by Talia Vance
“What the hell?” He scrambles to get away from the truck.
“That’s for Dart.”
“Who the hell is Dart?”
I close the distance and slap him. Hard. “If you so much as go near my horse again, it won’t be your truck that’s burning.”
A group of students gathers, staring at the fire as it grows bigger. A siren wails in the distance. The first bell rings. I step around Jonah and walk the rest of the way toward school. Mark Briggs starts to say something to me, but wisely shuts up when he sees the look in my eyes.
I’m smiling by the time I get to class. I didn’t kill Jonah. I should be disappointed, but instead I’m hopeful. If Jonah can live, maybe Blake can too.
My first four classes go by without incident. I catch a few curious glances from some of the guys, but no one tries to approach me. Which is fine with me, because my life is complicated enough at the moment. I meet Haley at her locker just as Braden Finley comes by for his daily ritual of asking Haley out to lunch.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Braden opens his locker without looking at her. When he shuts it and leans against it, he grins at Haley appreciatively. Then his eyes move past her. To me. “Who’s your friend?”
Haley has to turn around to see who he’s looking at. When she turns back to him, her cheeks are red. “You mean Brianna? Haven’t you guys met?”
“I think I would remember meeting Brianna.” He’s talking to Haley but staring at me.
I can’t stop the smile that grows until I’m sure I’m grinning at Braden Finley like an absolute fool. He raises his eyebrows speculatively. “A few of us are heading off campus for lunch. You should come.”
Whoa. Braden just asked me to lunch. I’m not seriously considering saying yes—I know the game. I’ve seen it played out enough. I also know that Braden is currently dating Gia Davidson. And I have a boyfriend, even though it’s kind of twisted and messed up at the moment. Still, it’s nice to be asked. Really nice. I wonder if this is how Haley feels all the time. “Sorry,” I say. “I have plans.”
“Next time.” Braden starts to walk off. As he walks past me, he leans in so close that his shoulder touches mine. Then he stops and whispers in my ear, “Don’t make me wait too long.” As he walks away, a laugh escapes my lips before I can stop it.
“What was that?” Haley stares at me like I’m an alien, complete with a third eye and slithery tentacles. Her expression slowly changes from disbelief to contemplation. “Do you think he’s trying to make me jealous?”
I force myself to stop smiling. “Obviously.”
Haley doesn’t catch the hint of sarcasm in my response. “Is it bad that it’s working?”
“I think that’s the point.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She puts her hand on my shoulder. “Sorry about that.”
“Sorry? Why?”
“It was kind of rude of him. Flirting with you to get to me. I mean it’s not very nice for him to play with your feelings like that.”
It’s not enough that the only possible reason Braden Finley would flirt with me is to make Haley jealous. No, now she has to assume that my poor feelings are hurt because of course, I must have thought he was really flirting with me.
“What a jerk.” I don’t even try to conceal the sarcastic tone this time. “He must’ve gotten the idea from Austin.”
Haley’s lips twitch for a second before she can mask it. “What are you talking about?”
I shrug. “Well, it explains why Austin showed up at the ranch yesterday and tried to get me to go home with him. He must’ve assumed I’d tell you and then you’d be jealous.”
Haley’s eyes narrow to points. “You’re lying. Austin doesn’t need to make me jealous. Besides, he asked me to meet him at McMillan after school today.”
“Austin is not who you think he is.”
“I think I know who my own boyfriend is. It’s you I’m starting to wonder about.”
I close my eyes, instantly regretting calling Haley out. By the time I open them again, she’s gone.
THIRTY-ONE
I fall back against a row of lockers, exhausted. I didn’t mean for the stuff about Austin to come out like that.
“Jesus, Paxton.” Sherri Milliken grabs my arm and pulls me down the hallway. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Let go of me.”
“Where’s your bracelet?”
“Why do you even care?” I’m not in the mood for a lecture.
“Because you’re putting us all in danger. You think the Sons won’t find you here? Hell, there might even be a few on campus.”
“There’s not.”
“What do you mean, there’s not?” She searches my face.
Crap. I’ve said too much.
“Wait. You know who they are, don’t you? I knew it. It’s the only reason you survived the weekend.”
I shake my head. “You’re not wearing your talisman.”
“That’s different. I’m seventeen. I can control my powers. They can’t tell what I am just by looking at me. You, on the other hand, are a flashing beacon of magic. You might as well be wearing a neon sign that says ‘kill me now.’ ”
“Fine. I’ll leave. As soon as you tell me what happens when I turn seventeen.”
Sherri spins around in a circle, her arms wide. “You get to be beautiful.” A group of guys stops a few feet away to watch her. “Well, you always got to be beautiful. But now people will notice. And it’s fricking awesome! All those guys that wouldn’t even look at you before will be drooling at your feet.”
I’m not so sure it matters now. “Tell me about the power.”
“Believe me, Brianna, beauty is power.”
Was she always so shallow? “That’s not what I meant.”
