The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (4 page)

Something in his face softened. “There’s
another reason I’m here. Caleb’s gone.”

“What do you mean he’s gone? Is he dead?”

“No.” He shook his head. “At least I don’t
think so. I figured he’d come to see you.”

I wanted to drop my head in my hands and
scream, but I took a deep breath. “You think he wants to kill
me?”

“What? No. I don’t know.” He sighed and
rubbed his face. He looked exhausted. “It seemed like he had
everything he wanted at Varius, so when he left… The only other
thing I know he wants is you. I had a feeling his interest in you
would be… unwelcome.”

“You’d be right.” I didn’t bother to suppress
a shiver.

“I think it would be best for you to go back
to Varius with me.”

I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean
and he’d just pulled the raft I was floating on out from under me.
“No,” I said, around my anger and fear. “I’m not going to give up
my life here.” I knew it was stupid and futile. I knew I was going
to have to choose. Besides not having a warded place to live, I
didn’t have much of a life in Briarton anymore. I hardly ever saw
my friends and I’d only been skiing twice in three months. Most of
my time had been spent working at the bookstore or training with
Cat. Even so, the bookstore had been my lifeline, my escape, and my
sanity. It had been the one place I could go and pretend to be a
normal person, and it had been one more way for me to avoid
thinking about the past and the choices I was going to have to make
in the future. Besides all of that, I didn’t trust Jed. A part of
me suspected he’d known Caleb was going to kidnap me and he’d done
nothing to prevent it.

He must have seen something on my face,
because he raised his hands and smiled. “We’ll talk about it in the
morning.”

He stood and started back to his room, and I
began to shake just a little bit. The last place I wanted to be was
alone with my thoughts. “I don’t think there’s any way I’m going to
sleep tonight.” I didn’t like asking for his help, but I liked the
thought of being up all night even less. “Have any ideas for a
sleep aid?”

He didn’t skip a beat. “Booze. A lot of
booze. You have anything here?”

“Yeah, but is it safe?” I’d never been a big
drinker, too many secrets I didn’t want to risk sharing, and, since
I’d learned that ghosts could take over and pilot the body of an
inebriated person, I’d avoided alcohol all together. Cat drank,
though, and kept the condo well stocked.

“I’m here. You do what you need to do,” he
said with a confidence I wanted to believe in.

I swallowed hard and looked at the floor. I
probably should have considered my words before I started speaking,
but that had never been my strong suit. “I don’t trust you.”

I could feel him tense from across the room.
“I don’t blame you. I wanted to send someone else here, but no one
I know believes Caleb’s dangerous.” He snorted. “Once we get to
Varius, you’ll never have to see me again. For tonight, I promise
you’re safe with me.”

His frown couldn’t get any deeper. I wasn’t
sure I could trust him, but I was positive I didn’t trust anyone
else at Varius. “I just need to hear it from you. How could you not
have known what he was up to? Why did you leave him alone with
me?”

He walked over and sat down on the couch next
to me. “When he met you, he seemed happier than I’d ever seen him
before. I wanted to believe in him. I swear to you I had no idea he
would ever hurt you. I’m sorry.”

“So he fooled you, just like he fooled
me?”

He swallowed hard. “He shouldn’t have been
able to fool me, because I know better than anyone else how
dangerous he is. I’ve seen him… do things, morally suspect things,
in an attempt to gain power. I’ve covered for him. I always covered
for him.”

“You enabled him.” I wondered what kind of
horrible things he had covered up, but I was too afraid to ask.

“Yes. And I’m as much to blame for what he
did to you as he is.”

“No.” She felt so very tired. “I don’t blame
you, but how can I be sure you won’t cover for him or help him if
he does come for me? What’s changed?”

“He crossed a line when he lied to me and…
“He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’d love for you to trust
me, but maybe it’s better that you don’t. In our business it’s
safer never to trust anyone.”

“Wow, you’re just a big barrel of sunshine.
So if I can’t drink, what can I do?”

“Killing people usually helps me.” He smiled
at my blank expression. “You’ve still got the Xbox here,
right?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure I’m up for violence
tonight, even animated violence. But maybe some car racing?”

