Stealing Phoenix (19 page)

The Seer’s concession was more than I had expected. I passed the message on to Yves. ‘Are you OK with that?’ It would give us time at least to untangle this mess.

‘We’ll take it.’ He checked his watch. ‘We have until ten thirty, Friday.’

But Phoenix, you must come up here first. I have a message just for you.

That would be the safeguard. ‘I have to go up there. He won’t let me leave otherwise.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No,’ Dragon interrupted. ‘We’re staying right here.’ He then changed tactics; rather than push at Yves, he used his power to tug me free. Yves had to let go or risk hurting me. I staggered but caught myself on a spider leg before I fell. ‘Up you go, Phee. I’ll babysit your soulfinder for you.’

I hated the idea of the two of them being alone together for any length of time. I worried that Yves would lose his temper and set fire to something—Dragon probably. ‘I’ll be quick.’

Call if you need me.
Yves didn’t look happy to let me out of his sight.

I didn’t reply, fearful of eavesdroppers, but nodded. Sooner this was done, the better. I ran up the escalators to the floor where the Seer waited. He had commandeered the entire window niche for himself, Unicorn deterring any tourists who wanted to share the privileged view down on the exhibits. His spotless suit was marred, the jacket now sporting a blackened circle on the pocket. I hid the gleeful smile that threatened to give away my pleasure at the small humiliation Yves had managed to hand him. I couldn’t remember anyone ever getting one over on our leader.

The Seer had his back to me, still looking down on Yves and Dragon who were circling each other like two wild cats about to rip at each other with their claws.

‘So that is your soulfinder. Interesting. He is foolish and bold to come here for you. The bond must be as strong as legend says for him to risk himself. And for what? A girl he met only a day ago.’

There wasn’t much I could say to that.

‘As for my safeguards, I know how to ensure he keeps his word. Come here.’ The Seer beckoned me closer. In this public place, he didn’t demand I kneel; instead he took my hand and covered it with his other. Anyone looking at us would think he was a caring father offering me an affectionate pat on the back of my wrist as we enjoyed the gallery together.

If he reneges on his deal to bring us information, if he betrays us to anyone in the Savant Net, you will punish him by hurting someone he loves. And you will come back to us after forty-eight hours—nothing will stop you even if you have to fight to the death to return.

He dropped my hand and patted my shocked face. ‘Don’t look so horrified, Phoenix. If you were loyal to us, you would be happy to agree to do these things without compulsion. Are you faithful to us or should I think again about letting you go with him?’

Please no. ‘You can rely on me.’

‘Good girl. I expect a full report when you get back. Learn as much as you can about the Savant Net. Now run along before your soulfinder and Dragon draw attention to themselves. I can already see the security guards gathering in anticipation of trouble.’

With a nod to Unicorn, I hurried back to the escalators. I reached Yves just in time. He must have just insulted Dragon because the latter was about to take a swing at him.

‘OK, ready now!’ I announced chirpily, bouncing into the middle of the fray. I caught Dragon’s arm by darting under his guard and giving him a mock-friendly hug, propelling him back and away from Yves. ‘Glad to see you are getting on so well but we must go.’ On tiptoes, I put my mouth near Dragon’s ear. ‘The Seer says “behave”. He doesn’t want trouble.’

The gaggle of worried guards gathered by the main doors visibly relaxed on my arrival to defuse the fight. One spoke into his walkie-talkie, cancelling his request for more staff.

Dragon gave me a crushing bear hug in retaliation. ‘Tell your pretty boy that this isn’t over between us.’

‘See you later.’ I held out a hand to Yves. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Yves didn’t need asking twice. He sent Dragon a last challenging look as he took my offered palm. I immediately felt a hundred times better, his warmth replacing the shivery feeling left over from my encounter upstairs.

‘How bad?’ he murmured as we escaped up the slope and out into the sunshine by the side exit.

‘Bad,’ I admitted.

‘Can you tell me?’

‘Yes. I think he wants you to know. If you go back on the deal, I hurt someone you love. If you don’t return me, I fight to the death to make the meeting.’

