Beautiful Darkness

by Kami Garcia

  “Maybe she won't notice.” I knew it was a stupid thing to say, but I was trying.

  “Sure. Maybe she won't notice if I never go out durin’ the day because my skin'll fry off.” Link rubbed his pale arms as if he could already feel his skin beginning to peel.

  “Not necessarily.” Lena was working something out in her mind. “John wasn't your average Incubus. He was a hybrid. Uncle M is still trying to figure out what Abraham was doing with him.”

  I remembered what Macon said about hybrids when he was arguing with Abraham at the Great Barrier, which already seemed like a lifetime ago. But I didn't want to think about John Breed at all. I couldn't forget seeing him with his hands all over Lena.

  At least Lena didn't notice. “His mother was an Evo. They can Morph — transmutate into virtually any species, even Mortals. That's why John could walk around during the day, while other Incubuses have to avoid sunlight.”

  “Yeah? So I'm what, like, a quarter bloodsucker?”

  Lena nodded. “Probably. I mean, I can't be certain of anything.”

  Link shook his head. “That's why I wasn't sure at first. I was out all day and nothin’ happened. Figured it meant I was in the clear.”

  “Why didn't you say something right away?” It was a stupid question. Who would want to tell their friends they were Transforming into some kind of Demon?

  “I didn't realize he bit me. Just thought I got worked over in the fight, but then I started feelin’ weird and saw the marks.”

  “You'll have to be careful, man. We don't know much about John Breed. If he's some kind of hybrid, who knows what you can do?”

  Lena cleared her throat. “Actually, I knew him pretty well.” Link and I turned and looked at her at the same time. She twisted her necklace nervously. “I mean, not that well. But we were in the Tunnels together for a long time.”

  “And?” I could feel my blood rising.

  “He was really strong, and he had some kind of weird magnetism that drove girls crazy everywhere we went.”

  “Girls like you?” I couldn't help myself.

  “Shut up.” She nudged me with her shoulder.

  “This is startin’ to sound better already.” Link cracked a smile, in spite of himself.

  Lena was going down the list of John's attributes in her mind, a list I was hoping wasn't too long. “He could see and hear and smell things I couldn't.”

  Link inhaled deeply, then coughed. “Dude, you really need a shower.”

  “You've got superpowers now, and that's the best you can do?” I shoved him. He shoved me back, and I flew off the bed onto the floor.

  “What the hell?” I was used to being the one throwing him on the ground.

  Link looked at his hands, nodding with satisfaction. “That's right, fists a fury. Like I always said.”

  Lena picked up Lucille, who had backed herself into a corner. “And you should be able to Travel. You know, materialize wherever you want. You won't need to use the window, even though Uncle Macon says it's more civilized.”

  “I can walk through walls, like a superhero?” Link was cheering up considerably.

  “You'll probably have a great time, except …” Lena took a breath and tried to act casual. “You won't really eat anymore. And assuming you plan to be more like Uncle Macon than Hunting, you'll have to feed off people's dreams and memories to sustain yourself. Uncle Macon called it eavesdropping. But you'll have plenty of time because you won't sleep anymore.”

  “I can't eat? What am I gonna tell my mom?”

  Lena shrugged. “Tell her you've become a vegetarian.”

  “A vegetarian? Are you insane? That's worse than bein’ a quarter Demon!” Link stopped pacing. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  He walked over to the open window and leaned out. “Seriously?” There were a few banging sounds on the side of the house, and Link hoisted Ridley through my window. I looked away dutifully, since most of Ridley's underwear showed at one point or another during the climb over the windowsill. It wasn't the most graceful entrance.

  Apparently, Ridley had cleaned up and gone back to looking like a Siren, whether she was actually one or not. She pulled her skirt down and shook out her blond and pink streaked hair. “Let me get this straight. The party's here, but I'm supposed to stay in my cell with the dog?”

  Lena sighed. “You mean my bedroom?”

