o f31e4a444fa175b2 (30 page)

“Riss.” David shot a pained glance my way. “Did he you on the head when he abducted you?”

“Actually, no. But, if you will recall, we’ve been investigating a group of mad scientists who use both genetic an magical manipulation to create arcane test-tube babies Like our little brother here.”

Cori pushed back and regarded Mac with great inter est. “Wouldn’t that make him my uncle?” I nodded. “Wow And you’re only two years older than me? Does that me I don’t have to listen to you like I do Aunt Riss?”

“Cori!” Jessica’s cheeks turned bright red.

Mac’s rich voice rang out in a full-bellied guffaw. H tugged on the end of Con’s ponytail. “I’m bigger an smarter than you, so I outrank you no matter what.”

I snickered. “He tried that on me earlier, Con. Don’t let him get away with it.”

Jessica shot me an exasperated look. “Don’t give h any ideas, Marissa.”

Cori batted her eyelashes. “Yeah, don’t give me an ideas, Marissa.”

She ducked a cuff from her mother and took off toward the front porch. “I don’t know about anyone else, but
I’m
hungry.” Trinity appeared at the screen door armed with a butcher knife. Con didn’t even blink; she just waved, chattering like a magpie, and had a bemused Trinity halfway to the kitchen before
she
could blink.

Jessica made a vexed noise. “Teenagers. Act like you never feed them.” She and David hurried after their daughter.

Scott turned to Mac and Ellie, lips set in a grim line. “Let me know when the others arrive. Other than that, or I ire emergencies involving someone being dead, I don’t want to be interrupted. Let’s see if you two can get back into the habit of actually following orders.”

They both winced, then nodded without saying anything. Scott pointed toward the house. “After you, ladies. We have some catching up to do.”

Mom led the two of us back to the bedroom where I’d earlier awakened. She and I took turns telling the long, sordid story to Scott, who alternately paced, frowned, and asked for Further clarification. At the end of the tale, his face relaxed slightly. “Well, that explains a whole hell of a lot.”

My body released the tension I hadn’t realized it’d been holding in. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what I said.”

He stepped oven to my mother, holding out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet Riss’s mother, Mrs.—

Ms.--—”

“Call me Allegra, dear.”

“Allegna, then. I’m glad to see you reunited with your family. Especially your daughter.”

The tone of his voice was possessive in the extreme. It almost sounded like a warning. I blinked, glancing from him to my mother, then back again. Was he actually “marking” his territory by getting into a pissing contest with my mother, of all people? Then again, my father had died before Scott and I even met. Maybe he was making up
for lost time.

Mom just smiled. “I’m glad, too. And I apologize for’ way Mac handled things. He wasn’t sure how you all would react if he revealed the truth, to you back at your headquarters. Being vastly outnumbered and all.”

My lips trembled with the sudden urge to grin. Her words were no less a warning than Scott’s.
Even
think about harming my son for what he did, and suffer the consequences.
Seeing the two facing each other down made me realize something. No
wonder
I’d fallen head oven heels in love with Scott. Only someone as tough— and slightly crazy—as him could even match a Fury. My father had been like that once, although as a mortal he been more susceptible to the doubts and uncertainties that loving a Fury could instill. And once he’d embraced the
bottle to drink away my mother’s memory, all toughness had quickly drowned in a sea of Scotch.

I opened my mouth to make a snappy comment, but engine rumbled noisily outside and the sound of brakes squealing pieces the afternoon air. My body tensed a I prepared for possible battle, until my brain put together the pieces of’ the puzzle: Scott’s Comment about the others along with what sounded like a semi pulling up outside.

My lips twisted into the smile I’d been holding back. “Well, what do you know. Dre came through for me after all.”

AND INDEED HE HAD. A SLEEK BLACK 18-
wheeler sat in the driveway behind the car Scott and company had arrived in a bare hour earlier, and several SUVs were parked behind it. Assorted arcanes poured out of both semi and SUVs, taking in their surroundings with sharp-eyed gazes before heading straight to Scott and me. Mac and Ellie faded into the background, more than willing to let us take’ the lead.

