Page 28

28. Puzzle Pieces

Gemma

“I wish I had a camera,” I whispered.

“Yeah, me, too.” Chance grinned. “This would be brutal blackmail material.”

Maddy and Tara covered their mouths to quiet their giggles.

We looked down at Spin and his little monkey, spooned together on the cot and fast asleep. He had his arm wrapped around her waist and his face pressed into the curve of her neck.

“So adorable!” I murmured. “They fit together like puzzle pieces.”

“Speaking of fitting together, Gemma,” Tara said while wiggling her eyebrows, “Gigi said you and Kerry finally did the deed.”

“Oh, come on!” Chance groaned. “TMI, ladies!”

“What?!” Jax howled. “That dirty rat didn’t tell me any—”

“No, we haven’t!” Horrified and red-faced, I hurried to correct them before the misunderstanding went too far.

“ Kiss , I mean.” Tara’s evil giggle let me know she was trying to get a rise out of me. “You finally kissed after, what? Three months of dating?”

“And Jax interrupted.” Maddy glared at the culprit. “Gigi wanted to kill you, you know.”

“I feel I’ve explained myself enough on that one.” Jax stuck his nose in the air.

“Was it your first kiss?” Tara gave me a knowing smile. “Like your first kiss ever ?”

Mortified, I buried my face in my hands.

“Why are you all torturing Gemma?” Spin asked in a groggy voice.

I raised my head to see him untangling himself from Monkey and sitting up with a yawn.

“You’re right.” Chance had a glint in his eyes. “We should turn our attention to you. How did you sleep?”

“Huh? Fine. Why?”

“You certainly looked real comfortable this morning. All snuggled up to Monkey.”

Spin’s cheeks turned blood-red. He sputtered as he jumped to his feet and put some distance between himself and the cot where Monkey still lay curled in the blankets.

We all laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He shrugged. “Mock me all you want, but I learned something important last night.”

“Oh?” Chance raised one eyebrow. “What was that? She hogs the covers?”

“No! Monkey’s from our college! Or at least I think she is.”

“You got her to say something?” I was shocked.

“No. She talks in her sleep. I couldn’t make out all of it because there’s something wrong with her voice, but I swear she was talking about giving a speech in the Stork’s class.”

“The who’s class?” Tara and Maddy asked at the same time.

“The Stork,” Chance told them. “His name’s Storey, but everyone knows him as the Stork. He’s all legs. It’s comical. Spin, when did we have to do those speeches?”

“I don’t know.” Spin scratched his head, then spoke through another yawn. “Like, three weeks ago? It was the same time we heard—”

“The first college team had gone missing,” Chance finished for him. “If Monkey was one of the members, then this is the organization that’s been taking out our novice teams.”

“That’s why we’re here?” Tara’s face paled at the news. “That’s why they captured us?”

“Seems likely to me. But how did they know what we are?” Chance tapped his bracelet. “We’re all protected from detection.”

“Only by the Diabolical.” Jax raised his eyebrows. “I’m more curious how they knew where we were. How are they finding us, finding our teams, to take?”

As the others continued to ask questions none of us could answer, my eyes darted to Monkey. She hadn’t woken during our conversation, but, even if she had, I couldn’t ask her what I wanted to know the most.

Jax was on my wavelength, though, and had no trouble voicing my thoughts.

“Where’s the rest of her team?”

“I think we all know the answer to that question.” Spin’s face turned grim. “Look, we can’t count on a rescue in time. We need to plan our own escape.”

That sounded good to me. Even if we came up with nothing feasible, it would keep our minds busy and distract us from the worry and fear that would overwhelm us if we let it.

We had enough enemies outside the door. We didn’t need them in our own minds, too.

#

For the most part, our captors left us alone, which was both a relief and a worry. They had seemed excited to find us, so why had they chucked us in here and forgot about us? What were they planning to do with us?

Chance had recognized the man in the gray suit and told us his name was Reginald Hubler.

“He’s a big deal in human politics. He’s planning to run for president in the next election.” Chance scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Wonder why he’d jeopardize that by getting involved in neph hunting? He’s uber rich, so it’s not as if he needs money to finance his campaign.”

Since none of the rest of us really paid attention to politics, we had to take his word for it.

The other man, whose name we learned was Samuel Castle, brought us food twice a day. It wasn’t a lot, and we divided it out evenly until I realized Jax wasn’t getting enough. His stomach rumbled loudly and often, and I started giving him half of my share. He wouldn’t take it at first, but I badgered him into it, and Maddy and Tara gave some of theirs to Chance and Spin.

Speaking of Spin, his silent little monkey was a handful. She became agitated each time he went into the bathroom and downright panicked whenever Castle appeared, but Spin would hold her and talk softly until she settled down. He was very comfortable taking care of her. He coaxed her to eat and convinced her to take a shower and distracted her with amusing stories. Maybe it took his mind off his own situation, but he appeared to enjoy fussing over her.

His mother-hen act was cute in its sincerity and comical in its enthusiasm, but Chance and I traded increasingly worried looks.

What would it do to Spin if we found out his monkey was broken beyond repair?

#

One afternoon, Tara and I used the distraction of lunch being delivered and dragged Maddy into the bathroom.

“What’s going on with you and Travis?” I asked.

“And don’t say ‘nothing’ because everyone knows something is wrong.” Tara crossed her arms and stood in front of the door. “Even Kerry , who’s usually Captain Oblivious, asked John if he knew what had happened between you two.”

