Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3)(59)

Patti and I squeezed each other equally hard.

My throat constricted as I whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweet girl. Now go.”

With a gentle shove from the strongest woman I knew, we were gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

MERCENARY

Kaidan reached for my car keys and took the driver’s seat. I sat next to him, fitting one of Jay’s ball caps on my head as Kai peeled out of the neighborhood. He looked down at the speedometer as if impressed.

“This little thing has some power.”

“Yeah, my dad probably had that in mind when he bought it.” It was sad to think that Dad had bought my car knowing I’d have to make an escape in it someday.

Kaidan did a double take at me in the hat. I wondered if I looked stupid, but then his red badge gave a widening pulse. He tore his eyes away and hit the gas harder, pressing me back into the seat. I was afraid to look at the speed as we merged onto Interstate 81.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He shook his head, and when he spoke he sounded angry. “No idea. Deeper into these mountains, I suppose.”

I rubbed his shoulder to try and calm him.

“This is my fault,” he said. “I should have taken an earlier flight, then you would’ve been back at school. None of this would’ve happened.”

This was the peril of loving—wanting more time together, taking risks. I hated knowing we’d put ourselves in danger, but it was impossible to regret the time we’d had together.

“It was bound to go down eventually, Kai.”

“But it didn’t have to be now.” His hands went white as he gripped the wheel, and his jaw tightened. I felt sad for him because I knew he was going into this without any belief we would survive.

“We have to have hope,” I whispered.

As he opened his mouth to say something, his phone rang. My heart sped as he pulled it from his pocket.

We both glanced at the unknown Oregon number, and Kaidan cursed.

Pharzuph.

I stayed completely silent while he answered.

“Hallo.”

“It’s Pharzuph. This is my new number, so program it into your phone.”

A chill zapped up my spine.

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you in Atlanta?”

Kaidan glanced at me and I watched, holding my breath. It was still weird to hear Pharzuph speak with a young American voice.

“Not yet,” Kai said.

“Meet me at our former home tonight at nine p.m. I’m flying in, and we have some things to discuss.”

Kaidan cleared his throat. I watched the pulse jump in his neck.

“I’ll see you at nine o’clock, sir.”

“Don’t be late.” Pharzuph hung up.

Kaidan’s hand curled around the phone so hard I worried he’d crush it. “He sounds like a right prick. Even more than usual.”

“Oh, he’s obnoxious in this new body. You’re gonna want to beat the crap out of him the whole time.”

He huffed at that and almost smiled. I pried the phone from his hand and twined my fingers with his. We both held tight.

I turned in the seat to face him. “If we can manage to make it to Georgia without being seen together, I want to stay within a mile of the house to listen.”

“Anna—”

“No. You were the one who wanted us to stay together, so you need to let me do this. If anything happens to you, Kaidan, I swear I will show up there. And I will kill him.”

At the seriousness of my voice and words, his eyes slammed into mine.

“Keep talking like that, Anna Rowe, and I’ll have to pull this car over.”

I grinned. “No time for that. I’m gonna lie down and try to stay out of sight.”

I crawled into the backseat, earning a smack on the bottom as I went, and covered myself with a blanket I’d grabbed from Patti’s. At least this way, from the outside, Kaidan would appear to be alone in the car. His head turned long enough to run his hot gaze over me curled up on the small seat.

I reached up to poke his shoulder. “Eyes on the road, you.”

He obeyed, reaching for the radio. “Try to sleep.”

The odds were stacked against us. A year and a half ago I had held my hands up to the heavens and told them to deal me in, and they had. Now the prophecy was about to happen—this war on earth between the demons and their children—with me leading the way. My stomach was in knots.

I closed my eyes for Kaidan’s sake, and pretended to sleep.

Kaidan made the trip to Atlanta in seven hours, stopping once for gas. I was on edge, expecting to hear Kaidan shout, “Whisperer!” at any point, but he never did.

We stopped talking as we neared Atlanta, and Kaidan turned off the radio. When he pulled the car into a parking lot, I sat up and was surprised by our location. A Catholic church? I gave Kai a questioning look, and he signed to me, Legend says holy water does more than repel evil—it’s like poison to demons.

I raised my eyebrows. I liked this idea.

We silently entered the church, searching the skies and seeing nothing but summer clouds. Inside, it was cool, quiet, and empty. We saw the angel statue at the same time, holding a giant shell—the vessel for the holy water. Kaidan moved fast, filling an empty flask that he’d pulled from his pocket.