Finding Valor (36 page)

The trips remembered Dad and Liz and crawled into the van without a word. Josh shook Zen’s hand. “Thanks for everything. Buy at least eight satellite phones, one for you and Tim and one for each council member. Be sure the council members understand it’s only for emergencies. This inability to communicate is ridiculous.”

“Yes, sir.” Zen nodded then turned and trotted back to the helicopter.

Josh climbed into the back of the van with Hunter and waited for the trips to doze off. He cast a sound dampening spell around the little boys then leaned forward. “Vince said you found a safe house for Channie above Nederland.”

Dad glanced at him in the rearview mirror and smiled. “It belonged to an eccentric old recording star that liked his privacy. It met all of Vince's requirements and it’s only a forty-five minute drive from Monarch so I bought it.”

“I’m not going back to school.”

“Yes. You are.”

“Dad! I have to protect Channie.”

“Vince and I have already taken care of it. He’s got the entire perimeter protected with magic, even though there’s only one way onto the property. And I hired Blackthorne Security company to guard the cabin. Their guys are all ex-military with combat experience. Channie couldn’t be any safer.”

“Are they mages?”
 

“No. But they can handle any threats during the day while you’re at school.”

“Not as good as I can.” Josh was done leaving Channie’s protection in anyone else’s hands but his. “If Prudence hadn’t escaped, I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but—”

“Channie’s Aunt Wisdom called and told me she has everything under control. She and her sister are in Orlando.”

“Orlando?” Josh exchanged a look with Hunter then caught Dad’s gaze in the rearview. “I don’t believe it.”

“She said you wouldn’t.” Dad tossed Josh his cellphone. “That’s why she took a video of the two of them inside Splash Mountain.”

Josh watched the video clip on Dad’s phone. He recognized the animatronic characters on the famous ride. He must have ridden that thing at least a hundred times with Elijah the last time they were there. He also recognized Wisdom and Prudence, sitting in the log-shaped cars that moved people through the ride. “That clip could have been doctored.”

“That would have been incredibly difficult to do. Besides, she sent it to me live.”

“Oh.” Josh took a deep breath as the significance of this news sank in. Even if Prudence were able to get away from Wisdom, it would take hours for her to get to Colorado from Orlando.

“Here’s the deal, Josh.” Dad used his serious, courtroom voice. “Either you go to school, or Vince and I aren’t going to tell you where Channie is.”

Josh leaned in close to Hunter and spoke out of the side of his mouth. “Can you find her?”

“Sure, but we ain’t gonna get past Vince's protection spells if he wants to keep us out.” Hunter shrugged. “You should just go to school. This war ain’t gonna last forever. You need to graduate so you can get a good job. You got a baby on the way.”

“A high school diploma isn’t going to make any difference. I need a college degree.”

Dad cleared his throat. “I made a deal with Wisdom. Someone wants to kill her sister so she’s going to keep moving to keep her safe. As long as I don’t tell anyone, including you, where she is, she promised to call my office everyday at 3:30 from a pay phone. If she fails to make the call, then we’ll know to be on the lookout for Prudence.”

“Okay, fine.” Josh was glad that Wisdom hadn’t told Dad that he was the ‘someone’ that wanted to kill Prudence. He was also grateful that Wisdom was willing to gamble on Dad’s integrity in order to protect Channie. She didn’t know Dad’s reputation, but Josh did. That lead was a dead end. “I’ll go to school. But I’m moving into the safe house with Channie.”

~***~

Two armed men met the van at the gate and demanded to see everyone’s IDs. They were polite and kept their rifles pointed at the ground, but they were every bit as formidable as Intimidation Nesbitt. One of them examined the undercarriage of the van with a lighted mirror. The other one leaned down to speak with Dad through the window. “Mr. Vincent is waiting for your arrival at the turnabout.”

They drove another quarter mile and found Vince leaning against Josh’s Rav4. Everyone, but the trips, piled out of the van.
 

Vince reached for Josh with both arms, but changed his mind at the last second and shook his hand instead. He must have noticed Josh’s uneasiness and decided to spare him the awkwardness of hugging him in front of Dad.

