Ripper (The Morphid Chronicles Book 2) (25 page)

“Seems like things are looking up,” Greg said between sips of coffee.

Sam laughed. He had a milk mustache that made him look goofy as hell, and he knew it, too. He crossed his eyes, going for an even sillier look. She laughed and stole a piece of bacon from his plate.

“Hey!” he protested, but let her have it anyway.

She bit into it and chewed, smiling. In the back of her mind, Sam could still feel all those desperate souls around her. The oppressive sensation in her stomach had not disappeared, but something had definitely changed. It took her a moment to realize what it was. After a moment, it hit her.

For the first time in weeks, she was safe!

No one knew where she was. Sadly, not even her best friend.

Just as they’d feared, Danata had eventually sent someone to kill them. But they’d gotten away, and now there was no one else to fear. Maybe coming here hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. Who would think of looking for her in a place like this?

Sam tried to hold on to this feeling of safety and well-being. It wasn’t easy, mainly due to one thought that had slowly inched its way closer and closer to the forefront of her mind. She pretended it wasn’t there and chewed her eggs with a smile on her face.

Greg knew her too well to entirely miss her disguised anxiety, but she’d do her best to keep this from him. She had never told him all the details about that broken, dangling vinculum of hers and how it seemed to tug at her sometimes, anyway. And now that she knew that completely excising it was a possibility, keeping the specifics a secret and avoiding talking about it was more imperative than ever.

Deciding what to do about the last vestige of her tattered vinculum with Ashby was entirely her decision. Greg would not play any part in that.

Chapter 30 - Ashby

Ashby fidgeted as Brooke stood next to the telephone, listening intently to the receiver.

After a moment, she pressed a button and shook her head. “No answer. It went straight to voicemail.”

“Really?” Mirante asked.

“You try it, if you don’t believe me!” Brooke held the phone forward.

“How do we even know she dialed the right number?” Mirante asked with one raised eyebrow.

“Oh, please, lady.” Brooke rolled her eyes with practiced irreverence.

Ashby smirked. He loved the way Brooke was getting on Mirante’s nerves. The woman was simply insufferable, and she deserved whatever crude behavior Brooke had to offer, which seemed to be a considerable amount.

The truth was, the girl was insufferable as well. She had nearly driven Ashby mad while he’d attended Sam’s school in hopes of separating her from Greg. Ashby had seen Brooke as an obstacle then, but maybe that needed to change.

An enemy of your enemy is your friend, right?

Even if, in the end, he’d decided to stay with these MORF revels, even if he hated his mother for what he’d done to him, it didn’t mean they were his allies and friends.

Roanna appeared nice enough, a reasonable person even, but what did he know? It could all be an act. She was his mother’s sister, after all. Although the fact that Danata had always spoken ill of her was now a big mark in her favor.

In any case, he needed to reach his own conclusions about his
aunt.
For now, there was little to go by, except for Roanna’s nasty taste in advisers. Mirante was a bully. And what was a Regent but a reflection of his or her council’s behavior?

“Do you have any means of tracing Sam’s mobile?” Ashby asked, directing his question at Roanna. She was standing behind a high back chair, her hands gripping the head rest.

“Trace her mobile?” Roanna asked, confused.

Ashby frowned, confused as well. What was so hard about his question? Roanna looked questioningly at Bernard, then Mirante. It took Ashby a moment to remember where she had been for the last fifteen years and why. If her state of mind had been anything like Uncle Bernard’s, she probably had no idea of most of the technological advances of the last decade. He opened his mouth to explain, but Mirante cut him off.

“We don’t have the capability here. Besides, it is a foreign number. I have a few US contacts that can find out the location of the last call, but it can take a few days.”

“A few days? We don’t have that luxury,” Roanna argued.

“You should’ve let me use my cell phone,” Brooke quipped. “Sam would have answered a call from
my
number.” Her smug look was priceless, something she had tuned to perfection.

“With all due respect, Regent,” Mirante said. “No one knows where the girl is at the moment. So she is considerably safer than she was just yesterday. Besides, she’s in the company of her Keeper, an excellent one, if we are to trust the various reports we’ve heard.”

Ashby huffed.

“
The girl,
” Brooke made air quotes, something she seemed to do a lot, “has a name. S-A-M. Pretty easy, don’t you think?”

Mirante shot an acid look in Brooke’s direction. Ashby smirked again and nodded in approval when Brooke looked his way. She pursed her lips and peered at him through narrowed eyes.

Still an enemy, then?

“I
need
to find her, Luana. Our family has been torn apart long enough,” Roanna said with an edge of exasperation. “Not to mention that she needs our protection.”

“I know. I understand.”

Mirante’s expression did look like that of someone who understood. Ashby could grant her that much, at least.

She continued, “But understand
me,
my Regent, the crucial issue is your sister. What better way to make your daughter safe than to attack the source of all the trouble? Finding Sam and bringing her to us could turn out to be more dangerous than leaving her alone. We are about to embark on a battle against Danata, and all the forces at our disposal, and our resources are limited. We should focus them to one task.”

That was a fair point. Ashby lowered his gaze and consider it. Mirante appeared sympathetic enough to Roanna’s plight, but perhaps she was too practical to make decisions based on emotions, even maternal ones. Ashby couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering to Calisto and Joao. They were looking bored, especially the latter. They didn’t seem to be following the conversation. That might be for the best, considering the woman’s cold logic seemed to have no regard for her children’s sensibilities.

Many times, Ashby had heard similar things from his own mother, and always, they managed to be hurtful, no matter how much he tried to ignore them.

