Love Sucks! (12 page)

I
drove straight home from the hospital, hoping to catch Ryan at the house. We had to get on this fast.

And I had to convince him to work with me. After the family meeting this morning, he'd agreed that we should all work together, but I could tell he was holding back. He was saying the words we all wanted to hear, but something in the way he said them told me that's all they were—words.

I pulled into the driveway, but Ryan's Jeep wasn't there. Would he answer if I called him? Probably not.

That overwhelming sweetness washed through me the moment I stepped out of the car and I had to stop myself from retching. It was here.

And it wanted what I had.

I had to get into the house.

The rune was a constant source of heat. It didn't burn through my pocket or anything, but it was definitely noticeable. And I was nervous carrying it around with me. The only source of protection I was wearing was the necklace Aunt D had given me last year. And although that had helped me while I was being stalked by the dichampyr, I had no idea if it was strong enough to keep a Bborim at bay.

Or my father.

Part of me just wanted to hide the rune in the house, where I knew it would be safe. But the only way I could convince Ryan to trust me would be to hand it over to him. Why couldn't he be at home, where we would be protected?

Because that would be too easy, that's why.

As I was unlocking the carport door, a car pulled into the driveway. I turned, expecting to see Ryan, but was surprised to find Malia instead.

I sighed in relief.

“Hey,” she said, getting out of the car. “I was just at the hospital looking for you. Robbie said you'd come home. I'm so sorry about your parents.”

“Hey, girl. I'm okay. Rick is doing well, the baby is doing well, but Mom is struggling. She's getting another transfusion today.”

“Wow. That sounds serious,” Malia said as she strode over to me. She opened her arms like she was going to hug me, then stepped back suddenly, her eyes wide. “Oh, sorry. I'm about to sneeze.”

“That's okay,” I said, and laughed as she fired off a series of achoos. When she finished the sneezefest, she walked with me to the door. And when I said walk, I meant hobbled.

“Are you limping? What's wrong with your leg?”

“I'm a longtime sufferer of graceitis. I tripped over my own two feet yesterday and banged up my leg pretty badly.”

I finished unlocking the door and went into the kitchen, leaving the door ajar behind me. I opened the fridge, grabbed myself a “V8,” and almost hid the rune in a carton of eggs. But no, I needed to take it with me to show Ryan.

“Have you got plans today?” I asked, my back still to the door.

“Yeah, Robbie and I are going to have lunch,” Malia said from the carport.

I closed the fridge and turned around. “What are you doing out there still?”

“I just assumed you were grabbing something real quick and coming back out. You seemed in a hurry.”

“Good call. I am in a bit of a rush. I need to find Ryan. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?” I asked, going back outside and locking the door behind me.

Malia's face darkened. “Yeah, he's at Bridget's. I actually went over there to see if she wanted to come with me to the hospital to see y'all. They were both a little shocked to see me. I swear they're up to something.”

I shook my head. “They're working on extra credit for Mrs. Christopher.”

“Convenient.” She rolled her eyes. “Will you be up at the hospital soon?”

“Yeah. Right after I find Ryan. You and Robbie have been spending a lot of time together. You really like him?”

“He's so smart, AJ. And he makes me laugh. Plus, his lips are like—”

“Ugh. Really don't need that mental image, but thanks. Y'all have fun today; I'll see you later.”

I drove straight to Bridget's house. I thought about calling first but decided against it, just in case.

Ryan's Jeep was parked in the driveway behind Bridget's car. Good. They were both here.

Ryan opened the door before I knocked. “Are our parents okay?” he asked.

“Same. Your dad is getting stronger, which is good. Mom is having another transfusion today. The docs say she needs pure Serpentine blood to heal her, but they don't think they have enough in stock.”

“She'll be okay,” he said. “I really believe that.”

I could tell he did believe it, and that warmed my heart. “Thanks. I hope so. Listen, we need to talk,” I said. “It's important.”

