Chapter Twenty-Five

Dillan

Around Goes the Ferris Wheel

Since arriving at Newcastle, Dillan got good at spotting Selena in a crowd. For a whole week, he took it upon himself to avoid her. Still his eyes scanned the hallways. Only when he saw the bright mess of curls did he move. The crowd at the Fall Festival was no different. He’d seen her running through the mass of people. Every few steps, she’d look back over her shoulder. He sensed her panic from where he stood. The same jolt of electricity that went through him at Valley View zipped through his body now, prompting his feet to carry him toward her without hesitation.

She ran straight into his arms and yelped. He ignored the initial shock upon contact with her skin. It was easier now that he expected it. Not that it hurt less. Just like the last time, he heard a pop and the electricity was gone. Her second of surprise ended with fists pounding his chest. He braced himself against the blows. If she decided to start kicking, too, she’d have direct access to a spot he preferred to remain unmolested. Having no other choice, he let go of her for a split second so he could wrap his arms around her. This pinned her fists between them, holding her in place. She took a deep breath and looked up. Recognition formed in her eyes, followed closely by the flood.

Shit.

Like a band tightening around his chest, he found himself unable to breathe in the face of tears. Worse? They were her tears. A sudden urge to find what caused her distress and pound it to the ground washed over him. He bit the inside of his cheek. The resulting pain distracted him enough from his mounting anger to focus on her. If he wanted to find out what made her cry then subsequently kill it, he needed to calm her down enough to speak.

“Hey, hey,” he whispered, stroking the back of her head. “Shhh. You’re fine. It’s fine.”

She paused, holding her breath. A stray tear fell. Her bottom lip quivered. Then fatter tears rolled down her cheeks. He winced. Ah, shit. His attempt to comfort her only seemed to make things worse. He knew Selena to be stronger than this. She held her own against the puppets, so anything that got her this upset worried him. Without thinking, he pulled her closer until she buried her face in his chest. She grabbed onto his shirt and sobbed.

At a loss for words, he held on. The fabric of his shirt grew damp. She continued, alternating between keening cries and hiccupping sobs. Remembering the bandana in his back pocket, he reached behind him and pulled it out. He inched away only to have Selena pull him back. She shook her head against his chest.

“It’s okay,” he said.

Slowly, she let go of his shirt. He bent down and gently patted her face dry. She sniffed. Her aquamarine eyes grew big and round. He smiled. How could he not when she looked so adorable right then? She tried to return the smile, but ended up in a fit of hiccups. Thinking fast, he guided her to a secluded bench, away from the stream of people passing them. A few were already curiously staring. He kept close in case—God help him—she fainted. Girls did that. When a minute passed and nothing happened, he silently thanked his lucky stars she’d stayed conscious. She had some fight left in her.

“I’ll get you something to drink,” he suggested.

She grabbed his sleeve and shook her head, hiccups rolling through her.

“Okay.” He sat back down. His mother had taught him a trick to stop hiccups. “Take a deep breath then hold it until I tell you.”

Nodding frantically, she inhaled and waited. He counted in his head. When her neck turned red, he gave her the signal to exhale. The hiccups were gone. He grinned. Mission accomplished.

After Selena had taken two more deep breaths, he pushed a curl away from her damp forehead and asked, “Why were you running like a horde of undead was chasing you?”

“Not funny.” She scowled. If she could get annoyed with him again then she’d be okay. “Didn’t you see the dog chasing me?”

“What dog?”

“The big black one with red eyes. It was chasing me.”

“Okay.” He flicked his gaze from her face to the passing festival goers then back again. “When did this happen?”

“I just finished buying a necklace at the flea market when it felt like someone was watching me.” She rubbed her forehead as if it helped her remember better. “I panicked, and when I saw this ginormous black dog snarling at me, I high-tailed it out of there. Crap. You saw me cry. I didn’t want you to see me cry. If you dare tease me about it, I swear I’m never talking to you again.”

When she mentioned the black dog, Dillan cursed Sebastian to the deepest pits of hell. What was his partner doing at the fair where anyone could see him? He slid closer to her side. “You sure it was after you?”

Her mouth opened to answer, but no words came out. Only after swallowing hard was she able to say, “I heard it growl.”

It couldn’t be his partner. He and Sebastian had been out every night this week. More carcasses had turned up during their search for what could be mauling them. Slowly, he noticed each one they’d found got closer and closer to the Fallon farmhouse, which was outside of their original grid No wonder they hadn’t found any evidence until recently. He couldn’t understand why at first. But Selena being watched had to be connected somehow.

“You’re gonna think this is crazy.” He looked into her eyes so she wouldn’t think he was kidding. “I think you’re being targeted.”

Her disbelief came in stages. First, her eyebrows rose. Then her mouth opened a fraction. He kept his mouth shut until the idea finally sunk in.

“Targeted?” she repeated.

“After what happened to you at Valley View, I don’t think it’s random anymore.”

She stood up and walked away.

“Selena!” He pushed up and rushed after her. “Selena, wait.”

He grabbed her arm and twisted her around. Her glare shocked him enough to let her go, moving his hand through his hair instead. This wasn’t going the way he’d imagined it would. Then again, in what scenario would he ever think Selena would react normally to what he’d just said? To think she handled the puppet attack so well. In any case, he might as well have told her the world was ending.

“You just told me you felt someone watching you,” he said, taking Sebastian out of the equation. They would have words later. Stupid mutt. He stifled the urge to stuff the hellhound into a cage for scaring the shit out of Selena.

“I did!” Fire burned in her eyes. She believed in what she’d felt, so she should believe in what he had to say.

