Flames, page 6
Neither Naelen nor I replied.
I didn’t know how Naelen felt, but I was reeling. This Merida woman had known about the monocle. How had she known? We’d barely been able to put up a fight against her. Now, we were prisoners?
Why had she locked us up? What was going on with the Order? Penny had said that they locked up magical criminals. Did they think that Naelen and I were criminals? And this Merida Price woman? Who was she? Eden had said that a new guard had taken over at the Order. Did that mean that they were no longer behaving anything like the way they’d behaved when Penny had tangled with them?
What the hell was going on?
“Quick tip,” said Cunningham. “Don’t touch the bars. They shock you pretty bad. Zap magic right out of you.”
I glared at him. That just made this all even worse. I was locked up here for no reason that I could fathom, I was confused as hell, and the only person I could see was Cunningham, the man who’d forced me to do all kinds of awful things against my will.
“Where’s Logan?” said Cunningham. “Kind of figured they’d be putting him in the cell next to mine.”
I didn’t answer him. Naelen didn’t either.
“Unless he’s in some other area of the prison. This is only one cell block. There are others in the place. So, did they separate him from the two of you for some reason?”
I only glared.
Cunningham tapped his chin. “Or maybe he’s being interrogated right now. Maybe they’ll bring him in later.”
I walked to the side of my cell, sat down on my bed, and made a show of putting my hands over my ears.
“Oh, come on,” said Cunningham. “I haven’t had anyone to talk to in days. The least you could do is keep me in the loop.”
I inspected my fingernails.
“He’s not dead or something, is he?” said Cunningham. “Did they do something to Logan?”
“Like you care,” growled Naelen.
“Aha!” Cunningham focused on Naelen. “Gotten through to you then, have I? I have to admit, I like Clarke more than you. But you’ll do. I’ll be happy to talk to you if it’s a choice between you and nobody. So, go on, then. Tell me what’s happened to Logan.”
Naelen sighed.
“He is dead, isn’t he?” Cunningham sunk his hands into his hair. “Did this awful Order do it? They’re such bastards. I didn’t think there was any power on earth strong enough to stop me when I had seven of the objects on my person, but I was wrong. They got me, and they stuck me in here, and now they’ve killed Logan. When I get a chance, I’m going to make them pay for all of it.”
“Logan’s not dead,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” Cunningham’s face broke into a big grin. “Did you just speak to me, Clarke? Well, I’m pleased, I must say. I like you, Clarke. I really like you, and I’ve missed you. I wouldn’t have let you go at all if you hadn’t developed a nasty habit of blocking all my magic—how were you doing that, by the by?”
I was feeling ill. Cunningham used to always tell me that he was making me do the horrible things he compelled me to do because he liked me. Somewhere in his twisted brain, he thought he was doing me some kind of favor, but I wasn’t interested.
“So, where is he?” said Cunningham. “Where’s Logan?”
I got up off the bed. “It’s not your business, but he went off on his own.”
“But the three of you were a thing,” said Cunningham. “Logan is desperately in love with you Clarke. He worships you.”
“Not anymore,” I said.
“What?” Cunningham’s jaw dropped. “That’s crazy. Did he say that to you, Clarke? Did he say that he wasn’t in love with you anymore?”
“Yes,” I said. He hadn’t said that, not exactly, but he’d said things that were close.
“Well, he was lying,” said Cunningham. “Making it up. Probably just jealous of Naelen here. If I’d have been around, I would have compelled him to stay.”
“Thank goodness you weren’t then,” I said through gritted teeth.
Cunningham feigned hurt. “Oh, really now? You are so ungrateful, Clarke. You are the most ungrateful person I know. The things I have done for you. Would still do for you. And yet you treat me like dirt.”
I eyed him. “Last time I saw you, you were trying to kill me.”
“Only because you were trying to kill me first,” said Cunningham. “It was self-defense. Honestly, I’m willing to let all that go. By-gones and all that. Let’s forget about it and be friends again. Both of you.”
“We were never friends,” said Naelen.
“Well, no, not exactly,” said Cunningham. “But close enough. And now it seems we’ve got a common enemy. Nothing like that to bring people together, yeah?” He beamed at us.
I groaned. “Are you going to shut up anytime soon?”
“Now, you’re just being mean,” said Cunningham.
I sighed. Maybe it was better when I was trying to ignore him.
“I’m sorry about Logan,” said Cunningham. “I tried very hard to give you your fantasy, Clarke. I wanted you to have both of them.”
“I didn’t want both of them.” I rushed at the bars. I grabbed them and shook them as if I was shaking Cunningham himself.
“Hey,” said Cunningham. “Those bars are doing nothing to you.”
“That’s because I’m human, asshole,” I said. “I don’t have any magic for them to zap.”
“Oh,” said Cunningham. “Well, aren’t you the lucky one.” He cocked his head. “I really wasn’t expecting to see you two here. I figured you and this Order place were all in on this together. I figured you told them how to find me. It’s the kind of asinine thing you people would be into, what with all their chanting and their self-righteousness and their ‘the pristine color inspires purity—’”
“What?” I shook the bars again. “What did you say?”