After a round of greetings they got down to business. Josh turned towards Vince. “Did you tell Channie that you were leaving and that Hunter would be in charge while you were gone?”

“I dropped in on her right after you called this afternoon. But I didn’t tell her who was coming. I just told her that an associate of mine would check on her.”

It was nine-thirty, now, so that meant Channie had been worrying about who might be checking on her for eight and a half hours. Josh had resisted the urge to connect with her through their bond. He didn’t want her to sense his closeness and worry about him falling into Vince's trap.

Hunter chuckled. “Is she going to try to conk me over the head with a frying pan or something?”

“Probably.” Vince didn’t even crack a smile. “You need to be careful. There aren’t any guns or sharp knives in the house, but Channie is resourceful. Make sure she recognizes you before she has a chance to kill you.”
 

Hunter nodded. “Will do.”

“It’s been a long day.” Josh yawned and stretched, but everyone saw through his ploy to move things along a little faster.

Dad laughed as he pulled Josh into another hug. “Be careful, son.”

“I will.”

“And don’t worry about Channie’s nephews. We’ll take good care of them.”
 

Josh cringed. He’d forgotten about the stinging spells that had covered Diego in welts. “I should have warned you about these guys.”

Dad chuckled. “I’m sure they’re a handful, but they can’t be any worse than you or Elijah.”

“Actually…they’re a lot worse. They can’t control their magic when they get upset.”

“Already?” Vince's eyes widened. “They can’t be more than five years old.”

“What do you mean they can’t control their magic?” Dad glanced at the trips then returned his attention to Josh. “I won’t put Liz in danger.”

Liz cupped Dad’s cheek with her palm. “It’s okay, Ezra. Look at them. They’re just children.”

Josh knew that Dad was picturing Liz after she’d been attacked.
 

Vince said, “Even if they wanted to hurt someone, they don’t have the ability to do more than surface damage.”

“Surface damage?” Dad narrowed his eyes.

“Stinging spells, itching spells, that sort of thing. Annoying and uncomfortable, but not dangerous.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Josh grinned as he remembered something Hunter had told him. “Before I knew I was a mage, Channie made a shield for me, to protect me from her chastity curse and her parents. I can do the same for you and Liz.”

Hunter wrinkled his nose and cocked his head to the side. “That ain’t gonna work.”

“Why not?”

“Your shield tapped into your energy without you even knowing it. Ezra and Liz ain’t got no powers to draw on. Any shield you build for them is gonna need to be recharged at least once a day.”

“Damn.” Josh looked at Vince. “Can you do it?”

“I can when I’m around, but I really do need to leave. There’s still a war going on and we can’t afford to relax our recruiting efforts.”

“I can do it.” CoCo’s sleepy voice wafted out of the van. The sound dampening spell must have worn off.

Josh poked his head inside. “Hey, you’re awake.”

CoCo’s lip trembled but his eyes remained dry. “We didn’t mean to hurt Daddy. It was an accident.”

“I know, kiddo. It’s okay.” Josh’s throat clamped shut as guilt washed over him. These poor kids had lost both their parents in less than a month’s time.

“If you build a shield for our new momma and daddy, I’ll recharge it every morning, I promise.”

Wow. Where did that come from? Josh had told them that Liz and Ezra would be taking care of them, but he hadn’t mentioned adoption.
 

Liz leaned into the van then unbuckled CoCo and lifted him into her arms.
 

CoCo clung to her like a baby chimp and buried his face in her shoulder.
 

“CoCo?” Josh cleared his throat, but his voice remained rough as gravel. “Do you have enough control to do something like that?”

CoCo lifted his head and nodded then hid his face in Liz’s shoulder again.

Ezra coughed into his fist. His voice cracked when he spoke and it took him a few tries to get the words out. “Make my shield first. Just in case…”

Josh glanced at Vince out of the corners of his eyes.
 

Vince smiled and nodded. “It’s okay. A shield is defensive magic. It won’t hurt you.”

Josh closed his eyes and groaned. “My shield is different than most mages.”

“That’s right!”

Josh opened his eyes, surprised by Hunter’s enthusiasm.
 