  “Whatever. I don't need the three of you hanging out together, talking about me. I have enough problems as it is. Uncle Macon and my mom have decided I should go back to school, since apparently I'm not a danger to anyone anymore.” It looked like she was about to burst into tears.

  “But you're not.” Link pulled out my desk chair for her.

  “I'm plenty dangerous.” She ignored him, flopping down on my bed. “You'll see.” Link grinned. He hoped so, that much was clear. “They can't make me go to that backwoods dump you call a school.”

  “Nobody was talking about you, Ridley.” Lena sat down on the bed, next to her cousin.

  Link went back to pacing. “We were talkin’ about me.”

  “What about you?” He looked away, but Ridley must have already seen something because she was across the room in a second. She grabbed the side of Link's face. “Look at me.”

  “What for?”

  Ridley zeroed in on him like a Sybil. “Look at me.”

  As Link turned, his pale, sweaty skin caught what little light the moon cast into the room. But it was enough light to see the puncture marks.

  Ridley was still holding his face, but her hand was shaking. Link put his hand on her wrist. “Rid —”

  “Did he do this to you?” Her eyes narrowed. Even though they were blue now, instead of gold, and she couldn't convince anyone to jump off a cliff, she looked like she could throw someone off one. It was easy to imagine her sticking up for Lena at school when they were kids.

  Link took her hand and pulled her toward him, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “It's no biggie. Maybe I'll get some homework done once in a while, now that I don't need any sleep.” Link cracked a smile, but Ridley didn't.

  “This isn't a joke. John is probably the most powerful Incubus in the Caster world, aside from Abraham himself. If Abraham was looking for him, there's a reason.” I could see her biting her lip, staring out into the trees outside my window.

  “You worry too much, Babe.”

  Ridley shrugged off Link's arm. “Don't call me Babe.”

  I leaned back against my headboard, watching the two of them. Now that Ridley was a Mortal and Link was an Incubus, she would still be the one girl he couldn't have — and probably the only one he wanted. Junior year was going to be interesting.

  An Incubus at Jackson High.

  Link, the strongest guy in school, driving Savannah Snow crazy every time he walked into the room without a single lick from one of Ridley's lollipops. And Ridley, the ex-Siren, who I was pretty sure would find her way back to trouble, with or without the lollipops. Two months until September, and for the first time in my life, I could hardly wait for the first day of school.

  Link wasn't the only one of us who couldn't sleep that night.

  6.28

  Sunrise

  Can't you dig any faster?”

  Link and I glared at Ridley from where we stood, a few feet down in Macon's grave. The one he'd never spent a minute in. I was already dripping, and the sun wasn't even up yet. Link, with his newfound strength, had yet to break a sweat.

  “No, we can't. And yes, I know you're totally grateful we're doin’ this instead a you, Babe.” Link waved his shovel at Ridley.

  “Why does the long way have to take so long?” Ridley looked at Lena, disgusted. “Why are Mortals so sweaty and boring?”

  “You're a Mortal now. You tell me.” I tossed a shovelful of dirt in Ridley's direction.

  “Don't you have a Cast for this sort of thing?” Ridley flopped down next to Lena, who sat cross-legged beside the grave, looking thro
ugh an old book about Incubuses.

  “How did you guys manage to get that book out of the Lunae Libri, anyway?” Link was hoping Lena could find out something about hybrids. “It's not a bank holiday.” We'd gotten in enough trouble in the Lunae Libri during the past year.

  Ridley shot Link a look that probably would've brought him to his knees when she was still a Siren. “He has a lot of pull with the librarian, Genius.”

  As soon as she said it, the book Lena was holding caught fire. “Oh, no!” She yanked her hands back before they were burnt. Ridley stomped on the book. Lena sighed. “I'm sorry. It just happens.”

  “She meant Marian,” I said defensively.

  I avoided her eyes and busied myself with my shovel. Lena and I were back to being, well, us. There wasn't a second I didn't think about the proximity of her hand to my hand, her face to mine. There wasn't a moment when we were awake that I could bear to have her voice out of my head, after I'd lost it for so long. She was the last person I spoke to at night and the first person I reached for in the morning. After everything we had been through, I would've traded places with Boo if I could. That's how badly I never wanted to let her out of my sight.

