Shift (16 page)

K
aci whimpered and clung to my arm.

Fresh rage and terror shot through me, singeing what was left of my nerves. Obliterating my patience. “No!” I shouted, and every muscle in my body went so suddenly, completely taut I couldn’t move. “Kaci has nothing to do with this. Where’s the honor in slaughtering an innocent teenager?”

“The honor lies in protecting our interests and avenging our dead,” some faceless voice announced. I’d given up looking for the speakers. “The girl is merely your motivation.”

“But she’s just a kid!” And for once, Kaci was too terrified to insist that she was nearly grown.

“She is not
our
child.”

My blood ran cold, chilling me from the inside out. Were they serious? Did they care about nothing but their own people? What about right and wrong? Good and bad? And I’d thought
Malone’s
moral compass veered left of true north! Evidently thunderbirds had no concept of morality!

But I knew from Kai that they observed their own code of honor obsessively, even if it didn’t fall into line with mine. Or anyone else’s. Once they’d made a promise, they’d stick to it. And they’d vowed to try to protect the south-central Pride’s tabbies….

“You can’t kill her,” I insisted, speaking lower now, as a deceptive calm settled through me. I recognized my father’s influence in my bearing and voice, and that surprised me as much as the determination now steeling my spine, fortifying my nerve. Kaci was depending on me. The whole Pride was, though they didn’t know it yet. I would
not
let them down. “You swore to Malone that you’d try to keep our tabbies safe. I’m thinking killing Kaci would be a pretty heinous violation of that promise.”

There was another long pause while the thunderbirds conferred wordlessly. Wings flapped and feathers ruffled at my back as more birds dropped from their overhead perches. And finally, Kaci and I had to turn again to meet the gaze of the latest speaker.

“Your statement and Calvin Malone’s statement are mutually exclusive—both cannot be true. Therefore, we conclude that a werecat’s word cannot be accepted without proof. Calvin Malone provided no proof, thus our vow to him is null. You and the child are at our mercy.”

Well, that certainly backfired.

Chill bumps popped up all over my body, and Kaci shuffled even closer to me. I opened my mouth to argue with the latest avian proclamation, but before I could, another bird spoke up.

“We would kill neither of you without cause. If you return in two days with proof, as instructed, we will give the child to you, unharmed. If you do not return on time, or return without acceptable evidence, the child will die, and our fight for vengeance against your people will resume.”

I sucked in a deep, silent breath, trying to absorb the latest twist in thunderbird logic with decorum, though my temper raged inside me.

“Go now, Faythe Sanders. You are wasting time—yours, ours, and hers.” The old woman-bird’s gaze flicked to Kaci, who shook visibly in my arms.

They wouldn’t hurt her if I kept up my end of the bargain. She’d be fine. Unless something went wrong.

What if I got hurt and couldn’t make it back? What if I couldn’t find proof, now that Brett was dead? What if I got caught sneaking around Malone’s territory? Kaci would be dead before anyone else had an opportunity to negotiate for her life. If that was even a possibility.

And even if I made it back on time, with irrefutable proof, what would Kaci suffer while she waited? She wasn’t in any physical danger—the birds would stand by their word, unless I gave them reason not to—but she was already emotionally fragile. Two days as the prisoner of a hostile foreign species—whose members were practically counting the hours until her execution—would do nothing for her mental health. She’d seen what they’d done to Charlie and Owen, and she had a great imagination. She knew what would happen to her if I didn’t make it.

“No.” My mind was made up.

“What’s that?” a voice asked from my left, but my gaze stayed glued to the old woman.

“I’m not leaving her. Turn us over to Malone.” At least he wouldn’t kill us, and we stood a better chance of getting away from him than from the birds, if only because Malone lived on the
ground
.

“That is no longer an option. We want true vengeance for Finn, and you are our best hope of finding it. We believe you will do whatever is necessary to keep the child alive. You may stay or go, as you like, but if we have no proof in two days, the child will die.”

Shit, shit, shit!

Wait a minute
…“What about a trade? Kai for Kaci. Did you know he was captured?”

