The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1) (12 page)

A brutish smile curved Oxley’s mouth as he thought of his waiting target, Stone, now safely trapped in a cell.

Easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

But the last thing Oxley expected as he stepped around the corner was to come face to face with the Guardian himself.

CHAPTER TEN

(Bad) Luck of the Irish

Meanwhile, a little bit earlier that night, Dani had been unable to sleep, even though she was exhausted. In a few more hours it would be morning, and then she’d have to go to work. But sleep wouldn’t come. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the awful picture in her mind of the bailiffs taking poor Jake off to jail, along with that scary, scruffy fellow, Derek Stone.

She kept thinking about the promise Jake had shouted to her as the policemen had dragged him away, that he would find a way to get out soon. Obviously, he was referring to his strange talents for moving things with his mind.

But could he really accomplish this, even with his supernatural powers? Escape from the prison fortress that had thwarted the fiercest criminals in England?

She had a terrible feeling the guards might shoot him if they saw him trying to escape. She tossed and turned, wondering if he was dead or alive—but one thing was certain. If he did somehow escape, Jake was going to need her help when he came out, because of how sick and weak he always felt after using his weird ability.

Of course, she was not sure it was smart of her to help an escaped prisoner, but the blockhead was still her best friend. If she didn’t help him, nobody would.

And so, unable to stand the suspense anymore, she hopped out of bed in the middle of the night and got dressed, determined to go find out what was happening. She pulled on her boots, then swept her cloak on around her, fastening the clasp at the throat.

Of course, it was dangerous out on the streets of London in the wee hours before dawn, so she brought Teddy along for protection. True, he was just a little dog, but he was very brave for his size.

He wagged his tail at her, ready to go. She clipped on his leash and led him toward the door, tiptoeing past Da’s room and all her brothers, snoring on their various cots and hammocks around the messy apartment.

None of them awoke as she and her dog sneaked out. Not that they ever cared much about her comings and goings, so long as she got her chores done like their own blasted Cinderella.

Drawing her cloak nearer around her, Dani set out into the dark, foggy streets of London, Teddy’s nails clicking on the pavement as he hurried along beside her. The familiar tap-tapping of his strides and his general good cheer made her feel not so scared.

The city seemed so strange at this hour. She kept telling herself it would be light in a couple of hours. Nevertheless, she kept to the shadows so any of the bad people who roamed the streets at night would not notice her. She was glad of the wrought-iron street lamps.

They did not burn very brightly, but they helped her keep up her courage as she and Teddy hurried from one pool of light to the next.

Now and then delivery wagons rumbled by as the milkmen and coalmen and all the other deliverymen brought Londoners their supplies for the next day.

What a horrid old place, she thought when she finally reached the corner across the street from Newgate Prison.

Spooked by the great, hulking fortress, she picked up Teddy and held him in her arms, cuddling him a bit as she waited uncertainly for she knew-not-what, any sign of Jake.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, her heart sank as she gazed at the massive outline of the jail looming against the black night sky. How could anyone escape from such a place? It was impossible—even for Jake.

Dani leaned against the brick wall of the building, feeling hopeless and exhausted as she scratched Teddy, her hands clad in fingerless gloves. Her stomach grumbled, clamoring for a breakfast that would not be forthcoming.

All of a sudden, a startling sound interrupted her thoughts. She heard the start of a woman’s distant shout; at once, a strange wind began to blow.

Her dog growled in her arms.

“What is that, Teddy?” she whispered.

The distant, cold voice on the wind grew louder, but the sound of it turned into a horrible, cackling screech, and the breeze rose to a mighty gale.

Bits of garbage lying in the road began to blow and went tossing down the street. The unnatural wind blew the hood of her cloak back off her head. She held Teddy more tightly, protecting his eyes from the debris in the gale.

The dreadful sound grew even louder, like deep beating drums, a howl, a screech, and it went on and on, a roaring whirlwind.

