Alessandra gazes at the dark sky, as if considering her sister’s words. “Understanding will come in time. I don’t need forgiveness,” she says, smiling pleasantly. “For this, at least.” Almost too quick for Florence to see, Alessandra whisks the dagger that Florence had hidden in her sleeve and lowers it to her throat. As Florence swallows, dagger pierces her skin slightly, and she feels the slow draw of blood down her neck. “Wise to arm yourself, sister. In times such as these, wolves hide among sheep.” She stares pointedly at Florence.
Unsure of what her sister refers to, Florence narrows her eyes. She has no patience to try to understand her cryptic and mad ramblings. She uses what little strength she can muster to fight and overturn Alessandra’s hold of her. Free, she whispers an incantation to conjure her most mighty weapon.
The storm heralds itself with a crack of lightning and a rumble of thunder that shakes the earth. She raises her hands, blood and bile burning their way up her throat, but she holds the tempest. Florence smiles, powerful once again. Alessandra merely grins at her, then points behind where Florence stands. She ignores her sister’s feeble attempt to distract her; she won’t be able to hold the storm for much longer. Then, her heart palpates in her chest, and Florence gasps. She drops her arms as they go numb and pivots on her heel to see Deirdre grasping Jarred by the throat.
“Alessandra!” she growls through her teeth, but when she turns to look over her shoulder, her sister is gone.
“Looks like I get to play with you both for a little,” Deirdre says.
Lilah screams until her breath runs out and all that comes out is the sound of air squeezed from the tiny corners of her lungs. She hates to be trapped, helpless. For the first time, she experiences true panic. A ringing in her ears stops any noise or voice from reaching her. Her heart kicks against her ribs, a rabbit in a trap.
“This will be over soon enough,” a voice says again, but this time, Lilah recognizes it.
Lilah calms herself enough to speak. Focusing on her sight, she glances around into the pervading darkness. A hand sweeps toward her and pushes the blinding light out of her eyes. It is a hand she recognizes immediately. Lilah clamps her mouth shut, biting her tongue. She closes her eyes, but a tear makes its lonely descent from the corner of her eye, down her temple, before plodding down on to the table. Focus, Lilah. Breathe. “Alicia?” she asks the darkness. “Alicia Malakai?”
“I’m sorry this is how we had to be reunited.” She steps into the light so that Lilah can see her face. Her friend smiles as if everything is completely normal, as if Alicia hasn’t betrayed her. So, she wants to ask, you did search through my things, didn’t you?
“What’s happening? Why am I here?” Delay, delay, delay.
“Javier, I thought you told her!” Alicia says, reprimanding him.
Javier?
“I—” he begins.
“No matter, I will tell her now.” Alicia places a hand on Lilah’s shoulder. “You see, Alessandra has made a wonderful discovery, and we—the Aequum—will use it to balance the scales.”
Balance the scales? A wonderful discovery? What? “We will never be equal. You mean equity—”
“Silence!” Alicia slams her hand onto the table; Lilah blinks. “It’s people like you I pity. You’re clearly powerful, and yet you have this look in your eyes, your sad, empty eyes. Isn’t that power enough? It would be enough for me! I wouldn’t be so pathetic as to need anything else. My power would sustain me.”
Lilah can’t believe the words coming from Alicia’s lips. Pity? Pathetic? The words reverberate in her skull, meaningless and foreign. “You said we.” Lilah forces her attention on the darkness just beyond Alicia. “Who exactly are the members of this Aequum?” Slowly, her vision adjusts. Lilah curses in her mind as familiar faces join the circle around her. Many are from Waterstone Academy: Instructor Ilona, Beau, even Scarlet.
“I am their leader,” Javier steps into the light, his dark features illuminate under the glow of his topaz eyes.
“The ‘Watcher of the Aequum’?” Lilah asks dryly. “Why? Why help me at the sanctuary?”
He chuckles, then crosses his arms and sighs. “I couldn’t have you die there, and I certainly couldn’t let you slip into Florence’s hands—or the Six’s. Everything might have worked out perfectly, just the way she had planned it, but, well, we got to you first.” He steps around the table, a soft smile playing over his lips. His face is freshly shaven—two blots of blood tarnish his skin. He wears ceremonious clothes, gear with distinct sigils and sashes.
