Deluge: YA Dark Urban Fantasy (Shifter Chronicles Book 4) Page 4

  “Some of them may have seen her wings on fire.” Roman points out.

  “They were running pretty fast to look up.” Jacqueline’s hands rest on her hips. “Are you planning to tell someone about Thunder Beings?”

  “I won’t let anyone know about the magic,” I say. “But I want to go back to Topanga. We have a lead on my father.”

  Jacqueline sits down on the stump between Roman and I. She stares at the fire thoughtfully for a moment. “That’s a long way to fly,” she murmurs. Her gaze swoops up to me. “Have you asked your mother what she thinks of the plan?”

  “You know my mother’s never going to let me go,” I say. “She says my father can handle himself and we should just leave him to it. But I feel like I have the ability to help him. To really help him. Nobody’s a match for El Oso except maybe you or me.”

  “You think you’re a match for the head of the Order?” Jacqueline asked me, her eyes shining.

  “Maybe not,” I say. “But with the help of my friends and my father, we can do a lot more than just leaving him out there on his own.”

  Jacqueline quietly reaches into her pocket and pulls out something shiny and jangling. She holds open her palm, displaying set of keys. “Can either one of you drive?”

  “Great,” Roman says, lifting his head and shaking it at the sky. “You’re just giving her the means to her own destruction.”

  “Our paths are written, Roman. We have to take them. Look at her. Really look at her. She wasn’t staying here anyhow. She can’t. She has a quest to fulfill. You’re one of her best friends. You’re going to go with her, no matter what.”

  Roman clicks his tongue and points at her. “You’d probably make a pretty good profiler,” he says. “You coming with us?”

  “No,” she says. “I have other things to take care of. But if someone had told me they knew where my sister was, I would’ve gone immediately. But I didn’t find out until it was too late. If you have a way of finding your father, go and do it.”

  “What about my mom?” My gaze shifts to where she sits with Lydia, engrossed in deep conversation.

  “Your mother would try to stop you if she knew, but she’ll also understand why you left. Don’t ask permission in this case, beg forgiveness later. Her place is here, protecting your younger brother.”

  “So, you’re telling us to just get up and walk out of the village now and get in the truck?” Roman asks. He’s a bit perplexed and surprised but all of a sudden, he’s got the “I guess we’re doing this” look in his eye.

  “It’s not like we came to Potter Valley with much,” I say. “And what we did bring, we lost in the fire. We can grab a few things in Topanga.”

  Roman nods and I can tell the idea has hold of him. “I’ll meet you at the truck,” he says, standing up and heading casually off into the shadows of the forest as if he’s just looking for a little bit of alone time.

  “One more thing,” Jacqueline says to me. “Don’t go out through the valley. You know there’s a Hunter down there. Hercules says he’s gone now, but you never know. It’s too dangerous to risk it. But, Shae.” She reaches forward, places her hands on my shoulders and stares into my eyes. “The Earth selected you as a Thunder Being for a reason. And it’s not just what old Dussan told you about being cracked and open. It’s because you are strong. Use your strength every chance you get. You will find your father, I know it.”

  My gaze doesn’t waver from hers. “I know, too.”

  But I don’t tell her the nervousness leaking into my gut. There’s a nagging thought I can’t get away from. What if we find him the way he found his family? The way Jacqueline found Corrine?

  Already dead.

  6

  It takes us twelve hours to get to Topanga. Potter Valley is, strictly speaking, only an eight-hour drive, but the way Jacqueline told us to leave the valley takes us on a dirt road climbing a long narrow ridge. It’s three hours just to navigate forty miles. Finally, we drop down into Lake County, where Clear Lake spreads out under an overcast sky. The remnants of Mount Konocti, an inactive volcano, looms over us. The road here isn’t much better. The only difference is it’s flat and paved. But on these winding narrow roads it still takes us another two hours to get to interstate five, sixty miles away.

