Tangled Threads

25

We rode for about fifteen minutes, the limo twisting and turning through the downtown area like a large black beetle scuttling ever closer to its ultimate destination. Nobody said anything, but the giants kept their eyes on Bria and me the whole time, ready, willing, and eager to slap us around if one of us tried to do something stupid.

Now that we were captured and officially on the way to our deaths, LaFleur seemed to have lost interest in us. The other assassin drank more of her blue gin and stared out the window the whole time.

With every passing mile, I could feel Bria’s body getting tenser and tenser against mine. I could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she thought of and discarded various ways to overpower and escape our captors. Several times, she glanced at the limo door, as if she was thinking about leaping over the giant and flinging herself out of the vehicle.

While I admired my sister’s bravado, I didn’t bother doing the same. It wouldn’t do us any good to try to make a break for it. Not while we were all squished together in the back of the limo. LaFleur would only have to touch one of us with her electrical magic, and it would zip through all of our bodies like chain lightning. I had no doubt that the other assassin was perfectly fine sacrificing Mab’s giants, as long as Bria and I weren’t breathing in the end.

Finally, the limo slowed, then stopped. The giants yanked us out of the car, and I found myself standing in the old train yard once again. The limo had pulled into the very center of the yard, and metal railcars surrounded us on all sides. The smell of smoke wafted over to me, and I looked over my shoulder.

The crumbled, blackened remains of the train depot still smoldered, despite the cold. Finn had been right when he’d claimed that I’d started a four-alarm fire, because virtually nothing remained of the structure but mounds of flaky ash. Here and there, warped pieces of metal stuck up out of the gray ash, gleaming underneath the portable spotlights that had been set up around the depot. I guess the metal had just been too thick and dense to completely melt with the rest of the building.

A cold smile pulled up my lips. Well, that was one thing I’d done right these past few days. If nothing else, I’d delayed Mab’s plans for her twisted nightclub and bought Roslyn Phillips and Northern Aggression at least a few more months of business.

Then my eyes fell to all the metal rails that crisscrossed through the train yard and stretched out like greedy fingers in every direction — metal that could conduct LaFleur’s electrical magic faster than I could slit her throat with one of my silverstone knives. Even now, I remembered the pain of her electrical power slamming into me. It had hurt like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Worse than being stabbed, worse than being shot. Hell, even worse than being beaten by Elliot Slater.

The smile dropped from my face. I was really starting to hate this place.

Elektra raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid this is the end of the line for you girls.”

“Wow,” I said. “Did you come up with that little bit of witty repartee all on your own? Or has Jonah McAllister been giving you tips in between blow jobs?”

Elektra regarded me for a moment. Then she backhanded me across the face as hard as she could. Despite her petite frame, the assassin had plenty of strength in her muscles. But worse than the sheer force of it was that she put some of her magic into the blow, and I felt the static shock of her power all the way down to my bones. Just for an instant, but the jolt was more than enough to make me stagger back and my heart race from the electrical discharge. Fuck. She was so strong. I was really going to have to figure out some way to keep her electrical elemental magic from killing me before I stabbed her to death.

Elektra eyed me. Satisfied that I was properly cowed, she jerked her head at the giants.

“Put them in the railcar while I get some things ready for our special guests,” she snapped. “And I want one of you on every side of that damn railcar. If the Spider’s lurking out there tonight, she’s not getting her hands on these two, understand?”

The giants nodded. There were four of them now, including the limo driver, who’d stepped out to join the other three. Right now, they were more afraid of LaFleur than the nebulous danger the Spider presented. I had to admit I was a little disappointed. After my performance here the other night, you’d think that the giants wouldn’t be so quick to discount the Spider and what she could do to them. But they were faced with a more immediate danger in LaFleur, so that’s what they chose to focus on. I suppose I couldn’t blame them for that.

Still, the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. Oh, the bloody irony. If I’d been alone, I would have laughed long, loud, and hard over the absurdity of it all.

Because what Elektra LaFleur didn’t realize was that she had already captured the Spider — and the assassin was planning to kill me and my baby sister before the night was through.

LaFleur disappeared into the shadows, probably to go get some kind of power tools or other sharp objects that she could torture Bria and me with. I’d needled her too much for her to just blast us with her electricity. No, the assassin really wanted to make it hurt for as long as possible before she finally went in for the kill shot with her elemental magic. Or maybe she was just going to get a couple of white orchids that she could leave on our bodies after the fact. Didn’t much matter either way. She’d left us alone with the giants. Mistake number two. Never take your eyes off your target.

The giants marched us deeper into the train yard, leading us over to the same car they’d been holding Natasha in when I’d rescued her. Had it just been two nights ago? Somehow, it seemed like a lifetime. Especially since tonight might be the end of mine and Bria’s.

