Page 99 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
Gods all bless them, it did, and she sped out of the garage and into the dark night. Outside it was pouring rain and she pulled into traffic. She wished she had her phone, but of course, it had been lost somewhere along the way, as Finn’s probably had been as well. She glanced over at him and his eyes were drooping.
“Should you stay awake?” she asked.
He shook his head slightly. “No, sleep will help. Are you okay to get us home?”
Harlow nodded. They’d talked about what to do if anything went wrong, not that they’d anticipated anything like this. The plan was to meet back at Finn’s, where Larkin had stayed home with Axel for the evening.
The streets were nearly empty, likely because everyone was home or at bars watching coverage of the Solstice Gala. It was only eleven o’clock. They hadn’t even been missing for four hours. She took a risk and increased her speed, knowing everyone would be worried about where they’d gone. Soon, they were outside the city limits, past the suburbs and onto the road that led to Finn’s house.
When she crested the hill, she cried out. Finn woke up. “Shit,” he swore. “That’s…”
“Our house,” she breathed, hitting the gas as hard as she could. “Our house is on fire.”
Panic flooded her and she felt Finn’s hand on her thigh. “Pull over. I think I can portal us the rest of the way.” She pulled over and he directed her to a small grove of trees. “This is part of our property, just pull into the woods. I’ll send Nox and Ari back to deal with the car later.”
She raced to the other side of the car to help him. He was still so weak. “Are you sure about this?”
He nodded. “Yes, just… hold on tight, okay?”
She did, and they blinked between, appearing on the driveway.
“Finn,” she screamed as he fell to his knees.
Hands pulled him from her and she took in the inferno. Indigo and Meline ran towards them, and Alaric and Cian were already tending to Finn. The maters were nowhere to be seen, nor were the Wraiths. “Where’s Larkin?” she shouted. “Where’s Axel?”
No one seemed to hear her and she started toward the house. Hands yanked on her arm. “They’re in the barn with your parents.” She looked up into Petra’s eyes. The girl threw her arms around her. “Thank all gods you’re both okay,” Petra murmured.
Alaric and Cian helped Finn into the barn, where the rest of her family, including Riley and Enzo, sat in folding chairs, wrapped in various blankets, despite the sticky heat. When Finn was settled in a chair, drinking from a bottle of water, he motioned for her. “Come sit with me,” he said.
She hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” he said, pulling her down into his lap. “I’m mostly just tired. A big nap and I’ll be fine. I need you close.”
She snuggled into his arms as he whispered, “They’re going to want to know what happened. Are we talking about the big bird?”
Harlow nodded. “I think we have to.”
And so they did, everyone listening in silence. Harlow didn’t know if it was the horrors of the night, or just general shock, but for once, her family was quiet. No one asked a single question. When Aurelia simply nodded, accepting everything they’d said, Finn asked, “Where are Nox and Ari?”
Cian answered. “They’re containing the fire. We can’t do anything about the house. I’m sorry.”
Finn nodded. “What happened?”
Larkin shook her head. “I don’t know. Axel and I fell asleep watching a movie. He woke me and the house was on fire. I called Mama and everyone came home. The fire department never arrived.”
Alaric shook his head. “Fuck them, seriously. Fuck them.”
Harlow frowned, looking to Finn for answers. He dragged a knuckle over her cheek, soothing her. “My parents. They have a tendency to do things like this as retaliation for betrayal.”
He was so casual about it. His parents had set fire to their home, nearly killed her sister and Axel, and he sounded as though he wasn’t the least bit surprised. All the things he’d told her about them started to add up. How scared he’d been of them, how worried he’d been they might hurt her. This was why, because he wasn’t shocked that they’d burned his house to the ground for standing up to them. How was his heart intact? This wasn’t the time to talk about that. Later, when they were alone.
“They could have killed my sister,” she murmured.
“Not that I think they care about that,” Alaric said, “but likely they assumed she’d be at the gala. They don’t pay much attention to the intricacies of other people’s lives.”
Petra nodded. “He’s right. It’s likely they were sending a message, not trying to start a war between the Order of Mysteries and the Illuminated.”
Harlow reasoned that the McKays simply didn’t care who was hurt, so long as their message of intimidation was received. She wasn’t going to argue with Alaric and Petra about that. Not right now. “What happened after we were taken? Did Kate find you?”
