Guardian Of The Grove (6 page)

T
he afternoon flew by
, and before I knew it, dinner time had come and gone. Just when I was starting to freak out, the room phone rang. “Hello,” I asked tentatively.

“Sorry about being so late, Jackson. I’ve been held up with pack business out here. Some of the leaders haven’t taken too kindly to me recruiting in their backyard. I’m not going to be back until tomorrow night. Do you have enough money to last?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you. Do you need backup?”

“I think if I brought one of the Ascended into the mix, it would just make things worse. Just stay there and keep your head down. If you notice anything funny, give me a call. I slipped a burner into your bag. My number’s in it.”

“You got it, Mom. Stay safe.”

“You know I will. Any plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m actually going to catch up with an old friend.”

“Good for you. Remember what I said—keep your head down.”

The phone clicked off, and I wondered just what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into. I knew she could handle herself; there was something about being a silver Lycan that was special. She had been revered by her people once and had beaten every challenger who had come her way. I knew she would find a way to stay safe and come back to me. I couldn’t think of it any other way. We hadn’t found each other after all these years only to lose each other now.

Room service was the way I decided to go for dinner. I might need the cash that I had with me for something else. This way I could bill the meal to the room and keep a little extra money in my pocket. I placed an order for dinner and for breakfast to be delivered at eight. No reason a guy couldn’t sleep in. This was kind of a vacation, after all. I flipped the TV on and picked an action movie off of Pay-Per-View and started to relax.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day. As much as I appreciated what Alby had done for my folks, I knew she probably didn’t want to see me. I just had to thank her and ask if she had heard anything about the investigation. Our last conversation hadn’t gone so well. She had called me one of them and sounded terrified when she did it. I guess it made sense if you were one of the Pretenders. Then the Ascendancy was the boogeyman your parents told you about. Kill a human and we will come for you, except, in this case, it was a real threat. Not only would we come for you, but in the past, we might have wiped out your entire family to make a point. The history in the archives at the academy hadn’t always painted the Ascendancy in the best of lights.

Members of the Ascendancy acted as judge, jury, and executioner out in the field. Their judgment was all that stood between life and death in some cases. We would have preferred if members of the supernatural community policed themselves to the same standard that we upheld, but that just wasn’t the case. They had a sliding scale of rules when it came to humans, and none of them were in the humans’ favor.

On the flip side, they did live by a certain code, and punishments for violating were swift and permanent. Most of it had to do with drawing unwanted attention from the humans or the Ascendancy. They wanted to remain hidden as much as we wanted them to stay that way. When that didn’t happen, we came with blades of fire and routed out the problem. No witnesses and no one left alive meant no more problem.

So now I was one of them, and my best friend was terrified of me. It was not like I had planned for this or even understood it. She had cut me out of her life so quickly that I didn’t even understand what had happened at the time. Tomorrow I was going to thrust myself back into her life, and I wasn’t sure how she would react. Like I said, it was going to be an interesting day. She had cared enough to make sure my parents were buried with love, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. A guy could hope, right?

* * *

T
he afternoon couldn’t come fast
enough. It was hard enough being trapped in the hotel with nothing to do, but add in the fact I had to wait to do something that was stressing me out, and it was like I had cabin fever. Every single day since I had left home had been filled, not only with friends but classes and workouts. It’s funny how you don’t realize just how much you actually do in a day until you’re forced to do nothing at all.

My second trip to the hotel’s gym earned me an incredulous look from the guy working the counter. If he watched my first workout, I knew why. I had spent an hour on the treadmill earlier before heading back to my room for breakfast. Now here I was again a few hours later doing the exact same thing. I needed to burn off some energy, and I needed some time to think things through. The more I thought about it, the less I was concerned about Alby. Worst case scenario, she asked me to leave, I thanked her for what she had done, and I left. That wasn’t so bad, right?

The more pressing issue that I had to deal with was Britta. Seriously, what was up with that girl? I hadn’t really given her a reason to be jealous, not yet anyway. We spent every night together, and as far as she knew, nothing had happened between April and me. I mean, nothing really happened. She had crawled into my bed in the healer’s room, and we had held each other. That was just friends stuff, and no one had seen it. Minus a little shower incident where I had seen her naked, which I was also sure no one knew about, we were just friends. We had never acted on our thoughts for each other. We never kissed and had never done anything except hug, the same way you would with a friend.

That was the problem, though. Even though we were just friends, my thoughts had started to slide into the realm of wanting more. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about how well we complemented each other, not only on the battlefield but in life. April just felt right, like the last puzzle piece had clicked into place. Now I had to decide what was going to happen. Should I stay with Britta or take a chance on my feelings with April? What if I wrecked something that was working ok, for something that fell apart? Where would I be then?

