by Elle Scott
Riley dug his hand into his back pocket. His retrieved his keys and dangled them in front of her. “You want to drive my car and I’ll go with Kiko and Kale in Mr. Robertson’s car?”
Leila stared at the keys, one for his house and one for his car attached to a gilded book pendant. What he offered was more than to drive his car, he offered her space—he offered her a chance to process everything that had happened without him around.
Leila held her hand out and he dropped them into her palm. She said, “Samuel said we shouldn’t be apart.”
Riley took a breath—deep and shaky—confidence faltering. He sniffed and waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll be a car length away.”
“Okay, thank you,” Leila replied, reaching to close the trunk.
Odette walked beside Gabby, untying the ropes so they hung loose around her body. As they approached, Riley placed his hand on his cousin’s shoulder and leaned in, whispering something. Odette glanced at Leila, then nodded. She led Gabby to the front passenger seat, taking the back seat for herself.
Mr. Robertson led Sadie, her legs like jelly beneath her. As they passed Riley, Sadie lifted her finger and croaked, “Tessa’s not bad. She saved me.”
“You’re delirious, Sadie,” Riley replied, hurrying to relieve Mr. Robertson. He slid his arm around her waist and added, “But I’m sorry, would a good person mark you without your consent?”
As he helped Sadie in the backseat next to Odette, she flung her head around to face him. Her words slurred as she said, “Well... I thought she nice. Her hair s’very priddy.”
Riley grimaced, like Sadie herself plunged a knife deep into his chest. When he noticed Leila watching him, his eyes turned down at their edges. He still cared about Tessa. Even after all the times he’d said she ruined his life, Leila knew he cared.
Summer rushed between Riley and Leila and climbed over Sadie to sit into the middle seat. As Summer settled herself, Sadie immediately rested her head onto Summer’s shoulder.
Leila closed the door, and squeezing the keys in her hand, she hopped into the driver’s seat. She hitched the seat forward so her feet could touch the gas. And, taking a breath, she plunged the key into the ignition.
With the door still open, Riley leaned in. He glanced over his shoulder to the others. Looking back, his voice was low as he rasped, “Head to Cedar Falls.”
“What?”
He moved closer, letting his lips land softly onto her cheek. His breath rushed over her ear as he whispered, “Go home.”
Leila inched back. She felt like she needed to whisper as she asked, “Just us or you, too?”
Ignoring her question, he leaned across her and looked at Odette in the back, saying, “You know what to do.”
There was something she didn’t know. His eyes gave it away. They fluttered, shifting away from Leila’s stares, but in the small moments of recognition, when he glanced at her long enough for her to catch a glimpse, she saw it. A plan whirring in his brain. And fear, she also saw fear.
“Got it, Cap’n,” Odette said, tapping her forehead in a salute.
“Ugh, Cap,” Sadie moaned, her cheek pressed against the window.
“Yeah,” Gabby growled. “Best not use that nickname.”
Riley planted another kiss on Leila’s cheek and closed the door. She started the car and stared at him a while. He just stood there chewing on the inside of his mouth, waiting. For a brief moment, she felt like it was all a terrible idea.
“Let’s go,” Gabby urged. “If the Fallen are close, we don’t want Sadie or Summer anywhere near them.”
“Yeah!” Sadie said, tapping on the back of Leila’s headrest. “Lessss go. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.”
Leila reversed the car. After one last look at Riley, she planted her foot on the gas. She drove slowly, waiting for them to catch up. But no matter how many glances she looked in the rear-vision mirror, Mr. Robertson’s car was yet to creep into view.
After five minutes, she put her foot on the brakes. “Should we wait for them?”
“Keep going,” Odette demanded.
“Yep,” Gabby agreed. “Don’t stop.”
Leila curled her fingers around the steering wheel and pressed her foot on the gas. She didn’t like feeling like everyone knew what Riley was up to but her. “What did he say? What is he doing?”
“I don’t know,” Odette said, wistfully looking out the window. “All he told me was to make sure you kept going, if they’re with us or not.”
