Free Taken (Ava Delaney #4) by Claire Farrell Page A

to me.”
    I felt a pang
at the memory of Helena. “When I was leaving England, Lucia sent me
an image. Probably accidentally, but it was Helena. She’s been on
my mind ever since. Ever feel like there’s something a lot bigger
going on around us, Esther? Like someone else is pressing all the
buttons, and we’re just running around doing whatever is expected
of us.”
    “That’s
basically my job description,” she said with a grin. “Come on, we
should get a move on. I promised Aiden I would be home for dinner
tonight.”
    “Wouldn’t want
to give the big, bad alpha a reason to hate me. Whoops, too
late.”
    “Shut up.” She
jostled me as we headed to her car. The vehicle wasn’t exactly
discreet, being practically miniature and the colour of purple
Smarties.
    Dita and Anka
were returning to their home, loaded with shopping bags. Looking
strained at the sight of a Guardian, Anka nodded at me, while Dita
stared at Esther’s car with longing.
    “They the
ones?” Esther asked when we got into her car.
    “Yep. Any idea
what happened to him?”
    She shook her
head. “He wasn’t taken by us. Old Mrs. Yaga is a bit mysterious,
but from what I hear, you’re okay as long as you’re in one of her
houses. She protects her properties, and everyone inside them. I
don’t know what kind of deals she’s made, but she’s untouchable, as
far as us Guardians are concerned. Either way, we couldn’t have
helped your neighbour, of course, what with her big bad being a
human. We don’t deal with humans.”
    I wanted to ask
why not, but I knew the answer. Humans were even further down the
food chain than us ‘mongrels.’
    “I feel bad for
the kid,” I said after a few minutes, although my mind was still on
Mrs. Yaga. I had been afraid to look too deeply into what she did,
and I kept finding myself wondering if Dita had actually seen her
father since that night.
    Esther drove
away too fast. The sun was still warm, but a sharp breeze came
through the car window. I had to keep it open because being in
Esther’s car felt a little claustrophobic.
    “Kids are
resilient.”
    “Oh, I forgot.
You are resilient, aren’t you?”
    She stuck her
tongue out without looking at me. “Hilarious. Every single time you
lot say it.” She pressed the horn as a teenage boy strolled across
the road in front of the car. “Idiot. I think some of them actually
want me to hit them.”
    “They think
they can sue,” I said, smiling as she revved the engine to scare
the boy.
    “They can try.
What were we saying? Oh, yeah, the kid. She’ll forget about it.
She’ll probably grow up determined to never allow a man to lay a
hand on her. No need to think the worst.”
    “The mother
insisted Dita is better off with her father, even though he’s a
crap person.”
    “That’s a bit…
off. I couldn’t imagine being around my own father would be good
for my self-esteem.” She glanced at me. “Maybe you’re letting
yourself get too involved.”
    “Maybe.” I knew
why I tended to get overly involved with everything going on around
me. It was because I had distanced myself from the real world for
so long, and I had that weird hole inside of me, empty because of
loss, of unanswered questions. My parents couldn’t have put me
through worse than my grandmother, but even if they had, part of me
was still curious to know what they were like.
    Traffic ran
smoother than usual, so it didn’t take long to get to Callista’s
home in an affluent part of Dublin city. The house was a large
building contained by a gated entrance. Private enough, but no
magic surrounding it. No windows were open, and no curtains covered
them—nothing that said it was lived in.
    “Esther, I
don’t think she’s here.”
    Esther frowned
but pulled in anyway. The gate opened easily when we tried, and we
both walked up to the front door together.
    After rapping
on the front door impatiently, Esther peered in the windows.
“You’re right.” She lifted her hand to chew