Endless: Violet Eden Chapters: Book Four

by Jessica Shirvington

  Luckily, we both knew spending too much time apart was not a good idea. Somehow we seemed to have found some kind of medium for our souls. It wasn’t perfect and although the physical pain – not to mention heartache – of being away from each other and around each other was constant – it was always intensified by extended periods of separation.

  Hence my nightly room service.

  ‘I’ll talk to her,’ he said, as we sat on my floor eating cold pasta. Well, Lincoln was eating it – I was basically inhaling it. I had missed lunch, again.

  I’d thought Lincoln had been a hard taskmaster, but Rainer took training to another level. When I wasn’t running laps in the enormous rooftop gym with its glass bubble ceiling – I was going through drills, lifting extreme weights, handling weapons or getting hit in the face. Repeatedly. By Rainer. She hit every other part of my body as well, but she focused on my face – reassuring me we’d always be able to gauge my progress by the amount of times I allowed her to smash it in.

  I tried to explain I wasn’t allowing anything.

  She disagreed.

  I shook my head at Lincoln. ‘No you will not.’ The last thing I wanted was him coming to my rescue. ‘Only one more week to go and I’m learning a lot.’

  Like what the ground looks like from close up.

  He nodded, but remained focused on the food I could tell he wasn’t enjoying. I might be fine with microwave dinners but Lincoln was a fresh-produce kind of guy.

  ‘Is Zoe ever in here?’ he asked, looking at her mess of a bed and opting for a subject change.

  I took another huge mouthful of spaghetti. ‘She’s usually hanging out with Spence and the other students.’ From her late-night stumbling around in our room, it was clear they got up to no good – aka … a lot of fun. But I was always too exhausted to tag along and find out what they really did.

  ‘I tried to call Steph today, but I can never get through. Has Griff heard from them?’

  Lincoln nodded. ‘Today, briefly. Nothing new. Still on-track,’ he said discreetly, not wanting to go into any more detail while within Academy walls. ‘Griffin saw your parents today,’ he added, trying to sound casual.

  We’d had this conversation before. ‘I’ll go and see them soon. I haven’t exactly had a lot of free time.’

  ‘That’s not the reason and you know it.’

  True. It had more to do with still not knowing what to say to Dad and my inability to process the fact that I’d spent so long hating Evelyn – thinking she’d traded me off for her own advantage – that I couldn’t even look at her now. I’d treated her so badly and I didn’t know how to fix it. And … I had a feeling the two of them were growing … close, and I just didn’t know how to deal with that.

  ‘Is she still having fainting spells?’ I asked.

  ‘No. They gave her something to jumpstart her internal organs and it seems to have worked. They think it was something to do with her body readjusting to its earthly form.’

  Made sense. Griffin had said something like that, too.

  We sat in silence for a while. I finished off my pasta, cleaning the plate with a piece of bread. Lincoln had given up on his dinner.

  ‘What do you think it was like for her?’ I asked quietly.

  ‘I can’t imagine. According to her official debrief, she has no memory of being in Hell. Only that she was there.’

  But I knew better. She’d told me never to ask her and not because she didn’t remember – it was because she did. I suspected Lincoln knew that too.

  ‘She’s your mum, Vi. She gave up her first seventeen years with you, but she’s here now. I …’ He put his plate down on the tray beside him and stretched out his legs. ‘I was so mad with my mum after she died. I was mad at her for getting sick – thought she’d been too weak and made it easy for Nahilius to brainwash her.’

  ‘That’s not true.’

  He half smiled. ‘I know, but it was what I felt for a time. I guess it was my way of dealing with things until I was able to see the truth, that I just missed her.’

  I leaned my head back against the bed. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  He nodded and passed me a bowl of melted chocolate ice cream.

  Yum.

  I ate while he filled me in. More missing children. Phoenix had been spotted in a few places, a couple of times in the New York area. There hadn’t been any sightings of Lilith, but exiles in the area seemed to be moving in mixed packs. It was clear that Lilith had them out doing her dirty work for her – and it made sense since the lure of the Grigori Scripture would be the only explanation for exiles of both light and dark continuing to work together.

