Storm Secrets, page 10
part #4 of Scarlet Jones Series
“Are you saying that the demons use marble the same way fairies use ravenstone?” Stacey asked.
“It’s a possibility,” said Vera.
“But the marble is here. The ravenstone the fairies use is in their realm. Am I right?” I asked.
“Correct, but we’ve never conducted any decent geological studies of the world to search for paranormal elements because we don’t think it’s important.” Vera rolled her eyes, but she was terribly excited. “Who’s to say there is no ravenstone here as well?”
“Are you saying there is?” Wick asked.
“I’m saying we don’t know for sure. Maybe the humans can’t detect it. Maybe only paranormals can see it.”
“Back to the point. So the demons hover around marble. What can we do with that knowledge?” asked Wilder.
Vera shrugged. “You’re the captain.” I almost hi-fived her.
“Test it,” I said. “We need to test marble for supernatural properties.”
“Hasn’t that been done already?” asked Archie.
“It can be done again,” Vera said, rising to her feet. “I’ll be in the laboratory for the rest of the day, if you need me.” Rushing to her desk, she grabbed a folder, her purse, and some keys. “Don’t ruin my maps. I’ll let you know if there are any updates.”
“That wasn’t very helpful,” Wick mumbled, standing.
“She already has all these places marked. What are we waiting for?” I asked Wilder.
“Preparations,” he said, turning his back to me as he stared at the floor.
I could argue with him again. I wanted to argue with him again, but that would only take me back to square one. As with many other things lately, I swallowed my pride and cleared my throat.
“Wilder, this dragon doesn’t need preparations. Trust me, I’ve been caught off guard by those demons more than a few times, and this baby always comes through. I’m standing right here. I’m alive. That has to be enough for you.”
“Your dragon is not the issue here,” said Wilder. “It’s you. We need to make sure you know how to work with the team. I planned to give you a week, but you did well yesterday. Please don’t make me do something neither of us wants.”
Biting my tongue until I tasted blood, I went around his huge body and faced him. “Those people need help.”
“And I plan to keep them alive. To keep everyone alive.” He meant his own people. His soldiers. His team. Whatever.
“It’s no wonder they call you Mad. You’ve got a few screws loose in your head, Wilder.” My voice didn’t rise. I didn’t sound pissed off, though I was. I just sounded plain sad.
Wilder’s lips stretched into a smile but it was forced. It didn’t reach his eyes, which had now turned black again. Without another word, he strode out of the office.
“It’s short for Maddox,” said Wick.
“What?”
“His nickname, Mad, is short for Maddox.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I whispered, more to myself than to him, and made my way back to the desk. It didn’t matter if Maddox-Mad-Wilder-Captain-Asshole wanted to wait. I had the address. If you know me by now, you know exactly what I was about to do.
Eleven
“I need access to the other files,” I said and tried to kick him in the teeth, but Wilder moved away. I jumped back and we continued to circle each other.
After I’d calmed down and made my plan, I decided it was time to look for Elisa. The problem was, I had no access to anything that didn’t have to do with demons. The only person who could give me that access was freaking Wilder. So I had to play nice. It was easy now that I knew what to do.
I found him in the training arena. This time, he wasn’t alone. Twelve others like him were down there, fighting each other, the dummies, and thin air. That didn’t stop me from going to him and asking for a fight.
“What for?” he asked and tried to kick me in the gut. I ducked at the last second.
“To find someone,” I said. “A friend.”
“You’ve got access to the Dirt files.”
I stopped in my tracks. “I do?” That second cost me a fist in my shoulder that paralyzed my right side for a long moment.
“Yep. Ask Stacey. She’ll tell you where to find it,” he said with a smile. He was in a much better mood now, having blown off steam with his fists.
“I’ll definitely do that, but I need access to all files,” I said with a flinch and continued to jump around while he charged me. “The friend I’m looking for isn’t a Storm witch.”
“So what is she then? Or he?”
“Bone,” I blurted before I thought about it. But I didn’t want him to know that I was looking for Elisa. Even if he did know that she existed, I was better off keeping this to myself.
“Well, you can’t have access to all files, Dirt. Doesn’t work that way.”
I slapped him hard across the face, and the surprise cost him a kick in the left leg. “So make it. You’re the mighty Captain, aren’t you? I just need a peek.”
Jumping back, Wilder rubbed his cheek. I was hoping my fingers were imprinted on it by now. It would make for a hell of a view—and a perfect motivation to keep on hitting him.
“I’m Captain, not stupid,” he said, and when he moved his hand from his face, his cheek was only a bit red. No imprinted fingers. Dammit.
With a sigh, I stopped moving and lowered my hands. “What will it take?” He wanted something, as everybody always does, and I was willing to give him a lot to find Elisa. Just the thought that she was out there, in need of my help, or in the hands of that monster Jane Dunham, made me want to start running already.
“Nothing, Dirt. Didn’t your parents teach you that no means no?”
I grinned. “Nope. They taught me that as long as you have powerful friends, the rules don’t apply to you. You’re my friend, aren’t you, Wilder?”
