The Lost Saint

  The only thing that confused me more than Talbot’s betrayal was Jude’s involvement in all of this. I’d thought Jude was being held captive by the gang—forced to do their bidding against his will. But according to the scene unfolding before me, Jude wasn’t a prisoner here. Talbot was the gang’s beta, but Jude definitely had some influence or control. Could I possibly hope that he was just biding his time until he could use that influence to help me escape?

  I’d broken rule number one—I’d dropped my guard in so many ways the last couple of weeks. With the wolf. With Talbot. With Jude. And now I was paying the price.

  “Talbot lies,” Jude said to the person I assumed was up on the balcony. “He cares for her. They were planning on running away.”

  “What Jude heard me say was only my plan to get the girl to trust me. Which would have worked if he hadn’t shown up and made a mess of things. I do not need to be second-guessed in my methods.” He turned his glare on Jude. “How bad did you screw this all up? Did you even bother to leave an effective trail behind you?”

  Jude glared at Talbot. “Of course I did.”

  “Enough!” snarled a voice from up above us. It echoed off the warehouse walls. Something about that voice made me want to sink into the ground. Made me feel exposed, ripped open. “Talbot goes free. Jude, take the girl to the room. Then come to me so we can discuss your interference.”

  Jude ducked his head like a scolded pup. “Yes, Father.”

  Talbot smirked at Jude as two of the Gelals stepped forward and cut the cording from his wrists and ankles. He stood up and stretched, and the wound on his forehead healed over. He turned to face the teen boys who still watched us with rapt attention.

  “I say this calls for a celebration,” he said to the boys. “Let’s all go to the club.”

  “But you never let us go,” the youngest boy said, his voice cracking with puberty. He indicated himself and the three next smallest of the boys.

  “Well, then, today’s your lucky day, Ryan. We’re all leaving for a while.” He glanced at me for the first time since we left Rose Crest. His eyes were void of emotion. “We have to make sure there’s ample opportunity.”

  Ample opportunity? For what?

  Talbot looked at Jude. “What are you waiting for, boy? You heard the Father. Take her to the room.”

  Jude snatched me up in his arms and carried me toward a door marked BREAK ROOM. It must have been a sign left over from when this was an actual warehouse. I thought about struggling, trying to break free of his arms. But where would I go? How could I even run with the cording on my feet? Besides, if I struggled, then they would send someone to help Jude. And that meant I wouldn’t have a chance to talk to him alone.

  A table and chairs and an old green refrigerator populated the room. From the smell leaking out from the fridge door, I assumed it was packed with takeout boxes and at least a dozen half-eaten pizzas.

  Jude dumped me in a chair. He grabbed a coil of rope off the table and started tying me up. I stared at the crown of his dark brown hair as he wrapped the rope around my middle.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  Jude didn’t answer. He pulled the ropes tighter. I winced.

  “Then help me at least understand,” I pleaded. “Why would you call and try to warn me about the Shadow Kings if you were working for them all along?”

  Jude looked up at me. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “What are you talking about? I didn’t call you.”

  “Yes, you did. I’d know your voice anywhere.”

  Jude shook his head and went back to securing the ropes to the chair.

  How can he not remember this?

  “You were worried about me. You called me on Daniel’s phone from inside his apartment. You said someone was coming for me. You even tried to warn me about Talbot—only I didn’t know that’s who you were talking about. You said the exact same thing you said in the parking lot behind the hardware store. That he makes you think you can trust him, but you can’t.”

  “Shut up,” Jude said. “I didn’t call you. Stop trying to confuse me.”

  “You did call. Which means deep down inside, you still care. My brother’s in there somewhere.”

  “I said, shut up!” Jude raised his hand like he wanted to strike my face. “I would never call to warn you.”

  “But you did. The night the gang trashed Day’s Market. I bet you snuck away just so you could find me.” I took a breath. “And you texted April on Monday. And you’ve even left comments on her blog. Don’t you remember that?”

