CHAPTER SEVEN
The moment the cabin door opened on the plane we were hit with a wave of humidity, so intense Colette actually wrinkled her nose. For a single, vindicated, moment I looked down at my lightweight tshirt and jeans and smirked at everyone's formal attire. The moment was immediately lost as my skin became sticky and the sweat started to bead on my forehead. We made our way across the tarmac and into two, all black, tinted windowed, sedans. Colette, Luc and Elodie piled into the first one while the rest of us piled into the second, Jack opting to sit in front. It was blissfully cold inside the car and my good mood dampened a bit at the prospect of having to run all around Valencia in this weather for the rest of the day.
Anya hadn't really been able to give me much more dirt on Stellan. She told me that he called her every night to check up on her. Sometimes it would be very quick, because he was busy, but most of the time he had a long list of - what she deemed to be - annoying questions she had to answer before he would tell her anything about himself. But all that had changed just about a month ago when he called, like usual, but was so distracted she had asked him what was wrong. He had paused before telling her,
"There is this girl...Avery."
Her face had lit up, like the next part of her story was going to be amazing, and then the plane hit another pocket and Stellan had jolted awake with no intention of going back to sleep. Which had made the rest of the group pull us into their conversation on the plans for the day. Land. Lunch. Shop. Museum. Luc had been kind enough to point out to us that the middle of the day would be mostly useless due to most of the stores shutting down, so we needed to bypass the hotel altogether and make our way into town.
Anya started playing with my locket, running it back and forth on the chain, opening and closing it, twisting it to examine every inch in our silent car. Stellan leaned toward her and lowly mummered in Russian,
"Bud'te ostorozhny s etim."
"I am." She quickly replied and let it rest against her dress again, folding her hands in her lap, but her tone held a hint of annoyance with him. He countered her with a longer sentence in Russian that made her fingers press into the tops of her hands before she sharply turned to look at him. He nodded and she snuck a glance at me before releasing her hands and wrapping her fingers around the locket, pressing it toward her chest, as if to protect it.
I looked over the top of Anya's head at Stellan, raising an eyebrow in question but he just smirked and gave an order to the driver in Castilian. I couldn't take all the silence anymore and asked,
"So what's for lunch?"
"Knowing Luc," Jack started from the front seat, "something unnecessarily elaborate."
"But it will be good." Stellan countered and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes.
"Who needs to eat paella mid-day?" Jack shook his head. We turned onto another street and I couldn't help but marvel at it all.
Valencia was dense in a way I had not been expecting for a coastal city. There was no space between each unique building and each one was at least four stories tall with wires and laundry cables connecting one to another. One building would be decidedly French with white walls and ornate black iron balconies, the next would be modern with floors of sleek reflective glass that sparkled in the sunlight as we passed. The streets were well maintained and clean but there was still grafitti everywhere - on trash cans, on utility doors, etched on the bus stops. Despite the speed the cars were moving at I managed to pick out a few curse words in black and blue spray paint along the side of a building. I smiled to myself, immediately remembering the neighborhoods we'd pass through when I lived in Los Angeles. There were people everywhere, despite the weather, walking and shopping along the tree lined boulevards. Our cars made a striking impression among all the scooters and motorcycles that outnumbered us at least five to one. I couldn't keep my eyes off the street lights, they looked like pearls being strung from looping black iron - a far cry from the fluorescent ugly poles, with shoes flung around the tops, in most of the neighborhoods I'd grown up in back in the States.
The cars pulled off the main road onto a side street and double parked in front of an entire line of scooters. There were four restaurants side by side, the only thing distinguishing their outdoor patios from each other was the decor. Each table seemed to stop their meal to get a better look at our cars. The driver for the first car stepped out and held the door open but no one exited. Right as I was about to ask what the hold up was every door but my own swung open as Stellan, Jack and the driver all exited.
"Right," I exhaled, remembering the plan. Colette was going to run a bit of interference and draw attention away from Stellan, Anya and I. Luc had picked this restaurant because it was off the main street and across the street from Zara, which I was told was some kind of department store. Colette was going to make an exit from the car, we were going to quickly move into the restaurant, and by the time we were done he was hoping the afternoon crowds would have thinned so we could just cross the street to the store. "Ready?"
