Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) (5 page)

“Go ahead.”

Thea called Flannery and got her voice mail. “Flan, it’s Thea, I need you to look at the pictures of the victims at Hemlock Heights, and see if you recognize the guy named Boyd Lexington. He may have been at the superhex lab. Call me back, okay?”

She handed Cora back her phone and laughed at the look of distaste on her friend’s face. “What’s the matter, afraid your phone will catch cooties from her voicemail?”

Cora grimaced. “I’m not trying to be mean.”

“You just can’t stand that your brother is dating my cousin.”

“Well, come on. I’m not prejudiced, but the head of RDM and a
human
? It’s unseemly.”

Thea laughed harder. “No, you’re not prejudiced at all.”

“I’m friends with you, aren’t I?”

“I’m not human!”

“But I was friends with you when you were.”

“Mostly out of guilt because you were so mean when you first met me.” Thea waved away Cora’s outrage. “I’m teasing you. To be honest, I’m not so crazy about them getting serious either. It’s weird.”

Truth be told, Thea didn’t like it at all. Not because she had a natural-born fury’s bias against humans, but because Hexing House was
hers
. Her new home. Her new life. Her new
self
.

Flannery had been jealous and envious of Thea their whole lives. (Something that made no sense to Thea, when Flannery was the one spoiled with such luxuries as sane parents.) And to avoid confrontation, Thea had always given in, always given up whatever it was that Flannery wanted.

But she didn’t want to let Flannery have this.

“It doesn’t matter,” Thea said, as much to herself as to Cora. “We have more important things to worry about at the moment.”

Cora sighed. “Fine. I’ll try to be less petty.”

After lunch, Thea stopped back at her office just long enough to pack up her phone and laptop, and plead a headache. Then she went back to her residence, where she commenced pacing, thinking about what Mr. Fanatic had said.

Maybe Boyd Lexington really had helped Mr. Fanatic escape the lab, or they at least had some kind of history together. Maybe because of that, or maybe for other reasons, the people at Fury Unlimited were pissed at Boyd.

But Alecto was right. Even if all those maybes were true, and true enough for Megaira to want Boyd dead, this was not how someone like her would go about killing a person. She’d do something much neater and more efficient. She’d use something more precise and easier to control than the superhex. And she’d go about it in a way that didn’t point directly at the business she was working so hard to establish.

That didn’t mean it was a coincidence, though, or that Mr. Fanatic was lying or imagining things. Megaira probably had a whole list of enemies. Some of them were bound to live in places that met whatever criteria she had for a demonstration or a test. Why not see if she could multitask by planning those events where they might hurt somebody she wanted hurt?

Thea bit her lip and shook her head. Her logic felt flimsy. She was missing something.

Like most of the Hexing House residences, Thea’s was sparse, with no kitchen (although plenty of furies kept mugs and wine glasses for the occasional beverage taken out of the dining hall), or television (movies and TV shows were watched on their laptops, or reserved for movie nights in the auditorium). There were no paintings or pictures. Many furies had bookshelves, but Thea wasn’t much of a reader. The table beside her couch boasted a clock, and a single scented candle.

But there was one incongruous, odd decoration in her otherwise tidy living room: hung over the window latch, in the position that once would have been occupied by a bell on a string, was a blue cardigan sweater.

It had a grease stain on the front from a dining hall accident involving a plate of tater tots, and it was missing two buttons, so Thea didn’t wear it anymore. But it was the first article of clothing she’d gotten from Personal Services. The first thing she owned that had slits to accommodate her wings.

Thea had given
The Book of Flower Friends
, stained with the red blood of the human she no longer was, back to Aunt Bridget weeks ago. It had long since stopped helping her have visions. Like Nana had once told her, Thea’s childhood comfort object wasn’t a piece of her anymore.

But one night, while she was investigating Megaira and the location of her new shop, Thea had nicked her lip with a claw and brought the sweater to her mouth, the purple of her blood soaking in, blending with the rich royal blue. She’d done it on a whim, thinking that maybe, just maybe, the reason she refused to throw away the sweater despite its condition was that it had become a comfort object in its own right.

She’d immediately seen the seaside cliff where Fury Unlimited was.

