“Why?” Conleth snarled, his angry voice loud against my ear. “So you can use her some more? Cheat on her? You don't deserve her, and she knows it as well as I do. She doesn't love you. She loves me.”
“You're right, Conleth. Jane does deserve more than I can give her. And we can talk about that. She can get a chance to know you, properly. Just let her go. Jane won't love you if you hurt her. You know that.”
Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Camille creeping up on one side, while Caleb and Daoud advanced from the other. I didn't know where Phaedra and her lot were, but for the first time ever I hoped they were nearby. Although the Alfar would have no qualms about blasting me away with Conleth, so perhaps I shouldn't have been quite so eager for the bald woman's intervention.
“Stop them!” Conleth was shouting, nearly taking out my eardrum. He'd noticed the others as well. “Stop them! Tell them to come where I can see them! I don't want to, but I will hurt her,” he said, as I felt heat at my back and saw flames start to lick up the arms holding me tight. When Caleb and Camille didn't move, Con's hold on me tightened, and I felt the burn of his heat through my clothes. I whimpered and Ryu's face grew grimmer as he gestured for Camille, Caleb, and Daoud to come round toward him. So much for the sneak attack.
Obviously having had enough of playing negotiator, Anyan suddenly strode forward. “Drop her, now,” the barghest growled menacingly. “You will die here, boy. If you take Jane first, then you will die suffering. Let her go, give her to us, and you have a chance at survival.” The big man's hard gray eyes stared levelly into Con's, and I knew Anyan was serious. I got my first small glimpse of why the barghest was a legend. He wasn't just a killer, like Graeme. But Anyan was no stranger to violence.
Conleth swore softly. He was weighing his options, and he, too, had seen the promise in Anyan's eyes. I felt Con's body tense, and I shut my eyes, not sure if I was about to die. Instead, I felt a jolting pain as Conleth used a combination of his own physical strength and his supernatural power to launch me in the air toward the barghest. The ifrit halfling simultaneously unleashed four bolts of fire-tinged power that crashed into the terrace's four trees, sending them crashing down toward us. As the others swore and fought to catch the flaming trees with their shields, I hit Anyan. It was like hitting a brick wall. Only this brick wall caught and held me. My legs dangled as his arms wrapped around me, and he held me so tightly my vertebrae popped.
“Jane,” Anyan whispered hoarsely, his mouth pressed against my ear as he squeezed even tighter. His breathing was as ragged as mine, and I realized that hostage situations made for chaotic emotional reactions.
Then I was set down on my feet, gently, as Anyan took off after Conleth, who'd rocketed away as soon as I was out of his grip. I sat down, my shaking legs unable to support my weight, watching as everyone but those still holding the trees off of us with their shields either took part in the pursuit or began furiously glamouring the human witnesses. There was definitely going to be another “gas leak” in Cambridge that night.
I sat down, cross-legged, as my adrenaline rush gave out, and my whole body sagged like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Then I heard Julian swear.
He'd been holding one of the larger trees. Phaedra had finally reappeared and was helping Kaya (or Kaori) lift her flaming burdens up and away from the café. The harpy hovered, pulling with her power from above, while the Alfar pushed from below. Together, they were piling the still-burning trees up in the huge concrete expanse next to the terrace.
But Julian was losing his grip on the tree he held, quivering, above both of us. I didn't yet know how to make my shields solid against physical entities, just magical ones, so I genuinely thought my number was up as I watched the fiery tree sway and then break free of Julian's shields.
It stopped about a foot above me, held in a net of Alfar power. When I looked up through my fingers, Phaedra was staring at me as if she wasn't quite sure why she'd done what she did.
For a second, I wondered whether she'd changed her mind and was going to drop the tree on me. Instead, after a very long pause, she gave a negligent flick of her fingers and a second later the tree landed with a crash next to the others to smolder out of harm's way.
I couldn't believe the little Alfar had just saved my life.
