Unleashed: The Deepest Fears Lie Within (Secrets of the Makai) (17 page)

Angelina studied the page for several uncomfortable moments. “May I keep it?”

Tristan shrugged, unable to determine if she approved or not. Did it matter? Maybe he should have done all the buildings instead of just the one. Still, the building itself was dang good considering the materials he’d been given.

“I assume you’ll be in class tomorrow?”

“Sure.” He watched her rush toward Eleonora’s, tucking the page into her handbag. Only then did he notice someone had cleared the trail for him.

He lay back down, sinking into another black oblivion. It seemed like no time had passed at all when someone started banging on the door again.

“Go away,” Tristan grumbled from under his pillow, wondering if he’d earned a hangover by drinking again.

The door opened and Victor stepped in, followed by Landon. “Rise and shine, little camper, we’re playing today.”

Tristan pulled his pillow back over his head and groaned. “I’m not awake.”

“You’ve seriously slept long enough,” Landon said irritably. “We’ve given you two full days to get caught up.”

“Two days?”

“Yes. Get in the shower and Victor will make you breakfast.”

Victor took the pillow away from Tristan’s head and tossed it to the foot of the bed. “It’s almost noon. Get up!”

Tristan dragged himself to the shower, quickening his pace when he remembered he had class. Had he missed a second time? Maybe he’d only dreamt about Angelina coming for his homework after the first missed class.

A tall glass of water, a mug of hot chocolate, and a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage waited for him at the table. “I can’t go out, I have class.”

“It’s the weekend. No classes ‘til Monday.”

“Oh.” Tristan poked at his eggs. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, he wanted to go to class, and wondered if Shaely would meet him on a regular basis. Would her brother always come along? If he missed her twice already, maybe she wouldn’t be back at all.

“You need to eat, Tristan,” Landon said. “Even if you don’t feel like it.”

“I know. I’m just...off.” Tristan took a bite and marveled at the mouthwatering sensation. “I don’t remember food tasting so good.”

Victor laughed. “Depends on what you’re used to, I guess. I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“We’re hiking up the mountain to do some fishing. I have flies and poles, Victor has all the food taken care of. We could even make it an overnighter if you want. Just the three of us.”

“Sounds great.” Maybe food really was all he needed. He finished his plate and put on the poncho.

“If we decide to camp, we can pop back for extra clothes. That way we won’t have to carry the weight.”

Just as Tristan opened the front door to go, three men were stepping onto the porch. Landon and Victor froze.

“Don’t tell us you were trying to sneak him away...,” one of the men stated. “You knew we wanted to question him.”

Tristan glanced from the men standing on his porch to Landon and Victor, deciding to keep his mouth shut.

Two of the men were wearing dark gray suits, the third had a dark blue, collared shirt with tan slacks.

“You didn’t say when,” Victor said. “We had the day off, so we thought we’d have some fun. You know how it is—gotta take advantage of time when it’s available.”

“We’ll ask our questions and if he still has available time, you can do whatever you want with him.”

Tristan glanced at Victor, unable to read any clues in the look he was giving.

“Go ahead,” Victor finally said. “Get it over with.”

Landon sighed and took a step back, allowing the men entry.

“Don’t worry, kid. Just a few quick questions.”

Tristan let them in, then yelped as the final man hit his arm. It wasn’t a friendly gesture, but a pinprick of something that penetrated his skin through the poncho.

The colors in the room brightened as Victor tackled the man, both slamming against the door.

Tristan rubbed at the burn spreading in his arm, blinking in what seemed like slow motion.

The second man pulled a gun on Landon, who seemed focused on the first man.

“Tristan is under our protection,” Landon said in a flat tone. “You all know that.”

“He’s involved in a local matter, we have every right.”

“Not to drug him, you don’t. Name your time and place and we’ll make sure he’s there.”

“Are you afraid he’s guilty, or that he might spill some secrets?”

“He’s not guilty and I won’t allow him to answer any questions while under the influence of your serum.”

Tristan opened his mouth and shut it when Landon glared at him.

“You put your gun away and I’ll put my knife away,” Victor said, holding a long blade at the third man’s throat.

“How ‘bout this,” said the man with the gun. “I’ll ask questions one at a time, and if you agree it’s relevant to our case, he can answer. If you decide he shouldn’t answer a certain question, we’ll set a date for a more formal, supervised questioning.”

“Why not arrange formal questioning in the first place?” Landon asked.

“We just want information right now, we’re not pointing any fingers.”

Tristan watched Landon and Victor, probably as they discussed the situation mentally. “Questions about what?” he finally asked.

“Murder.”

Tristan felt the blood drain from his face, adding to the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “It was an accident, I swear.”

“Tristan,” Landon said quickly. “This has nothing to do with Ireland. Got it?”

Tristan almost shook his head. What else could it be about, if it was about murder?

“Don’t answer any question unless I say it’s okay, understand?”

Tristan nodded, then stepped back as Victor released the man and put his knife away.

“My name is Jared. How do you feel?” asked the man after he put his gun away. He lowered himself onto the couch and pulled a small notebook from his suit jacket.

Tristan looked at Landon, who nodded. “Terrible.”

“The serum should only last about fifteen minutes. Do you know Stanley Patterson?”

Landon nodded.

“I know a Stanley. He was on my team at the party.... That Stanley?” Tristan glanced at Victor, who nodded once.

“Was that the last time you saw him?”

Landon seemed to think about that one, then nodded.

