“Me?” Madison said, shuddering. “You.” Tears pooled in Madison's eyes, escaped, and ran down her cheeks. “I've been … so stupid. I should have seen it coming. I know him. I know what he is. What would have happened if you hadn't been here?”
“You could've taken them,” Jason said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it. “No problem. You're like a … a lioness, defending your den. I mean, juice ain't all it's cracked up to be, compared with that.” He rolled his eyes and she laughed, but there was something in his expression, like he'd had an epiphany.
“I better go find the kids,” she said, wiping her tears away. “They must be scared to death.” She stood and turned toward the house, but just then she heard Grace's voice from the woods back of the barn.
“Madison? What's happening? Can we come out?”
“Come on,” Madison said, and Grace and J.R. emerged from the woods, Grace with a vice-like hold on her brother's hand. Madison sent up a silent prayer of thanks. Grace had done just the right thing. She'd taken J.R. and hidden in the woods.
Her little sister was growing up.
“Where'd those men go?” Grace asked, glancing around the barnyard. “Those were the same ones who set fire to the shed.”
“How much did you see?” Madison asked, exchanging glances with Jason.
“We didn't get to see anything!” J.R. complained. “Grace made me go in the woods.”
“Don't worry. Jason and I ran them off,” Madison said. “I don't think they'll come back.”
After the kids had gone to bed, Madison invited Jason into the house for his belated dinner. They sat at the kitchen table, and the dogs laid practically on their feet.
Things had changed, though Jason couldn't quite say why. For one thing, he'd stake his life—and Seph's, too—on the fact that Madison Moss was not in league with Warren Barber. Or the Roses. Jason didn't know how to explain the painting, and he knew it would freak her out if he asked about it. But, somehow, he no longer needed to.
“So. What are you going to do?” Madison asked Jason. So she, too, sensed they'd reached a turning point.
“Maybe I better stick around in case Brice and his friends come back,” Jason suggested.
“You don't have to,” she said. “I'm guessing Brice won't want to tangle with me any time soon.”
Okay, Jason thought, I'm expendible again. But this time he felt it was more like he had options. “Well. I'd wanted to go back to England. Hastings is planning an attack on the ghyll, and I wanted to get in on it.” He shrugged “It's probably already happened, by now.”
“So you've changed your mind?”
He nodded. “I could go back to Trinity, I guess. But, I never felt that useful when I was there. I felt like, next to Seph, I was…” His voice trailed off. He couldn't quite believe he was confessing all this to anybody. “I couldn't stand that, doing nothing. When I left to come here, Seph told me he needed me to come back, that he could use my help. But I figured he was just saying that, because we're friends.”
Madison put her hand on his arm. “Since you're friends, I think you ought to believe him.” She hesitated, then rushed ahead. “Me—I'm a mess. I miss Seph so much. I want to be with him, but I can't. And the Dragonheart—it's like an itch I can't scratch. I can't seem to get it out of my mind.”
Jason stared at her. That was it exactly. They both lusted after the stone, but it couldn't be for the same reason. Jason looked on it as some kind of tonic. He could feel the flow of power to his Weirstone, every minute of the day. But Madison didn't have a Weirstone.
Just then Ophelia raised her head and looked toward the door. A car rattled into the yard and stopped.
What now? Jason thought. I mean, this is getting kind of relentless. He held up a finger, signaling for Madison to stay put, and crossed to the door, peering through the screen.
Two people were climbing out of an old Jeep that he instantly recognized. Breathing a long sigh of relief, he walked out onto the porch.
“Jason!” Harmon Fitch crowed, a smile spreading across his face. He turned to Will Childers and slapped hands. “The dude's alive! That's the first good news we've had in a while.”
They sat around the kitchen table. Jason seemed nervous and distracted, like he was trying to think up answers to the questions he knew were coming. Madison delayed the interrogation as long as she could, making small talk, rooting in the refrigerator for drinks, pounding ice cube trays on the counter, and dumping chips into a basket.
Finally, twitchy Fitch could stand it no longer. “In case you're wondering why we're here,” he said, “everybody's been worried because we haven't heard from you.”
“What have you guys been doing?” Will asked. “Why didn't you call?”
