The Silver Mist: A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 6 Page 19

  I didn’t want to argue. Herne was right. If we hadn’t caught him, the guard would have been cheering on Rafé’s demise. I didn’t understand how to reconcile my ethics when it came to lying. Oh, I was fine if the lie didn’t put somebody’s life in danger. But a lie like this? Where we raised someone’s hopes and then dashed them? It felt akin to what I had done to Nalcops, and while I accepted the necessity for it, I still didn’t feel completely settled. I needed to talk to Morgana. She would help me make sense of everything.

  At that moment, someone banged on the door.

  “It’s me, Kipa.”

  Herne opened the door. Kipa was alone.

  “Where’s the guard? Couldn’t you find him?” Herne asked.

  Kipa shook his head. “He was gone. They must have found him because the slashed ropes and gag were lying on the ground. I got out of there as soon as I could, but first I scouted out the encampment again. Herne, you did one hell of a lot of damage to it. At least three of the buildings caught fire and are still burning brightly, and there’s a huddle of men in the front yard. I think they’re the recruits. The guards are watching them. It looks like four of the cars bit the dust. The power’s out, and I’m pretty sure you took out some of the pipes to the water system because I saw frozen water coming up from a main in the center of the compound.”

  There was the sound of a truck outside, and I peeked out the window.

  “It’s Coyote. Get Rafé ready,” I said.

  Herne and Viktor slid Rafé onto a makeshift stretcher and as Yutani opened the door, they carried him out to the camper on Coyote’s truck.

  Kipa sidled over to stand beside Raven, giving her a wink. She winked back. “I think you should ride to the hospital with Rafé, to get that ankle looked at.”

  “I don’t think I can make it into the truck,” she said.

  Kipa swept her up in his arms and carried her to the truck, tucking her in beside Rafé.

  Herne entered the cabin again. “Pack your stuff in the car. Yutani, you ride with Coyote. Viktor, please ride in the back with Rafé and Raven and keep an eye on them. Ember and Kipa—you’re with me. Let’s move. We do not want to be on these roads when the men from the encampment start hauling ass out of here.”

  “They’ll be leaving soon. They were rushing around, trying to salvage what they could from inside the burning buildings.” Kipa slung several of the backpacks over his back and carried them out to Herne’s SUV.

  As we vacated the cabin, making certain that the fire was fully out and that the door was shut, it occurred to me that the case had only gotten more involved. We thought we were coming out here to find Rafé and to take down the headquarters. But it looked like we’d have to settle for saving a friend. Which, when you thought about it, wasn’t really a loss at all.

  IT WAS A HARROWING RIDE, but we managed to reach Port Angeles by four in the morning. Herne stopped at the hotel, dropping us off before heading for the hospital. Once there, he would pick up Viktor and Yutani and bring them back with him.

  As I entered the room, it was dark. In the glow from the hall, I saw Angel spring to a sitting position with a gasp. She held her hand to her heart.

  “Oh, it’s you.” She looked almost as though she had seen a ghost. “I was having a horrible nightmare. It was filled with fire and flame and explosions.” She paused, then rubbed her eyes. She was wearing a pink nightgown, and she pulled the covers up over her shoulders as she settled back against the headboard. “Did you find him? Please tell me the truth.”

  I set my backpack down, wearily trundling over to her bed. But I realized that my clothes were covered with caked mud and blood, so I didn’t sit down.

  “Yes, we found him. He’s beat up pretty bad, but he should live. He’s at the hospital right now. Coyote took him there.”

  She stared at me, and whether it was from the surprise over hearing about Rafé, or the surprise over hearing Coyote’s name, I wasn’t sure. After a moment, she cleared her throat.

  “When you say should live, do you mean he’s in danger of dying?”

  “He was pretty busted up. He was being beaten to a pulp by one of the members when we got there. He has a broken arm, and a broken ankle, and they think maybe some broken ribs. He looks like a mess, but he should pull through.” I hated sounding so clinical, given Rafé was her boyfriend, but she wanted the truth and she deserved the truth.

