“I’m not going to let you hurt another one of my friends.”
“Yeah, you’re kind of running low, aren’t you?” She turned back to the door, dismissing me with a flip of her icy blond hair. I grabbed her chin and jerked her face back around until I could look into her eyes. I was about to demand an answer to my question—when I caught a glimmer of Amber’s thoughts. It wasn’t like the telepathic conversation I’d had with Karayan—because Amber wasn’t interested in sharing any of her thoughts with me. She tried to shrink back, but I gripped her tighter. Amber whimpered.
I pressed the index finger of my free hand into the soft skin of her forehead. Images and thoughts spilled out of her mind. Amber tried to jerk free, but I refused to release her. I saw, through her minds eye—
Amber standing at her bathroom sink, looking at her reflection. Ripping the front of her shirt open, scattering buttons across the blue tile floor. Mussing her hair.
Then, Amber crying in her brother’s arms. She’d told him a story—that Lucas had tried to force himself on her. That he’d been stalking her, and wouldn’t leave her alone.
Then, Amber in the living room of her house, with her big brother and three of his friends. Their faces darkened with anger as she recounted her story again, tearing up in all the right places, until the boys were whipped into a frenzy of rage.
Then, the plan taking shape. Amber reluctantly agreeing that something had to be done or who knows what Lucas might try next. And Amber warning them that Lucas was a good fighter, so they’d have to find a way to catch him off guard—and get him alone. Ally would lure Lucas into the trap. Amber would distract Braedyn while it went down. No witnesses. The boys agreed.
I staggered back, releasing Amber. “You’re going to get Lucas killed.”
“They’re not going to—” she started.
“Liar,” I roared. “Get out of my way.”
Amber shrank away from me, sliding out of my way. I grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open. She glared at me, still stubborn in her conviction. “You could have stopped all of this,” she whispered.
If I hadn’t been desperate to find Lucas, I don’t think I could have kept myself from clawing her sanctimonious face off.
He wasn’t in his seat.
Cassie and Seth looked at me strangely when I asked where Lucas was. I realized my voice was edging into hysteria.
“Um, Ally said something to him and he just left,” Cassie said.
“Where?” I fought the panic rising in my chest. “Where did they go?”
Seth pointed to the side exit, the one that led to the loading dock. “I think they left that way.”
The theater lights started to dim. I pushed my way through the row. When I got to the aisle, I ran straight for the door, throwing it open and charging into the night.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness almost instantly. I saw Lucas standing at the edge of the parking lot.
“Lucas!” I shouted. He turned, surprised.
A car sped around the side of the theater. Headlights caught Lucas, edging him in a blinding glare. Lucas threw up a hand to ward off the light, but the car didn’t slow. It barreled straight for him, impacting with a sickening thud. Lucas rolled up and over the hood of the car, flying a good 10 feet into the air before landing on the ground.
“No!” My scream echoed down the loading doc. I raced forward. Before I could reach him, the car skidded to a stop and Amber’s brother and his three friends jumped out. One of them had a bat. I pounded forward, choking down a breathless sob of fear.
The boys surrounded Lucas, who rolled to his side, stunned.
“Stay away from Amber,” one of them said.
“What?” Lucas reached a hand up to his head. It came away bloody. “Amber?” He looked confused.
One of the boys kicked Lucas savagely in the stomach. He jackknifed with a breathless grunt of pain.
“Stop!” I screamed, reaching the circle of boys. I dropped beside Lucas, shielding him with my body. “Stop. He didn’t do anything.”
“Stay out of this,” Amber’s brother said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
One of the other guys grabbed my arms, hauling me away from Lucas while the guy with the bat stepped up. I spun around, breaking out of his grip—but some instinct kept me from attacking.
“Amber’s a liar,” I said, using the call in a desperate attempt to get through to them. The boy standing over Lucas lowered his bat, looking down at Lucas as though seeing him for the first time.
