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  At least she's not spitting at me anymore. "Two separate planes," I say. "Olivia, can you cut us some straws? Two of us with Brett and Karina. The rest of us on another plane, including the Russells if they want to come with us. Callie and Alex should go with them, too--"

  "They're in the kitchen," Olivia says. "By the way, we need to call someone about this water heater and Mom won't be back here for a few more days."

  "We'll take care of it," Noah says.

  I sense Karina's glare on me as I watch Olivia run up the stairs. She exchanges a few words with Brett about having to get to the kitchen. And she's taking her old, snotty tone while she's around him. That's great. He's reverting Olivia to her old self and I hope she gets away from him quickly.

  She does, bringing down a pair of scissors and a handful of coffee straws. I count the number of Wolves with us, including myself and Cayden, because it wouldn't be fair to leave myself or him out of the drawing. My heart pounds and I hear everyone else's pulses rising. The room fills with the subtle sound of racing heartbeats. Olivia cuts two short straws on a rickety old table.

  "Well, we all just learned the origin of that saying," Noah jokes.

  Olivia counts. "Maybe we should wait for Remo to be here?"

  Waiting is unbearable. "He's already doing enough."

  She nods. "Natalie. Marleen. Allen. Don. Ron. You. Cayden. Everly. Not all of the Colling Wolves are here."

  Cayden wraps his hand in mine.

  The air thickens with darkness. Olivia tucks two short straws into the stack and ruffles them up. I think I know what's coming and what Karina wants, and even though I know it's not a good idea, it feels better than sending anyone else in this room into danger. So I let the darkness come.

  Cayden's palm sweats. Our connection strains again. I know what he's going to do.

  Olivia holds the straws and waves us all over to her side of the basement. "Everyone should pick at once just so it's super fair," she says.

  I appreciate her effort. Olivia closes her eyes. The Colling Wolves, myself, Cayden, and Everly step forward. But before I can choose, the Colling Wolves descend on her and pluck their straws. Almost as if the darkness wants it to be that way.

  Cayden and I reach at the same time.

  I know the results before we back away together and look. Hand in hand, Cayden open our palms at the same time as silence falls on the basement.

  He audibly gulps beside me. "Well, this is going to be a tense flight."

  I do the same. "For both of us."

  Chapter Five

  It hurts to leave Breckenridge, the place I've called home all my life, behind. The bus rumbles out of the station the next day with me, Cayden, Brett, and Karina in tow. The others, including Leonora, her parents, Callie, and Alex are leaving on the next bus. That's in case our favorite witch decides to start an engine fire.

  But the bus stays running despite Brett sitting on one side of Karina, who lets her head fall onto the window. The concoction Remo gave made her drink this morning--I forgot what it was called--is still working. Brett has a vial of it in his pocket, which he swears he can get through airport security with magic. Karina looks awake enough to talk, but we know better. She smells of strange chemicals so I know she's not faking right now.

  And the bus is empty except for us. Tourist season is over, which is fortunate for anyone who otherwise would have been riding with us.

  "I think I'm keeping things under control," Brett says. "Do you guys feel okay?"

  "A little weak, but not bad," Cayden says.

  "Then I'm getting better at not draining you," Brett says. "It helps that she's not yelling at me and insulting me all the time." He nods to his sister.

  "We still need to take breaks from each other whenever we can," I say. The Savage King is still a risk. Especially a risk when Brett can throw me back in that hole of guilt. "I don't think our favorite dark spirit is going to want to come through and crash the plane. That wouldn't do him much good if I died. But who knows?"

  Cayden leans on my shoulder. "Yeah. That would be stupid of him to do."

  I look out the window at the passing trees and buildings. The bus drives us past the welcome sign for Breck, and an ache creeps into my chest that has nothing to do with Brett's influence. I'm leaving Aunt May behind. She's knowingly letting me go on my own when she wanted nothing but to protect me before.

  I should feel empowered that she's finally treating me like I'm alpha but it feels like abandonment. The world looks dark as I study it now, with shadows under every tree and around each boulder, and I wonder if I've crossed into my night, just as Cayden did when he lost his parents.