Anya looked up at me, her fist still tight around my locket and nodded, her face set. Stellan opened my door and the two of us slid out and made a quick line toward the restaurant right as Colette stepped out of the car, adjusting her glasses. A few gasps could be heard before a mummer started. She looked back into the car asking Elodie and Luc something in French, Luc emerged with her purse, and I watched as phones started sliding out of people's pockets right as we hit the door to La Mary.
Jack made it to the hostess first and started speaking in Castilian. She smiled and made a gesture toward the back of the restaurant. He looked at us with a nod and we started weaving through tables. La Mary was still busy despite it being the end of their opening for lunch. Couples were sipping wine over empty plates, locals were taking pictures of their desserts with their phones, two men in suits and ties were finishing some beers at the bar. We followed the hostess toward the back of the restaurant until we came to the back wall that held a red velvet curved booth that sat about ten. Behind the booth was an entire wall of professionally lit blue and white plates that matched the rest of the decor quite well, with the white clapboards and blown glass light fixtures. Jack thanked the hostess and glanced around the area for a moment. We were alone, only a few tables to be bussed, and seeming satisfied Jack slid into the booth without even a glance back at the rising volume of the customers as Colette made her way toward us. Stellan made a quick pointing gesturing toward the booth and Anya slid in without a word. I followed her next and settled down as Stellan perched on the end of the seat.
Through the mummers and bustle of the restaurant we could hear Colette speaking in French with Luc quickly translating to Castilian for some of the patrons. I wanted to smile at how surreal it all was but all I felt was tense. Looking at Jack and Stellan didn't make me feel any better. They seemed relaxed at first glance, but if you knew them better you knew they were on alert. Their eyes darted to everyone in the room, then the exits, then Colette, then the waiters - calculating, planning, scanning. Colette finally made it to our table and Jack stood up to let her in. She slid all the way across to sit next to Anya, Luc and Elodie filing in next. As soon as Jack and Stellan finally settled into the end seats the food started to arrive.
Croquettes, crusty bread, prosciutto over eggs, a plate of charcuterie, salad with heirloom tomatoes, a basket of french fries with some kind of dipping sauce all landed on the table on small plates with just enough food on each to be shared with one or two people at the table. Another waiter started setting chilled bottles of Pierre at each of our table settings, and I sat back in my seat a little overwhelmed at just how much had filled the table so quickly. Bottles of wine were being presented and Luc started pointing, glasses arrived next, and then everyone was gone and we were alone again with a table full of food and wine and everyone too nervous to eat.
"Have you ever had croquettes Anya?" Luc broke our silence and everyone turned to look at her, she shrank back into her seat and instinctively leaned toward Stellan pressing into my side as she shook her head. "These ones are pretty good. Not the best I've ever had but you should try one."
He leaned over the table and stuck a fork into one splitting it in half and slid part onto her plate, taking the other for himself. She took a tentative bite and then smiled and nodded, finishing the croquette in just a few bites and pushing up a bit in her seat to look at the rest of the food. Luc slid another whole croquette on her plate with a wink.
I reached for a piece of bread and then twisted off the top on my Pierre as Colette served herself and Elodie some of the salad. She sat back for a moment, glancing between Stellan and Jack a few times before letting out a sigh,
"Let's just tell them now."
"What?" Jack and Stellan said at the exact same moment and my shoulders shook with my suppressed laugh before I looked over to see Colette's worried face.
"Elodie put Rocco's SIM card into her phone on the plane. When we landed, it immediately started buzzing with messages."
"We were sifting through them on the car ride, it was hard to discern at first." Luc took a sip of wine and glanced over at Elodie, who remained silent. "But we might have a contact to meet up with here in Spain."
"What do you mean hard to discern?" Stellan leaned onto the table toward Luc so he could keep his voice down. Luc frowned and then answered,
"He had a strange naming system of his contacts. But it would seem that they are split into three groups: Saxon Order, trustworthy and easily bought. And before you ask - the contact here in Spain could be easily bought."
"Not worth it then." Stellan immediately replied and I saw Jack clench his jaw as he stopped himself from voicing his disagreement. Everyone looked away and I set my bread down and crossed my arms,
"Just say it Jack."
His gray eyes shot to mine across the table, stormy but grateful and he started, "just because they're listed as easily bought doesn't mean we should write them off."
"That's exactly why we should. We don't have the time or the resources to vet out people that would," Stellan started and then made a hard stop glancing down at Anya, "betray us."
