Orion (19 page)

Maze climbed out first when Lee announced they were going for a walk.  He gave off the premise of giving us alone time, but I knew better.  I waited purposefully and turned to Calum, alone.

The second they left he asked me to tell him explain my strength.

“I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to say.”

“I just want to know you.  All of
you.” His words lingered in the air.

“Are you sure?”  I had to say.

“Yes!  If there is something I need to know, I can take it.”

I closed my eyes at the thought of losing him.  “I
’m not sure you can.”  I’m scared, more than I’ve ever been about anything in my life.  I don’t want to lose him. And I just met him.

“I am more than just the girl you see, Calum.  This,” I pointed to my stomach, “this,” my hair, “our electric charged amazing every time touch, our names, Orion itself, our birthdays, they are all just there.  And I believe they mean something more than you or I know, but in the end, we, you and I, are not just two who met by accident. Neither one of us are in any way, normal.  And I…I
’m not ready yet to let you go.  I don’t want to lose you.  I…” my eyes stung.  I couldn’t tell him how I really felt.  I realized after I left Dyer, Lee, in the library in Summerville, that I felt something weird with Calum.  I’m not sure if its love since I’m unfamiliar with the pangs of losing someone to know what love could feel like.  I do know he is important to me somehow.

“Keep your secret for now.  I can wait.  But know something,” he bent closer to my ear, “I like you just the way you are, and I don
’t care what secrets you hold.  That won’t change how I feel.”

I stayed perfectly still as he leaned back now and
watched my face for my reaction unable to find a reply. They were very powerful words.

Then
I heard something.  A noise outside. 

Calum peeked.  Nothing, he had said.  I knew better.   Valkyrie ears, Valkyrie hearing goes both ways.

“I meant what I said, Stace,” he watched my face, “when you’re ready.”  His invitation still there.

I smiled, not wanting to say yea or nay, so I kissed him, lo
ng, and crawled through the window to a shadowed Lee waiting and listening after leaving him his own letter on his dresser.  He would find out and make all kinds of new discoveries.  Maybe even help me solve them.

“Why do you punish yourself?  I know you don
’t want to listen.  You feel the emotions as I do.”

“Truth hurts, princess.”

“Why did you do that tonight, to Calum?  You knew what I’d do.”

“He needs to know.  I stepped up the progress.  It
’s not fair for him.”

He was right, of course.  But I was a coward.

“After we find my brother, I promise.  My safety is an issue, you know.  If you give away too much else, they’ll put me with my brother.  Besides you’re holding back as well.  These Hunters don’t know what you’re capable of.  You are wicked awesome with a sword and you know it.”

“Don
’t count on it and I’ve handled just fine.”  He walked ahead of me since I climbed out to join him but stopped at my next admission.

“I left the letter on the dresser.  He
’ll find it and read it before you return most likely.”

He nodded.
              We were heading across the back wall staying in the shadows almost to where the parking lot was located.  “Quinn will leave in fifteen minutes according to his conversation with Green today.”

“What do you mean, don
’t count on it?”

“Just, there is a reason you are here and he is there.  They know about the prophecy, and think it
’s true.  You’re here.  Calum’s here. Your brother was a setup too. That’s no coincidence.”  His voice spitting out the last part.

“You seem so confident of your assumptions.”

“I’m the fly on the wall.  They never notice me.”  His animosity outweighed his  his pain.

Ignoring his need I said, “
Why am I here?”

“Well, I thought about this after talking to you. After talking to Calum,” he saw how big my eyes were, “about his missing letter that he
’s going to freaking think I put there!”  His hands waved up in anger. 

“And?” He
wasn’t off that easy. 

Crouch
ed in the bushes now waiting, “You lost your knife at twelve.  He lost the letter at twelve.  What both of you don’t know is that both of you also told me your mother’s left them for you.   I don’t know what that might mean, but I heard your dad say on the day he sent me away, ‘at the right time, Stace will know what to do.’  He was holding your knife.”

“So?”

“So, he held up the knife you found in Green’s drawer to Quinn.  And then he said, ‘the boy will never rule without the girl.  No one will accept her without all of them.’”

Things were adding up, a little. No, not much. “So, you think, the letter means it
’s a real prophecy, my father stole my knife that I found in Green’s office, and…and…”

“I told you, still just a theory.”

“Great theories.  Just dangerous to ponder.”  I was still stuck on the idea of Calum ruling somewhere.  What was that about?  And how did I fit in this picture with a knife?

“Dangerous times!”

A car door slammed.  We ducked lower behind the bush.  Quinn was in the car and moving.

Lee signaled me.  We ducked and ran to a very clean forest green sporty car I couldn
’t decipher in the dark. 

“Whose car?”

“Uh, mine.”  Lee’s voice was passively calm.

“You have a car?”

“Yeah!”

The inside was the same, but darker green interior.  It smelled like him.  Lee.  He smelled like the woods, just like he used to. 

“How often do you drive anywhere?”

“Sometimes at night, late!  They don
’t let us leave often.”

I knew that.  “Where do you go?”

“Nowhere in particular.”  He pinched the end of his nose.  Must be a guy thing.

It
’s like he’s a new person.  Not the boy I knew.  He’d changed.  I’d changed.

He was probably thinking the same thing, that we were worlds apart and yet back in the same place.  So I added just to set the record straight,   “You know, we were younger.  Not even fifteen yet.”  He shouldn
’t think I’m still that same girl.

“I know,” Lee conceded unwittingly.  The car
’s engine purred at our silence.  The ride was longer now that I brought "us" up.  There would never be an "us".

