The Weight of a Wing (The Stolen Wings Book 1) (19 page)

The short run had left Alise breathless, so she leaned
against the wall for support.

Several meters ahead, Rafe and Vale exchanged a glance,
their faces grim and jaw muscles tense. Their blades had already disappeared
back inside their clothes.

“Why—why are they stopping?” Cassie asked. Since Alise
didn’t answer fast enough, she addressed her next question to them, “What’s
going on?”

“It’s done,” Rafe said, his voice flat. “He’s already taken
her to wherever his new hiding place is.”

“Well, go after him!”

Vale shook his head. “I’m not going in for more torture. I’m
not suicidal.”

A pained look flashed over Cassie’s face.

Rafe sighed. “Look. We could run down the stairs, and we
might even catch it, but they’re not in there anymore. You saw the ripples.
They’re gone.”

Tears glittered in the girl’s eyes. “What do we do now?” she
croaked.

“We…” Rafe shrugged.

Vale continued, “Come up with a plan…”

“While we eat,” added Rafe.

“It’s what we always do,” Vale said.

They obviously also lost people. Alise cursed under her
breath for being forced to dump her work and run out of the office in this heat
only to see yet another human she knew being abducted. Gorem didn’t need Sarah,
so this was just Fabian’s show of power. He could reach anyone connected to
her, and he was getting closer. Alise suppressed a shudder.

Rafe put an arm around Cassie’s shoulders and tried to steer
her towards the restaurant. “We’ll get her back. We need a better angle.”

Cassie let him guide her for a couple of steps then she firmly
planted her feet on the floor and refused to move. “Can’t your friend help you?
He already saved you once…”

“Our friend?” Rafe’s eyebrows arched up.

“Nate?” Vale asked, surprise in his voice.

“Yeah,” Cassie said.” He was there, so maybe he knows where
they went.”

“There?” Rafe said, turning to look back. “There where?”

“Inside the elevator,” she said. Confronted with puzzled
looks, she murmured, “Oh, you couldn’t see him…”

But how could
Cassie
see him? What kind of magic
allowed humans to see what magical people couldn’t?

The Guardians stared at each other then their piercing gazes
lowered to Alise.

“What? I didn’t see him!” she said.

Rafe turned to Cassie. “Are you sure it was him?”

“Uhh…” The girl looked at her feet and shifted her weight.
“I think so. His face wasn’t exactly clear, but it was less shadowed than at
the university. I’m pretty sure it was the same person.” She looked up. “About
your size, dark hair, clear eyes, square jaw … and a big grin?”

“That’s Nate,” Vale said. “Except for the grin.”

“Unbelievable. He escaped again!” Rafe paced the floor,
throwing daggers with his eyes. “And I told him to stay put and not get into
any more trouble, at least until we’re done here. I’m going to smother him when
we get back.”

This put the situation in a whole new perspective. It could
give them a certain advantage if they played their cards right. But for this to
work, they needed a plan.

Alise started towards the restaurant without looking back to
see if they had followed her. They sat in a booth in a corner, and a waiter
showed up with menus for everyone.

“Surprise us.” Alise waved him off.

“But…,” Rafe protested, looking longingly after the menus.
“I wanted a steak,” he muttered. Alise’s frown made him shut up.

Vale picked a breadstick from the basket in the middle of
the table and proceeded to break it into small pieces. He seemed to think
better when he kept his hands occupied. Bread crumbs piled up in front of him
on the fancy tablecloth.

“You need to cross back,” Alise told them, taking control
over the situation.

“And let the Council know we failed our mission?” Rafe
asked. “That will sure look good on our records.”

“Forget the records. This is important.”

“Not that I care to argue with you, but the Council’s
opinion
is
important. You know what they’re capable of.”

She did, but she didn’t care right now. The Council wasn’t
here to deal with the madman.

Vale uttered one word, “Why?”

“Are you asking me or her?” Rafe put on a fake smile.

Alise aimed a sharp glare at him before saying, “Because
it’s
obvious we ran into a dead end, and Nate is the only lead we’ve got. You better
go and have a chat with him to find out what he knows.”

“Provided he didn’t get stuck in some weird timeline,” Rafe
muttered and shook his head. “No way. If we ask to see him, and it turns out
he’s missing…”

“Where is he exactly?” Alise asked.

Rafe narrowed his eyes at her as if trying to figure out
whether she was worthy of knowing that piece of information. “He’s … detained.”

