Chapter 121

Kansas City was nothing like she remembered it. The drive from the airport to LIGHTS headquarters was so depressing, Jo was tempted not to look out the window at all, but she couldn’t help herself. The entire city looked like a demilitarized zone--after a bombing--and she couldn’t help but remember how alive and full of adventurous things to do and places to go the city had once been. Now, it was full of crumbling buildings, cars that looked like they’d been bombed, boarded up windows on the dwellings that were empty and bars on the ones that were not.
Jamie had been right. Two days after Aaron’s cremation, when the team was ready to come back to the US, there were plenty of former LIGHTS team members or their allies prepared to help, including several European governments that could feel the relief from the vise Holland had held them in. Everyone who had wanted to come back had been able to.
That included Ryker. Why the human had wanted to come along, Jo couldn’t say, but he was in the back seat of the SUV she was sitting in, occupying a middle seat by the passenger side window. She should’ve traded with Zane and sat where she had a worse view, in the middle.
The vehicles had come from some wealthy donors who were interested in seeing LIGHTS put a complete end to the Vampires. Like cockroaches who had hidden away until after the blasting was over, they were crawling out from beneath rocks and out of holes, ready to flex their muscles since the most dangerous part of the Revelation appeared to be over.
Margie had made sure that the remaining LIGHTS buildings were cleared out of the squatters that had overran them in the last decade, including a hell of a lot of Vampires who had seemed to think it was funny to live in the homes of the people who used to hunt them down. She knew that her dad had taken the precaution of putting many of their prized possessions in a secret storage place--that she would likely never be able to find. It wasn’t the valuables that she’d miss, just the memories that went along with them.
She wouldn’t be staying in Kansas City long anyway. As soon as she got back to base and saw that the team knew exactly what needed to be done, she was leaving. This nightmare wouldn’t end until her mom was back. That needed to happen as soon as possible.
Aaron’s cell phone seemed warm in her pocket, even though it wasn’t on. A constant reminder that it was there and ready to be used. She was wearing his wedding ring on her thumb--a constant reminder that she needed to find her mom. Not that she needed reminding.
Elliott pulled up to what appeared to be a newly restored gate where several armed military members were waiting for him to prove who he was and why they were there. Jo recognized the uniforms. They were Australians.
It didn’t take long for them to let Elliott through. Even without his mind control tricks, he could be very persuasive. Who was going to tell the hulk of a man that he couldn’t come in? They might not know he couldn’t die, but they had to know humans can’t kill Guardians.
The road wound around for a bit past buildings that had seen better days. In the distance, Jo could see the two apartment buildings. The larger one was for trainees, the other for permanent staff. They seemed to be in the best shape of any of the structures.
They didn’t go to the apartments, though. Jo didn’t want to see what had become of the place where she grew up, not yet anyway. Instead, they pulled into a spot in front of the building where Jamie and Christian’s offices used to be. They could use the conference room in there to meet since the building they normally used to meet in was missing half of its roof.
Before Jo even got out of the vehicle, she pulled her father’s phone out of her pocket and sent a text. She’d been waiting to do this because she wanted to make sure she knew exactly where she’d be when she sent it so that the recipient would know where to find them. “Come back to HQ. Your office.”
It sounded like an order. It was the only way Jo would know for sure that Christian would follow it. If he knew that Aaron was dead and the message was from Jo, he might not come at all.
She’d be letting Cadon run the meeting. If he was going to be in charge while she was gone, he’d need to get the hang of running things. She was only half listening as she thought about what she would need to do next. The team that was going with her was armed to the teeth with every weapon they could possibly use in the portals. As soon as their tour guide arrived, they’d be stepping into a whole new world.
Cadon had been talking for about an hour when the phone in her pocket buzzed. All it said was, “Why?”
Jo sighed. Perhaps he wasn’t as easily manipulated as she thought he would be. Did he already know her dad was dead? She replied. “Because I said so. Now.”
Depending upon which portal he was in, Christian might not get the text for six hours. But the fact that he’d answered her so quickly made her think that he was manipulating the messaging a little differently now than it had originally been. Otherwise, he couldn’t have gotten her text and responded already.
“Fine. I’ll be there in an hour,” Christian answered a few minutes later. “But this is just delaying the search.”