“The first day at Freedom Ridge, Josh expanded his shield to protect me and…” Hunter’s face fell. Tears filled his eyes. “He…”

Josh rested a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. Shep’s loss was still too raw for both of them. “The mage in charge of training is a bit of a hard ass. It’s a long story, but my shield absorbs energy when I’m under attack. I got a little overloaded and had to redirect the power so I blew up a tree.”

Josh didn’t want to go into details or tell how he’d used his shield to kill an entire camp full of enemy mages. The less Ezra and Liz knew about that stuff the better.

Vince shot Josh a questioning look. He obviously knew there was more to the story and would insist Josh tell him all about it later; but at least he wasn’t going to pursue it now. “I still think it’s safe. In fact, I think you’ll be able to give them a little extra protection because of your unique abilities.”

 
Josh’s sapphire warmed the skin over his heart as he considered creating a shield for someone else. Something told him that it was safe and important that he do it.

Creating a shield was easy. Getting it to stay in place was not.
 

Vince said, “Try anchoring it to his energy field.”

Josh focused on the shimmering light surrounding Dad. He recognized anxiety and frustration but that energy wouldn’t always be active. He dug deeper and found a quiet, steady glow. He created another shield and imagined it merging with the energy of Dad’s love. The shield snapped into place with a distinctive
pop.

Dad’s eyes widened. “Wow.”

“How do you feel?”

Dad grinned. “Absolutely amazing.”

Now that Josh understood the process, attaching Liz’s shield was just as easy as creating it.
 

She had the same awestruck reaction. “If you wanted to sell these things, you could make a fortune.”

Josh gripped Liz’s arms and gave her a gentle shake. “You can’t tell
anyone
.”
 

“I won’t.” She smiled and patted Josh’s hand. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“He’s right, Liz.” Dad slipped his hand around her waist. “The man that attacked you is still out there…” Dad’s eyes widened. He turned to Josh. “Will these shields protect us from those…what did you call them…trackers?”

Vince shook his head. “It will slow them down, but without a direct link to a source of power, your shields will fail under a sustained attack.”

“You need to avoid trackers at all costs.” Josh gave Dad and Liz another hug. He kissed the top of CoCo’s head then woke Savvy and Zeal to say good-bye to them as well.
 

Both boys burst into tears.
 

Josh didn’t want to cast a calming spell on them if he didn’t have to, so he combed through their curls with his fingers and whispered assurances in a soothing tone but they didn’t calm down until he promised to come see them soon.

Dad pulled Josh into one more hug, squeezing the air out of his lungs. “Those little guys have been through hell, but kids are resilient.”

“Thanks for agreeing to take them, and for keeping them together.”

“Of course.” Dad smiled as he slipped into the van. He pointed at Josh. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

~***~

Channie dug through the bits of satin and lace in the top drawer, but couldn’t find anything even remotely modest. “What’s the point?”
 

She slammed the drawer shut and got dressed sans underwear, choosing the baggiest sweatpants and t-shirt she could find in the closet. She grinned at her very unsexy reflection in the mirror. “There. That’s better.”

She slipped her bare feet into a pair of forest green Uggs. No wonder Kassie wore the fur-lined boots all the time, indoors and out. Not only were they warm, she felt as if she were walking on clouds.

Bang, bang, bang.

Channie yelped and clutched her hands in front of her chest. Vince's
associate
was knocking on the door.
 

“Channie? Are you in there? Open up. It’s me, Hunter.”

“Hunter?” She raced downstairs and looked through the peephole. “Hunter!”

She yanked the door open and flung herself into his arms.
 

He pulled her hard against his chest. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“How’d you find me?” Channie let go and tried to step away, but Hunter clung to her, trembling.
 

“I’ll always find you.”

Hunter’s declaration, coupled with his overly enthusiastic embrace, shocked Channie. She wormed her forearms in front of her braless chest, but Hunter only held on tighter.
 

Channie didn’t need magic to feel Hunter’s emotions churning just beneath the surface. A few of them so strong, they leaked into his energy field where they were easy to identify: grief, remorse, loneliness, despair, but surprisingly and thankfully, no lust.
 

“Hunter.” Channie tapped his shoulder. “Let go.”

He gradually relaxed his death-grip then stepped away from Channie. “Sorry.”