6. Forts and Princesses

SIX

forts and princesses

"Hello!" a voice calls from the foyer of the house. "Are y'all awake?"

The sun is just beginning to crest over the horizon, casting a beautiful glow through the windows of the beach house. "Sounds like Fynn is here." I stretch my legs from the cramped position they've been in for the past six hours. After the lycan went to bed, Thorne and I have been in our room. I found a set of books on the bookshelf downstairs and am in the last chapter of the final book in the series, while Thorne spent the night researching the identity and history of Patrice.

"Find anything?" I ask.

"Nothing substantial. A few possibilities throughout the last few decades of unexplainable attacks on humans, but nothing like what happened in New Orleans." He shrugs. "I get it. Keeping a low profile is part of the vampire culture, but she's either managed to wipe the internet of her name or uses a few different aliases."

"Y'all better hurry. I brought food," Fynn yells from below. The smell of fried flesh, otherwise known as bacon, permeates my nose, making me feel even more nauseous than the goat's blood from last night.

"Good morning," he greets us as we make our way to the kitchen.

"I don't think any of the lycan are awake," Thorne tells the giant wolf.

"Yeah, I figured. I'm an early riser."

"Morning," Amelia greets us, wandering into the kitchen wearing pajamas and messy hair.

"Do you sleep?" I ask, not sure what to make of her appearance.

She wiggles her eyebrows. "Sleep? No. Enjoy my husband when there's no baby around. Yes." I don't know why her words embarrass me. I feel the heat in my cheeks instantly.

Luna and Micah join the group, suspiciously arriving at the same time. Both carry a lustful look on their face. "You brought bacon!" Luna exclaims, heading straight toward the food.

"I thought we might explore some of the more secluded areas today," Fynn says, pulling a container of eggs from the bag.

"You think that's where Patrice could be hiding?" I state the obvious.

"It's the height of tourist season down here. There aren't many places she could hide a horde of hungry immortal children." Fynn pulls another container from the bag, setting it next to the rest of them on the bar of the kitchen. "I thought we'd start with the fort."

"Aren't forts closed this early?" Amelia asks as Topher wanders into the room. His hair looks as equally messy as Amelia's as he wraps his arm around his wife, kissing her on the top of her head.

"That's the best time to go," Fynn answers. "I managed to ensure that we'd be the only ones there until noon. That should give us plenty of time."

"Sounds like a plan." Amelia smacks Topher on the ass before leaving the rest of us in the kitchen. "I need a shower first!" she yells through the large house.

"Aye, me, too," Thorne adds.

Fynn crosses his long legs at the ankle. He's wearing a Landshark T-shirt and brightly colored flowered shorts. "Don't mind me. I'll just be waiting here for you all to shower." His sarcasm brings a smile to my face. He speaks my language.

While Thorne showers, I change into the only pair of shorts I brought, along with the thinnest shirt I own. Pulling my dark curls into a long ponytail, I slap on a little mascara and lip gloss and head downstairs. Vampires don't get hot, but wearing a hoodie and leggings seems out of character for our location.

"How long will it take to get to the fort?" I ask our lycanthrope tour guide. He's cleaned up the mess from breakfast and is staring through the back sliding doors .

"From here, about twenty minutes."

Thirty minutes later, the seven of us load into the black SUV and head away from the water. Fynn's small bursts of road rage ease the tension of what we might find.

"It's seven o'clock in the morning. Where could you possibly be going?" Fynn yells at the car in front of us. "Especially at twenty miles an hour!" He turns toward Micah, beside him in the front seat. "Tourists! They help the economy, but they drive me crazy."

"You mentioned there were only a few places where Patrice would be able to hide her children without being seen. Doesn't the fort receive a lot of visitors?" Luna asks from the back seat.

"Yeah, it does. But some parts are blocked from visitors. Older parts that aren't in as good of condition as the rest." Fynn lays on the horn, sending a few curse words with it. "Sorry, y'all. These drivers bring out the worst in me."

Right on time, we pull through the entrance. Several outlying buildings surround the sprawling walls in front of us. "That's the Gulf on that side." Fynn points out to the water. "That side's the bay."

"This is the perfect location for a fort," Micah announces.

"Yep, amazing that they thought of it." I can't hide the smirk that comes with Fynn's words as he pulls into the visitor parking lot. True to his word, we're the only car around. "Follow me," he announces, leading us through the main entrance, into a large courtyard. We continue moving through the courtyard, into the furthest side of the building.

Fynn leads us through the continually darker rooms until reaching a heavy metal door with a chain and lock still in place. "This is where they'd be."

"That chain and lock haven't been touched for years. The rust is older than me," Topher announces. "Is there another way in?"

"Not by land." Fynn wraps his hands around the rusty lock, breaking it easily.

"I can't see shit," Luna says, following me into the room. Vampire vision allows me to see everything. I reach back, latching my fingers around her arm, and pull her with me.

