Waging War Read online

  “Has Olivia tried to talk to them?” I was the closest to the teapot, so I poured Connor a cup.

  “Not since the girl, Melanie, first called Olivia. She told Olivia they had seen Tam get taken, but didn’t give any details, and now the friends have stopped answering their phones.”

  I looked sharply at him. “Could they be missing now too?”

  “That’s what Olivia’s worried about, but she can’t go to London by herself to check on them.” He shrugged. “She gave me their names and an address and asked if I would try to find them.”

  Liz came over and squeezed some lemon into her son’s tea. “I’m not so wild about any of you going into London. If the Mongers catch you outside the protection of home or school, they’ll have very little compunction against taking you.”

  “I could go as a Philippine Eagle.” Logan said, pointing to a page in his book. “It’s the largest eagle there is, and I could probably fly to London in under an hour, pop in to chat with the friends, and fly back home.”

  Connor scowled at his little brother. “It’s also one of the rarest birds on the planet, and you’d be less conspicuous on a broom. If Mum has a problem with me going to London, it’s pretty much a guarantee you can’t go.”

  Logan looked equal parts crestfallen and defiant, and before he could launch a verbal attack on Connor I slid onto the bench next to him. “Scootch over and show me.”

  Logan was eleven and looked like something out of a Dickens novel, with shaggy blond hair and a boyish scruffiness that never went away no matter how often he bathed. His brother, Connor, was already tall for his age, with lean ranginess that reminded me of his Wolf. Connor was fifteen, with darker hair, and a quietness that spoke of too much responsibility too soon. Since they had come to stay at Elian Manor, when it was clear the Mongers were looking for Connor, I’d spent a lot of time with the brothers. And for these last weeks of summer, since we’d gotten back from medieval France, they had worked with Mr. Shaw to teach me the fine art of Shifting.

  I pointed to the Philippine eagle. “Could you actually Shift into that?”

  He shrugged. “Sure. So could you.”

  He meant because I wore the Shifter bone nearly full-time now. I tucked it under my shirt and shook my head. “No. It lets me Shift into my animal. Only real Shifters can do the any-animal thing with this.” The Edwards family and Mr. Shaw were the only Shifters who knew I had the ancient Shifter bone, because it was clear to us all that I’d get no access to it if anyone else knew it had been found.

  Connor sat across from Logan. “Show her the bush viper,” he said to Logan before looking at me. “And by the way, you are a real Shifter.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with Connor, so I turned back to his brother, who quickly flipped the pages to a striking blue and yellow snake. “Cool, huh?”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said. “But Indiana Jones is a snake-lover compared to me.”

  Logan’s grin turned sly and Connor shook his head at me sadly, like I’d made the dumb ways to die list. “Really? You just gave him so much ammunition.”

  I winced at the look of an evil mastermind that had taken over Logan’s features, which he instantly schooled into something benignly angelic. Yep, I was going to pay for that.

  Connor spoke to his mom. “By the way, Uncle Bob said he won’t be in for dinner. He wants Saira and Archer to meet him in the lab when Archer gets up.” He rinsed his mug in the sink, then turned to me. “I’m heading back to the manor. You coming?”

  I nodded. The light outside was dimming and Archer would be up soon. “I’ll grab a sandwich or something from the kitchens, Mom. And Liz, thank you for the tea.” My mom looked settled in for conversation with Liz, and I had the feeling Millicent might be dining alone tonight at the manor.

  “Where’s Ringo?” I asked Connor as we stepped outside the flat. He slid down the stair rail, and I jumped over the side to land at the bottom. It should have been a tough landing, but I’d gotten better at them since I’d been training in Cougar skin.

  Connor ticked off his fingers. “Either at the archery range, in the garage, or in the lab. But most likely, he’s with my uncle.”

  “Which means in the lab.” Mr. Shaw had set up a makeshift laboratory in an unused greenhouse on the grounds of the manor, because my mom and Liz didn’t want him working on campus at St. Brigid’s during the school holiday. “He’s turning into a science geek like you, isn’t he?”

