Walking across the lawn toward the sidewalk, I was grateful to be in the bright, warm sunlight. My skin and bones were chilled like I’d spent hours in a meat locker.
Taking down the angelic wards sounded like a great plan, but none of us knew how to accomplish it. Not even Roth, who one would think knew something about getting around angel wards. The only people I could think of was my father.
Retrieving that information from him was about as likely as me swearing off fried food and soda.
“I’ll check in with Gideon,” Zayne was saying as we reached the trees lining the sidewalk. “See if he’s aware of a way.”
“I’ll ask around, too.” Roth dropped an arm over Layla’s shoulders. “Carefully and quietly.” He looked toward the street. “And just an FYI, I have people keeping an eye out for Bael. Still hasn’t been spotted.”
“Neither has Senator Fisher,” Zayne responded.
A white truck drove by, heading toward the school. It was like one of the trucks I’d seen parked outside the night before. “Hey.” I spun toward Zayne. “That truck. What’s the name on it?”
Zayne looked, head tilted. “It says ‘Bar Rhinge and Sons Construction.’ That’s the name of the construction company working on the school. I didn’t catch that last night.”
“I saw it and forgot,” I said. “We need to see if we can find anything on them.”
Zayne already had his cell phone out, calling Gideon. The Warden answered quickly, and as Zayne told him about the tunnel, the school and the construction company, I stepped onto the sidewalk and looked toward the school.
“A Hellmouth,” I said. “Isn’t that what you and Stacey called it?”
“Yes,” Layla said. “And we were only half joking.”
Even as my skin was thawing under the hot sun, a chill powered down my spine. “Maybe you guys are onto something. Not the Buffy variety of Hellmouths, but something like that.”
“Gideon’s on it right now. He’s blown away by the whole angelic language thing. Think he geeked out the moment he realized he had real angel weapons in his possession.” Zayne grinned. “He wants us to head to the compound to talk to him about the plans we found at the senator’s house. He thinks he might be onto something.”
“That’s good news,” I said. We could really use some good news.
“Keep us updated,” Roth said as we started walking back toward the intersection. “Especially if those damn blades go missing. Once the others realize what they have in their possession, I want to know if there’s a Warden who decides he could use them.”
Zayne nodded.
“Can you do me a favor?” Layla asked Zayne when we came to a street corner.
“Sure,” he answered.
I couldn’t help but notice how far both of them had come since the first time I’d seen them together. That was good, I thought, smiling.
“When you see Stacey later, can you try to talk her into staying out of school?” she asked, and the smile froze on my face. “Maybe she’ll listen to you.”
Zayne glanced at me before answering. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her.”
* * *
I wished Zayne had driven his motorcycle, because at least then I could pretend I couldn’t hear him. Alas, we were in his Impala and I had problems with my vision, not my hearing.
“I was going to tell you about Stacey,” he said, halfway to the compound.
Staring out the window, I nibbled away on my thumbnail. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I know I don’t,” he replied, and I made a face at the window, unsure why he thought confirming that helped. “I was going to tell you because I wanted to.”
“Oh,” I murmured, focusing on the blurred buildings and people. “Cool.”
He obviously didn’t believe I thought it was cool. “She and I really didn’t get to talk yesterday.”
“Understandable.” I was sort of surprised the ice cream social was only yesterday. Felt like a week ago. “I kind of ruined all of that.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” he corrected. “It’s just with everything that happened with Sam and—”
“You don’t need to explain yourself. Pretty sure that’s already been established,” I said around my thumb. “Works out, anyway, because I need to pack.”
“I’m not trying to explain myself. It just slipped my mind with everything that happened between then and Layla bringing it up.” He paused, and then I felt his fingers on my wrist, sending a jolt of awareness through me. He pulled my hand from my mouth. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you.”
I looked down as he lowered my hand to my leg. His fingers lingered just below the bruises that were already fading.
“I promise you,” he added. “I wasn’t trying to hide it.”
