Page 21 of Secret Origins
13
“Oh, shit.” The words were a breath passing my lips.
“I’ve never searched for bears.” The General sounded like we’d just insulted him.
“Easy there, human.” Lifting both hands palms up, Fenrir tried to calm him down. That was when I noticed the General’s shirt and jacket hanging in tatters on his shoulders. “We are not talking about animals.”
“What is going on here?” The human turned on me, his face darkening in anger as his shoulders grew before my eyes. “What were those things, Myst? This is my world and I need to know what we are up against so I can protect it. Don’t make an enemy out of me.”
“He needs to calm down.” Fenrir spoke loud enough for only me to hear, but the General narrowed his eyes at him.
“You have no reason not to trust me.” Scrambling to my feet, I faced the human. The incredulous look on his face called me a liar. “Yet. Not to trust me, yet,” I amended to placate him.
“You yourself told me not to trust you.” He brought up a good point. Me and my big mouth.
“You shouldn’t on many things, but for this you’ll have to take a leap.” Turning to Fenrir, I said the words I never thought I would. “We need to hide and come up with a plan. If what you said is true, when the cow shows up again, he will be much stronger, and I doubt he will only bring a handful of ghouls with him next time.”
“I know a place.” It was the General that offered, surprising me. I thought his rage was too strong for him to have a rational thought. “You wanted a meeting with my mage anyway,” he added when I was quiet for too long.
Fenrir stiffened, his eyes alert and his feature tuned in after the words he just heard.
“Don’t even think about it, Fenrir. Here is your chance. You want to follow the Daywalkers agenda? If that’s the case, get the fuck out of my face or I will kill you.” Rubbing the bracelet on my wrist, I tugged on it twice and the hound faded into a shadow that pulsed two times before being sucked into it, chain and all. “If you want to stick around, keep your mouth shut and stop plotting. It’s unbecoming, even from you.”
I walked away from both of them so I could pick up my sword. A twinge shot up the back of my hand all the way to my elbow when I took hold of the hilt with both hands. The broken hand might be healed, but it’d hurt for a while. Putting my back into it, I yanked my weapon out of the dirt, sinking the heels of my boots an inch in the process. With a huff, I jerked those out too, most probably looking ridiculous.
“I’ll keep the two separated.” Fenrir followed behind like a bad smell I couldn’t shake. “But you have a lot of questions to answer first.”
“I wouldn’t think you’d do anything without gaining something in return, Fae.” Flashing him a grim smile, I peered around him at the General. “Where do we meet you?”
“We go together, or it’s a no go.” The human had every right to be suspicious, but I was not in the mood for it.
“We will still know the place, you know that right?” I ignored Fenrir’s penetrating stare, keeping my eyes firmly on the human. “There will be nothing to stop us from coming back if we choose to do so.”
“I can move the safe house. If I’m with you, you can’t arrange a raid on the place tonight.”
“You think we need more than just the two of us?” Snorting, I shook my head at his logic.
“For where I’m taking you?” the smile the General gave me sent a shiver up my spine. “Yes, you do.”
“Very well.” Twirling my hand and regretting it when pain rolled my eyes to the back of my head, I clenched my jaw and pulverized my molars. “Hop in, your Uber has arrived for pick up.”
Not waiting for any of them, I stomped to the SUV, yanked the door open—using my good hand this time because I was a quick learner—and jumped in. Fenrir’s voice drifted to my ears as he murmured, “Uber?” to the General, and the human answered by saying, “You are not from around here, are you?” A moment later they both climbed in the car rocking the vehicle with their weight, Fenrir riding shotgun and the General arranging his limbs in the back like he was a president going for a drive. The Fae was still minus his illusion, all dark haired and otherworldly with his faded runes sill glowing slightly on his face. I tried but failed to hold back my laugh.
“What gave him away, General?” Locking eyes with the human through the rearview mirror, I kicked the car in reverse and pressed the gas to the floor. “Was it his attitude, or his accent that told you he wasn’t from around here?”
The General glared.
A sound like the popping of a blank turned my attention to the body of the minotaur, and my eyes widened dramatically, just like Fenrir’s. The creature’s head exploded like a melon. We looked at each other before twisting around to see the General frowning.
“We need to work on the delay. It’s too long,” he muttered more to himself than to us. The human was more resourceful than I gave him credit for. I’d have to ask him about the bullets at a later time.
I shouldn’t have antagonized him, especially when I still needed his help, but men, ormales, were so easy to rile up. I simply couldn’t resist the chance whenever it presented itself … like now. Only silence answered me, so I swiveled around executing a perfect turn to point the nose of the SUV at the road, then I used my lead foot to get us out of the warehouse with billows of dust and gravel left in our wake. Keeping it quiet, however, was wishful thinking.
“You have a hound by the Courtless throne.” Fenrir’s warily spoken words had my hands tightening on the steering wheel, and me grinding my teeth through the pain in my hand. He pursed his lips and I braced myself. “It would make sense if …” He shook his head like he was trying to stop himself from blabbering. “It can’t be. There must be another explanation.”
I opened my mouth, but no words were coming out. They died on my tongue when he reached in his pocket and pulled out the coal rock I’d given him what felt like another lifetime ago. He rolled it between his fingers, his eyebrows puckered in thought. The gasp coming from the General had my head jerking straight, and I yanked on the steering wheel to level the car, just missing a parked vehicle by a hairsbreadth.
“Good, you are paying attention instead of sleeping back there.” I grinned at the human like me nearly crashing the car had been a planned maneuver.