“Must have been a tough upbringing,” he said, then spun around and tried to kick me in the face. I jumped away at the last second but didn’t charge back.
“I’ve heard of worse,” I said, thinking about all those Storm witches who’d been kicked out of their homes by their own parents and lived in the streets for years. I at least had everything my heart desired. Everything that money could buy. “So, friend? Will you help me out?”
He tried to kick me again, but I moved faster.
“Give me a name. I’ll see what I can do for you,” he said, but the half smile on his face wasn’t genuine, and something told me that he wasn’t even going to bother—if I told him Elisa’s name.
“No name. Just access,” I tried for one last time.
“See, this is where it gets confusing. You want a friend found, but you want to find them yourself.”
I shrugged. “What’s confusing about that?”
He shook his finger at my face. “You say they are Bone, but you didn’t say they were in trouble.”
“They’re not.”
“So why not give me the name?” he said, searching my face inch by inch. “Why hide it?”
I stared into his eyes that changed from light to dark every time he moved and willed him with my own to just give in. But he wouldn’t. I already knew that, even before he raised his hands in the air, then turned around and walked to the doors.
“See you in the office,” he called.
Cursing under my breath, I sighed. “Okay, wait!”
Wilder stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned his head to the side, watching me out of the corner of his eye.
“Fine, I’ll give you the name.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. Had I lost my mind?
Wilder turned to face me. I probably had lost it, but I was desperate. Finding Elisa was bigger than my pride. It was bigger than getting the both of us in trouble. When I found her, whatever came next, we could face it together. Between the two of us, there wasn’t much we couldn’t handle.
Then, Wilder nodded his head to the right. When I looked, I almost had a heart attack. I’d completely forgotten about all the soldiers in the training arena. They pretended not to look, but they were. I’d bet half of them had heard every single word I’d said. And when I looked back at Wilder, he was gone.
Running up the stairs, I thanked God he’d warned me before I’d spoken in front of the soldiers. It also made me feel a tiny bit better to know that Wilder didn’t want me to get burned, or he would have left me to speak in the arena. Upstairs, I changed in the plastic box that was slowly starting to feel like an upright coffin, and rushed out, breathing heavily. I found Wilder waiting for me by the doors. Without another look at the guards, I went to him, running my fingers through my hair.
“I’m all ears,” he said as we walked back to the research building.
“I don’t want you to freak out, okay? And I know you’re going to hate this, but I really need it.”
He laughed. “Trust me, I know. You’d have never agreed to tell me if you didn’t.”
With a loud sigh, I spilled my guts as fast as my tongue would let me. “Her name is Elisa Dunham, and she’s a Hedge witch. She’s helped all Storm witches get where we are. I swear it, she’s one of the good guys.”
Wilder’s brows shot up, and he stopped walking. “A Hedge witch?”
“Yes, a Hedge witch, and yes, they’re still around. Not extinct,” I said before he could ask.
“Dunham,” he whispered, looking at the ground, then started for the building again. “I’ve heard that name before.”
“If you could just give me what the ECU has on her. Anything at all that can help me find her, I’ll owe you a huge favor.”
Offering favors to an ECU werewolf made me want to barf. It was stupid, and reckless, and something you just didn’t do. Whatever it was about this guy that made me trust him with this, I hoped to God it wouldn’t blow back in my face soon.
For a second, Wilder’s eyes widened in surprise. Again he did that whole searching-my-face-for-a-secret thing, and it made me very uncomfortable.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said, in barely a whisper.
“That means you won’t.” My voice was bitter, and I didn’t try to hide it.
“It means I’ll do what I can,” Wilder repeated.
“How long?”
“As long as it takes.”
“You know, I’d respect you more if you just told me to go screw myself,” I spit. By then, I realized I’d made a mistake telling him Elisa’s name. He wasn’t going to help me. On the contrary, he was probably just going to tell Erick Adams about it.
“I’d never say that to a woman,” Wilder said.
“I say it to men all the time. Here’s one: screw you, Wilder.”
I hurried to get away from him. Entering the building from the back door meant seeing fewer guards, for which I was thankful. Keeping my head down, I made my way up to the office on the second floor. He followed close behind but never said anything, though I thought I heard him chuckle. Just great. He found my frustration amusing. But before we entered the office, I took advantage of the empty hallway and faced him once more. No matter how much I disliked him in those moments, I still needed him.
“I need an advance.” I thought I was going to feel like shit to ask for money, but now that I was mad at him, it felt completely fine.
“We don’t give advances,” he said, trying to stifle a smile, which pissed me off more.
“I need a car. I can’t walk here every morning and go back every night.” Not to mention food.
Wilder shook his head and grabbed his hips. “How much?”
“Enough to get me a car.”
“I can pull some strings, but you’re not seeing that much money on your second day,” he said.
“Wilder, I really need a freaking car!” Was he going to make me beg for it?
“No, you don’t,” he said with a shrug. “Two wheels can get you anywhere just the same as four.” Holy cow… “And the hair looks better, by the way. Much better.”
***
At five-thirty, I was walking into a car dealership in the Upper West Side, as per Wilder’s recommendation. The piece of paper he gave me was in my hands.