Several half-bird faces looked surprised, and several Shifted into human form, apparently just for that ability. But no one looked particularly upset. “The child is not a hostage. Her release is not negotiable.”

“Why not?” I glanced from face to face, truly baffled. “Is his life worth less than Finn’s?”

“Of course not,” said a young man with fully formed wings, then a man whose feathers had begun to gray with age took over.

“But Kai volunteered to fight, and he knew the risks. To die in war is to die with honor. Finn was murdered. His death must be avenged.”

For a moment, I could only stare, clutching Kaci to my side. They were serious. They were
not
going to let Kaci leave without proof of Malone’s guilt.

As if to underline that fact, a bustle of movement drew my gaze to four of the largest thunderbirds as they moved to block the front door, the only exit I’d yet seen. None of the birds was over five foot two, but they were all powerfully built from the waist up, even without talons and wing-claws.

Kaci was dead, if I couldn’t come through. Or at least come back with reinforcements.

I stood straighter. “How soon can you call a ceasefire?”

“We will dispatch a messenger immediately.”

“In person?” They could
not
be serious. “Where’s my cell? Somebody give me back my phone.” One arm around Kaci, I glanced around the room until movement drew my attention to a mostly human woman—the only fully dressed person in the room, other than me and Kaci. She was pregnant, and evidently about to pop.

Please let her have a baby in there, and not a giant egg….

The woman slid her hand into the pocket of her maternity pants and pulled out my phone, then stepped forward to hand it to me.

“Anybody know how this works?” I held the phone up in my left hand, while my casted arm slid back around Kaci. A few of the younger birds nodded—likely those who conducted the Flight’s few interactions with human society.

“Good. I’m going to call my dad—he’s our Alpha, the one in charge—and fill him in. Then he’s going to toss his phone to one of your birds, and I’m going to give mine to one of you guys. You call a ceasefire, then give me back my phone.” I wasn’t willing to negotiate on that part. Without some way to communicate with my Pride, I’d never get to the Appalachian territory in two days, much less find the necessary evidence and make it back to…wherever the Flight lived.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

“No!” Kaci’s head popped up on the edge of my vision, her cheek brushing my arm. I patted her back and squeezed her arm, telling her silently to stay quiet. I’d explain everything to her when we had a little privacy. Assuming we got that chance.

“Make your call,” a voice at my back ordered.

I autodialed, and my father answered on the first ring.

“Faythe?”

I almost cried at the sound of his voice, relieved to find him still alive. No matter who we’d lost in the offensive, it wasn’t my father.

“Yeah, it’s me. Kaci’s with me, and we’re both fine,” I added, before he could ask. “For now.”

My father’s barely there pause was the only indication that he understood the gravity of our situation, if not the details. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. We’re in the Flight’s nest, but they haven’t been very forthcoming with an address.” I closed my eyes briefly, as loath as I was to take them off our captors. “Is everyone…okay?”

My father knew exactly what I meant. “No new casualties, on either side.”

My exhalation of relief was so ragged it was more like a sob. “Manx and Des?”

“They made it to a—”

“Time waits for no cat, Faythe Sanders,” an intrusive, scratchy voice warned, and a deep, low growl trickled from my father’s throat. “Your clock is already ticking.”

“Who is that?”

“Um…we’re kind of surrounded by thunderbirds. Literally.”

“What do they want?” Leather creaked over the line, then floorboards groaned as my father paced, a sure sign that he was planning something.

“I’ll explain in more detail when I get a chance, but the short version goes like this—they’re giving me two days to find proof that Malone’s Pride is responsible for Finn’s death, and when I get back with the evidence, they’ll let Kaci go.”

Another half second of silence, but for steady, heavy footsteps. “And if you don’t make it back on time?”

I couldn’t say it, but my father easily interpreted my tortured silence. “No…” he whispered, and the footsteps stopped. Something scraped the phone, as if he’d covered the receiver, then he was back and fully composed. “Are they willing to negotiate?”

“Not about this.” The circle of stony expressions said that fact hadn’t changed.

“Have you exhausted all the other options?” Meaning, fight or flee.

