Page 77 of Cedar Edge
Just as the words leave my mouth my mother jerks towards the right, her ax flying through the air and embedding in the leg of one last asshole. My father and I both look wide eyed between her and the man currently writhing on the ground.
“What?” She says with a shrug. “It’s called mom hearing. We are special that way.”
I watch as she meanders over to the bleeding villain, my father quickly trailing after her. “Do you have a plan, Bridie?” My father intercepts the man pulling a gun on his wife with a swift kick and the love that shines through my mothers eyes at the act is so beautiful it’s almost sickening.
“I thought we should ask this lovely gentleman who sent him, who he works for, you know the usual.” She says it so calmly as if we didn’t just go on a family killing spree together. “I won’t talk.” The idiot bleeding out in the snow yells. The words are honestly music to my ears.
My mother turns towards me with a soft smile, “Have you met my son?” She looks back down at him. “He has a particular affinity for making people talk.”
Twirling my knife I walk as casually as I can through the snow covered grounds, allowing the blood that decorates the blade to flip and drip as I play with it. The whistling toon that takes shape from my lips makes my father snort.
“Really?” He shakes his head at the song choice.
I shrug, coming to stand next to him. “What? I thought the twinkling tune ofHalloweenreally added to the ambiance.”
My mother lets out a long sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Yes yes we all know how much you love Michael Myers. Now can we please get on with this so I can clean my ax off?”
“He’s the greatest! I mean come on!” I shout, throwing my hands in the air. “I do not understand how this is still an argument in this house!”
“Logan, I say this with love. But between all of them he is absolutely not the greatest.” My dad claps me on the back. He’s always been a Jason fan.
“Both of you are entirely wrong on this. Neither Michael or Jason could ever hold a candle to Sam.” My mother says with a sharp glare.
“Fine, ask him.” I point the end of the knife towards the injured man bleeding out in the snow. “Who is the best villain?" “You all are crazy.” The guy says in a hushed whisper.
My mother snorts again before letting out a disappointed sigh. “You had to know who they were sending you after, this can’t be a shock to you.”
“I just did this for money.” He sobs. This isn’t some professional assassin sent to take us out, these are thugs and it's almost disappointing because I really was looking forward to torture.
My father moves closer, bending down to his level. “Talk. Now.”
The sniveling thug sniffles and darts his eyes around the three of us. “The man told us all we needed to do was kill the guy who showed up in the black jeep. He said if we did that he’d make sure we were paid out real well.”
“Did you even know who the target was?” I growl.
He shakes his head, eyes wide and face pale. My foot makes contact with the man's leg still impaled by the ax. He screams out in agony as I step down hard, making blood ooze even faster from around the blade.
I release my foot and he gasps for breath. “He said it didn't matter who was driving the jeep! That by the end of the day everyone would be dead.”
My world stalls out for a brief moment, as though I’m nothing more than an RPG character who has glitched. The worst possible scenarios suddenly playing out through my mind before my father is shoving me towards my car.
“Go! We’ll take care of this!” My mother shouts after me.
My jeep rumbles to life and as I start heading towards our home I can only hope that when I talked to Law earlier he at least got some of what I was trying to say. Because there isn’t a doubt in my mind that Royce is behind this and his target is our girl.
“Hang on Tink, we are coming.”
Chapter Thirty
Dumb Cane: “... the plants poisoning effects that inflame the vocal cord, causing muteness and an inability to breathe… the needles are irritating to the skin, and when embedded in the soft tissue of the mouth and throat cause intense burning, salivation and swelling of the lips, tongue, and mouth.”
-Fez Inkwright,Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants-
Thea
The next time I’m pulled from consciousness it’s less jarring but no less painful. In fact, if anything, the pain in my body seems to only be worse this time around. However, I count my blessings this time I’m at least not being awoken to something being dug from my neck.
Not something. A tracker. A tracker that one of them put in me.