“Can it wait? I'm in a hurry. I have to be somewhere in a few minutes.”

“No, it can't wait. I'll just come with you.”

I followed him to the Jeep, opened the passenger door, and hopped inside. I inhaled deeply, savoring the smell of leather and Ryan. He got in and started the car. “What's so damn important?”

“Take this.” I handed him the rune.

His ears turned red, but other than that, he masked his surprise very well. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked.

I nodded. “What does it feel like to you?”

“It's warm. Like oddly warm. It feels almost alive,” he
said, turning it over in his palm. “How strange is that?”

“Robbie was right,” I said with a smile. “You're a key holder, Ryan.”

He snapped his head toward me.

“You're my Frieceadan counterpart. And we have to work together to find the other runes. Is the stone telling you anything?”

He shrugged but didn't say anything.

“Ryan, just trust me. What do you see?”

Ryan immediately let go of his poker face as the wall he had built up came crashing down. He looked at me with soft brown eyes and sighed.

“When I shoved Lex this morning, I must've touched the rune in his shirt pocket, because as soon as I did, I could see the rune sitting in a glass case in the artifact room of the library. I tried to retrieve it with one of the spells Aunt D has been teaching me. I've gotten really good with my casting; Aunt D has been working with me a lot while you and Buffy have been training.”

I giggled. “Have you been calling him Buffy in your head?”

Ryan sheepishly smiled. “Buffy the Vampire Trainer. From day one.”

“No wonder he's digging at you every chance he gets.”

He laughed. “Yeah, well, that was the silver lining to this whole thing.”

“So you have the second rune, then?” I asked as he started the Jeep and pulled away from the curb.

“No. I went there this morning to try to get it, but I couldn't. The first time I tried, I was visualizing the location of the rune and tried to pop it into my hands but wound up literally popping the rune up into the glass case and shattering it. Which, of course, set off the alarm. Good thing I was outside the building and could get away before the sheriff got there. That would've been awkward. Anyway, that's where I'm headed now.”

I reached over and touched his hand as he shifted. Warmth slowly spread from my arm to my chest to my belly. I swallowed, trying to wet my suddenly dry throat. “Then let's do this together.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, and the tension between us thickened like gravy. I let go of his hand and stared out the window as he drove. Finally, he spoke.

“My feelings haven't changed, you know,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. “I've tried, but I can't seem to find the cure for you.”

Every nerve in my body seemed to spark at his words. My heart quickened, my stomach knotted, and my fingers
itched to touch him again. I wanted to scream,
Me too!
But I knew that was a bad idea.

“Ryan—”

“I know,” he said, looking at me again with warmth in his eyes. Our gazes locked, and I knew right then that nobody would ever replace Ryan Fraser in my heart.

Ever.

I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “So, what's the plan?”

“Just go in and ask the librarian if we can please check out the ancient artifacts and assure her we know nothing about who vandalized the library this morning?” Ryan said with a smile.

“I think we might need a little bit more than that. You drive, I'll plot.”

 

The library was about four blocks from our house, and I thought it might be a good idea if Ryan and I had a diversion. So I called Ana as we drove.

“Hey, Ryan and I need you to bring Ainsley and the boys to the library, ASAP,” I said.

“Why?” she whined. “We were going back to bed.”

“Ana, we're getting the second rune and we need your help.
All
of you.”

When we got to the library, Sheriff Christopher's car
was still parked out front. Great.

“You must've done a helluva job breaking into the library with your fingertip fireworks, Ryan.”

“I did my best to create as many problems for us as possible.”

“Mission accomplished.” I laughed.

We sat in the library parking lot and waited for the kids to arrive. It felt good to just sit in silence together, with no tension between us. Well, other than the elephant of sexual tension that was in the car. But we were going to ignore that.

Ana and the boys rode their bikes up to the bike rack and parked them.

“Where's Ainsley?” I said, getting out of the Jeep.

