Intuition: The Premonition Series (51 page)

As it turns out, the Canadian Mounties don’t have anything to do with us. The Surete Du Quebec, which means Quebec Security, or SQ, however, is all up in our grill for our unscheduled stop in their city. Russell, being led out first by the police escort, has most of the officers milling around him. I think they are a little nervous about him, due to his size. Watching the rain dampen his t-shirt, he bends down deeply in order to avoid hitting his head on the roof of the police car when they load him in the back. A moment of panic sweeps through me as his car drives away. I’m afraid for him. Maybe I should’ve gone to Zee’s island first, and then left from there to go to Dominion, but it’s too late to second guess my decision. I feel an urgency to get to Dominion as soon as possible and I have to rely on my instincts now as much as I can.

The inspectors at SQ separate us all into different rooms before they ask me leading questions like, “What are da bomb sniffin’ dogs gonna find on yer plane, eh?” and “Why doncha tell us why yer really here, eh?”

It’s strange to listen to the investigators speak because they speak French in Quebec, but since I don’t speak French, they speak to me in English that is a mixture of a French-Canadian accent. At least they aren’t evil faeries, so I can deal with the strange accents. I pretend to be Lillian Lucas, since that is the passport that Russell had thought to pack for me on the day I was taken by the Gancanagh. He is pretending to be Henry Grant and we are barely able to tell Brownie and Buns about it before we are separated.

Sitting in a room that contains a faux wood laminate table and metal folding chairs, I realize that it’s no bigger than the cell the Gancanagh had locked me in just days ago. But, since the SQ investigators don’t have fangs, or toxic skin, and they are giving me all the water I need, not to mention breakfast, I’m having a hard time taking them seriously. In fact, I fall back asleep for a while when they leave me alone, presumably to check out my story. Picking at my breakfast, I can’t really eat it. The best I can do is eat the dry toast, but it’s sitting like a lump in my stomach, churning like I have eaten grease.

My neck is a source of suspicion. I can’t get it to stop bleeding, and even though Buns had given me a silk scarf to wrap around my neck, after six hours of being detained at the airport, it begins to show through the scarf. I tell the police that I have a blood disorder that makes my blood thin so that I have trouble clotting when I cut myself. This garners me some sympathy from the police and they seem to act nicer to me after that.

After over ten hours in the airport detention area, Investigator Crawford, a burly-looking man with a penchant for pulling his pants up too high, lets me out of my interrogation room. He leads me to an area where I see Russell and Buns sitting together on an anemic looking bright red sofa. They are speaking in voices that are too low to be overheard by the humans. It sounds like Russell is filling Buns in on what he saw while in the cave with the Gancanagh. Hearing him mention Brennus, a burst of fear shoots through me, causing me to stumble a little as I approach them. Seeing me, Russell stands up, moving down the couch so that I can sit between them.

“Are ya okay, Red?” Russell asks in a cautious tone as he watches my beefy-looking police escort walk away once I had taken a seat. He doesn’t wait to hear my answer, but pulls me closer so that he can check me out for himself.

“Yeah, I fell asleep and my neck hurts from waking up slumped over on the table, but other than that, I’m fine,” I say as my eyes evaluate him to see that he looks no worse for the interrogation. “How’d it go?” I ask.

He reaches up and rubs my shoulders for me while he says, “I like Canada. Nice police—too nice. They gave me breakfast,” he says, cracking a smile.
I love his smile, it’s so honest and encompassing,
I think as I try to memorize his handsome face.

I want to smile back at him, but anxiety that has been building in me for the past few hours has me wanting to pace the room and claw the walls to get out. Reed and Zephyr aren’t in the custody of the nice police that will feed them breakfast. They are with the Powers who don’t dispense mercy to anything they believe to be their enemies. Dire consequences…that’s what Reed said he faced if he helped me when I first met him. I should have listened to him. I should have left school when he told me to, but I was too selfish to do that.

