Unchained: Feathers and Fire Book 1 Page 21

  Then they faded away, but I could still feel the ground humming with energy, like I was standing beside a power-line. The griffin was cool under my fingers, cooler than it had been. But I couldn’t help smiling as I slowly extended my hand closer to where the bars of light had been.

  I felt warning crackles of power tingling against my fingertips as the ward sensed my magic, but I pressed with greater force, and my hand finally crossed the line. Although uncomfortable, it didn’t hurt me.

  But I could tell that Nate had been right. This thing would obliterate any Freak trying to force their way through. It felt like the ones Roland had shown me, but on steroids.

  Nate had shown me how to deactivate it, just in case, but I wasn’t going to do that anytime soon. The griffin sat within the ring, small enough to be overlooked under the taller grass. I reached for it and felt the same pressure, confirming my belief that someone couldn’t simply walk up to it and take it, destroying the ward. My father was watching me from the porch. I gave him a thumbs-up, and his frown stretched wider. The faint scent of sulfur had disappeared the second the ward went up, making me feel much better, as if it had proven the skill of the ward.

  “That’s it? No peals of thunder or anything?”

  I shook my head. “Afraid not, daddy.”

  He sighed. “Lame.” Then he turned to head back inside, taking his shotgun with him.

  I was going to go take a nap, because tonight was going to be a long night.

  Chapter 40

  I had gotten home around three to find a cop car loitering by the parking lot, likely because of the attack last night. I had waved at him and headed inside, trying to look as innocent as possible. I had immediately placed a ward around my apartment that would wake me up at the drop of a hat, ready to Shadow Walk in an instant.

  But nothing had happened, giving me a chance to catch a two-hour nap, which was much needed, and woke up raring to go. We had originally planned to attend a gala tomorrow night that Nate had heard the bears would attend, but we had decided to bump up our timetables after the recent attacks against my dad and Roland. And the note from the Demon.

  A part of me felt smug satisfaction at that. Nate wouldn’t get to see me in the fancy dress.

  But a part of me wished he could. Even if it was to show him something he couldn’t have.

  Because it was nice to be admired.

  I had checked the apartment for Nate’s book, the one I had stolen from the auction, but had just chuckled to myself at not finding it. The thieving bastard must have taken it back from me without me knowing. I wasn’t even angry. It didn’t matter anyway. I had stolen it to try and blackmail him into helping me, and that wasn’t necessary anymore.

  I tugged on a pair of black, faux leather leggings and a dark grey t-shirt with Ganesh on the front that said Namaste in bed in black letters. I tugged on my black leather jacket, because it was the only light jacket I had that wasn’t a light or colorful hue. Nate said we needed stealth against shifters, especially bears. Because we didn’t want to go toe-to-toe with them. Not that we couldn’t, but it would put the spear at risk.

  If they even had it.

  Which was another reason for stealth. We needed to check the house to make sure they had it in the first place.

  Standing in front of the mirror, though, I quickly realized the futility of my outfit. My white hair stood out like a candle flame against my dark clothes, only seeming to emphasize me. I sighed. Nothing to be done for it.

  With a last look around, I ran over my precautions. Claire would still be with Roland in the storage unit, keeping guard over both pieces of the spear, and keeping the Shepherd alive. Even if she couldn’t necessarily do anything to physically or magically protect him. Because if the ward somehow failed, he had the sphere that would send him to the church. Claire had texted me to confirm that Roland had grudgingly agreed to use the sphere if the ward went down.

  Nate had also thought to modify the sphere to not reject metal, because of the spear Roland would be carrying. But I wasn’t concerned about the ward failing. The same one was up around my dad, and that was as solid of a ward as I had ever seen.

  My dad was also safe in his prison of light, and Nate and I were ready to move. Nate had called to tell me that the footage from the auction was destroyed, so Othello had no way to get a visual on the Demon. It had been a long shot anyway.