  We stop for gas and I offer to drive. Even though I don’t have a license, I know the basic mechanics of the truck’s stick shift. Dark circles shadow Roman’s eyes, but he looks out to the interstate. Even from here we can see it’s full of semi-trucks flooring it down the state. Sharp wind sweeps across the Central Valley making them swerve, their lights dancing as they roar by.

  Roman shakes his head.

  I’m sure he feels safer if he’s behind the wheel. The truth is, I do, too. I settle back into the worn seats, my eyelids heavy as I drift off.

  I don’t open them until the truck slows down and we’re pulling onto Topanga Canyon Boulevard. We’ve left I-5, crossed the 405, and circled back on the 101. Roman’s driven all night and finally, we’re heading up the canyon and home.

  It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few months since we were here before. It feels like a lifetime. I glance over at Roman; he stares ahead, leaning into the steering wheel, the window of the truck slightly open so the fresh air pours against his face. He looks utterly exhausted.

  “We haven’t told anyone we’re coming,” I murmur.

  “It’s better this way,” he says. “We’ll go to my parents’ house first. They’ll be able to tell us everything they know.”

  “And feed us.” I smile as my stomach rumbles. Jacqueline gave us some money for gas and we bought a few snacks on the road, but we hadn’t really stopped long enough. Once we decided to get on the road and get going, nothing was going to stop us. Now as the old truck curves the familiar road to the canyon, I feel elated and excited. Not just to see my home and my friends, but to see Callum.

  I want him to know how I really feel.

  When he first came to Potter Valley with me, I knew it was wrong. His place was with the Ravensgaard and it was hard to see him set them aside to be with me. It took me over a month of being stupid to finally come to the conclusion that it was good and right and wonderful for us to be together. I realized it just when he realized he had to go back to the Ravensgaard.

  So, although going to Roman’s parents’ is going to be great for my stomach, going to the farmstead and seeing Callum is what my heart longs to do.

  Roman’s house is just off of the main road at the base of the cliff where a beautiful creek runs into a large pool of water. His parents have an eco-friendly house that looks like a couple of glass containers with a walkway stretching between them. Roman pulls the truck into the driveway, parks, and jumps out like he’s just coming back from a quick trip to the store. Not as if the last time he saw his parents he was banished and collared and told to never return.

  While the banishment hasn’t changed, the fact El Oso has been missing for so long and Polaris rules the Order in his absence, make our banishment a little less interesting. Who knows, maybe Polaris would be grateful we tried to execute El Oso.

  Or not.

  Mostly, the fact the collars are gone matters. I look down at my hands and click my nails together, watching the sparks fly off my fingers. I do not open my palms to let the sparks catch to a flame.

  “Put those away,” Roman says. “We don’t want anyone here who doesn’t already know seeing that.”

  “I know,” I say. “It’s just, you know, it just seems weird Aiden doesn’t know. Like we never told him.”

  “Think of it like this,” Roman says. “If Aiden knew, it would put him in danger. And the last thing you want to do is put Aiden in danger, right?”

  “Of course,” I say. I had put Aiden in danger enough times in the last few months. He and his family always supported me as I tried to find my shifter self. He put his entire High Seat, the Kortsrijk, at risk, not to mention his life.

  “Come on.” A warm smile
lights Roman’s face. “I can smell Madre’s apple fritters from here.” His body almost expands with the pleasure of being back home. I feel it too. Under current law we’re not allowed to be here. Ever. But it doesn’t matter where I go, it doesn’t matter where I live. Topanga will always, always be my first home.

  I step out of the car and breathe in the rich coastal air. It has a taint of sea mist and evergreens. It smells like home. Roman steps up around the front of the truck and puts his arm around my shoulders. There’s no stopping the joy that fills our chests and burst into grins across both our faces. There’s a sense we have here like no other.

  As we step onto the recycled wood deck stretching flat and lean around the glass container house, the front door opens and Roman is surrounded and engulfed in the arms of his parents.

  “Mi hijo.” His mother murmurs the words over and over again as she squeezes him and then pushes him back from her, gazing into his grinning face. Her dark eyes brim with tears.