“Imprisoned?” Her eyes opened wide in surprise. Well, that
was something. The golden cages had been empty for ages. If they had caught
Gorem, he would have been the first inmate in centuries. “Wonderful. So, your
reputation is already tarnished.” Alise crossed her arms and sank back in her
seat. Why had the Council entrusted them with the delicate matter of capturing
Gorem then? Was the hunt for real, or was this a wild goose chase? What the
hell was going on?

The waiter showed up with drinks that, given their exotic
looks, had to be highly over-priced. “Lunch will be ready in a minute.” Then he
walked away.

 “Since it appears that we
will
have to cross over to
free the hostage,” Vale said, “I’d rather go back than use the other portal.”

Cassie shifted in her seat and asked quietly, “Wouldn’t it
be safer to take Alise with you if you crossed back?”

“No,” Rafe said and cursed under his breath at the girl’s
ability to make him tell the truth. “If we take her there, she’ll be left all
alone when we go after Gorem.”

“Can’t other Guardians protect her?” Cassie asked.

Vale sniffed at the contents of his glass. “She’s a key
witness in Gorem’s case. Without him, though, we can’t officially protect her.
The case is not about her.”

“But it makes no sense!” Cassie said. “He tried to kill
her!”

“Tell that to the Council,” Rafe said in a dry voice.

Alise gave him a long, pensive look. She wasn’t dead. Yet.
“So what you’re saying is that this is not about my wings. It’s about the dead
Fairies.” She had never thought there would come a day when such a small detail
like her being still alive would work against her.

“Technically, yes.” Rafe nodded. “Sorry.”

“But I wasn’t killed, which makes me an unreliable witness,”
she murmured, talking to herself. Weird logic, but not so weird when the
Council was involved.

“You’re the only witness we’ve got. And while we’re on this
side, or any other side except our own, we can apply the rules the way we see
it fit. I say we need to protect you.”

“And we will,” Vale said.

Despite their reassurance, Alise’s voice came out grim,
“He’s never going to pay for what he did, is he?”

“You don’t know that,” Rafe said. “We need to catch him
first. Lots of things can happen after that.”

If there was a promise in that, she couldn’t tell. There
could have been. She stifled a sigh. She would have to wait and see. There was
no other choice. While on a mission, the Guardians had power of life and death
over everyone involved. That included her and Gorem. She could only hope she
would be the one left alive in the end. After letting her get bitten by the
Mermaid, they owed her that much.

The first course arrived, and Rafe stared at the tiny slice
of cheese with a piece of shrimp on top. “Who ordered this?”

It wasn’t unusual for Alise to be the last one to leave the
office. After taking an extended weekend off and with the upcoming deadline, it
surprised no one. She had her own rhythm, but she always delivered, so her
colleagues went out for drinks and let her finish her work in peace. She liked
it that way.

This time, she had a different reason. She wanted to make
sure everyone was long gone before she left so she wouldn’t be seen if someone
happened to linger outside. There was enough gossip going around because of a
phone call Rafe had picked up for her during the weekend. Who knew what he had
told them, but the girls were taken with the charming stranger she was
supposedly hiding.

Pain crept up along her spine, and it had nothing to do with
the absence of her wings. The damned desk was too low, forcing her to bend over
it whenever she wanted to draw something. She preferred to do it by hand
because the stupid computers never got it right, and the artificial light
applied on the rendered images didn’t look realistic enough for her, but the
job’s requirements said otherwise. She stretched her back and turned off the
tablet. She had already pushed her luck. It wouldn’t take long until someone
burst in to check on her. Cassie had sent her several messages, asking when she
was coming home for dinner. Alise wasn’t hungry, but if Cassie wanted to maintain
a sense of normality in their messed up life, who was she to argue?

After she gathered her things, Alise locked the door then
walked down the small flight of stairs leading to the entrance. The late
afternoon heat hit her with a vengeance, drawing the air out of her lungs and
closing her throat. She used to like the warm weather, but not this kind of
heat. She braced herself and crossed the platform separating her from the
street.

She was still trying to decide whether to walk the whole
three blocks up to the apartment when her vision blurred, the air around her
flickering and turning all shades of purple. No, it couldn’t be. Gorem had no
reason to be this desperate and try to abduct her in the middle of the street.
Just like with Sarah, there were easier ways to do it. Besides, as far as they
knew, he hadn’t crossed back from The Mists.