My gaze made its way to him. He was focused on the road, and I didn’t know if I believed him or not. Everything I thought and felt for Zayne skewed my instincts when it came to him. I wanted to believe him, but knowing he was seeing her again also made my chest feel hollow and my stomach heavy.
Jealousy sucked.
“I believe you.” I shifted my hand away as I returned to staring out the window. The buildings had given way to trees, and I knew we weren’t far from the compound. “I hope Gideon found something.”
“Yeah,” he replied after a handful of seconds. “Same.”
We didn’t speak after that and arrived at the compound about ten minutes later. Gideon met us at the door and ushered us into Nicolai’s study.
The clan leader wasn’t there, but Danika was standing behind the desk, palms resting on the glossy cherry-colored wood. In front of her were two large, nearly transparent sheets of paper, and propped along the desk were two more rolled-up papers.
Danika smiled at us, and I returned the gesture with a wave.
Because I was a dork.
“Guys, do I have something interesting for you.” Gideon crossed the room as Zayne closed the door behind us. “Something I wish we’d known before. That school that Layla went to? Heights on the Hill? It’s the missing piece.”
“What did you find?” Zayne asked as we reached the desk. I looked down, not able to make out what I was staring at.
“What our senator has been up to.” Gideon leaned over the desk. “But first, I’m looking into ways to break an angelic ward.” He coughed out a laugh. “That’s going to take some time, and I’m not sure it’s possible.” Gideon’s gaze met mine and then he glanced at Danika. “Never seen angelic writing before, so that’s cool. What’s not cool is this Harbinger having been in possession of angel blades and able to cast an angelic ward. The only beings out there I’d naturally assume could do that are an angel or someone with a whole lot of angel blood in them.”
Keeping my expression blank, I stared at the papers. I had no idea how to read angelic writing, but this other Trueborn—the Harbinger—could, and I could only assume that meant his angelic father had been way more hands-on than mine.
“What is all this?” Zayne gestured at the papers, shifting the topic smoothly.
“The top layer is Fisher’s building plans, which you found, and underneath that is the high school, which is the old layout I found in public records. As you can see, his plans fit within the footprint of the school.”
“I see it.” Zayne moved his finger over the outlines. “Same lines.”
“But that’s not all.” Danika reached for the rolled paper closest to her. “Gideon was able to get the remodeling plans for the school.”
“It was the name of the construction company,” he explained, lifting the top sheet and pulling the bottom one out. “I was able to hack into their servers in like ten seconds flat, and this is what I found.” He grinned at Danika. “Want to do the honors?”
She unrolled the paper, spreading it out over the senator’s plans for the mysterious school. I saw the company’s name scrawled across the top. “Tell me the first thing you notice.”
I squinted, trying to focus on the blurry squares and lines.
“It’s the same damn plans,” uttered Zayne. “Look here, Trin.” He drew his finger along a rectangular shape. “That’s the cafeteria and these are the classrooms.” He continued to point out the areas. “It’s Layla’s old school.”
“That’s not all,” Danika said, lifting her brows at Gideon.
“So, when I first looked up the company Bar Rhinge and Sons, I couldn’t find much on it except a cheap website with a rather questionable portfolio and contact info. Nothing online about the owners, but I did some quick digging and found the name the company is registered under.”
“Natashya Fisher.” Danika pushed off the desk. “As in Senator Fisher’s late wife.”
“Obviously finding that these renovation plans match the senator’s tells us that the senator is connected to the school, but that’s further confirmation.”
I stared at the name of the company, and I don’t know why it stood out then or what made me see it, but it was like the words scrambled in front of me and I saw it. “Holy crap. The name of the company. Bar Rhinge. Maybe I’m seeing things, but don’t those letters also spell Harbinger?”
“What?” Danika looked down and then she jerked. “Hell...” Grabbing a piece of paper and pencil out of the desk, she wrote down the company’s name and then Harbinger under it. She quickly connected the letters. “You’re right.”
“It’s an anagram.” Zayne huffed out a laugh. “Good catch, Trin.”
Cheeks flushing, I shrugged. “I mean, we already know they’re all connected, so not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. It’s more proof that we’re onto something,” he said.