The Shadow Prince
Page 92

“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“That green car out there,” he says, pointing to a BMW at the far end of the parking lot. There are only two other vehicles in the lot. A big rig and Haden’s Tesla. “It was behind us most of the way here.”
“So? They probably just made a pit stop, too.”
“Then where are they? There’s nobody else in here.”
“Maybe they went across the street to that … abandoned gas station?” I start to see Haden’s point. “You think they’re following us?”
“There’s one way to find out.” He tosses a wad of cash on the table. “Grab your food to go. Come on, Garrick.”
“Harpies,” Garrick mumbles.
I take two big bites of my burger and a swig of root beer and then follow Haden as he leads Garrick by the elbow out to the Tesla. We’re all trying to look as nonchalant as possible as we buckle in. Haden pulls out of the parking lot and around to the road behind the diner, then pulls over to the side.
“What are you doing?”
“Just give it a minute.”
About forty-five seconds later, the green BMW pulls out of the parking lot and starts in the direction we went. This still seems like a coincidence to me, but it’s enough to set Haden off. He slams his foot down on the accelerator and whips his car around so we’re blocking the BMW. The other car comes to a screeching halt. Haden bursts out of the driver’s-side door.
“What are you doing?” I call after him.
Wisps of blue light crackle between the fingers of the hand he holds behind his back. Someone gets out of the green car, but I can’t see who it is until Haden has him by the throat. His camel brown fedora falls to the dusty ground.
“Tobin?” I jump out of the car.
“Why are you following us?” Haden shouts. A sphere of blue light swirls in his hand above Tobin’s nose. “Who sent you?”
“No … no … nobody,” Tobin stammers.
“Let him go!” I shout. “It’s just Tobin. And … Lexie?” I see her now, cringing in the passenger seat of the BMW.
Haden lets go of Tobin, but he still holds the bolt of lightning in his hand. “Why are you here?”
“You kidnapped one of my best friends,” Tobin says. “Why wouldn’t I be here? And what the hell is that?” He points at the crackling blue light in Haden’s hand.
Haden extinguishes the bolt of lightning and shoves his hands behind his back like it was nothing.
“Kidnapped?” I ask Tobin. “Why did you think I was kidnapped?”
“You disregarded my texts about the list so quickly, I thought something must be wrong. I thought I’d walk past Haden’s place to see what he was up to … and I saw you leaving with him.”
“And of course your brain immediately went to kidnapping.”
“Only because I saw him shove a body into the car first and then take your cell phone away. I was too far away to do anything, and then when you guys went flying out of the garage, I kind of freaked.”
“And how does Lexie come into all this?” Haden asks.
“She happened to be driving down the street. I didn’t have a car, so I kind of commandeered hers.”
“You mean you kidnapped her so you could stop me from kidnapping Daphne?” Haden asks. “Talk about irony.”
“Hey, I offered to pay for gas,” Tobin says.
“If you thought I’d been kidnapped, why didn’t you call the police?”
“Because the call would have been rerouted to Olympus Hills security, … and you know how reliable they aren’t, and …” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I thought if I followed him to wherever he was taking you, I might be able to find Abbie.”
“Oh.” Suddenly any humor I’d found in the situation is gone. Tobin was still desperately searching for his sister, who could never be found.
“But you’re telling me you aren’t kidnapped. You’re heading heaven knows where with this guy on purpose?” he asks.
“Vegas,” I say. “We’re headed to Las Vegas.”
Tobin’s jaw drops ever so slightly. “Why?” he asks like he doesn’t quite want to know the answer.
I look from Tobin to Haden. Haden shakes his head once. I ignore him. “We’re headed to Las Vegas to find an Oracle,” I say.
It’s time to start telling the truth.
“You people are insane!” Lexie says from the backseat of the Tesla. “Insane! Oracles? Monsters? Underworld princes or whatever? You’ve all flown over the cuckoo’s nest and you’re trying to drag me with you!”
Overall, I’d say they’ve taken the truth—or partial truth—rather well. Especially Tobin. He sits stoically in the middle row of the Model X, his hands clasped in his lap.
Haden was the one who insisted that both he and Lexie come with us now. Tobin had come willingly, saying that he wasn’t going to let me go off to Vegas with Haden alone. Lexie had been another story. I thought we should let her drive herself back home, but Haden had made the valid point that we couldn’t trust her to not tell somebody where we went. Which means between her and Garrick, we have two captives in the car.
“This Oracle,” Tobin asks. “Do you think she can tell me how to get my sister back?”
“Possibly,” Haden says as he changes lanes. We’re about twenty minutes outside of Vegas and the traffic has gotten heavy.
Both he and I have evaded most of Tobin’s questions about Abbie. I plan on telling him the whole truth, but not here. Not now. That is a private conversation that doesn’t need Lexie shouting about our sanity in the background.
“There’s no such thing as Oracles!” she says.
“Can somebody make her shut up?” Garrick responds, holding his head.
Maybe I should have let Haden knock Lexie out in order to get her in the car. Instead, I’d held her Hermès purse hostage until she agreed to get in.
Haden changes lanes again. He glances in the rearview mirror. “Harpies,” he mumbles.
“What is it?”
“I think we’ve got another tail. Don’t look back. Use your mirror. But I think that motorcycle is following us. He’s been in my rearview mirror for the last hour. He changes lanes every time I do.”