Chapter 8

“Didn’t Smokey the Bear teach you anything?” Ru heard Lyric’s voice behind her at about the same time a warm gust of air swept over her, making contact with the flames rising up off of the ignited branch, causing them to flicker and then whoosh out, as if they’d never existed. Ru absently wondered if that’s what it was like in the end for everyone. A moment of recognition and then—nothing.

Ru turned to see all four of her friends crossing the yard, headed in her direction. Three of them had concerned expressions on their faces; Rider still looked pissed. Ru would deal with him later. “Which one of you was it?” she asked, looking at each of them. “Who ratted out my mom?”

“It doesn’t matter, Ru,” Cutter said, stopping a few feet away from her. “What’s done is done. And just like Maggie said, it was better to tell them than to risk all five of us getting in trouble. Or worse. We’re no help to anyone if we are decommissioned.”

“Or dead.”

Ru turned and glared at Rider but said nothing more. “Then what was all that talk ahead of time, that ‘I’ve got your back’ bullshit you were all spouting off. I guess that was just to make me think we were all in this together?”

“No, we really thought we could talk her down,” Lyric explained, her eyes focused on the ground in front of her. “Whatever Raphael told her, it must’ve been direct enough to leave no wiggle room.”

“Sky is usually more of a messenger than a minion,” Cutter continued. “We thought we could get her to go back and talk it over.”

“Or convince her that Maggie wasn’t there,” Ivy added. “Although she definitely knew she was.”

“And who told her that?” Ru asked. “Again, the only people who knew that were you guys. Seriously, whoever the hell is stabbing me in the back, I’d just like to know so I can toss back your knife for next time.”

“It wasn’t necessarily one of us who told her your mom was on Holy Island.” Lyric was looking at Ru again. “A few others knew.”

Ru remembered that Cutter had told his family, which reminded her of something her mom had said. “Did Maggie say that Windy used to have Sky’s job? As in, your mom?”

Slowly, Cutter nodded his head. “But not for long. She didn’t like it.”

“And you told your mom about mine, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, taking a step toward her. “I guarantee that my mom did not tell Sky anything, though, Ru. She wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t even like Sky. No offense.” The last comment was made in Lyric’s direction.

“None taken. Right now, neither do I,” she replied.

“My mom didn’t do this.”

Ru wanted to believe him, but it didn’t make any sense. “If it wasn’t one of you, then it had to be her.” Her head was beginning to hurt, thinking through everything that had transpired. With a deep breath, she said, “Okay, let’s just take this one step at a time. I need to know who told Sky my mom was in the basement.”

“It was me,” Rider said, causing Ru to turn and face him, her eyes wide. “There. Does that make you happy?”

Before Ru could even exclaim that, no, it did not make her happy, another voice caught her attention. “No, Rider, it’s okay. I don’t need you to take the blame for me.” Swiveling again, Ru’s eyes fell on Ivy. “I’m sorry, Ru. I told her. I thought… I thought we’d do more harm than good if we stood in her way. Like Cutter said, we wouldn’t be able to help anyone if we were locked up. Or dead.”

“Ivy?” Ru could hardly believe it. She was the last on her list of suspects. “But… I could’ve taken her.”

“Yeah, and then another wave would’ve shown up, thoroughly pissed, and we would’ve launched into a civil war. No thank you.” Rider’s argument might’ve been convincing if Ru wasn’t so angry—and hurt.

Ivy rested both hands on her hips. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you from the beginning.”

“You should’ve told me first back there. You should’ve warned me,” Ru rationalized.

With a nod, Ivy said, “I guess you’re right. I just didn’t think you’d agree with me.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Ru admitted. “But at least I would’ve known who to redirect my anger at.”

“Judging by the looks of that tree branch, I’m going to go out on a limb and say Ivy made the right call,” Rider mused.

Ru didn’t find the pun funny. “Look, Ivy, if you’re the one that told Sky where my mom was to begin with, just let me know, okay?”

