by Elle Scott
“Where the hell are you, Riley?” she muttered to herself as she scurried toward the parking lot.
When the path ended, she scoured the lot for Kiko and Kale but there was no sight of them. Most cars had gone. All but one black Pontiac.
Mr. Robertson sat in the driver’s seat, and in the passenger seat beside him was Riley. Her heart soared as their eyes locked. Riley lifted his hands, showing her chains wrapped around them. He shook his head wildly, mouthing at her to help.
As Mr. Robertson started the ignition, Riley slammed his tied hands to the window, screaming her name. Leila ran. But she wasn’t fast enough. She felt like she’d never be fast enough. As her feet hit the gravel, the car clunked into gear and drove off.
She knew what was about to happen. They both did. The Imprint threat would be eliminated. Riley would be eliminated.
Leila’s head felt fuzzy. Her feet led her, storming through the woodland toward the lights of the town. There was no logic, just instincts. She felt out of control, as though she was floating above her own body unable to make sense of things.
It was raining. The droplets rolled off her as she ran, leaving a streaming trail in her wake. She barely noticed—it didn’t matter. Only one thing mattered. She needed to find Riley. Screw Kiko. Screw Makoto. Screw the plan. Riley was all that drove her.
Leila had gotten used to this part of the forest. She knew it’s dips and crests and clearings. Almost every week, she’d found herself shifting and running, giving her lion the freedom it craved. But under the eerie moonlight, knowing Riley’s safety was under threat, she felt anything but free.
She burst through her front door, and cried, “Mom?”
Tate ran from the kitchen. “She’s in the shower. What’s happened?”
“I need some rosemary.” She brushed past her dad and into the kitchen. She ripped the pizza delivery map of the town off the fridge and unfolded it onto the bench, pinning the edges down with salt and pepper shakers.
“Rosemary?” Her dad asked, heading for the back door.
She nodded, and as he wandered outside, she stared at the map, trying to remember how Makoto did the location spell before. He used rosemary, his blood, what else? Oh, his arrow necklace.
“Shit.” Leila jerked her head up and clutched the sides of her face. “Shit! How am I going to find him?”
Sebastian peered through the kitchen doorway. Grimacing, he asked, “Not going well?”
“They have Riley!” Leila exclaimed, curling her fingers until her knuckles turned white. “They’re gonna kill him.”
Sebastian’s face dropped as if, for once, he actually cared about Riley. He strode toward Leila. “How can I help?”
“Here,” Tate said, waving a collection of rosemary stems. Droplets of raindrops painted his face, he wiped his brow, and held the plant out for Leila.
“I can’t use it.” Leila felt her heart-rate rise. She took her phone out and stared at the locked screen. “What’s Makoto’s number? What’s Ren’s? Oh my God.” She spun around. “Sebastian. I don’t know what to do.”
Sebastian, suddenly the coward, turned and ran up the stairs.
Tate placed the rosemary onto the bench and held his palms up and out as if in surrender. “Breathe, Leila.” He lifted his hand up and pushed it back down. “In and out.”
Leila didn’t feel like breathing slow. She didn’t feel like taking a moment. She needed to find Riley already.
“I saw her. Kiko. She’s something else, Dad. She knows what she’s doing. Pure evil. Once you know the truth and look into her eyes, you’ll see it.” Leila knees buckled. She stumbled toward Tate, leaning on him for support.
Tate put his comforting hands on her back. He asked, “What are you saying about Kiko? Being evil?”
The sound of her dad’s low voice sent her reeling. She pushed his chest. “You gotta get out of here. Take Mom, go hide for, I don’t know, five years.”
Tate inhaled sharply. “You’re scaring me, honey.”
“You should be scared. We could all die tonight!” Leila exclaimed.