He swore.

Remembering how studiously polite he had been to me only the day before under the provocation of my repeated attempts to mug him, I wondered what I was doing to my soulfinder to lure him into using vocabulary outside his normal comfort zone. ‘I’m a really bad influence, aren’t I?’

Yves looped an arm over my shoulder, the now familiar weight feeling just right in that place. ‘I don’t know exactly what you are, Phee, but I certainly saw red in there a couple of times. All of the people you grew up around act like monsters.’

‘OK. I was raised by wolves, I admit it. But remember that, won’t you? You can’t expect me to behave better than them when the chips are down.’

He shook his head. ‘No, you’re nothing like them.’

I was everything like them, probably even sharing the same tainted genetic inheritance. ‘Kind of you to think so, but consider yourself warned. I’m a crappy bet for a soulfinder.’

‘I’ll take the gamble.’ He rubbed my upper arm. ‘You come first with me now. No monsters are going to drive us apart.’

We arrived back at Yves’s flat without settling the major issues hanging over us. I wasn’t going to let him betray family and friends for me; he refused to talk about what he was planning to do. I could understand that: if he’d said immediately that he had no intention of going through with the deal, then I’d have to hurt someone—not the best introduction to his parents. Still, he insisted that I came first in his decisions and he wouldn’t let me down.

‘Trust me, Phee. It’ll work out,’ he said as we took the ride up in the lift.

I shook my head slightly, keeping my eyes fixed on the changing floor number.

‘Easier than the stairs, huh?’

I winced. ‘Yes. Sorry about that. I thought I had to go home.’

‘So we saw.’

‘I think it was a bad decision.’

He smiled at that. ‘Yeah, I think so too.’

‘I should’ve disappeared—just gone away. Then you wouldn’t be in this fix.’

Yves frowned. ‘Now that would have been a
really
bad decision.’

Getting out at the twentieth floor, we walked up to the entrance to the flat. Fitting his key in the lock, he pushed the heavy door open to let me enter first. The sight that greeted us was a pile of luggage in the hallway.

‘Uh-oh.’ Yves gave me a pained smile.

‘They’ve arrived?’

‘Yeah. That’s amazingly quick. They must have hopped on the first flight.’

‘We’ve only just got here.’ A tall man in late middle age came out of the nearest doorway, arms stretched out. I thought he was heading for his son, but he came at me instead. I almost cringed back but Yves’s firm hand on my shoulders prevented me from doing so. I was folded in a hug that had the strength of the Rocky Mountains behind it—stone, forest, and river. He smelt of trees too—a pine-scented aftershave. Yves had already told me that his father, Saul Benedict, had been born and bred in Colorado. He had the thick, black, grey-streaked hair of his forefathers and a burnished skin from spending most of the year outside. I could see where his sons got their stature from: he had to top six feet easily. ‘You’ve found her.’

Yves cleared his throat, overcome with emotion at seeing his father’s unquestioning joy for him.

‘Yeah, Dad, I did.’

‘Great news, Yves.’

No sooner had Saul let me go than a small woman bustled into our midst. A fraction shorter than me, she squeezed me to her chest and kissed the top of my bent head. ‘Clever Yves!’ she exclaimed in her throaty voice.

‘I was lucky, Mom.’

‘Karla, let the poor girl breathe!’ chuckled Saul.

Karla pushed me gently away and then thumped her son in the stomach. ‘But where have you been, you bad, bad boy? Your brothers have been frantic—they didn’t know what to do until we turned up! Zed told them that you would be OK and that was the only thing that stopped them calling in the police!’

‘Love you too, Mom,’ said Yves, replying with an apologetic squeeze of a hug. ‘So you knew we were coming?’

She waved that point away as if of no importance. ‘Yes, yes, he saw you turning up here with Phoenix, none the worse for whatever you have been doing to fetch her.’

All this family stuff was both heart-warming and excruciating. I wanted to crawl deep inside to protect myself from the unaccustomed swirl of emotions.