Since then, the things Thea saw when she used the sweater were often vague, brief, and hard to decipher, but it had never once failed to help her see
something
. She didn’t have the deep connection to it she’d had to the Flower Friends when she was a little girl, but that didn’t seem to matter. Her powers were so much stronger now. She just had to get herself into the right place to use them.

She eyed the sweater now, then reached out to run a finger down its soft sleeve. She took it back to the couch and cut her lip.

The house, the rubble, the exposed bedroom. The boy’s leg, reaching into the air. He would jump.

His fingers were sticky. Thea could feel his hot breath on her cheek as she scooped him up and flew him to safety.

Then the world shifted, and she was the boy, seeing herself through his eyes as he clung to her.

This one isn’t scary like the other monsters.

They came back. Daddy said they wouldn’t anymore, that he would stop them. But he didn’t.

The monsters came back.

Then she—he—was in bed, curled tightly around the pillow, watching the crack of light under the door. Shadows moved across it. Footsteps.

The monsters were there.

Thea’s eyes snapped open, and she used the sweater to wipe sweat off her face and neck.

The monsters came back.

She sat still, breathing slowly in and out, steadying herself. Until she jumped in a most unfurylike way, startled by the blare of her phone.

“Flan. You got my message?”

“Yeah, I got it. And I almost didn’t call you right away, because I’d already seen the pictures on the news, and I didn’t recognize anyone.”

“Would you mind looking again?”

“I did. Still didn’t recognize him.”

So much for that, then. Maybe Mr. Fanatic was confused. (Well.
Definitely
Mr. Fanatic was confused.) Maybe Boyd Lexington just looked like someone he used to know.

“Well, thanks for calling to tell me,” Thea said.

“No, but then I did,” said Flannery.

“Huh? Then you did what?”

“His head used to be shaved,” Flannery said. “That’s why I didn’t notice right off. But then it hit me.”

“What hit you?”

“That’s
Lex
. He used to be a nurse at the lab.”

“What is Pete doing here?” Thea whispered to Aunt Bridget.

“He was helping me out in the orchard today,” Bridget said with a shrug. “When he heard you’d be here for dinner, he asked if he could stay. You know there’s always plenty of food.”

“
Plenty of food
is not the point.” Thea pulled some of the plenty in question—a ham that had to weigh at least seven pounds—out of the oven. “You don’t think it’s a little awkward for Flannery and Nero, having him around?”

“He’s around all the time. He still helps me with things. And why should that be awkward anymore? I can see when they first broke up, but— Here’s a platter, you can start slicing that. Use a knife.”

Thea laughed. “What did you think I was going to do, claw at it?”

“My point is, Flannery and Nero are happy,” said Bridget. “They wouldn’t begrudge you and Pete the same.”

And what about Pete? Does
he
begrudge
their
happiness?

Thea hadn’t had many chances—hadn’t
made
many chances—to talk to Pete alone since his breakup with Flannery. On the surface, he seemed to be taking it all in stride, and remarkably well. But then, on the surface, Pete took everything in stride, remarkably well.

“There is no
me and Pete
, Aunt Bridget.”

If there was, I would know what’s going on beneath that surface.

Although Thea wasn’t sure that was true, either. The people closest to Pete were identifiable mostly by how much time they spent with him, not by being in his confidence.

“He’s worried about you,” Bridget said.

“He doesn’t need to be.” Thea dropped a kiss on her aunt’s cheek on her way out of the room. “And neither do you.”

She brought the ham into the dining room, where Pete was chatting with Nero while Flannery poured wine. Aunt Bridget was right: none of them looked embarrassed or awkward. The circumstances of Flannery and Pete’s breakup had been ugly. Could they be so relaxed with one another now, if they’d ever really loved each other in the first place? Or were they just that mature and secure, that they could move past it and genuinely wish each other well?

Thea watched her cousin squeeze Nero’s shoulder as she walked behind his chair, laughing at something he said. Maybe Thea hadn’t given her enough credit, lately. Thea wasn’t the only one who’d gone through a transformation.

Pete spotted her standing there and jumped up to take the ham. Thea didn’t quite meet his eyes.

There is no me and Pete.

Bridget came in, balancing two bowls against one another. “Okay, someone grab the potatoes from the kitchen and we can eat.”

