Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(81)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Sam would be in danger.

If Airis tried to claim the life she gave back, he wouldn’t allow her to take it from me.

I couldn’t allow Sam to sacrifice himself for me again.

In that moment, my wavering thoughts solidified. We had to at least try and get that scroll back before it was opened. We had no choice. Maybe it wasn’t the hopeless effort as I thought before. We had a hellhound, a Supernal Being, a fallen warrior angel and my knowledge of Hell from the Dream Walker to help us through.

Yes, getting that scroll back was looking more and more like something that we could do.

*   *   *

Crowds of people pushed against me and their auras all blended together in one crushing mass of color. The air was hot from so many bodies and my mouth felt dry. Warm hands encircled my waist and drew me backward, away from the worst of the crowd to a less condensed area off to the side.

“I hate the airport,” I declared, turning my back and trying to focus on only Sam. And his blissfully aura-free form.

He smiled. “Let everyone else grab their bags first. We can wait.”

Who knew that baggage claim would be worse than going through customs? I sighed and settled in for a wait. “Where’s Gran?” I wondered for the tenth time.

“Maybe she’s stuck in traffic. Looks pretty crazy out there.”

I looked out the huge glass doors to the loading and drop off zone, which was definitely packed with cars. “Yeah.” I agreed, but it didn’t feel right. Gran would have gotten here early to beat the traffic. I expected her to be standing at the gate.

But she wasn’t.

But Cole’s mother was.

The minute we entered the airport, I knew she was here. I could feel the hate radiating off her and melting around me. When she saw Cole walking with me, her eyes narrowed. Cole’s steps faltered and he looked between us.

“It’s all right,” I told him. “Go. Call me later.”

He seemed relieved to avoid a scene and hurried to his mother’s side. Sam and I hung back until they began walking toward baggage claim. I glanced over to see if Cole was having better luck claiming his stuff and saw that he was. He and his mom were already heading toward the exit. Through the doors I could see his dad at the loading zone, waving and smiling, taking his bags and stuffing them into the trunk. Cole was laughing and talking animatedly. This was Cole’s father. Seeing them together made me understand even more why Cole wasn’t that accepting of our dad. He didn’t need to be.

They drove away and a sleek black car pulled in taking their place. It was some sort of sedan with four doors and a boxy shape. The windows were so dark I wondered how they got away with driving around town without being pulled over. I watched in fascination as the trunk popped open, but no one got out. The windows remained closed tight and there wasn’t a hint of movement from inside. Someone approached the car.

She had red hair piled high on her head. Kimber.

The window opened just a crack and she leaned forward and spoke. Several seconds later, she went around and threw her bags in the trunk and slammed it closed. Then she opened the back door and slid inside. The car pulled away from the curb before her door was even fully closed.

I did not know that car.

It was not her parents.

Who could it have been?

I was afraid I knew.

I turned to Sam, to see if he saw. He was looking over my shoulder, face pale.

“What is it?” I asked.

He seemed to shake himself, yet the color remained absent from his cheeks. It disturbed me to see my golden boy looking not-so-golden and I turned to see what on earth could upset him so much. Gran was hurrying toward us. She was trying to smile, but I hardly noticed the attempt because her aura was screaming out in shades of worry and pain.

“Gran?” I said, running forward, not caring who I had to bump out of my way. I reached her and she stopped, pulled me into her arms for a quick hug.

“I missed you!” she said and pulled back to look me over. “How was your trip?”

Why was she pretending nothing was wrong when there clearly was? “What’s wrong?”

She dropped the happy charade and looked at me. “I didn’t want your homecoming to be like this.”

“Gran, tell me.” My stomach began to knot.

“There’s been an accident. Your mother’s in the hospital.”

I gasped. Sam’s arm came around my waist for support. “What happened?”

“I’m not really sure, honey.”

“How bad is it?” I whispered. “When did this happen?”

Gran nodded, she expected these questions. “Just last night. I figured there was no use in calling with you arriving today.”

“Gran, how bad?”

“Not so bad,” she said, her aura saying otherwise. “She’s unconscious right now.”

I gasped. “No.”

“But,” Gran hurried to say, “the doctors are very hopeful. They say she’ll wake up soon.”

Then why was Gran’s aura such a wreck? “We have to go.” I turned, looking at the crush of people still crowding the baggage claim area.

“I’ll be right back,” Sam murmured. “Come help me?” he said to someone just behind Gran.

Gran shifted, turned. “Oh, Logan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you from saying hello.”

Logan was here? Of course he would be. I’m sure he was anxious to see his brother. Logan murmured something to Gran and she smiled. He went to help Sam, who clapped him on the shoulder before they disappeared in the throng of people.

When everyone around you is dead… the Dream Walker’s words were like a snake slithering up my spine. I shook myself. He couldn’t be responsible for this. He got what he wanted. He got the scroll. The threat to my loved ones wouldn’t be necessary anymore.

What happened to my mother was just an accident. That’s all.

With the Dream Walker out of my head and out of the picture there was no one left that would want to hurt me like this.

Right?

Sam

“What is it? What happened?” I said in a fierce whisper.

I suspected that something was wrong the minute I saw Gran enter the baggage claim area. She was pale and grim-faced and then I saw Logan trailing behind her. That’s when I knew that whatever was wrong was going to be bad and I prayed that he had nothing to do with it.

He opened his mouth to answer and I clapped him on the shoulder once more to turn him toward the conveyor as luggage started slowly moving around. “Heven’s mom,” Logan began and his voice cracked.