Deception of the Magician (Waldgrave Book 2) (28 page)

Lena paused. It was a fair explanation. “Whoever took the portal was obviously not a fan of the religion. Why wouldn’t they have reported it to the Council?”

Griffin thought. “Like you said, it was someone afraid of losing their power. Someone who wanted to maintain the status quo.”

According to Warren Astley, that narrowed their suspect list to anyone who was a rich Old Faith believer. It didn’t help. “Still, Daray has to know where it is. We need to ask him what happened after that night.”

“That’s the decision we have to make, isn’t it?” Griffin looked impatient. “We can be back at Waldgrave in less than a day if we keep the stops to a minimum. He’s very ill, Lena. Further along than the doctor said he would be, and he’s in and out of consciousness. We need to know what he knows. But,” he licked his lips, “the human-borns—Rollin’s group—have apparently taken Waldgrave hostage. They know they only barely missed us last time, and the Council has reason to believe that they’re watching the roads. They’re working on how many there are right now, but Howard doesn’t want us coming anywhere near there until they get a handle on the situation.”

Lena’s eyes had gone wide. “Is everyone okay?”

“A lot of Representatives flew in for emergency Council after the initial attack, and they’re trapped as well, but I don’t think they’re interested in killing anyone else. This is political. I didn’t want to tell you before, because I thought it would worry you, but it was always political. Killing you would have been a powerful message—you’re an icon. People rally around you. I don’t recall exactly what the note said, but it had something to do with ‘your wastefully extravagant lifestyle, the failed promises of change you made to human-borns, and the false religion you represent.’ Howard’s fine, because you’re the one they want to kill. Killing you—the last chance for the heir that would open the portal—sends a message.”

Lena met Griffin’s eyes. She didn’t recall ever making promises to the human-borns; but then, she remembered Devin’s crestfallen face when she had told him she was going to find the portal. It wasn’t a religion for human-borns, he’d said, and she shouldn’t have been bothering with such a farce. The Silenti community had bigger problems than proving the veracity of religion—she was the only human-born on the Council that held a substantial amount of political sway, and she was wasting it on the religion of the rich. “What do they want from me?”

Griffin looked away. “I think they’re done with you, actually. The only good you can do them now is to become an example and die in the most public way possible. They want Council representation, and so help me, they’re not going to get it. Not after all of this.”

Lena was stunned. Her head was buzzing again, and she didn’t know what to do. The solution to one problem was the worst possible scenario in another. They needed to talk to Daray, which meant going back to Waldgrave and more possible near-death experiences. Lena needed to find the portal to gain her freedom, which meant stepping on the lives of many other people, many of which were her friends. She looked to Griffin. “What do we do?”

But he didn’t answer. Lena could almost see the conflict in his mind; he was torn between his desire to find the portal and his duty to keep her safe. He sighed. “We’ll leave early tomorrow. Hopefully, we can arrive the day after tomorrow around midday, when the roads are a little busier.”

Lena doubted that the number of people on the roads would detract the human-borns if they were bent on killing her, and she knew Griffin knew it. There was never much traffic, if any, on the little back roads they needed to take to Waldgrave. But there was no point in complaining; there was no right answer. At least they had a plan. Choosing to go anywhere was better than choosing to go nowhere and watching their choices slowly and surely deteriorate until they had no choice at all.

The next day went by faster than Lena anticipated, even given that they spent most of it wasting time watching television in a motel room. Griffin had worked out exactly how far they needed to be from Waldgrave to hit the back roads around noon. Neither of them slept well that night; they stayed up talking well past midnight. Despite Griffin’s insistence that Master Daray did not have the portal, Lena still wasn’t sure. He had proven to be a surprise many times in the past, and unlike Griffin, Lena saw him without the golden halo of godliness.

The next morning, they were both tired. When Griffin popped the trunk on the sedan and told Lena to get in, her first inclination was that they might have stayed up too late.

“Excuse me?”

Griffin fixed his gaze on the open trunk. “It’s a long shot, but they might think twice about creating a scene if they can’t actually see you in the car. I’ll hide you behind our bags.”     

She didn’t see what difference it made if she was behind the bags or not, because if they got stopped they were screwed anyways. But Griffin was staring into the trunk like it was a good idea, so she decided to humor him. He was already facing enough with the ordeal surrounding Master Daray.

Lena looked around the parking lot of the motel, then shrugged and climbed in. She pressed herself as far against the back of the trunk as she could, thankful for the first time that she fell short of average where height was concerned. Griffin discretely pulled the gun and a box of bullets out of his backpack and put them in the front before loading the rest of their baggage in around Lena. He asked her if she was comfortable, which she wasn’t, and told her to tell him if something went wrong and they needed to stop.

Then he closed the trunk door, plunging her into darkness except for the emergency lighting surrounding the inner release mechanism. She bent her knees and turned over on her back and tried to relax as the car started to move; it was a four hour drive to Waldgrave, and she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with four hours in the dark. But she was tired, and even though the trunk was cramped and stuffy, she drifted off to sleep fairly quickly.

Lena! Wake up!

Startled, she tried to sit up and smacked her head on the top of the trunk. She stared around wildly for a moment as she tried to remember where she was.

“What?!” She yelled in the direction of the front of the car.

We’re an hour away. Stay vigilant.

Lena rolled her eyes in the darkness. He was actually asking her to remain vigilant, even though she was in a car trunk. She wasn’t exactly sure what he expected her to do if something went wrong, but she tried to keep herself awake. She wished her cell phone was charged, because then she could have at least used it as a light source to read. Instead, she amused herself by playing with the light on the watch she kept in her travel bag, and waiting out the time as the minutes ticked down.