She ignored the text but kept her eye on the clock. Christian Henry was nothing if not punctual. Five minutes before he was due to arrive, she got up from her chair and snuck out of the room. Cadon’s eyes followed her, but he said nothing, only continued his presentation. It was clear he’d worked very hard to come up with the plan to take the country back. Jo knew that was the case despite having only heard about ten words of what he was saying.
Exactly one hour from when she’d received his message, there was a rippling near the wall behind Christian’s desk, where the largest monitor in the history of computers still sat despite the ramshackled state of most of the building.
Jo waited patiently for the Guardian to step through.
When he first came out, Jo thought she was looking at a biblical figure. His beard was so long, his hair past his shoulders. He was gaunt, as if he hadn’t eaten the entire time he was in the portal. Heather had said people didn’t need food or water in there, but maybe that depended on the portal.
Christian Henry looked like hell.
“Damn,” he muttered as the waves of light behind him dissipated. “I should’ve known it was you. Where the hell’s your dad?”
“Dead.” She watched his face for a reaction and saw only a slight bit of surprise and then a trace of a smile. “I’m the boss now. At least… until we find my mom.”
“And… how precisely do you think we will manage that?”
“I killed Holland, but I know that she hid my mom in that secret layer you guys found, beneath the Blood Moon Portal.”
Christian was shaking his head. “It’s not going to be that easy, Josephina. I’ve been down there for weeks.”
“I’ll find her.”
“You think I’m taking you in there?” he scoffed.
“No, you’re taking all of us in there.” Cassidy’s voice behind her made Jo feel just that much more certain that Christian would see things her way. Without turning around, Jo knew that Scott and Zane were there, too.
He laughed an annoying chuckle. “What’s this? The Misfits Guide to Getting Lost in the Galaxy?”
“You don’t have to stay with us once you get us in there,” Jo assured him. “But we need you to get us in, and as soon as we find Mom, we need you to get us out.”
“All right. Why the fuck not? Just give me four more people for the demons to chase so I can look around without being pestered so much. Come on. Let’s go.”
Jo felt her stomach twist into a knot. “Right this second?”
“No, next Tuesday. Come on, McReynolds. I’m not waiting around.”
Jo turned and looked at the others, a question mark on her face.
“We said our goodbyes,” Cassidy assured her. “There’s no one you need to say goodbye to, is there? Anyone you haven’t?”
A few faces came to mind. Her brother… they hadn’t gotten along recently, but he might just be the only true family she had left. Elliott. Jamie. Ryker…. “No, I’m good,” Jo said, shaking off that last image.
“All right. Let’s go,” Scott said. It was clear he was there only out of obligation and didn’t want to go. He hadn’t seen his dad in years, and they’d only been reunited for a few days, but now he was leaving him again.
“All right,” Jo said, refusing to be scared. “Let’s go.”
Christian pulled some sort of device off of his belt and waved it around in the same place that he’d just come through. Jo knew they wouldn’t be stepping right into the Blood Moon Portal. They’d have to go through what Christian referred to as a wormhole portal to get there.
“You’ve got fifteen seconds,” Christian said. “After that, it’ll close, and I’m not coming back.”
Jo didn’t think, she just stepped through, moving out of the way so the other three could come through.
Christian was walking quickly down the glowing white and red tunnel, so Jo had to rush to keep up with him. This had to be some sort of a portal from the sun. She knew very little about how all of this worked.
Once she was certain everyone had had enough time and space to follow her in, she turned to make sure they were all there and almost lost her shit. “You have got to be fucking kidding me!”
“What?” Cassidy asked, whirling around to look over her shoulder where Jo’s stare was fixated.
Cassidy, Scott, and Zane were directly behind her, but beyond that there was one more figure coming down the tunnel.
Ryker.
“What the hell are you doing here? Are you insane?” she shouted.
“Turn around and walk McReynolds,” he insisted. “Henry’s getting away from you.”
Furious, Jo spun around. “Fine! Maybe you’ll get killed for real this time!” she shouted. “Save me a lot of future headaches!”
She felt Zane’s hand on her shoulder and knew he wanted her to calm down. He was right, she needed to. Despite Ryker’s asinine behavior, she had a task in front of her. She had to find her mother, get her home, and help her brother put the world back together again. It seemed impossible, but if she could kill Holland, surely she could find her mom.
She was no longer Jo McReynolds, Queen Catcher. Now, she was Jo McReynolds, Mother Hunter.