Elodie pushed her empty plate away and grabbed some olives before lowly adding, "I could be translating it wrong. I agree with Stellan, but to be fair, my Arabic is beginner at best."
"We haven't replied to anyone yet, but it would appear that word traveled fast. Several of the messages were sent trying to confirm if Rocco was still," Colette paused glancing at Anya, "there. The fact that he hasn't replied in a few days surely confirmed it to those that knew him."
"All the more reason not to see this contact." Stellan shook his head as he said it and busied himself by piling a little of everything onto his plate. I glanced over at Anya who was slowly picking through the french fries, staying silent, but watching everything with her wide blue eyes. Jack stabbed at the egg on his plate and then took a breath to try again,
"We don't even know if the contacts listed as trustworthy are actually trustworthy, it's trusting Rocco's judgement. He didn't know the alliances we were forming. If we don't take any risks we'll never have enough manpower to find this tomb."
"Our group is already big enough," Stellan frowned at him but Jack was shaking his head.
"Don't even go there - you know I'm right. You know what we could make other Keepers do to make all this easier."
For a long, silent, moment the rest of us just looked back and forth between Jack and Stellan as they had one of their silent conversations again. It was broken only when a waiter showed up to start clearing plates and refilling glasses. Everyone else looked down at their plates but I took a swig of the Pierre and narrowed my eyes toward Jack,
"What would you make other Keepers do?"
Stellan and Jack's heads both lifted up from pretending to eat to look at me and Luc took a gulp of his wine muttering into the glass,
"Oh boy."
"They could help run security details and secure areas that we're going to investigate." Jack cautiously started.
"Which would only send off a bigger flag to the Saxon spies what we were doing." Elodie countered and I turned my full attention to her. Elodie had been near silent since last night and Colette and Luc seemed to be touching her with kid gloves all morning. The dark bags under her eyes and the stale cigarette smell that hung on her had led me to believe they must not have known how to help Elodie either. I didn't want to push her too hard, but she was a vital member of this team,
"What do you think Elodie?"
She slowly looked at me, her eyes bloodshot and mascara smudged - but not in an intentional way. "It would be a mistake to meet this contact."
Jack pushed his plate away as Stellan ran a hand across his forehead in frustration and I pressed,
"But why?"
"Because Jack isn't telling you everything. I know what he meant." She gave him a challenging look. "And because that's what a Circle member would do - and we're supposed to be destroying the Circle."
"She has a point," Luc said into his glass as he tipped it back to finish it. The waiter appeared again refilling his glass and started removing all the still full plates of appetizers from the table. I reached out and snatched my bread before it could be taken away. When the waiter left I turned back to her,
"Then what was the point of having Rocco in the first place?"
"Because you claimed him for the 13th." She looked at Stellan for a moment. "He was yours. Anyone else hasn't been claimed so they can't be trusted. Even if Rocco thought they were trustworthy."
The waiter and waitresses arrived again with plates full of food and I settled back into my seat thinking as they set up. Two different fish dishes, a chicken dish with a delicious looking sauce over the top of it, seafood with pasta, seared steak over a bed of greens, paella, and a cheeseburger of all things.
"Parece deliciosa. Gracias." Luc smiled at the staff and they all left without a word. He pulled the paella toward himself and looked at the rest of us, "you better eat this food. It would be incredibly rude not to since they are staying open for us."
I snagged the chicken for myself and then looked over at Anya to ask what she'd like when Stellan reached across the table and picked up the seafood with pasta dish and set it down in front of her. She smiled at the plate and started working on all the shellfish. He leaned back against the booth and scanned the now empty restaurant for a minute before glancing at me.
The side of his mouth twitched like he wanted to smile but forced himself not to. I slid my free hand under the table to grab his own and tried to squeeze some reassurance into him. He squeezed back and then ran his thumb across the palm of my hand until it was on the underside of my ring finger. He started pressing against the empty space again and I smiled down at my chicken and tried to, unsuccessfully, cut it one handed.
"If we're not going to meet this contact can someone please tell me, again, why going shopping is priority?" Jack grumbled into the cheeseburger.
"Because Anya and Avery are wearing everything they own." Colette quickly answered and split the steak with Elodie. Jack rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut.
"I am going shopping too?" Anya's small voice rose with excitement.
