32. Hellena

32

HELLENA

" H e's still in there."

"Be that as it may, he's a liability. What if he goes straight back to Rachelle, tells her everything Cynthia told us?" Sing has become a little too chatty lately.

Only with me, though.

A fact that I actually appreciate for what it is. Even if I don't want to hear what he has to say right now.

"I don't think he heard anything. And I trust him. What could he share that she could use against us, anyway?"

I mean, I trust Evan. I'm just not sure he's Evan one hundred percent of the time. And if he goes back to her and she forces him…

It could put my mother in danger. Make her a target to get to me.

I can't deal with that right now. I'm still reeling from our night together. Feeling him again, loving him opened a wound that I was not ready to address yet.

Sing lets it go, leaning his chair back and closing his eyes.

His fears aren't unfounded.

Toying with the bracelet my mother gave me, I let the light coming through the window across the aisle from us glimmer off the metal. It's just like the ring I have back at the camp. Identical, actually. Just bigger.

Which makes me think that maybe there are more.

And if my ring was a key to the lockbox in my dad's cabin…

Knowing what we need to do when I get back makes the flight take so much longer. Not knowing where Evan went, or if I will ever see him again, makes everything else hard to focus on.

So I close my eyes.

Maybe if I sleep long enough, all of this will take care of itself, and I'll wake up in Sanctum with my guys. Maybe all of this can just be a bad dream.

"How did everything go to shit while I was gone?" I'm pressing my palm to my forehead to keep from flipping out. The conference room at Camp Clive is a little crowded.

Mostly because there's too many updates.

My own included.

It's been a long day of comparing notes and we're not done yet.

And all I want is to take a bath and crawl into bed and maybe have two delectably sexy men rub my shoulders. Kiss me. Snuggle me.

Maybe fuck my brains out, just a little.

I bite my lip to keep from laughing at my inner monologue.

"It was already shit," Tell argues, giving me one of his prize-winning half-grins.

"Worse shit, then."

"Blame your aunt. She's got the freaks out en masse hunting for us. For you, actually," Gavin rumbles, running a hand over my back as I try to digest the recent developments.

"Why is everyone always after me like I'm the key to the treasure chest?!"

"Aren't you?" Ora snarks.

"No! These are, though." I lay down the ring, the bracelet, letting everyone get a good look.

"So your mom had the other one."

"Yep. My dad gave it to her, said he needed to get it far from town as a safety measure," I explain, shifting the five circlets around to find some sort of pattern or clue.

"And he had the ring hidden at his little place in the woods."

"Where was it, anyway?" Alaya picks up the ring, examining it again. "I looked all over the damn place trying to find this!"

"Picture frame. That's what reminded me that Mom had one, too, actually."

"Damn. Should've looked harder. Could have upped my contribution to the plan!"

"Doesn't matter now. We have five. What do you think the chances are that we need seven of them to open whatever it is that they open?" Tell teases.

"At least seven to one," Ora quips, making finger guns at him.

"So we have…" I point to each one by size. "Tell's family safe. Clive and the Block. Mom's bracelet, Alaya's heirloom, and Damon's ring."

"Where could the others be?" Gavin rubs his striking jawline. I just want to plant one right on his…

Focus.

"I think I know where to find one, but we can't get it yet." I sigh, spinning one of the rings around my finger on the hard wood surface.

Because I think it's hanging around my insane aunt's neck.

"And I'm guessing you're going to keep that one close to the chest?" Tell sniffs, rolling his eyes. "Not that I want to go ask the "Herald" for a trinket any more than I want to see her every time I close my eyes. Crazy bitch is nightmare fuel. No offense."

"None taken. I do need to see Aunt Rachelle, though. And put my foot up her ass for everything she's done. As far as her contribution to the rings… I'll share it when the time comes. In the meantime, we need to locate the sixth ring. And I need to locate the lock that they go to."

"If there is such a thing," Gavin rumbles, squeezing my hand as he passes by.

"Yay! A plan," Ora cheers.

"Not a very detailed one." Gavin. Always pragmatic. Maybe a bit of a downer.

"Where do we start?" Alaya. Always ready to act.

"All we know is that they belonged to the Seven. And we know that my dad got one from someone else. Which means there were seven hiding places. Check off the ones we know about for sure and it leaves us with…"

"No more than three possible locations?" Tell summarizes.

"Exactly. We just need to narrow down the possible properties belonging to the remaining three Sinful and go check them out."

"Make that two," Tell chimes in, scrolling through his phone. "I spent the bulk of the time you were gone reading Damon's journal. Didn't find the ‘vault' or whatever, but I did figure out who he got the smallest ring from. And where."

"Sweet!" Ora slaps the table.

"And are you going to tell the class what you found, Slenderman?" Alaya snips, knocking Tell's baseball cap off his head with a well-aimed coaster.

"Yow! Watch it, Baby Firefly."

