Cut to me in some back alley an hour and a half later. I’d changed into my butt-kicking skinny jeans, my favorite heels, and a black shirt that was angled at the bottom and hung off one shoulder. So I didn’t show too much skin I had on a red tank top underneath it. I was on my cell phone so Monty could give me directions to the dust trail I was tracking. This was one of three that were close enough to have beaten me with a board.
“You’re getting closer,” Monty said. I could hear the map being shuffled around. “Yeah, closer.”
“You’ve been saying that for the past hour,” I said peevishly.
“Maybe I was referring to your proximity to my last nerve.”
“Oh, good one,” I said sarcastically. But really, that was a good one.
“Take a right in like ten feet,” Monty ordered.
“What are you eating?” I asked, my own stomach growling to remind me that I hadn’t eaten since the mints. It was now ten thirty at night and I was starving.
“Mint chocolate chip ice cream,” Monty answered. “Your mom offered it.”
I bit back the sigh. I’d been looking forward to that ice cream. But now I was looking down the next alley I was supposed to be going down. If possible it was worse than this one. At least from here I could see the streetlights. This new one was a dead end. Dumpsters lined the sides, trash spilling over everywhere. Plenty of shadows. An army could be hidden back there. “I don’t like this,” I said, mostly to myself.
“What?” Monty asked.
“I smell a trap.” And old puke but that didn’t matter. “There’s only one dust trail here right?” I kept a wary eye on my surroundings.
“Yeah, about ten feet ahead of you, to your left.”
“Stay on the phone with me,” I ordered, kicking on my Seeker senses.
Monty stayed silent. The only sound in this dark alley was my heels on the cement and rats scurrying around in the garbage. Faintly I could hear traffic. I was only about six blocks away from my future college. Mental note to avoid this alley in the future.
At Monty’s heads up I paused in front of a door. I could hear the sounds of music and chatter. A bar? What kind of Otherworldly goes into a bar? Human-looking ones. This had to be who had attacked me.
I quickly relayed the message to Monty. “I’m going to poke around this alley and see if I can set up an ambush,” I told her.
“What if it goes out the front?”
“Then I follow. I just want to give this a shot.”
I was ten feet away from the door when I heard it open. I quickly let my eyes fade from the glowing silver to normal. “Um, Cort,” Monty said.
“What?”
“It’s behind you.”
I turned quickly. A super cute guy was looking back at me, curiously. Okay, so Seeker assassin was out but maybe this was her Guardian pal. I’ve always been a sucker for the eyes and I found myself really liking this guy’s grey ones. From this distance they reminded me of rainy skies. He had dark brown hair that was spiked up at the moment but could also be smoothed down. His face was tan, chiseled, and strong, which totally matched the rest of his muscular body. I was betting he had nice six pack abs. I shook my head to lose those thoughts. I was here to seek revenge for my face, not get a date.
Okay, so Guardian guy was going to be strong and probably fast. He had about three inches on me. That meant he’d have reach on me. I was so going to get my butt handed to me. But I’m always up to a challenge.
“Call you back in…” I looked him over again, “fifteen minutes tops, Mon.” I hung up before she could say anything.
I was ducking to save my face before I could even put my phone in my pocket. And it wasn’t even because my jeans are so tight it’s hard to use the pockets. No, this guy threw himself at me that quickly.
I dodged another punch and aimed one at his face. He ducked and aimed one at me. I didn’t duck. Okay, now I was ticked.
I threw him off when I just tackled him. Girls don’t normally use that move.
I pummeled him in the face a couple of times before he realized that I only weigh 106 pounds and then rolled. He had a grip on my upper arms and I had a grip on his so neither of us could really hit. Pretty much we were just rolling around in the garbage.
His eyes were glowing gold and he looked super ticked. Mine were glowing too, just waiting to unleash some power on him.
He overpowered me and had me pinned. I struggled to knee him in the gut but I was pinned well. I couldn’t budge more than an inch.
In the back of my mind I registered that my phone was ringing over and over. “Who sent you?” he demanded.
“The Queen of Sheba,” I said sarcastically. My mind was racing. He had the upper hand and, as much as it pained me to say it, I couldn’t take him on alone. I needed to distract him and blow this popsicle stand.
“Funny,” he said sarcastically. “I guess that means you’re coming with me.”
Oh shit. “Only if you let me see your six pack,” I said, batting my eyes coyly.