“I saw him on my first day of class. He was, apparently, there to guard me. Or to put it better, he was there to guard everyone from me.”

“And that would’ve made you angry—”

“I don’t want to be guarded—”

“Stop,” Landon said. “I don’t like where this is going.”

“It’s the truth!” Tristan said. “I didn’t know I wasn’t trusted and that parents would have issues over the safety of their children. Someone should’ve mentioned it.” Tristan glared at Landon, then reigned in his anger. “I’m not happy about it, but I
can
understand the need.”

Jared nodded. “We heard Stanley had to intervene with you and...what is her name?”

“Her name isn’t relevant,” Landon said quickly.

“We want to contact everyone who was in the clearing that day.”

“I’ll think about it,” Landon said.

“He thought I was going to get into it with her brother, but I wasn’t.”

“So you fought Stanley instead?”

“No! I was mad that he thought I’d attack someone, but he was just doing his job. He even agreed the guy was a jerk.”

The man looked skeptical, tapping a pencil against the notebook. “Those were his exact words?”

“No. He said the guy was an ass, but I had to be careful about responding because I was on probation. I can respect him for that.”

“Did you have anything to do with the theft of Victor’s tracker?”

Tristan glanced at Victor. “It was stolen?”

“The tracker isn’t relevant,” Landon said.

“It is if Stanley was onto him. Maybe he caught him with the goods?”

“Wait, I thought you said this was about murder.”

“Stanley was found dead just recently. Where were you two nights ago?”

“Stanley’s dead?” Tristan frowned. “You think I killed him?”

“We’re still investigating.”

Tristan looked at Landon, doing his best to recall any sense of time. He had none. Landon had to sense how confused he was, but nodded for him to answer the question. “I...I think I was with Eleonora. We were drinking. The days have been a blur....” The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like his evening with Eleonora was more than two days ago.

“If you need him to answer anything else, leave me a message,” Landon said. “We’re done.”

Victor opened the front door. Jared closed his notebook and stood from the couch. “I would like the girl’s name and her brother’s, as well as the names of all the students in Angelina’s class.”

“Shaely,” Tristan said without thinking. “I don’t know her brother’s name, but he scares the hell out of me.” Tristan cringed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

“I’ll see what I can find out and let you know,” Landon said.

“If I find out you’re hindering the progress of this investigation....”

“Get out.”

“I didn’t kill Stanley,” Tristan shouted as they left. “You have to believe me!”

“They believe you,” Landon said, shutting the door. “They just don’t like us. That’s why they gave you the serum, so we couldn’t coerce you with a script.”

“But why would they think that I...how many people know about Ireland?”

“Not many.”

“Why didn’t you tell me I’d have a guard?”

“We didn’t want to make you nervous. Well, more nervous than you already were.”

Tristan nodded. “So who killed Stanley?”

“It’s not our investigation, but I’d be wanting to question Shaely’s brother. Do you know his name? Where they live?”

“No. But as far as he knows, Stanley stood up for him by taking me down. I don’t think he’d be upset by that, not enough to kill the guy.”

“I don’t want to ask you personal questions while you’re under the influence of this serum, but I would like to know....”

Dread clawed through every muscle. He could think of several secrets he’d kept from them, the biggest being the map Gwenna gave him the night she was murdered. The second being his quest to learn enough to steal the emerald back, then get the heck away from this place.

“Do you really want to go hiking with us?”

“I—” Of all things Landon could have asked, this was unexpected. He couldn’t answer without putting whatever friendship they had on the line.

17
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F
IRST
C
ONTACT
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SHRIEKING METAL RIPPED through his nerves. For one terrifying breath, Tristan feared he was in Ireland—in the forest of dead trees with the wind and rain howling against him.

Whispers of the nightmare hovered over him as he searched the cabin for something that might have awakened him. He poured himself a mug of water and used a damp towel on his face and neck.

Landon and Victor had not taken his decline to hike personally, and they promised to check on him in the morning. He glanced outside to measure daylight, spotting something plunge into the bushes.

By the time Tristan got out the door and onto the front porch, whatever he’d seen was gone.

He sighed, debating the chance of it being some wild animal, and went back inside. A figure stood between the couch and his bed: Lazaro Sabbatini, grinning like a madman.
Now we’re getting somewhere....

Tristan ran.

He pounded against Eleonora’s front door as slices in his bare feet left bloody smudge marks on her decking. She didn’t answer.

Why wasn’t Lazaro on his heels, trying to stop him? After all, Tristan had killed several of his men, and more than that were still trapped in stone. Lazaro believed the emerald could save them, and hadn’t bothered coming after Tristan when the emerald was thought to be lost in the ocean off the cliffs of Ireland.

Had he finally figured out that the emerald wasn’t there?

Tristan peeked around the corner of Eleonora’s cabin, eyeing the freshly cut trail. Sharp branches and jagged shrub trunks protruded upward from the ground, nothing that would have mattered if he’d had shoes on.

Lazaro wouldn’t need a trail; he’d probably just pop up wherever he wanted. How could a person escape something like that? His only chance was to find Landon and Victor.

He made a run for Grumpy’s, halfway there before he remembered he could do the same thing—pop up wherever he wanted to go. He slowed his pace and searched the dense forest, recalling the details near the picnic table Angelina used for class.

What would happen if he didn’t remember the location exactly right? This was no time to start doubting himself. He wasn’t even sure if there was still an emergency going on—Lazaro was nowhere in sight.