She? Alessandra? “Why?” Lilah asks again. “Why are you doing this?”
“She was right!” Javier’s voice chirps. “I would have thought it impossible—everyone thought it impossible, but she was right the whole time. And now we will use this knowledge to make a world of our own! No one will be able to stop us! No one!”
The flame ignites within Lilah and sends a spark up her core. All she has to do is bide her time and distract them for as long as she can. But Lilah’s patience wears thin as does her understanding. The anima raging inside her core shoots through her muscles like adrenaline and makes her itch. “My mother is coming for me.”
Javier doesn’t recoil. In the shadowed light, she sees the wry grin spreading over his lips. He tilts his head and points a hand up to the ceiling. “The front door is open.”
Dalia laughs.
Lilah remains still, silent. They are working with Alessandra? Her breath further ignites the flame within her, melting muscles and bones. It can’t be true. Why would she be working with people that want their own control over the world? The panic rises in Lilah’s gut, and she gags on bile. Balance the scales? What does that mean? When she vomits again, she spies blood in the yellow bile. “You might have succeeded, but you overestimated one thing,” she says.
Javier narrows his eyes at her. “What’s that?”
“Time,” she says, her voice like a songbird, puffing its last note. “You thought you had enough time.”
Alessandra stops in front of the house, and the tension in her frame releases. The house is just as they left it, all those years ago, when the daisies grew in the front garden, abundant in the sunshine. She closes her eyes and sees the interior of the house, then searches each room, each floor, until she reaches the basement. A protective incantation—a weak one—blocks her sight for just a moment. Alessandra pushes, and it breaks like a fog when hit by a strong wind. She takes one glance inside and pulls back from the sight awaiting her. She gathers her hands. The Aequum. Ren and his ideas. I should have known never to trust them with my discovery. “Who should I punish first?” she says.
Her heart pulsates and vomit rockets up her throat. She gazes at the mess on the white snow, the blossom of red beautiful against the white. She gasps, reaches, reaches through the faceless beast that rises up in her blood. Oh, no. Lilah, I’m sorry, but it looks like this is as far as I go. Please, understand one day. Goodbye.
The change takes hold of her, and her anima consumes the last of the tiny, fragmented, nebulous thing inside her chest. She opens her eyes and sees nothing. A single tear falls from the corner of her right eye, slips down her cheek, and dangles from her chin.
Chapter Nineteen
“Go!” Jarred yells.
Black spell glowing in her palm, Florence freezes. She grimaces, her hand still hovering in the air. She must get to Alessandra before Alessandra reaches Lilah.
Deirdre laughs. “I’m not going to let you get away from me so easily!” Jarred conjures and grabs Deirdre’s arm, shoving the pulsating spell into her chest. The green of his eyes glows, and he launches forward, but Deirdre moves—shimmers—from his hold and briskly makes it to Florence’s side. “Ah,” she sighs, “I’ve really missed this!”
Florence grabs a dagger from her boot and hurls it toward Deirdre’s chest, but the woman cleverly catches Florence’s wrist and bends her hand back, forcing Florence to drop it. Jarred approaches Deirdre from behind and lands a gl
immering hit, the orange clashing against steel that Florence didn’t see Deirdre conjure. Jarred keeps on the offensive, shouting, “Go!”
Florence bites her tongue, blood seeping from the tissue, and nods fervently. He’s made this opportunity for you, don’t waste his effort.
Lilah lies uncomfortably on the table, her eyes ever searching for Caleb. There, she sees him with a singular look on his face. Another tear escapes the corner of her eye, and Caleb keeps his gaze on Lilah’s. She watches as he darts his eyes to the door and back to her, to the door and back to her. Lilah screams again as her body melts in agony.
“Do it! Now!” Ms. Petrovna’s voice overpowers all other sounds in the room.
Lilah looks at Caleb once more, his eyes wide. She stares at his lips, which mouth a word. Wait.
But she can’t wait. She’s already given in. The fire comes alive, and she acknowledges it, just like she learned, but it doesn’t work. A terrible crunching, a hideous pressure in her bones, a detaching and drifting away. The fire erupts from her skin, scorching the ropes and breaking the incantation holding her to the table. She shrieks as fire erupts from her hands and shoots out into the room, illuminating all within the space, then shrieks again when bodies tear about the room, alight with orange, yellow, and red.