  Jude lowered his hand and glanced at my face. A slight look of recognition flashed over his eyes. He shook his head and backed away toward the door. “Be sure to yell real loud if you hear someone coming.” He thumbed in the direction of the cracked window. “Wouldn’t want Daniel to miss you after all this trouble.”

  He smirked and closed the break-room door behind him as he left.

  This was a trap!

  A trap to catch Daniel.

  They were counting on his finding me. Hoping he’d follow their trail here. They left the warehouse to make it look like they weren’t watching, and now they wanted me to scream for help.

  But how were they so sure Daniel would come?

  I hadn’t seen him in days. I didn’t even know if he wanted anything to do with me anymore. Would he even come if he found out I was in trouble?

  Simultaneously, my heart filled with hope and dread.

  Yes, if Daniel is the person I know him to be—he’ll come for me no matter what.

  LATER

  I rocked back and forth in my chair, trying to loosen my bonds. I needed to get out of here on my own before Daniel found me. Find him before he even got near this place. Now if only I had Baby James’s talent for pulling a Houdini out of his booster-seat restraints. That thought made my heart heavy. What if I never saw my family again?

  My muscles tensed and ached, bidding me to use my abilities. But I didn’t trust my powers anymore. I didn’t trust myself. What if I gave the wolf too much leeway again and it completely took over?

  But getting out of here before they trapped Daniel was more important. I had to take the risk.

  I concentrated on the slight, warm pulse of my moonstone necklace against my chest and siphoned a small amount of power into my arms. I struggled harder against my bonds. The ropes burned my skin, but I didn’t have time to devote any power or self-control to healing the tender wounds.

  The cording around my arms must have been lined with some kind of metal, because they barely loosened in response to my struggles. If only I could break free of that, the ropes binding me to the chair would be no problem at all. I rocked too hard, and the chair fell backward. It slammed into the ground, and I smacked my head on the concrete—which only made my splitting headache worse—and pinned my arms behind me with my own weight. I used my momentum to turn the chair, and myself, to the side. But now one of my shoulders was pinned; the weight of the chair and my body dug into it with aching force.

  The whole situation seemed utterly hopeless, but I didn’t stop.

  What felt like an hour passed, but for all I really knew, it could have been only a few minutes. The warehouse was still empty—at least from what I could hear. The noises out on the street grew quieter as the night got darker. I had no more feeling in my trapped arm, and I didn’t know how much longer I could go before I had no feeling left inside of me at all.

  A few more minutes passed, and then I heard the break-room door creak open. I lolled my head in the direction of the noise, expecting to find Jude or Talbot checking on me, but I watched with shock as two people crept into the room. One man was dressed in a brown hooded robe—and the other was Daniel.

  “Gracie,” he said, and rushed over to me as quietly as he could.

  “Run!” I whispered. “It’s a trap. Get out of here!”

  “I know. You were too easy to find. But we still have to try.” He pulled my chair upright and tugged at t
he ropes, but they didn’t budge.

  The man in the hooded robe riffled through the drawers in the counter. He pulled out a serrated knife and approached us. He pushed the hood of his robe off his head and handed the knife to Daniel.

  “Gabriel?” I looked at Daniel as he went to work cutting the ropes from the chair. “What the heck is he doing here?” Not that I was ungrateful for his assistance—just surprised, considering our history.

  “Gabriel is the one who followed you here.”

  “Your mother got concerned when she couldn’t find you at the festival,” Gabriel said as he worked on unwinding the cording that bound my ankles. “Then your sister said she saw you leave Main Street with a boy. I found your basket in the parking lot behind the hardware store and then followed the trail here. I called Daniel as soon as I could.”

  “Luckily, I was already on my way home,” Daniel said. “I wasn’t too far from the city.” He cut through the last rope and pulled me out of the chair.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked.

  “No.” He brushed a curling strand of my hair off my face. “But I’ve found what I need.”

  I got lost in his deep, dark eyes for a moment.

