Retribution: The Lost Children World Book 1 Read online

  “Lena! What the hell are you doing?” Flint reached me on the sidewalk and stared down at me with hard eyes. Anger simmered off of him, but it was tinged with something else—fear.

  I wrung my hands as I gave him a look that I hoped evoked sympathy. “I had to follow him, Flint! I’m sorry. I know you’ve been worried, but I’m fine.”

  He crushed me in an embrace. His steel-like arms and scent surrounded me. “You can’t do that, babe. I know you want to catch this guy, but chasing him by yourself is not the answer.”

  The anger in his cloud dissipated as raw fear filled it. I knew more than ever that my time locked away in Marcus’s mansion still haunted him. He had the same terrified sound in his voice as he’d had when I’d been taken in San Francisco.

  I pulled back, having to pry his arms loose, before I reached up and laid a palm gently across his cheek. Heat from his skin seared my hand. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. He got away. I’m sorry I frightened you.”

  A growl of irritation rumbled from his chest, but he still tilted his head and kissed my inner wrist—right where my tattoo was.

  A shiver ran up my arm.

  “Don’t do that again,” he said. “Promise me.”

  I sighed loudly but nodded. “Fine. I won’t chase him again by myself.” I pushed my hair behind my shoulder. The wind was really picking up. “How did you find me, anyway?”

  He pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up. A tracking app was open.

  I propped a hand on my hip. “You tracked my phone’s location?”

  “Can you blame me? I have a girlfriend who is currently on a suicide mission. Of course I downloaded an app so I can track you.”

  Annoyance flared in me again, but I didn’t want to spend our time arguing about this. We had more important things to discuss.

  I ran a hand through my hair when the wind ruffled the curls resting on my shoulders. “We might as well head home. We have a lot to talk about. Because if there’s one thing I’m certain about, it’s that this guy is definitely intent on attacking that girl.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Back at our apartment, the twins and Mica listened raptly while I described my evening, whereas Di, Flint, and Raven crossed their arms and mumbled their displeasure. Amber, Edgar, and Luke all listened with raised eyebrows, shock apparent on their faces.

  “So you didn’t get a good look at him at all?” Mica asked incredulously.

  “No. All I can describe is his build and hair color.”

  “Let me get this straight.” Luke slung an arm across the couch back. His wide shoulders filled half the seating. “You’re having dinner with a friend. You see the mysterious clouded man again, so you jump up and leave the restaurant—and leave your friend—to chase him at night by yourself. He then sees you and watches you while you’re alone. Did I get that right?” His eyes flickered to golden.

  “Well . . .” I wrung my hands as Flint’s energy grew. Luke’s comment also reminded me that I really needed to call Grace. Six text messages from her, which I had yet to respond to, were currently waiting on my phone. “I suppose when you put it like that it seems a bit . . .”

  “Impulsive?” Di raised a midnight eyebrow.

  I rolled my eyes. “I know. I know. I’m still working on that lovely trait of mine, but for the most part, I don’t do stuff like that anymore. You know that, and seriously, you guys, are you really telling me I should have left it? I now know where this girl lives. We can watch her apartment building and, hopefully, catch this guy.”

  “Strong work, Lena.” Jet clapped me on the back. “I, for one, like your style.”

  Jasper and Mica snickered, which got annoyed looks from Flint and Di.

  Raven leaned forward from where he was sitting on the couch by Flint. Since he wasn’t wearing his contact lenses, his eyes were swirling colors of orange, like embers burning in a fire. “We were really worried about you, Lena. I don’t think it’s wise to do something like that again.”

  Raven’s quiet voice and levelheaded response reminded me so much of Di. Flint had said something very similar during the ride back to our apartment after he picked me up. However, Flint’s words had been a bit more heated and colorful.

  “I know, Raven. I’m sorry I worried you guys.”

  Amber nudged Edgar. “Let’s go make a snack. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”

  Edgar shrugged and ran a hand over his shaved head. “Sure, love.”

