A Shade of Vampire 27: A Web of Lies (5 page)

“What are you thinking?” Arwen whispered.

I was thinking a lot of things right now, but mostly I was still trying to figure out why Atticus had lied. I had told Mr. and Mrs. Hulse about the lie during my recounting of Lawrence’s story. But they had barely batted an eyelid. Neither of them found it strange enough to comment on it at all.

“What is it?” Arwen pressed, reminding me that I hadn’t answered her question yet.

I shrugged. “Just a lot of things. The whole thing. The way Georgina practically cut herself off from her parents, them barely ever seeing their grandson… It’s just a bit weird.” I wondered if all hunters were forced to maintain such strict privacy as to not discuss even their personal lives with anyone. Perhaps it depended on how high up in rank one was.

I stood and opened up the cupboard doors, peering inside. It was empty except for some clothes hangers. At the bottom was a small blue notebook and a silver pendant. I scooped both of them up and planted them on the desk, where the light was better.

I opened the notebook and flipped through it. About one quarter of its front pages had been used and torn out, and the rest were blank. Arwen took the pendant from me.

“Interesting,” she breathed. The necklace was certainly striking, with an unusual rectangular shape and a shiny, transparent gem in the center of it. I took the necklace back from her, but before I got a chance to examine it for myself, Mr. Hulse’s voice suddenly sounded loud on the staircase: “Yes, dear. I’ll open the window in her room to air it.”

Crap.

This room was tiny. Even though we were invisible, there was no way we could dodge Mr. Hulse on his way to the window without him noticing. Arwen, in her panic, grabbed my arm and vanished us before I even had a chance to replace the necklace. We’d have to make another trip back here, later, to return it.

F
inally
, Bastien agreed to take me to The Woodlands. He thought long and hard about it— he ended up wanting longer than just a few hours. He kept reminding me of the dangers that the land of werewolves held, even with the absence of the hunters and Brucella. But he seemed to come around to believe that as long as I stayed by him, and we remained within his territory, we would be all right. Besides, I might only stay for a few days. He admitted that even
he
might only stay for a few days, if his tribe preferred to choose someone else for their leader—somebody older and perhaps more experienced than him, he’d suggested.

He was surprisingly detached about the possibility. I’d expected that, being the son of a chieftain, the inclination to rule would be in his blood. But his primary concern did not seem to be who took over as leader per se, but rather that it would be somebody who was competent, trustworthy, and above all, someone whom his parents would approve of. He was more than willing to offer the position to somebody else if he deemed them more qualified.

Of course, the fact that it would be easier for us to stay together if he was not bound to The Woodlands was likely playing at the back of his mind. But I sensed his motives ran much deeper and purer than that. He genuinely cared about the well-being of his pack, and finding a leader who could maintain them—be it himself or someone else.

Observing this caused me to gain a deeper respect for Bastien. I couldn’t help but contrast his attitude with that of other leaders I had been exposed to—most notably, the hunters. I was sure the well-being of their people came at the very bottom of their list of priorities. It was all a game of power to them.

Once he had agreed to take me with him, we had to figure out exactly how we were going to get there. Apparently, the gates leading directly to The Woodlands from the human realm—at least, all the gates we knew about—had been closed off. That meant that we would have to travel to The Woodlands in a roundabout way, I guessed the same way that the League had traveled there—via the ogres’ beach.

We would need either a witch or a jinni to escort us. I wasn’t sure how many of them had gone on the latest excursion with the League and who had stayed behind. I figured that a trip back to Meadow Hospital would be the fastest way to find someone who was willing to accompany us. Witches or jinn were almost always found in the hospital, either in the apothecary or in the recovery rooms.

First, however, Bastien suggested that we return to my penthouse and pack up some things. He told me that I should bring clothes for at least a week, to ensure I didn’t run out, and any other items that might make my stay more comfortable. I guessed that he would be keenly aware of the differences between the amenities in his home and mine when we returned.

Once I had filled up a small suitcase, I stopped by the kitchen to leave a note for my parents on the counter, in case they returned before I did.