“Tell them Mad Wilder sent you and show them this, and the money,” he said when he gave me a week’s advance, the address, and the guy’s phone number, in case I didn’t find him there. Wilder even winked at me because he probably saw in my eyes that he’d impressed me before I could hide it. But he had.
I knew it was only because he wanted to be in my good graces. After all, we were going to fight demons together, and he already knew what they were like. He wanted me on his side. As long as it kept him pulling strings for me, I’d take it.
So now, I was in the dealership, looking for a fella named Ricky, who was going to find me a bike to buy. The last time I rode one of those was almost four years ago. I messed around with Mack, the boy next door, for a few months, before his father brought him a Yamaha R1 for his birthday. He taught me how to drive it, hoping to get in my pants by the end of the learning sessions. Didn’t happen. Not because he sucked at teaching—he didn’t—but because he was too clingy for my taste. Kept texting me all day and night, bringing flowers every time he saw me…now, I might have found it cute, but as a teenager, I wasn’t into that kind of thing at all.
But good thing Mack taught me, because now, those lessons were going to come in handy.
Ricky was a thin man with a goatee and a spider tattooed on his left temple that gave me the creeps. Could be a werewolf, but if I had to guess, he was a witch of some kind. He wore jeans and a red shirt smeared with grease all over, but at least his hands looked clean. His coworkers were blunt in staring at me and grinned when Ricky walked me to the backyard, where he kept the few bikes on sale. I ignored them.
“How’s Mad treating ya?” he asked me, chewing on a toothpick.
“He told me about this place, so all right, I guess.” He also called me Dirt, which didn’t have the same effect on me as when anybody else did it, but Ricky didn’t need to know that.
“You’re in luck. With that kinda money, the only decent beast you can buy just came in the shop last week. Been saving it for someone special,” he said.
“And Wilder is special to you?” I asked, just out of curiosity.
Ricky laughed—a thin, long sound. “No, ma’am. A pretty thang like you looking to ride a beast is.”
I grinned. “You call them all beasts?”
“The only way to call them,” said Ricky with a nod. “And that right there is going to be yours, if you’ll have it.”
The bike he pointed at was the last in the line of nine bikes, seemingly hidden away behind all the cars Ricky had on sale in the back, older models than what he had in the front. The bikes were all covered in dust, some with mud caked around the wheels, none of them clean. The one he was pointing at was red and different from what Mack had had. It was big, the seat wide, the last wheel huge, and it had two boxes attached to the sides in the back. Its red leather was worn and pieces of it were missing to the sides but nothing I couldn’t do without. Excitement spiked my blood as I remembered how it had felt to ride a bike. It had been a long time, but now I couldn’t believe I’d never thought about it. I should have bought one of these a long time ago.
“Davidson XR750. It’s got a few years on its seat, but it’s better than most new things they make nowadays. Wanna give it a try, see if it likes you?” said Ricky.
I laughed. “Absolutely!”
Half an hour later, I rode out of Ricky’s dealership on my brand new Harley Davidson. At first, I couldn’t remember how to even turn it on, but Ricky was a patient witch. He went through the basics with me and then let me go in rounds in his garage until I got the hang of it. It cost me most of my advance, but I’d have money to feed myself for a few more days. Then, I’d ask Wilder to give me my second week’s salary in advance, too.
For now, I was happy to teach myself how to drive the beast, as Ricky called it, all the way to the monastery and show everyone what I’d gotten. I even got the cheapest phone I could find, and added Jimmy’s number—the only one I’d memorized before leaving. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten so excited about something I owned, and I really hoped that Ax would like it.
I’ll be honest, I almost crashed at least seven times, but my body was learning the functions quickly. It would take time, but I’d drive that thing every day and by the end of the week, I’d be a pro.
Night had started to turn the blue sky dark when I finally made it to the monastery. The floodlight was on, but there was nobody behind the makeshift gate we’d been forced to put up after Jane Dunham waltzed in like she owned the place. It was strange because there had to be guards everywhere at all times, but I didn’t think too much of it. And soldiers. ECU soldiers were supposed to be there, but maybe they were checking the perimeter around back. And the other Storms had probably gotten tired and hungry and were eating dinner. I got off my bike and pushed it inside the monastery grounds before leaving it by the fence. I began to walk to the chapel, knowing I’d find at least Calvin there, when I stopped again.
Something seemed…off. It took me a second to realize it: the silence. It was too silent around me. Perfectly silent.
Shaking my head, I continued for the chapel, knowing that my paranoia was just making shit up, like always. But when I pushed the double doors open, I found the lights on but nobody there.
“Hello?” I called, looking at the benches to the sides, but the only sound that came back was the echo of my voice.
My heart began to beat loudly. They’re in the dining hall, I whispered to myself over and over again, and I ran to the building next door as fast as I could, breathlessly.
I pushed the doors open with all my strength, my body already shaking. Just like in the chapel, the lights were on, but the hall was empty. So I ran to the offices on the other side. I searched each one and called every name I could remember. Nobody responded.
