Traveller (28 page)

Lucinda and Poppy came home with Indian take-out, and we ate dinner together. Poppy planned to stay with us until the danger had passed. They told Nigel and Sven we were having a much-needed girls’ night, and I wished that really were the truth. I had something completely different planned, however. I told them everything Margaret and Audrey shared with me. The time had come to take care of this myself, and I knew what to do.

“I’m going to get Brooke back.”

Poppy froze, a forkful of chicken tikka masala halfway to her mouth. “Are you mad?”

Lucinda shook her head very slowly, her lips pinched. “You cannot go on your own. You’re the next name on that list. That means the Moktar plan to capture you.”

“I’m not sure if the Moktar even know about that list. I think someone inside the compound arranges a yearly sacrifice, and they’ve chosen me as the newest prize.”

“Aren’t virgins usually chosen for these sorts of things?” asked Lucinda, giving me a knowing look.

I blushed scarlet. “I guess not. How did you figure out I’m no longer a virgin?”

She snorted. “It’s so obvious.”

Poppy gave me a worried frown. “Why would someone from inside the compound do this?”

“Maybe Mavin figures one girl a year is better than ten. She must have made some kind of deal with the Moktar, but I have no idea how she chooses her victims. The first woman recorded in the journal was Michael’s mom, and she was Mavin’s friend.”

“So sick and wrong,” said Poppy.

“Another reason you shouldn’t do this, Emerson,” said Lucinda, her dark eyes sad. “Have you thought about how this will affect Michael if something happens to you? He lost his mother to them when he was a baby. He can’t lose you, too. It’ll destroy him.”

I swallowed a lump the size of Texas in my throat. “I have to do this. Can’t you understand? It’s all my fault, and I’m the only one who can stop it.”

They tried arguing, yelling, and even bargaining with me, but I knew I was doing the right thing. Poppy cried, which was an unfair tactic, but I refused to budge. I didn’t have a choice.

I dressed in black, like Michael, and pulled my hair into a tight bun. I borrowed Lucinda’s leather jacket. She didn’t know I needed it for protection against Moktar claws. I doubted it would do much good, but every little bit helped.

I called my daddy before I left. I needed to hear his voice one more time. I kept my voice neutral and complained about the English weather. He laughed and said I’d be home soon. That was almost my undoing, but I stayed strong, told him I loved him, and hung up the phone.

I strapped the weapons belt around my waist, and put the duffle over my shoulder. Poppy, still teary-eyed, giggled when she saw me.

“You look like
Tomb Raider
. It’s very badass. I may have to steal that outfit for my final project.”

I hugged her, which was tricky with a row of knives strapped to my waist. “I’ve always been badass. I just disguised it under wool skirts and cardigans.”

Lucinda turned very businesslike and serious, how she always dealt with stress. “Right-o. If we don’t hear from you in an hour, we’re calling the police.”

“Three hours.”

“Two,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

I rolled my eyes and gave her Michael’s number. “Call him…if anything happens. Not the police.”

She pursed her lips. “
Nothing
will happen,” she said, but took his number anyway, tears filling her eyes.

I slipped out the door before she started crying in earnest. If Lucinda cried, I’d lose it for sure. I hung on by a thread.

As soon as I stepped outside, I called Leo. I didn’t have a choice. The address was useless unless I had someone on the inside willing to assist me. Only Travellers could open the door to the Traveller compound, and I was certain only Moktar could open the door to their nest. Fortunately, Leo answered on the first ring. “Emerson?”

I decided not to mince words. “I know what you are, Leo. I want to save Brooke, but the Ceannfort won’t let me negotiate. I need your help.”

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. We arranged to meet in front of the teashop. “Come alone this time.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m on my way.”

Closed for business, the windows of Mrs. Burke’s teashop were dark and empty. Leo already waited for me. He appeared to be alone.

“Emerson.” His face lit up the same way it did every time he saw me. I tried to control the bile that rose in my throat.

“You look well. Better than the last time at least. You must have eaten recently.”

Leo’s golden eyes darkened. “How did you figure it out, Emerson?”

“Your eyes. Your strength. Your stench.”

