Windswept (The Airborne Saga) (23 page)

Squinting, she looked out towards the light. The room was practically invisible
, but no shadows underneath moved in the fluorescents. Before she lost her nerve, she worked on the vent. It gave with some effort and she sucked in a breath. Contracting her body as much as she could, she stuck her head out.

             
“Jerry!” A voice shouted and made her freeze. Muscles tense and heart thundering, she rushed to locate the noise. The small room was empty. The voice shouted again, from behind one of the doors. “We need reinforcements out front. The bloody press is getting worse!”

             
Doors slammed and there was silence. Once Avery remembered how to breathe again, she pushed herself out of the vent. She immediately appreciated the new space for her limbs to stretch out but didn’t hesitate. Systematically scanning the room, she found it empty of anything that could constitute a file. But it had to be nearby. There were two doors. Picking the one farthest from the voices, she listened, and then slipped inside.

             
By a stroke of luck, this one seemed better off. Cabinets lined the corners. A desk sat in the middle stacked with manila folders and the whole place reeked of coffee and mold. She headed for the desk first. If Patrick would be of concern, his files should be at the top of the desk. She pushed the papers apart, not caring to cover her tracks. The papers fluttered to the floor. They had scrawled handwriting. Maps. Signatures and indistinct symbols.

             
A full minute and nothing came through. She dropped her fists in frustration. The folders on the desk collapsed. Finally something caught her eye. But it wasn’t Patrick’s name.

             
“Eva.” Avery slid the file out and smoothed it open.

             
Her picture was fixated to the side, but covered with yellow sticky notes and spilled ink. She finally saw the top sheet affixed to the right of the folder. It depicted a map and the description ‘Suspect located. Unable to apprehend at this time.’

             
“They found her.” Avery gasped. The map was the coast of California. Though it wasn’t labeled with any human cities, she knew its location instantly. San Diego. The sound of rustling outside the building made her shut her file. She shifted her attention to the cabinets. Finding them in alphabetical order, she shifted quickly to the Smith. Patrick’s name wasn’t hidden. A wave of exhilaration coming over her, she pulled it free. That’s when the voice called her out.

             
“What are you doing?”

             
Dropping everything, she turned to see Leon posed in the doorway. How long he’d been standing there, she wasn’t sure.

             
“Uh... I...just wanted to—”

             
“Don’t tell me you just wandered in. This room is behind four locked doors. Don’t lie to me. I have half a mind to turn you in and so help me if I find out everyone is right about you.” Leon was far from kidding.

             
“Please don’t. It’s just you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she pleaded.

             
Leon was still a member of the Guard and she now knew he was clearly one for a reason. Wings halfway open and posture up and sharp, she could feel the threat in the air.

             
“You better hope I do,” he hissed.

             
“Okay, okay. Look, you know my story I’m sure. I go to a school in Alaska, the place I was before just before I came back to the island. When I was there, Adalyn—Samuel’s daughter—showed up. She warned me that Patrick Smith was coming to get us—to get me. And I thought it wasn’t a problem, but then Evelyn told me that Patrick did nothing but slip past island security. I mean even Perry told me he was an assassin.”

             
Leon’s face didn’t change for a few agonizing moments. Finally some flicker went through his brown eyes.

             
“Patrick Smith?”

             
“Yeah. You know, escaped from prison awhile back?” Avery remembered his file and reached for it. Leon took it back out of her hands.

             
“I believe you,” he said. “But this isn’t something you should be worried about. Or having to sneak around for.”

             
“The Guard isn’t here to protect me, right? What else am I supposed to do?”

             
Leon slid the file underneath his arm and scrunched up his face. Finally he settled on something.

             
“I’ll see what I can do. I’m going to walk you out of here. I won’t mention it until I know more. But first, just tell me what Adalyn told you. Exactly what she told you.”

Avery had to admit, she actually did feel guilty doing it. While her conscious mind screamed at her how absolutely right she was, her gut felt like lead. She let out a breath and urged herself to focus. She might have been going back on her word to Mason
, but some basic research shouldn’t have been huge, right?

Finding no way out, Avery began.