Teddy was now barking furiously in her arms, but Dani wasn’t concerned about him waking anyone: Who could stay asleep with all the noise? She squinted against the dust blowing in the weird wind that had simply come out of nowhere.
Unnatural!
she thought. After all the strange occurrences around Jake lately, she suddenly recalled one of her Irish granny’s more disturbing tales about a creature who could make that sort of deafening scream—a banshee. Its screech could drive you mad.

“Don’t listen to it, Teddy!” Dani clapped her hands over her ears as best she could while still managing to hold her dog. Teddy was barking his head off and wriggling furiously in her arms, wanting to get down.

Dani refused to let him go, but she realized if there were banshees around here, she had better run. The noise was so awful and so loud she could barely think which way to go to escape it.

She started running down the street while trying to keep hold of her snarling, barking, wriggling dog, and, to be sure, with a dog’s excellent hearing, the sound was driving him mad, too. All of a sudden, Teddy slipped free of her grip and jumped out of her arms.

“Teddy!”

At once, Teddy ran off toward the jail, barking with every stride.

Aghast, Dani reacted on instinct, racing after him. She couldn’t let the banshees get her dog! Banshees were like witches, and for all she knew, if they caught her dog, they might throw him in their bubbling cauldron and cook him in a stew!

“Teddy! Teddy!” She ran after him, calling his name and holding her ears. She followed the terrier around the corner of the jail—and skidded to a halt.

Jake!

There was a fight in progress ahead. So that was what Teddy had been so angry about! she realized. Her dog must have heard the sounds of their battle above the clamor of the banshee. Teddy raced into the thick of the fight, rushing to Jake’s aid.

Her best friend had not only gotten himself out of prison, but he had freed Derek Stone, as well. And it was a good thing he had, for Dani realized that the people who had tried to kill Jake yesterday had apparently come back to finish the job.

She did not understand why none of them seemed to hear the horrible screeching, but they were engrossed in their brawl. She stared in shock as Derek Stone fought off three of them at once.

Jake was helping, and Dani’s jaw dropped when he used the invisible power from his hands to fling a large man back by several feet. The man crashed against the brick wall behind him, then fell to the ground, his bald head wobbling like he must be seeing stars.

Meanwhile, Teddy attacked one of the black-clad men who was trying to overcome Derek Stone.

Her tiny dog jumped up and bit the red-haired henchman in the back of the knee, clamping down his teeth and hanging onto his pant leg as only a furious terrier could.

“Get off me, you fur-ball!” The man yelped over the clamor of that horrible noise, trying to shake Teddy off his leg, to no avail.

Meanwhile, Derek Stone flattened two of the villains with a swing of the nasty chain in his hands.

Across the alley, the giant bald man had climbed to his feet. He dusted himself off and went after her friend again.

This time, unfortunately, when Jake brought up his hand, cupping his fingers as though he were trying to throw an invisible snowball at his enemy, nothing happened.

The bald man let out a brutish laugh.

Jake’s posture sagged, his chest heaved, and by the dim glow of the streetlamp, Dani could see he already looked pale from using his abilities.

The bald man stalked toward him, pulling out a knife.

Jake staggered backwards, his movements clumsy with exhaustion.

“Mr. Stone!” Dani yelled, but he could not seem to hear her, either, and besides, he was busy fighting the rest of them.

When the red-headed fellow finally shook Teddy off his leg and kicked him away, making her dog yelp with pain, Dani’s eyes narrowed to angry green slashes.
That does it! You hurt my dog?!
She stopped holding her ears from the noise and pushed up her sleeves.

There was a time and a place for respectability, but she was a rookery lass at heart. With that, she went charging into the fray with a mighty Celtic war cry.

From the corner of her eye as she ran past, she saw Teddy jump to his feet and shake himself, apparently all right. On her way, Dani picked up a rock she found lying in the road, and as the bald man closed in on Jake, she threw it as hard as she could at the man.

It hit him in the shoulder and the surprise of it made him drop his knife. It clattered to the ground.

He looked over in dull-witted shock as she barreled straight at him. Dani leaped on his back at the same time Teddy’s jaw latched onto his pant leg at the knee.

Jake stared in astonishment as Dani pummeled the bald man with a right hook worthy of her oldest, meanest brother, Patrick, who had fought in the prizefights before joining the Navy.