"Of course ma princesse," Luc exclaimed and bowed his head a bit toward her as Stellan shot him a very annoyed look. She pressed her lips tight before giving Luc a beaming smile in response, and even moody Jack seemed to relax a little. With one final squeeze to my finger Stellan released my hand and we all quickly finished our lunch under the watchful eyes of the remaining staff at La Mary.
It wasn't until we had made it to the front door that the hostess said something in Castilian to Luc, who then turned to Colette and asked her in French. She smiled and nodded and I started making my way toward the front door as the waiter and waitresses that had stuck around took individual pictures with Colette. I watched with mild detachment trying to wrap my brain around how quickly my life had changed. Not even two months ago I might have been that waitress taking a picture with Colette LeGrand and retelling the tale to anyone who would listen. It was surreal to imagine my life without her in it now, she'd become such a fixture for me. Right as all the picture taking was wrapping up the hostess asked Luc something in Castilian again and this time Luc, Stellan and Jack's heads snapped toward me with a worried glance. The hostess leaned around Luc to look at me a little closer and I swallowed hard, leaning against a booth. Luc looked over at Stellan and he shook his head. Luc turned to the girl with a frown,
"Yo'm lo siento, pero no. No hay fotos."
I understood that one just fine with my two years of high school Spanish. I turned for the door and started moving toward the exit when I felt Stellan touch the small of my back and move me faster out of the restaurant. The rush of whispers in Castilian followed me out as the door shut behind us. Once we hit the street I looked up at him and quietly asked,
"I don't want to take any pictures. But why shouldn't I be taking any pictures?"
"Adds to the mystery, kuklachka." He stopped and we both turned around to see the rest of the group, Luc just steps behind us. "Besides, they already took your picture."
"What?" I looked back at Stellan, shocked, as we stopped at the crosswalk.
"You have to assume they always take your picture." Luc replied. "Especially after everything that happened to you in Italy."
The rest of the group caught up with us and I looked over at Colette with her giant sunglasses, perfectly styled hair and polished outfit. Was I always going to have to be 'on' like that now? It's one thing for the Circle to be watching us, for the Saxons to be watching us, but to also be some kind of C list celebrity was crossing into territory I didn't know I was comfortable with.
"So we split in the store?" Colette asked and I looked out at the busy street. Across from us in gleaming giant silver lettering was Zara. The storefront was at least two stories tall with huge window displays of faceless white mannequins showcasing their clothes for both women and girls. The plan was to split into two teams. Jack and Stellan were going to do their Keeper thing, Jack's priority being Anya and Stellan's being me and the rest of us were supposed to shop as quickly as possible.
"No more than an hour, that's when the cars are coming back anyway." Luc confirmed and the light changed for us to cross. We entered the store and my feet actually stuck to the ground for a moment at the sheer size of the place, I couldn't see the back of the store. It had an vaulted ceiling with the center of the store holding the elevator and winding stairs to the second floor. Everything was reflectively bright from the overhead spotlights highlighting tables and racks of clothes. The gleaming white with black stripe accent was duplicated on everything in the store, giving it a very modern and slick feeling. Stellan and Jack glanced at each other and seemed to simultaneously switch tactics.
"Colette, Elodie - you're with me." Jack ordered and reflexively checked the small of his back before moving closer to Anya and pointing toward the elevators in the center of the store. "Anya's section should be upstairs."
Anya looked up at Stellan for a moment, silently asking permission, and he smiled and waved her off, "have fun."
She skipped ahead of the group toward the elevators, the sparkles on her shoes picking up all the lighting for the displays as she moved. As we watched them leave I saw two store clerks weaving quickly through the displays toward us and Luc gave a little clap and rubbed his hands together before calling out toward them,
"Perfecto. Necesitamos mucha ayuda."
There was a quick exchange of pleasantries and then Luc gestured toward me. The two store clerks, one brunette with long wavy hair and green eyes, the other brown eyed with a severe black bob looked at me for a moment, then at Stellan wandering the displays behind us with little sighs of disappointment.
"¿Usted habla inglés?" Luc asked the girls and they tore their eyes away from Stellan and both shook their heads. He shrugged and they gestured toward the side of the store that held all the women's clothing.
"Maybe it's better that way," I lowly said to Luc. "I'll only understand half the insults."
Luc let out a loud laugh that made everyone look toward us and I felt myself blush. We made our way toward a dressing room and the brunette pulled out a cloth tape measure, letting it flutter behind her as she started asking Luc a series of rapid fire questions. As they hashed out what was obviously the long list of items I'd need I saw Stellan settle on a large white leather couch positioned right outside the dressing rooms. I left Luc to his orders and sat flush against him. He rose an eyebrow at me,
"I would have thought you'd be into shopping."
