Taken (Ava Delaney #4) (22 page)

“So you were
there with Emmett?” My heart beat extra fast. “You’re the one who
taught him to hide his gifts?”

“The children
have no names there,” she said sadly.

“He’s almost
ten, but he’s small. He can see ghosts… or maybe they’re trapped
souls, but he can bend them to his will.”

She struggled
to smile. “I remember him. Is he free?”

“Yeah. But not
before they tried to trick his father into killing him. So you’ve
been in the slave market? You know where it is?”

She shook her
head. “It isn’t that simple. It’s in hell, Ava. It isn’t a place
you walk into with directions.”

My cheeks
burned. “Where are we now?”

Folsom
answered, “This is also a tiny, as you called it, pocket in hell.
It’s the only safe place there is for us.”

“So the twins
are in another pocket? Can I get from one to the other? Make a
shortcut? Find me a door?”

“What is it
you’re trying to do?” Folsom asked sharply.

“Get my friends
out of England and close the slave markets, once and for all.”

“That’s
impossible,” he said.

“Nothing’s
impossible,” I protested. “Helena tried to find me for a reason,
right? Because I’m one of the tainted. I can open doors. I found
you all, so why couldn’t I find the others, too? I’m supposed to be
able to do weird crap like this, aren’t I?”

“I can help
her.”

I turned to see
Val standing in the doorway.

“I can find my
way around,” she said confidently. “I will help you.”

“The market is
well guarded,” Val said between bites of food. “There’s no way the
two of us could break out all of the children without them getting
hurt.”

“Yeah, well, if
we get Esther free, she can speak on our behalf. The Council will
listen to her and maybe send an army in with us.”

We sat around a
large dining table: me, Folsom, Val, Leah, the angel and his
friend, and a couple of stragglers. They had invited me to eat with
them as we discussed our plans, and I hoped that meant they had
accepted I wouldn’t willingly do them any harm.

“What makes you
think the Council will help us?” Val asked.

“I don’t. But
we have to try.”

“You don’t even
know how to make a doorway out of here,” the angel said, sneering
again.

“I didn’t know
how to make a doorway to get in here, yet here I am. Besides, if
the likes of
you
got down here, then anything’s possible,” I
retorted.

“Cam’s fallen,”
Val explained. “And he’s a traitor and a weasel besides.”

“I came back,”
he said in a voice that made it sound as though they’d had the same
argument a million times. “I came back, and I led you here. That
should count for something by now, surely.”

The black woman
next to him patted his arm, but the gesture seemed to be her
drawing reassurance from him rather than the other way around.

“The twins are
important,” I said. “They see things. They saw this place. They
showed me how to find the beast, and they helped me finish her
off.”

“We hear
different,” Cam said. “We hear the shifter alpha did it.”

“You hear what
we want you to hear,” I snapped, and then I sighed. There was no
point in my taking the heads off everyone around me because I
didn’t like their words. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried. The English
were about to start a war over the beast. Lies were the only way to
diffuse the situation. But they’re warring over there anyhow, so it
was coming no matter what we did.”

“The alpha’s
sister concerns me. Parading ourselves in front of the Guardians
can’t work out well,” Folsom said, tossing a rib bone on his plate
with some dissatisfaction.

“She’s good
people,” I insisted. “She’s not like them. And helping her will
make Aiden warm to the next part of the plan. Esther’s ambitious,
but she isn’t as tightly tied to the Council as her brother. She
plays fair. But I should warn you all. This is dangerous,
regardless. Whoever is in charge of the markets is on to me.
They’re watching me. And I’m getting more and more concerned that
someone in the Council or the Guardians is involved in this,
too.”

“So we’re all
going to die,” a small man at the end of the table said. “When you
were in the cells, did you see my brother? He looks like me; he has
dark curly hair, and—”

“I saw him,” I
said. “I’m sorry.”

“What did they
do to him?” He straightened as if preparing for the worst.

“He ripped
something out of his sleeve, swallowed it, and died before they
could stop him.” I gulped at the memory, expecting anger, but he
slapped the back of the person next to him.

