Kyle knelt next to the woman. Her back was slick with blood. He barely sensed any light in her at all. He took the sword out of the box Jude had left behind and held it across his lap. It was almost two feet long and reeked of death. He hated the way the hilt rested in his hand, as if it belonged there and the odd sense of power it gave him.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered aloud. Checking around, he brushed the hair out of the Yoddha’s face and felt the same connection when his skin touched hers. There was no voice this time, just emptiness. He held the weapon against the side of her chest with shaking hands and closed his eyes.
You have to do this, he told himself roughly. She’s as good as dead anyway.
But the blood will be on your hands, an inner voice argued.
It’s already on my hands.
Kyle …
He opened his eyes and stared into a pair of eyes like clear silver pools. He almost jerked back but a hand held his, and the sword, in place against her ribs. He saw where the barbs of the steel ifricaius whip had ripped into the flesh of her wrists and he wanted to vomit. Black tendrils of poison curled outward from the wounds, an intricate tattoo of evil.
“I can’t do it,” he whispered.
You … must.
I can’t, he thought. His tears were reluctant and hot.
Kyle felt her fingers slide against his, squeezing gently. Before he could guess her intent, she gave a last, labored breath, and pushed against the heel of the blade. Its razor sharp edge slid home between ribs and muscle, and her eyes glazed over. Kyle grasped her face between his palms.
Wait, what about Micah?
Sa … sam … sar.
And then she was gone, those clear eyes fading and darkening in death, nothing but a lifeless shell left behind. For an instant, the darkness arched inside him—revoltingly joyful—until Kyle dug his nails into his palms, burying its demonic bliss with his own pain.
He pulled the sword from her chest, thick blood pooling out from the vacated wound, and felt the bile rising in his throat. He cleaned the weapon and threw it into its box, wiping his tears furiously.
They killed gods.
Suddenly everything became clear. He’d known about Fyre, but he never actually realized how Jude got it or what his group did every time Kyle waited outside one of those buildings. Now he knew and it sickened him, even while thrilling him. Bile choked him and he vomited. He’d never thought about it in detail until then. By nature of what he was, he was already damned. Being part-Azura meant that his position in the Daeva–Azura war was already decided. And dying after all he’d done meant that there was only one place for him.
Xibalba. Hell.
The thought of it made his bowels loosen. The torment of Xibalba was unimaginable. So why did he now feel so conflicted? Was it because of the Yoddha’s words? She’d made it sound like he had some kind of a choice in his future. Deep down, Kyle knew that he was only deluding himself. She hadn’t known who he was—the real truth of what he was. In a world ruled by gods and demons, his fate was tied to the side of the dark. There was no chance of redemption for him. He deserved Xibalba, and more.
His heart conflicted, Kyle walked outside with the weapon’s case in hand. Jude grinned at him and shouted to Marcus and Damien. Jude licked his lips, his expression lurid. The monster inside him made his eyes red with glee.
“Burn it!” Jude crowed.
SERJANA
Sera sat in geography and chewed on the end of her pencil, staring absently at the empty seat beside her and then to the window across from it. Kyle had said he’d be gone only a couple days, but it was already Monday and she still hadn’t heard from him. He wasn’t answering any of her texts and Carla said he was still on some teenage team-building retreat. If only she knew …
“Miss Caelum?” her teacher said sharply. Sera’s gaze snapped to the front of the room and she felt a dull flush crawl into her cheeks. She heard stifled laughter behind her. “Perhaps you can enlighten us on what is so interesting outside of this classroom.”
“Sorry, Mr. Watts,” she muttered, ducking her head into her textbook. She felt something nudge the back leg of her chair.
“Hey, gargoyle, see some of your friends outside?” a girl’s voice hissed. More smothered snickers.
“Yeah,” Sera tossed back. “They said to tell you thanks for last night.”
