The Inquisitor's Mark (10 page)

THE ELEVATOR SHIVERED ITS
way up the building toward the twentieth floor and the penthouse. Jax stood stiffly beside his uncle, trying not to conjure images of Darth Vader taking Luke Skywalker to meet the Emperor.

Uncle Finn glanced at his nephew and sighed heavily. Jax rolled his eyes. He knew he didn't measure up to Ambrose quality control. Aunt Marian had even offered to “help” him with his hair. Jax assumed she'd already provided that service for Dorian, who left for school with his hair parted and combed flat against his head. But no matter how geeky Dorian was, his frantic warning under the breakfast table had bumped him up a notch in Jax's opinion.

What does it say about Ursula Dulac that her own clan is afraid of her?

As with the basement, reaching the penthouse required a special elevator key. Uncle Finn had borrowed his wife's
keys this morning, but Jax knew it was only a matter of time before all the locks were changed, making the ones he had useless.

On the twentieth floor, the elevator opened directly into the foyer of the penthouse apartment. A man was waiting for them.

“Daniel,” said Jax's uncle in greeting.

“Finn.”

They followed Daniel past a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and leather chairs, where a maid in an actual uniform was dusting. Jax saw a dining room with a table large enough for twelve, and a living room with a high ceiling and two fireplaces, before he was led out to a glass-walled terrace overlooking Central Park.

Jax had been picturing Ursula Dulac as a cross between Cruella De Vil and the evil queen from
Snow White
. Since meeting his grandmother yesterday, he'd added pearls and a perm to his mental image. But the woman sipping coffee on the terrace was nothing like he'd imagined. She was supposed to be older than Jax's grandmother, but she didn't look it. A headband held back her loose gray hair, and she was dressed casually in a blouse, slacks, and sandals.

A teenage girl with long, honey-brown hair sat beside her, busily texting on her phone. She wore the same school uniform as Dorian, except with a short skirt instead of pants. It didn't look as dorky on her.

Jax worried that Ursula Dulac would offer her hand for him to shake and he'd have to refuse. His uncle would be furious. But instead she laid her coffee aside and smiled without getting up. “My sister was right. He looks like Rayne.”

“Jax.” Uncle Finn laid a hand on Jax's shoulder. “This is my liege lady and your great-aunt, Ursula Dulac.”

“Hello, ma'am,” Jax said.

Ursula indicated the tall man who'd escorted them and the teenaged girl. “This is my son Daniel and his daughter, Sloane, my heir.”

Daniel nodded briefly. The girl dropped the phone into a pocket of her school blazer and raised her left hand with a cool and distant smile. “Nice to meet you, Jax.”

Jax raised his own left hand automatically, showing his mark. Ursula and Sloane both leaned forward to get a better look, then glanced at each other. “That's not the Ambrose mark,” Ursula said.

Uncle Finn sighed. “It's been altered.”

“It's a bald eagle instead of a falcon,” Jax said. “The guy who did it said they were both birds of prey and it didn't matter.” Why was everyone making such a big deal about this?

“It didn't matter?”
repeated Ursula. “What kind of cut-rate amateur did Rayne take you to? Does he have the Ambrose talent, Finn?”

“I believe so, although I haven't had the chance to—”

“He wasn't cut rate.” Jax surprised himself by defending A.J. “And he wasn't an amateur.”

Uncle Finn gripped Jax's shoulder and squeezed, which Jax interpreted as:
Don't interrupt me, and don't talk back to my liege lady
. Jax closed his mouth but didn't apologize.

“I'll look into it,” Uncle Finn said. “Perhaps it can be repaired.”

It's not broken
. Jax glared at his uncle but didn't speak the thought out loud.

“Hmm.” Ursula nodded toward the empty chairs across from her. “Please, sit down.” She picked up her cup and held it out to her son. “Daniel, ask Maria to pour me another. Finn takes his coffee black, I think. Jax, would you like something?”

“No, thank you.” Jax chose the chair farthest away from her.

“Sloane, anything for you?” Daniel asked.

“Iced tea,” the girl said. “Thank you, Daddy.”

Jax watched curiously as the man went off to wait on his mother and his daughter, while Uncle Finn addressed Sloane. “No finals this morning?”

“Not until eleven.” Sloane turned to Jax. “You'll like Bradley.”

Jax thought she meant a person until his uncle said, “I'll have to reserve a place for him in the fall.”

“After you've tested him,” Ursula murmured.

