the altar.
“I don’t like when you’re this anxious,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
He sniffed. “You don’t fool me. Or any of the others. Well, maybe Drew. He seems easily fooled.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “I’m not that anxious. I’m just tired.”
He shook his head. “I can tell that’s not true.” He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “It doesn’t have to be true. You can be honest with me.”
Julia thought about her headache, but instead of coming clean, she nodded. She would tell him soon—just not now.
“You guyyyyssss!” Mer bounded over, looking like a fifth-grade sleuth who’d just found the big clue. “We’re wanted at the hostel! Snow’s coming down hard again, but the tram is still running. Cayne, it should only take us five minutes or so here to get there, so the danger is like, almost nil.”
“Mer,” Julia interrupted, “why are we going there?”
“Oh, because of Edan.” She laughed. “He told Carlin and Drew he had asthma and the cold weather had made it really bad, so he thought it was turning into ‘a gout’.” She shook her head. “Someone doesn’t know his human illnesses, huh? Anyway, something sketch is going on and they want me to see if I can read his feelings through the door to his room. So c’mon.” She waved her arms, moving toward the hall tree and plucking off her fluffy red coat.
A few minutes later, the three of them were dressed in fluffy jackets and jeans, walking elbow-to-elbow across the hall, and Meredith was in the middle of a long diatribe about Edan. She was at the tail end of ‘the Sketch Report’, and they were in the hallway that ran beside the front desk, when a supply closet opened and a staff member stepped out, back to them. He was dressed in jeans that looked tailored, brown hiking boots, and a heavy gray North Face jacket, and when he fished his key out of the lock, he turned around and waved.
Julia gasped. Mer’s jaw dropped. “Monte?! Holy shit!”
He grinned and strode forward to hug her. “Mere-mo.” His grin was huge, and for a second Julia actually thought she saw moisture in his brown eyes. “It’s about time you guys showed up.”
Meredith shrieked, whapping him on the arm as she jumped up and down like someone on an episode of Punk’d. “Your clues sucked! Wait—I don’t get how you’re even here! There’s no tiger on the roof of this place!”
“Tiger?”
“You said there would be a Tiger on heli-pad.”
Monte’s eyes bulged. “I said hat. A big hat.”
Meredith squeezed her eyes shut and banged the heel of her palm against her head. “Oh, God. I must have thought you said big cat.”
“Big cat?”
“It makes a much sense as big hat. And it’s a top hat, btw. Why didn’t you say that!”
Monte wagged his finger. “Technically, it’s a high hat. “
Meredith rolled her eyes. “You could have said high hat.” She turned to Julia and Cayne. “I’m so sorry. I cannot believe I got it mixed up so bad.”
“It’s okay,” Julia said. “We’re okay now.” She looked at Monte, feeling slightly dizzy. “When did you get here? How did you get here?”
Instead of answering Julia, he turned to Cayne. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but what’s your name?”
“It isn’t his real name, but we call him—” she cut herself off, suddenly worried for Cayne; maybe he didn’t want anyone to know who he was. Maybe he wasn’t even safe here.
“Cayne.” He surprised her by stepping forward, hand out. It took Monte a second to accept it, and when he did, his expression was stuck somewhere between thoughtful and unhappy.
“You’re a Nephilim,” he said.
Cayne shrugged. “My father’s fault.”
“We don’t…” Monte shook his head, like he wasn’t sure how to put it. “We don’t often have Nephilim here. Not as guests,” he said.
> Julia blanched, imagining a prison, and he quickly clarified: “We have nothing against a peaceful Nephilim. Many we encounter are…not so peaceful.” He looked at Julia. “‘Your Nephilim boyfriend’?”
“Yep.” She clutched Cayne’s hand.
“It’s all right,” Monte said. “Let’s just get you to Jacquie.”
“Who?”
“Jacquie. She’s the boss lady.”
Julia was worried. She hadn’t thought about who would be in charge of the Swiss Chosen. Or about their reception, or much of anything other than finding them. Now they had, and they were supposed to meet the person in charge, and she would know Cayne was a Nephilim.
