Betrayal

by Amy Meredith

  A creepy rug. Around the border were little faces; some seemed almost human, some not so much.

  ‘Upstairs,’ the man told them. He let her and Jess go up the polished marble steps ahead of him.

  ‘Now down there,’ he instructed when they reached the top, pointing to the last doorway on the left. The hall was lined with paintings.

  ‘I think that’s an original Hieronymus Bosch,’ Jess whispered, nodding towards one that showed an old man surrounded by fantastical and grotesque creatures. She’d gone to a ton of museums on a European vacation with her parents.

  ‘Impressive eye for art,’ the man said. Was he attempting a sense of humour now? Didn’t he know there was nothing funny about being abducted?

  When they reached the last doorway, the man reached over Eve’s shoulder and knocked. There was another retina scanner outside, but the door was opened from within.

  ‘Callum!’ Eve exclaimed. She didn’t know why she was surprised to see him. She’d known he was high up in the Order. But somehow she just hadn’t thought about the fact that he must have been the one who gave instructions to haul her in. She’d seen the man talking into his mic as soon as he’d spotted her, but she hadn’t stopped to think who he was communicating with.

  ‘Come in, Eve, Jess. Come sit down. Can we get you something to drink?’ Callum asked.

  ‘Can you get us something to drink?’ Eve repeated, outraged. ‘You had this man kidnap me and now you’re acting like we’re all friends?’

  Callum raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m sorry if Carlos was … abrupt,’ he said, his voice low and calm. ‘It’s just that when he discovered your presence in the city, I felt I needed to see you immediately. Please, sit. I have a few questions.’

  They both sat down on the overstuffed flowered sofa in front of Callum’s big desk. The room had a strange mix of elements. The sofa, desk, the row of bookshelves, the huge dictionary on one stand, and the globe on another all looked old-fashioned. But the ultra-thin laptop on the desk was super high-tech, and there were small security cameras mounted in two corners of the ceiling.

  Besides the old and the cutting edge were a bunch of things that were just … weird. Over on the bookshelf was what looked like a thigh bone with dozens of tiny dragons carved into it. On the desk, Callum was using a chunk of rock as a paperweight. Brownish red streaks crisscrossed it and Eve was pretty sure those streaks were blood. Amulets on chains and cords hung down over all three of the room’s windows.

  ‘How have you been, Eve?’ Callum asked as he sat in an armchair to the right of the sofa. Carlos – that was the man’s name, Carlos – remained standing, positioning himself across from Callum.

  ‘I’ve been completely pissed off, as you’ve probably heard. You trapped me in Deepdene – or tried to.’

  Callum leaned forward, clasping his hands together. ‘We did. We weren’t sure whether or not you were dangerous,’ he said simply. ‘Which leads me to this question – how are you here? How were you able to leave? Your arrival in the city triggered an alert here; Carlos was expecting to bring in a demon. He didn’t realize until he was at the restaurant that what we had sensed as demon presence was actually the Deepdene Witch.’

  ‘I have a question first. Where are we?’ Eve demanded.

  ‘This is the headquarters of the New York branch of the Order,’ Callum answered. ‘We have branches all over the world.’ His tone continued to be genial. ‘I’ve answered your question. Now would you please tell me how you left Deepdene with the barrier in place?’

  ‘You underestimated how strong my power is,’ Eve told him. ‘I blasted your barrier down. Why are you pretending you don’t know that?’

  His eyes widened. ‘Your power broke down the protective barrier?’ He sounded surprised. Eve didn’t get it.

  ‘Yes, and you already know that!’ she cried, frustrated. ‘Alanna gave you a report. I know you sent her to Deepdene to evaluate me, to decide if I’m a threat.’

  Carlos cursed under his breath. An expression of alarm briefly crossed Callum’s face.

  Eve glanced back and forth between Carlos and Callum. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I didn’t send Alanna to Deepdene,’ Callum replied. ‘I didn’t even know where she was. As far as I know, she’s been missing since Sunday night. She hasn’t answered any of our calls or texts. We’ve all been very worried about her.’

  ‘What? Well, I saw her this morning,’ Eve told him. ‘She seemed just great. She was busy basically destroying my life.’