“I’ve got some games in my bag.”

“You travel with video games?”

His grin widened, but he didn’t explain. He
suddenly looked like the laid-back, happy Jed he was when I first
met him.

So, we played video games, with intensity and
focus, allowing ourselves to be engulfed in the alternate reality,
until I was too tired to see straight.

I put down the controller and yawned. If Cat
were there she’d be nagging me for wasting time when I could be
training. For all the good my training did her. “I’m going to miss
her,” I said.

He smiled. “Cat and I didn’t always get
along, but I liked her. She told things like she saw ‘em.”

I laughed. “Yesterday, she told me that my
lack of personal style makes me look insecure and boring.”

He winced. “Ouch!”

“Yeah. Then she said that in my case it was
probably better if I appeared to be insecure so I’d be able to
catch my enemies off guard, since I can’t fight for shit.”

“That was Cat’s favorite game. She loved to
play ditzy, gorgeous girl and then kick some serious ass.” He
looked away, his arm around the back of the couch, his eyes
somewhere far away. “She was one of the good ones. She could read
people better than anyone else. She knew I…” his gaze focused on
me, like he’d forgotten I was there. “I should get to bed, it’s
late.” He started back to his room, the room that used to be
Cat’s.

“Okay, then.” My voice sounded smaller than I
intended. “Good night.”

He froze mid-step and didn’t move for two or
three seconds. When he turned to face me, he didn’t meet my eyes.
“I’ve got sleeping pills if you want.”

“No, thanks.” My headache from the fight
returned with a vengeance. “I’ve got something.” But he was already
gone, his door closed behind him.

I walked back to my room, popped a couple of
sleeping pills, and put on a pair of Cat’s pajamas. I’d offered to
do the laundry that week and her dirty clothes were in my closet.
Her PJs were solid pink with tiny white sheep dancing all over them
and they smelled like her. If I closed my eyes, I could believe she
was there with me.

I woke to a hand on my shoulder and my first
thought was of Cat. I rolled over and smiled up at her, but it was
Jed I saw. His face was drawn, his eyelids heavy, as though he
hadn’t slept at all. Seeing his expression, reality crashed down
with an impact that took my breath away.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But we need to get up
and get packing. Varius wants us both at headquarters today. We
have a 1:00 flight out of Denver, which means we need to leave in
an hour.”

I pulled myself up to a sitting position, my
body protesting every move. I felt like I’d been slammed around on
hard concrete, beat up, and sat on, which I remembered with a
grimace, was pretty much what had happened. “I’m not leaving,” I
said, ignoring my physical pain as much as I could to focus on
Jed.

“You aren’t safe here.”

“And I’ll be safe there among the Caleb
lovers? I didn’t leave when they came after me before, and I’m not
going to leave now.” I hadn’t been safe since Caleb made sure all
of the reapers knew I could cross over to the spirit realm and
fight just like my dad could.

“This is different.”

“How do you know?”

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
“Because they’re killing people, Kelsey. The bull’s eye on your
chest isn’t just a vague threat anymore, and Varius won’t risk
losing someone who promises to be their most valuable asset.”

“I’m a person, not an asset. The life I want
to live is here. If I can’t do that, if I have to go work for
Varius because I’m scared, I might as well be dead.”

“I don’t see—”

“You don’t have to see. I’m not leaving.” I
knew I sounded like a petulant child, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t
ready to leave, and I wasn’t ready to commit to working for Varius.
When and if I did make a commitment, I wanted it to be my choice. I
didn’t want to be chased into a decision by the reapers, or by
fear, or by Jed.

His usually happy, calm demeanor shifted so
dramatically I might have wondered if he’d been reaped. I might
have if we weren’t in a warded safe house and I hadn’t seen the
same expression on his face the day before. “You’ll leave. Even if
I have to drag you out of here myself.”

“I don’t think so.” I stood and shoved him
with every bit of strength I had, ignoring the pain shooting
through me, and prepared to kick him while he was down and make a
run for it. Only problem was, he didn’t fall. He didn’t move at
all. I’d been working out three hours a day for the past three
weeks and I couldn’t move him. And he laughed in my face.