  We would just have to worry about her later. The bears were enough for one night.

  With that thought, I Shadow Walked into Nate’s hotel room. Still learning the spell, I managed to land where the piano was, and apparently, they weren’t designed to be in close proximity to wizards Shadow Walking.

  Two of the legs splintered, and the piano came crashing down in an explosion of sound like I was standing in the orchestra pit at a symphony. I darted back just in time, and tripped over a rug, falling on my ass. The keys echoed, so strong that I could feel it in my chest and teeth. Any second now, Nate was going to come running into the room, and laugh his ass off at me.

  I climbed to my feet, brushing off my legs, waiting for the inevitable.

  But no one came.

  “Nate?” I called.

  Silence.

  I frowned, suddenly uneasy. Had they caught him? Surely, no one could have snuck up on Nate, let alone overwhelm him. He was a wrecking ball. A force of nature.

  No, he was probably just up on the roof.

  That made sense. He might have even told me that. Or expected me to just go there. Instead of Shadow Walking, I saw one of his two keycards on the table, and scooped it up. He had told me he always asked for two, even when traveling alone. There had been a suggestive glint in his eye as he said it, hinting at why a bachelor would need a spare key.

  Likely to give to some overzealous reporter like Alyssa for a late night… interview.

  Slimy bastard.

  I took the elevator up, and came to the door to the roof. I pushed it open slightly, listening. I knew the manager had access to the roof, and thinking about the spare key, I didn’t want to find Nate actually entertaining that reporter chick for a romantic rooftop drink. An alibi, he would say defensively.

  Still, I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t ask myself exactly why I didn’t want to see it. I had enough on my mind already.

  But I did hear voices.

  Two men.

  I frowned at that, but with the wind, I couldn’t make out anything. I peeked my head around the corner to find Nate near the table with his back to the door, talking to someone. That someone noticed me, and instantly cut off. Nate whirled, and I stepped out of the door onto the roof with confidence, trying to make it look like I hadn’t been spying.

  He was an older man, handsome, and looked used to wielding authority. The setting sun reflected off his eyes, and they looked surprised. Then he was simply gone.

  I froze.

  He hadn’t Shadow Walked. There had been no sound. He simply wasn’t there anymore. Nate glanced over his shoulder and I saw him sag in disappointment, it seemed.

  I strode up to him. “Who was that?”

  “Hemingway.”

  “The old man you sent to my dad?” He nodded. “Why were you meeting with him?” I asked, growing angry. “I told you not to ask your friends for more help, Nate.”

  He nodded. “He was here for me. Updating me on stuff from St. Louis.”

  I studied him skeptically, but I couldn’t sense any anxiety from him — any sign that he had done something wrong. “Why did he disappear so quickly, then?”

  Nate grinned. “I may have mentioned that you wouldn’t be happy to see any of my friends.” He waited for me to say something, or to laugh at his comment. My dad had spoken pleasantly about the old man, but I still didn’t like him here after telling Nate to keep his friends away. I remembered his friend Othello saying something about Hemingway as well. Which kind of backed up his claim.

  Nate sighed dramatically. “If you don’t trust me, I can leave. I know you’re
trying to be strong. Stand up for yourself. But being hard is not the same thing as being strong. And it would be a shame for something so pretty to die out of arrogance.” He leaned forward. “Trust me. I would know.”

  I sneered at him, tempted to tell him to leave. “I would believe you,” I said slowly, “but you’re not that pretty.” That earned me a genuine burst of laughter. I tried not to look smug. Then I remembered the book. “You didn’t have to steal the book. I was going to give it to you tonight, but imagine my surprise to find it missing.”

  He just looked at me, not answering for a few moments. “We can talk about the book later. You losing my book doesn’t change anything about tonight.” He didn’t sound harsh, or accusing, or concerned. Which could mean any number of things. Either he had stolen it and was surprised that I had caught him, or that he hadn’t stolen it, but finding the thief didn’t matter at the moment. Either one sent a light chill through me.

