by Sarra Cannon
I had to get out of there before I gave myself away. I couldn't sit here and listen to this woman talk about how excited she was to have me killed. "I need to get to school," I said. "I'm late."
Mrs. Harris leaned in and gave me a hug. I stiffened, unable to help myself.
She pulled away and let out a disapproving breath. "Fine," she said. "I'll see you after school."
I headed for the door.
"And when you get home, I expect you to spend some time getting rid of all this horse stuff, you hear me?"
I gave no answer as I walked down the hall, through the living room and out the front door. When I'd entered the house earlier this morning, I'd felt nothing but anger when I thought of Brooke. Now, after hearing her mother's harsh tone and seeing how she still held on to her secret dream to be something other than what the Order planned for her, I left feeling sadness and regret.
Brooke was far from innocent, but I had to remember that in many ways, she was just another victim of the Order of Shadows.
With a heavy heart, I disappeared around the corner of the house, out of the view of the cameras. I looked up to make sure Mary Anne was still on the roof waiting for me. When her blue eyes met mine, I let my image fade and flew high up into the air, following the crow back toward her village in the trees.
I expected Jackson to be waiting for me at the entrance, but as we crossed back through the barrier and dropped our magic to go back to our normal selves, I noticed the rest of our group had gathered on the porch of our gray house at the end of the block.
I squinted, wondering what in the world was going on.
As I approached, I saw what had stolen everyone's attention. A girl wearing black leather from head to toe, her dark hair tied in one long braid that fell down her back. She had a blue band tied around her wrist.
"Lea," I said, setting the bag down on the steps.
She raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her face. "Princess."
I cleared my throat. I guess Jackson had already explained that whole thing to her. She seems to have taken the news well.
"You've come to fight?"
"No," she said, her face hard and serious as she turned. "I've come to warn you."
A Beat Too Long
Fear rippled through my bloodstream.
"Warn us of what?" I asked. "Does this have to do with the Resistance?"
She crossed over to the porch railing and leaned against it. "They're really going through with it," she said, her eyes focused steadily on Jackson. There was panic in her voice. "I tried to talk Andros out of it, but he's become completely obsessed. Ever since that hunter got into the Underground and almost killed his daughter, he's been talking about wanting to start a real war against the Order. He wants to hurt them and he doesn't care who he has to kill to make it happen."
"Slow down," Jackson said. He pulled a chair out for her and motioned for her to sit. "Start from the beginning. I thought we'd convinced him not to go through with any attack against the gates."
Lea took a deep breath and waved away the chair. "After you left, he started bringing up his old plan more and more in our meetings," she said. "He said destroying the gates was the only answer to bringing down the Order. You've heard all his arguments a thousand times."
She was still talking to Jackson as if it were just the two of them sitting here. He may have heard Andros' arguments, but the rest of us hadn't. We only knew what little Jackson had mentioned to us earlier.
"Not all of us have heard it," I said. "Give us some idea of what we're dealing with here."
Lea looked around, really looking at me for the first time. She didn't exactly look thrilled to see me. "Andros and many of the others in the Resistance believe the best way to destroy the Order of Shadows is to close the demon gates," Lea explained. "If the gates were all closed, the Order would have no way to bring more demons across to this world. Andros thinks it's the best way to end the war."
A chill ran up my spine. I lowered myself onto the top step. "But that would also mean killing everyone connected to the gates," I said. "You're talking about thousands of lives. Maybe hundreds of thousands. Humans and demons."
"Yes, but Andros sees it as a necessary loss," she said. "A one time sacrifice to save our world forever."
"I thought we'd convinced him to look at other ways of fighting the Order," Jackson said. "Like only going after the High Priestesses."
"I thought so too," she said. She pushed off of the railing and paced the length of the porch. "But after what happened with the hunter, he went right back to his old way of thinking. Seeing his daughter captured by the hunter really scared him."
"I saved her life," I said, frustration seeping into every fiber of my being. "So his response is to kill me and everyone like me?"
"What happened with the Hunter?" Angela asked.
"When Harper was living in the Underground, a hunter tracked her and managed to get inside," Jackson said. "She held Andros' little girl captive and threatened to kill her unless they turned Harper over."
Just thinking about that day brought my anger rushing to the surface. "The hunter never would have gotten inside if one of Andros' most trusted men hadn't betrayed him," I said. "Yet he still blamed me for her being there. And you know what? I could have run. I could have gone out the back door before anyone realized it, leaving his daughter to pay the price, but I didn't. I chose to fight, risking my life and Aerden's life to save them. Now, he's going to repay me by coming after primas like me? By murdering thousands of innocent humans and demons?"
"Regardless of how the hunter got in, it was you she was after," Lea said. "If you hadn't come there, she never would have tried to get in in the first place."
"That was a risk their council took when they decided to let me stay," I said.
"What's his plan now?" Jackson asked. "He can't seriously be planning on destroying the gates?"