Had the hallucinations started already? Less than
forty-eight hours had passed since the bite. In most cases, the victims died in
the first twelve hours. She was lucky the absence of the magic in her body had
slowed down the process, but it hadn’t put an end to it. Madness and pain were
still going to be an overwhelming part of her future.

She stood still and waited for her head to clear. A strong
hand gripped her elbow, offering her the support she needed, and she closed her
eyes as the familiar magic enveloped her. Gradually, the world stopped
spinning, and the bright colors began to fade away. So, this was how it was
going to be from now on. She’d better get used to it.

“Did it pass?” Rafe’s low voice rumbled in her ear.

Alise opened her eyes. The light was less bright—it filtered
through the foliage of a thick tree—and the colors had returned to normal.

“Yes.”

She straightened herself up, aware that she was leaning against
him too much and people might get the wrong idea. He obviously didn’t mind, but
she did. They looked like a couple stopped in the shade for a moment. Rafe
continued to hold onto her arm, his powerful presence impossible to ignore.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Cassie thought it fit for a woman of your status to have a
driver,” he said. “Come on. The car’s in the back.” He nodded for her to turn
around. “She also seems to think I’m some sort of errand boy. She wants us to
stop by the market and get fresh fruit on the way back. Is she always like
that, or is this because of another spell you put on her?”

“Oh, that’s not a spell.” Alise smiled to herself. “She
always gets what she wants. I pity those who try to stand up her.”

“Hmm… So do I,” Rafe said after a moment of thinking. “I’d
rather fight ten monsters.”

Getting the fruits would be a hell of a lot easier and
considerably less painful, but she refrained from openly agreeing with Rafe. He
was way too full of himself already. There was no need to add to that. Coming
to a silent agreement, they headed to the market.

The rich smells and colors managed to cheer her up some.
They walked between the stalls in the outdoor market, checking the merchandise.
They had time, as it was too early for dinner.

“How about this one, honey?” Rafe held up a giant watermelon
that had to weigh about fifteen kilos. “No? We could eat from it for a week.”
He grinned and put it back in the pile.

Show off.
She stopped to look at some strawberries.

“Oh, strawberries. Good idea. Could we get some whipped
cream, too?”

“Cassie’s allergic to strawberries.”

Rafe shrugged and moved along. “So, what does Cassie like?”

“She likes them all mixed up together. She’s adventurous
like that.”

“I wonder where she learned that,” he muttered, grabbing a
large paper bag, and tossing in whatever he got his hands on.

Rafe was debating between white and red grapes when the
first gulping noise occurred. It came from the sink attached to the side of the
stall. Instead of water, muddy liquid poured from the faucet. It wouldn’t have
been a problem if it hadn’t been for the distinctive cinnamon scent. The sink
was filling rapidly, making small drops fall over the edges and splatter on the
ground, leaving round, burning patches.

“Rafe…”

“In a second.” Rafe chewed on a cherry then picked another
one. “Mmm, sweet…”

“Rafe!”

“What? It’s just a little muddy monster. Nothing to worry
about.”

True. It would take several minutes for a pool to form on
the pavement, and it didn’t look like it was going to turn into something else.
“Rafe, there are
people
here,” Alise hissed. People who didn’t know any
better and risked walking home barefoot.

“Ah, you’re such a killjoy,” Rafe groaned, but stepped away
from the fruit. He thrust the bag in Alise’s arms. Placing his hands on his
hips, he frowned at the infested sink. “Hmm…”

He glanced around, but people didn’t seem to be looking, so
he pulled out the blade and sliced off the faucet. Mud continued to gush out of
the pipe. “Damn.” He barely finished the word when a head with the face of a
dog and the mouth of an alligator formed from the stirring mud. Opening a big
mouth with sharp teeth, it bit into his forearm. “Son of a…!” Rafe struggled to
free his arm. His blade didn’t help. Each time he tried to sever the monster’s
neck, it passed right through it without causing any harm. “Crap!”

Yes, it does look like crap
.

“Hold this.” He held out his blade.

She held it with two fingers and kept it away from her body,
making a face as if she was disgusted to touch such an item.

Rafe shoved his hand right into the belly of the beast,
looking to unplug the sink. With one arm torn by the sharp teeth and the other
boiling, he managed to grab the plug and remove it. The monster went quietly
down the drain, and clear water was soon flowing again.

“Happy now?” He showed her his bloody hands before washing
them in the sink.

“Don’t worry. I’ll drive,” Alise told him.