I See You (Oracle 2) Page 20

“I … I thought …” I sat up, wrapping myself in the bed sheet and pulling my knees to my chest.

  “Ah, geez. I’m just being … I just can’t shake all this shit out of my head, you know?”

  I smiled, but didn’t voice a single one of the wiseass comments rattling around in my head. It was definitely not the time to make light of the last twenty-four hours.

  Beau laughed, seemingly despite himself. Then he sobered quickly. “I love you like crazy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  I nodded. “I can say the same. And I know crazy.”

  “If you stay here, then …”

  “Then I’ll be bored?”

  “And safe.”

  “Maybe.” I wasn’t sure anyone could guarantee anyone else’s safety like that anymore. Not in a world full of capricious magic. “I know you don’t want me near your family.”

  “I don’t even want you in the same state.”

  I snorted. “Right. But I get it. I get them, at least on the surface. They can only hurt me by hurting you, because I’m not invested. They’re just people to me, not family.”

  Beau scrubbed his hand across his head, then turned to paw through a couple of plastic bags on the dresser. “Kandy went shopping.”

  “She picked that T-shirt for you?”

  “Yeah.” He smoothed his hand across his chest and belly. “Do you like it?”

  “I think you already know the answer to that.”

  Beau offered me a blazing grin.

  I fake-scowled at him. “Are there at least toothbrushes and toothpaste in there?”

  “Yep, in the bathroom.”

  I slipped off the bed to head into the bathroom, noting that the room was embarrassingly trashed from our late evening. I’d have to tidy before we left.

  “Is that weird?” I asked from the bathroom door. “Kandy shopping for us?”

  “Nah.” Beau was still sorting through the bags. “Pack behavior. She’s ranked higher than me. Obviously, since I have no official position within the pack. So she’s supposed to feed us, clothe us.”

  Beau had left an ice-white toothbrush for me, taking a pea-green one for himself. I squeezed a generous dollop of toothpaste on it, then wandered over to the doorway so I could see him while brushing my teeth.

  He held up two tank tops, one light gray and one charcoal. I pointed to the charcoal one. He tossed it on the bed and returned the other to a bag. He lifted a black sports bra out of the second bag with a sneer.

  I laughed, choking on toothpaste. I owned only two bras, but mine were much more about eye candy than support. I could easily go without.

  Beau tossed the sports bra next to the tank top, then added underwear and socks to the clothing pile.

  I returned to the bathroom sink to spit and rinse.

  “You could stay,” Beau said again from the doorway. He’d appeared there silently.

  I crossed to him, pressing my face against his chest. “I know. But I’m not going to leave you alone with them. Plus … in the newest version of the vision …”

  Beau grunted. “I know.”

  “You looked at the sketches?”

  “I know I’m in the room. Ettie, Cy, and me.”

  “Yeah.” I cranked my neck to look up at him. He cupped my head and brushed his thumb against my cheek. “Plus, if I’m there … as well as Blackwell, Kandy, and Henry, then it has to be different. Somehow. Right?”

  “Or you’re lying dead in the next room.”

  I nodded, swallowing the fear that was suddenly threatening to take my voice along with my resolve. “Yeah, that could be.”

  “We don’t know how the visions work yet,” Beau said. “Maybe you can see beyond your own death.”

  “I got it the first time.” I tried smiling, but the expression felt false so I let it drop.

  I deliberately stepped away from Beau instead, letting the sheet drop to pool around my feet. “Did Henry give you a timeline?”

  “They’re still triangulating.”

  “So I have time to shower?”

  “Yeah.” Beau was out of his clothing before I’d even managed to climb into the tub.

  He reached over me to knock the shower head so it was directed against the back wall, warming the tile there for a second before he lifted and pressed me against it. “I can be quick,” he murmured.

  “But efficient, right?” My teasing tone once again dissolved in the wave of desire that the feel of Beau’s skin against mine always triggered.

  I gasped as he rubbed against me. Then all I could do was hold on to him … be with him … taste and touch him.

  My Beau.

