Burning laced across her clavicles, corseted the bones of her ribs. She gasped. The feeling wrapped around her hips, sliding into her gut. Her whole body clenched, her legs giving out.
“Whoa, you alright?” Adam’s hand was on her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, though the words came out pain-slurred. She slammed her hand against the floor. Everything inside her felt like it was ripping apart, rearranging.
“Eden, look at me.” Adam moved in front of her and crouched down to her level. She forced her eyes up, blinking hard. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Hurts.”
“You look like the Screamers when she’s left them too long. Like you have way too much Touch. Haven’t you been passing?”
She nodded, her jaw clenched. The pain was diminishing, her vision clearing. She got her hands under her, staggered to her feet. “Kristen took me yesterday.”
“Jesus, did you get it from them? Is that even possible?” His voice changed, filling with wonder. “You took in their Touch when you killed them!"
“Adam, please!” She took a tentative deep breath, expecting another wave of hell from her entrails. When none came, she straightened. “Can we not do this now? I’ve got to get out of here before—”
The front door closed. Eden and Adam snapped toward the sound. She heard Sebastian, his muffled voice, and then two sets of footsteps on the stairs. In seconds, Kristen would be aware something was off, if she wasn’t already. No time to make a run for it.
Eden wiped any trace of fear from her face. “She's coming. You want out? There’s still time for me to…”
"I want out of here, but not like that.” Adam moved a step closer, still keeping his distance. “I’m coming with you."
Her eyelashes fluttered, sharp needles of pain digging a trail across her shoulders. The rush of the last bits of Touch left her shaking. She felt it inside her, each particle wrestling for space. Adam watched her, waiting. “No. You can’t come with me, but I can take one more.” She wasn’t sure if she’d collapse under the strain, if her offer to him would cost her own scant chance at freedom.
“Hear me out.” His tongue flicked across his lips, eyes darting toward the door. Confident footsteps that could only have belonged to Kristen glided up the stairway. “I have a few hundred bucks.”
“Then go. You can handle yourself. Besides,” Eden added. “I'll be lucky to make it out of here.”
From beside her, Adam started to say her name, cut off as Kristen rounded the doorframe. He slid back further into the room. Eden flexed her fingers at her sides, squaring off.
Kristen stopped, her face the perfect blank canvas Eden strived for herself. One look at Kristen, and she knew she’d never master it. Not like that.
“You look quite…guilty,” Kristen said. She made no move to come closer. It wasn’t exactly a hesitation, but the best Eden could hope for.
“Guilty? Depends on the point of view I guess.”
Sebastian sidled up next to Kristen. His hand on her shoulder, he moved to get around, in front of her, breathless from his rush down the hallway. “They’re gone.”
“Who’s gone?”
“The doors are unlocked.” He didn’t take his eyes off Eden, though he spoke to Kristen. “All of them.”
Kristen’s jaw dropped, uncertainty creeping into her eyes. “That is unacceptable,” she said, turning to Eden, noticing Adam behind her for the first time. She snapped her fingers at him. “You. Where are my Siders?”
Sebastian answered. “Ashes,” he said, quietly. “On the floor.”
Eden dropped her hands as he spoke, her fingers uncurling.
“What have you done?” Kristen pushed around Sebastian.
“I’m leaving,” Eden said quickly, trying to keep her voice even. “If you try to stop me, I’ll do what I have to.” She’d lost some of the hard edge, had to press her hands against her sides to stop them from shaking. The backpack sat in the corner, near the door. She wondered if she’d make it that far if she took off running. If Sebastian would tackle her. If Kristen would lock her up, make her a Screamer. Or worse, turn her over to the Fallen.
“You can’t be serious.” Kristen’s expression shifted, the annoyed squint of her brow unraveling into amusement. She stepped out of the doorway with a sweeping gesture. “You’re free to go if you choose.”
Now it was Eden’s turn to falter. All the words she’d planned, the different scenarios she’d played out and... “You can’t trick me, Kristen.” That had to be it. Leaving couldn’t possibly go down so easily.
