Wolves of Wrath: Book 4, The Gypsy Healer Series Page 12

  “The museum will be closing in ten minutes,” a woman said from the doorway. She wasn’t the one who had initially greeted them upon their arrival. “You can come back tomorrow and finish the tour if you’d like.”

  Jewel knew if they were stealing the book, the last thing they needed to do was come back tomorrow. But was the book the only interesting thing they’d find here? Should they chance it and come back to look at the rest? Surely the curators wouldn’t notice the missing book this evening.

  “If our time in town allows, we certainly will,” she said before anyone else could respond. Jewel didn’t want it to seem suspicious if they returned at a later date. Did her response make them look more or less guilty? Her brain was working overtime since seeing the text in the book disappear and then reappear … in a language she couldn’t recognize. Had it been written in Old English? She couldn’t say for sure.

  “Thank you for coming,” the woman said as she stepped aside. Understanding this was their cue to head out, they all said thank you and goodbye as they retraced their steps and exited the museum.

  When they were safely within the confines of their rental car, they each breathed a collective sigh.

  “We aren’t coming back tomorrow, right?” Z asked as he looked over his shoulder to the backseat.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea, considering we just stole a piece of their property,” Anna pointed out. “And probably a very valuable piece, judging by the age of that book.”

  “I thought it might make us look guiltier if we said we weren’t coming back. We only made it through two rooms in an hour,” Jewel explained.

  “Guilty?” Sly coughed as Z drove back to the motel. “Did we look guilty? Not me. I was trying really hard for the not-guilty look.”

  Jewel shrugged. “I’ve never stolen anything. I don’t know what the not-guilty look looks like.”

  “But you’ve done bad stuff you’ve been guilty of, right?” Sly countered. “Nobody’s perfect.”

  “Well, yeah, but that’s a different kind of guilty than the stealing kind of guilty,” she argued.

  “Is that a fact? Like did you read that in your books somewhere and store it away for just such an occasion?”

  “STOP!” Anna yelled suddenly.

  Jewel’s mouth snapped closed as she stared wide-eyed at her usually calm friend.

  “I’m sorry,” Anna said, her voice no longer sharp and high. “But you guys were arguing about something extremely silly, and we have in our possession an object that is clearly magical and most likely very powerful, and I’m a little stressed out at the moment. So let’s just get back to our rooms and figure out some kind of plan. Okay?”

  Jewel and Sly both nodded at the same time. There was an obvious Anna’s-about-to-smack-someone vibe in the air, and Jewel was glad he picked up on it.

  Anna was frustrated. She didn’t exactly know why she was frustrated. She just knew that if Jewel and Sly had continued their ridiculous argument, she was going to shove the stolen book down one of their throats. Harsh much? Yes, that was harsh and way out of character. So what was her problem? Though she hadn’t noticed it at the time, looking back she remembered something strange about the magic in the museum. It was as if something in there was trying to cling to her skin, and now she recalled absentmindedly rubbing her arms, as if she were trying to remove an unwanted lotion. The thought made her shiver, but she wasn’t sure exactly how to explain it to the others, so she decided to keep quiet about it for the time being.

  They arrived at the motel approximately thirty seconds later, as the building was just across the street from the museum. Why they had driven the car to begin with, Anna had no idea, but Sly and Z had insisted. When they were back in their room, the warlocks joined the girls, instead of immediately retiring to their own quarters as usual. Sly pulled the book out of his backpack, and she felt that same magic again, this time exploding from the backpack and seemingly covering everything in the small room. Jewel recoiled. She must be feeling it as well.

  “I don’t want to touch it again,” Anna admitted.

  Jewel shook her head. “Me either.”

  “Well, when we touch it, there are no words,” Sly reminded them. “So, gonna be kinda hard to figure out what it says if neither of you two wants to open it.”

  “It’s in a language we don’t understand anyway,” Anna said. “What good would it do?”

  “What are we going to do with it then?” Z asked. “Tell me we didn’t steal it for no reason.”

