* * *
Elleand I got to Seattle and I wrenched open the door. It was pouring rain.
“Be safe!” Mara yelled out the door as I ran onto the lawn and transformed the motorcycle. Elle jumped on and then we were off. I put out my feelers, remembering what it had felt like to hold the crystal in Liam’s house. The weight of it. The color.
Nothing.
Fuck.
I gunned the bike harder as we tore down the road. I came upon the old farmhouse, and instead of waiting and hiding in the bushes, I drove right up to the door.Elle and I were drenched with rain, but I didn’t care; anger drove me forward.
“Liam!” I shouted, kicking the front door in. I was fuming. He’d kissed me like I was the last Fae on Earth—and left a fucking note! He never told me he was a seeker. Anger rushed through me and I realized it was messing with my seeking ability.
“Lily, what’s going on?” Elle stepped into the house behind me. The bodies were gone. Only bloodstains remained. I was dripping wet, which did well to hide the tears that lined my eyes.
“I don’t want to like him but…” My chin quivered.
Elle nodded, her wings drooping as she stepped closer to me. “But you do.”
I bobbed my head up and down. “I’m such an idiot! He could have stolen the other crystals. I never should have let him into Faerie.”
Elle shrugged. “But he didn’t. He apparently left quietly and asked Mara for a ride back without threatening her or anything.”
Yeah … which was unnerving.Was he good or bad? I didn’t like gray areas.
“Elle … I can’t sense the crystal.” I was spiraling. The fucking queen needed me. My half aunt, I guess. It was all too much. My best friend stepped up and grabbed the sides of my face. “Remember when your mom hid that tiny pearl in the sand?”
I grinned at the memory.
“You found it! Lil, there is nothing you can’t seek. You just need to focus. Remember nature wants to help you.”
Of course, how could I forget my most basic training? With grim determination, I gave her a nod.
Slipping out the front door, I pulled off my boots and socks. Sitting on the wild grass, I let my toes sink into the Earth, relishing the energy I felt coming off of her. The Earth was a powerful land full of energy. Less powerful now that humans had drilled her and sucked her dry and polluted her beyond recognition … but still powerful nonetheless.
“Help me, Gaia,” I whispered, pulling up the image in my mind of the crystal, of holding the bluish glowing crystal shard in my mind. A warm tingle vibrated along my toes and worked its way up my ankles. Suddenly, the image in my mind of the crystal was replaced with a picture of a sign that readPortland, Oregon.
My eyes snapped open. “Thank you.” I placed my palms on the Earth and sent her love. Popping up to my feet, I slipped my boots back on. “It’s in Oregon.”
“You’re sure?” Elle asked.
I nodded. “Come on, let’s tell Mara.”
* * *
An hour later,Elle and I stood at the open gates of a huge mansion in Portland, Oregon. Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, all the nice cars drove in. As people got out, I noticed they were dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos. This was clearly a high-profile black-tie event. Men with horns, who had human females on their arms, walked confidently to the front door. There were also guys with black wings like Liam’s, though fewer of them. This was a Sons of Darkness party. But I could feel it: the crystal was here, pulsing and strong.
Elle and I shared a look, and without saying a word she jumped right back on my bike. We didn’t dare speak so near to the home. Some Fae had a talent for far hearing, and what we needed to talk about would raise the suspicions of any guards.
The second we reached the blue door at apartment #402, I wrenched it open.
“That was fast.” Mara looked at my empty hands.
I shook my head. “It’s a black-tie event. Tons of Sons there, but human females also.”
Mara chewed at her lip, her intricate gold cuffs clanking with her other jewelry as she rubbed her chin in deep thought. “How do you want to play this?”
“Can you hide our wings from Fae seeing them? I want Elle and I to go in as humans.”