The gold eyes flickered for a second. Ha! I quickly head-butted him, aiming for his vulnerable nose. Payback for the board. Then he was distracted enough for me to knee him in the gut and push him in a pile of garbage.
My phone was still ringing so I lunged for it and answered, scrambling to get to my feet. “What?”
“Cort, there’s two.” Monty sounded a little panicked.
“What?” SHIT.
Then I was tackled at the knees. My phone went flying. My face hit the pavement with a crunch. Now I didn’t have to worry about my nose being pointed to the left because that little face plant had broken it back into place.
I didn’t know if this was the new one or if Six Pack had picked himself out of the garbage but I knew I needed to get out before both of them were functioning. I tried to fight back but I was being firmly held into the pavement.
“Cael, are you okay?”
I froze, my face still in the pavement. Wait. That voice sounded familiar. And Cael was an unusual name. “Campbell?” I tried to twist around to see if my hunch was correct.
“Jesus, Cortland?”
“The one and only.” I tried to smile but that hurts when your face is being pressed into the cement.
Campbell got off me and I could hear my spine pop back into place.
“Campbell, what are you doing?” Cael was up and fighting mad. “When you’ve got the upper hand you don’t just relinquish it. She fights dirty.”
“Thank you,” I said, picking up my phone. Still unbroken. There were some new scratches but those I could deal with. I texted Monty the code word for ‘okay for now’ and ‘call you later.’ Probably these code words were unnecessary but they were fun. ‘Unicorn Sparkles,’ and now Monty could relax. “My dad will be so proud.”
“Cam, seriously,” Cael blustered.
“Cael, this is that girl from school.”
“Just because she goes to your school doesn’t meant she isn’t some Seeker assassin sent to kill you.”
I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it, really. But I stopped quickly because it hurt. “Do I look like a Seeker assassin?” I wiped away the trickle of blood dripping from my nose.
“Obviously,” Cael glared. Obviously Cam’s stories about the fun-hater weren’t exaggerations.
“You kind of do,” Cam said to me. He was standing in front of me. I was protected from his older brother and his brother was protected from me.
I looked down at my now garbage ridden outfit. “Do not.”
“Not the point. What are you doing here?” Cam asked.
“Hunting whatever came after me earlier this evening,” I answered. “And it led me to your brother.”
“Well then your navigator is pretty stupid because I have not tried to assassinate anyone tonight. I’ve been looking for stupid here since we’re supposed to be on the lookout for people sent after us.”
&nbs
p; “Why would assassins be after you?” I asked. I knew why they were after me and it was a pretty good reason. Assassins don’t go after everyone.
“We’re 28th and 29th in line for the throne. The people ahead of us are dropping like flies. Why are they after you?”
“I’m 27th.” Actually, I am the throne, but hey, they didn’t need to know that.
“Wait,” Cam turned to me. “I heard lucky 27 got the throne. Does that mean-“
“Where’d you hear this?” Cael asked.
Yeah, I chimed in silently. Where did you hear this?
“No I think lucky 26 got it,” I lied easily. “Now I’ve got to get home. You know how to reach me.”
I raised my chin and proudly passed by Campbell and Cael. Ow, ow, ow. Once I was out of the alley I let the pained look show on my face. “Ow, ow, ow…”
“Ow! Godda-“I bit off the rest of the swearing. I was royalty now so I should probably cut back on the profanity. “You stupid horse.”
The stupid horse in question looked at me. After getting less than five hours of sleep my dad had woken me up at five to tell me that him and mom were going to a hide out with the rest of the parents. Since they were ex-fairies and had no powers they were a liability if the fight was brought to us. As were the animals. My job was to take all the horses to Kendall’s.
I was still in my sweatpants with a zip-up sweatshirt on since today was cold and rainy. Plus I only had a sports bra on under this. I’d just stuffed my barefeet into my cowboy boots and my hair looked a fright. But Kendall was the only one who would see me like this and at six in the morning she would look no better.
“Look, stupid,” I began in a singsong voice. “Just get on the trailer. You are the last one that has to go over. You are the only thing standing between me and my bed and a shower.” Hoping my speech had persuaded him to get on the trailer, I gave it a go again.
The horse reared back a little. “Seriously?” I asked, losing my patience. “The trailer isn’t going to eat you.”
I tried putting more steady pressure on the rope. The horse was having none of it.
Finally the horse lost patience with me and realized he weighed about eleven times more than me. He reared back and tried to rip the rope from my grasp. Obviously I didn’t want him to get loose so I tried not to let go. I got dragged through half of the garden before I realized I would get hurt if I didn’t let go.
