Guardians (Seers Trilogy) (28 page)

I lowered the letter, glancing over at Patrick. Tears were in his eyes, but he met my smile. I lifted a hand to his knee, rubbing gently. And in that perfect moment, nothing needed to be said.

J
ack was waiting
for us in the driveway after school on Wednesday. The twins were so used to seeing him by now that they weren’t the least bit fazed by the sight of him. But I was instantly on my guard.

Though he had a smile on his face when he urged the twins to hurry inside for some cookies, I could read between the lines. He was afraid. Nervous? Something was definitely wrong. I waited until I heard the twins disappeared into the house before popping the trunk. While Toni struggled to hop out, Jack caught and held my door as I dragged my backpack free of the car. Toni was straightening behind the car, forcing the lid of the trunk back down.

As soon as I was clear Jack closed my door. He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the house. Jack was already pulling me toward the house, but he didn’t start explaining until Toni was at my heels and close enough to listen in.

His words were clipped. “Jason came over after his classes. He saw a Demon parked on the street a few houses back, just watching the house.” My stomach clenched. I tried to get a look at the road, but Jack was shielding me too well. Jack continued in a rush. “As soon as Jason made eye contact, the Demon drove off.”

“Was he alone?” Toni asked, coldly professional. I hated it when he got serious—it scared me.

Jack nodded once. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have friends. The Demon Lord would never send just one.”

Unless it’s a Demon hoping to make a million dollars.
I swallowed stiffly.

We were to the porch now. “What are we going to do?” I asked in a whisper. I hoped they wouldn’t hear the tremble it held.

“Not much we
can
do,” Jack muttered ruefully. “Your grandma doesn’t want to scare the twins by moving back to Bourke in a single afternoon. She’s going to see if she can take them somewhere to spend the night—a friend’s house or something of the sort.”

“Have you called Patrick?” Toni asked, already whipping out his phone.

Jack shook his head. “Haven’t had the time. This happened about five minutes ago.” He jerked the door open, releasing me only to wave me inside. I stepped into the entryway, heard the twins clamoring for the cookies in the kitchen. Everything seemed normal. Only it wasn’t. Everything had changed.

Toni was invisible, already murmuring quickly into his phone. I tried to tune into the words he was saying. “Patrick, we have a possibly problematic situation. Jason saw a Demon outside Kate’s house . . . Just a couple minutes ago. No, he’s not there now . . . She’s okay. She’s inside. Jack’s here.” He walked into the living room and the excited voices of the twins drowned him out easily.

I wanted to follow him, but Jack was speaking to me again. “I tried to get your grandma to relax a little, but it wasn’t working. Maybe you want to give it a try?”

I nodded once. “Where’s Jason?”

Jack looked toward the kitchen. “In there. I’m calling him my godson for now. You go on in—I’m going to give a call to Claire, see if she can come over too.”

I took a steadying breath and followed his instructions. I walked to the back of the house, stepping into the warm kitchen with a fake smile on my face. Jason was sitting at the table, talking with the twins, but he was distracted. He glanced up at my entrance, and Grandma pretended to introduce us. Her voice shook minutely, but the twins didn’t seem to notice.

Introductions past, Grandma focused on the twins. “How would you two like to spend the night at a friend’s house?”

Josie blinked. “Seriously? In the middle of the week?”

Grandma forced a shrug. “Why not?”

“Because it’s a school night,” Jenna pointed out.

“So? Your friends go to school too, don’t they?”

“Can we really?” Josie nearly gasped.

“Make some calls. See if anyone will take you two ruffians.” Her voice was rough, and she wasn’t meeting my eye. Her aura was overwhelming, impossible to decipher.

Things happened in a blur. The twins spent ten minutes arguing about who they could go stay with. Jack wandered back into the kitchen, offering Grandma a slight nod that told her the twins could be split up. That problem solved, the twins eagerly left to pack their bags. Grandma followed them without a word.

I sat at the table, my bag slumped against one of the legs. I had an uneaten cookie sitting in front of me, but I couldn’t make myself touch it. I stared at the wall, stung by Grandma’s blatant silent treatment.

