Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

“Should I come with you?” Schuyler asked, worried.

“No, you have important things to do here. Go find your family tomorrow, and keep me updated on what happens. Stay and finish your drink, and get some food in you. We’ll talk soon.”

It was just as she’d expected. She was on her own. Except for that lingering feeling that someone was very close—and keeping an eye on her. But she had gotten accustomed to it; and since nothing had happened so far, she chalked it up to nerves and anxiety and decided to forget all about it.





TWENTYONE


Lawson


awson drove back to Hunting Valley as if the devil was on his tail, his feelings in turmoil. He’d always been impulsive, and he had left Bliss in New York without thinking—he’d been angry and had done the first thing that came to mind. Left. He’d wanted her to come with him, and while he had lied—he did understand that her friends were important to her—what he hadn’t been able to say was that he wanted to know that he was important to her too.

And just as she needed to find Oliver and Schuyler and reunite with Jane, he needed to find Arthur. Arthur had saved them when they were lost, and if he was lost now, it was their job to bring him back.

His wolf pack was waiting for him when he reached the cavern. Malcolm literally jumped for joy when he saw him, and Ahramin unexpectedly threw herself into his arms for a hug. “What was that for?” he asked.

“We missed you,” she said, shrugging.

Edon frowned. Ahramin must be trying to make him jealous, Lawson thought. She was always playing games like that. He wanted to tell Edon he had nothing to worry about.

“What do we know so far?” he asked.

“Look around,” Rafe said. “The place is a mess. No blood, but no claw marks, either. Doesn’t look like hounds from when they attacked the first time. This is new.”

“Not hounds, then,” Lawson said. Silver Bloods? Maybe they’d drained Arthur, and that was why there wasn’t any blood. He hated the thought of it. He’d seen the work of the Silver Blood in the Repository and shuddered to think of his friend as one of their victims.

Malcolm seemed to know what he was thinking. “If it was a vampire, there would be blood,” he said.

“We have to assume he got away, then,” Lawson said.

“Where would he go? And wouldn’t he leave us some sort of sign if he’d had any chance to?” asked Rafe.

Edon nodded grudgingly. “We’ve been digging around, but we haven’t been able to come up with much. Just about everything is ruined.”

“Just about?”

“We found a book,” Malcolm said. “Through the Looking-Glass. Arthur was always getting on me to read it.”

Weird thing to leave behind, Lawson thought. “What’s it about?”

“A fairy tale about a mirror that takes you to another world,” Malcolm explained.

Huh. “Did you go into Arthur’s room?” Lawson asked.

“Of course we did,” Edon snapped. “We looked everywhere!”

“Remember that gold mirror he somehow lugged down here?” Lawson asked. “How strange we thought it was that he’d carry it around with him? Did that get trashed too, or is it still standing?”

“It’s still there,” Rafe said. “We tried everything.”

“I have an idea,” Lawson said. “Follow me.”

They worked their way through the rubble until they reached Arthur’s room, where the only thing left intact was the enormous old-fashioned mirror. Lawson looked at the ground in front of it.

Footprints.

Lawson grinned as he pushed on the mirror.

Nothing happened.

“See? We tried that too,” Rafe said.

Lawson didn’t give up. He ran his hands along its length until he felt a button.

“What are you doing?” Malcolm asked.

“Give me a second.”

Lawson pushed the button, and the mirror opened outward, nearly hitting him in the face.

“So he did leave us a clue,” Edon said. He didn’t sound so annoyed anymore, but Lawson didn’t have time to be grateful.

“There’s a passageway back here,” he said. “Let’s go.”

The five of them entered the passageway single file, with Lawson in front. Rafe closed the door, leaving them in darkness, but Lawson turned on his phone, and the passageway lit up, just enough so they could see their way forward. They only had to walk for a few minutes before they reached a door.

“Is it open?” Rafe whispered.

“No,” Lawson whispered back.

“Should we force it?”

“Let me try something else,” Lawson said, and knocked.

And waited.

And waited.

And then…the door opened.

“Well, it’s about time,” Arthur said, looking up from his book. “What took you so long?”

The room behind the cavern was enormous. It was really more of an apartment than a room, complete with a kitchen and dining table.

“So this is where you really live,” Lawson said.