Monte seemed to read her mind. “Don’t worry, you’ll like her,” he smiled. “She’s like your cool aunt.”
Cayne’s thumb was rubbing circles on the top of Julia’s hand, which was a good thing, because she had never had an aunt, and she was starting to freak out. This was really it. They’d found the fabled Swosen, and now it was do or die—literally.
What if they couldn’t help her? What if they were sent packing? Told to go back to The Three?
Mer squeezed her other hand and whispered, “It’s okay.” She turned to Monte. “We can’t meet Jacquie just yet. We have Drew and Carlin—”
“I know. I’m surprised Drew’s with you. I didn’t think he’d be into this.”
Meredith smoothed a strand of her long black hair, looking thoughtful. “Monte, your ‘friend’ who told you about this place—”
“Was me,” he confirmed.
“I can’t believe it! You were all double agent.”
Monte puffed up his chest. “Impressive, right?”
Julia had to agree. “Is this really a safe place?” she asked.
“Oh, hell yes. No bullshit, and no Candidates.”
Julia nearly choked.
“There aren’t?” Meredith gaped. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll let Jacquie explain—she likes to do that. But don’t worry, this place is cool.”
His wait-for-answers approach reminded Julia of Nathan, which wasn’t comforting.
He smiled again. “You’re in no danger here. Everyone is open-minded. Welcoming, even.” He looked at his watch. “In a little less than two minutes, I’m going to man-hug Andrew.” He smiled at Mer. “I can only assume that Carlin will be with him?”
Meredith nodded. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Just Drew.”
Meredith visibly lightened, and Julia felt relieved. No matter how cool these Swosen were, something told her they wouldn’t like Edan lurking about.
“So remind me, Monte, you can see into the future, but only a few minutes?”
He nodded. “And only in so much as it affects me.”
“Ooh, like that Nicholas Cage movie.”
Both he and Meredith had blank faces. “Ah, what was it. You know…”
Right on cue, Drew and Carlin came striding down the hall. Carlin shrieked when she saw Monte and rushed forward, throwing her skinny arms around his neck and kicking her legs excitedly. The catching-up chatter, the shock on Drew’s face, replaced by skepticism. Mer saying, “Monte is a spy for the Swosen! Always has been! And it wasn’t a tiger—I had thought it was a cat, but it was a hat.”
Carlin frowned, confused, but Drew was following. He moved in for the man-hug Monte had foreseen as Carlin stepped back, out of Monte’s line of sight, to brief Mer, Julia, and Cayne on Edan.
She sighed his name like a disappointed mother. “He swears he has both gout and asthma, and that they both flare up in cold weather.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “He’s lying, for some reason.”
“You really think so?” Carlin asked her.
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen Edan’s aura and that is not the aura of someone who could get gout.”
“Edan,” Monte said. “Who is Edan?”
*
Julia’s first impulse was to lie, but the others—the ones who’d known Monte—didn’t miss a beat explaining Edan. While they did, Julia nudged Cayne into the same back hall that was home to their couch.
“What is it?” he asked, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.
Julia wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “I don’t know.” She looked into his beautiful jade green eyes, wishing they were somewhere else, in some other circumstance. Her head throbbed, as if to accentuate her want. “I just feel like things are happening too fast.”
To her surprise, Cayne smiled. “Weren’t you just worrying about this not happening? I know I was,” he admitted. “But here’s the thing: If the people here aren’t what we want, we’ll go somewhere else.”
“And the headaches?” she whispered.
“Are they back?” Cayne’s brows shot up, his mouth twisting unhappily.
“If they come back,” she hedged.
“Edan can help you until we figure out something permanent.”
“What if he won’t?”
“He will,” Cayne promised.
She smiled through the pain behind her nose. Cayne nodded toward the end of the hall, where the rest of the group, plus Monte, stood waiting.
“I think we’re wanted.”
Too nervous to answer, Julia nodded.
CHAPTER NINE
“We have to go now? As in now?” Julia felt her stomach bottom out.
“Not exactly now,” Carlin said.
“Five minutes,” Monte clarified. “You’ll meet Jacquie on the top floor—nine. Henry will escort you there. I’ll meet you later.”