When they’d all taken their seats, Thea started to ask Flannery about Boyd Lexington, but Bridget smacked her arm lightly and shook her head. “Not until we’ve thanked the Lord for the food and the company.”

So they bowed their heads and prayed, then Thea said, “
Now
tell me about this Lex guy.”

“Lex was really nice,” Flannery said. “He wasn’t there for long after I got there, though. Got fired or quit, I don’t know which. I know people gossiped about it, but I don’t know any details.”

“No, I guess they wouldn’t talk about it in front of you,” said Thea.

Flannery shot a quick, guilty glance across the table at her mother and Pete, then said, “Well, remember I wasn’t a prisoner there the way you were. They pretty much treated us lab rats like everyone else. But I didn’t know anyone very well yet, at that point.”

“Sounds like Mr. Fanatic
was
a prisoner there,” said Thea.

“I told you though, I don’t remember him at all. I don’t think we were there at the same time.”

“What about now that we know his name?” Thea asked. “Does
Agnew
ring any bells? Maybe as part of all that whispering about Lex?”

Flannery shook her head. “Not that I can recall.”

Thea sighed. “I don’t get it.”

“Let’s review what we know,” Nero said. He started ticking off facts on his fingers. “This guy Lex was a nurse at the lab. He may have helped Mr. Fanatic leave. Shortly after that he was fired or quit. And now a few months later, his neighborhood is targeted for a superhex demonstration, and he and most of his family are killed.”

“But Alecto was right, that’s a stupid way to murder somebody,” Thea said. “There has to be more to it.”

“What about these monsters?” Pete asked Thea. “Flan says this Lex’s boy was talking to you about monsters.”

“Daddy’s monsters, and Mommy’s,” Thea agreed. “And someone named Miss Wendy’s. No. Miss
Wanda’s
.”

“Well, was anyone named Wanda killed at Hemlock Heights?” asked Pete.

“That’s a good question,” said Thea. “To tell you the truth, I’d forgotten all about Miss Wanda until just now. We need to look that up.”

But Aunt Bridget slapped her arm again when Thea went to take out her phone. “Not at the table, you won’t.”

“Aunt Bridget, this is kind of important.”

“And it’ll still be important when we’re finished. I’ll excuse you from helping with the dishes so you can look into it.”

So Thea had to wait through dinner, and then pie, before learning that someone named Wanda Randall had lived next door to the Lexingtons. She’d been alone that day; her kids were spending spring break in Florida with her ex-husband and his new wife. Wanda was killed by another neighbor, one Seth Bates, who was now in custody awaiting trial.

Bates claimed it was an accident. He swore he’d only been trying to leave the neighborhood when Wanda came out of nowhere and threw herself in front of his car.

But Wanda had been on the sidewalk when he ran her down.

“If this Bates guy was under the influence of the hex, he probably won’t remember what happened,” Nero said. “But if they were really targeting people, the hex might have just been a cover.”

“So you think they deployed the hex, then sent people like this Bates guy in to kill their targets while all the confusion was going on?” Thea asked. “That’s an awfully elaborate plan.”

Nero shrugged. “Makes some sense, though. Bates
was
in his car. Maybe he was actually just arriving on the scene.” He gestured at Flannery as she came back in from the kitchen. “Babe, you recognize this woman?”

He showed her Wanda Randall’s picture, while Thea tried not to let her distaste over the word
babe
show. Pete caught her eye, clearly read her mind, and grinned.

“No,” Flannery said.

“She was never at the lab?” Nero asked.

“Not unless she had her head shaved, too,” said Flannery.

“Then why would she be one of the targets?” Pete asked.

“Maybe Lex talked too much,” said Thea. “Maybe the point was to shut people up about the superhex. Kill whoever knew about it.”

“But why?” Flannery asked. “They’re doing demonstrations for potential clients. They’re
marketing
this thing. I could see wanting to shut people up if some kind of authority was about to come down on top of them or something, but otherwise, what’s the harm in a little buzz?”

“Buzz is all well and good, as long as it’s hitting the right ears,” Thea said. “But I doubt it’d help their business much for the average person to know they’re making weapons of mass destruction. It practically makes them terrorists.”

