“Once you help Sage, I’ll be healed.” Juniper plucks her collar away from her neck.
“Juniper, I’ll never agree to help Sage.”
Her hopeful expression falls. “But I did this all for you. So I could help your mother . . .”
“I’m thankful, really I am, but . . .”
“But what?” Juniper stands, her eyes hard. “You’ll leave me like this?” She scratches the red ring on her neck. Steam rises from her flesh. She winces. “I thought it would stop hurting by now.”
A lump jams inside my throat. “I can’t fix it. You turned against the Alliance. What you’ve done, it’s irrevocable.”
“But it’s not! When Sage has the power to restore, he’ll heal me.”
How could she be so naïve? “Sage wants my help to destroy all Awakened, and I can’t. I won’t.”
“He only wants you to tell him what you see. What’s the harm of that? Cera, if you side with the Alliance and they harm Sage, I’ll never be restored. I’ll die too.”
I take her hand. It’s cold. “You’re not going to die,” I tell her. “I’m getting you out of here. What time is it?”
“Close to sunrise.”
I push off the bed. “Where are my mother and Cole?”
The door slides open. I stiffen at the sound.
“They’re in the guest suites,” says Mark’s raspy voice. Not Sage, thankfully. “It would have been a lot easier if you had brought the drawings in the day I asked you to. We could have avoided this mess.” He touches his lopsided face. “All the attacks, the death of your father, that never had to happen.”
The death of who? “My father?” I barely breathe. “That happened years ago.”
“That’s easy to believe,” Mark says wryly. “Truth is, your father thought coming back to Sage would keep you safer than if he stayed around. Sage had him protected here until recently.”
My chest hurts. This has to be another lie. A way to get information about the Well. I scrutinize Mark, but he looks sincere as he staggers into the room. “When Sage decided he no longer needed him, and believed your father had plans to warn you, he siphoned all his power to get information about you. You sensed it, didn’t you? Something about your father in Sage? That’s what siphoning does. Gives Sage all your memories, your knowledge, and your essence so he can use that to his advantage.”
I teeter as the black walls close in on me. My father has been alive all this time. My father was working with Sage. My father was . . . protecting me? That has to be another lie. My father called me a monster. He walked out and left Mom and me on our own, struggling to survive.
Numbness takes hold as Mark’s words sink in. Sage siphoned my father’s powers so I would yearn for him. My father’s essence is why Sage’s voice, his touch, was so familiar. I bite my lip to keep it from quivering. To keep from throwing up.
Black steam billows around Mark’s feet. “Sage left to prepare a surprise for you. He will be back in an hour or so and wants you to be ready when the sun comes up. Says it’s a big day.”
Sage would think so. Born at seven in the morning, I turn seventeen by sunrise. My Dissenting powers will be fully manifested by then, and I will be able to unlock the realms.
“Look,” Mark’s tone changes. “I could distract the Legions for a while. Cormorants too. If you chose to—”
“She’s not leaving.” Juniper marches toward Mark. “She’s going to restore me.”
“There is no restoring, kid. That’s all a lie,” Mark hisses at her.
“No, it’s not,” she insists. “Look how Sage—”
“That’s what he does to get you to agree. It only lasts until he needs more for himself. You’re not special, or needed, or whatever lie he used to fool you. Get out while you’re still whole enough.”
I narrow my eyes at him. This has to be a trick. A setup of some sort. “Why would you help me?” My leaving could be precisely what Sage wants. But even if I left, where would I go?
Half of Mark’s face is smoking as it droops. “You don’t believe me, I get it. I wouldn’t believe me either. But nobody does what you did—stopping Sage from siphoning me like that.”
Juniper gasps.
“So thank you.” Steam rises from his throat. “Listen, I know what he plans on doing to your mother to get you to agree. It’s painted in Fuseli’s Nightmare.” My heart seizes. I can’t let my mother become like the woman sprawled on the bed in an alabaster gown, nearly dead, as the beast siphons her powers away.
