“So what?” Nabila snapped, “You’re saying if she behaves, she can get out of this in a year, but the two of us are screwed?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “The most common clause enacted for an extension is disobedience during the contract period. Ash’s dad signed it, so she’s got a little leeway as a dependent minor—but not much.”
I swallowed—hard.
Stunned by the words as much as by how intelligent Oscar was when he forgot to pretend. The idea that doing nothing for the next eleven months was my answer felt… wrong. Like cheating.
But the thought of giving them a reason to sign me on for life?
That gave me chills.
“What do you mean by disobedience?” I asked.
“You know, doing things they say contravenes the terms of your agreement and yadda yadda.” Nabila waved her hand in a negligent gesture. “Doesn’t matter. They always find something—and if they can’t find a reason, they’ll make one happen.”
“What…” I drew in a deep breath. “What kind of things?”
“Hanging out with the wrong people.” Nabila made air quotes with her middle fingers. “Trying to escape your contract. Disrespecting your demon. That sort of shit.”
Like what we’re doing right now, I thought.
“And don’t forget,” Oscar said quietly. “The Principal is coming to the school—something we know he wouldn’t do without reason. The only reason I can think of… is Ash.”
“Wha-at?” I stuttered, voice cracking. “You think this big, bad boss demon wants me?”
Oscar shrugged. “There’s no other reason I know of for him to come in the middle of term—normally he only comes at the end of the year. Nothing else has changed. No one else is a mystery. And if the Principal wants you, Ash, then you have to be very, very careful not to give him your soul forever.”
“But I need her!”
I looked at Nabila, shocked at the outburst. “Huh?”
“You’re the first outsider brought into our enclave in years. My ancestors say you’re the key.” She leaned forward, hands cupped toward me. “You see things. I need to see things like you do if I’m going to find this key. I can’t live my whole life like my parents! I can’t! I won’t serve the demons my whole life.”
The sheer force of her need nearly knocked me off my chair.
Pure fear gripped my heart.
The last time someone had needed me that badly, it had been my mother—and nothing I’d done had been enough to save her. “I’m not some magic-maker.” My mouth felt like I’d chewed on the moldering office cushion. “I’m sorry. I don’t— I need to get out of here. To think.”
“Fine.” She lunged to her feet.
“Nabila, I—”
“Forget it.” Face tight and hands fisted, she stalked out the door without a backward glance. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something to make it better. Then I snapped my lips closed. I couldn’t find any words. And I couldn’t make her promises if they’d land my soul under demon control for the rest of my life.
Sharing a glance with Oscar, we both rose to our feet and trailed after her.
I let silence hang between us as we made our way out of the Flambeau.
I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like, being born into this world. At least I had memories of another way. Knowing entire families lived their lives in this kind of servitude made me sick.
Even if I wasn’t certain what help I’d be, I wanted to do what I could for Oscar and Nabila. So much I nearly stopped them multiple times on the way out of the Flambeau. Yet each time, the same bone-chilling thought froze my tongue: What if this is the excuse the demons need to keep me?
Could they keep me and still let Jim go? Or keep Jim because of something I’d done?
I didn’t know.
But being the reason Jim had to spend the rest of his life contracted to this Principal made my stomach wrap itself around my spine in an unhappy knot. Jim kept saying it was only for a year. Maybe he and Oscar were right. Maybe I should just keep my nose clean for the next eleven months.
The thought made me queasy.
Nabila’s talk about her granddaddy’s journal reminded me of my mother’s journal. The one dwelling under my mattress that I hadn’t had the nerve to open. I knew I had read them. But the pages still smelled like her perfume.
I couldn’t bear it. I just couldn’t.
Blinking back tears, I shoved my way through a tattered drape and saw the exit. I had to get out. The casino was a crumbling testament to the dreams of Nabila’s family. A cemetery by another name. A reminder of death and misery and people I’d failed to save.
My breath hitched.
Almost running, I pushed past Oscar and scrambled underneath the remaining boards barring the top of the door.
Blinding white shocked my vision.
Covering my face, I squinted through closed fingers. The desert, the buildings, the sky were all in bright pastels, like a giant hand had gone over everything with chalk dust. Like so much of my homework, I’d forgotten one of my main lessons from school this week—exit dark buildings slowly.
Lowering my hands, I peered past angry spots of neon purple and yellow.
Behind me, Nabila and Oscar stood to the side of the gaping shadowy door we’d just left. Oscar watching me curiously while Nabila pointedly looked away. The hairs on my neck tugged and I slowly turned around.
I scanned the horizon.
Across the stretch of pavement and desert, wavering slightly in the heat of the midday sun, was a black car with black tinted windows. It was too far to see make or model, let alone whoever was inside. But one window was down.
Someone was watching me.
Shading my eyes, I studied the car.
Clouds shifted and a beam of light briefly struck the vehicle. In the dark beyond the open window I caught a flash. There was something shiny inside that car. Something exactly at head level.
Sunglasses. I knew it was him the way I knew so many things.
Was it possible to have a staring contest with someone when you couldn’t see their eyes?