She hung around his neck with a chokehold, her left arm across his throat while she flailed her legs and kicked him in the rear end, and kneed him in the kidneys, aye, just like Patrick had taught her before he’d gone off to sail the seas.

Teddy, meanwhile, hung on by his jaws to the bald man’s knee.

“Get—off me, you brat!” The bald man suddenly recovered, throwing her off his back with a whirling motion and a hard shove.

Dani lost her grip on him, as did Teddy; but while the dog jumped agilely out of the way, Dani flew like a rag doll and hit the brick wall behind her.

The back of her head slammed hard, but as she crumpled to the ground, the last thing she heard was Jake’s terrified shout
, “Dani!”

Then the world went black.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Beacon House

When Jake saw what the bald muscleman had done to Dani, a fury unlike anything he had ever known came over him. His exhaustion fell away. His hands began to burn.

Oxley scoffed at Dani’s crumpled form lying by the wall. Teddy was beside her, nudging her cheek with his nose and licking her hand to try to wake her up, but it was no use. She was hurt—and Jake was furious.

As his enemy straightened up again and stalked toward Jake, the rage inside of him surged.

In a sudden, violent motion, Jake pushed the air in Oxley’s direction with both hands, but his anger infused the motion with so much invisible force that lightning fairly crackled from his fingers. Whereas last time he had merely thrown the villain backward, this time, Jake was so angry that he scooped the bald man clear off his feet and tossed him skyward.

Oxley shouted in terror as he flew straight up and was hurled over the building, flying through the night sky, to land blocks away with a great splash in the River Thames.

Jake nearly collapsed to the ground, all the energy rushing out of him.

He pulled out his earplugs, glad to hear the awful noise had stopped. But when he glanced over at Dani, he saw he had a bigger problem still.

The carrot-head was standing there, watching him curiously. “Wow,” she said. “You showed him.”

Jake stared at her in horror.

“What?” Dani asked.

She was light-bluish.

And transparent.

“No,” he breathed, and somehow found the strength to scramble to his feet, running past her spirit toward her body. “No! Dani, no!”

“What? What’s wrong with you? I’m fine,” she said.

“No, you’re not.” He pointed toward the wall.

“Oh! Oh, no,” she uttered as she, too, looked down at her motionless body. Then she turned to him, wide-eyed with panic. “Am I dead?”

“I don’t know! You can’t be.” He rushed over to her body and quickly felt her wrist. “You’ve still got a pulse. Get back in your body, now!”

“How?”

“I don’t know, just try!”

“Look at that.” She bent down over her own, unconscious form, studying herself. “My head is bleeding. That’s going to hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter, you have to get back in your body! Quickly! Come on, Dani. There’s no time to lose. You’ve got to trust me. We’ll get you to a doctor right away. Now get back in there!” he ordered.

“Bossy.” She frowned at him, then stepped with her spirit-feet onto her regular feet. She sat down carefully like a person settling into a coffin.

“Jake?” She hesitated before lying down. “If I don’t make it, will you take care of Teddy for me?”

“Of course I will, but that’s not going to happen. I swear to you,” he vowed. He swallowed hard.

“All right. I’m counting on you, Jake.”

He nodded. “Hurry up, and don’t come out of there again!”

“Ow,” she said in a small voice as she lay back down the rest of the way into her body.

“Derek!” Jake bellowed.

The warrior came running, done scaring away the rest of the earl’s henchmen.

“She’s hurt bad,” Jake said, his throat tightening as his fear climbed to panic.

Leaping lightly over the unconscious villains strewn around the street, Derek reached Jake and bent down to check on Dani. The Guardian took out his earplugs, then shook his head when he saw how this small girl had attempted to come to their rescue.

He felt the back of Dani’s neck gingerly to make sure it wasn’t broken. “She’s alive,” he confirmed in a grim tone. “Barely.”

Her frequent prophecy was ringing in his ears:
“One of these days, Jake Reed, you’re goin’ to get me killed.”
A world without the carrot-head in it was beyond his imagination. Derek asked her name, and Jake told him.