United (The Guardians Book 2) (10 page)

“This is a good thing,” Fortune encouraged Sacha, trying desperately to bring him out of his stupor. But Sacha just hummed an answer absently. He didn't even seem to care. But then, he no longer seemed to care about anything, anything at all.

When they arrived back home from Greece, Gable found herself some place she'd never imagined she'd be – the NYCGD Headquarters. Now that she was an official member of the team and apparently a Guardian in training, Charles hadn't seen the harm in letting her in.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” She span around the large living area, all decorated in white and blue, and looked up at the tall ceiling. “
This
is where you guys hid this place? Under that tiny Italian restaurant up there? Jesus Christ. Pablo would've given his left ass cheek for that information.”
 

“A vital organ, then,” Walker commented dryly.

“As vital as you guys,” Gable replied, smiling sweetly. She shook her head as she spotted the polished kitchen on the other side of the room. “You Guardians are such freaks.”

“
Us
Guardians,” Nicky corrected with a smug grin.
 

She rolled her eyes. “Not yet.”

Gable wasn't the only one experiencing HQ for the first time; Terelle, Cadby and Ward had been granted temporary access too. Big day for the super secretive Guardians. The last member of the mission, Hubert, was to meet them in Hawaii.

The place was surprisingly airy and not at all claustrophobic considering how far down underground it was, but still. . .Gable hated it. How could they stand to live without windows? It was like a large, high tech coffin. Maybe it was because of all those years living on the streets, but Gable needed to be able to see the sky whenever she wanted.

They moved into a dreary looking meetings room and sat themselves around a large table as Charles filled the rest of his team in on what had happened with the Elders and the details of the upcoming mission.

The hippie scientist – how was Gable still not remembering that chick's name? – sat on the edge of her seat, jiggling her knees up and down beneath her long, flowing skirt and fiddling with the beads around her neck. “I'm sort of torn right now between being honored that the Elders even
thought
about me for the mission and the, you know. . .mind numbing terror of the actual mission.”
 

“You don't have to go,” Charles reminded her earnestly. “You wouldn't be in any trouble if you refused. In fact, I'd really rather you didn't go; the whole thing is going to be very dangerous indeed.”

But she shook her head determinedly, her dark curls bouncing from side to side. “No way, I'm totally going, even if it
is
frikkin' scary. I want to help.”

Gable had to give the girl credit where it was due; she was a surprisingly tough cookie.

Next to her, a furious, red faced Kain fumed. He was a mild mannered guy and rarely lost his temper so whatever he was sitting on was obviously something he felt strongly about. “I don't like this,” he said to the scientist. “I'm worried about you. The others, they can all take care of themselves, but you're. . .you know. . .”

Frowning, she demanded, “What?”

“Sweet?”

She nudged him playfully with her elbow. “Nice save. And I'm not too sweet to kick your ass, Deng.”

“I'm scared for your life here, it's not exactly a small thing.” He stared at her with his big, puppy dog eyes.

Gable quirked an eyebrow as she watched the two of them. “He nursing a boner for her or what?” she murmured to Nicky out of the corner of her mouth.

Nicky, who was sitting way too close to her, pushed a bowl of chips her way and nodded. “Long time boner.” He eyed her with a smirk. “You're crasser than you used to be. I like it.”

“You need to trust in me,” the scientist was saying, oblivious to both their conversation and the poor guy's undying crush. “It's not like I'm gonna die or anything.”

“Actually, you might die,” Gable corrected cheerfully.

The two of them visibly paled, and Charles turned to glare at her. “You're really not helping.”

She shrugged and dug into the bowl of chips. “I know. But to be fair, I really wasn't trying to.”

Terelle cleared her throat to get them back on topic. After all, they were on a time limit. “I can't give you too many details about the Dark Islands as I have never been before, but I have heard rumors. Aside from the landscape and the culture, the realms aren't too different from one another – much like your countries around the world.

“The Outcasts on the team will need to be especially careful,” she warned. “Zawavia has a way of affecting your powers. You'll be stronger than usual, but also unstable. I think the only Outcast that could live peacefully there aside from a faerie or a pixie would probably be a leech. You know,” she mused. “it's a shame we don't know any leeches to partake in the mission. They could have helped keep you stable.”

