Shimmer: The Rephaim Book 3 (26 page)

The door closes.

I dash for the bathroom before Rafa can ask what’s going on. I want to be freshened up and fully clothed for this conversation. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Still me. Everyone besides Maggie still sees Gabe when they look at me. Well, maybe not everyone. I’m pretty sure when Rafa looked at me in that bed, he saw
me
.

I had sex with Rafa.

I grin. My reflection grins back.

I finally notice my crazy birds-nest hair. What was I thinking going to sleep with it damp? I manage to wrestle it into a ponytail, finish getting myself sorted. Wonder how Rafa feels about everything (me) now he’s had a sleep—and seen Jude.

By the time I come out, Rafa’s put on jeans, a t-shirt and hoodie. He meets me halfway across the room, bootlaces still undone.

‘About that stuff I need to tell you,’ I start.

‘In a minute.’ His fingers find my hips, draw me close. ‘I’m not done with this conversation yet.’ His lips brush mine. He’s tentative, as if he half expects me to push him away. I grip his hoodie, lean in. We kiss, slow and tender. Heat flares in all the right places. And then I remember all the things Rafa needs to hear about. I break contact first.

‘Seriously,’ I say. ‘We need to go.’

‘Okay.’ But he doesn’t move away. Instead he leans his forehead on mine. ‘Thanks for coming for me.’

‘You would’ve done the same.’

‘Yeah, but you’re meant to be smarter than me.’

I touch the new scar through his eyebrow. ‘Not when it comes to you, apparently.’

His lips curve. ‘I like the sound of that.’

I kiss him again and wish we didn’t have to be somewhere else. ‘You know this thing we’ve got going on? It only works if we both have our heads. Literally. I can’t believe you thought the solution was to die in there.’

He jerks his head back. ‘Dani really got that? Shit—Dani. Jude said…She’s here?’

‘Yeah. She went searching for you and heard what you were thinking.’

He rubs the back of his neck. ‘I could
feel
her there, but I had no idea she could hear me.’

I want to know more, but Jude’s waiting. And the Mya situation. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’

‘Shift?’

I answer by sliding my arms around him.

‘You’ve been practising.’

‘How—’

‘I felt you when we left the cornfield. Not strong, but your energy was definitely in the mix.’ He squeezes my hip. ‘Are you up for a quick detour on the way to the garage?’

‘Where?’

‘Still in the Sanctuary. I want to show you something. It’ll only take a minute.’

There’s something about the quietness in his voice.

‘Okay. Just a minute.’

Our shift is the calmest I’ve experienced with Rafa, as if even he’s had enough chaos for a while. It’s actually colder when we stop. When my eyes adjust I see we’re standing under a huge tree. It hulks over us, stretches out in all directions. But we’re not in a park, we’re in a tiny courtyard. Icy wind shakes the branches and dried leaves rasp along the footpath. I smell damp earth and something sweet. This must be the tree I saw from the roof. Blinds are drawn in the windows around us, casting outlines of muted light. Everything smells of rain.

‘Where are we?’ I whisper.

‘Nathaniel’s original courtyard.’ Rafa takes my hand and leads me further under the canopy. The trunk is as wide as a wine barrel. Thick, gnarled arms reach out and gouge sandstone walls; smaller branches spike upwards, dressed in pale blossoms. Rafa sits on a twisted limb and guides me onto his lap. I steady myself on the trunk: the bark is tough, hardy.

‘This apple tree’s older than us. It was half this size when Nathaniel transplanted it the year he moved into the monastery.’ I shiver and Rafa rubs my arms through my hoodie. ‘The monks didn’t have the balls to tell him the courtyard wasn’t big enough for it. So it outgrew the space and they’ve been pruning it for a century, trying to stop it busting through the walls. The roots must be playing hell with the foundations.’

I pick at a piece of bark. It comes away more easily than I expect. ‘I didn’t realise you were a closet tree hugger.’

I feel the laughter in his chest. ‘When we were kids, we used to sneak in here every summer. You, me and Jude. Sometimes Micah and Daisy. We’d dare each other to climb to the top. The real challenge was not getting sprung by Nathaniel or the monks.’

‘And how successful were we?’

‘We scrubbed a lot of floors in those years.’ He draws me closer. ‘Even back then you were fearless, before we really had an idea of what we were capable of.’

‘Yeah?’

‘One time when we were fifteen, you and me were racing to the top. There may have been some heckling and wrestling and I got ahead of you. And then my branch broke and I lost my grip. I was a goner.’

‘What happened?’

‘You caught me.’

‘I did not.’