The smell of mold and mildew floods my senses the moment we enter. "It feels like we're moving underground," Thorne whispers.

"We are," Fynn confirms. "This section was originally built to house prisoners. Later it was used as barracks for officers because of the temperature difference, and toward the end of the Civil War, it was used as an escape route for emergencies." He turns on a flashlight I didn't realize he was carrying, shining it in front of us.

The faint sound of waves crashing against the shore echoes off the concrete walls. "This goes to the Gulf?" I ask.

"That it does. We're almost to the cave," Fynn answers, shining his light off the walls, which have turned from concrete to brick.

"How is there a cave on the coast of Alabama?" Luna asks. "This land is flatter than my chest."

"It was man-made," he answers with a laugh.

The painted brick walls show obvious signs of wear the further we walk. The whitewash that covered them a century ago is worn and chipped away. The brick floor slowly gives way to sand, a telltale sign we're approaching water.

"You think Patrice is bringing the kids into the fort through this entrance?" Amelia asks as we move single file through the room.

"It's possible." Fynn shines his flashlight ahead, giving light to what looks like stone. Man-made material turns into natural limestone and gritty sand the further we move. "Other than the entrance we came through, the only way in is to swim." Light bounces off a pool of stagnant water in the middle of the dome cave.

"This looks natural and not natural at the same time." I run my fingers along the walls. "It feels like stone, but it's too perfect."

"The stone was quarried near the mountains in North Alabama and brought here to create what is now a cave." Fynn shines his light above us. "We're beneath the beach. This area is thirty feet below the surface."

"How has this stayed hidden for so long?" Micah speaks for the first time in a while.

"The people who need to know about it do." Fynn leads us to the edge of the smooth-surfaced water. "The water down here is nearly toxic to humans. It's been inside the cave long enough to grow stagnant and dangerous to most, still containing chemicals from the war."

"There's no evidence that anyone's been in this area since the war," Amelia says as she runs her hands along the walls. "Other than our footprints, the sand is undisturbed. There are no lingering smells, and zero evidence of anyone being here for hundreds of years."

"Aye," Thorne agrees. "If immortal children had been in here, this place would be destroyed."

"Are there any other places here like this? Places that the average person wouldn't know about?" Topher asks, rubbing sand through his fingers.

"There is another fort twenty miles from here that was used around the same time. As far as I know, there aren't any hidden areas," Fynn answers.

"Why does it have to be a fort?" Amelia asks. "Why not a home in a secluded area? Or an abandoned building? To be honest, a fort seems a little too obvious."

"There aren't a lot of abandoned homes in this area, too many visitors."

"The news station said the two missing children were in the ‘The Meeting-Place area.' What is that?" Luna joins the conversation.

Fynn laughs. "It's a restaurant-slash-tourist trap, smack dab in the middle of Gulf Shores. "

"Can you take us there?" Amelia asks.

"Sure." He shrugs. "The police have been all over that place with a fine-tooth comb. I don't know what you'll find that they didn't."

"Maybe we'll pick up on clues that humans wouldn't," I answer. Our mismatched group of lycan and vampires follows Fynn back through the cave and into the sunlight and courtyard of the fort.

"Are there ghosts here?" Luna asks, changing the subject.

"Supposedly," Fynn answers. "There are stories of people being touched along with disembodied voices floating all over the internet and ghost shows."

"That's super cool!" she answers with the enthusiasm of a child. We load into the SUV and leave the fort behind.

Ten minutes later, Fynn pulls into an already busy parking lot next to the white sandy beach. Families are filling rolling carts with floats, towels, chairs, and coolers, ready for a day in the sun. "I need a beach day," Luna announces, climbing out of the back seat.

"We should split up," Amelia says. "We can cover more ground and draw less attention that way." She turns toward me. "Luna? Elsie? Why don't you come with me? We'll let the guys do their own thing."

"Sure." I send Thorne an apologetic look. He follows Topher and Micah, heading toward the water and leaving me alone with a hybrid and a lycanthrope.

We move toward the restaurant area. "I thought the three of us together might draw some attention if you know what I mean." Amelia winks.

"I know what you mean," Luna answers. "I'm gonna shake what my mama gave me."

Being on the run for two centuries, I've never had the opportunity to have a friend. Being with others has always felt awkward, making me feel out of place. Being with Luna and Amelia feels natural and relaxes me slightly.

The three of us enter the restaurant, quickly finding the hostess at the stand. "Are you here for the Pirates and Princess breakfast?" she asks, looking between the three of us.

"We are," Amelia lies.

"You're in luck." The woman smiles. "We have three spots left." We follow her upstairs to an outdoor seating area on the roof and overlooking the water. She seats us at a picnic table not far from the stage. "The show is about to begin."

"This is perfect!" Luna says, looking around at the patrons. "There's nothing but kids up here."