"I tried to talk some sense into him," she said. "Believe me, I tried. Only, the more he talked about it, the more the rest of the council started agreeing with him. The commanders of the Resistance army were on board from the beginning. They've been looking for an opportunity to fight. It didn't take long before I was outnumbered on the vote."
"This is murder they're talking about," I said, rage burning like a fiery pit in my belly. "Don't they realize that?"
"Like I said, they see it as a necessary evil," Lea said. "To them, the demons who have already been enslaved are as good as dead, so killing them doesn't seem like murder."
"And killing the humans is what? No big deal?" I said. "Human lives aren't important at all?"
"The humans they would be killing aren't innocent," Lea said. "They're witches who chose to join the Order of Shadows."
"When a witch is brought to her initiation ceremony, she has no idea about the demons," I said, standing. I was too angry to sit down any longer. "These women are manipulated and lied to. I'm not saying they're perfect and blameless, but they don't deserve to be murdered."
Why did I feel like I'd had this same argument thirty times? Why couldn't people understand that just because a witch was a member of the Order, it didn't automatically mean she was evil?
"No one wants to go around killing witches and demons without purpose," Lea said. "Andros believes it's a smarter way to attack. A kind of sacrifice for the greater good. Destroying the gates will weaken the Order's numbers significantly, and it will also keep them from rebuilding. Eventually, once all the gates are closed, it will bring them down completely."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "You sound like you agree with him."
She groaned. "This is not easy for me," she said. "I wish there was a way to keep my people safe without killing anyone, but the Order makes that impossible. Until we close these gates permanently, they'll continue to find a way to kidnap our kind and turn them into slaves. What other options do we have?"
"We have the chance to possibly reverse the ritual that created the gates in the first place," Jackson said.
"What? How?" Lea asked.
"Didn't Andros tell you?" he asked her. "He gave us a diary before we left the Underground. In it, there are instructions on how to basically undo the connection that holds a demon gate open. We're pretty sure if we can perform this spell, we can free both the demons and the witches tied to any gate without killing any of them."
"I don't understand," Lea said, leaning back against the railing. "If Andros had access to a spell that could free the demons, why didn't he tell us? Why did he give it to you instead of testing it himself?"
"Maybe he didn't really believe it would work," Jackson said.
"Or maybe he just wants to kill everyone," I said. "Who knows?"
"Maybe he gave us the book to give us one last chance to change his mind," Jackson said. "He didn't give us much time to follow through with it, but maybe that was his reason for passing the book off to us when he did."
I closed my eyes and tried to still the pounding of my heart. As if there wasn't already enough riding on this reversal ritual. When Andros had given me the book, he'd said he felt my destiny was tied to it. What a load of crap. He hadn't even given us six months to try it out.
"How long do we have?"
Lea sighed. "Not long," she said. "Andros has already activated the first part of his plan. As we speak, teams of assassins are gathering information about primas all over the southern half of the United States. They're planning a coordinated attack that will go down in four days."
I crumpled back down onto the stairs, hanging my head in my hands. Only four days? My head pounded. "This can't be happening."
Our time-line had just been bumped up another few days, and we had already been stretched too thin.
"How long have you known about this?" Jackson asked.
"Two weeks," Lea said. "I tried to get word to you sooner, but you don't understand what it's been like for me. After Jericho's betrayal, Andros watches us all like hawks. He's become so paranoid about every move we make. He didn't even want me talking to Mary Anne anymore because she's human and he doesn't trust her. He's completely obsessed, not wanting to let any of his top council members out of his sight, even for a minute."
"Then how did you get away long enough to come here?" I asked.
Lea swallowed, her jaw tense. She turned to meet my eyes, then paused, her silence stretching out a beat too long.
"Because I agreed to be the assassin who kills you."
The Bomb Lea Had Just Dropped
The quiet village erupted in shouts.
I lunged at Lea, but Jackson gripped my arms and held me back. He pressed his mouth to my ear. "She's not actually going to do it. Calm down."
"How do you know she's not planning to do it?" I asked. "She's hated me from the first time she laid eyes on me."
Angela and the others all shouted over each other, trying to make sense of the bomb Lea had just dropped on us.
"Everyone sit down," Jackson said, his voice rising above the rest. "Give her a chance to explain herself."
I yanked my arm away from Jackson's grasp and straightened my clothes, my face and neck hot with anger.
Through all the commotion, Lea said nothing. She waited for everyone to quiet down and settle back into their seats before she spoke.
"Of course I'm not planning to actually go through with it," she said. "You should know me well enough by now to know I wouldn't do that."
I stared ahead, my teeth clenched and my breath fast and uneven. How could I possibly know her well enough when she'd always kept me at arm's length?
"I knew this was the only way to get away from Andros in order to warn you about the Resistance," she said. "If I'd come to you any other way, Andros would have labeled me a traitor and thrown me in the dungeons."
"I don't understand why you couldn't convince him that Peachville needed to be left alone," I said. "He couldn't at least start on the other side of the country? There are gates in Europe. He couldn't start there? Even if the demons in the Underground don't all like me, a lot of them were friends with Aerden. Killing me and closing the gate means killing him too. How could they do that to their friend?"