Buns smiles, saying, “You bet they’re nice, but don’t think everyone gets this treatment. They think we’re rich kids on holiday who are more than willing to wire them all the money in fines that they’re extorting out of us,” Buns says, shrugging. “Once they saw everything basically checked out, they started adding up our punishment.”

“Where’s Brownie?” I snap at Buns. “We have to get out of here. We’re wasting time!”

“She’s filing a flight plan for us to go to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. She’s also getting in touch with a private charter so she can take care of Henry,” she says, referring to Russell by his fake name. “Chill, sweetie, we can’t do anything but wait right now.” Something catches her eye. Leaning towards me, she touches my neck below the scarf where a trickle of blood trails down to darken the edge of my t-shirt. “Sweetie, this isn’t healing,” she says with her eyebrows drawing together in worry.

“It’s fine,” I respond, waving her hand away irritably. “It doesn’t really hurt anymore,” I lie as the puncture wounds throb. “Have you heard from your contacts at Dominion? Do they have any new information?”

Buns looks over my shoulder at Russell who is pulling tissues from the box on the table near him. I feel him press the tissue softly to the side of my neck and try to mop up my blood. My hand comes up to take the tissues from him and finish the job he started.

“Why, are you planning on starting a war?” she asks.

“Yes. If that’s what it takes,” I reply. “I’ll burn that place down if they don’t give me what I want.”

“Where’s your army?” Buns asks, wrapping a piece of hair around her finger.

“I’m a Seraph. I have the right to command and I will not allow them to deny me,” I say, pissy now because I feel physically awful and the anxiety of being held here for hours while being unable to find out any information on Reed and Zephyr is doing bad things to me.

“Ass kicker,” Russell says under his breath, and I don’t know if he is proud of me or disapproving, but Brownie shows up then, looking irritated. The investigator with her smirks at us and then he walks away, presumably to cash Brownie’s checks.

With her hands on her hips, Brownie says, “Lillian, I’m going on record as saying your plan sucks! Powers suck! The SQ sucks! And, you should get on the plane and go to Zee’s island, so that we can beat the Kappas next semester in field hockey. BUT, since I KNOW you are not going to listen to ME…” she says as her lower lip trembles, “I’ll have to just pray that you come back to us,” she finishes gruffly.

I get up off the couch and launch myself into her arms. “You have to take care of Buns and Russell for me, okay?” I whisper in her ear, feeling her squeeze me tighter.

“No, you’ll have to do that yourself,” she whispers back. Pulling away from me, she says to Russell, “Are you ready to go, Henry?”

Getting up off the couch, Russell pulls me into his arms. Hugging me and lifting me off of my feet, he says into my hair, “I can’t let ya do this—I thought I could, but I can’t—please, Red,” he whispers. I squeeze him tighter—my best friend—the best friend I have ever had and will ever have.

“I’ll never make it if I don’t do this. I’ll die by degrees…in pieces and you won’t be able to pick up all of those pieces, no matter how good you are at loving me,” I say in his ear. “I love you, Russell. Goodbye.” I feel the crushing strength and sorrow in his embrace.

“Now, I want to say somethin’ to yer soul,” Russell whispers brokenly to me as he leans down and speaks to my heart. “Y’all can come back and haunt me, if ya want. I love ya and I always will and I’ll always be lookin’ for ya… no matter what.”

Something twists inside of me and my eyes well up with tears. He doesn’t look at me when he sets me down on my feet, but turns to Brownie and follows her out of the open door of the security office. I stand immobile, watching Russell’s back as he walks away from me until I can no longer see him anymore. He never looks back.

“Are you ready to go?” Buns asks, next to me. I immediately snap out of the trance I’m in.

“Yes,” I nod stiffly.

“Sweetie, the more I think about this plan, the more I think Brownie’s right. It reeks of desperation. We don’t even know for sure that they’re in the Dominion compound I’m taking you to. I could just be delivering you to your execution,” she says. When I turn to look at her, her cornflower-blue eyes show the agony that she feels. “Brownie’s right, I won’t be able to get you out of there once I let you go in. They won’t even let me in the front door, that’s how it is for us.”