Tate took a few steps back, shocked at his daughter’s outburst. Then, he rolled his shoulders and stood up straight. He grabbed Leila’s shoulders, and with a steady yet commanding voice, he said, “Leilani Isidora Belmonte, you used to be my baby. I used to worry about you all day at school. I used to fear leaving you alone just going to the store. I used to watch you sleep, making sure your chest rose and fell with breath.” His cheeks lifted into a wince. “Not anymore. I don’t worry about you anymore because you’re the strongest person I know. You’ve dealt with huge change, like a pro I might add. You’re kind and thoughtful and you’ve not got a bad word to say about anybody. You’re incredible Leila, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t handle.” His hand squeezed hers as he said the last part. “I’m so proud of who you’ve become.”
Word by word, Leila’s breath evened out. Held by her father, she closed her eyes. Long inhale, long exhale.
Breath in.
Hold.
Breath out.
For a moment, she believed him. Maybe she could handle it. One moment of surrender was all it took for clarity to arrive.
Just as Makoto taught her, she let herself relax and half-shifted, calling her Guardian to her. Her lion appeared in her mind’s eye, its regal fur shimmering with gold.
“Where is he?” she asked.
Her lion shook its head, sending flecks of light over its body. One word rang through her mind.
School.
And then another.
Hurry.
Leila burst her eyes open and flung her arms around her dad’s neck. “Thank you, daddy. Wait here with Mom. I’ll be back soon.”
She kissed his forehead and bolted for the front door.
“Leila!” Sebastian called, running down the stairs. He held out Sadie’s phone. “Tessa’s number’s in here.”
Delirium may have played a part, but Leila felt like laughing. Of course Sebastian wasn’t a coward, of course he was helping. She took the phone and squeezed his chin. “Thank you, you delightful piece of goodness wrapped in bad.”
Gabby
Gabby wandered through the forest, scanning the area for any remaining students. She didn’t know where Leila had gone, or Riley either for that matter, but she was glad she couldn’t find any humans. Gabby headed back to the clearing alone. Well, technically she wasn’t alone, a few bodies were scattered around, teeth impressions healing around their spiral marks. Most others had run to their cars, afraid of bears and wolves and foxes.
She was glad they were gone because being around all those innocents was unbearable. Their scent. Their heartbeats. Their blood.
She’d tried to tell Leila about the incessant darkness that grew within her, but that sweet face was forever trying to believe that Gabby wasn’t capable of bad things. Truth was, Riley was right to doubt her. He was right to question her. His dubious eyes were constantly watching her. Most of the time, he’d try to hide the fact he was following her every move, but she saw him. She always saw him.
It made her feel grateful and resentful all at once.
Gabby sighed, taking in a long breath. The tang of open flesh hit her nostrils, and her mouth watered as she remembered what human blood tasted like. The clan would disown her if they knew exactly what she did sometimes.
When they did the meditation with Makoto she’d lied about what happened. She’d said she felt weird, but the honest truth was, her wolf had spoken to her. It whispered an order, a desire. “Set us free.” She didn’t want to know what would happen if she let that happen. So, she kept herself reeled in, a tight string to contain both her and her Guardian. She swore she wouldn’t succumb to the darkness, but she knew part of it had already taken hold. Little things she knew she shouldn’t enjoy but did. Like seeing someone in pain or manipulating someone to make a bad decision or pretending to help someone who’d cut themselves.
Pushing the line never truly hu
rt anything, right? Licking her lips, she wandered to the path where Leila had taken Taj. She pushed past leaves that tried to cling to her shirt, as though nature itself knew what she wanted.
Just a little bit, she said to herself. I won’t hurt him.
She found him cradled inside a shrub, holding his collar up over his neck and rocking back and forth. He glanced up, and spotting Gabby, he threw his arms in the air. “Oh thank God, can I go home now?”
Gabby crouched down beside him and smiled. “Not just yet.”
She turned his collar down and his mark stared back at her, taunting her. The pulsating urge to rip his throat out scared her. Turning her head, she let her hand drop.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” she asked.
Taj rolled up his sleeve, and bent his elbow, showing a line of blood that dripped to his wrist. “Just this gash from when Leila threw me in here.”
Gabby half-shifted before she even looked at him, the smell of his fresh cut energizing her. She blinked a few times, pushing her wolf away. It took patience.