Then we had to go look for our escort. We descended in the elevator to the forest ground. I climbed onto Bastien’s back and, seeing that I had a suitcase this time, he did not leap up into the trees to travel again. He ran along the forest path instead to speed up our journey. Our first stop was Meadow Hospital, but all the witches and jinn we found here were too busy to take off with us for an unspecified number of days. They had duties to fulfill either in the hospital, or involving the security of The Shade while the League was gone.

So it seemed like I would have to let go of the idea that a jinni or witch would come with us. The next logical option was a dragon. Again, many dragons had traveled with the League on their mission—more than were actual members—but I was sure that there would be some left behind. I directed Bastien toward the Black Heights.

As fate would have it, the first dragon I came across was a half-breed—half dragon, half human. She was Regan, the dragon Azaiah’s daughter. She was about a year younger than me and one of the dragon hybrids on the island who was able to shift into a beastly form, in spite of her mixed blood.

“Hey, Regan!” I called to the brunette.

Carrying a bundle of logs under one arm, she appeared to be heading home. She whirled around at my call.

“Oh, hello Victoria,” she called. Her lilac eyes widened curiously as she laid them on Bastien. “Who is this?”

“Bastien Blackhall,” Bastien introduced himself politely. He shook hands with Regan.

“Bastien is a werewolf I met in The Woodlands,” I added. “And Bastien, this is Regan,” I explained to him. “Half dragon, half human. Regan, I was wondering…” I said, turning to her. “I need to ask you for a rather big favor.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Bastien and I need to visit The Woodlands. We need to travel via the ogres’ beach gate, and we need somebody to take us. I didn’t have much luck with the jinn or witches…”

Regan’s face brightened. “Sounds like fun,” she said. “I know where The Woodlands is, too.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes!” she chirped. “When I was younger, my dad would take me on flying trips and we sometimes ventured into the supernatural dimension. We passed The Woodlands a bunch of times.”

“Well, that’s great,” I said.

“How long would you want to stay there?” she asked.

“Uh, I’m not sure yet. But I would say at least two days… We might need some flexibility.”

“I don’t think that you should stay longer than a week, Victoria,” Bastien said, eyeing me.

“Okay, well…” I hoped that we’d both return before that, anyway. “What do you say, Regan? Do you think your parents would be okay with it?”

“My mom’s out right now, I think. But my dad should be at home. He didn’t accompany the League this time… When do you want to leave?” she asked, eyeing my suitcase.

I exchanged glances with Bastien. “We were kind of thinking around now.”

“Oh. I’ll go speak to him then. Wait here for me.”

As she retreated into the Black Heights, Bastien and I sat down on a rock and waited patiently for her to reemerge.

She returned about half an hour later, and I was glad to see that she still had a smile on her face. She was accompanied by her imposing golden-eyed dragon father, Azaiah.

“I can come!” Regan said. She twisted to show me her back, and I realized that she already had a backpack strapped to her. “I packed plenty of spare clothes in here for all the times I might need to shift…”

“She can come,” Azaiah repeated in a rumbling voice, “but only if I come, too.” I realized that he was also carrying a satchel.

“Oh, thank you,” I said. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Also,” Azaiah said, looking sternly at his daughter, “she must put in some extra study hours on the weekends when she returns… Right, Regan?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving a hand. “I know.”

We moved to the center of the clearing in front of the Black Heights, where Regan and Azaiah handed their backpacks to Bastien and me, before beginning to shift. Their limbs billowed and tore their clothes. Shiny gray scales erupted and spread across their skin. A few moments later, towering above us were two mighty dragons. I had seen Azaiah shift many times before, but less so with Regan. Her lilac eyes were large, intensified, and her gray scales shimmered with hints of silver. Regan was something of a wallflower in her humanoid form, with mousy brown hair and a splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks. But as a dragon, she was breathtaking.

Although a number of female fire dragons had been born to the couples of The Shade, they were still a rare commodity for the fire dragon race. That was something that they hoped would begin to change over time.

Regan extended one of her clawed hands for Bastien and me to climb onto. Apparently she wanted to carry us both. She lifted us level with her back, and Bastien and I climbed aboard.