A laugh rises above Lilah’s own, and she crashes back into form. Opening her eyes and beholding the horror, Lilah searches for the origin of the sound. None of those who stood in the basement moments ago remain.
“Unfortunate fools. Should’ve quit their yapping and performed the spell while you were incapacitated. Well,” Alessandra turns to face Lilah, “now, it’s my turn.”
Strangely, she feels inclined toward the wicked, smiling woman.
Lilah looks to her mother with a blank stare. There, in the corner, her mother stands, rain dripping from her black dress. Lilah sits back against the table, stunned, as Alessandra moves toward her.
Lilah dashes a glance at Caleb, but he is gone. Her vision tunnels, and her breath wavers. Acknowledge it, acknowledge it. Footsteps thunder overhead. The ceiling collapses. Caleb jumps down, grabs her hand, and pulls her out of the room. They race up the stairs, and Caleb pulls her down a hallway illuminated by a flash of lightning, then to a back door. He kicks it open and the sound of heavy rain mutes Lilah’s strained breathing. She senses another’s presence—anima radiates, dark and menacing—as they run out of the house.
“We have to keep running!” Caleb yells above the rain.
Lilah pulls her hand from his and stops. “No.”
“Lilah, Alessandra is coming! If we don’t go—” Caleb shouts, his hands up in a questioning gesture.
“I told you. This is my destiny, Caleb. I’m going to kill Alessandra.”
“Verna wouldn’t want you to murder your own mother!” he bellows, his hands at his sides in fists. “This is for you! You and your selfish desire for revenge!”
“This is who I am.” Lilah reaches out to him, but he slaps her hand away.
“We are who we make ourselves to be!”
They both turn as the clash of steel reverberates through the open air. Alessandra and Florence stand with swords crossed, but in a flash of movement Lilah witnesses Florence retrieve a dagger from her belt and thrust it in a downward arc into Alessandra’s chest. Alessandra, slightly stunned, steps back, giving Florence enough room to slash her sword down and slice through Alessandra’s skin. Bright flesh and blood colors Alessandra’s chest. Florence steps back and lowers her sword.
“I don’t want to kill you, sister,” Florence yells out as thunder crashes down. “But you have to stop this madness!”
“Yes!” Alessandra recovers, despite the blood dripping from the wound to her chest. “I will end this madness!” Alessandra jumps in front of Florence.
Lilah can’t help but think how similar the sisters look. Black hair sticks to their faces, while darkness consumes their eyes; anima exudes from their very beings. Alessandra grabs Florence’s sword with her hand as her sister thrusts it forward, then arcs her own blade down into Florence’s chest.
As the blade pierces through Florence’s skin, Lilah sees another flash of metal, and Florence dives yet another dagger into Alessandra’s chest. Florence gazes out and catches Lilah’s gaze. She smiles. Florence grabs hold of Alessandra’s neck, pulling herself toward her sister.
Lilah tugs all her focus into her hearing, reaching for the words that come from Florence’s mouth. “If I am to die today, so shall you, my sister. This is our destiny.” Florence falls back awkwardly, the blade still in Alessandra’s hand, and blood pours from the wound in her chest.
Alessandra turns, wobbles on her feet, and Lilah’s stomach plunges. Alessandra pulls Florence’s dagger from her chest, but Lilah, her hearing still sharpened, detects a flutter in Alessandra’s heart. “Was that supposed to kill me?” she says. The black of her hair flickers at the roots, bright blonde weaving like thread under the dark clouds. Her irises fragment, a shattered mirror. “Now. No more interruptions.”
As Alessandra springs toward her, Lilah takes several steps back, glancing over her shoulder to see Caleb paralyzed with fear. “Leave, Caleb! Run!”
“It is too late to run,” Alessandra says in monotone. “Now I am the only one who can stop it, the only one who can free us of this burden. Don’t interfere, boy.”
Caleb jumps to Lilah’s side, and a rush of panic streams through Lilah from him. Alessandra throws a pair of knives at Caleb. One embeds into Caleb’s gut. Lilah pivots on her heel and forges a dagger from her palm—what must be metallokinesis, a new ability from her ascension—while steadying her breath, before aiming for Alessandra’s lungs. A pricking of pain hits Lilah in the chest. She tries to breathe but can’t.