She faced him and clutched the groove of his arm. Smiling, she hauled him up, “Here, let me help you.”
Taj stood beside her and dusted himself off. “Thanks.” He pressed his lips together and gave a thin smile. “I should bounce.”
Gabby nodded. And as he ran off, her body collapsed. Controlling herself was getting more difficult every time she did this.
When he was out of sight, Gabby lifted her hand, coated in his blood. She half-shifted again, wolf begging for a taste. Moaning out of hunger, she lifted a finger to her mouth and gently touched the tip of her tongue and bottom lip. She closed her eyes and swallowed, letting the tang reach her throat. In a short moment, a zing soared through her, as though the blood was laced with caffeine. She held her whole hand up, licking her palm and each finger feverishly until not a drop remained.
It didn’t satisfy the incessant craving. It never did. She wondered how much she’d need to drink for that to happen.
Sitting alone in the dark on the damp forest floor, guilt settled over her. She was a monster. Becoming darker and more rotten with every day that passed.
She allowed her body to roll to the ground, and she laid there, face to the sky, hoping that the ground would swallow her whole for what she’d just done. It took a moment for her to remember what she was there for in the first place—to stop Kiko. Guilt layered upon guilt. Lord knows, what trouble Leila and Riley were in.
She sat up and took a deep breath, one last smell of lingering human blood for the road. As she inhaled, she sensed a different type of blood—not fully human, not fully animal, either.
Springing her eyes open, she realized. It was a Guardian’s blood. It was Odette’s blood.
Wiping her mouth, she began running. Gabby sniffed at the air, letting her wolf’s instincts guide her. She followed the scent west, crying, “Odette?”
She tore through the forest, her wolf’s body surrounded by pines that reached for the sky. Above them, the half-moon teased its presence behind ghostly clouds. She used her heightened senses to listen. She strained to hear something, anything to indicate where Odette might be. At this point, she’d settle for the crunch of a foot against a twig.
The sound she heard was much more intense. A scream that encompassed everything grief would sound like. It drowned out every other sense. There was no touch, no taste, no sight, no smell. Only sound.
Swinging around a red cedar, Gabby ran into a small clearing, where smoke billowed from a forgotten fire. To the left, under a wide fir, Calice hovered over a body.
Odette’s body.
The girl that Gabby loved laid on the damp ground, her long legs curled under her. It almost looked like she was sleeping, if it weren’t for the pool of blood circling her head.
The world around Gabby seemed to vanish. As if she were floating in a broken moment between time and space. She even felt her heart stop.
Calice’s knees buckled and she dropped to the ground with a thud. She pressed her fingers against Odette’s pulse point, and soon after, she cried, “I’m too late.”
Gabby didn’t know where to look. Not that it mattered, her tears concealed most of her vision.
Calice stood—tears rolling down her cheeks. Her shirt had rips in three places, and through the holes Gabby could see the slashes in her stomach healing. Gabby let her eyes drift to the ground, to Odette, and she slowly walked over.
Calice pulled her jacket across her torso, and said, “I’m so sorry. I tried to fight them off… I tried…”
Peering down at Odette’s breathless body, Gabby felt her emotions tumble together, not knowing whether she was sad or angry or ashamed. As she crouched down, more tears came.
“Odette?” she asked, wiping her eyes. She checked Odette’s wrist, too, just in case.
No pulse. No heartbeat. No life.
She felt it then, an overwhelming sense of loss. Her heart felt like it had cracked in two and each broken part had exploded inside of her. She hunched over, unable to contain herself. A guttural moan vibrated from her chest and spilled through her lips.
She was already broken. Now she was torn apart. She let the feeling sit within her, a black hole spinning and growing.
“I deserved this,” she stated, sobbing. And then she darted her head up, blazing her eyes through Calice. She screamed, “But she didn’t!”
Sadie
Sadie woke.
Her eyes took a while to adjust, blurry silhouettes taking the shape of Leila’s room and belongings. She sat up slowly, muscles aching. As blood rushed to her head, she could feel her pulse as it thumped in her ears.
“What happened?” she muttered to herself.
