“The decision to wait until after the solstice to move you was apparently the wrong one,” the older man finally continued, and returned his gaze to the road.That was good—the last thing they needed was an accident right now.
Monsters she could handle.A car wreck was altogether different.Liv strangled a completely inappropriate laugh.She tried to think of what to say, settled for absolute truth.“I want to go home.”
“You won’t last an hour out in the open,” Jake piped up.“Not with that thing on you.”
She stopped twisting her hands against each other only because her fingertips leapt to touch the necklace’s hard lump under her fresh grey T-shirt.The backpack had held toiletries, a change of clothes, pajamas—everything she’d need for a few days, assuming she didn’t want any of the left-behind books or her lists, or the journal she’d begun to write, stashing it in the cell’s mattress.
Now she was hoping someone would find it somehow, and realize she’d been kidnapped.
“It’s a traditional gift, Jacob.”Now Ignatius sounded even wearier.“Ma’am, did Erik ask you for anything in return?”
None of you haveaskedme about single goddamn thing.Liv took a deep breath.“It was a Christmas present.Yule.Whatever.”She forced her hand back into her lap.“He didn’t ask for anything.”
“At least that,” Jake muttered, and turned to stare out the window.Why had they left Erik behind?He wasn’t as forbidding as Ignatius or as irritating as the blond; of course they’d get rid of the one she halfway liked.
“It couldn’t have drawn the unclean; dreamstones are free of corruption.”Ignatius changed lanes, sliding around a lumbering semi.Snow whirled, caking at either side of the windshield where the wipers ended their irregular arcs.“That was a very well-planned attack, Miss Stellack, and we’re taking you to the closest active temple with aliraiand access to the Flame.”
“You still won’t tell me what that is.”Or sealing, or a hundred other little cryptic terms.
“Some things have to be experienced before you grant them reality.”Ignatius turned his head slightly as if he wanted to look into the back seat.“Like right now, for example.Erik is outside, keeping pace with us.An additional safety measure.”
But that’s impossible.
What a ridiculous thought.She’d just seen half-vegetable spiders and a monstrous land-walking squid with fangs and smoky red eyes studding every tentacle, after being held for weeks by a trio of sorcerer in a secluded stone monastery.Nothing was impossible anymore.
“I want a gun.”Maybe, if they wouldn’t give her one, she could have a tantrum.Even if she was smaller and weaker, there were ways—toddlers did it all the time, right?
“Absolutely not.”Jake’s hand shot out as if he would touch her, but Liv shifted, leaning against the door, and he stopped cold.
“Are you trained in firearm safety, then?”Ignatius didn’t quite scoff, but it was close.“Close combat?The anatomy of shadowbeasts?”
You don’t get to move the goalposts on me, sir.“I’d be trained a lot more if you’d bothered to do it rather than sticking me in a padded cell.”
Jake didn’t try to grab her again, but his blue eyes all but glowed with indignation.“Theliraimisn’t a?—”
“And you would have taken such training well, then?”Ignatius sighed, returning his attention to the road.“My apologies once more, Miss Stellack.”He wasn’t as sarcastic as her grandmother could sometimes be—but it was close.
Maybe adrenaline and a change of scenery would shake off any lingering brainwashing these guys had performed on her.Liv shuddered, but pressed gamely on.“I wouldn’t need training if you guys hadn’t kidnapped me.”
“Nah, you’d’ve been eaten.The thing in the alley…” Jake paused, as if he expected Ignatius to shush or interrupt him again.When the older man didn’t, he continued.“Erik hit you right out of your shoes to keep you from walking smack-dab into it.When they get hold of a normal it’s bad enough, but a potential?They’ll suck you dry like an orange slice, babe, and it’s not comfortable.”
“Your life has been upended, and we have compounded the distress by following protocols you don’t understand.”Ignatius stared at the road; tiny blue gleams rotated inside his pupils, revealed by the rearview mirror.“When we reach our destination, all shall be revealed.But for right now we must travel quickly, and it will be easier if you do not fight.”He paused.“For all of us.”
Yeah, let’s save the fighting for the weird spiders made out of smoke and potato shoots, and the big hell-squids.That’ll be best, don’t you think?Her own sarcasm boiled in her throat now, tasting like acidic smoke.“I’ll try to make it as easy as possible on you.”There.That’s helpful, right?
“You should be grateful.”Jake didn’t think much of her restraint.“Any one of those things could have?—”
“Jacob.”The single word brooked no argument.Ignatius stared at the road, those tiny glowing blue dots in his pupils moving slightly as his gaze roved over traffic.“Do me the honor of checking our trail for followers.Just because ourliraidoesn’t sense any doesn’t mean we’re clear.”
“Yes, Father.”Jake shifted slightly on the bench seat, but he darted her a sharp, very blue glance.“Uh, so you’re thinking…”
“Yes.”Ignatius nodded, unsurprised.“Ourliraidid not leave the temple; we checked every ingress and egress, and she had no chance to send a message through the shields.We have been cut off from Control.Someone knows she is with us, though, and also knows precisely when to attack.Someone powerful, and quite possibly treacherous.”
Wait a second.“Like one of you three?”Liv inquired, almost sweetly.“That’s what you’re saying, right?Either that, or others in your… organization?”She kept a nervous eye on Jake, whose hands had relaxed against his thighs.His bright blue eyes half-closed, and shefelthis attention move, the way she could sense being stared at on the bus or in a crowded bar.Only this stare wasn’t directed at her.It flared behind them like radar, a cloud of intent.
“Yes, Miss Stellack.”Ignatius shifted in his seat again, and the blue dots in his pupils winked out.“That is exactly what I’m saying.You will never be left alone with only one of us, and all three of us will require examination once we reach our destination.”
“That’s great.”Liv could only see one problem with the plan.“What if two of you are in cahoots with the monsters?”