A third Benedict stepped into the hallway; it had to be the youngest one, Zed, as he held hands with a shy-looking blonde girl and I already knew he was the only brother with a soulfinder. ‘Hey, Einstein, I see you’ve found your magic formula at long last.’

Xav bounded out behind him. ‘Yeah, Phee equals You-She squared. I’ve been working on that one: like it?’

The blonde girl groaned. ‘That really sucked, Xav. Not even worth a place in a cracker.’

‘Aww, Sky, you are so cruel! I don’t know how Zed puts up with you.’ Xav tweaked her long plait.

‘Hands off my girl,’ growled Zed, mock-wrestling his brother away from his giggling soulfinder.

Yves laughed at the battle while I marvelled at the impressive, tousle-haired Zed in front of me. Someone had overdone the share of good looks when it came to this family: there wasn’t a runt among them.

Ending their tussle as abruptly as it had started, Zed flicked his gaze to me as if I had spoken. He laughed, slapping Xav on the back. ‘She just wondered if I was the runt of the litter!’

‘Truth will out.’ Xav grinned.

I blushed. ‘Did not!’ I whispered, clapping my hands to my cheeks. How could Yves live in a family where several of them could pick thoughts out of your head?

Sky elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Shh, Zed, you’re making her feel uncomfortable. Her colours have gone all pink and purple.’

‘Sorry, Phoenix.’ Zed gave me a charming grin.

I revised my opinion that the girl was timid. She appeared to have her giant well under control and a disturbing ability to know what I was feeling.

Yves pulled me further into the flat, dropping my hand to embrace first Sky, then Zed, murmuring thanks for them coming so quickly. I laced my hands together nervously, out of my depth.

‘Come through to the kitchen, Phoenix,’ said Karla brightly. ‘We were just having breakfast—or is it lunch? My body-clock is all out of sync!’

Victor waited for me by the kitchen counter. I realized I hadn’t actually properly met him—you couldn’t call our confrontation in the Barbican an introduction. He held out a hand to me.

‘Phoenix, I’m Victor, Yves’s big brother. How’re you doing?’

‘Fine.’ My voice had disappeared along with my confidence. Where was Yves? This trial by family was too much for me.

A warm palm splayed on the back of my shoulders, calming me before the seeds of panic could bloom. ‘Hi, Vick. Sorry I didn’t tell you where I was going. I couldn’t.’ Yves met his elder brother’s penetrating gaze.

Victor read the message then nodded. ‘OK. I understand. Just, in future, an “I’m-not-going-to-get-myself-killed” note would be appreciated. And, Yves, you got to remember you have a tendency to take on more than you can deal with. Next time, use back-up.’

Xav slapped Yves lightly over the top of his head. ‘Dog breath.’

That appeared to put an end to their complaints about being left worrying what had happened to him. I wasn’t sure I could’ve been so forgiving if it had been me.

‘So you got Phoenix back,’ declared Karla, clapping her hands in delight. ‘That’s lovely.’

‘I’m more on loan,’ I muttered.

‘Yeah, my little library book.’ Yves guided me to a barstool at the kitchen island. He helped me up then stood behind me as the rest of his family took seats. We’d interrupted their breakfast: half-drunk mugs of coffee waited by plates of buttered toast.

I thought I should make an effort to be friendly, filling the expectant gap in conversation with a polite question. ‘Um … how was your flight?’

‘Very pleasant. Victor has so many useful friends.’ Karla smiled at her brooding son, the only female in creation who was not bothered by his air of danger. ‘We had lovely first-class seats. I slept like a baby.’

Saul rolled his eyes. ‘Only after I persuaded you to take a sleeping pill. She’s been worrying about you, Yves.’

Smart woman.

‘I can imagine.’ Yves poured us both a coffee from the filter jug.

‘So, Phoenix, tell us how you met?’ Karla looked at me with her bright brown eyes. With her long, dark hair loose, she managed to look far too young to have seven grown-up sons.

I choked on my drink.