They were talking about sending him to Dorian's
school, Jax realized. “What is this place? A prep school for Transitioners?” Could there be enough Transitioner kids to fill a school?

Sloane looked slightly insulted. “Not
any
Transitioners,” she clarified. “Not riffraff.”

A mental image of the Donovan twins as the dictionary definition of
riffraff
popped into Jax's mind at the same time that his uncle explained, “It's a very small, elite school. Personalized attention. Flexibility for our needs. The perfect thing to catch you up.”

“Lesley doesn't go there?” While Dorian was shuffled off to class in his uniform this morning, Lesley had thrown herself on the sofa to watch Billy play Zelda. She wore an SPCA T-shirt and running shorts, her dark hair in a messy, crooked ponytail.

Uncle Finn's face darkened a bit. “Lesley wasn't happy there,” he said gruffly.

Because she has no talent,
Jax guessed. He wanted to tell these people that he'd only agreed to a short visit and had no intention of going to their snobby school. But he didn't.
I have to play along. I've got a mission here.

“Jax, I understand your father never told you about your heritage,” Ursula said.

“No, ma'am. And nobody's told me why he left, either. There must've been a reason.”

“Not a very
good
reason.” Ursula pursed her lips.
“Rayne didn't get along with his father. They were like oil and water.”

“Wasn't there a blow-up over a girl?” Jax's uncle frowned. “I can't recall exactly.”

“It wasn't just that. They argued over Rayne's grades and his behavior, even his hair.” Ursula's gaze wandered toward Jax's head, and he fought the urge to comb his hair with his fingers. “I suppose Rayne believed running away was the ultimate act of rebellion. I don't know why he never came back and made amends like a man. Except . . .” Here she peered intently at Jax. “He left before taking his oath as a vassal and by all accounts flitted around aimlessly thereafter. What kind of business did he run? Stealing secrets from small, unimportant people and selling them to other small, unimportant people?”

Jax bristled. He wanted to say,
My dad worked for Philip Pendragon, and
he
wasn't small and unimportant—or you wouldn't have had him killed.
But he kept his mouth shut.

“Taking the oath of allegiance would have given Rayne a sense of purpose,” Ursula went on. “It was something he desperately needed, and something I suspect he never found. But, you, Jax, are too young for such an oath. Never mind that by heritage, you were promised to me—what was the Emrys girl thinking, taking on a thirteen-year-old boy?”

Promised to
her
? Jax gripped the seat of his chair with
both hands. “She saved my life. If she hadn't sworn me on, I'd be dead right now.”

“She should have released you when the danger was past.”

“I didn't want to be released!”

“Ja-a-ax,” Uncle Finn growled, dragging out his nephew's name.

Jax flinched. How many times had Jax heard his father say his name exactly that way?
Ja-a-ax . . . can you explain this 43 percent on your science test? Ja-a-ax . . . why is your bed full of Halloween candy wrappers?

Daniel returned to the terrace with the coffee and iced tea. “Thank you, dear,” Ursula said. Then she returned her attention to Jax. “Although the circumstances are unusual, you can be our intermediary with the Emrys girl. We want to bring her here, where she'll be safe.”

Aware of his uncle's gaze and not wanting his father's voice resurrected again, Jax spoke carefully. “Thank you for your offer, Mrs. Dulac, but she's already safe.”

Ursula smiled. “You can call me Aunt Ursula. Mrs. Dulac is not accurate.” Sloane snickered.

Jax didn't know what was so funny. Wasn't she married?

“This point is not negotiable,” Ursula went on. “A month ago, one unbalanced Kin lord nearly destroyed the seven-day timeline. There are others out there,
dangerously sane ones
, who have similar designs. We can provide the girl
with protection—and she need not be alone anymore, the very last of her family.”

With difficulty, Jax managed not to show his alarm on his face. Why did they say Evangeline was the last when they knew she wasn't?

Had they killed Addie?

No, they can't have! Something sent me down to the basement last night. My talent drove me there. She's not dead; they just don't want to give away that they have her.

“Your liege must come to us,” Ursula repeated. “It's safest for everyone that way.”

Jax struggled not to show his fear for Addie or how little he wanted Evangeline in this woman's hands. His great-aunt and his cousins and his uncle were all watching him intently and—oddly enough—making a point not to look at each other.
There's something they all know and don't want to reveal,
he thought.
More than just Addie. Something that makes them want both girls very badly.
“I'll speak to her about it,” he said finally.

Apparently, Ursula was satisfied by his answer. “Let me know what comes of your tests,” she said to Finn, signaling the end of the interview. Jax's uncle rose without finishing his coffee and led the way back through the penthouse.

