chapter 32
Molly made everyone except Will leave the room while she tended to Jax. When Addy saw Molly’s face, she knew it wasn’t good. Stubbs was on the phone calling Bernard, asking if he was able to get blood for transfusions from any of his contacts.
Tanner made Addy walk through the garden with him to get some air. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the blood.
“You knew the healing wasn’t going to work too, didn’t you?” she asked him.
“Yeah, but I didn’t know if I should speak up,” he said, plucking a pink flower from a bush and handing it to her. “I think it’s just another confirmation that Oren’s book exists.”
“I searched for it last night.” She explained what happened, leaving out the part about Jax freaking out on her. She told him Bernard had the scroll with the symbols.
“I saw you called, but by the time I got in I figured it was too late to call back.” He lowered his head. “I’m sorry, girlie.”
“It’s ok.” She stopped walking to put the flower he’d given her in her hair. “Don’t be sorry. You’re completely allowed to have a life. I just forget sometimes that you haven’t always been around.” She smiled at him. “I can’t believe you don’t run from our weirdness.”
“It’s far too late to escape—I’m hooked.” He reached over and straightened the flower. “Besides, it’s my weirdness too. I feel connected.”
Addy raised her eyebrows looking hopeful. “Connected enough to take a trip?”
Tanner looked at her out of the corner of his eye suspiciously. “What are you cooking up now, scheming girl?”
“I think a statue in Jax’s room told me that the book is in my family’s burial crypt.”
He dropped his head and shifted his eyes toward her. “A statue told you?”
Addy nodded. “I looked into its eyes and there was like a—I don’t know, like a reflection of the crypt in them.”
“Did you confirm this revelation with your cat to see what he thinks? I mean I’d really rather not go if the statue and the cat aren’t on the same page about it.”
“I’m serious!” She took a swat at him but he dodged her. “It’s in Kentucky and I wanna go check it out.”
He put his hands up in defeat. “It sounds like a good place to start looking, but I don’t know. Jax is gonna blow a gasket if we take off together.”
“He’d come unglued if he knew, but he’s currently in no condition to object.” Addy felt her flower slipping and she reached up to reposition it. “Maybe we’ll be back before he even knows we’re gone.”
Tanner’s eyes flashed with concern and he carefully took her hands, examining her wrists. “What the hell happened?”
“It’s not a big deal.” She pulled her hands away, immediately wishing Will’s little healing trick had gotten rid of her bruises. “My brother was upset last night after you dropped me off.”
“Jax?” Tanner’s face darkened as he spoke. “Jax did that to you?”
“Not on purpose—”
“Be ready to go in an hour.” Tanner stormed off, shaking his head.
Hurrying into the main house, Addy found Bernard. He was just coming from the library, walking to his office.
“How is he?” she asked, catching up to him.
“Molly’s doing the best she can. I’ve made some arrangements for medical supplies but it’ll still be a little while until they arrive.”
“Thank you.” She felt relieved that at least supplies were on the way.
“You should have stopped him.” Bernard shook his head at her. “You and Tanner both knew the healing wouldn’t work.”
“Jax would’ve done it anyway.” She didn’t have time to debate what she should’ve done with him. “I need to know exactly where the crypt is,” she said as they entered his office and closed the door. “Tanner and I are going there to search for Oren’s book.”
Addy prepared for a fight, but surprisingly he didn’t protest. He sat down at his desk and looked through a file drawer until he found a sheet of paper with the cemetery’s information. “The location is marked on the map. Be careful—family or not, you’ll still be trespassing.”
“Thanks, Bernard,” she said, taking the paper.
“I’ve been working on the translations for the scroll you gave me and—” Bernard hesitated. “If it says what I think it does—things are going to get complicated.”
Addy almost laughed. “Complicated? I don’t think it’s possible for things to get any more complicated around here.”
Bernard ignored her attempt at humor and kept a serious expression. “I need to get into the library to cross reference what these smaller symbols inside of the larger one mean, but I have to wait until things settle down. I’d prefer no one know what I’m looking for.”
She nodded, feeling somewhat alarmed at the seriousness of his tone. “Call us if you find something.” She started to go but stopped, turning back to him. “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but please don’t tell anyone where we’re going.”“Daddy, you don’t have to come here, he’ll be fine,” Juliette said as Addy passed her in the hall. Juliette was on the phone talking and Addy figured she must have been discussing Jax’s condition with Mitchell. She’d never heard Juliette speak like that before and it sounded strange after hearing her barking orders off most of the time.
