TRUE STORM

TRUE STORM - CHAPTER 7

I push my hair back with a shaky hand. "What do they want?"

Beside me, Storm is silent. He glances out the window into the deepening night. The typically gray skies over Dominion are subtly tinted with purple, a sure sign that within a few days' time we'll be experiencing one of the devastating Flux storms that can lay ruin to whole sections of the city.

"Jared," Storm calls softly. The hairs on the back of my neck rise. A moment later the van door opens, and Jared slides into the driver's seat. He turns, and I feel his eyes on me, burning coals, as he takes in Storm's closeness.

"Boss," he drawls.

"Get Lucy home. Check in with me when the twins are secure."

Jared nods as Storm removes his arm from me and moves toward the door. Even knowing Jared will misinterpret it—and what do I care if he does? I think rebelliously—I reach out and touch Storm's arm. "Where are you going?" It's out of line. I know it is. He's my guardian, and I'm not his keeper. I shouldn't be asking questions like this. But tumbling through the world of strange is the knowledge that he knows something. Much more than he's letting on.

Storm turns back, his lips arranged in that generous smile I know so well. He caresses my cheek. "Don't worry, Lucinda. It will all be well."

"What does that even mean?" I call into the empty space he leaves behind.

The door locks. Jared continues to stare at me stonily. I take in his attire. For Jared, he's dressed formally. In his collared button-up shirt and a formal pair of slacks I'd seen earlier, topped with a leather jacket, he could almost pass for someone who cares about his appearance. I want to smile at the thought. "Okay, Princess, Boss Man has spoken," he drawls. His expression grows pensive as he adds under his breath, "And then some," before turning around as though we're perfect strangers and gunning the gas.

Still, it takes me longer than it should to realize that Jared is not driving me back to Storm's.

"Where are you going?" I ask Jared from the back seat where I have been huddling, frozen to the core. He doesn't answer, just keeps driving with a stubborn look stamped on his face. Whatever he is planning, it can't be good. "Jared." I stretch my hand out to the driver's seat to force him to answer me. "Jared! I don't appreciate being kidnapped."

"Just sit back and relax, Princess. Everything's okay."

Sullenly I cross my arms and slide back in my seat, where I am left to study the slight upturn to his full lips, the strange glint in his eyes. I snort in reply and turn my head to look out the window as we wind our way into the northern fringes of Dominion.

Here the city is hills and winding streets, crumbling mansions falling to pieces over their high-necked fences. Most windows are dark now. Dominion has been losing its rich and mighty, those who have been building their empires in this section of town for hundreds of years. I shiver as we pass the ruins of Senator Kain's palatial home and run my fingers across the cool glass of the car window. It's still a mess from the attack all those months ago, when we first learned about the "magic" nanotech bombs.

The van swerves onto a street I don't know. Jared steps on the gas and the car shakes up a steep, winding incline. The headlights fall across a rusting white barricade. Jared stops the van, gets out, and removes it, then shuffles the van across before getting out again to close it behind us. I prick with unease. This is Jared, I remind myself. He's told me again and again he'd never harm me. Still, it's not like him to disobey Storm's requests.