Hidden Hope (Hidden Saga Book 3) (9 page)

Upon our arrival in D.C., Lad disembarked first, leaving me and Vancia alone together in the cabin. Instead of following him off the plane, she shocked me by coming down the center aisle straight toward me.

“What is your problem?” she demanded.

I blinked several times in rapid succession. “What are you talking about?”

She stared at me, a skirmish of thoughts racing across her face. Finally she exhaled a hard breath and shook her head. “Lad and Nox both seem to think you’re so smart, but I don’t see it. And Davis thinks you’ve got some kind of glamour super powers—what a laugh. You have no idea what you’re doing—with your glamour
or
with guys.”

I felt my jaw drop open. What was she talking about? I
wasn’t
all that experienced with relationships, but what was that to her? “Look, if you’re afraid I’m trying to steal your guy, don’t be. Lad and I—”

She laughed out loud. “Oh that’s beautiful. Just beautiful.”

Lad’s head popped into the door opening. “What’s the hold up, ladies? Everything okay?”

Vancia pushed past him and stomped off the plane.

He only smiled and held out a hand for my bag. “Cab’s here. Come on.”

“What’s up with her?”

“Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t think you should be here—thinks it’s too dangerous and that we should have handled it ourselves.”

“Oh yes. She’s
clearly
beside herself with worry over my safety.”

He laughed. “She
is
concerned about it.” Closing his eyes, he gave a quick shake of his head. “Listen, she’s under a lot of stress right now, but she’s actually very kind.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what I keep hearing from you and Nox—what a
great
girl she is. Still waiting for
that
girl to show up, by the way.”

We didn’t talk about our mission on the way to the house. Vancia was too paranoid about the driver overhearing. She’d told the pilot I was one of her new friends from Altum and seemed to think he’d buy the story. Maybe my height—typical for Elven females—helped.

When we arrived at the brick townhouse in Georgetown, the driver pulled over to the tree-lined curb in front of it. Vancia asked him to wait, and we all got out.

“Think we’ll need a getaway car?” I asked as we approached the door and she pulled out her keys.

“You never know. Maybe your mother is here alone right now, and we can grab her and go. Davis doesn’t know we’re coming. He might have gone to work and left her here.”

That
would be ideal. What were the chances it would be that easy? 

Vancia unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “Pappa?” she called.

We followed her into the wide foyer with its shining dark wood floors, high ceilings, and gleaming white paneled walls. Polished antique furniture decorated the rooms opening out from the foyer. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere, and it was
cold
. It felt like I was in a museum rather than a home.

A servant rushed into the foyer and gave Vancia and then me and Lad a wide-eyed stare. “Miss Hart. Your father wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know, Sia. I wanted to surprise him. This is my fiancé Lad. And this is my friend... Roberta.”

Roberta? Really?
That’s the best she could do?
I cut my eyes at Lad, who stifled a laugh.

For all the housekeeper knows, you’re a hundred years old,
he said
. Play it cool.

Um, I’m sorry but “Roberta” couldn’t be “cool” if she tried.

“Is he home?” Vancia said.

The servant shook her head. “No Miss Hart. He’s not even in the city. Your father’s gone to California.”

“California?”

“Yes, for a Council event. I thought you knew. I thought you’d be there, too.”

“Yes of course,” she responded smoothly. “I just didn’t realize he’d be leaving for L.A. this early. I wanted to get some of my dresses from my closet here before I head out myself. Could you ring Francine to help me pack, please?”

The woman scurried from the room, and Vancia turned to us with a dour expression. “He told me he would be here all week. Someone must have warned him we were on our way.” She tipped her head in my direction without actually looking at me. “Maybe the pilot didn’t buy my cover story for her and alerted Davis. I thought he was loyal to me—he used to work for my real father. But I suppose he could have turned and be working for Davis now.”

“Unless one of
us
is working for him,” I said, staring directly at Vancia.

“What does that mean?” she snapped.

“We arrive and he just
happens
to have left already?” I couldn’t believe we had missed her. How would we find her now? “How do we know it wasn’t you who warned him?”

“Ryann,” Lad cautioned with his tone.

“
I
didn’t tell him. I’m trying to
help
you,” Vancia said, stepping closer and looking down at me. “And if anyone’s been lying around here, it’s you.”

“Me?”

“It’s obvious you still have feelings for Lad. Where does that leave your boyfriend, Nox, huh? It’s not fair to him.”

