by Becca Blake
I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of returning to Haygrove, but Orion was right. We needed information, and we wouldn’t find the answers anywhere else.
That only left one more question. What would we do about Jacob?
I didn’t know what he would tell his father when we got back. Would he say he watched me use dark magic to defeat an opponent, or that Orion told us everything he knew about the secret demon lords?
Before we stumbled on the sacrifice in the church, he’d been ready to go back home and tell the Council everything about what I did and the rules I broke.
Then again, he saw the same things I did. He heard Orion’s brief explanation. Maybe he was as outraged as I was. Had it been enough to change things for him? Or would he betray us the second he spoke to Marcus?
The chirping of my phone pulled me away from my troubled thoughts. I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen.
At the sight of the name attached to the text notification, the air fled my lungs.
That couldn’t be right.
“What’s wrong?” Orion asked.
“Nothing,” I lied. “It’s just an alarm I have to remind myself not to stay up too late.”
I opened the text and stared hard at the screen. If I stared long enough, maybe I would realize I somehow misread it. Maybe my exhaustion was making me hallucinate.
But it didn’t change.
The message contained an Omaha address and said to come alone in two hours.
I still had the contact saved in my phone, though I knew the number by heart and would have recognized it immediately.
The message came from my dead partner.
Chapter Sixteen
I stepped into the alleyway cloaked in invisibility, taking careful steps to avoid the puddles of rainwater that filled the potholes and crevices of the old asphalt.
The splashing of my footsteps would give me away, and I didn’t want to be seen.
I probably should have ignored the warning to come alone and brought Orion and Jacob along with me, instead of sneaking past them as they slept. This was a trap—it had to be a trap.
Ayla was dead.
And so was the demon who killed her.
I didn’t know who else would have her phone, but whoever it was couldn’t be good news.
I leaned back against the brick wall, my sword drawn and ready in case a demon appeared.
“You can drop the invisibility, Riley. I know you’re here.”
Though I tried to hold on to it, the invisibility that shrouded me faded away as all the heartache and pain poured out of me. I couldn’t forget that voice.
A woman sat on the fire escape stairs, legs dangling down. Her hair was platinum blonde with tips of pink—a fresh look, but unmistakably Ayla’s style. Her sneakers splashed in the puddle as she jumped down from her perch and looked at me, a blank, unreadable expression on her face.
Ayla had always been great at masking her emotions, far better than I could ever hope to be. But this thing, whatever it was, wasn’t Ayla. It couldn’t be.
I had seen her charred body with my own eyes. This had to be a doppelganger demon toying with me.
Tears blurred my vision as I rushed at the creature wearing the image of my former partner.
She rolled aside and pulled out a pair of daggers from the straps on her thighs. She sidestepped my attacks, then kicked my sword out of my hand.
I stumbled into the dumpster behind me. I’d sparred with Ayla enough to recognize her style with her favored weapons. No matter how good I got, I could never beat her. Ayla was too fast, too nimble. She could always dance circles around me.
If this was a trick, it was a damned good one.
“You’re dead,” I said, backing away from her. “I saw your weapons. Your body.”
“It wasn’t me.” She shook her head and moved closer.
I pulled out my handgun. “Stay there.”
“Put that thing down before you hurt someone,” she said as she continued walking. “You won’t shoot me.”
My finger hovered beside the trigger. But she was right. Demon or not, I couldn’t shoot.
“It’s really me. I swear. I’m not dead,” she said softly.
I replayed the images of that night in my mind so often that I was sure I’d memorized every detail. At the time, her daggers had been all the proof I needed to know she was dead. I’d been too horrified to look closely at the body, which was burned beyond recognition. It certainly could have been one of the civilians who died in the chaos. I wouldn’t have known.
“Why?” I hated how my voice trembled.
“It was the only way to leave the Arbiters without being labeled an Oathbreaker. I’d been wanting to get out for a long time, so when I saw an opportunity, I took it.” She spun her daggers in her hands and slid them back into the sheaths on her thighs.
I followed her lead and put away my gun, then wrapped my arms around her.
“I can’t believe you’re alive.”
As I held her, I couldn’t help but think of the time I spent mourning her. Losing her destroyed me. It took an entire month before I even began to move on. That whole time, I believed it was my fault she was dead. I hated myself for doing everything wrong, for abandoning her.
But it turned out she was the one who abandoned me.
My fist flew before I realized what I was doing. She stumbled away, surprised by the sudden blow. In truth, I was as shocked by it as she was.
“I guess I deserved that,” she said, rubbing her cheek.
“You’re damn right you did,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Heat rose through my body, spreading warmth to my hands. I didn’t bother trying to stop the flames gathering around my wrists. It felt good to indulge the emotion rather than suppress it, to acknowledge the pain she caused me.
