Authors: Constance Sharper
Grounded (8 page)
“We both have seen her in the past few weeks. Did she look like she was being compelled to do anything?”
The logic was developed well but Avery refused to listen to it. Eyes burning with wetness, she folded her arms and let out a frustrated growl. The weight of cold fear landed on her shoulders and Avery was ready to buckle under it. She protested, more weakly.
“Stop it! I won’t let you hurt her. She’s a good person okay, but Mikhail still managed to get his frikkin’ hooks into her somehow. Who knows what he told her? Besides… she asked him not to hurt me.”
“Don’t be foolish Avery, Mikhail will skin you alive once you outlive any purpose to him.” Then he added in a drastically different tone. “I can’t let you die.”
Mood changing again, she dropped down into the chair next to him. Her shoulders shook but she didn’t cry. Everything had been happening so quickly and she didn’t have time to keep up. Mason’s arm carefully snaked around her shoulder and she leaned into him. They’d held each other before but now the gesture was different. In fact, the relationship was so different now that Avery would need some time to get used to it. Mason probably would too.
Wringing her hands, she stared at the burnt logs in the fireplace and focused on the present.
“I know. But how do we help Leela? What do we do?”
Mason took a few minutes to think about it. By the time he answered, most of Avery’s hysteria had faded away.
“One thing at a time. We need to get the book back from Samuel’s storage before Mikhail can break in and steal it.”
Samuel was an older harpie, Adalyn’s father, and had once been the servant and friend to Jericho. It wouldn’t be surprising that he alone kept Jericho’s journal.
“Is that off the coast of California again? We’re both banned from there. It’ll be almost impossible to sneak in.” She pointed out. Samuel resided in the harpie court, an official island off of the coast of California. Avery had been there last winter and before they left, the officials of the island had politely told Mason and Avery to never show their faces there again. Well, politely may not have been the word for it.
“No, he has a home in Portland Oregon now since his service to the Prince is over.”
Avery’s mood lit up just a bit. She’d never been in Portland but she knew the place as being urban and green, different and welcoming. Over two million humans lived in the city so the harpie population must have been discreet.
“Do you think Samuel will let us have the book? Or will we have to do another break in?”
Mason’s eyes dropped to the floor and he unraveled his arm from Avery’s shoulders.
“It’s more complicated than that.” He admitted.
“Adalyn will be there, won’t she?” Avery asked.
It made sense considering that Samuel was Adalyn’s father. Mason had flown from Portland instead of California which explained how quickly he’d arrived in Moose Pass. Before Mason could even get the idea, she commented, “Don’t ask for her help. She just tried to kill me.”
Mason scooted away to break their closeness and pushed his hands into his hair.
“She’ll know we’re there. Even if we do cloak and dagger, she’ll feel the magic from that close.” He pointed out.
The magic in their bodies, Mason’s more than hers, did have a way of radiating out an energy signal. Though weak, select harpies could sense it a mile away.
Especially those who had spent time with them-- especially harpies like Adalyn.
Avery groaned, thinking of the dooming complications. Mason and her relationship aside, she refused to even acknowledge Adalyn after the Patrick hit man experience.
“What do you plan to do about her then?” Avery asked but her question came off harsher than intended. Mason still had feelings for Adalyn and at the end of the day, those feelings would ultimately skew his better judgment.
“I can go without you. I never told her why I left so I can go, sneak in and get the book.”
Avery took a breath to resist going overboard. She suffered through with logic.
“What if Patrick comes and kills me while you’re gone?”
Mason shot her a calculating look.
“We’ll both go to Portland. You’ll house up somewhere not far away and wait. It’s our only choice. If Mikhail gets that book, then there’s nothing stopping him from making another amulet and coming back at us full force.”
He stood up and went for the doors. Avery bit her lip and managed to stay quiet. Though she still had a number of discrepancies to work out, Mason had a point. They needed to move quickly and she’d pick apart the problems later. Avery headed back for the hotel room. She needed to tell Nate she was leaving. She needed to tell Nate to cover for her and protect Leela. He would do that, he had to. He was at the edge of Harpie world, and she was being pulled in deeper.