  I turned away. “You’re right. We should go.”

  I heard him grunt his agreement before speaking. “Quick comment. The decision is yours, but I want you to know something.” I turned, curious. “I have a friend who can make any shifter sit on their ass and obey whatever she says.” I turned slowly, eyes widening in disbelief. He nodded satisfactorily. “One call, and we could have her here. We could walk right into the bears’ house, take our sweet ass time, maybe even have some porridge. Hell, even get them to hand over the spear if they have it.” He took a few steps closer. “We could save our energy for the Demon.”

  I watched him, considering. As great as that sounded, it would only tie a string to me, marking me as using Nate to get what I wanted, which would mean that as soon as he left, everyone with a grudge would come after me.

  There was no guarantee they wouldn’t do that anyway, but there was definitely a guarantee they would if they thought the only reason I had succeeded was due to Nate’s friends.

  Nate frowned at me. “Well?”

  “What?”

  “Want me to make the call?”

  “Oh, no. I was just waiting for you to stop stalling. If you’re scared, you can wait here.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Let’s do this, Snow White,” he muttered.

  “Snow White had black hair.”

  He smiled. “I was talking about your pasty, almost albino skin,” he said. I scowled back for good measure as we locked hands, and I let him Shadow Walk us to bear country.

  Chapter 41

  We knelt in the shadow of a big tree, scanning our surroundings. No one moved. Bears didn’t need guards, apparently. Two windows glowed in the large house just ahead. We were in a large estate, surrounded by towering trees and woodlands. Bear country, indeed.

  Nate waited for me to meet his gaze, and then nodded, holding out a hand for me to lead. He smiled wryly as he did it, not completely condescending, but as close as he could get to it.

  I sniffed disdainfully and calmed myself. This was important. I needed this. For myself.

  I needed to know I wasn’t a coward, that I could at least overcome fear and approach danger with a level head. I knew I could fight. But fighting when I knew safety lay at the end was one thing, like training. Sure, I could get injured, but there was never any real danger. This… was different. A wrong move could be the end of everything.

  And that was when my nightmare usually tried to get me. But it hadn’t with the vampires. Claire’s unspoken philosophy had seemed to work better than anything Roland had ever tried. Coupled with my dad encouraging me to find my I, maybe I had finally overcome it. If not, Nate was here.

  Knowing that I didn’t want to be a Shepherd like Roland, it was doubly important that I learn how to take care of myself. I didn’t know what my future entailed, but I could at least walk away with a small measure of self-confidence.

  Like in my training, I took a deep breath, forming the feather of focus in my mind.

  Then, I moved.

  I masked my footsteps with a whisper of magic, so no one could hear. Without thinking, I cast another spell that I had never been taught, my mind abruptly clouding over, as if I was watching someone else do the magic from a distance.

  Nate followed, and I saw him frowning at me.

  I glanced down and saw that my form was a blur, like a smeared watercolor.

  Huh. That was something, but it was a distant thought, as I was wrapped up in the void. Only the feather existed.

  Nate reached my side, now pressed up against the side of the house. “The church teach you that?” he asked softly.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t sure where it had come from, but he didn’t need to know that. And I knew for a fact that silence upset men.

  It worked on Nate.

  I managed to bite back a smile at my small measure of success.

  Glancing about, still confident we were alone, I flung up my hand, and an orb drifted up above us to hover outside the window on the second floor, one of the windows that was illuminated. The orb didn’t have a color, exactly, but seemed to be a distorted view of its surroundings, like staring through glasses with Vaseline smeared over the surface.

  Again, Nate grunted. That one had been from Roland.

  Sounds slowly reached my ears and I felt Nate tense, thinking someone was creeping up on us. Then he seemed to understand what my orb was doing. Like a small microphone, it was picking up on sounds from the room above.

  “I don’t care what she said. We don’t work for her. The warning didn’t do any good anyway.”