  Connor grinned. “Worse. He’s becoming a tech geek too.”

  “What do you mean? You guys aren’t sitting around playing video games in the lab, are you?”

  “Don’t be daft. We moved a television into the east wing library for that.”

  Because … boys.

  Connor continued. “Ringo found some old radios in the attics, and between those, the toaster oven, the stereo receiver, and the Walkman, he could practically build a robot to clean the house at this point.”

  “I thought he was just fixing that stuff.”

  He scoffed. “Like anyone would ever fix a Walkman. Did you know there was a VCR and a Beta machine up there? I mean, come on!”

  I grinned at him. “That’s pretty cutting edge for Millicent, don’t you think?”

  We entered the manor house through the kitchen door just as Jeeves, Millicent’s driver and all-around house manager, was leaving.

  “Ah, Connor. There’s enough light left for another lesson if you’d like.” Jeeves was probably in his late forties, though his hair was shot with enough silver that I forgot he wasn’t old until he smiled. Which he did as he held the door for us.

  Connor’s face lit up. “Really? That would be fantastic!”

  “What lesson?” I asked.

  “Jeeves is teaching me to drive a car,” he said with a grin as he followed Jeeves outside.

  I laughed and waved him away. Ever since Jeeves had given Connor’s family his flat over the garage, he had spent a lot of time with Liz and her kids, and the happiness potential made me smile.

  I grabbed a couple of carrots from the cutting board and headed up the back stairs, then slipped out a third floor window and climbed up a dormer to the pitched roof above it. I sat with my back to a chimney and watched the sun dip behind trees. The sky here was never the vivid orange and red that exploded across Venice Beach. The English sky was more polite than that. She’d blush, flare a little warm with embarrassment, and then finally turn away, her pink and coral dresses blending into the blue night until her light dimmed altogether. Sunsets here were always pretty, but I missed the fire and passion of the California sky.

  A hand caressed the back of my neck and I looked up to find Archer kneeling next to the chimney. A flush of heat filled my chest.

  “You found me.”

  “Always.” His voice was quiet, but his tone had edges, and when he sat beside me on the roof, his fingers twined with mine.

  “How?” I leaned my head back on his shoulder. “How did you find me?”

  He was silent a long moment until I turned to study his face. His deep blue eyes found mine and he searched them as if he was deciding how honest to be. “I felt you.”

  “Felt me?” Archer was part Seer from his mother’s side of the family, and that Seer blood had saved his life when he was infected with the porphyria-like mutation that killed normal humans but turned Immortal Descendants into something resembling mythological vampires. “I didn’t think Seers were empaths.”

  “I’ve never had the true skills of a Seer, beyond my own ability to sense lies. But since we were in France, my sense of you has grown stronger, and continues to the more time we spend in each other’s company.”

  Maybe that should have freaked me out, but I’d become pretty immune to freakouts about special skills. So instead, I looked up at the evening sky and considered how lucky I was that someone could find me in such vastness.

  “What are you thinking?” he murmured into my ear.

  I smiled at the shiver his voice sent
across my skin. “I’m thinking that could be useful for the times I forget to leave a note.” It was supposed to be a joke, but too much about that statement was layered in things we didn’t talk about. “Sorry. Forget I said that.”

  Archer turned me to face him. “Why? Why is that uncomfortable to discuss?”

  I took a breath. This wasn’t going to be easy or smooth, because I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say. “Leaving a note is generally something people do on pillows or nightstands, and pre-supposes that I sleep where and when you sleep. Which is something you’ve emphatically resisted since we’ve been home.”

  “That would be mitigated if you would marry me.” The softness of Archer’s voice was in direct contrast to the words he had just spoken, and I stared at him as if he had just shouted across the rooftops. Maybe because with those words, he had.

