Scarlet Rain (The Escaped #2) (9 page)

“Pour it out and place your fingers in the liquid. Think of us, of Tartarus, and it will make contact.” Maiden forced Eva’s fingers closed around the two items.

“You may only use it once. Do not waste the call,” Crone warned. “Now think of someplace within the Mortal Realm where you will be protected, and do not stray from the thought.”

Sparks flew out of Eva’s chest as Maiden and Crone placed their hands over her heart. “Good luck,” they said in unison.

• • •

Alek’s head shot off his pillow, and he gasped for air. His eyes wildly searched the dimly lit room.

You must not resist your warrior, just as she must not resist his heart.
Pythia’s ominous laughter wafted through his head.

“Alek!” Mother burst through the doorway. “You are well?”

“Of course.” Alek regained his breath and continued. “Are you?” She smoothed out her dress and rolled her neck from side to side. “You look tense.”

“There was a problem with the Oracle, and I came to make sure you had not been harmed,” Mother explained.

“Eva is here? Is she okay?”

“I am sure she will be fine as soon as she returns to her realm. Tartarus is no place for a living mortal, no matter her gifts. If you make haste, you might see her before she is sent back.”

Alek threw off the blankets and planted his feet on the floor. “No.” He paused short of standing. “You told me she will be fine, and that’s all that matters. I will see her again when I fight beside her.”

“There is something changed in you.” Mother grinned. “I am pleased to hear you have sorted out your priorities. Your clouded judgment was nearly your undoing.”

“I was protecting her, and I wanted….” He looked down at his bandaged leg and remembered their last moments in the woods. The shadow of her kiss lingered on his lips, and made his heart heavy with longing. “What I wanted does not matter. The fog has lifted. Now I see more clearly who I am and what my purpose is. I’m this realm’s warrior, and nothing will distract me from my goal.”

Confusion had James driving the same tight grid for half an hour, blind to his surroundings. “This is so fucked,” he mumbled. “Eva, followed by this crazy stuff with the new case. One more thing, and I swear I’ll lose my shit.”

The streetlight switched from yellow to red, and he punched the gas, ignoring the squealing tires and angry honks from nearby motorists. “There has to be someone who knows what the fuck is going on. I can’t be the only person seeing this kind of stuff.”

He paused at a stop sign and checked the street for oncoming traffic. Draped in ivy, the sign for the Liberty Towers Condominiums had been just another green blur on his recent trips down Cherry Street. However, desperation now provided James with a possible solution to his problems.

He pulled into the visitor’s parking lot and turned off the car. A text from Schilling chimed on his phone. He ignored it on his short walk to the condo’s entrance. After stepping thorough the first set of glass doors, he waited in front of the second for whoever was manning the front desk to buzz him though to the office.

“Sign in, and I’ll give you a badge,” the aging security guard grumbled without looking up.

“I have my own.” James deepened his voice and set his badge on the counter, creasing his forehead like Schilling did anytime he spoke to anyone about anything. “Going up to the twentieth floor.” He pointed at the bank of elevators directly behind him.

The white-haired, big-gutted man lifted his eyebrows, and studied the badge before pushing it toward James with the end of his pen. “Go through the door after you hear it buzz. There’s no need to check out when you leave.” The metal door whirred, and the lock released.

“Appreciate it.” James rushed into the open elevator before he had the chance to change his mind. He pressed the button for the twentieth floor, and felt a sudden surge of doubt when it lit up.

“What are you doing, James?” He brushed a hand through his thick hair and let his calloused fingers massage the tension in his neck. “She’s not going to believe you, even if you can get her to talk. It’s not like your last meeting was very friendly.” The elevator opened, and he stood in the empty box, debating his next move. “What are you going to say? Eva disappeared like some kind of magic trick. Do you happen to know where she was hiding the trap door? Like that’s going to work.” The steel doors crept closed, and James sprang out of the elevator before they shut completely. “Shit.” He sighed. “Here goes rookie mistake number seventy-six.” He walked quickly to the end of the hall and paused in front of the door. His fist lingered in the knocking position for a few moments before he finally worked up the nerve.

