House of Leights (Secret Keepers #3)(76)

“I got the starslight,” I said with a huge grin. “You need to take it to Lexen or whoever, so they can see if they can find the girl.”

Noise from the doorway had me realizing that everyone else had been waiting for me in the bedroom. “My necklace,” Emma said, her eyes watery. “How did you get it back?”

Chase leveled hard eyes on Lexen, who shrugged. “This was the longest I could keep her away. She needed to make sure Maya was okay.”

Emma wiggled her way forward, wrapping her arms around me. I shushed Chase’s protests. He kept trying to tell her I was injured and to be careful. “I’m fine,” I said. “It could have been so much worse if that girl with the shimmery hair didn’t find me.”

Xander, who was near the back of the group, stepped forward. “Shimmery how?” he asked, and I thought his intensity was kind of weird, until he turned on the shower in the stall nearby and dropped his blond hair under. My eyes went very wide as that same iridescent sheen moved through his hair.

It all made sense now. She was the fourth secret keeper. “Laous said she was nearby,” I murmured. “She must have been in the water the entire time.”

Xander nodded. “And clearly she got more than a little of the Royale energy when she was born. That hair thing is unique to my house.”

She definitely got more than a little. “She’s amazing in the water, too. Held her breath for, like, ever, and was strong enough to power both of us through the waves.”

My mind kept flashing back to the girl. She was beautiful, and I had a feeling on dry land she would be breathtaking. Xander was in so much trouble.

Tommy appeared in the doorway. “We’re surrounded by Gonzo troops. The helicopter is ready and waiting on the roof. We need to get to a safe house.”

No one argued. They all fell into formation, like this was a normal event. “Why don’t you just stay and defend your territory?” Callie asked. “If they’re humans, they don’t stand a chance against the power of four overlords.”

Daniel swept an arm around her, trying to hurry her along. “We don’t know what Laous might have set them up with, weapon-wise. I won’t risk you. Any of you.”

“He doesn’t have the stone now, at least,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “One good thing came from Fraizer and his stupid plan.”

“Are you sure he’s dead?” Daniel asked me. “There was no body when we got to the sanctuary.”

Turning in his direction, I tried not to let my sympathy show. “I don’t know for sure. I saw him get shot, and he fell, but then I was dragged away, so I don’t actually know if he got back up.” There was an extended pause, and I decided to add, “I think Rao saved me. He was definitely thrown off by Fraizer telling him that he was his brother, and then he tripped really obviously, which gave me a chance to escape.”

Daniel’s eyes, which were the lightest of browns with gold rings, had so much sadness in them that I almost burst into tears. I felt the heat and pressure behind my eyes but managed to keep it together while we moved into the hall and took an elevator up to the top floor. Chase stayed at my side the entire time. I couldn’t help but touch him over and over, to reassure myself that I was back with him.

“You should tell them what Laous told you,” Chase urged, when we were close to the helicopter. “About his father.”

Even though it disgusted me, I quickly relayed the details to the group. Daniel, again, was the one to react. “That must have been what he did with my father,” he said slowly. “When he killed him, he absorbed his energy, and that allowed the network to find him worthy to be overlord.”

“Did you know your uncle suffered like that?” Callie asked. “When he was a child?”

Daniel shook his head with force. “I had no idea. It would have been before I was born, and I knew my dad and Laous were never close, but I had no idea of his past.”

He looked both disturbed and upset, and I wondered what was worrying him the most. Fraizer? Rao? Or the possibility that Laous had suffered worse than any of us?

Before any more could be said, we were filing into the helicopter. Tommy handed Chase a familiar red kit. I knew my guy wouldn’t be able to relax until he had patched me up.

“Buckle in,” Tommy said. He was manning the chopper as well. He was very useful in these situations. “They have some manpower.”

Lexen, who was near the open door, leaned out and said, “I’m going to make it a little harder for them.”

Dark clouds burst across the sky, drifting in from way out at sea. It took him seconds, maybe less, to fill the air around us. As Tommy lifted the chopper up, blades loud, we took off with the dark clouds around us. Bullets fired, but thankfully none of them hit their mark, except one that lodged in a side panel.

Chase wasted no time disinfecting and bandaging me up, and by the time we arrived at the safe house, I was a walking mummy. The new place was not on Lanai, but instead on the bigger island of … O’ahu, I was pretty sure. Tommy set the helicopter down on a basketball court, which was at the back of an estate of about twenty beach shacks. When we all filed out, he took off into the air again.

“He’ll stash it somewhere so we can’t be easily traced,” Xander told us as he strode toward one of the generic white Hamptons homes. I expected him to lead us to the front door, but instead, he moved to some bushes off to the side and pried open a double door that led down into a basement.