"Oh, deep cut, rich boy. My body count isn't quite that high, though." Alaya chuckles.

"Cut the slasher crap, or save it for the Ghosts," I snap, shaking my head. "You two are worse than Strode and Meyers."

"Ha! I knew you were a fellow horror junkie. I'm Meyers in that scenario, right?" Alaya cackles.

I swear, they could be siblings, the way those two go after each other.

"Anyway," Tell continues, "Damon left his relic with Cynthia. He all but says it between the lines once you know what to look for. It took a while to put two and two together, but he mentioned a secret meeting with one other Sinful in a couple of spots, one of the only ones he knew personally."

"That rings a bell," I confirm.

"Tyler Vand, super spy!" Ora whispers dramatically. Tell ignores her, deep in his story.

"Which let me put more puzzle pieces together. Long story short, it was ‘Fury'. Cross-referencing properties, satellite hacking, then figuring out the guy's identity, I connected the dots, and found this old photo of…"

He is about to turn his computer around.

"Salazar Garcia", Alaya says casually. "Yeah, he was one of the dudes I was called in to off a few years back."

"You stole my freaking thunder!" Tell throws up his hands.

"Hey, look, he's wearing the ring in that photo," Alaya goes on without missing a beat. "Glad I figured that out."

"Ooh…. You bi?—"

"That's great work," I interrupt, resting my hand on his knee. And ignoring the fact that Salazar looks an awful lot like a certain state senator I danced with at his mansion several months ago.

Details for another time.

The next hour slips by with us digging through some of the files Alaya had in her stash house, Tell's research, and my father's journal. Our combined knowledge eventually hits paydirt when we manage to connect a few more dots from the hits Alaya executed, stories Damon told Gavin. It's a group effort.

But at the end of the huddle, we have the two most likely locations.

"Fascinating. What's next?" Sing looks around the room.

Everyone looks at him at once, always shocked when he speaks.

Ora steps up, raising a hand and acting official. "Thank you, Sing-ding. I was just getting to that. We're ready to move out. The staging location is set up. Sing's guys and the Block are locked and loaded. Whenever you give the go ahead, that is."

She looks at me, tilting her head.

"Now's as good a time as any. Power is ready to turn back on. Water. Gas. Only thing left is to take back the neighborhoods, drive out the rest of the Ghosts. We can start tonight while we find the last key."

"And draw Rachelle and throw water on her, hope she melts," Alaya adds.

"When you say water, you mean bullet, right?" Ora says out of the corner of her mouth. Alaya's wicked grin in response gives me the heebie-jeebies.

"Something like that. But I want her kept alive. She's not well. That doesn't mean she doesn't deserve justice."

"That's what I said ." Alaya plays innocent.

"No revenge . She's my family. I want her alive. And if Evan went back to her, I want to keep the situation from spiraling out of control. We need him home. I need him."

"We all do, Hella." Tell meets my gaze, making me want to devour his luscious lips on the spot.

How did I get so damned lucky?

"If it comes down to one or the other?" Gavin interrupts, crossing his arms. As much as I hate the question, I am grateful he's here to ask it.

"Evan. No question," I say softly.

"Damn straight."

"We head out in an hour. Once we're in position, Ora and Alaya will coordinate with Sing to put captains in charge of squads reporting back to Jay and Mannie. Tommy-gun and Grizzly will oversee comms." I check off my list.

"Teams?" Gav clips off matter-of-factly.

"Gavin and Ora will head to the first location… here. Alaya and Sing will head to the secondary location. Check in on the radio if you find the ring, but be subtle about it."

"Where will you be?" Ora chirps, clasping my hand one last time for reassurance.

"I'll be in the middle of the base of operations trying to figure out where Dad hid the damn vault or whatever." In other words, being the boss and doing the most boring job of all. Who would have ever thought I would be the general of this ragtag resistance?

"Ooh, fun!"

"Like a pair of cement roller skates. Everyone ready?"

"Aye-aye, Cap'n!" Alaya salutes. "Ora? Gavvy? Siiiing?"

The three of them follow her out, Sing giving me a wide-eyed glance as he joins the two women.

"He's going to get groped ," Tell murmurs.

"So groped." I agree, snorting softly.

"And what am I supposed to be doing, exactly?" Tell spins toward me in his chair, narrowing his eyes. "Playing secretary to my lover? Bringing you coffee? A bagel?"

"Ooh! I'd kill for a chocolate banana with cream cheese from Speigle's…"

"Do not even talk to me about that right now. As soon as civilization resumes, I'm taking espresso intravenously for a week."

"That actually brings me back to your job," I spout, locking eyes with him. "How's that task going with the stuff in the thing at the place?"

"The guy is doing the thing at a place with the stuff."

"And is it ready?"

"It damned well better be. Norris is good. I just hope he's had enough time."

"I can't wait to meet him. And I hope so too."