by Leia Stone
“Dude, what the heck are—?”
He dipped his head low, the stubble on his face brushing against my cheek.
“Don’t do it,” he whisper-growled in my ear.
I swallowed hard. “Do what?”
“Don’t come back here.” His breath feathered over my neck, and a shiver ran down my body. “You’re too good for this place.”
The lights in the elevator flickered like they did in the diner the first time I’d met him.
There was a ding, and Gage pushed away from me before the doors had a chance to fully open. The lobby beyond was empty but for a single security guard, who was slumped in his seat, snoring softly. I supposed if you weren’t afraid of demons, there wasn’t a lot in the world you needed protection from.
“See ya ’round,” Gage said as he practically shoved me out of the elevator. Still inside the cab, he jammed his finger against a button. We stared at each other, both of us incapable of looking away, until the doors cut off our view.
I continued to gape at the closed door for several long seconds, trying to gather my thoughts. I was absolutely dumbfounded, but sure of one thing.
Gage Alston was the most confusing male I’d ever met.
CHAPTER
SIX
Drea spotted me the moment I pushed through the front door of Shade Academy and stepped out onto the busy Manhattan sidewalk. She tugged on Skye’s arm, and then pointed in my direction.
I turned and started speed walking toward the nearest subway entrance, away from the girls. Now that I knew I could run into shadow demons anywhere, the subway was no longer off limits. I just wanted to get back to the apartment and to Gran as quickly as possible and pretend none of this was happening. There was no hiding from the inevitable, but I wanted to hit pause for at least an hour and let all the information I’d just learned settle.
“Hey, wait up!” Drea called. She’d waited until I’d hit the end of the block before crossing the street to hunt me down. Maybe there was some rule about not getting too close to their enemy’s turf or something.
I threw up a hand, waving her off. “I seriously can’t take this right now. You’re going to have to give me some space.”
She’d been nothing but kind to me, but I didn’t have room in my reserves for niceties this morning.
If Drea was surprised or put off by my behavior, she didn’t show it. She leaned over to Skye as they kept pace with me and whispered something to her. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye and saw Skye pull a sour face.
“You sure?” she said to Drea, who nodded back. With a shrug, Skye peeled off from us and was lost in the pedestrian foot-traffic within moments.
Drea stayed silent until we reached the F-train. While we were waiting on the platform for the train to arrive, I finally turned to acknowledge her. “Are you really going to follow me home?”
“We don’t have to talk about any of this stuff just yet. I get that you seem to need a little bit of time, but yeah, I’m going to follow you home. It’s for your protection.”
Now I needed twenty-four seven protection? This day just kept getting more and more awesome.
I sighed and rubbed the pulse point at my temple. A monster headache was forming.
“I know this must be hard for you,” she said, compassion in her voice. “I get it.”
Hard didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Do you, though?” I snapped. “Did you find out a little more than a week before your eighteenth birthday that you weren’t… human?” I had the sense to lower my voice. “Did you find out you were an entirely different species and then only have nine days to decide which weird angelic cult you wanted to join?”
A frown pulled down the corners of Drea’s pretty mouth. She shook her head, and her brown curls bounced, brushing against her russet cheeks. “You’re right. I don’t know what that’s like.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, knowing I wasn’t being fair to Drea. It wasn’t my M.O. to spit my words at people like venom, but maybe since I was descended from a Shade, evil was in my blood or something and it was coming out now. A chill slithered down my spine at the possibility. I really hoped that wasn’t the case. My thoughts went back to the picture of my mother in the Shade Academy library, and I felt sick.
I really looked at Drea then. She was wearing the same clothes from the day before, which meant she’d probably stayed outside Shade Academy waiting for me all night. There were faint smudges of darkness under her eyes that showed just how exhausted she probably was. It was more than clear she was only trying to look out for me.
And I had immediately jumped down her throat.
I’m a jerk.
I groaned. “I’m really sorry. I apparently don’t people well after I’ve heard life-altering news. I’m having a hard time processing everything, but I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“It’s okay,” Drea said gently, and then placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got to talk to someone about all this, right? I’m happy to be that person.”
Gah. She was so nice. I already felt like I didn’t deserve her. My throat tightened with emotion at her kind offer.
The train rolled into the subway station, and we both hopped on. It was late in the morning, so there weren’t too many commuters, and this time of day people were usually headed into Manhattan, not out of it.
I flopped down into a plastic seat, and Drea lowered herself into the one next to me. I zoned out for a bit, and she let me. A comfortable silence hung between us until I broke it by asking, “Did Gage really save me from that goat demon at the diner?”
It wasn’t an important detail, but I still wanted to know the truth.
Drea’s eyes widened, and she nodded. “I’d love to tell you that it was one of us, but really it was all him. First, he helped us in the alley against the level threes, and then all of a sudden he took off into the diner. I barely figured out what had happened before he was decapitating the level five with his shadow blade. It was… surprising.”
I barked a half laugh. “Surprising because he was able to take down a demon on his own?”