Jason offered me a sympathetic look before returning to guard duty at the front of the house. Jack soon joined him, but I wasn’t alone for long. Toni walked into the kitchen, snatching up a cookie on his way to the table. He sat beside me, watching my blank face while he chewed.

He swallowed the bite of cookie. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I sent him a look that needed no translation.

He grunted, then took another bite. He spoke through the crumbs. “It’s not that bad, you know. It was only one Demon.”

“What if he comes back?”

He shrugged. “Then we’ll be ready for him. Kate, this is what we do. A little faith, please.” He gestured with his chin at my cookie. “You going to eat that? No? Mind if I do?” He grabbed it up before I could open my mouth, finishing the entire thing in one bite.

Jack returned abruptly. “Toni, when will Patrick get here?”

Toni struggled to speak around the gooey mouthful. “Any second, I guess. He was almost to the warehouse to check in with Dr. Radcliffe and the other Seers. I doubt he’s following the speed limit, either. Or any other laws of the road, for that matter.”

Jack was thoughtful. “Claire is on her way too, and she’s bringing Maddy.”

“So what’s the plan?” Toni asked. “The twins are going somewhere . . .”

“To stay with friends for the rest of the night,” I supplied, hoping that the action of speech would make me feel more proactive.

“And the way your grandmother packs, they’ll be ready any minute,” Jack added.

“Separate houses?” Toni clarified.

Jack nodded. “I figured you and me could each take one.”

The invisible Guardian pulled a face. “Just what I always wanted—to attend a little girls’ sleepover.”

“Are we blowing this out of proportion?” I had to ask.

They both turned to look at me but didn’t bother to reply.

Patrick arrived just in time to see the twins off. Grandma was herding them out to the van, Jack and Toni right behind them, both completely invisible.

Patrick conferred with Jason by the front door, their voices loud in the deserted house. Jason caught Patrick up on all the details we knew, also informing him that Claire was on her way with more backup.

I remained at the table, my head balanced in my hands. I heard Patrick’s shoes scuff as he stepped into the kitchen behind me. He hung back for a few long seconds.

He spoke quietly from the doorway. “Kate, everything’s going to be okay.”

I didn’t move. I didn’t visibly react at all.

His already stressed voice grew more worried. “Kate?”

Reluctantly I lifted my head, but I didn’t turn to him. I just continued to stare at the wall, “I don’t know why I’m so surprised. I mean, we knew this would happen. You knew it would. I just didn’t think . . . my own house . . .”

He came up behind me, his hands settling over my tense shoulders. “Nothing has happened yet. We’re just taking added precautions.”

“Should we tell them?” I asked softly. “About the reward?”

He didn’t answer right away. “I’m not sure. I don’t think it makes a real difference at this point.”

There was a knock on the door, and Jason was quick to answer it. We heard the murmur of voices, then Maddy’s thick Texan accent overrode the rest. “I’ll keep watch with you out here.”

Seconds later my protectors were filing into the kitchen. Claire was in the lead, with Alex, Ashley, and Hanif right behind.

“Thank you for coming,” Patrick said quickly, still gripping my shoulders. “I realize you’re busy training—”

Alex cut him off. “We can run through our plans here.”

“It’ll be a nice change, not having Radcliffe’s constant droning,” Ashley added.

Hanif offered me a small smile, as if he understood what I was going through.

Claire was speaking to Patrick. “Should we move her?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know where we’d go.”

“A hotel?” she pressed.

I cringed at the thought of abandoning my home to the Demons, but I didn’t have to voice my thoughts before Patrick was speaking again.

“No point. If the Demons are watching the house, they’ll only follow us. If they aren’t watching, they still know this is her home—they’d be patient. They’d wait until we came back, when we weren’t as prepared. At least here we have an advantage. There are more variables in a public area. If it comes to a fight, we’ve got a better chance here.”

“Maybe we should relocate her permanently, then,” Claire offered without pause.

I couldn’t keep my head from jerking around to look at her.

Patrick’s voice was firm behind me. “That’s not an option. We don’t have the time to move them, their belongings—”

“Time? Belongings? You don’t grab your things in a fire—in an emergency. It doesn’t take long to drive away. We could be out of the state—”

Alex broke in. “Patrick’s right—the Demons are going to keep coming. But today they lost their element of surprise. Strategically, it’s better for us to remain here. At least for tonight. Maybe in the morning we can come up with something better.”