  "Brie, she trusts you," Cayden whispers in my ear. "She doesn't think you're tainted."

  "It's that obvious I'm thinking about it." I face him and our eyes are just a couple inches apart. I could dive into Cayden's hazel.

  "I know you. Trust me, your aunt loves you. She did what she did because she knows the Nobles need to be protected. She was just trying to help take the burden off you."

  "I hope so." My mind can't get off the deception and the whole working with Edwin thing.

  "We're a mess, aren't we?" Cayden asks with a faint smile.

  "We can be a mess together."

  "Get a room," Brett says.

  "Are you secretly dating my sister?" Cayden asks.

  Brett snorts and turns away, watching his own sister. Karina's still out and smells of chemicals. A bit more weakness creeps into me. It's still going to be a long ride.

  * * * * *

  The four of us reach Denver's airport, which I've never visited, a few hours later. Cayden and I are a little weak from being around Brett, but he's getting better and the extra stress is bearable for once. We get off the bus and walk into the busy terminal, rolling our luggage with us. Brett holds Karina's arm and I realize she's still able to walk on her own even if she looks a bit spaced out. Tension rises inside me as we enter the huge building. All Karina has to do is scream and she'll bring the security guards over. One moment of clarity will bring disaster down on us. Cayden and I could outrun them easily, but with security the way it is, we'd never be able to go through another airport. And we might get arrested.

  "Hold my hand," Cayden says. "It's more natural looking."

  So I do, which I don't mind, but I feel Cayden's tension rolling into me when our skin touches. Brett's, too, but that's in the way he's shuffling his feet just a little and studying the inside of the terminal--and everyone in it--like a hawk.

  We cross the large room, which is bustling with people trying to catch flights this late morning, and to the ticket areas. To my shock, Brett steps forward to order for us--we'll have to catch some connector flights--and hands his sister a ticket. She takes it like a zombie and nods her thanks. But the woman behind the counter doesn't notice and waves a couple forward.

  I'm glad the two look a lot like each other and it's obvious they're family, or Karina's spaced-out eyes might draw attention. Then Brett asks, as we're walking towards the baggage area, "How's your headache, sis?"

  "Fine," she mumbles.

  "Um, Brett?" I ask as a horrifying thought hits me. I wait until we're standing away from the lines to finish. "We don't have passports and I'm sure the Roman Empire didn't ever reach Colorado. Or this continent."

  "That's a good point," Cayden says.

  And then Brett does just what I want. He nods in that cocky way of his and says, "I'll take care of that, and I'm sure Leonora and her family have their own way of taking care of that. They performed pretty well when we cursed Edwin together."

  "I'm not sure I like this," Cayden says, very close to my ear.

  "What else can we do?" Not only do I feel stupid for not thinking of this sooner--just security--but I'm also dreading what's going to happen to the guards and if Brett will manage to make a magical circle in the airport. But just as the thoughts hit, I see him eyeing the guards, who stand near a row of turnstiles. People step through scanners
and guards rummage through purses. I watch one throw out a bottle of perfume.

  And Brett has that drug that's keeping Karina under control. Without it, we're not getting on a plane. But if the guards find that, we're not going anywhere.

  "Might be tricky," Brett says in a teasing voice.

  "Stop being a jerk," I say. "Find a way to get those guards' attention off us so we can sneak through." Though I want to feel the dark spirits around us just this once, there's no trace of them now. Brett hasn't summoned them. Though he can work magic, his expertise doesn't lie in the mental type. Unless it comes to draining the life from others. That's Karina, and she probably wouldn't help us to save her own life.

  "There might be a way around this, but it won't be pleasant for the guards," Brett says with a faint evil tone. "Now that I've got sight of these guys, I might be able to make it work. Brie, I'll need someone to grab that donut that guard was eating. His spit will be on it."

  "Donut?"

  He rolls his eyes. "For the sympathetic magic."