“They were never meant to follow,” Leila said to herself, finally figuring it out. “For some godforsaken reason he wanted us to separate. Why?”
Gabby scoffed. “Lord knows what that boy thinks at the best of times.”
It took around three hours until they reached the familiar roads of Cedar Falls. Weary-eyed, they clambered out of Riley’s car and headed inside Leila’s house. Her parents were still awake, happy to welcome the girls into the comfort of their home. Aileen even told them she’d sprinkle vervain around the windowsills and doorways, in an attempt to stop any unwanted visitors. As she rushed around sneezing while dropping the crushed plant across the place, Leila made a joke about how she’d perpetually be on the verge of sickness if her mother kept throwing it around like fairy dust.
They set Sadie and Summer up in the downstairs guest room and rolled out the mattress from Kale’s room into Leila’s for Gabby to sleep on. Leila sat on the edge of her bed and scrolled through her phone to Riley’s name. She’d already tried to call him; once, when they stopped for gas, and again, as soon as she pulled the car to a stop in her driveway. He didn’t answer both times. As she watched Odette wrap her arms around Gabby, she listened to the unavailable signal beep yet again.
Hanging up, she said, “What do you think he’s doing?”
Odette pulled away from Gabby. “I can go check?”
“That’s a long flight,” Gabby said, frowning.
Odette pressed Gabby’s cheeks with her palms. “I’ll be back by morning.”
Gabby nodded, cheeks squeezed so tight, her lips puckered. Her eyes darted to Leila.
“I’ll give you two a minute,” Leila said, leaving them alone.
She bounced down the stairs and poked her head into the guest room. Both Summer and Sadie were asleep, their bodies turned into each other. Smiling, Leila gently closed the door and headed out the front door.
The fresh air felt needed. Which was a little bit odd, considering she’d just spent the last two days in nothing else. But there was nothing better than the air around home. She felt safe. Maybe that’s what Riley wanted for her.
As Leila took a seat on the top step of the porch, Odette came out of her house. Gabby was close behind her, she closed the door and crossed her arms.
Odette peered over her shoulder. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? I don’t really want to leave you.”
Rolling her eyes, Gabby playfully swiped a dismissive hand toward Odette. “Just go, you big baby. I’m fine now.” She glanced at Leila and smiled. “There’s no judgmental eyes on me here.”
“I’ll see you both in the morning,” Odette said, shifting into her owl. She flapped her wings for a few beats, staring her wide eyes back at them. Then, with a swift decision, she flitted off into the night.
Gabby plonked herself down onto the step next to Leila and sighed. She stared at the sky, even though Odette was already out of sight. Almost a whisper, she said, “Shut-up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Shaking her head, Gabby said, “I know what you’re thinking. I don’t want a relationship.”
“But you do like her. I can tell.” Leila leaned over, bumping Gabby’s shoulder with hers.
Gabby scuffed her foot along the next step as though she was kicking dirt. “I do.”
“And you seriously don’t want a relationship?”
“Just because two people are gay doesn’t mean they’re meant to be together.”
Leila was taken aback at the spite in
Gabby’s tone. She retorted sharply, “I know that.”
A rush of air expelled through Gabby’s nostrils as she leaned her elbows onto her knees. “Actually, I think I love her.”
“Oh?” Leila shuffled to the edge of the step.
Gabby faced Leila, revealing a tear forming in the corner of her eye. “I’ve become a sap.”
Warmth filled Leila. She threw an arm around Gabby. “It’s both the best and the worst feeling in the world. The best, because how could you have ever lived without them before? And the worst, because what if you had to?”
Shrugging Leila off, Gabby wiped her cheek and sniffed. “I can’t tell her. Don’t tell her.”
“I won’t,” Leila promised.
As she settled back in her seat she noticed Gabby rub at her wrists. Red rope marks curved up her arms. Leila sat forward again. “You haven’t healed yet?”
Gabby pulled her sleeves down over her hands. “I’m prolonging it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes, when I’m hurt, I prolong the healing process.”
“How?” Leila asked, shocked and terrified. “But mostly, why?”
