Boston poked his head out of the bathroom as Fisher’s cell phone chirped. Right on cue, the nurse inside vacated to give us our privacy. “Shall we?”
I nodded, closing myself in Allie’s hospital room with our grim crew.
Forty-Three.
Tearing and Ripping
“This is mad,” Graham warned, his eyes still on me.
“If it were you in that bed, no way would I shy away from an opportunity just because it was nuts.”
“You’re nuts, little sister.” He thumbed the engagement ring on my finger. I’d offered to give it back after the whole Finn debacle, but Von refused. He said he wanted the ring on my finger, and nowhere else.
I fell hard for Von that day, and a little more every day since. Though we were polite and careful around each other, the connection I’d almost severed was still there.
“You can do this, Graham.” I pulled Finn’s jagged balisong blade from the hook on my belt that I had tucked under my thin lavender Spring jacket. I carefully flicked the blade out, and turned it over in my hand. I waited until Graham tore his eyes from Allie, which was a solid minute later. A holy hush had fallen while we all watched with rapture as Graham studied Allie’s face. He was scared, sure, but beneath the nerves there was a tenderness – that same tenderness that drove him to sit with Allie when I hadn’t been able to get there.
He would be a good partner for my sister; I was sure of it.
Finally I broke the silence. “I think we should get to it.” I handed Graham my blade, standing aside as I waited for my sister to come back to me. I’d waited long enough. Another minute was just plain asking too much.
Graham was careful as he lifted her hand, caressing the back that was smooth and delicate from years of disuse. He wrapped her fingers around the hilt of my knife, motioning for Mason to wheel King Geon closer. Normally I wouldn’t condone murdering an inmate on the fly, but as it turns out, I had very little qualms about anything moral when it came to giving Allie a better life, like she’d tried to give me. Once Lang gave his permission, it was a done deal.
We all backed away and watched as Graham tried to get the perfect angle that wouldn’t produce too much blood from our victim.
Boston was scared to touch Allie; she looked so fragile. Mason and Von moved to either side of the head of her bed and carefully lifted her to sit up. Mason rested Allie’s head to his shoulder, his arm stretching behind her to keep her steady.
They took painstaking care to be gentle with Allie, knowing she was my treasure. Ollie’s mouth kept opening and closing as he made several stops and starts about how our sister should be supported. Though I’d always thought of the two of them as equals, Ollie was forever a father, anxious whenever either of us skinned a knee.
It wasn’t a fair fight. It wasn’t even a fight. With his fingers wrapping Allie’s hand around the hilt of Finn’s blade, Graham thrust the steel through Geon’s chest. He hit the heart and twisted the knife before retracting it. Geon made a terrible gulping noise as he tried to rouse from his blissed-out state, but the small disturbance was the most fight he had left in him. It was clear Kabayo’s warden hadn’t been feeding or caring for his high-profile prisoner. He’d had a round Santa face and belly when I’d seen him last, but he was gaunt now. When I’d asked Lang permission to push up his father’s impending death for this cause, he’d been all too eager to see his father’s torment ended swiftly.
Ollie pushed the wheelchair closer, and Graham was ready with Allie’s wrist clutched in his hand. “Now back up, Von. Mason, don’t touch her. It won’t do for the soul to split and run into you lot again.”
Mason maintained his hold on Allie. “I’m too old to awaken an Omen anymore. You know that.”
Boston edged Mason out from behind Allie, supporting her with a scowl aimed in Mason’s direction. “You were too old to awaken October, remember? We’re not taking chances with this one. Terraway needs two Omens at least. You and Von stay far over there.” He motioned with his chin to the opposite end of the room. The bold determination in Boston’s eyes belied his insistence that he didn’t want to be tied to such an adult responsibility. Boston clutched Allie’s shoulders, looking more like a man and less like the assjack party boy I’d grown to love. “Do it, Graham!”
“Steady now!” I yelped as Graham shoved Allie’s hand to rest on Geon’s arm. My hands covered my face with my fingers parted for me to peek through. It was a historic event, awakening an Omen, and we were the only witnesses. I half-expected light beams to shoot from Allie’s arm, for songs to play on harps from the heavens, or for aliens to touch down after getting the strong signal that something monumental was taking place in Room 43C.