  His father’s hug turns into a joyous smack on the back that nearly knocks Roman to the floor. But he also looks suspiciously out at the street and then up in the trees. “Let’s get into the house,” he says quietly.

  They live in an extremely modern house of minimalist design. The glass walls create an illusion the waterfall and pond in the front yard are actually part of the house. But now with the sky beginning to lighten, Roman’s father reaches over and switches the blinds flat, making sure the house is private. In case anybody happens to glance in.

  Before we’ve even been in the house for sixty seconds, Roman’s mother is taking out several different dishes from the refrigerator and throwing together a feast on the table. Roman acts as if it’s to be expected and he sits down and starts shoveling food in his mouth like he hasn’t eaten in days.

  His father sits down, taking off his glasses and rubbing them anxiously. His face flits between a frown and a smile as if he can’t decide if he’s elated or miserable. Finally, he folds his arms across his chest. “You shouldn’t be here,” he says, but the corners of his mouth turn up, letting his son know he’s so glad to see him.

  “We’re not staying long, Papa,” Roman says. “Don’t worry.”

  My gaze flits between his parents. “Are any of the Berzerken here? Anybody from Muirderkring South representing the Order?”

  “No,” Roman’s father says. “Shortly after Lord Van Arend returned, Polaris came back to check on him. But they’ve stayed well away from Topanga. They have other problems to deal with now although they don’t want anyone to know. We only know because we are in such close proximity to Lord Van Arend. We know the Berzerken captured one of the Hunters who attacked them in Potter Valley at Spotswood Ranch. And they’re trying to launch a counterattack against the Hunters.”

  “Shouldn’t El Oso be involved in that?” I ask, reaching for a corn tortilla.

  Roman’s mother shrugs. “No one’s heard from El Oso in three weeks.”

  Roman and I exchange a look.

  “Unless you have?” Roman’s father asks.

  I laugh, possibly a little too loudly. “How were we going to hear anything in the middle of nowhere?” I’m careful not to mention the village. We made a promise we would never mention it. The haven hidden in Potter Valley must always stay secret–even from the shifter world. Since my mother and brother are living there, that’s just fine with me.

  “We don’t want to know where you were,” Roman’s mother says. “But can we know where you’re going?”

  Roman shakes his head as he shoves a tortilla filled with carnitas into his mouth.

  “We just couldn’t stay where we were.” I didn’t realize I was so hungry. I’m making a mix of beans and rice for myself, lavishing it in tangy salsa. “And we had to get some things from here before we head out.”

  His father presses his hands against the table, looking up at his son. “We are doing everything we can to change this,” he says. “We want you home.”

  I swallow hard as I see the pain, desperation, and hope in his eyes. Roman’s their only child. Like most shifter families, they only had one. But his parents have already been through so much. They were sent away from Costa Rica by the Order based on a perceived wrong one of their family members committed. They came to Topanga with their son, leaving everything and everyone they knew. And now they are separated from their son.

  I can’t imagine what that’s like.

  Well, almost not. After all, we are here to find my father.

  But as I look at Roman’s father watching his son, I realize what I’m fighting for: to stop the craziness the shifter community lives in. El Oso is tearing up families, separating them just because of his own ideas of what will keep us safe. The only thing that really keeps us safe is when we are together.

  I breathe in the truth and it fills my heart with cold dread.

  It’s not just that I want my father back.

  I still want to end El Oso’s reign over the Order. There must be a better way to live. And if it means taking El Oso out, then it’s still on my to do list.

  And as my gaze meets Roman’s across the table, it’s easy to see he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  But better than that, he’s completely on board.

  7

  After stuffing his face full of food, Roman crawls off to his bed. I’m not surprised. He’s just driven twelve hours straight. His eyes are bloodshot and his arms are probably exhausted. But I slept most of the night so I’m feeling wide-awake and buzzed from being back in Topanga. His parents give me the spare room, which is about the size of a walk-in closet. But I can’t sleep.