“It’s nothing of the sort. I kept you here to protect you while you learned enough to survive on your own. Clearly, you can. I consider my promise fulfilled.” Her eyes shot to Adam and back. “Frankly, if you’d spoken to me instead of acting like a rash child, we could have avoided this unpleasantness.” Kristen shook her head.
Eden circled closer to the door, to her bag. “So, you mean to tell me I take out half your crew, and you’re just gonna let me walk out the front door?”
Kristen’s eyes sparkled, a half-smile etching into her cheek. “They didn’t exactly rage against the dying of the light, now did they?” She smoothed the folds of her dress. “I have no use for the weak. One might say I owe you for using your talents to my advantage.” Her lips turned downward, eyes falling as she tapped with her finger. “I’m not one for gathering debt. Let’s pay it off now shall we? In advice.”
Kristen leaned to the side, slipped her wrist into one of the backpack straps and lifted it. “First, anger should never affect your loyalties. Going to Madeline for help might seem like your best option, but I would discourage this. When she finds out you’re playing house in Manhattan, she will not be happy.”
“Manhattan?” Adam flinched when Kristen’s attention settled on him. “What about Erin?”
“Erin and her brood are on vacation.” She turned back to Eden, shot her a wink. “I’ve had a busy morning.”
“What did you do, Kristen?” Adam shifted behind Eden, moving closer as he spoke. “A dozen Siders don’t just go missing.”
“Really?” Kristen mused. “Because it seems to be quite the popular phenomenon as of late. They did clear out quite quickly.” She flicked her wrist with a dismissive flourish. “Perhaps they went south for the winter. Erin’s always been fickle.”
“You think Madeline’s just gonna accept that?” Adam said. “Erin is her best friend. They have an alliance, Kristen.”
“Had. The past tense of which will drive Madeline into a fury.” Kristen fell silent, tapping her free hand against the doorframe. “You should already know the logical move, Eden. You need to start thinking like a leader. Thoughts?”
“They kept you in check, didn’t they?” Eden asked. “Madeline and Erin. They were in an alliance. Against you.” Kristen raised an eyebrow, waiting. “So you’d need to break that, but you’d need back up after, to make sure Madeline doesn’t come after you herself.” The last puzzle piece slipped into place. “You want an alliance with me.”
“Bravo.” Kristen dropped the backpack, clapping softly. “My terms. A truce between you and me, uncontestable as of this moment. If Madeline makes a move against me and mine, you will come to my aide. You’re the only threat to their eternity. Plus,” Kristen said with a smile, “you’ll be on my side! Oh, I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.”
“You’re just gonna blame Eden, then? For Erin?” There was a protective edge to Adam’s voice that hadn’t been there before. Kristen snorted.
“If I know my dear Maddy, she’ll pull her spoiled brat pout for a bit and move on to a new BFF. Eden here has more pressing threats than Madeline,” she turned to Eden. “Don’t you?” Kristen’s face went solemn. “In exchange, I give you my guarantee Madeline will not be a problem for you, regarding said pressing threats. Your talent is not something They will find amusing.”
“If I agree to this alliance thing, you’ll let us go?” She heard A
dam suck in a breath.
“Us?” Kristen asked.
“Adam comes with me, or the deal is off.”
Kristen didn’t seem interested in using the leverage. “Agreed. With a talent like yours, you’ll be found eventually. You’re going to need backup.”
“And another thing. You don’t tell…” Eden glanced toward Adam as she reached forward and took the backpack from Kristen. He doesn’t know about the Bound or the Fallen, she thought. “You tell no one where I’ve gone, should anyone ask.”
“The city is large enough to get lost in. Keep a low profile and stay off the radar.” She held out a gloved hand. “Are we agreed?”
Eden took the offered hand to seal the deal, throwing the backpack over her shoulder. “Where do I go? Once I get to Manhattan?”
“Not my problem.” Kristen shook her head, smiling. “And not something you should want me to know.” She spun on her heel. “You’re nothing but a rumor now.”