I’d never struck anyone before in my life, but I was sorely tempted in that moment. That pert little nose of hers was practically begging for my fist. Instead I yelled at her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Wait—you didn’t say something like that to Nox, did you?”

“Why? Are you worried he doesn’t trust you? He shouldn’t.”

“You mean he shouldn’t trust
you
. I certainly don’t. You could be working with your ‘Pappa’ and lying to all of us.”

Lad stepped between us. “Ladies, ladies. Let’s lower our voices and our adrenaline levels, okay? Ryann, for what it’s worth, I
do
trust her.” He turned to Vancia. “And I trust Ryann, too. Now, why don’t Ryann and I go back out and wait in the car while you get whatever you need from inside the house? Then I suggest we get back to the airport as quickly as possible and see if we can get a flight to L.A.”

Vancia and I gave each other one more unfriendly glance before I spun around and headed for the door with Lad’s guiding hand on my lower back. When we got out to the sidewalk I turned to him.

“What if it really was the pilot who reported us? If he knows who I am, he’s not going to fly us to Los Angeles.”

“If he won’t, I guess we’ll find out very quickly which side Vancia is really on.”

“How?”

“She’s the only one of the three of us who can afford to buy us all commercial airline tickets. Am I right?”

I let out a tired breath. “You’re right. Or maybe Davis
wants
us to come to him in L.A. Maybe it’s all part of his scheme.”

“Perhaps.” His brows knitted in concern. “You know, you could fly back to Mississippi.”

“No. I’m going to L.A. If that’s where Davis has taken my mother, that’s where I have to be. I just wish I knew what he was thinking.”

“I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“What do you mean?”

There was a long pause as he looked at the sidewalk and off to the side, then finally at my face. “Do you want to talk about the other thing Vancia said?”

My heart flipped over. He meant her accusation that I still had feelings for him. I most definitely did
not
want to discuss that. “I don’t want to talk about
anything
to do with Vancia. I’m not even sure I can stand to be on the same plane with her. If I had any choice about it, I wouldn’t.”

“You need her, Ryann.”

“I know, I know. And so do you. And apparently so does Nox. Yay for Vancia, Savior of the World.”

Unfortunately she slid into the front passenger seat of the cab just as I uttered the last sarcastic sentence. Looking back over her shoulder, she smirked.

“No, that’s your job. I’m only the placeholder.” To the cab driver she said, “Reagan National please.”

As soon as the car pulled away from the curb, Vancia called the pilot, who said he’d put in a flight plan to L.A.

“So we’re good there?” Lad asked her.

“As far as I can tell. When we get to the airport, I’ll speak to him mind-to-mind and find out what he knows, make sure he’s planning to actually fly us to Los Angeles and hasn’t been directed otherwise by Davis.”

So we were going to L.A. There was no more putting it off—it was time to call Nox and tell him. I pulled out my phone and hit the button for his number. He didn’t answer, but about fifteen minutes into our journey through the congested D.C. traffic he called me back.

“Hi. I have some news,” I blurted. How would he react to hearing I was on my way to him? He’d forbidden me to come to L.A., forbidden me to work with Lad and Vancia against the Dark Elven plot, and told me to stay away from Davis. I was defying him on every point.

“Me too,” he said grimly. “Davis is on his way here with your mother.”

The air left my lungs with a whoosh. “Yes. That’s right. How did you know?”

“I got a call from my agent Alfred. He asked to see me at his office. When I went there today, he warned me. Remember I told you I had a feeling about him—like he was trying to drop hints to me? He was a close friend of my father’s. He said he’d suspected my real identity early on.”

“But he’s a friend of Davis’s. Are you sure you can trust him?”

“He told me mind-to-mind. He’s an ally, Ryann. He was loyal to my dad, and he’s been pretending so he can stay close to Davis and find out what he’s up to—the way Vancia is.”

I darted a glance toward the front seat. “Are you sure about that part, too? Did you ask
her
mind-to-mind?”

Vancia looked back over her shoulder, obviously aware I was talking about her.

“Yes. I’m sure about her,” he said. “She’s loyal, and she has a good heart. So anyway, I want you to know I’ll do everything I can to get to your mom when she gets here and get her away from Davis.”

“Well, you’re going to have some help. We’re on our way.”

There was a pause before he responded. “What do you mean? Who’s on the way?”