“I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

“I panicked. That doesn’t mean I’m suddenly some target. What does that even mean?”

“If you’d let me explain…” He looked away. Even if she wasn’t human, it still wasn’t easy to reveal who he really was. In the back of his mind, he watched all the rules that had been drilled into him for years shatter. This girl with her messy curls and determined eyes brought out his intense protective instincts. “I mean…shit!”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re doing that thing again where you know more than you’re telling me.”

“Rainer’s gonna kill me.” He kicked the bench they’d been sitting on. His brows knotted as he ran his fingers through his hair over and over again. He needed to think. Everything strange that had been happening in Newcastle seemed to revolve around Selena. It couldn’t be a fluke anymore. She couldn’t be that unfortunate. He paced. Walls of air closed in on him, making it hard to breathe.

He turned his back on her. “Ah, fuck it!”

“Are you having a stroke or something?” she asked.

“The puppets at Valley View are proof.” He faced her again. If he was going to break the rules of the Illumenari, it might as well be in the service of keeping someone safe.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then un-complicate it.”

“You need protection.”

“I can protect myself.” Her annoyance collided with his.

“I know that, but this is beyond what you can do. You have to let me handle this.”

“So, what? You’re suddenly Superman?”

“I’m…” He hesitated. He hated that he did. Unable to utter the truth in public, he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind one of the booths. She struggled, but he held tight. He looked around and made sure no one would hear them before he said anything more. Selena scowled at him the whole time. She folded her arms over her chest and waited.

He dropped his gaze to the ground and took the leap. “I’m an Arbiter of the Illumenari.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I said—” His voice rose. Damn this girl and the things she made him do. He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “I’m an Ar-bi-ter. Someone who can protect you from…that’s not important right now. All my plans down the drain for someone like…” He turned his back on her again. She tried his patience. All the breathing exercises in the world wouldn’t help calm the mix of anxiety and annoyance in him. He shook his head. He’d already jumped into the shit pit, might as well make it work. When he faced her he said, “Think about everything that’s been happening to you, Selena. Think really hard. Tell me every unusual thing that has happened to you over the last few weeks.”

“The forest at Valley View…” Her arms dropped to her sides before she pushed back curls from her forehead. “And the stockroom…”

“What about the stockroom?” His heartbeat sputtered.

“Ormand asked me to look for a box of books in the back when the light went out and something was hissing there inside with me.” Her voice shook. “Are you saying all of this is happening because of me?”

He frowned. “I don’t know that yet. I want to be wrong, but I seldom am.”

She returned his frown.

“The puppets, the storeroom, and then you feeling someone was watching you. These can’t all be coincidences. This was supposed to be a simple case of missing dogs. I wasn’t even supposed to use this here.” He pulled up his sleeve and showed her the cuff. “I just had to find out why the dogs were disappearing, and then you came along.”

“Sure, like being chased by rotting corpses…” She stopped, then used her inside voice. “Like that’s my fault. Where did you get this?” She closed the gap between them and touched the charm. “It’s like it’s alive.”

“It’s a family thing.” He tugged his sleeve back down. “My grandfather gave it to me on my thirteenth birthday. Everyone in my family has something like it.”

“An accessory that turns into a weapon? Does Mr. Sloan have one?”

“He has two.”

“So, you’re an Arbiter for the Ill…what?”

“Il-lu-me-na-ri. My family…we protect people.”

“Like me?”

“As special as that sounds, no. When I say people, I mean humans. Mortals. All of mankind. Simply, we are what stand between you and chaos. Humans aren’t the only race in this world. In fact, there was a time when you were bred purely for the purpose of food. Many of those we protect you from still consider you as food. In the Illumenari we call them Supernaturals. Basically everything that goes bump in the night.”

She took a step back. “But your parents—”

“Are archeologists,” he finished for her. “Long story short, their job is to find certain things the world would be better off not knowing about.”

“And Mr. Sloan?”

His jealousy reared up at the awe mixed in with her confusion. “Him, too. He’s retired.”

“Is that why you’re really here?”

“I was on assignment with my parents in Turkey when…something went wrong. They sent me here to clear my head.” He barked a laugh. “I wonder what Granddad will think when he finds out I managed to land in another situation.” He sandwiched the last word in air quotes.

“I feel like I should be insulted by that.” She pursed her lips.

“You should. After what you’ve put me through—”

“I didn’t ask for this. And I’m certainly not asking you to protect me.” She glared.

He shrugged. “I have no choice anymore. Meeting you changed something. Now I’m in this mess whether I like it or not. Don’t even get me started on the electric shocks when we touch.”

“Yeah, what about those?”

“It’s not static for sure.” He didn’t want to push his curiosity about what she really was. Maybe Selena didn’t know and him repeatedly questioning her would only make things worse. She had enough to digest.

“So what now?” she asked through her teeth.

“We find out what’s targeting you and why.”

“Not happening.” She backed away. But before she could run, he grabbed her wrist and towed her toward the Ferris wheel. He cut through the line and flipped off anyone who protested. While Selena struggled against his grip, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bill. He shoved it at the stoned operator.

Selena gasped when he ushered her none too gently onto the seat. “Did you just give that guy a hundred dollars?”

“Shit! I thought it was a twenty.” He slid in next to her, blocking all chance of escape.

“What are we doing here?”

“You need to process.”

“And you think being high up in the air will help me do that?”

She stiffened when he stretched his arm over the back of the seat. He did his best to ignore the scowl on her face. She needed to think and he would be damned if he left her alone to deal with things by herself. For the first time in his life, he wanted to prove himself wrong about all this.