Eight
Avery let out a deep breath. Only ten minutes in Portland and they were already having problems. It wasn’t the current situation that had her on edge. She was still unsettled from the choppy flight into the city, the lack of sleep, and the pain medication sitting in her empty stomach. Her wound still stung but she had it properly wrapped and hidden underneath a jacket.
Though Moose Pass was barely a day past, it certainly seemed far away now.
“I’ll need your identification with the credit card.” The hotel clerk across the wooden bar got her attention. For the second time in two days, she was trying to get another hotel room. This time, she wasn’t with Nate and she absolutely lacked the confident swagger he had. Worse, Mason had also picked one of the classier hotels in Seattle, located near the very edge of the city and immersed in a more rural, wooded area. To Avery, that meant only one thing: more scrutiny to her identity. She was waiting for the clerk to call her out on being under-aged.
“This isn’t going to work.” She hissed to Mason when her harpie companion strolled back to her side. His eyes were on the crimson carpet and his mind clearly clicked over something else. He did focus a bit more at her words.
“It will. I’m not under-age.” He mentioned. Avery wasn’t entirely sure how old Mason was but this wasn’t the time or place to quiz him on it. She rubbed her arms, despite not being cold.
“Then cough up some harpie ID with a picture and a number or I’m gonna be busted. Or worse, my mother will find out and that means my brother Chase will kill me.” She hissed. The clerk had disappeared into the back room with her driver’s license and her credit card, presumably making photocopies. Every second the clerk lingered was another second he had to figure it out.
“If we picked a cheap hotel I wouldn’t be having this problem. They’d take ten bucks and shoo me off. But nice hotels care about age.” Avery reminded him of the logic. While the interior of the hotel was beautiful, equipped with a fireplace and golden chandelier, Avery would have gladly given it up to feel more comfortable.
“It’s the only hotel close to Samuel’s compound. I can’t put you across town in case I need to get to you quickly. Patrick would have had enough time if he decided to come straight here. We can’t take that chance.”
Avery opened her mouth to respond but the hotel clerk finally shuffled out of the backroom. He gave them a long look.
“Avery Zane.” The clerk slid her identification card back over the desk. “And Mr. Zane,” He nodded toward Mason, “Enjoy your stay.”
“Whoa, wait. Mr. Zane?” Mason lifted his eyebrows. Avery elbowed him before he could get out another word. She hit his ribs hard enough to earn a gasp. Reaching across the table, she snatched the papers from the hotel clerk and grabbed Mason. Giving the harpie a rough shove, she sent him down the hallway.
“Trying to bust our cover?” She griped. Her face still burned pink and she couldn’t help but be more embarrassed than mad. It wasn’t an unfair assumption for the hotel clerk to make when two people showed up renting one room. But knowing Mason, he wouldn’t let it go.
“Mr. Zane? Is that some human custom? Like we are married?” He said as expected.
Even though Avery knew the awkward onslaught was coming, she couldn’t deal with it. It felt like all the air had been sucked from the room and Avery struggled to breathe right. She’d have given anything to have Mason leave the subject alone. She needed a distraction and she needed one quickly.
“You know what, we should get food. I’m hungry. Food. That’s right.” Her eyes went to the rotating glass doors of the hotel and she hurried for them. She remembered a coffee shop across the street.
“Even if we did get married, I wouldn’t be taking your surname. That’s not how it works with harpies. Besides, you would be Mrs. Mason--”
“Are we really talking about getting married right now? That guy just made a stupid assumption.”
“We’re not talking about getting married. But it was better than focusing on the assumption that we were shacking up. And you have to learn not to be so jittery about things. It’s a compliment if he thinks you’re actually my wife.”
He cracked a cocky smile and Avery couldn’t look at him any longer. Mason got too much enjoyment from messing with her head. Cheeks still on fire, she refused to look at him.
“I hate you.” She shot at Mason, sticking her tongue out for a fleeting second, and then she turned her attention back to the street
A cozy coffee shop sat on one side of the street. Hopping jazz filtered from the shop’s speakers along with the rich scent of coffee and cinnamon. Despite her vertigo, Avery’s stomach grumbled and called out for sustenance.