But the aliens didn’t come.
In fact, nothing at all seemed to be happening. “Is it working?” I asked when Graham and Boston were only gritting their teeth.
“I can’t find it!” Boston growled, one hand around Allie’s shoulders and the other cupping her forehead. “It’s cold, right? It’s supposed to be cold and then come into us. I don’t feel anything.”
“Don’t bruise her!” Ollie barked when Boston squeezed her shoulder. “I don’t like this. This was a bad idea. Tell them to stop, October.”
“Keep searching!” Graham urged, clutching Allie’s wrist and knee. “I felt it slide in through her hand, but it slipped past me. It’s in her, Bos, we just have to find it.”
I thrilled that at least phase one of my plan was working. I stood on my toes in trepidation, scared that they might not be able to get it out before serious scarring set in. I swallowed hard when I considered the bleak possibility that the cold might remain stuck in her forever, freezing her from the inside out.
Mason smacked his forehead in frustration. “You can’t just wait for it to come to you, you have to tug it into your hand. Find the cold and rip it out of her.” He smacked his bicep, growing anxious that they weren’t performing quick enough. “Yank harder, guys. It doesn’t know it’s supposed to find its way to you. Allie can’t tell it where to go. Even when October tried to give us that first soul, it didn’t want to come to us. We had to tear it out of her.” Mason lightly slapped my stomach a few times, and mimed ripping out an invisible force from my core, shaking it in his grip. “You’re not being aggressive enough.”
“Stop it!” Ollie shouted. “You’re going to hurt her! Just leave her be.”
Von intervened before a nurse could respond to the ruckus. He cast me an apologetic look as he placed his hand on Ollie’s shoulder, pushing him down as he pulled a portion of the fight out of my brother. Mason helped Von lower Ollie to the floor, though my brother wasn’t out completely. “Sorry, mate. It’s already in motion. We explained this to you. Once she reaps a civilian of Terraway, she’s got the rotting soul inside of her. It has to come out, and it has to be now.”
“Von!” I admonished him with a glare he didn’t seem to care about. I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around Ollie to ensure he stayed upright. “It’s okay, Ollie. They’ll find it. They won’t hurt Allie.”
“Allie!” he moaned softly, though that was the most he could do. As much as I was tied to Von and Mason – Allie, Ollie and I were just as much bound to each other. When one of us felt pain, we all got dinged. I held onto Ollie’s hand and tried to be brave through my fear that they wouldn’t get it out before she froze over.
I called out from our corner in a high-pitched command. “Remember, now. Don’t pull the soul completely out until she wakes up. Wait for her to open her eyes.” I silently chanted over and over, Come on, Allie! Come on, girl! Open your eyes! Wake up!
Von and Mason each picked a brother and coached them, encouraging them where to look for the cold and how to catch it. “It’s too slippery!” Graham protested. “It’s like a fish.”
Boston huffed, his brows knit together. “How come I can’t feel it? I mean, I can’t feel it at all. Nothing.”
Mason picked up Boston’s hand and moved it from Allie’s fore
head down to where Graham’s hand was at her wrist. “Try here.”
Boston’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh! That’s incredible! Okay Graham, I’m ready.”
“Not yet!” I screeched. “Wait for her to wake up! Come on, Allie!” I left Ollie’s side to stand at Allie’s, smoothing her hair back from her face and kissing her cheek. “Wake up! Open your eyes! Don’t you see me? I need you here!” My eyes watered, and when I blinked, whole tears splashed onto my sister’s face. “It’s my turn to take care of you now. I’ll make sure no one hurts you ever again. Just open your eyes for me.” When nothing happened, I shook her shoulders, unable to hold back any longer. I needed my sister to come home to us, and I wouldn’t stop breaking rules until she was looking up at me with that unshakeable love she’d always held tight to. I shook her again, desperate to get my sister back, to right the wrongs done to our family, and end the madness for her.