“Coming!” Bridget shouted. Her bare feet pummeled the floor in short slaps. “Seriously?” Through the door, Bridget’s high-pitched voice sounded muffled and far away. “What do you want, Detective?”

“I have to ask you a couple questions. I probably shouldn’t be here, but—”

“That’s right you shouldn’t be here,” she interjected. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Not this time, anyway.”

“I know, Miss Falling. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Well, unless you’re looking for style advice on those disgusting khakis you’re so fond of, I suggest you leave before I call my lawyer, who happens to have your boss’s cell number. And,
Miss Falling
? Seriously? Are we in court?”

James stared into the peephole and let sincerity coat his words. “Bridget, you can trust me. Just let me in.”

“Trust you? Right. So you’re a comedian now? There’s no frickin’ way.”

James stared at the bright blue TARDIS welcome mat as he struggled to think of something to convince Bridget that he came in peace.

“You hear that?” she asked condescendingly. “That’s the sound of me ignoring you and scrolling through my contacts for my lawyer. I’m sure you’re breaking some kind of harassment law.”

“I’m not here to harass you. This is serious. I need your help, and that’s not something I ask for very often,” he said.

“Oh, boohoo,” she mocked. “I found the number. I’m calling.”

“Eva disappeared,” he blurted. “In the woods. She just vanished.”

“Of course she did. You were trying to arrest her for something she didn’t do. If you expected her to hold out her hands and wait for the cuffs, you’re dumber than I thought.”

“No, she disappeared right in front of me. She was there, and then, poof. She was gone. She vanished, like it was all some kind of elaborate trick.”

Bridget cracked open the door and peered out through the narrow space. “What do you mean, some kind of elaborate trick?”

“She was there, and then she wasn’t. She just disappeared into thin air. All that was left was this bright light and weird gold smoke,” he explained.

The receptionist’s voice chimed through Bridget’s phone, and she absentmindedly ended the call before opening the door all the way. “You can come in.” She turned and sauntered away from the door, her blonde ponytail brushing her shoulders as it swayed.

James hesitated in the doorway. “Wait, you believe me?”

“Isn’t that why you came here?” she asked.

“Well, yeah, but….” His words trailed off as he entered the condo and let the door shut behind him.

“But you didn’t think I actually would believe you?” She led him into the dining room. “You should probably sit.”

James pulled out one of the high-backed, zebra-print chairs as he watched Bridget collect two small glasses from the kitchen. “Do you know where she is, or how she pulled off that stunt?”

“Believe me, it wasn’t a stunt. But I don’t think we can really skip to the end like that.” She added a few ice cubes to each glass before returning to the table and setting them down.

“If that’s the end, how much more to the story is there?”

Bridget walked back into the kitchen and disappeared behind the open freezer door. “I have vodka, or—” bottles clinked together as she rifled through the freezer “—lookie there, more vodka. So, you want vodka?”

“I shouldn’t. I drove here, and this is police business. Or, it kind of is.”

She ignored him and uncapped a clear, frosty bottle. “It says on the label that they infuse it with real oranges, so it’s really just juice. Drunken juice.” She tipped the bottle.

“
Salud
.” She lifted her glass and took a long sip.

“Can we get back to what happened with your friend?” James asked, stifling his impatience.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” She lowered herself into the chair next to his. “All this is still new to me too, so I don’t really know where to start.”

“You said Eva’s disappearance is the end of the story. So, what’s the beginning? The event that set off everything else?”

“Well, I guess it would have to be when I went to visit Eva at the hospital. Before she woke up, everything was normal. Well, as normal as it can be when your friend’s been kidnapped, but at least no one had crazy super powers back then.”

James furrowed his brow. “Now someone has crazy super powers?”

“You’re skipping ahead again.” Bridget wagged her finger.

“Well, if that’s part of your story, it sounds insane. I think this was a mistake.”

“Look guy, you came over here. So zip your lip and fucking relax.” She slid the glass closer to him. “When I get done, you’re definitely going to need that.”

• • •

James downed the clear liquid and sat in silence, nodding like a bobble head.