“I’m in a cab with Vancia and Lad. We’re headed to the airport. We’ll be there tonight.”

“Ryann, no. Not you. I don’t want you out here.”

I knew he meant because of the danger, but his vehement statement still stung. “But you want
her
there?”

He sighed. “Don’t be silly. It’s not like that. I’m not worried about
her
getting hurt. You could, though. The bullet could as easily have hit
you
that day. And you don’t have Elven healing capacity, at least as far as we know.”

He didn’t have to point out to me that I wasn’t like Vancia. Or him. I was all too aware of my shortcomings. “Nox—I’m coming, okay? I have to. I may be the only one who can get through to my mom and get her to leave Davis. She might not even listen to me, but I have to try.” There was quiet on the other end of the line. “So... I’ll see you tonight?”

Nox finally responded with a long exhale. “I shouldn’t be excited to hear you say that, but I am—God I’m so selfish. What time will you arrive? I’ll pick you up at the airport. And then I’m gonna kiss you until you can’t breathe and squeeze that beautiful body—”

“Nox,” I interrupted, breathless and blushing furiously. My voice was part giggle part gasp.

Beside me Lad shifted in his seat and let out a disgusted sort of grunt.

Composing myself, I said, “I don’t know what time we’ll get there. There’s a possible issue with the private jet.”

“Okay. Would you pass the phone to Vancia for a minute?” he asked.

I leaned forward and handed it to her. She was quiet except for a few “uh huh”s and “okay”s. Then she touched the button to end the call and handed the phone back to me with a wincing fake smile. “He said to tell you, ‘goodbye.’”

Refusing to let her bait me, I turned my attention to Lad. “Nox says his agent Alfred is an ally. He told Nox Davis was on his way to Los Angeles and was bringing my mother. At least we know we’re heading in the right direction this time.” I smiled, feeling hopeful.

“
Geographically
speaking,” Lad muttered.

“What does that mean?” 

He only shrugged and gazed out the window at the thick city traffic.

When we boarded the plane, the last thing I wanted to do was converse with Vancia, but there really was no choice anymore. Either we were working together or we weren’t, and I wanted to get her take on Nox’s supposed ally.

I slid into the empty seat beside her. Lad had already stretched out across three adjoining seats in the rear to sleep a bit.

“So what do you think of Alfred Frey? He’s your agent, too, right? For modeling?”

She looked at me, round-eyed. Maybe she was surprised I knew anything about her.

“Um, yes, I met him a few months ago when I went out to shoot a portfolio. He booked me for some jobs. I’m not really a model, you know.”

She seemed embarrassed, blushing and looking away. “I mean, yes, I did some modeling jobs, but only because it’s what my father—what Davis wanted. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to think of Alfred. He wasn’t very nice the first time I met him, sort of dismissive. I didn’t think he liked me. But a few days later I met with him privately, and he told me he’d been very tight with my mom and dad—my real one, you know? He said their deaths devastated him, and that if I ever wanted to talk about them he was there for me. I didn’t know how to react. He seemed to be inviting me to be disloyal to Davis, like he was testing me or something. I didn’t say anything either way. I was too afraid he’d tell Davis everything I said. But he did open that door.”

“Nox says Alfred wants in on the plan to take Davis down. He trusts him.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me. Nox has always been really smart about people, even when we were kids.”

The plane lifted off, and I sat back into my seat, swallowing a few times to pop my ears. I turned back to Vancia’s profile. “You were good friends, huh?”

She actually smiled at me—a real one. “Best friends. We grew up together because our parents were best friends and worked in the music industry together. I can’t remember a time when Nox wasn’t in my life—except for after the accident, of course.”

“I’m sorry about that,” I said. And I was. I couldn’t imagine anything as horrible as losing both your parents in the same day. Except maybe losing both your parents and your best friend. “You must have been blown away when you discovered Nox was alive.”

The memory overtook her face, making her look exceptionally beautiful. “It was pretty much the best day of my life.”

My belly sank, and it wasn’t the increasing altitude. Damn her. She and Nox would make a stunning star-couple with his dark, wavy hair and dark tan next to her platinum hair and pale skin. The model and the rock star—a tale as old as time.

“Did you two ever... um... date or whatever?” I hated myself for asking, but I had to know.

