The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (33 page)

I ran my good hand through my hair and sighed. My life was probably more complicated now more than it had ever been. But I felt more peaceful than I had in years. My parents were gone and I was still dealing with that loss, but I felt better knowing Mom had never truly betrayed us.

There was so much I needed to deal with and the only thing keeping me from breaking into tears was how happy I was that Nightshade had come back to me. I’d told him the truth about my mom and sister and he had listened to every word and then told me he’d do anything to help.

I entered the Great Room to find Emory and Gavin talking quietly. Emory smiled when he saw me and Gavin waved me over and hugged me. I slid into the couch beside him and got comfortable.

“From what I’m hearing from inside the HVO is that you’ve left everyone scrambling.” Emory rubbed his chin as he spoke.

“Good, it’s about time we put them on their heels.”

“It’s not over yet,” Gavin said.

“I know. I still need to deal with Tower and the rest of the First Kind.”

“That sounds personal,” Emory said with concern.

“He made it that way; I’m just going to finish it,”

 “Do you have a plan?” Gavin asked.

“I’m working on it.” I hadn’t really thought it through beyond wanting to take down Tower. But I knew I would have to come up with something more solid eventually. I wasn’t about to let someone else set the pace though.

“Spoken like a true leader,” Emory chuckled.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Gavin and I spoke with the Mapmakers and the rogues who have broken from the Council and other Societies. It was unanimous that we all want you to take the lead in this fight.”

“What?”

“We want you to be in charge, Chloe. You’ve done more to fight the First Kind than anyone else, and you’ve succeeded more often than not.” Emory rubbed his hand along his side where he had been injured and sighed. “Plus as much as some of us would like to lead the fight, not all of us are able to any longer.”

“You lead, we’ll follow.” Gavin added.

I looked back and forth between these two men who had helped me in the last few years and saw that they meant every word. But who the hell was I to lead the fight against the First Kind? I mean, most of the time I was just doing what I thought best and trying to survive. Sure I had been in plenty of battles and had a few wins but to be in charge and tell people what to do? I didn’t know if I was ready for that kind of responsibility.

 Dad had always said he was preparing me to be able to handle any situation. I wished he was here now so I could talk to him. But he wasn’t I was alone, or was I? I had my cousin, Nightshade, and my friends and I knew any one of them would follow my lead no matter where it took us. Maybe that was all I needed.

“I’ll do it.” The words spilled out of my mouth surprising even me. Maybe I wasn’t always going to be right or do what others thought best but I sure as hell was going to try my best. If anyone was going to take the fight to the First Kind it was going to be me and my friends. One way or another, we would end this.

Status: I need a hand... no really I need a hand.

Sparks flew off the anvil as Slade brought the hammer down for one last hit. He lifted the small sliver of metal he had been crafting and smiled, satisfied with his work.

We’d been at the Reliquary for three days as we gathered information about what was happening with the Council and the First Kind.

“It’s official then?” Slade asked as he connected the sliver to the others he had been crafting the last few days.

“Yes, the remaining Council declared us outlaws and called for our capture or death,” I replied.

“My father?” He stopped working for a moment and glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Yes.” I nodded lowering my eyes. I knew Slade still held out hope that his father would side with us. But the latest news left no hope for that. The Impossible Engineers, the remaining HVO, The Doorknob Society, and The Skeleton Key Guild had all officially turned on us.

“I’m going to enjoy ripping this all down around their heads.” He laughed as he returned to work.

 I was glad he had found something to keep himself busy. I knew the strain of what was happening with his family had been hard on him.

“Soon, we’re still trying to learn everything we can before we make a move.”

“Really, I thought you were just trying to keep us here because you were busy.” He smirked as he turned to face me.

 Nightshade and I had been rather scarce around the Reliquary preferring to spend most of our time alone in our quarters. I blushed deep red and slapped his shoulder as he approached. I was glad Slade and I were friends once again. I’d been worried that Nightshade and I getting together might ruin things. I’d been wrong, Slade was fine with it.