“Her skin’s turning cold,” Boston warned me. “We have to get it out soon!”
I shook her harder, angry at all of Terraway for keeping my sister from me for so long. “Dammit, Allie! Open your eyes!”
Though I’d demanded it, I nearly fainted when Allie’s lashes fluttered, slowly opening to reveal unfocused pupils. She blinked three times, and I almost dropped her shoulders. “Allie? Allie? Allie, I’m here!”
Von and Mason heard the hope in my voice, gasping and swearing when they saw the miracle I was holding in my arms. “She’s awake?” Mason needed confirmation, though he could see plain as day that Allie’s eyes were open.
“Yes! Allie, you’re okay! I’ve got you!” I choked out a sob as I gathered her rapidly stiffening body to me in a hug. Her breaths were ragged and growing more uneven as the seconds added up. The corroding soul was freezing her more fully with every breath. Her eyes went from unfocused to panicked at the sudden pain of the ice.
Mason held Boston’s hand in place on Allie’s wrist. “Tear it out of her now!”
“Hurry!” Von commanded, bracing Graham so he didn’t fall away from his goal.
Boston met Graham’s eyes and nodded. “I’m with you, brother. On three.”
Forty-Four.
Four
Mason’s hand was still on Boston’s arm to keep it affixed to Allie’s wrist, and Von was clutching Graham’s shoulders like a boxing coach. Von counted down from three, and though I felt the instinct to close my eyes, I couldn’t look away when Von belted out the final one. “Now, pull!”
All four men shouted out with varying degrees of surprise and confusion, each falling back after a belabored pause. Mason and Von shot back the farthest, and Von smacked his back against the wall. His hands fluttered over his chest in panic, as if searching for his cigar. “Oh no! No, no, no! I didn’t touch her! How could... No!” Von dropped to his knees and clutched the back of his head, bowing down to the floor with so much angst, I didn’t know how to help him.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” My head whipped around the room, surveying the multiple shades of befuddlement, amazement and horror as I watched the four men each drop to their knees.
“I didn’t do it! I didn’t pull from her, I swear!” Mason wore a similar expression of horror to Von’s, looking to Von and then gazing up with shame and desperation at me. “I didn’t touch her! You saw me, right?”
I made sure Allie was securely laid back down on the pillow before I stood, running to Von and placing my hand on his back. “What happened? Why are you freaking out?”
Von banged his head to the floor in self-flagellation as he swore on repeat, giving me no useful information.
The door popped open, and I saw that Ollie had managed to drag his body over to the entrance. “Help!” he bellowed down the hallway to the nurses’ station. “She’s awake!”
I snatched up Finn’s bloody knife and slid it into the hook on my belt. Then I quickly threw a blanket over Geon. I tucked the cloth into his shirt like a bib, and tugged down the brim of his hat so the obviously dead guy wouldn’t be made.
Mere seconds after Ollie called out the herald, a nurse came running into the room, ignoring everyone on their knees and zeroing in on Allie.
A minute later, the room was swarming with several nurses and two doctors, who asked Allie any number of questions she didn’t have the ability to answer yet, while they checked her from head to toe.
It was when a third doctor showed up that we were ordered out of the room. I wheeled out Geon into the hallway, my hands shaking and my knees barely supporting my weight. Boston and Graham hoisted Ollie off the floor and dragged him out to sit on a bench in the hall.
Boston pried my grip from the wheelchair and gingerly lowered me to the bench next to Ollie. “I’ll go get rid of the body. Stay here and make sure to pay attention to everything they tell you about her.” His normally blasé eyes danced with excitement. “We did it! She woke up, and I felt the life force go into me. It was incredible! You’re brilliant. I can’t believe it actually worked.” He clenched and loosened his hand before shaking it out. He stood up straight, beaming with pride. “I did it!”
“You were amazing, Bos.” It was all I could manage as the shock continued to hit me in droves.
“Be back in a few.”
Boston wheeled Geon down the hall and into the elevator, grinning like he’d just won the lottery.
