Then I realize it’s because the next room is filling with water. The sound is coming from behind the door.
“Oliver!” Connor shouts, and Oliver takes a step toward him.
“You don’t want to do that,” I warn him, holding out my hand, magic flaring at my fingers, and he stumbles and goes down.
I slam myself into the door again. It finally fractures and water rushes through into the hall. Gritting my teeth, I tear the door off the hinges, then start inside, searching for Izzy and the others through the rising water.
There’s a wild clash of swords as Van and Connor fight and Van disarms Connor. Van manages to kick him, and Connor flies against the wall. From the corner of my eye, I see Van grab Connor’s shoulder, raising the sword to his throat.
“Surrender,” Van tells him. “Izzy makes me play nice.”
A wicked look comes over Connor’s face, and then Van’s expression changes to one of horror. The veins in his face and arms bulge, his mouth opening. He tries to pull away from Connor, but Connor grabs him, forcing Van’s hand to stay on his hand.
Van ages to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy in a matter of seconds. He falls to his knees.
“They got Reid!” Aiden shouts at me from across the room. Water ripples around my feet.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I shout back.
I turn back for Van but he’s sprawled on the ground. He looks as if he’s aged and died before our very eyes.
And suddenly, the water levels are rising again.
Izzy and Aiden rush toward me. When Izzy sees Van, she tries to rush toward him, but I grab her instead and wrestle her up the stairs.
We've got to get clear of the security magic and teleport.
Or we’re all dead.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Izzy
I’m screaming, trying to get back to Reid and Van, but Aiden’s arms are tight around me, and I’m too shocked to think clearly. Wilder is suddenly at my side, and we’re rushing up the stairs. I sob as we reach the top, and then the castle melts away around us as we teleport, and suddenly we’re beside Mr. Time’s car. He and Brenda are leaning against the side, and when they spot us, their eyes widen.
“What happened?” Mr. Time asks. “Where are Van and Reid?”
I try to tell him, but another sob explodes from my throat. They captured Reid in that box. They aged Van. Is he even alive? They could be lost to us forever.
“Reid is the box,” Aiden says, and his voice catches.
“Connor apparently was more powerful than we thought,” Wilder continues. “He aged Van. We don’t even know if…if…”
“Thea betrayed us,” I say, tears rolling down my face. “It was a trap. And we couldn’t teleport out. We couldn’t save them.”
“Damn it!” Mr. Time says, and the words are filled with helpless anger.
He opens his car door and pulls out something. I realize it’s a dagger. “Viggo is using his powers to keep you guys from teleporting. If we’re going to get to them in time to have a chance at saving their lives, we’re going to need to kill him first.”
I wipe the tears from my eyes and something cold rolls through my veins. I reach out and grab the dagger. “I’ll do it.”
Mr. Time shakes his head. “You don’t understand. He’s powerful and tricky, and right now I happen to know he’s alone on the rocky shore. One person will need to kill him, and the others will need to distract Thea’s gang. Otherwise, they might go to his rescue. We can’t let that happen. We need to kill him and be done with this.”
“I can do it,” I say, curling my hand around the hilt of the dagger.
“You’re strong and amazing,” Aiden tells me, “but you’re not a killer.”
I look back at him. “I wasn’t a killer before, when I had everyone I loved around me. Now, nothing can stop me from getting Reid and Van back.”
“You’re sure?” Aiden asks, and his gaze holds mine.
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation.
“Then we’re going to teleport out onto the lawn, and draw the attention of the others. Don’t underestimate him, Izzy.”
“I won’t,” I say, and rub more tears away. “I won’t ever do that again.”
I had thought my sister and Oliver could be trusted. I thought they would realize how much better things could be if only they stayed with us. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for them. Nothing was. The others were right, there’s something rotten inside of my sister, something I can’t fix.
“Tell me where to go,” I tell Mr. Time.
He explains exactly where Viggo is on the shore beneath the castle, and I turn back to my men. “Ready?”
They nod.
“Don’t worry,” Brenda says. “They won’t be doing this alone.”
I nod, grateful for that at least. Then, I pull the golden blade free from its sheath and clench it tightly. Today I’m going to kill someone. And there must be something wrong with me, because I don’t even care. All I care about is saving the lives of my men.
“Three, two, one…” I teleport after the last number and shimmer into existence on the rocky shore, a man’s back to me.
Gritting my teeth, I leap out toward him and plant the knife firmly into his back, then I yank it out as his scream tears from his lips. He whirls around, stumbling and falling onto the rocks. Viggo’s eyes are wide as they stare up at me.
I leap down on top of him and drive the dagger toward his heart.
His hands close around mine, pushing it back. It hovers between us.
“Stop this, Izzy,” he pants.
I grit my teeth and push harder. “You’re going to die for what you’ve done.”
The dagger waves, inching closer to his chest.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand everything I need to!” I shout, forcing all my weight into the dagger. It shifts lower, piercing the fabric of his shirt.
“But, Izzy, I’m…I’m your father.”
I hate that I hesitate, but I do. “What?”
“I’m your dad. Do you really want to be responsible for killing me?”