  “We should go,” Gabriel said.

  “Right.” Daniel pulled the cording from my wrists and then locked hands with me. “Stay as close to me as you can. We came in through an entrance in The Depot. There’s an underground corridor linking these two buildings together.”

  “So this is the warehouse next to the club?”

  Daniel nodded. “You ready? We’re going to make a run for it.”

  I stretched out my arms and legs, happy for some relief. “They’re probably waiting for us.”

  “We’ll just have to see.”

  Gabriel went out of the break-room door first. Daniel and I followed, hand in hand. We stayed close to the wall, surveying the warehouse. All seemed quiet. The barracks were empty. I looked up at the balcony and the darkened windows of the upper office next to it. There was no sign of whomever had been up there before.

  Daniel tightened his grip on my hand. “There’s another exit over there. It looks like it’s padlocked, but with the three of us working together, I bet we can break it loose. I don’t want to risk the corridor. It’s too boxed in.”

  “Sounds good,” Gabriel said.

  “Ready? Run.”

  Daniel bolted for the door, and I ran with him. Gabriel followed close behind. We made it to the door, and the warehouse still seemed as empty as before. Were we really going to make it out? Daniel tried yanking on the lock. The metal loop stretched a bit. He shook his head. “Grace, can you do it?”

  I felt a rumbling under the heels of my boots. Something was happening inside the building somewhere. I let a small burst of power into my arm as I grabbed the lock and yanked on it. It broke free in my hand. Then I heard a clanking noise from behind us. Daniel went for the doorknob, but I swung around and looked back as the gate of the freight elevator lifted and a pack of boys came rushing in our direction. The door must have still been locked from the outside. It wouldn’t open. Daniel put all his energy into kicking at it, over and over again. Then we both kicked together, and I heard the dead bolt crunch through the wood frame. Moonlight flooded in through the crack in the door. But before we could get out, someone was on top of Daniel, pulling him back. I heard Gabriel shout, but I knew he wouldn’t fight back. Someone else grabbed me.

  I remember screaming. I remember fighting. I remember watching Daniel try to grapple with the person who’d grabbed him. But before I knew what was happening, I’d been seized by three guys who pulled me away from the open door. Another three had Daniel.

  Jude led the pack as Daniel, Gabriel, and I were dragged up the stairs and then into the dark upper-level room. It looked like it had once been a large office, but it was now decked out like a luxury hotel room from the Victorian era. Thick, plush curtains covered the windows that would normally look down on the warehouse floor. A large wardrobe was tucked away in one corner, and the only light in the room came from the flickering of a dozen candles on an ornately carved table. A large four-poster bed filled the middle of the room, covered with a lush velvet bedspread and pillows. While the boys downstairs slept on warehouse shelves, whoever occupied this room obviously cared much more for his own comfort.

  Talbot stood by one of the bedposts, and I assumed this was his room until he directed our attention to a dark, recessed alcove. With a bowed head, Jude went to stand beside Talbot.

  “Now that you’re all finally here,” Talbot said, “our father wishes to see you.”

  The boys who held my arms stiffened and exchanged a half-horrified, half-delighted look. Almost as if this was the first time they’d even seen their “father.”

  “You made it too easy,” a voice snarled from the shadows of the alcove. Something body-shaped shifted, and then two yellow glowing eyes appeared in the dark. “It almost ruined the fun.”

  That voice. What is it about that voice? Something about it makes me feel like I’ve been ripped open.

  Daniel’s face went ashy white. He took a step back, but one of his captors pushed him forward. Did the voice sound familiar to him also?

  “This is a game to you?” I asked. “Who are you? Tell us what you want with us.”

  “Oh, you always were a bossy little brat,” that eerie voice said. “I never could stand you and that obnoxious little dog of yours. Do you have any idea how much I enjoyed watching your face when you found her dead on your porch? Almost as much fun as ripping out her throat.”

