He stared at me impassively. When I refused to look away, he gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
Four
FINN DE MORISCO
In thenearly six-hour flight from San Diego to Costa Rica, Caitlin and I should have had plenty of time to figure out some type of plan for when we reached the Vampire Cathedral. If not a plan, then at least a strategy of which one of us would talk first upon arrival. We didn’t even get that far. We didn’t plan. We didn’t talk about how to get from San Jose to the Nicoya Peninsula, where the Cathedral was. We didn’t even fight or argue.
Neither of us had stopped moving in the five or six days since Mom and Dad were admitted into the hospital, one of us constantly helping heal our parents or taking the shortest power naps in history.
Then with Cynthia taken the day before—God, it felt like years ago—we had gone from hyperdrive to pure maniac status. As soon as the plane had risen off the runway, for the first time in nearly a week, everything was out of our hands. We couldn’t help our parents, and we couldn’t make the plane get to Cynthia any quicker. We were doing all we could do. Either because it was the first chance we had gotten, or because we knew it to be the last chance for a while, our brains shut down. We plugged in our earphones the flight attendant gave us and zoned out on the screen in front of us, not even bothering to change from the image of the little plane making its course toward Costa Rica.
Within half an hour, Caitlin fell asleep, her head lolling on my shoulder, her tiny hand slipping into mine of its own accord. I couldn’t remember the last time Caitlin and I had cuddled up together. I doubted we ever had. If it had been any other occasion, I would have snapped a photo with my phone to lord over her later. As it was, I let her be and allowed myself the comfort of being with my sister, knowing our eldest sister was taking care of our parents as we jetted off to save the youngest of the de Morisco girls.
Every once in a while, Cate would mutter something in her sleep. A couple of times, I was pretty sure I heard her calling out to Dad, one more thing I’d never tease her about later. I turned off our televisions and leaned my head against the window.
I wasn’t sure if we were flying over the ocean or Mexico. We were too high up, and the clouds were thick below us. I almost woke Caitlin up. Neither of us had been on very many plane rides, and we had never been out of the country, although we’d gotten our passports a few years before when the family was thinking about taking a trip to Spain. The only flights I’d really taken had been when I’d attended culinary school in New York. I’d never seen the sky like this on any of those flights. The sun was setting below us, below the clouds, lighting them up with rosy-pink hues. Above the clouds, where we were, it was already night. The first stars showed in the darkest part, almost out of reach, from the slip of sky in the small round window. Caitlin would have loved it, but she probably needed the sleep more. Cynthia. She’d be the one I would have woken up for this view. I’d save this story, this image, as we departed to her rescue and tell her when we were safely back in Mom and Dad’s house. Tell her about Caitlin holding my hand. Tell her about how much her family loves and needs her. Tell her in the place where we’d been kids together. When everyone else was asleep. When it would just be her and me and some of our folks’ desserts. When we were snuggled up together on the couch, the familiar orange shag carpet surrounding us. When we would relive this adventure. When we were safe. When she was safe.
Safe.
Five
FINN DE MORISCO
Schwint smiledhesitantly as Caitlin and I exited the Juan Santamaria Airport. We’d agreed to meet outside of baggage claim. Not that we brought much luggage, but it seemed the easiest place to find.
“Oh shit. I’d almost forgottenhewas going to be here.” Caitlin’s mutter was quiet enough, I didn’t think Schwint would have been able to hear.
In all honesty, I’d forgotten as well. I’d been so busy thinking about Cynthia that Schwint hadn’t really entered my mind.
“Hey, babe.” He stepped up and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. “How you doing?”
It had only been a little over twenty-four hours since he’d left us in the hospital to get a head start on scoping out Costa Rica. It had also only been twenty-four hours since we’d first said, “I love you.” As I sank into him, I couldn’t believe that was all the time that had passed. It felt like weeks since I’d seen him.
I pulled back and caught his sunflower gaze. “I’m better now. I love you.”
The tentativeness I’d noticed evaporated, as if, until I’d confirmed it, he wasn’t sure I hadn’t had a change of heart. “I love you too, my little witch.” He lifted his head and leaned up to meet my lips.
Caitlin groaned after a few moments. “For fuck sake, youmaricónes! We’re here to save Cynthia, not for a honeymoon. You two getting married ain’t legal here, you know.”
Breaking the kiss, I turned to her. “Nice, Cate. Nice.”
Schwint grinned at her without letting me go. “You guys didn’t actually bring any luggage, did you?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “We didn’t get confused and think it was a vacation.” She motioned to the two small backpacks slung over my shoulder. “Just toothbrushes and such.” She craned her neck as if inspecting his backside. “Do I even want to know where fairies store stuff when they fly?”
“Okay, okay, Caitlin. Knock it off. And, Schwint, I love you, but let me go.” I’d begun to notice people were starting to give dirty looks at the two men wrapped up in a hug for way too long. Especially some guy directly in my line of sight over Schwint’s shoulder. His glower made him look like he was ready to whip out an assault rifle and punish the entire crowd for our immoral behavior. “Let’s not cause a scene even before we get to the Vampire Cathedral.”
Schwint let me go and turned, following the direction of my gaze. “Oh, we’re fine. He’s with me.” As he turned back to me, his gaze lingered on a couple more people that were staring at us. “Well, maybe you’re right.”
“He’s with you?” I tried to keep my voice neutral, but I could tell I didn’t succeed. Part of being with a fairy meant having an open relationship, as fairies don’t do monogamy. They just don’t, apparently. Love, sex, not the same thing. Yeah, I wasn’t so sure I was so in love with the idea either. And here I was, one day after theI love youswere said, in another country to find my sister and probably give myself to a bunch of vampires, and I was ready to have a catfight with the first guy I saw with my man. Overreact much? Not to mention forget what was really important.
Schwint waved to the man. “Come on over, let me introduce you real quick, then let’s get outta here. Haven’t been here long, but I gotta tell ya, I’m not loving San Jose.”
The man closed the few feet between us, his hostile expression never wavering. If Schwint was going to fool around already, I’d like to think he’d at least pick someone a little more appealing. I mean, if he couldn’t wait for a day to see his boyfriend, the guy could be the tiniest bit attractive, not that I’d love that either. But this guy? I knew I wasn’t demon-quality hot or anything, but I thought I was at least a seven on the hotness scale. Maybe a seven and a half on a good day? This guy was a solid four, possibly a five if I took off my green lenses. He was as average as you could get. Brown hair, brown eyes, average build, skin that was too white to have a tan but not pale enough to have that rosy glow some redheads get. He gave a little chin dip in way of greeting as he stepped up beside Schwint.
Motioning between the three of us, Schwint made introductions. “Finn, Caitlin, this is Pewlet.”
The man’s mud-brown eyes narrowed in Schwint’s direction. “For the hundredth time, my name is not Pewlet.”
