Chapter Eighteen

Math

Math heard footsteps approaching the elaborate bedroom he currently searched in the Society’s mansion. Stilling, he peered around the room looking for a place to hide. The platform bed had no space to hide underneath. Bent metal bars covered the window. The desk opened toward the main section of the room.

His gaze landed on the closed closet door. Xander had told him about the secret space in the closet after the last time the mansion had been searched.

The bedroom door’s handle turned.

Math’s gut turned, too. He dashed to the closet, opened the door only wide enough for him to fit through, and snicked the door closed. He held his breath and crouched under the white robes hanging from the rod.

He’d searched the grand living room, the study, and other bedrooms of the house looking for the jewel belonging to Piper’s mother. He wanted to please her. To cheer her dour expression. Since returning to the professor’s house, she’d been acting strangely, not that he’d seen her much. She’d said her mom was doing okay, except her voice had cracked and her eyes appeared red from crying.

Disappointment weighed on his mind. He knew the missing jewel was important to Piper and her mom. Since she’d helped him find the Trumpet of Peace, he wanted to do something for her.

Who was he kidding? He wanted to do everything for her.

A simple smile from her lightened his mood. When she touched him, he felt on fire. And her kisses drove him mad. He groaned, knowing he had it bad.

He’d risked everything—his anonymity, the Warriors’ secrecy, the location of the trumpet—by stopping by her uncle’s pawn shop to ask about the jewel. Uncle Louie said he’d never heard of a family jewel or knew of its presence in the trumpet’s case. The man was a practiced liar because Math didn’t notice any of the normal tells.

Quiet footsteps paced in front of the closet, mumbling about the Magical Order of Crucis, the stolen trumpet, and cursing someone named Aaron.

Math’s stomach wavered with the pacing. His mind automatically calculated the length of the steps by the distance between the paces. An adult male.

He’d taken too long to search the room. The entire mansion, really. He’d wanted to rip the entire house apart so strong was his desire to do something for Piper. To show her how much he cared. He never should have come. Now, he was stuck in a closet with the very real possibility he could be caught by one of his enemies.

An enemy that wanted the Trumpet of Peace.

A trumpet that hadn’t been neutralized yet.

His fault. Falcon had gotten the final item needed to reunite the two trumpets. But Math’s need to do this one thing for Piper had delayed the process.

A text buzzed on his phone. He froze for a second, wondering if the person in the bedroom could hear. The man didn’t change his pacing.

He checked the message from Olivia. Emergency at the professor’s house. Come now.

The swaying in his stomach swirled like a sandstorm in the desert. His mouth went dry. Was Piper okay? He had to get back. He’d wasted too much time. He should’ve been with her.

Pressing his ear to the door, he listened for the man. He calculated the rate of speed and the distance traveled before turning. The man should pace in front of the closet door in three…two…one.

Bang!

Math plowed into the door using pure brawn to blow the door off its hinges. The door slammed into the man, knocking him to the ground. Using his agility, he jumped over the door and to the window.

“Ahh! Help!” The door lay on top of the man. His yelling would catch the attention of others in the house.

Math heaved a quivering breath, upset with his unsuccessful mission. He had to get out of the mansion. He swept aside the curtains at the window and gripped metal bars in each of his hands. This was the direction he should’ve taken when he first heard the man.

The man pushed the door off. “Stop!”

Ignoring him, Math jumped onto the ledge of the window, took one last glance around the bedroom, and leapt to the ground three stories below.

As he was flying through the air, he heard the man yell, “I’ll get you, Warrior.”

* * *

Math hurried to the professor’s house, trying to be discreet about using his abilities. He didn’t want the entire world to know about him. The Society man had already recognized him for what he was. A Warrior. But he couldn’t worry about the consequences now. His only thought was to get back to Piper.

He’d texted Olivia right after the jump out the window and gotten no response.

Barging into the house, he noticed the smell first. A greasy, burnt smell. The air clouded with a light, gray smoke, even though the windows were open, letting in a cool breeze. The professor lay on the couch. Aria and Olivia sat in chairs, a dazed expression on their faces. Falcon stood over Aria in a protective stance.

Halting, Math appraised the situation. “What happened?”

“Your friend set a smoke fire.” Aria sounded more hurt than accusatory, as if she’d trusted Piper, too.

It took a second for the word friend to register. He didn’t think of Piper as a friend. He thought of her as more.

“Where’s Piper?” His first and his last thought was for her. “Is she okay?”

“She’s gone.” Olivia’s voice was raw. “Piper stole the Trumpet of Peace.”

Blackness overcame him. Denial rose to his tongue. “No.”

“We woke up from unconsciousness.” When Olivia stood, her body wavered. She stepped toward him with a dark expression.

Concern for his friends tugged at him, yet he couldn’t stop the bit of hope. “Unconscious because of the fire?”