A glare from Mr. Watts silenced them. Though the rest of the class passed in relative quiet, she could still feel mocking looks thrown toward her. She usually just ignored such remarks, but sometimes she couldn’t help herself from sinking to their level and giving as good as she got.
A piece of balled paper hit her ear, and then another, followed by a giggle. Sera could feel the fury rippling hotly against her back and found herself struggling to breathe. She glanced at the clock above Mr. Watt’s desk—only a couple minutes left. She wouldn’t let her anger get the better of her so she slowly counted backward from sixty, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth.
“Where’s your boyfriend? Slumming for drugs?” someone whispered.
The muscles in her neck tightened. She’d never wanted to hit anyone so badly in her life. At the sound of the bell, Sera grabbed her books and lurched out of the classroom, running toward the bathroom. White spots danced in her vision.
She threw some cold water against her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her skin shimmered around her eyes and she blinked dizzily, swiping the tears from them with her fists. Her back ached.
The door to the bathroom opened and Sera quickly ducked into a stall just as three girls walked in.
“Do you think Ryan’s going to ask me to the winter dance?” one of them said. Sera could see her applying lipstick in the mirror through the crack in the stall door—Caroline, a snarky girl from geography class. “It’s only two weeks away.”
“I really can’t see him going with anyone else, Caroline,” another voice simpered.
“So who do you think’ll ask the gargoyle?” Caroline said nastily.
“If she gets asked, you mean. Who would want to be seen with someone like her?”
“I don’t think she’s that bad looking,” the third girl said quietly. “Her face isn’t bad. She just looks weird because her hair and eyes are so dark against her pale skin.” Sera peered through the crack but couldn’t see the girl’s face enough to recognize her.
“Come on,” the second girl said with a snicker. “You’re joking right?”
“No, seriously, she’d look OK with a softer hair color and maybe a bit of lip gloss.”
“You’re only saying that because you feel sorry for her and you know she’s hiding in one of the stalls,” Caroline said. She jerked her head toward the row of stalls. “We know you’re there, gargoyle, we saw you come in here.” Sera pressed herself back against the toilet holding her breath.
“Let it go, Caroline,” the third girl said.
“And what are you going to do about it, Beth?” Caroline mocked just as Beth came into Sera’s view. Beth Davenport, Ryan’s sister. She was a senior. “She your new charity case?”
“She’s hardly anyone’s charity case, and you know what I can do, Caroline,” Beth said quietly. Sera watched the standoff through the crack, her breath caught in her chest, as the two girls glared at each other. Sera’s hardly expected Beth to come to her defense on anything.
“Why does it matter?”
“It just does.”
“Is this because of your mother?”
“Shut up, Caroline. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Beth snapped.
“Whatever,” Caroline huffed. “You coming, Lisa?”
A door slammed shut, clipping off the sound of their shoes and voices. Beth spoke again, this time in Sera’s direction. “It’s OK, Sera, you can come out. They’re gone.”
Sera emerged from the stall, wary at Beth’s unexpected kindness. “Thanks.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I should have
said something a long time ago, about the names and the taunts. I just didn’t realize who … ” She trailed off as if she couldn’t find the right words and stared at Sera instead, shrugging.
“It’s OK, they don’t bother me,” Sera said, still guarded. “Why did Caroline say that you were being nice because of your mother?”
Beth shot an odd look in Sera’s direction before turning back to the row of mirrors. She brushed a hand through her brown curls before responding.
“Our parents are friends.”
“Yeah, so? You never cared about that before,” Sera said. “Neither does your brother.”
“Our parents have known each other a very long time. I didn’t know how important their friendship was until recently.”
Sera frowned again. “So they were BFFs in high school a hundred years ago. Why are you telling me this now? What does it have to do with you and me? We’re not friends. You don’t even like me.”
“I didn’t know before,” she said earnestly. “I only just learned—” She broke off as a group of girls trooped noisily into the bathroom. Sera made to leave and Beth grabbed her arm. “Wait, look, the whole thing is complicated, but I need to talk to you about something,” Beth whispered with an urgent tone.
