The Brotherhood of the Snake (Return of the Ancients Book 2) (31 page)

And what had happened to Jareth? But he’d clearly recovered, because he’d seemed just fine on TV.

It was late morning when the doorbell rang, and I heard Betty answer the door and Rafael’s deep tones respond.

I leapt out of bed, nearly knocking Ajax onto the floor.

Was everything ok? Had something happened?

At the very least, I had to tell Rafael about the white-cloaked figure that I’d seen.

Tossing a flannel shirt over my pajamas and running my fingers through my hair, I stumbled into the living room just in time to hear him say, “I’ll come back later, then.”

“Good morning!” I said, stepping up behind Betty.

She whirled in surprise and laughed. “I guess I’m wrong, she’s awake!”

With a warm smile, she puttered into the kitchen, leaving me standing there facing Rafael.

Suddenly, I felt supremely awkward.

I’d clearly been worrying for nothing. Rafael sure didn’t look like he was suffering any kind of inconvenience at all.

In fact, he looked utterly gorgeous, even more so than usual.

Immaculately dressed in a stylish black coat with a turned up collar, he’d unbuttoned it just enough to reveal a gray netted shirt stretched tight over his muscular chest. And while a healthy dose of eyeliner ringed his eyes, he’d pulled his blond hair back in a simple ponytail.

It was a look that made my heart lurch as my mind went completely blank. And I’m sure that I would have appeared a complete fool had I not been rescued by an unlikely ally.

Ajax chose that moment to appear.

His black fur bristled at the sight of me, and he lifted his lip in an outright sneer to reveal his shiny white teeth. But this time, I could only grin.

“How do you like those nails, Ajax?” I asked, wiggling my brows at his bright neon purple toenails.

As Ajax growled, Rafael tossed his head back and laughed a deep, resounding laugh that warmed me to the bottom of my toes.

“Too bad dogs are color blind,” I said with genuine regret.

“Oh, he definitely sees that shade,” Rafael assured with a charming smile. Turning to Ajax, he added, “I’ve warned you never to wage war with a female. You’ll lose every time.”

I could have stayed there forever, hanging on the door, simply chatting with him, but then the events of the night before played through my mind, and I grew serious all at once.

“What happened?” I asked in a low voice. Mesmers? The Tulpa?

“He has no recollection,” Rafael replied softly. “It’s highly unusual.”

That bothered me. Leaning close to make sure I wasn’t overheard, I prodded, “Mesmers?”

He shook his head.

I was just about to tell him about the white-cloaked figure when Al’s voice rang out. “Get suited up, girls! The snow’s deep enough for some survival training!”

I squinted over my shoulder to see him approach, waving his toast excitedly in the air.

“Good morning.” Rafael bowed politely.

“And a good morning to you, Rafael!” Al gave him a jovial greeting in return. “Why don’t you come along and join us? You’re new to the area. I’ll teach you a few things you’ll never learn in medical school!”

It took me a moment to recall that when they’d first met, Rafael had told Al that he was a medical student.

To my delight, Rafael smiled and said, “I’d love to.”

But then there was a loud crash across the street, and Jareth stumbled into view to stand unsteadily in the middle of the icy street. Shading his eyes, he peered our way before staggering over to join us, sliding several times along the way.

Al stood in the doorway next to me, chomping his toast and watching Jareth’s every move with a deep interest.

I wondered if he still thought Jareth was an FBI agent. Taking one look at him this morning, I didn’t see how anyone could think he was. In fact, I found myself doubting he was even a Fae Fate Tracker.

He stumbled onto the porch, shirtless, wearing only a torn leather vest—revealing a pretty amazing set of washboard abs—and his staple black leather pants. But it was his exhausted face, red-rimmed eyes, and the eyeliner running down his face that made him look like he was suffering a hangover of the worst kind. Even his usually tortured hair hung strangely limp today.

Suddenly, I was worried. Something was really wrong with Jareth.

I could see my concern mirrored in Rafael’s eyes.

Al was practically pulling Jareth inside the house. “Come in, come in, Jareth! It’ll be nice to have you boys come along. We’ll make it a competition.”

They both entered then, after stomping the snow off of their boots as Jareth winced and repeated, “Competition?” After a moment, he seemed to get a hold of himself because he added belligerently, “That’ll be unfair to everyone else. I always win competitions.”

