Boreal and John Grey Season 1 (25 page)

“And the mention of the spirals you told me about?”

She leaned over, found the page for him. She’d memorized the page number. “Finn says those with the spirals aren’t really Dark elves, but these robots, the Guardians, sent by the Dark elves to watch over the Gates.”

“And who’s John Grey?”

“No clue. I’m not done reading, though.” She sighed. “A Dark elf. Or a Shade, a powerful one. Finn thinks so, too.”

“Okay. And...” Mike leafed through the book, but didn’t seem to be paying it much attention. “How can I help?”

“Well I don’t know.” She winced. “Tell me your thoughts?” She bit her lip. “Please, Mike. I trust you.”

“And not Mr. hot guy?”

“I want another opinion.” Besides, the hot guy in question had fallen asleep on the couch after their conversation and she figured he deserved a small respite. She kept an ear out in case of another attack.

“If it helps, I never noticed any robots around you.” Mike shrugged. “It might be easier if I knew what to look for. Doesn’t the book say how to recognize these Guardians?”

She shook her head. “They can obviously pass off as humans.”

“Doesn’t sound promising.” Mike rubbed a hand over his face.

“Sorry,” Ella mumbled, accepted the book back from him. “You’ve just had a horrible day; I should let you rest.” She turned to go, book clutched to her chest.

“Are you kidding?
Mi casa es tu casa
.
Hey, wait, Ella. I don’t know if I can help with John Grey. But I did hear the Shades talk about someone called ‘Adramar’, calling him ‘boss’. Does this help any?”

She froze. “What did they say about her?”

“
Her
? You’ve heard the name before?”

She nodded, her mind whirling. “It’s the Queen of the elves.”

“I see. Why doesn’t it surprise me the elves are involved in this?” He squinted at her. “Now, why would the Shades have any dealings with the elves?”

Ella felt the blood drain from her face.

“What is it?” Mike asked.

“The Gates are open. Or rather, they seem to open and close randomly, letting these creatures through. And now you’re telling me that the Shades obey the elves, which is the worst news I’ve had all day.”

“Shit.” Mike ran a hand through his short hair.

“The epics say humans confused the elves with the Shades, Dave says the same, but what if there’s a connection between them? I read that the elves manipulate energy.”

“And what are the Shades? Maybe they are some form of energy loose between the worlds and the elves can control it.”

Her stomach roiled.
Shit
. She definitely had to report this new possibility to Dave.  “How are we going to fight both the elves and the Shades? The elves alone, that was bad enough.”

“How can I help?” Mike asked.

She smiled, hoping her gratefulness showed in her eyes. “You’re already helping.”

Mike bit his lip, gestured at the book in her hands. “That’s not enough. Come on, Ella. You can’t keep me in the dark forever.”

“I just don’t want you getting in more danger than you already are.”

“Nonsense. You can’t protect me.” He gave a strained little smile. “I know you want to protect everyone around you, but you can’t. Hell, my neighbor is an elf.”

Ella looked away. “Sorry for messing up your life,” she said.

Reaching over, he squeezed her shoulder. He looked so young. Then again, so did Finn, and when had age ever mattered in these things? A war was coming.

“Listen in,” she said, “as you always do. Listen for anything about Guardians, Duergar or dwarves, Dark elves, the Gates and John Grey.”

“Sure.” He seemed pleased.

“Be extra careful. The Shades broke through the wards, disregarded the charms. This is getting out of hand.”

“I’ve got a gun. Scott bought it for me. Even taught me how to use it.”

She blinked. “I thought you said—”

“I’m against violence. But I’m against dying out of stupidity, too. After the dragon... Let’s just say it put a new perspective on things.”

She laughed outright. “Glad to hear it. And remember your promise.”

“Not telling anyone about Finn. Got it. One last thing,” Mike said. “Why don’t you leave the book with me for a few hours? I’ll go through it, see if there’s anything that rings a bell from all the Shade babble I hear all day. What do you say?”

She hesitated. “I think whoever broke into the apartment today might have been looking for it. You could be putting yourself into more danger. And we can’t let anyone take it before we know what’s so important about it.”

“And what are you going to do? Stay home and guard it all day or carry it around with you as you fight Shades and whatever else comes through the Gates?”

Again he was right. And on cue, a beep came from her phone, signaling an emergency call.
Dave
. “All right. Thanks. And be careful!”

Parting with the book was strangely hard. It was her last link to Simon, the Simon she’d thought she knew, and it had become a talisman of sorts. With a sigh, she gave it back to Mike and turned to go, phone in hand.

“Hey, Ella.” Mike cleared his throat. “What is it like?”

She turned. “What?”

“Being with an elf, of course.” Mike winked. “Is he well... endowed?”

She gaped at him.

“Is the ear shape any indication for any other attributes? An extra tail?” He waggled his brows.

Her face was on fire. She patted a cheek to put out the flames. “I don’t know, okay? We don’t... We’re just partners.”