  ‘I hate being stuck in here. I feel like I should be out hunting.’

  ‘Right now, I think this is the best place for you. If you were out in the open they might’ve come for you. At least this way you’re training and getting stronger. There are Grigori searching worldwide and all the senior Grigori in New York are hunting her. We’ll find them.’

  The problem was – I didn’t feel stronger. I was exhausted. I slumped back even further. Lincoln smiled and started to get up, collecting the food trays as he did.

  ‘I’ll leave you to get some rest.’ He paused at the door. ‘You know, I’m really … You’re doing great. The testing will be a breeze. I know it isn’t easy and being locked up is hard but I’ve been really … proud to be your partner.’

  I swallowed hard at the praise. Lincoln was talking to me as my trainer and it was a big thing for him to hand over a compliment like that.

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, wishing he wasn’t leaving but knowing I couldn’t ask him to stay.

  He nodded. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  After he left, I tried calling Steph again. We hadn’t been having much luck reaching each other. She was either off hunting ingredients for the Qeres or I was busy training. Tonight was no different, my phone going straight to her voicemail. I left a message telling her I would try and email, but we both knew that however we made contact, neither phone nor email was secure so she wouldn’t be able to tell me much.

  From what Griffin had gleaned from Dapper, they’d already found nine of the ingredients they needed and Dapper had enlisted a few old friends of his family to help keep them hidden. We didn’t know exactly what that meant but he assured us they were all safe and together. The last three ingredients were proving more difficult to find – the original sources of one, seemingly extinct. If we had to, we would use an inferior mutation of the herb but Dapper still felt it was worth persevering and since we hadn’t got any further at our end, Griffin agreed. No one seemed to want to deal with the outstanding problem of the angelic thirteenth ingredient.

  The odd text I had received from Steph mostly complained about her lack of ‘alone time’ with Sal, until, two days ago, a simple smiley-face message, which I presumed meant she’d finally found a way to rectify her problem.

  I had a shower, washing off the blood from the evening’s session with Rainer. When I walked out of the tiny bathroom, wrapped in my towel, every muscle aching to the extreme, and considering giving myself a quick healing once-over, I found Zoe and Spence both sitting on her bed.

  ‘Hey,’ I said. Then I saw the clothes – not mine – laid out on my bed.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  My confusion didn’t last long when I saw the smiles plastered on their faces.

  I shook my head. ‘No.’

  They kept smiling, sitting there in the kind of clothes that screamed: planning no good.

  ‘No!’ I reinforced. ‘I can barely stand up and Rainer will be back here banging on my door in,’ I looked at my watch, ‘six hours.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Eden. You used to be fun. We’ve barely seen you and some of your classmates are starting to talk …’ Spence said, trailing off.

  ‘Talk about what?’

  ‘That you think you’re too good for us. I mean, look at it from their point of view, you haven’t even been showing up to meals.�
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  I knew there was probably truth in what he was saying. I hadn’t been showing up for things because of my training but that didn’t mean people wouldn’t take it in another way. I didn’t want to be an outcast.

  ‘A few of them will be out tonight and it’ll give them something else to talk about over breakfast if you show.’ Spence’s eyes were alight. I knew he was baiting me, setting me up to give in.

  I bit my lip.

  ‘Come on.’ Zoe chimed in. ‘I’ve even put out a hot outfit for you so you don’t have to think, and don’t pretend you can’t swing a little of your own power on yourself for some healing. We all know you can.’

  I gave her a snarky look. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not allowed to leave the buildings.’

  Spence rolled his eyes. ‘Technically, neither are we, but in case you’ve forgotten, we have particular talents when it comes to getting out of high-rises.’

  At that, I couldn’t hold back the smile.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was in Zoe’s favourite pair of black leather pants, high-heeled boots and a gold beaded halter-neck, which was crying out to be danced in.

