Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) (12 page)

Her gloved hands curled around the handles of the two plastic buckets she carried that were full of, well, crap. Jewel shrugged. “Lucky me.”

Miles stepped back, not wanting any of the contents slopped on him as he opened the fence line between a gutted bus and an overturned truck that made up part of the protection wall of the front parking lot. “Want me to go with and cover you?”

“Naw, I got my rifle.” She shrugged again, lifting the rifle higher where it hung across her back by the strap on her shoulder.

“You sure?” Miles frowned at the odorous contents.

Jewel grinned. “I got it. Better not leave your post. I won’t be long.” She’d gotten up at the crack of dawn to get to the buckets before anyone else could. Not that lavvy duty was a favored chore by any stretch of her imagination. That’s why she picked it.

Miles exhaled through his nose. “Do me a favor and take it far downwind.”

“Funny. Where’ve they dug the holes this week?” They’d taken to burying their human waste and covering it with salt peter to disguise if from the Sift’s keen sense of smell. So far it had worked.

“Head south to the old granary on Tenth. They’ve been using the rotten wheat to cover the smell. Less digging.”

Smart, but the ammonia fumes coming off the grain would have to be killer. An in-and-out-hold-your-breath job.

Hefting her disgusting burden, Jewel hurried along. She didn’t go as far as the granary, but instead headed to another closer previous dumping spot. She’d need the time.

After dumping the waste and smoothing it over with dirt—she’d come back after and do a better job of it—she stripped off the work gloves and left them there with the pails.

Swinging her rifle up in front of her, she ran, making her way behind buildings and ducking into allies where the sentries on the motel’s roof wouldn’t see her.

Tiny pinpricks skittered along her skin. The feeling of being watched anyway crept along her awareness. It couldn’t be from the motel. She’d spent countless hours on the roof and also looking out through the windows slots between the boards to know exactly what areas were hidden from view. Which areas were safe for her to sneak around in.

Yet…

She sped past the dark interiors of storefronts and hollow husks of long abandoned homes. She made a wide circuit to come up behind the motel through the wooded area and get to the edge of the parking lot where she and Lance had been leaving messages. It was dangerous leaving them so close to the motel, but sometimes she couldn’t get farther away.

There was only one spot from above that had a view of the curb and one glance at the roofline showed no one was there in that exact spot.

She edged out cautiously when a twig snapped behind her.

She froze, her pulse kicking up and she moved her finger along the trigger of her rifle.

Another twig snapped. Purposefully. Someone wanted to alert her to their presence.

Frowning, she looked slowly over her shoulder.

Dez stood about ten yards away in the shadows of the trees, his hands spread wide in a show of being unarmed.

Where was the other guy, Ethan?

With a flick of his head, Dez indicated for her to follow and eased back into the thicker part of the tangled brush.

Jewel nodded and turned to follow when a voice grated out from the other direction, closer to the back of the motel.

“Well, now, what do you suppose you’re doing out here all on your lonesome?”

Hank. Her hand clasped the barrel of her rifle tighter.

She plastered on a bland expression and turned to face him. “Nothing. Just wanted to be by myself for a few minutes. And now you’ve ruined that. Thanks.” She started walking toward him, back toward the motel. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing. Same as you.” Hank clucked his tongue when she moved passed him. “Don’t be like that.” He grabbed her arm, clamping his hand down on the barrel of her rifle. “What are you really doing out here, Jewel?”

She shoved at him, but his grip tightened around her arm. “I told you. Nothing. Now let go.”

If anything, his grip only tightened.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She twisted her arm to get free. His fingers hurt.

He leaned in close, his lips brushing over her hairline. “What are you doing out here, Jewel? I think you’re leaving bread crumbs for naughty little escape artists.”

She arched her back to get as far as she could from him. “Get off. What are you talking about? You’re such a jerk.” She was all too aware of Dez out there watching. Please don’t let him play the hero and get himself caught. She could handle Hank.

Dropping her hold on the stock of her rifle, letting it swing in his hand, she hauled off and punched him. He staggered back, holding his jaw, shock and anger mixing in his glare.