  It’s not far from Roman’s house up to Zan’s. All I have to do is cross the main canyon road, do a little bit of side tracking up the hill on the other side to make it to her family’s rambling farmhouse. Her parents have never been against me so I don’t see why they worry about me showing up now. Well, except that the law says they’re not supposed to talk to me.

  Still, the only other person I want to see more than I want to see Zan is Callum. Callum will be at the farmstead with all the Ravensgaard. I can’t just wander in there. While they’re sworn to Callum, it’s too much risk.

  I put on my hoodie and wait for the house to go quiet before I slip out the front door. Roman’s parents have gone for the day, so it’s easy for me to jump off the deck into the air and transform into a black raven. I feel the gusts of sea air lift me into the sky. Man, if I would’ve had this ability when I was sneaking out before, life would’ve been so much easier. How many times did I have to walk in the dark up the creek bed to the sanctuary?

  What a different experience.

  When I walked up the creek bed, I could smell earth and mulching leaves, hear them crinkle as they were crushed underfoot. I always felt so close to the trees and the Earth. But now I am close to the mist in the sky, the salt that lingers in the air evaporating off the ocean. And I rise with the wind away from the earth but always connected to it.

  The speed of a straight line still never ceases to amaze me. While the car may move faster it is forced to twist and turn and stop. Up here in the sky I am free.

  I reach Zan’s house in five minutes, almost before I’m ready for the flight to end. It’s been so long since I’ve flown in the mist of ocean air. But seeing Zan is too exciting an option to pass. I dip around back of her house and go to the small window looking into her room. As expected, Zan is there, leaning over her computer, typing something and comparing it to an open book precariously balanced on a leaning stack. Her curly red hair falls long down her back. My lifelong friend. I can’t believe I went a month of without seeing her.

  I stay in raven form as I hop to the windowsill and tap on the glass with my beak. At first, she doesn’t even notice. It’s like she’s got her head so full of whatever she’s thinking about, she doesn’t have time to listen to her surroundings.

  I tap again.

  I’m considering turning in to my human form and just openin
g the window. But one final thunk gets her to look up. And she lets out a small ecstatic cry.

  I still don’t know exactly how we do it, but shifters always just kind of know. It’s not something visual, like the way humans recognize each other. It’s animal instinct, maybe. I don’t know. We don’t all look the same, even an animal form, but it’s more than that. If you have met a shifter in human form, you will recognize them in shifter form.

  Her face lights up, but then quickly draws into a frown of concern as she steps over to the window and opens it. I hop onto the floor and transform into my human self.

  “Is everything okay?” she asks, her brows knit together she places her hands on my shoulders. “Has something happened to Henry or your mom?”

  “No, no, everybody’s fine.” I nod reassuringly.

  Her body relaxes visibly and she pulls me into a big hug. “It’s so great to see you!” But then she pushes me away again, staring into my eyes, her face serious. “Why are you here?”

  I laugh. It’s so good to hear her voice and see her face. “Would you believe I missed you?”

  “Yeah,” she shrugs like it’s obvious. “But why are you here?”

  “Roman and I came down to get our passports,” I say.

  “Your passports?” She says. “You guys shouldn’t be traveling on your passports.”

  “Well, we thought maybe you could make us some new passports.” I suggest with raised eyebrows and a slightly uplifted mouth that I hope indicates we’re not doing anything dangerous.

  Zan falls back into the chair at her desk and turns on me while I nestle into her futon. “Where are you going?”

  “You don’t expect us to spend the rest of our lives in Potter Valley do you?”

  “No,” she says slowly. “But, again, that’s not what I asked.” She tilts her head to the side, squinting slightly as if she’s sizing me up. Her nose wrinkles a little bit. “What are you up to, Shae Bradford?”

  “Why do I have to be up to something? What if I just want to get a passport and travel?” I ask, knowing this is never going to work. I probably should’ve thought it out a little more before I just popped in here to ask Zan for a new passport. Maybe I should’ve made a plan with Roman. We have to get better at that.