Fort Morgan (19 page)

The man’s eyes went wide.

“
Have you ever met a
full-blooded fairy?” Fin asked.

Tanesha wasn’t sure what happened next. One
minute, that horrible man was firing a handgun at her. The next
moment, the man was unconscious and hanging over the top of the
door to the study room. People were running from all
directions.

“
What happened?” a young
man asked from the doorway.

“
This gentleman tried to
shoot us,” Fin said. He gave a vague smile. “His weapon seemed to
have backfired. It blew him . . .”

Fin gestured to the door. Tanesha looked
down. The pile of bullets on the carpet were gone. The man hanging
over the door was starting to seep blood. Campus Police arrived
followed by the paramedics. The Campus Police asked them hard
questions, which Tanesha couldn’t answer. The Aurora Police arrived
and took over. They went through another round of questioning, but
Tanesha still didn’t know what was happening. Fin must have used
magic on the police, because they were finally able to go home.

“
What was that?” Fin
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Tanesha
said.

Fin nodded. He looked off into the
distance.

“
Your mother’s been
taken,” Fin said. “Your friends are in the same boat.”

He smiled, took a breath, and shrugged.

“
Where shall we go first?”
Fin asked.

“
Abi and her team are with
Mom?” Tanesha asked.

“
And your father.” Fin
nodded.

“
Jill and Sandy?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Protected,” Fin
said.

“
Who is in the worse
condition?” Tanesha asked.

“
It’s a toss-up between
Sissy . . .” Fin said.

“
Sissy?” Tanesha
gasped.

“ 
. . . and
Heather,” Fin said.

“
Heather,” Tanesha
whispered.

Tears formed in her eyes , and Fin put his
hand on her arm. She shook her head and scowled.

“
Where can I be the most
effective?” Tanesha said.

“
Heather is fighting for
her life,” Fin said. “Her children are with her.”

His voice was oddly vague. Tanesha looked at
him. Before she could ask, they were standing in the maternity ward
hallway at Saint Joseph Hospital.

“
I’ll stay with you,” Fin
said.

“
Thanks,” Tanesha
said.

“
We can’t intervene
until . . .” Fin said.

“
Bam!
” a handgun went off.

“
Our cue,” Fin
said.

He grabbed Tanesha’s arm. They were standing
next to the shooter.

“
They can’t see us,” Fin
said.

“
Hey!” An orderly threw
himself at the shooter.

“
Protect the children,”
Fin said to Tanesha.

With Fin orchestrating, the orderly tackled
the shooter. The orderly hit the shooter with a solid thud. Fin
stepped out of the way. Tanesha stared at Heather. Heather had a
bullet hole in her neck. Blood flowed easily from the wound and
pooled on her ample bosom, which was leaking breast milk. Tanesha
bent down to put pressure on the wound.

“
Stop!” Fin
said.

“
But. . .”
Tanesha said.

“
She’s an Olympian!” Fin
said.

“
She’s my best
friend!”

“
Your immortal best
friend!” Fin said.

Tanesha held back a sob and stepped over
Heather. She pulled the chair back and knelt down. Tink’s face was
covered in tears and she was shivering with fear. As she’d learned
from Abi, Tanesha created a protective force field around Tink and
the babies.

The shooter hit the orderly, and they began
to brawl over the weapon. Fin made the handgun fly up into the air.
It landed in a bin of dirty laundry.

“
You’ve got them?” Fin
asked.

“
Yes,” Tanesha
said.

The next thing Tanesha knew, she was
standing in someone’s warm basement. Tanesha put her arm around
Tink to hold her up. The girl’s eyes were squeezed tightly closed.
She was clutching Heather’s new baby, and Mack was clinging to
Fin.

“
Maresol?” Fin
asked.

A door on the right flew open and Maresol
stood in the doorway, holding a shotgun.

“
You’re late,” Maresol
said. She turned and gave the shotgun to Dale, who was standing
behind her. She rushed forward and put her arms around Tink. The
girl melted into Maresol’s arms.

