Riders (26 page)

“Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes a challenge is just a challenge,” she said, but she was smiling.

Jode was feeling heavier by the minute, but I had to deal. I’d knocked him out. He was my responsibility. “So what’s your typical kind of work?”

She shrugged. “There really is no typical. It’s all kinds of stuff. Always different.” She pulled her hair from beneath the strap of my backpack and twisted it into a knot. She was carrying both my pack and hers. “But for example, I’ve found lost hikers and helped them back to trails. I’ve kept a couple of kids from running into the streets. I’ve made
dozens
of emergency calls. I kept a scared woman company when her car was stranded on the side of the road in the Oregon wilderness. I’ve stopped four suicides. All amazing experiences. I’ve been to a lot of parties—high school and college—where I’ve prevented rape. Those make me sick. Physically, I feel ill after those. So … it’s things like that. Smaller, you could say, compared to what we’re doing. But still really important.” She frowned. “Why do I tell you so much?”

“I don’t know. Do you resent it?”

“Telling you stuff?” She smiled. “Yes. Every word.”

“That hurts, Martin,” I said, but I knew she liked talking to me. Probably not as much as I liked it. Everything she said only made her more incredible. And she was helping me forget Ra’om. “I meant being a Seeker.”

“No, I don’t resent it. It’s not always easy but it’s a privilege. It was harder in the beginning, before I got used to it. There was one point when I felt so lonely, I wasn’t sure I could take it anymore. I ended up working with another Seeker, this really great woman named Isabel. She helped so much. She’s the one who told me to start keeping a journal, which helps a lot, too. I see her once in a while, whenever I need her. She’s become like an aunt to me. And there are people all over the world who open their homes to me. Good people who will feed me and give me a room to sleep for as long as I need it without asking any questions. I get to see so much kindness because of this. And I’m helping people. I can’t think of anything I’d want to do more than that. What about you? Do you resent it?”

“Being a horseman?” I shifted Jode onto my left shoulder. “Undecided.”

My gut was telling me that no, I didn’t. I’d met her because of it. I’d seen some incredible things. I knew the answer to humankind’s most fundamental question. I couldn’t look at the stars without feeling like God was right there watching over me. Over
everything
. A lot of hugely positive aspects. The parts I didn’t love were the Kindred. And Marcus. My horse. Maybe the rage powers. Dropping out of RASP had sucked. Making my mom worry did, too. And leaving the Jeep at LAX. But other than that, being a horseman was cool.

“I bet you’ve been wondering why this happened to you,” Daryn said.

“You bet right.”

“I wondered that a lot too in the beginning.” She glanced at me. “But what if it’s happening
for
you? I’m not saying it is. I’m just putting it forward as a possibility. But what would you think then?”

“That’s deep, Martin. I need a second to think about that.” I actually needed a rest. I set Jode down beneath one of the angel statues lining the bridge. A cold whip of air rushed across my sweaty back as I straightened.

“Blake,” Marcus said, turning to me. “You feel that?”

“What is it?” Daryn asked.

“Not sure,” I said. I scanned the streets in the distance. They were still. It was the quietest part of night, on the verge of morning. Then I saw a shadow slipping along the far banks of the river. It could have been Alevar but the cuff was sending me—and Marcus, apparently—undeniable Sebastian signals. As the shadow drew closer, zipping up the same bridge where we stood, I could see it more clearly. It looked like long smoky threads, dark and fluttering.

I thought I knew what this was, but I had to play it safe. I focused on the feeling I’d tapped into just an hour ago—a combination of
protect, defend, serve
—and connected with a thread of power inside me. A jolt ran through my hand and I saw a flash of fire, then the sword was mine.

Yes, yes,
yes.

Marcus came over to us. He looked at me like,
oh, so we’re doing that
? A moment later, a scythe-sized tornado of pale dust flowed from his hand down to the street, forming into his weapon.

The flurry of black smoke drew nearer and slowed a few feet away. From that moving darkness, a black hoof appeared, then another, then legs, shoulders, haunches, and on up. I’d seen Shadow materialize twice now, and I was no less amazed.

This time was different, though. Sebastian formed up right along with her. One moment I was looking at ribbons of smoke. The next, there he was. Mounted on Shadow. Sitting in a black saddle I’d never seen before. Wearing black clothes and light armor I had also never seen before.

