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C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-SIX

S
omehow Erin and I had given ourselves away. Alcais and Delia refused to leave me alone with the shy girl the rest of my visit, and I wanted to scream. Alcais watched us with suspicion, and he leveled more than one pointed look at his sister when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. I tried to pull answers from Erin’s expressions, to gather more information from her smallest gestures, but she had wiped her face clean.

I slipped away to the bathroom. I prayed they hadn’t noticed that I’d slid my phone into my pocket. It wasn’t until I had locked myself in the bathroom that I remembered the stolen book in my bag in the garage. I began to sweat as I paced back and forth in the small space.

What should I do? Where could he be? And how had the Healers learned he was alive? Tears clogged the back of my throat, and I ruthlessly stuck my fingernails into my arm until they retreated. I couldn’t cry. Not now. It would be a dead giveaway that I knew something.

I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to keep it together. If the Healers knew Asher lived, then it followed that they might know where he was. Franc must know, but he would never tell me. He’d betrayed me. He’d lied to me and used me. I . . .

Those tears rose again, and I shoved them back again.
Think, Remy.
Okay. Franc had scarcely left my side in these last visits to Pacifica. I doubted he would lead us to Asher. He was too careful. Too on guard. There had to be another way.

Someone knocked on the door, and I bashed my elbow on a towel rack. I bit off a curse and rubbed the skin.

“What are you doing in there?” Alcais asked. “You’ve been gone forever.”

I shuddered. He’d definitely guessed something was up to follow me to the bathroom. I swallowed and tried to project my usual animosity toward him.

“Piss off, Alcais. I wanted a minute alone, okay?”

The door shuddered as if he’d slapped a hand against it. “Excuse me for checking on you.” He muttered something I was glad I couldn’t hear, and then said, “Well, hurry up. You’re not the only one who needs to get in there.”

His footsteps retreated, and I leaned against the sink. He was such a prick. He’d been an ass to me ever since I arrived. He’d . . . I paused. He’d been disappearing a lot lately. I’d thought that was because he disliked Gabe or was afraid of him, but maybe I’d been wrong.

And then tonight they’d all begun acting weird. What kind of errand would Franc send him on that Delia hadn’t wanted me to know about? Franc had no idea how Alcais hurt and used Erin and Delia. Sometimes it had seemed that he almost hated his own people, or at least how powerless he was in comparison to the Healers and Protectors. How far would he go with his hatred? And then there was the book I’d found in his room. A book about “half breeds” like me. All the pieces fit in a jumbled way.

Probably because I was forcing them to fit. I hated Alcais. Was I simply seeing what I wanted to see because I couldn’t stand him?

Maybe I was off base, but it wasn’t like I had any other guesses. Alcais might know something. I took a chance and texted Gabe.

Then I left the bathroom and prayed that Alcais would lead us to Asher.

 

It was more difficult than I’d thought it would be to say good-bye to Erin. I wouldn’t miss the others—especially Alcais—but Erin was different. I’d come to care about her. I surprised her with a hug and squeezed her a little too tightly. She made a
squawk
and then giggled. I whispered, “Thank you,” into her ear, and she squeezed me back. Delia rolled her eyes when I waved, and I ignored Alcais entirely.

I followed Franc to the truck, stung by real regret that I would never see Erin again and feeling helpless because I couldn’t force Alcais to tell me what he knew. Somewhere in the dark, Gabe waited to follow Alcais. If that boy left the house again, Gabe would follow. His limbs could be half torn off, but he would still be there because Asher might be alive. My pulse leapt at the thought, and I had to shove the anxiety away again.

On the way back to San Francisco, I stared at the lights reflected on the passenger window and sat on my hands to hide how they trembled. Uncertainty howled through me. Had my grandfather’s affection been playacting—a staged game to keep me pacified? How had I forgotten that my mother had once run from him?