  ‘She’s been saying horrible things to Luke,’ Jess burst in. ‘Trying to make him believe Eve is evil.’

  Callum’s brow furrowed. ‘I don’t understand. I thought perhaps she had been taken by a demon or even killed. There was no other reason I could imagine for her breaking contact with us.’

  ‘What else can you tell us about her actions?’ Carlos asked.

  ‘Luke got in touch with her just after I blasted through the barrier. He also told her about these dead animals around the border of the town. Alanna supposedly came to town to help. She said she didn’t approve of the Order putting up the barrier at all.’

  ‘Let’s go back to the barrier for a moment. I’m disturbed,’ Callum said, the lines around his mouth growing deeper. ‘Eve, the magic we used to seal Deepdene is ancient and extremely powerful. There’s no way you, even with your tremendous power, could have broken it. There has to be another explanation.’

  ‘Well, here I am,’ Eve told him, flinging her arms wide. ‘I got out.’

  ‘Callum, Alanna knows the ritual to destroy the barrier,’ Carlos commented, his voice tight with anger. ‘She could have performed it. The dead animals would have been necessary for that.’

  ‘What you’re suggesting is that Alanna could have betrayed us. That is a serious accusation,’ Callum said.

  ‘But it fits what we’re hearing,’ Carlos went on.

  Callum shook his head. ‘Although,’ he continued, frowning, ‘Alanna has always been the one cautioning us to be wary of the Deepdene Witch. I can’t believe she thought we were wrong to try to contain …’ His words trailed off.

  Eve decided to help him out. ‘To contain me. To keep me in a prison.’

  ‘Only until we were certain you weren’t dangerous,’ Callum told her. ‘That’s the purpose of the Order. To keep humanity safe from demons.’

  ‘But Eve isn’t a demon!’ Jess exclaimed.

  ‘A part of her is.’ Callum pressed his fingers to his temples. ‘I’m trying to understand why Alanna would do this.’

  ‘Callum, no matter what her reason, she’s gone rogue. I know she was Payne’s protégé, but it’s clear that she’s broken with us,’ Carlos said, his voice raised.

  ‘She knows so much, so many of our secrets. We must—’

  ‘Something’s messed up,’ Eve exclaimed.

  ‘A bunch of somethings,’ corrected Jess.

  ‘I mean about the timing. They said Alanna has been missing since Sunday night, but I took the barrier down on Sunday afternoon. Or I thought I did,’ Eve explained.

  ‘Which doesn’t make sense. How could Alanna do a ritual to take down the barrier when she wasn’t in Deepdene?’ Jess jumped in. ‘She would have had to be there to kill the animals. Was she in town for a while without us knowing?’

  ‘And the dead animals had already been in the woods for a few days before the barrier came down,’ Eve said. She turned to Callum. ‘Are you sure I couldn’t be strong enough to destroy it? Or what about another demon?’

  ‘There was another demon in town on Sunday! A big squishy one!’ Jess exclaimed. ‘Eve and I killed it, but maybe before that it wrecked the barrier.’

  ‘You fought a demon on Sunday?’ Carlos demanded. ‘What kind was it?’

  ‘I don’t really know demons by category,’ Eve told him. Luke was trying to get together that database, but they’d only had experience of four different kinds of demons so far.

  ‘It was sort of warm Jell-O-ish,’
Jess volunteered. ‘And it turned into a puddle of goo when we killed it.’

  ‘It was gigantic, but it seemed like it was only partly formed,’ Eve added.

  ‘No matter what type of demon it was, it couldn’t destroy the barrier,’ Callum said. ‘The ritual to remove it is one of our most closely guarded secrets. Alanna only knew it because she was hand-picked by Willem, and he was one of our most trusted members.’

  ‘You were right to trust him,’ Jess said. ‘He died fighting demons. He probably saved my life. Eve and Luke’s too.’

  Eve realized things were more serious than she had thought. ‘You should know that Willem’s sword is missing – the sword he gave to Luke,’ she said. ‘Someone took it from Luke’s room.’