Would Calisto and Joao come second to their mother’s protection of the governing council and what it represented? Ashby could not help but answer
yes
to the question
.
From what he’d seen so far, Mirante was a stout council member, determined to make Danata pay for her crimes, no matter who stood in the way.

Roanna stood quietly, gazing at her hands. Her long, pale fingers were interlaced and still. Everyone watched her as she deliberated. Again, Ashby noticed her resemblance to Sam and ached a little more.

What was Roanna waiting for? She shouldn’t have to deliberate on what to do.

They had to find Sam, had to make sure Veridan or whoever else Danata sent after Sam couldn’t get to her. If these people thought Greg could protect her, they were mistaken. Danata would find a way to neutralize him. She’d almost succeeded before. It was only a matter of time until she found a way to get past his defenses. Roanna had to know this. She couldn’t let Mirante dissuade her.

“You are right,” Roanna said after a moment.

Ashby waited for a
but
to follow. There was none. He jumped to his feet, and Brooke with him.

“What?!” they both demanded in unison.

They exchanged a quick glance. Brooke’s chin tilted slightly as if giving him the floor to continue his protest. He took it without hesitation.

“You will do nothing to try to find Sam?” he asked.

“Maybe she is safer for the moment,” Roanna said.

“
Maybe
?
For the moment
? That doesn’t sound very reassuring,” Ashby snapped.

“Sam is only in danger because of Danata. If we remove her, we accomplish both our goals.” She turned to Uncle Bernard. “Do you see a better course of action to protect our daughter? I worry we might lead evil Samantha’s way. Danata could have spies within MORF.”

“I sincerely doubt it,” Mirante piped up.

Roanna ignored the comment, never unlocking her gaze from her husband’s. “Do you agree it would be best not to interfere? ”

“I do,” he said after some hesitation.

Ashby cursed under his breath. It seemed Uncle Bernard wasn’t any smarter now than when he’d roamed the castle’s gardens. They couldn’t be serious!

“You
must
do something. Send someone,” Ashby insisted.

“We have no one to spare,” Mirante intervened. “Our resources are few, and the task at hand a difficult one, to say the least.”

“
I
will do it, then. It’s what I set out to do in the first place.”

Roanna considered him.

“Forgive me, my Regent,” Mirante said, “but he should not be allowed to go prancing around looking for your daughter. It would be a mistake.”

“And how will you stop me?” Ashby shouted, utterly tired of the witch’s attitude.

“Hey! Don’t you yell at my mother.” Joao took a step away from the hearth.

Perry came to stand by Ashby’s side, a hand on his amulet.

“Boys,” Portos chided, just like he had many times when Ashby and Perry were children, and he caught them speeding down the castle’s corridors.

“He can’t be trusted, my Regent.” Mirante looked unimpressed. “I advise against his involvement in any of our affairs.”

“Everyone, please take a seat,” Roanna said firmly. It wasn’t a request, but an order.

The only one who sat right away was Brooke. She let herself go like a heavy scarecrow and collapsed on the chair, blowing her cheeks.

“You people are
insufferable.
” She faked a British accent that sounded totally ridiculous. Ashby looked back in disapproval and was surprised by the conspiratorial wink she gave him. He glanced about to see if anyone else had noticed. No one had.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his jacket, and sat, pondering Brooke’s gesture. Maybe she knew how to get in touch with Sam. Maybe there was something she hadn’t shared with the rest that she was willing to share with him, now that things had taken the wrong turn.

“Ashby,” Roanna began in a calm, pacifying tone. “I understand you want to find Samantha. I want to find her, too. Perhaps more than anyone. But we must think of her safety first. Luana is right. If we’re not careful, we might lead Danata straight to her. Dangerous days are ahead of us, and if we leave Samantha undisturbed for the time being, she might be spared the risk. I would never be able to forgive myself if I brought peril to her. Would you?”

Ashby didn’t offer an answer. None was needed.

“Her Keeper will look after her,” Roanna added. “He has done an outstanding job thus far.”

Ashby’s teeth ground together as he held back the words that jumped into his mouth.

What if my mother kills you and you never get a chance to meet your daughter?

What if it’s Sam who dies?

But arguing with these people would do no good. He had plenty of experience dealing with this kind of intransigence. As a matter of fact, he had to be the most qualified person on the planet when it came to that. Eighteen years of living with Danata had taught him that much.

He didn’t need any of them. He had Perry on his side and, apparently, Brooke. Besides, doing things behind people’s back was nothing new for him or Perry.

He had a feeling it wouldn’t be a novelty for Brooke, either.

Chapter 31 - Greg

After eating their killer breakfast, Greg and Sam made themselves useful in the kitchen. Nadine looked surprised at their efficiency, until they explained their work at the soup kitchen back in Indiana.

“Well, that’s a fortunate
coincidence
,” she said with a smile. The way she emphasized the word reminded Greg of his parents. It had that hint of sarcasm that meant whatever had happened was no coincidence at all, but a scheme from Fate.

Nadine looked up at the big, round clock on the wall. “We’re even ready a bit early!”

It was 6:55 A.M. and the doors opened at 7:00 AM.

“We can help serve, too,” Sam offered.

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She loved being in a kitchen working with her hands, and she loved watching people enjoy what she’d cooked. Greg couldn’t help but smile at her content expression. This was what he wanted for her. These were the emotions he wanted her to feel. There had been too much fear and anxiety lately, even as he’d tried to protect her. Maybe he’d been wrong about New York. Maybe it’d be good for her, because this was where she was meant to be.