Nicky's mouth dropped open. “I
vehemently
disagree.”

Cadby, Ward and Queenie nodded hastily in agreement.

“The humans in your team shouldn't be affected,” Terelle continued with a lift of her shoulder. “On the extremely rare occasion – before this ordeal – that a human crossed over, there were no noticeable side effects.

“Now, the Dark Islands are mostly made up of rainforest like terrain, though the plant and animal life will be unlike anything you've ever encountered before in the human realm.” She nodded respectfully to the scientist. “This is where your knowledge will come in particular use. You'll be able to tell what is and isn't safe and help the team navigate through it.”

She blushed at the attention. “I hope so.”

“Take all your own food and water supplies,” Terelle advised. “I know that will mean extra weight in your packs, but you shouldn't eat or drink anything that comes from the island. Even if it seems perfectly safe, it probably isn't. Dark faeries are known for their trickery. We should be grateful there won't be any of them there on that one island for you to encounter.”

“Are we sure about that?” Gable asked uneasily. She didn't normally like to show fear, but those dark faeries sounded like epic dicks.

“There's no way they'd tolerate the leeches,” Terelle assured her. “And we can be sure there are leeches on the island. How else would Pablo's partner and his team be holding the Outcasts?”

“Man, those leeches are weird little creepers. They always look so empty inside.” Gable shuddered as she remembered the blond leech Pablo had kept on staff for emergencies.

“Back to the habitation,” Terelle said. “I should warn you that it can be quite volatile. The plants and trees have a way of. . .coming alive. In the Summer Fields, the trees dance and the flowers hum, but in the Dark Islands they're deadlier. It's said they lure trespassers to their deaths with hypnotic whispers. . .” As she continued to talk, the scientist girl grew paler and paler.

Noticing, Charles reached across the table to pat her hand. “You don't have to go,” he repeated. “You really don't.”

She took a deep, resolved breath. “I'm not backing out. Not now.”

The hours flew by like smoke in the wind, and all too soon – though still not soon enough as far as Gable was concerned – the next day dawned and she, Nicky, Zay, Ward, Cadby and the scientist took to the skies. Because they were once again using the Guardians' private jet they didn't need to worry about layovers so their flight to Hawaii was smooth and easy.

Charles, Kain and even Walker had been shaking as they'd watched them off at the crack of dawn. Cellphones and other communication devices wouldn't work in Zawavia so there would be no way to let anyone back home know if they'd made it or not. Charles wouldn't even know if his son had lived or died until they'd returned from the Dark Islands.
If
they returned. Gable felt for him. In a way, the not knowing would be even worse than the actual mission. She should know – not having any idea whether Sacha had been alive or dead for a whole year had been torturous. Admittedly, finding out the truth hadn't been much easier.
 

After a long, ten hour flight, they finally arrived in Hawaii. Gable stepped off the plane and was immediately blasted with the warm, late afternoon sun. She beamed as she slid on her shades, wondering briefly why she'd been wasting her years in New York when she could have been sunning it up in Hawaii, though it wasn't long before her jeans shorts and vest were sticking to her skin with perspiration.

Like a recurring nightmare, they were once again greeted by a sickeningly bubbly Kacey. “Aloha!” she called out, her arms full of brightly colored leis. Feeling oddly generous in the sunshine, Gable let her throw a pink one over her neck. She even waited half a minute before yanking if off and tossing it to the ground.

Behind Kacey, a handsome man in his late twenties stepped forward. He was tall and fit, with sandy brown hair and an easy smile. Attractive in that all American sort of way. He and Zay slapped each other on the back in greeting before he turned to introduce himself.

“Hubert Eades.” He shook each of their hands with a firm, confident grip. “But my buddies call me Hue. Sorry I couldn't get to NYC to meet with you guys earlier – I was advising a Tracking team in Cali about a wendigo case so it was just easier for me to come straight here after they'd taken the nasty little shitter down. They wouldn't let me actively help until I'd completely healed, unfortunately. Talking of. . .” He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers at the scientist before pulling her into a warm hug. “You saved my skin with that healing salve of yours. Literally. That fire elemental did a real number on my hands. Thank you. Really.”