“About what?”
“About Kyle.”
“Kyle? What? Why?” Sera asked heatedly, backing away from Beth. “Did my mother put you up to this?” she accused. She saw guilt flash across Beth’s face and Sera’s anger exploded. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You and your stupid friends, you don’t even know him!”
“No, Sera. You don’t know him.”
Without a backward glance, Sera stalked out of the bathroom and headed toward seventh period Study Hall. She was seething. How dare Beth lecture her about Kyle. How could her mother share any of this with the Davenports? None of them knew anything about him—or her, for that matter.
The minutes ticked by, and Sera felt her anger draining away as she stared at her notes for the play. Beth had only been trying to help. If Sera was going to be mad at anyone, it was her mother for putting Beth in that position in the first place. Sera shuffled her papers, staring blindly at the clock until the bell rang, lost in her thoughts. They had a half hour to curtain. She was lucky that her parents were even allowing her to participate in the play after the blowup over the weekend.
The auditorium was packed with people by the time Sera dropped her stuff off at her locker. Tiny little tea lights adorned the edges of the auditorium for added ambiance in honor of Diwali, and huge garlands of threaded marigolds decorated the stage. Sera busied herself with last minute details, making sure the stage backgrounds were in the correct order and that costumes were on hand for scene changes. She saw Mark in his Ravana costume, but he made sure to stay far away from her and didn’t even glance in her direction. Sera knew she deserved it after the way she’d fallen apart on Friday. She didn’t blame him.
She peeked through the side curtains once more and saw her parents sitting near the front. Nate was with them, and so was Dev. Her pulse quickened at the sight of him, and astonishingly, he met her eyes across the sea of people and he smiled. Sera flushed, knowing he’d made the effort to come for her. She waved and ducked behind the curtain just as the lights flickered and dimmed.
Intermission came and went, and the play was on its final scene by the time Sera was able to breathe normally. Everything had gone without a hitch, despite being a man down on the set, so she relaxed and enjoyed the last battle scene from the wings, watching as Rama enlisted the help of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, to defeat the demon Ravana. Armed with magical weapons, Rama was finally able to rescue his beloved Sita, and their reunion was celebrated with song and dance.
“Hey,” a soft voice said, and Sera jumped. It was Dev.
“What are you doing back here?”
“This is the best part,” Dev said, “so I wanted to watch it with you.”
“Oh, you’ve seen the Ramayana before?” Sera asked in surprise, suppressing the blush she felt rising to her cheeks.
Dev smiled. “Yes, you could say that.”
Sera’s heart thumped when Dev slid his warm fingers into hers as Rama and Sita walked hand in hand through the dark forest back to their palace, with people lighting small lamps to show them the way. She was sure he could feel her pulse pounding through her fingertips and felt the urge to speak to cover her fluttering heartbeat.
“I always liked the lights as a kid,” she confessed. “Mom lit them every year for the blessings of Lakshmi. She told me that’s how it all started—” Sera gestured at the lights on the stage, “—people light them to guide the goddess to their homes for blessings of health and prosperity. According to many, Sita was an incarnation of Lakshmi, as Rama was of Vishnu.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in all that stuff,” Dev said softly. Something in his voice tugged at her, and Sera stared up at him but his face was inscrutable.
“You’re right, I don’t, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a beautiful tradition.”
Dev didn’t answer her and, for a moment, they just stared at each other in silence, the lilting sounds of sitars strumming in the background. Time slowed as he reached down to brush a strand of hair out of her face, and Sera felt herself leaning into his touch. His hand slid down to cup the side of her face, and his golden eyes glowed amber.
“Why do I always feel like you’re saying more with your eyes than with actual words?” Sera murmured against his palm, mesmerized by the music onstage, the sight of the lovers in happy reunion, and Dev’s compelling stare.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Yes. I never know what you’re thinking, and I don’t want to assume that you … ” Sera trailed off, heat scorching her ears at what she’d almost said … that you like me.
