by Cecily White
They stood in a row, their hands bound behind their backs, blindfolds cloaking their eyes and gags over their mouths. Katie’s body quaked with sobs, the bodice of her ice blue halter constricting. Behind them, Alec stood with his double-bolted crossbow. He’d obviously come as Katie’s date. The blue of his cummerbund coordinated with her dress, just as Matt’s vibrant red matched the glittery orange and crimson stones sewn into Lisa’s dress. The two girls had even styled their hair with similar clips, clusters of gemstones that reflected the orb-light like crystals of ice in Katie’s blond twist and licks of fire through Lisa’s brown curls. My friends looked amazing. I could only imagine the jealous snit Veronica must’ve had when they arrived.
“Glad you decided to join us,” Thibault said with a smug grin. “Alec assured me you would. Your sister very much wants to meet you.”
“I don’t have a sister,” I told him. “If your soul-sucking lap-dog wants to meet me, she can ‘friend’ me on Facebook like everyone else.”
I felt myself backing up, eager to put as much space as possible between me and the raving lunatic. My fingers spread open as I pulled at another channel. This time there was nothing—no answering crackle or buzz like there’d been before. Just a fizzle of darkness. I shook my hand and tried again. No luck.
Suddenly, I understood what the wards around the room had meant. “Blocking spell, huh? Lucky I brought my sword.”
“Amelie, dear, don’t be so dramatic. We’re all family here.” Thibault’s thumb whispered absently over a small metal box in his hand. Good grief, was that a detonator?
“Family?” I said, trying to sound calm. “You’ve killed hundreds of people.”
“Out of necessity,” he pooh-poohed. “Do you have any idea what will happen if Guardians join with Inferni? If we train them? Let them fight with us?”
“Um, world peace?”
“Armageddon!” In an instant, his pleasant expression dissolved into rage. “Heaven will stand open and the armies of God will come; the angels will rise and all shall be judged. I, for one, refuse to stand beside those murderous infidels, proclaiming their innocence as if they were still besouled, singing their virtue as if they carry God’s blessing. They disgust me!”
“That’s a nice speech,” I interrupted, “though I don’t think ‘besouled’ is a word.”
He stamped his bloody cane on the ground. “Any Guardians who support the Tenets have already denied their makers and turned their backs on the angels. Charlotte would have been among them had she stayed with the Guardians. It is by my mercy that they died.”
I felt something cold go through me. “Leave my mom out of this.”
“Child, I can’t leave your mother out of this. She’s the one who started it.” His eyes gleamed dark in the fiery light, like black flames. “Sacrificing her Watcher to save an Immortal child? That’s just the kind of gesture Guardian liberals needed to fuel this—insanity. It was disgraceful.”
My eyes narrowed. “My mother sacrificed you to save me. There’s nothing disgraceful about that.”
With unsteady strides, the Chancellor limped toward me, broken glass crunching beneath his boots. Before I could react, he lifted his cane and whipped it across my face. I was able to get a hand up in time to deflect most of the bone-crushing blow, but it still left bright spots across my vision.
“Liar,” he roared. “Who told you that? Your father?”
“No, I—”
“Who?”
“No one,” I yelled back. “I overheard Mom and Dad talking about it a few weeks after you visited the house. She was upset. Dad said something about how it was the right decision, to save a child’s soul. I thought they were talking about me.”
Behind me, the air carried screams and shouts through the walls and I could hear the distant sounds of slamming doors and running feet. It made me nervous to think that people would be coming back into the building so soon. Thibault was clearly several cans shy of a six-pack and, for the first time, I realized he just might be nuts enough to blow up the whole school.
As if on cue, he turned to Alec and said, “Kill them.”
Alec didn’t move. His gaze danced between Katie and Lisa then slid back to me. “That may not be necessary, sir. Katherine supports our cause. When the time comes, she’ll fight with us. The other two aren’t as committed, but they will defend our people if there’s an uprising. I think we should let them go.”