It was quite a different story for Von and Mason, who were on their knees in the hallway at my feet, facing Allie’s door with me. I ruffled my hands through their hair, but jumped when they both gripped my wrists in fear. “Something’s wrong,” Von whispered mournfully. His black t-shirt was twisted around his torso. “I didn’t mean to do it!”
Mason turned to face me, burying his forehead to my thigh in supplication, like a dog. “I didn’t touch her! I swear I didn’t put a hand on her when the countdown started!”
I took in the fear that coated both of them, my heart racing anew. “What? What’s wrong? What’d I miss?”
Von turned and ground his forehead to my other thigh. He slammed his fist against the wall the bench was pushed up to, making me jump. “The soul split!”
I nodded, looking on their distress with confusion. “I know. It worked. Thanks for helping Graham and Boston. Boston seems happy, and Graham, well...” I motioned to Graham, who had already sneaked back into the room to be a fly on the wall, so he didn’t have to be separated from his new charge. I kinda loved Graham in that moment.
Von was uttering a constant stream of curses as he pounded on the wall with the side of his fist, still not looking up at me, his face buried on the outside of my thigh. Finally Mason picked up his head, gazing up at me with distraught eyes. I didn’t like him so upset. “Mason, what’s wrong?”
Mason slowly cradled my hand in both of his, smoothing the skin on the back and massaging my forearm as if to soothe my ache. I didn’t have any aches, though. My sister was awake, so I was pretty much living at Party Central in my mind, brought down only by the two great men in my life acting like their puppy died. “The soul didn’t split two ways, hani. It split four ways. I don’t know how, but part of it went into Von and part of it went into me after Boston and Graham. Allie doesn’t have just two Pullers. She’s got four.”
Von let out a frustrated shout into my thigh that was muffled by my jeans, and banged his fist to the wall again. My brow wrinkled in confusion while my free hand drifted to rest atop Von’s head, stroking his short hair lovingly to calm him. “I don’t understand. I thought you had to be touching her.”
Mason hung his head. “I didn’t touch her when the soul split. I promise. I don’t know how it happened, all I know is that it’s happened.” He punched his fist to his chest. “I already feel her. It’s the same way I felt you from the beginning.”
“You mean... You’re telling me that you’re my sister’s Puller now?” The shock of the impossible coming to fruition before me made my mouth drop open. “But you’re my Reaper. You’re my Puller. You can’t reap for two Omens. Is that even possib
le?”
“I guess it is now. I mean, it has to be.” Mason sat back on his heels. “I didn’t want the job in the first place. Me being with you at all is a fluke. Now I’m doubly tied to this job? It’s a life sentence!” He hung his head, slicing us both through the heart with the harsh swing of his words.
Von picked up his head from my leg and reached out, cupping Mason’s shoulder. “It always was a life sentence. Now we’re just on double duty.” I could see him finally puzzling through the mess with methodical reasoning. “Maybe it won’t be that bad. I mean, Graham and Boston are her Pullers, too. They can look after her, keep her healthy, and we can just stay on our normal day-to-day with October. Maybe all we are is backup for them if one of them needs a holiday.”
“I need a holiday!” Mason argued. “I wasn’t even on the active duty list when October was awakened. I’m too old for this. I don’t want to be scooping two dying women off the pavement like Danny had to do for Mariang. I’m not built for this. I need to be with the undead, Von! They don’t rip my heart out every time they sneeze twice. I can’t feel this much! You saw what it did to Danny!” He pounded his chest once with his fist in anguish. “I can already feel her confusion in there! And I know you’re mad with me, hani, and I don’t care right now. I should be in Sombi, burying the undead and living on my own! I’m not meant to be around the living!”
“Oh, shut up,” Ollie mumbled, sitting up a little straighter. Von’s excessive pulling had started to wear off, so Ollie was marginally more himself.
“Excuse me?” Mason reared his head at Ollie, his face souring.
“You heard me. Pulling’s supposed to be this all-important revered position, right?”
“I don’t care about any of that. I’m not meant to live Topside. I’m not meant to be in the middle of someone’s marriage!” Mason lifted my hand to display my ring.
Trap Page 22
