Hadrian turned his attention to the other sisters. Hadley would want him to make sure they were all right. He shook his head. No, he couldn’t allow himself to start to think of her in the past tense, as if that were a given. He was surrounded by amazing people—someone would find her and then he would go and get her.
Annabelle looked the same as she had when last he’d seen her in the Shadow Land, only less red. She sat by herself, off to the side, and a vacant look in her eyes told him she was thinking about something other than her current situation. Bethany seemed pissed off—but then she always had—and Clarice huddled close to her. Eloise and Felicia were both well dressed, as if someone had taken care of them, but it was Grace who held his gaze.
Stone approached her, offering her a rag, which she took, although she still didn’t look up from where she was staring at the floor. The mines. If she knew Stone it meant she’d been in that cursed place. The lights in here must be killing her eyes.
“Stone, take Grace somewhere darker.”
His younger comrade looked confused for a moment but then realization dawned in his eyes. He hurried the woman out of the room. Hell, he was surrounded by Pettigrew women.
A sudden thought struck him as funny and he chuckled. Hadley, and of course Hailey although he’d never met her, had been the only Pettigrew girls he hadn’t seen right after their births. Even after he’d left, he’d come back secretly to see the others’ births.
But not Hadley, because he’d already decided he would have to take action to stop the cycle and he knew it might involve having to use one of the babies. He couldn’t let himself know the girls, even for a moment, if it meant they were going to be his means for getting back.
But Hadley had changed that. Hell, she had changed everything. He swung around to look at Dragon. His brother leaned against the wall, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“So if you didn’t get the women here, how did this come to be?”
Dragon shrugged. “I think it was Leon.”
“He sent out the power words, asking for things to be set right. They must have been meant to be here, which would mean that Hadley is where she is supposed to be too.”
Hadrian picked up a wooden chair and threw it against the wall. His men quickly dispersed. He suspected that after two hundred plus years together they knew better than to deal with him when he was like this. His brother, by contrast, didn’t budge.
“That was probably a three-thousand-year-old chair designed and made by our grandmother.”
Hadrian looked at the mess he’d made. “I’m surprised it ever survived Father. He broke more things than I ever could.” He kicked at a piece of splintered wood. “Now I guess it’s firewood.”
“Why did you break our heirloom?”
He stormed to the window. “Because I’m sick to death of fate. My fate is to be with Hadley. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, even some superior universal consciousness that you and Leon are content to trust. I have to find her.”
Dragon nodded. “All right. This is going to become my quest too, and I know who we need to call.”
“Who?”
“Rabbit. Follow me.”
Dragon marched himself into their parents’ room as if he owned it and picked up the water pitcher. He stared at it for a moment with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“Move.” Hadrian shoved Dragon out of the way. “Not like the fancier one in Astor, I suppose.”
Hadrian poured the water into the pitcher and concentrated on his sister. He imagined she had changed a great deal since he’d last seen her but it didn’t seem to matter, her face appeared on the screen.
For a second, all Hadrian could do was stare at Rabbit. She was a younger, more serene-looking version of his mother, except she had the Seers’ violet eyes. By the time it had been discovered that she was “different” it hadn’t been as much of a shock as it had been when Dragon was born. He suspected his baby sister had never known the stings his older brother had.
“I’ve been expecting your call for over an hour.”
Damn the Seers and their extra-worldly senses that let them anticipate the future. You never could surprise them. At least this time he didn’t need to—if Rabbit knew why they’d called perhaps she had prepared the information they needed.
“Where is she?” Not caring who heard him, he let some of the desperation he felt show in his voice.
“Earth.”
Hadrian pounded the table, nearly tipping over the pitcher. “I would travel to the pits of hell for her but I must tell you I despise that place. There will not be a minute there I will not be dying to get back home.”
“Hadrian, I’m afraid this all my fault.”
Rabbit’s declaration startled Hadrian and he and Dragon both stared at the screen. “How could that possibly be?”
“I was just a badly trained child when you left. I hadn’t learned to keep my visions to myself unless there was dire need. I was just grateful to get one. So when I had my first vision of Zamara’s future, I didn’t think not to tell her.”
“You told her she was going to be imprisoned and forced to mate and she still went? You told Zamara and you didn’t tell me?”
Up until that moment, Hadrian would have said he could no longer be surprised. He’d obviously been wrong.
“I told Zamara what I saw at the time, which was that she would have to suffer but that ultimately because she did we would all be saved, it would bring about a better time. I didn’t tell you, brother, because it wasn’t your business.”
“You sent us in blind. It might have been nice to know I was simply escorting Zamara to a planned disaster and that it wouldn’t be my fault, just destiny once again playing havoc with our lives through the mouth of my baby sister.”
“Hadrian, stop ranting.” Dragon rolled his eyes. “She’s just given you good news. We’re going into a better time.”
“Well…” Rabbit looked down at her hands.
“Well what?” Now even Dragon looked annoyed.
“It wavers now. Everything is gray.”
Hadrian waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Enough. There will be time enough to figure out the future at a later date when I actually have one because Hadley is with me. How will I rescue Hadley?”