  Amma had even started setting a place for Lena at the table. At Ravenwood, Aunt Del kept a pillow and a comforter folded next to the downstairs couch for me. Nobody said a word about curfews or rules or seeing too much of each other. Nobody expected us to trust the world with each other if we weren't together.

  The summer had gone beyond that. You couldn't un-happen things. Liv had happened. John and Abraham had happened. Twyla and Larkin, Sarafine and Hunting — they weren't people I could just forget. School would be the same if you ignored the fact that my best friend was an Incubus and the second hottest girl in school was a declawed Siren. General Lee and Principal Harper, Savannah Snow and Emily Asher, they would never change.

  Lena and I would never be the same.

  Link and Ridley were so supernaturally altered, they weren't even in the same universe.

  Liv was hidden in the library, happy to be safely tucked away in the stacks for a while. I had only seen her once since the night of the Seventeenth Moon. She was no longer training to be a Keeper, but she seemed okay with it.

  “We both know I would never have been happy watching from the sidelines,” she'd said. I knew it was true. Liv was an astronomer, like Galileo; an explorer, like Vasco da Gama; a scholar, like Marian. Maybe even a mad scientist, like my mom.

  I guess we all needed to start over.

  Plus, I got the feeling Liv liked her new teacher as much as her old one. Liv's education had been turned over to a certain former Incubus who spent his days out of sight — in Ravenwood or his favorite study, an old haunt in the Caster Tunnels — with Liv and the Head Caster Librarian as his only Mortal companions.

  It wasn't how I expected the summer to turn out. Then again, when it came to Gatlin, I never knew what was going to happen. At some point, I had stopped trying.

  Stop thinking and start digging.

  I dropped my shovel and pushed up against the side of the grave. Lena leaned over on her stomach, her ratty Converse kicking up behind her. I put my hands around her neck and pulled her mouth to mine until our kiss made the graveyard spin.

  “Kids, kids. Keep it clean. We're ready.” Link leaned on his shovel and stood back to survey his handiwork. Macon's grave was open, not that there was a coffin down there.

  “Well?” I wanted to get this over with. Ridley pulled a small bundle of black silk out of her pocket and held it in front of her.

  Link pulled back as if she had shoved a torch in his face. “Watch it, Rid! Don't get that thing anywhere near me. Incubus kryptonite, remember?”

  “Sorry, Superman, I forgot.” Ridley climbed down into the hole, holding the bundle carefully with one hand, and placed it in the bottom of Macon Ravenwood's empty grave. My mom may have saved Macon with the Arclight, but we saw it for what it was — dangerous. A supernatural prison I didn't want to see my best friend trapped inside. Six feet under was where the Arclight belonged, and Macon's grave was the safest place any of us could think of.

  “Good riddance,” Link said as he pulled Ridley up out of the grave. “Isn't that what you're supposed to say when good defeats evil at the end of the movie?”

  I looked at him. “Have you ever read a book, man?”

  “Dig.” Ridley rubbed dirt off her hands. “At least, that's what I say.”

  Link piled shovelful after shovelful of dirt over the bundle while Ridley watched, without taking her eyes off the grave.

  “Finish it,” I said.

  Lena nodded, jamming her hands in her pockets. “Let's get out of here.”

  The sun began to rise over the magnolias in front of my mom's grave. It didn't bother me anymore, because I knew she wasn't there. She was somewhere, everywhere else, still watching out for me. Macon's hidden room. Marian's archive. Our study at Wate's Landing.

  “Come on, L.” I pulled Lena by the arm. “I'm sick of the dark. Let's go watch the sunrise.” We took off, running down the grassy hill like kids — past the graves and magnolias, past the palmettos and oaks tangled in Spanish moss, past the uneven rows of grave markers and weeping angels and the old stone bench. I could feel her shivering in the early morning air, but neither of us wanted to stop. So we didn't, and by the time we reached the bottom of the hill, we were almost falling, almost flying. Almost happy.

