Out of the Ashes (18 page)

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Cara

Logan doesn’t call. I stay up until midnight wondering where he is and debate calling him several times. Maybe Garret freaked him out too much. I know he put enough doubt in my head about killing the Hunter. We really can’t be sure he didn’t make it out of the falls alive. I just hope Garret found a good hiding place for the dagger. These Hunters don’t seem to have one of their own, or at least they haven’t used it yet. Which brings me back to the question of whether or not there is a second dagger.

I barely sleep with all the questions running through my mind, so when I trudge down to breakfast, Jeremy takes one look at me and says, “You look like crap.” He slurps the milk and cereal off his spoon.

“Thanks, baby brother.”

“Jer-bear,” he says.

“What?” I grab the orange juice from the fridge.

“You used to call me Jer-bear, and I called you Cara-bird.” He shrugs. “Or so you told me.”

Jer-bear
?
Cara-bird
?

“That’s kind of dumb.”

“Thank you. I thought so too, but when I mentioned it after my rebirth you got all offended.”

“Any word from Garret? I’m curious where he hid the dagger.” And totally pissed he kept it in my house where four of us are living.

“I kind of get why he thought it would be safe here. I mean, there are a bunch of us living under this roof now, and if you think about it, a Hunter has never approached us when we’re in a group. It’s too risky for them, with all our firepower to use against them.” He smiles as if he’s untouchable and finishes his cereal.

I see his point about strength in numbers. “That’s true, but Garret should’ve warned us.”

“You know Mom would’ve freaked out if he did.”

“Okay, you win.”

“Cool.” He carries his bowl to the sink. “You hanging with Logan today?”

I shrug, pretending it’s no big deal either way. “Don’t know. I haven’t talked to him since yesterday.”

“What, that steamy good-bye hug didn’t have him banging down your door?” His words drip with sarcasm, and he wraps his arms around himself, reenacting the hug.

I roll my eyes. Are all little brothers this annoying? “Shut up. You have no idea what it’s like not to remember what I feel for him.”

He drops his arms, and his tone gets serious. “I went through this first. I even warned you about just this.”

“But were you dating anyone before you lost your memories?” He doesn’t answer so I say, “I didn’t think so, Mr. Know-it-All.”

“Fine. I’m going to check on Linette.” He disappears upstairs, and I pull my cell out again. This time I force myself to dial Logan’s number.

“Hey, this is Logan. Leave a message.”

I wait for the beep. “Logan, it’s Cara. Just making sure everything’s okay. I didn’t hear from you last night and things got pretty heated here, as usual. You know us.” I laugh and realize I sound like a complete idiot. “Anyway, call me when you get a minute. I’m thinking of heading to Monique’s for breakfast if you want to join me. Bye.”

I grab my car keys and drive to Monique’s before I can psychoanalyze my relationship with Logan any more. My table is empty and waiting when I arrive.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Monique says, already pouring a cup of tea for me.

“Hi. Have you seen Logan?”

Monique laughs. “Someone’s falling for the new boy all over again.”

“It’s just that I haven’t heard from him since the meeting yesterday. He said he’d call, and he didn’t. Maybe I’m wrong, but that doesn’t seem like him.”

Monique places the teapot on the table and sits down. “No, it doesn’t sound like him. Did you try calling him?”

“Yeah. No answer. I left a message, though. I keep replaying yesterday over in my head to figure out if something happened that I missed. You know, like something that would have upset him.”

She places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t you go thinking you did anything wrong. I’m sure you didn’t.”

“I think maybe I’ll take a walk. I’m not feeling very hungry.”

Monique frowns at me. “You wait right there. I’ll get you two croissants. That way when you find Logan and he tells you everything is fine, you can enjoy them together.”

I force a smile because I’m not so sure she’s right. An older couple walks by and the woman waves to me. At first I look around, thinking she must be waving to someone else, but there’s no one else sitting near me and Monique is still in the kitchen. I raise my hand and return the wave, assuming I knew them before my rebirth. The woman’s smile fades, and her husband whispers something in her ear. She nods, and he pats her arm. She must have forgotten about my “amnesia.” That story spread throughout town quickly, but I guess old habits, like waving to someone you’ve seen around here for years, are hard to break.

“Here you go.” Monique hands me a brown paper bag.

“Who are they?” I ask her, nodding in the direction the couple walked off.

“Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood. Why?”

“She waved to me. I assumed I knew them.”

Monique squeezes my shoulder. “I should bring you some photos from Henry’s memorial service. Just about everyone was there. I could write the names on the backs of the photos and you could study them.”

More studying, just how I want to spend my summer break. “Thanks,” I say, getting up from the table. “How much do I owe you?”

Monique holds her arms out. “One hug should do it.”

I hug her. She smells like spices, but I can still make out her natural cinnamon scent. “Thanks again,” I say, pulling away.

“Any time, sugar.” She wipes my table clean and heads back into the kitchen.

I walk to Logan’s, hoping he’s home and he just lost his phone or the battery died or something stupid and simple like that. Mom would kill me if she knew I was walking around on my own like this instead of driving, but I figure I’m in the middle of town with people all over the place and in broad daylight. Sure, a Hunter attacked Logan and me at the falls, but we were the only two people there. Besides, the guy didn’t have a dagger on him.

I see a light on in the living room at Logan’s, and I pick up my pace. His dad must be at work by now, so it has to be Logan. My heart races as I knock on the door. I need to know he’s okay and that he wasn’t attacked by another Hunter after he left my house yesterday.

