Page 39 of White Charms and Dark Secrets

Nineteen

Chaotic Magic

“Take the next left,” I mutter, keeping my eyes closed as I lean against the car window. The cold against my forehead feels nice and soothes my headache. My head has hurt for the last few hours, since I woke up from my way too short, hour-long nap. It's now the wrong side of midnight, and I'm exhausted way deep into my bones. The only reason it took so long for us to begin tracking his Elias was how damn stubborn Kier behaved about the whole thing.

“You know, this would go much easier if you’d just tell me where we're going,” Kier points out as he makes the turn, sounding understandably irritated. He’d tried to insist that I just tell him where to find his father, wanting to go alone. He didn’t understand, nor could I explain why I couldn’t just tell him where to go.

“It would be, but where's the fun in doing anything the easy way?” I grumble. We hit a pothole, and my head bashes against the window with a loud thud. “Fuck.” I lean back, rubbing my head and turning as I open my eyes to glance at Kier. He stares back at me with a mixture of pity and amusement in his eyes. At least he's not still bitching about how unsafe it is for me to come along anymore. Nowthathad been infuriating.

I can feel us getting closer to Elias’ location. Every inch we drive I feel the connection in my head pulse stronger, as the silver rope of light guiding the way gets shorter. We're probably only minutes away now. We've been driving for over an hour.

Earlier, Kier offered to portal us, but of course, that wouldn't have worked, considering he’d need to know the exact location, and I don’t know it. The only way I can pinpoint Elias is by following this path in my head. I’m assuming this works a lot easier for the fae, since they can just phase walk the journey to their desired location in seconds.

“How long until we get there?” he asks, and I hear the impatience in his voice. He’s showing significant trust in me by following my lead; I’ve shown him no evidence to prove I actually know where to find his father.

“We’re a few minutes away at most,” I answer with a shrug. He slams on the brakes, and I lurch in my seat. My seat belt is the only thing that saves me from crashing through the windscreen. “What the hell!?” I exclaim angrily. “You could have killed me!”

He gives me an incredulous look. “I wouldn’t have braked like that if it had a chance of causing you harm.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumble, rubbing my collar bone where the seatbelt dug into me.Asshole. “Why did you stop anyway?”

“You should have told me we were closing in. What was your plan, for us to just drive up and knock on the door?”

I bite my lip.Shit.I hadn’t even thought that far in advance. A too stupid to live moment, Kayla. I knock my head against the cold window in frustration before turning back to Kier.

“So, what’s the plan?” I question, ignoring his previous one.

“Well for starters, if you would share more information, it would be much easier for me to come up with a plan,” he growls. I notice his hands cover the steering wheel in a death grip, holding it so tight his knuckles turn white.

I turn away from him and close my eyes, trying to garner any information possible from the connection. Images from Elias’ surroundings flash through my head. “It’s a big place. I’m not surehow manypeople are there, but there are definitely others around in the building. Maybe you should call for back up...” I trail off, my nerves getting the better of me as I open my eyes.

“I can’t.” His voice sounds oddly empty.

“What do you meanyou can’t?”I demand, whirling back around to face him.

“I'm not... Well, the truth is, I'm not supposed to be working this case,” he falters, his admission slow to come out. He starts driving again, this time at a much slower pace, and looking around as if trying to find the ideal spot to park the car.

“Are you being serious right now?” I ask, just as he pulls off the road and onto the grass. He drives right up to the tree line before cutting the engine and getting out without answering me. “Hey!” I yank off my seatbelt and follow him out of the car.

“Which way?” he asks.

“You can't do this by yourself.” I cross my arms. He can't honestly think this is a good idea. Even I know this is a dumb plan with little chance of success.

“Are you questioning my capability? I can take him, Kayla. I wouldn't have come if I didn’t think I could handle this.” He glares at me, as if furious that I would dare to exercise some common sense.

“Okay, so maybe you can take him, I’ll give you that, but there are others in there too. You'll be outnumbered, and you don't know what you're walking into. You wouldn't even know where in the house he is!”

“I can’t just sit back and let him get away with it!” he roars.

“I’m not asking you to, Kier. Just call for backup, let them go in and sort this out. You’ve done what you can.” I try to step closer to him, hoping to try and reassure him somehow.

“I have to do this, Kayla. Me. I have to be the one to do this. Don’t you understand that?” he implores, his blue eyes pleading with me for understanding.

I suck in a shaky breath.Isn’t that exactly what I’d told Rhydian? That I had to do it?I bite my lip, trying to think of an argument that won’t make me a hypocrite, but I find I can’t.How can I fault Kier for his need to be the one to fix things, when I made the same request of Rhydian?

“I understand,” I finally concede.

He releases a long, deep breath. “Will you help me? I know I shouldn’t ask, but if we’re being smart about this—at least as smart as we can be while doing something this insane anyway—I’ll need you to watch my back if we come across others in there.”

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