  “Marry you? I’m eighteen years old, Archer. I’m not getting married right now, or maybe even ever. What does marrying you have to do with getting to sleep next to you?” My heart was pounding and I wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter though, my brain was overriding anything my heart might have to say in the matter.

  There had been something vulnerable and searching in his eyes when he had spoken so quietly, but whatever that was had quickly shuttered. “I apologize, Saira. That was clumsy of me.”

  He was backing away – not physically, which would have sent him off the roof – but he was building a quick and effective wall against whatever emotions had just been raw, and I didn’t like it.

  “Stop it, Archer. Clumsy is falling off a bike. Clumsy isn’t tossing a marriage proposal into the wind to see what sticks.”

  He took a breath. “It was clumsy of me to challenge you with it, rather than present it as a hope and a wish that you might someday fulfill. Saira Elian, I would stand by your side until the end of time, and it is my deep desire to one day do so as your husband.”

  Cue the pounding heart again. I inhaled to steady my emotions, which raced in every direction at once, then took a breath and tried to explain myself in a way that didn’t hurt him. “I feel too young to be married. It feels like a thing settled people do when they’re ready to have a house, and a dog, and kids.” There was an argument starting on his face and I cut him off. “Be clear. You are my future. I don’t want any other future than one where I’m standing right next to you.”

  A huge, unspoken conversation sat there between us, but instead, he kissed me. “I’ve always moved too fast with you. I apologize.”

  I smiled at him and kissed him back. “Not always. But when you do, you do it spectacularly. But back to my original point, when do I get to sleep next to you?”

  Archer had been resting during daylight hours in the Elian Manor keep, which was a windowless room in the center of the manor house. It also had the benefit of being warded, so when it was locked, he was protected from anyone who would do him harm. The arrangement worked pretty well for his safety, but since Millicent and my mom had keys to the place, there wasn’t a lot of privacy that could be counted on if I wanted to join him for a nap.

  He looked very serious as he answered me. “You know my feelings about this. It is inappropriate for me to come to your bedroom in your mother’s house. The keep belongs to the house, and it is only through her generosity that I’m welcome to sleep there. And unless our commitment is formalized, I am uncomfortable asking for another bedroom where you could visit me.”

  “You’re so Victorian,” I whispered, as I bit his lip softly.

  He kissed me with an intensity that left me breathless. “And you make it very, very difficult for me to be honorable.”

  The kissing went on long enough that I was ready to drag him into the attic just so I didn’t accidentally fall off the roof. When he finally pulled away from me, I could tell he was trying to get a grip on his feelings, and it made me glad I could ruffle his perfect Victorian composure. He studied the view over fields and forests while I studied the hard lines of his jaw, the softness around his mouth that was so quick to smile at me, and the deep blue of his eyes that matched the nighttime sky.

  “Have you ever …” I shut my mouth quickly. What kind of idiot asks her boyfriend about the love life he had before her?

  He turned a confused gaze to mine. “Have I ever … what?”

  I winced. I was going to do it. It was like watching myself dip my hand in boiling water, knowing it would burn, but also knowing if I didn’t, the unasked question would burn just as hot.

  “Have you ever … been with anyone else?”

  I looked away, horrified at myself for having asked the dumbest question on the planet. The man was more than a century old. We had only known each other for a year, which left a whole other lifetime – several lifetimes – for him to know other women.

  I buried my face in my hands. “Ugh. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

  Archer gently pulled my hands away and cradled my face as he looked at me. “Saira, no matter what else has happened in my life, I’ve only ever loved you.”

  I cracked my eyelids open and returned his gaze, suddenly feeling very young, and oddly, a little annoyed too. “I’m sorry I asked that question. It’s not my business, and it would be ridiculous for you to have been celibate your entire life. Just forget I asked.”

  He touched my cheek gently. “You are the woman of my dreams.” He helped me to my feet and I sank into strong arms as he kissed me. “Come. Shaw’s been waiting for us. He left me a note.”