“Almost there, I think.”

I stared at Quinn’s car ahead and asked, “What do you imagine we will do or see tonight?” I was checking my knives in my belts across my legs.  Two at my waist, two below my boot line, and two at my back.  I was so glad I’d slipped on my black leather boots before the movie.  Yea, dressy, but easy to conceal weapons.

“Just watch.  Confirm.  Then we will talk.  I don
’t think it wise to tell your father about me or Quinn or Green.”

Why would Lee say that?  “I can
’t tell him no one is on the inside.  Besides, I already told him Quinn and Green are in on it.  I heard them one day.”

No reaction
was offered.

Lee stayed focused on the windshield and ordered, “You have to figure this out.  What their aim is.  If this is bigger than just a kidnapping, something bigger going on that your brother
’s rescue leads to, you have to be careful what action is right.  They know I know who they are and are definitely suspicious of me since I was sent away from you.  I always felt I was put at the school to be watched.  I am guessing now it might just be more.  They know I know things, Stace.  Or guess it.”

“You are right,” I didn
’t trust him just yet either.  Not sure I ever would again.

“What?” he crooned.

“You are right,” I repeated louder.

“Say that again.”

I hit his arm and he laughed. 

“You need to laugh more like that,” I said.

“With you around, I just may start again.”

The thought of him not laughing since I
’d seen him at court hurt.  “I hope I’m around after Calum knows.  Why can’t there be a school for everyone? 
We
haven’t hurt anyone while there.”  I really loved saying “we”.

“If this “alliance” between you and Calum is a real thing, maybe that
’s what the powers that be are trying to keep from us.  Simple, you and Calum meet, he finds out you’re a lying, traitorous, Valkyrie spy and never speaks to you again.  They win.”

Harsh!  He saw the tears I
’d tried to dam up.  He slapped the steering wheel,   “That’s me!  Always making you upset instead of the one who makes you happy.”

“No you
’re not.  Just real.  Everything you said, it’s most likely the truth.  The horror of it is my father may be in on it.  A daughter to be queen, or kept hidden from the truth for his own gains.  And Calum will know the truth soon.  I just want a few more days of a normal life.”

"
I could go the other way and gain agreements between courts. Maybe it is not all bad."

Evil verses advancement of our people. Evil usually wanted personal gain.

Quinn stepped out of his black sedan and walked into a dark empty looking building in the middle of the woods.  The sign over the fence he passed through said, “Bottling Co. Turn Right.”

I looked up and it pleased me ridiculously to see Orion and Cassiopeia peering down on us, giving me courage.  When he was safely inside the screechy ten foot high doors, we slinked into the shadows and made for the outside wall away from the door. 

The irony was significant to the mix of factions involved.  Two teen Valkyrie, posing as Hunters, one half Hunter, and sneaking into a Hunter den with rescue efforts to a Valkyrie twin.

We used the side of the building
’s classic fire escape death trap to gain access to the window-like squared off hole in the wall near the roof two floors up.  Lee followed behind me calling himself chivalrous.  I snarled off a remark about saving his butt and letting the favor be returned.

We found what we were looking for.  Inside, my brother was tied to a free standing wall with all four limbs separated out.  He seemed knocked out or worse.  I trembled, but did my best to hide it from Lee but remembered too late he was Valkyrie after all.  He put his hand on my shoulder to calm or quiet me, I didn't know.  I didn
’t move except to lean on my tip toes to see inside.

  I heard Quinn say, “The princess is secure.  The boy too.”

A deep male voice I couldn’t see asked, “Does the boy or girl know anything?”

That
’s us, my heart stopped beating a second when I held my breath.

“They are catching on.  The girl is exactly like everyone predicts.  Nosy, strong, and hard to tame.  The boy will not be ignorant for long.”

“And then what?”

Yes, then what?

“We separate them.  The Hunter will hate her for what she is.  The boy wonder here returns home, daddy’s happy or not, and we take a throne.  The Valkyrie court will be in an uproar, and we will have all three courts in turmoil. They may have one plan, but it will not work out for their benefit. Knowing this boy doesn't heal like the girl helps us."

The reason for the torture.

Quinn was still through all the even hard to read voice, “And what would you have me do with Green?”

“
Expendable.  He’s no good to us after.  He thinks he has the throne wrapped up with his boy on the way up to it.   When the Vamp boy stops wishing for world peace he’ll want his claim to the throne to stay secure too.  Oh the secrets we keep from our wee ones.  Might have been better to have kept them better informed but we wouldn’t have all this power if they had, now would we?   What a pity.”

I stepped up.  I wanted to rip out his throat.

Lee squeezed my arm, held on, and whispered in my ear, “NO!  We can’t do anything tonight.  Let’s go before Quinn does.”

I reluctantly backed down the stairs and buckled my seatbelt fast and tight for the ride back before my inner anger issues took over.  I guessed luck was with me that Lee had driven since I
’d have chosen a different ending to the night’s events as of minutes ago.

After some silence with both of us sorting out the new “scare your pants off” facts, I broke it with, “
Calum doesn’t know about his dad?”

“No.”  And I
’m sure we were both thinking
who wants to be the one to tell him?

“Quinn doesn
’t fit in this right.  He looks as if he feels threatened, but driven to double cross for one reason or another.  He must have one heck of a vendetta.  He seems the minion, but surely he doesn’t hold a candle and is just as expendable to deep voice guy. Who the heck is he anyway?”

Lee squirmed in the driver seat.  After a long pause he said, “
Not sure.  But someone who thinks he wants to be in charge.  He’s either Valkyrie or Were.”