“Pack your stuff,” he said. “We’re leaving in
an hour.”

“I don’t remember you being such a jerk when
you were here before.” I hated him for not even trying to
understand my position. A small voice in the back of my brain
whined that he was just trying to keep me safe, but I ignored
it.

“I guess you just bring out the best in me.”
He walked out and shut the door behind him.

I kicked around for a good ten minutes,
trying to figure out a way to overpower or drug Jed. I considered
barricading myself in my room until we missed our plane, but I
figured he’d just put us on another flight and, eventually, I’d get
hungry and have to come out. I didn’t have much choice, and I hated
not having a choice. I decided I could use the trip to Varius as a
way to learn more about the corporation. If I hated it there, I’d
turn them down and move back to Briarton. I convinced myself flying
to Varius wouldn’t mean the end of my autonomous life. Then I
called Al, my boss at the bookstore, to tell him I’d need time off
work.

Al responded to my news with a disappointing
lack of alarm or regret. I named someone to fill in for me while I
was away and he accepted without a murmur of concern and wished me
well, as though he might never see me again. I hung up feeling more
alone than I had before.

Angelica didn’t answer her cell, so I left
her a quick message about Julia, who would act as store manager
while I was away, and tried the landline at the apartment.

Bruce answered on the second ring. “Hey, this
is Kelsey, is Angelica there?”

“She’s at an aerobics class. Can I give her a
message?”

Bruce hanging out at Angelica’s place when
she wasn’t around meant they were serious. More serious than I’d
thought. I felt a pang to realize that Angelica didn’t confide in
me anymore. “No thanks. I left a message on her cell phone.”

He chuckled. “You better go ahead and give me
the message then. It might be days before she looks at her phone.
You know how she hates to be bothered with it.”

“Oh, yeah.” How had I forgotten her cell
phone avoidance? “Just let her know that…” I found myself having to
take a breath to avoid crying. It felt like I’d never see her
again. “I’m leaving town for a bit and Julia will be taking my
place as manager while I’m gone. If Angelica could help her get the
hang of it, I’d really appreciate it.”

“You’re leaving?” He said. “She’ll want to
see you.”

I really wanted to see her, too, but I was
scared she might not be sorry to see me go. The last time I’d left
town for what I’d wrongly thought would be a permanent exit, I’d
been desperate to see her. Things were different now. “I don’t
think there’ll be time, Bruce. Please tell her I’m sorry and… thank
her for… just thank her.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll tell her. Don’t worry about
anything. Take care, Kelsey,” he said, with what I pretended to
believe was sincerity.

I started to say goodbye and stopped myself.
“Wait. Last night you were going to tell me more about the curse
she’s worried about it. Can you tell me now?” I knew I should let
it go, since there would be nothing I could do, but I couldn’t.

He groaned. “It’s just one of those old
stories that every family has, but if you really think it will help
I’ll tell her.”

He believed every family was like his and
seemed to expect me to understand what he was talking about. “Can
you tell me, too? Just to make me feel better?”

“Look, Kelsey, I’ve got work in a few
minutes. Call me when you get where you’re going and I’ll tell you
about it, okay. I promise I’ll talk to Angelica. There’s nothing to
worry about.”

“Okay,” I said. “Take care of her,
Bruce.”

I thought I heard a bit of a growl and it
made me smile to think I’d annoyed him enough to elicit animal
sounds.

That was it. Two phone calls was all it took
to explain my impending absence to the only people who would notice
it.

I showered, dressed, and packed. Two or three
favorite books, my kindle, my iPod, a tiny bag of jewelry, clothes,
make-up, and toiletries, and I was all packed. That’s all I had. I
wasn’t a knick knack or framed picture type of person. The three
pictures I cherished were stuck in my worn copy of
Little
Women
. They were a picture of me as a baby with my mom and dad,
both smiling radiantly, a picture of me and Angelica out dancing
together, and a picture of the mountains in Briarton. I didn’t
figure I needed any more than that.