by Kami Garcia
The bell ripped from Priest’s hands and clattered across the tunnel floor. The remaining bells flew from the bag as if being pulled by a magnet. They rolled over the stone and piled themselves up, climbing over one another like rats scaling a wall. Once the bells laddered their way to the ceiling, they separated and spread through the tunnel above our heads.
The deafening sound of clanging metal erupted in the small space, as the bells rang mercilessly. Everyone covered their ears.
Except Andras.
He had returned to the center of the Devil’s Trap, waving his chained arms together as one, conducting his belled orchestra. He closed his eyes, reveling in the sound that was designed to bring him to his knees.
The sprinklers whirled on and more salt assailed the demon’s body. My heart thudded against my ribs as pillars of steam roll off his skin. Without warning, the bells stopped ringing.
“Cover your heads,” Dimitri yelled.
The bells hung in the air for a moment then dropped. One hit my shoulder, while others crashed to the floor around me, missing me by inches.
Gabriel stumbled to his feet and unhooked Azazel. The bones screeched and writhed as he cracked the whip against the bars.
Andras laughed, contorting Jared’s beautiful face into a mask of rage. “You cannot control me with your toy, Gabriel.” The demon cupped his shackled hands, letting them fill with holy water. Steam rose from his palms, as he lifted his hands to his lips and drank.
Alara gasped and Gabriel stared, opened-mouthed.
When Andras finished, his eyes blackened. “Who is your champion now, Gabriel?” The demon held out his shackled wrists, the chain hanging between them. “This boy’s soul feeds me, like the souls of the girls I killed before I found you.” He pointed at me and smiled. “Kennedy—the girl both of us want to possess.”
A shudder ran through me.
Soaked in holy water, Andras moved closer to the bars. “Who do you think will win your soul?” His eyes turned the same pale shade of blue shade as Jared’s. The demon’s body jerked, and a disoriented expression passed over his face.
“Run,” Jared whispered.
I ignored him and stood perfectly still, afraid the slightest movement might snap the thread between us.
Jared shook his head in quick jerks, and the black ink seeped into his eyes.
Priest backed down the tunnel. “We should get out of here. That monster isn’t Jared.”
Andras whipped around. “I agree, Owen. I am not Jared. He is an entirely different kind of monster.” He looked at Lukas with a vicious glint in his eye. “Isn’t that right, Lukas? Why don’t you tell Owen who was really responsible for his grandfather’s death?”
The color drained from Lukas’ face, and he gripped one of the icy bars to steady himself.
“Save it,” Alara said. “No one believes your lies.”
Lukas’ eyes darted from the demon hiding behind his brother’s face to Alara. He flipped his silver coin between his fingers, over one and under the next, and then back again.
The demon jerked the chain shackled to his ankle and stepped closer to the bars. “Am I lying, Lukas? Tell your witch the truth.”
The coin slipped from Lukas’ fingers and dropped on the floor. Alara watched it clatter to a stop between their boots.
“Lukas?” A hint of fear lurked in Alara’s voice.
He frowned, and a deep line cut between his brows. He didn’t take his eyes off the coin, as if he were letting it decide his fate. Heads or tails. The truth or a lie. But both sides of Lukas’ coin were the same.
“It was an accident,” he said finally.
Priest shook his head, confused. “Wait, what are we talking about?”
“He didn’t mean it,” Lukas mumbled.
Priest stiffened. “Didn’t mean what? You’re not making any sense. What happened?”
The demon threw his head back and laughed. “In the Labyrinth, we lie to our enemies. Only humans lie to their friends.”
Lukas lunged at the bars. “Shut your mouth. Or I swear to god, I’ll kill you myself!”
Andras smiled. “I’m sorry. God is busy performing miracles at the moment.”
Alara grabbed Lukas’ arm and wheeled him around. “What’s he talking about?”
“Our uncle wanted to find the missing member of the Legion. Like I told Faith, he thought the Legion would be stronger if all five members were together.” The words tumbled out, the same way they had when Jared first told me the story inside the wall, at Hearts of Mercy. “Jared figured out the names of all the Legion members. He made a list—”
“A list?” Rage flashed in Alara’s brown eyes.
“He was trying to help. So we could destroy him.” Lukas pointed at the cell, and the demon that looked exactly like his brother.
Alara slumped against the wall. “That’s how Andras found them.”
“It was an accident,” I said.
“Breaking something is an accident.” Priest’s voice grew louder with every word. “Killing five people is something else.”
“Owen does have a point.” Andras smiled.
I ignored him and plowed ahead. “Jared didn’t know Andras would find them.”
“He knew the rules.” Priest pointed at me, seething. “And you’d say anything to protect him.”
I had never seen Priest this angry. The fact that his rage was directed at me only made it more frightening. And I didn’t think it had anything to do with the demon’s proximity. “That’s not true. My mom died that night, too.”
“Your mother was a spy.”
I stared back at him, speechless.
“That’s enough.” Gabriel stepped between us.