He looked nothing like himself.

He looked impressive. And terrifying.

The only recognizable part of him was his gigantic grin, which disappeared when he saw Jode slumped under the statue.

“Whoa,” Bas said. “What happened to
him
?”

C
HAPTER
40

Five minutes later, we had secured Jode onto Shadow with some rope I had in my backpack. As I tethered Jode down, I took a look at Bas’s armor and Shadow’s saddle. They were made of material that felt like leather in places, and of the same substance as Bas’s cuff in others. Like his cuff, his armor and saddle had intricate, webbed styling. I’d never seen anything like it.

I also got closer to Shadow than I’d ever been. She was incredible. All raw power beneath a coat as cool and soft as night. I tried not to think of my burning, mean-ass horse as we set off again.

We came across a few people on the streets, but no one paid us much attention. Horses had been clopping through Rome for a long time, and with the darkness, no one seemed to notice that Shadow was a little unusual.

Our luck changed when we reached Jode’s hotel. The entrance was promenade-style, so the four valets manning the front doors got a good long eyeful of the five-plus-horse of us as we walked up. When we finally reached them, they looked completely at a loss for words.

“
Ciao, signores,
” I said, in a fine Italian-Californian accent. “We’re bringing our buddy James Oliver Drummond Ellis back after a big night out for his birthday. Jode here went a little crazy with the celebrating, as you can see. Too much vino. But he gave me his key card before he passed out.” I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up. “And what kinds of friends would we be if we didn’t make sure he was tucked in safely?”

They looked at each other. Then the oldest one said, “
Perché
hai un cavallo?
Why horse?”

“She’s a birthday gift from his father,” Daryn said. “Polo pony.”

“Champion lines,” I added, patting Shadow. “We’re expecting a lot out of this girl.”

Daryn smiled at me. “She’ll deliver. She is a beauty, isn’t she?”

Definitely. She definitely was.

“
Che meraviglia! Un regalo per el compleanno,
” the valet rushed to explain to the others. He looked back at me, pointing at his face. “Signore, your nose?”

“Oh, I did that,” Daryn said. “He was hitting on me.”

“Yep. So she hit back. Wicked right hook. Does that … does that translate?”

Sebastian muffled a laugh. He stood behind us with Shadow and passed-out Jode. Marcus was there, too, watching everything in silence. He looked like he was ready to spring into action at the first sign of any problem.

“We’re fine now, though,” I said to Daryn. “Aren’t we fine?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine. I think your nose is broken.”

These ludicrous fabrications seemed acceptable to the doormen because they were suddenly all goofy about Daryn and the pretty black horse and how funny my nose looked ha ha ha. From there, it was nothing to get their help tracking down Jode’s room number. They wanted to help carry him up, but Daryn and I said we’d manage. We lifted him by the arms and carried him through the swankiest lobby I’d ever seen in my life.

Once we got to the room, I set Jode on the bed. “Don’t get too comfortable,” I told Daryn. Then I got on the hotel phone and requested a bigger room. I expected some kickback, since it was two a.m. by then, but my request was accepted right away. Apparently if money talked, nothing was chattier than Jode’s bank account.

Fifteen minutes later, Marcus and Bastian were with us as we walked into the penthouse suite. They’d taken Shadow out to the hotel’s garden, where Bas had discreetly unsummoned her.

In the suite, I dumped Jode in the first bedroom I saw, then took a look around. The suite’s first floor had two bedrooms and a huge living room with a bar. Upstairs, there was a rooftop patio with a hot tub and a small garden. I had a pretty good eye for spotting quality in art, from listening to Anna my whole life. Everything in the suite was top-notch.

“This place has to be worth a fortune,” Bastian said.

I looked at him and found myself smiling. He was my favorite fellow horseman, and I was glad to have him back. “We need the space and we couldn’t stay in the other room. Find somewhere to crash.”

He and Marcus collapsed on the couches before I’d finished speaking. After the cross-country flight, the fight at the airport, and then the fight at the Vatican, we were all smoked.

I looked at Daryn. “Hey, Martin.” I tipped my head to the stairs. “You and me. Hot-tub time.”