  ‘Another Alanna connection.’ Callum let out a deep sigh, and he looked older than he had when Eve and Jess had first come into his office. ‘Alanna is one of only three people who know Luke has the sword. I would have kept the information between Carlos and myself; he’s my second in command here in New York. But Alanna came with me to reclaim Willem’s body, and so she found out what had happened to the sword.’ He shook his head, his face distressed. ‘I just have no idea why she would have done all this.’

  He stood up suddenly. ‘We have to get to Deepdene. We have to find Alanna immediately.’ He looked over at Carlos. ‘I want to bring an armed squad.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Luke felt as if the school day had lasted about a year and a half. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Eve. If the demon part of her had somehow called those vulture demons to it, then she could be in danger. Everyone in Deepdene could be in danger.

  And Jess … Where was she? As far as he could figure, she’d taken off right after they had their conversation about Eve. He hadn’t seen her at school all day. Was she looking for Eve? Because that could go very badly.

  He turned up the walkway to the rectory, trying to decide what to do. Maybe he should try to track down Eve, but truthfully, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found her. She was so powerful, and her power wasn’t really under her control any more.

  Maybe it would be better to get in touch with Alanna and strategize. But Alanna was so convinced that the demon part of Eve was taking her over, and he hadn’t made up his mind yet whether he believed that or not.

  I have to go after Eve myself, he decided as he entered the house. He’d drop off his backpack upstairs and check his email. Maybe she’d tried to get in touch. He doubted it, but it couldn’t hurt to check.

  Luke trotted up the stairs, then hurried into his room. His eyes widened and he let his backpack fall to the floor. Alanna was waiting on his bed, stretched out on her side with a little smirk on her lips.

  ‘Uh, I’d say make yourself at home, but clearly you already did,’ Luke said, trying to hide his shock. She’d just made her way into his house. How ballsy was that? ‘Has something else happened? Did Eve—’

  Alanna cut him off, her voice sharp. ‘I’m not here to talk about your girlfriend problems.’

  Luke took a couple of steps closer to her. ‘Why are you here then?’

  ‘I realized that I hadn’t said thank you for my beautiful present.’ She reached behind her, and picked up the sword from the bed. ‘I love it.’

  ‘You stole the sword?’ Luke demanded.

  ‘Of course I did,’ Alanna purred.

  Luke’s mind spun. It had been Alanna, and he’d accused Eve. Eve. ‘What were you—’

  Before he could finish the question, something hard slammed into the back of his head. As he fell to his knees, the world around him went black.

  ‘We said that the timing didn’t work for Alanna to be the one who destroyed the barrier,’ Carlos said. ‘I keep going back to that. The evidence all points to her, but the pieces don’t fit.’

  Eve, Jess, Callum and Carlos were driving towards Deepdene in one of the Order’s limousines. A van with a squad of four Order warriors followed.

  ‘She could have had assistance from someone inside Deepdene. The ritual is a deep secret, but anyone who has the knowledge can perform it. It doesn’t take special powers,’ Callum replied. ‘If she has found someone to help, the person is probably a loner, someone who doesn’t attract a lot of attention. Quite possibly this person may be emotionally unstable, or might have been acting oddly lately. That would make it easier for Alanna to influence them,’ Callum explained. ‘Eve, Jess, is there anyone you can think of who fits that description?’

  Eve and Jess exchanged a look. ‘Simon,’ they said at the same time.

  ‘He’s this guy at our school, and he’s so like what you said,’ Jess told Callum. ‘He doesn’t have any friends, really. He’s always off by himself in the library. And he got kind of obsessed with me. He was stalking me. So that’s a yes on the emotionally unstable.’

  ‘We caught him hanging around Jess’s house,’ Eve added. ‘Then we found a dead cat almost right where he’d been. The cat had its throat sliced open, just like the dead animals Luke found around the border.’

  Jess wrapped her arms tightly around herself. ‘Do you think he’d been about to bring Pumpkin – that’s the cat – to the border to work the ritual?’

  At the word ‘ritual’ a thought hit Eve with the power of a punch. ‘The ritual! It reversed a barrier to keep demons out. Could it have taken down the block I put over the portal too? Because that demon we fought had to come from somewhere.’

  ‘And the demon birds!’ Jess added.

  ‘It’s possible the ritual could have removed the protection that keeps demons from coming through the portal, yes. That protection and our barrier serve almost identical purposes,’ Callum answered.