  ∞

  We didn’t have to go far through Southaven to find the triangulated point that indicated the last stationary location Cy had used his cellphone. At least, that was how Henry explained it. However, the newly constructed industrial-looking area we found ourselves in didn’t yield any other immediate clues.

  The neighborhood was oddly quiet. The area was situated at the edge of the city, but I would have expected more people to be around by late morning. A couple of the streets were blocked off for paving crews, though the equipment was currently unmanned. From one end of the development to the other, warehouse-type buildings were in different stages of construction. Some appeared completed but empty, while others had walls but no windows.

  “It’s lunchtime,” I said.

  “Are you hungry?” Beau asked. He’d barely spoken since we left the motel, simply loading our clothing-filled plastic bags into the trunk before he climbed into the back seat with me.

  “No, I mean, that’s why it’s so quiet around here. The construction crews must be off for lunch.”

  The marshal was texting with someone from the front seat. Blackwell was driving. Kandy was following us in her SUV.

  “Looks like the wolf will get her wish,” Henry muttered.

  “What wish is that?” I asked, because fulfilling Kandy’s wishes really didn’t sound like a good idea.

  “A hunt,” Beau said tersely before Henry could reply.

  “Or we could just check out the buildings where the pavement’s new. Like over there.” Where I pointed over Blackwell’s shoulder, the asphalt surrounding the buildings was so pristinely black it looked as if it had been laid yesterday. “If this is where Ettie … falls …”

  I’d corrected myself midthought, subbing ‘falls’ for ‘dies,’ but Beau still flinched. I barreled on, knowing we just had to get through the next few hours and then … well, then we’d know what pain the immediate future held. “We should be looking for a grayish-blue building with a second floor.”

  Blackwell turned the sedan in the direction I’d indicated.

  Beau straightened in his seat. “You think this is where the vision takes place? That this is then? I mean, now?”

  “I don’t know, Beau. I saw the new asphalt when we first circled past. It … feels right. Like everything is coming to a head. Doesn’t it?”

  Beau didn’t answer.

  “Most of these buildings are empty. Or in the process of being occupied,” Henry said as he scanned the neighborhood. “Woodworker there. Other custom furniture places. Tile and marble supply place. New and pricey.”

  “Cy’s gotten Byron’s attention,” Beau said darkly. “So he’s taking enough of a market share to alert the local drug lord. High rent probably isn’t a concern. Occupying a space in an area still under construction means fewer nosy neighbors.”

  “Or your drug-dealer friend flags any new product that gets talked about or requested,” Henry said. “And Cy was just in the area, peddling his wares.”

  “He’s not my friend.” Beau’s voice was low and deadly.

  The marshal raised his hands in mock surrender, then went back to texting. Blackwell continued to drive slowly down the street.

  Beau reached across and took my hand. He brushed his thumb across the butterfly tattoo on my left wrist, sending sweet shivers up my arm.

  “Ettie dies to
day,” he said, heavy with unreleased emotion. It wasn’t a question.

  Threading my fingers through his, I squeezed his hand as hard as I could, trying to give him all the strength I had. It wasn’t much, but I hoped it was enough.

  “Is you being here going to be a problem, shifter?” Henry asked without looking up from his phone. The question was posed calmly and without judgement. “I was against bringing you both. The werewolf pulled pack rank. But it’s shady. The Adepts we’re hunting aren’t pack.”

  “One Adept,” Beau corrected.

  “Two members of the West Coast North American Pack were assaulted,” I said. “That’s pack business.”

  Blackwell pulled the sedan up in front of a building with blue siding, parking in one of four newly painted spots. The warehouse didn’t appear to be occupied. Or at least it bore no signage near the main front door or the lower-level windows.

  “And you?” Henry said to me. “What jurisdiction are you going to cite?”

  I saw Blackwell watching me in the rearview mirror as I answered. “I’m here at the behest of magic, sorcerer.”

  “So you’ve seen what’s going to happen?”

  “I have.”

  “And you’ve seen me?”