I stared at him, trying to read his intent. Alec knew perfectly well Matt would never fight against the Inferni. His politics were so far left, he made Jack look well-balanced. Alec could have mentioned that, and it would have been Matt’s death sentence. But he didn’t.
Why?
“He’s right, you should let them go,” I said. “Unless you’re a coward who hides behind children.”
Thibault laughed again, his thumb tapping the detonator harder this time. “Child, you have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He swept an arm to where Alec stood. “Very well, Alexander. Keep the traitor, but let the rest go. Their souls will be devoured by worms come judgment day.”
Uh-huh. Because that didn’t sound nuts at all.
Alec lowered the crossbow and, with one hand, cut Katie’s flexicuffs and gag. For a moment she seemed paralyzed. Then he whispered something to her and she sprinted—smart girl—out the door. Next, he untied Lisa, and retreated a few steps as Lisa untied Matt. Matt’s hands were dark, knuckles stained with dried blood, his face bruised and puffy. It made me wonder what kind of fight he’d put up when they tried to take him. As soon as Lisa was done with his bindings, she ran straight for me.
“Omigosh, Ami. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I hadn’t realized how scared I was until her arms encircled me, firm and familiar. After so many days thinking I’d never see her again, it was like a brief reprieve from hell.
“We’ll get help,” Matt promised from behind Lisa’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll find help and we’ll come back.”
“Don’t,” I told them, hushed. “The doors are warded from the outside. Besides, y’all are the only Guardians who know the truth. If I can’t fix this, it’s going to be up to you to tell the Elders. We already have a war with demonkind. The last thing we need is more killing.”
“Ami, I’m not leaving you,” Lisa said.
“Neither am I,” Matt insisted. “Come on, they don’t want you. If Smith-Hailey’s dead, that’s it. No more Peace Tenets. That’s all they want. We’ll find another way to save the Inferni.”
“He’s right.” Lisa touched my cheek like a worried mother. “Sweetie, you’re a mess. Just come with us. No guy is worth your life.”
All I could do was stare at her. Jack’s sword felt so heavy in my hand—so heavy, I thought I might drop it. My shoulders slumped as I glanced at him, still hunched in the center of his perceptual prison, knowing he was about to die. Alone.
“Lis,” I said softly. “He is my life.”
It took her a moment as the gravity of what I’d said washed over her. I watched her face harden from hope to annoyance, then finally to resignation. She nodded. “Then I’m staying with you.”
“Lisa—” Matt began.
“No, Mattie, she’s right. You need to go. Who knows what Alec’s been telling Katie. You have to set it straight. Besides,” Lisa looped her free hand through mine, “Ami and I have been on missions tougher than this. If I stay, we have twice the chance of getting out. That’s what we want, right? A happy ending?”
Matt looked stricken. I could see the conflict inside him—his affection for me, his political loyalties, his love for Lisa. We all knew he would have died for her in an instant, but leaving her? I didn’t know if he could.
She must have seen the same conflict, because she smiled, tiptoed up to him, and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. “Pookie, trust me,” she murmured, her cheek against his. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”
I decided it was a bad time to bring up the mullet she made hi
m get in fifth grade, during her “Gone Country” phase.
“Can’t you talk her out of this?” Matt asked me over her shoulder.
I shrugged. “Doubtful.”
The truth was, I didn’t want her here any more than he did. But I also knew the more time we wasted arguing, the more time Thibault had to change his mind, and the more likely both of them would end up dead. Besides, I’d never been able to talk Lisa out of anything before. Why should now be any different?
Matt was close to tears as he kissed Lisa on the forehead and whispered a soft, “I’ll be back. I love you,” and hurried out. The door gave a final-sounding thud behind him.