Eighteen

              People stared. For the day of commencement of a Prince, they didn’t stare up at the balcony awaiting his presence or at the council members who hovered in the corners. They stared at her. Or at least Avery certainly felt like it. Ten steps into the bustling highway and the prying eyes made her skin crawl. Sweeping into the nearest corner, she gasped for breath.

             
Despite the fact that the press had been arriving for weeks, the island had still transformed overnight. Delegates, lobbyists, and politicians stormed the grand hall of the capitol building. It seemed impossible to fill the vast room until she stood here now, crammed against the wall, and watching every passing eye stick on her a moment too long. The noise deafening in here, it was impossible to hear if their words were directed at her.

             
Avery tried not to let the anxiety get to her. She had barely slept recently and her encounter with Leon had only made it worse. He’d been the first to truly listen to her story and not dismiss it at the get-go. But that wasn’t what concerned her. “I’ll look into it,” he said, and nothing more.

             
A rogue harpie wing striking her, Avery shut her eyes. Coming from Alaska, she was no fan of crowds.

             
“Ms. Avery.” Leon’s voice managed to sneak through the rest and she opened her eyes to spot the man a few feet away. Even amongst his own tall race, he stood out taller and bigger than the rest. The obnoxious crowd actually split for him.

             
Avery dropped her hands and curled her fingers into fists. She hadn’t realized she’d been chewing the nails down to the quick.

             
“I figured I’d be seeing you. What’s up?” she asked after he showed. Though they were very different, Avery was beginning to grasp how the people thought around here.

             
“I think I may take you to speak with Mason.”

             
Her eyes lit up. Mason had been swept behind closed doors on the council’s floor for the preparation of his speech. She itched to see him but didn’t have the nerve to bust in alone.

             
“That’d be awesome. Can we go up there?”

             
Leon’s stone face fell.

             
“What’s wrong?”

             
Leon shook his head, careful to regain his stature. They still stood in the middle of the grand hall. Even while they had a foot radius of space around them, they were far from alone.

             
“The Guard is in place. Times like this are dangerous. So their formation cannot be truly bothered.”             

             
“Why are you down here then?” Avery asked instantly. Her heart sped up and her mind caught on. “You’re in the Guard right, why are you not up there with the rest of them?”

             
This made him frown.

             
“They chose to leave me out of the formation. It is true that I am younger than the rest. I don’t know head councilman Stern like they do,” he admitted, but never missed a beat. “But I think Mason may wish to see you. And perhaps when I am up there, I may offer my assistance.”

             
Catching onto his clear motivation with this, Avery agreed. Based on the brightness of the sun and the agitation of the loitering crowd, the speech would be starting sooner than later. Time running low, Avery maneuvered backwards and glanced up. The particular floor was mostly invisible, but Leon could get them there quickly as soon as he could take off.

             
“Let’s go.” She finally nudged the harpie who had gone still with his eyes set off in some muse.

             
“One more thing. One more big thing...” Leon leaned forward and whispered this part. “I looked into Patrick Smith. I think there might be more truth to Evelyn’s words than I originally assumed. And the council knows where Patrick is. They know what happened to Eva.”

             
She’d gone stiff.

             
“What’s happening then? What’s going on?”

             
“I don’t know. But come on, we have to go now. The speech is starting in less than an hour.” He gripped her and cleared them through the swarming people quicker than a pro-football player. His wings snapped open and the floor disappeared below their feet. He took them to the very top level—the bedroom she’d stayed in upon her arrival. The security increased the higher they flew and it hadn’t been as easy as Leon had promised reaching the top floor. Though Avery was at a visual disadvantage, she could feel him stop abruptly and hover in the air. Series of harsh whispers sounded from every different Guard around the room. It took an extra few minutes for their feet to set on the ground and Avery broke free. Orienting herself, she did a quick size up of the hallway before hurrying down to the first corner. Leon remained on her tail and stopped her with a hand when two Guard approached them.

“Why is she here?” t
he left one snapped.

Leon
maneuvered quickly in front of Avery. The other two fixated their stares on him and spoke again with the same dark voice.

“You shouldn’t have brought her here.”

“Prince Mason still ordered she be tended to. I am following orders.” Something in his voice had waivered when the left Guard took a step forward.