Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (14 page)

“The pits are pretty deep, though,” Noah continued. “They’ve got grates set up to close over the tops to hold onto whatever gets inside. It’d make a good cage, so it’s possible they put your parents in one of those.”

“We can’t just search through the whole forest,” Zeke said.

“Oh, no kidding,” Noah retorted.

“Okay,” I cut in before they could say anything else.

Olivia stopped beside the window. Noah grimaced and then pushed open the door.

“What’s going on?” the woman asked while we all climbed from the car.

“Coming up with a plan,” Baylie explained.

Olivia glanced between us, her brow rising expectantly.

Zeke and Noah didn’t say anything.

“We should call the cops,” Baylie insisted. “They can look for Chloe’s parents.”

“
If
they believe us,” Noah countered.

“They will,” Olivia said.

Ellie looked away.

My brow furrowed. I recognized that expression on the girl’s face and it made my stomach start to churn again. “Why are you so sure?”

“I’ve spoken with the other elders,” Olivia replied.

Baylie seemed to choke at the words.

“You’ve
what
?” Zeke demanded.

“I called them from the road. I couldn’t imagine they actually sided with Harman, and I was right. A few have. But the rest believe as we do.” She nodded to Dave, including him in the comment. “They’ve given us the information we need to get the police to help us, once we have a place to send them.”

I stared at her.

“And the others?” Zeke said. “The ones who
did
‘side with Harman’? What if they hear about this?”

“Robin and Phil are with them. They’ll make certain the elders are circumspect in their communications.”

I felt like laughing, except nothing was funny. Harman would still find out. Of
course
he’d find out. The crazy little man had been only a few hours behind us in crossing half the
country
, and that time, no one had bothered to send up a signal on where we were.

“Also,” Olivia continued. “The elders are on their way. Once this situation is dealt with, they want us to meet them so that they can talk with you.”

My eyes went wide. “Wait,
what
?”

“Get Chloe to use what she can do on them, you mean,” Noah snapped.

Olivia paused.

“I thought what she is attracts that Beast creature,” Zeke said. “And now you want her to… what? Throw out flares for the damn thing by using her magic on your friends too?” He made an angry sound. “She’s not just some
thing
you can exploit for your benefit.”

Noah scoffed, looking like for once he and Zeke were in total agreement.

“We simply wish to talk,” Olivia emphasized.

“And the police
will
come if we ask,” Dave added like he was trying to appease us. “The other elders have connections out here. They’ve told us the people to contact for help in dealing with these animals.”

His gaze twitched to Baylie, as though he regretted the last word slipping out.

“We’ll need to keep Chloe away from the police, however,” Olivia said.

My brow drew down. “Why?”

“You were technically viewed as the victim of a kidnapping not too long ago, remember? If the police see you and think of that, they might be more than a bit curious why you’re here.”

“Your connections can’t just explain that away too?” Noah snapped sarcastically.

Her mouth tightened. “They are not
my
connections, so I don’t know what other factors might impact their decisions. They will come to help us with these people if we ask. Beyond that, I can’t say.”

The urge to laugh returned, and I could see the same on Zeke’s face. Shaking his head incredulously, he turned away.

“But they
will
arrest them?” Baylie pressed.

Olivia nodded. “I’ve been assured that the protections afforded to these greliarans will be removed. By the elders who agree with us, at least.”

I grimaced. That didn’t sound as comforting as she probably intended.

“And what am I supposed to do?” I asked. “Hide in the forest when the cops show up?”

“You stay away from all this. Dave will drive you back toward–”

“What about my parents?”

“We will bring them to you.”

I stared at her. “They could die. They could be dead now! No, I’m going.”

“You are too important,” Olivia objected. “If something happened–”

“I’m not letting them die!”

Zeke winced. “Chloe, they–”

“I’m
not
, Zeke! These are my parents. What if it was your dad and you–”

The words caught up to me and I cut off. I couldn’t believe I’d brought that up.

Zeke’s face tightened. He looked away.