“That’s not what the firemen said when they checked us out.” The professor’s worn face appeared even more tired. He spoke with quiet authority. “They arrived about the time we woke up.”

Math shook his head violently, disbelief screaming in his brain. “No.”

“Piper spotted the fire. I told her to get out and then yelled for the other Warriors, Aria, and Professor York. We thought Piper was already outside.” Olivia placed a hand on Math’s shoulder.

The touch didn’t give him comfort. Everything had gone cold inside.

“When we realized Piper wasn’t out of the house,” the professor continued the story, “we headed back inside. I heard a screeching noise and don’t remember anything else until we woke up and the firemen ran in.”

Olivia squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Math.”

“No.” If he kept repeating the word, maybe it would become truth. Piper wouldn’t do something so treacherous. She wouldn’t hurt his friends. Hurt him. “The trumpet. Piper didn’t know where the trumpet was hidden.”

But she could sense it.

Giving them one last glare, he rushed through the study and into the basement. He tore into the classroom and grabbed the box where the trumpet was hidden.

Empty.

The box was empty.

Empty like his soul.

He tipped the box upside down and shook, hoping the trumpet would appear like a simple magic trick.

No such luck.

His skin wanted to leap off his body. His midsection cramped. All the research and work. All the effort. Wasted.

And Piper gone.

Footsteps pounded down the steps. Olivia, Aria, Falcon, and Antony stood at the bottom, staring at him with dour expressions.

“It’s gone. The Trumpet of Peace is gone.” Math’s own voice hollowed. “Piper could sense the trumpet. She must’ve taken it.”

“That’s what we said,” Aria sounded sympathetic.

“Piper doesn’t know about the secret basement.” Falcon’s tone rose. His mouth flattened into a thin line. “Does she?”

“She found the basement last night.” Math felt as if a fist had wrapped around his heart and squeezed. He couldn’t breathe.

Pinpricks of sharp torture speared him. He’d seen warning signs. Her secretiveness about her mom. Her forgetting about the important family jewel. Uncle Louie not knowing anything about a jewel. Piper being evasive last night.

Math twisted around and opened another box. Maybe he’d gotten the boxes confused. Maybe someone else had moved the box holding the trumpet. He ripped open another box and then another. The trumpet had to be here.

He tossed the last box large enough to hold the trumpet aside. Despair rocked his body and his brain. And he’d thought she’d felt the same connection to him. Last night, she’d said she’d been looking for him. Wanted to be with him.

The joke was on him. She’d been searching for the trumpet.

“Math?” Falcon gripped his shoulder. “What’re you doing?”

“It’s not here. It’s really not here.” Bitterness flowed in Math’s veins. “Piper stole the Trumpet of Peace.”

Repeating himself so the facts would soak in, he sank to the hard, cold floor. His brain pieced everything together. Her questions. Coming to find him last night. Purposely setting a fire. “It was a trick.”

He’d been so stupid. So taken advantage of. So used.

From the start. She’d lied about why she wanted to work with him. Made up the information about the jewel. The urgent texts probably weren’t from her mother. Her mother probably wasn’t even sick.

“What do you mean?” Olivia’s tentative voice reached out with a caring tone.

“Piper tricked us. Tricked me.” A dagger shoved through his heart, making it explode in agony and betrayal. His brain split with anguish. He was supposed to be the smart one. “Piper stole the Trumpet of Peace and is taking it to her uncle or the Order of Crucis right now.”

“I’ve texted everyone the information.” Olivia sat on the floor beside him. “We’ll find the trumpet and Piper.”

“I don’t care about Piper.” The lie spewed from his angry lips. “She betrayed me.”

“You don’t know why she did this. Maybe she had a good reason.” Olivia wanted to believe that because of her happy ending with Xander.

Math punched his fist into the concrete floor, causing cracks to form. The pain didn’t do his fury justice. “What reason could there be?”

For betraying his brothers. For betraying him. For betraying his love.

His first mission, his chance to prove to the Warriors he was more than a brain, and he’d blown it. He knocked his head against the wall again and again. He needed to knock sense into himself. Girls like Piper didn’t fall for guys like him. His feelings for her had taken control of his mind.

“It’s not your fault, Math.” Olivia patted his knee. Her touch didn’t make him feel better. “I’m the one who panicked because of smoke and insisted everyone evacuate the house.”

He dropped his head, feeling worse. “I told Piper about how you were trapped in the warehouse fire. Told her you nearly died.” Told her insider information on how to scare their leader.

Olivia’s hand stilled. Falcon’s mouth dropped open.

Math’s lip curled. Disgust with himself ravaged his body. He’d never forgive himself or Piper. “I was an idiot. Piper used me and tricked me and now the Trumpet of Peace is in the hands of our enemy.”

“You don’t know that.” Falcon’s words said one thing, his tone said something different.

Math’s stomach turned. “Today is March fourteenth. Pi day.”

“So?” Aria didn’t understand the significance.

But Piper did. Because he’d told her.