  The man laughed and stepped out of the shadows. He had hair so blond it was practically white, a large cleft in his chin, and a crooked, evil smile. He looked almost exactly the same as the few times I’d seen him when I was a kid.

  “You,” Daniel said under his breath, like he was cursing.

  I shot a look at him. His face was so pale I thought he was in danger of passing out. My stomach clenched into a knot.

  “Caleb Kalbi,” Gabriel said, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Finishing what should have been done the moment Daniel was born.” Caleb turned his murderous eyes on his son. “I should have smothered you before you took your first breath.” He stepped toward Daniel, his hand outstretched like he wanted to snap his neck.

  “Don’t you touch him!” I shouted, and pulled against the guys holding my arms.

  Caleb laughed. “Oh, you are a tasty treat. I can see why Talbot might hesitate bringing you in. I can imagine that he wanted you for himself.”

  “Father,” Talbot said, “I told you, I was bringing her to you all along.”

  “I am joking, my son,” Caleb said. “Only joking.”

  My eyes flitted from Talbot to Caleb. Didn’t Gabriel tell me that Caleb was the one who was behind the attack on Talbot’s parents? Wouldn’t Talbot know this? How could he call Caleb Father? Why would he even be helping him? Then again, for all I knew now, Talbot’s entire story could have been fabricated. His being the last Saint Moon could be a total lie. Except the way Gabriel stared at him, as if looking at a ghost, made me wonder otherwise.

  But before I could say anything, Caleb snapped his fingers, and the guys who held me let go of my arms and pushed me toward Caleb. I stumbled forward. Caleb grabbed my face with one of his hands, cupping my chin with his long fingers. His fingernails jabbed into my skin. I could barely hear Daniel shouting at his father over the pounding of my pulse in my ears. My muscles seared with a burning pain more intense than I’d ever endured before.

  “It was nice of you to dress the part. Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.” He looked me over from head to toe. He trailed the fingers of his free hand down my arm, making my skin crawl under his touch. He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “My, what nice assets you have, my dear.”

  “Better to burn you with,” I said, and swung my arm up with a flash of power and smashed my silver bracelet against t
he side of his cheek.

  Caleb screamed. He let go of my face and slammed my arm away from him. A large angry burn blistered up along his cheekbone.

  My arms went up in a defensive position, but before I could act, three of Caleb’s boys were on top of me, binding my arms and legs. I kicked and screamed and tried to flail as they forced me to my knees. Caleb glared down at me, rage burning in his eyes.

  “Who let her wear silver in here?” Caleb shouted. “Tell me!”

  He scanned the boys in the room. I could hear them all take in a breath. They all feared Caleb—their father, so to speak.

  Jude stepped forward from beside Talbot, his head still bowed submissively. “I am sorry, Father. I did not realize her bracelet was a danger. I thought it was just a trinket with her costume.”

  “Well, take it off her now!” Caleb roared.

  Jude shot him a look, then ducked his head even lower and approached me. One of my captors held out my arm to him. I stopped struggling and tried to meet my brother’s eyes as he stooped in front of me. But he wouldn’t look at my face.

  “I know there’s still good in you, Jude,” I whispered. “You were always such a saint … and now you’re lost. But you’re still my brother. You wouldn’t have called to warn me if you didn’t still care.”

  “I am not your brother,” Jude whispered angrily. “You betrayed me. This is my family now.” Jude’s hands hesitated over my bracelet, anticipating the burns.

  “What kind of father would force you to hurt yourself?”

  “You hurt me worse than any burn.” He snatched my bracelet off my wrist and cast it aside. He shook his hand as little blisters bubbled up on his fingertips.

  “I love you,” I whispered. “I’m your sister. I want to take you home.”

  Jude finally looked me in the eyes. His flashed with silver at first, but then softened into the violet eyes that were a mirror image of mine. My brother was in there somewhere. “Just don’t pull a stunt like that again, and you’ll be fine,” he whispered. “It’s Daniel he wants.”