“I hadn’t thought you’d noticed anything I was doing with you spending all your time down here.” I motioned around the Engineering room, Slade had begun using in the Reliquary.

“I like the work, it keeps my mind off everything else.” He shrugged. “Now lift your arm.”

I did as he asked, lifting my shattered and useless hand high enough to reach him. He snapped a metal circlet around my wrist and turned the dials on it. The device whirred and tightened against my skin. He took several other metal panels and placed them against the circlet and they each snapped into place. He brought my hand down and began fitting each piece against one another. Slowly my blackened and scarred hand disappeared underneath Slade’s device.

 “Okay, are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Just do it.” I gritted my teeth and felt him click the final piece into place.

Thin strands of metal shot into my blackened hand burrowing through the skin. Though most of the nerves were dead even I could feel that. I shook in pain and closed my eyes tightly as the device worked its way into my body.

“Now,” Slade said softly.

I did as he asked and activated my abilities. I focused on the device and thought of everything I had learned about being an Impossible Engineer. I could sense the device as it cut into me, attaching to bone and nerve in what was left of my hand. My powers slipped around the device and I saw just what a masterful job Slade had done in crafting it. The pain eased and was replaced by something else, a warm feeling.

I stretch out my hand and felt it move for the first time in days. I opened my eyes and looked down at my new hand. I flexed it, watching as it sparkled in the light of the fire. It was metallic and yet beautiful at the same time.

“Thank you, Slade.”

“No problem.” He smiled and I reached out with my new hand and grasped his arm.

“No, thank you for everything.” I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you,” he whispered hugging me as tightly as he could, “for being my friend.”

“Always.” I smiled as we parted and I patted his arm and headed back up into the Reliquary. I was admiring my new hand as I heard a squealing sound and looked up just in time to see a mess of curly hair rush forward and tackle me around the waist.

“Val!” I yelled grabbing her and smiling. We’d been waiting for it to be safe before we brought her here and I gathered someone figured it was time. Jess and Edgar walked up behind her both smiling widely.

“I couldn’t keep these two apart any longer.” Jess waved between Edgar and Val.

“It was safe?” I asked Jess.

“I took plenty of precautions so no one would find my signature. I watched her for several hours before I made my move, I didn’t see anyone,” Jess confirmed.

“She took me right off the street, I thought I was being kidnapped again, it happened so quickly.” Val laughed “But once I saw Edgar I didn’t care.”

She let go of me and rushed over and slipped her arm around Edgar who just smiled and rested his head against hers.

“I told you I’d get him back,” I reminded her and was so glad I had been able to keep my word.

“Yes, you did.” Val wasn’t looking at me, her eyes were glued to Edgar and she was beaming.

 “I’ll let you two catch up. I have some things to take care of anyway.” I patted Edgar on the shoulder as they walked off. I could hear Val talking a mile a minute while Edgar nodded.

“Gran?” I turned to Jess wanting to know if she’d learned anything about our grandmother.

“Nothing. I reached out to a few people but no one knows where she is,” she said with concern.

  I didn’t like not knowing where the people I cared about were. Mr. Tower had used too many of my loved ones against me for me not to think he wouldn’t hurt another one.

“We’ll find her,” I assured Jess and myself.

“Where’s Nightshade?” Jess asked as we walked along.

“I sent him to take care of something with Gavin.”

“I’m surprised you let him out of your sight.” She chuckled.

 I shook my head. It had been impossible in this small place for everyone to have noticed just how much time Nightshade and I had spent alone together.

“He won’t be gone long,” I admitted at least I had warned him not to be.

“I’m happy for you, Cuz, and for him too.”

“Thanks.”

“You two deserve some happiness after everything that has happened to us.”

“I think you’re right about that one.”

“Have you learned anything else about your sister?”