Alara looked up, from where she stood leaning against the wall. She had been strangely quiet until now. “Wait. How do you know it was an accident?” She stared at me as if we were the only two people in the room. “You knew this whole time?”
I swallowed hard. “Jared wanted to tell you himself.”
“That’s a lie,” Andras said casually, as he moved closer to the bars. “I should know. I spend all day in his head.”
“No.” Lukas backed away.
Priest gave Andras one last look, then turned and stormed down the tunnel. “I’m outta here.”
Tears glittered in Alara’s eyes. “You should’ve told me, Kennedy.” She followed Priest, her footsteps echoing through the passage.
I pressed my hands against my eyes until black splotches appeared behind my eyelids.
“Jared never would have told them,” Lukas said. “He was too ashamed.”
“He’s right.” Andras said. “And I didn’t need to read your boyfriend’s thoughts to find out. Jared’s soul was branded with guilt the first time I saw him, at your aunt’s house.”
The first time he saw him.
Memories slid together in blurry flashes, like the black splotches clouding my vision.
Jared standing in front of the shattered bay window at my aunt’s house.
The child’s pupil-less black eyes staring back at him.
Gabriel’s voice replayed in my mind: If a demon marks your soul, he’ll always be able to find you.
The realization crystalized in my mind with perfect and horrible clarity. I forced myself to face at the monster that only looked like Jared. “That’s how you found us. When Jared looked at you from the window… you marked him.”
We never stood a chance.
Andras took a step forward, but I didn’t move. There was something about the way he was looking at me.
“I didn’t need Jared to find you. His soul isn’t the one I marked that day at Faith’s.” A trail of holy water burned its way down the demon’s cheek. “It was yours.”
Lukas dragged me down the dark tunnel. “You can’t let him get in your head. It’s just another one of his lies.”
What if it wasn’t? What if my soul was the one marked by a demon? I had stared out the window at the little girl, too.
&nb
sp; He’ll always be able to find you.…
I had assembled the Shift and released Andras, and now he had left his demonic fingerprint on my soul? Maybe this was my punishment. House arrest at the hands of one of hell’s soldiers. A soldier who was slowly killing the boy I—
Love.
I felt it every time I looked at Jared, every time he touched me.
I’m in love with him.
Lukas bolted the last lock on the door at the top of the stairs. The fluorescent glare against the steel walls made me dizzy. I reached for the closest wall to steady myself, but it was too far away. Or I was.
He caught me as my knees buckled, and wrapped his arm around me. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“You’re wrong. It’s my fault Andras found us in the warehouse. My fault Jared’s possessed,” I could barely choke out the words. “I’m the one he marked.”
How many times had I prayed to be marked as a Legion member?
“Jared doesn’t deserve this.” I said. “I wish it were me.”
Lukas took a shaky breath. “None of us do.”
I wiped my face with the hem of my shirt, and Lukas loosened his grip on me, his arms still around me. “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said.
“Hey, I’ve been looking for you—” I heard Elle’s voice behind me.
Lukas dropped his arms and took an awkward step away from me.
“We were down in the basement with Jared,” I said, wiping my nose on my sleeve. “More like not with Jared.”
“Whatever.” I recognized the anger in her voice, but I wasn’t prepared for the expression on her face. My best friend looked like she wanted to kill me. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It’s not like that.” Lukas skirted his way around me like I had the plague.
Elle took off down the hall in a flash of red hair and black leather.
I leaned against the cold metal behind me and slid to the floor. I wanted to scream and pound on the walls and cry—do anything to avoid feeling the way I did right now.
Broken, battered, and beaten.
This was a war we couldn’t win. Or one we’d already lost.
31. FEAR ME
I found Priest in the Mech Room, standing behind a black table like the ones in high school science labs, wearing his headphones and clear plastic safety glasses. He nodded his head in time with the music, his attention focused on a long silver pipe in front of him. Priest was in his element, surrounded by steel tool chests, overflowing with screwdrivers and power tools. Behind him, hammers, wrenches, and extension cords hung on a pegboard above a huge microscope.
Even as he attached a propane tank to one end of the pipe and drilled a row of holes along the top, his frown never lifted.
Usually his oversized hoodie and long blond bangs reminded me of the skaters from my old high school in Georgetown—the misfit band of freshmen and sophomores that traveled in swarms, with their skateboards sticking out of the top of their backpacks. The boyish quality that had always made Priest seem like one of them was gone now.
I recognized the look on his face. It was the expression of someone who knew what it felt like to be betrayed, and I hated myself for being part of the cause.
“How long have you known?” He asked, as he secured a speaker to the other end of the pipe with a roll of silver duct tape.
I looked down, letting my hair create a curtain between us. “He told me when we were trapped in the wall at Hearts of Mercy.”
“And you didn’t think Alara and I had a right to know?”
“I thought Jared should tell you himself, and he wanted to,” I said.
“Except he didn’t, did he?” Priest turned on the speaker and flames flared from the holes in the pipe, rising and falling to intensity of the music.
“That’s amazing.”