“If I were you, I’d run and hide out as long as possible,” Mark tells me. “But know that Sage is patient. If he doesn’t get what he’s after this time, he’ll try again, taking centuries if he has to. Each battle brings him more knowledge and one step closer until, eventually, he wins the war.” Mark coughs, steam rises from the skin around his throat. “I can give you thirty minutes, forty tops. Keys are in the car.”
I’m still not convinced—not sure who to trust.
Getting out seems too easy.
But then Milton nudges me. “Thou mayst believe and be confirmed / Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent / To show thee what shall come in future days.”
This verse, where the angel Michael speaks to Adam, erases my skepticism. Not only has Milton guided me every step of the way, but there’s an unmistakable kindness in Mark’s single eye.
“But what will this cost you?”
He shrugs his one solid shoulder. “Nothing more than he’s already taken.”
I have one burning question. “Mark? My father, was he a . . .” I can’t bring myself to say it.
“A Legion? No.” Mark walks away, black mist trailing each step.
“I’ll help any way I can,” Juniper says, wiping her eyes. Any reservation she’s had about leaving has vanished. She opens a closet stocked with designer clothes. “Change first. You don’t want anything that might make your mom, you know, more ill.” She crinkles her nose as I approach.
Wearing clothes picked out by Sage makes my skin crawl, but I can’t have Mom sickened at the stench. The expensive outfits are warm and look as if they would fit disturbingly well. Juniper picks out crushed velvet pants and a top that’s as close to a T-shirt as she can find. I draw the line with the shoes and keep my worn-out running ones instead. I tuck Gladys’s pin in my new pocket, glad I didn’t lose it again.
Without any details from last night’s vision, I’m wandering blind, unsure of what Sage knows. Why did he leave me alone? Where will I go next? Even if this is part of Sage’s plan, one thing is certain: Staying here won’t do Cole or my mother any good.
Juniper leads me to the farthest corner of the hall. “This is it.”
I hesitate. How does Juniper know the person in the room is really my mom? What if it’s another elaborate ruse to lure me?
She opens the door. The room is identical to the one I woke up in, with its black walls, gauzy curtains, and that caged portrait feeling. The curtains have been pushed aside and left open.
She’s there.
My mom is on the bed in an ivory gown, pale and unmoving.
I collapse next to her. “Mama?” Her hands are burning hot. Her lips are slightly parted, her chest barely rising. But her lavender scent remains.
I take her hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sorry I left you.” I curl up beside her, not letting go. She doesn’t respond. I stifle a sob. I can’t break down. Not now. I sit up.
Be brave and stay focused, the way Pop said I should. Time is running out fast. I try lifting her, but I’m not strong enough.
“She’s sedated,” Juniper says. “It’s better for her healing. I traded knowledge of Harper’s elixir, the Gloss, in exchange for . . .” Her voice falters. “But it didn’t do much to take away the fever. I tried.” She digs in her pocket. “You might want to have this. I found it pinned inside her shirt when they brought her to Hesperian. I only kept it because I was trying to match Harper’s flowers to the one on the locket. Gladys said that
flower is rare and has a strong healing power.” She hands me a small charm that is hooked through a safety pin. The flower, the style, the humming metal, are the exact same as Gladys’s hairpin that I have tucked in my pocket. Both pieces match the tiny flower that glows in the arbor.
I inspect the locket I never knew Mom owned. “It’s Lonicera,” Juniper tells me, “the Winter Beauty honeysuckle but modified somehow, maybe even crossed with the Goldflame variety.” She touches my mom’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Harper didn’t leave any of her serum for me to copy, or else I would have matched the ingredients and made some to heal your mom.”
“You could make more?”
“It would take me a bit of time, and I’d need a vial to sample.”
I stand. “Where is Cole?”
Juniper blushes. “Down the hall.”
I check ahead as we rush through the corridor. Mark has been true to his word about keeping the creatures away—so far.
“I’ll handle Cole. You pack anything you think we’ll need.” I mentally map the path back to Mom’s room. I’m not sure how much time has gone by, but Mark only gave me forty minutes, tops.
“And go where? This is the only safe place.”
“It’s not safe for any of us. I’ll find somewhere we can hide until I can figure things out.”
“Hesperian might work. Everyone’s gone, but most of the building is standing. If Harper left her ingredients and I had the vial, I could make the serum a lot faster.”