  They disappeared into the kitchen of our small apartment. The sounds and scents of popping popcorn soon filled the air.

  “Oooh, I love popcorn!” Mica exclaimed when they returned carrying two large bowls. She grabbed a huge handful. A few kernels dropped onto the fake-wood linoleum floor. Mica picked them up and popped them into her mouth.

  Di paced the living room a few times as everyone else chewed popcorn. Since our apartment was a two-bedroom, it was spacious for Flint and me, but with our family added, things felt a bit crowded. Di’s energy wasn’t helping. It swelled around her, making me feel claustrophobic.

  Pulling my cloud from my shoulders, I created my protective bubble before snatching a handful of popcorn from the bowl that got passed around. Considering I’d left most of my pad thai on my plate at the restaurant, I was starving.

  “So we’ll stake out this woman’s home and watch for the dark-clouded man Lena saw.” Di tapped a finger to her mouth as she paced. “As soon as we see him, we follow him to his home or vehicle. Using that information, Jasper or Flint will hack into the DMV’s database to retrieve his information and then . . . what?” She stopped and faced everyone. “We wait for him to attack? Alert the police with our suspicions? What’s the next course of action?”

  I frowned. Now that she mentioned it, she had a point. Just what exactly did we do after we figured out who he was?

  “The police aren’t going to do anything.” Jasper brought his knees up and looped his muscled forearms around them. He sat on the floor beside Mica, who had claimed an entire bowl of popcorn for herself. “Having a suspicion that someone is going to do something won’t get their attention. We’ll need proof he’s up to something.”

  “But he is going to attack her!” My voice rose at the thought of that happening and nobody stopping it.

  “Shh.” Flint pulled me back against his side and rubbed my back.

  “But we have to stop him. Police or not. We can’t let him hurt her!” My cheeks heated. Just the thought of not stopping him made me want to scream in frustration.

  “I know, Lena, and we will.” Di put her hands on her hips as a dark lock of hair fell across her forehead. “But since we don’t have a clear course of action, I suppose we’ll have to take this one step at a time—the first step being identifying the creep, which means we’re spending the night outside of that girl’s apartment building. This would be a lot easier if we had Susannah to help us with lookout. Has anyone heard from her?”

  Jet grimaced. “No. Let’s just hope my car’s still in one piece.”

  Amber grabbed a tissue from the end table before bringing it to her nose. “Do you think she got carried away again and decided to take off on a regional flight?”

  It wouldn’t be the first time that Susannah would have lost herself while in her eagle form. While she was doing better than she had been eighteen months ago, she was still so in tune with her animal nature that she sometimes disappeared for days at a time. We didn’t worry too much. So far, she’d always returned.

  Di sighed loudly. “I’ll talk with her when she shows up. In the meantime, who wants to spend the night watching this girl’s apartment?”

  My hand shot into the air.

  Flint’s energy grew. Thankfully, my protective bubble deflected it. He raised his hand next.

  “I’ll go.” Raven raised his hand after Flint.

  “No way we’re missing this!” Jet flicked a peace sign as Jasper and Mica grinned.

  “Count the three of us in!” Mica added.
/>
  Amber yawned just before she sneezed loudly. “Since that’s six of you, I’ll stay behind. I think I’m getting a cold, so I might go to bed early. Can I take the shift tomorrow?” She sneezed again before sniffing.

  “If you’re getting sick, then yes, you definitely stay here,” Di replied. “Luke and Edgar?”

  “I’ll stay back for tonight.” Luke pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll give Jacinda another call while these six are down there. You can count me in for tomorrow if we need to keep watching her place.”

  “Will you tell Jacinda I won’t have time to call her tonight?” I asked Luke.

  “Not a problem,” he replied.

  Edgar nodded. “I’ll go tomorrow too.”

  “So it’s settled then.” Di turned to the six of us. “You all watch her place tonight, and the four of us will go tomorrow. Hopefully, Susannah will be back by then so she can join us.”