Noah glanced between us. “It’ll be safer if you’re not there,” he said to me. “If they got their hands on you–”

“I’m
going
,” I insisted, tearing my gaze from Zeke to glare at Noah and the elders alike.

Olivia shook her head in exasperation.

“So then what’s the plan?” Baylie asked. “We’re calling the cops… when?”

It took Olivia a moment to reply. “Sooner would be best. It’ll take them time to arrive, regardless. Once they’re here, we can go onward to the greliarans–”

“Hold on,” I cut in, “you’re saying wait? How long will it be till the police get here?”

Olivia hesitated. I looked to Noah, my brow twitching up in tacit repetition of the question.

“A while,” he allowed. “I’m not sure.”

“Mom and Dad could be dead by then. If I can just get close enough to help them, buy us time till the cops
do
show up–”

“Chloe, you’re being irrational,” Olivia snapped, annoyance breaking through her voice for the first time. “The police are our
best
chance of dealing with them. We could be hurt or killed if we try to confront these creatures ourselves.”

My chest shook with the urge to scream or cry. I knew she was right, about the last part at least. Zeke, Noah, Baylie… any of them could be hurt in this. And that wasn’t acceptable. It would never be okay.

But I remembered Mom and Dad after they’d come to get me from Santa Lucina that first time. I remembered how they’d looked when they arrived at the cabin after I’d run away. Dad had just gotten out of the hospital. Mom seemed barely able to stand.

And now…

“People’s lives are at stake,” Zeke said quietly.

I blinked, turning to him. He didn’t look at me.

“Call the cops,” he continued. “We’ll go on ahead till they get here.”

Noah grimaced, still seeming like he wanted to argue.

Olivia didn’t appear much different. “Chloe is too important to risk–”

“She wants to go. She’s going. End of discussion.”

Zeke’s face was like stone and in his voice, I could hear traces of the royal authority he rarely let show through.

Olivia seemed to hear something of it herself. Eyeing him, she straightened as though drawing upon her status as a landwalker elder.

Zeke’s expression didn’t change.

Her mouth thinned. “Fine,” she allowed bitingly. “But we can’t
all
go. Someone will need to stay near the main roads to guide the police when they respond to our call. Trusting that they’ll find the greliarans in this maze…” She shook her head again and then glanced over. “Dave?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he agreed to the implicit request.

I fought to keep from rolling my eyes. The man looked like he wanted to take off right now.

“Ellie will stay with him,” Olivia continued.

“I–”

The woman pinned her with a sharp glance. Ellie grimaced, turning away.

“And I’ll come with you,” Olivia continued, “to see if the greliarans can’t be reasoned with on the grounds of potentially losing their protection by the elders. As a greliaran, Baylie is an obvious addition to our group, and Noah should follow Dave and Ellie. It’ll be safer for a human to be–”

“No,” Noah interrupted. “You are
not
sending her–”

“Your stepsister will be able to defend herself against these creatures, Noah, and you won’t. I apologize for being so blunt but–”

“No, she can’t!” Noah snapped. “I am
telling
you, Baylie is not a damn greliaran!”

The woman gave him a tired look.

Fissures raced through Noah’s skin like an accelerated earthquake, and firelight flared to life inside them. His eyes transformed into red-hot coals and when he spoke, his voice was a growl that sent shivers running through me. “
Get it?”

Olivia swallowed tightly. Ellie stared at him, wide-eyed.

Noah drew a breath. The cracks mended together, taking the glowing light with them, and his eyes became emerald green and human again.

“I would know if she was,” he told the woman flatly. “Baylie was reacting to
me
when that cop and his buddies showed up. And she was mad at you for calling us monsters because we’re not all that way.”

He glanced to the forest ahead of us. “But those guys are. I know. I’m related to them. So while yes, I think you all should head back to the main road and stay out of this, and no, I don’t think you stand a chance in hell of
reasoning
with them about
anything
,” he looked between Olivia and Dave, “I’d also appreciate it if you stopped treating my stepsister like she’s an
animal
.”

A heartbeat passed.