Silence settled through the air and I tightened my hand around Lisa’s. In all the times I’d imagined us fighting together, I’d never really thought of us dying together. It seemed unreal.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” I whispered, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice. “In a few seconds, we’re going to meet someone. She’s a Graymason…don’t ask. Once she lowers the perceptual vortex around Jack, I’ll distract her. You open a portal, grab Jack, and jump him to someplace safe. I’ll shield you from here as best I can. Then I’ll do the closure and see you back home, okay?”
It was a lie. I knew I wouldn’t see her back home. I also had no idea if I could shield her and fight off my sister at the same time, but it seemed like the only chance we had. Luc’s hands would be full with Alec, and I still had no clue what to do about the explosives. If Lisa could just get out safe with Jack—
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said, her eyes sad. “I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. You’ve always been stronger than me—”
“No, you don’t understand. I can’t leave you.” Her small hand plucked Jack’s sword out of mine and let it fall to the ground with a clang. She kicked it toward the middle of the room. “I’ve told you a thousand times, Ami, you’re my sister. I’ll always take care of you. That’s what we do, right? We look out for each other.”
For the first time since Matt left, I let my gaze wander around the room. Alec had lowered his crossbow. Thibault stood against the wall, a look of infuriating triumph on his face. Lisa hovered by my side, her hand interlaced with mine, a soft smile at her lips. Small shifts of orb-light leaped at the stones of her dress, reflecting the clips in her hair—like a thousand tiny flames come to life.
And my heart dropped.
Because I knew who she was. The person standing next to me, the girl who had been with me through every anguished moment of childhood, every horror of adolescence, every heartbreaking loss I’d suffered. My best friend. My sister.
With hair of fire.
Chapter Twenty-two:
Dead Man’s Party
I squinted into her baby blue eyes. It reminded me of one of those weird 3-D art prints where you have to wait for the art to pop out at you. Only, I didn’t know what I was waiting for. Maybe for something dark and ruthless to climb out of her mouth and rip the silicone mask off, revealing her true identity—like a macabre Scooby Doo episode. At least that’d make sense. Because this sure as heck didn’t.
How could Lisa be the killer? Wasn’t she the one who told me about this whole Graymason business in the first place?
Because she wanted you to stay out of it, my inner voice reminded me.
But she’d helped me escape, hadn’t she?
After she got you convicted.
Well, what about the phone call? When she lent me her password and told me how to do that info search on Mom? So you’d come after Bud, nitwit. How else would Alec have known where to find you?
I never saw it coming. Not one iota. I trusted her completely. She’d been able to orchestrate everything because I, genius girl-detective, had told her everything. Because betrayal was not covered in any of my Nancy Drew books.
“But you don’t even look like me,” I argued. “You’re way—”
“Prettier, I know.”
“I was going to say shorter.”
“I take after Mom.” Lisa scrunched up her nose. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you. I almost did the first day of school. But then at assembly, with him there,” she gestured to Jack, “and that stupid bond. I figured the best thing would just be to kill him ASAP, so I opened the rift. It was a long shot but, well…nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?”
I couldn’t speak. Words flooded my brain, but there seemed to be some communication breakdown between my head and my mouth.
God must hate me. It was the only explanation.
Seriously. All I’d ever wanted was to be a Guardian. I wanted to kill demons, protect humankind, do all the things I was made to do. But, in the space of a week, I’d been reduced to a blood-tainted, broken-souled, half-bonded, fully-doomed fashion victim with a ruthless serial killer for a sister.
What was next, a plague of frogs?
“Oh, Ami, don’t look at me like that. If you’d taken my advice and stayed away from him, we wouldn’t be in this mess. And we’ve still got to find you a proper Watcher before the real fighting starts. That’ll be fun, right?” Lisa gave my hand another squeeze, then trotted across the hall to Alec.
She didn’t even get within twenty feet of him when I saw it. Silvery strands of light stretched between them, calling out to each other. Holy cow, that was how she’d known what my bond with Jack was—because she had one herself. With Alec. That must have been what I saw the first day. The silver glow that had bugged me so much.