I gritted my teeth, anger crackling under my skin. How much did he know about what Alcais was up to? That thought nagged at me, and it killed me that I couldn’t come right out and ask without giving away what I knew. Back in Blackwell Falls, I had hoped that my grandfather would know what I was and maybe have a way to “fix” me. Or perhaps know a way for me to be with Asher without killing him. Now, I just wished that I could go home and undo everything that had happened here. I had risked everyone I cared about for nothing. I’d thought I’d gained more family, but I’d gained nothing. This community, these people—they were not mine. I did not belong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied Franc tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in time to a song on the radio. He appeared carefree. Cheerful even. Except his gaze cut toward me with an assessing glance, as if he was considering new ways to test me and push me, while keeping me in line. Was that what tonight would have been about if I’d consented? Another test? I’d wanted him to love me and had ignored the signs that I was being manipulated. It was my mother all over again.

That bitter voice in my head mocked me. Rightly so. I had led us all to this point. Either my grandmother’s death had screwed up Franc more than I’d realized, or his time leading the Healers had done it. I studied his wrinkled skin, searching for answers and wishing I was wrong.

“What?” he asked when he caught me staring.

I paused. “Nothing. I was thinking that I was glad that my mother sent me here. Thank you for taking me in, Franc.” I lied through my teeth without an ounce of guilt.

He reached over to squeeze my hand. “That’s what family does.” His hand returned to the wheel, and I fought not to wipe my fingers on the seat. “You’re pretty amazing, Remy. I don’t think I’ve done right by you since you arrived. I should never have asked you to help heal your cousin.” He shook his head in regret. “I’m really hoping you believe in second chances.”

The sincerity in his voice sent me spiraling again. Perhaps I was reading everything wrong. What did I really know? Erin had said that Franc had lied about Melinda being family. That he knew more about me than I realized. She’d implied that I was in danger because of it. When I replayed our conversation, though, she hadn’t actually said Asher’s name or said my grandfather was guilty of anything except testing my abilities. Acid frothed and churned in my stomach. It would kill Gabe if I’d sent him on a wild goose chase to find his brother. It would kill me, too.

I wanted to press Franc for answers, but now wasn’t the time. If I asked him the wrong question, he might become suspicious, and I needed him to believe things were the same as ever. If Asher was alive, my grandfather had hidden that fact from me, along with everything else he’d learned. That made him a very dangerous man.

So I bared my teeth in a smile and told my grandfather, “Of course I believe in second chances. That’s what family does.”

 

My suitcase stood sentinel at the door, packed and ready to go. I sat cross-legged on my bed, chewing on my fingernails and imagining myself as the crazy woman doing loops along the walls in
The Yellow Wallpaper
. I hated being stuck here, unable to help. I’d texted Gabe, but he hadn’t responded. Franc had gone to bed hours ago, and I could feel my chance to slip away tonight disappearing with every tick of the wall clock’s hands. Much worse than that, though, I worried that Gabe hadn’t texted me because he’d been captured. I refused to imagine anything beyond that, but my stomach churned at the possibilities.

By 3:00
A.M.
, I’d bitten my right thumb bloody and had to fight the urge to pace across the squeaky floorboards. The stupid clock was driving me mad. It had begun to sound like it ticked “Asher is dead. Gabe is dead. Asher is dead. Gabe is dead.” Finally, I gave in to the urge to yank it off the wall and stripped the batteries out of the back.

That was when I discovered that the silence was far worse than the
ticking
.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I smothered my face with a pillow and shrieked into it. The muffled yelling didn’t help, and my imagination bounded out of its confines.
Freaking Gabe.
When he showed up, I was going to—

A pebble hit my window. I dropped the pillow and ran to open it. Outside on the lawn, Gabe stood out in the open where my grandfather’s men could see him. I stage-whispered, “Are you crazy? Hide—”

He shook his head. “No need. I took care of the guys watching the house. Get down here, and bring your things.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed my purse, bag, and suitcase and tiptoed down the stairs. Gabe met me at the back door and took my bags.

“What did you do to my grandfather’s men?”