“Nobody likes a terrorist,” Pete interjected.

“Exactly,” said Thea. “Would you go someplace like that to buy a hex?”

Nero was giving Thea a look that was, for laid-back Nero, downright alarmed. “If they want to keep it quiet, then Flannery is in danger, too.”

Aunt Bridget gave her daughter a worried look. “I don’t like the sound of that. You don’t think they’d bring that superhex
here
?”

“Calm down,” Thea said. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’re putting guesses on top of guesses on top of guesses.”

“All right then, Miss Investigator,” said Nero. “Find us some facts, why don’t you?”

“That,” said Thea, “is a hell of an idea.”

The next day she requested a meeting with both Alecto and Lee, her department head.

“I’d like permission to work on a special project,” she told them over lunch in the dining hall, the only time they all had available. “It would take me away from my regular duties. And I’d need to use not only my own time, but some company resources. Human illusions, tech. No hexes, as far as I know.”

She sighed inwardly as she asked. Of course she wanted to get to the bottom of this, but in the seven months or so since she’d completed her transformation, she’d spent too little time doing the job she’d actually chosen. First she’d been briefly expelled from the colony, along with Alecto. Then she’d been assigned to lead a special team to find Megaira’s new colony. When she’d finished that, Thea thought she would finally be able to settle into her new life. But it seemed not.

Or maybe it seemed so. Alecto was already shaking her head.

“Thea, we appreciate what you’ve done up to this point. You did a great job finding my sister. But now that you’ve located her, how we deal with her is up to the board. It’s a leadership decision and you’re just not at that level yet.”

Thea frowned at Alecto. With so much going on, she hadn’t even been thinking of the big picture. “How
are
you going to deal with her? Fury Unlimited needs to be closed down, surely you can see that. They’re jeopardizing our business more than their own. I didn’t hear about any protests outside their gates.”

“When we have something to share with the colony, we will do so,” Alecto said.

Thea sighed, then shook her head. “That’s not what this is about, anyway. Boyd Lexington, the guy we were talking about with Detective Holgersen? He was a resident of Hemlock Heights.”

Alecto nodded. “I remember. Mr. Fanatic was talking about him.”

“Right. Turns out he worked at the superhex lab, as a nurse. And left under mysterious circumstances that resulted in some gossip, although Flannery didn’t know any details.”

“So he orchestrated the attack for them,” said Lee. “Maybe he was still on Megaira’s payroll. An inside man.”

“Would you volunteer your own neighborhood for a thing like that?” Thea asked.

“Not everyone likes their neighbors,” Lee said.

Thea shook her head. “Boyd Lexington, his wife, and a young daughter were killed.” She glanced at Alecto. “The kid I saved from that house, Talbott, turns out to be the only surviving member of the family.”

Now Lee looked interested. A natural detective, he’d risen to head of Human Relations & Investigation through the Investigation arm, and he still couldn’t resist putting his oar in on cases from time to time. “If he was in on it, he’d at least have gotten his family out of there, if not himself. Unless he was double crossed.”

“Exactly,” said Thea. “And that’s not all.” She told them about Wanda Randall. “There’s something up in that neighborhood,” she said when she finished. “Something besides the demonstration, that they were using the demonstration to cover up.”

“Could be,” Alecto agreed. “Or Hemlock Heights could have been chosen out of simple spite against Lexington, if he was fired or left on bad terms. The rest could easily be a series of coincidences and misunderstandings.”

“Maybe,” Thea said. “But I think it’s worth finding out, don’t you? The humans think we did this. If I can find proof of whatever was really going on, maybe we can use it to point them at Megaira instead.” She saw from Alecto’s face that a promise of appeasing the humans was not the way to win her over, and added, “And whatever you’re doing, or considering doing, about Fury Unlimited, I may find something you can use against them.”

“I agree it’s worth pursuing,” added Lee. “Although I can’t say I’m thrilled at the idea of using my manpower and budget to do it.”

Alecto crossed her arms and bit her lip, a pose Thea knew better than to interrupt. Finally she said, “We’ll create a special project number for it, Lee, same as we did for the Fury Unlimited investigation, and it’ll come out of a separate budget. But you will be without Thea for a while, I’m afraid.”