"Not recently." I looked down at my hands and for a flash of a moment they were splattered with blood. I closed my eyes and quickly clenched them. Stellan shifted next to me and I popped my eyes back open, the memory gone, and busied my fingers with some fraying on a small hole in my jeans.
"What is it?" He hooked his pinky finger around one of my pointers, pulling it away from the fretting. I straightened my shoulders and tried to laugh it off, but the memory made my free hand clench a little,
"Last time I went shopping…"
"Prada." He quickly cut over me and pulled my hooked finger into his lap so he could cup my hand in his own. He leaned over and dropped a kiss into my hair, and I relaxed my head against his upper arm as we both heard Luc behind us,
"Los estadounidenses no tienen ningún sentido de la moda."
Stellan laughed a little and I couldn't help but feel like Luc's statement might have been insulting. Luc pulled at the back of my shirt and I slid my hand out of Stellan's and moved toward the dressing rooms. The two girls descended on me, measuring every inch of me, turning me around in the three way mirror, gesturing for me to step out of my shoes before conversing in low Castilian and then taking off into opposite sides of our section. Luc finished checking something on his phone, frowned, and then looked up at me,
"What would you say your style is like?"
"That's a thing?" I countered and his eyes widened a little before he shook his head.
"It's worse than I thought," he reached forward and pulled my arm toward the large dressing room at the back.
"I might have had one - but I've sort of been a fugitive as of late." I defensively retorted as he pushed me into the space and pulled the floor length silver curtain closed with a flourish. I looked at the small gold stump that was supposed to be a chair and floor length mirror before poking my head out from the curtain, "What am I supposed to do in here?"
"Strip," he ordered, his purple eyes darkening with annoyance. My shocked expression made a hint of a smile form on his face, "And give me the clothes you're wearing."
"Why?" I pulled the curtain tighter around my neck, just a disembodied head reflecting endlessly in the three way mirrors to my right.
"I'm going to burn them," he exhaled and held out his hand toward me. I frowned and slunk back behind the curtain removing my shirt first. The curtain ripped open and I let out a little 'meep' as the two girls started hanging clothes on all the hangers of the small space, completely ignoring my half nakedness. Luc at least had the decency to look away and at his phone again. The blunt bob girl held out a dress to me,
"Esto primero."
"That one first, Avery." Luc translated, distracted. I took the dress from the girl and they both stepped out, closing the curtain behind them. I looked down at the dress and instantly knew it wasn't going to work. It was a long sleeved white looking coat with a jet black zipper running up the front, and belted with black satin. It was also incredibly short. I shimmied out of my jeans and pulled the dress on, looked at myself, shook my head, and pushed the silver aside to see all three of them start shaking their heads as well. The girls dove back into the space and started pulling other pieces out, shoving them into an empty dressing room before conversing with each other and taking off again.
"I would have thought everything looked good on you - you have the body type." Luc wrinkled his nose at the dress.
"As if this wasn't already stress inducing," I grumbled and fidgeted under his stare, "now I get to add humiliating."
"The only thing that is humiliating is how horrible you look standing next to Stellan." Luc countered and I felt my mouth drop open with shock. "Someone had to say it."
"Maybe not like that!" I crossed my arms over my chest as the girls returned and pushed another dress into my hands. This one was a sleeveless, backless, calf length, plunge neckline black dress. I immediately shook my head at the store clerk. She smiled and pushed it into my hands again.
"We need a baseline Avery, just try it on." Luc called out to me and I closed the curtain with an angry yank. I put the weird coat dress back on a hanger and slipped on the new dress, my white bra hanging out everywhere.
"This dress is ridiculous." I grumbled loud enough for them to hear and swung the curtain back to their critical eyes. They all paused and then the girls decided something and took off.
"You know, I take it back. The two of you did look good together in formal wear." Luc said as he appraised me again. "But how often is that going to happen?"
"Hopefully never again." I replied as I pulled the silky silver fabric of the curtain around the back of myself to try and hide my bra.
"You're hilarious," Luc laughed and crossed his arms leaning against the wall. "There isn't even a small part of you that is worried about how you look?"