“
Delphie told you?” Fin
asked.

“
She told me to expect you
a half hour ago,” Maresol said.

“
Maresol?” Tink
whispered.

“
It’s me, dear,” Maresol
said. “You are safe.”

Tink began to sob. Dale took Mack from Fin.
Maresol took the newborn from Tink and still managed to guide the
girl into the room.

“
We have to go,” Fin
said.

“
Get Tanesha to wash her
hands,” Maresol said. “Seth’s big bathroom is right
there.”

Maresol pointed to a door across the
hallway. Heather’s new infant began to scream. Maresol nodded and
closed the door to the room.

“
My hands?” Tanesha looked
down to see Heather’s blood all over her hands.
“Why. . .?”

“
Fast,” Fin
said.

With a wave of his hand, Tanesha moved at
double time. She rushed into the bathroom and washed her hands.
When she returned, Fin was wearing his regal court wardrobe. He
nodded to her. She took a step and almost tripped on the floor
length velvet dress. She glanced into the full length mirror. She
was wearing a diamond and sapphire tiara in the style of Fin’s
ring. Her ears dangled matching earrings, and there was a matching
necklace around her neck. Her dress was a deep burgundy to match
his ornate burgundy court wear.

“
What. . .?”
Tanesha started.

“
We’re going to Olympia,”
Fin said.

Tanesha turned to look at him. He gave her a
quick nod and touched her arm. In a breath, they were standing in
an ornate golden hall in the clouds.

“
We fight for your best
friend’s life,” Fin said with a nod.

“
Prince Finegal and
Princess Tanesha of the Queen Fand’s Court,” the court herald
called.

Fin took her arm, and they started into the
court.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 7:45 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

“
Here you go.” Jacob set a
laptop into Sandy’s lap. “You can talk here, and we’ll
wait.”

“
I don’t want to get in
the way,” Sandy said.

“
We want to talk to
Noelle, too,” Delphie said with a soft smile.

Working in the little bar kitchen at the
back of the room, Honey turned on the air-pop popcorn maker just as
the electric hot-water pot boiled. Jill closed the door to the
microwave.

“
It’s kind of noisy,”
Sandy said. “Why don’t I get a hold of her, and then I’ll bring it
back?”

“
The room next door is
Valerie’s meditation room,” Jacob said. “It’s quiet.”

“
That works,” Delphie
said.

Sandy nodded. Aden picked
up the laptop and helped her to get settled in the room next door.
Sandy left the door open so she didn’t feel so isolated. She turned
on the computer. While the programs were starting, she checked
the
Denver Post
site.

“
Oh, my God,” Sandy said.
Rachel made a surprised sound.

She picked up Rachel and jogged into the
entertainment room.

“
The Denver Police have
launched an Amber Alert,” Sandy said. “For Heather’s new
baby.”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“
After a shooting,” Sandy
said. “A shooting. . .”

Her legs felt weak, and she weaved. Aden got
to her before she fell. He took Rachel from her. Jacob jogged into
the meditation room to get the laptop.

“
A young woman has been
shot and her baby stolen by mysterious assailants,” Jacob read from
the newspaper. “Why do you think this is Heather?”

“
That’s a picture of the
outside of her room,” Sandy said. “You can see the banner Katy and
Paddie made for her.”

“
We were just
there. . . just there. . .” Jill
said.

“
It says that a mystery
assailant shot the young mother,” Jacob said. “They believe the
woman attempted to hide at the nurse’s station. They have a
surveillance photo of the person they think took the
baby.”

He and Jill leaned into to the photo.

“
Who is that?” Jacob
asked. “Looks familiar, but . . .”

He turned the computer to the room. Person
after person shook their head.

“
It’s Auntie Tanesha.”
Katy pointed to the picture.

“
What?” Jill asked. She
leaned in to take a closer look. “Oh, my God — it is.”

“
The young woman was taken
into emergency surgery,” Jacob continued to read. “We have no
further information at this time.”