Charlie was the first one to step up, not really a surprise considering the hellaciously long stride on the Giant. Two male and two female Giants trailed behind him, one of whom I recognized from Gunmetal Alley.

“Charlie!” I pelted forward and engulfed him in a hug. Or tried to, at least. My arms would only fit halfway around his waist.

He had no such trouble, arms easily encircling me and patting my back with a little too much force. I winced didn’t complain. “I see your Hound caught up with after all. Did you decide to stop running finally?”

Anyone else I might have slugged, but Charlie knew more of the story from my point of view than anyone else. Except maybe Trinity. I took advantage of his bear hug to whisper into his ear, “Now, now, behave yourself. We here to work, not play.”

He snickered, setting me back on my feet and motioning to his fellow Giants. By the time he made a quick no of introductions, our other allies—including Sean and Kiara—had arranged themselves in a semicircle around the porch, eyes and ears focused on not Scott, but Gianna, the Oracle who had saved my life and then pronounced me a lifelong cripple, nodded at me from a bevy of apprentices, the only other Oracles she could pledge our cause. Because Oracles were always strict pacifists (except in cases of self-defense), they couldn’t give direct help in the rescue. Instead, they were going to run an infirmary from the back of Dre’s semi.

Butterflies tickled my stomach as my gaze wandered from arcane to arcane to arcane to. . . I sucked in my breath and battled the nausea welling up in my stomach. For a second I thought I’d come down with a sudden of the stomach flu, but then reality intruded. I was nervous. Scared-out-of-my-brain nervous. I was responsible for them all. The weight of that suddenly seemed to in my stomach like a ton of rocks.

Scott’s hand squeezed my shoulder. He met my eyes unflinchingly, and the faith in them steeled my resolve. I noticed the rest of my family gathered behind us, including Trinity. And all of them looked just as sure of me Scott. My heart picked up speed. I could do this. I
had
do this.

I took a deep breath and then let the words pour from my heart. “First, I’d like to thank you all for answering the call to arms. I’m not going to lie to you: The odds are stacked against us. The renegade mortals have an unknown number of Sidheborn clones on their side, not to mention superior numbers and technology. But we have the might of right on our side. No one, neither arcane nor mundane, has the right to steal our loved ones, our family and friends, from us. No one, neither arcane nor mundane, has the right to experiment on them like they have no minds or souls of
I
heir own. No one, neither arcane nor mundane, has the right to breed other sentient beings like animals. Make no mistake, we
will
take back our people.”

A round of applause and wild cheers broke out, quieting quickly when they saw I had more to say.

Their enthusiasm lined me up even more. I reached behind me to pull Trinity forward. Her mouth and eyes widened, and she looked like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s sights. “Second, I want to make sure all of you understand one thing. We are not at war with the mortals. This mortal is a beloved friend of mine, and she has dedicated herself heart and soul to helping night the wrongs wrought against us. I trust her as I trust myself. The renegades who have taken our loved ones do not represent the mundane world as a whole. They are just that—renegades—and their government has disavowed any part in this whole sordid mess. If any of you intend to use this night as an opportunity to kill mortals for vengeance’s sake—you need to leave now. I speak as a Fury with a gods-blessed Mandate. Any ancanes found to take the lives of innocent mundanes, or to use more extreme force than necessary to carry out our mission, will be judged as harshly as those renegades who took our loved ones to begin with.”

A few mutters broke out, but they lasted less than

a minute. But none of the arcanes left, and not a few them sent supportive smiles and glances Trinity’s way. S pulled from my grasp and stepped back, no longer looking scared but neither looking particularly pleased with me. She hated being put on the spot. Or in the
spotlight.

Tough,
I thought with an inner smile. If I had to one for the team, so could she.

“Finally, as far as strategy goes, I’m going to choose several of you to serve as lieutenants for this mission. We then assign each of you to a team who will report to
01
of those lieutenants. At that point the blood-oath will administered and you will be tied as completely to this I am tied by Mandate. If anyone wishes to back out, now the time.”

Not a single person even appeared to consider backing out. Good thing, too, because I would have had to was precious time and energy in doing a brain drain so they couldn’t give the rest of us away.