  "Can't you lose the attitude?" Cayden asks. "Brie just wants to get us through here."

  Brett ignores him. "The guard's spit will work as a link. And I'll need a private bathroom or something to do the rite. It may or may not work, but if it does, we should be able to sneak through his turnstile." Brett's careful not to speak too loud or to look at what he means.

  When I check, I find out what he wants me to do. I smell the half-eaten donut before I see it. It sits on the counter just behind an overweight guard who's busy leaning against his desk on the far left and staring at the wall. A metal tray lies beside him for scanning belongings, but his turnstile doesn't have a full-body scanner--just a glass box off to the side where people must get searched if they dare look suspicious. It's a long shot but Brett's right that it's the best shot we have. Dragging Karina around another way, like across a runway, will be too difficult. And dangerous.

  "Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask. "You're not going to kill the guard, are you?"

  Brett just grins. "He might wish he'd die if...never mind."

  "You have to promise you won't kill any of the guards. They're just doing their jobs," I whisper.

  "Brett, where are we?" Karina asks, groggy.

  I sniff. The chemicals remain, but not quite as strong.

  "Hold on, sis," Brett says. He makes a motion like he's passing her to me and Cayden. Cayden, being the protective guy he is, takes Karina and lets her put her head on his shoulder. He grimaces at me and I smell his adrenaline. Cayden will hate every second of this, but Brett needs to go work some magic. It's my job as the Royal to fetch that donut. What an exalted task. I could order Brett to do it, but I'm faster and probably quieter.

  But I'm in luck. Several people walk towards the security turnstiles at once and I join the line, inching forward and snatching the gross half-eaten donut after several minutes. I turn away, sighing like I've forgotten something, and brush past a busy mom with a couple of little kids. No one points out my theft. When I look back, the big guard is texting. Success.

  "That will work," Brett says with a sly grin. "Give me about ten minutes tops, and you'll know when it's working. I should be back by then." He hikes up his leather pack and walks down a hallway that looks like it's for the cleaning crew. Brett leaps over a mop bucket and vanishes from view.

  "I still don't like this," Cayden says.

  Brett breaks the lock to a room down the hall, but I can't see him anymore. I listen as he closes the door behind him, opens his pack, and fishes out candles and...chalk? My hearing can't pick up every detail, but he's working fast.

  "My brother is an idiot," Karina mutters, lifting her head from Cayden's shoulder before letting it fall again. "Lucky piece of crap."

  Lucky? That wasn't the word I had for him. "Stop insulting him," I order, putting every ounce of command I can into those words. "He's a good brother and you're lucky to have him."

  Karina glares at me and I fear the medication's wearing off, but her eyes fog over again as she loses composure and focus. Shudders still race down my spine. Cayden shifts, but she stays on his shoulder. I don't want her touching him. Flares of anger rise in me, flares of jealousy, even though I have nothing to worry about from her. Cayden wants it this way.

  "That wasn't scary at all," Cayden says, backing away. He's trying to pull Karina away from me.

  "Brett needs to give her more of that stuff," I say, hating that he didn't leave it with us.

  Far away, Brett chants in a low voice, so low I can't make out the words. I hope he hasn't heard Karina from his secret spot, probably an employee bathroom. He draws on the floor as he chants. As I listen, I feel like I'm falling into another state of mind. The voices around me get louder. The smells fade. Colors pop. When I blink, I can almost see the darkness buzzing around Cayden. But a second later, the image fades.

  Brett's chanting speeds up far down the hall. A janitor walks past us with a cart, heading to a spill near a trash can, and another crowd of people pours through the front doors and clogs the ticket booth. The air thickens with invisible darkness which pulses under my skin. A baby starts crying as if sensing it. Cayden, as if he thinks Karina is doing it, pulls her even farther from me so that we're standing twenty feet apart.

  "It's Brett," I say.

  "Lucky Brett," Karina mutters, closing her eyes.

  Cayden looks at her funny and raises an eyebrow. But Karina doesn't speak again. Instead, she vanishes into her own world.