"Maybe," I shrugged. The girls returned with a cap sleeved, v-neck, knee length, empire waisted dress in a mustard yellow color. I quickly changed and looked in the mirror for a moment, examining at how the dress cut perfectly into what little curves I had to give me an hourglass figure. It made the pink in my hair stand out even more against the yellow and I smiled before opening the curtain.
"Mucho más cerca! Pero más personalidad." Luc nodded and the girls agreed before taking off. I leaned against the changing room wall and rose an eyebrow at him,
"Is style really that important considering everything we have to do?"
Luc pulled his bottom lip into his mouth for a moment, formulating how he was going to word his response, and then released it,
"How you look doesn't only reflect on yourself, it reflects on Stellan as well. If you want anyone to take you seriously you can't be giving orders in his shirts and jackets. Your style should distinguish your personality but also complement his. A united front. So whenever the two of you are together your power and unity is conveyed without words."
The brunette's green eyes flashed with excitement as she placed the next dress in my hands. It seemed unassuming at first, boring even, with the three quarter sleeves and gold threading underlying all the intricate black lace. I shrugged and moved back into the room changing and into the new piece without facing the mirrors. The bottom hit above the knee but at a comfortable length, and despite hugging every curve the lace over the chest kept it pretty conservative. It felt comfortable and I pulled the curtain back and watched all three pairs of eyes widen before they started nodding. Luc stepped forward and pulled my hair tie out, letting my humidity induced curls fall over my shoulders. The other clerk came forward and wrapped a gold belt around my waist before stepping back and Luc pointed toward the three way mirror.
"Stellan, viens ici." Luc called out and I moved toward the three way mirror as the brunette placed a pair of nude peep toe heels in front of me. I slipped them on and looked up to see Stellan openly staring at me in the reflection of the mirrors. Luc leaned toward him and smirked, "you're welcome."
I stood up straight to try and get a better look at the whole outfit but all I could see was Stellan in the mirrors, and then how the two of us looked together, and my stomach did a couple of nervous flips. He blinked a couple times and then broke into that smile that made all my nerve endings come alive, my body burning with happiness and desire.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Luc usher the two girls out of the space commenting in Castilian before giving the two of us a final glance. I played with the belt a little, starting to feel self conscious under his unwavering stare.
"What do you think?"
"All I want to do is take it off of you," he lowly commented and closed the space between us. "So that's a good start."
He gently brushed my hair aside and leaned down toward my neck leaving a trail of feather light kisses toward the collar of my dress, as his hand slipped around my waist and pulled me flush against him. I felt everything heat up and looked into the mirrors at the almost unrecognizable girl being adored in front of me. I watched her reach up and grab the loose hanging tie at her shoulder, wrap it around her hand and pull it down to keep the kisses at her neck. I watched her drop her shoulder and tilt her head to give him more access. To which he wasted no time making each kiss quicker and harder. His hands started to travel south, fast, his fingers reaching the hem of the dress and I stepped out of his touch, still holding the tie.
I made a little turn and tugged it again with a smirk and his eyes darkened as he subconsciously licked his lips. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Luc come in and then immediately turn back around and I dropped the tie - the magic of our moment ebbing away. All the sounds from the department store, the Castilian pop music, the chatter of the two girls assisting me, flooded back in and I took another step away feeling the mirrors against my back.
"They have more for me to try on." I whispered and Stellan, still dazed, straightened, nodded, and moved back out to the couch. There was a pause and then Luc entered first, giving me the once over before holding out another dress.
"Something a little more formal."
The two girls entered, clearing out a majority of the clothes they had initially selected and replacing it was every different type of clothing you could imagine.
"Do I have to try all of this on?" I glanced at the staggering number of items and felt even more of my desire ebb out.
"You had other plans at the moment?" Luc questioned and I rose an eyebrow at him. He let out a little laugh and glanced over at the white leather couch before putting the dress onto a hook on the outside of a changing room door. "I could pick out your entire wardrobe…"
"I feel like I could trust you," I paused contemplating, "as long as it will release me from this torture."
"I live to serve my Queen." He gave me a little bow and I crossed my arms over my chest and scrunched my face into an annoyed look, but I couldn't keep it for long. All of this was so ridiculous, and the longer we stayed the more anxious I was getting.
"That does not give me confidence."
"If I could convince Stellan to stop wearing purple - I can convince you to stop looking like some hobo." Luc finished by pointing at my pile of clothes on the floor. "You can change back now."