"Unlike Jackson, most of them don't hold out any hope that Aerden can be saved." She fidgeted. "Besides, I didn't exactly volunteer for the job. Andros and the council offered it to me. They told me it was a way to end your life and get Jackson back for myself."
I started toward her again, but Jackson's hand gripped mine.
"So you lied and said that's what you wanted?" Jackson said, emphasizing the word lied.
"Yes," she said, her eyes focused on my face. "Even if you don't believe me, I've let go of the idea that Jackson and I can ever be together. I can't say I understand it, but I see how he feels about you. I know there's nothing I could ever do to change that. Not even if I killed you, which I won't."
I settled into a chair beside Jackson on the porch, letting her words sink in. "How exactly do you plan to get out of this?" I asked. "Don't you think they'll notice if I'm still alive in four days? They'll just send someone else after me, right? What then?"
"I hadn't gotten that far," she said. "I thought maybe you could go into hiding. How far are you from attempting this ritual you were talking about? If we could go to Andros and show him proof the shadow demon slaves can be freed, it will change everything."
"Why kill so many all at once anyway?" I asked. "You said the Resistance plans to attack the gates in the south right? That's got to be at least, what, a hundred gates?"
"One hundred sixteen," Zara said. She'd been so quiet, I'd almost forgotten she was here. "All gates under my mother's rule."
"Andros wants to hit as many as he can all at once in order to maintain the element of surprise," Lea said. "If he started with one, that would alert the Order to his plan and they would set up guards for the primas and the portals, maybe even send the primas into hiding for a while. Each gate would become a full-on battleground, which is what he's trying to avoid in the first place. If he kills them all at once, they'll all be taken by surprise and he can close over a hundred gates in a single day.""
"That's why he's sending these assassins out early, then?" Jackson said. "To investigate the town and the primas?"
"Yes," Lea said. "Each team has a lead assassin who has already been sent out to their assigned town. Their job is to watch the prima and figure out her schedule. They need to see how often the portal is used and how difficult it will be to get to when the time is right. That sort of thing. Andros gave us two days to gather the information we need before we're supposed to go back and give him an update and assemble the rest of our team. Then we'll have one day to get in place before the actual assassination. The fourth day, we're supposed to kill the primas at eight in the morning."
"That only really gives us three days to attempt the ritual," I said. "There's too much that still has to be done."
"You'll have to find a way to move faster," Lea said. "Short of this ritual working and demons going free, there's no way Andros is backing down from his plan."
I leaned over, my head in my hands. Three days? I had no idea how, but we were going to have to find a way to pull this off.
The future of both our worlds depended on it.
So Many Secrets
Jackson offered to show Lea to one of the rooms he and Essex had cleared out in the blue house where Angela was staying. Lea didn't have much with her, only a small bag and a few weapons.
She stood, but as she passed behind Zara, her eyes flickered to the family tree Zara had been working on all day.
"What's this?" Lea asked, her eyebrows cinched together in the middle.
Zara turned. "Harper asked me to write down everything I can remember about my family's history," she said. "I decided to write out a family tree going all the way back to Eloisa Winter, the first priestess of the Order of Shadows."
Lea set her bag back down and leaned over the paper, studying it with great focus.
"What is it?" Jackson asked.
"Do you recognize someone?"
"Look at this." Lea ran her index finger across several lists of daughters. "Don't you find it a little bit odd that each generation has exactly three daughters?"
I walked around to see what she was talking about. I studied the tree for a moment and realized she was right about each generation except the first one. Eloisa had been one of five daughters, the original sisters who created the Order. Eloisa had three daughters of her own. Her oldest daughter also had three daughters. Every single prima since her had also had exactly three daughters.
"Hmm," Zara said, tapping the page with her sparkly green pen. "I don't know why I never noticed this before. It makes perfect sense, though, since each of the three has a very specific job to do."
"What kind of job?" Mary Anne asked.
"We all know the oldest daughter becomes the prima, or in this case, the next Priestess Winter," Lea said, pointing to the names of the oldest daughters in each generation. "But what about the two younger daughters?"
Zara sat up straight as if a teacher had asked her a question. "Thirds like me are guardians and trainers," she said. "My Aunt Mary and my Great Aunt Kathryn are my mother's most trusted guards. They live with us at Winterhaven and are usually watching over the portal stone and the house unless mother needs them."
"They never married?" I asked.
Zara shook her head and her voice became softer. "No, thirds are not allowed to marry or have children of their own. We are taught from a young age that our role will be to protect the priestess and the home."
"What about the seconds?" Angela asked. "What job do they have?"
Zara stared at the names she'd written on the family tree. She bit her lower lip, her expression troubled.
"What's wrong?" I asked. I'd never seen her so upset, except maybe when her mother had tried to kill me.
"It's very curious," she said. "This doesn't make any sense. I've studied my family tree for years hoping to find answers about the change in my own mother, but never once until this moment did it occur to me that I have never met any of the seconds except my sister Honora. In fact, I don't even know where they are. I don't know if they're alive or dead."
