Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) (7 page)

The little girl looked like she felt sick.

“Lily?”

“He’s not bad,” she mumbled.

Forcing herself to breathe, Ashe fought down the responses that rose to mind. “Okay,” she agreed.

Lily eyed her.

“He’s going to be fine, Lil. It’s us I’m worried about. I need you to promise you’ll stay away from him.”

“But–”

“Lily.”

The girl dropped her gaze to the floor. “Okay.”

Ashe hesitated. “And,” she continued carefully. “I need to know if he was telling the truth about where you found the staff.”

Exhaling in frustration, Lily looked away.

“Please,” Ashe urged. “It’s important.”

Lily’s gaze went to the door. Her lip slid between her teeth as anxiety gradually subsumed her expression again.

“Lily?”

“Where he said,” she answered softly.

Ashe paused. “Really?”

A desperate noise exploded from Lily. “What?” she cried, her voice breaking. “Are you calling me a liar too? He’s not a bad person and neither am I, but you just keep–”

“Okay!” Ashe yelled.

Breathing hard, Lily cut off.

“Okay,” Ashe repeated more calmly. “I’m sorry. I just… you seemed…” She regrouped, shaking her head at herself. “I’m sorry.”

Lily looked up, her expression more anguished than enraged. “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” she whimpered.

“I’m not going to get–” Ashe started, and then the automatic response caught up with her. She swallowed, trying not to feel the phantom twinge where Harris’ bullet had torn through barely a week before. “I’m careful, Lil,” she amended quietly. “More than you know.”

Lily’s lower lip trembled. Wordlessly, Ashe crossed the room and kneeled down, wrapping the girl in her arms.

“I just… I can’t… with Daddy, I just…”

Pained, Ashe closed her eyes, bullets having nothing to do with the tightness in her chest. “Shh,” she whispered.

Lily buried her face in her sister’s shoulder.

“We’re okay, kiddo,” Ashe told her.

When the girl didn’t respond, Ashe pushed her back gently and looked into Lily’s teary eyes. “Hey. You calling me a liar?”

Lily sniffled and shook her head, an uncertain smile hovering around the edge of her lips.

“Good,” Ashe said.

Taking a steadying breath, she climbed back to her feet and then ruffled the girl’s hair, producing a cry of protest from Lily, who instantly started smoothing her black waves. Her lip twitching, Ashe looked away, and her gaze caught on the door. Outside, she could hear the faint sounds of Elias and Cornelius talking.

The nascent smile died. “Wait here for me?” she asked Lily. “I just need to tell them what’s going on.”

Lily looked as though she’d rather Ashe didn’t, but she just nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

The girl didn’t answer.

Running a hand through her hair and trying to school her features back into something resembling impassivity, Ashe headed for the door.

“So?” Elias demanded immediately.

Ashe glanced to Nathaniel. Without a word, the man disappeared into the bedroom.

“She doesn’t know where he’s gone,” Ashe said once the door closed. “She thought Jamison was dead.”

Elias let out a breath slowly.

“Will Cole try to reach her?” Cornelius asked.

“She promised she’ll stay away from him if he does,” Ashe replied. Her mouth tightened at their expressions. “And yeah. I know. But it’s the best I could get from her. She refuses to believe he isn’t just trying to protect her.”

For a moment, no one spoke.

“Could he be?” Elias asked finally.

The wizard held up his hands at the look she gave him.

“Hear me out,” he said. “I’m just trying to think this through. He had your sister with him for over five months, and he never delivered her to his father in that time. He showed up like a bat out of hell, according to you, on the night your father died, and the Blood nearly killed him for it. He was running
away
from Chaunessy Tower when you met up with him and now…” Elias’ brow furrowed at his own thoughts. “What if Lily’s not wrong?”

Ashe stared at him.

“We can’t take that chance,” Cornelius countered.

Elias drew a breath, his expression clearing. “No, you’re right.” He glanced to Ashe. “What do you want to do?”

“Besides get the hell out of here?” Ashe replied. Exhaling, she paced a few steps away, trying to focus.