“There. Let’s grab something.” She didn’t ask but told him and pushed him into the coffee shop.
Eyes bigger than her stomach at the moment, she ordered the biggest muffin on the rack and settled in at a table in the back. Mason slid in next to her.
“I can’t wait too long or our cover will be blown. And I’m afraid Patrick will likely be looking for you.”
“He’s probably still looking for me in Alaska.” Avery paused mid-thought and stared down at the table. “Did you take my muffin?”
The table was empty. Her eyes went straight up to him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried to defend himself, but by doing so, condemned himself. When he opened his mouth to speak, Avery caught on immediately. Mason hadn’t just snatched her food but he’d done it quickly and nearly swallowed it before she realized.
“You totally snatched it from me!” Her voice hit a higher pitch than she’d intended and her stomach churned violently. “You’re such a- a-- you’re such a harpie!”
When Mason’s only response was half a smile, she sunk back into her seat and glared daggers. The harpie’s face sobered up and he directed her back to the topic at hand.
“Seriously Avery. I have to go now. I need to meet Adalyn again before she realizes I’m with you.” He said slowly, doing well to carefully measure his words.
It didn’t matter how nicely he said it. His comment brought back up a sensitive subject. Avery found herself afraid to approach it but unable to stop herself.
“I thought you were just going to steal the book and get out. Why do you have to buddy up with Adalyn? Are you still... are you still in love with her?”
Mason didn’t lift his head to look at her. He didn’t answer right away either. The atmosphere thickened with agonizing awkwardness. After a full minute, Mason answered softly.
“You can’t possibly understand.”
That one hurt. Avery tried desperately to control her emotions and go for the rational approach. Despite what Mason wanted to believe, Avery was involved now and Adalyn in the picture very much affected her.
“Try me. I’d rather know what I’m dealing with.”
He groaned before answering.
“I do love her. It’s not a choice of mine, Avery. And despite what I continue to do, I continue having to deal with her again and again.” He looked up and held both hands out in a helpless gesture.
Mason’s emotions, though usually guarded, played over the shadows in his face. Avery bit her lip.
“So I did interpret that kiss the wrong way then. If you’re not ready to move on, then don’t. I’d rather not get stuck in the middle of this if you can’t pick one of us.” She pled through a whisper.
Mason pushed back into his seat
“It’s not like that. I’m not trying to be with Adalyn. It’s not about me choosing. I already did that when I stayed with you. But until I can break it off with Adalyn for good, you and I are just a side note. She was here first and I have to do what’s right by her. And then by us.”
Avery couldn’t have asked for much more of an answer, pleasant to hear or not, so she accepted it with a tiny nod. If he broke it off with Avery again, she wasn’t sure how low her heart could sink into her stomach. She let the conversation die. It wasn’t hard when Mason had lapsed into a deep thought.
Avery jumped when her pocket rattled and the unfamiliar cell phone jingle rang loudly. She scrambled to jimmy the phone from her pocket and hit the silence key. Since Patrick had destroyed her phone, she had to buy a contract free replacement to recover her number and finally receive the missed voicemails. Mason hadn’t agreed with her on the importance of such a thing, but he also didn’t understand the human world. If she went missing again, the police would be called. Or worse, her brother Chase might find out. Chase, the single most over protective guy in the world, would be hunting Mason down with a gun if he thought she might be in danger. He’d already threatened Mason more than once. Unwilling to risk the trouble, she’d gotten the phone and was still getting used to it.
The screen lit up blue displaying a text message from an Alaskan area code and she clicked read. In blocky blue digits, the text said one line: “Where r u??” Avery’s eyes flickered to the number only now recognizing it. The text was from Leela.
“Alright, I gotta go.” Mason suddenly said and stood from the table, drawing Avery’s eyes up to meet him.
Shoving the phone back into her jacket pocket, she stood to walk him out. The coffee in her hand had already gone cold but she clasped it anyways.
“Have fun on your date.” She said but her mind had already gone elsewhere.
Mason gave her another sharp look.