  The twins and Mica whooped before they stood to grab their jackets.

  Flint’s eyebrows knit together while Raven’s swirling orange irises brightened.

  “Just let me do one thing before we leave.” I stood from the couch and jogged to the bedroom before closing the door behind me. Our bed was a jumbled mess of sheets, but Flint had cleaned up. The floor was clear of clothes. I pulled out my phone and tapped in Grace’s number.

  She answered on the first ring. “So you’re alive?” Her sharp tone carried through the line.

  I winced. “I’m sorry, Grace. I’m really sorry for leaving the restaurant like that.”

  She sighed. “I’m just glad you’re okay and that you finally called me back. What the heck happened? Why did you leave like that?”

  I cradled the phone against my shoulder and debated how to answer her. The truth, obviously, was out of the question. Since Grace had no idea about my family, our origins, or what we could all do, I couldn’t exactly tell her what our plan tonight was.

  After biting my lip, I replied, “I saw somebody I knew.” I left it at that, figuring that sticking somewhat to the truth was the best course of action.

  “Somebody you knew?” She sounded skeptical. “So you raced out of the restaurant to track down this person you knew?”

  “Yep.”

  “And you didn’t bring them back for me to meet?” Her tone grew hurt.

  Guilt bit me sharply. “Oh, I know, but you know me. Sometimes I get a bit carried away.” I said the words flippantly, hoping my somewhat scatterbrained actions could be used as an excuse for my current behavior. “We got to talking, and I lost track of time.”

  Grace sighed heavily. “All right, fine, but that was still rude. Next time, at least tell me you’re going after someone before you take off like that. I was really worried about you.” A hint of irritation still coated her words.

  “Sorry, Grace. Next time, I’ll do that.”

  Popping gum sounds came through the line. “I’m still at the library right now if you want to join me. Oh, and I have fifteen dollars for you. The sixty dollars you left was a little excessive. I left an exact twenty-percent tip and kept the rest to give back to you.”

  Her pert words made me smile. I could just imagine her pulling out her calculator to calculate the appropriate tip based on the bill’s amount.

  “Keep it,” I replied. “Think of it as a gift for me flaking out on you tonight.”

  She scoffed. “Don’t be silly. I have it set aside in my wallet to give back to you next time I see you.”

  Her indignation made me laugh.

  “So are you coming down here?”

  My smiled vanished. “I can’t tonight. Don’t be mad, okay?”

  A few seconds of silence passed before she said, “Lena, are you sure everything’s okay?”

  I swallowed tightly. I hated lying to her, but I didn’t really have a choice. “I’m fine. Really. Talk to you tomorrow?”

  “Okay, but you know you can talk to me if something’s wrong. Right?”

  “Yeah, I know. Thanks, bestie.”

  We hung up, and guilt filled me. I just hoped we found this guy soon so we could get back to our normal lives, which didn’t involve lying to my best friend.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  My conversation with Grace filled my mind as I raced to catch up with everyone else. My secret ability and my family’s beginnings had been an awkward point to navigate a few times in our friendship, but it had never been like this. I’d never downright lied to Grace before. I chewed my lip as I stuffed my feet into my boots.

  “Everything okay?” Flint’s dark gaze bored into mine as he stood by me in the entryway.

  After a quick glance out the window, I saw that Mica, Jet, Jasper, and Raven were already in the parking lot, waiting in the SUV. Flint had obviously stayed behind to wait for me.

  “Not really. I just lied to Grace.”

  Flint cocked his head. “Did you lie about where you went after the restaurant?”

  I nodded and swung my coat on.

  He put his hands on his hips. “Well, that’s another good reason to never do something like that again. You wouldn’t need to lie to your best friend.”

  I made a face at him as I pulled the door open. “Thanks for making me feel better.”

  His scowl followed me as we trailed down the hall. “But I’m right, Lena. What you did tonight was dangerous, and now you’re feeling guilty over how you treated Grace. If you’d thought of that before you shot out of the restaurant, none of this would have happened.”