It’s not a great plan, but it’s the only one we have, and our window to escape is closing fast.
Juniper stops at a cloudy door. “He’s in here.”
“Go on. I’ll get Cole to help us.” Especially since I don’t know how to drive and I doubt Juniper can.
As I slide the door open, Juniper touches my arm, stopping me. “I have to let you know, there’s no chance for him. Sage made it clear he needs him and won’t let him leave. He’s probably dissented by now.”
My heart drops.
Please don’t let that be true.
The room is steeped in grim darkness. Sloppy notes from a drunken cello mingle in the cloudy air. The sticky haze tastes of bitter sugar and a tangy herb I can’t place.
“Cole?” I accidentally kick something glass across the floor as I frantically search for the light switch.
“Lights up,” Cole slurs with the waking flicker. He’s playing a flirty melody, but the sound is choppy and broken.
A spinning bottle slows, then stops, pointing at the sleek curtain. I fling the fabric aside.
The music stops. The raspy strings cringe under the sliding bow of Cole’s slack hand. He slouches in a chair with a white cello between his knees, shirtless, wearing a pink scarf. No, it’s a sweater that probably belongs to one of the two girls surrounding him. A blonde girl lies passed out at his feet. A brunette with a bearcat tattoo running under her low-riding tank top kneels on the bed. Both have red marks around their necks.
Cole’s glassy eyes rise to meet mine. “Hey, gorgeous.” He pokes the bow in my direction.
“Cole. It’s time to go.” I hope my voice doesn’t sound as shaky as my insides.
“Watch this.” Cole mocks a serious expression as he runs the bow across one string, playing a deep, sustained note. Bearcat cranes her neck, her face recoiling at the noise, disoriented somehow. The scrawny blonde stays passed out. Cole releases the bow with a high-pitched laugh as Bearcat returns to her kneeling position. “Crazy.”
I’m not sure what’s he’s doing or why, but we don’t have time. “Cole. Let’s go. Now.”
Bearcat climbs off the bed to massage his shoulders. The tattoo of the cat’s tail tracks down her right arm. “He’s staying with me.” She runs a hand through his hair, pulling his head back, and kisses him, upside down. Disjointed notes stumble as Cole drops the cello. It falls to the floor, snapping off the bridge. The loose strings wobble. Broken.
My stomach hardens.
“Cole, stop.” I will my voice to be strong. The bitter air tastes thicker. “We need to leave.”
“You promised something,” Bearcat says, whispering in his ear, but her glassy eyes are fixed on me.
Cole stares beyond the ceiling with a lazy smile. “I did.” Not a question.
“Uh-huh,” she says. The sweater loosens from around his neck. There isn’t a Dissenter’s mark. Thankfully.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she nibbles his ear. “Just a vow. A single breath. Then one secret. After that, you get whatever you want.”
Cole leans into her advances.
“No!” I shout, leaping over the scrawny girl to take Cole’s hand. Scrawny wakes up and claws my ankles, keeping me back. I kick at her. “Cole, get up.”
Cole’s eyes barely open. What kind of cocktail did he take? There’s got to be a way to get him clearheaded. “Cole, where’s the serum?” There’s not enough for both him and my mother, but I won’t let him dissent. And unless he’s lucid, I’m not sure how I’ll get everyone out and escape in time.
“In my pocket.” His laugh is so light it’s alarming. Bearcat kisses his neck, stealing his attention.
I rub away a headache forming at my temples. “Cole. Come on. We need to go. Please.”
Bearcat growls at me. An actual growl. Like a dog. Stringy saliva drips from the corner of her red lips. What has Sage done to her? It’s like she’s not human anymore. There’s no way I’ll let Sage do the same to Cole. She takes a cigarette burning on a table nearby. “He’s not leaving. Right, babe?” She takes one long drag, then blows it into his mouth with another kiss.
“Back off and leave him alone!” That greedy power leaps up within me as I release the booming words. I reach for his arm, hanging limp at his side. Bearcat swipes my wrist but is about three inches from contact.
