It had all sounded so damn easy in the planning. Just get in, get the poor guy, and escape.
Except Gio had only five minutes to find him and get out. The longer they remained in the house, the more danger the Weavers were in. Fast was best.
But now, Gio could feel every second tick by like a hammer pounding on his head. If he was late, it could mean the lives of his mates.
No! Lucien and Calder were amazing. They would hold the pestilents, and he would find their missing Weaver.
As silently as he could, he climbed the wooden stairs to the exterior deck and managed to sneak into the house undetected when they were all rushing to the front of the house as the guys started an explosive distraction of fires, floods, and raging plant life.
Holding on to his powers, he’d searched the three bedrooms on the ground floor as the pestilents raced around the house, shouting and grabbing weapons. The main floor rooms were painted either white or light, breezy colors to maintain the fun seaside motif. The place was clearly someone’s beach house used for a family vacation. Blankets and pillows littered the floor everywhere in makeshift beds. Obviously, tons of pestilents had been crammed into this place in preparation for the Weavers’ attack. But he couldn’t think about that. He needed to focus on the task at hand, even as his stomach dropped at the image of swarms of pestilents charging his men.
From there, it had been nothing to dart up the wide, winding staircase to the second floor. But when he took one look at the six closed bedroom doors, his energy flagged and flickered. The closet had been the best chance to catch his breath.
The small bite of something sharp on his leg had Gio squinting in the darkness. There was a tiny something crawling up his calf. He barely managed to slap his hand over his mouth to cover the cry that escaped. Oh, this better fucking be Baer. He was not into letting strange mice scale him like a jungle gym.
His heart hammered in his chest and he held his breath, waiting for a sign that someone heard him. There was no movement on the second floor. Through the walls, the low rumble and steady pop of gunfire echoed through the house. He wasn’t sure if the roaring was coming from the waves or the fire. Probably both.
The mouse reached the arm where he was covering his mouth and settled on his bent elbow, staring at him. Yes, this had to be Baer. Or the smartest mouse in the world.
“I needed to catch my breath. Got exhausted using my powers,” he whispered.
The mouse nodded its tiny head as if it completely understood.
“Did you find him?”
To his absolute relief, the mouse nodded again. Thank fuck.
But that also meant it was time to turn invisible again. He took a couple of deep breaths and pushed away the fine shaking through his body. Just a little bit longer, and then he’d be back in the hotel room with his men. When they were all safe, he could collapse, and they’d take turns babying each other. Yeah, that sounded like heaven.
“All right, lead me to him.”
The mouse scurried down him with no problems. Gio watched the tiny space under the door where the hall light shone through. After a couple of seconds, he could see the mouse’s small body slip under it and into the hall.
Gio pulled on the power, muscles straining to hold it in place. He reached out and slowly opened the door. When enough light penetrated the closet, he looked at his body and confirmed that he was in fact invisible.
So cool.
He stepped into the hall but left the closet door open a crack in case he needed to suddenly dart inside again.
It took a few heart-stopping seconds, but Gio finally spotted Baer’s white mouse moving along the baseboards toward the end of the hall. Walking as silently as possible on the shining hardwood floors, Gio followed him to the last door at the end of the hall. The bedroom would have looked out on the back of the house. The guy could probably hear the fighting, but not see it.
“Is he alone?” Gio whispered as he reached for the doorknob.
The mouse nodded.
Good—though he was probably scared out of his mind.
Gio grabbed the doorknob, but it didn’t turn. Locked.
“Baer! It’s locked,” Gio announced in a harsh whisper.
This was the very thing he’d been worried about. This guy was a prisoner. Of course it was locked. He’d asked Lucien and Clay how he was supposed to get to the man if it was locked. Lockpicking was not among his skills. Both men had smiled at him and said leave it to Baer.
The mouse scampered from the wall and in the blink of an eye, became an enormous Kodiak bear. Gio jumped away so fast from the deadly bear that he banged his head against the wall. The bear with a thick brown coat moved its giant head toward him and nuzzled his chest, which only helped Gio to realize he’d lost his hold on his powers. No big surprise there.