Jewel snatched the rifle out of his loose grasp and turned to run into the motel. Hank’s chuckle made her go ice cold. “Welcome to the party, hero.”

All the warmth ran out of Jewel’s veins, leaving her numb.

She stopped, looked back. Crap. Dez stood at the edge of the parking lot, fury stamped in every line of his body.

That’s when the sound of several guns being cocked echoed behind her.

They came out of the back door. Trevor and Richards. And behind them, shoving between them in his angry stride, stormed Sheppard.

Her bravado in the face of Hank withered and died, a coal doused in snow.

They’d been onto her since she came back. Alexander had been right. She should never have come here. Sheppard had set her up to ferret out Dez and Ethan. And now they had them. She’d been played like an idiot. How did they guess the strangers would be waiting for her? She hadn’t even known.

“Dad…”

She dug down deep, trying for that essence she’d only felt when near Alexander. If she ever needed her magic to be focused, this was it. Illusion was her only chance. She reached inside for her magic, fast and hard. Whatever she did, it wasn’t going to be pretty. She couldn’t make Sheppard and his men unsee what they had seen, but she could camouflage herself, camouflage Dez, maybe conjure up an image of a Sift, give them enough of a diversion to run while the others didn’t know what they were looking at…

“Hank…” Sheppard snapped in warning. “Do you feel that? She’s—“

“No, she’s not. Not if I have any say about it.” Spinning, Hank smacked her in the face with the back of his hand. She flew back, hitting the ground hard. Her head slapped the cement and her sight blacked out for a second. Her limbs went loose. Before she could register what happened, Hank was on her again, pulling her up beneath her arms. His warm breath flowed behind her ear. “Pull your magic on me again and I’ll snap your neck.”

Her vision stole back, blurry and hazy with red. It was hard to hold on to a thought.

Gunfire barked around her, ripping into the trees, slow, like the whining of fireworks as they claw their way into the sky before exploding. She shook her head, trying to right her vision, speed things back up to normal time.

There was shouting, a commotion, men shuffling, scrabbling on the weedy asphalt. Was Dez in that scrapping of bodies? Ethan? What was happening? Her head was ringing, sound swirled around her, muted, not quite reaching her ears. Her scalp was splitting apart.

Sheppard’s face swam in front of her, slippery and sliding around, distorted. “I thought you’d slip up but I didn’t want to believe it.” His voice rippled across her like an echo.

The creases in his forehead seemed to ooze over his eyebrows. Jewel blinked, trying to center her slippery vision. Hank’s fists holding her upright dug into her sternum.

Sheppard shook his head. “You’re as pathetic as your mother…as tainted by magic. Search her…”

Jewel trembled, knowing they’d find the note. They’d know…”