Addy felt terrible leaving with Jax in such bad shape, but it was the best time to get away. Once in the vault, she grabbed a large empty duffle bag and packed gear for herself and Tanner inside. She made her way to the garage using the back hallways to wait for Tanner.
In the garage, Gage’s motorcycle was still sitting where he’d left it. He was always doing something to it, and as usual, it was disassembled. Someone had been driving his Jeep, probably Will, and it was parked in the wrong spot.
Tanner sent a text message saying he was outside of the front gate waiting. She’d never seen him drive anything other than his motorcycle, but the car out front was a newer model Cadillac CTS in black. Oliver was driving. When they saw her, Tanner climbed out and threw the bag in the trunk.
Addy looked from the driver’s seat to Tanner, who was seated next to her in the back seat. “Oliver’s driving us?”
“Just to the airport.” He tipped back into the headrest and turned to her. “I chartered a plane.”
“Oh.” She’d just assumed they’d be driving.
Roughly six hours later they were in their rental car pulling up to the cemetery gate. “It’s already closed? It’s only 6pm,” Addy said.
“Relax, girlie. We’ll just find another way in.”
It was still daylight outside so they parked down a quiet street and started to survey the perimeter of the cemetery. It wasn’t very good news. A tall stone wall topped with sharp razor wire surrounded the entire cemetery.
They walked over to the gate and got a good look inside for the first time. “It’s amazing.” Addy was in awe at what she saw. “It’s definitely where the crypt is.”
The area they were looking at was full of elaborate monuments, adorned with angels and tall obelisks. Many had stone urns, some of which were draped with a cloth, like what she saw in the painting. Some had angel statues and columns or were covered with carvings.
Tanner tugged on the bars of the gate but they were sturdy.
Continuing around the edges of the property, they spotted a small stream. There was an arch in the wall covered with bars to allow the water to flow through it. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Tanner carefully stepped down the small bank and checked the bars.
“We can get in through there, but we’ll have to wait until after dark,” he said, walking back up and kicking the mud off his boots. “We also need to get some flashlights, and whatever it’s gonna take to open the crypt.”
They hit a local hardware store and picked up some tools and flashlights. Once that was off their to-do list, they grabbed dinner in the city, and then headed back to the cemetery to wait. It was a nice break from everything to just sit and talk together. Addy was surprised they were able to push everything happening aside and just hang out for a little while.
She stared out the window at a squirrel digging at the base of a nearby tree. “Can I ask you something?”
He tipped his head at her sideways and grinned. “If I can wait to answer the first question until I know the second one.”
She smiled, watching his reflection in the window rather than him directly. “That’s fair.”
“You’re not looking at me—I’m taking that as a bad sign.”
“It’s not.”
“Shoot then.”
She turned to him then hesitated, unsure if she should ask him after all. He was giving her an impatient look so she just blurted it out.
“You’re one of my closest friends and I don’t know anything about where you grew up.”
Tanner shrugged. “I grew up in Florida, not far from the estate.”
“What about your family?”
He turned to look out the window at the same squirrel she’d been watching.
“Never mind,” she said. “I’m sorry for being—”
“It’s fine.” He cleared his throat and looked back at her. “I went to live with my adopted parents when I was three.”
She knew she should stop but couldn’t make herself. “Do you remember your real parents?”
“No.”
“But you remember every—”
“Listen girlie, my parents were older when I went to live with them and pretty set in their own life already. They were wonderful people, but Oliver took care of me most of the time.”
“Oh.” Addy reached for her drink and saw Tanner eyeing her wrist. She pulled her arm back out of his view.
“Let’s find the book and get the hell away from these people.” Tanner reached down and turned the radio off. “They can destroy the stone, or not destroy the stone, or they can just go off and destroy each other. Whatever they decide to do—they don’t need us around to do it.”
Addy was caught off guard by his words and the intensity in his voice when he said them. She didn’t have a clue how to respond, but she knew she had to say something.
“Where would we go?” she asked, biting her lip.
Tanner smiled and put the side of his index finger on his chin. “Anywhere except abandoned warehouses. We’ve already scratched it off our places to see before we die list twice.”
Leaving the estate had been her plan with Gage before he Scattered—it was a painfully familiar conversation. She and Tanner joked about all kinds of ridiculous places, most of which involved free-range cattle for some odd reason.
“It’s getting dark—we’d better get ready to roll,” Tanner said, pulling his white t-shirt off.
When he was reaching around to grab a black one from the backseat, Addy couldn’t help but notice all the tattoos covering his upper body. She leaned way over to look closer in the dark. When he turned around he blasted into her with his elbow.