“That’s him all
right. Wouldn’t let ‘em take him alive, he always said.” He brimmed
with a pride I found difficult to understand.

“But Cam is
right,” Folsom said after a few minutes. “We still don’t know how
to make a path from here to England. Or if it’s really
possible.”

“But we’re not
going to England,” I reminded him. “We’re stepping out of one world
and into another. It’s more like a gateway.”

“And she came
here,” Val said. “She found us without an invitation. She opened up
her own doorway to get to us. Never forget that.”

“I have a
friend who might know,” I said. “Or at least have some idea of what
we can do. Can I leave and try to find out?”

Val’s shoulders
tightened, but Leah said, “Of course. We can trust her.”

They all
appeared to listen closely to the teenage girl.

I stood up from
the table. “I’ll just talk to Helena, and then I’m off. I’ll be
back tomorrow at the latest. There’s no way anyone can just sneak
in here, is there?”

“Only you,” Cam
said grimly. I really didn’t like him.

When I went
into her room, Helena was weeping again.

“We’re going to
get them back to you,” I promised her. “They’ll be here before you
know it.”

“What are they
like?” she asked.

“They’re very
close, and I like them a lot. Lucia doesn’t speak, but she sees
things and shows them to Lorcan, then he says them aloud. They can
shroud themselves, or a large area, easily.”

“They kept
their names,” she said in wonder.

“That was
probably Lucia. She doesn’t forget. She showed me you, but it was
just a brief image, and I wasn’t sure…”

“She
remembers,” Helena said, smiling. “That’s enough for me. If I die
before they come, will you tell them how much I loved them, and
that I never stopped caring for them or searching for them?”

“I’ll tell
them. Of course I will. Helena, the way they’ve created a hiding
place, is that fae magic?”

She nodded.
“It’s not creation. It’s technically stealing some space and using
it to hide what’s already there. If they hide it well enough,
nobody ever notices it’s gone. It’s something the fae have always
done to protect themselves. It’s also how they take over
territories, but that’s too long a story for today. Although, not
all of them have the skill anymore. It’s become quite a
rarity.”

“So who made
this place then?”

“I don’t know
for certain.”

“But you can
guess. Lorcan has a sword. Someone left it in their house while
they slept. When he touched it, it lit up, and he could see writing
along the blade.”

“The sword!”
She tried and failed to sit up in her excitement. “The family
sword. He must be alive, Ava. He must be.”

“Who must
be?”

“Their father.
He must have survived, somehow. Maybe he was the one who created
this place. Maybe that was his way of helping me. By giving me a
place to hide.”

She dissolved
into tears, and nothing I could say seemed to help.

Folsom pulled
me out of the room. “She’s like this often of late. It won’t do to
excite her too much.”

“Is there
anything we can do for her?”

He shook his
head. “She’s dying, Ava. There’s nothing that can be done for her
now. She’s had a longer life than most, all things considered. It’s
time for her to rest.”

“Who made this
place, Folsom? Who started all of this?”

“A fae. We
named the place after him. He was an idealist. He wanted to create
a sanctuary to protect those unfairly treated by the rules of the
Council. We had a few deals together, and he made this place for
safekeeping, warned me to take in his family when they arrived. He
planned on returning himself, but he never made it. I haven’t
learned what happened to him. I knew him after he had left his
people, you see. But I do know this, he was an important fae, too
important to be allowed to breed with a human.”

“Helena’s
husband?”

“Likely.”

“So why haven’t
you told her?”

He sighed. “She
knows, I think. But there’s no way of telling her things sometimes.
No knowing how she’ll react. I don’t want to upset her
unnecessarily by discussing painful memories. You see how she is
now.”

I rubbed my
arms, feeling nervous. “What would happen if they discovered a way
in here?”

“We would all
die. Try not to let us down, Ava.”

He let me go
with that plea. I wouldn’t forget it. I practically flew home and
didn’t relax until I made it inside the cul-de-sac. I had so much
to think about, so much to decide and figure out, but being home
felt safer.