“They say that a lot,” said Cunningham. “They all wear white, and they go on and on about purity. It’s annoying.”
I swallowed hard. So, that was how they knew all about the monocle and us and everything. “Gina,” I whispered.
* * *
The next day, my sister appeared at my cell. They gave her a chair, one that was a few feet out of reach of the bars of my cell, and they had her sit down on it. All of the people who came in were wearing white. The guards were in white jumpsuits and Gina was in one of those long white robes. She settled into her white chair and gave me a sympathetic look. “How are you, little sister?”
I gripped the bars. “What the hell, Gina? What is this?”
“We need to know where the final object is,” she said.
“I need to know how it is that you’re involved with these people,” I said.
Gina laughed, sounding confused. “But you do know. You’re the one who checked me into the Magnolia Center.”
“What does the Magnolia Center have to do with the Order?” I said.
“The Magnolia Group has taken over the Order to use in service of the highest pure power,” she said.
“What the hell does that mean?” I said.
“Exactly what I said,” she replied. “That we’re in charge of the Order now. And we’re using it for the greater good.”
“Uh huh,” I said. “How does locking us up figure into that?”
“We’ll let you go as soon as you help us find the final object,” she said.
“What do you want with the objects?” I said.
“We want to release Jacques, of course,” she said.
“Really?” I let out a funny, strangled noise. “Really? That’s what the Magnolia Group has always wanted?”
“Yes, ever since we were founded by our visionary leader Merida Price. She spoke to Jacques, and he taught her to wear white, and to keep herself clean, and to celebrate pristine purity.”
“Oh my God.” I put my fingers to my lips. “I’m so sorry I sent you to that place, Gina. I thought they would help you, not brainwash you.”
“I’m sorry too,” said Naelen. “It’s my money they used to brainwash you.”
Gina sighed. “They did help me. Don’t be silly. I’m cured of my addictions now. I’m free. And I’m serving Jacques in my own way.”
“Listen.” I gripped the bars. “Gina, I don’t know what they’ve told you about Jacques, but he’s evil, okay? He’s a criminal from another dimension who committed atrocities.”
“He’s a great man trapped by people with small minds,” Gina countered.
“No,” I said. “You can’t release him. It would be incredibly dangerous to unleash him on the world.”
“Why do you think that?” said Gina.
“Because that’s who he is,” I said.
“Says who?”
“Well… Eden Hudson, specifically, I guess,” I said. “But it’s the history of Jacques.” I yelled in the direction of Cunningham’s cell. “Back me up, here. That Jacques guy is bad news. That’s why someone like you wanted to let him out.”
Cunningham was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling intently. “Are you talking to me?”
I sighed. “Seriously, Gina. You can’t trust these people. They aren’t your family. I’m your family. You and me. It’s always been you and me.”
She gave me a sad smile. “That’s why it hurts me to see you locked up like this, Clarke. And why I want you to cooperate, so that they’ll let you go. So, tell us where the object is.”
“I don’t know where it is.”
“Merida has spoken to Jacques. When she was a guardian of the comb, he would come to her in dreams and tell her about the fabulous power for good that awaited her if she could assemble all the objects. He wants to help people. Merida is going to use him to further the good work that the Magnolia Group does.”
“Well, then Jacques is lying to Merida,” I said.
“Merida is a very good judge of character,” said Gina. “She’s been working with druggies and prostitutes and thieves for years. She knows if someone is through-and-through bad or if there’s a kernel of good inside them. With Jacques, though, you don’t have to worry. He is full of white light. We wear white in honor of him. In honor of his cleanliness and goodness.”
This was worse than I thought. My sister had not gone to a rehab center like I’d thought. Instead, she’d been indoctrinated into a magical cult that wanted to bring back an evil madman. I thought of all the times that I’d been so grateful that Gina had turned her life around, and I felt like a fool. How could I have been so naive, dismissing her weird claims about purity and white light as if it was just sentimental hogwash? Why hadn’t I seen what was happening to her?
Gina was still talking. “It was Jacques’s idea for Merida to start the Magnolia Center. He wanted her to help people. He said to go to the downtrodden and the ones without hope and to bring them opportunity. He had her use her experience working with addicts to create a place that helped everyone. And because of Jacques, there are so many people who have been touched and healed. We are an army of goodness.”
“Right,” I muttered. “Not a bunch of impressionable people who were willing to trust the people who got them out of the darkest period in your life.” This Jacques person had targeted helpless people who would be grateful and malleable and turned them into automatons, no compulsion necessary.
“Of course we trust Merida,” said Gina. “She and Jacques saved us.”
Naelen spoke up. “How was Merida speaking with Jacques?”
“Well, she didn’t after the comb was stolen.” Gina turned to glare at Cunningham. “Then the dreams stopped. But now that she is in possession of the objects again, he comes to her in dreams and visions. He says she must find the last object and soon.”
“Is that possible?” said Naelen. “Dream communication?”
“I guess this Jacques guy is pretty powerful,” I said.