“Whoa—watch out. You alright?”
Unable to shake the urge to examine his skin, she immediately leaned toward him again without saying anything. It was dark but she thought something looked strange.
He started to pull the black shirt over his head, but she reached out and stopped him.
There was definitely something different about the skin where the tattoos covered it. Addy raised her hand to run her fingers along his shoulder. Without any warning Tanner grabbed her wrist, hurting the bruises Jax gave her, making her wince.
Tanner immediately let go and pulled his shirt on. He took a deep breath and turned to her. “I’m sorry, girlie. You just shouldn’t—”
“I shouldn’t have been a space invader, I know.” Addy looked at him out of the corner of her eye feeling like a complete creeper. “I didn’t mean to.” She couldn’t help herself though. Even after she sat back in her seat, her fingers still itched to touch his skin.
Tanner leaned his head back on the headrest. “I’m not used to having someone around who’s so—well you’re just…” He trailed off and she watched him close his eyes.
As she studied him, the fact that he could simply stop coming around any time he felt like it rolled over her like a boulder, causing her body to tense. There was nothing making him spend time at the estate—or with her.
In a panic, she just started talking fast. “I didn’t mean to be pushy with my questions or—space invade and overstep by asking you to do crazy things like coming here.” She pressed her hands down flat in her knees. “I won’t do it anymore—just don’t stop coming around and being my friend.”
He quickly lifted his head and held his hands up. “Slow down—geez, girlie. How’d we go from you being pushy to me not being your friend anymore all in like five seconds?”
She opened her mouth to talk but he held his hand up again. Pulling his shirt up over his shoulder, he reached over and took her hand, placing it flat on his skin.
Pressing down lightly, she could feel fine lines under her palm. Addy moved her hand slightly and felt him tense. “What is it?”
Tanner turned his head away from her. “Scars.”
Slowly she moved across his skin, lifting her hand so only a single finger was running along the edge of the lines. They seemed to wind into a circular pattern.
Addy closed her eyes and tried to visualize the design her finger traced in her head. A chill crept through her when it began to dawn on her what it was. She kept lightly trailing along his skin until the entire picture screamed to life in her mind. Every spot covered with a tattoo was hiding scars in the shapes of Akori symbols.
Tanner pulled his shirt down, forcing her to move her hand. Addy had so many questions, but couldn’t bring herself to ask them. She fought off angry tears at the thought of someone hurting him.
“Ready to get it done?” he asked, snapping her back to what they were there for.
Addy didn’t trust herself to speak so she just nodded. She got out of the car and moved to the backseat to change her clothes. Tanner stood outside of the car, a few feet away with his back to her. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he’d gotten the scars that covered his shoulders and back. The only thing she knew for sure was that nothing like that was ever gonna happen to him again as long as she was around.
As she finished getting dressed, Addy realized she couldn’t press Tanner about his past again. She’d have to wait for him to tell her, like Bernard said.
They loaded up the duffle bag with the items from the hardware store and headed toward the stream. Tanner easily kicked out two of the bars that blocked their way in and they were soon walking through the pitch-dark cemetery.
“Finding it’s gonna be impossible,” Addy said, raising her hands and waving them around. “It’s too dark to see anything clearly and this place is huge.”
They wandered around for nearly an hour looking for the right section based on the map Bernard gave them. They’d entered the cemetery in what appeared to be an area of more modern monuments, but she could tell by the change in design that they were getting closer to the section they needed.
There was a noise behind them like footsteps and Addy drew her sword. It started again and she swung around, about to strike out.
Tanner immediately hooked his arm around her waist. “Hold on, girlie.”
He shined the flashlight on the grassy area. She followed it with her eyes until he stopped on a peacock poking around.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Addy burst out laughing. “He owes you his life.”
She put her sword away and he took her hand, probably to save the woodland creatures from her wrath, and they continued through the dark cemetery until they found the section they were looking for.
Addy stood in front of the entrance to the Sanders crypt. “It’s so much bigger than it looked in the painting.”
Even in the dark it was beautiful. Built into a hill, the entrance was wider than a normal door, way big enough to fit a coffin through. The angels on each side of the entrance were as tall as Addy. The name Sanders was carved in the top center.
Neither one of them had ever broken into an underground burial crypt before, so Tanner just grabbed the tools and started trying to find a way into the entrance. She checked out the angels by the door and then walked around the immediate area, reading the names and dates on the elaborate markers.
Tanner called to her in a loud whisper, startling her. She hurried back to the entrance to see it was now open.