To my relief,
Emmett hugged me at the door.

“I’ve missed
you, little dude,” I said.

“You’re hurt.”
His face wrinkled, and I touched my still aching forehead
tenderly.

“I’m okay. Do
you remember an old woman, Emmett? The woman who warned you to hide
what you could do?”

His face shut
down of all emotion. “Yes.”

“I found her
today. And I think I’m going to be able to shut down the market
forever, so no child has to hide themselves again.”

He didn’t look
as happy as I expected him to, but I followed him into the living
room to find Peter and Carl laughing together.

“We have a lot
to go through,” I said. “Carl, I need you to put your research hat
on. I’ve had a screwed up night.” I relayed everything that had
happened as quickly as possible.

“There must be
something natural that you do,” Carl said when I finished.

“I was thinking
that, but it seems dangerous.”

He rubbed his
chin. “But you did it at Folsom’s.”

“Yeah, I did.”
I shrugged. “I’m still not sure how. Besides, I knew they were
there. This is a bit different. Let’s not forget that I don’t seem
to have any real control over the things I do. What if I screw it
up?”

“What if this
Val chick screws you over?” Peter asked.

“I think she’s
okay. She hates the blond angel boy about as much as I hate Gabe,
so we’re on the same level. Plus, she’s strong, and she knows her
way around. She could be a big asset.”

“Until the
Council try to arrest her for breaking into the cells and helping
someone escape,” Peter said. “This is the Council we’re talking
about. As soon as you start talking about opening hell gates,
there’s gonna be an uproar.”

“Well, I’ll
have to be a bit more persuasive then. Carl, sorry there isn’t a
lot of literature here, but do you think you could do some research
anyway? Even a hint of what I should do would be great. I’m going
to make some phone calls. I’ll be in my room.”

“What about
me?” Peter asked.

I stared at
him. “Take care of your son.”

His eyes
narrowed, but I ignored his displeasure and headed up to my room. I
sat on my bed and rang Gabe. “Are you fallen?” I asked him as soon
as he picked up the phone.

There was a
pause. “Why do you ask that?”

“I need help.
Again. It’s about the market. And Esther. And some other
stuff.”

“Explain.” He
sounded snappish.

“I can get to
Esther through a back door. But I kind of don’t know how to open
it. Yet, I mean. And once I do that, I can do the same with the
slave market, but I need backup.”

“Well, I can’t
go near Hell.”

“Unless you’re
fallen.” I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

“Ava, I… damn
you, girl.”

“Is that a yes?
Look. We need to shut down that market and figure out who’s running
the place. We need to get Esther and the twins here to figure out
which kind of what the fuckery is going on in England right now.
And we need me to open up some hell gates so we can sneak in to all
of these places.”

“You need a
starting point,” he said dully. “You can’t just open hell anywhere
you like.”

“But if you
could, how would that happen?”

He made a noise
that might have been a laugh or frustration. “I’ll get back to you,
okay? I’ll try to find out how we can work this.”

“But don’t tell
anyone what I’m doing.”

“Fine. But Ava,
how did you hear about the fallen?”

“I met one
today.” I hung up before he could ask me any more questions. I
needed to use the people he was looking for to help bring Esther
home. It was too close for comfort, but I had no choice. I had to
make the most of everything on hand. War was coming. We had to
clean our own kitchen before that happened.

“You okay?”
Peter asked from the doorway.

“Yeah, just
hoping Nancy will be okay at the hotel. It’s probably for the best
though. I don’t think it would be good for Emmett to be around
her.”

He sat on the
end of the bed. “She wouldn’t hurt him, Ava.”

I shrugged.
“I’d prefer if she wasn’t seen here.”

“Shay was here
before.”

I stared at him
blankly, unsure of what to say.

He gazed at me
steadily. “Why was he here?”

“How should I
know?
I
wasn’t here.” I frowned, and he looked away. Was
Shay the source of the tension?

“Your plan is
stupid,” he said after a moment of awkward silence.