Leo sighed. “It gets harder to control those things if I am low on HT, but, as you can see, I’m fine now. I’m me again.”

“Because you murdered someone and chowed down on their brains.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. He was a monster.

Leo gave me a crooked smile. “I thought you were here for my help. Shouldn’t you play nice?”

“Like you did with Brooke?” I looked around. “Where is she?”

Leo moved closer. I remember thinking Michael looked like a predatory beast, but I was wrong. Leo was the beast.

“She’s safe. She’s in our nest.”

Somehow, I managed to keep my voice calm and steady. “Did you hurt her?”

Leo shook his head, but he seemed nervous. His gaze kept darting to the buildings surrounding us as the shadows from the dim light of the street lamps danced across his face. “You’re the one who’s in danger, Emerson. I need to get you as far away from here as possible.”

He tried to pull my arm, but I planted my feet and stood firm. “I want to go to the nest. I know where it is. If you don’t help me, I’ll go on my own.”

Leo ran a hand through his dark hair. It reminded me so much of Michael it made my heart squeeze in my chest. But Leo and Michael were nothing alike. Leo might look human, but inside he was just as much a beast as the other Moktar.

“And what do you plan on doing when you get there?”

I straightened my shoulders. “Trade myself for Brooke.”

“Of all the idiotic plans…” He began, and then folded his arms across his broad chest. “I could force you to come with me, Emerson.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “And how did that work out for you last time?”

He had the decency to look embarrassed. “The addiction…it’s a nightmare. It turns me into a stranger, someone I don’t even recognize. I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you. I’d never hurt you.”

“Oh. You’re the victim here? I feel so bad for you.”

He stared at me, his golden eyes furious and yet resigned. “You’re going to be stubborn about this, aren’t you?”

I sighed. “I was born that way.”

It only took him a few moments to make his decision. “I’ll take you, but only on one condition.”

I didn’t like that very much, and scowled at him. “What?”

He stepped closer, close enough I felt the warmth of his body. It took everything in me to remain still and not move away from him. He brushed a lock of hair behind my ear, and I shut my eyes to hide my disgust. When I opened them, he watched me with a sad, little smile.

“You have to trust me. Can you do that?”

“Of course,” I said, and he laughed.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“And you’re a terrible person. Can we go now?”

We walked in silence through the dark streets of York. I checked my GPS several times, and we were definitely heading in the right direction. Leo kept glancing at me, his face a worried mask. When we were only a block away from the nest, he stopped.

“Emerson, before we go any farther, there is something I need to tell you.”

A noise from the rooftops startled me. Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him just as Melo jumped down onto the cobblestone street in front of us. Several other Moktar leapt down as well. The road was still damp from an early evening rain, and the sky so dark with clouds I couldn’t see the moon or the stars. Pitch black, except for one streetlight shining down on Melo. He drew himself up to his full height, well over seven feet, and lifted his head to howl at the sky. He was even more terrifying than I remembered, much larger, stronger, and scarier than any of the Moktar I’d killed, and he was hunting me. I’d just made things rather easy for him, sort of like a rabbit crawling into a trap and begging to be eaten. But this bunny had a few tricks up her sleeve.

He walked toward us, and nodding once at Leo. “Well done, brother,” he said, his voice somewhere between a hiss and a growl.

“Brother?” I asked.

Leo pulled me around to his side, his hand still gripping my arm. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Melo isn’t just our alpha. He’s my brother. My twin.”

“Twins?” I looked back and forth between then, one so beautiful and one so terrifying.

“One human, one Moktar,” said Melo.

“What happened to Roseanne?”

Melo gave me a cruel smile, and moved closer to catch a whiff of my scent, his nose rubbing against my skin. “She was the first human I ever killed,” he said, and I shuddered.

“She died giving birth to us,” Leo said, clearing his throat and pulling me closer. This time I didn’t protest. I wanted to be as far away from Melo as possible.

Melo towered over both of us. “Why did you come, little Traveller?”

Leo answered for me, which was good. I wasn’t sure if I could speak. “She’s here to negotiate for the Dweller’s release,” he said. “She asked me to bring her to the nest to meet with you.”

