by S. A. Moss
“Needs life,” was all she said, turning her attention back to Alex. His breathing had become more rapid, and his body shuddered occasionally. “Needs life. Poor dearie. Poor thing. I hope he comes to us when he dies.” She continued muttering to herself and tsking, stroking her hand down Alex’s face gently.
“No!” I pushed her hands away. “No! He’s not joining you, because he’s not dying.”
Before she could say anything else, I faded back in and leaned over Alex. I didn’t care if I passed right through Reeva. She could get out of the way if she didn’t like it. I cupped his face in my hands, lifting it gently.
“Alex? Alex! I need you to wake up!”
With what looked like extreme effort, his eyes opened and focused on me. “What?”
“Reeva said the Shroud ate at your life force, that it’s… it’s dissolving.” His eyes started to slide shut, and I shook him gently. “No, wait. Don’t go! I need you to turn me mortal. Can you do that?”
His bleary eyes squinted at me in confusion. “Why?”
“Just do it, okay? I’m going to try to help you.”
Alex reached up and grabbed one of my hands. I rested my forehead against his, our clasped hands sandwiched between us. His grip was weak and his fingers shook, but I clung to him tightly.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, like a car starting on a cold day, my heart sputtered to life in my chest. As soon as the beat was there, it began to pick up speed. I tried to keep my breaths slow and measured, but I could feel my chest heaving with each inhale. The familiar wave of dizzying euphoria washed over me.
I was mortal.
Without knowing exactly how to accomplish my goal, I focused my thoughts on pushing the life force flowing through me into Alex. It wasn’t the same as funneling and directing aether; aether was something wholly separate from me, but what I was trying to channel now was me.
Live. Live. Live.
The single word pulsed over and over in my mind as I pressed my forehead to Alex’s, our breath mingling in the small space between us.
His hand stopped shaking.
His grip began to gain strength.
A wild joy filled me as I felt life flowing from me to him. It was working!
Then something shifted inside me.
I became aware, for the first time since I’d been hit by that car months ago, of the finite amount of energy inside the sack of skin and bones and blood that was my body. And I knew, with an instinctual certainty, that if this well of energy inside me was sapped completely, I would die.
I tried to force down my panic, allowing Alex to draw more life from me. I could feel his heart beating steadily in his chest, hear his breathing even out.
Just… a little… more.
Finally, when my own hands began to shake and my breath was coming in gasps, I tried to close whatever gate I’d opened.
But the life force didn’t stop flowing.
Alex continued to draw it out of me. Had I ever been in control of the transfer of energy? If I had, I wasn’t now.
“Alex!” I cried, fear making my voice crack. I pulled my head up and tugged on his hand. “Stop!”
“What are you…?” Alex sat up, his grip on me still tight.
I shook my head, my brain going fuzzy as my strength ebbed. “Stop. Let go. Please.”
As soon as he saw the look on my face, he dropped my hand—flung it away, really. I fell back onto my butt, heaving in great gasps of air as I stared up at him. The nauseating sensation of dying was slowly fading away.
“What—what happened? What was that?” he asked, rising. Even in my panic, I was relieved to see that his face had more color, his eyes were clear, and he stood easily.
I shook my head. “I don’t—”
“The Shroud. It changed him.” Reeva’s haunting, lilting voice filled the air, although I couldn’t see her.
I turned in the direction of her voice, taking in the stunned faces all around us. Sarah was pressed against the door, probably wishing she’d dropped us off and run for the hills.
“What? Changed him how?” I asked.
For just a moment, Reeva faded into view, almost transparent. Her wavering face looked from Alex to me.
“His touch could always bring mortality. Now it can grant death as well.”
11
I looked up, my gaze meeting Alex’s. The fear I felt was reflected in his eyes.
He crouched by my side, reaching for me, and I shrank back involuntarily. He pulled his hand back, his face a mask of shock and regret.
“I’m sorry, Cam! I didn’t know. I didn’t…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.
“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to. I’m fine. I wanted to give you my life force, just not all of it.” I sat forward slowly, giving a shaky smile.
He still looked tortured, but I brushed off my earlier fear. I knew Alex would never intentionally hurt me. And now as my panic faded, elation slowly filtered in to take its place. I’d done it. I’d saved him.
I turned toward where Reeva’s aura glowed next to me. “Reeva, can you check him again? I’m pretty sure he absorbed a bunch of my life force, but just to be sure—is he going to be okay now?”
Alex stood back up and remained stock still. Reeva’s aura circled him once, then her voice came again. “Yes. He will live.”
Everyone in the room seemed to let out a collective sigh.
I glanced at Alex. “I’ll be right back.”
Fading out, I found Reeva still caressing Alex’s body gently. I tamped down the burst of possessiveness that flared in my chest. I had asked her to check him out after all. But still, did she have to keep checking him out?
I cleared my throat. “Thank you, Reeva. We really appreciate your help.”
She didn’t look at me. Her fingers kept running up and down Alex’s chest. Her morphing eyes were fixed on his face. “There is something…” she muttered. “Something different.”
My muscles tightened. “Something else? What?”