But before Dev could reply they were jostled apart by the rush of students moving off and then back on the stage as the curtains closed. The hall erupted in thunderous applause, and Sera was dragged away from Dev onto the stage with the others for their final curtain call. They all received a standing ovation.
On stage, Sera couldn’t stop staring at Dev or forget the velvet touch of his skin against hers. Her fingers were still tingling. He’d made his way back to his seat and was clapping along with her parents and Nate, but his eyes hadn’t left hers either. She smiled at him and then at her parents. She was still grinning as she walked off stage to collect her belongings before joining her family.
Sera sighed, noticing the person waiting at her locker. She really didn’t want to deal with Beth, after being on such a high from the play, but it seemed that Beth wasn’t going to let her mother’s orders go that easily. At the thought of her mother’s interference, Sera felt anger start to simmer in her belly.
“Great job on the play,” Beth said.
Sera slammed her locker shut, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and glaring pointedly at Beth. “Thanks, but you weren’t waiting here just to tell me that, were you?”
Beth’s face was distressed. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. And yes, your mom did ask me to talk to you, but Sera, you have to trust us about Kyle. I have to protect you.”
“You don’t know a thing about him,” Sera said, her voice rising. “You don’t know him, or me. And I don’t need a babysitter, Beth, I’m a big girl.”
“Sera, please,” Beth said, something akin to desperation coating her words. Other kids from the play were starting to whisper as they walked past them and Beth dragged her into a nearby bathroom, her fingers clutching Sera’s arm. “I know a lot more than you think. He’s a bad influence.”
“Let go of me,” Sera gritted out through clenched teeth, the anger in her stomach on full boil now. “Don’t. Tell. Me. What. To. Do.” She wrenched her arm out of Beth’s grip. Her left palm stung, and she almost doubled over from the sudden electrifying pain shooting up her back through her shoulder blades. Something hot snaked out from the middle of her back, making he
r skin feel as if it were pressing against the rack of a burning stove—as if she were being branded.
“Sera,” Beth said, a tremor in her voice. “What’s wrong?”
She felt Beth’s hand gripping her shoulder once more, and her words came from far away. She couldn’t hear anything over the thundering of her pulse in her ears. Beth’s anxious and terrified face swam into focus for a second. Sera wanted to ask her what she was so afraid of, but the words wouldn’t come out, lodged like barbs in her throat. She choked on them as wave after wave of boiling agony radiated through her veins. Sera lips were dry, her back arching as pain lanced across her entire body.
What is happening to me?
Sera opened her eyes and, for an instant, light blinded her. It speared from her fingers, across her forearms, shimmering through her skin like a prism. Her eyes locked onto Beth crouching beside her, jabbing numbers into her cell phone. She kept darting panicky glances to the door and then horrified ones back at Sera.
Everything faded to black and then Sera rocked backward as a new blade-like sensation ripped through her. Something was slicing through her skin. It felt as if the bones of her spine were suddenly too big for her body, pushing outward, spearing into the outer casing of her skin and muscle tissue.
“It hurts!” she screamed. “What’s happening?”
“Please, Sera, try to calm down. I don’t know what to do!” Beth shrieked the last words to herself, gripping Sera’s hand tightly.
Despite the cloud of alternating sharp and dull pain, Sera could sense Beth’s fear. Her fingers were ice-cold against her own. Another thrust of agony made Sera keel forward, her back arching like a bow.
“There’s something sticking into me, Beth. Against the wall,” she gasped. “Cutting into my neck. Can you see it?” Sera turned her head, grimacing from the effort, and realized that something wasn’t sticking into her.
Something was sticking out of her.
She twisted weakly, looking underneath and behind her arm. Something hot and fiery gold spun outward from her back. They looked like curling flames. Sera stared at Beth, whose eyes were round and frightened.
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