Page 58 of Rebel Fae
“Let’s go,” she snapped.
I breathed a sigh of relief. So far, everything was going as planned, but this was the easy part. The next would be the hardest.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Get in,”Karen said, tossing her head toward the back of the four-door Jeep. Crescent’s unconscious body sat slumped over in the passenger-side front seat, her head pressed against the window. Karen had always hated me from the very first moment we met, so having her involved in this very precarious plan set my nerves on edge. Still, I climbed into the Jeep’s backseat and attempted to act like everything was normal.
She slipped into the driver’s seat, glancing at Crescent at her side. “What happened to the spook?”
“She fell on wet rock and hit her head. We tried to revive her, but I worry she’s hurt beyond our fixing.”
The Jeep lurched forward and started turning around. As she drove, Karen glanced over, noting the bruise forming on Crescent’s forehead where Bael had hit her with a rock. Seeming to accept my story, she added, “Never did understand why they put a blind chick in charge of a bunch of delinquents, anyway. Stupid.”
I made a noise in the back of my throat that I hoped showed agreement.
“Do you know where Dr. Watts is?” I asked. If he had been monitoring any of the events of the last few hours, we were toast, but, then, I figured he would have shown up long before this.
Karen just shrugged. “The shrink? How should I know? I’m not his keeper.”
I nodded, feeling better, but as we drove closer, my stomach began twisting itself into knots. The plan rested on few if any other staff noticing me before we got inside, but I also didn’t want to go invisible for fear that Karen might catch on and blow the whole thing.
We drove over the moat of water and crossed the gap in the dome which glimmered closed after we passed. There was no one in sight at the building’s main entrance. I fisted my hands in my lap and tried to breathe evenly as Karen reached toward a small keypad on a stand and entered a code.
A garage door. Luckily for me, there were no guards or other people to contend here either. She drove us inside the huge, echoey garage, past several other identical Jeeps, and pulled into the furthest spot. The place was empty except for us. The fates seemed to be looking out for me today.
Karen shifted the Jeep into park and started to unbuckle. “Get out, fae. I’ll call Adaline and—”
Her words cut off as I slipped the strip of cloth I had prepared ahead of time over her head and yanked back hard.
Karen made a gagging sound, her hands flying up to her throat as she grappled with the material that was cutting off her air supply. I gritted my teeth and held on tight, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Instead of tugging uselessly at the ligature, she went for my hands. Pulling hard against my thumbs, she wrestled them back, loosening my grip and working her chin under the fabric.
My heart hammering, I fought hard, but she had trained for this. Ripping my hands away, she whirled around while simultaneously reaching for her gun.
I let go of the fabric and smashed my knees into Karen’s seat, jostling it forward and sending her into the steering wheel. I reached around the seat and grabbed her arms to pin her. She lurched wildly back and forth while letting out a wild scream.
Gòrak!If anyone was around to hear, I was done for. I needed to stop her now.
The gun at her hip! I needed to get it before she did. I angled myself to go for it, but then I heard the scratching of fingernails over the clasp on the gun’s holster, then the sound of a gun sliding free.
I let go of Karen, threw open my door, and glamoured myself invisible all in a second. Then I dove out of the Jeep.
“Where are you?” Karen rasped, aiming the gun at the backseat and then glancing around. “Where did you go, fae bitch?”
I stayed as quiet as I could, inching away from my door and angling myself in front of Karen’s.
She opened her door and slid out carefully, the gun aimed as her eyes swept around the empty garage. She looked straight through me. The glamour worked. I thanked the gods.
Then I pounced.
I grabbed the arm that held the gun, wrenching her hand back and ripping the gun away in a few quick motions. She was too shocked to put up a fight. Her face morphed into a stunned expression as she turned to see no one.
She was just as surprised when I brought the gun butt down on her head.
The crack of the gun against her skull made a loudthunkthat echoed through the empty garage. Karen fell into a heap of bones and didn’t twitch.
“Who’s the bitch now?” I whispered, staring at her and throwing the gun away. It slid under the Jeep. I hated humans’ horrible weapons.
But this wasn’t over. Breathing hard, I realized I had two bodies to hide and fast. Someone could come into the garage any second. Fitting my hands under Karen’s arms, I dragged her unconscious body to the Jeep and slid her onto the floor of the backseat. Then I ran around and tipped Crescent over so no one could see her. It might only buy me a little time, but if I was quick, that was all I’d need.