  “No, I don’t think we did. It’s important. I’m sure of it,” Jewel said. “I just don’t know exactly why or how.”

  “Just put it back in your bag for now,” Anna told Sly. “I don’t know about you, Jewel, but I need a shower. I feel gross after being in that place.”

  “I feel the same,” Jewel agreed.

  “We’ll let you guys get cleaned up, then we get something to eat for dinner, and then call it a night,” Z told them.

  They both nodded halfheartedly.

  The guys left, and Anna felt as though she was going to claw her skin off.

  “It’s the dark magic,” Jewel said.

  “What?”

  “You’re rubbing your arms, and you look as angry as a wet cat.”

  Anna huffed and sat on the bed. “Are you, I mean, do you, I don’t know, do you feel funny?”

  Jewel’s eyes were unfocused as she stared at the floor. “I don’t feel like myself. I feel afraid, angry, and irritated all at the same time.”

  “Yes!” Anna gasped. “Thank you. I’m not losing my mind.”

  “It’s Volcan’s ma—” Jewel was cut off when a large, dark figure appeared in the room.

  “You were speaking of me,” Volcan said with a smile that looked half-crazed.

  Both of them stood quickly from where they’d been sitting on the beds and took a step back.

  Anna shivered. She did not want to be anywhere near him, and yet she felt drawn to him. Damn magic.

  Volcan clucked his tongue at them. “I’m quite disappointed, my lovelies. I sent you out to fulfill a task, and I daresay you have failed quite fantastically.”

  “You didn’t bother to tell us how to fulfill this task,” Anna challenged. “We didn’t know the women would die. You can’t expect us to be successful when you don’t disclose all the information we need.”

  Volcan’s eyes narrowed on her. “What are you talking about?”

  Jewel shot her a look and gave a very small shake of her head.

  Anna tried to backtrack. “I just mean you didn’t tell us they had to be healthy. The ones we picked apparently had problems that kept them from being strong enough to withstand the force of your magic.” There, she’d stroked his ego with that force-of-your-magic bit. Maybe it would distract him from the pathetic attempt to redirect what she’d really intended to say.

  “Clearly you chose your subjects poorly. Excuses mean nothing to me. It seems you obviously need some incentive to try harder.” In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and grabbed both women by the arms. An instant later, the room was empty.

  Chapter 9

  “I suck at limbo. I’m not talking about the back-breaking game of trying to get under a stick that is continually being lowered. I’m talking about the kind of limbo that means your future is undecided. You’re just sort of there, waiting for whatever it is that’s going to happen, to happen.” ~Kara

  “He looks like he’s going to take a bite out of anyone who makes the slightest move,” Stella whispered to all the girls that were sitting huddled together.

  “Adam is keeping a close eye on him,” Kara added.

  “How are you two holding up?” Heather asked.

  Stella rubbed the ache in her chest. It was getting worse. “I’ll be honest, at the moment, the whole mate-bond thing is kinda sucking.”

  Kara nodded. “I have to agree. Although I don’t think the ache I feel is as intense right now.” She looked over at Crina. “
Do you know why that is?”

  Crina nodded. “Gypsy healers don’t usually know who their mates are going to be until they turn eighteen. There might be attraction, but there’s no pull and none of the mating signs. It’s surprising that you feel the pain of being separated from him already. Granted, it’s weird that any of you are feeling it considering you haven’t even met the males. Perhaps it’s because magic is stronger here than in the human realm.”

  “Things have been changing a lot,” Crina said. “The meeting of Fane and Jacque was a miracle that seems to have set many things in motion. Since then, many wolves have found their true mates, more than at any other time in history that I know of. And two new children have been added to the Canis lupus numbers, a very rare occurrence. Something is clearly happening to our magic. Maybe it is evolving with us.”

  “And to think, not too long ago, my biggest problem was dealing with a particularly strong-willed dog,” Heather said and then laughed. “Perhaps that isn’t really going to be any different from this new life.”