“
She’s immortal, right?”
Sam asked.

All of the adults nodded, but Sandy shook
her head.

“
What is it?” Aden
asked.

“
Perses granted her one
human lifetime,” Sandy sniffed back her tears. “This was it. We’ll
never see her again.”

“
Oh, no,” Jill shook her
head.

“
Mom?” Noelle’s voice came
from the laptop. “Mom? Are you there? Mom! Please be
there!”

Jacob clicked over to see Noelle’s face on
the video chat. Noelle’s face was wet with tears and her nose red.
She had flecks of red splashed across her face and a dried patch of
red in her hair. She looked desperate.

“
She’s right here,
Noelle,” Jacob said. “Your dad’s here, too.”

Sandy wiped her face with the hem of her
shirt. She looked at Aden, and he wiped a smudge of mascara from
under her eyes. She pulled her sleeve over her nose and nodded.
Jacob gave her the laptop.

“
Mom?” Noelle
asked.

“
I’m here, Noelle,” Sandy
said. “I’m so sorry I was late. We decided to watch a movie in the
new entertainment room. Jake forgot to tell us that our cell phones
wouldn’t work down here. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset
you.”

“
Mom?” Noelle started
sobbing.

“
Noelle?” Sandy asked. She
realized that Noelle was more upset than Sandy missing her for
fifteen minutes. “What is it, honey?”

“
It’s Sissy,” Noelle said.
“She’s shot!”

Sandy suddenly realized that the red in
Noelle’s hair and on her face wasn’t paint. The girl was covered in
blood. Sandy felt as if the ground below her suddenly disappeared
and she was falling in. She glanced at Aden to make sure he was
still holding Rachel.

“
She died!” Noelle said.
“On the sidewalk! She died! But MJ, he was able. . . and
Ivan. . . Ivan said he was her husband, and the ballerina
got mad, and. . .”

Noelle started sobbing so hard that Sandy
couldn’t understand what she was saying. Sandy looked up from the
laptop to see everyone’s horror- stricken faces. Jacob was pulling
out another laptop to check the news. Aden gave Rachel to Sandy and
took the laptop.

“
Noelle, honey,” Aden
said. “It’s Dad.”

“
Daddy?” Noelle asked. “
Oh, Daddy, I tried, I really tried. But Sissy. . . and
I. . . I’m not so big of a girl. I want to come home. Can
I come home? And. . . MJ, he. . .”

A silk-covered arm came around Noelle’s
shoulder, and she buried her face in the shoulder. MJ’s face came
on the screen.

“
We were attacked on the
sidewalk when we were on our way into the apartment after dinner,”
MJ said. “It was perfectly timed to happen in the one minute
between when we get out of the limo and when the door guards come
out to get us. The door guards had just stepped out onto the
sidewalk when we were hit. I managed to catch Noelle in time, but
they got Sissy. She was hit in the rib cage — through and
through.”

He pointed to his left rib cage.

“
Ivan looks like a target
as well,” MJ said. “The ballerina’s heel got stuck in the sidewalk.
He bent forward to get it and missed the bullet. He was hit with
spray back from the building when the shot hit it. But
Sissy. . .”

MJ shook his head.

“
I’m sorry,” MJ said.
“Noelle wasn’t hit. That’s Sissy’s blood.”

“
Why Sissy?” Sandy asked.
“She’s not a part of this at all!”

MJ shook his head and shrugged.

“
Where is she now?” Aden
asked.

“
They took her to New
York-Cornell Pediatric ER,” MJ said. “We’re going to get cleaned up
and head over.”

“
Any idea on how Sissy is
doing?” Aden asked.

MJ shook his head.

“
Ivan went with them,” MJ
said. “He told them he was her husband to be able to get on the
ambulance. Pissed the ballerina off.”

MJ snorted.

“
No loss there,” MJ
scowled at the ballerina. “We put her back in the limo. It’s back
now, so we’ll go when Noelle is cleaned up.”