Five minutes passed. Then ten. Twenty. When almost forty-five minutes had gone by, Lena was sure they were home-free. The thought that maybe the human-borns just weren’t bold enough to try anything in the daylight occurred to her, and mere seconds later something exploded, causing her to almost jump out of her skin as the car swerved slightly. She broke out in goose bumps and cold sweat.

We just blew a tire. I’m not stopping.

Lena’s heart was racing. It was too much of a coincidence. Five minutes later another tire blew out, and Lena felt the panic of claustrophobia creeping up on her as she felt the car suddenly leaning to the right side—the car probably wasn’t drivable on only two tires, but Griffin was trying. The screeching noise of metal scraping on pavement at the speed of forty-five miles per hour shook her whole body. But then it slowed, and finally it stopped. There was nothing but silence.

I don’t see anyone. Stay where you are.

Lena couldn’t breathe. Her heart was pounding, and the temperature in the trunk felt like it had shot up by at least twenty degrees in the last few minutes. 
Griffin, I need to get out!

Calm down. You’re fine.

Her breathing quickened to a hyperventilation pace. 
What’s happening? What’re you doing?

But there was no response. She heard a car door open and close, and she thought she heard Griffin walk around the side of the car. The trunk suddenly opened, and Lena welcomed the rush of cool air that flooded in. There was a wild look on Griffin’s face.

The tires were shot out.

Her voice was a high whisper. “What do we do?”

For the first time ever, Lena thought she could see him sweating. He was panicking. 
I don’t—

A loud crack broke through the silence, and Griffin fell to the ground, disappearing beyond the rim of the trunk. 
Lena, run!

Lena awkwardly pulled herself out of the trunk. She glanced down at Griffin; there was blood pooling around him, and he was clutching his left arm. His eyes were wide. 
I said, run!

She jumped out of the car and made for the cover of the trees off the side of the road; it wasn’t dense forest, but it would have to do. She ran downhill, weaving through the trees, until she reached the bottom. She turned left and tried to find a suitable place to hide, but there was nothing—no caves, or large rocks, or ditches. And now there were people yelling behind her. She tried to turn and head back up the hill, but promptly tripped over a rock, splaying herself on the ground.

She looked over her shoulder, and saw people running after her. Then she looked forward again, and saw more people in front of her. They were carrying guns. She tried to get back up, but froze in place when she heard a shotgun cock behind her. Looking up, she was horrified to realize that while she didn’t know all of the names, she recognized many of the human-borns standing in front of her. Tab was among them, but he seemed unable to look her in the eye.

Someone put what felt like a jacket over her head. A male voice addressed her. “Get up.”

Her legs had turned to jelly. She wasn’t sure she was able to move. Someone pulled her roughly to her feet, and she felt a gun barrel pressed into her back. “Walk.”

It was slow work, but Lena managed to make her legs move. She couldn’t see where she was going, but they were moving back up the hill. She kept tripping over things and getting pulled back up very roughly, and there was a gun constantly sticking into her back. She briefly considered the option of breaking and running, but the odds weren’t in her favor.

She heard a van door slide open, and whoever was behind her pushed her in. “Tie her hands, then go! We don’t have much time.”

Someone else tied her hands behind her back as she heard the ignition turn. The van sped away. In one terrifying moment, Lena realized she might not have long to live. And Griffin was probably already dead.

*****

CHAPTER 16

Griffin snapped his cell phone shut and clutched at his wounded arm; the pain was hot and stabbing this time. He tried to use his palm to keep the blood in, but the bullet had gone through both sides, and even touching the wound sent splinters of agony shooting through him, from his teeth to his toes. The trees hanging over him were starting to divide and unfocus. How could he have been so careless? His hesitation might have cost her life.

Very slowly, his eyes drifted shut. He jerked them open again. It was getting cold out.

There was a crunching noise somewhere nearby. Footsteps, on the gravel of the road shoulder. A face was swimming into focus in front of the trees. He was smiling.

“I’ve wanted to put a bullet in your skull for a long time now.”

Griffin compulsively let his arm go again and reached for the gun he had stuck down the side of his pants, and then waved it uncertainly between the split images above him before it was kicked out of his grasp.

“You might want to keep the pressure on that arm if you want to talk again someday.” Rollin squatted down to bring their faces closer. “So I hear you’re about to be the major power here? You’re one lucky bastard Daray’s on his way out, because otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering with you. Congratulations, Griffin. We all knew you’d claw your way to the top eventually.” He looked at the large pool of blood and frowned, disgusted. It had grown and was beginning to spread around the toe of Rollin’s shoe; he stepped away, scratching his sole across the gravel to get the red off. He brushed his blond hair out of his face, and then stared straight into his rival’s eyes. “I will kill her. You know I’m capable. So now that you’re in a position to do something about it, I suggest you think it over.”

He placed an envelope squarely on Griffin’s chest and walked away.

The van eventually stopped, and Lena was moved from the van to what she suspected was a room somewhere; she was told not to make any noise on pain of death. The jacket over her head had been tied in place, and her hands were still tied behind her back. She sat on the floor in suffocating darkness, for what felt like hours, before she heard the door open again. The jacket was removed from her head, and her eyes adjusted to the obscurity around her. She was in another hotel room; in the dark gloom of the drawn curtains, Devin was standing in front of her.

“Are you okay?” He asked in a frantic whisper.

Lena could only stare at him blankly. He looked concerned; why was he there to begin with? Now he was hugging her. Now he was sitting down on the floor next to her, and she could still only stare.