“I know you’re in there, Eric,” I said, loud enough that my voice echoed down the hallway, but he didn’t respond.
“I just wanted to thank you for the easel.” I laid my forehead against the door. “I started painting, but—” I couldn’t tell him I was struggling with the color blue. It was the color of his powers. It was his eyes as Shoman. It was everything he was. I forced a breath out to gain my composure. “I know I’m a little late, but I never gave you your birthday present.” I placed the package on the ground. “I bought it a long time ago—with Crystal, actually.”
The memory seemed years away, but it had only been six weeks.
“I know it’s not as good as the other gift you got,” I added, “but I thought you should have it.”
I waited. For what, I didn’t know, because I knew he wouldn’t come. I patted the door instead of knocking one last time. “Okay, then,” I said. “Goodnight.”
I forced myself to walk away without looking back, but it took me fifteen minutes to return to my room—double the time it took me to get to his. I stared at the clock on my dresser as I fell asleep, pretending we had all the time in the world to figure out what had happened to him, and I let the time take me.
***
When I woke up the next morning, I was late for school. My alarm hadn’t gone off, and I rushed through my morning routine in a foggy haze. It was my job to get back home before Crystal picked me up, but today, someone else would have to take me. Luthicer was my only bet, and I was thinking about him when I ran out of my bedroom and tripped.
I fell onto my knees, but my feet hurt more. I had kicked something and spun around to see what I had tripped on.
A model car.
It was a build-it-yourself Charger, near the same year Eric’s original car had been, and Crystal had found it in an antique store at the mall. I had only bought it because Eric had just lost his in a car wreck. I hadn’t given it to him until last night.
The estimate on the box stated it would take a week to assemble and another week to paint, but this one was finished. I grabbed it, unsure it was real, but the metal was cold in my hands. The paint wasn’t even damp, and the decoration on the hood was all too familiar.
Eric’s willow tree pendant—the one Camille had made for him—was sketched onto the hood in red. Eric had used that color for a reason. My new powers were not a problem for him. They were not a problem for the Dark either. It was only me who was struggling, and I touched the symbol like I could absorb it instead of having it absorb me.
33
Jessica
“Maybe it’s not over,” I finished telling Crystal about the car without mentioning how Eric and I lived together in the shelter. I couldn’t even mention the willow tree symbol he had painted, but I hoped she would see the significance.
“Maybe he was just returning it, Jess.” Her voice was a whisper among our fellow students.
Our homeroom was about to end, and then we would go to lunch, but Eric wasn’t with us. He had a different schedule now, but he had come to school. I already planned on running into him between lunches. As his lunch ended, ours began, and it would be the perfect time to confront him. I only had to hurry.
“I don’t think so,” I responded, even though I was focused on the clock. I only had a few minutes to get to him before he went back to his new homeroom.
“Jess,” Crystal kept repeating my name. “I really think you should let him go.”
I grabbed my necklace through my shirt. “I can’t—”
“For God’s sake, Jess,” Robb interrupted from his seat next to Crystal. I had almost forgotten he was there. “He has a new girlfriend.”
Crystal smacked his arm. “I told you not to tell.”
“It’s for her own good,” he grumbled, only glancing at me for a moment. “At this rate, you’re never going to move on.”
Move on. His last two words were the only reason I heard what he had originally said. “Eric has a new girlfriend?” My hands were already curling into fists. “That’s impossible—”
“He does,” Crystal confirmed, but she didn’t have her usual pen marks on her fingers. Even she didn’t want to write about it for her student gossip column.
“Who?” I asked.
Crystal gestured to Robb. “He’s taking that one.”
I stared at Robb as I repeated the question. He shrugged like it was nothing. “Linda.”
Her name was the last one I thought I would hear. She was Robb’s ex-girlfriend, and she had just transferred into our school. Despite the day we all sat together at lunch, I didn’t even know they had officially met or how Eric would decide to date her. She was tall, blonde, and quiet. The opposite of me.
I felt sick.
“Come on,” Robb spoke over the ringing bell. “We’re better off without them anyway.”
I ignored him and stood up. “I’ll see you at lunch,” I said to Crystal before grabbing my bag and rushing out of the room. My plan hadn’t changed. I would see Eric and confront him. The news hadn’t changed anything, because it couldn’t be true. Eric still wore his ring, after all.
When I pushed through the shifting crowds, I searched their faces for the only person I wanted to see. I didn’t see him until I made my way outside. I lost my breath when I realized he was walking with Linda, and I blocked the door before either of them could go back to class.
“I need to talk to you,” I blurted.
Eric’s green eyes widened, but only for a millisecond. After that, they were slits. “I’m busy.”
When he tried to brush past me, I moved in front of him again.
Linda folded her arms. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I retorted, refusing to take my eyes off Eric even though he had stopped looking at me. “Is it true?”
“So, what if it is?” Eric didn’t even ask for clarification. He knew what I had heard.
“We’re dating now,” Linda clarified by grabbing Eric’s hand. He didn’t even pull away, but I stared. She held his left hand, the one with his ring—the same ring that said he was my fiancé, not her boyfriend.