Julia recognized the name. It was the security guard, the one with the pea coat and the weapons, who’d invited Cayne to play WoW. Had that been a ruse? Had he really just wanted a closer look at a Nephilim? Julia had never suspected the guy was one of the Chosen. How had they not noticed?
She reminded herself that she ultimately had, and that it didn’t matter anyway. They were here. And meeting Jacquie was just the next step on the way to her goal: getting rid of the headaches, so she could stop being The One and start being Julia again. A new and better Julia and all that good stuff.
“I’ve got some paperwork to do,” Monte said, making a face. “I’ll be up in a bit.”
He waved, and when he was out of earshot Meredith said, “Paperwork? Maybe we were better off at the compound.”
Carlin shook her head slowly, pulling her white suede coat more tightly around her. “I can’t believe we’re here. This is the place.”
“Hat,” Drew said, winking.
“Tiger was cooler.” Meredith stuck out her tongue. “So Edan is…what?” She looked from Drew to Carlin. “Holed up with some ski bunny?”
Carlin shrugged, looking defeated. “Or something.”
“Is he just never coming back?” Julia asked.
“I saw him talking to you,” Drew said. “Didn’t hear what he was saying. Neither of you looked happy, though. Get a teal and purple ski suit, BTW. It looks great with your hair.”
“Will do.”
Meredith glared at Drew, and he shrugged. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”
Carlin turned toward the stairs, worriedly voicing what Julia was wondering. “What are they going to do with us, especially if they ‘don’t have’ Candidates?”
*
“Should I be nervous? Because I’m totally nervous.”
Meredith was walking half a step behind Drew, and her question was aimed at Carlin and Julia, but Henry, at the front of the line, turned around to answer.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said . “It’s all cool. Even for my man the Nephilim.” When no one spoke, Henry cleared his throat and expounded, his words echoing as they started up a cement-and-metal stairwell.
“If we didn’t want you here, something would have happened already,” Henry said, glancing at Cayne. “No offense, man.” Julia heard a nervous edge in his low voice.
“None taken,” Cayne rumbled, brushing his thumb over the back of Julia’s hand.
&nbs
p; “Jacquie is fair,” Henry said. “Not a prejudice bone in her body. You’ll like her. You might not always agree with her, but you will like her. Everybody likes Jacquie.”
Walking up the stairs made Julia’s head throb, so she looked at her feet to keep Cayne from seeing the pain on her face. The headache seemed worse by the hour, and Julia realized that that night she’d have to get in touch with Edan.
Cayne pulled her closer, rubbed her hair back off her head and leaned in close, his lips brushing her temple in a way that made her hot. “Don’t mention The One,” he murmured in her ear, covering his warm words with a kiss.
She nodded. It was probably the smartest course of action, at least until they knew a little more about the people here. She hoped her friends would— Mer turned and winked at her, then leaned forward to whisper in Drew’s ear. Julia pulled away from Cayne and fell into step with Carlin, leaning over and murmuring it in her ear. At first, the girl’s hazel eyes squinted, but then they widened and she nodded.
The group came out of the stairwell on the ninth floor, and Henry paused to let everyone catch their breath. The plush hall was decorated in varying shades of white and cream, which reminded Julia of the other Chosen compound. Her stomach lurched—which made her head pound—which made her stomach churn even harder.
The plush cream rug overlaying gleaming, dark hardwood, led them past rows of generously dispersed doors—showing larger rooms than the ones on the other floors of the House. The light fixtures hanging from the ceiling were nature sculptures meant to look like scrap firewood in a frozen forest. Tiny gas-lit flames licked between the sticks.
The curtains were beige suede, tied back with pale, shimmering ribbons. On the left wall, they passed an elegant painting of a bird of prey flying over a mountain; its frame was bulky and gold. On the right wall was a pretty, frosted mirror and, below it, a small gold bench beside a hall tree. The floor had a definite feminine feel.
“Is this Jacquie’s private wing?” Mer asked, reading Julia’s mind (or more likely, her feelings).
Henry shrugged. “Sort of. A few of us live up here. The people that have been here the longest.”