"This would certainly be the perfect hunting ground for a new immortal child," Amelia agrees.

"Do you think Patrice is one of the guests?" Luna asks.

"I doubt she'd be dumb enough to hunt in the same place twice. Plus, immortal children are hard to control, especially young ones. If she's already taken two, I doubt she's in the market for more," Amelia answers .

"Ladies and gentlemen," a woman announces from the stage. "Our pirates and princesses would like to tell you all how much they're enjoying having you here today and they hope you will eat until you can eat no more."

Teenagers dressed in cheap Halloween costumes wave from the stage before exiting the sides and moving toward the patrons. "Was that the show?" I ask, not sure what I just witnessed.

"It appears that way," Amelia answers with a laugh.

I watch as the performers make their way around the tables, greeting children and parents alike. A young girl dressed as Princess Anna stops at our table, giving us a strange look. "Are you ladies into pirates and princesses?"

"We are!" Luna answers, wearing a wide smile.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," Amelia interrupts.

"Sure," Anna answers.

"Were you working the day the two children disappeared?"

The young girl looks down, taking a braid from her wig into her hand and fidgeting with it. "I told the police everything I know."

"Do you mind sharing what you told the police with us?" I ask, plastering a fake smile across my face.

She makes eye contact with all three of us and sighs. "I saw them here, at breakfast. The kids. They were with their families." The timbre of her voice becomes sad at the memory. "The little girl was so sweet and happy to be here. Anna is…was her favorite princess, and she talked to me a lot that morning."

"Do you remember seeing anyone watching the children while they were here?" Amelia continues the questioning.

"No. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Was there an adult eating alone?" Remembering the description Elijah gave, I describe her hair color to the girl.

She shakes her head. "No one was alone, but there was a woman with dark hair who had a kid with her."

"No offense," Luna prefaces. "With all the people you see daily, what made this woman stand out?"

The girl shrugs. "It wasn't her so much as her kid. He was wearing a sports coat and slacks in the heat. He sat perfectly still and didn't eat a bite. Something about him gave me the creeps."

The three of us share a look. "When I tried to talk to him, his speech was weird, and he kept smiling at me." She huffs a laugh. "This is going to sound crazy, but he looked at me like he wanted to eat me."

Amelia stands. "Thank you. You've been very helpful."

"That had to be Patrice," I whisper as the three of us work our way out of the restaurant.

"Why the hell would she bring an immortal child to a breakfast for human children?" Luna asks.

"To choose the next ones?" Amelia says. "Maybe she allows him to pick the kids, like ordering from a menu. "

"Damn, that's harsh." Luna takes the words out of my mouth.

"Where do we go from here?" I ask our small group.

"We keep looking and asking questions."

"Find anything?" Topher asks as we approach the male members of our group.

"Yeah," Amelia answers. "We're pretty sure Patrice took one of the immortal children to the same breakfast that the kids that disappeared attended."

"She brought an immortal child out in public?" Thorne asks.

"One of the better-behaved ones I'm assuming," I answer.

"What about you? Did you find anything?" Luna asks, moving to Micah's side. The energy flowing between them is palpable and makes me happy for the moment.

"We talked to all the lifeguards and beach workers. No one saw anything out of the ordinary," he answers.

"We think Patrice brought the boy to help choose her victims," I say to the crowd.

"If she's coming down here to find children, she can't be too far from the area." Fynn props his hands on his hips as he speaks.

"Too bad we can't send a spy to find out." My words are more of a thought rather than a statement. I look up, realizing the entire group has stopped brainstorming and is staring at me.

"That's actually a great idea." Amelia turns toward her husband. "Kind of like when I went back to college for a while." The two of them share a laugh at a story that the rest of us aren't privy to.

"How? We don't have a clue where to find her," Luna adds.

"Elijah." Micah pulls his phone out of his pocket. "There's no doubt in my mind that he knows how to contact her."

I hold my hands out to my sides. "Wait, people. What are you suggesting?"

Amelia looks around the group. "I don't know what everyone else is thinking, but I think you had a great idea. One of us needs to infiltrate her group."

"None of us are children," I state the obvious.

"With the number of immortal children under her control, she's bound to be at her wit's end. She could use help ." Thorne joins in on this crazy idea.

"Are you all mad?" I ask the group. "Who do you suggest we send in there?" I look at each person. "She's not going to accept Thorne for the basic reason that he's a man. The children would eat the lycan, which means it's either me or you." I stare at Amelia with my last words.

"Amelia?" Topher whispers. "Think about Edon." She closes her eyes in response.

The realization hits me. "It has to be me," I whisper. "I'm expendable."

"You're not expendable," Thorne argues. He turns toward the rest of our group. "No. I won't allow her to do this. She was held captive by a monster for a century. Doing this would be the same thing. No," he repeats.

"It has to be me," I whisper. I reach up, kissing Thorne on the cheek before turning back to the group. "Tell me what to do."