Heart (14 page)

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you, Nate.
Thank you, Matt.”

“Thank you, Ivy,” Nate said in return. I
could hear the choked emotion in his cracking voice. “Thank you for
giving this to my son.”

I shook my head and struggled to swallow
through the thick emotion. I hadn’t given anything to Ryder. I had
taken everything from him instead. But I didn’t have time to
explain that to Nate. Ryder took my hand and pulled me to my seat.
The door opened and I climbed inside, feeling both better and worse
at the same time.

I felt terrible for taking Ryder away from a
family that loved him so much, a family that was willing to do
anything for him. But I also felt filled with a new kind of
purpose.

I wasn’t just running for my own safety now.
I was running for Ryder’s too. And together we would figure out how
to get out of this forever.

This meant more now that Ryder was involved.
This meant everything.

I would not let Nate down. I would do
whatever it took to keep Ryder safe and alive.

And I knew… I just knew he was planning to do
the same for me.

Chapter Eleven

It was sometime in the middle of the night
when we reached Kansas City. The lights of the city were bright
against the Missouri farmland we’d sped through over the last
couple of hours.

Civilization between Omaha and KC was almost
nonexistent. We zoomed by rolling plains and endless stars, so many
stars that I was reminded of the sky over my private beach on the
island. Ryder and I talked more freely during this drive which was
forward progress, but it also helped him stay awake.

I told him about my life on the island, about
how simple it had been and about how lonely I was. He told me about
his senior year and everything I missed. Phoenix had tried dating
someone after Exie left, but it hadn’t gone anywhere. Chase came
back over Christmas break; he was dating someone and it turned out
to be something kind of serious. Kenna and Hayden were still
together and everyone was surprised about that.

It wasn’t until we pulled into the long-term
parking of the Kansas City International Airport that I realized
Ryder had talked about everyone else, but not a whole bunch about
his
senior year. I felt caught up with everyone but him.

I had my purse packed with a few essentials
and Ryder had his backpack, so travel would be light. But we would
need to buy more things eventually.

We didn’t have much of a plan, except to get
out. We had decided to fly back to the island I’d been staying on
for the last year and then figure it out from there. I still needed
to find out what happened to my mom and Exie and Sloane, but our
major priority was getting away from Nix.

Once we were safe on the island again, we
would figure the rest out.

The shuttle dropped us off right at the
revolving front door. We stepped out with a few other
middle-of-the-night-passengers and entered the super-cooled
interior. I let out a shiver that racked my entire body and blinked
at the unending counters of airlines and their ticket counters.

I spun around dramatically and waved my hand
like Vanna White. “Do you have an airline preference?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up into a
half-smile. “Let’s check the boards and get the closest flight,
yeah?”

“Just as long as it’s first class.” His smile
disappeared and his expressive eyebrows shot to his forehead. “Just
kidding,” I smiled.

“Sure you are.”

We wandered over to the board. Since this was
a touch of déjà vu for me, I pointed at what I’d taken before. The
airline happened to be flying out again in a couple of hours, and I
knew it could, eventually, after many layovers and flight changes,
get us to Tortola.

“That’s the one,” I told him, pointing at the
board. “We’ll be there by six pm tonight.”

Ryder let out a long sigh. “Let’s go buy some
tickets then.”

“It’s a good thing I have a job waiting for
me. Two tickets are seriously going to deplete my savings. Turns
out running away to paradise is not cheap.”

“I got it,” he mumbled.

“You got what?”

“The tickets. I can pay for them.”

“You can what?”

“Pay for them, Red. I have the money.”

“Ryder, I cannot ask you to pay for anything.
I’m the reason we’re running away. You keep your money and save it
for when we get there.”

“We’re not arguing about money,” he stated
firmly. “I’m taking care of it. End of story.”

“Weren’t you supposed to go to college on
that money? This feels wrong.”

He shook his head and his wild hair flipped
over his forehead. “It
is
. I can’t have a future if Nix
catches up to us and kills me, now can I?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

He grinned down at me, “Just say, thank
you.”