“Merida is probably a sensitive,” came Cunningham’s voice. “Maybe she’s got some dragon blood way back in her line or something. Some of the most powerful mages do, you know.”
It was true that some humans had hidden reserves of magic that might have been inherited from intermarrying among dragons and humans. Well… maybe not marrying, what with the dragon bond. Breeding, anyway.
“So, this Jacques guy is really communicating with her, then,” said Naelen. “Man. Did you ever have dreams about the guy when you had objects, Cunningham?”
“I don’t know,” said Cunningham. “I never remember my dreams.”
“We’re getting off track,” said Gina. “We need to know where the final object is.”
“I don’t know where it is,” I said. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Not even for me, Clarke?” said Gina. “For your only sister?”
“Who’s complicit with the people who have me locked up?” I said.
“That’s only because you won’t cooperate,” said Gina. “Tell us about the object, and you’re free. You and Naelen both.”
“We can’t tell you what we don’t know,” said Naelen.
“I know where it is,” spoke up Cunningham in a cheerful voice.
Gina got up from her chair. “If you want to get out of here, you’d better find a way to figure out where that object is. Please help us, Clarke. Please.”
* * *
“Clarke?” Naelen’s voice in the darkness. “You awake?”
It was late at night, at least I thought it was. I was relying on my circadian rhythms to know anything about the time, because there were no windows in this place. I actually had been asleep. Somehow, Naelen’s soft voice had awakened me.
“No,” I muttered.
“Sorry,” he said.
I got up off the bed in my cell, which wasn’t particularly comfortable, because I could feel the slats digging into my back through the thin mattress. I went to the bars. “I’m up,” I said in a quiet voice. “What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to say how sorry I was about Gina,” said Naelen. “I didn’t see that coming.”
A lump rose in my throat. “Yeah, well, neither did I.”
“We’ll fix it, you know that, right?” he said. “We’ll stop these Order people, and we’ll get your sister free of them, and we’ll get her back.”
I rested my forehead against the bars of the cell. “How are we going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But we will. Focus on the future for a minute. Think about how much better everything’s going to be when we’re all free of this place.”
But when I thought of the future, I thought back on the life we’d left at Sea City, and that was just uncertainty and pain. The future was dealing with Naelen’s mating bond. I sighed, and I sank down to the ground. I turned so that I could lean my back against the bars.
“Are you thinking about it?” he said.
“Naelen, that doesn’t really make me feel better,” I said. “I don’t even know what I’ll do with Gina. What if she goes back on drugs after all of this? What if she needed the Magnolia place to get clean and she won’t be able to make it without them?”
“That’s not true,” he said.
“And I’ll have to stay in Sea City with her. That was the thing that always kept me grounded there. Gina. Taking care of Gina. I couldn’t go gallivanting off with Logan because I had to be there for her. So, you and I will have to stay there, and Juliet will come by your house every other day—”
“No, she won’t,” said Naelen. “I’ll move.”
“She’ll find you,” I said. “She’s your mate. She won’t give up that easily. And you want her too, so you’re not going to try that hard to hide.”
He groaned. “Let’s not do this. Let’s not fight about this here.”
“Fine,” I said.
We were quiet.
“I wish you wouldn’t keep pulling away from me is all,” said Naelen. “Even here, when we need to be together to fight these people, there’s a rift between us.”
“I can’t help it,” I said. “I know that logically, I shouldn’t be angry with you for sleeping with her, since I was sleeping with Logan, but it’s just… it’s driving me insane.”
“I do know how that feels,” said Naelen. “I went through that phase while we were locked up with Cunningham, though.”
I remembered how the two of them had been at each other’s throats for the first month or so that we’d been captured.
His voice was gentle. “It gets better.”
I sighed. “You were willing to share me with him. How could you have done that? I can’t imagine doing that.”
“I was trying to make the best of a bad situation,” he said.
“I wish I could let it go,” I said. “I wish I could.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Later, I was back on the uncomfortable mattress, trying my best to sleep when I heard Naelen’s voice again. But this time I also heard Cunningham’s.
I stayed still, barely moving, straining to hear every word of their quiet conversation.
“So, you have a mate?” Cunningham was saying.
Bastard had been eavesdropping on our conversation? Well, of course he had. He got his jollies treating other people like they were his own personal reality TV show, so eavesdropping was right up his alley.
“Don’t talk to me.” Naelen’s voice was gruff.
“Well, it’s not as if we’re separated by actual walls,” said Cunningham. “So, it would have been hard for me to not overhear what it was that you and Clarke were talking about.”
“Look,” said Naelen. “Just so we’re clear, I hate you. As soon as I get the chance, I’m going to kill you.”
Cunningham snorted. “Yes, yes, I’m aware that you two have gone homicidal.”
“It’s not homicide. It’s revenge. Pure and simple. You treated us like we were less than people, and you deserve to die.”
“So, you’d prefer I didn’t talk to you, because it might be harder to kill someone you’d been having regular conversations with? No, thanks,” said Cunningham. “Not that you actually could kill me, of course.”
Silence from Naelen.
Cunningham kept talking. “I’m getting the impression that you don’t want to be mated. That about accurate?”
