Page 36 of Misfit Monsters (Pack of Outcasts #1)

Periwinkle

E ven after I’ve made the declaration that I’ll spill every detail, my insides stay as tangled as a heap of spaghetti. With each breath, my lungs contract.

Raze moves first, scooping me off the ground into his muscular arms. As he tucks me close to his broad chest, he turns toward the others.

“She’s been through a lot today. And we don’t know how thoroughly the sorcerer is monitoring the forest. Shouldn’t we wait until we’re back at the van before we talk about anything important? ”

Is he offering to carry me there? He trusts himself enough not to hurt me all that way?

The thought lights a warm glow inside me. I am tired—from grappling with the power that surged out of me, from my headlong hurtle through the woods, from the hike that brought us to the rift in the first place. My feet are aching with little jabs racing up my calves .

In Raze’s embrace, the tension melts enough that I can nestle my head beneath his chin. His hold tightens just a little, as if to reassure me that he’s got me.

At the edge of my vision, I see Jonah nod. “We’re going to have to make the trek back anyway. Peri can take the time to rest and decide the best way to tell her story.”

A rough laugh hitches out of Mirage. “Story time. Gather ‘round.”

He comes up next to me and brushes gentle fingers over my shoulder. “You don’t owe us anything, Rainbow.”

The nickname reminds me of the brilliantly colored illusion that flooded the sky just minutes ago. The beautiful image he created to call me back.

Simply because he wanted me here, safe and sound.

I half expect Hail to grumble a protest despite his initial apology. Instead, the winter fae shrugs. “We’d better get walking, then. The longer that degenerate sorcerer has to plot his next moves, the harder he’ll be to tackle.”

He hefts the bag of damaged equipment without complaint.

We set off between the trees toward the distant spot where we had to leave the van. For the first few minutes, I’m lulled by the heat of Raze’s body and the rhythm of his steps. His scent, tart but musky, wraps around me.

I can’t completely forget the conversation we’re going to need to have soon, though. The commitment I made to revealing all the awful things I’ve been a part of.

This might be the last cuddle I get.

A lump rises in my throat, but a more urgent concern dislodges it. “You found evidence that the sorcerer was nearby. Did you figure out where he went after I blasted him?”

“It seems clear he was injured,” Jonah says evenly. “But not so much that he couldn’t run off—by whatever means. He might have had shadowkind under his control close by to help him.”

That remark sets an idea pinging through my brain. “That butterfly-bird that attacked you—do you think it was one of his?”

A moment of unsettled silence follows my question. Jonah’s tone turns grimmer. “It could have been. Like a sentry. It only attacked me, and when Mirage got close, it flew off. He might have ordered it to divert any humans who came close to the rift and alert him to new shadowkind in the area.”

I frown. “A crazy butterfly alarm system.”

Unfortunately, a very effective one.

Raze’s rumble of a voice reverberates from his chest into my body.

“I followed the man’s trail to a dirt road a few miles from the rift, one that wasn’t on any maps so we didn’t know we could use it.

There were fresh tire marks. He must have driven away—as soon as the road connected to a paved one, I couldn’t tell where he went from there. ”

“Then we still have no idea where he is or where he’ll turn up next.”

To my surprise, it’s Hail who speaks the next words of encouragement. “Maybe your story will help us with that, Cream Puff.”

He says his silly nickname with a lilt that sounds more amused than disdainful. Like he thinks I might actually be delectable.

His new friendliness sends a pang of guilt through my gut.

Would we have ended up in this much trouble if I’d spilled the beans from the start? Or at least back when we found the cabin and I had my first outburst?

I was so afraid of what they’d think of me, of revealing the villainous things I’ve done, that I might have laid out a red carpet for the real villain to hurt us. If they’d had the full picture from the start, we might have put the pieces together as a team.

They might have been holding me up like they are now, so I wouldn’t have exploded with anguish yet again.

Imagining telling them everything makes my stomach churn, but I know that I have to. After all the mistakes they’ve given me a pass on, I have a very large bill to pay.

It’s a good thing talking is my best currency anyway.

By the time we reach the van, the sunlight is starting to dwindle. Only a faint twinge shoots through my ankles when Raze sets me down.

As we sit on the benches inside the vehicle, tension coils around my insides again. But the only emotions I pick up from the men around me are tangy curiosity and concern as comforting as fresh-baked bread.

This is my team. We’re more than just fellow students—and bonus teacher—now. We might have argued and clashed with each other, but we’ve accomplished a lot too.

All the same, I find I can’t look anywhere except at my hands, clasped tightly in front of me.

“I told you the sorcerer captured me and kept me caged for a little while. It was actually… a pretty long time. I think. It was hard to tell how many days and weeks passed, but it was definitely years altogether.”

Raze lets out a fierce growl. “He’s going to pay for that.”

I can’t appreciate his protectiveness when he doesn’t know the full situation yet.

“He didn’t just keep me caged. The mementos he kept—the people he wanted to hurt—he figured out my power, how I could do so much damage if I got upset…

He made clothes that protected him from the worst of the effect.

He’d bring me to places where he wanted to sabotage people, and then he’d hurt me—say horrible th ings and stab my feet until all the awfulness burst out of me… ”

Jonah’s voice stays even but quiet. “That isn’t your fault, Peri. He was using you.”