Chapter 18
Two Months Later
Eden reached blindly for her phone and shut off her alarm as she crawled out of bed. The curtains covering the window blocked the morning light, but she crossed to the door without turning on the lamp. She’d memorized her room enough to make her way.
The apartment was quiet. Adam slouched on the couch. He glanced up as she entered and nodded hello before lowering the monitor of the laptop balanced on his legs.
“Scoot,” Eden mumbled, still half asleep. He threw himself over a few feet on the beat-up couch, tugging the blanket with him, not even offering a corner. Apparently, mornings weren’t for sharing.
“Asshole.” She ran the zipper up on her hooded sweatshirt and plopped next to him. “Anybody else up?” she asked, combing the tangles out of her hair with her fingers. The door to the boys’ room was closed. A two-bedroom apartment had been enough for just her and Adam. Then Jarrod and Adam had shared. No one had objected when she’d pulled the girl card and insisted on her own space. Two weeks ago, when they’d added James to the mix, things had moved from crowded to crash pad. The whole hallway smelled like a dorm room.
“You know Jarrod. He’s either up by seven or comatose till noon. James wasn’t moving around yet when I came out here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously, he needs the sleep. Hissy fits burn a lot of energy.”
“Don’t do that.”
Eden yanked at a chunk of her bangs, separating one of the hot pink highlights. She still wasn’t used to the cut, the strands tapering off near her ears.
“What do you want me to do, just stand by and watch him suffer?” Eden asked. “He looks like a damned zombie half the time,” she added. James had passed the early stage where Touch only had to be spread once or twice a day. By now, he should have been hitting up at least five. Instead he was being a child. Refusing altogether.
“Look, he’s rough,” Adam said. “But he’s a kid, Eden. Eventually, he’s gonna break. He’ll start passing. He’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like you can force him.”
Eden yanked herself up off the couch and headed for the door. What to do with James? The question plaguing them all week.
“I’ll be back in half an hour. Wake him up and tell him to get his ass ready. He’s passing today.”
She shrugged on her black pea coat as she took the stairs. Peering through the little window beside the security door, she kept herself just out of view. Outside, on the stairs of the apartment building, five Siders were already waiting for her, gloved up and a cautious distance apart. To the morning rush of pedestrians, they would have been chalked up as street kids. Eden knew better. A swipe of her fingertips on their skin would drop their façade and show the truth.
Five today. It had never been so many.
“Time to greet the fan club,” Eden sighed as she twisted the knob.
The security door clicked shut behind her. She tucked the key into the pocket of her coat and turned to face them. Their whispers, snippets of “has to be the one” and “right where she was supposed to be”, intensified as they caught sight of her. The Siders began showing up a few days after she and Adam had taken off from Kristen’s, even before they’d managed to scrounge up enough money to get an apartment.
“Where who said I’d be?” she demanded. “Who sent you?” She knew they wouldn’t answer. No one ever did.
“It’s true isn’t it?” The one who spoke up couldn’t have been more than twelve. “That you breathe death?” He stared at her, taking her in like some kind of urban legend come to life. She didn’t need to drop their glamours to tell they were new, all of them.
“Please? You can, right?” His body shook with need. Eden’s anger melted, the last of her resolve faltering as it always did. She could never turn them away. Not when she was the only one who could end their suffering.
“The least you could do is show up post coffee,” she suggested. The boy tilted his head. Eden gave up on the sarcasm, holding out a resigned hand. “Do you have it?” she asked. The tattooed one dropped a ball of crumpled bills into her palm. “This for all of you?” He nodded. She didn’t bother to count it. All two hundred and fifty would be there. She hadn’t set the price, though they’d always offered the same amount.
The Siders fell in behind her, following blindly as she led them into the alley. Some mornings she was tempted to do a little sidestep shuffle, a jig maybe, just to see if they’d copy. Today wasn’t one. She wasn’t smiling as she turned to face them.