Cole coughs. Scrawny, lying on the floor, stumbles to her feet, holding onto to the wall and any furniture she can find, as she walks out of the room. Bearcat’s face contorts. Her hands shake, fighting to stay locked on Cole.
I can control Dissenters? I knew about Legions, but . . .
I’m seized with momentary panic. If this is another one of Sage’s powers, this close to my birthday, I just tapped into it. My six-word command might have joined the realms. But does it matter? I’m nowhere near the Well. And I have to do whatever it takes to keep Cole from dissenting. “Get your hands off of him, and get out!” The release feels incredible, a surging adrenaline coursing through me, making me feel invincible.
Bearcat jerks back, hissing. Fighting. Mauling the air. But she lets go. Insatiable strength rises in me with every command. “Now get out!”
Her hands swing the air, fighting to break free of my control. Her rabid eyes are locked on me as she backs away against her will. But somehow, she breaks from whatever control my words had on her and launches at me with a guttural roar, claws extended.
I shift. Thick air swooshes across my throat. She hits the wall, recovers, and claws at me again. This time she catches my shirt.
“A girl fight?” Cole wilts onto the bed. His knife, the one with the handle carved like twine falls out from inside the hem of his pant leg.
Bearcat springs at me with unnatural speed. We collide. My elbow to her temple. Her fist punching a sharp blow to my ribs, knocking me on the bed. The pain shocks me. I want to cry, but raging fire detonates in my core instead. I lift my knees and kick my heels into her stomach as she attacks again.
She’s driven backward as her head hits the wall. She slides to the ground, knocked out. I’m shaking. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I only wanted her to leave Cole alone. He’s half on the bed, half on the floor, eyes closed. I shake him awake. The room warps. “Cole, wake up. We have to leave now.” My tongue feels swollen.
I need the serum. Cole needs the serum. Where is it? I tug at his pocket.
Cole paws at my face, laughing.
“Stop.” I dodge his touch and fish out the vial. “What did you take?”
“Not
hing.”
“Don’t lie to me. How much, Cole, an entire bottle? Two? And what else?”
His fierce eyes turn a deep basil-green. “I don’t lie, Blighty. I didn’t take any of it.”
In this state, how can I believe him? I shove the serum in his hand. “You need this.”
Cole pushes himself upright. “You know the one thing I need?” He wrestles away the sheets and somehow gets to his feet. I stand, ready to help him. I’m not sure how much good the serum will do if he falls, hits his head, and passes out.
Cole staggers. “The Alliance kept me behind the Wall, locked up like a prisoner, when all I wanted was to see my family. I want”—he holds up a tattooed finger—“one visit to tell them I am sorry for being such a screwup and making their life hell. That was it. One chance to do something right for a change. Be worth something. Belong somewhere. Maybe even make them proud, so they’d no longer be ashamed of me.” He drops his head. “But I even messed up with you. Couldn’t stand up to fight when it counted.”
“You can still get that chance if we leave now. We’ll hide at Hesperian. But I need your help—”
“I’m not a hero, Blighty. I’m a freakin’ letdown. Always have been. Always will be. It’s the only thing I do well. So why mess with people’s expectations?” He sinks onto the bed.
I lower myself beside him. Cole needs to snap out of this. Our time is running out. “You’re not a letdown, and you know it. You helped me when no one else would. You just settle for less and won’t let anyone see your true heart. Don’t give up. You’re worth the fight. You just don’t believe it.” I don’t know if any of my slushy words are making it through his stupor, but I have to try.
Cole’s smirk mocks me. “I’m good at jacking with people, Blighty. Take your serum. Go.”
Instead, I take his face in my hands and burn a laser stare into his eyes. “You’re better than this.”
He runs a clumsy finger over my lips. “Your optimism is cute.”
“My optimism is getting us out of this place.” Now my words sound slurred too. Wow, I’m lightheaded. I cough. The walls turn sideways. “Cole?”
“Yeah.” His wildfire scent magnifies as he leans in. His forehead meets mine. Why am I not shying away? I should. But I like the way he nuzzles my ear. The way his wanting lips find their way to mine. He’s nothing like that other guy . . .
Realms of Light (The Colliding Line Book 2) Page 17