  The others joined her laughter. “Remind me to keep her and Jen apart,” Crina said to the group.

  “On a serious note,” Kara said, “I know I’m beating a dead horse, and I feel like a kid asking, ‘Are we there yet?,’ but if I ask enough, the answer will have to change eventually. So, are we ever going to get out of here? It’s not that I have anything against pixies. I’m totally pro-pixie.”

  Heather laughed. “They have been quite hospitable. I’m saying that like I’ve been able to see the accommodations they’ve provided,” she added dryly.

  “I wish I had an answer for you,” Crina said. “Peri will never stop trying to get us out, of that I can assure you. Not to mention your mates. They will continue, even it takes years.”

  Kara frowned. “Let’s go with, ‘It’s not going to years for one hundred, Alec.’”

  “You watch that show?” Stella asked.

  She shrugged. “Some of the foster homes I stayed in had caretakers who were less than enthusiastic about doing a ton of work. They watched the game show channel twenty-four, seven. Quiz shows were a favorite. And they usually had the TV turned up really loud, so it was hard not to listen.”

  “Silver lining,” Stella said with a smile, “you probably learned quite a bit from that show.”

  Kara nodded. “Tons of useless trivia. If I had Jewel’s memory, I’d totally kick butt on quiz night.”

  At the mention of Jewel’s name, everyone grew silent. They had no idea what was going on outside of the pixie realm. They had no idea if their friends were safe, or if Volcan had somehow taken over the world. Stella imagined him taking over the broadcasting stations in New York, because that’s where bad guys always take over them in the movies, and having his face plastered across the huge screen in Times Square. It was ridiculous, but it was either laugh at ridiculous scenarios or worry herself sick over all the other horrific scenarios her mind could come up with.

  Heather rubbed her hands together like an eager child and finally broke the heavy silence.

  “So, who wants to play I Spy?”

  Stella rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Said no blind girl ever.”

  “I didn’t think we were that unbearable to be around.” Z said as he stood in Jewel and Anna’s empty motel room. The warlocks had been dozing next door when they were both awakened by a sudden surge of dark magic. They hurried to the girls’ room, but no amount of banging on the door or calling their names received an answer. So Z had used his own brand of magic; his shoulder shoved into the door hard enough that the lock gave way.

  “They didn’t leave on their own,” Sly said. “They were taken. You felt that magic, and you know as well as I do who it belonged to.”

  Z nodded. “I was just hoping it was something else. I wish they were here to yell at us for waking them up.”

  “The question is, why did he take them and ignore us?” Sly asked.

  “He has us between a rock and hard place, Sly. He doesn’t need to take us back to his lair. He can trace us anywhere, and he knows we aren’t going to run or do anything to tick him off.”

  “We could go to the King and Queen,” Sly suggested.

  Z’s face hardened. “Don’t even think it. He would torture her if he even suspected that we sought out the help of King Cypher and Queen Lilly. Besides, this is our mess. They’re dealing with their own issues.”

  He saw the tortured look in Sly’s eyes. They were getting desperate. No one but the two warlocks knew that Volcan was holding Z’s sister captive, and the fae had promised her a slow painful death if the two warlocks didn’t aid the healers in their quest to produce the witches. Sly would have helped his friend Z for that reason alone, but something necessitated his cooperation—the girl was Sly’s mate.

  “So, what do we do now?” Z asked.

  Sly rubbed the back of his neck and sat down on the edge of one of the beds with a heavy sigh. He dropped his backpack next to him. He didn’t want to let the thing out of his sight for an instant, considering it held the stolen book inside. “Honestly, Z, I don’t have a damn clue.”

  “You thought I forgot you?”

  Volcan’s sudden arrival caused Sly to move so fast he fell off the bed before he could make it to his feet. Z clenched his teeth together as he stared at the fae. Even if the man hadn’t kidnapped his sister in order to compel their aid, he would still want to kill him. Problem was, he wasn’t powerful enough to do so on his own, and he wasn’t even sure who was.

