by Gabby Fawkes
“This is a guest list event,” one of them said. “What’s your name?”
“Theia,” I said.
“Theia?” he repeated with recognition.
“Yup. Step daughter extraordinaire.”
He exchanged a quick glance with the other Leshy. My paranoia spiked. It was obvious they’d been told to watch out for my arrival.
The second Leshy clicked a button on the walkie-talkie at his shoulder. “Theia’s here.”
My insides knotted. Who was on the other end of that radio? Conrad? Geiser? A bunch of henchmen?
The first Leshy gestured for me to enter.
I took a step in, praying I hadn’t just sealed my fate.
The house was boiling hot from all the sweaty freshman voguing on the dance floor. The living room had been transformed into a disco, complete with strobe lights. A blue-skinned Oni Demonborn jammed at the decks. The joviality felt extremely incongruous to how goddamn on edge I felt.
On the dance floor, I noticed Heidi dancing joyfully in a fuschia pink dress. Perched on her shoulder was her newly hatched familiar, a blue jay - which perfectly summed up Heidi because it was bright and loud. She looked so happy jumping around in excitement. For a second I thought this couldn’t possibly be the public event Geiser was trying to get me killed at, because what kind of dad would ruin his daughter’s hatching party in such a traumatizing way? But then I remembered this was Geiser we were dealing with. The sort of dad who’d kill his mistress and pin it on a bunch of school-aged Vanpari just to help win an election.
Of course the man himself was nowhere to be seen. Typical. He was clearly avoiding the showdown.
Just then, through the sea of bouncing freshman, I spotted Nik. He was wearing tight black jeans and a dark gray tee that was taut across his sinewy chest.
My heart started to hammer at the sight of him. It drummed so hard it took me by surprise. I’d really fallen for him. Just one day spent agonizing over where he’d gone had tipped my crush into full-blown affection.
I shoved my way through the bopping kids, beelining for him.
“Nik!” I called through a cloud of dry ice. “Nik!”
He looked up. When he saw me barrelling toward him, his expression turned tense. I hated it. I wanted him to look as pleased to see me as I was to see him.
“Where’ve you been?” I cried, grabbing his arm as I got close enough. I practically had to scream to be heard over the noise.
From the dance floor behind me there came a loud cheer. I glanced quickly over my shoulder to see a group of teens had lifted another into the air, attempting some kind of crowd-surfing thing. I groaned. This was so the last place I wanted to be doing this.
“I went home for a bit, that’s all,” Nik shouted back, evidently trying to brush off my worry.
I gave him an incredulous look. “Home? You went home? With everything that’s going on right now?”
He turned his face, looking irritated. “I needed space.”
“Because of the teeth?” I mimed Vanpari incisors growing from my gums.
Nik shoved my hands down from my face — my whole body igniting at the touch of him — and glanced quickly over his shoulder to see if anyone had noticed. “Don’t do that!”
I glanced down at his hands on mine, remembering how cold his skin had felt when he’d helped me to my feet in Battle Class. Now I understood why. It was the Vanpari part of him.
When I looked back up and met his eyes, my throat tightened. He really was gorgeous. I’d fallen for Nikolas Storm.
But he was glaring at me like I was the enemy.
“What do you want?” he yelled.
His words made me feel shitty. Maybe Retta had been right. When I needed Nik, he’d abandoned me. Now I was putting myself in mortal danger to save him. And he was acting like I was the one ruining the party.
“I came to rescue you,” I told him bluntly.
He folded his arms. “From what? A bunch of freshman?”
I lost my patience. “From Geiser, you idiot! He’s planning an attack!”
Nik’s eyes widened.
Another huge cry came from the partying teens. They’d dropped the crowd-surfing kid.
It was too loud to explain and I was getting exasperated. “Just come with me,” I said, grabbing his arm. “We have to get out of here.”
I started tugging Nik across the dance floor, muscling past huddles of aggressively dancing kids.