  She digested the information for a moment, then nodded. “If I get dressed, do you think Herne would mind if I take a cab over to the hospital and sit with them?”

  “I don’t think he’d mind. Herne should be there, along with Viktor and Yutani. And Raven—she hurt her ankle.”

  “So what happened?”

  “We found the headquarters, Angel, but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Herne did a pretty good job of destroying a lot of their resources, though, but this isn’t their main compound, and whoever Nuanda is, he wasn’t there. But I doubt they’ll be able to rebuild it, so we’ve chased them out of there, at least.”

  “It’s like lancing a wound. You flush it out in the air, and rinse out the infection and then look for the next place the bacteria has settled.”

  “I suppose every pocket that we chip away is one less place for them to hide.” I shivered. “I’m cold, and tired, and I ache. I’m going to take a shower and get out of these clothes. Be glad you weren’t with us,” I added. “Raven and I were attacked by giant spiders when we got trapped in a pit. I’m covered with spider goo too.”

  “When you say ‘giant,’ what do you mean?”

  “Think Eight Legged Freaks giant, or shelob giant. And a bunch of babies that were bigger than goliath spiders.” The Amazonian bird-eating spiders were just freaks of nature as far as I was concerned, and that the babies of the etho-spiders were bigger than they are, well, that was just wrong.

  “Be glad I wasn’t there or I would have passed out.”

  I could tell she was trying to be lighthearted, trying not to cry, but the strain was evident on her face. I stripped off my clothes and padded over to pull up a chair beside her. Spreading a towel on it, I sat down.

  “Rafé will be fine. He will heal up. Please don’t worry too much.”

  She sniffed, shaking her head as she stared at the covers. “I’m the reason he came. I’m the one who recommended that they talk to him. Yes, he made up his own mind, but in the end, he wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t said something.”

  “Shit happens, Angel. The people to blame are those who belong to the Tuathan Brotherhood. Without their activities, we never would have needed to infiltrate them. And here’s hoping that Rafé will be able to tell us something about the organization that we didn’t find out tonight.” I reached out, smoothing the side of her cheek with my hand. “He’ll be okay. Please, try not to worry. At least we have him back now.”

  She nodded, pointing toward the bathroom. “Go take your shower. Not to be rude, but you do smell like spider guts. Or something else horrible.”

  I headed into the bathroom to take my shower. As the hot water poured over my body, and I lathered up, all I could think about was how long the day had been, and how much we had been through. And yet, we’d only solved one of our problems. I washed my hair, squeezing the water out of it after stepping out of the tub. Wrapping a towel around my head, I slid into a clean pair of panties and slipped into my robe, tying the belt snugly at the waist. I stared in the mirror.

  “It’s a good thing I love my job,” I told my reflection. “Because days like today make me want to quit.”

  My reflection, being just that, said nothing in return.

  ANGEL WAS DRESSED by the time I returned from my shower. She glanced up at me, smiling. “Herne just texted me. The doctor says Rafé will live. He is pretty broken up, but nothing that won’t mend. They’re going to transfer him to a hospital in Seattle come tomorrow. Herne also said that the drug—the Ropynalahol—didn’t catch in his system. Which means we don’t have to worry about
that, at least.”

  “I wonder if that’s why they were beating him up. Maybe they realized that it wasn’t effective?”

  “I don’t know, but Herne told me to take a cab over to the hospital if I want. He’s going to stay there for a while. He said you should get to bed and get some sleep. Oh, and Raven has a sprained ankle but it should heal within a couple of days, given she’s Ante-Fae.”

  As she left, I traded my robe for a sleep shirt and combed through my wet hair. The hotel provided blow dryers, so I pulled a chair into the bathroom and sat by the vanity as I dried my hair. The flowing air felt good against my skin, warming me up in a way that even the heater in the SUV hadn’t done. I aimed the nozzle at my throat, then at my aching muscles. The warmth seeped in.

  Finally, I decided I couldn’t put it off any longer. I began to think about the case.