‘No, it’s true. You grabbed me as I went past. Gutsy move.’ He leans in until his lips are against my ears. ‘I may have started having inappropriate thoughts about you around then.’

I laugh and nudge him away with my elbow—gently—and try to imagine being a fifteen-year-old in this ancient place, hanging out with fifteen-year-old versions of Rafa and Jude. It’s like the last time Rafa told me a story about the childhood I don’t remember: strangely comforting. And it reminds me this place, so foreign to me, was once my home.

‘I thought you might like to see it.’

I turn my face and kiss his cheek. ‘Thank you.’ I wish I could see his eyes, but it’s too dark out here. ‘Sorry to bring you back here.’

‘Ah, it’s not all bad.’

‘I thought you hated this place?’

He shrugs. ‘Only since we walked out. Before that, it was okay.’ He looks around, even though there’s nothing to see except the tree and the walls and patches of cloudy night sky. ‘We made a lot of memories here. It’s hard not to get attached to a place you’ve lived in most of your life, even with all the crap that comes with it.’ There’s a strange note in his voice I can’t quite place. Nostalgia?

It makes me wonder…did his aversion to the Sanc-tuary stem from the falling-out with Nathaniel? Or the falling-out with me? I breathe in cool air, picture living here as one of the Rephaim. All of us, eating, drinking, sleeping, training and fighting together. Laughing together. Backing each other. In the life I remember—the life of hostels and campgrounds—I missed having a place to call home. Is it the same for Rafa? Does he miss being a part of the fabric here, even with its flaws?

‘I bet Ez has been happy to be back,’ he says. ‘She still misses the brothers, not that she’d admit it.’

I think about her conversation with Brother Ferro and his concern over her scars. ‘I doubt she’s missed the antagonism with everyone else.’

‘I can imagine the warm reception the crew got.’ Whatever was in his voice before has gone.

‘Come on, we need to go. Jude’s waiting and there’s a lot to tell you.’ I shiver again and Rafa laughs.

‘Seriously, Gaby, living in the tropics has made you soft.’ He wraps me up in a bear hug. ‘I kind of like it, though.’

OH, AND BY THE WAY…

We shift to the garage.

‘Is that my Ninja?’ Rafa’s arms leave me before I open my eyes. I smell concrete, grease, fuel. He half-jogs over to the far corner and rips off the blanket. He runs a hand lovingly over the fairing. Swings a leg over the bike and grins at me. ‘We’re taking this for a ride.’ He looks past me. ‘You see this?’

Jude is in the doorway to the storage room, holding a hardcover book. ‘I did. Impressive. But we need to sort a few things before you start up that bad boy.’

Rafa sighs, climbs off the bike.

‘Good sleep?’ Jude says to me. I feel the flush creep up my neck. He looks from me to Rafa and back again, as if he’s still making up his mind how he feels about us being together. Oh god, I really don’t want him thinking about it.

‘What’s that?’ I point to the book.

He shows me the cover. It’s in Italian but there’s a photo of what looks like the Sanctuary on the cover. ‘Nathaniel picked it up when he was down here. I thought it was worth another look.’

‘So,’ Rafa says. ‘When did Mya take the old girl?’

‘About twenty minutes ago.’

We follow Jude into the storage room. It’s still cold and stale, but more private than the garage. The boxes are packed away on the shelves and the floor’s been swept clean. Dust still hangs in the air.

‘Did she take Brother Stephen too?’ I ask.

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because—’

‘Hold up,’ Rafa interrupts. ‘Why would Mya take Brother Stephen?’

Jude raises his eyebrows at me. ‘He doesn’t know?’

‘Not yet—hey,’ I say in response to the look he gives me. ‘We’ve been sleeping.’

The eyebrows stay up.

Rafa leans against the cinderblock wall. ‘Okay. Fill me in.’

Jude looks to me. I spot a tennis ball wedged in the metal bracket holding the shelves to the wall. I prise it free, roll it between my palms while I get my thoughts together.

I give Rafa the run-down: retreating to the Sanctuary after he and Taya were taken; Nathaniel’s confession about the wards at the Sanctuary; the Outcasts coming here and the violent fallout; Zarael’s visit and the delivery of Taya’s finger; the significance of the symbols in the iron room, and where Nathaniel last saw them. And then the biggest news: Mya’s connection to the women and Brother Stephen’s six-decade side career.

Rafa blinks, as if he’s waiting for the punchline. ‘No way…seriously?’ We give him a moment for it to sink in. ‘Fuck.’

‘Exactly,’ Jude says.

‘Who else knows about this?’

‘Micah and Jason,’ I say.

‘And Ez and Zak. They’ll be here in a sec.’