“Don’t know. The Shroud has changed him.”
“Yeah. You said that. But he’ll live, right? He just has a new, er, power?”
She finally tore her gaze away from Alex and turned to me. “I think so.”
“Geez, don’t scare me like that, Reeves! Thanks a lot!” I cried, clapping her on the back in relief.
Her eyes bugged out in surprise, either at the nickname or the casual touch. Then she straightened, a genuine smile lighting her features.
“You’re welcome, Camilles.” She walloped me on the shoulder, so hard I staggered to the side.
Hoo boy. Note to self, do not start a shoving match with a ghost.
Reeva turned to leave, stopping before she passed through the wall. “Come play with me again sometime. Bring your human if you like.” Then she was gone.
Shaking my head at the odd woman, I faded back in. The Council members were gathered near the kitchen, talking in hushed voices. Pearl had physically forced Alex to sit back down on the couch—good, he needed rest—and Sarah was still manning her post by the door.
I walked over to her slowly, the way one might approach a spooked horse. “Hey. You okay?”
Her eyes were saucers. “This is your life now? Or, I mean, your afterlife?”
I nodded, leaning against the door and sliding down it to sit with my back to the wood. She followed suit, and we watched the other occupants of the small apartment for a moment. “Yeah, I’d say this is a pretty average day for my new existence.”
She twisted her long blonde hair around one hand. “Holy cow.”
A snort burst from my lips. “Yup.”
Sarah turned to me, her blue eyes full of worry. “Are you happy, Cam?”
I hesitated.
Am I happy?
Since I’d woken up on that creepy stone altar in the Haven, I’d had to face a number of questions, but that had never been one of them. There hadn’t really been time to think about it.
I no
dded slowly, my eyes flicking to Alex. “Yeah, I am. But more than that, I feel useful. I have something important to do. And even if individual moments of it suck, I believe in what I’m doing.”
She tilted her head slightly. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping the world safe. Or trying to, anyway. Keeping supernaturals from preying on humans.”
Sarah swallowed hard. “I’m glad we have someone like you looking out for us.” There was something almost like awe in her expression as she added, “Even if it’s completely insane.”
I ignored her look, not wanting to admit that she saw me any differently than she used to. I didn’t want her to see Camille Prentice, Guardian. Just Camille Prentice, friend.
Maybe that wasn’t possible though. Try as I might to deny it, I was different. Dying and being reborn had changed me. I couldn’t go back to a life of studying for tests and working my way through college even if I wanted to.
But I don’t want to. I want to be a Guardian.
I want to stop my father.
And I want to make Akaron pay.
12
“Akaron is planning something.”
Arcadius’s voice was serious, making my stomach drop precipitously.
Sarah had left shortly after I healed Alex, but not before extracting a promise from me to keep in better touch with her this time. I wasn’t sure how the Council would feel about that, but I’d muttered an affirmative before giving her one last hug.
Alex was resting on the couch, an arm slung over his face, Will curled up on his stomach. The rest of us had faded into the mid-plane so we could talk without disturbing him. I hadn’t been in touch with the Council at all in the time I spent hunting for Alex in the Shroud, and apparently I’d missed quite a few developments.
“Do you know what he’s go up his sleeve?” I asked.
Sada answered. “No, not yet. The fact that he and Sirius hoped to use Alex as part of their next gambit is a new piece of information, but I’m not sure where it fits into the puzzle.”
“Have they been snatching Guardians again?”
Owen shook his large head, puffing out his chest. “Of course not! It’ll be a long time before they can pull that one on us again. Guardians are still paired up for safety whenever possible. And the Fallen wouldn’t be able to coordinate another attack like that for months, at least.”
“So what are they doing?” I looked around at the circle of worried faces around me.
“They’ve been sending out wraiths,” Arcadius answered heavily.
I shuddered. There were plenty of terrifying Fallen out there, but wraiths still scared me more than almost anything. The fact that they could take over a human body was awful enough, but that the human host had to die for the wraith to leave it? I shivered again.
Ugh. Give me pig-demons and tiger-creatures over wraiths any day.
“It took us a while to notice,” Sada said, picking up the thread of Arcadius’s thought. “It can be difficult to tell if a wraith has taken possession of a human. Their auras become very faint, vanishing entirely in some cases. In the past, we haven’t bothered much with wraiths for that very reason. Better to leave them be than to risk killing a human who isn’t actually possessed. And most wraiths who come to Earth do so simply to enjoy the physical pleasures of life—sex, luxury, food.”
“Yeah? I’m guessing there’s a ‘but’ coming,” I said wearily, crossing my arms over my chest.
“But,” Sada continued with a sardonic smile, “these wraith possessions are following a different pattern.”
“How so?”
Arcadius nodded to Pearl, who faded in and scampered over to the end table by the couch to grab the TV remote. With obvious pride at being the master of all things technological, she pressed a few buttons and turned the TV on. The earsplitting sounds of an action movie burst from the speakers, and Alex shifted in his sleep.