“It wasn’t me. I would tell you if it was.”

“No, Sky said someone else was with you on the beach when you were chatting with Nat, remember?” Rider asked. “The two of you sure are awfully chummy.”

Ru glared at him. “I told you, I wasn’t chatting with him. I was chasing him.”

“And, yet, I still don’t believe you.” Rider crossed his arms across his barrel of a chest.

“Do you have any idea who it was, Ru?” Cutter interjected before things got ugly again.

“No,” she admitted. “I didn’t really look back. I didn’t wait around to see.”

“Well, until we find out who else was there, we won’t know.” Cutter sighed. “But I’m certain it wasn’t my mom.”

Ru wanted to believe him but couldn’t find the logic to do so. Until she heard otherwise, Windy was a suspect. “From now on, we don’t tell anyone anything unless they absolutely have to know what’s happening.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit of a problem since we’re supposed to report everything to Sky,” Rider reminded her. He was still angry from their confrontation, Ru could tell, but he seemed to be handling it okay. For now.

“I don’t care,” Ru stated, emphatically. “I don’t like her. And nobody has told me I’m supposed to report shit to anyone. So… when we close this portal in a few minutes, you can let her know that. But once Lyric cracks the code on my back, we don’t tell anyone anything. Even if I have to pay for airline tickets myself. Got it?”

Four heads nodded up and down, and Ru wondered if they were just pacifying her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go blow some shit up.” She took off at a brisk walk heading to the woods behind Angel Grove, which eventually led to the same tract of land she’d gone exploring with Kyle—who turned out to be Nat—not too long ago. There was good reason to think the portal to Hell that was allowing Reapers to go back and forth, conspiring with demons, was within easy walking distance of the house Keepers had built over two hundred years ago in an attempt to find said portal and stop the Reapers from congregating there.

“Ru, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Cutter asked, falling into step beside her. “We’ve had a rough night. Maybe we should just call this off until tomorrow.”

Without slowing her pace or turning to look at him, Ru replied, “Now is as good a time as ever. Probably better, in fact. The angrier I become, the less of a chance anyone who tries to stand in our way will have of stopping me.”

“Okay, but you’re angry at the wrong people right now,” Cutter continued. “If you’re going to use that side of your power, there’s a good chance it won’t do anything to stop attacks from Reapers or close the portal.”

Ru stopped short and turned to look at him. “Are you saying that you think I’m in Reaper mode right now? That I’ll somehow manage to do more harm than good?”

Cutter stammered for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know. But I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Well, unfortunately for you, I really don’t care what you think right now,” Ru replied tersely, continuing on her march. “Besides, there’s only one way to find out if there’s a difference between black smoke and blue light.”

“Oh, there’s a difference,” Rider said, coming up behind her. Two other sets of footsteps fell in line as well, and Ru realized she was leading them all into the woods. “We just don’t know how it will affect them.”

“Maybe they won’t even bother to show up,” Ru mused, though she was more than a little certain they would.

“Are you kidding? The last time we closed a portal, it was like Armageddon. Two battling armies fighting against each other for days. No, they’ll definitely show up.” Ivy’s voice sounded shakier with each word.

“And yet, here we are, just the five of us undertaking this?” Ru asked. “Seriously, was anyone going to tell me this?”

“Well, the circumstances were a little different back then,” Cutter said, and Ru noticed he shot Ivy a dirty look over his shoulder. “That was a much larger portal, much more frequented.”

“And Satan was using it as a thoroughfare,” Rider added.

“This one isn’t being used by anyone but Nat and his cronies,” Lyric reminded them.

“As far as we know.” Ivy still didn’t sound confident.

“I guarantee something else will come out of it when we try to shut it down,” Rider warned them.

“That’s fine. You guys hold off the attackers, and I’ll close it up,” Ru decided.

“Assuming we can find it.”

Ru was tempted to turn around and stare Rider down for that comment, but she let her feet do the talking. She would find it. If it took her all night, she’d find it.