He didn’t look at me. “It’s a Ruben’s Tube. Physics 101. Any idiot can make one.”
Except an idiot like me, who would lie to her friend—that was the message.
“I’m so sorry.”
Priest slammed his fist against the wall behind him and spun around. “Sorry won’t bring my grandfather back. I’m not like the rest of them. Jared and Lukas have each other, and Alara still has a family, even if she doesn’t wanna live with them. My granddad was all I had. I thought you of all people would have understood that.”
“I do.”
He shook his head, anger exaggerating his every movement. “No, you don’t. You went to a regular school. You have a best friend who took off with a bunch of strangers because she wanted to find you. I lived in the same broken-down Tudor with my granddad for as long as I can remember. I was home-schooled. That means no teachers, no friends, no enemies. No one except the two of us. He was my best friend.” Priest’s voice cracked. “My only friend.”
I tried to imagine a life without school and Elle. A life that only existed within the four walls of my house. “You’re right. I should’ve told you.”
Priest unhooked his headphones from around his neck and hurled them down across the room. The plastic smashed against one of the shiny silver walls.
“Jared should’ve told me!” he shouted. “He was supposed to be my friend. I followed him around like a puppy. And the whole time, Jared knew my granddad was dead because of him.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. “He is your friend.”
Priest turned his back on me and stalked down the hall. “We have a different definition of friendship.”
After my conversation with Priest, I wanted to find an empty room and hide, but it would only delay the inevitable. Facing Alara.
I took a deep breath and opened the door to our room. The only sign of Alara was a box of shotgun cartridges and a bottle of rock salt.
“She’s not here.” Elle said.
I sat on the end of her bed, the way I had a million times back in her room at home. “What’s going on with you? You’re acting weird.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why? Because I don’t want to watch you hang all over Lukas?”
For a second, I thought she was joking. Elle had never been jealous of another girl in her life, at least not over a guy. Amazing hair, a cool pair of vintage shoes, maybe. The idea of Elle being jealous of her best friend was even more ridiculous.
“Lukas and I are just friends. Anyone who spends more than five minutes with the two of you can tell how Lukas feels about you. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about.” A sob caught in my throat, and my voice cracked. “The only guy who ever cared about me is sharing a body with a demon.”
“I’m sorry,” Elle said, but she didn’t sound very sympathetic. “I’m acting stupid.”
What’s wrong with her?
“It’s okay.” Maybe Elle was having hard time dealing with this world I’d dragged her into and I hadn’t noticed.
“Don’t worry. She draped an arm over my shoulders. “We’re going to find that thing to save Jared.”
“The Shift.”
I didn’t have the energy to look for Alara. Instead, I fell asleep thinking about another person I couldn’t save.
A scream pierced the darkness and my eyes flew open.
Elle.
I shoved myself off the bed, struggling to reach her.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.
Bear barked in the darkness.
The door burst open, and someone turned on the lights. Lukas and Priest stood in the doorway, weapons drawn. Alara must’ve come in after we fell asleep, and she jumped out of bed. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” I scanned the room, but no one else was in here.
Elle clawed at her arms, hysterical and sobbing. Lukas ran to the bed and pulled her into his lap. She was covered in dark bruises, as if someone had hit her.
Foot falls echoed through the hallway. Gabriel and Dimitri appeared in the doorway, out of breath. Gabriel noticed Elle’s bruises. “Who did this?”
The lights flickered, and Priest pus
hed our half-open door closed. “Not who… what.”
On the back of the door, a message was scratched into the metal over and over:
WHEN THE NIGHTMARES COME, FEAR ME.
Lukas hugged Elle tighter. “He’s getting stronger.”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I grabbed the contact lens case next to my bed and took off. My bare feet slapped against the cold concrete floor as I ran toward the containment area. Priest was behind me, repeating my name over and over, asking me if I remembered something or had a theory. I didn’t have either, just a feeling something was very wrong.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I popped in the contacts. Voices drifted through the tunnel—the demon’s and a girl’s voice.
The cell door was still closed, but Andras wasn’t alone.
A girl stood in front of him, picking the locks on his wrist shackles with a wire. Even with her back to me, I recognized her.
“Am I hallucinating again?” Priest asked.
The girl turned slowly, her shoulder-length brown waves grazing her neck.
My neck.
The girl in the cell looked exactly like me.
She whispered something to Andras in a strange language, brought her fingers to her lips, and blew me a kiss, the same way Andras had on the street in Boston.
Gabriel caught up to us and struggled to unlock the barred door, but she was already transforming. Her body—my body—spiraled into a ribbon of particles that glittered in the air like dust in the sunshine.
He cracked Azazel in the air, but the whip slid right through her dusty form, and she was gone.
My eyes darted to the wall behind Andras. Every inch was still covered with writing and symbols—new ones overlapping the protective and binding symbols that were already in the cell when Gabriel and Dimitri locked him inside.
Behind the sadistic Scrabble pattern Andras had created from the dead girls’ names, another image jumped out at me, as clearly as if I had drawn it myself.