Ayla’s eyebrows rose for a brief moment before she masked her expression again. “I’m sorry. I needed you to believe—really believe—that I died, so that they would believe you were telling the truth when you returned to Haygrove. I didn’t want them to send you after me. How could I do that to you?”
“So instead, you let me believe you were dead? I had to mourn you.” The flames swirled up my arms with wild energy.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
The apology wasn’t nearly enough, but I took a deep breath to calm myself and shook away the magic swirling on my arms. No matter how furious I was, I wasn’t going to hurl fireballs at her. And though I hated to admit it, she was right. As hard as it had been to mourn her, it would have killed me to hunt her down.
“You could have at least let me know after,” I said, once I regained my composure.
“I wrote so many texts that I never sent,” she said. “I wanted to reach out, but I didn’t know how.”
“Why tonight, then? How did you know I was here?”
Ayla offered me her cell phone. I took the device from her outstretched hand and looked down at a blurry image on a tiny TV screen. Though it was small, I immediately recognized the picture of myself stumbling out of the church with the rest of the crowd, looking dazed and exhausted.
There had been enough people around that slipping away from the police and rescue crews hadn’t been difficult, but apparently we hadn’t made it past the news cameras unseen. If Ayla saw me on the news coverage, it was safe to assume that someone back at headquarters did, too.
“You saved all of those people at that church?” Ayla asked.
“Not all of them.” I handed the phone back to her.
“I wanted to make sure you were alright. You didn’t look so great, and it had me worried.”
“I’m fine.”
I saw on her face that she didn’t believe the lie, but I was grateful that she didn’t call me on it.
“Take
a walk with me,” she said. “We can catch up.”
I checked the time on my phone and found I still had two hours before we would leave for Haygrove.
“Sure. I’ve got some time before I have to get back to my hotel.”
The empty streets gave the night a surreal ambiance, like something out of a dream. Despite Ayla’s suggestion that we catch up on all we missed, we walked side-by-side in a comfortable silence, like nothing had changed between us. Though my time was dwindling, it was nearly an hour before either of us spoke.
“So, you’ve been here in Omaha this whole time?” I asked.
“I didn’t know where else to go, so I’ve been working at a bookshop here.”
Despite everything, I smiled. “That suits you.”
“It’s just something to pay the bills,” she said, shrugging. “Doesn’t pay as well as demon hunting, but at least I don’t have to worry about dying on the job. Though, I gave a woman a drink with two pumps of coffee instead of four at the shop’s cafe this morning, and now I’m reconsidering whether that’s even true.”
“Well, I’ve never worked a real job, so I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“What about you?” she asked. “Did they assign you a new partner?”
I groaned.
“That bad?”
“Jacob Thorne.”
“As in, the Councilman’s son?” When I nodded, she burst out laughing. “At least he’s easy on the eyes, if I remember right.”
“The eyes are the only thing he’s easy on,” I said.
“He can’t be that terrible.”
“He didn’t even bother going to my dad’s funeral to support me,” I said.
Ayla stopped walking. “Owen’s dead?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away. Being around her again felt so natural that I almost forgot how much she missed.
“I’m so sorry, Riley.” She wrapped her arm around me as we sat down together on the curb.
My father’s funeral felt like a lifetime ago. Too much had happened in the short time since then, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. Maybe it would have been better if Ayla never told me the truth. I was finally moving past her death. Now, on top of everything else, I would have to deal with the fact that she wasn’t dead at all. She just left me behind.
I told her about all of it—about Maki’s note, the ritual and the demon lords, the dark magic—everything I’d been through and everything I feared to come. She listened to all of it with no interruptions, letting me unload all my troubles.
We stayed there until dawn broke and the city began to wake, and though I didn’t want to leave, I had to get back to the hotel. Orion and Jacob had likely woken up already, and they’d be wondering where I was.
“Orion and I might need a place to stay once we leave Haygrove,” I said as we got to our feet. “Do you have space? At least for a little while until we can figure things out.”
“I don’t know if I can help you with that,” Ayla said.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to risk them finding me. I’m out—for good.”
“And we’re trying to get out, too. You can help us do the same thing,” I said.
“Alright,” she said, sighing. “Just try not to bring any Arbiter crap with you. I’d prefer not to spend the rest of my life on the run.”
“I’ll do my best.”
As I headed back to the hotel, I caught myself feeling just a bit more hopeful. We had somewhere safe to go once we left Haygrove… Now, we just had to focus on surviving while we were there.
Chapter Seventeen
My chest tightened as we approached Haygrove. The buildings seemed taller than usual somehow, casting dark shadows across the flat landscape surrounding them. I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, but every mile we drove knotted my stomach further.