“Thank you.”

He slid his arm around my shoulder and walked
me to the Delta counter. A bleary-eyed middle aged man stood
slumped against the counter, but managed to greet us with a
smile.

We pulled out our passports and IDs and
handed them over while Ryder doled out our flight instructions. The
clerk’s back straightened immediately and his tired eyes shot awake
when he realized we were buying last minute tickets out of the
country.

“Are you going for business or pleasure?” he
asked in a conversational tone.

I didn’t like the gleam in his eye, so I
flipped my hair over my shoulder and turned on some charm.
“Pleasure,” I murmured. “We’ve decided to see the world before
school starts in the fall and we have to get down to business.”

“Well, you’ve picked an ideal spot to start,”
he said. Some of the suspicion drained from his expression,
replaced with awe for me, or rather, my curse. “You’re headed for
paradise.”

I smiled at him, flashing him rows of white
teeth and perfect lips. “That’s what we’re hoping for. We need
paradise. Right, Honey?”

Ryder rolled his eyes at my drama, but
mumbled a semi-enthusiastic, “Right.”

The clerk frowned at the computer and tapped
so quickly his fingers seemed to blur over the keyboard. He looked
up nervously at us and then back at the screen before his frown
deepened and his fingers moved faster.

“I’m sorry,” he told us. “It will just be a
minute longer.”

“Is there a problem?” I leaned forward and
turned up my charisma. I did not like the deep crease between his
eyes or how frantic his fingers moved over the keyboard. I needed
to distract him until we had tickets in our hand.

“There seems to be a flag on one of your
passports. I’m sure it’s nothing.” While his attention was firmly
on the computer, I knew that the only reason he had been honest
with us was because of my Siren curse. I wasn’t even sure if he was
aware he’d spilled the truth.

“Which passport?” I asked him.

“Ryder Sutton’s. The computer says I’m
supposed to call this number if I should see this particular
passport.”

That made sense since mine was a forged one
and it wouldn’t flag anything to do with Ivy Pierce. Nix had no
idea Genevieve Carston existed. Thank the gods. However, if Ryder’s
had been flagged then that was a major problem.

The system would notify Nix immediately and
give away our location and flight plans.
Shit
. Even if we
managed to buy tickets, we were still going to be stuck here for
the next two hours waiting for our plane. Nix would easily be able
to catch up with us.

I took an instinctive step back and licked my
dry lips. “You know what? I’ve, um, changed my mind. I think we
should rethink our trip, Babe. Like, maybe we want to go somewhere
cold and snowy. Or backpack through Europe instead. Let’s take a
few nights to mull it over.”

Ryder finally caught on. “Good idea.” In a
bold mood, he reached over the counter and snatched his passport
from the bewildered clerk.

I was pretty impressed with his initiative
and I would have told him that if we hadn’t turned around to find
all of our exits blocked.

“Son of a bitch,” I moaned. “There are giants
everywhere
!”

“I hate that when you say giants, you mean
actual giants,” Ryder grumbled.

“You and me both.”

He chuckled darkly, “What now, Red? What’s
the contingency plan?”

“This was the contingency plan!”

“Think fast, Ives. Gigantes are the least of
our problems.”

I didn’t know how he knew it, but he was
right. Crete Haden stepped out of the shadows and walked slowly
toward us. I couldn’t remember Ryder ever meeting the god more
commonly known as Hades before, but it wouldn’t take a genius to
figure out there was something much more than human happening in
Crete’s soulless black eyes. The guy practically radiated death and
despair. I could feel the death-like coldness coming off him before
I ever got close enough to actually feel it.

He gave me the absolute creeps. He was also
the reason that when Anaxandra and Evaleen decided to let me help
them escape, Eva had said yes.

He had purchased her from Nix and she would
have rather died than face what that meant for her.

Actually, she did die. Anaxandra and Evaleen
both died because they tried to run from Nix and this ugly world he
was determined to chain us to.

“Siren,” Hades called out from across the
quiet airport.