  Volcan’s eyes danced with maniacal delight as he looked from Sly to Z and back again. “It was your job to make sure they did what they were supposed to, and what do I find? You sleeping, doing nothing.”

  “We have to rest sometime. We aren’t machines,” Z snarled.

  “You want rest? I’ll give you plenty of rest.” He grabbed their arms, and they were flashed from the motel.

  The reappeared in a room surrounded by stone walls. They were back inside his castle in the draheim realm.

  “You shall have plenty of rest in here, at least until I decide you need a different kind of incentive to do what you’re told,” Volcan said just before he disappeared, leaving them in a room with no door and only a couple tiny windows at the top of the twelve-foot walls.

  “This is not good,” Sly said.

  “Glad we got that cleared up.” Z growled as he took a seat on the cold floor and leaned back against the wall. He might as well attempt to get comfortable. There was no telling how long Volcan would leave them to rot.

  Jewel blinked several times, convinced she was hallucinating. There was simply no way her mother was trapped in an iron cage in Volcan’s office. He couldn’t have found her and captured her, right?

  “Mom?” the healer said as she looked at the face trapped behind the bars, a face she knew as well as her own.

  “Jewel,” the woman responded. The look of sorrow and brokenness in Gem’s eyes caused Jewel to rush forward, throwing herself against the bars. They embraced as best they could, Jewel forcing her face against the cold steel in an effort to reach her mother’s warmth. Then the older woman pushed her daughter back and gazed at her. “Whatever happens, just do what he says.”

  “What?” Jewel frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “You know what he has planned. As bad as you hate it, you must give in to his demands for the moment. But trust that his plans will be thwarted if you can stay strong.”

  The young gypsy’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of her mother’s statement. Of course, she thought, once her brain recovered from the shock of seeing her mother as a prisoner. Volcan was going to use her mom as leverage. The bastard was going to torture her mom in order to ‘motivate,’ as he’d put it, the healer to do what he wanted. He didn’t get it. She’d been trying. Her failure wasn’t because of any lack of effort. She just didn’t know how to make it work. Her mom was going to suffer. But no amount of suffering would give Jewel the knowledge she needed. T
he girl wanted to scream in frustration. She wanted to stomp her foot like a three-year-old and throw things against the wall, but neither of those actions would likely help her in that moment.

  “How did he find you? Didn’t you know he was coming?”

  Her mom nodded. “I knew, but I also knew the outcome if I didn’t go with him. It was an outcome that I couldn’t allow. So I chose the lesser of the two evils. That’s what a parent does, my precious Jewel. We sacrifice, even though it’s going to hurt. In the long run, it will cause you less suffering, but you will suffer for a time. You can’t see the whole puzzle, and though you may be angry with me at first, in time you will see what I am choosing is for the best.”

  Jewel shook her head. “I don’t like what you’re saying, Mom. What sacrifice? What are you going to do?”

  The look on her face was full of the love that only a parent could give. “I’m going to do what’s best for you. That’s my job, to always do what’s best for you. No exception, without fail, if it’s in my power. You have and will always come first. Never forget that.”

  “A reunion, how sweet,” Volcan said as he appeared beside the cage.

  “YOU!” Jewel screamed. She saw Anna jump in surprise. She had surprised herself. Jewel hadn’t known herself capable of such hatred. “YOU FILTHY, ABOMINABLE, ODIOUS, REPUGNANT, MALEVOLENT, DAMNABLE, PIECE OF TRASH.”

  “You’ve quite the vocabulary,” Volcan said, seemingly unaffected by her outburst, which only angered her more. “If you put as much effort into your task as you do your tirade of words, you might actually make some progress. But since that has not been the case, then there are consequences.”

  “Bringing my mother into this is not going to accomplish what you hope,” she said through gritted teeth. Her breathing had quickened from her angry outburst, and she couldn’t get her emotions under control.