chapter 30
When Tanner dropped Addy off at the estate, she went to the weapons vault to put her gear away first, then headed to the library to look around for anything that might be a Sanders family heirloom. That’s where Jax caught up to her. He’d been surprised when she and Tanner just walked out and greeted them in the lot of the warehouse.
Jax stood leaning against the table, watching Addy as she inspected the items on the mantle of the fireplace. “I’d just like to know what you were doing at the warehouse, that’s all.”
“I wanted to go back to see where Gage Scattered. Tanner came along just in case there was trouble, and obviously there wasn’t.” She didn’t have any reason to explain herself to him and she wasn’t about to tell him anymore than she had to.
He put his hands in his pockets. “You can’t just be taking off without—”
“Fine.” She was standing by the fireplace with her back to him.
Before she could react, Jax had her spun around and pressed up against the stone wall. He was gripping her wrists tightly in front of her. She looked up at him, watching as anger and frustration burned on his face.
“Don’t ever just say fine to me. Grandfather put pieces in place and we have to play by his rules. Regardless of how you feel about me—you have to do what I say. These aren’t my rules.” His features were dark and he was speaking in a hushed, but urgent tone.
Addy stood there knowing she could easily get away from him, but she didn’t even try. Something in his expression made her want to hear what he had to say.
Her wrists were burning and tingling under his clenched fingers. “Jackson, you’re hurting me.”
His eyes dropped to her wrists. He released his grip and took her hands, examining the red marks he’d left on her wrists. She was still pressed up against the cold stone wall, and it was digging into her back.
“With everything that’s going on I can’t have you and Tanner running around—”
The heavy wood doors to the library opened, startling them. Juliette walked in and shouted his name when she saw them.
Jax dropped her hands and turned to Juliette. Addy watched her give him an uneasy look.
“Relax,” he said to Juliette, walking back to the table. He leaned over and studied the book Stubbs brought out earlier with the symbol to trap Eva.
Addy really wished Juliette hadn’t come in. It was the first time Jax had ever spoken to her in any way that hinted he wasn’t picking his words carefully to hide things. She was pretty shocked that he’d totally raged out on her though, and tried to ignore him as he talked to Juliette about plans for the morning.
Addy walked around every inch of the library, stopping to examine anything that might work as a hiding place. Nothing stood out to her and the next logical place to search would be Fate’s old wing of the estate which unfortunately belonged to Jax now. Getting in there unseen would be impossible. She needed a reason to go in.
Addy pasted a smile on her face. “Hey Jax?”
He looked up at her and raised his eyebrows.
“The other night when I came in here to wake you, I thought I noticed a scroll of Akori symbols on the table. I think it had the same ones Tanner and I have.”
Jax seemed surprised she was speaking to him. “Yeah, there may have been some drawings of them.”
“Can I see the scroll?” she asked, hoping that it was still in his room.
He hesitated. “It’s in my sitting room. I’ll bring it down tomorrow.”
“I don’t mind going to grab it. I’d really like to look at it tonight, you know, before you summon Eva tomorrow.” She continued to smile at him sweetly.
After a little persistence she was able to convince him, probably out of guilt, to let her go grab the scroll. She really wanted it anyway, so it was a bonus and she’d be able to check quickly for anything that might be used as a hiding place for Oren’s book.
Slipping into his wing of the estate, she knew she’d have to be fast. She wanted to be fast anyway—the last time she was in there was when their grandfather died. There was a lot of ground to cover. She scanned the shelves for anything that might hold a book. She’d never spent much time in that part of the house, and it was like being in a whole other building. She ran around frantically looking for any place the book could be. She spotted the scroll she told Jax she wanted on the table by the davenport and put it under her arm.
In the hallway, between the bathroom and the sitting room, she saw a tall statue that only had one arm. She looked at it closely and realized it was the match to the creepy statue guy in the library holding the severed arm.
Addy leaned up against it trying to think of where to look next. She was running out of time.
Something flashed behind her and she looked up at the statue. The expression on his face made her look closer, particularly at the eyes. She could see a reflection in the shiny marble, but it wasn’t her own. It appeared he was looking at a building with a tall obelisk extending up from it. On top of the obelisk, carved in stone was an urn with what looked like a cloth draped over it. Angels stood by the door, their arms outstretched. She squinted to see better, but it was too small. She thought there was something etched in the stone above the door. The entire scene looked familiar to her.