The last thing she remembered was Sebastian screaming in her face, right after…
Her neck. Sadie clawed at her collar, tilting her head trying to see the mark. The edges of it hovered at the bottom of her eye-line.
“Hey, hey!” a sweet voice cooed. Sebastian ran across Leila’s room, throwing himself onto the bed. “How do you feel?”
Sadie wasn’t sure. Confused. Tired. Her mouth felt dry. She said, “Hungry.”
Yes, she was starving. But she couldn’t quite tell what for.
“Mm.” Sebastian’s brows deepened over his eyes. He reached for her face, running a thumb across her cheek. “It’s the worst part. But you’ll get used to it. I’ll help you.”
Sadie clutched his hand, holding it against her face. “Thank you, Sebastian Weir. You saved my life, again.”
Leila
Mr. Robertson held all three of his classes in the same room. His teaching methods of late were a little less than ideal. It didn’t matter if the schedule said history, it wouldn’t be unexpected for Leila to wander in and find an earth science textbook on her desk. There was no arguing. He’d sit at his desk, peeling apples with his swiss knife, and stare blankly out the window.
For a long time, Leila had thought that something was up with him. But he was always so guarded, like a rusted lock on sunken treasure, she could never get close enough to figure out why. Now she knew why.
Leila ran down the school’s corridors, skidding along the linoleum as she turned each corner. She slowed down as she approached the classroom. Voices wafted from the open doorway, her heart pounded as she heard Kale and Kiko discussing how horribly Kiko had been treated by her brothers. Holding her breath, she poked her head ever so slightly around the frame. She spotted Mr. Robertson sitting in his chair with his ankles crossed on his desk. He rolled his swiss knife over his knuckles, a bored expression on his face. Behind the chair, hunched in the corner, was Damien. He held his long legs against his chest as his black hair hung over his face.
Damien straightened as he saw Leila, hope flashing across his face. “I wanted to help,” he said. “But I’m no match without my eagle.”
Mr. Robertson glanced up, head jerking to the doorway. Noticing Leila, he grabbed the knife’s handle and plunged the tip into his desk. As he s
tood, he clenched his fists, eyes on Leila.
She wanted to be mad at Damien for giving her away, but he just seemed so helpless. So, she swallowed, and stepped into the room, ready to fight Mr. Robertson.
“Jay, wait!” Kale commanded.
At the back of the room, Kale stood near the window, he held his hand out in surrender, staring at Leila. Kiko stood a few rows of desks away, she wore her flowing sapphire gown and wild eyes. In front of her, tied to a chair—blood oozing from a gash above his eye—was Riley. Out cold.
Leila’s insides wound into a knot. Her gaze darted back to Kale as she cried, “Why?”
“Leila!” Kiko exclaimed, her body’s tension dropping like melted butter. “Thank God you’re here. We just found him like this.”
The switch in Kiko’s disposition caught Leila off guard. It was obvious that her caring demeanor was nothing but an act. But still, the fact she still kept trying to play the good guy, played havoc in Leila’s chest.
Kale waved his hands in her direction as he emphatically said, “We’re not going to hurt him Leila. Trust me.”
“Trust you?” Leila felt the knot inside her tighten. “How can I?”
Kiko blinked a few times, and as if she knew the jig was up, she laughed to herself. As easily as the laugh flew out of her mouth, so did the venomous words. “Oh shoosh. I’m not going to hurt him. Well,”— she dug her nail into the already healing cut on his forehead—“not much. It’s just a little ritual, to remove the Imprint curse.”
Leila stepped around the first desk. “What are you talking about?”
“Leila, listen,” Kale said, rushing to her. “It’s to keep you both safe. Get you out of the line of the Fallen.”
“Ha!” Gabby blurted behind them.
Turning around, Leila stared at a version of Gabby she’d never seen before. Her eyes were sunken, like she’d cried every tear she’d ever had. Her hands were soaked in blood and her hair had matted to her forehead with the rain. And yet, she spoke with strength. “You’re right Leila, this is a mind-twist. Look at the both of you, still trying to convince us you’re True.”
