Casted (Casted series) (10 page)

Dagger was waiting just inside the door as we neared the back porch. It stretched from one end of the house to the other. Tucked in one of the far corners was the girl. She was tattered and dirty. The only clean spots on her face were from tear tracks.

Dagger rushed over to where she was huddled. “Lark?”

She turned her face up to look at Dagger. When she realized who he was, she jumped up and latched on to him. She clung to him, sobbing words I could not hear. He pulled her away and wiped his thumb under her eyes. “You have to calm yourself. I cannot understand what you’re saying,” he told her.

Lark pulled jagged breaths of air in as she fought for control. “I tried to get them away, but there were too many…I didn’t know what to do. A man, he grabbed me and tossed something in my eyes. I can’t stop the voices, they are shouting at me…they want her,” she said, pointing at me.

I began to back away.

“Edge…he locked them up inside my head, but they won’t stay that way for long. They are too strong for even me to contain,” she gasped, throwing her hands up to her temples. It looked like she was trying to keep her head from splitting open. She bit her lip on a scream.

“I only have a few moments before they break through…you must listen to me!” Dagger picked her up and sat her on an oversized chair. She clung to him as if he were the only thing keeping her from flying apart.

“They seek the book. They can not have it…do you understand. Protect her and the book at all costs!”

“We don’t have the book,” Dagger told her.

“You will…I have seen it. You will have to split up or they will find her before you find the book. Split and stay alive. Stay together and you will die,” she gasped.

“Split with who?” Dagger asked.

“You have to trust Edge. He will keep her safe. Find the book–keep her safe…find the book…keep her-” her voice cut out and her body began to convulse. Blood trickled from her nose as her body stiffened out and then slumped away from Dagger.

“Lark? Can you hear me? LARK!” Dagger yelled.

“What happened?” Julie approached us.

“She’s gone,” Dagger whispered.

“Gone? She died?” I rushed to her side. I went to grab her arm and check for a pulse.

Dagger grabbed my hand before I could touch her. “If you put your hands on her, they will be able to trace you back to this very spot. She died to keep them away. Don’t make her death be in vain,” he said in clipped words.

I ran out of the room. How much more death would I have to see before this ended?

CHAPTER FIVE

Dagger and the remaining few from his Coven, buried Lark in a shady spot under the sweeping bows of a massive oak tree. I kept my distance, allowing them their time to grieve. Hot tears slid down my face as I watched Larks body being lowered into the ground. The Coven tossed wild flowers into the opening as they wept and held onto each other. How was I supposed to face any of them again?

“Such a waste,” Edge said as he silently stepped up behind me.

I jumped at his voice and dashed the tears away.

“Where have you been?” I asked him.

“Away,” he replied.

An unladylike snort escaped me. He was so belligerently callous.

He leaned against the tree that had been supporting me during the graveside service. “So they finally got to her.”

The tears started again. It infuriated me to show such weakness in front of a man who acted like he could care less. But I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t just because Lark had died. It was so much more. I let the tears fall for Rainy, who was missing. For Matheson, who didn’t deserve to be held in the clutches of the Triad. For my parents, who died protecting me. Layer upon layer of grief blanketed me, until my chest heaved in silent sobs and my legs began to buckle.

Strong arms swept me up and I tucked my face into Edge's neck, giving myself over to the horrors that become my life. I tucked my face into Edge’s neck and gave myself over to the horrors that had become my life. With arms tightening to keep me close, Edge carried me back to the house.

So lost in the grief of watching an innocent girl die, I tuned everything out as Edge laid me down and covered me up on the couch in his den. With soothing murmurs, he brushed my hair back and quietly left the room.

It was dark when I finally opened my swollen eyes. Moonlight bathed the room, casting shadows that stretched along the floor. I sat up noticing the soft glow of light coming from the computer. Edge got up from behind his desk and walked over to the sidebar, pouring something from a glass decanter.

Without saying a word, he came over and placed the glass in my hand and then sat down beside me.

“Where is everyone?” My voice croaked as I swirled the amber colored liquid around.