“Hopefully the danger is minimal,” Hanif commented.

No one said anything for the length of a few heartbeats, then Alex turned to Patrick.

“Do you think it was a scout?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” my Guardian returned easily. “But the twins have been relocated for the night. Toni and Jack are with them now.”

“And the grandmother?” Ashley asked.

“With the twins, for now,” Patrick said.

Claire was shaking her head. “I don’t like it. We shouldn’t all stay here. Patrick and Maddy should take Kate to a motel for the night, just to be safe, and the rest of us could stay here and ambush them.”

Alex disagreed. “We can’t keep dividing ourselves up. We’ll become weaker.”

“If it was a scout,” Hanif said slowly, “does that mean the Demon Lord is planning an all-out attack? We wouldn’t be able to withstand that, would we?”

The kitchen was silent. No one had a positive answer for his question, so none was offered.

That’s when my phone started to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket quickly, conscious that I was the center of attention. I looked at the display and saw it was Lee. I flipped the phone open and pushed back from the table in the same motion.

“Hey, Lee,” I said, trying to sound like everything was fine. “What’s up?”

She didn’t even say hello. “Toni texted me about the Demon. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” I felt Patrick move away from me as I walked from the room. I wanted some privacy, mostly because that would make it easier to have an honest conversation.

“Don’t lie to me,” Lee warned. “Look, my mom’s out of town. You’re coming to my house.”

“I am?”

“Heck yes you are. Bring along any of the bodyguards you want. Your grandma can come too.”

I set my hand on the banister, looking up the tall staircase. “Lee, thanks for the offer, but I don’t want to compromise you.”

“What sort of freak military talk is that? Just get your fanny over here!”

“Seriously, Lee. I might need to fall back on that later, but I’ll be fine tonight. I’ve got plenty of protection right now.”

“Should I have called Patrick?”

“No. Really, I’m fine.”

“Okay . . . I’ll be over in about ten minutes.”

“What?”

“You think I’m going to abandon you in your time of need? I can bring my mom’s car.”

“Lee—”

“See you soon!”

Before I could start another protest she hung up. I peeled the phone away from my ear, shaking my head at her flashing name.

“Is Lee all right?” Patrick asked, directly behind me.

I whirled around; he was instantly apologetic. “No, it’s not you,” I overrode him, palm rubbing against my forehead. “I’m just jumpy.” I blew out my breath. “She’s coming over.”

He frowned. “That’s probably not the best idea.”

“Yeah. I tried telling her that.”

***

Lee had fallen asleep on my bed a long time ago. I was lying next to her, but I honestly didn’t understand how she’d managed to find sleep. Claire was sitting at my desk, and though she wasn’t exactly staring at us, it was still really weird.

Lee and Grandma were probably the only people asleep in the house. I knew Patrick and the others would be wide awake. Jason, Maddy, Ashley, Alex—they were all keeping watch around the house. It had already been one of the longest nights of my life, and it was barely one in the morning. Lee had brought over
Anne of Green Gables
, and we’d watched well into the second movie before she’d finally announced she was ready for bed. She’d fallen asleep almost instantly, leaving me and Claire alone in a dark room.

I wasn’t able to stay there for long. I finally sat up, and Claire glanced over at me.

I explained in a whisper. “I need a drink. I’ll just be downstairs.”

She nodded once but stayed where she was. I slipped out of the sheets, straightening my pajamas as I stepped into the dark hall. My hand slid over the banister as I moved downstairs. When I neared the bottom a figure stepped out of the front room to meet me.

Patrick’s expression was hard to make out in the darkness. “Are you all right?” he whispered as soon as he realized who I was.

I paused on the last step, directly in front of him. “I can’t sleep.”

“Does Lee snore?” he asked, trying to joke.

I cracked a smile. “Only when she’s asleep.” I hesitated. “Have you checked in with Jack and Toni?”

Patrick nodded at once. “Jack just texted me about Jenna. She’s perfectly safe. Toni says Josie’s been asleep since ten.”