He talked a good game, but maybe that was all it was, talk?
“No.” She shook her head. “Surprising because he’s not supposed to kill demons at all. Even helping us stay alive against the group of level threes was gutsy, and definitely out of character for a Shade. He’s going to be in big trouble if the Shade masters find out.”
I grimaced, remembering his father’s chat with him in the library. “They definitely already know.”
Drea whistled. “I don’t envy him right now.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, deep in thought. Why did Gage fight the demons if he was supposed to be working for them? Was it just because he’d been ordered to protect me? I didn’t know him nearly well enough to guess at his motives, but I felt kind of bad that he was in trouble for it.
I’d feel worse if he wasn’t such a douche.
The train rolled to a stop in my neighborhood, and we got off. I asked Drea little questions on the quick walk to the apartment and she rattled off the answers.
I learned that there were ten levels of demons. The highest level she’d ever fought was a level four. I’d also asked why their arms lit up with weird swirl tattoos, and she told me that it was one of the powers all Lumens got when they took their oath. It helped rejuvenate their strength.
When I jammed the key into my front door lock and turned it, I was surprised to find I wasn’t ready to stop talking. But it was better to put off the supernatural talk until I could be alone with Drea again. Chatting about angels, shadow demons, and angelic powers was sure to trigger Gran’s delusions.
“Gran, I’m home,” I called, and then waved Drea into the apartment in front of me.
Drea frowned and glanced down. I knew why a second later when I stepped into the room and my feet squished into soggy carpet.
“Tatum, I didn’t expec
t you back so quickly,” Gran said as she exited the kitchen. She had a cookie in her hand, and wet slippers on her feet.
“Gran, what happened?” I asked as I shot past her and into the kitchen. The sink was overflowing and flooding the apartment. I quickly shut off the faucet, but the damage was done.
Drea came up behind me. “I can help you clean this up,” she said, but the grimace on her face said she knew how bad this was. If the carpet in the entrance was saturated, the water was probably leaking into the apartment below us.
Gran shuffled into the kitchen where there was barely room for the three of us, oblivious to the flooding. “Tatum, introduce me to your fr—” Gran froze mid-sentence. Her brown-eyed gaze bounced over Drea’s face, and she went stock-still. Raising her hand to cover her mouth, her fingers spasmed and she dropped the half-eaten cookie.
“Aurelia?”
Drea glanced between Gran and me, eyes wide with surprise.
“Aurelia is my mom,” she finally said.
“Gran, do you know Drea’s mother?” If Gran knew Drea’s mom, did that mean she really was a Watcher? That she knew about the demons. About everything?
“It’s not safe,” Gran suddenly yelled and then ran to the windows as fast as a sixty-three-year-old woman could, yanking the curtains closed. She turned back to Drea with wide eyes. “We hid because we had to. You have to understand, it was the only way. But I know he’ll come for her one day, and she’s not ready.”
Oh no, it was happening right now. She’d slipped into one of her delusions quicker than usual. I hadn’t even given Drea a heads-up about Gran. This was awkward.
It took me ten minutes to calm Gran down enough to get her settled in her bed and resting. She was watching her favorite baking show, and I promised we’d make some cookies together later. With any luck, she’d be napping within minutes.
When I returned, Drea was on the ground trying to mop up some of the water with bath towels.
“Your landlord stopped by while you were getting your gran settled,” she said, chewing her lower lip.
That wasn’t good. Mr. Daniels had said one more strike and we were out. But maybe it was just a random drop-by and he hadn’t noticed the soggy carpet.
“The water leaked to the apartment below. He said you had a week to clear out and you weren’t getting your deposit back. Flooring guys will be by later today to rip out the carpet.”
My heart sank. I couldn’t find a new place in a week. At least not a decent place I could afford. We were going to be homeless.
I covered my face with my hands and rubbed my eyes. What was I going to do?
“Tatum?” Drea said.
I dropped my hands. Anxiety practically seeped from Drea’s pores. It was a tad concerning to see her so unsettled. I’d watched her face off against monsters with less anxiety. “About your gran…”
Gran’s episode had clearly spooked her. “She’s just confused. She gets this way sometimes. Actually, a lot of times these days,” I confessed, and then paused, hesitating to reveal the extent of Gran’s illness, but then my gut told me I could trust Drea. “She has dementia.”
“She’s your blood relative?” Drea asked, unfazed by Gran’s diagnosis.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Are you sure?” she pressed.
I bunched my brow. “Yes, I’m sure. She looks just like my mom.” It was a little weird she was being so nosy. “With dementia, confusion is normal. Paranoia too.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Drea took a step toward me. The expression on her face was about as warm as a doctor who was about to deliver the news that you’d lost a loved one. “I called my parents. They’ll be here shortly,” was all she said.
“Wait a second,” I protested. “That’s not cool. I don’t want any more Watchers in our apartment. I told you I need a break from all this.”