Her smile turned to an expression of dreamy reminiscence. “We didn’t exactly date—we were only twelve. But I had a monster crush on him. I’m not sure if he ever knew. Twelve-year-old boys aren’t usually
quite
as into it as girls are.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I remember. I had this huge crush on a boy named Brian who lived two streets over from me and was in my homeroom. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even know I was alive.”

Thinking back to those painful days of unrequited longing, I felt a certain kinship to Vancia, at least her pre-teen entity. I grinned at her. “I can’t even picture Nox at twelve.”

“I have one, actually.” She drew a small booklet from her purse and handed it to me.

Oh. A photo album—that’s what the book was. I opened it and studied the first picture—it showed a group of people in front of a gorgeous pool. Studying closely, I picked out the tween version of Vancia.

“These are your parents?”

She nodded. “Yes. This is one of the last pictures I have of them.” Pointing to the other adult couple, she said, “And those are Nox’s parents.”

“Right. I recognize them from TV.” Nox’s parents had both been famous musicians. Mom was a particular fan, so I’d seen their videos. I pointed to the tall, gangly boy with high cheekbones and shaggy dark hair. “This has to be Nox.”

She grinned. “Yep—in all his dopey pre-teen glory. I thought he was beautiful, though.”

“He was,” I agreed. He was only a boy in the picture, but you could see the promise of his full-grown handsomeness. He was a super-masculine looking kid, and the dazzling smile was already at work, no doubt mesmerizing every little (and big) girl who crossed his path. He’d certainly put Vancia under his spell.

I flipped to the next page, and there was a picture of the two of them. He held her cradle-style in his arms over the pool, as if threatening to throw her in. Her mouth was wide open in laughter. His eyes sparkled with boyish mischief.

In the slot on the opposite page there was another picture of Nox and Vancia. In this one, his arm was around her shoulders, and hers was wrapped around his back. She was looking straight ahead, smiling for the camera, but I could tell he’d looked away just as the photo was snapped.

Instead of making eye contact with the lens, he’d turned to look at his childhood friend. The expression on his face was... absorbed. Adoring. I didn’t say it to her, but it was pretty obvious she wasn’t in that puppy love affair
alone.
If this photo was any indication, he’d reciprocated that childhood crush—big time.

“I always loved that shot,” she said on a sigh. “He kissed me that night. Our parents went inside and we stayed out by the fire pit. I thought I would die of happiness.” She paused for a long moment before continuing in a hushed tone. “About a week or so later, they were all gone.”

“I’m sorry.” I closed the photo album and handed it back to her.

“Wait, you have to see this one.” Vancia opened the small book to the last page, which displayed a photo of a much younger Nox and Vancia. They looked about six—the age I was when I’d first met Lad, when he’d saved my life and the fascination began for both of us.

“Wasn’t he adorable?” she said.

I nodded. For some reason, this shot upset me more than any of the others. I recognized something in it. I
knew
what a lifelong connection like that felt like… because I shared one with Lad. It wasn’t something you got over easily. It still pulled at my soul, even after all that had happened, even though I’d forged a new connection with someone else.

Was that what it was like for Nox and Vancia? They hadn’t physically bonded, but maybe they did share a bond nearly as deep, rooted in childhood friendship and first young love.

“Thanks for sharing these with me.” I scooted forward in my seat, preparing to get up, but hesitated and sat back again. “Can I ask you a question?”

She gave me a wary nod.

“Does Nox’s glamour work on you? I mean, can you feel it when he sings, or… any other time?”

She laughed. “Are you kidding? I knew him back when his voice was higher than mine. I heard all of his very first songs, and believe me, they were
not
good. He was there for my awkward stage, too. We couldn’t glamour each other if we tried. Why?”

“No reason.” I stood and glanced back at Lad, who seemed deep in sleep. “I think he has the right idea. I’m going to go grab a nap too.”

“Okay. Now that I know I can trust him, I’m going to call Alfred and get him to book me on a job or two so I’ll have a cover story for being in the city. Davis has been bugging me to do more modeling, so he’ll be happy. Sleep well,” she said.

Forcing a weak smile at her, I moved to another row of seats where I reclined but failed to fall asleep. Instead, pictures of Nox and Vancia kissing filled my mind. Not visions of two preternaturally beautiful twelve-year-olds but the current versions of those childhood sweethearts.                            

Worst of all, I imagined Nox looking at her the way he had in that photo, and for the first time since our trip began, I dreaded our arrival in L.A., hoping I didn’t recognize that same look in his eyes when he saw her again.