House of Leights (Secret Keepers, #3)(72)

Xander wasted no time swinging the car around, heading in the opposite direction. The sanctuary was back near the main airport, so we passed familiar sights as we headed that way.

“So, what’s the plan, Fraizer?” Daniel asked from the back.

Fraizer hesitated, before he said: “If you let me go in with one of the secret keepers, Laous will be distracted. That’s the perfect time for you to try and take him out. Or at least get the stone away from him. My suggestion is that when we get near the sanctuary, everyone hops out of the car, except for one of the girls. I don’t care which one. I just need a distraction to give you all time to follow us.”

No one jumped at that suggestion, but I kind of thought it wasn’t a half-bad idea.

“He’s not going to hurt the secret keepers,” Fraizer reminded us. “He’s convinced that he will need all four even once he has the final map. He has so many plans in place to snatch them up.”

Chase, Lexen, and Daniel all growled simultaneously. Not even kidding, it was like the car was filled with angry lions. “If you think for one second I’m leaving Callie with you, you’re insane,” Daniel said bluntly.

“If Laous touches Emma again, I will not be able to stop myself from shifting and alerting the humans to the very real aliens in their midst,” Lexen snarled.

Chase was equally as pissed. “Maya has no defense against a Daelighter. She cannot be the one.”

They continued to throw around insults and curses. All the while Fraizer remained quiet. As did Xander, because he had no personal stake in this decision.

“It has to be me,” Callie’s voice rang out over the rest. Heat flared from someone, and I couldn’t tell if it was Daniel or Callie losing control of their power. “I’m literally the only one who can defend herself.”

“No,” Daniel snapped. “Laous knows you have that ability. He will counter anything you throw at him. He almost stole your life from me last time. I won’t let it happen again.”

She lowered her voice, murmuring things to him I couldn’t hear.

“The sanctuary is just around the corner,” Xander said. “Decisions need to be made now.” He stopped the car, because if we went around the next corner we’d be right where Laous was. “We might as well get out,” he suggested. “Because not all of us will be going at him head-on. Even I know that’s a bad plan.”

He slid the car into neutral and we all climbed out. The arguing was circular; no one was willing to risk any of us. Callie was the only one volunteering, but Daniel flat-out refused to even consider that. I leaned myself back against the door of the car, letting them continue to argue back and forth. If it was decided I would be the bait, then I would accept the decision. But I didn’t really have an opinion on the best way to do this.

As I dropped my head against the window, I felt the tiniest twinge in my neck. Muscle spasm. I used to get them on occasion during gymnastics. I tried to stretch my head around to ease the cramp – too much time spent on a plane and running for my life. That shit was stressful. The pain continued for a few minutes, in which time I lost track completely of the conversation.

Lifting my hand, I rubbed the spot, kneading the muscles, pulling away. A splash of red caught my attention, and I stared at my fingers, wondering what the hell was on them. Using my other hand, I rubbed my neck again, pulling the hand away to find it was also slicked with red. Like … blood.

Had I been hit? The twinge hadn’t been that painful, but … I was bleeding. I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation, so I quietly opened the car door and crawled into the front seat to search for something to wipe my neck with. I also wanted to use the mirror behind the visor to see what hit me.

As soon as I climbed in, the door swung closed behind me. I hadn’t remembered pulling it, so the wind must have caught it. My head spun. Leaning forward, I scraped at the latch to open the glovebox, but I couldn’t seem to get any grip. Another door opened near me, and I figured it was Chase checking on me, so I didn’t even turn my head.

“Think I hurt my neck,” I mumbled, pretty much resting my head against the dash. “Can you … see … anythi—?”

What was wrong with me?

“You were just the first to break from the group,” said a voice that was not Chase’s. “I hit you with a little speck of starslight stone. It should wear off soon.”

Fraizer. Shit.

The car lurched forward, and since I wasn’t belted in, I got bounced around, smashing my face into windows and the front of the car. I clawed at my neck, trying to remove the stone that was incapacitating me, but I couldn’t keep myself steady enough to get it out.

Fraizer held his foot flat to the floor, and I let out a muffled scream when the car pitched strangely and almost flipped over onto its side. Somehow we didn’t crash, but Fraizer immediately started to curse.

“Of course you would be bonded to the Leights able to turn his arms into vines.”

The car lurched again; this time Fraizer swung it to the right. “Luckily…” he said, “he doesn’t want to hurt you …. and he also has a limit of how far his reach is. I think we’ve just managed to get outside of that limit.”

“Was … thwis … your pwan all awong?” I wasn’t exactly making much sense. My tongue couldn’t form the words, but Fraizer understood.