“There
are
no other options.” Not that wouldn’t end with both me and Kaci dead.

My dad sighed. “What do you need?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll call you when I’m on the way. For now, though, I need you to call Beck back into the front yard. Then toss him your phone. I’ve negotiated a ceasefire for the next two days.”

“Good work.” I heard a hint of real pride shining through the fear and anger in my father’s voice.

Something scratched against the phone again, and I was almost certain none of the birds heard my father’s whispered order. “Get the gun and stand by the front door. We’re going out.” Then he was back on the line, and his heavy footsteps changed when he stepped from the hardwood in his office onto the tile in the hall. Other footsteps joined his, and I recognized my mother’s distinctive clacking as well as Michael’s tread, identical to my father’s in tempo, but lighter, thanks to his rubber-soled loafers.

But if Marc was there, he wasn’t walking; I would have recognized his footsteps, too.

I forced aside the deep pang of fear Marc’s absence rang in me and made myself listen as my father gave instructions for whoever was backing him up in Marc’s absence.

Then the front door creaked softly, and my father stepped onto the concrete porch. “Beck!” he shouted. Even over the phone I heard the rustle and wind-stirring flaps as at least half a dozen birds landed somewhere on my front lawn, who knew how many miles away. “Beck, your Flight wants to talk to you.

“Okay, Faythe, I’m going to toss him the phone.”

I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. “I’m handing mine over, too.” I eyed one of the young birds who’d claimed he could use a phone—one of only two who currently wielded human hands—and feinted once, to make sure he got the picture, then tossed the phone for real.

My breath stuck in my throat when he caught it, then fumbled before tightening his grip and bringing the phone to his ear. “Beck?” he asked, and I had a moment of panic, suddenly sure Beck wouldn’t know which end to talk into.

But then a vaguely familiar, scratchy voice answered from the other end of the line. “Ike?”

“Yes.” The young bird glanced around and received small nods from his peers, then took a deep breath and continued. “We’re calling a forty-eight-hour ceasefire, for Faythe Sanders to seek evidence of her Pride’s innocence in Finn’s murder. If you haven’t heard from us two days from now…”

I cleared my throat to interrupt, and glanced at my watch. “By…5:23 p.m. on Tuesday.”

“…by 5:23 p.m. on Tuesday,” Ike repeated, after another round of nods, “resume the attack.”

“I understand” was Beck’s only reply. Ike tossed the phone back to me, and my father’s familiar sigh of relief—or maybe disbelief—whispered over the line. Seconds after that, the front door closed on another series of footsteps, and the wind died in my ear.

And with that there was peace. At least temporarily.

“Okay, Dad, I gotta go. But I’ll call you from the road.” For more updates, and advice on how the hell I was supposed to get to Malone’s territory on my own, with no car, in time to get back with evidence I didn’t even have yet.

“Don’t dawdle” was all he said, but it sounded very much like “I love you” to me.

I hung up and slid my phone into my front pocket before one of the birds could demand it back, then tightened my grip on Kaci and faced the old woman. “I don’t suppose you guys have another television, or some video games or anything?”

I got dozens of confused looks, and at least five shaking heads.

“Yeah, I figured. Books, then. You have books?” I’d seen several birds reading in their perches overhead, so I knew they had at least a few.

“We have hundreds of books,” said a male voice I decided not to track down.

“Good.” The classics? That would explain their stilted cultural awareness, and maybe their formal speech patterns. “Would you please bring a good selection to Kaci’s room? She’s going to need something to keep her mind occupied while I’m gone.” I was willing to fight for that one. If they gave her nothing to distract her from the possibility of her own impending death, Kaci would dwell on that, and on the fact that I’d left her. And that would be torture. Literally, in my opinion.

To my surprise, my request met with several more nods.

We followed Brynn back to the second-floor room and I studied the nest as we went, in search of anything that might prove useful. Another exit. A potential weapon. Hell, even a bargaining chip they actually valued. But short of snatching one of their little ones and promising its release in exchange for Kaci’s, I came up empty. And I could never hurt a kid, and if I bluffed them, I’d lose all credibility, which was the only asset I had in their eyes.