The giants forced us up the steps and into the railcar. Someone had removed the table and cards because the inside was empty now — except for the brown bloodstains on the metal floor and the matching spatters on the silver walls. Mab’s men hadn’t gotten around to mopping those up just yet.

My eyes slid to the back window, already thinking of how Bria and I could escape. But several solid two-by-fours covered up the hole, bolted into the metal. The giants had already fixed that part of the car, making it prisoner-ready once more. We wouldn’t be getting through those boards, not without making noise that would easily give us away. I might want to kill LaFleur, but I’d rather know that Bria was safe first. Telegraphing every single step of our escape was one way to ensure that it wouldn’t happen at all.

The giants slung us down in the middle of the railcar. The metal floor was as cold as ice, even through the thick fabric of my jeans. My breath frosted in the air. The temperature had already dropped into the low teens tonight.

“Don’t move,” one of the giants growled before the four of them trooped outside.

The door slid most of the way shut, but it didn’t make that particular, heavy click that would tell me the giants had fully sealed us inside. Hmm.

Bria started to scramble to her feet, but I put my hand on her arm and held her in place on the metal floor beside me.

“Wait,” I whispered. “Just wait.”

Bria frowned at me in confusion but did as I asked. Ten … twenty … thirty … I didn’t even get to forty-five seconds before the door rolled back once more and one of the giants stuck his head inside, checking on us and making sure we were exactly where he’d left us. Just like I’d thought he would.

Satisfied that we were going to stay put, he nodded, pulled his head back outside, and slammed the metal door shut. This time, the latch did click into place. I didn’t think they’d actually locked us in, since I didn’t hear an iron bar or anything else bang down on the outside, but they’d shut the door until LaFleur returned and told them to open it. Or until I figured out a way to make them open it.

“How did you know that he would look back inside?” Bria asked in a low voice.

“Because I’ve been dealing with suspicious bastards like that since I was thirteen,” I murmured.

Bria stared at me a moment longer, then started twisting her handcuffs, trying to find some way to break the metal. I thought about telling her not to bother, since the handcuffs were made of silverstone, but decided against it. Better that she was focused on trying to escape than the horrors that waited for us with LaFleur otherwise. Still, part of me was proud of my sister because she was thinking about escape, just like I was, instead of curling into a ball, giving up, and waiting for her death.

I took a few moments to study every part of the railcar, from the floor to the ceiling to the walls to the door that I knew at least one giant was guarding. Not much to see. Bria and I were the only things inside, and the giants hadn’t been stupid enough to leave anything helpful in here, like power tools. I didn’t know how long LaFleur would mess around before she came back and started torturing us, but one thing was for sure — I needed these handcuffs off long before then.

I stared at the metal linking my hands together. They were ordinary handcuffs, except that they were made of silverstone. If I’d been by myself, I might have tried using my Ice magic to flash-freeze the cuffs, then snap them off. But Bria was here trapped with me, and using that much magic was sure to bring LaFleur running. So I’d just have to be a little more circumspect. Small and quiet was always better than big and flashy anyway. Being the Spider had shown me that.

So I drew in a breath and reached for my Ice magic. Once again, I was surprised by how easily it came to me now and how much stronger it seemed, even since my swan dive into the river the other night. My power was growing just as Jo-Jo had said it would. I hoped the dwarf was right about all the other things she’d told me about my magic — namely that I was the strongest elemental she’d ever seen.

Because I was going to have to be to kill Elektra LaFleur and keep Bria safe.

I grabbed hold of my magic. The silverstone cuffs around my wrists immediately responded, absorbing my small trickle of power before I could even think about using it.

“Gin?” Bria asked, stopping her own struggles with the handcuffs as she sensed me using my power. “What are you doing? Do you — do you have magic?”

I didn’t answer her, mainly because I couldn’t do that and concentrate on my power at the same time. The silverstone snapped around my wrists made it hard — so hard. Every time I grabbed my Ice magic, every time I tried to form the particular shape that I wanted with it, the handcuffs would absorb all my power before I could even get started.

I glared at the cuffs around my hands. Such a small thing, but they were keeping me contained, just as LaFleur had wanted them to — and she hadn’t even realized I had elemental magic to begin with.

I had a shitload of silverstone melted into my hands when I was a kid, and I’d overcome that block, blasted my way right through it when I’d needed to the most. I could get through this one too. These measly handcuffs were nothing compared to the silverstone that Mab had seared into my palms the night she’d murdered my family. Nothing. I wasn’t going to die because I was chained, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to Bria.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t make things a little easier on myself. I grabbed the handcuffs and slid them down my arms as far as they would go. Not far, but it gave me another two inches between the magical metal and my palms, where I would release my magic.

