“We won’t keep you,” Gage says.
“I could use your help if you like.”
“Doing what?” Gage helps steady my hand while he glues the other side.
“I need one of you to be a corpse—just lie in the bathtub, and pretend you’re dead. It packs more punch if it’s someone their own age, and I’m fresh out of youths,” he says serenely.
“I’ll do it,” I offer.
***
Gage stands guard nearby in the event someone decides to pierce a scalpel through my flesh, oh wait—that already happened today.
I keep my eyes shut and take in slow even breaths. I can feel them amassing around me—feel the warmth from their bodies, hear their soft whispers.
I wonder if it really hits home to see someone your own age in the bathtub of death, then I remember the first time I saw Chloe lying here, then seeing Holden in Ezrina’s lair. Death happens. It just does. It reminds us of how ephemeral these coats of flesh really are, especially when there’s someone your own age involved.
“That’s Skyla Messenger!” I recognize Carly’s two-year old whine. “She’s dead? No freaking way.”
“Look at all that blood. Was she like, shot in the leg?” Someone asks.
Laughter begs to bubble out of me, but I manage to resist the urge.
“I never really liked her,” Carly says it as a fact.
Before I can pin her with my anger, a shadow falls over me—a dark presence that instinctually makes me want to shiver with fear.
“Too bad.” A male voice whispers from just above my head. “I was hoping to kill her myself.”
33
I’ll Stumble for You
Gage comes into the house and diverts my mother while I run upstairs to change. After, I find him in the family room with Mia and Melissa petting their new dog.
“Does he have a name yet?” I pull my fingerless gloves up toward my wrist. What with the scarf and all, you’d think a blizzard was coming.
“It’s between Sprinkles and Cupcake.” Melissa picks him up and strokes his back carefully. Her hair is pulled back in a headband, and for the first time, I notice the prominent widows peak on her forehead just like Drake’s.
“I suggested Killer,” Gage says playfully.
“I like Killer.” I bite down on my bottom lip and tickle him under the ribcage with my uninjured hand.
“Oh, come on.” My mother breezes into the room. “Girls, don’t listen to them.” She sets a laundry basket full of clothes on the coffee table. “I hear homecoming is on Friday. You two going?”
“Yes.” Gage rubs my back when he says it.
“Great,” Mom says. “If you want I can take you shopping, Skyla. I’ve got at least an hour before dinner.” She beams as though she’s been waiting for this moment all her life.
“Actually, I’m late for work.” That, and the fact she’ll want to see me in it without my scarf and gloves on. I know her. She’ll strip me down herself if she has to.
“Well, I’m going out with the girls to drop the dog off at the vet. I might hit the mall. If I see anything, I’ll pick it up. We can always take it back.”
“Good idea.” Right. Can’t wait to see what pink frosted confection makes its way into my closet. “Make sure you keep the receipt.” For sure we’ll be taking it back.
Tad walks in and glowers over at Gage before heading into the kitchen. “You two have a good day?”
A sickening feeling comes over me.
“You don’t need to worry about a dress.” Tad pulls a soda out of the fridge and migrates back over. “I just got a message from the school. Skyla wasn’t there today. Guess where else you’re not going?” His lips stretch across his face before retracting.
***
I tried to talk my way out of the fact I was very, very late to school to Mom and Tad. I even showed them the cut on my hand and told them I fell on a metal rod sticking out in the student parking lot. I told them I needed to go to the hospital to get it fixed. Who knew Tad would demand to see medical records? So there’s that.
Gage drops me off at the bowling alley almost an hour late.
I’m glad I have the chance to show Logan how dependable I can be. He’s probably looking forward to firing me. Getting me out of his life once and for all in every way possible.
“You’re fired,” Logan says looking over at Gage.
“She’s the one who’s late,” Gage says mockingly.
“Why the gloves?” Logan is immediately suspicious.
I tell him about our time in the forest while he inspects the damage.
“Are you feeling better?” There’s a marked look of concern written all over him.
“I’m tired.” Even the words come out weak.
Gage takes off, leaving Logan and me enveloped in an awkward silence.
“So, I called someone to cover your shift.” He nods in toward the kitchen where I see two older women scrubbing down the stainless steel appliances. “And I called someone to cover mine.” He glides over to me with a gentle smile and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
Logan leads us out the backdoor. It’s heavily wooded out here, the air is dense with fog, and it feels like we’ve stepped into some alternate world that belongs exclusively to us.
He flexes a smile in my direction as we head down a dirt path. There’s something solemn about him, something quietly accepting, but not too thrilled about the current status of our relationship.
“How are things going?” He asks cloaked in an otherworldly light. It feels as though I’m drifting with Logan’s ghost, like he died, and all I have left are memories—makes me miss him even more.
“Lousy. And you?”
“Not good.” He dips his gaze to the ground. He pours out all his tenderness in one forlorn smile. “I talked to Gage—he told me that you love him. I know you wouldn’t tell him that unless you meant it.”
A burst of heat ripples through my body. If I wasn’t so achingly tired I’d run all the way home.
He stops and sighs, touches me with his eyes.
“I didn’t bring you here to put you on the spot.” He takes up both my hands carefully. “Actually I brought you here because I want to teach you to defend yourself.”
“Against Fems?”
“Against Gage.” He pulls his cheek to the side sarcastically. “And Fems.”
Logan spends the next hour teaching me how to get out of headlocks, showing me how to knock someone to the ground by swiping out their feet, kicking them in their balls. It’s like cage fighting with Logan, a guy I’d rather wrestle with horizontally in a much more passionate manner.