“I have numerous connections throughout the Carolinas,” Cornelius offered. “It would provide the chance to keep moving for a while.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Elias nod. “Most of the others have headed west and, I hate to say it, but that might lead the Blood to believe we’ve gone that way as well.”

Ashe ignored them as they continued talking. Between the two of them, they could figure out where to go better than she could. And, for the moment, she didn’t care anyway.

Cole helping them. A few minutes ago, she’d have readily considered the idea. He’d risked his life to save them at the farmhouse, after all, and he’d obviously taken care of Lily to the point where she wouldn’t believe a word against him no matter what his dad had done.

Of course, that was then. There was no telling when he’d found out about his father and things had changed. The look on his face at the factory as much as said he’d wanted to stay to see the man. For that matter, he’d been at Chaunessy just when his dad came to take over. He could have been trying to meet Jamison. He could have been trying to deliver Lily into his hands. He’d left her here for now, sure, but maybe he just hadn’t known how to bring the kid along.

And maybe he’d be coming back for her, a dozen Blood wizards in tow.

“Your highness?”

She blinked at the realization Elias had called her several times. “Sorry,” she said, struggling to push away the spiraling thoughts. “What?”

“You ready to go?”

She tried not to scoff as she made a beeline toward the other room.

After a half dozen blocks, he crested a hill and finally caught sight of the smoke on the horizon. Slowing his steps, he stared at the black clouds and tried not to curse the fact the wizards had chosen hot, hilly, and all together huge Atlanta of all places to hide.

Swiping the sweat from his eyes, Cole looked around, but other than a couple wary pedestrians, no one was paying attention to the young man running madly down the street. Trying to look casual, though he knew he was probably failing, he forced himself to slow to a walk.

Feeling every hour of his lack of sleep from the night before, he scanned the street, evaluating his options. He could keep walking, and probably reach the fires by the time the apartments had been rebuilt. Busses weren’t much of a choice either, though he saw more than a few speeding past on their way to who-knew-where. Without knowing their schedules or routes, he could as easily end up on the opposite side of town as anywhere near where he wanted to be, and take three hours to get there as well.

Buildings grew in height and age as he walked, and every window felt like it held someone watching. Each glance from passersby put him on edge and he found his gaze darting to the fences and parking meters along the street, hoping to catch sight of an unlocked bike, though the impulse made him feel like a jerk.

He rounded a street corner and paused. A chuckle escaped him.

Before the opulent awning and circle drive of a twenty-story hotel, a trio of taxis waited. Swiftly, he checked the door of the hotel, but through the darkened glass, he couldn’t see anyone coming.

He darted for the nearest taxi.

“You free?” he asked as he tugged open the back door and slid inside.

The driver looked back in alarm. “Where to?”

“That, uh, fire,” Cole said, pointing in the general direction, though buildings blocked the view.

The man gave him a flat look. “Address, kid.”

Freezing, Cole wracked his brain and then pulled an address from fragmented memory, hoping he got it right. The driver’s eyebrow twitched skeptically, but after a moment’s hesitation, he put the car into gear.

Releasing the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding, Cole sank back into the seat.

The cab twisted through town, weaving a path he knew he’d never be able to retrace. Time slid by, every second chewing away at the chance the Blood would still be nearby. After a century of stoplights and traffic, the cab rounded a corner and the fire trucks finally came into view.

“Just pull over here,” Cole said, shifting around to get a better view through the windshield.

The driver eyed him briefly and then did as he was told.

People milled around on sidewalks. Beyond the cordons of yellow and red tape, firemen worked to quiet the smoldering remains. Fragments of the roof draped across the charred bones of the building, sporadically raining debris down on the indistinguishable ashes littering the ground, and below the trees on the far side of the parking lot, EMTs hovered over residents huddled beneath blankets.

But none of the people were glowing, and for the life of him, he couldn’t tell if any of the onlookers seemed more like wizards than the others.

“Hey, kid, you going?” the driver asked impatiently.