I release some of the pressure on the dagger, and it pulls back a little, and his grip loosens too. “That can’t be true.”
“It is. And you don’t how long I spent searching for you after that bitch…”
And everything hits me at once. “You were the person my mom was running from.”
He gives a laugh that’s half hysterical. “You and your sister were born into this world to carry the gods within you. You were to rule the world, with me at your side, but your mother never understood. She never saw the opportunity to serve the gods the way I did. When she found I had marked you to make it so the gods could return within you, she disappeared with you.”
“You…chose this for us? You marked us on purpose?”
His eyes are bright. “I made you into gods. But Thea was too weak. I found the wrong daughter. And now, we can all be together again. We can be a family, and we can rule the world. Think about that. Think about what we could have.”
“You’re right,” I say. “I can picture it perfectly.”
His smile is manic.
And in that moment, I drive the blade into his heart. His eyes widen, and his mouth opens. I expect blood to pour from his lips, but instead a golden light emerges, swirling around us, then dives into the blade. When I pull it back and stand, there’s no blood on his chest either. He touches himself.
“What did you do? Give me back my magic!” he spits at me.
“I pictured the world you’d create with our magic, and I’ll never let that happen.”
I turn to go, and he leaps at me, knocking me over. Rolling over the rocks, I look back to face him as he barrels toward me. Fire explodes from my fingertips and slams into him. He screams, a terrible wailing sound, and races toward the ocean, diving in.
But even from where I stand, the fire doesn’t seem to be going out. It burns and burns as I wa
tch him as he wails and disappears below the surface.
Clutching the dagger in my hand, I realize I’m shaking. Viggo was my father all along? That monster was related to me? The thoughts threaten to pull me under, so I push them aside. I’d have time to deal with that later. For now, I need to get back and save Reid and Van.
I’m about to teleport when a disturbance in the water draws my eye.
Out of waves, my sister emerges. She lifts a finger, and my father comes free too, not moving. She flings her hand, and he goes sailing above the cliff, right back toward the castle.
“Thea!” I shout.
She smiles. “Finally, it’s just us.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Izzy
I look at my sister. I know she wants this to be some kind of epic showdown between us to prove that she’s the better sister, but I don’t give a fuck what she wants. I just want to save my men. I have no idea how the box works, or Connor’s powers, but I can’t imagine anything good is happening to them inside the mansion right now.
And with Wilder and Aiden distracting them, and Viggo’s spell over the castle gone, this could be my chance to save them.
So, I smile right back and teleport away as her gaze changes to one of rage.
I appear inside the house by the stairs that lead to the basement. Outside I can hear chaos, but I ignore it all. Going down the stairs, I find Van still lying where he had been before. Running to him, I kneel down beside him and check for a pulse. The second I detect it, I feel an enormous wave of relief. I take his wrinkled, cold hand in mine and teleport back to our castle.
I have to drag him onto my bed, but luckily he doesn’t wake. I give him a quick kiss on the head, then teleport back to where I’d found Van, then continue on down the stairs. The room is almost entirely filled up with water, but some kind of magic holds it back. I take a deep breath, ready to dive in and search for the box, when a man lifts from the water.
“Barret,” I say his name like a curse.
He smiles, and I honestly can’t believe my sister, no matter how twisted she is, likes this man. He screams of cruelty. Something about him puts me on edge, like he’s a person who inflicts pain on people regularly, and enjoys it.
“So, you’re Izzy…Loki.” He smirks, and his gaze runs over my body in a way that makes me want to take a hot shower and scrub his gaze from my skin. “You’re far more beautiful than your sister.”
“We’re identical twins. And you’re both really unobservant and an asshole.”
His smirk never falters. “Oh, that confidence…that arrogance…it’s refreshing. Thea is like…a broken doll. She was fun to play with at first, but now I wish I could just throw her away. I planned all along to find someone else, but maybe I don’t have to. Maybe when your men are all in the box, Thea can be the one to join them instead of you. Would you like that, sexy?”
“What I would like is to tear your throat out and feed your body to the fishes.”
He laughs. “I’m going to love breaking you, and you’re going to love it too. Come on, Loki, you don’t want those vanilla assholes. You want a real man, like me. Choose the winning side here, Izzy. And the winning side is the side I’m on.”
“Just give me the box,” I say.
He lifts his hand out of the water, clutching the golden box in his hand. “I’ll tell you what. If you can come get it, you can have it.”
I know the water is his domain. I know I’m putting myself at risk when I step forward, but I don’t care. Reid has saved my life more times than I can count.
So, I dive into the water. It comes to chest-level, and I wade forward, my power held tight. Ready to strike.
But he doesn’t move. He just holds the box out on his palm, waiting for me. I know it’s a trick, but I keep going. Reid would risk anything for me. And I’m the trickster god—in the end, I’ll find a way to win.
When I get close enough, I snag it, and then start to retreat. He sinks into the water, and before I can turn around, his arms are around me from behind, his wet body pressed against mine. “Silly Loki, fell for the easiest trick in the book. The old switcheroo. That’s not the real box, but now I have you, and you’re never going to get away. You’re mine now.” His lips brush my throat.
