Haze by Paula Weston Read Free Book Online

gesture to Taya’s neck.
    ‘Sore.’ Her eyes fall to my matching scar. Thanks to Rafa, the wound has almost completely healed, but there’s nothing I can do about the ugly marks left behind.
    Taya blows on her tea. The smell of cloves and cinnamon wafts across the table.
    ‘Why did you do it?’
    ‘Do what?’ I know what she’s talking about. I want to hear her say it.
    ‘Why did you jump in front of the hell-spawn?’ She watches me. It’s totally messing with her head that I saved her life on the mountain.
    ‘Let’s call it bad judgment.’
    She doesn’t say anything. We both know it was more complicated than that.
    My phone vibrates with a message. It’s Jason. He’s waiting at the bungalow. I need to go, but I can’t look as though I’m in a hurry.
    ‘So, what’s Malachi going to do when he gets here? Wash glasses? Be Rick’s door bitch?’
    ‘He’s got priorities elsewhere for the moment.’
    ‘Something more important than antagonising me? Must be big.’ And then it hits me: maybe the Rephaim have a lead on the Fallen. Maybe Daisy’s job in Syria is more than an excuse to distract her from what’s happening in Pan Beach. My stomach flutters. I have no idea if that’s good or bad news.
    Taya stands up. ‘I need to settle in. Don’t go anywhere.’
    Settle in? ‘Where are you staying?’
    ‘Above the bar.’
    Simon and Rick live above the bar.
    ‘I told Rick I hadn’t booked anywhere yet. He offered me their spare room until I find my feet.’ She grins.
    Across the road, a huge wave smashes onto the beach, bringing a cheer from the surfers watching from the sand. Taya living with Simon. I can only imagine how he feels about that.
    ‘You worried about your barman?’
    ‘Leave him alone, Taya. He doesn’t care about us. He wants to forget we exist.’
    Her eyes sharpen. ‘How many humans do you think know about the Rephaim?’
    It’s a rhetorical question so I don’t bother answering.
    ‘Right now, about three dozen, and most of those are monks at the Sanctuary. That puts your friends here in a very elite group.’
    ‘And whose fault is that? If you and Malachi hadn’t turned up, they’d still be oblivious.’
    ‘No, Gabe, if you hadn’t turned up they’d be oblivious.’
    Out past the waves, the kestrel hovers over the water, riding the wind. It beats its wings once, twice, and dives for the surface, disappearing behind the swell.
    ‘Then that makes my friends my responsibility,’ I say, measuring my words. ‘I’ll take care of it.’
    Taya laughs. ‘Nice try. Daniel’s given me the job and, unlike other people at this table, I know how to follow orders. So’—she drains her tea—‘I’ll take care of your mess.’

LAST CAT IN THE BAG
    ‘I’m not going anywhere without telling him.’
    ‘Gaby, he can’t know.’ Jason is standing in the kitchen, his whole body tense. Sunlight streams through the window, turns his hair an even lighter shade of honey.
    ‘What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out I’ve gone somewhere with you? He’s already pissed off about what you’ve been up to.’
    Jason shakes his head. ‘We need to go now.’
    ‘I have to tell him.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because the last time I went off without him I ended up in a cage with a hellion.’ I say it without thinking, and for a brief sickening moment I’m back behind the diamond-shaped wire, lying on blood-soaked sawdust. Jason frowns and I’m guessing he’s remembering how torn up I was when he and Rafa found me. He moves to the kitchen window to let in fresh air. The newspaper flutters on the bench where Rafa left it.
    ‘There’s only one way to get what I need to protect Maggie and he can’t be a part of it,’ he says.
    We’ve been arguing about this since I got here five minutes ago. I don’t even know what it is Jason wants to do—only that it involves shifting somewhere without telling Rafa. But I know what we agreed to: that someone be with Maggie at all times