“Hatching a plan. Drink up, it’s a finely aged scotch” he said as he sat beside me.

The scotch burned all the way down. Edge took the glass and refilled it and placed it back in my hands. Again, he sat down next to me. “You can’t blame yourself for things that are out of your control,” he told me.

My eyes pricked, but no more tears would come. I had cried myself empty.

“It’s kind of hard not to. She….she died! Because of them.” The words jammed in my throat. “Because of me!” I replied.

“You can’t think like that…not now.” He shifted to look at me. Taking the glass from my hands, he placed it on the table in front of us.

“What am I supposed to think, Edge?” I asked.

“Well for starters, you need to think about what comes next,” he told me.

“And that is?” I asked.

“Finding a way to stop the Triad.”

“Dagger said that no one wanted to take part in a war. Why now?”

“Because we have you.”

“I still don’t understand. I’ve been living a somewhat normal life for the past few years with Rainy and Jessa. How is it that they found me?”

Edge shifted again and draped his arm over the back of the couch like he was settling in. “I wondered the same thing. In the end, it doesn’t really matter because one way or another, it would have happened. Where we go from here is what matters,” he said.

I pulled the blanket closer and tucked myself into the corner of the couch to face him. “Where do you fit into all of this?” I asked him.

Edge bit his lip and stared at me. I willed myself to sit still and not fidget. Before he could answer, Jessa walked in.

“You look like hell,” she told me.

Edge let a small sigh slip as he got up and left. He turned at the door like he was going to say something. Instead, he tapped his fingers on the door handle as he looked at me. Jessa settled in the spot he’d just vacated. The door closed softly.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Nah. I’m better now.”

And I was. I just needed to let it out in my own way, on my time. Edge had given me that and I didn’t know what to make of it.

“I think Edge and Dagger settled their differences,” Jessa said, bringing my attention to her.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“They had a huge blowout in the front yard. They were too far away, so I couldn’t hear everything, but it revolved around you,” Jessa said.

“Why would they fight about me?” I asked.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Dagger doesn’t really trust Edge and he’s all big brother protective over you,” she said with a snort. “They did agree on one thing, though, and that was to keep you safe.”

Dagger rapped the door sharply, cutting off our conversation.

“We need to talk. All of us,” he said. Julie followed him in the room and sat down on one of the overstuffed chairs beside the couch. Her shoulders sagged over, her eyes downcast. It was like she couldn’t bring herself to look at me.

“About?” I asked.

Edge walked in ignoring all of us, and went over to pour himself a drink. “Drink?” he called over his shoulder, asking no one in particular. Everyone stayed quiet. Ice tumbled into two glasses, followed by the same stout liquor he’d given me earlier.

“Well, go on…” Edge said as he walked over to the couch and sat on the arm next to me. He had two glasses in his hand. “This meeting of the broken and weak is now in session. Councilman, if you would please,” he said, tipping his glass at Dagger. The second glass was put in front of my face until I grabbed it. Edge was smirking and Dagger looked furious.

“I have a few ideas on how to get Rainy and my father back,” Dagger started.

I peered up at Edge as Dagger began to speak. Why was Edge so ready to stir everyone up? He could be a nice guy. I’d seen it first hand. Now he was just being an ass. Was it some kind of front he put up because of Dagger? It made me wonder what their story was. I blinked to focus and found myself staring at the ice in my glass. I had been sipping on it the entire time.

Jessa elbowed me. “You’ve been awfully quiet. What do you think?” she asked.

I tried to focus in on her. “About what?”

“Give me that.” Jessa snatched the glass out of my hand. The ice rattled and all eyes were on me.

Heat spread along my cheeks as they continued to stare.

“My thoughts on what?” I grimaced.

“Were you paying attention at all?” Julie hissed.

I was busted.

Julie leaned forward in her chair. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a war now, not some bar where you toss back whiskey and ignore all your problems.”

Edge peered down at her. “Scotch,” he corrected. “And in case you haven’t noticed, she hasn’t been a part of this, up until the last few days. So lay off.”