Sherri rolls her eyes. “Okay, okay. I told Sasha we should tell you from the beginning. I knew what you were from the first day of ninth grade, when you walked into class with that fricking bracelet on. I couldn’t believe it at first, because you looked amazing, like you weren’t hiding at all. But the guys didn’t notice. They didn’t even look at you. It was like they didn’t see you at all. Meanwhile, I looked like Supergeek.”
“Tell me what happens.”
“It’s like you can feel it inside of you. Fire, water, air, even the earth. And then you want to use it. Almost like you have to.”
I’ve felt it. In my veins. In my blood. How it wants to be unleashed. Has to be. “How do you control it?”
Sherri looks at me like I’m crazy. “It’s part of who you are. Just embrace it, Paxton. It totally rocks. And you’ll need it when the Sons find you again.”
“You sound so certain they will.”
“Oh, they will. Sasha says they date a lot of girls, always looking for potential breeders. And let’s face it—we have the traits they’re looking for.”
“Traits?”
“Beauty, strength, power.” Sherri glances over her shoulder at the group of guys hanging back to watch her. Watch us. “Our kind was almost exterminated. As far as the Sons were concerned, we were all dead. So they won’t be expecting more of us.” She eyes me skeptically. “Will they?”
“I wouldn’t know.” I clasp my hands in front of me, worrying my thumbs. She wants to blame me for outing us, but I’m not the one who started a magic blaze that took out two hundred homes. “How would I even know if I’ve found one?”
“You’ll know. Supposedly, it’s really hot when they touch you. It sounds amazing. I can’t wait.” She looks back over her shoulder at the group of guys and waves her fingers. “Not that I’m not enjoying the trial and error.”
“Then what?”
Sherri shrugs. “Then you do what you were born to do and reel them in. Once you confirm their identity, you take them ou
t.”
“You make it sound easy. Like you could just kill someone?”
“And you make it sound like it’s going to be hard. Like you’re not what you are. We were made to do this, Brianna. This isn’t some grand moral dilemma. It’s simple. Kill or be killed.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“You don’t. You never did.”
I finally get to the question I’ve wanted to ask since we started talking. “What do you think would happen if you didn’t … take them out?”
Sherri’s eyes flash. “What do you mean?”
“You said, yourself, that they’re supposed to be hot?”
“You can’t mess with them, Paxton. If you wait, you run the risk of getting killed, or worse, bonding with the murderer. Which is not only sick and twisted, but will hurt like hell when you finally do kill it. Or worse, when it kills you. You can’t afford to let your soul get bound up with a Son of Killian.”
Sherri glances back at the group behind her. A couple of the boys have given up and presumably gone in search of easier prey. Sherri flashes me a look of annoyance. She’s waited years for this, after all.
“Why is the bonding thing so bad?”
Sherri blows a perfectly straight bang away from her face and looks longingly over at the last boy, who’s lingering a few feet away. “Sleeping with the enemy is always dangerous, but in this case it’s suicidal. Don’t kid yourself about them. They might be hot, but they’re murderers who will cut you to pieces at the first opportunity.”
“And we’re different, how?”
“Easy, Paxton,” she says, then turns her back and moves toward the remaining boy, her hips swaying. “We’re the good guys.”
I try to imagine a world where Sherri Milliken is one of the good guys. I swear. I try.
THIRTY-TWO
I go directly to my car after school. Sherri’s right about one thing—I need my bracelet. I might be able to make it to Friday on my own, but what about the Seventh Daughters who come after me? The bracelet was never mine. It was on loan from the daughters who came before.
Instead of turning on the road that will take me west to the beach, I keep driving toward McMillan Prep. It’s a calculated risk, but I’m betting that Austin is the key to getting my bracelet back.
The campus is smaller than R.D. High’s, but everything else about it feels bigger. Grander anyway. The football stadium is state-of-the-art, with actual restaurant vendors and a bar for the alumni and parents. The buildings are painted in fresh white, accentuating the red tile roofs. Stone pathways wind through shady trees and floral gardens.
The parking lot is full, but there are no students outside. I look at my watch. I don’t know what room Austin might be in, so there’s nothing to do but wait for class to let out. I find a spot on a low wall near the entranceway and wait. At the sound of a bell, students pour into the walkways.
I spot Austin right away. He walks with a backpack slung over his shoulder, flanked by other students. He keeps his head low and his hands in his pockets, as if he’s purposefully trying to blend in. Now that I know he’s not human it’s easy to see that everything about him, from the too-long hair to his casual walk, is calculated. Of course, he can’t hide his high cheekbones and handsome face, but even his crooked smile is a mask, a premeditated imperfection to make him seem more approachable. Nothing about Austin feels real to me now.
His eyes shine gold for just an instant when he sees me.
He picks up his pace, weaving through the crowd of students with undisguised grace. He stops in front of me, blocking me from their view. “And to what do I owe this pleasure?”
I stand to face him. “This isn’t a social call.”
“A shame. I think we both would enjoy it more if it was.” His eyes darken, and I feel the fog forming around my brain. Some kind of mind manipulation. I let ice fill my veins until the fog fades away.
