A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(63)

Harry was about to protest when Diana picked him up in both arms, his jeans falling to the floor. Layla covered her mouth and tried not to laugh.

“Wait a second. Diana, as in the Roman goddess?” Layla asked. Even though she’d heard that the gods and goddesses of mythology were real, she hadn’t expected to be standing in the presence of one of them. Nor for them to be friendly and easy to talk to. And especially not for one who was still naked to be carrying an exceptionally uncomfortable Harry through some woods.

Remy nodded. “Not all of them are as pleasant as she is, let me assure you of that.” He paused. “Sorry, I know he’s hurt. But damn, Harry, that’s gotta be killing you.”

“I’m fine,” Harry called out in a tone that suggested he would rather not be in his current situation while everyone else was watching.

Diana smiled. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Harry. You have a fine body. It’s manly.”

Layla didn’t even chuckle once, although she clamped both hands over her mouth to stop it. Kasey and Chloe also had to physically stop themselves from laughing. Remy, on the other hand, just laughed. Loudly.

The group walked a little way to a clearing, where a powerful black helicopter—the type Layla had once seen in a film about the US military—sat. Diana and Kasey grabbed some clothes from inside and quickly dressed in dark blue combat fatigues. The pilot, a man who nodded hello to Layla but otherwise kept quiet, started the engine once they were all inside and strapped in.

“So, now we go to Winchester, yes?” Layla asked.

“That’s the plan,” Diana said. “It’s time you learned more about the world you now live in. We’re going to meet with one of the directors of the Law of Avalon.”

“I read a bunch of stuff about them not being trusted,” Layla said.

“You can trust this one,” Kasey told her.

“Why this one?” Layla asked.

“She’s my mum.”





23

The helicopter landed behind a massive thirty-story building constructed predominantly of glass and steel. The edges of the building were curved slightly, giving it the appearance of twisting as it rose up into the sky. Behind the helipad was a large section that had been turned into an assault course. Several buildings of varying sizes dotted the dozens of acres of land. Armed men and women patrolled the ground, each of them dressed in dark blue military fatigues identical to the ones Diana and Chloe had found in the helicopter.

Layla counted four towers around the rear of the property, each one fifty feet high, and from her vantage point she could see armed soldiers in them.

“Sniper nests,” Kasey told her. “This place was attacked a few years ago by a monster. Nearly killed my dad and me. My mum runs it and wanted to make sure it would be a lot harder for anyone to get into. There are about a dozen of those towers around the property, a guard station to get into the property, and twenty-foot rune-scribed walls. We’re safe here.”

“Rune-scribed?”

“Ah, sorry, I forget you haven’t been around our world for long. They’re words of literal power. Like on the scroll you found. Anyone tries to force their way through those walls, they’re going to get a nasty surprise. Mostly of the explosive, permanent kind.”

“You know Chloe.”

The change of topic visibly surprised Kasey, but she nodded that she did. “We’ve been friends for years. I get that you’re probably angry with her for lying to you.”

“She fabricated her entire life to get close to me. She’s a stranger to me.”

“Bullshit,” Diana said, turning around. She’d set off in front, leaving Kasey and Layla to talk, but apparently had heard enough. “She loves you like a sister. Same as Kase here. Her job was to keep you safe, a job she didn’t manage to fulfil, and she’s devastated by it. She might not have told you the truth, but she doesn’t have it in her to fabricate a whole personality. What you saw is her. The past doesn’t matter one jot. Only the person you are.”

Diana turned and set off once again toward the main building.

Layla wasn’t sure what to think anymore. So much had happened that she felt as if a tidal wave had picked her up and carried her along, giving her no say in her destination. It wasn’t a nice feeling.

“How do you know my father is an umbra?” Layla asked as they reached the rear entrance to the building.

“My dad told me,” Kasey told her. “He’ll explain a lot, I’m sure. He’s good at it. Have you met Thomas Carpenter? Tommy?”

Layla nodded. “He seemed nice.”

“He’s awesome. A bit overprotective of his one and only daughter, but he’s getting better.”

“Overprotective?”

“I’m twenty years old and I’ve been able to use my powers since I was fifteen. It took Dad a while to get the idea that I’m capable of taking care of myself. And boys, it took him a while longer to get used to those.”

“He doesn’t like you seeing people?”

Kasey laughed. “No, nothing like that. My dad had a family once, centuries ago, and he was forced to leave them. So when I came along, he found it hard not to think I’d leave, or he would. Like I said, he’s better now. He lets me out after dark and everything.”