‘Nathaniel?’ Rafa asks.

Jude shrugs. ‘Only if Micah’s talked.’

‘He said he’d give us three hours—’

‘That was before Mya stole Nathaniel’s prized prisoner. He’s pretty pissed off.’

I frown. ‘Why didn’t Brother Stephen go with them?’

‘It would have raised more questions. Now it just looks like Mya is playing games with the Five.’

‘Yeah, but Micah knows the truth.’

Rafa shakes his head. ‘Micah’s no idiot. He’ll keep quiet. He has to now if he doesn’t want to wear some of the shit hitting the fan.’

‘I asked him to trust me. He must hate me for this.’

‘It’s Micah,’ Rafa says to me. ‘He couldn’t hate you if his life depended on it.’ He pats the pockets of his jeans. ‘Shit, I have no idea where my phone is. Don’t suppose either of you have Mya’s number?’

‘I do,’ Jude says, not looking at me.

When did that happen? Jude must have been with Mya at some point when I wasn’t around. I feel a faint sting. Still.

There’s a knock. ‘Just us.’ Ez and Zak let themselves in. They’re carrying their swords—and ours.

Ez hands hers to Zak and hugs Rafa. The embrace is silent, intense. Ez steps back, wipes her eyes. ‘You’ve heard about Mya?’

‘Yeah,’ Rafa says. ‘Unbelievable. She’s been playing us for a decade.’

‘We don’t know that. I’d like to hear what she’s got to say before we burn her at the stake.’

‘Have you called her?’

Ez nods. ‘She’s not answering.’

‘That should tell you something.’

‘It tells me she’s gone to ground. Do you blame her?’

‘Mya didn’t have to come into that room today when the door slid shut.’ I say it quietly. ‘That’s what gave her away in the end: saving you and me.’

Rafa stares at me. ‘
You’re
defending her?’

‘Just stating a fact.’

He cracks a knuckle. God, I’ve missed that sound. ‘How widely known is it that Virginia’s gone?’ he asks.

‘It’s not,’ Zak says. He’s in the doorway, keeping an eye on the garage. ‘The Five won’t be in a hurry to admit they’ve lost her.’

‘We need to talk to the crew, get in front of this.’

Jude slips his phone from his pocket. ‘Let me try Mya first.’ He looks to me, waits for my nod of support. He dials. She’s not going to answer, not now that she knows we know—

‘Mya—are you okay?’ Jude half-turns away. ‘We’re still at the Sanctuary…Gaby, and Rafa. Ez and Zak…Yeah, he’s okay. Taya’s good too.’

Rafa waves to get Jude’s attention. ‘I want to talk to her,’ he says.

‘I’m putting you on speaker. Don’t hang up.’ Jude taps the screen. ‘You still there?’

Silence.

Rafa leans over the phone. ‘What the fuck, Mya?’

She doesn’t answer.

‘That’s it. That’s all you’ve got? After all these years. After everything we’ve gone through. Fucking unbelievable.’ The telltale muscle in Rafa’s jaw twitches. ‘Was anything out of your mouth the truth?’

Jude pulls the phone away. ‘Rafa…’

Ez moves closer. ‘Mya, please come and talk to us.’

‘I can’t, Ez.’ There’s a note in Mya’s voice I’ve never heard before. Regret.

‘Where are you?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Are you with Jess?’

‘Forget about Jess.’

‘What about Virginia?’

‘She’s with her daughters. They’re no threat now.’

Daughters.

It’s a few seconds before it hits me. ‘Oh my god.’

Jude frowns at me. ‘What?’

‘Jess is part of the family.’

More silence on the other end of the phone.

‘Is that true?’ Ez asks.

A long pause, and then a loud sigh. ‘Jess, Louise and Debra are sisters.
Were
sisters.’

I
knew
the detective reminded me of someone: Jess looks like Sophie, her niece in Iowa.

The LA situation makes a lot more sense. It was no accident Jess was in the Rhythm Palace when Gatekeepers and hellions terrorised the club the first time around. And no accident she formed an alliance with the Outcasts. My mind spins—and then abruptly finds traction.

‘Did Jess go to the farm yesterday? Fly out there to give Virginia a report?’

‘Why?’ Mya’s wary now.

‘Bel saw us out the back of the club. He knows she was working with us. He could’ve followed her after we left, and if she went to Iowa—’

‘Gatekeepers can’t track humans.’

‘No,’ Rafa says, catching on, ‘but Immundi could have shadowed her to the airport, boarded her plane in LA and followed her to the farm. Those monkey pricks can almost pass as human if they clip their nails and keep their mouths shut.’