The Lost Saint (35 page)

Talbot’s shoulders sagged, but then he lifted his chin and looked up to the balcony. The cut on his forehead had finally started to heal. “Jude was wrong,” he called to whomever was up there. “I was bringing the girl to you. It was Jude’s interference that almost helped her get away.” He pushed himself up as tall as he could on his knees. “I would never fail you, Father. I have served you faithfully for many months. I watched the girl for weeks, as you commanded. Set up this whole charade. Got rid of her original teacher when he started to ask too many questions. Disposed of the van driver she was supposed to work with and took his place. She trusted me, and I had her right where we wanted her.” He lifted his chin with pride. “I am your Keeper—your most devoted. How could some worthless girl change that? She is nothing to me.”

Talbot’s words burned. This situation was horrid enough, but hearing what he really thought about me—realizing all he’d done—felt like pouring acid on a fresh cut. Talbot was probably the one who had tried to kill Pete Bradshaw. But for what purpose, I didn’t know. And what had he done with my real driver and poor Mr. Shumway?

The only thing that confused me more than Talbot’s betrayal was Jude’s involvement in all of this. I’d
thought Jude was being held captive by the gang—forced to do their bidding against his will. But according to the scene unfolding before me, Jude wasn’t a prisoner here. Talbot was the gang’s beta, but Jude definitely had some influence or control. Could I possibly hope that he was just biding his time until he could use that influence to help me escape?

I’d broken rule number one—I’d dropped my guard in so many ways the last couple of weeks. With the wolf. With Talbot. With Jude. And now I was paying the price.

“Talbot lies,” Jude said to the person I assumed was up on the balcony. “He cares for her. They were planning on running away.”

“What Jude heard me say was only my plan to get the girl to trust me. Which would have worked if he hadn’t shown up and made a mess of things. I do not need to be second-guessed in my methods.” He turned his glare on Jude. “How bad did you screw this all up? Did you even bother to leave an effective trail behind you?”

Jude glared at Talbot. “Of course I did.”

“Enough!” snarled a voice from up above us. It echoed off the warehouse walls. Something about that voice made me want to sink into the ground. Made me feel exposed, ripped open. “Talbot goes free. Jude, take the girl to the room. Then come to me so we can discuss your interference.”

Jude ducked his head like a scolded pup. “Yes, Father.”

Talbot smirked at Jude as two of the Gelals stepped forward and cut the cording from his wrists and ankles. He stood up and stretched, and the wound on his forehead healed over. He turned to face the teen boys who still watched us with rapt attention.

“I say this calls for a celebration,” he said to the boys. “Let’s all go to the club.”

“But you never let us go,” the youngest boy said, his voice cracking with puberty. He indicated himself and the three next smallest of the boys.

“Well, then, today’s your lucky day, Ryan. We’re all leaving for a while.” He glanced at me for the first time since we left Rose Crest. His eyes were void of emotion. “We have to make sure there’s ample opportunity.”

Ample opportunity? For what?

Talbot looked at Jude. “What are you waiting for, boy? You heard the Father. Take her to the room.”

Jude snatched me up in his arms and carried me toward a door marked BREAK ROOM. It must have been a sign left over from when this was an actual warehouse. I thought about struggling, trying to break free of his arms. But where would I go? How could I even run with the cording on my feet? Besides, if I struggled, then they would send someone to help Jude. And that meant I wouldn’t have a chance to talk to him alone.

A table and chairs and an old green refrigerator populated the room. From the smell leaking out from the fridge door, I assumed it was packed with takeout
boxes and at least a dozen half-eaten pizzas.

Jude dumped me in a chair. He grabbed a coil of rope off the table and started tying me up. I stared at the crown of his dark brown hair as he wrapped the rope around my middle.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

Jude didn’t answer. He pulled the ropes tighter. I winced.

“Then help me at least understand,” I pleaded. “Why would you call and try to warn me about the Shadow Kings if you were working for them all along?”

Jude looked up at me. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “What are you talking about? I didn’t call you.”

“Yes, you did. I’d know your voice anywhere.”

Jude shook his head and went back to securing the ropes to the chair.

How can he not remember this?

“You were worried about me. You called me on Daniel’s phone from inside his apartment. You said someone was coming for me. You even tried to warn me about Talbot—only I didn’t know that’s who you were talking about. You said the exact same thing you said in the parking lot behind the hardware store. That he makes you think you can trust him, but you can’t.”

“Shut up,” Jude said. “I didn’t call you. Stop trying to confuse me.”

“You did call. Which means deep down inside, you still care. My brother’s in there somewhere.”

“I said, shut up!” Jude raised his hand like he wanted to strike my face. “I would never call to warn you.”

“But you did. The night the gang trashed Day’s Market. I bet you snuck away just so you could find me.” I took a breath. “And you texted April on Monday. And you’ve even left comments on her blog. Don’t you remember that?”

Jude lowered his hand and glanced at my face. A slight look of recognition flashed over his eyes. He shook his head and backed away toward the door. “Be sure to yell real loud if you hear someone coming.” He thumbed in the direction of the cracked window. “Wouldn’t want Daniel to miss you after all this trouble.”

He smirked and closed the break-room door behind him as he left.

This was a trap!

A trap to catch Daniel.

They were counting on his finding me. Hoping he’d follow their trail here. They left the warehouse to make it look like they weren’t watching, and now they wanted me to scream for help.

But how were they so sure Daniel would come?

I hadn’t seen him in days. I didn’t even know if he wanted anything to do with me anymore. Would he even come if he found out I was in trouble?

Simultaneously, my heart filled with hope and dread.

Yes, if Daniel is the person I know him to be—he’ll come for me no matter what
.