“Noah,” Baylie started. “I don’t want to just stay back there while you all are–”

“Please,” he insisted. “They’ve already tried to hurt you twice.”

She bit her lip, her gaze darting between us all. And then she nodded.

“Fine,” Zeke agreed. “Then you guys head back and call the police while you’re on the way.” He glanced to the car. “I’ll take the shotgun. It’s empty, but maybe they won’t realize that. And you stay between us.”

He directed the last to me and I nodded. Noah did the same when Zeke looked to him.

“We’ll go to the house,” Zeke continued. “There’s no point in sneaking through the forest when we don’t know where her parents are and the greliarans can hear us coming anyway. We’ll see if we can convince your relatives to bring them out, and get Chloe close enough to help her mom and dad. Then it’s just a matter of buying time till the police arrive.”

“Which might be the hardest part,” Noah pointed out.

“Will they kill you?” Zeke asked him.

I looked over in alarm.

Noah paused. “Probably not.”

I swallowed, wishing he could have made his response sound more certain than it did.

“Then you cover our retreat if we have to run,” Zeke told him.

A moment passed before Noah nodded again.

“Good,” Zeke finished. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Twelve

Wyatt

Dehaians were inside the house.

Dehaians were everywhere.

And if I didn’t get to kill at least
one
of them soon, I was going to go insane.

Fighting back a growl, I paced away from the front room. A trio of scum-suckers had gathered there to watch the road, and their proximity was making me twitch. They didn’t seem to know what we were – an ignorance that would’ve been a pleasure to dispel if not for Dad forbidding us from coming near them. He wanted their help containing that Zeke guy if he tried to escape, and I’d nearly ended up with a broken rib for insisting we could take care of the scale-skin bastard ourselves.

It was insulting. We were working with fish.
Fish
. And sure, Dad promised we’d throw them all in the basement and kill them nice and slow once the guy was dead, but in the meantime…

The growl threatened to come back. In the meantime, I’d spent hours being forced to pretend I was human, while carrying on like we were some grieving family all heartbroken over little Brock. Dad was the only one who didn’t seem to be having trouble with the charade, though Clay and Owen appeared pretty content to play along. Countermanding Dad never even
occurred
to them, and when he’d sent them both into the woods a little while ago, ordering them to keep watch, they hadn’t even tried to protest.

Dad trusted them too much. Half a dozen scale-skins had gone with each of them, and I wouldn’t gamble on the idiots resisting the urge to kill those things for more than five minutes at most.

His whole plan was ridiculous.

As usual.

I shook my head while I made my way down the hall. Past the basement door, I could hear the man and his wife still sniveling quietly. They hadn’t looked good last time I checked. Pale and shaking, they’d barely been able to pull away when I nudged them with my foot. The room stank from where one of them had thrown up at some point, and the sweat covering them just added to the stench.

The girl better get here soon. Those two wouldn’t last much longer, and while hostages were one thing, bluffing that our leverage still lived was something else entirely.

I reached the end of the hallway and paused. The back room stretched the width of the house, and most of its far wall consisted only of windows. There was almost no furniture, barring the dining table to my right and a few ragged easy chairs near the old television on my left. We rarely spent much time in here, since I preferred eating in my room and none of us cooked for each other anyway. Random discarded objects scattered the tabletop as a result – from old mail to empty dishes – most of them abandoned on trips through the room and then forgotten.

But that Niall guy was in there. Standing by the dinner table, he was watching the ocean past the windows while his hand idly rolled one of Clay’s baseballs back and forth across the wooden tabletop. Only half his face was visible to me, and he didn’t turn when I stopped by the door. Dehaians didn’t have our hearing and I was quiet by default; he probably didn’t even know I was here.

I tensed with the urge to rush him. The guy bothered me, even more than the other fish. There was just something off about him. He was cold as hell when the other scale-skins were nearby, and he ordered them around like he was some goddamn king. But when he was alone…

The guy’s brow twitched down, a look on his face like he was bothered by something. I eased back into the hall.