“Put me down!”
“When you start listening to directions, we’ll talk about it.”
“You sonofa—”
“Where are you taking her?” Skyla asked, grabbing her weapons and hustling to follow as he strode down the dock toward shore.
“Where’s the closest airport?” he asked Maelea.
“Airport?” Maelea repeated in surprise. “Why do you need an airport?”
Orpheus stepped off the dock and stopped on the grass, glaring down at the girl in the moonlight. “Let me explain this to you so you get it. I ask the questions, you provide the answers. If you give me answers I like, I’ll consider answering a few of your questions. You got it?”
Maelea’s mouth snapped shut. She glanced past Skyla to the dark lake beyond.
“Airport?” Orpheus asked again.
She pursed her lips. Looked as if she wasn’t about to answer. In the silence Skyla could practically see the steam brewing in Orpheus as his patience waned, and she prepared herself for the worst. Now that she knew he was only after Maelea to get to the Orb, his reasons for protecting her the night of the concert made sense. But there were no daemons out here. No hellhounds either.
Finally, Maelea mumbled, “Snohomish County Airport. But it’s at least ten miles from here. My house—”
“Is probably already toast,” Orpheus told her, walking again. “And by now those hellhounds have reported back to Hades and told him you’re with me. You’re not safe on your own anymore.”
Sickness slid across Maelea’s face, and at his side, Skyla clenched her jaw at the way Orpheus was carrying the girl—the same way Rhett Butler had carried Scarlett up the stairs in Gone With the Wind. Orpheus picked up speed as he climbed a small knoll in the park. “We’ll find a cab, head toward that airport. There’s gotta be a charter plane we can catch there.”
“Where to?” Maelea asked, cringing and clutching her injured arm as he jostled her.
“Was that a question?”
Her mouth snapped shut again, and this time her jaw clenched with barely contained anger.
Looking pleased, Orpheus said, “I’ve got a friend in Montana. He can take care of you there.”
“Montana? But I live here!”
Orpheus’s face went stony. Skyla drew to a stop, her breath catching at what he would do to the injured female. She’d seen him in battle. Had seen the way he could shift into daemon form with just a thought. Why he’d screwed around and hadn’t shifted back at Maelea’s house she didn’t know, but she’d soon find out. About that and the earth element. And just what he had planned.
Skyla waited for his eyes to change to signal he was calling up his daemon, but they didn’t. “Do you want me to take you back to your house?” he asked.
Maelea stared at him. Swallowed. Seemed to debate her options. Slowly, she shook her head.
“Okay then.” Orpheus resumed walking through the trees. “I think we’re your only option at this point.”
Maelea’s gaze found Skyla, and it was clear she believed the hybrid. And didn’t like it.
Be careful, female.
They reached Bothell Way, a major thoroughfare, in silence. Streetlights illuminated the four-lane highway. “There won’t be any flights going out this late,” Skyla pointed out. “Unless you’re planning to hitch a broom to Montana, we need to hole up somewhere until morning.”
“Then we’ll take a train,” Orpheus said. “But we’re not sticking around here. I guarantee those hounds have our scent.”
“Yeah, but we don’t need to run all the way to Montana to lose them.”
Orpheus ignored her—he was damn good at that—and looked to Maelea. “What about a train station?”
“Um…there’s one close,” Maelea said. “Edmonds. About twelve miles, maybe—”
“There won’t be any trains leaving at this hour either,” Skyla protested.
“Fucking fine, Miss Transportation Guru.” Orpheus moved down the sidewalk. “We’ll find a car and drive north to Bellingham, catch a train from there.”
“Find a car?” Skyla liked that less than his idea to run for Montana.
Orpheus veered into a parking lot, where he dropped Maelea to her feet and peered into the window of a Ford Explorer.
“You’re gonna steal that, aren’t you?” Maelea asked.
“Sure as shit, I am.” He used his elbow to knock out the back window. An alarm sounded. Seconds later he was in the front seat, bent down under the steering column, pulling wires free. The alarm clicked off, then the ignition roared to life. “Get in. Both of you.”
Skyla stopped Maelea with a hand on the female’s arm. “She’s not in any condition to travel. And you’re not the one calling the shots here.”