I scowled. He might be suffering and appear down, but his ego was unaffected.

“You could use some breakfast, Jareth.” Al decided as he pushed him into the kitchen. “Betty’s waffles will do the trick. Go sit down.”

Rafael hung back, and I seized the opportunity.

“Last night when I found Jareth, I saw the white-cloaked figure,” I hissed, gripping his arm.

He wasn’t the slightest bit surprised.

“I know,” he said. “Ajax told me.”

I felt a bit let down, but then, how was I to know? I couldn’t speak dog language. “Oh, well, did he get to see who it was?”

“No.” He shook his head. “He only saw them run across the street and disappear. He stopped to help Jareth.” He moved closer and our hands brushed. “We’ll find out what happened. There are ways.”

I wondered what that meant, and how he could do anything now that he didn’t have an active sense of Light. But looking at him standing there in all of his sophisticated coolness, I suddenly remembered I was wearing bedraggled pajamas with finger-combed hair.

“Uh, I’ll go get ready,” I said quickly. And feeling my cheeks threatening to turn red once again, I escaped for a quick shower and fresh clothes.

By the time I returned, Jareth and Rafael sat at the kitchen table while Al poured Betty’s homemade waffle mix into a smoking waffle maker.

“I’m going to have to fix this thing again,” he commented, flipping a hot waffle out onto a plate. “You kids eat up. You’re in for a real treat today. Learning how to survive takes energy!”

I eyed Jareth, expecting him to make some snarky comment, but he just sat at the table cradling his chin in his hand. He’d washed his face, and with the makeup gone I could see the dark, purple circles under his eyes.

Something clearly had happened last night.

As the coffeemaker dinged, I grabbed the carafe and pouring a cup, offered it to him with a packet of Equal. “Drink it.”

“What’s this?” Jareth asked, eyeing the mug with open disdain.

“Coffee,” I said, shoving it into his hands.

“Who drinks coffee this early in the morning?” he groaned. “It’s 10:30 a.m!”

I laughed a little, and turned to find Rafael watching me from his seat across the table. I couldn’t begin to interpret his expression, but he didn’t look too happy. I was just about to ask him what was wrong when Grace chose that moment to wander into the kitchen with Tigger at her heels.

Spying Jareth, her eyes lit with open interest, and snagging a piece of toast, she devoured it on the way to the refrigerator. Tigger obligingly snuffled behind her, nose plastered to the floor, licking up any crumbs that fell like an anteater.

“Good morning.” She smiled at everyone as she poured a glass of milk, and plopping down in the chair next to Jareth, asked abruptly, “How’d you get here from L.A. when the airport’s closed?”

I jerked in surprise.

But even ill, Jareth was a smooth actor. Setting his untouched coffee mug aside, he leaned close to Grace and smiled. “I can’t give away my secrets now, can I?”

“Secrets?” she insisted, but her resolve was already melting under his charm.

“Secrets,” he simply repeated in a lower voice.

She giggled, forgetting entirely about her original question and asked, “Are you going to learn survival tips with us?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Jareth all but batted his eyelashes in return.

She squealed then, and jumping up from the table, ran off to get ready.

“You’re incorrigible!” I snorted, although deep inside, I found the entire exchange perversely amusing.

“Absolutely!” He flashed a cocky grin.

We didn’t say much after that. Al kept piling waffles on everyone’s plates until we were so stuffed I didn’t see how we were going to even waddle to the porch.

Once we’d finished, Al sent Rafael and Jareth home to get weather-appropriate clothing, and I helped him clear the table.

“We’ll make our survival packs first,” Al was saying with a satisfied nod. Pulling a key out of his pocket, he added, “I’ll just go get the supplies from the garage, kiddo.”

“I can help,” I volunteered, wiping my hands dry with a dishcloth and stepped forward to follow.

But Al held out a blocking hand and said, “That garage isn’t safe right now, kiddo. I’ve got a project in there. You just go ask Betty for some of that nail polish, and I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

I watched him unlock the door leading to the garage and disappear inside. What was he doing in there? He’d obviously built something with all that PVC piping and plastic wrap, but I just shrugged and ran to the family room to ask Betty for another nail polish donation.

