Riders (Riders, #1)(57)

Moving to the rear of the plane, where there was more room, I presented the objective of deplaning without getting arrested to Marcus and Bastian.

“I’ll handle it,” Marcus said, before I’d finished. “I got an idea.”

I aimed my penlight on him. “No. Not unless you run your idea by me and I approve it.”

He scowled, squinting at the light. “I don’t answer to you. You think ’cause you were in the Army for a month, you know everything? You don’t know nothin’ about the real world.”

I didn’t know who’d told him I was in the Army—Bastian or Daryn. Either way I didn’t appreciate it.

“We find Contempt and I’m gone,” Marcus said.

“You mean Conquest,” Bas offered.

“You already found contempt, bro.”

“Who you calling bro?” He shoved me in the chest.

I escalated immediately by throwing a punch, but Sebastian shot between us and I couldn’t avoid him. I tagged the back of his head, sending him sprawling. Marcus came in and swung at me. I took a grazing hit to the forehead, but it still rocked me. My head went flying and I had to follow it. I collided with a steel pallet.

Lia was barking now. I knew Marcus was coming for more—but the sound of the landing gear whining stopped me.

Two things hit me then. Actually three. The first was Marcus, who took advantage of my momentary lapse of focus to punch me across the temple. The second was the fact that Bastian and Daryn stood nearby in a panicked discussion about how to handle us. Third was that my timeline calculations had been way off. We were beginning our descent now.

At Marcus’s punch, I saw brightness, the painful kind, mirrors under the sun, then red like bursting capillaries. When my vision came back, Daryn and Bastian had positioned themselves between me and Marcus. They were talking, but I couldn’t hear much. Just something-something-something shadow.

“Whose shadow?” Marcus asked Bas.

“My horse,” Bastian explained. “I named her that. It seemed like she should have a name.” He glanced at me, all worried looking. “Lia has a name, so why shouldn’t my horse?”

“I think he should summon her when we land,” Daryn said.

I stood there for a second, trying to catch up. Then I said, “What the—?”

The floor shook as the wheels touched down.

We all staggered, then froze. Even Lia stopped barking. We were in Rome.

Italy.

And we still didn’t have a plan.

“Call her, Bastian,” Daryn said. “Summon her now.”

“No! Do not call her, Sebastian.”

“I don’t know what to do, Gideon! You said Daryn was in charge!” Sebastian cried. Then he closed his eyes for a second and that was it.

Shadow came up the same way she had at the studio lot—black smoke twisting and filling in the shape of a horse until she solidified and stood right there, between the pallets and the rear door. Her beauty struck me again, all hollowed-out darkness. In the murky light of the cargo hold, you could’ve missed her completely if she’d been standing still, but she wasn’t. As soon as she took form, she started dancing nervously, the dim light catching on the shift of muscle and mane, her hooves clanging on the steel floor.

I looked at Marcus. His eyes were locked on Shadow and he looked legitimately shaken. I wondered if this was his first time seeing one of the horses.

“Go to her, Bastian,” Daryn said. “You need to settle her down.”

He moved right away, approaching the mare slowly. “Hey. It’s okay. It’s me.” He put his hands out and moved closer. Gradually Shadow’s movements became less jerky. Her eyes grew softer, settling for longer stretches on Bastian, and her ears came forward as she listened to him. Finally she let out a long snuffling breath and relaxed.

“That’s it.” Bastian reached up and ran his fingers down her jaw. “Good girl, Shadow.” He turned to us, emotions flashing across his face—surprise, happiness, pride—and then he broke into a big grin. “She’s awesome, right? Okay, what do we do next?”

They looked great together—both kind of spindly and right. A matching pair. And I thought of my horse—a creature that was aggression horseonified and appeared to be made of fire—and for a second there, I almost felt sorry for myself, except I had more urgent issues to handle. The plane was taxiing but it wouldn’t be for much longer.

“Good question, Bas.” My plan had involved getting into the shipping containers. We didn’t have time for that anymore. I looked at Daryn. She’d set this thing in motion already. Time to make the most of it. “What’s next, Martin? What are we doing here?”

“I was thinking Bastian and I will take Shadow out first? We could use her as a diversion so you and Marcus can get off the plane.”

“Then what?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Bastian and I will bluff. We’ll act like we don’t understand the problem. If we act like we’re the ones who are confused, maybe they’ll think they messed up on their end. Maybe didn’t get the right paperwork or whatever. We’ll talk our way out of it.”

“Got it. So we’re going with the old we FedExed a horse plan. Classic. That one always works.”

“Did you think of any better ideas while you and Marcus were beating each other up? Besides, there’s a dog on board. And what other option do we have? We can’t just walk off this plane.”