“But she’s right. We truly are no closer to answers than we were before. Over the last twenty-four hours, every lead we’ve tracked down has been a dead end,” Knox says, shooting a look at Mack.
Mack clears his throat, breaking the silence. “We, uh, went to retrieve the book and discovered the library where we hid it has been renovated. Entire sections were moved around, and we, um, couldnotfindthebook.”
He says that last part so fast, it’s almost unintelligible, but I catch it.
“What was that? It sounded like you said you couldn’t find the book.”
The two share another look before Knox adds, “It was gone. We checked everywhere. We’re assuming it either got lost in the shuffle or moved somewhere else.”
“Fuck! That’s not good.”
Mack hesitates a moment before he offers, “Her idea was a good one. With a spirit on the inside, we might be more likely to get intel that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to.”
My head swivels so I can look at him. “You think we can trust some spirit that we don’t even know to gather information and not double-cross us? For all we know, he’s working with them already.”
“I doubt it. Fate has an amazing sense of intuition. If her gut is telling her to trust this guy, then I think we should at least give it a shot. The twins can keep an eye on him, and we’ll vet any information he gives us before acting on anything.”
“Knox?”
“I’ll get a read on him while you ask some additional questions, see if I can pick up anything on his intentions.”
Macklin nods. “I’ll give my new lie detector skill another try as well. Between Knox and I, we should be able to get a better feel for what this guy’s plan is.”
“Thad? Levi?”
The twins share a look, probably communicating between themselves. It’s damn annoying when they do that shit.
Levi turns back to me. “We trust Fate, and if she thinks this is a good idea, we’re all for it.”
“And we’ll keep an eye on the fucker in case he decides he’s going to try to get a little handsy with our woman. Or, you know, betray us or some shit,” Thad adds.
I study each of them. Their resolve to trust her without a second thought makes guilt twist my gut. Why is it so damn easy for them and so fucking difficult for me? Another sigh escapes. I’ve never sighed so much in my entire life. This woman is fucking me up inside.
There are residual feelings, ones I remembered even when I only had the vaguest details from my nightmares, and they all revolve around Fate. This immensely deep love that both excited and terrified me. A sense of connection that surpassed even that of my brothers. All for a woman I couldn’t recall. Then she popped back into our lives and my soul was willing to dive right back in without a second thought. But the past fifty years, or hell, now I know it’s more like one hundred years, has taught me to be wary, and I’m having a really hard time shaking that niggling sensation in the back of my mind that tells me shit isn’t over yet. More is to come. I can’t go through this again. I won’t survive it.
“Fine. We go out there and interrogate this guy before we agree to give this a shot. If anyone feels like anything is off, let me know, and we’ll pull the plug on this asinine plan before we get in too deep or give too much away.”
Knox’s hand comes up, his thumb rubbing his temple. I didn’t realize it until now, but with all of the spirits in residence, he might become overwhelmed. While generally useful, his power is sometimes a burden. We can’t afford to have him out of commission for days right now.
“You okay?” I ask as the others talk amongst themselves.
“Yeah. Something’s just...off. I can’t really explain it.”
“Maybe it’s the sheer number of spirits in here. You’re not overloading, right?”
“No. Though there are a ton of emotions filtering through here right now. Just as some leave, others’ arrive. But that’s not it.”
“Is it a threat?”
“Definitely not. Just have this feeling that something isn’t right. Like...have you ever heard a siren and started worrying that it might be someone you know in an accident? Or stood on the edge of a cliff but all of a sudden your brain plays out the scene as if the person you’re with steps too close and falls off and there’s nothing you can do to save them, but it doesn’t really happen?”
We all just stare at him like he’s losing his damn mind. My worry is ratcheting up by the second as my normally dependable brother is apparently having some sort of meltdown or some shit.
“You really are just like a mom, aren’t you?” Mack asks.
“Shut up, man.” Knox just shakes his head.
“Knox, monitor that for changes and keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
“Alright. Are we ready to get this over with so we can spend some time smoothing things over with our girl?”
“Hell yes!” Thad is the first to jump up and make his way to the door with his twin hot on his heels. “Though it’s all of you that have some ass kissing to do, we can still put in a good word for you.”
“It’s not your turn, fuckers!” Knox grumbles, stalking toward the door and elbowing the twins out of the way.
“Oh, does poor Knoxie have a case of blue balls?” Thad taunts.
Knox turns to glare at Thad, the look more menacing than I’ve ever seen. Between the emotions riding him and whatever else is going on, this won’t end well. Knox is strung tight at the moment, and I don’t need anything pushing him over the edge. Neither a three day sleep nor a fist fight between brothers would be good right now, so I step between them before either can say another word.
“Not right now. We’ve got more important things to deal with.”
Knox doesn’t back down right away which is a definite indication I need to keep an eye on him. The last time he rode the emotional empath roller coaster, he ended up with a black eye and Thad broke two fingers. It would’ve been worse if Levi hadn’t broken them up immediately.
“Knox…”
“Fine. Yeah, I’m good.” His hand comes up to push his hair back as he releases a deep breath.
“Sorry, bro,” Thad murmurs.
My eyebrows raise in shock. First, Knox being overly aggressive, then Thad apologizing without even being prompted by Levi. What the fuck is happening here? Levi looks just as shocked as I am.
“What? You all act as if I’ve never apologized before,” Thad grumbles.
“You don’t. Ever. At least, not without some serious manipulation on my part,” Levi responds, giving his brother a pat on the back. “Maybe you’re finally growing up.”
“Fuck off, wankstain. Let’s go find our woman.”
The twins enter the main chamber, Macklin following. I grab a hold of Knox’s arm, stopping him before he can do the same.
“Seriously. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just walking a tightrope with my own emotions right now.”
“You going to be able to keep that under control and help us with...whatever the fuck his name was?”
That earns a small smirk from him. “Rylan, or as Fate refers to him, buff surfer guy.”