“Dude—?” one of the other boys asked, turning to Amber’s brother.
Amber’s brother shook his head, fighting the call. “No. He tried to hurt her,” he said. “She wouldn’t make something like that up.”
“Lucas is innocent,” I insisted, willing the power of the call to penetrate his mind. It moved slowly, fighting the love he held for his sister. “Ask your sister.”
Amber’s brother fought it with everything he had. But some part of him must have known she was capable of a lie like this—because after a long moment of struggle, he shook his head. “Yeah. We should ask her,” he muttered.
They pulled back, retreating to their car.
I knelt back down to examine Lucas. He clutched his stomach, his breathing ragged.
“Lucas?”
“That sucked,” he said. He looked up at me, eyes cloudy with pain. “I have no idea what that was about.”
“I do,” I said.
Lucas saw my expression. “No—” He shook his head, then winced. “Amber’s a wreck, sure, but she’s not a psycho.”
“It was her, Lucas.” The absolute conviction in my voice reached him. He nodded, then reached a hand out toward me. I took it, and helped pull him to a sitting position. A small patch of his hair was matted with blood.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” I said.
“I’m fine.”
“You got hit by a car.”
“Yeah, I vaguely remember something about that.” Lucas saw my exasperation and sighed. “Okay. Fine. Whatever you think is best—I just need a minute.”
I fought the instinct to run my hands over his body, checking to make sure he was whole. Instead, I sat back, waiting for him to recover. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Amber was watching us from the corner of the loading doc. I was on my feet in a heartbeat.
“You,” I hissed. Lucas glanced up at me, surprised by the venom in my voice.
“That was the call.” She stared at me, sickly fascinated. Her mouth quirked up into a smirk. “Finally it all makes sense.”
“You couldn’t stop pushing,” I growled. “Congratulations. You’re about to see exactly how bad I can hurt you.” Amber’s smirk vanished. I tilted my head, studying her almost clinically. “You’ve tried so hard to drive me out of this school. It’s going to be poetic justice when Fiedler expels you on Monday.”
“In your dreams,” she scoffed, but I could tell she was uneasy.
I laughed. The sound was low, guttural. Frightening.
“Fine,” she said, struggling for bravado. “So I get kicked out of school. You think that’s going to destroy me?”
“Oh right. Miss popular. You must have a pretty awesome social life to fall back on. Let’s see what happens when every straight guy at this school decides he hates you.” I took a step toward her. She skittered back away from me, watching me with widening eyes.
“You—you can’t do that.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon, won’t we?” I took another step toward Amber. She flinched. “I tried to take the high road,” I said, my voice full of menace. “But now—you’re about to see me get creative.”
Amber turned and fled into the night. I heard a sharp breath and turned. Lucas was watching me with a strange expression on his face.
“Lucas?” Concerned, I dropped beside him once more. Lucas startled back, then smiled wryly.
“I keep forgetting how powerful you are,” he said. “Remind me no
t to piss you off. Wouldn’t want you using your powers on me.”
His words bore a hole straight through my heart.
Lucas groaned and rolled to his knees. “You know,” he said. “I think this hospital idea is worth exploring after all. Shall we?”
I helped him to his feet, using the moment to hide my expression before Lucas could see.
Gretchen met us at the hospital; I’d called her on the drive over. When we described the accident to the admitting nurse, she got Lucas in to see a doctor immediately. Gretchen and I took turns pacing the waiting room while the doctors ran Lucas through a variety of tests.
Finally, they called us back to his room.
“Mild concussion,” a young doctor said. “We’d like to keep him overnight for observation, but if everything checks out in the morning, he’ll be free to go home.”
“Thank you,” Gretchen said, finally letting herself relax.
“You’re a very lucky kid,” the doctor said to Lucas. “An accident like that, you could have fractured any number of bones, not the least of which is a vertebrae.”
Gretchen closed her eyes, sick with the thought of what might have been.
