Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (44 page)

“Evie…
you couldn’t have protected him—
”
Tau says
with concern
.

“I have
to get out of here,” I breathe
,
before
turning and bailing out of his room.

Running as fast as I can, everything i
s just
a blur.
I wind down halls and stairwells in fraction
s
of seconds.
Finding myself in an engine room, I hid
e
behind
a huge, metal bulkhead and cry
my eyes out.

I’m On
A B
oat

Russell

Roundin’ the co
rner to the engine room, I hear
someone sniffle and th
en hiccup. A small smile crosses
my lips, ‘
cuz I know that hiccup. I push
past the metal door and listen as another hiccup co
me
s
from around the bulkhead.

“Go away, Russell,” Evie says, when I si
t down next to her on the floor.

“Now you’
r
e
askin’ me to walk away from a damsel in distress. That’s a
guilt I can’t carry,” I
reply
.

Pullin’ off my shirt, I hand it to Red. She takes
it with a grudgin’ look on her fac
e. Shruggin’ into it, it covers the towel and falls almost to her knees.

“Thanks,” she grumbles
. “You don’t have to stay.”

“Yeah…well, maybe
I want to hide out, too,” I say
with a shrug, thinkin’ of Anya in the cabin next to mine.

“Why? Your creepy-
old dad show up, too?” she asks
, rubbin’ a tear away from her eye.

“Naw, but what’s really creepy is he looks younger tha
n me,” I admit
in an easy tone. “I bet I could take him.”

Red rolls
her eyes at me, sayin’ sarcastically, “Yeah, Russ, you fighting Tau wouldn’t add another layer of strange to t
his or anything.” But she smiles
.

“How ‘bout that other one—
C
ole?” I ask
her.

“Cole Martin?” she asks me. When I nod, her tone turns
suspicious, “Why? What did Cold Misery do now?”

“He was airplane talkin
’ Anya all the way here,” I say, and I
hear the
edge in my own tone. When I see
the confused look on Red’s face,
I explain
. “He was way too close to her on the flight here and he was talkin’ in a loud voice, like he had to talk over the engine, ‘cept there were no engines. I didn’t know what he was sayin’ to her ‘cuz he was speakin’ in Angel.”

“They were just tal
king?” Red asks
.

“Well…yeah,” I admit
in a low tone. “But, it was the
way
he was talkin’ to her…all buddy-buddy and smooth…like ‘I’m an ange
l and I know how to speak Angel
…
’
” I trail
off from the derog
atory imitation when Red starts
gigglin’.

“Wha
t?”
I ask
her, smilin’ too. “The way I figure it, you and me have gott
a knock someone’s head off soon—
show them
we’re not the new kids ‘
round here.”

“And we’re not putting u
p with their shen?” she asks, and then hiccups again.

“That’s right,” I agr
ee
. “We gotta show them we can carry our own weight.”

“So, what you’re saying is I should suck i
t up and stop crying?” she asks
, bitin’ her bottom lip so it’ll stop pushin’ out in a pout.

“
Oh Lord, look at you
now,” I say
in a gentle tone, leanin’ ove
r and wipin’ at her last tear.
“All tragic and beautiful. You
know we have to get a plan together.”

“A plan?” she asks
, lookin’ alarmed.

“They’re takin’ us back to the snake nest.
We know what that means,” I say
significantly.

“All our angels are vu
lnerable,” Red replies
, followin’ my line of thought exactly. Her need for a plan is makin’ her sit up straighter.

“
I don’t like it. The cold freaks
know every inch of that place. W
e saw the su
rface when we were there, but—
”

“The Gancanagh’s magi
c goes deep,” she finishes
.

“To the bone, Red,” I agree
. “We need to stop thinkin’ in terms of humans and
angels and start thinkin’ like f
aeries.”

“But their magic
doesn’t affect angels,” she say
s
.

“Naw, but they got that place rigged. You showed t
hem how portals worked and they,
well
,
they liked
that so much they probably portaled the livin’ crap outta that place. I could smell magic there before, but now it’s gotta be everywhere. Just ‘c
u
z the angels can’t get slapped ‘
round
by magic,
doesn’t mean those sneaky lil’
devils w
o
n’t use it to get close to them—
close enough to touch ‘em.
”

“Like Declan and the fella
s did at Dominion,” she breathes
, while lookin’ wide-eyed at me.

“And if they can turn one of us, they have an instant killin’ machine ‘cuz everyone would be reluctant to take out on
e of our own.” Red’s face turns
pale, so I quickly pres
s
on. “The first thing we do when we get there is go room by room and look for anythin’ that’s…wrong. Now that their stink isn’t workin’ on me, it should be easier
to smell other stuff,” I explain
, hopin’ that if she can focus on a plan to be proactive, it will divert her from the fact that we’re leadin’ her back to her prison.