Jax waited until the elevator dropped before turning to his uncle. “Can I ask you something?”

Uncle Finn looked pleased. “Yes, of course.”

“Why is Aunt Ursula's granddaughter her heir instead of her son?”

“Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“Magical talents are gender linked, and the Dulac talent runs strongest in females. Daniel is a Dulac, but Sloane is more talented and the rightful heir. Ursula's other sons inherited their father's talent and took his last name, Bors. He passed away some time ago, but the Bors sons and their families all live in this building, too.” Uncle Finn seemed puzzled and disturbed. “Did Rayne teach you
nothing
about how talents are passed through families?”

“Dad died. Before I transitioned the first time.” He was plenty mad at his father, but if Jax didn't defend him, who would? “I didn't transition until I was thirteen. He must have thought I never would.”

“It was still wrong to leave you uneducated,” Uncle Finn said. “And even more wrong to put you in the hands of a boy who apparently didn't do any better.”

“Riley was having me trained,” Jax replied indignantly. “But then we got kind of busy, saving the world and stuff.”

His uncle made a huffing noise and opened the elevator cage door. “We're getting out here.” Jax looked at the dial above the door. Floor twelve. “I'm taking you to see our clan artisans,” Uncle Finn explained. “About your mark.”

THE DADE BROTHERS HAD
somehow made their luxury Manhattan apartment look like somebody's basement. Jax wasn't sure if it was the movie posters plastered over the picture windows, the torn vinyl furniture, or the thumping bass from their massive speakers.

The Dades were either twins or close enough in age that they might as well have been. And they didn't agree on anything. “A little ink can turn that bald eagle into a falcon. We just have to color in the head,” said Dade #1.

“A dark head doesn't turn an eagle into a falcon. They're completely different birds,” Dade #2 argued.

“Maybe
you
can't do it, but
I
can.”

“If you change his mark, you might screw up his talent.”

“We don't even know if he has any talent with a mark like that.”

Jax muttered under his breath and drew his dagger.
Everybody wanted to know if he was really an inquisitor.
Fine.
He concentrated, balancing the blade on the palm of his left hand. Uncle Finn sat back in his chair and watched.

Twenty seconds later, Dade #1 was spilling the PIN of his debit card, all his computer passwords, and—on an impulse that flashed into Jax's head—the name of the first girl he'd ever kissed (Megan) and the place (homecoming dance, senior year).

Unfortunately, Megan had been the date of Dade #2 at that homecoming dance.

The Dades erupted into name-calling. One of them threatened to kill the other's World of Warcraft character in retaliation for “stealing the only girl I ever loved.”

Uncle Finn took Jax by the shoulder and steered him out of the apartment. “That was uncalled for.”

“You wanted to know if I had any talent,” Jax said smugly. “I just proved it.”

“It's discourteous to use your talent to embarrass your clan members.”

They're not my clan
. “I don't want those guys touching my tattoo.”

“It doesn't seem necessary,” his uncle said. “You're obviously an Ambrose.” Then he made a noise that caused Jax to glance at him in surprise. Jax couldn't tell if it was a snort or a laugh or even a sob, but Uncle Finn was looking
at him with strangely moist eyes. “Rayne would've done the same thing.”

Jax grinned. And his uncle grinned back.

“How did it go?” Aunt Marian asked before they'd gotten all the way in the door.

“Very well,” Uncle Finn said. “Ursula is pleased we've brought Jax home.”

Jax looked into the living room. Lesley was painting her toenails, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she focused on each brushstroke. Jax passed his aunt and hurried down the steps into the sunken living room. “Hey,” he whispered. “Where's Billy?”

“Bathroom?” she suggested without looking up.

Jax glanced at his aunt and uncle. They were headed toward a room he thought was his uncle's office, seemingly as anxious to talk outside his earshot as he was to catch Billy outside theirs. So he lurked near the bathroom until he heard the toilet flush. When the door opened, he reached out to push Billy back inside.

Billy flinched, avoiding Jax's touch.

Deep down he knows something's wrong,
Jax thought. With Jax blocking the doorway, Billy, looking puzzled, backed into the bathroom. Jax followed him in and shut the door.

“What—”

“I need to talk to you alone,” Jax said.

“Dude, this is weird.”

“You have no idea. What happened the day you were kidnapped?”

“I wasn't kidnapped,” Billy said with a laugh.

“You said
kidnapped
in your text.”