“Sorry!” Pearl whispered, jamming another button several times until the volume dropped to a barely discernible level. Alex settled back into stillness, Will burrowing deeper into the crook of his elbow.
Pearl flicked through the channels quickly, finally stopping on a local news program. I stepped closer so I could hear the newscaster’s voice.
“And emerging as a leader of this movement is Senator Nathan Reyes. His rally last week was attended by several thousand people from all political parties. Reyes and several other high ranking government officials believe that the unexplained creatures seen all across the metro area over the past several weeks are in fact supernatural beings, and that their presence should be welcomed. They claim these strange sightings are only the beginning,” the perfectly coifed woman said, her calm voice completely at odds with the strange words she was saying.
I flashed a look at the Council members behind me. They all wore grim expressions. Apparently, this wasn’t news to them.
“Nathan Reyes is a charismatic politician whose rise to prominence in the Democratic Party was seen by many as a precursor to a Presidential run. And while talk of the supernatural might’ve at one time disqualified him from serious consideration, it only seems to have increased his popularity with the public. People are looking for answers, and Reyes is willing to give them.”
My face scrunched up as the newscaster continued to speak. Was this real? Were people really starting to believe?
“Reyes has hailed the recent unexplained phenomena as a sign of what is to come,” the woman on screen continued, “and is encouraging his followers to embrace the arrival of supernatural beings. He claims they will dominate the human race, and only those who fall in line will be spared. Other political leaders worldwide have stepped forward to back Reyes’s message.” She shook her head, an unsettled expression cracking her veneer of calm. “As strange as it seems, many people agree with Reyes. With nothing else to believe, and no scientific explanations for the footage we’ve all seen, it is somewhat difficult for critics to argue against his stance.”
I blinked. What the hell? Given what Sada had said, it wasn’t hard to imagine what was happening here. Wraiths had taken over the bodies of political leaders and were using that platform to stir up people’s belief in the supernatural. But why?
The newscaster’s co-host turned to her, sighing dramatically. “It really is a crazy time, isn’t it. ‘Normal’ seems to be a word of the past.”
She nodded curtly. “Yes, it certainly seems like it. Reyes and other political leaders, including Edward Minks, Susan Waymore, and Donald Favreau, have been encouraging their constituents to report what they’re calling ‘resistors,’ people like those who were seen fighting the creatures atop the Hancock building.”
The screen faded into footage of a man at a podium, presumably Nathan Reyes. He was tall and young, with wavy blond hair and a classically handsome face. He looked earnest and trustworthy; maybe he had been once upon a time, before a wraith took over his body.
“And these people, these nonbelievers, will fight to keep the next era of human history from coming!” he shouted. “What right do they have to keep us from our just rewards? When our overlords rule the world, those of us who pledged allegiance to them will be granted everlasting joy and prosperity!”
The crowd roared, making my stomach sour. People were listening to this nut job and actually cheering him on?
I turned away from the screen, trying to tune out Reyes’s insane ranting behind me. “So you’re telling me he’s a wraith?”
Sada nodded seriously.
“I don’t understand. Why does anybody believe what that guy and his politician buddies say? And they’re picking up more followers?”
“I believe we’ve discussed this already, but humans aren’t exactly known for being intelligent and discerning,” Adele said smugly. In her French accent, the words sounded extra snobby. Then again…
I looked back at the TV.
Maybe she isn’t totally wrong.
“So Akaron and Sirius sent wraiths here to—”
“—turn humans against us,” Arcadius finished for me. “I tried to warn you about this, Cam. We’ve been through similar moments in history before. When people find out about our existence, they either worship us or revile us. This time, the Fallen are using that to their advantage, sewing discord among people and recruiting humans to their cause.”
“But it’s gotta be just a small segment of the population, right?” I insisted. “Cults have always existed. That doesn’t mean most people are cultists.”
“True. But even a small number can cause problems.” Sada sighed. “And for the first time in generations, all these mad preachers have tangible evidence to support their claims. People are unsettled, afraid. They want something to latch onto, someone to explain this all for them. A guarantee of safety. Which these leaders are promising.”
“In exchange for a promise of allegiance to the Fallen!” I blurted, anger and frustration rising in my chest.
Sada dipped her head. “Yes.”
I paced in front of the TV. “I don’t get it, though. Why do the Fallen need humans on their side? It’s not like humans can stop supernaturals from doing or taking what they want. Why do Akaron and my father care?”
Arcadius stepped up behind Pearl, and she leaned against him. “We suspect the original plan was to keep the Guardians they abducted bound eternally. When Akaron and his minions reached Earth, there would have been nothing in their way.”
“But now that the Guardians are free, we have a force strong enough to fight the Fallen—even if they do find a way out of the Shroud. So they’re trying to sew discord, to gain human allies and convince others not trust Guardians. All of that will make our job much harder,” Pearl added, wrinkling her nose.
Well, shit.
I chewed my bottom lip, watching the footage of Nathan Reyes continue onscreen. The camera slowly panned back, revealing the large crowd in front of him waving homemade banners and cheering. It boiled my blood to see the Fallen using humans like this, playing on their fears to trick them into inviting their own destruction.