Still, I knew he’d followed me here. Somehow. But how? I’d been careful to check when we left, and Nabila hadn’t said a word about our destination until we were well on our way from The Milton.
A shiver snaked down my spine.
The demons were never going to let me leave. Thinking I could get out of Jim’s contract on good behavior was pure fucking delusion. The only way I’d get out was if I made my way out.
Chin high, I walked over to Oscar and Nabila with carefully measured paces.
I met Nabila’s gaze, wishing I couldn’t see the hurt I’d put in her dark eyes. “I’m sorry. I just… it’s a lot of pressure.”
“How do you think I feel?” she asked, voice low and rough with emotion. “I can hear my ancestors and every one of them back to the first chafes under these chains. They all want me to find the key.”
Hear all of them… I chuckled and Nabila narrowed her eyes.
“No, no…” I held up my hands in surrender. “Sorry, I don’t mean to… It just occurred to me, if you can hear your ancestors, why can’t you just ask your grandfather what he meant?”
“Alright, smartass.” She shook her head. “To clarify, Freshy, I can hear all my ancestors who aren’t roasting in hell or spending eternity as the devil’s bitch. How’s that?”
“Shit, dude.” I let out a breath. “Sorry.” Except secretly, I thought it was cool. Obviously not that any of her ancestors were playing bitch to the devil, but that she had such close ties with her history, her culture, her identity. I wanted that for myself.
But she laughed, too. “I guess it’d be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.”
Nabila seemed like she had something else to say, but she looked up at the sun’s position and with a sigh, pulled a pin out of her hair and stabbed it into the eye of the doll on the keychain. “Surprised that fucker isn’t blind yet. Gotta admire that ki
nd of tenacity,” she said, more to herself than anyone else. Then she looked at me. “Are you sure you’re in, Freshy?”
I glanced again at the black car.
The cold appraisal of his gaze hung on the back of my neck like a wet towel, one that had been drenched in slime.
I didn’t know what the fuck he was, but an Upper demon seemed to fit the bill.
And damn, did he want me for something.
Oscar and Nabila said the demons would do anything they could to extend a contract, and I believed them. No amount of good behavior would save me from all the manufactured circumstances they could arrange to get my soul. Hell, even odds my sort-of boyfriend was already part of some scheme to keep me around.
Playing by the rules wasn’t going to work. So that left fighting back.
“Yeah,” I said grimly, “I’m sure.”
“Good.” Her teeth flashed into a broad grin. Then her smile disappeared. “What changed your mind so quick?”
“Not fighting authority really isn’t my jam.” I winked at her. “Besides,” I aimed my middle fingers toward the car like a pair of guns, “Bournival is parked over there. Probably trying to intimidate me into behaving—fail!” I snorted. “Talk about a timely reminder they’re never going to let me go, huh?”
Nabila’s eyes widened. “Do you think he knows what we’re looking for?”
“Doubt it.” I rolled my shoulders. “Even if he can guess we’re looking for something, he won’t know what. We weren’t inside long enough to do any real searching. We can tell him and anyone else who asks we were exploring the building.”
“Oh, that’s bad.” Oscar’s voice wavered.
“Nope, it’s a selective truth,” I said. “And that’s how we beat them.”
“That, and being even more careful when we come back next time.” Nabila drew in a deep breath, and leveled me and Oscar with a dead-serious gaze. “And there will be a next time. As powerful as our music is, we need more. We need answers. And I know they’re inside.”
I looked at Oscar, and we both nodded.
“Next time,” we said.
I couldn’t help but take a final glance at that black car. “You two should go on ahead,” I said. “Let’s not give the demons any reason to think we found something.”
“What are you going to do, Freshy?”
I aimed a lopsided grin at Nabila. “I’m going to walk slowly toward that car, giving you loads of time to get out of sight, and then I’m going to sit my ass on the desert ground and do fuck all until he leaves.”
“You’re alright,” Nabila said with an approving nod.
“See you back home, Ash,” Oscar whispered.
I gave them a quick hug, then I did exactly as promised. So the demons wanted me, the last thing I’d do was make it easy for them.
As I sat on that sand, marveling how it felt so much colder than it looked, I knew a staring contest with a black window was the least of my problems. Our next search of the Flambeau had to be soon. Before the ball put our music on display, and my tentative agreement with Bournival came to an end. Because, after that, all bets were off.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After an hour, Bournival’s black car had finally pulled away and I’d happily been a loser who fist-pumped the sky by herself. My ass hurt and I’d gotten cold, but dammit, I’d won our silent battle. Maybe I had given Sunglasses what he wanted by agreeing to participate in class, but he’d given me what I wanted, too.
And I hadn’t given him any more—not today.
I made my way back to The Milton with a skip in my step and a growing sense of… not exactly satisfaction. Pride?
Wait, wasn’t that one of the Seven Deadly Sins?
Oh, well. False humility was a worse sin in my book. Of course, it wasn’t my book that really counted, was it?
Whatever.
In the past week, I’d brokered some time for my friends and I to not only practice our music—to spend time together without the Bulldog slobbering down our necks—but now we had a chance to search for our ticket out of the hell our forbearers had literally condemned us to.
Those victories needed celebrating.