“Did I?” Billy scratched his head. “I was just being funny.”

Jax shook his head. “I don't think so. Tell me what happened.”

“O-kay. Your uncle and cousins were asking questions around the neighborhood. When they found out I knew you, they invited me to help them find you. They told me everything.”

“Everything,” Jax repeated. “They told you about the eighth day, and you believed them.”

For a moment, Billy seemed puzzled. Then he broke into a stupid grin. “Yeah.”

“Your parents think you're at golf camp.”

“That was your cousin's idea. We couldn't tell them the truth.”

“Dorian?”

“No. Your
hot
cousin. Sloane.”

Of course. His cousin Sloane, the Dulac heir. “I don't think it happened the way you remember. What's wrong with your arm?” Jax pointed at Billy's left arm.

“Nothing. What are you talking about?” Billy edged
around him. “Let me out of here.”

Jax pressed his back against the door. “Do me a favor. Roll up your sleeve.”

“I don't want to.” Billy's eyes darted nervously around the bathroom.

“Okay then.” Jax bunched his hand into a fist and pretended he was going to punch Billy in the arm. His friend backed away so hastily, he tripped over the tub, and when he used his arms to break his fall, he gasped in pain. His face went gray. “Roll up your sleeve and look at it,” Jax urged him.

Hesitantly, Billy pulled up his left sleeve. Livid purple blotches covered his forearm, and there was a neat row of stitches just below the elbow. Billy stared at his arm like he'd never seen it before, his eyes bugging out of his head. He tried to speak, but his lips trembled, and he stared at Jax, bewildered.

“I don't think you went with them willingly,” Jax said. “They kidnapped you, just like you said. And they must've gotten rough.”

“Is it broken?” Billy whispered, moving his arm experimentally.

“I dunno, but my aunt's a healer. What'd she say at breakfast—that she can make injuries heal faster? She must be using her talent to fix you up as quickly as she can—and I think she's been sedating you. When she touches you, she can make you feel happy, safe . . .”
Loved.

“But I don't remember getting hurt.” Billy swallowed. “Every time I changed my clothes, I never saw this.”

“Sloane changed your memory. That's her magic talent. Between the false memories she gave you and my aunt's magic, I guess you didn't see what they didn't want you to see. Don't let Aunt Marian touch you. Or Sloane. Or my grandmother. Maybe most of the people in this building. They're dangerous.”

“Are they not really your relatives?”

“No, they are.” And they were horrible. Jax couldn't believe he'd almost had
a moment
with his uncle in the elevator. “I don't want them to know we're on to them,” Jax said. “So you have to pretend nothing's wrong. We have to stay here a bit longer, because there's something I need to do before we can leave.”

Billy nodded and rolled his sleeve down, looking shaken.

Jax removed his phone from his back pocket. There were more texts from the Crandalls, but instead of reading them, he called up the Crandall least likely to yell at him.

“Jax? You idiot.”

“A.J., you suck.”

“
I what?
”

“It's code for
everything's okay
,” Jax explained. “It's what Riley and I picked at the Carroway house to— Oh, never mind. Did Tegan and Thomas tell you Evangeline's sister might be here?”

Billy gaped at Jax. “Tegan and Thomas
Donovan
?”

On the phone, A.J. replied, “Yeah, we heard. That's the only thing that kept my dad from going up there yesterday to bust you out.”

“I don't need to be busted out. Things are under control.”

A.J. exhaled doubtfully. “My mom drove to New York and met with the twins. She's nearby and wants you to contact her ASAP. Which you'd know if you'd answer your texts. Dad and I are waiting here for Riley, to see how he wants to handle this.”

“Make sure Riley doesn't do anything stupid,” Jax said. It was bad enough that Mrs. Crandall had come to New York. He didn't want to put anyone else in danger. “Hang tight and wait to hear from me. Now, I've got something else to ask you. What's a brownie hole?”

“Brownie hole? Are you sure they haven't scrambled your brains?”

“Just tell me.”

“They're . . . well, they're how brownies get around.”

“Brownie?” whispered Billy. “You mean, like a little hobgoblin?”

Jax nodded. It figured Billy knew the word. He'd probably read every fantasy book ever written, played every game, seen every movie. “Do brownie holes cross timelines?”

“How would I know?” A.J. said impatiently. “Nobody's
ever been in one. Look, Jax, forget brownies. I gotta tell you what Mom found out from Deidre. There's bad stuff happening in Wales. Serious trouble.”

Jax suddenly remembered the Kin woman's warning, or prediction, or whatever it was. “I got something to tell you, too.”