  The darkness peaks, and just as the crowd reaches the security area. The baby wails at full volume, drawing the stare of two guards. The mother desperately tries to quiet the baby as she unloads her keys and change into a metal tray. Other people pull out their phones. A young teenager puts in earbuds.

  But over the noise, someone's stomach gurgles.

  The big guard's. He stiffens and raises his eyebrows. Cayden and I look at each other. Cayden deepens his grimace and all at once I realize what Brett's doing.

  Yikes.

  The poor guard peels himself from the counter and looks in the direction of the main bathrooms. He looks at his three remaining coworkers and motions to the loo. None of them see him grasping his stomach. Darkness dances and the baby continues to cry, drawing stares from the crowd.

  And that's when Brett returns out of the hallway, hiking up his leather pack. I hadn't realized he'd stopped chanting.

  "He's evil," Cayden says as the poor guard runs to the bathrooms, opens the door, and vanishes inside.

  Brett grins, having heard Cayden, and waves us forward. Though he's done casting whatever vile spell he just did, the darkness remains. And the final turnstile is unguarded. I eye the other three guards, but one's busy digging through a huge, messy purse, and the other two are caught up dealing with the crowd.

  Brett takes his sister quickly and we walk through the final turnstile. The hallway forks and we bolt to the left, towards the terminal, and no one shouts at us to stop us.

  "That was some pro darkness," Cayden tells Brett.

  "It wasn't nice," I say, but I can't think of any better ways to have gotten through. I eye Karina, who now leans on Brett again, but she says nothing more about how lucky he is. I don't get it. But I sense there's a lot about the Haydes we still don't know.

  Chapter Six

  The rest of the trip is pretty uneventful. We wait a lot. The connector flight to the next airport seems to take forever, but Karina stays loopy for the flight and we don't crash into the Midwest or the Appalachians. And when we reach the airport at New York, Brett has to pull Karina into another maintenance hallway to pour some more of the stinky drug into her mouth. In the New York airport (whatever it's called) Cayden and I follow him. Something gnaws at me as I watch Karina groan and slump against her brother again.

  "I hate doing this," Brett says.

  "She's a Wolf now and able to handle it," Cayden says for me. "I know it sucks, but she'll be fine. It's not as if we're pouring Wolfsbane down
her throat."

  "So where is our next destination?" I ask.

  "Italy," Brett says without hesitation. "Duh, alpha. It's going to be on our tickets, so I can't really hold that back from you anymore, can I? And no, that doesn't mean you can just abandon Karina here in New York."

  "She might blend in," Cayden says.

  "That's not funny," I say. The last thing I want to do is set either of them off.

  "All Noble again?" Brett asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

  "Shut up. And Brett, you're getting better at not being a black hole. I have to commend you." We're even now. I check the end of the hallway to make sure no one's coming. People chatter out in the main airport. "Where exactly in Italy are we going? I figured we'd be going somewhere around there, but tell me the exact location in case we get separated or something."

  Brett scowls at me. "You're fine because I'm fine, alpha. If you want to stay that way, let me be the guide and we'll get there. You need me to keep the curse off you, Cayden. And Brie, you also need my help."

  I know I do. I want to ask what Karina meant when she said Brett was lucky, but opening any cans of worms right now isn't a good idea. All it will take is for Brett to drain me and Cayden too badly on the plane and it's possible Romulus could come through, right among all those innocent passengers. While I don't think he's dumb enough to come through and crash a plane, I'm not sure he understands what a plane is. Unless the cult's been educating him?

  But Karina wanted us in this position. The thought makes me feel like that security guy Brett did the curse on.

  "Brie." Cayden offers his arm.

  I take it and lean on him. He kisses me on the temple. "I hope this is over soon. And that the others are on the next flight."

  "I've been updating them," Cayden says. "Me and Leonora have been talking."

  I pull out my phone, but no text from Aunt May has showed up. I hope it's because she doesn't want to distract me. What did I expect? I've been pushing her to let me be the alpha and take over. I've always begged her to let me take care of things. This is what I get.