  Zoe yanked my hair up into a high ponytail while I smudged on some eyeliner and a layer of mascara.

  Spence stuck his head back in the door. ‘Coast is clear. Mission Bridge is a go.’

  Mission Bridge?

  Zoe grabbed my hand and yanked me down the corridor.

  It was getting late so not many people were walking the halls. We stayed close, travelling through three buildings and over two skywalks, Spence hiding us under glamour whenever we were at risk of being seen. Finally, on the lowest of the Academy levels in Building D, Spence and Zoe came to a service lift.

  ‘Zoe, you’re look-out,’ Spence said.

  She nodded and kept a watch on the hallway while Spence started to pry open the doors.

  ‘Are we going to die trying to get out of here?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t think so,’ he said, as he pulled them apart. ‘Zoe, let’s go,’ he whisper-yelled.

  She ran straight for the lift and … jumped.

  ‘Holy hell!’ I yelped as I looked over the edge to see she had grabbed onto a ladder on the far side of the shaft.

  Spence chuckled. ‘After you, sunshine.’

  My shock quickly morphed into a smile. This was going to be fun.

  Following Zoe I leaped into the lift shaft, landing easily on the ladder and following her down. Spence was close behind.

  When we reached the second floor, Zoe stopped climbing down and started heaving open the doors there. When we had clambered out, she led us straight through a fire door onto a balcony.

  ‘Why are we going this way? Why not just use the front doors?’

  ‘Motion detectors,’ Spence replied. ‘They’ll still pick us up, even when I’m using a glamour.’

  ‘How often do you guys do this?’

  Spence shrugged. ‘The service elevator is like … Like a rite of passage. We’ve both spent almost a year here confined to the buildings – use your imagination.’

  ‘Right.’

  With that we walked to the edge of the balcony and, despite the two-storey height, jumped off, landing easily before hailing a yellow taxi.

  ‘Look up,’ Zoe said.

  I gave her a dubious glance but followed her line of sight.

  ‘Oh, my God,’ I whispered.

  For the first time, I saw the skywalks connecting – curving between – the Academy buildings. Now that I was conscious of them, they shone in luminous gold.

  ‘Is that …’ I couldn’t finish the absurd question.

  Surely not.

  ‘Yep,’ Zoe said. ‘Josephine built a halo over the city.’

  I followed my friends into the waiting taxi, still amazed that Josephine had actually haloed New York.

  ‘Brooklyn Bridge,’ Spence said to the driver.

  I wound down the window and sucked in the air that spelled temporary freedom. It was actually kind of dense, but when I looked at Zoe and Spence, both buzzing with adrenalin, I couldn’t fight a smile spreading across my face. ‘Mission Bridge?’ I asked.

  They nodded in unison.

  ‘It’s time to show you our New York.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  ‘Love is a familiar; Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.’

  William Shakespeare

  ‘Mission Bridge’ turned out to be under Brooklyn Bridge.

  After the taxi had left us, we stood in front of the massive supporting pillar that held up the Brooklyn side of the bridge. It was a warehouse district but the art community had clearly taken hold – many of the buildings showed signs of recent face-lifts and restaurants spilled onto the streets.

  Zoe said the area we had just driven through was called Dumbo. Seeing all the art galleries reminded me of who I was, of the things I loved – the human me.

  I stared up at the stone pillar noting with surprise that there seemed to be fewer exiles in the area. My shoulders relaxed and I breathed a sigh of relief at not having to work so damn hard to keep the senses at bay.

  ‘Okay. So … I hate to tell you guys, but I think most of the nightlife was back a few blocks,’ I announced. I looked out over the Hudson and towards Manhattan’s city lights, sparkling on the other side. ‘Though the view from here is pretty spectacular.’

  Spence snorted. ‘We’re not here for the view, Eden,’ he said, walking into a dark tunnel that went right through the middle of the pillar. It was the kind of shadowy underpass that the pre-Grigori me would’ve avoided like the plague – one that even the Grigori me wasn’t thrilled about. But when Zoe skipped after Spence with a wink in my direction, what else could I do but follow?

