Page 113 of Echoes of War

Alexiares smirked. “Your mother taught you how to slice an Achilles? I gotta meet her. She sounds badass.”

I elbowed him in the ribs and he winced. They were kids, yet they were already racking up a body count. It wasn’t admirable, it was sad.

“I don’t know what that is,” Emma said, biting her lip. Her brows pulled together in confusion. “You can’t meet her cause she’s dead. Her and Auntie Moe would do that to the bad guys who came after us without my dad there. Auntie Moe said that’s what happens to pricks that hurt women and kids, that they deserve to die slow. And I think he wanted to hurt us.”

My heart damn near beat out my chest. I stared her up and down, recognition creeping over me. “You know Tomoe?”

I’d never known Moe to tolerate any children outside of Elie at The Compound, and even then, she and Elie barely everinteracted. It wasn’t that my sister hated children, she just tried her best not to get attached. She’d mentioned a few kids from her time before The Compound, and the pain in her voice when she spoke of them was enough for me to never pry.

Oh my fuck.

“Yeah, she used to live with us. Now we kinda live with her,” Emma said.

The world around me was spinning. My hands rubbed against my temples. “Okay, I’ll get to that later. Back to you, Elie: where is Rex? Where are you staying?”

“Riley sent the navy out off the coast of Sacramento. Who knows? I’m staying with him in his”—her finger lifted to Alexiares—“room. It’s unnecessary, I can take care of myself. I don’t need a babysitter,” she grumbled.

“This is a lot to take in. Emma,” I crouched down to her level. “This is my friend Alexiares. Can you show him where you left the soldier? Elie, grab your stuff and let’s get you home. I’ll talk to Prescott about finding you a room close to him. That way someone will be close by if you need anything until Rex gets back, but you’ll have your own space too. I’ll cover the costs. We’ll talk more over a nice meal after we wash off.”

I brought her in for another hug. The pain brought her body to a shudder, her chest shaking as she accepted the reprieve from the comfort I offered. Her whole world had shattered while I was gone and from what I could tell, she didn’t believe she had anyone in her corner. I wasn’t sure what had happened to her and Riley, but that wasn’t anything I could get to the bottom of here and now.

Elie’s hair tickled my neck as she tightened her grip on me. “Prescott doesn’t say much of anything these days.”

She walked off, heading after Alexiares before I could ask her what she meant. Harley pranced back over to me, nuzzling against my leg, and I dropped down low to rub her. Suckerpunchtackled me from behind and I was swarmed with puppy love, taking my mind off everything, if only for a moment.

“Riley sealed the gates off a week ago. We have to go in through here,” Elie said, leading us toward the long-abandoned Pebble Beach Golf Course.

We’d left the soldier tied up for reinforcements. The kids didn’t need to see what would happen to him if he felt less than inclined to walk on his own. I scanned the perimeter, nothing but tall grass and crooked signs before us. Harley circled, sitting down with a whimper around the eighteenth hole. Glancing back at Alexiares in confusion, he shrugged, the same questioning look in his eyes. His shoulders were slumped, his tan skin had paled to a greenish color. I smiled at him reassuringly, food was just beyond wherever the hell Elie was taking us.

It made sense for Riley to close off all access to The Compound. With everything going on, it was a risk to keep our gates open. I’d hate to end up in the same boat as the Titanic, but our gates were nearly impenetrable, as long as they were closed. It would take some serious firepower to get through them, and not the elemental kind, either.

Elie’s hand touched the ground, and a sinkhole opened up. “You didn’t think we’d leave you out here without a way to get back, did you?” She smirked. “It’ssupposedto be for emergencies and only accessed with his magic signature or yours, but he programmed it for me too, just in case.”

He must’ve pulled some kernels of my magic from the lamp posts that littered the city. They burned with the essence of my flame.

My brows rose. “And I suppose searching for your mom all alone classifies as an emergency?”

“I wasn’t alone. I had two dogs and apparently a tail,” she concurred, arms crossing over her chest with attitude.

Alexiares dropped Emma off his back. The two had become fast friends the last two minutes and, if I was honest, the sight of it melted my heart. “So, how did you make it through? Riley ain’t the type to do something like this without a fail-proof in place.”

Emma’s small lips pulled into a taunting grin. “Run fast and use your air magic to be super quiet.”

Alexiares high-fived her, his eyes dancing in admiration at the rebellious attribute Emma seemed to possess. Elie scoffed disapprovingly, clearly not pleased by the antics.

“It’s supposed to close within seconds after I pass through, but only if there’s nobody within a few feet of me. Which there clearly was. I took off as soon as my feet hit the ground. I’m sorry,” Elie said. “I could’ve let someone in and wouldn’t have even known.” She stared down, kicking dirt into the hole absentmindedly.

I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, Elie. No one’s expecting you to think of these things. It’s not your responsibility. And honestly, Riley should’ve known you would use and abuse this system, anyway.”

She smiled at me, taking a step closer to the sinkhole. “Keep your hands close to your chest and, um, put your weapons away, safety’s on. Don’t want the air to fire them off or anything.”

Elie hopped in, poised as if she were going down a slide before I had the chance to question her further. Harley and Suckerpunch went in after her. A gleeful series of howls and barks sounded through the air and I chuckled. Those two were seriously something else. It was good to be home.

Alexiares prodded Emma to go next. She double-checked the safety on her gun, then disappeared into the ground.

“After you, princess,” he said, offering me a hand.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re catching me off guard with your gentleman bullshit. I think I liked you better with fire under your ass.”

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