  With a huff, I pushed open the stairwell door. “And if I hadn’t, we would have no idea where this girl lived. That guy could be intent on attacking her tonight, and now we may be able to stop him.”

  Flint’s energy pounded into my back. “Or you could have alerted him to your interest. What if he backs off now?”

  I bit my lip. I hadn’t thought of that. “I guess we’ll find out tonight.”

  Flint’s disapproval continued to wash over me. As I pushed through the exterior door to the parking lot, I welled up my energy inside me, pulled my cloud off my shoulders, and wrapped it protectively around my body. Cool evening air swirled outside.

  Our feet tapped on the pavement as we walked briskly to the car. It wasn’t the first time my impulsiveness had gotten me in trouble, and it wasn’t the first time Flint had been angry with me for acting without thinking.

  However, it was the first time in months that we’d been butting heads like this. Every day, we had an argument which was not like us.

  “About time!” Mica exclaimed when Flint and I slid into the vehicle.

  Flint and I sat in the very back of the large SUV. Raven and Jasper sat in the middle, while Mica and Jet occupied the front seats.

  Jet sat behind the wheel. He kept looking through the front windshield as his eyes wandered up and down the road.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked as I clicked my seat belt into place.

  “Susannah still isn’t back.”

  Jasper smirked. “I know you’re pretending to be concerned for her safety, but you don’t fool me. It’s really your car you’re thinking about, isn’t it?”

  Jet scowled at him, which got a laugh from Mica.

  “Just own it, bro,” Mica said from the front passenger seat. “We all know Susannah is more than capable in her eagle form. She’ll be fine.”

  Jet sighed and ran a hand through his curly dark hair. His blue eyes flashed in the light from the parking-lot lamp. “Fine. Yes, it’s my car I’m worried about. I see now I probably shouldn’t have loaned it to her.”

  “Let’s discuss this later.” Flint’s clipped reply stopped their banter.

  Since I was directly behind Raven, the brothers were closest to me. However, their energies couldn’t be more different. Flint’s energy was raw and pounding, whereas Raven’s was calm and soothing.

  I inched forward, closer to Raven.

  The drive back to the girl’s apartment building was quick. She didn’t live far from the university, an
d considering I’d first seen the dark-clouded man following her on campus, I knew she was a student.

  “So what’s the plan?” Jet parked at the curb a block from her building. The wind still rustled through the streets. The gusts were particularly strong tonight.

  Raven put a knit cap on. “I say we surround the building and keep an eye on all of the exits and entrances. That way, if the guy comes back, we’ll be able to see him coming or going.”

  Mica angled her body closer to the windshield and looked up. Her eyes narrowed. “There’s a metal stairwell attached to the side of the building. I thought I saw something poking up from the roof. So that’s another angle he could use to enter the building. Who’s to say he won’t break in through a window?”

  I tried to see whatever Mica had seen but couldn’t. She’d probably zoomed in on the object using her enhanced eyesight.

  I straightened in my seat before saying, “So there’s a stairwell up the side of the building that he could use to access a window, and there are probably several entrances and exits.”

  Jasper tapped a finger on his chin. “It’s not just windows he could use. Do you think it’s possible to get on top of the building? Perhaps there’s a door up there for maintenance access.”

  “Possibly,” Jet replied. “Flint would have an easy time getting on the roof to watch that.”

  “So we all split up?” I asked. “Flint will obviously go up the stairwell to the roof. Does everybody have their phones so we can keep in touch?”

  Flint scowled heavily at me. “I think it would be better if we stayed in pairs. Especially since this guy has seen you, Lena. Who’s to say he wouldn’t do something to you if he saw you again?”

  Jasper shrugged. “He has a point. Okay. Pairs it is, and if Jet and I split up, we can keep in touch with each other. That would eliminate needing to text or call. Mica?” Jasper winked at his girlfriend. “You gonna be my partner in crime?”

  “You know it!” She beamed.