A loud knocking made both Jax and Billy jump. “Boys,” called Aunt Marian. “You okay in there?”

Billy's eyes got wide again, and he held his injured arm close to his body. Jax hung up on A.J. and stuffed the phone into his pocket. “This is going to look weird,” he muttered before opening the door.

Aunt Marian peered in. “Goodness, boys. If you want to make a phone call, you don't have to hide in the bathroom. That's silly. Come out of there.”

What did she hear?
Jax left the bathroom first, shielding Billy, who slunk out and kept his distance. But her attention was all on Jax. “Were you calling your guardian? We'd like to meet him. Is he in the city?”

“No,” said Jax.

“Too bad. We're taking you out to dinner tonight before the transition. He could've joined us.” While Jax tried to imagine Riley sitting down to dinner with the clan that had murdered his family, Aunt Marian put her arm around him and guided him into Dorian's bedroom. “I notice you didn't bring any nice clothes . . .”

Jax made a strangled sound when he saw his backpack open on the floor—every compartment zipped open and emptied. “You went through my stuff?”

“I put your clothes in the wash,” she said, as if she was perfectly justified. “They needed it. But I didn't find anything appropriate for dinner.”

It was a good thing he'd kept the stolen keys in his pocket.

“We can squeeze Billy into something of Dorian's, but you're too tall. I'm going to have to take you shopping.”

Jax slithered out from under her arm. “Aunt Marian,” he said, “I'd rather you
torture
me than take me shopping.”

Their eyes met. For a moment Jax saw something hard in her expression and wondered if he'd spoken too bluntly. Then she smiled, and it was gone. “Well, this is a big clan. I'll call around. There must be a family with a pair of decent trousers and a shirt in your size. If not, I'll order clothes delivered, and you can just live with it if they don't fit right.”

“Oh, the horror,” Jax deadpanned, and it must've been the right thing to say, because Aunt Marian laughed and pinched his cheek before leaving the room.

It was just in time. Billy collapsed on Dorian's futon, shaking violently. “Holy crap, Jax. Is your aunt a nice lady or a conniving witch?”

“Both,” Jax said. “Are you okay?”

“No. I've been
kidnapped
. This sucks.”

It took a couple minutes for Billy to pull himself together. Jax tried comparing this adventure to Billy's favorite movies. He mentioned the damsel in distress who needed rescuing—and left out the big, scary killer they also had to rescue.

“So this Evangeline,” said Billy. “You're like her knight?”

“Yep.”

“And the sister—she's pretty?”

“Gotta be.”

“Okay, I'm in.”

When Billy finally stopped shaking, they went out to the living room, where Lesley was hobbling after her father, walking on her heels while her toenails dried.

“Can Valerie come over?”

“No.” Her father was headed for the apartment door.

“Can I go over to Valerie's?”

“No, Lesley. We have guests.”

“But they don't need me.”

Uncle Finn whirled around and looked his daughter in the eye. “
I
might need you this afternoon, after I meet with Dr. Morder.”

Lesley froze. Her father looked up and spotted Jax and Billy. “Make yourselves at home, boys. Lesley and Marian will get you anything you need.” Then he walked out.

Billy plunked himself onto the sofa in the same spot
as this morning and picked up a game controller. Jax watched, worried false memories would reclaim his friend and he'd revert to cluelessness, but Billy toyed with the controls idly, surveying the apartment with new, alert eyes.

Lesley sank down beside Billy. “You want to play something?” she asked the boys listlessly.

Jax fidgeted, but there wasn't much else he could do right now. “Guess so.” He sat down.

Billy looked out the wall of windows. “We could take a walk in the park instead.”

“With my mom?” Lesley clicked through the game menus.

“Without her,” Billy said forcefully. “Like, right now.”

“I don't have an elevator key.”

“What if there was a fire?” Billy demanded. “Are you telling me you can't get out? That's against the law.”

“There are stairs,” Lesley said, staring at the TV. “But there's a guard at the bottom, and when you came here, they put a guard on our floor, too. Right on the other side of the fire exit.”

There was a long, silent moment.

“Sorry,” said Lesley. “Did you want me to go on pretending you guys weren't prisoners?”

“Not really,” Jax replied.

She faced him, and he saw that her eyes were filled with tears.
“If it makes you feel any better, I'm a prisoner too. And I'm not even important.”

“If it makes
you
feel any better,” Jax said, “you're the only person here I like.”

Lesley turned back to the TV. “Mario Kart?”