She rolled her eyes. “Keep dreaming.” She set her backpack down on a chair. “Will you let me take a look at your nose?”

“Sure,” I said. The way she was looking at me, I’d have said yes to anything.

We went to the bathroom that adjoined one of the bedrooms. I sat on the edge of the ornate marble tub as Daryn ran a towel under some water. She came over and knelt on the rug in front of me. Suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore.

She scooted closer and pressed the towel to my nose. I had a cut on the bridge. With the swelling, it’d been in my peripheral vision for a while but the pain felt distant. I knew I’d already begun to heal. And I was focused on one thing only, and it wasn’t my nose.

“He did this?” she said. “Samrael?”

“No. Technically, I think I did it.” I was pretty sure it’d happened when I slammed into him on the street.

I felt her eyes move to mine, but I kept my gaze on the pulse beating at her throat. The necklace was right there. I didn’t want to think about it right now.

She dabbed at the cut and around my mouth and chin. I felt weird having her clean up after me. Mopping up my dried blood and snot. There were a lot of things I wouldn’t have minded happening between us. This wasn’t on the list.

“We have to start acting together,” she said.

“We will,” I said. We were up against forces that were far more powerful than any one of us. Our only shot was by working together. But my team—an actor, a drunk, and a sociopath—didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Still. I had to find a way to work with them. “I met Ra’om tonight.”

I wasn’t sure why I’d added that. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him. I couldn’t stop seeing his red eyes in the darkness. I couldn’t think of Anna without picturing her ripping at her face. All the images were right there. Lurking. It felt like Ra’om had planted land mines in my brain.

Daryn drew the towel away. “I thought you might have.” She sank onto her ankles and looked at me. “You’re … okay?”

“Yeah.” I made myself hold in place.

She stayed watching me for a long moment. Then she stood and rinsed out the towel. “Tomorrow,” she said. Then she came back for another pass on my nose. “We’re all together now. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more.”

I nodded and we went quiet for a little while. I knew we were almost done. She’d leave soon, and I didn’t want that. “You told me your sister wanted to be a doctor. You, too? You seem pretty good at this.”

“No. Not me.”

“What did little Daryn want to be when she grew up? You owe me three more answers. You promised at the airport. I think you promised me ten, but I’ll settle for three. Time to pay up.”

She smiled. “Okay. Three more. Little Daryn hadn’t thought past college when her life was turned upside down. But the one thing she knew was that she wanted to keep running. She’d run track in high school.”

That made a lot of sense. “What event?”

“Hurdles.”

“Hot, Martin. And cool. Really cool.”

“Thanks. I loved it. I was good at it, too. You’re fast. Both you and Marcus.”

“I’m faster. I could beat him.”

Daryn laughed but I wasn’t sure why that was funny.

She swept her hair behind her ear. “Okay. Second thing?”

“Fifth. Let’s just keep numbering up instead of doing two rounds of three.”

“We could recategorize this set as A, B, C?”

“If we were trying to make me unhappy, we could.”

She shook her head. “You’re so odd. Okay, fifth.” She stared at the fancy wallpaper, narrowing her eyes in thought. Her mouth was curved into a smile, and she looked incredible.

I wanted to kiss her neck. Kind of badly. I also kind of wanted to bite her, too. Not to hurt her, of course. She just looked so good. All that smooth skin. She made me feel a little vampirish and crazy. I wanted to be all over her. Always. But especially when she was this close.

“I’m obsessed with Amelia Earhart,” she said. “I dressed up as her for Halloween, like, ten years in a row. Every picture of me as a girl, I’m wearing aviator goggles. Not up on my head, either. I actually wore them.”

“Over your eyes?”

She laughed. “Yes. I wanted to see the world the way she saw it. I had her short hair and everything. And I made everyone call me Amelia in second grade and through half of third. I still wish that was my name. Amelia Martin.”

“Not as good as what you got. Daryn’s perfect. Your name is. For you.”

“Ew, but thanks. It’s a family name.” She paused, smiling at some memory. “I think running hurdles … I think it came out of wanting to fly.”

She’d stopped fixing up my nose a little while ago. I took the towel from her and tossed it in the sink. I’d been hanging on her every word, but it didn’t feel like I was getting enough. Like
we
were close enough.