Gabe tipped his head toward a truck parked down the street. It looked empty. “They’re tied up in the truck bed. I knocked them out.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You’re not going to ask me why?”

“No. I assume you had a good reason.”

“I did. Get in, and we’ll talk.”

I followed him to a black sedan that he’d left running at the curb. He threw my things in the trunk, and we both climbed in. He’d probably stolen the car, but I didn’t care enough to ask. That was how far I’d fallen. It should have worried me, but all I cared about was finding Asher. What had Gabe discovered that we were no longer hiding our escape?

I spared one last glance for my grandfather’s house, until I couldn’t see it anymore. Regret rose up, but I shoved it down. There were other matters to deal with.

“Gabe, what’s going on? Did you learn anything?”

His quick glance only lasted a second, but in that second, I saw a flood of emotions. Hope, fear, happiness.

I clutched his arm. “You found Asher?”

“Yes,” he said in a tense voice.

A sob escaped out of me, and I shoved a fist to my mouth. I gasped, and Gabe’s fingers clutched my other hand so tightly I could feel his bones smashed against mine. I didn’t care. I gripped his hand back, and I didn’t have to say anything. He knew exactly what I felt.

“Tell me,” I demanded.

He kept his eyes to the road as he spoke. “I followed Alcais like you said. He left his house about ten minutes after you did.”

“Did you steal this to follow him?”

“Didn’t have to. He walked.” I stared and he continued, “Asher’s been just blocks from their house this whole time.”

Had I walked right by Asher’s prison? I felt sick and rolled the window down to get some air. Another thing to set aside to process later.

“You saw him?”

“Through a window. He didn’t look good.”

Gabe swallowed, and I looked away for a second. If Gabe said he didn’t look good, then Asher must be in terrible shape.

“So my grandfather’s men have him,” I said bluntly when I could speak.

Gabe shook his head again and turned the car onto the highway. “No. That’s the weird thing. Alcais went to this small cottage, and I hid nearby to watch the place. There were a few guys hanging about, coming and going as if they were on shifts. He definitely knew them, but they weren’t part of your grandfather’s community.”

Okay. I didn’t know what to make of that, except that Alcais was dead. He’d known about Asher all this time. I was going to hurt him in such a way that no Healer could fix him. He would be sorry he’d ever messed with me. The only good thing I could see about this was that Gabe and I could easily manage rescuing Asher from a few men.

“Remy, they were Protectors.”

I stared at Gabe’s profile. “No. You have to be mistaken.”

“I’m not. I knew a couple of them. At least the ones I saw. I told you. Protectors tend to know of each other.”

Why would Alcais be with Protectors? That made no sense. Unless . . . Unless he’d been working with the Protectors all along. We’d thought that the Protectors had captured Asher and me because they’d been following Asher, planning to use him as bait to catch me. But why had they kept one of their kind hostage? And how had they discovered his connection to me in the first place?

Franc.
My mind latched on to a memory. My grandfather had seen me with Asher that one time. He’d seemed suspicious, but I’d thought I’d convinced him that Asher was a stranger. But what if Franc hadn’t been convinced? And what if he’d sent the Protectors after Asher, knowing that only a Protector could capture him?

But why would my grandfather have let them take me, too? Unless that had been an accident. I’d snuck out that night. We’d thought Asher was bait, but maybe he’d been the target all along. My grandfather might not have meant for me to be taken, too. If he had allowed me to be taken, that would make him a sadistic bastard because then he purposely let them torture me. I thought about my return to his house, and how he’d used my fear to convince me to stay. Horror squeezed my heart. That couldn’t have been his plan.

Things that hadn’t made sense before crystallized, forming an ugly truth. He pretended to hate them, but my grandfather was working with the Protectors somehow. He’d sent them after Asher. And he’d continued to have my boyfriend held hostage. Franc had known that I was dating a Protector and never said a word. And he probably knew what I was, too. What Gabe was. He’d truly duped me.