Gabby shrugged, gazing to her feet. “My Guardian and I have a deal. It knows I’m changing. It tries to keep me good, but we both have a rush of… I don’t know how to explain it.” She turned her head to Leila, eyes remaining low. “Desire, maybe? Just thoughts.” She looked up then, eyes square on Leila’s. “We don’t act on it. But just in case, we made a deal to keep scars, as a reminder to stay True.”
A chill ran down Leila’s spine. She threw her arms around Gabby and dragged her in close. There was so much to fix. Sadie’s mark. The Fallen in town. Gabby’s turmoil.
It was a big thing to say, Leila knew it. But she said it anyway. “I’ll set this right. I promise!”
Riley
It was small at first. A sudden fear that he’d left the house unlocked, or a passing thought that he’d slept in on exam day. Then, without warning, it grew to deeper things. Like he’d wake up one morning to all of Cedar Falls covered in blood and it would have been all his fault.
Those kinds of thoughts were hard to shake. And even harder to make sense of. Soon, he was questioning everything. Every single action he made. Every single word he said. Every. Single. Thing.
It wasn’t that he thought they’d come true. Though, sometimes he truly thought they would. No, it was more the constant battle inside his mind whether it was something to worry about. Was the fleeting fear a premonition or simply his imagination? He could never decipher.
Leila had called him out for being a brat about it all while still being her adorable caring self. She helped him forget the endless haunting thoughts for a moment. A good moment. But the barrage of bad thoughts still came back. They were like clouds covering the sun, dimming everything around him.
“I bet it was Gabby,” Kale huffed, stoking the fire with a long branch.
Riley looked across the camp to the moonlit silhouette of Mr. Robertson’s car. All four tires sat limp on the ground. They’d been slashed, that much was obvious.
“She was tied up,” Kiko reasoned. “My guess is that Sebastian came back to make a point.”
Riley chortled. That actually sounded right. “Most likely.”
It had been hours since Leila and the girls drove off without them. Kiko was sure Leila would turn around once she’d realized they weren’t following. But she didn’t. Riley suggested they waited for morning to come, and surprisingly Kiko agreed.
Kale sighed, “Might as well get some sleep I suppose.”
Kiko glanced over at Mr. Robertson as he stood at his perpetual spot on the edge of the forest. He nodded at her, face unchanging. She stood and smiled at Riley, “See you in the morning.”
“Night,” Riley said, raising his finger in a wave.
He watched the two Imprints enter their tent and took a long breath. This was it. His next actions would determine everything. He pressed his fingers against his temples, doubt creeping in. Leila kept telling him he made mountains out of nothing. Is that what he was doing now?
He’d already slashed the tires. An impulsive decision. Shit. His knees bounced under his elbows as he stared at the ground, small sprouts of grass breaking through the soil. His nerves had frayed from the inside out. He truly had no plan. All he wanted was to prove it to himself that the incessant thoughts he was having were true—or even that they weren’t, he’d settle for being delusional. He just needed to know if he was making it all up or not.
Kale’s voice drifted from the tent. “Why did you let Sebastian go anyway?”
“He’s rogue,” Kiko replied. Her voice got softer, but Riley could still hear her. “They don’t trust him. Without a clan, eventually he’ll crack and his Fallen nature will prevail.”
Then, she laughed.
Riley stood up. He didn’t feel his phone slip from his pocket, but he felt the vibration of it landing by his feet and he saw the screen crack on impact. Everything became silent. Riley kept his eyes on the tent and his ears pricked, but he couldn’t even hear a breath.
Out of the corner of his eye, two bright green dots shimmered in the darkness. He whipped his head to Mr. Robertson who was scanning the campsite, half-shifted. Mr. Robertson glanced to Riley’s phone on the ground, sniffed once, and returned to human form.
Kiko peeked her head of the tent. “Everything okay?”
“I, uh, dropped my phone,” Riley said. He grimaced, adding a nervous, “No cause for alarm.”