My hand was stinging as I pushed myself to my feet. I looked down at it. I had a few raw, oozing blisters and a place where the rope had sliced the skin and I was bleeding. “You-“ Screw it. Not swearing could start tomorrow. And then I let loose with a stream of cussing that would have made my parents cry.
“My, my, is the Queen allowed to speak like that?”
I turned and immediately wished a hole would swallow me. “What are you two doing here?”
“Laughing mostly,” Campbell answered. Cael was mostly glowering. “Nice outfit.”
I glared at him and turned to track the horse. The horse hadn’t gone far. Shaking my still burning hand I advanced on him. The stupid thing was so focused on eating that he didn’t even move away, making it easier for me to grab the rope that was dragging on the ground.
“So help me god, if you do not get on that trailer…” Queen of the empty threat. But it worked. He walked right on.
“Listen I’ve got to take this piece of crap to a friend’s house,” I explained to the boys as I shut and secured the trailer door. “You can stay here or you can come along.” I wouldn’t be gone long enough for them to do hardcore snooping.
I could tell Cael wanted to stay and poke around. But I could be trapping him. And he knew that I knew what he was thinking. “We’ll go,” he answered.
“So what’s up with the rogue horse?” Campbell asked. He slid over to the middle of the three seater truck. His long legs were going to make it hard to shift gears.
“I’m battening down the hatches,” I answered.
Kendall’s house was only ten minutes away. Thank god. I have never sat through so awkward a car ride. I pulled the truck into the bumpy driveway.
“Make sure you hit every bump,” Cael said. “And on the way back I saw a couple that you missed. They shouldn’t be left out.”
I threw the truck into park and glared at him while he and Campbell jerked forward. “Listen, Cupcake, this is not the morning to be pissy with me. If your little attitude is going to continue I suggest you not get out of the truck because Kendall will literally kill you.”
Kendall literally almost killed me when she saw the two very cute boys sitting in my truck. “Honestly, Cort, a warning would be nice. I look like crap.” She gestured at her running shorts, sweatshirt, and cowboy boots. “And my hair is a mess.”
I paused in the middle of unlatching the trailer gate. “Yes, your perfectly straight hair is hardly presentable. Where does that leave mine?” It left mine in a ponytail, that’s where. But even elastic can’t hold my hair. Little curls were springing out everywhere because of the moisture in the air.
I unlatched the gate and quickly snapped the lead rope onto the halter. “Please tell me this is the last one,” Kendall said. “I need to sleep.”
“Oh, me too,” I said, nimbly avoiding having the stupid horse step of the back of my heel. He does it on purpose, I swear. “And this last pain in my wazoo is it.”
“How are you supposed to sleep with two relatively unknown people in your house?”
It was a good question. And the answer was, quite nicely.
I unlocked the front door and headed for the stairs. “TV, kitchen, bathroom,” I said, pointing. “If you need me I’ll be upstairs, sleeping.” With my bedroom door locked and blocked.
I woke up a good three hours later, stretching. What was I forgetting? Oh, yeah, I had guests. But it’s not like they could get into trouble.
As if I jinxed myself there were some loud yells and thumps and then a crash. “What the-?” I rolled off my bed.
I opened my door and sprinted down the hallway and almost knocked Shayla down as she was running up.
I grabbed her by the arms. “Are you okay?” we asked simultaneously. “What’s going on?”
“I was just sleeping,” I explained.
“I just came because my house is lonely,” she said at the same time.
“And I was super tired to I’ve been in my room for like-“
“And I knock on the door and no one answers so I got the spare key-“
“And I left Campbell and Cael downstairs to amuse themselves-“
“And I walk in and there’s some strange guy poking around in your cabinets so I disabled him and came looking for you.”
“What?” We asked at the same time.
“Oh, shit, which one did you take out?” I asked, heading down the stairs.
“Well, I know what Cam looks like. And if I saw him here I’d just figure…”
I cut her off with a scowl over my shoulder. “Cael is going to throw a bitch fit.”
“Thinking back on it, he was getting a plate out. What kind of assassin checks out the glassware? And he’s kind of cute…”
“Shay,” I said rudely.
“What? You’re single. He’s cute. Whatcha waiting for?”
I turned the corner into the kitchen and flinched. “Cael. Are you okay?”