But just as we reached the archway that led into the foyer, I noticed the group of paparazzi trooping in through the front door, herded by Conrad. The skinny slimeball was wearing a dark indigo suit today, clearly having dressed up for the occasion.
I shuddered and tried to dodge back into the living room out of sight. But I hit a wall of moshing teens.
“Theia!” I heard Conrad’s gushing voice.
I tensed. Too late.
Slowly, I turned to face him. As he strode over, his eyes sparked like a kid’s at Christmas.
“There you are!” he said, standing directly between me and my escape route. “I’m so glad you made it. Heidi will be thrilled to get a full family shot.” A thin, evil-looking smile spread across his lips.
The tense knot in my stomach grew tighter. I needed to get the hell out of here. But there was no way out. Every exit was blocked by kids. I was trapped.
“Now what?” Nik said out the corner of his mouth.
“I don’t know,” I said, my heartbeat starting to race.
Just then, Heidi appeared.
I felt so bad for her. I’d given her a lot of flack but she was an innocent in all this. Just a kid, albeit an annoying kid. None of this was her fault.
“Congratulations,” I told her, nodding to her vibrantly bright blue jay. “He goes with your dress.”
She beamed at me widely. “Thanks. I’m already like totally in love. You should get a familiar one day. They make you feel complete.”
“I’ll think about it,” I told her, not even fibbing.
As I scanned the crowds searching for an escape route, Emerald slunk up to us. She was wearing a silky yellow skater-style dress that fit her figure impeccably. When she saw me, a look of malice flashed in her eyes.
“You should cover those for the shoot,” she said coldly, reaching forward and pulling my hair over my ears. “There. That’s much more presentable.”
Immediately, I shoved my hair back. “Don’t touch me,” I snapped.
She gave me a disgusted look.
“Put that thing away,” Conrad suddenly said, noticing my bow. “We can’t have it in the photos.”
“No way,” I said, holding it more tightly. “My bow stays with me at all times.”
Conrad reached forward and gripped my bow. Revulsion ran through my whole body.
“No,” I said between my teeth. “I know what you’re up to, Conrad. You’re trying to get me killed. And if you don’t want me to make a scene in front of your little camera crew, I suggest you let go this second.”
I nodded my head to where the paparazzi were starting to raise their cameras, interested in the apparent altercation brewing between Conrad and me.
He immediately let go and turned to them. “Don’t you dare!” he snapped, like they were naughty children. “We have an agreement.”
Ha, I thought as much. Caught red-handed.
Finally, Mom and Geiser made their way to the group. The sight of them turned my stomach. Mom’s gaze met mine but she immediately turned her cheek. She was clearly ashamed of herself for caving and going back to Geiser so quickly.
“Okay,” the paparazzi man shouted. “Everyone smile. On three, two, one...”
Suddenly, there came a huge scream from the group of kids. I looked over to see who’d been accidentally dropped on their head while attempting to crowd surf. But what I saw made my blood curdle.
Vanpari.
A ton of Vanpari.
23
“Nik!” I cried, turning to him.
He�
�d seen them too.
I tightened my grip on my bow.
The kids’ screams grew louder and louder as the Vanpari barged inside the room.
As the Vanpari came closer, flinging kids out of their way, it was obvious they were looking for someone. Me.
The guards were nowhere in sight. But within a matter of seconds, the whole place had cleared out anyway. Even the paparazzi scurried away like the cockroaches they were.
I realized that it was just me and Nik squaring off against the Vanpari.
I bolted for the buffet table, wanting some kind of vantage over them. I leapt onto it, making a tray of French Fancies go flying. I raised my bow.
Nik was close behind me, his foot landing in a bowl of hummus, splattering it all over his jeans.
I surveyed the scene. Through thick dry ice and flashing strobe lights I counted ten Vanpari.
Ten. And just two of us.
Nik brought his hands up to chest height, his palms turned outward, and began muttering in Latin. Blue electricity crackled across the surface of his skin. Then it shot out like lightning bolts into one of the Vanpari.
The Vanpari let out a shrill scream as Nik’s electric light visibly crackled across his whole body.