Julie shot to her feet, ready to pounce. Dagger grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over to the desk. “Stop. This isn’t going to help the situation,” he told her.

He turned back to us, looking directly at me. “We were talking about what Lark said before she…”

“Before she died,” Julie spat at me. “Before she died, Lark said we needed to find the book.

“Yes, and she also said that we’d have to split up,” Jessa added.

Edge shrugged nonchalantly. “So we split up.”

“We are not splitting up,” Dagger growled.

Julie looked at him in disbelief. “Did you miss the part where she said that if we didn’t split up, we’d die?”

“Split up or not, we have to find Rainy and Matheson,” I told them.

“Well then…here is what we do.” Edge walked over to the scotch decanter and poured more in his glass. He lifted the bottle in my direction. I shook my head no. I needed to keep a clear head and the scotch burning through my veins was making me too warm and fuzzy for this kind of talk.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Julie stormed over to Edge and grabbed his refilled glass and slammed it on the counter. “Focus, Edge!”

“You’re quite hysterical, you know that right?” he told her.

“Hysterical or not, we all need a clear head right now,” Dagger replied.

“Well, I’ve had plenty of time to learn how to do both,” Edge told them as he picked his drink back up and walked back over to the arm of the couch next to me. “As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” he looked pointedly at Julie. She stuck her middle finger up at him. “Lovely. Jade should come with me and you three,” he pointed his finger at Dagger, Julie, and Jessa before bringing the glass to his lips for a swallow, “you three should go after Matheson and Rainy. Don’t want them under the Triad’s roof for too long, do we?” He smirked.

“I’m not leaving Jade with you!” Dagger shouted.

“We can’t bring Jade with us, Dagger. It would be like delivering her right to their doorstep. Think about it,” Jessa said.

“It’s almost a suicide mission, no matter how you look at it,” Julie said, throwing her hands in the air. “We don’t even know where they are being held.”

“Ah, now there’s something I can help you with. And I’ll do it, on one condition.” Edge got up and deposited his half-empty glass on his desk. He pulled his keyboard over to him and began clicking away. A door, big enough to walk through, popped open in the paneling with a hiss. He walked over to it. “I’ll go to the Triad council and see what I can find out…if and only if, Jade comes with me when you go rescue Matheson and Rainy.” He put his hand on the door and wiggled it.

No one agreed so he began to shut the door. I jumped to my feet.

“Wait! I’ll do it. If you can find out where they are being held, I will go with you.” If he could find out where Rainy and Matheson were, I would happily go with him. Why were the others so dead-set on not letting him help us?

“What? No!” Dagger yelled.

“Smart girl,” Edge said as the door sealed shut behind him.

Three voices were shouting around me all at once. Dagger was yelling at me, telling me what an idiotic thing I’d just done. Jessa was yelling at him to leave me alone. Julie was screaming over the top of them both, telling them to shut up. I kept silent. What was done was done.

I slid back down in my seat, too weary to jump into the middle of an argument that none of us would win. Edge was gone, looking for Rainy and Matheson. That was what was important to me right now. We were safe, well, as safe as we could be for the moment, and like it or not, Dagger was going to have to accept help if we wanted to get out of this alive. Besides, like Jessa had said, I couldn’t go anywhere near the Triad or this would be over before we could even make a stand.

Julie stormed out first. She wasn’t going to get any kind of point across with Dagger and Jessa shouting at each other. Jessa slammed her hand on the desk. “Would you just listen for a second?” But Dagger just kept reiterating everything he’d said before. I was at my wits end with the both of them. I stood up and planted myself between them. I pushed both of them away from me, giving everyone a little breathing room.

“You both need to stop. I made my decision and if you don’t like it, Dagger, well than that’s just too bad. I will not stand here and listen to you two go at it any longer. Let’s just try to figure out how we’re going to meet back up after you get Rainy and Matheson. Okay?”

“You can’t go with him, Jade. He’s-”

I cut him off. “Dangerous. Yes, you’ve said it before. But I’m having a hard time believing how dangerous he really is if he’s trying to help us.”