Rabbit sighed. “I don’t see you doing that.”
“What?” Hadrian and Dragon both scoffed at her.
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t do it, just that I didn’t see it. There is much I don’t see.” The emotion in that last statement made Hadrian feel low. His sister, like all of them, put too much pressure on herself for perfection.
“The gift of sight has never been exact.” Dragon spoke using his authoritative, expert tone. It grated on Hadrian’s nerves but seemed to make Rabbit feel better.
“Thank you, Rabbit. For her location alone you have done us a great service.” Hadrian disconnected the communication and stared at Dragon. “Still want to go with me even now that my ability to do this is in doubt with our great Seers?”
“Normally I would say no. I have no desire to get caught up in the disasters you seem to bring upon yourself. But I must say I am intrigued by this attachment you have with the woman. Love is not really something we talk much about. Plus there will be the added benefit of returning her to the king. I’m sure to garner favor that way.”
Hadrian grinned. “You know, for just a moment you were actually really likable, then you had to keep talking.”
“That’s how I usually feel every time you open your mouth.”
Rolling his eyes, Hadrian patted his brother’s back. “Do I need a member of the royal family or can you open the portal?”
“Don’t insult me. I could open a portal to Earth in my sleep.”
“Then shut up and do it.”
Hadley was on Earth and he knew exactly who had her. This time he’d find a way to end the son of a bitch once and for all. Zacharias Pettigrew—or whatever his name was—had his hours numbered, and t
he best part was he didn’t even know it yet.
Chapter Twenty-One
“There, she’s coming around, see?” A strange voice Hadley didn’t recognize drove into her pleasant, cool unconsciousness and forced her to open her eyes.
Three faces loomed down at her. The first one, presumably the woman who’d spoken, Hadley had never seen before in her life, but she’d been in enough hospitals with various injuries to recognize a nurse’s uniform.
To the right, her sister Hailey stared at her with a face so close to her own and yet so different. Her twin’s eyes filled with tears and after a moment two slipped from her eye. She quickly wiped them away. “Oh thank heavens. I really feared the worst.”
“I told you, Hadley is too mean to die in a boat crash.”
Hadley’s gaze flew to the third speaker and she narrowed her eyes. She knew those tones too and she was less than thrilled to see him. Looking down at her, as innocent as a newborn, was her father. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, he’d appeared forty years old her whole life. What used to be a funny family joke about good genetics was not so amusing anymore.
Panic filled Hadley’s head and she shot up in bed. The nurse placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Easy there, I’m going to go call the doctor and tell him you’re awake.” She needed to get out of there and fast. Better yet, she needed to get Hailey out of there and then she could deal with her father.
She almost begged the nurse to stay, not to leave her with her father even if Hailey was present in the room.
Hadley swallowed. Her mouth felt dry. Hailey, who had always been wonderful at anticipating everyone else’s needs, handed her a cup with water and a small pink straw.
Taking a sip, she felt better.
How the hell had she gotten here? She made a split-second decision to play stupid and see what she could accomplish by keeping her father from getting suspicious.
“What’s going on? How did I get here?”
Hailey sat down on the side of the bed and stroked her head. “Had, do you not remember? Some terrorists stole you off your science vessel and you were nearly killed. When Dad’s men showed up to rescue you twenty-four hours later, they found you floating on some driftwood.”
If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that was plausible. The whole thing could have been one giant hallucination brought on by trauma, salt water and too much direct sunlight. But she knew that wasn’t true. She’d seen her sisters, held them close, traveled through dimensions, spoken to the giant squid and fallen in love with Hadrian. None of that had been made up in her head.
“I see.” She nodded. “Yes, I remember being kidnapped.” Silently, she prayed she could keep her answers vague and ambiguous.
“What did they want, baby girl?” Her father stepped closer to the bed. “They were all killed in the fire that took down the ship. We never knew what they wanted—did they tell you?”
Hadley smiled but she feared that it came off as more of a smirk. Oh, they had told her things, all right. But what they had said she wouldn’t repeat to him. “I got the general impression they were angry with you, Dad.”
Anything her dad might have said was stopped by the arrival of the doctor who proceeded to poke and prod Hadley until she wanted to scream. As far as she was concerned, she had three objectives. The first was to get Hailey alone so she could somehow convince her sister that she was in grave danger staying near her father. Taking the shadow people out of the equation had been wonderful for them and terrible for dear old Dad. Hadley could guarantee that Leon would not be so forthcoming with the Breathless liquid her father needed to keep living. The second goal was to figure out something to do about her mother. She couldn’t be left to continue as she was, and if the Warriors who remained here couldn’t get to her, then maybe Hadley could. But that would mean finding some of them, convincing them not to tell her father what she knew and learning the location of her mother’s seclusion.
Finally she needed to get back to Hadrian. The thought caused a pang in her heart. That would be nearly impossible and it was very likely he had no idea where she was.
Dimensional travel was not something she knew how to do, although if she was going to get so consistently thrown from one place to another then maybe it was a skill she needed to learn.