  Halfway through the tunnel, which was acting as a shelter for a number of homeless people, I started to feel a familiar buzz.

  ‘Are there Grigori here?’ I asked, when Spence stopped and knocked on a door that was almost hidden in the midnight black of the tunnel.

  ‘You could say that,’ he said.

  The door opened, and a woman looked all three of us up and down before giving a small nod. ‘Masks or not?’ She didn’t introduce herself but she was obviously Grigori.

  ‘Masks,’ Spence said.

  With that, the woman stepped aside and we walked in. As we passed her, our hair changed colour and she handed each of us a small crystal mask. Spence’s was black, Zoe’s was pink – much to her satisfaction – and mine was gold, to match my top I guessed.

  I looked at my new hair – it was still high in a ponytail but when I pulled the ends around they were at least a foot longer and now a dark burgundy. Zoe’s hair was completely pink, another thing that had her beaming, and when we looked at Spence we both burst out laughing.

  ‘No way,’ he said to the woman. ‘Anything but orange!

  ’ Zoe and I were in hysterics, gasping for breath and holding our stomachs. The woman at the door laughed too, but must’ve taken pity on him because she waved her hand and his hair changed to marine blue. He put on his mask. It fit so well, like a second skin. If I didn’t know it was Spence, I would never have guessed.

  Zoe and I positioned our own masks.

  ‘You know the rules?’ the woman asked.

  ‘No forcing identities, no powers, no photos, masks off only by choice, no fighting, no drawing weapons,’ Spence replied.

  She nodded and gestured to a set of stairs. ‘Have a nice night.’

  We walked up, the buzz of Grigori now surrounding me.

  ‘What is this place?’ I asked when we reached the top of the stairs. We were now inside the bridge’s pillar, and the space – which was far larger than the impression given by the outside – was filled with people. No, Grigori. On the outer edges, tall metal scaffolding spiralled up for what must have been a hundred metres, parting at one point into three separate columns. Overhanging balconies and small rooms embedded into the high walls overflowed with Grigori, all drinking, laughing, dancing,
partying. Most with masks, some without.

  ‘This is Ascension. New York’s Grigori-only club,’ Spence said.

  ‘Why the masks?’

  ‘Cause this is a place where we’re supposed to be able to let loose. A lot of Grigori are positioned in the military or within the government and don’t want their identities to be common knowledge. Some are the Rogue. Others just like to come here and not have to be who they are in their normal work. This is strictly off-duty. Let’s get a drink. Morgan and Max said they’d meet us at the bar.’

  ‘We don’t have ID,’ I said, following in starry-eyed amazement. This place would make Dapper salivate.

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ Zoe threw an arm over my shoulder. ‘They don’t check ID. Half the Grigori here look like they’re underage and are definitely not. It takes too much time and an all-Grigori club has its own laws,’ Zoe had to yell over the music.

  ‘Nice,’ I said, my smile growing as the bass beats of the music reverberated through the floor and all around me. The vibe was incredible and I found myself laughing as Spence passed me the first of what would become many drinks. Looking around, I realised for the first time since arriving in New York that no one was watching me. No one knew who I was and no one cared to find out.

  Okay, just because a person is Grigori. Just because that means they are warriors that fight to protect humanity’s right to free will and existence – does not mean they are responsibly recreational.

  My eyes bugged out at some of the things I saw. Once let off the leash, Grigori partied hard. I could understand why. Some of them would have been hundreds of years old, constantly caught up in the battle against exiles. I guess they figured that if they couldn’t completely let go when among their own people, then when could they?

  Once I’d managed to sneak off the dance floor – which took a major effort as Morgan, once she’d realised it was me behind the gold mask, refused to let me leave her sight – I set off to explore. The music was a line-up of retro dance at its best, with a few tracks tossed in that I’d never heard before but would now be forever hunting down online.