But from the look on her face, I was a lot happier about it than she was.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I came up out of the Atlantic, naked and dripping, and walked up to where Ryu sat waiting on the sandy beach with a towel. He held it outspread in his arms, enveloping me in both as I curled up between his thighs, resting my wet head on his chest.
Conleth was still being pursued, so Ryu had felt it was safe to take me for a wee swim. We were all knackered from our latest run-in with Con, but Carson Beach had, once again, come to my rescue.
“I can't believe we let Conleth get to you again,” Ryu's voice rumbled out from where I had my ear pressed against him.
“Don't worry, babe,” I replied, stroking a hand over his ribs. “I totally thought he had to be at the center of that attack in the Pit. He may be crazy,” I conceded, raising my face to look up at Ryu, “but he's wicked strong.”
Ryu inclined his head to kiss my forehead. “Yes, he is.”
“What I can't get over is that Phaedra saved me.”
“Well, we may not like her, but she is a member of our team.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right. That's why Jarl sent her. To be a member of our team.”
“The Alfar want this investigation wrapped up as much as any of us do, Jane. None of us are safe until Conleth is caught. Plus, we have to figure out how that laboratory of his was funded, and by whom. If we have a new enemy, we all need to know.”
I lowered my head back to Ryu's chest to hide my frown. I believed the Alfar did want Conleth caught, but I would've bet my life that Jarl's interest meant something more. We didn't know what yet, but it had to be more.
In the movies and in the books I read, everything about mysteries or investigations was all linear, and the plotlines progressed neatly from discovery to revelation to ultimate finale. So if you were smart and caring, you'd save the victims and catch the bad guys. But in reality, this “investigation” was a giant clusterfuck where we were all stumbling about blind, being toyed with by Conleth. Either that, or by whoever was behind the Chicago killings. I still didn't believe those murders had been committed by Con. Whoever it was had to be strong and well connected, and aware of what was going on. I believed they'd sent the note to Conleth, telling him about Felicia Wethersby, in order to use Conleth as a decoy to hide his or her own machinations.
And, in the meantime, we were all dancing to this mystery piper's tune.
Is this what my new life will be like? I wondered. Continually being shoved around by the Alfar or whoever else is more powerful and scarier than I am?
'Cause if that were the case, I wondered if my new life would be worth the sacrifices. I hadn't had much all those months before, when I'd learned of my mother's supernatural legacy. But I'd been free to do what mattered to me. Even though I'd lived at home all my life, I was, in my weird way, really independent. I'd taken care of my father as much as he'd taken care of me. I'd been the major breadwinner for our family for the past few years. I had made the choices I wanted to make. Even if working at a local bookstore to care for my dad wasn't the most glamorous decision, it was mine.
And now? Nothing was mine. Ryu was paying for everything at this point, which I hated. Obviously, there was no salary going into my bank account. Somebody else was taking care of my father. I was being chased by a fiery lunatic who wanted to impregnate me with über-halflings.
I just want to go home, I thought, not for the first time but with a newfound urgency. This is not how I want to live. The chasing, the running, the constant threat. This is not my life.
Ryu shifted slightly, repositioning me so that I sat with my back against his chest.
“You okay, honey?”
“Not really. But I'm better than Edie and Felicia.”
“They may still be alive, honey.”
“Do you really think that?” I asked.
Ryu's heavy silence was answer enough.
“We still haven't talked about who wrote that note to Conleth telling him about Felicia. Either Phaedra's been around, or we've been chasing after Conleth, or being chased by Conleth. I think that note is the key to everything.”
Ryu shrugged. “Maybe. But it could be something he found on one of his victims. It's not addressed to him.”
“I just don't think Conleth was ever in Chicago,” I argued. “I think whoever killed the people in Chicago gave Conleth that note so that he'd finally murder someone who would serve as the missing link between the Boston victims and the Chicago victims.”
Ryu shrugged. “If you are right, then we have another player in the mix.”
“It's gotta be whoever funded the laboratory. The new sponsor.”