As my feet followed the now-familiar path home, I remembered what Cat said about choosing my battles and my victories—damn, had she been right. Again.
I don’t know what I’d have done if I hadn’t met her.
Though… maybe I had to wonder just what she had to gain by helping me? I liked Cat, but no one in Vegas did anything out of the goodness of their heart—especially in the demon world. The creatures here were all about deals and adding that next line to their ledger.
A slight tingle of guilt fluttered through me.
I shouldn’t be so quick to assume the worst about everyone. Of course, I shouldn’t be stupid, either. Cat had been kind to me—she’d given me a job and a place to practice and I was grateful—but she also knew more about my talent than anyone else. I needed to be careful. I couldn’t let my guard down completely with Cat.
Or anyone.
Next time I was at the Ground Zero, I’d have to ask her more about the demons who visited—
Something heavy crashed into my back, sending me face-first into the ground.
“Agh!” I managed to shut my mouth just in time, twisting my face to the side to prevent a whole lot of Nevada dirt from being shoved into my mouth. As it was, some of it still went up my nose.
Snorting out the dirt, I tried to buck off my attacker.
Fingers curved into claws, I struggled to kick, hoping for a nut-shot. Gaining a bit of space, I lunged forward on all fours, but powerful hands dug into my hips and flipped me over effortlessly.
It occurred to me, in a state of maniacal panic, that I seriously needed to study self-defense.
If I survived this, I’d get right on that.
A waft of fuckboy cologne hit me—a scent my body recognized before my brain. Blinking past strands of hair and the AstroTurf stuck to my face, I found familiar blue eyes hovering before me.
“Lucas?” I gasped.
The last time I’d seen those eyes, they’d been crinkled with laughter. Not this time.
Face curled in an angry snarl, he held me immobile.
Why was he so angry? And why had he tackled me by the side of a dusty road in Paradise?
I tried again to buck him off. “What the actual fuck?”
“What spell did you cast on me?” His growl wasn’t as deep or as menacing as Nash’s, but there was something in his eyes I’d never seen before. A coldness—a darkness. It occurred to me that I was used to that edge with Nash, that it suited him—on Lucas, it just looked wrong. Like a fire was forced to play at being Jack Frost.
His body heat was ridiculous.
I could feel his inferno through my clothes and, topped off with the raging desert sun, I’d gone from slightly chilled to roasting alive. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t know if that was because I somehow knew he wouldn’t actually hurt me, or because life with demons had broken my fear button.
“What are you talking about?” I grunted. “What spell?”
“Don’t play dumb.” His growl persisted, but the ice in his eyes ebbed and waned, replaced with something different. Something that might’ve been desire.
At least, that’s what the rest of his body announced where it pressed up against me.
“Get off me, moron.” I squirmed, trying to wriggle out from under him.
I only succeeded in creating more friction between us—to my utter embarrassment, I liked it.
Demons had tampered with my hormones. It was the only explanation.
“You were in my room that morning. How did you find me?” he demanded, desperation making his voice rough. “What demon do you work for?”
I’d finally worked my leg free, and I raised it with extreme prejudice.
I might not have been afraid, but I sure as shit wasn’t above kicking him in the junk. I took malicious satisfaction in making him roll of
f of me and curl into the fetal position in the dirt.
Scrambling back from him, I stared at him. Grateful to be free of his heat and already missing it—the bastard.
“What is your problem?” I asked. “I wasn’t in your room and I didn’t cast any stupid spell. I just had a dream and…”
Had I actually been there? What fresh hell was this?
He moaned and rolled over. “Shit, you kick hard.”
“Of course, I do. You attacked me, asshole. What did you expect?” Getting to my feet, I crossed my arms. A quick look around confirmed we were entirely alone—way to go, Vegas. You’re really there for the ladies in peril. “What were you going to do if I was a witch? Or a demon underling?”
“Kill you,” he mumbled.
My nose scrunched up. “Did you stop to think that through?”
He peered up at me through one eye. “Not really.”
“Didn’t think so. If I was some creepy creature, I would’ve already fried your ass.”
I scrubbed my fingers through my hair. Okay, so tackling girls out of nowhere and accusing them of witchcraft—not cool. But appearing in someone’s dorm room and kinda, sorta almost taking advantage of them…
Also not cool.
I let out a breath. “Listen, I’m sorry about that morning. I have no idea how that happened—hell, I had no idea it had happened until you shoved my face into the ground. I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’m pretty sure it won’t. Anything I found attractive about you is now officially dead. You know, since you said you wanted to kill me.”
Dammit. He had good taste in donuts, and I’d enjoyed imagining him as the nicer person I’d met in this hell-hole.
I nudged him with my boot. “Get up. You can’t stay here.”
“I’m just going to cry for one more minute,” he choked out. “Then I’ll be on my way.”
I sighed. I couldn’t leave him here, writhing on the ground for any demon to find… though it was tempting. “Didn’t your mother teach you not to grab girls?”
He shook his head against the ground. “Witches and demons don’t count.”
I sucked in a breath between my teeth. So Cat and Nabila… and even me, with my own strange gifts.
Rock and Ruin Page 27