The guy beside him launched for Nik’s ankles. I stomped down on his hands then cracked my bow across the back of his head. Nik threw another bolt of voltage. It hit him right in the chest, sending him catapulting across the dance floor.
As he flew, I saw a strange flickering in his eyes. They were switching between gray and red. His skin was flickering too, changing between two colors. Then the dry ice swallowed him up.
The flying Vanpari was enough to catch the attention of two others. Four gray eyes snapped toward the buffet table. They locked on me. Teeth bared, the Vanpari began to charge.
My hands were remarkably steady as I raised my bow and grabbed an arrow from my quiver. But my heart was pounding with fear.
I fired off a shot, aiming it right between their two heads. The arrow whizzed through the air, grazing their cheeks. It was enough of a shock to make them stop running and dart behind the huge speakers of the sound system for cover.
Another Vanpari reached me and I used my bow like a shield, blocking his blows. I used it to shove him face-first into the punch bowl. Lurid pink, sticky liquid spilled all over the place and the punch bowl rolled off the table to the floor.
Beside me, Nik was pummelling another foe. His Vanpari teeth had protruded from his gums. Was it weird I found them kind of hot?
“Theia, to your left!” he screamed, bringing an abrupt end to my distraction.
I looked over to see a Vanpari charging my way. It occurred to me that if I could see him this clearly then he wasn’t using his Vanpari super speed.
Nik’s blue electricity flew inches past my face. I staggered back, knocking over a bowl of Twizzlers, and grabbed the wall to steady myself.
The bolt slammed into the Vanpari’s throat. He clutched it with both his hands, his eyes wide with pain, and staggered back.
Then it happened. His glimmer began to fail. It flickered in and out. The menacing exterior of a Vanpari faded away to the reveal a frightened Ifrit Demonborn boy behind it.
It all made sense. None of the attackers were Vanpari. They were kids who’d been given illegal potions to make them look Vanpari. They were just desperate kids like Kevin, Sandra and Cal. Kids who’d been lured into Geiser’s violent world with money.
“They’re children!” I screamed at Nik.
“So?” he snapped back, strobe lights contorting his features. “They’re trying to kill us!”
There was no time to explain to him what we’d learned in the Chinese takeout in Brownsville. Another attacker had reached the buffet table. I kicked him square in the face.
He staggered back into the Ifrit boy, who was still clutching his throat. Scattered potato chips went flying up behind them as they tumbled back into dense dry ice.
My heart drummed. I looked around to see if the other Vanpari were heading this way. Nik’s blue electric zappy things and my arrows seemed to have driven them momentarily into hiding.
Just then I saw there was a clear path to the exit. But I knew the second I jumped off the buffet table I’d lose my advantage. It would give them the perfect shot to strike. In a matter of seconds I’d be pounced upon by anyone still standing.
“We can get out,” I said to Nik. “But we need to go back to back.”
But no sooner had the words left my lips than I felt someone slam hard into me. They’d come from nowhere.
“Nik!” I screamed as I felt myself being lifted off my feet.
Someone was trying to fly away with me.
Nik grabbed my legs, trying to heave me back down. But the person who had me locked in their arms was way stronger than Nik. He lost hold of me.
Panicking, I started to lift higher. Then I felt a tugging on my bow. Someone had reached up from below and grabbed it. With the opposing force from the flying, my bow was wrenched clean out of my hands.
“NO!” I screamed.
I felt its absence like a torn-off limb.
I glanced up at the person who’d grabbed me. Though they appeared to be Vanpari, the warmth of their arms locked around me told me otherwise. The fact that they were flying was also a bit of a giveaway. But still, the glimmer was quite the headfuck. My brain couldn’t quite calibrate all the opposing pieces.
Disorientated, I felt myself suddenly plunge. I’d been dropped.
As I plummeted through the air, I tapped into my Elkie senses. I only had a millisecond to twist my body so I could land on my feet and have my knees take the impact. But a millisecond wasn’t quite enough.