  “… payback…” a muffled voice replied, too far away to catch all of his reply.

  “Oh, she’ll pay for this. It’s already in motion.”

  “… Temple…?”

  The first voice hesitated. “We’ll see…”

  “… rumors…”

  “I damned well know the rumors!” the first voice growled. “But we don’t have much choice if he shows up. Even considering…” the voice faded with a steady thump of walking feet on a wooden floor. Then the light in the room winked out. I released my spell, glancing at Nate.

  He shrugged, then held out a hand for me to proceed with whatever I chose to do.

  I waited, wondering what the two bears had been talking about. Or maybe they had been guards. Still, it seemed someone had come to warn them of something. And that I needed to pay for something I had done. But… I hadn’t done anything to them. Nate had been the one to fight the bear at the auction, and I realized with a start, I had never asked him the outcome. Had he killed him? And who kept going around warning people about me? I was confident it wasn’t the Demon, because her letter had admitted to killing the wolf and vampire, and she had no need to warn them ahead of time only to kill them hours later. It made no sense.

  But none of that mattered. I needed that spear. It was the last piece. Then I could get it to Roland and be done with this.

  But you need to make an impression. A stand. Give them fear… a small voice inside of me whispered. I nodded resolutely. This was like the first day in a prison yard. I needed to walk up to the biggest man in the pen and punch him in the teeth. Even if that meant bluffing.

  I refocused like Roland had taught me, feeding my emotions into the image of the feather in my mind. The feather ruffled lightly as the wind of my emotions struck it, and were absorbed into it, leaving only the feather, slowly rotating in midair.

  I was ready. No fear. No emotions. Cold. Calculating. One with my training.

  One last flicker of fear darted through. Would that be enough?

  I fed it into the feather, waiting for the calm to return. I thought I heard faint laughter in the depths of my mind, but it stopped as soon as I focused on it.

  When I opened my eyes, Nate was watching me thoughtfully. I stared back at him, face devoid of emotion. An eager smile slowly spread across his face, and he gave me a single nod.

  “Back me up if things go bad, otherwise please stay back.” He nodded.

  I repeated the same spell I had used earlier o
ver both of us, washing us in a water-colored smear. Nate grunted, glancing down at himself, eyes thoughtful. I knew he could duplicate it now. He seemed a quick learner.

  I grabbed his shoulder, and enveloped the two of us in a small cocoon of magic, the same I had used to kill sound as we had snuck away from the tree. Then I Shadow Walked us into the room where the bears had been a few moments ago. Nate hissed at me, sounding surprised I had done so rather than sneak in through the ground floor. I checked that we were alone before whispering back.

  “They’re less likely to check a room they vacated only moments ago, and I bet the ground floor entrances are heavily guarded. They seem to be expecting us. Perhaps your spying didn’t do much good. Soldiers can die with faulty information,” I added as an afterthought, something Roland had told me repeatedly.

  Nate’s vague form flickered in agitation, but I dismissed him, studying the room. It was an office. I quickly crept around the room, careful to keep the orb around me so my motions were silenced. I found a desk, and slowly began sliding open drawers, searching for the spear. It wasn’t there. I found papers all over the desk, and even a confirmation email about the auction, proving that at least some of Nate’s information had been accurate. This was the right house. Bear shifters were reportedly loners, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t have been two or more grizzly families in town.

  So, we had the right house, but no spear on the desk. I glanced over my shoulder to see Nate scouring one of the closets. He had duplicated my sound-suppressing spell, although his wasn’t an orb around him that I could see. Maybe that was because of the illusion spell I had used on him. Still, no sound betrayed his search.

  He finally looked up at me and shook his head. He pointed to various spots around the room, again, shaking his head, letting me know where he had searched — the bed, the night stand, and the closet. I didn’t see anywhere else to hide the spear, but I did unfold from my crouch to check behind paintings on the wall, curious if they had safes for the spear tucked away behind one.