“Addison?”
The sound of Jax’s voice caused her to jump and she ran quietly back to the sitting room. She hurried and plopped down on the davenport, unrolling the scroll.
“In here.” She called back to him.
He walked in, looking around the room. “I thought you were coming back to the library?”
She stood up and started to roll the scroll back up.
“I am. I just sat for a minute to look over the scroll and make sure I had the right one.” Right, because there were so many scrolls lying around, she thought, mentally kicking herself. “Looks like I do, so I’ll get out of here. Thanks again.”
He started to say something but she was out the door in a flash. Tangling with Jax again was low on her list of desired things to do.
Unsure about what to make of the reflection in the statue’s eyes; she ran through the library doors and tossed the scroll on the table. She hurried to the creepy statue guy holding the arm. Addy prepared herself to gaze into his eyes the way she’d done to the other one. She stood up on her tiptoes and fixed her eyes on his only to find that the statue’s eyes were closed. She took a step back and tapped her finger on her lip. She could’ve sworn they were open when she’d glanced at it with Fate.
After examining the statue thoroughly she found nothing remarkable about it. She’d never looked closely at it because Fate had told her not to. The statue appeared to be an Akori with fine lines of symbols carved into his hands. The severed arm didn’t have any symbols on it.
Feeling frustrated, Addy decided she needed to pick Tanner’s brain. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed him. After a few rings, a girl answered and she could hear a lot of noise and laughing in the background. Rather than interrupt whatever it was he was doing, she opted to hang up. She slipped her phone back in her pocket, feeling completely alone.
Addy walked back to the main area of the library and sat down at the table. Leaning back, she tried to recreate the scene in her mind. She caught sight of the painting with Andrew and Eva hanging above the fireplace.
“Unbelievable—the painting,” she said, walking over to it.
“You’re up late,” Stubbs said as he walked in carrying a stack of books.
She pointed to the painting. “Why were they painted in a cemetery?”
“That’s the cemetery where Oren Sanders was buried. It’s a tribute to your family, of sorts.”
She put her hand over her mouth, shaking her head. That’s where she recognized the building in the statue’s eyes from.
He came over and stood by her, looking up at the painting. “She’s so beautiful.”
Addy cut her eyes at him. “Yeah, lovely—so where exactly is that?”
Stubbs hesitated, glancing over at her. “Addison, what are you up to?”
She put her hands up innocently and tried to sound casual. “I’ve never been to my family’s crypt. I might like to take flowers sometime or whatever.”
He didn’t seem to buy it, but he still told her that it was in Europe originally but was relocated to the North America because of The European Revolution of 1848. The estate was in America and with the unrest happening in Europe. Her however many great grandfather, the Overseer at the time, wanted the crypt moved.
She figured she’d asked him enough and didn’t want him blabbing to Jax about her questions. She made some casual conversation about how Moose missed his dogs and hoped he was satisfied that she’d dropped it. In the morning she’d have a much easier time getting the information she needed out of Bernard.
Grabbing the scroll, she headed back to her villa. She really wished Tanner was there so she could talk to him about the statue and tell him she had the scroll. She was also still on overload after everything they’d learned from Matt.
She changed her clothes and sat down on her bed with the scroll she’d gotten from Jax’s room. She unrolled it and studied the pictures of the Akori Shepherd symbols. Just as she saw before, one had a bow next to it and the other had a sword. She figured that was why Tanner was so amazing with his bow and she could wield a sword pretty well. Addy wasn’t Akori, but since she’d been given the mark by the Overseer’s Stone, she definitely felt more skilled with the sword.
Examining the writing and using another book for help translating, she came to a passage that described the Akori Shepherds as the warriors of the Akori people. They had fighting and tracking abilities that were greater than any of the other Akori.
Getting tired of going back and forth between the book and scroll, she closed the book, rolled up the scroll, then turned out the light. She reached under her pillow and twisted her fingers around Gage’s shirt and closed her eyes. In the morning, she’d finally meet Eva, the one who put it all in motion.