  ‘What did you mean about demon birds?’ Carlos asked.

  ‘They attacked at school this morning. They were like vultures, only supernatural. They smashed into the gym,’ Eve said.

  ‘This is all looking extremely dangerous.’ Callum’s skin had taken on a grey cast. ‘A demon-killing sword stolen. The barrier down. The portal open. Demons invading. And Alanna seemingly having deserted the Order.’

  Eve gasped in horror.

  ‘What’s wrong, Evie?’ Jess cried.

  ‘Luke! He doesn’t know any of this. He has no idea what’s going on.’ Luke still thought Alanna was with the Order. He wouldn’t have any reason to believe he had to protect himself against her. ‘I’ve got to warn him.’ She yanked her phone out of her bag and hit Luke’s speed dial number.

  The phone rang once … twice … three times, and she held her breath the whole time.

  ‘Hello, Eve.’

  Eve drew in a sharp breath. It felt like a layer of ice was forming inside her. That wasn’t Luke’s voice.

  ‘Alanna!’ she exclaimed, so everyone in the limo would know who she was talking to. ‘You better not hurt my boyfriend. You know what I can do to you.’ She put on the speaker so they could all hear.

  Carlos pointed to himself, then Callum, and shook his head. Eve got it. He didn’t want her to let it slip that she was with a team from the Order. She nodded.

  ‘Are you sure he’s still your boyfriend? There’s gossip going around that he hasn’t been too happy with you lately. That was quite a scene the two of you made in the gym this morning,’ Alanna answered, her voice soft and silky. Eve felt her power flare. She used all her will to shove it down. She wasn’t wasting even a few sparks. She wanted all her fire when she faced Alanna.

  ‘Thanks to you. You set me up. You made Luke think I was going demon and that I stole the sword. You planted my earring in his room,’ Eve accused her.

  ‘Me?’ Alanna cried, all innocence. ‘Well, maybe. That sounds like something I might do,’ she added.

  ‘Let me talk to Luke,’ Eve demanded.

  ‘You want him, you’ll have to come get him,’ Alanna taunted her.

  ‘Just tell me where,’ Eve said.

  ‘The portal. As soon as it’s dark.’ Alanna hung up before Eve could get another word in.
/>   ‘We can get there by dark, right?’ she demanded.

  ‘It’ll be close,’ Carlos replied. By car it took about two and a half hours to travel from the city to Deepdene. ‘But I’ll make sure we do.’ He pressed a button, and the glass barrier between them and the driver slid down. ‘Go as fast as you safely can,’ Carlos instructed him. ‘Ignore the speed limit.’ He slid the glass back up.

  ‘Jess, she has Luke,’ Eve said miserably. The thought was pounding through her brain over and over. She has Luke. She has Luke. She has Luke.

  ‘I know, sweetie,’ Jess answered. ‘But we’re on our way to save him. We’re going to save him.’

  It was so good to have Jess here. Eve didn’t know how she’d get through this without her. And their whole friendship had almost been destroyed by Alanna.

  Callum shook his head. ‘She had us all fooled. To me, she always seemed completely devoted to the Order,’ he said. It sounded as if he were talking more to himself than to the rest of them. ‘She was almost always monitoring possible trouble areas or researching.’

  ‘She definitely spent a lot of time monitoring me,’ Eve muttered. ‘And I even helped! She asked me all about my powers, and I just answered like it was nothing.’

  ‘We can handle Alanna,’ Jess said firmly.

  But she has Luke. The thought continued to loop. She has Luke. She has Luke. She has Luke.

  ‘You’re going to kick her ass, Evie,’ Jess continued. ‘And I’m going to help.’

  Eve held on to that promise all the way to Deepdene. ‘Don’t get too close to the Medway mansion,’ she told Callum as they drove into town. ‘I don’t think we should give away the fact that I have backup from the Order. Not until I see what the situation is.’

  ‘Something’s not right,’ Jess said, staring out the window. ‘I can’t figure out what.’

  Eve leaned towards the window too. ‘The power’s out,’ she breathed. ‘You don’t notice right away, because there’s still a tiny bit of sunlight. But look, there’s no light on in any of the houses, and the streetlights should be on by now.’