“Ew.” I muffled a groan as she flung herself into his arms, their heat flaring like gunpowder. I swear, watching her kiss him would have made my stomach turn anyway. But the rest of it—how their bodies seemed to melt together, how breath flowed into her more freely. It was worse than watching The Notebook for the fiftieth time. How had I never noticed that sap-fest before?
“What about Matt?” I sputtered.
Lisa frowned. “Ami, I love Matt. I always will. But it’s not enough.” She shook her head, “He could train for a thousand years and he’d never be strong enough. I tried to tell him that. Alec and I are a better match.”
“I…but…you… How long? How did you hide it?” I pointed at the swirly silver threads, unable to think straight.
“Five spectacular years. And, trust me, hiding our bond was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Of course, Mattie was a useful distraction, but do you have any idea how difficult it was not to think about Alec? Not to let myself want him, even when he was right there next to me. Impossible!” She proudly tiptoed up to give Alec a peck on the cheek. He blushed.
Ugh, vomit! That was how the bond glow got triggered? By hormones? Jeez, no wonder Lisa kept trying to hook me up with other guys. “This is twisted. You know that, right?”
“Amelie, you mustn’t blame your sister.” Chancellor Thibault had kept mostly quiet, but now he hobbled forward, the remote detonator (thankfully) forgotten on Uriel’s statue alcove. “Once Charlotte made her allegiance to the Inferni publicly known, there was no going back. It was traitorous what she did, saving an Immortal child over her own bondmate—even the Elders knew it. Child or no, it shouldn’t have happened. I’d have been a fool not to see the writing on the wall.”
“What are you talking about? What wall?”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “It’s a metaphor, Amelie.”
“You see, dear, Paranormal Convergence had already been formed. It was just a matter of time before the Peace Tenets were proposed.” Thibault slid a gloved hand along the shaft of his cane, fingers coming away red. “I was with Charlotte when she learned the news of your bloodline, even before your father did. That’s when my plan began to take shape. Of course, I had no idea you were to be twins. It was lucky I got the right one.”
“Well, I was the firstborn,” Lisa added indignantly.
“True enough, darling.” Thibault patted her hand. “Jonathan and Carol Anselmo had agreed to hide the child. After all, it wouldn’t do for me to show up with a daughter the same month Bud and Charlo
tte lost one,” he reasoned. “I should have killed your mother then, but Bud was paranoid. He had that bastard Horowitz watching us.”
Paranoid with good reason, you freak, I couldn’t help thinking. “What about Alec?”
“What about me?” Alec cast a fond look at Lisa, his heart encircled with wisps of silver light. As long as they didn’t start kissing again, I could probably hang onto my dinner.
“I knew Lisa would need a Watcher someday,” Thibault explained, “so when Alec’s parents were killed in battle, I adopted him and started administering greater demon blood infusions. His body acclimated brilliantly.”
Oh, snap! Greater demon blood. Like Meeks’s stupid potted plant! “That’s how you followed Jack and me through the portal at my test!”
Alec smiled.
“It was perfect,” Lisa noted happily. “By the time the Peace Tenets got signed into probationary law, I had my full powers and Alec was strong enough to bond. We had a list of the Guardians who needed to die and half a decade to get the job done.”
“But y’all were like twelve years old! That’s—”
“Efficient?” Lisa asked.
“Repugnant!” I shouted.
My eyes drifted back to Jack, still imprisoned in his cozy, silent nightmare. I envied him. As horrid as it must’ve been, locked in a sensory prison, at least he didn’t have to deal with this. It was…sickening. Horrifying. They were like some twisted little Stepford family. The whole thing made me want to throw myself in the vortex with Jack.
“Well, it’s almost over,” Lisa said with a disapproving glare. “Seriously, how many times did I warn you not to get involved with him? I should just kill him now.”
As soon as she said it, my heart stopped. She was my best friend! I’d spent my whole life next to her, letting her tell me what to wear, how to act, who to date. I trusted her. And now she was going to rip my heart out like it was nothing?