Well, Madison thought, because Jason begged me not to tell, and threatened to tell about Grace being an elicitor, if I did. She looked at Jason pointedly, waiting for him to speak, while he looked like he kind of hoped she'd handle it.
“I did e-mail Seph,” she said finally. “And wrote a lot of letters.”
“But you said Jason never showed,” Will said.
“Well. Um. I guess so,” Madison stammered. “But…”
“It was my fault,” Jason broke in. “I was an idiot. I wouldn't let her call. I didn't want anyone to know I was here.”
Will lifted an eyebrow. “You wouldn't let her? Did you tie her hand-and-foot or what?”
“Something like that.” Color stained Jason's cheeks.
He's actually blushing, Madison thought. That's a first.
“That's messed up,” Fitch said. “What's the matter with you? Everybody was going crazy. Some people said you took off.” Fitch removed his glasses and polished them on his shirttail. “But Seph wouldn't believe it. He was convinced something happened to you.”
“Well.” Jason looked at Madison, then back at Fitch. “Something did.”
So they told Will and Fitch about Barber, and Jason's injury, and Brice Roper.
“You should've told us,” Will said, a betrayed look on his face. “Nick or Mercedes or somebody could have helped you.”
“I was going to run off, okay?” Jason's voice rose. “And I would've if I hadn't been hurt. I wanted to get away from the whole Trinity scene. And then, after, I was…um … out of my head.” He stared down at the table. “I'm better now.”
Fitch eyed him, then nodded grudgingly. “Well,” he said, “seems like things are almost as dangerous down here as at home.”
Madison's mouth went dry as cotton. “Why? What's going on in Trinity?”
“Well, for one thing, Barber's been sighted up our way,” Will said. “Jack and Ellen and Seph got into this big battle with him in some old warehouse in Cleveland and practically burned the place down.”
“What?” Madison looked from Will to Fitch. “How did that happen? Are they all right?”
“They're okay,” Will said, rearing back under the onslaught of questions. “Just some scrapes and burns,” he said. “Routine for them.”
“And?” Jason demanded. “What about Barber?”
“He got away.” Will hesitated. “Leesha Middleton told us that he was after you.”
Jason's face seemed to drain of its usual animation, and his blue eyes went narrow and hard. “Did she?” he said, in a cold, disinterested voice.
“She was the one that led them to Barber,” Fitch added, frowning at Jason.
“That was Barber's mistake,” Jason said lightly. “Trusting Leesha.” Hamlet nudged him, whining, and he scratched the dog behind the ears.
What's going on? Madison wondered. Did Jason think Leesha had something to do with…
“Anyway,” Fitch persisted. “Leesha's really helped out, and I wanted you to know. I know some of us haven't exactly…welcomed her back, but…”
“So what else is going on?” Jason broke in, still focusing on the dog.
Will shrugged. “Mercedes is building a magical wall around Trinity. Well, with a lot of help, I guess. Not that we've actually seen it, or anything.”
“They're building a wall?” Jason looked from Will to Fitch. “Are you talking about the boundary?”
Will shrugged his shoulders in a how should I know way. “Guess it's different. Like a real wall. Real for the Weir, anyway.”
“See, the thing is, Jason, they could really use your help,” Fitch said. “I don't know much about it, but seems there's a real shortage of wizards. Mr. Hastings is still gone, and it's just Seph and Nick and Iris, and a few other wizards, doing it all. Jack's helping some, but once the warriors start manning the gate, he won't be around much. It takes a lot of magic, I guess, to prop up the wall.”
“You need to come back with us,” Fitch said. He smiled crookedly. “I'll tell you one thing—I don't want to be the one to tell Aunt Linda about her car.”
Jason hesitated. Madison touched his hand and smiled at him encouragingly. “Seems like Barber's left, anyway,” she said. “It's your call, but I think you should go.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I think so, too.” He actually looked relieved, like he'd been carrying around something heavy and just set it down.
“Seph wants you to come back, too, Madison,” Fitch said.
Madison shook her head, feeling even lonelier than before Jason came. She was going to have to settle things once and for all with Brice Roper. And her mother. Somehow. “I can't leave. If Brice finds out I'm gone, he might have another go at the house. But tell Seph … I really miss him.”