  The cheeky grin on his face made me want to poke him, and it wasn’t until we were almost to Mr. Shaw’s lab that I realized Archer hadn’t answered my question.

  Experiments

  The greenhouse glowed like a beacon under the tarps Mr. Shaw and the gardeners had rigged to keep the hot sun out during the day. I was suddenly very happy for the security cameras and extra groundspeople Millicent and my mom had installed around the property as Monger deterrents during the past couple of months. I hadn’t seen Mongers or their minions at all since we’d come back from France, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there watching us.

  Archer held the door for me, and I stepped into a space that was like a cross between Mr. Potts’ workshop in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the mad scientists’ laboratory in Young Frankenstein. Ringo sat in one corner at a table that was covered in radio and television parts, while Mr. Shaw, surrounded by test tube holders and trays of glass slides, had his face buried in a microscope. Both of them looked up at the sound of our entrance.

  “’Eard young Logan took down a Cat tonight.” Ringo grinned.

  “He didn’t quite take me down, so much as rode me like I was a skateboard.” I couldn’t keep the sigh of resignation out of my voice.

  Archer barked a laugh. “He rode you? As what? A Meerkat or a baby Monkey?”

  “No, as a Falcon.” I demonstrated with an action pose, and all three of them cracked up. “The kid needs his own theme song; he’s that good.”

  “He’s fearless,” said Mr. Shaw, “which is as astounding as it is horrifying. My sister thought it was difficult to keep Connor out of trouble from boredom – but keeping Logan unscathed is going to take an act of God.”

  “Or manacles,” said Archer.

  I shook my head and shuddered. “Nope. He’d just turn into a snake and slither out. He wants to go to London to talk to some possible witnesses in the Descendant disappearances, and he’s probably the stealthiest of all of us.”

  Mr. Shaw was already shaking his head. “He’s eleven.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “So was Harry Potter when he went to Hogwarts.”

  Mr. Shaw glared at me, and Ringo looked surprised. “Who’s ‘Arry Potter?”

  “Dude, you’ve got some reading to catch up on.” There was no hiding the disgust in my voice. No one who read as much as Ringo did had an excuse to skip those books.

  Ringo winced at Archer. “I got duded.”

  Archer shrugged. “It’s required reading.
I’d dude you too if I didn’t sound the idiot doing so.”

  I ignored them both and turned back to Mr. Shaw. “Eleven is young, but you and I both know the Edwards brothers haven’t really been young since their dad died.”

  This time it was Mr. Shaw’s turn to wince. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “We also both know that neither Liz nor Connor would ever forgive themselves if something happened to Logan.”

  I sighed because I knew he was right. “I’m actually not arguing for him to be allowed to go. I just think he’s the type of kid who’s going to do what he does, regardless of what other people think.”

  “Like someone else I know.” Archer’s voice was quiet near my ear.

  “Maybe,” I whispered back with a smile. I’d gotten a lot better about thinking first before I jumped, but I knew how lucky I was every time I landed on my feet.

  Mr. Shaw’s shoulders slumped. “If he was the adventurous child of anyone else, I’d feel exactly as you do. But you know, perhaps better than most, that loss makes for some oddly irrational fears, and I’ll tell you, Jeeves moving Liz and the kids here while you were in France with her son was the thing that saved her from letting the barely glued bits crumble.”

  He seemed to shake off the heavy weight of those thoughts and suddenly looked around. “Speaking of, where is my eldest nephew?”

  “Getting driving lessons from Jeeves.”

  Mr. Shaw looked startled for exactly one second before his expression turned thoughtful. “That doesn’t actually horrify me as much as it should. Well, then, I’ll proceed without him.” He sat back and invited us both to sit on the tall stools that were arrayed around the table.

  “You both know that Connor and I have been doing extensive research on Archer’s blood for the past several months.” We nodded mutely. Archer had basically been a human pincushion for them, and I’d called them the Vampires more than once. They hadn’t thought that was as funny as I did.