“Tatum…” Drea crossed the room to stand in front of me. “Watchers can’t reproduce with humans. Which means that if Gran’s your biological grandmother, then she has to be a Watcher too. We were created to have a relatively human lifespan so that we would blend in with other humans, but we don’t get sick from human diseases and our bodies don’t deteriorate in the same way either. Whatever’s happening to your gran, it’s not caused by dementia.”
My heart sank into my stomach. What was she saying? “Then what’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. That’s what we’re going to find out when my parents get here.”
A moment later, a soft knock rapped at the door, and I stiffened.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this together.” Drea gave me a small smile as she walked over to my front door and opened it.
Why were my palms sweating? I felt like I couldn’t breathe. One sentence just kept looping through my head.
Whatever’s happening to your gran, it’s not caused by dementia.
Gran was sick. What other explanation was there?
When the door pulled back, a tall, lithe, older version of Drea walked into the room. She wore black leather pants and a halter top. Her hair was twice the size of Drea’s and bounced as she walked over to me with a kindness in her gaze I hadn’t expected. My eyes fell to the tattoos on her arms. Swords, knives, throwing stars, an axe. All of them weapons she could no doubt make real as Skye did. The white swirl tattoos were also there, hypnotizing me with their glowing movement.
A man stepped in behind her, towering over all of us, and gave me a curt nod as Drea shut the door behind them.
The woman smiled. “Hello, Tatum. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Aurelia, and this is my husband, Theo. We’re here to help your gran.”
For some reason I wanted to cry. I think I’d reached my maximum level of new information I could handle. But I sucked the dampness at my eyes back and nodded. I wanted to help Gran, if there was a way. I would power through it and have my much-needed breakdown later.
“Where is she?” Drea’s dad asked.
Drea pointed to the back room, where Gran slept, and her dad pulled out a device, much like the one Marlow had at the diner last night. He extended an antenna out of it, and they waltzed into Gran’s room like they owned the place.
I tore after them. “Hey!” I whisper-screamed. “She’s resting. I just got her calm!”
By the time I turned the corner and charged into her room, Theo was waving the antenna thing over Gran’s sleeping body.
What the heck?
The device in his hand beeped, and he sighed, shaking his head. He turned to his wife. “It’s as we feared.”
Aurelia looked down at Gran and shook her head, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “She’s older, but she looks the same. Oh, Joelle.” Her voice was wistful, and hearing her call my gran by her first name shook me.
“You’re scaring me. What’s happening?” I realized then that I was sobbing. I couldn’t deal with reality anymore. I’d finally cracked.
Aurelia turned, placing her hands on my shoulders. “Your grandmother was my mentor, a teacher at Lumen Academy. She disappeared the same time your mother did. I looked for them for years, but…”
Gran? A teacher at Lumen Academy?
“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on. Right. Now,” I ground out between clenched teeth. My sobs had evaporated and now I was just angry. My brain was short-circuiting, and I was riding the roller coaster of emotions.
“Honey…” Aurelia peered down at me with compassionate brown eyes. “Your gran is cursed.”
The breath flew out of me as I gasped.
Cursed?
This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be real, but in that moment my mind went to all of the things she said in her moments of despair: speaking of darkness and light, shadows and demons. A curse was more believable at this point, that’s how crazy my life had become.
“Can we fix it?” I asked.
Drea’s mom winced, which told me I wasn’t going to like the answer. “It’s been getting wors
e lately? Started off years ago? More mild?”
Chills ran up my arms and I nodded. Gran’s first delusion was in her early fifties. I’d thought it too early, but my research told me early onset dementia was possible.
I just nodded.
Aurelia’s face fell. “Then, my dear, we have nine days to figure this out, because she will get worse until the curse kills her on your eighteenth birthday.”
No! Her words sliced through my heart until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why on my birthday?” I asked, feeling the heavy weight of depression sink into my bones.
Aurelia shared a look with her husband. “It’s a choosing curse. I’ve seen it once before. It expires once you’ve chosen.”
“Chosen what?”
“Chosen your side,” she said. “Shade or Lumen. She’ll live if you pick the right side.”
I gulped. “Which side is the right one?”
Aurelia frowned. “I don’t know yet. I’ll have to take a deeper look. A curse like this is forbidden for both Shades and Lumens.”
Was she saying that a Shade or Lumen cursed my gran so I would choose to join them?
I simply sank down onto the floor and went numb.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
“I want Joelle constantly monitored. Text me hourly updates please,” Aurelia said to the nurse who wheeled Gran into her new room. Gran was asleep again. She’d roused only to get into the wheelchair Drea’s dad had brought up to the apartment. Gran had merely looked at him and said, “Oh hello, Theo,” before falling back asleep.
I’d been in a bit of a catatonic state after hearing my beloved gran was going to die in nine days. We were in a care facility that the Lumens’ owned for hunters who were injured in battle. It was a hospital of sorts that Drea said was on the same block as Lumen Academy. The sign at the door had merely said Private Healing Center.
It was a small building, only two levels, and the doctors and nurses wore blue silk cloaks instead of white coats, but they seemed to know what they were doing.