I reach my hand back and let fire roar out of my fingertips. He screams, and I turn to see the skin of his face is on fire. He dives beneath the surface of the water, but the fire seems to keep burning.
Suddenly, I turn to see Thea. She’s standing, and the look of pain and heartbreak on her face is hard to miss. Did she hear all the things Barret said to me? She opens her hand, and the golden box is there. She drops it into the water, then turns and dives beneath the water.
I rush forward, ready for another attack, and grab the box. I swim in a rush back to the steps, but Thea never follows me. When I’m nearly clear, I hear Barret roar, a string of curses exploding from his lips, but I don’t hesitate, I teleport away.
Out on the lawn, Wilder and Aiden face Oliver.
Oliver looks at them like he wants to be anywhere else in the world.
“Where’s Connor?” I ask, frowning.
Wilder’s gaze snaps to me. “I think he’s inside.”
Something rolls down my spine. “I don’t think he is, but I got Reid,” I show the box, “and Van’s safe.”
“Let’s teleport back to the car,” Aiden says, and we all nod.
Before Oliver can say a word, we’re gone. We shimmer into existence by the car.
But Mr. Time and Brenda are gone. My heart lurches, and I walk around the side of the car. Mr. Time and Brenda are lying on the ground. Connor has a hand around each of their throats. When he sees us, he glares through a face that’s bleeding and swollen.
“Come any closer, and I’ll kill them! You guys might get your friends back, but I’ll age them until they die.”
“Don’t hurt them.” Aiden’s voice holds an unspoken threat.
“Barret! Thea! Oliver!” Connor’s voice circles around us.
For a minute nothing happens, and then we spot the other gods walking toward us. Half of Barret’s face is badly burned. Oliver looks scared as hell. And Thea…Thea’s face is unreadable.
We’re all tense, shifting around to keep them in view.
“Let him kill us,” Mr. Time says, his voice firm.
I watch as Connor starts to age him.
“No!” I shout.
Brenda is the one to speak now. “You have to let us go. You can’t save everyone.”
Yes, I can! There has to be a way.
“Give Thea the box,” Connor says slowly. “And we’ll let them live.”
“They’ll just trap you,” Mr. Time wheezes, his face wrinkled, his eyes sunken.
I look at Aiden and Wilder. They look unsure.
“Okay,” I finally say. We can teleport away in time. We can hope to. But I can’t just let my grandfather and Brenda die.
As Thea comes to take the box from me, her gaze won’t meet mine. She snakes it from my palm.
“Now we’ve got you at last,” Barret hisses.
“We gave you the box,” I say to Connor. “Now, let them go.”
Connor grins. “Or not.”
I look back at my sister, eyes wide.
She opens the box and suddenly, Reid comes pouring out.
“Thea, suck them in! Don’t let them out!”
“S-sorry!” Thea mutters.
Reid collapses onto his knees on the ground, and she turns the box to face me. I don’t know what to do. If I run now, Mr. Time and Brenda are dead.
Behind me, I hear Connor gasp. Van is there behind him, and his sword is through the other man’s belly. Connor’s mouth opens, and blood pours out.
Thea gasps, and I turn around, and as fast as I can, I snatch the box from her grip. I back up toward my men, holding it. If I use the box against them now, we can trap the gods and these people for eternity. The fight will be won.
But if I wait and attach th
e piece, they still have a chance at life.
Maybe I’m making a terrible mistake, but I shout behind me, “Teleport away! Take Mr. Time and Brenda with us!”
I sense them shimmer away behind me, but I glance to make certain, then take several steps back. Thea’s gaze is locked on mine, and I see something in her eyes, something that makes me wonder if she let me take the box.
“Kill her!” I hear someone shout.
Viggo is limping toward me, half his body burnt like something out of a horror movie.
Instead of hurting any of them, I teleport away.
My father might be a monster. My sister might have been turned into one by him. But I won’t become like them.
Chapter Thirty
Izzy
When I teleport back, I find myself on the lawn outside our castle. The lights are blazing inside and I can see people moving around. I start toward the house, eager to make sure that everyone is okay--to heal Van and Mr. Time and Brenda from the effects of the aging, and to check on Reid.
But then I stop. For a few seconds, I stay outside, the cool night air caressing my face. I put them all in so much danger because I trusted Thea. Are they mad at me? Do they still love me?
There’s this small, childish part of me--the rejected child carrying her trash bag from home to home--that can’t quite trust they still want me after a mistake like that.
And….was it entirely a mistake? Did I manage to snatch the box from Thea despite her best efforts or…did she let me take it?
I’m sure everyone else sees her as a villain right now, and maybe that’s the right way to look at her. She’s done horrible things. I shouldn’t take one or two moments that seemed tender as more than they really were. Maybe it was just another trick.
Oh, Loki, you’d think I’d be a little harder to trick with you around.
His voice is a purr in my ear. Let me loose, and no one will ever trick you again. You’ll be the ultimate trickster, not the naive, foolish little girl you are now. You’ll never put your friends in danger again.
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