  I hesitated. I hadn’t seen the marshal. I hadn’t seen anyone but Beau and Cy in the lab with Ettie.

  Henry snorted. “But you’ve brought us along, so I’d hazard a guess that it’s all going to change now.”

  “That’s the plan,” I said, putting on my brave face again.

  Henry opened his door. “You’re just as blind as the rest of us.” He exited the sedan before I could respond. Which was fine, because I didn’t have a response.

  Blackwell smirked at me in the mirror, but whether he was condemning my ignorance or Henry’s, I didn’t know.

  Beau climbed out of the vehicle and I followed. Kandy drove past in her behemoth SUV, circling the block in the opposite direction once more.

  We waited in silence for the werewolf to return. The late morning was cooler than yesterday had been. Either that or I was getting more accustomed to the heat.

  A couple of cars drove by a couple of blocks away, but I didn’t see anyone in the immediate vicinity.

  “Cy drives an old Mustang,” I said.

  “Yeah, local police have eyes out for it, and him,” Henry said. “But I doubt he’s stupid enough to be driving it now.”

  Beau snorted but didn’t add anything to the discussion.

  Henry tucked his phone away in his suit pocket, lightly touching his badge and the handcuffs clipped to his belt as he scanned the area. I’d seen Blackwell make the same subconscious gesture with his amulet. And Jade did the same with her wedding-ring necklace and the invisible knife she wore sheathed on her hip. I wondered if I checked my diamond necklace like that without realizing it … finding stability, or comfort, or confidence in its magic.

  Kandy was back. She parked her SUV one spot away from the sedan.

  “A car dealership is having a grand opening one block east of here,” she said as she got out. “Everything else within a two-block radius looks empty or under construction.” Then to Beau, she clarified, “So if we have to track, it’s human noses only.”

  “Magic should be easy enough to pick up around here. It’ll be completely out of place,” Henry said.

  “Stopping Cy should be our first priority,” I said. “If he’s the one who kills Ettie, then holding him should thwart the vision.”

  “Well, that’s a whack of information no one bothered to fill me in on,” the marshal drawled.

  Blackwell snorted. “Please, you’ve already put that all together.”

  “Yeah, but no one was kind enough to actually give me any details. Thwarting a vision, hey? That will look good on the resume.”

  Kandy ignored the marshal. “Beau and Rochelle, you circle. One block at a time, widening the arc as you go. Beau can find Ettie by scent. Or that Byron shit. I’m not ruling him out in all of this yet. The marshal and I will look for the asshole.”

  “Asshole?” Henry asked mildly. He was obviously amused at Kandy calling the shots.

  “Cy Harris,” Kandy spat. “He is the one with the outstanding warrant, right?”

  “Not exactly, but finding him will do.” Grinning, Henry touched the brim of his cowboy hat in Kandy’s direction.

  “And me, wolf?” Blackwell asked. He was wearing a perfectly pressed dark navy suit today. I wondered if he’d teleported home to Scotland to get it.

  “I was hoping you’d just fuck off.”

  “No luck with that,” Henry said with a laugh. Then he smirked at us when Kandy glowered at him.

  Blackwell simply scanned the building before us instead of responding.

  Kandy spun on her heel and grabbed Cy’s wifebeater out of the back of the SUV. Then she clicked the lock button on her keychain and cut over to the entrance of the blue building.

  “I guess that’s my cue,” Henry said with a lazy grin. He touched the brim of his cowboy hat in my direction, then sauntered off after Kandy. She was already turning the corner to cut between the blue warehouse and the darker blue building next to it.

  Each building on the block was fronted by a single span of parking spots situated just off the road. There were easily twelve brand-new warehouses of varying sizes in a three-block radius around us, not including the car dealership Kandy had mentioned.

  It was a weirdly empty, freshly painted wasteland. Even in the middle of the day, bright sunlight and all, it felt as if anything could happen here and not be seen or heard.

  It would make a perfectly benign place to set up shop for any sort of business that needed extra workspace and didn’t rely on public transport or walk-in traffic to drive sales.

  Like a drug lab.