The youngest led the pack. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. Even in the cold, he reeked of desperation. She focused on him, letting the others fade into the background. Her hand hovered near his cheek. She brushed the sweaty hair from his temples with a black-polished fingernail. Reaching down, she took his hands in hers.
“It doesn’t hurt.” She meant to reassure him, adding a measure of kindness to her voice, but when he moved to speak, she lowered her red tinted lips to within a millimeter of his mouth, completing the circuit. Her timing was well practiced and perfect.
A sharp exhale propelled her breath into him. Her hands tightened their grip on his. For a span of two heartbeats, she thought it wouldn’t take, that she was free, no longer their only out. But then his eyes spiraled back into his head as her breath did its work. Her palms blazed and itched as his Touch became hers. She clamped down on her lip as the burning spread up her arms, tingling flames across her collar bones.
One by one, she emptied them of Touch. The bodies fell as shells, their power now hers.
A breeze from the next passing taxi, even the vibration from its tires on the asphalt, would scatter what was left of them into nothing.
Eden looked up, shading her eyes from the sunlight. She’d never been able to make anything out after the act, no light, no choir of angels. No hellfire either. If they were really dying, they went in silence without so much as a clue. Though it would have been nice to know what happened to them, being pathless, she knew it wasn’t an answer likely to come from above. Still, the glance had become habit.
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” she said to no one, pulling two twenties from the roll of bills. She pocketed the rest and headed through the alley, around the corner to Milton’s.
Even if there were no answers, just once she wished one of them would stick around long enough to say thanks.
Chapter 19
The bell on the coffee shop’s door sounded when Eden walked through, but the guy behind the counter didn’t look at her. He looked at the clock.
Pulling a tray from some shelf she couldn’t see, he set it next to the register and handed her a bag. She already knew what it would contain—two dozen packets of Equal, creamers and a few stir sticks thrown in for good measure.
“You’re late today,” he said.
Eden checked the time. Two minutes past eleven.
“I had something,” she said, not bothering to elaborate. “How goes your morning, Zach?” she asked, squinting as she dropped the bill onto the counter. She r
ubbed her wrist absently, pain lingering in the joints.
Behind the counter, Zach shrugged. “It goes,” he said. He swiped the money from the counter, entering the numbers into the cash register. As always, his hands were gloved, the latex enough to keep him from spreading Touch to customers.
“Cash still tight?” she asked, pointedly. She’d offered to put Zach up, have him join them, and let her worry about the bills. So far he hadn’t taken her up on the offer.
As usual, he only smiled, replied with the same lines he always did. “I’ll consider it, Eden. No promises though.”
Other Siders lived in the area too, though they feared her enough to maintain some distance. They’d heard the rumor. If a Sider sought Eden out, it was for one reason. She didn’t mind their nearness, did her best to stay just another face in the crowd.
She sighed. “It’s close quarters now, but if you moved in, we could upgrade to a bigger apartment.”
“So you’ve mentioned,” he said, a smile playing at his lips.
She’d kept her group small to stay under the radar. Clearly that plan was failing. If she needed backup, there was only Jarrod and Adam. The fact was, she needed to start building her numbers. Just because word of her hadn’t gotten to the Fallen, didn’t mean it wouldn’t.
She’d taken in James out of pity. The kid had been scared and alone. Living on the streets. Zach however, would be able to handle it if she needed to pass him Touch to get rid of what she took from the other Siders. She slipped an extra ten into the tip jar. Half full of coins and bills, the chipped cup had a new sign taped around it.
Eden tilted her head as she read. “‘Thanks a latte’? Are you serious?”
Behind the counter, Zach only laughed.
“No way am I claiming that one. New guy. He’s taking over the opening shift on Monday and Thursday. I trained him, so he knows the routine. Told him you were VIP…that Carol Anne chick’s dark, twisty sister.” He grinned at Eden’s confusion. “Theeeeyyy’re hhhheeeeeeeeeere.” She groaned, pressing her lips together, trying to kill her smile. “Poltergeist!” Zach laughed. “Come on, that’s classic!”
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