  On one hand, we had mucked things up royal. We hadn’t made any inroads on who was behind the Tuathan Brotherhood, except for Nalcops telling us it was someone named Nuanda. We had barely managed to rescue Rafé. And we weren’t even sure if we had closed down the compound. On the other hand, we had practically destroyed one of their headquarters, so if they didn’t close down, they’d still have a lot to explain to the park rangers who couldn’t help but notice the smoke and fire. And even though he had been hurt, we had come out with Rafé still alive. We also knew—for better or worse—that there were other compounds scattered around the nation and that we weren’t going to accomplish this alone.

  I had been so sure the Fomorians were behind the hate group, but now I was wavering. We had only seen Fae in the compound. So were my people truly behind the brotherhood? Was Nuanda Fae? Nalcops had said he was connected with Lugh the Long Handed, but that didn’t make sense to me, although I knew very little about the god. Were Saílle and Névé lying to us? Were they behind this? And the questions just kept coming.

  Finally, my hair was dry. I turned off the blow dryer and hung it back on its hook. As I brushed my hair and braided it back for the night, it occurred to me. I hadn’t wanted to even acknowledge the feeling earlier, but now I couldn’t turn away from the fact that I didn’t want the Fae to be behind this.

  As much as I despised both the Light and Dark Courts, I didn’t want my people to be so vile that they would create hate groups. I didn’t want to be part of a race that would do that. And yet, when I really examined my feelings, I had to acknowledge that I felt that way about some of the sub-Fae. I thought nothing of getting rid of troublesome members of their species. So was I any better? Was it the nature of all sentient beings to fear and despise those unlike them?

  Shaking the argument out of my head, I finally settled for accepting that every group had its bad apples, and groups holding more power usually had more bad apples than others. Not every cat hated every dog, not every bird feared every cat, but that didn’t mean that danger didn’t exist, that danger wasn’t a reality, and it sure as hell didn’t excuse mob mentality.

  And none of those thoughts did anything to help me settle on who I thought was behind the Tuathan Brotherhood.

  As I slid into bed, drawing the covers up, I tried to calm my thoughts. I was tired. Beyond tired, when I really thought about it. I needed sleep. Perhaps in the morning I would be able to make sense of things. Snuggling deep under the covers as the snow continued to come down outside, I closed my eyes and willed myself into a light trance. But actual sleep was a long time coming, and it was almost morning before I slipped into a light and restless slumber.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  By nine A.M., I was awake. I had managed three and a half hours of sleep and all I could think about was how much caffeine I could pour down my throat without giving myself the jitters. I pried my eyes open as the door opened and Angel entered the room. Groaning, aching in every corner of my body, I rolled to a sitting position as she sat down on her bed.

  “How’s Rafé doing?” My throat felt raw, as though I had been screaming too much, or been caught out in the cold for a long time. “Is he okay?”

  “His arm is broken, his ankle’s broken, he’s got two broken ribs, and a broken nose. Both his eyes are black and blue, and he’s bruised up. But…no internal organs were compromised. Also, the tracker that Yutani had inserted into his arm had been cut out by the brotherhood and he has an infection. So he has ten stitches and he’s on massive antibiotics.” She shook her head, shrugging off her coat. “He’s in rough shape, and he’s still sedated from surgery. He won’t be able to talk for a while. Herne brought me back to the hotel, along with Raven. Her ankle’s sprained, but you know that.”

  “Thank gods we found him before they managed to kill him.” I rubbed my head. “I barely got any sleep. I’m exhausted, but I imagine Herne wants us to meet him for breakfast.”

  “Yeah, he asked me to tell you to get down to the restaurant. I’ll change before we go.”

  I wrapped my hair in a chignon to keep it from getting wet and dragged myself back into the shower for another quick rinse, using the hottest water I could stand. The beads pounded on my shoulder muscles, helping release some of the tension. Then I threw on a pair of jeans and a V-neck sweater. I slid my feet into my ankle boots, because the ones I had worn the day before were still soaked through. Angel had changed into clean jeans and a peasant blouse, and she wrapped a skinny belt around her waist.

