Isla

 

The darkness and quiet pressed on me as I rolled over and stared at the dark ceiling. Everyone was gone from the house – even Elias. Two SoA agents were downstairs, keeping an eye on everything and presumably protecting me.

But I didn’t feel protected, I felt like a prisoner.

Getting up, I walked out of the room and prowled down the hall. Part of me wanted to find Kai’s room, but I came across Piper’s first. Slipping in, I flicked on the light and the faint, haunting scent of her perfume hit my nose. I noticed the bed was slightly mussed and there was a photo frame laying on it. Someone had been sitting in here, looking at it.

Picking up the frame, I glanced from picture to picture. The first was of Piper, Balt, and Soraya, each looking about ten years old or so. Piper was yelling and holding onto the arm of a runaway five-year-old Kai, his hair as wild as his grin. Soraya had her arm around a little boy who looked about Kai’s age, minus the flailing limbs, and she was holding a toddler in the other arm. And Balt, his little face already heartbreakingly handsome, was holding an infant wrapped in a bundle of pink blankets.

The second photo was of a teenage Piper and Balt, standing with their arms around each other and Kai leaping into the frame. Balt must have been about seventeen. Kai was goofy and gangly, his curls falling into his eyes. And Piper was poised, head up, but her smile was soft and shy.

The next must have been taken when Piper and Balt were in their early twenties. There was Kai, arms a blur in the corner of the frame, with a laughing Balt holding him a headlock. Piper was scowling, but her eyes were dancing. Soraya and two teenagers who must have been her siblings were smiling on the other side of her, Soraya’s arms stretched as though she was trying to hold them all.

And finally, there was a picture of Piper and Balt on the beach. It was in Maui, I realized. Piper was laughing, almost in surprise and she was looking right into the camera. Somehow, I knew that Kai had taken this photo, probably to annoy her. Balt was laughing too, but he was looking at Piper and there was a curve to his smile that was heartrending.

Placing the photos back down, I stood up and restlessly gazed around the room. The desk was in disarray, the shelves choked with childhood detritus and books. Then I froze.

There, hanging off a chair by the window was my purse.

Heart pounding, I went over to it and picked it up. Rummaging through, I found my phone with an attached post-it-note and Piper’s handwriting swirling across.

Note to self: SoA tracker activated/ in phone & untraceable to TLO

It was off and my heart pounded as I stared at it. What would happen if I turned it on? Would those numbers for Dr. Crane and the TLO still work?

Impulsively, I pressed down the power button and watched it flick on. Instantly, it began to buzz with missed texts and voicemails. Some were from Dionne, who sounded both frantic and annoyed. What you too famous to text me back?

Hastily, I typed her a message back as guilt flooded me; a lot has happened, I’ll try to get in touch ASAP. Not in Japan. Long story.

Then I texted Tina. A plan was starting to form in my mind.

To my surprise, she replied immediately, even though it was one in the morning. Hey, sorry about today. I’ve been in a funk for a few weeks. We should get together again soon and I promise I won’t be a huge Debbie Downer.

Biting my lip, I wrote her back and then glanced around the room. My eyes landed on a black duffel in front of Piper’s closet and I went over to it. After digging through it, I almost laughed when I found exactly what I needed.

Changing into a pair of Piper’s black pants and then going back to my room, I retrieved Kai’s hoodie and inhaled in his scent. Scrawling a note, I then raced downstairs, my heart pumping.

I knew the two guards would hear me coming and sure enough one of them turned to me with a smile as I walked into the kitchen, “Hey, you’re up late–hey!”

But it was too late, I’d pulled the canister open and the air was filling with colorless sleeping gas. It worked better than I expected and I gasped behind the gas mask I’d strapped on, watching the two burly men sink to the floor.

“Sorry,” I whispered, edging out and the canister fell from my shaking hands.

Grabbing up a pair of keys from the hook, I rushed outside, tossing the gas mask aside and jumping into the car. My hands were still shaking as I started it up – it had been a long time since I’d driven a car and I hoped I could remember what I was doing.

After making a few wrong turns, I managed to find the exit and swallowed nervously. Here was the tricky part. I was hoping on sight alone, they’d let the car leave as I really hadn’t thought this part out. For a moment, I sat there, panicking as they remained shut.

Suddenly they swung open and I gasped in relief.

Flying through the night, I drove to the Hollywood Hills and the address Tina had given me. Pulling up in front of the loft, I goggled at the building. This place was way nicer than I’d been expecting – wow, I didn’t know Tina could afford something like this. Something nagged in the back of my head, but I grabbed my purse and locked the car, darting across the street.

As I buzzed her apartment, I thought I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and whirled around.

Nothing was there.

Heart in my throat, I shifted from foot to foot waiting for her. Then I smiled as Tina opened the door. “Hi, hon – what’s wrong?”

Her expression was haggard and drawn, her eyes wide and pained in her face.

Immediately my instincts screamed at me to run, but I held my ground.

“You shouldn’t have come, Isla,” Tina mumbled. “I’m sorry – I-I didn’t know that’s why you’d asked for my address...”

“Oh, but I did,” said a smug and harsh voice from the bottom of the steps. Turning, I saw Hale Hunter lounging there and leering up at me. “Been a while, darlin’.”

My eyes flicked back to Tina. “You work for them.”

She paled, her brilliant eyes swimming and I saw a flash of gold in them. Suddenly I understood her agony and depression. Tina had lied to me.

She had become a shifter. In doing so, she got everything she wanted while the TLO took everything else away. Including Isiah.

“Yes, you really shouldn’t have absolutely come here, Ms. DeLuca,” said a woman’s voice and she appeared out of the shadows behind Tina. She was lithe and sprightly, almost otherworldly looking in her elegance and beauty. But her eyes were a cold, lifeless blue and her hair was a stark blonde-white, “At least, not without your little SoA bodyguards. Take her.”

Tina caught me, her hands impossibly strong on my arms and then I was pinned to the railing. My purse was yanked out of my hands by Hunter and the phone tossed into the air. It smashed onto the pavement before Hunter brought a booted foot down on the sparkling blue case.

“I knew you’d be back. And I knew you’d come running after Tina, all worried for your friend. You’re predictable, darlin’,” Hunter’s voice was full of cruel glee. “I have to hand it to the SoA – they almost made it. But they fumbled it in the fourth quarter.”

“Oh, right. A very happy early birthday, Isla," the woman said, her smile like the curve of a scythe. “Imagine, two more days and you’d be safely out of reach.”

As I was led down the stairs and to a dark van, I remained silent.

Nicely done, Isla, I told myself with an inward sigh.