Page 5 of Rescuing Air

She just grinned at him as she jumped down, landing on the couch in a heap. “Let’s see, when did Lala flip you over and beat your ass for being such an ass?”

“Fuck, Cami, why didn’t you just come down and join in the conversation instead of being such a creeper?”

“Are you kidding, flame boy? It was far too much fun watching the five of you interact like no one was watching. Shows me just who wears the pants in this relationship, and that person doesn’t have a dick, in case you were wondering,” Cami stated with a wink at me. “So, am I calling the den mother, or are one of you?”

Hearing her call Beth that made me think of Parker and I knew I was going to need to broach that subject at some point. None of the guys were going to be happy that we needed to include him on this, but I wasn’t going to hunt the Evil Triad without the full team of Elementi Warriors.

“I think it’s better if you call her,” Micah suggested.

Cami just rolled her eyes as she held the phone to her ear. “Chicken shit, that’s what you are. Scared of my big sister when she finds out what all went down yesterday.”

“Not scared, just a healthy respect for her is all,” Micah explained, trying to redeem himself.

When Beth picked up, Cami switched it to speaker phone so we could all hear. “Cami, I thought I would be hearing from you sooner. They never made it to the Chicago HQ and now I’m hearing a doctor along with a healer were needed? What the hell happened?”

“You’re on speaker phone with everyone, Sis,” Cami warned her. “I’ll let them explain what’s going on.”

The five of us all looked at each other, unsure who should take the lead. They all motioned for me to do the honors. “How much time do you have, Beth? This is going to be a long story.”

“You guys are always my priority. I have all the time you need,” Beth assured me.

“So, where did we leave things with you? I know Cami has been keeping you in the loop and helping us with things on your end,” I asked, not wanting to waste time rehashing something that was already known.

“Phoebe had been taken, you managed to find the power plant they were holed up in, events happened between you and Parker, then you were going to Chicago to figure out where the other base of operations was that the demons were using,” Beth rattled off, surprising me how well informed she’d been kept.

“Turns out we didn’t need to go looking for the demons. They found us.”

Micah scoffed. “She means they rammed into us with a truck to incapacitate us and make getting us back to their hideout easier.”

“Oh my God, are you all right?” Beth gasped.

“Beaten and bruised, for the most part. Micah has a dislocated knee that will take some time to heal, but it’s better than being broken. That’s not the worst of it though...” I said, trailing off as I readied myself to go through all this again.

It took about an hour to cover everything with Beth, getting her up to speed and answering her questions along the way.

“Makoto, the old fool,” Beth growled after hearing his feelings on the matter. “Jay, I’m sorry to hear about your mother. You have the full weight of the Elementi at your disposal. Tell me what you need and I will make sure that it happens. You have my word on that.”

“Thanks,” Jay answered in true Jay fashion. I was beginning to think I was the only one he talked to in full, complete sentences.

“That goes for the rest of you as well. In my personal opinion, it seems that we’re coming to a head in this fight and even though you have the power of the angels, having backup isn’t a bad idea either,” Beth pointed out. “Keep me informed and I’ll work on things this side of the world, tracking down any suspicious movement or money being moved around.”

“There’s one more thing,” I said, cutting in. “Keep this to only the people we know we can trust. It doesn’t matter if they’re loyal. The more people who know, the more that can get out.”

“Wise advice, Lailah. I’ll keep it in mind. Until we talk next, stay safe.” Beth hung up, leaving us to figure out the next step.

four

Lailah

After we hung up with Beth, I didn’t really know what our next move should be. This was out of my depth and I thanked God we had Jay, because he was the only man I would trust to lead us through this. I looked over the possible locations that they could be hiding and my gut told me it had to either be Africa or the Amazon. The other two countries just wouldn’t hide them as easily as a rainforest would.

I didn’t have any time to check in with the guys as my parents joined us, their bags packed. “You guys are leaving already? What about staying for breakfast?”

“Lady Bug, I would love that, but we’ve been away from the restaurant for three days. Your dad is going to have a fit if we miss another day, and it’s shipment day as well,” Mom answered, pulling me into a hug. “If you need us, we’re just a call away. I get the feeling we’ll be more of a hinderance than help with all that you’re dealing with.”

When she explained it, I knew she was right. There was nothing they could do except feel overwhelmed by what we had to do. They had a hard enough time seeing me and the guys yesterday. I could only imagine how they would react to us charging off halfway across the world to take on an entire army of demons.

“I love you guys,” I murmured as I kissed Mom on the cheek and did the same for Dad. “We might need to take off to deal with settling things, but I’ll make sure to let you know before we leave.”