Maddy’s face clearly showed she did not want to talk about it, and I was ready to back off. I mean, who was I to force her to tell me anything?

Tara, though, had other ideas.

“Come on, Mads,” she cajoled. “We’re not asking to be nosy. It bothers us that you’re upset. We want to help if we can.”

Maddy let out a gusty sigh and gave in.

“He knows Aspen was my close friend, but he won’t talk about what happened to her,” she admitted. “I told him I need to know more about how she died, that I need closure, but he won’t say a word.”

I blinked in surprise. Of all the issues I’d imagine the couple might have, this wasn’t one of them.

“Was he with her when she died?” Tara asked. “Is that what you mean?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. All anyone will tell me is she committed suicide. And no, he wasn’t with her at the time, but he went to the hospital later.”

“I was at the hospital, too,” I murmured. “Remember? We were all at breakfast when my warden found me and asked if I’d try to save her.”

“You were too late, though.” Maddy said. “She was dead before you got there. Right?”

“Yes. And Travis didn’t get there until after we’d dealt with the shrouder attacking Lilas Tyne.”

“Lilas Tyne? Oh, the little girl. The dreamweaver.” Maddy nodded. “Travis said you and Kerry stayed in touch with her.”

“She’s very sweet. Did you know her mother moved them to the Sanctuary after that? We visit with her on the weekends sometimes.” I smiled as I thought about how Kerry interacted with her. Fortunately, Lilas had the patience of a saint.

“Anyway,” Tara said, “what is it you think Travis can tell you, Maddy?”

“How did Aspen commit suicide?” Maddy squared up her shoulders. “How exactly did she do it?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” I asked.

“Yes. I need to know the details.”

“I suppose I would, too.” Tara took a deep breath. “Gemma, will you tell us?”

I didn’t want to remember the grisly scene on that blood-soaked gurney, but if it helped Maddy move on, so be it.

“She shot herself in the head with a small handgun. It shattered the back of her skull into a thousand fragments, some of which severed her spinal cord and the rest exploded into her brain.”

Maddy’s hands flew up to cover her mouth, Tara gasped, and both of them stared at me with horrified eyes.

“I would have saved her if I could have.” I touched my fingers to Maddy’s elbow. “And if I’d been there right after she pulled the trigger, maybe I could have, but she was basically dead before she ever got to the hospital.”

Maddy closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were ablaze with anger.

“At Reilly’s trial, everyone was so focused on his other crimes that Aspen became an afterthought,” she said. “None of the details came out. What did he do that was so horrible, she shot herself to escape him?”

“We may never know.” I sighed. “Whatever it was, though, it probably weighed heavily on her.”

My heart squeezed with sudden hurt. The days that Kerry’s conscience ate at him were never good days.

“Travis knows what Reilly made her do.” Maddy fisted up her hands. “He has to! He was enthralled right alongside her! He knows more than he’s saying. I’m sure of it!”

“Maybe he can’t talk about it,” Tara suggested.

“He’s not enthralled anymore, Reilly Argaud’s in prison, and Whit Anderson’s banished. There’s no reason he can’t tell me!”

“I meant,” Tara clarified, “that maybe he can’t stand to talk about it. Maybe it hurts too much or brings back memories he’s trying to forget.”

“He was Reilly’s slave for months,” I reminded her. “Plus, he’s still carrying some taint. Give him time to heal first.”

“Why are you guys on his side?” Her mouth pulled into a pout and her brown eyes sparked with anger. “You’re supposed to be my friends.”

“Don’t be a baby, Mads!” Tara slung an arm around Maddy’s neck. “Of course we’re your friends. But you need to be realistic and aware of his issues, too, and not just your own.”

“I agree with you that she was an afterthought at the trial, though,” I said. “All the legists wanted to focus on was who Reilly was working for and what the ultimate goal was. The higher-up wardens used her death as another charge against Reilly, but that was about it.”

“She deserved better.” Maddy snuffled into Tara’s shoulder. “She may have killed herself, but it was Reilly’s fault she did, and I won’t forget that. When he’s out of jail, he’d better watch out!”

“You’ll have beat a line of other people to him,” Tara’s voice was dry. “Listen, when we get out of here, stop badgering Travis. We’ll look into it, get our wardens to ask some questions. Okay?”

“Better yet, I’ll get Kerry to talk to his warden.” I grinned. “Hank Bishop has a formidable reputation and tons of contacts. He’ll get some answers for sure.”

“All right.” Maddy looped her arm around my waist and pulled me into a group hug. “I’m just so frustrated that no one seems to care about Aspen except as a statistic!”

“Well, we care.” Tara smiled at me over Maddy’s head. “We’ll find out the truth one way or another.”

“Yes,” I said. “Now how about we see if the boys left us anything to eat?”

We exited the bathroom together, but Tara put a hand on my arm and held me back. Waiting until Maddy joined the others at the work table, she leaned close and spoke in a whisper.

“Remember what Kerry and Rome told John around the campfire the other night? That nephs rarely used guns because they don’t always work on the Diabolical?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “So?”

“ So , there aren’t any hunting stores or shooting ranges or anything like that at the Sanctuary. And if warriors don’t use them, I doubt they’re stocked in the Armory. Even if they are, the Master at Arms isn’t going to let a 16-year-old guide sign one out, complete with ammo, for no reason.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as the penny dropped.

“So where did Aspen get a gun?” My wide eyes met Tara’s.

“I don’t know, but I think we need to find out.”