This early in the morning there weren’t very
many people milling about. The shiny lobby floor glistened under
the bright florescent lights between us. The whir of a floor
polisher could be heard in the distance. Behind me, the clerk had
gone absolutely still.

There were witnesses, but not enough to deter
Hades.

“He’s using you,” I suggested on a total
grasping-for-straws move. “All Nix wants is the mountain and you
are just a tool to help get him there.”

Crete’s slow smile told me I was not nearly
old enough to play this game of wits with him. “Are you trying to
turn me against Poseidon? Against my brother?”

“I’m trying to give you options,” I replied
confidently.

“Ah, I see.” He took another measured step
toward me. “He said you had spirit.”

Ryder’s arm shot out and wrapped around my
waist, tucking me behind him. I could feel the electricity build
and pressurize inside of him. Whatever he had used to fight Nix
that day was back and stronger than ever.

“Do not come any closer,” he called out to
Hades.

“Orpheus,” Hades growled. “So the rumors are
true.”

Ryder raised a hand sparking with
supernatural energy. “I beat you once, Hades. Are you sure you’re
up for round two?”

“You didn’t beat me, boy!” Hades bellowed.
“You’re a clone of the real man! You’re nothing but an echo.”

Ryder shrugged one shoulder as if he were
bored with this conversation. “I guess we could find out. You’re
not in your realm and I happen to be in mine, but it could be
fun.”

Hades bit out a curse. “I’m not afraid of two
mortal children. But I think the two of you should be very afraid
of two gods.” He inclined his head and we followed his focus. Ky
Ares stepped forward from the other side of the wide lobby,
grinning maliciously at us.

He was right. We should be afraid of two
gods.

In fact, I was super afraid of two gods.

A year ago, Ryder and I couldn’t defeat Nix
and there had been two of us and one of him. In fact, we’d both
ended up in the hospital and Ryder’s injuries had almost been
fatal.

What would these two ruthless killers do to
us? Ares was the god of war for goodness sakes. He had to be one of
the most creative killers of all time.

My hand landed on Ryder’s shoulder and my
fingers dug into his muscle. Shit just got very real and I wasn’t
sure if we would make it out of this one.

“It’s a pity we need you,” Ares sneered. “You
would be very entertaining to play with.” He stalked toward me,
uncaring of the threat Ryder posed or that humans had stopped to
watch us with open curiosity.

I could hear the airline employee speak to
someone on the phone behind us. My guess was that he had called
security the minute Ryder’s hand started glowing and lightning
snapped back and forth between his fingers.

I mean, that’s when
I
would have
called security.

Panic flared beneath my skin and boiled in my
belly. I needed to diffuse the situation as quickly as I could.
“He’s using you both. Why can’t you see that?”

They shared a triumphant smirk. “Little girl,
we know what he’s doing,” Hades laughed.

“It’s exactly what either of us would do in
the same situation,” Ares went on. “We applaud him for his
manipulation this time around. He’s always been so obtuse in the
past. It’s nice to see he’s finally taking things seriously.”

“Well, he has to,” Hades put in as if Ryder
and I had disappeared and this was just some casual conversation
between two gods about their god-brother. “He finally has the power
to do something. I would have killed him myself if he let this
opportunity slip through his fingers.”

“You mean the weapon? What is it?” I felt
breathless at the mention of it. I couldn’t say why, but whenever
the weapon was brought up, I got extra nervous. What was it? And
what did Nix want to do with it?

Hades raised a dark eyebrow, “The weapon? You
mean, you don’t know?”

Ares chuckled and his sardonic humor felt
oddly at my expense. “I suppose you’ll find out soon enough.”

A staggering shiver slithered down my back. I
had no response to that. I didn’t want to find out, not soon, not
later, not at any time.

Ryder’s hand squeezed my hip tightly. I
sucked in a sharp breath and tried to clear my whirling thoughts.
He seemed remarkably held together despite the threats surrounding
us. I wanted to borrow some of his bravado to get me through
this.