Logan opens the door, still in his pajama bottoms.
Only
in his pajama bottoms. His chest is bare.

I launch myself at him and hug him tightly. “Thank God you’re okay.”

“What do you mean?” He turns his head so my hair is in his face, and he inhales deeply. “Not that I’m in any way complaining about this greeting.”

I pull back and look at him. “I haven’t heard from you. Didn’t you get my message?”

His brows pull together, and he scratches the back of his head. “I was supposed to call you, wasn’t I?”

I’m screaming on the inside. He made me worry. He made me think he’d been taken or even killed by a Hunter, and he’s fine. He just forgot to call me, the girl he’s supposedly in love with. “Yeah, but whatever. Here, have a croissant.” I shove the bag into his chest and storm off.

“Whoa! Wait a second.” He comes after me, catching me in mere seconds. “Why are you so pissed?”

I look around at all the people walking through town. I don’t want to go inside with Logan and talk about this, but I can’t exactly spill my thoughts out here with all these people in earshot. I storm past him and into the house. I don’t sit down because I’m not planning on staying long.

He comes inside and closes the door behind him. “What’s going on?”

“We were attacked yesterday, and we’re not even sure if I killed that Hunter. We know he wasn’t working alone, so there are others out there. They probably think you’re a Phoenix too since we’re always together. And then you don’t call when you say you’re going to and you don’t answer when I call you. See where I’m going with this?” My shoulders are rising and falling so fast, and I’m afraid I’m going to leave scorch marks on his floor if I don’t get it together.

Logan steps toward me and I back away. He takes another step, and this time I let him close the distance between us. “Cara, I’m sorry if I scared you. You know, now that I think about it, I’m not even sure I know where my phone is.”

“That’s a lame excuse and you know it. How can someone who supposedly loves me so much just forget to talk to me after we were attacked? It doesn’t add up.”

He lets out a deep breath. “I know. It’s complicated, and I’m not sure if I should—”

“Should what? Try to explain it to the girl with no memories?” I know I’m not being fair, but he’s obviously hiding something so I think I have a right to dish out a low blow or two.

Logan stares at me for a second before taking my hand and leading me to his room. “Promise me you’re not going to freak out.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Fine. Then at least promise me that you’ll let me explain
before
you freak out.” His eyes plead with mine. “Please, Cara.”

“Okay.” I only agree because I want to know what’s going on.

“After the meeting, I followed Garret.”

“Why would—?”

He presses his finger to my lips. “You promised.”

“I wasn’t going to freak out. I only wanted to ask why you’d follow Garret.”

“I’m going to explain everything, but I need you to give me a chance to get it out, okay?”

“Go ahead.” I cross my arms and will myself to be patient, but I have a feeling this is going to be huge. Like make-me-set-my-hair-on-fire huge.

“I couldn’t figure out why Garret would leave the dagger at your house without telling any of you. I mean, he should have at least told your mom or even Jeremy.”

“Mom would’ve freaked, but Jeremy probably would’ve been able to handle it.” I realize I’m interrupting again so I hold my hands up in the universal “I’m sorry” gesture.

“I needed to see where he was moving the dagger to next, and when he took off through town I figured he was trying to ditch the thing quickly.”

I can’t blame him. I wouldn’t want the dagger on me either, since it attracts Hunters. But this time, I keep my mouth shut and let Logan continue.

“I followed him to the police station.”

That makes sense. There must be plenty of places to lock it up in there.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Logan says. “I thought it was a good hiding place too. But Garret didn’t go inside. He went to a dumpster around back.”

“He threw it out?” The words tumble out of my mouth. So much for being patient.

“Not exactly. He hid it in a metal box and put the box inside the dumpster.”

I walk over to the window and look out. “I don’t get it. Why would Garret leave the dagger where anyone could take it? As far as we know, it can’t be destroyed, which means we have to keep it under lock and key. Not in a freakin’ dumpster.” I dig my nails into the windowsill. “We have to go get it.” I face Logan. “And then go to Garret and demand answers.”

“It’s not in the dumpster anymore.”

“Did he take it back out? Have you been spying on him all night?”

“No. He didn’t take it back out.
I
did.”

I step toward him, not liking where this conversation is going. Everything I’ve been through lately has proven that the universe can be cruel, but if Logan reveals that he’s a Hunter, I’m going to lose it. I’ll burn the whole town to the ground. I hold my palm face up and let a fireball form.

Logan stares at my hand before looking me in the eyes again. “You think I’m a Hunter? How could you after everything…?”

“You just confessed to stealing the dagger.”

“Yeah, so I could keep the
real
Hunters from getting it.” He walks over to his dresser and opens the top drawer. “And I think I know why Garret left it in the dumpster.”

“Why?”

“The only explanation is that he’s helping the Hunters.” He takes the dagger out of the drawer and studies it, turning it over in his hands. “He put the dagger there so they’d get it and use it on you, and possibly the others too. I think he made a bargain with the Hunters to spare his own life.”

“You mean lives.”

I don’t remember Garret enough to say this isn’t true. Given the choice between believing Logan’s a Hunter or believing Garret is working with the Hunters, I have to believe Garret’s throwing us all into the fire.

“We have to tell the others and find a place to put that thing.” I motion to the dagger, not wanting to get too close to it.

“I know where to put it,” Logan says, holding the dagger up in the air and admiring the blade. “Right through Garret’s heart.”