I meet his gaze, clear-eyed and focused. “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust your own charm anymore?”
He laughs, unfazed by the fact that I’ve stopped his power. “You’re right. I didn’t have to work very hard to convince you to come to my room that first night, did I?”
He goes right for the jugular. I’m shaking, embarrassed, and angry. But my pride can take more than a few hits; it’s had lots of practice. “I think you might have something that belongs to me,” I say.
“Your heart?”
God. It’s all I can do to keep from hitting him. “My bracelet.”
“Oh, right. You left it behind, didn’t you?”
He knows exactly where it is. “Give it back.”
“For someone who claims not to be interested, you ask for a lot of favors. And now you show up at my school out of the blue. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I have a bit of a stalker.” He looks behind him. “What if one of the Sons sees you?”
“It’s a little late for you to pretend to be worried about me fighting the Sons.” He’s the one who said Jonah should pay.
He shrugs and sits down on the wall, patting the spot next to him. “Sit.” When I don’t move, he adds, “I promise to behave. Unless you don’t want me to.” He shakes his head. “I’m kidding. We need to talk. You need to understand about me. And Blake.”
“Said the spider to the fly.” I sit down next to Austin, careful to keep a few extra inches of space between us. “So, spill.”
Austin looks into my eyes and smiles. For a second, I’m back at the quarters table that first night, laughing, flirting, reveling in the attention of a beautiful boy. I shake my head, and he laughs. Like he knows how easily I’ve slipped.
“I knew that if I stuck with the Sons long enough, eventually Danu’s daughters would show up.” He takes a breath. “I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”
I try to process this. “You were waiting for me? For how long?”
“Not counting the thousand years that I was banished to the underworld? Three years.”
“What?” None of this is making sense.
“There was a time, Brianna, when the gods lived on earth and ruled humans. The humans turned on us, abandoning us in favor of the God of All Things. As if he would bother with them.”
“They went over your head?”
“Something like that.” He sighs. “A powerful group of warriors in a crusade for God succeeded in vanquishing our leader. We were tricked into splitting the earth. The Milesians selected the upper earth and gave us the underworld, knowing we’d be trapped there for eternity.”
Again, I’ve got to hand it to Sasha. She knows her stuff. “But you’re here?”
“A loophole. The gods were trapped over fifteen hundred years ago, but I’ve always ruled the underworld, and with it the gateway to earth.”
“You can travel back and forth.”
He nods. “As long as I haven’t been personally banished.”
“So what does this have to do with Blake?”
“The Sons are the Milesians. They want nothing more than to rid the earth of magic and gods, even as they covet their power.”
I know this part of the story. I just don’t know if I believe it. At least not when it comes to Blake.
Austin’s fingers trail the length of my hair. “They won’t stop, Brianna. Not until you’re dead.” His eyes meet mine. “We’re on the same side here.”
“If you’re some kind of god, why don’t you just kill the Sons yourself?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not permitted. The last time I got directly involved, I was personally banished. I couldn’t cross over for a thousand years. I could do little more than wait, watching the world carry on without me. Now that I’ve returned, it’s almost too late. The Sons are winning. If you don’t stop them, they will win. We’re running out of options. I
need your help.”
Somehow, I’m not convinced that the gods ruling the humans would be a good thing. Not if they’re anything like Sherri Milliken. “What about the humans?” I say. It feels weird to call them that.
“You only ask that because you were raised by them. You don’t know what you are yet—not fully. You’re not one of them. You can control them. True, the gods are angry, but you needn’t worry—the humans will be put in their place, but most will survive to serve the gods. To serve you. If you live.”
I scoot further away on the wall. Most will survive. That can’t be good. “Blake won’t kill me.”
“Don’t kid yourself about him. You have a piece of his soul inside you—it clouds your judgment. He may not want to kill you today, but eventually, he’ll have to. He claimed the right to do it. His path is set.”
“What do you mean?”
Austin laughs again. “It’s what tipped me off about you. That flash of magic at my party. It was all very dramatic, Blake claiming the right to kill you in my kitchen.”
Isn’t that what Jonah said too? I’d thought that frozen moment just meant my craziness was back. And it was. But if it meant something else …
Mine.
My lower lip trembles. I don’t want to believe it. But hasn’t Blake admitted as much to me? That he didn’t want to do what he was going to have to do?
Austin reaches over and takes my hand. “He’s going to kill you. Unless you end it first.”
How? By killing Blake? By killing them all? No. The word pounds in my heart, resonates in my head. No. Blake is not a killer. I am not a killer. I didn’t kill Blake when I had the chance. I didn’t kill Jonah. I didn’t even kill Derek and Cassidy when I set the chem lab on fire.
“I want to help you.” Austin waits for a reaction, like he expects me to throw myself in his arms and beg him to help me kill my boyfriend.
I pull my hand away. “I’ll figure this out on my own.”
“Then you’re a fool.” His eyes turn dark. The fogginess is back, but I’m ready for it this time, letting my veins flow with ice. I want to tell Blake that I can do it fast now, but of course, he’s not here.