It was pitch black inside and the light from their flashlights made the shadows creepy. About ten feet from the entrance there was a long stone stairway leading down. Tanner closed the door behind them making sure it didn’t latch and they carefully started down the stairs, hand in hand.
“Your Kung Fu Grip is cutting off the blood flow to my fingers, girlie.” He unlaced his fingers from hers and simply grabbed her hand. “I’m questioning why I do these things for you.”
She let out a nervous laugh that echoed eerily around them in the stairway. “Me too.”
They continued down about forty feet before the stairway ended. The room at the bottom was around twenty feet wide by eighty feet long. The stairs took up one wall and doors lined the sidewalls. Three of the doors were closed.
In the center of the room stood a stone sarcophagus topped with a tall angel statue. The ceiling was about twenty-five feet above them. Statues of angels were placed between each door and the walls were covered with intricate carvings of leaves and branches.
Tanner shined his flashlight around the room. “It’s not what I expected.”
Letting go of her hand, he started to walk around. He reached into the bag, opening the pack of emergency glow sticks and began dropping them around the room to light it up.
Addy figured she might as well check the rooms where her family was first. She poked her head into each room and quickly discovered that the ones with the doors open were empty. A strong, musty stench met her as she pushed the first closed door open.
Shining the flashlight, she read the names by the coffins on shelves along the walls. It was Oren’s son Jon, the second Overseer, and his son, the third Overseer. Their wives were also entombed in there. She searched, but there wasn’t anything in the room she could picture as a hiding place for Oren’s book.
Tanner followed her into the next room. The same foul smell hit them at the door. There they found the fourth and fifth Overseers and their wives. In addition, a smaller coffin that must have belonged to a child was with them. Again, there wasn’t anything particularly interesting.
He pulled door number two shut after they exited to the main room. “You just want me to check out the last room?”
“I’m alright.” She followed him across the room to her grandfather’s final resting place. “Thanks though.”
Ever since Addy received the symbol from the stone, she’d been feeling removed from much of the pain she felt about losing Fate. Even now, she didn’t feel like she would break down being in the room with his body.
The smell in the third room was horrendous and the floor was wet.
“Oh, my—” She started gagging. “What is that?”
“Hardcore decomposition.” Tanner grabbed her arm. “Watch the floor, its slippery.”
“Tanner, something’s not right.” She flashed the light all around. “My grandmother isn’t here.”
“Are you sure she’s supposed to be? You’ve never told me about her.”
“She died giving birth to my dad.” Addy told him, still looking around. “I was specifically told she was here—right with my parents.”
Tanner examined the place where her coffin should’ve been. “It doesn’t look like another coffin was ever here, girlie.”
Addy walked out of the room because the smell was too much to take. Tanner followed and closed the door behind them.
“I don’t know what to think.” She shook it off and decided she had to deal with one thing at a time. “I guess I’ll talk to my brother about it when things settle down and I can tell him we were here.”
They searched every statue in the crypt and came up empty. As a last resort, they began pressing on all of the stones and stepping on every brick in the floor. There was no book to be found.
“I was so sure we’d find it,” Addy said, leaning against the sarcophagus in the middle of the room. “Sorry for dragging you all the way here.”
Tanner moved next to her and sat on top of the sarcophagus. “If the music thing doesn’t work out I can add grave robbing to my resume thanks to this trip.”
Addy shrugged her shoulders. “I guess it was worth it then.” Tipping her head back, she was about to close her eyes when she suddenly grabbed his arm and pointed up.
“What?” He shined his flashlight in the direction she was pointing. “Who’s climbing up there?”
“Give me a boost.” She tucked her flashlight into her pocket and jumped up on top of Oren Sanders’ sarcophagus.
Tanner stood up and lifted her as high as he could; she ended up standing on his shoulders. The angel perched on top was holding a book in its hand. With his help, she was just able to reach it.
“It’s part of the statue—it doesn’t come off.” She smoothed her fingers along the hand of the angel that was grasping the book, and then along the book itself. “It’s made of stone or something—definitely not marble like the angel.”
“Break it off then.” Tanner wrapped his fingers around her calf to steady her. “And hurry up—you’re heavier than you look.”
“Sorry family angel guy.” Addy braced herself, taking the end of her flashlight and pounding on the book. “It sounds hollow.”
She continued pounding on it and after a little more effort pieces started breaking away.
“I’m getting pelted with debris so something must be happening up there.” Tanner shifted her weight to his other shoulder. “Can I get an update?”
“Bring me down!”
He lowered her and they jumped to the floor together. Addy stood in front of him and flipped her light around to shine on a small brown leather bound book.