She stared at him for moment, causing his heart to lodge into his throat. What had he gotten himself into? Samuel told him and Leila not to separate. Did he make a huge mistake? If his hunch was right, he was in a world of trouble.
As if sensing his unease, Kiko gave a warm smile. She tucked her long hair behind her ear and said, “Are you worried about Leila?” Before he could reply, she continued, “I’m sure she’s fine. We’ll make a plan in the morning on how to get out of here. Even if we have to walk until we get cell service. Just take some time to rest, okay?”
“Okay,” Riley said. As she headed back into the tent, Riley sat down again.
He shook his head. It was almost laughable. She was good. Really good.
Quiet chatter began from the tent. Little whispers that even with super hearing, Riley couldn’t quite piece together. Words like “party” and “plan” and “Leila”.
He needed to get closer. But he needed to get one thing out of the way first—the ever-present loom of Mr. Robertson.
Riley’s history teacher-turned nonchalant servant of Kiko stayed at the edge of camp, back against tree, bored eyes blinking slowly.
Riley wandered over. “Hey.”
Mr. Robertson squinted. He forced out an, “Mm?”
“You want to sleep? I can take over?”
Mr. Robertson ran his tongue along his front teeth. He glanced at his car and back. “So you can damage my car some more?”
“What?” Riley blew an out-of-character raspberry. “That wasn’t me.”
Mr. Robertson’s eyes fluttered and he cleared his throat, pushing himself away from the tree. “Yes it was. Nice move sending Leila away, too. I respect that.”
Riley froze. He studied Mr. Robertson’s benign face. It wasn’t so much the words he said, it was what he didn’t say.
Tension growing in his chest, Riley asked, “Did I have good reason to send her away?”
A switch flicked, and the numbness on Mr. Robertson’s face lifted. His eyed widened, and nostrils flaring, he whipped his arm forward and wrapped his fingers around Riley’s neck. With force, he pushed Riley’s head against the tree trunk. “You know the answer to that already, don’t you?”
Riley gasped for breath, feeling the pinch of claws against his skin as Mr. Robertson half-shifted.
Eyes blazing green, Mr. Robertson snarled, fangs poking over his bottom lip. With his other hand he clasped Riley’s face, squeezing tight under his cheekbones. He force
d Riley’s face to the side, claws digging into his cheeks. Mr Robertson pulled Riley’s face back and slammed it against the tree so hard Riley’s glasses cracked.
Riley half-shifted and scrambled to clutch Mr. Robertson’s hands, prying them away from his neck. One finger at a time, he managed to loosen the hold. Inhaling sharply, Riley croaked, “Stop!”
Then, as fast as the emotion appeared, it vanished. Mr. Robertson’s face dropped and he released Riley. And, as if nothing had even happened, Mr. Robertson dusted himself off and said, “I’ll take you up on that offer.”
Riley held his breath as Mr Robertson walked to the camp and entered his tent.
“I’m right,” Riley muttered to himself, rubbing around his neck.
The realization didn’t feel as relieving as he had hoped. Before, all his paranoid suspicions used to be merely possible. Now, it was fact.
Truth was, he had known it all along. He just didn’t want to accept it. From the moment Leila said that Kiko was one of the first Guardians, he knew. She was the Fallen sibling.
Okay. Sure. That sounded absolutely ridiculous. But Ren had told him the first Fallen was female. Ren had told him there were three siblings, two boys and one girl in the middle.
Since he’d started questioning it, everything else began to make sense. When he lived in Seattle and was trying to find his sister… Kiko was there. She was desperate to turn him, but Ren demanded that he do it, even though he wasn’t much into turning people. It didn’t seem so important back then, but how different things could have worked out. Ren had saved him.
That was just the beginning, though. Out there, in the Washington forest, Kiko’s plan became glaringly obvious to Riley. She was thinning the herd, picking them all off one-by-one. She sent Sebastian away... although, Riley couldn’t tell if that was because she needed him to do her bidding elsewhere, or if he was actually a threat to her. And, then Gabby—he still held guilt over that. Riley had to beat them at their own game, pretending it was all for the good of the clan.