“Keep telling yourself that, girl. You just might believe it.”

She did her best not to run from Mike’s apartment, forcing her gait to be slow and steady, his laughter echoing in her ears, and her damn phone still ringing.

***

Shades had been sighted in a warehouse near the docks. At least, that’s what Ella understood from the terse message Dave had left on her voicemail.
A sighting
, he said. Helpful and informative as ever.

The wipers swished, clearing the snow from the windscreen. Finn sat shotgun, checking his gun, while she drove through the midday traffic. Armed military trucks rolled by, their passage sending vibrations through the car windows and chills through her.

It was happening. Her world was preparing for an invasion.

Finn holstered his gun, the labels in the seam of his t-shirt catching the light. She’d insisted he wear his clothes inside out, like herself, for protection from the Shades. Not that she had any proof this method worked anymore, but it didn’t hurt to try.

Finn reached into the duffel bag at his feet, drawing out a throwing knife. They had brought half the weaponry with them —
shuriken
, knives, guns, even a sort of short bullwhip. She had to wonder where Finn had found it, if he’d nicked it from the weaponry when Jeff hadn’t been looking. Finn coiled it around his arm, tucking the handle in his sleeve.

“Mike knows what you are,” she said, forcing her eyes back to the road and the changing traffic lights.

Silence greeted her words. She chanced a look and found him staring straight ahead, brows knit. “Mike likes you.” She swallowed. “Promise me you won’t hurt him. He’ll keep the secret, I vouch for him.”

He gestured at the road, and she swerved right to avoid hitting a parked car. Heart pounding, she pressed her lips together and focused on driving to the warehouse without trashing the car. 

No promise from Finn not to harm Mike.
Damn
.

The door to the warehouse stood ajar and a cold breeze whistled through. Snow swirled in the air, thin, dainty flakes, and she shivered, zipping up her jacket.

“I know this place,” Finn muttered.

“Oh? Been around here before?” Raising her gun, she prepared to enter, but Finn was faster and shoved past her.

Presumptuous
. She growled, pushing after him. She didn’t need a man — or an elf — to fight her battles for her and—

She froze a few steps behind Finn, gun still raised.
What the fucking hell?
Striding past Finn, she approached the things, for lack of better word, that lay in a heap in the middle of the warehouse. Her feet kept moving, bringing her closer to what looked like creatures from a nightmare.
Dead?
The black liquid pooling around the scaled body probably meant yes, but one could never be too careful.

She circled it, trying to control her panicked breathing, taking in curved horns, fish-like scales and heads — many heads. “What the hell are these things?” A huge snake-like trunk, thick as a sewage pipe and as long, was cut clean through, leaving a bloody stump.

Finn clicked the safety on his gun and holstered it. He seemed to think the things were dead. “Snake,” he said, turning in a circle, as if expecting someone to walk inside.

Her skin crawling, Ella did the same. But the warehouse was empty, only a baseball cap and a duffel bag abandoned on the floor indicating the workers must have fled. And she couldn’t blame them. No disturbance in the air to warn of a Gate opening. Quiet. “One snake? Many heads?”

Finn nodded, stepping around the, well, snake, studying the cut. “No wings,” he noted, as if that made any sense.

Or did it? Hadn’t he mentioned flying snakes once? “These things fly across the sky?” All her hairs stood on end. “Remind me never to visit your world.”

Finn glanced over at her, looking uncertain, but then a smile twitched a corner of his mouth.

Heh. A Finn smile. Score
.

“Okay, so this
thing
,” she refused to think of it as a snake, “came through a Gate. But a part is missing.”

“Half.”

“Half of it is missing. This is why the Boreals sent first the animals through, you said. To test. But...” She holstered her gun and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “The wolves passed. The dragon passed. Hell, you passed. Why does the Gate sometimes work fine and sometimes doesn’t?”

He glared at her until she sighed.

“Right, you don’t know. Well, at least we know the Gates aren’t stable yet, which means the elves won’t be crossing today. Hopefully.” She flipped her phone open, called Dave. “Hey, it’s Ella. False alarm, no Shades. We do have half a flying snake, though, apparently.”

“What?” Dave said, not sounding amused.

Well, neither was she. “What I said. Gate seems to have malfunctioned, cutting it in half. Better call the technicians to set up a quarantine zone and examine it.”

“I know my job,” Dave snapped. “We need to talk. Did you see the printout?”

“I did.” Briefly, and in the mess that followed she’d forgotten all about it. She patted it in her pocket. Lots of reading waiting for her: the printout, the book... “Can’t say it rings any bells.”

Something clattered in the background, and Dave cursed. “No matter. We could do a hypnosis session, see if it digs up any memories.”

“Why so interested in my supposed abilities?” Finn was frowning at her, and she shrugged. “So I was seeing things as a kid. Probably Shades and—”

“You were seeing more than Shades.”

“I was a kid, Dave. I was probably making most of that up.”