“All right. Once the lieutenants are selected and the blood-oath taken, the rest of you can prepare for battle while we plan the mission. Again, thank you all for coming here tonight. Your bravery and honor will not be forgotten.”

Once the blood-oath took root, Scott and I led the lieutenants into a study in the near of the old farmhouse and got down to business. While the rest of us formulated a basic strategy, Scott made some phone calls. First to his father, to check on things back home. Then to Red, who’d bugged all his old military contacts but hadn’t managed to narrow the lab’s location any further. Scott had just hunkered down next to me when his phone started barking
Who Let the Dogs Out?
After murmuring an apology, he checked the Caller ID and then flipped the phone open, a look of concern on his face.

“What’s up, Harp?”

My body tensed. Scott’s look of concern changed to

outright alarm. And that reignited the nervousness that hadn’t completely faded from my stomach.

“Understood.” He glanced at his watch. “See you in twenty. Be careful.”

He slammed the phone shut and looked straight at me. Several tragic scenarios played out in my head in the seconds it took him to speak, but, as usual, reality was even worse than imagination.

“Harper finally got the location pinned down for us.” A big relief, since Plan B—driving all around Western Massachusetts hoping to get a hit on Dre’s way-too-limited GPS—pretty much sucked.

Excitement rippled through the room, but I kept my gaze locked on Scott, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “But that’s because it’s being evacuated. They know we’re coming.”

‘OH GODS, WERE TOO LATE.”

My hands shook as I stared down at the valley below us. Hollowed-out shells littered the ground, embers glowing in the early twilight and smoke curling toward the sky. It took me a moment to realize they marked where buildings had once stood—until the bastards learned we were coming for them and decided to torch everything rather than risk evidence falling into the wrong hands. Tears pricked my eyes.

We’d been so close to getting them back.
Oh, Nessa, I’m so sorry...

Scott’s voice murmured in my ear. “Hey, look at that.”

“What?”

He pointed to the BlackBerry in my hand that I’d drawn from my pocket and activated moments earlier. “It’s glowing.”

I raised the tiny machine to eye level and blinked. He was right. Pale blue light spilled out from its display screen. Mystic symbols flashed across too fast for me to pick out any individual emblem. A soft beeping sound began chime at the same time words appeared in the center of screen.
Target acquired.

The words faded away, replaced by a map of the surrounding area and a blinking red dot less than a half mile away. The first time we’d gotten close enough for Dre’s damned UPS to actually work.

Scott’s eyes met my own when I jerked my gaze upward “She’s still here!”

We scurried down the hill to meet the rest of the scouting party we’d put together. My mother and Mac, who knew what we were up against better than anyone else. Elli since she’d refused to let Mac go without her, and Charlie and his fellow Giants because they were too damned valuable in a fight not to bring along.

I scowled when I remembered Ellie’s refusal to escort my family back to the relative safety of the Belly, but forced my annoyance back down. How could I blame her for wanting to stay by her husband’s side? Besides, Sean and Kiana were perfectly capable of driving them back to Boston. He might have been young (not to mention acting strange lately) and she might have been more Healer than warrior, but a Hound was still a Hound. Loyal, and viciously good at defending those under their protection.

Mom glanced up sharply when we skidded to a stop next to the two SUVs. Her eyes looked sad when they met my own. “Anything left?”

I bit my lips, then shook my head. “Not much. One on two buildings are only half-burned instead of fully destroyed.”

Sarcasm tinged her tone. “They must have left in a hurry.”

I shook the BlackBerry, excitement ripping through my body again. “She’s still close. Either they didn’t take her too far, or she made a nun for it.” I didn’t need to say who
she
was.

A smile spread across her face. “If she did, that’s our girl.”

I let a matching grin touch my lips and turned to the others. “Mom, Scott, and I will track down Nessa.

I’d like the rest of you to search the buildings to see if you can find any clues or evidence. On other survivors.” With the carnage spread along the valley, I doubted that last, but we still had to try. “Charlie, you’re in charge down there. If you see the slightest hint of a trap, pull out immediately. Give the signal, and we’ll meet you back at the rendezvous Point. Don’t wait for us. Mom and I can get Scott and Nessa out ourselves.”