I glanced over at Jacob, who focused on the road with a stoic expression that made me nervous. He hadn’t spoken a single word to me since we left Omaha.
I wanted to ask him what he thought about everything that had happened, but I dreaded what his answer would be. I hadn’t told him that Orion and I planned to leave Haygrove once we got the information we needed, and it would have to stay that way.
“So, you’re still good with the plan, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m good,” Jacob said. “Orion will give the report and say we were there as backup. If we’re asked for details, we’ll give the same story about what happened last night and hope that none of us get into too much trouble for it.”
I studied his features, but the firm set of his jaw and the straight line of his mouth revealed nothing.
“I’m just asking because—”
“Because you don’t trust me. You think as soon as we get back, I’ll tell my dad everything I saw.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
He glanced sideways at me briefly before returning his attention to the road. “If you trusted me, you would have believed me when I agreed the first dozen times you asked back in Omaha.”
I didn’t have any reasonable defense, so I stayed quiet as we drove through the streets of Haygrove.
He was right. I didn’t trust him, though he hadn’t exactly given me much reason to. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t put myself in a position where I was counting on him to lie for us. We hadn’t gotten off to the best start as partners, and we still hadn’t had much time to get to know each other. He was a stranger to me, and Orion and I were trusting him with our lives.
“So, are we going to talk about it?” he asked.
“Talk about what?”
“How you defeated him.”
My use of dark magic had been the elephant in the back seat for the entire ride. It was the last thing I wanted to talk about, though I knew it was stupid not to address it before giving our reports. He saw how the magic exploded out of me, the fire unleashed in all its fury. There was no denying it.
“Will you turn me in?” I asked.
“You really think I’d do that?”
“I don’t know. It would be a great way to get rid of me.”
“We both know what the consequences are for doing dark magic. You’ve been a pain in my ass since you jumped down from that balcony during my evaluation, but if I turned you in, I’d be responsible for what they do to you. I’m not that heartless.”
I settled back against the seat, but my heart kept racing. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“I didn’t turn you in after you used dark magic back at the warehouse, did I?” he asked, raising a brow as he glanced at me. “I didn’t even tell Commander Orion.”
“So, you did see that.”
Jacob pulled the car off on the side of the road, leaving the engine running. “Look. I don’t know what all is going on with your parents, or these demon lords, or that dark magic I’ve seen you use twice now. I’m still making sense of everything I saw. But if we’re going to be partners and have each other’s back through wherever this mess takes us, we need to be honest with each other.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked. “This time yesterday, I’m pretty sure you hated me.”
“I didn’t hate you.” He turned his body to face me, and his hazel eyes met mine. For the first time, I found warmth in them instead of his usual disdain. “I blamed you for what happened that day. But you were right—that wasn’t fair of me. If you didn’t jump in, I’d be dead.”
“That sounded a lot like a thank you,” I said.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said, though a smirk played at his lips.
This softer side of him was new, and I hoped I would get to see more of it before leaving town.
Before abandoning him like Ayla abandoned me, I realized, and the knots in my stomach returned. Wou
ld they send him to hunt me down once I broke my oath? Would he be angry with me for stabbing him in the back after he finally opened up to me?
If he noticed my inner turmoil, he didn’t comment on it. He pulled back onto the road and we continued without another word for the rest of the trip, until we parked in the community lot next to Orion’s truck.
He was already waiting for us, and as we got out of the car, he waved us over. “You two should head home. Marcus wants me to meet with him right away, and it’s probably best if you aren’t present for that.”
“I agree.” I retrieved my gear from Jacob’s trunk and tossed him his bag. “I can throw together some lunch while you do that.”
In the meantime, I’d have to find a way to get Jacob out of the house so Orion and I could plan our escape. As relieving as it was to hear he would overlook the dark magic, leaving Haygrove was another thing entirely. He was still the son of a Council member. I’d done my best to work with him while we were stuck together, but I couldn’t let myself forget that this partnership was temporary.
“Actually, I think we should go in and give the report with Commander Orion.”
I stumbled as I closed the trunk and nearly dropped my duffel bag. “Sorry, what?”
Had he already changed his mind about telling Marcus what he saw?
“My dad will realize that something went wrong, if he doesn’t know already. We might as well go in there with the truth—or our version of it, at least. Things will go much more smoothly with him if he thinks we’re admitting everything up front.”
Orion frowned as he considered Jacob’s suggestion. “I suppose that makes sense. But let me do the talking, all right? We stick with the plan. I’ll tell Marcus the same thing I told Maki, that I brought you along as backup.”
Jacob nodded.
I tossed my bag back into the trunk. “All right. Let’s do this, then.”
After a short walk to the town hall, security escorted us upstairs to Marcus Thorne’s third floor office. His door was wide open, and I wondered if he’d been waiting for us.