Chills ran up my spine as the door behind me opened and wind rushed past us. “Why’d you run out so fast?” Crystal stopped speaking as she stepped out to stand next to me. Her bleached hair gleamed in the gray, winter light. “Oh, hey, guys.”
“Hey.” Linda smiled at her. “I was just looking for you,” she said. “Eric and I were thinking about going on a date, and I wanted to see if Zac and you wanted to double.”
Zac. Her half-brother.
My emotions had taken over, but they were clearing now. I could see Eric and focus on Linda. If Darthon was controlling him, Linda was involved. She had to be Fudicia, and Zac—her brother—had to be my enemy.
“We can’t,” Crystal said as she laid her arm on my shoulder. “We’re already doubling with Robb and Jess.”
My heart slammed into my chest as I glanced at my friend. She was grinning, and I recognized the light in her eyes. She wore the same expression when she discovered a new story for the paper. She was up to no good.
She pushed her weight against me. “Right, Jess?”
I only glanced at Eric with my peripheral vision. He had paled. Something was definitely wrong, and that something was Darthon. If he knew who Darthon was, then he knew I would be with him. Zac. I was right. I had always been right.
“Yeah,” I confirmed before I could overthink it. The date would be the perfect opportunity to get Zac out at night—when the Dark had powers, too. It would be a night we could expose him. I would only have to find a way to protect Crystal from it. “We’re going out.”
Eric opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut. His jaw locked, and he glared at the brick wall to the right.
I shifted, wanting him to confirm it somehow, but I knew he couldn’t. Linda was next to him.
“Too bad,” she cooed. “Maybe next time.”
“Maybe,” Crystal agre
ed.
“Come on, honey.” Eric was the one to say it, yet it sounded nothing like him. He never used pet names. Not once when he was with me. Yet he did with Linda, and when he brushed past me, his arm skimmed mine. Even through his jacket, I could feel his body heat.
I wrapped my arms around my torso when the cold air was all that was left.
“Did you see the look on his face?” Crystal bounced in front of me, her cheeks rosy. “He looked like you punched him in the gut.” She giggled like she enjoyed it.
I leaned against the wall to keep myself standing. My knees were shaking. If Zac was Darthon, then my best friend was dating him, and I had no way of telling her. “Yeah,” was all I could manage.
“You don’t have to worry about the date either,” she said. “I just thought you could use some help back there—”
“Actually,” I interrupted her as Robb walked out, a sandwich in his hand. “I want to go.”
Robb took a bite and stared at us. “What just happened?”
“What?” Crystal ignored him as she questioned me. “You’re serious?”
I nodded, but this time it was to Robb. “You want to go on a double date?”
His mouth hung open and food fell out. I tried not to cringe as he brushed off his shirt. “With you?”
“And Zac and Crystal,” I added.
He glanced from Crystal to me before nodding too many times. “That would be cool.”
“Great,” I said and grabbed Crystal’s arm. “You two can make it, right?”
It would be pointless if Zac wasn’t there.
“I think so,” she said, but her words were drawn out. I had never seen her hesitate about Zac before. “Tonight?”
“At eight,” I clarified. “Meet you at your place?”
“Sure.”
“See you then,” I said and started to walk away. I had to talk to Jonathon about my plan before I carried it out, and if I had to drag him out of class again, I would.
As I made my way through the lunchroom, Crystal called after me, “Wait.”
When I faced her, she stopped an inch away from me. Her boots touched mine, but she didn’t speak.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Are you sure about this, Jess?” Her eyes moved over my face. “I didn’t mean to pressure you—”
“You didn’t,” I promised, knowing it was time to push myself forward. “It’ll be fun.” It would also be the next step to end it all.
34
Eric
“I don’t have to love you,” I growled and scooted away from Linda. She had attempted to snuggle up next to me throughout lunch, and I wasn’t about to let it happen.
She blew her bangs out of her face. “You have to at least act like it.”
The rest of the student body wasn’t even looking, but I knew they had seen. Ever since she had stood by my locker in the morning, the rumor was spreading. It was only a matter of time before Jessica heard, if she hadn’t already, and I didn’t want to be around when she did.
I only had thirty more minutes before I could leave. Due to my new schedule, I had a different lunch, which forced me to go back to class for fifteen minutes while the last lunch took place—the one Jessica was in. If I didn’t hurry to get back to class, she would see me.
I glanced at my watch, but Linda smacked her hand over the time. “She has to see us eventually.”
I yanked my hand away. “So, that’s your plan.”
She smiled to confirm it. “That’s what you want.”
“That’s what Darthon wants,” I spat, “and the minute I’m out of this, you’re falling right next to him.”
Her brown eyes widened, and her breath fogged out in front of her. She didn’t speak as she inched away from me. She leaned back against the wall, and her blonde hair stuck to the bricks when she shook her head. What she was shaking her head at I didn’t know, but I did know one thing. She was a teenager just like the rest of us.
“You don’t have to die,” I said, changing my stance.
She peeked at me through her hair. “Do you know why the powers are weakening?”
My esophagus squeezed. “No.”