I moved toward the pile and picked up all my clothes before leaning toward him to lowly question, "purple?"
"Don't even get me started," he shook his head and moved out toward the girls still pulling items across the store.
I stepped back into the changing room, making sure to be careful hanging the dress back up and put my comfortable, though obviously despised, clothes back on. Right as I was slipping into my flats I heard Anya's voice echoing toward us. I moved out to the doorway just in time to see her give a little spin for Stellan, the patterned white tulle swishing and floating around her as it settled. He gave her a round of applause and she beamed at him before noticing me. Her fingers immediately went around the locket, as if checking it was still there, before she turned to see the rest of her group making their way back. Elodie and Colette were weighed down with bags on each arm, Jack kept glancing around the place as they came to a stop in front of the couch.
"Are you lot finished as well?" Jack glanced over at me, still standing in the doorway of the changing room before looking down at Stellan. Luc picked out a few more items from a nearby table before calling out to him,
"Someone call the cars back. Just five more minutes here."
Elodie pulled out her phone and took a few steps away from us, making the call right as Anya started to wander toward the gleaming display of jewelry. Colette set the bags down next to Stellan and followed after her. Elodie set her bags down as well and then glanced at her phone again before turning it toward the rest of us,
"Another text."
"From who?" Stellan asked and sat up straighter on the couch.
"The contact here in Spain. He knows what happened in Russia and he wants to meet with us." Elodie answered and turned to Jack, already shaking her head.
"We should meet him." Jack supplied in the same moment that Stellan said,
"He's obviously Saxon then."
The two narrowed their eyes at each other and I moved out from the doorway to stand at the back of the couch.
"Elodie?" I asked, ignoring them.
"He's obviously Saxon. But he knows we'd know that. He's listed as easily bought, so the real question shouldn't be if we meet with him or not, it should be what the price is." She clenched the phone in her hand and looked at me with exhausted eyes, "any price is too high."
"That's not true." Jack immediately cut in. Her eyes snapped to him instead with a look that would make lesser men flinch. Jack steeled himself and turned his attention to Stellan. "At the very least we could extract some information out of him before Terminating him."
"I'm sorry," I grabbed onto the back of the couch, startled, "did you just say Terminate him?"
Everyone took a breath, ready to fight, when Anya ran over holding a handful of necklaces. We all looked away from each other and Stellan ran a hand across his forehead for a moment before forcing a smile at her.
"I couldn't help myself," Colette laughed gesturing at the necklaces. She looked at the four of us and the smile dropped off her face, but she quickly recovered. "I hope you don't mind."
"It's fine." Stellan replied and stood. "The cars should be here now."
I looked out into the store and saw Luc at the counter taken up entirely by my mountain of clothes. He looked over at me, I pointed toward the doors and he nodded. He quickly covered the space, Elodie and Colette picked up Anya's bags again and I fell back to ask Luc,
"So where are my clothes?"
"I'm having them sent to the hotel laundry. I'll tell the driver to do the same with Anya's." He held the door for me and a wall of humidity blasted us. We jogged across the street to catch up with everyone and piled back into our respective cars. If the car ride here had been quiet, the car ride to the museum was deafeningly silent. Even Anya sensed the mood shift and silently played with the tulle edge of her dress. When we finally pulled in front of the museum everyone jumped out at once putting space between ourselves before moving to the entrance.
My eyebrows scrunched a bit as I took in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, and that was because it looked like a French chateau. Nothing about it seemed Spanish to me. Even the giant light dome at the apex of the building was in a shade of blue I'd seen mirrored through the streets of Paris. I looked over at the rest of the group to see if anyone else had noticed this, but they were all in single file line entering the museum. I turned around, gazing across the lines of traffic to the people stopping to take pictures of the park below us, biking across the well worn paths, chatting with each other as they waited for the bus, generally enjoying this beautiful day. I was envious of them. It might look like we were all here to enjoy the art, but this day was getting progressively darker. The conversation in Zara swirled in my mind again and I frowned.
"Avery!" Stellan called out to me and I tore my eyes away from the park and made my way into the imposing French but not French museum.
A/N: You three might be the only ones reading and reviewing - so thanks to my editing team for their continued support and help. :)
Chapter Soundtrack
My Type - Saint Motel
Adventure of a Lifetime - Coldplay
Papaoutai - Stromae
Gypsy Kings - Como Tu (Flamenco Mix)