at least Skye will.” He turned toward the young kid. “Shawn, show Skye to the...library.” To Jamison he said, “Take the boy’s place, Jamison. Let’s see if you’re half the man your grandfather thought you would be.”
Jamison looked at Skye. She seemed to have come to the same conclusion; if they were going to get out of there, they’d have to play the game. Even Buchanan couldn’t help them. And they had to think of Granddad.
“I’ll be fine, Jamie. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I told my mom to tell Granddad that we’d be to the hospital by morning.” He said that more like an announcement, to anyone who was listening, or might give a rat’s ass.
He headed toward the back of the truck and passed Shawn. He suspected, since Shawn was technically called of God to do something or other, it was probably his own shoulder that stretched out to knock into Shawn’s. Jamison acted as if he’d felt nothing. Shawn laughed, then laughed more when he put his arm around Skye’s shoulder to lead her away.
Jamison was amazed at his own reaction. Fear and fight morphed into simply, fight, but he wouldn’t. And as he took his place in the gap left by the too-handsome-to-be-believable teen angel, fight morphed into don’t drop the freaking bag and embarrass your granddad.
Fear didn’t return for an entire minute, until he heard a familiar laugh sneak out the back door as Skye was led inside.
“Buchanan?”
“Yes, son?”
“I don’t suppose your leader is a woman?”
“Yes, son.”
***
Skye was petrified as Shawn led her down a long hall toward the sound of Lanny's laughter.
“Oh, don't worry, cousin. She can't harm you, can she?”
Skye stopped and looked deep into the boy's eyes. “I don't know. Can she?”
He just laughed and pulled her along.
“I guess I should warn you, though. More than a few of our cousins have been drawn here and not returned to their own communities.”
“You mean they chose to stay?”
“I didn't say that, now, did I?”
He slapped her on the back and the momentum pushed her into a large white room. When she spun around, Shawn was gone and the door was closing. She reached for a handle, but there wasn't one.
“Hey!” She beat on the door, then pushed her ear flat against it. Shawn's laughter diminished quickly. Joking. He was joking. He had to be.
Skye took off her shoes out of habit. The carpet was white enough to be painful and she wasn't going to be the one to soil it. It was so deep and thick her feet bounced, as if she were walking on tiny fleece springs.
Even the air was...soft. Creamy wallpaper with velvet swirls covered the walls. Fine chairs with oval backs were upholstered in silk stripes, white on white. Their wood bases were intricately carved, the white paint thick, shiny and flawless. Mirrors on the walls reflected other mirrors, their beveled edges broadcasting and multiplying the sunlight filtered through endless layers of sheer fabric that covered floor-to-ceiling windows. The curtains were raw silk and their natural flaws...uniform.
A desk the size of a bed spread along the final wall. The legs matched the smaller chairs, the top was white and off-white granite with golden flecks winking from its depths. Its surface reflected the chandelier, a work of art; egg-sized crystals, the shape of fleur de lis, were suspended in the pattern of a giant chrysanthemum, and the spaces between them were filled with the sharp reflections of a million prisms.
It would have been Heaven itself if not for the woman seated behind the desk in a tall wing-backed chair of white leather. She'd changed into formal robes, much like Lucas’s, and waited patiently while Skye took her fill of the room.
Couldn't be done.
Skye closed her eyes and committed it all to a memory she hoped she would be able to keep. The image couldn't do the room justice, even while she stood in the center of it.
“Skye.”
“Ma'am?”
“Sit.”
Skye chose the seat away from the door.
“Not paranoid, surely.”
“Not trusting, ma'am, of a people who would steal someone's car.”
“Steal? I beg your pardon! You know better—”
“Do I? I'm not sure I know much of anything lately. Not much could surprise me now.”
Skye could feel the woman probing at her memories of the last few days. Having never felt the need to shield her thoughts before, she was helpless to stop her.
“I see. And the explosives?”
Skye was surprised at the first question, then like a gift dropped into her lap, she suddenly knew