“Just doing my job.”

“Well it was an awesome one.”

“You're that Tracker Walker doesn't like, right?” Nicky asked him bluntly. “I remember her bitching about you. I mean, she bitches about a lot of shit, but she bitched about you specifically.”

Hue smirked. “Oh, she likes me well enough. She just doesn't
like
that she likes me. It pisses her off.”
 

Nicky chuckled and they bumped fists. “Yeah, man, we're gonna get along just fine.”

“So are you guys ready for a drowning?” Kacey piped up cheerfully, like she was asking them if they wanted to go check out the sights. She'd swapped the pink bow in her bouncy hair for a large, red tropical flower. When no one answered her ridiculous question, she just smiled. Gable wondered if she was quite right in the head. “Not right now, of course, not after your long flight. You'll rest for tonight in Hawaii Guardian Division Headquarters, and then we'll do the deed at first light in the morning. Sound good?”

“Sounds awesome,” Cadby replied, deadpan.

But Kacey didn't seem to notice his sarcasm. She clapped her hands once and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Great! The cars are this way. Don't worry about your luggage, the guys will get that.” She nodded to a couple of nervous, pimply boys who couldn't have been much older than eighteen.

“Officials in training,” Zay said in low voice to Gable, smirking. “Probably just left Guardian school. Bet she's got them doing all her grunt work. Poor bastards.”

Unlike the Cadillac Escalades the Guardians preferred in the city, Kacey led them to a couple of huge, black Jeeps. Before they climbed in she had them sign a set of forms each, almost exactly like the ones Charles had made Gable sign before she'd been granted access into NYCGD HQ.

They separated into two groups and Gable settled into the back of one Jeep between Hue and Nicky, sighing gratefully at the delicious breeze of the air con, a welcome relief from the sweltering heat outside. Maybe she wasn't a sunshine gal after all.

“Did y'all put on sunscreen?” Kacey asked from the driver's seat. “You should put on sunscreen, you know. Especially you, honey pie.” She glanced at Cadby next to her in the passenger side. “You look pale. Don't you get out much?”

He just eyed her wearily.

They drove in near silence for twenty minutes as they all gazed eagerly out of their windows. It was beautiful out there, an utterly magnificent landscape. Large mountains, lush rainforests, and every now and then they'd get a glimpse of the glorious Pacific Ocean. It was breathtaking.

“How many Guardian Divisions are there in Hawaii?” Gable wanted to know.

“Just the one set of Keepers,” Hue answered for her. “Outcast activity in Hawaii has always been incredibly low. And those that do live here are very rarely Dark Ones.”

Another hour passed before Kacey announced that they were almost there. They drove down a long, winding road shielded overhead by tall trees, and finally they approached a set of large, intimidating black gates. With the other Jeep still behind them, Kacey pulled up by the gate and waited. A camera at the top of the gates swiveled and pointed in their direction.

“It's Kacey with Team Zawavia,” she called out to an intercom, and then she turned in her seat with a wide grin. “That's what we call you guys – Team Zawavia. Cool, huh?”

Gable raised an eyebrow. “That's stupid.”

“Come on in,” came a friendly voice from the intercom, and with a loud buzz, the gates slowly rolled open.

“This is the end zone,” Kacey told them as they passed through.

“What's the end zone?” Cadby questioned.

“The point you wouldn't be able to get by if you hadn't signed those papers earlier,” Nicky filled him in. “Here it's the gate, and back home it's Valentino's kitchen.”

“It's fancier than what you guys have.”

He shrugged. “We're underfunded. Charles is hoping the Elders will grant us more funding now Pablo ain't running NYC no more.”

It was another couple of minutes before they pulled up in front of a large beach house. This one wasn't as fancy or posh as the one in Greece had been, but it's simplicity was what made it perfect. Two stories tall and in a long V-shape that faced the sea, the outside was painted in white and pale yellow. The back of the V where all the cars were parked was surrounded by trees, and the front sat right on the sandy beach.