He was sitting up, shards of glass all around him. There was this dazed look on his face. “Now where did she learn to fight dirty?” I knelt next to him, checking for blood.
I looked over my shoulder at Shayla, who shrugged, basically saying, ‘my daddy taught me, who else?’ Campbell appeared in the doorway, out of breath. “Cael, I didn’t see the assassin or Cort…hello. Shay, what are you doing here?”
“I attacked you brother because I thought he was an assassin,” Shay said sheepishly. “And I am really sorry about that,” she directed at Cael.
r /> “I probably would have done the same thing.”
He made motions to get up. “Here, let me give you a hand,” I offered. “I don’t want you to cut your hand on the glass.” It was the least I could do since he’d sent Campbell to save me.
He looked at my offered hand like it was a poisonous reptile. “I think you’re a little tiny to be helping anyone up.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hands. I held back the “oomph,” as I pulled him to his feet. “I am not tiny. I’m just right. And we prefer the term petite.”
Cael looked down at me. In my bare feet he had about five or six inches on me. “I get the feeling that you’re just right for a lot of things.”
I was fidgeting because Cael was super cute and he was super close at the moment. And was I the only one who caught the secret meaning to his last comment? Probably but the thought was still there. Cael looked down. “You probably shouldn’t be standing in the glass area with your bare feet.” He grabbed me by the tops of my arms and lifted me up, sitting me down out of distance.
“I find this highly offensive,” I said to him as I was carried across the kitchen, about level with his face.
“I told you that you were tiny.”
“Kicked your butt, didn’t I?” I called as I went to find shoes and a broom. “And if my mom asks, an assassin broke that plate.”
“Those damn assassins,” Shayla said. I sent her a smile.
“I think I kicked your butt,” Cael disagreed, trying to take the broom.
“I got it,” I said, sweeping the glass into a pile. “As you will recall, you were the one rolling around in the garbage, groaning.”
The door was knocked on. “Got it,” Cael said, heading towards it. I was kneeling, sweeping the glass into the dust pan, listening as the door opened.
I flinched when I heard the sound of something heavy hitting the wall and another something breaking.
“Who the hell are you?” I heard Monty demand. I shook my head. She’d been waiting for a chance to use that move again.
I quietly crept out to stand apologetically over Cael. He looked up at me, looking at the broken lamp. “Those damn assassins.”
An hour later all of us were seated around my kitchen table. And by all, I meant my extremely small army. All of us were silent. Cael was warily watching my friends, like any one of them would start pummeling him.
By now I was showered and looked human. But sitting between Kendall and Shay had me feeling plain. Maybe my self-esteem issues were what led to my Seeker outfits. Hmm. I would psychoanalyze later.
“Well, here we are,” I began brightly. Everyone glared at me. It was clear who they blamed for being here. “So…”
“I don’t know this whole story,” Cael said. “And I’m not sure how reliable Cam’s sources are.”
I explained the whole situation. “So all you have to do is get rid of the rebels, give your powers back, and you’re done.”
And find my long lost brother and get rid of all the unwanted powers around this table but… “Basically yeah.”
“I still don’t get why they chose you,” Campbell said. “You’re twenty seventh. I’m sure there was someone closer to the throne that has, gee, armies and defenses.”
I shrugged. “I think the Queen skipped over the pansy nobility and handed it off to the closest Seeker. I have nothing tying me down and can defend myself.”
“I still don’t like it,” Cael said.
“Yeah, something does seem hinky,” Kendall said.
“Great, now you speak up,” I said.
“Well, it’s not like I had any say in the matter,” she retorted.
“Let it go. I get it; you all hate me for giving you your powers again. The next time I have a target sign practically tattooed to my forehead I’ll just go it alone.”
“That’s all we ask,” Monty said primly.
“So you four have been out of training?” Cael asked. “That’s not good.”
“It’s not something you forget,” Shayla said. “As demonstrated earlier.”
“But you do get rusty,” Asher sided with Cael. “I’ll admit it.”
“Speaking of rusty, Princess here gets to train and read the Good Queen’s Guide to Success,” Cael eyed me. “You haven’t been training either.”
“I was Seeking. That counts as training.”
“Nope. Cam will check his sources and see if there’s anything underhanded about this deal. I will assist all of you. And if anybody has someone trustable to bring to the table, numbers wouldn’t hurt.”
“You know,” Cam began thoughtfully. “We need-“
“I already left a message.”
“For who?” I asked curiously.
“Someone who can get us out of this mess.”
-Chapter 4-