 I had told the others about everything that had happened with my mom after we’d been here a few days. I slid my new hand into my hoodie and lifted out the box Mom had given me. I turned it over and held it out to Jess.

“I still can’t figure out how to open it,” I sighed.

“None of your abilities work on it?”

“Not a one.”

“There must be something that opens it.”

“I agree, but I can’t figure out what the hell it is for the life of me.”

“Did she say anything to you? Maybe she tried to give you a clue.”

“Nothing that I can remember and believe me I’ve been wracking my brain.”

Jess lifted it to her ear and shook the box back and forth listening to it. “There better be something good in here.” She handed it back to me.

“I’m pretty sure it’s important, I just don’t know how or why, yet. But you can bet I’ll figure it out.”

“I know you will.” She gestured toward my new hand. “I see Slade finished it.”

“Yeah, it feels weird but I think I’ll get used to it.” I lifted my hand flexing the fingers out and watching them move.

“Have we come up with a plan yet?” Jess asked as we entered the Great Room.

“I am working on something,” I didn’t want to reveal too much just yet and Jess took the hint. “We have a lot more than just the First Kind to worry about now.”

“I heard about the Council declaring us outlaws. Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t do it sooner.”

“Emory thinks they were still reeling from the fallout of Storm Reach. I apparently did a good amount of damage to their loyal ranks when I destroyed their Memory Room. I woke up quite a few people who wanted nothing to do with the First Kind. They’ve been busy dealing with that. The Mapmakers have been taking in defectors for the last few days.”

“Good, I’d hate to think we were fighting innocent people. This way it’ll be us against the people who really believe in those nut jobs.”

“I agree.”

The hair on my neck stiffened as a portal opened into the Reliquary. I sensed the signature and smiled. Nightshade was back.

“God, you’re so happy it’s sickening.” Jess laughed at me.

  I grabbed a pillow from the couch and tossed it at her. She ducked and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Very mature.”

“You’re the leader, not me,” she teased.

Nightshade swept into the room and lifted me up, planting a kiss on me that I eagerly returned. He’d only been gone for a short time but with how much we had been separated, neither one of us liked being apart.

 “Would you two get a room already?” Jess stuck her finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound.

“Hi,” Nightshade said ignoring Jess.

“Hi.” I kissed him again quickly. “How’d it go?”

“Perfectly.” The woman’s voice cut through me like a knife and I was up and around Nightshade in a heartbeat.

Rosalita was standing behind him, her hands on her hips. Her deep eyes were rimmed with tears. “You made it.” She smiled and the tears rolled down her face as she held out her arms to me and I ran to her and we hugged each other tightly.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

 The last time I had seen her she was kneeling over Bodie, her beloved husband, as he lay dying. Even though it had been over a hundred years in the past, it had been an echo in time that I had watched, though not for her. And I was learning that the pain of that kind of loss never goes away.

“Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t your fault. Bodie would do anything for family.” She eased me back away from her and took my face in her hands and looked into my eyes. “That’s what we are, family, and we always will be. I’ve wanted to tell you that since the first moment I met you, but I had to wait. I couldn’t take a chance of screwing anything up and possibly inadvertently helping the First Kind.”

“I understand.”

“I tried to help you as much as I could, but in the end I couldn’t be there, not knowing what you were headed into. If I had seen you, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from telling you.” Her hands trembled as she spoke and I grabbed them holding her steady.

“You’re here now, that’s all that matters to me.” I smiled and hugged her again.

“Things have gotten even more dangerous not just for you but your friends as well. With the Council throwing in with the First Kind, everyone is against you now.” Rosalita sat down in one of the chairs and looked at me anxiously.

“I have my friends and the Mapmakers are still with us. Now that we know who the enemy is, we know who to go after.”

“That’s one of the reasons I contacted Gavin, I have news about Tower.”

“What about him?” I asked anxiously.

“He’s retreated to the Skeleton Key Guild dimension, but I learned something else as well.” Her eyes fluttered and I knew she was worried.