Once again, I reached for my Ice magic, and a cold silver light flickered in my palm, centered on the spider rune scar there. I immediately felt the handcuffs come to life, as the silverstone metal hungered to absorb my magic. I gritted my teeth against the constant power drain, focused, and forced my Ice magic away from my palm, trying to move it up into the very tips of my fingers, which was as far away from the silverstone cuffs as I could get it.

It worked.

Slowly, snowflake-shaped crystals spread up my fingers, and the cold, silver light began sparking there on the tips of my fingers instead of farther down in my palm. A small thing, but it took all the control I had to do it with the silverstone cuffs on my wrists continuously soaking up my magic. Quickly, before I lost the thin grasp I had on it, I forced the magic into the particular shapes I wanted — two slender Ice picks.

When they were finished, I let go of my Ice magic, let out a long, tense breath, and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. Such small, simple shapes, but those had been the two hardest things I’d made with my elemental power. Ever.

“You’re an elemental?” Bria asked, her blue eyes narrowing. “With Ice magic?”

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing the Ice picks and working on my handcuffs with them. “Just like you are.”

Bria frowned. “Just like me? How do you know that I have Ice magic, Gin? I’ve never done any magic in front of you.”

“Yes, you have,” I said in a gentle voice.

For a moment, I flashed back to our childhood. Bria had loved using her magic when we were kids, making all kinds of Ice sculptures and flowers and other shapes just because she could. Just because she found it fun and entertaining. I wondered if she still did that. I wondered a lot of things about my sister — including how horrified she was going to be with me before the night was through. Hell, before we even got out of this metal car.

The picks did the trick, and the handcuffs popped open. Although I wanted nothing more than to sling them away, I forced myself to set them down quietly on the floor. I stood up, and Bria did the same.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Bria asked, curiosity in her voice. “Even I have a hard time doing that sometimes.”

“Finn,” I said. “The man can pick a lock like you wouldn’t believe. Now hold out your hands, and I’ll help you slip out of yours.”

She obeyed, and I used my Ice picks on the cuffs. A few seconds later, the lock clinked open, and the silverstone cuffs popped off Bria’s hands. I scooped them up, along with the other pair, and stuck them both in the back pocket of my jeans. I didn’t know what I might do with them, but I’d learned a long time ago how to improvise and turn even the simplest things into deadly weapons.

Bria stood there, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists. I drew in a breath, my heart starting to squeeze in on itself. Because now it was truth time — whether I was ready for it or not. I couldn’t do what needed to be done, couldn’t make sure that we both lived through the night, without revealing exactly who and what I was to Bria.

Without telling her I was the Spider.

“I need you to listen to me, Bria.”

She looked at up at me, still massaging her wrists. “Okay.”

I drew in another breath. “Some things are going to happen tonight, probably in the next few minutes, that you aren’t going to like very much. I know you’re a detective, a cop, that you’ve spent your whole adult life protecting people. But I need you to turn off that part of you tonight. I need you to do exactly what I say when I say it, with no questions asked and no hesitation. Do you think you can do that for me?”

Bria frowned. “What are you talking about, Gin? You’ve got Ice magic, sure, but what do you think you’re going to do against four giants? Not to mention LaFleur. If I still had my guns, we could probably get past the giants and get away before LaFleur came to see what all the commotion was about. But we don’t have any weapons, other than our magic. I’m pretty strong for an elemental, but I can’t take out four giants with my magic. At least, not all at once.”

“You don’t have to. I’m going to do it for you.”

Her brow wrinkled as she tried to puzzle out what I was saying. LaFleur could come back at any second, and we didn’t have any time to waste. So I decided to make it easy for her. I reached down, drew the two silverstone knives out of my boots, and twirled them in my hands. There wasn’t much light in the railcar, but Bria spotted the weapons at once — and realized exactly what they were and whom they belonged to.

Emotions flickered in her gaze. Shock. Surprise. And slowly, comprehension.

I gave her a second to stare at the knives before I tucked them up my sleeves. Seconds ticked by, and my sister just looked at me, like she’d never seen me before. Like she wasn’t sure she wanted to right now.

“Let me see your hands,” Bria finally said, her voice thick with emotion.

“Bria—”

“Let me see your fucking hands.” She ground out the words through her clenched teeth.

There was no going back and no hiding anything. Not now. She knew.

Bria knew who and what I was.

I drew in a breath and let it out, preparing myself for what I might see in her face. For the horror and disgust that I was almost certain to see there. Then I slowly held out my hands and turned them up toward her, so that she could see my palms — and the two spider rune scars branded into each one of them.

A small circle surrounded by eight thin rays. The same rune that Bria wore on that ring around her index finger.

Bria’s blue eyes widened in shock, and all the color drained from her face. “Genevieve?”

“Hi there, baby sister,” I said.