Planet Eden: The Garden

Chapter 17. A Poisoned Deal

Chapter 17.

The car ride was long and uncomfortable. Thorne was driving, her claws gripping the wheel tightly as she turned and twisted along the road. Wynter was fastened comfortably in the passenger seat, his fingers flipping through a small notebook I had never noticed before. His eyes were fixed on the Cursed letters in front of him, and it frustrated me that I knew I couldn't read it. Being illiterate in the language I spoke was one of the most frustrating disadvantages.

Fang, Camille, and I were smushed so tightly together we might as well have been our very own sandwich. Fang and Camille were the two slices of bread and I was all the fixings between. While an uncomfortable spot, I had the advantage of looking over Wynter's shoulders more easily.

He hadn't uttered a word when we had seen him as we all exited the cave. The horse ride to the car was only filled with the sound of the wind whistling in my ear. The only person who spoke was Fang, who had done his scouting job wonderfully and advised us where he had the car ready. Other than the words of specific and blunt instruction, everyone was silent.

The car ride was also silent, nothing at all interesting on the radio for Wynter to listen to so he had turned it off. Instead, he chose to flicker through a notebook, a small writing utensil tied to it for safekeeping. I couldn't tell if the Cursed writing was in his handwriting or someone else's. Though as I looked over his shoulder, I noticed how much closer I was getting to him since the sun was almost set. Upon realizing this, I nearly slammed my back against the backrest of the car. Luckily, Wynter barely noticed.

I watched as we pulled up into the same spot of the city, a place I surprisingly didn't miss. While frustrating to get my butt handed to me by Lance after every sparring session, I would take it over being hunted every night once the sunset and the clock tower in the center of the city chimed. I missed the good old days, however, killing everything and everyone I saw. Feeling the body temperature of a person rise and fall before evaporating into nothing. I missed making a man's blood literally boil inside of him. The sweat coating his body as he faded into death.

Everyone got out of the car almost like it were a dance. Camille seemed out of step, unaware of what it was she should have been doing. She followed what Wynter was doing, taking a step out of the car and slamming the door once she was out of it. I followed behind Fang; Camille too slow for me to wait any longer. I grabbed my satchel, tossing it onto my body. I could feel the tiara wrestling with the ring I had thrown in there.

"We know the plan?" Wynter asked, the snow flurries already surrounding his head.

We all nodded in agreement, but I had no idea what it was exactly that he had planned. Find Bane and make sure I spoke with him. That was the only plan I had. I wanted to make sure Camille wasn't too far, but I knew having her latched on to me would raise suspicion. If suspicion was raised, someone would call for an Exterminator or maybe a Forsaken. Whichever was going to get me sent to The Garden and presented to the Royal family, that was who I was going to be avoiding.

Wynter made his way towards the door I had previously kicked down before, though the hinges were back to where they were meant to be. He went to knock on the door, but I grabbed his hand, nearly burning it in the process as I watched him yank it out of my reach. I knew he hadn't put up his own Curse to protect himself from me, and I couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Why not use the front entrance?" I asked with a smirk. "I make a good entrance, Bane finds me easier, the faster he and I talk."

"I'm not risking a Cobra Gee," Wynter said, going for the handle of the door but once again I stopped him.