Shaking her head as the doctor left the room, she decided she couldn’t deal with thinking about that right now. It would only make her crazy. When the time came, she would figure it out. She had to—her whole future happiness depended on it.
To make matters worse, Hadley suspected she had to get all this done before her father spoke to Leon and learned that he would not be getting any more magical support to keep himself alive. Then she’d be a dead woman.
Hailey walked into the room humming to herself and carrying what looked like lilies in a blue vase. Hailey never seemed to remember that they made Hadley sneeze. She couldn’t help smiling at her sister’s absentmindedness—it was a trait you could count on with Hailey.
“Hailey, quickly, before Dad comes back, we have to talk.”
Her sister lowered her eyebrows and walked toward the bed. “What’s wrong, big sister?” Hadley smiled—she was, in fact, two minutes older than Hailey.
How the hell was she supposed to do this? Hadley took a deep breath. “Ever read any science fiction?”
Hailey’s shake of the head was all the answer Hadley needed. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Ever watched any on television?”
“Well sure, I’ve seen some. I mean who hasn’t?” Hailey’s voice raised two notes, a trait that always came out when something made her nervous.
“Hailey, our life is a science fiction extravaganza.”
Her sister raised an eyebrow. “How hard did you hit your head?”
“Don’t you think it’s weird that we don’t know Mom, don’t even have any pictures of her, have never seen a wedding album? Or that Dad never tells stories about her?”
Hailey shrugged, sitting down on the bed as she examined her nails. “I guess I always assumed he didn’t want to talk about her because he either loved her so much he couldn’t or he didn’t love her enough to talk about her.”
“It’s neither of those things.”
“Oh yes? You’re suddenly an expert on all things Dad, are you? Okay, fill me in.”
Hadley proceeded to do just that, and to her sister’s credit Hailey never said a word, never interrupted and never gave any indication that she thought Hadley was nuts.
When Hadley finished, Hailey sat very still, her eyes wide. Finally she spoke. “You’re joking, right?”
“I wish I was.”
“But things like that just don’t happen. You’re the scientist—you of all people should know that.”
A loud bang sounded as the door to the hospital room opened and hit the wall hard. It took Hadley a few minutes to realize who was standing there. She’d seen him before but it was the bald head that really gave him away. It was Hadrian’s second-in command, Jeremiah.
“You’ve told her, haven’t you?”
“Told Hailey, yes.”
“Damn it, this changes everything.” Jeremiah stalked toward the bed. “You’re not even supposed to be here right now. This wasn’t how I saw it in my vision.”
Hailey’s head moved back and forth as she followed the exchange between the two. She pointed at Jeremiah. “I’ve seen you somewhere, haven’t I? You’ve been following me. I thought I was out of my mind.”
“This is Jeremiah—he’s one of Hadrian’s warriors. We left him behind on Earth.”
“Hadley, get up, your father is coming and he has the other Warriors. He’s managed to convince them you’re a threat to the princess.”
Hadley didn’t need to be told twice. Pulling the IV connection out of her hand, which hurt like hell and made her bleed, she jumped up from the bed.
“He believes what you believe?” Hailey shouted now.
“He doesn’t just believe it—he knows it to be true.”
/>
Jeremiah ran to the door and stared out at the silent hallway. “Can you run, Hadley?”
She nodded. “I can.”
“Good, because I figure we have a two-minute escape window.”
Jeremiah ran back and grabbed Hailey. He scooped her up in his arms. It was a smart move, as there was no way Hailey was coming with them willingly. Hadley paused for a second, finding the whole thing very amusing as she watched Hailey ready herself to shriek just as Jeremiah’s hand clamped over her mouth. Just days ago, shrieking was exactly what she would have been doing. Now she was so used to this type of situation, she didn’t even need to be carried.
“Lead the way, Jeremiah.”
He ran for the door and Hadley kept as close behind him as she could manage. For all she knew, they were going to have to run for hours. Two nurses tried to stop them. Jeremiah, with one arm, cold-cocked them both as they made it to the stairwell.
As they took the stairs two by two, Hadley concentrated on her footing. Move, she instructed herself over and over again. There was no time to waste. If they caught her she was dead and, to make matters even more distressing, so was Hailey.
The hospital alarm sounded, ringing in her ears, and Hadley wondered if they’d make it out the door.
“Jeremiah…” she panted, trying to talk as she ran.
“I know, I’m not sure how we’re going to get out either.” He swung around, looking left and right, Hailey still kicking in his arms. “Damn it, woman, you don’t want me to drop you. Trust me on that.”
“Whatever happens, get her out of here. She still doesn’t believe and she’ll have no chance. Maybe I can reason with the men, talk to them about home and flying in the claws of birds.”
Jeremiah’s eyes got wide. “I didn’t think I was homesick until you said that.”
“What’s your animal?”
Grinning widely, he continued down the stairs. “The jaguar.”
A door at the bottom of the stairs slammed. Hadley skidded to a stop behind Jeremiah.
“Where is she?” The unmistakable voice blotted out everything else.