Page 188 of Jagged Souls

I want to call him back, tell him the mission is off. But I don’t. Because I want my wife back. And I know he would not listen anyway. Despite his choice at the school, I know he loves Micha.

Then again, maybe he’s agreed to do this simply because he’s more suicidal after we lost Leno.Fuck.

Wanting to get out of here, I glance at the others. “Let’s go.”

We head back out of the cave. If Aleric was with us, this would go a lot faster, but he stayed on the surface to talk to the Kacic brothers. Their friendship goes back centuries, and they don’t often get the chance to catch up. He was never going to follow us into Blo´dyrio´ anyway.

Ezriel isn’t here with us either. He’s scouting the rest of the island in case the portal has nothing to do with why the Boss of the Death Hunt was here, and Mother is back in St. Augustine, running the Family while we’re away. It should be Khalid’s job now that he’s the Underboss, but he refused to stay at home. He thinks I’ll do something stupid in his absence and doesn’t trust Enoch to keep me in line.

But what he calls ‘stupid’, I call logical. I should’ve done it a long time ago. Because I’m fuckingdonewith sitting back and waiting for crumbs to fall into my lap while my wife fuckingsuffers.

I’m getting to Micha.Today.

As the light of the world finally pierces the dark gloom of the caves, the sound of crashing waves on rock comes with it. We stop underneath a shimmering hole in the ceiling, a light-blue shield that’s holding back the weight of the sea. It’s about seven feet off the ground and three feet at its widest point. The secret entrance to this place requires us to swim. There was a reason this portal was forgotten. Going in and out of it is a pain; carrying anything with you is almost impossible.

Dayne climbs up the wall of the cave first, takes a deep breath beneath the water, then disappears through. Khalid follows, then Enoch, leaving Stormie and I alone.

“You’re getting more control of your powers,” she says as she starts to climb ahead of me.

‘More’ control but not enough to actually use. All I can do is push back the pulsing for a little bit. My frustration tics in the pulse at my temple. She hears my silence and understands me enough to end her attempt at a pep talk.

As much as it might seem like it to the others, we’re not back at square one. I don’t need her to try to “lift my spirits” by focusing on what’s positive because this hel ends today.

I linger in the cave for only a moment, doing what needs to be done while no one is watching. Then I use my hybrid speed to make up the difference in time so the ex-reaper’s not suspicious with how long I took to breach.

I tread water in a narrow, low-roofed tunnel for a second before swimming towards the bright sunshine. The cavern opens up to a wide grotto that’s empty of everyone but us despite it being a tourist attraction; this is where Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero, washed ashore in theOdyssey.The legend got a few things wrong. Calypso didn’t hold him for twelve years here because she’d fallen in love with him. Nor was she a nymph. She was a succubus, and she kept him as a sex slave until he was able to make her cum sixty-nine times.

I look around at the golden cliffside and turquoise water, knowing Rudy would’ve loved it here. He loves the water, the peacefulness of it even though drowning and being eaten by sea creatures are common fears he’s assaulted with all the damn time. He even has a boat, a thirty-eight-foot monohull calledWhale Endowedthat he takes out once or twice a year; he’d take it out more if he could, but he stays around St. Augustine for us. In case we need him. When he’s back though, I’ll have to make sure he has more time to go for a sail. He deserves to have some peace.

My chest tight, I swim to the others.

“Now what?” Dayne demands as soon as we’re back on land, Ezriel having met back up with us. His voice is tight, his control on the verge of erupting. Feeling the eyes and ears of the thick woods around us –paranoia perhaps, but not wanting to take any chances– he covers us in a shield, giving us privacy on an island full of tourists.

“We go home?” Enoch asks. “Wait for Maddox to get back and tell us what he’s found?”

“We’ve been doing nothing for months!” Dayne shouts, then clenches his fists as he reins his frustration back in. “Micha needs usnow.”

“I know –”

“Do you? Because you don’t seem to give a –”

“Our brother is there too!” Enoch yells.

“Enough,” I cut in.

The two of them clench their jaws and cross their arms. I look at Khalid. “Is there anything different that’ll help us?” I know he won’t tell me what my wife’s going through, but he won’t hide any intel that I need to make a plan.

“Eduardo is struggling with his magic,” he says, but I already knew that. I’ve been keeping tabs on how much he’s used, how much he could possibly have left in the bank, and I know he has to be running on near empty. That’s why I’m only now putting this plan into action. I needed him out of the game.

“And Antonio’s killed one of the chimeras,” Khalid adds.

I blink, not having expected that. “Why?”

His lips tighten. Then he says, “They got her addicted to V.”

“What?” Dayne steps forward, and I shift in front of him. He normally isn’t stupid enough to try to beat out answers from the reaper – ex-reaper, but his emotions are volatile right now. He thinks we’ve hit another dead end.

He glances at me, his eyes darkening. Then he takes a step back with a hard exhale. I look back at Khalid.