Cole let out a breath. Somehow, he’d hoped it would just be that easy. Show up and everything would be, if not alright, at least closer to an answer than it’d been thus far. But the Blood were gone, and he had no idea where they were going next.

Though, he realized, he did know where they’d been. And perhaps more than here, in the Taliesin council headquarters they’d have been inclined to leave people behind.

“Kid!” the driver snapped.

“Is there a bus station near here?”

The man blinked. “Huh?”

“A bus station,” Cole repeated. “You know, Greyhound or whatever?”

“You want me to take you to a bus station,” the driver stated. “What about this place?”

“My, um, my girlfriend will be there. I thought… it’s just that her family lived here, and I was worried she’d come back to help them. But I don’t see any of them here, and the bus station was always their emergency meeting place, so–”

The driver held up a hand, cutting off the rest of the explanation. “Whatever, kid.” He put the car back into gear.

Cole sighed and sat back again. It felt ridiculous, on some level, to be traveling back across nearly half a dozen states to a place where his dad only might be. The Blood could have left. They could have their own places to hide, miles from anywhere he would think to check.

But as plans went, it was the best he could do.

Gridlock and frequent muttered cursing from the driver later, the cab pulled into the circle drive next to the brown block of the station. Coming to a stop behind another taxi, the man turned in his seat.

“You staying here or you want to head for the zoo next?”

Cole didn’t bother to reply. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out the wallet he’d stolen from his uncle Geoffrey a day and a lifetime ago. Crinkled hundred dollar bills shared space with a handful of twenties between the folds and, glancing to the meter, he drew out several of the latter and handed them up to the man.

“Keep the change,” he called and then climbed out before the man could respond.

Beneath the garish fluorescent lights, a few travelers glanced up as he peered around the door. Eyeing them, he held his breath, waiting for anyone to strike out.

Nothing happened. The travelers returned to their books and mp3 players, albeit with expressions that hinted they didn’t want to be caught staring at the crazy kid.

He swallowed, trying to calm down. No one in the room had even the faintest hint of a glow, and he couldn’t feel any suggestion of magic either. Which, on the latter account at least, meant absolutely nothing and he hated the fact. Slowing his steps, he drew a breath and worked to appear casual as he walked over to the ticket counter. An approximation of a smile pulled at his mouth as the attendant glanced up, but from the tired look on her face, his effort was wasted. Radiating boredom, she sold him a ticket for the only bus leaving for Croftsburg, and then raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to go away. Burying a grimace, he took the ticket and headed for the metal seats arrayed in rows down the length of the room.

The clock on the wall seemed to be moving backward and when the call finally rang out to board the bus, he was fairly certain the world itself had come to a screeching halt. Around the room, a motley collection of people stood and gathered their bags before making their way toward the bus. Running a hand over his face in a futile attempt to bring focus back to his bloodshot eyes, Cole rose and followed them out the door.

Brilliant colors lit the clouds as the sun sank behind the city skyline and to the east, darkness was already setting in. Headlights glared from cars hurrying home for the evening and in the deepening twilight, pedestrians faded into the shadows of the buildings.

He wondered if Lily was doing alright.

The thought hurt. Brutally shoving it down, he climbed aboard the bus.

*****

Lights played over the Savannah River and swayed gently above the decks of the boats tethered to the shore. From the street below the apartment, someone laughed before continuing along the sidewalk with their friends.

Sitting in the shadows beside the balcony window, Ashe watched the late night crowd. It’d only been a few hours since she and the others arrived in the riverside apartment, and they couldn’t stay long. Halfway through renovations, the apartment would again be filled with construction crews bright and early the next morning.

But it was safe for now.

Ten more calls had come in over the course of the day, though only three had been to report additional attacks. But the surviving Merlin were scared, and as a result, some had begun cutting ties with every other refugee and going to ground in places no one else knew. As a people, they were fragmenting on their own, in addition to being picked apart by the Blood and, try as she might, on some level the diaspora was starting to make her feel like Jamison had already won.