She means, that is how it is to be a Reaper and not a Power, and that irritates me. “Ugh. It sounds like some snotty country club,” I say. I wonder what they will think of a half-breed walking in the front door of their elite domain. “Buns, do you think I have a shot at getting in the door or will they kill me out in the open?” I ask, and I watch her pale as she looks around to see who is nearby to overhear our conversation.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” she says, taking my arm and leading me out of the door of the security offices. “This is the worst plan! Let’s see if we can catch up to Brownie. We can go with them, and then come up with something else. Russell is right. This is a suicide mission and I’m an idiot to have thought it would be okay.”

“Buns,” I say, stopping just outside the glass doors to the security area. “I’m doing this with or without your help, but I have to tell you that I really, really need your help. Please do this for me. I promise, I’ll never ask you for another favor.”

“That will be an easy promise for you to keep because I will probably never see you again,” she says as tears escape from her eyes.

“You said that you have some weapons that we can use against them. What are they?” I ask, not letting her see me waiver for even a moment. If she believes that I’ll do this alone, which I will, then she may still help me.

“I do. I have them on the jet. We have to find a car to take us back there,” she says, wiping her eyes. I don’t try to comfort her because I can’t afford to start crying, too. If I do that, I may never stop. It doesn’t take us long to locate someone willing to drive us back to the jet.

Once on board, I have an instant of panic when I realize that our pilot has just left to take a charter flight. “How are we getting there Buns, can you fly?” I ask.

Buns nods. “Of course, sweetie, but I’m not nearly as good at it as Brownie,” she says. I think about the way she drives the Golden Goose, her huge gold-color car back in Crestwood, and then I send up a silent prayer that we will make it to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

“So, what are the weapons you brought?” I ask, hoping that I will be able to learn how to operate them quickly and efficiently. “Do you think that the SQ found them and confiscated them?” I ask as I think about how they have been all over this plane with dogs and high-tech equipment.

Buns gives me a sheepish look as she says, “Sweetie, these aren’t the Power angel kind of weapons that Zee had you training with. These are more of the ‘feminine’ kind of weapons,” she says, watching my reaction.

“Huh?” I ask.

“Sweetie, most Powers are male. You happened to get a hunter that’s female, but they are rarer than you think,” she says. “We are going to make it really hard for them to kill you,” she says, and when I don’t say anything, she blows out a deep breath. “Okay, these are angels from Paradise. It’s been a while since most of them have been there, so we are going to try to remind them of what they have been missing.”

“What are you saying?” I ask.

“We are going to tease them,” she says.

“How?” I ask, completely puzzled by what she is trying to explain to me.

She bites her bottom lip and goes to the closet in the master bedroom of the plane. When she comes back, I see what she means by what she has in her hands. The outfit Buns gives me to put on is nothing short of indecent, unless you are on the beach in Brazil, but this isn’t Brazil. The top she hands me is a gold metallic mesh of metal tight woven to produce a supple kind of chain mail. It clasps at the neck with a wide gold metal collar and the chain mail only reaches to just below my ribs. It ties behind my back with a thin gold metal chain, leaving my back completely bare and exposing the sides of my breasts because it barely covers me in the front, too. There are matching underwear and a skirt, if you can call it that, because it’s really just a large square of meshed metal chain mail in the front and the equal square of chain mail to cover the rear. Leather buckles woven into the metal squares are used to affix the sides of the garment, leaving the sides of my hips exposed.

“No way!” I say when I see my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “I feel like I’m going to fall out of this top at any minute!” I lift my arm to watch the sides of my breasts strain to get out. “I look like I belong in some kind of elfin army,” I observe scathingly.

“Uh huh,” Buns says, looking pleased. “It’s perfect. I have some gold sandals to go with it. This is what I was going to wear if they let me in the front door, but they wouldn’t.”

“Don’t you think I look a little ridiculous?” I ask, thinking I belong in a Hollywood back lot dressed like this.