“Don’t fight it. Let me finish what I started at the Ludi.”
Alessandra slams Lilah in the gut with a flat hand, and Lilah falls to her back, the air forced from her lungs. She gasps. The force of anima surging through her core causes her to shiver. As she makes to stand, she searches for Caleb. Her gut plummets; from somewhere deep inside her chest, she emits a cry. Standing not but ten feet in front of Lilah, Alessandra holds Caleb by his throat, a dagger poised and ready to pierce his lung. Lilah takes a deep breath. He won’t survive any hesitation from her.
Lilah lunges forward.
Alessandra grins and plunges the dagger into his lung.
Fury like Lilah’s never felt fills her, and her palms burn two blazes. Caleb drops from Alessandra’s grip into a puddle of mud. “I told him not to interfere.” The rain ceases with Florence’s last breath. Lilah propels herself forward, hurling the fire at her mother. Anticipating Alessandra will move to the left, out of the way of the flying fires, Lilah ducks right. Alessandra swings her tri-bladed dagger through empty air. Spinning around, Lilah kicks Alessandra stoutly in the stomach, propelling her backward, but Alessandra regains her composure quickly.
Fire erupts from Lilah’s fingertips with ease. It rips up from her hands and creates a blazing wall in front of her, protecting her from the downward thrusts of Alessandra’s dagger. Falling into the flames, the dagger melts into nothingness.
“I won’t die that easily, girl,” Alessandra coos.
The wall dissipates, and Lilah can’t help but grin when she sees fear flash across Alessandra’s features.
“Death is nothing to fear.” Alessandra grins.
Lilah holds a defensive stance, her body completely balanced. She sees nothing but Alessandra. She breathes, fueling her body for one last attack. Keeping one eye on Alessandra, she checks Caleb’s motionless body with the other. She waits until she sees a pitiful inhale, then seizes the moment to rush Alessandra. Without thinking, Lilah forges another dagger from her palm, then reaches toward Alessandra. With a feint to the left, then to the right, she thrusts the blade into Alessandra’s gut. At the same time, Alessandra reaches out and grasps Lilah by the neck. Lilah’s breath escapes her lungs in a fit.
Lilah’s eyes
widen as she feels the slicing of a blade deep into her side and blood sluicing down her side. Alessandra stabs again and again, until Lilah can feel the blood draining copiously from the wounds. As her vision spins, the fire within her soars alive. She tries to help bring it from a spark to an inferno, but she’s stuck in Alessandra’s grasp. Strike! She looks down at Alessandra and sees her own dagger protruding from her gut. With her last bit of strength, she swipes the dagger and stabs Alessandra in the gut, ripping the blade upward through her chest. The blow causes Alessandra to drop Lilah to the ground, but Lilah jumps up quickly.
Alessandra stares at her with a wide-eyed gaze while the black leeches from her eyes and hair to reveal blue irises and sandy locks. “Don’t—become—” Alessandra gags. “The prophecy—you must—anima isn’t—”
“What mother tries to kill her own daughter!” Lilah gasps. “Damn the prophecy!” Lilah yells, the fire raging inside.
“Live—”
The fire rages from Lilah’s control, cauterizing all her wounds, allowing each breath to be deeper and painless. It seethes from her fingertips and encases Alessandra in an orange-blue aura. Lilah stares in shock as Alessandra’s lips turn up into a demur smile, then move with words Lilah is unable to hear or understand. Her skin melts; her bones merge with the fluid of flesh. Then, she is nothing but a pile of smoking mire.
All Lilah’s tiny hopes and wishes lay in that pile. It is the evidence of a dream that will forever remain sleeping. What was she trying to say?
Lilah blinks—her fire extinguishing on its own—and runs to Caleb and falls to her knees. She strokes his cheek and tries to speak his name, but her tongue is a block in her mouth. He opens his eyes, and words finally come pouring forth. “I’m sorry, Caleb. I’m sorry,” she chants, as if the words are an incantation of their own.
The very flames that killed Alessandra now encircle them, overwhelming and consuming the clearing, the home, the garden. She chokes, vomits blooming poppies. Blood pools beneath Lilah’s knees. She pulls Caleb up onto her lap. “What do I do, tell me what to do? How do I save you?” Lilah sobs.
Premonition Page 24