We settled down in the curve behind Regan’s neck. I placed my suitcase between my legs, while Bastien kept the backpacks secure with him. I slid my hands between the cracks of Regan’s scales, while Bastien sat right behind me, his chest touching my back. He, too, gained a grip on the scales, planting his hands on either side of me and making me feel enclosed, secure.

“Hold on to your hats!” Regan said in a husky voice. Her wings spread and we launched into the air next to her father.

W
e traveled first
to the small, uninhabited island near The Shade that held the portal leading to one of the ogres’ beaches. This island was known to us colloquially as Rose and Caleb’s island, due to the time when they had been shipwrecked here with Annora.

We touched down once we arrived at the shore. Azaiah thought it wiser to travel the rest of the way to the gate on foot, since the jungle was dense and it was hard to spot the location from the air.

We remained on Regan’s back as we trundled through the trees and bushes. Finally, we neared the small clearing where the old, crumbling well was situated. I spotted tracks belonging to
Nightshade
—our helicopter-tank. The tracks stopped ten feet or so in front of the well. I slid off Regan and moved toward the tracks, reaching out my hands. They soon hit against the invisible barrier.

“Kyle?” I called.

There was a pause, and then the sound of a metal door groaning open. Footsteps followed, then the crunching of leaves, until Kyle emerged, apparently out of thin air. He was unshaven, his gray hair tousled, and he held a book in his right hand. He’d been reading, as he usually did, while waiting for the League.

“Hey,” he said, looking quite shocked to see the four of us here. “What are you doing?”

“We need to make a trip to The Woodlands,” I explained. I told him briefly why before concluding, “Well, we’ll see you around. You’ll probably still be here on our”
—or at least my, Azaiah and Regan’s—
“way back.”

He nodded. “Most probably. The League has
a lot
of work ahead of them, to say the least.”

He bade us goodbye and good luck, then disappeared from our view again as he retreated into
Nightshade
.

Bastien, Regan, Azaiah and I approached the portal and didn’t delay leaping through.

Once we reached the other side, we shot out like bullets, landing on hot sand. The sun blazed overhead, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. On rising to my feet, my first instinct was to look around to see if I could spot any signs of my parents and the rest of the League. I noticed footsteps in the sand, where apparently they had been gathered, but the beach appeared to be empty.

I supposed it was just as well. My parents had enough things to concentrate on without thinking of what trouble I might be getting into in werewolf country.

Bastien and I climbed atop Regan’s back again, and the four of us continued on our journey to The Woodlands.

* * *

W
hen we spotted
the looming outline of our destination in the distance, Bastien was quiet. I twisted my head to check that he was okay. His brows were furrowed in concentration, his gray eyes set on his homeland.

I faced forward again, trying to imagine what he was feeling. I supposed that reuniting with people he had grown up with, who had been so close to his parents, would peel back scars. Inevitably, he would have to relive the night he’d lost his parents and siblings all over again in describing to his people exactly what had happened.

Once we had soared over the shoreline, Bastien’s concentration increased. We were relying on him now to lead us the rest of the way. We traveled over countless woods, meadows and lakes, until eventually I spotted the familiar mountain range of the Blackhalls.

We approached the main entrance to the castle. I couldn’t help but scan the windows at the top, near the mountain peak—one of those windows had been Bastien’s and I recalled our harrowing midnight escape route. My stomach dropped just looking at the distance Bastien had carried me down.

“You can land there, in that clearing,” Bastien said, indicating the spot to the dragons.

They circled in the air, directly over the target, for several moments to gain their bearings. Then they descended and landed gracefully.

Bastien took the suitcase that was settled between my thighs, wound one arm around me, and pulled us both from Regan’s back.

“I suppose we should shift now,” Regan said once Bastien and I were on the grass.

“That would be wise,” Bastien said, eyeing the comparatively narrow mountain entrance.

He removed the backpacks he had been keeping safe for her and her father, and handed them over. They gripped the bags between their jaws before moving into the trees in separate directions to look for somewhere discreet they could shift and change.

Bastien returned his focus on the mountain and breathed in deep. I sensed that he was scenting the atmosphere.

“Does it smell like home?” I asked quietly.

He glanced at me. Dimples formed in his cheeks as he smiled for the first time in hours. “Not as much as you.”