LATER

I rocked back and forth in my chair, trying to loosen my bonds. I needed to get out of here on my own before Daniel found me. Find him before he even got near this place. Now if only I had Baby James’s talent for pulling a Houdini out of his booster-seat restraints. That thought made my heart heavy. What if I never saw my family again?

My muscles tensed and ached, bidding me to use my abilities. But I didn’t trust my powers anymore. I didn’t trust myself. What if I gave the wolf too much leeway again and it completely took over?

But getting out of here before they trapped Daniel was more important. I had to take the risk.

I concentrated on the slight, warm pulse of my moonstone necklace against my chest and siphoned a small amount of power into my arms. I struggled harder against my bonds. The ropes burned my skin, but I didn’t have time to devote any power or self-control to healing the tender wounds.

The cording around my arms must have been lined with some kind of metal, because they barely loosened in response to my struggles. If only I could break free
of that, the ropes binding me to the chair would be no problem at all. I rocked too hard, and the chair fell backward. It slammed into the ground, and I smacked my head on the concrete—which only made my splitting headache worse—and pinned my arms behind me with my own weight. I used my momentum to turn the chair, and myself, to the side. But now one of my shoulders was pinned; the weight of the chair and my body dug into it with aching force.

The whole situation seemed utterly hopeless, but I didn’t stop.

What felt like an hour passed, but for all I really knew, it could have been only a few minutes. The warehouse was still empty—at least from what I could hear. The noises out on the street grew quieter as the night got darker. I had no more feeling in my trapped arm, and I didn’t know how much longer I could go before I had no feeling left inside of me at all.

A few more minutes passed, and then I heard the break-room door creak open. I lolled my head in the direction of the noise, expecting to find Jude or Talbot checking on me, but I watched with shock as two people crept into the room. One man was dressed in a brown hooded robe—and the other was Daniel.

“Gracie,” he said, and rushed over to me as quietly as he could.

“Run!” I whispered. “It’s a trap. Get out of here!”

“I know. You were too easy to find. But we still have
to try.” He pulled my chair upright and tugged at the ropes, but they didn’t budge.

The man in the hooded robe riffled through the drawers in the counter. He pulled out a serrated knife and approached us. He pushed the hood of his robe off his head and handed the knife to Daniel.

“Gabriel?” I looked at Daniel as he went to work cutting the ropes from the chair. “What the heck is he doing here?” Not that I was ungrateful for his assistance—just surprised, considering our history.

“Gabriel is the one who followed you here.”

“Your mother got concerned when she couldn’t find you at the festival,” Gabriel said as he worked on unwinding the cording that bound my ankles. “Then your sister said she saw you leave Main Street with a boy. I found your basket in the parking lot behind the hardware store and then followed the trail here. I called Daniel as soon as I could.”

“Luckily, I was already on my way home,” Daniel said. “I wasn’t too far from the city.” He cut through the last rope and pulled me out of the chair.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked.

“No.” He brushed a curling strand of my hair off my face. “But I’ve found what I need.”

I got lost in his deep, dark eyes for a moment.

“We should go,” Gabriel said.

“Right.” Daniel pulled the cording from my wrists and then locked hands with me. “Stay as close to me
as you can. We came in through an entrance in The Depot. There’s an underground corridor linking these two buildings together.”

“So this is the warehouse next to the club?”

Daniel nodded. “You ready? We’re going to make a run for it.”

I stretched out my arms and legs, happy for some relief. “They’re probably waiting for us.”

“We’ll just have to see.”

Gabriel went out of the break-room door first. Daniel and I followed, hand in hand. We stayed close to the wall, surveying the warehouse. All seemed quiet. The barracks were empty. I looked up at the balcony and the darkened windows of the upper office next to it. There was no sign of whomever had been up there before.

Daniel tightened his grip on my hand. “There’s another exit over there. It looks like it’s padlocked, but with the three of us working together, I bet we can break it loose. I don’t want to risk the corridor. It’s too boxed in.”

“Sounds good,” Gabriel said.

“Ready? Run.”

Daniel bolted for the door, and I ran with him. Gabriel followed close behind. We made it to the door, and the warehouse still seemed as empty as before. Were we really going to make it out? Daniel tried yanking on the lock. The metal loop stretched a bit. He shook his head. “Grace, can you do it?”

I felt a rumbling under the heels of my boots. Something was happening inside the building somewhere. I let a small burst of power into my arm as I grabbed the lock and yanked on it. It broke free in my hand. Then I heard a clanking noise from behind us. Daniel went for the doorknob, but I swung around and looked back as the gate of the freight elevator lifted and a pack of boys came rushing in our direction. The door must have still been locked from the outside. It wouldn’t open. Daniel put all his energy into kicking at it, over and over again. Then we both kicked together, and I heard the dead bolt crunch through the wood frame. Moonlight flooded in through the crack in the door. But before we could get out, someone was on top of Daniel, pulling him back. I heard Gabriel shout, but I knew he wouldn’t fight back. Someone else grabbed me.

I remember screaming. I remember fighting. I remember watching Daniel try to grapple with the person who’d grabbed him. But before I knew what was happening, I’d been seized by three guys who pulled me away from the open door. Another three had Daniel.

Jude led the pack as Daniel, Gabriel, and I were dragged up the stairs and then into the dark upper-level room. It looked like it had once been a large office, but it was now decked out like a luxury hotel room from the Victorian era. Thick, plush curtains covered the windows that would normally look down on the warehouse floor. A large wardrobe was tucked away in one corner,
and the only light in the room came from the flickering of a dozen candles on an ornately carved table. A large four-poster bed filled the middle of the room, covered with a lush velvet bedspread and pillows. While the boys downstairs slept on warehouse shelves, whoever occupied this room obviously cared much more for his own comfort.