“You okay?” Bridget asked, refreshing James’s glass. Again. The bottle was now room temperature, but neither of them minded.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he stammered, and continued to nod.

“For shit’s sake.” She smiled coyly and grabbed his collar.

“You know you’re crazy, right?”

She yanked him to her. The sweet smell of oranges tickled his nose as she pressed her soft lips against his. Bridget parted her lips, and he slid his tongue to meet hers. It had been months since he’d let anyone get this close to him. He’d forgotten how good it felt. She pulled back and tilted her head away from his. “You snapped out of it yet?”

A grin crept onto his face. “What happens if I say no?” She pushed against his chest. He let the force knock him back into his chair. “But you do know you’re crazy, right?”

“You’re not the first cop I’ve kissed, and I’m pretty sure there’s not a law against it anyway.” She brought the glass to her lips and sipped slowly. Pink lip gloss left a plump, sparkly shadow on the rim.

“Definitely no law against that kiss. It was—nice.”

“Right back at ya, Detective.” She winked.

“The crazy I was talking about was your story. Different realms, an immortal warrior? It all sounds ridiculous.”

“I can definitely see how it sounds that way, but I’m telling you the truth. That
is
what you came here for.”

“Yeah, but—”

“But what? You thought I was going to tell you that Eva’s been studying magic tricks since we were in elementary school? Or that she created some kind of flashing light smoke bomb contraption? Not likely. She can’t even use her left hand to paint her nails.”

“I’d believe either of those options before this bullshit about the Underworld and her having some kind of Harry Potter powers.”

“No, not Harry Potter—Wolverine. And just the healing part. Not the adamantium spikes part.”

“Does it matter? All of it sounds batshit fucking crazy,” he said.

“Look, you can either believe me and join us on the train to what-the-fuck-is-going-on-ville, or you can let the truth slowly eat away at you until you’re a babbling mess drooling on yourself in the corner. And the second choice will happen, 100 percent. Now that I’ve told you what’s really going on, you’ll be able to see past the weirdness all over Eva’s case. So, you decide.”

“But there’s no evidence of an underworld, or Furies, or anything else you said.”

“There’s no evidence of unicorns, and they could totally exist.”

“I—I don’t know what to say to that.”

“My point is, the impossible becomes reality all the time. And, between the two of us, I’m the only one who’s had any actual real-world experience with this crazy shit. Plus, I have no reason to lie to you. Especially not with a story as bonkers as this one. Don’t you think it would have been way easier for me to not open the door and let you go on thinking Eva is some kind of wizard?”

“Okay, for argument’s sake, let’s say I do believe you. How does that help me find her?”

Bridget shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m not her keeper. I’m just her best friend.”

“But you did say she’s in Tartarus.”

“Well, yeah. But only because I don’t know where else she’d be able to magically disappear to.”

James wandered to the large picture window overlooking the Arkansas River. The steady summer rainfall had lifted the shallow, murky water, attracting kayaks and canoes.

“You came here for answers, and I’m giving them to you. Against my better judgment, I might add. You could totally lock me up in some mental hospital for this, but I’m ignoring that and trying to help you. I even kissed you and let you drink my alcohol. The least you could do is sit the fuck down and not be all huffy,” Bridget chided.

James ran his tongue along his lips, collecting the last traces of orange and Bridget’s sticky lip gloss before conceding.

“Thank you” she said, removing a few strands of golden hair from her shirt. “So, Eva can’t go to her mom’s, because Ms. K will totally call you guys and let you know where Eva is. Not to rat on her, but just out of that justice-for-my-daughter thing moms get. And she’s obviously not here. Unlike the last time you came looking for her, when I said she wasn’t and she really was.”

“Wait, you lied to me and my partner?”

“Yeah. She and Alek were hiding in that closet.” She pointed to the coat closet by the front door.

“But we’re the police.”

“Please, like that was the first time someone’s lied to the police? But that’s totally not the point. The point is she’s
not
here this time, and she has absolutely nowhere else to go. Plus, she definitely would have called me by now if she was still in this hemisphere or realm or whatever.”