“You’re scaring my sister,” Lucas said.
The doctor smiled and closed Lucas’s chart, slipping it over the end of his bed. “Well. Time to get some rest.” She glanced at us. “Are either of you staying the night?”
“I will,” Gretchen said. She turned to me. “Could you go home and update the others?”
I nodded. Gretchen sat next to Lucas on the bed and gave him a gentle hug. I saw his eyes search me out as I left, and I nodded my goodbyes. He gave me a faint smile, but I could tell he was still shaken by the events of the evening. It felt like my place was here, by his side. But something else was pulling me away—something I needed to take care of tonight. I comforted myself with the thought that Gretchen would watch over Lucas—and they’d be away from the house in case anything went wrong.
Dad and Seth were waiting up for me when I got home. They were both relieved to hear that Lucas was okay. I didn’t tell Dad about Amber’s involvement. That would get too close to the fact that she was a spotter, something that neither Lucas nor I had shared with the Guard yet. As far as Dad and everyone else was concerned, Lucas had been the victim of a hit and run.
After I’d recounted the news from the hospital, Dad decided it was past time for us all to get some sleep. I went up to my room and closed the door. I curled up on my bed, not bothering to change. As I waited for the others to fall asleep, I had plenty of time to run over the events of the past few nights.
I didn’t like who I was becoming, what these Lilitu powers were turning me into. I needed to end this war now. If I had to wait too much longer, I feared I would become too tainted—and Sansenoy’s offer to make me human would be rescinded. Assuming, of course, that I hadn’t already crossed Sansenoy’s line.
Sometime after three in the morning, I cloaked myself, walked out of my house, and crossed the yard to the Guard’s front door. I gripped the keys I’d taken from Lucas’s jeans at the hospital. Silently, I slid them into the front door lock and turned it. With the faintest click, the lock slid free. I cracked the door open. The foyer was empty. I eased into the house as quietly as I could and pulled the door closed behind me.
The living room was dark, but I could see the sleeping forms of Guardsmen stretched out on rows of cots. The sounds of their breathing filled the house like the rustle of grass in a field.
Suddenly, a Guardsman entered the foyer from the dining room. He was holding a cup of steaming coffee. He looked at the door suspiciously. I froze. Of course they’d have left a guard on duty. I was lucky I hadn’t opened the door to find a sword spearing me through the heart. I almost lost my courage in that moment. But I couldn’t turn back now—the front door was closed, and if I opened it, I’d be giving myself away.
I slipped carefully past the guard and edged down the hallway. The basement door was open. A few nightlights illuminated small sections of the wall, but the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. I descended into the basement. As I passed a light on the stairs, I realized I cast no shadow. Cloaked as I was, the light of this world passed through me as easily as air. I set my foot on the last step and it gave a loud groan. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to bolt back up the staircase at the sound. My heart thudded painfully beneath my ribs, but I forced myself to breathe out slowly.
None of the 50 or so sleeping soldiers stirred.
I eased myself onto the concrete of the basement floor with relief. It was tedious work to move through the maze of cots toward the back column, taking care to avoid bumping a sleeper and risk waking him. The farther away I got from the staircase, the darker the room around me became, and the safer I felt. I had no trouble navigating the darkness, but the human men around me depended on their sight. They’d be less likely to strike in total darkness, and that thought brought me comfort.
I reached the support column at the back of the room. The closest cot was just 10 feet away. I eyed the wooden column, suddenly aware that I was facing too many unknowns for comfort. How did the column swing? Was it on a hinge? Would it creak with movement? I stood there for several long moments, contemplating my options. But the truth was, I was out of time. This had to happen, and it had to happen tonight.
I leaned my shoulder against the column and gave it a gentle push. Nothing. It didn’t budge in the smallest. A rush of panicked adrenaline surged through my body. It took all my effort to calm my heart, take a deep breath, and think.