Don’t get me wrong; Britta was amazing, but she had started to lose it a little bit. Something was up with her, and she wouldn’t talk to me about it. Then there was April; I wasn’t willing to lose her as a friend. If that meant I had to break it off with Britta, what was I going to do? Could I dump Britta and just stay friends with April? I didn’t think so. And would she really be the kind of friend I needed if she forced my hand?

My talk with April had gone ok, but when it actually came down to it, I missed her. More than I should have probably. There was something about having my bouncy red-haired companion by my side that couldn’t be replaced. I needed to get this sorted out and quickly. It wasn’t right for me to keep any of them in limbo. Plus, not knowing what I was doing one way or the other wasn’t doing any special favors for my nerves either.

I ran and continued to mull over just what I needed to do. Neither choice felt right; I was going to have to spend a lot more time thinking about this. Weren’t vacations supposed to be relaxing? Mine sure wasn’t; at least, not so far. Maybe when my mom got back, I could bend her ear about it. A couple of centuries of experience might shed some perspective on what I needed to do.

Hopefully, she would come back when she said. Something in her voice last night had sounded just a little bit off. If I didn’t hear from her soon, I would give Adam a buzz and see if he knew where she was going. Worst case, he could probably wire me some cash or send someone to create a portal for me. There was probably nothing wrong, but in our line of work, things tended to spiral out of control rather quickly.

* * *

L
unch was waiting
for me as I exited the shower. Does anything really beat room service? Order a meal, pop in the shower; they come into your room, leave the warm food and a slightly exaggerated bill, and I get to chow down in a bathrobe while I watch HBO. As long as it wasn’t on my dime, I didn’t feel bad about eating an eighteen-dollar burger with a ten-dollar side of fries. Now that was living the high life.

I got dressed in some shorts and a T-shirt. It was spring, but hey, in Arizona, that meant it was already in the nineties. I tossed a few things in my bag and headed out the door. The warm breeze greeted me as I exited the hotel. It wasn’t as bad as the summer, when going outside felt like stepping in front of a full-body blow dryer, but it was warmer than the shadowy confines of the academy.

I thought about taking the bus, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. I kind of had a love-hate relationship with public transit. It was ok when it worked, and I wasn’t treated to some kind of freak show. Most of the people were just your average folks trying to get to school or work, but there was always that one person who seemed to ruin the ride for everyone. Not to mention switching stops and the joy of having a bus break down. I swear it happened more often than it didn’t. I hadn’t even thought about checking the garage back at the house to see if my car was still there. That would have just made things too easy.

With that decision made, there was only one thing left to do. Should I walk or call a cab? I thought back to my call with Mom from last night and decided that I should save a few bucks. My feet hit the pavement, and I was off. The warm sun worked its way into my skin. It felt good to be here, back in my hometown. I was used to the bright skies and mountains in the distance; a drop of rain every three months or so seemed about right. Today was just about perfect, a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky.

The easiest way to get to the copy shop was to cut across campus and then head about three blocks west. There was a group of restaurants and shops there, and Alby’s store was nestled right in the heart of them. I still didn’t know if she would be working today, but I didn’t want to call and give her the chance to ditch out on me. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts of what to say and how to say it that it took a minute for me to realize someone had shouted my name.

I turned around and was surprised to see Eddie, a kid I had known from high school. One afternoon, I had watched three guys chase him into an alley next to the school. When I got there, they had him cornered. Words were exchanged, and the next thing I knew, I was fighting off three guys while Eddie made a break for it. He got away without a scratch, and I had ended up with a fractured rib. To top things off, the incident happened after school, so when the bully’s parents reported it, I also got a nice suspension to go along with it.

Since that day, Eddie had become my constant shadow. Granted, I hadn’t seen him for about a year now. He looked good; the skinny, awkward phase he had been in had finally gone away. There were muscles where there used to be sticks. I was pretty sure that he could take care of himself now.

He ran up to me. “Jackson, I can’t believe it’s you. Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“Why would people think I’m dead?”

He gave me a weird look as if he was trying to decide if I was playing a trick on him or not. “Dude, after the thing with your parents, you just disappeared. The cops never found a trace of what happened to you.”

I guess that made sense. Two dead bodies and a missing kid, why would the cops think anything other than I did it or I was dead somewhere? “Listen, Eddie, I’m only back for a few days. Do you think that maybe you could not mention to anyone that I was here?”

“Sure thing, Jackson, but I don’t think I’m the only one who saw you.” He pointed to a group of kids. One of them had their phone out, taking a picture.

Shit. Well, that was going to make things harder than it had to be. I should have never cut across campus. It only made sense that some of the kids I had known would be students here now. I gave Eddie a pat on the shoulder. “It was good to see you, Eddie. I have to get a few things done before that picture makes the rounds.”

“Watch yourself, Jackson. I know it’s been awhile, but the cops are probably still looking for you.”

“If the cops want me, why would you even come talk to me?”

“Are you crazy, man? I know you didn’t have anything to do with that shit. People like you don’t suddenly go from saving people to killing their own parents.”