  Creepy with a side of creepiness.

  I shuddered. Beau pressed his hand to my back, but then let it drop away.

  “This one?” Blackwell asked, indicating the blue building before us.

  “No. I didn’t see it from the front, but it’s the wrong color.”

  “I didn’t think so,” the sorcerer said smugly. Then he started walking toward the next street corner. “Wrong siding. And height.”

  “You didn’t tell Kandy it wasn’t this building,” Beau said under his breath as we tagged after Blackwell.

  “They won’t go far,” I said. “I just thought it might be better to find Ettie ourselves. And to get her out of here, hopefully in one piece. In the vision Cy enters the room after you do, right? Maybe Henry and Kandy can catch him before he even gets in the building.”

  Still, despite the evidence presented in the vision, I was hoping it was Cy we found first. I was hoping it was him who’d taken the blood from Beau and Kandy. Or even that Byron had done it. Because I was really sure that even if we thwarted the vision, Ettie wouldn’t survive Kandy’s wrath.

  ∞

  The instant we stepped between the two buildings on the opposite corner, I knew we were in the right place. As I neared the exact spot underneath the middle bank of windows on the second floor above us, I couldn’t hide the shudder that ran through me.

  “This is it?” Beau’s tone was tense and stressed.

  I nodded. “What time is it?”

  Blackwell glanced at his phone, then looked overhead. “Twelve thirty.”

  “We don’t have much time,” I said. “If it’s happening today.”

  “How do you know?” Beau asked.

  “The shadows,” Blackwell answered for me. “No shadows at the edges of the building in the sketches.”

  I nodded.

  Beau glanced around our feet. About two inches of shadow edged the concrete foundation of the building to our left.

  Blackwell continued onward through the newly paved breezeway between the buildings. We hadn’t seen another person yet. Beau lifted his gaze to the window above us.

  “Can you tell if she’s up there yet?” I asked, just to say something.


  Beau shook his head. Hunching his shoulders, he trailed after the sorcerer.

  I pressed my hand against my chest, grinding the thick chain of my necklace into my upper ribcage painfully. I welcomed the sensation. I thought my heart might stop beating because it was aching so harshly. The ache increased with every step Beau took toward the final confrontation I’d seen between Ettie and Cy.

  I’d seen Beau’s sister die over and over again. Her head hitting right where I stood. Her blood slowly seeping across the asphalt. If I didn’t stop it, Beau would be here to witness Ettie’s death. And he already felt like he’d failed her once.

  I inhaled, then tried to exhale all my doubts. I had to see this through.

  Beau paused with his back to me. I always forgot his hearing was so sharp.

  “Maybe we should just leave,” he whispered, still not looking at me. “Maybe our being here causes it.”

  “We try to stop it,” I said, firming up my own resolve. “If we end up causing it … well … then that was what was meant to happen.”

  But even as I said it, I couldn’t wrap my head around that notion. I’d come this far and suddenly I wasn’t sure which way to step. I was just blundering around … what had Chi Wen said? ‘Trust the magic. Move where it wills, where it leads, but don’t try to alter the path.’ Was I blatantly disregarding that wisdom? Was I ignoring it because I thought I could alter the future? Or was I simply observing what I knew was about to unfold in some form beyond my control?

  “I just hate this shit,” Beau said, echoing my unvoiced thoughts. “I hate believing in anything more than you and me. And what I can taste, touch, and feel.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t have any answer. I wished we were back on the beach, toasting marshmallows in the bonfire that Gary and Beau had built. Or before that. Before Chi Wen had surfaced at the laundromat. Before he’d unlocked the visions and pushed me back on the path of … everything I couldn’t qualify and couldn’t control. Fate? Destiny? The inevitable? The will of some divine providence?

  Of course, the far seer didn’t practice what he preached. But then, he was one of the nine most powerful beings in the world.

  And I wasn’t.

  I didn’t know … anything.

  Beau turned back to me. His bright green shapeshifter magic danced in his eyes, then faded into his normal dark aquamarine gaze. He smiled sadly.