“Because they’re dying,” she answered. “If one of you doesn’t die, the powers will die in your place.” Her face turned back toward the sky. “We’ll all just be humans again. Mad humans.”
Whenever we lost our powers, we went mad. I knew that. It had happened to too many for us to deny it.
“We’ll only kill each other in madness anyway—”
“You hate humans that much?” I interrupted.
She didn’t respond immediately. Her eyes stayed on me when she finally spoke. “No,” she paused, “but I don’t want to be one.”
“You talk like one,” I retorted.
Her eyebrows shot up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I saw the look on your face when Robb ordered you to date me,” I said, refusing to stop fighting back. If I had to break Linda, then I would. I wasn’t even going against my orders. “You don’t want this anymore than I do.”
She snatched my hand up as if she was proving a point, but her fingers were shaking.
For once, I didn’t pull away. “You love him, don’t you?”
Linda’s nails dug into the back of my hand, and strangely, it reminded me of Jessica’s touch. “Why do you care?”
She did. It wasn’t hard to guess. She had dated Robb on and off for years, after all. Even if it was a cover for her position as a guard, she had fallen into the illusion as if she had used her own powers against herself. She was still a child.
“You’re blind,” I managed.
Linda glared at me as if to prove she could see. “I’m not like Jonathon.”
Just the reminder of their threat was enough to make me hesitate, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. I would have to trust in Jonathon’s abilities as much as I trusted in Jessica’s. “Darthon doesn’t love you.”
She exhaled a breath, and it blew out in a visible stream of hot air against the February cold. “You think I don’t know that?” She let me go. “He isn’t capable of loving. The elders beat it out of him.” When she glanced at me, I knew what she would say, “Didn’t they do the same to you?”
They had. They had taught me not to care, showed me how to shut everything out. Even mourning had escaped me. It was one of the only reasons I hadn’t dealt with Camille’s death until now. It was the only reason I hadn’t confronted my father about my mother’s suicide. But I had overcome it, and I had dealt with Abby’s death.
“You killed Hannah, didn’t you?”
Linda’s soft face twisted, and for a moment, I could imagine the sharpness of her cheekbones—the ones she had as Fudicia, the ones I had seen when she poked her head into the car wreck. She nodded.
“Did you know who I was when you saw me?” I asked, knowing our eyes had met that afternoon. She knew I had lived, and she had left me alive. She could’ve ended it all years ago, but she didn’t. “Didn’t you consider killing me?”
“No.” Her lips thinned into a white line before she licked them. “I didn’t want to know it was you.”
My stomach twisted. “Why not?”
She yanked her red jacket around her as if she could tighten the coat. It only brought out the flush of her cheeks more. Linda—Darthon’s guard—was just as broken as the rest of us.
I grabbed her arm. “Why not, Linda?”
She pulled away from me. “Because Robb doesn’t want to kill you,” she practically cried. “That’s why.”
My face heated up. “Bullshit.”
She leapt to her feet, and her hair spiked out like she was going to transform in the middle of the school day. “I’m done talking to you, Welborn.”
I grabbed her again, only to pull her back to the wall. “We’re supposed to stay together,” I reminded her of her orders. “Or do you want to get in trouble?”
She squirmed, and for a moment, I considered letting her lea
ve. It would’ve been nice to be alone, but it wouldn’t get me any closer to killing him. Forcing her to talk was the only way I could learn more information. It was the only way I could win.
“You can get out of this,” I said.
“I’ll tell him you said that,” she threatened.
“Go ahead,” I retorted. “If he doesn’t want to kill me, he shouldn’t have a problem with it.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” She wiggled out of my grasp. “He’s just as forced into this as you are, and when he found out it was you—” When she stopped speaking, she dug her hands into her jacket pocket. “You’re the only one who showed him kindness,” she finished, but she didn’t look at me. Of all the things she could look at, she stared at the willow tree. “Don’t you remember when his dog died?”
I did. We were kids then. Crystal was there, too, but her mom picked her up. Robb’s parents hadn’t even come out to say goodbye. It wasn’t unusual for them, and I knew we had that in common. My dad didn’t care about my emotions either. When I told Robb that, he cried.
“He’s the one who did it,” I pointed out what he told me.
“He tried to run.” Linda’s words brought back the memory.
Robb had run. He had stayed at my house for a week, and no one even called to ask if he was there. When my father finally kicked him out, it was the first time my father and I had fought. He didn’t want me to have friends, but I yelled back. I had Crystal, Robb, and Hannah. Later that year, I was Named and found out why I couldn’t have any of them.
“He killed his parents shortly after that,” Linda finished.
My feet dug into the ground. All the snow had melted, but the surface was hardened from the cold. Somewhere in Hayworth, Robb’s parents might be buried in the ground, but I never heard of their deaths. No one had. According to the town, they were alive, but I knew better now. Everything was an illusion.
“How did the Light cover it up?” I asked.
“Various members watched him.” She didn’t have to clarify they used their powers of illusion to look like Robb’s parents. “It was an honor if you were chosen.” She tore her eyes away from the tree. “Everyone celebrated it. He hasn’t been the same since.”
Death Before Daylight Page 19