  Grabbing my purse, I headed toward the door, and she followed.

  Everybody was downstairs for breakfast except Raven and Herne.

  “I told her to stay in bed and keep that foot elevated,” Talia said. “She’s watching television and I made sure that she has breakfast for her and Raj. I swear, that gargoyle is more like a dog. A happy-go-lucky dog. He was so affectionate while you guys were up on the ridge. All he wanted to do was play.” She looked at me. “You look worse for wear.”

  “Thanks. I love you too,” I said, laughing for the first time in a while. “I need more than three and a half hours of sleep to function.” I waved at the waitress. “I need a quint-shot mocha and I need it stat. Extra chocolate, with a lot of whipped cream on top.” As she turned, I stopped her again. “Can you shave some chocolate on top of the whipped cream, too?”

  As she headed off with my order, I picked up the menu. I was starving. “Where’s Herne?”

  Yutani shrugged. “On a phone call. He’ll be back in a moment.”

  Sure enough, just as we started placing our breakfast orders, Herne entered the restaurant. As he sat down at the table, looking up at the waitress.

  “I’ll have a stack of pancakes, eight sausage links, four rashers of bacon, and a bowl of fruit. Also, a refill on my coffee, please.” He waited until she double-checked our orders and left. “That was Cernunnos on the phone. He’ll be here in an hour, with Brighid’s arrow. So we should be able to at least take care of the Cailleach today. I called Angus. He’s still alive, so thank gods for small favors. Are you all caught up on Rafé’s and Raven’s conditions?”

  We all nodded. Viktor looked as tired as I felt, and so did Yutani.

  “Did your father take off?” Herne asked, turning to Yutani.

  He nodded. “Yeah, after he dropped us off at the hospital. Coyote said he’d see me later, and I know enough to know that means when he’s ready. But at least we cleared up a few things. I’ll tell you about them later, when I’ve had a chance to process them.” He paused, and then, staring at his coffee, he added, “I want to apologize if I’ve offended any of you lately. I know I’ve been kind of an asshole, and there’s really no excuse. I was just so confused about what to do about my father, and so angry that I took it out on everybody else.”

  “How do you feel now?” Talia asked.

  “I have a lot to process through, but at least I have a place to start.” He shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “Forgive me?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. “I suppose. And yes, you were being an ass, but it’s okay. We’re all good.” I glanced around the table. “Aren’t we?”
r />   Everybody nodded.

  “If that’s taken care of, let’s move on to other subjects.” Herne let out a long sigh. “We have to capture the Cailleach today. They’re shutting roads down across the peninsula because of the snow. If we don’t corral her soon, she’ll grow too strong. My father said the arrow will work on her as long as she hasn’t gained her full strength yet.”

  “How long does that take?” Yutani asked.

  “Anywhere from several weeks to a few months after she’s been released from her stone. But Cernunnos thinks we’re nearing the limit.”

  “Why does it take one of Brighid’s arrows to confine her to the stone?” I asked.

  “Because the Cailleach and Brighid made an agreement eons ago. The Cailleach was supposed to give way to early spring, on Imbolc—Brighid’s holy day. But she began pushing the limit, and finally, Brighid appealed to the Triamvinate that the Cailleach had broken their agreement. The Triamvinate gave Brighid the power to contain the Cailleach if she ever tried it again. Well, being the Force she is, the Cailleach inevitably overreached her grasp yet again, so Brighid shot her with one of her arrows, which locked the Cailleach away in the stone. She’s only to be freed if the winters cease to fall as they’re supposed to. I suppose, if greenhouse warming continues, the Triamvinate may decree that she be freed to work her magic. But that has not happened yet.”

  “Do you think you can shoot her?” Talia asked.

  “If I can catch her in my sightline, I can. Brighid’s also giving us a summoning stone. That will bring the Cailleach to us, but we’ll have to act quickly, because it will only hold her for a moment.”