The ache throbbing against her skull pulled her under.

~~~

“Hey…hey…Jewel. You okay?”

Jewel surfaced to consciousness behind the rumbling wake of a sledgehammer slamming into the back of her head. Her eyes fluttered open to the glassy vision of her feet. She was hanging a few inches above the hard-packed ground. The side of her face felt swollen and tight.

She tried to lift her head to see where she was. Her movements were slow and uncoordinated. Her wrists hurt, holding all her weight against the back of…

Panic tore into her chest. Her arms were tied above her head to the chain link backstop of the baseball diamond. Shivers raced through her, tightening her skin in gooseflesh.

“Hey,” the voice growled beside her. She turned her face toward the sound. Alexander’s friend, Dez, was strung up next to her, his features tight with anger. Worry too. “Are you okay?”

That would be a big fat pile of no. Did she look okay? Her own father had set her out as a snack item. Her breathing hitched. The chain links rattled along her back as she pulled against her bonds. Across the overgrown field near the area second base should be, Sheppard stood talking with Hank and Richards. Trevor stood a little ways off, watching the overgrown park area behind what used to be the outfield, rifle in the crook of his arm.

“Jewel, honey,” Dez spoke calmly. How could he be so calm? Sheppard was at a distance, which meant the monsters had to be close, could already be here, prowling through the tree line behind them. She tried to look behind her for the Sifts that would be coming to tear them apart.

She hadn’t gotten to leave her message in their spot in the cracked curb for Lance. They wouldn’t know to come save them, wouldn’t know she wasn’t still inside the motel searching for Dez and Ethan.

Dez lowered his voice further. “Jewel, you’ve got to calm down. It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“No,” she whimpered, not very proud of it. “No, it’s not. How-how can you think that?” The fear in her tone shocked her. She took a steadying breath. No, she wouldn’t go out like this. Afraid, she stopped struggling and pulled in another breath. Nope, who was she kidding? She was terrified. The frantic beating of her heart against her sternum wasn’t about to slow down anytime soon. Until the monsters tore the beating organ out of her chest…oh crap, she was going to throw up.

“Jewel!”

“Okay,” she managed on a squeak. She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m-I’m okay. Just freaking out here.”

Dez smiled. “I think you’re allowed.” His smile vanished. “I need to know…Alexander…is he?”

Oh gods, Alexander…

“He’s…” She looked over at Dez. The fear and worry in his face nearly pulled her under, but it also pushed away part of her panic. Alexander was safe. He wasn’t here to witness this or anywhere near where Sheppard could hurt him again. She drew in a much more steadier breath. In the face of his own death, Dez was worried about his friend. She could at least give him that. “Safe. Alexander’s safe.”

The rigidity flowed from his features. “Thank gods.”

“We got to him before…’

“Shhhh,” Dez warned her.

Sheppard was looking at them askance. He started striding their way.

“What about Ethan?” she whispered. “Is he okay?”

“He’s…” Dez’s lips thinned. He cleared his throat. Jewel realized he didn’t know if his friend was okay or not.

“What happened?”

The muscles in Dez’s arms flexed, pulling at his ropes. “They fired into the brush.”

Where Ethan was
. The unspoken worry hovered along the chain links between them, frigid as a layer of ice. She studied the tightness of his jaw. “That’s how they caught you, isn’t it? You attacked them to draw them off of your friend.”

The glare he focused toward Hank coming toward them with Sheppard was acknowledgement enough. Hank hadn’t been doing the shooting. He’d been holding her, but he’d done something to Ethan, something that garnered Dez’s rage. She thought of the blood she’d found in the unused bathroom. Dez’s eyes followed the bald man like an eagle marking his target.

“I’m sure he got away.”

His gaze snapped to her. “He did. Otherwise they would have dragged his dead corpse out for the fun of showing me. I just…”

“Worry about what condition he’s in?” she added helpfully. Talking was keeping her panic from overtaking her again.

Dez grinned. “Worried that he’ll attempt something stupid.”

“Oh.” Yeah, she could see him doing that.

A shadow fell across her.

Sheppard shoved a torn label from a tomato soup can in her face. Her note for Lance. They must have gone through her pockets after Hank had knocked her out. She grimaced, feeling dirty, thinking of Hank patting her down and her own father allowing it.

“Who was this for, Jewel?” Her name was a harsh syllable on her father’s tongue.

The message was ambiguous. A simple
N-mt
as in
no,
she hadn’t found them yet and needed
more time
.

“Who do you think? Him, of course.” She canted her head toward Dez.

She had to get out of here.

She could try illusion, but even if her vision wasn’t wavering and would make any illusion she conjured blurry and opaque, what good would it do when Sheppard was this close and merely had to reach out to feel her still there? Plus, she was bound to the stupid backstop. What good would any illusion do if she couldn’t get herself free?

She turned her face away from her father, but Sheppard grabbed her chin in his wide hand, forcing her to look at him. “I don’t believe you.” He was one to talk. “It’s for your brother, isn’t it? Lance. He’s not dead…all this time…I mourned for him you know…how could you betray me?”

Betrayed him?
“You
mourned
for Lance? You gave him to the beasts.”

Sheppard heaved out a sigh. “This is hard on me, Jewel. You have no idea how difficult.”

“You’re right. I have no idea. No idea how you could do this…to your own children. Your own son—“

His hands flew to her arms where he shook her against the fence. Gray splattered across the edges of her quickly narrowing sight. She was going to be sick, hoped if she did upchuck, that it would splatter all over Sheppard’s crazy-insane face. She heard Dez shouting as though from inside a barrel.