By the time Jareth and Rafael returned, wearing dramatic outfits that made them look very much like Navy SEALs, Al had his supplies ready.

With a loud, obnoxious yawn, Jareth swaggered to the table and sank into a chair with a blissful sigh. “Wake me up when you’re ready to go play in the snow,” he said, closing his eyes and pretending to fall instantly to sleep.

I snorted.

He’d obviously recovered.

“Up, soldier!” Al barked and clapped his hands.

Jareth cracked open a surprised eye.

“It’s time to prepare!” Al smiled at us and shouted for Grace to join and as soon as she skipped into the kitchen, our training began.

As we took our seats around the table, Rafael’s leg brushed against mine, but he didn’t pull it away. He left it there. And the longer it was there, the more my skin tingled and the faster my heart beat.

Al was talking, telling us about the importance of always having a survival kit in the car, backpack, or bike and handed each of us a plastic bag.

I tried very hard to pay attention but failed miserably. Rafael was just too distracting. I was too busy noticing everything about him, from the way he swallowed to the length of his eyelashes.

At some point, he glanced sideways at me and with a playful wink, leaned close to whisper in my ear, “Why are you staring? Am I that handsome?”

If I’d thought I’d blushed before, I was wrong. With flaming cheeks, I pretended to cough and turned my head to watch Al as he animatedly waved his hands, pacing back and forth with Tigger faithfully pacing behind him. The bloodhound stared determinedly at Al’s hands as if some food would magically appear in them and fall to the floor.

Al was waving plastic baggies, telling us to fill them with packages of almonds, bandages, scissors, and gauze, making them the first items in our first aid kits. Once we’d done that, he nodded in satisfaction.

“And it’s simple enough to make your own waterproof matches!” he said, placing two paper cups on the table. One was filled with water and the other with Betty’s neon purple nail polish. Taking a match from a box, he dipped the tip in the nail polish and said, “It’s easy as pie. Dip the match and let it dry. And when it gets wet after, it don’t matter!”

We all smiled a little at his attempt at rhyming but watched with interest as he dunked the match in the water, and then struck it against the sole of his boot.

It flared into life.

“Wow!” I said, appropriately awed.

He gave us each a pile of matches and leaned against the counter to watch, chin in hand, until he was satisfied we understood what to do. After a moment, he left to join Betty in the family room.

“This is taxing work!” Jareth complained after about two minutes. He gave a loud yawn. “I’m not used to slaving away this early in the day. I’m starving. In fact, I’m so hungry even that bone smells good.”

He grinned at Tigger sitting in front of the refrigerator, gnawing on a rubber peanut-butter scented doggie diet bone Betty had ordered off the internet.

“Ask Tigger if you can have a bite,” I said sweetly, gathering my matches. “You’d probably digest rubber pretty easily.”

“Rubber?” He leaned close to inspect Tigger’s diet bone and said in disgust, “That’s dog abuse.”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Rafael was smiling, but I was a little too embarrassed to actually face him at the moment.

Al returned to inspect our work.

“Well done!” He beamed. “We’ll try some of those matches out today after they’ve been sitting in the snow! But before we head out, we’ve got to cover the signal mirrors! While a dedicated signal mirror is without a doubt the most effective daytime signaling device, you can always improvise by using regular mirrors or even an ordinary CD. So, go find some signaling devices and we’ll be off to put this stuff to use!”

Jareth stretched and gave a loud, obnoxious yawn. “Someone get something for me.”

I frowned at him. “Sure. I’ve got a couple CDs that I don’t want anymore,” I said, slipping out of my chair. Running to my room, I tugged open the bottom drawer of my dresser and pulled out two of Jareth’s CDs.

As an afterthought, I slid the top drawer open and grabbed several programmable atoms and slipped them into my jeans’ pocket.

The Mesmers were still out there. I knew Rafael had promised a bodyguard would be watching out for me, but I didn’t know if I could trust Brock. And I wanted to be extra prepared.

Returning to the kitchen, I found Rafael and Jareth waiting alone with their survival packs before them on the table. I brandished the CD cases with a wicked grin.

Jareth grunted.

Rafael laughed in a charming way that threatened to make me blush again, so I focused on my survival pack and then pretended to tie my shoes. As I inspected the knots, Tigger’s slobbery tongue reached out to lick my fingers.