Melo bowed to me formally, a gesture that struck me as comical, but I bottled up the hysterical laughter rising in my throat. “Follow me,” he said.

The door to the Moktar nest opened in much the same way as the door to the Traveller compound. Instead of a finger, however, Melo inserted a single claw. I watched in fascination as the door slid open.

“That’s quite the party trick.”

Leo put his hand on my shoulder, leading me through the door. No handle existed on the other side, and no doorknob. When it closed with a loud click, I was trapped. I wanted to reach for a knife and kill Melo on the spot, but I forced myself to think of Brooke. If there was any chance she was still alive, I had to try to save her.

“Rid her of weapons, brother,” said Melo.

Leo turned me around to face him. He took my duffle bag from my shoulder and tossed it onto the concrete floor. We stood at the top of a high metal staircase. I glanced over the side to see where it led, but found nothing below but darkness. Leo slid his hands around my waist, his gaze never leaving mine.

“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to control the rapid hammering of my heart.

“Checking you for weapons.”

His hands slid over my belt, loaded with knives and even a nice, shiny
sai.
His eyes met mine, and I knew he’d felt them. I held my breath as I waited for him to expose me to Melo, but oddly enough he didn’t say anything. After he finished, he zipped up my jacket, covering the belt completely.

He raised one eyebrow; a gesture so much like Michael’s it felt like a stab in my chest. “You look like your brother,” I said.

He looked surprised. “Melo?”

I shook my head. “Michael. I can’t believe I never noticed it before.”

Leo acknowledged it with a little bow of his dark head, and his lips curved up into the barest hint of a smile. “At least I look like someone in my family.”

I glanced at the Moktar standing next to him, with his saggy skin and menacing eyes. “Just be happy you take after your mama and not your daddy.”

“Looks can be deceiving. What was it you wrote in your journal about me, ‘like someone on the cover of an erotic novel’? You thought I was desirable.”

I felt my cheeks get warm. “That was before I knew you.”

He shook his head. “That was before you knew Michael.”

“I want my journal back.”

He laughed. “Too bad. It’s mine.”

Leo led me down a narrow hallway. I kept looking over my shoulder, hoping to find an escape route. There wasn’t one. I’d gone into this knowing it was probably a one-way trip, but I still had to try. I touched my cell phone in my pocket. Lucinda tracked it at this very moment, my only safeguard, but useless because, as suspected, only a Moktar could open the door to the nest.

We exited the dark, narrow hallway and walked through an ornately carved wooden door and straight into what looked like a prison. I searched the room until my eyes found Brooke. She was naked and chained up in a cell, her body filthy. She looked barely conscious, but at least she was alive. For now.

I don’t know what I’d expected to find in the Moktar’s nest, but this wasn’t it. Leo led me past the other cells, and I looked around in shock. Naked women were chained in each of the cells, some of them pregnant, most half starving.

“They’re all Travellers,” he said. “Except for Brooke.”

“The stories about what you do to Traveller women are true,” I said, trying to swallow the bile rising in my throat. “You really are beasts.”

Leo didn’t respond, and I stepped away from him. I couldn’t stand even being close to him. We passed through the prison and entered a cavernous room, full of Moktar, a long wooden table in the center. The Moktar sat around the table, as if feasting, but the only thing on the table was a woman with her spindly legs spread eagle and her body very still. She wore a black robe. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew who she was.

“Mavin.”

I marched over, prepared to give her a piece of my mind, but as soon as I reached the table, I realized the awful truth. The top of her skull was missing, and the Moktar had eaten her brain.

I stumbled backwards. Leo pulled me away from the body. “I’m sorry you had to see that, but she was a nasty old thing.”

“You
ate
her.”

“She served no other purpose. She was too old to breed, and we do what we must to survive.”

I shook from head to toe. “You might look like a person, but you are a monster, Leo.”

Melo sat at the head of the table, and he laughed. “A monster? My brother? He is as weak and human as any Traveller. He is not Moktar, Emerson Shaw. He is a burden. We keep him alive because he can walk in the sun. In that capacity, he serves us well.”