I hit the ground with more force than I wanted. My legs buckled beneath me. Pain shot up both my shins. I stumbled and fell into a crouch.
Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. A strong arm wrapped across my neck and began to squeeze. I gasped for air.
“Theia Foxglove,” a very familiar voice said in my ear.
My blood ran cold. It was Trevor.
I grasped forward, searching with my finger tips for anything that could be used as a weapon. My fingers collided with a triangular, crustless, cream cheese sandwich. I grabbed it and slammed it back into Trevor’s face, smooshing it into his eyes.
He roared with annoyance but his arm only tightened across my throat.
I searched the floor again, stretching my fingers out desperately. The tips brushed against something solid and sticky. The punch bowl!
Asphyxiation stars were starting to dance in my eyes. I used every last bit of energy in my body to heave myself and the entire monstrous weight of Trevor closer to the bowl. But it was just out of reach. That little bit too far for me to grasp hold of. I was going to pass out before I made it.
“Finally I get to kill you,” Trevor sneered into my ear.
In my peripheral vision, I saw the flash of a blade. Trevor had drawn a knife. And not just any knife. The same one I’d seen flash in the light of my bedroom door. The same one I’d dodged as it lunged at me in my garden. Trevor had been the one who’d tried to kill me.
Why? He was a privileged, rich kid. He had every opportunity in the world. He didn’t need Geiser’s money.
“It’ll be even better than killing Carmella,” he added.
I shuddered with revulsion as the truth overcame me. Trevor had killed Carmella Reed. Not for money, but because he got a kick out of it. And I’d thought Geiser was psycho.
Fury gave me a surge of power. A part deep inside of myself seemed to suddenly unlock. A feeling like flames raced through my body.
It was my Mage powers.
The punch bowl began to shake. It was moving! I was moving it with my mind, with my Mage power!
The bowl flew into my hands. Without wasting a second to celebrate, I heaved the heavy glass bowl up and over my head, slamming it backwards with as much strength as I could muster.
A huge crash sounded.
The grip around my neck loosened. Trevor’s knife went skittering across the dance floor.
Spluttering, I fell forward onto all fours. I took a huge gasp of air.
Once I’d recovered enough, I looked behind me. Trevor, in his Vanpari guise, was lying groaning on the floor. His glimmer began to flicker before my eyes. As he fell into unconsciousness, the glimmer faded. There lay Trevor in all his meat-head glory, passed out. It was a pretty satisfying sight.
I heaved myself to my feet and glanced around for Nik. He was still standing on the buffet table, blasting orbs of electricity from his palms. Piles of semi-conscious kids lay on the dance floor, their Vanpari glimmers flickering in and out.
“Hey, Theia!” a female voice cried. “Looking for this?”
My head snapped toward the voice. There, standing in the archway of the living room, holding my bow, was Emerald.
I barely had a chance to comprehend what she was doing because it all happened so quickly. Emerald raised my bow over her head and brought it crashing down onto her raised knee. My weapon was no match for her strong cheerleader thigh. It snapped clean in half.
The grief hit me like a gunshot. I screamed.
My bow…
I felt numb. Winded.
Without thinking, I pounced. I grabbed Emerald by the throat and slammed her back against the wall.
Rather than looking pained, she looked thrilled. She flashed me a sneering smile of hatred.
“You’re as sick as your dad,” I growled.
“I’ll tell you what’s sick,” Emerald replied. “You. You dirty Elkie. You’re sick. I wish you’d die.”
I brought my fist up and slammed it into her nose. I felt the bone crack beneath my knuckles. Blood spurted everywhere, splashing onto my face.
Emerald screamed with pain. She grabbed her face. Blood gushed through her fingers.
“You bitch!” she screamed. “You broke my nose!”
She scurried into the foyer.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Daddy will pay for the plastic surgery!” I shouted after her, watching her retreat through the front door.
I scooped down and grabbed the two halves of my broken bow. My whole body ached with emotion. It hurt more than any of the physical pounding I’d taken.
