Chapter 27: Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Tomorrow?” I said, striding back into the room. “We have until tomorrow to stop Geiser?”

Nik heaved himself to his feet, gripping his wound as he did. “Then let’s go. Let’s get into the forest now and find Elliot.”

“But what about Gus? I can’t leave him in that terrible place.”

Nik looked furious. “He’s a big boy, I’m sure he can handle himself.”

Now it was my turn to spit feathers. I leaned toward him, teeth gritted. “Do you know what they do to people in those places? They try to brainwash them. They break down their self-esteem.” I shuddered at the thought of my unashamedly camp best friend being, well, shamed.

Nik huffed. “We have less than twenty-four hours to find Elliot and get back to New York City. We don’t have time for Gus.”

My anger overwhelmed me. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. “How dare you say that? He’s like a brother to me!”

“So’s Elliot to me,” Nik fired back. “But I let you convince me to delay his rescue. ’Give me a couple of days’,” he said in a mockingly girlish voice. “’We need enough evidence to really nail him.’ And what did you find, Theia? Jack shit!”

Nik the jerk was back in full force. But this time, his anger actually hurt. Before, he’d been aloof and standoffish. Now he was being personal. And the look in his eyes couldn’t have been further from his expression back in the alleyway when we’d almost kissed. It was the sort of look I’d expect from Emerald, not Nik.

I puffed myself up. “It’s hardly the same. Elliot didn’t want to be found. Bear Mountain is a safe place to disappear. But Gus is being held against his will.”

“Elliot’s a fugitive!” Nik yelled. “Because of Geiser. You of all people should know how that feels.”

Retta stood up, creating a barrier between Nik and me. “Guys, bring it down a notch, yeah? We don’t need to argue about whose friend is more pitiful. Let’s just split. Half of us go with Theia, the other half with Nik.”

“Nik shouldn’t be going anywhere,” Juniper said.

She pointed to his side. The balm I’d put on his wound had clearly been ineffective when it came up against his argumentative gesticulating. Fresh blood was starting to drip from it.

Nik looked woozy at the sight. His owl began tugging at his sleeve. Finally, Nik gave in and fell back into the couch, letting out a groan.

“Good,” Retta said. “Now that everyone’s stopped tantruming, can we think about this rationally?”

Rational seemed to be the last thing I was able to do right now. Every second Gus spent in that place was one second too many.

I folded my arms. “You are such a politician’s kid.”

“And proud,” Retta shot back with a grin. “So, voting for the new mayor doesn’t start until tomorrow. They’ll need a full day for that, plus several more hours for counting. We have more time than you think.”

“I’m getting Gus,” I said the second she’d finished speaking. “No negotiations.”

“And I’m getting Elliot,” Nik retorted. “Because there’s a bigger picture here.” His words were pointed, and his tone was starting to rise again.

“Everyone shut up!” Juniper whisper-shouted. “Before Grandma wakes up and makes you.”

Finally, I fell silent. I could feel my heart slamming painfully in my chest. I couldn’t quite believe how much of a shithead Nik was being about this.

“We have time for both rescue missions,” Juniper continued like we were all idiots. As the eldest cousin, it was her job to be the voice of reason. And boy did she love being boss. “The nocturnal half of your crew are asleep. Nik needs to recuperate. That leaves us four.”

Birch’s face snapped to the side. “You mean we get to help?”

“I don’t see what choice we have,” Juniper replied, testily.

Birch fist-pumped the air.

I wasn’t about to turn them down for a second time. Not now that I knew about Gus.

“Theia, you and Retta go and save Gus,” Juniper said. “Birch and I will go to the woods and start looking for Elliot.”

From his place splayed on the couch, Nik shook his head. “We need Cora to track him.”

“I’m an Elkie. I can track perfectly fine.”

“But Elliot won’t go anywhere with you if I’m not there to convince him,” he contested.

Juniper folded her arms. That meant she was done with the nonsense. “Heard of telephones?”

“Yes…” Nik said, narrowing his eyes in response to her condescending tone.

She pointed at the landline in the corner. “Then sit by that one and I’ll call you when we find him. Then you can chat out your feelings. Jeez! You’re making this way harder than necessary.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. Juniper was awesome and Nik looked miffed to have been put in his place.

I handed Elliot’s talisman to Juniper.

“Whoever finishes their mission first comes back to the house and collects the moon guys,” she instructed, “then heads on to help whoever’s still not back. Got it?”

I nodded and looked at Retta. “You good?”

Retta cracked her knuckles. “You bet. Consider this Rescue Mission 2.0. First the bow, now the boy.” She grinned.

I was so glad to have found a partner in crime in Retta. It felt fitting that my New York City bestie would be the one to help me rescue my Bear Mountain bestie.

We all trooped to the door.

“Hold up,” I said, stopping in my tracks. “I don’t have a weapon. What if things get heated at Camp Crapview?”

“What happened to your bow?” Juniper asked.

“My evil stepsister broke it,” I said.

Birch winced as if feeling my own pain.

“Don’t worry, I broke her nose back.”

“Neat,” Birch said, admiration in his tone.

But it didn’t feel like much of a consolation anymore.

“I can fix your bow,” Juniper assured me. “Although most of Uncle Heath’s power will have leached out by now, so it won’t be as strong as it was before. But I can get it working at least. In the meantime, take mine.” She shoved her bow my way. “Birch can defend us if we need it.”

Birch beamed with pride. Juniper slung her quiver off her back and handed it to me as well.

I weighed her weapon in my hands. It felt so different to mine. The history pulsing through it was so fascinating. Juniper’s bow had been forged with wood from India, from the forests where Aunt Shanaya’s ancestors lived. It felt like it had a whole load of things it wanted to teach me, and I was more than eager to learn. I had a lot of pent-up aggression that needed to be unleashed.

Finally, I glanced back at Nik. He was lying in pain on the couch. I wasn’t going to forget the way he’d shot me down over finding Gus. That had hurt. And added to him lying about being Vanpari—well, maybe Retta had a point. Maybe I should leave Nik Storm well alone.