“That could eat up a
year of our lives,” she mutters
, kn
owin’ how big Brennus’ castle i
s and that they probably have traps all throughout.

“We gotta make it quick, ‘cuz if we don’t
,
it could be ope
n season on our friends,” I say. “Brennus is gettin’ smarter—
adaptin’. He nearly plucked you
off this ship already.”

“Wha
t about you, Russell?” Red questions
, looki
n’ scared. “What happens w
hen Brennus
realizes that you were bitten several more times than me?”

“Then he’s gonna throw confetti in the air a
nd make me his party,” I answer
, seein’ her eyes widen in fear.

“We’ve gotta protect you, Russ!
You can’t go with us!” Red spits
out
as she jumps
to her feet.

“Hush no
w, Red. We’re just talkin’ here—
y
ou and me,” I say
in a soothin’
way meant to calm her down. I ge
t to my feet, too. “Where does one hide from ma
gical creatures anyway?” I ask
rhetorically, ‘cuz we both know that those demons will always find us.

“He can’t have you!” she says
, pointin’ her finger at me.

“You’
r
e
damn r
ight he can’t have me,” I agree
. “I may be new to this magic thing, but I’m catchin’ up quic
k.” Openin’ my palm, I whisper
words to myself that create
a small orb of light. Throwin’ it against the wall, it sho
o
t
s ‘
round us and ricochets
, l
ike a kid’s rubber superball
. When it bounces by my head, I make
it pause it midair
for a moment before it explodes
into a shower of Twinkies.

Red
picks
up a Twinkie from the pile on the floor.
“How did you do that?” she asks
with a laugh.

“Well, it wasn’t that hard. Twinkies are in seas
on this time of year,” I grin
.

“I love you, Russ,” Red says
impulsively, walkin’ into my arms and huggin’ me t
ight with her face pressin’
against my
chest.

My arms go
around her instantly,
almost like habit as I stroke
her soft hair.
Somethin’ inside my heart leaps
, like it always does when she’s near me, but…somethin’ else is missin’. I’m not itchin’ to tear her clothin’ off and make love to her on the floor of the engine room and that’s wh
at’s strange ‘bout it. I plant
a soft kiss
on top of her head, and then wild crickets begin bouncin’ ‘
round in my belly, the way they do when Anya is…

A low growl co
me
s
from the doorway of the engine room. My wings sho
o
t out of m
y back at the sound and I push
Red behind me, adoptin’ a d
efensive posture. I straighten again when I see
Anya’s black wings spread out in response to mine. She’s livid, if her emerald, snappin’ eyes are any indication. Reed is holdin’ her upper arm, in case she decides that she’s seen enough.

Reed speaks to Anya in Angel and she turns
her head to
glare at him. Then she unleashes
a torrent
of words on him and me that have
me blushin’ even though I ha
ve no idea of what she’s sayin’. B
ut the way she’s shakin’ her finger at me is sorta tellin’.

Turnin’, I see
Red’s f
ace. She’s gone completely pale
as she’s stari
n’ at Reed. He’s got a look
I haven’t seen since Crestwood:
suppressed rage.

“Whoa, w
hat just happened here?” I ask
Reed. “You know this is
just us talkin’, right?” I ask
, gesturin’ between Red and me.

“Is t
hat what it was?” Reed responds
quietly. “It’s getting more and more difficult to tell.”

Anger creeps
into my voice too, when
I say
, “You
think this is seduction…right now? Here on the open water with Gancanagh tryin’ to drag her off the ship and her father s
howin’ up to claim her?” I ask
, feelin’ like my integrity is bein’ questioned.

“I
hugged him…it was me,” Evie says
fr
om behind me. She moves
to stand beside me, wringin’ her hands in front of her and makin’ us look guilty.

Reed’s face turns blank and then he asks
, “How could you resist when he brought the Twinkies?” Reed let
s go of Anya’s arm and walks
out of the engi
ne room. Red pushes past me as she tries
to catch up to Reed, leavin’ me to deal with Anya alone.

Shufflin’ my foot, I feel like a criminal that’s truly innocent of the charges this time.
“Why are you
here, Anya?” I ask
, knowin’ that she doesn’t unde
rstand me. I rub
my forehead where it’s startin’ to ache. “T
his world is only gonna break you
r heart.”

“You break heart. Yo
u throw all away,” she responds
immediately, her
hands on her hips as she glares
at me.

“Y
ou
understand me?” I murmur
, my mouth droppin’ open.

“Buns and Brownie—
h
elp Anya,” she retor
ts. “Teach words and…” she pull
s
a pocket dictionary from the back pocket of her tight, shape-huggin’ low rise jeans, “and Webster.”

“Yeah?
W
ell that’s good. That means you’
r
e
smart, right? So you’ll understand this
then. I don’t know you
,” I say
as anger over the situati
on I’m findin’ myself in erupts
.