In the dream, Lucas had come over to this column first, leaving me behind. He’d done something...
I ran my fingers over the back of the column and found a small carving of a rose. It looked like the rose from the mission. I pushed it, and heard a faint click as a latch sprang free inside. I pressed my shoulder against the column again. The bottom edge of the column eased back with a sound almost like a sigh, revealing a hole in the floor.
A small bronze chest was nestled in the hole, covered in symbols like those decorating the vessel. Exactly as it had been in Lucas’s dream.
My breath caught in my throat. I lowered myself to the ground, careful not to let the column slip back to cover the compartment. I reached a hand into the hole and pulled on the top of the chest. It was locked.
So I took the whole thing.
Chapter 15
Moonlight illuminated the world with a ghostly brilliance. The heavy bronze box dug into my skin as I ran. I clutched it to my chest like a child, and didn’t stop until I’d locked the front door to my house behind me. It had felt good to move again. I’d waited, crouched in the hall, for nearly two hours before the guard on duty stepped away for another break. It had been a simple matter to escape through the unguarded front door. Much easier than the waiting. Each second of those two hours had been a torture; all I wanted was to get back home and figure out how to open the box. Until I saw the vessel with my own eyes, I wouldn’t be able to relax.
Seth was pacing the foyer when I returned, clutching a borrowed robe around his skinny frame. When he saw the bronze chest in my arms he looked at me curiously.
“It’s locked,” I whispered. Dad was asleep upstairs.
Seth frowned, his dark eyes clouding with worry. He beckoned me back to his room. When I set the chest down on his bed, something heavy shifted inside. Seth eased the door shut until the lock clicked. Then he turned to me, face tight with anxiety.
“Now what?” he asked.
“We figure out how to open it.”
We examined the chest for over an hour. The surface was inlaid with an array of different stones that worked in and around the symbols with an elegant grace. One part of me appreciated the artistry with which it had been constructed. But most of me was ready to smash it to get at the vessel I could only hope was inside.
“Forget it,” Seth said when we’d made no progress. “No keyhole, no hinges that I can see.”
&n
bsp; “We can’t give up.” My voice was strained, but I’d come too far to turn back now.
“Does your dad have a crow bar?”
“In the garage,” I said, eyeing the ancient chest. As sad as the thought of destroying it made me, I was right there with Seth. If we couldn’t do it any other way, we had to find a way to force the chest open.
Seth eyed the chest, then sighed. “Okay. We’ll grab the crow bar on the way out. We should get over to the mission. It’s going to be dawn soon, and we want to make sure we’re ready when it’s time to start the ritual.”
I nodded as Seth flipped the light switch off.
“Seth,” I breathed.
A small patch of the inlaid stones seemed to glow in the darkness of his room. Seth stood next to me, awed. “It must be some kind of phosphorescent mineral or something,” he said.
“But it wasn’t glowing in the basement.”
“You said it was buried in the floor?”
I nodded.
“Phosphorescent stuff needs light to charge it up,” Seth said. “The light in my room must have given the stones just enough energy to glow.” He looked at me eagerly. “Do you have a bright flashlight somewhere?”
“Yeah, we keep one in the kitchen.”
“Get it.” Seth looked back at the box, eyes fixed on the faintly gleaming stones.
I returned with the flashlight a minute later. Seth flipped it on and shined the light on the lid of the chest for a minute or so. When we were done, the glow was stronger, and I could see a pattern.
“The rose,” I murmured. Seth looked at me, confused. I pointed to the surface of the chest. The tiny, distinctive shape gleamed on one corner of the box; you wouldn’t notice it if the stones weren’t glowing. “It’s the same as the carving that tour guide showed us in the mission,” I said.
“What carving?” Seth asked. I looked at him, remembering he hadn’t been with us on the field trip to the mission. He hadn’t seen the secret door, or the rose carving that unlocked it.
Incubus (The Daughters Of Lilith) Page 24