“But I still did it.” Tears well in my eyes. I swipe at them, swallowing hard. “I hurt so many humans. Lots of them were people he didn’t even care about, they just happened to be nearby. Hundreds and hundreds… Because I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t control my powers. Just like I can’t now.”

Mirage makes a dismissive sound. “Extreme circumstances mean extreme impact.”

Hail’s tone is drier but almost soft. “If someone smashes a nest, you don’t blame the twigs for spilling the eggs.”

“Still…” I inhale shakily. “I hated him, and I didn’t want to do it, but some part of me was made to lash out. I don’t know why. I want so much to make up for it now that I can—to bring more joy than I ever caused pain—but I don’t know if that’s even possible.”

Raze slips his arm around me and strokes his hand up and down my arm. “It will be.”

Mirage cocks his head. When I let myself glance at the fox shifter, something in his expression sends a wobble through my pulse. He doesn’t normally look so serious.

“How did you get away from him?” he asks.

I cringe away from that memory too. Why does every good thing come with a dollop of bad?

But they need to know everything.

“The sorcerer had a daughter. Gracie. That’s how I know a bunch of time passed—she was just a kid when he first brought me to his house, and by the time I left, she was a teenager.

He didn’t tell her much, but she knew about the beings he kept in the basement.

She’d come down when he was out and talk to us, bring us bits of food…

One day she managed to break the power source that kept the blazing li ghts on us all the time, so we could run off through the shadows. ”

Jonah smiles. “That was very brave of her, going against her father.”

I duck my head. “I know. I heard him yelling at her while I was dashing away, and I wanted to help her, but it bothered me so much—I was afraid I’d end up hurting her too.

So I just kept running. I have no idea what happened, if she’s okay.

She used to talk about going to college in this one city.

I want to look for her, when I’m sure I’m safe. ”

A shiver runs through my body. “If he’s gathering shadowkind up here now… When he was keeping me, he lived where it was a lot hotter, more like around the academy but rainier too. He’s come a long way. We don’t know if he dragged her with him.”

Our sorcerer’s voice stays soothing. “You don’t know how long it’s been. She might have grown up and gotten away from him too.”

Yes. If she was strong enough to stand up to him for us, she must have been able to stand up for herself, right?

Pretty, pretty please with sugar on top.

Hail turns to look at Jonah, unexpectedly deferring to the other man’s authority. “We need to track this prick down, don’t we? We can’t do much about the rift if he’s going to keep meddling—if there’s a chance he’ll break any protection you give us and capture us.”

“He’s definitely the biggest threat in this situation.” Jonah’s dark gaze fixes on me. “Peri, I know you don’t like thinking about that time, but we need to know everything you can remember about who this man was, how he behaved—anything that might help us find and stop him.”

I square my shoulders. Of course. This is why I spoke up to begin with.

“I think I know his name. Sometimes he’d answer his phone when he was in the basement with us, and if he was close enough I could make out the voice on the other end. Someone called him ‘David’ and a couple of other people called him ‘Mr. Blaver.’”

Mirage perks up. “David Blaver. We find out what he’s up to, and then we smack him down!”

One corner of Jonah’s mouth quirks upward. “There might be more than one. David’s a pretty common first name. What else can you tell us about him, Peri?”

I think back to all those days I spent in the sorcerer’s basement.

“He collected those trophies and medals. He liked to eat tandoori chicken. Like I said before, he was on the shorter side and kind of wide—he had light brown hair, but it might be going gray now. Dark brown eyes. Oh! I think he went to college at a place called Stanford. He ranted a lot about how stupid other humans are, and sometimes he’d mention things that happened when he was ‘at’ Stanford. ”

Jonah taps notes into his phone. He aims a wider smile at me. “That’s really helpful for narrowing things down. Keep going.”

I open my mouth and then close it again, my gaze lingering on the device in his hands. “After… after we talk about all this, are we going to meet up with Rollick and Sorsha and the others to tell them what happened?”

Jonah hesitates.

Raze’s hand goes still against my arm. “It wasn’t Peri’s fault that the equipment got damaged. She saved us.”

“I know.” Our sorcerer rubs his hand over his face. Then he looks around at us. “Are all of you ready to be a real team? To go all in on working together, no sniping or second-guessing? Do you think you can trust the rest of us that much?”

A glimmer of hope lights in my heart, bright as sunshine.

“Yes,” I say without needing to think about it .

It’s Raze’s turn to hesitate, but only for a moment. “I trust that everyone here wants to crush that sorcerer more than anything else.”

Mirage grins. “I’ll give it my all with all of you.”

We shift our attention to Hail.

The winter fae grimaces, but I can only taste discomfort from him, not anger.

“I know I’ve been the least interested in buddying up to anyone,” he says, “but you have done some useful things.” He catches Jonah’s gaze with an arch of an eyebrow. “Even you, sorcerer boy. I’d rather take on this asshole with the bunch of you than with anyone else.”

A quiver of anxiety flits out of Jonah, but he sets his jaw defiantly. “Then I say we handle this problem ourselves and prove how solid a team we can be. That’s what Rollick sent us out here to do.”