  We didn't see the eerie golden glow pierce through small cracks and fissures in the dirt shoveled over Macon's grave.

  And I didn't check the iPod in my pocket, where I might have noticed a new song in the playlist.

  Eighteen Moons.

  But I didn't check, because I didn't care. No one was listening. No one was watching. No one existed in the world but the two of us —

  The two of us, and the old man in the white suit and string tie, who stood at the crest of the hill until the sun began to rise and the shadows fell back into their crypts.

  We didn't see him. We only saw the fading night and the rising blue sky. Not the blue sky in my bedroom, but the real one. Even though it might look different to each of us. Only now I wasn't so sure the sky looked the same to any two people, no matter what universe they lived in.

  I mean, how could you be sure?

  The old man walked away.

  We didn't hear the familiar sound of space and time rearranging as he ripped into the last possible moment of night — the darkness before the dawn.

  Eighteen Moons, eighteen spheres,

  From the world beyond the years,

  One Unchosen, death or birth,

  A Broken Day awaits the Earth …

  After

  Siren's Tears

  Ridley stood in her room at Ravenwood, the room that used to belong to Macon. But nothing remained the same except the four walls, a ceiling, and a floor, and possibly the paneled bedroom door.

  Which she shut, with a heavy click, and bolted. She turned to face her room, her back against the door. Macon had decided to take another room at Ravenwood, though he spent most of his time in his study in the Tunnels. So this room belonged to Ridley now, and she was careful to keep the trapdoor leading down into the Tunnels locked under thick pink shag carpeting. The walls were covered with spray painted graffiti, black and neon pink mostly, with shots of electric green, yellow, and orange. They weren't words, exactly — more like shapes, slashes, emotions. Anger, bottled in a can of cheap spray paint from the Wal-Mart in Summerville. Lena had offered to do it for her, but Ridley insisted on doing it herself, Mortal-style. The reeking fumes made her head ache, and the splattering paint made a huge mess of everything. It was exactly what she wanted and exactly how she felt.

  She'd made a mess of everything.

  No words. Ridley hated words. Mostly, they were lies. Her two-week incarceration in Lena's room had been enough to make her hate poetry for a lifetime.

  Mybeatingheartbleedingneedsyou —

  Wh
atever.

  Ridley shuddered. There was no accounting for taste in the family gene pool. She pushed herself away from the door and walked over to the wardrobe. With the slightest touch, she opened the white wooden doors, revealing a lifetime's careful collection of clothing, the hallmark of a Siren.

  Which, she reminded herself, she wasn't.

  She dragged a pink footstool to the shelves and climbed up on it, her pink platform shoes slipping back and forth over her pink striped knee socks. It had been a Harajuku kind of a day, not often seen around Gatlin. The looks she got at the Dar-ee Keen were priceless. At least it had passed the afternoon.

  One afternoon. Out of how many?

  She felt along the top of the shelf until she found it, a shoe box from Paris. She smiled and pulled it down. Purple velvet four-inch peep-toes, if she remembered. Of course she remembered. She'd had some damn fine times in those shoes.

  She dumped the contents of the box onto her black and white bedspread. There it was, half-shrouded in silk, still covered with crumbling dirt.

  Ridley slumped down on the floor next to her bed, resting her arms on the edge. She wasn't stupid. She just wanted to look, as she had every night for the past two weeks. She wanted to feel the power of something magical, a power she would never have again.

  Ridley wasn't a bad girl. Not really. Besides, even if she was, what did it matter? She was powerless to do anything about it. She'd been tossed aside like last year's mascara.

  Her cell phone rang, and she picked it up from her nightstand. A picture of Link popped up on the screen. She clicked it off and tossed it into the endless pink shag.

  Not now, Hot Rod.

  She had another Incubus on her mind.

  John Breed.

  Ridley settled back into place, tilting her head to the side as she watched the sphere begin to glow a subtle shade of pink.

  “What am I going to do with you?” She smiled because, for once, it was her decision to make, and because she had yet to make it.