“She wouldn't come. She's been grumpy lately. I had to hunt her down in the tree house. She's been trying to keep me out of her head. I think Robbie's been giving her mind-blocking lessons on the side, because I've had a real hard time finding her lately.”

“She's at the house, though. Right?”

“Right. She won't leave by herself,” Ana said. “Mom's accident freaked her out. She won't even talk to Aunt D or Auntie Tave right now.”

“We'll give her some space and I'll talk to her this afternoon,” I said.

“So what's the plan?” Oz asked. “Do I get to use one of the new spells Aunt D has been teaching me? I can make the lights go out now.”

“We might need that. We're definitely going to need a diversion.”

While we planned our strategy, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. We were being watched; I could feel it. And that stupid smell was back.

“Do y'all smell something sickly sweet?” I asked, remembering that none of them had smelled the Bborim that day at the farm.

They all shook their heads.

“Well, I do. I'm not sure why I can smell that thing and y'all can't, but it means we're not safe right now. It's here somewhere. Watching.”

We all entered the library together. Being a school day, it was empty except for Mrs. Horvath the librarian and Sheriff Christopher.

“Kids, what are y'all doing here? I heard about your parents; I'm so sorry. How are they doing?” Mrs. Horvath asked.

“Getting better. Mom is still in pretty bad shape, but she's trying to stabilize.”

The sheriff came out of the artifact room with his
notepad. He smiled at us, but I saw the suspicion register in his eyes.

“I lost my cell phone the other day,” Rayden said. “I think I left it here.”

“Oh well, nobody's turned it in to the lost and found yet,” Mrs. Horvath said.

“Can we look around?” Ryan asked. “With our folks in the hospital, we really need to be able to stay in touch.”

“Of course, hon. Just don't go into the artifact room. We had some vandalism this morning and there's broken glass everywhere. I don't want you to get hurt.”

We all nodded.

The sheriff and Mrs. Horvath wrapped up, and the sheriff left.

“I'll be in my office. Come get me if you need me,” Mrs. Horvath said, walking behind the circulation desk to her office.

“Mrs. Horvath, I'll come with you and look through the lost and found. Just in case,” Ana said, following.

Ryan gave his little brother a high five. “Nice job, Rayden. That's a much better story than the extra-credit research crap we came up with. Like we'd really do homework with our parents in the hospital. What the hell was I thinking?”

Ryan took over. “Rayden, hang out by the circulation desk and keep an eye on Mrs. H. We don't want her getting suspicious. Oz, come with AJ and me. We may need your help.”

Oz's face lit up like a flashlight. “Sweet.”

I could hear Ana talking Mrs. Horvath's ear off in the office, keeping her distracted. Rayden pretended to search for his “lost” cell phone, which he just happened to have in his pocket. And Ryan, Oz, and I headed toward the artifact room.

“Uh, you didn't tell me you used a pipe bomb,” I whispered. The place was a mess. There was glass everywhere, old books strewn about, and even some of the artifacts were on the floor.

“I didn't do this,” he said. “There's no way I did this.”

“The demon did it,” I said, finally realizing why I kept smelling it. “It's leaving a residue when it visits. I smell it before it arrives, and apparently I'm smelling it after it leaves. I know it's been trying to get into my head, too. I've had to work really hard to keep it out.” I opened my hand. “Give me the rune and let's find its mate.”

The stone hummed to life in my hand. I realized now that every time I practiced opening myself up to the senses around me, I was also opening up my mind to outside
forces. So I focused hard on keeping my wall strong while I tried to be receptive to the rune's message. “The stone is still here. The demon didn't get it. But it's buried under a pile of rubble.”

“Okay, Oz, I need you to work your special magic,” Ryan said.

“Turning the lights off?”

“Nope, not that trick. You're the best in the family at telekinesis. Start with the books. Can you stack them all up in a corner?”

“Sure.”

I watched in awe as Oz just raised his eyebrows and with barely a nod managed to quickly pile up every book in the room into two neat stacks.