“Do Fems have balls?” Words I never thought would come out of my mouth.
“We’re back to Gage.” Logan gives a huff of a laugh and motions for me to take a seat next to him on a patch of pine needles.
I lean up against him for support.
“Your uncle says I need vitamins. I know my mom has some floating around the house.” Correction, she’s got an entire pharmacy floating around the house.
We lay down on the ground, resting our heads next to one another facing the opposite direction. I snuggle into Logan’s shoulder as a pillow. I could easily fall asleep like this.
It’s nice. It feels like the old Logan and Skyla.
I look over and see Logan’s eyes gleam like melted pools of liquid sunshine.
“I thought he’d back off.” He pants the words, still out of breath from our workout.
“He’s not going to. Should I?” I throw it out there. I don’t know what I would do if Logan said yes.
“No. I know you have strong feelings for him.” He exudes a heavy sadness. “And I want to be sure that if you choose me in the end, that you and Gage…that you know, you’re over.”
How could I ever be over Gage? I roll the thought around in my mind.
“What do you think of his prophecy? About me marrying him? How could that be possi
ble if I feel so strongly connected to you?”
“It’s more than possible—part of the reason I backed off.”
“So you don’t think we’re meant to be together?”
“I do.” He reaches over and picks up my hand. “That’s what I find so wildly confusing about this.”
“I think you’re turning this into some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Is that possible?” Or maybe it’s Gage who’s doing that?
“I don’t think so, but even if it were, how could we test the theory?”
Marshall’s face blinks through my mind.
“You’re probably right.” I try to fuzz out the thought of me kissing Dudley for a glimpse of the future. I won’t do that again…unless of course I want to test the theory. “Hey…” I turn to look at him. “You never really mentioned that book of Counts. Anyone we know in there?”
“Brielle, Ellis, Natalie.” His eyes widen unexpectedly.
“Yeah,” I bite down on my lip and consider it. “I’d like the names of those leaders who OK’d the killing of the Celestras.”
“What for?”
“I just want to know.”
“I highly advise you don’t go around trying to off anybody. Especially since the other factions agreed to stay out of it for now.”
“It’s my holy war.”
“Civil war,” he leans over and mitigates me with a soft penetrating grin. “Ours. Yours and mine.”
“Well, war and death go hand in hand. Don’t you watch the news?”
“Yes, I realize that, and no, I don’t watch the news. Say you kill a few Counts, then what? What if they come after you—your family? Nicholas Havar was right—the risk outweighs the benefit.”
“They killed my father.” The words float out like a morbid song. “I want the names, Logan. I want to know who they are and what kind of lives they live. I’m just curious, that’s all. At least let me educate myself on what I’m up against.”
“OK.” He looks down introspectively. “My uncle was forwarded the names of those who were killed and their locations—we’ll work from there in figuring out who was responsible—for educational purposes.” He looks mournfully at me before staring off into the ever-darkening sky masked with a veil of precipitation.
A comfortable silence wraps itself around us. The light is swallowed in shadows and the temperature drops, sharpening the air into icy bites.
“I never should have sent you to, Gage,” he whispers with his eyes wide open as though he were sharing a private thought. “I really fucked things up.”
I place my arm across his chest and hold back tears.
“There was no other way, you couldn’t have kept me away from you.”
“I don’t know about that. I can be pretty creative if I have to.” He rolls over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I can see the hard edge of his jaw clench with frustration. “But it’s too late for that. This is how it’s going down. You’re going to marry Gage, and I drove you right to him.”
34
Tutor Time
After school on Thursday, my mother drives me straight to Mr. Dudley’s house for a tutoring session. I’m shocked to see Michelle walking a horse back to the barn.
“I stopped seeing her. I didn’t fire her.” Marshall comes near the window. “You think I’d keep her around for kicks then unemploy her because she’s no longer capable of satisfying me? That’s Draconian.”
“You should marry her. Make an honest woman out of her.” Too bad she’s wicked. Come to think of it, he’s not too far off the mark. “What’s this?” I walk over to a silver blade suspended over the fireplace. It has the same metal handle fashioned to look like a rope—it’s a twin to the one that stabbed me.
He picks it up and fondles it briefly before presenting it to me.
“Special issue from the King of Glory.”
“What does special issue mean?”
“It means not everyone in the celestial sphere is running around with one of these.” He points to the back of the handle, at the symbol of a hand. “Tap it, just once, and think about igniting it.”
I do, and the knife glows a soft shade of blue.
“Wow. I hate to break it to you, but they sell these things at the mall. I think Drake has a light up sword in his room.” In fact, I’m fairly certain.
“Satan is the great imitator isn’t he? This isn’t light, Skyla—it’s power.”
“Like a laser beam or something?”
“Like a fry you from the inside out, or something,” he mimics. “It’s made for spiritual warfare not humans, but works either way. Disempowers a spirit for days—it’s fatal when it comes to people.” He takes the dagger from me. “Only the original set contains this power. It’s a spirit sword.” He places it back over the fireplace.
“What if you accidentally touch it the wrong way and it goes off and kills you?”
“It won’t. First, you have to know it’s there and use it intentionally. It’s a living thing. The spirit sword won’t kill you—its aim is the enemy.”
“Is it a painful death?”
“Quick and complete. Almost instant.”
“You fight in a lot of wars?”
“Everyday is a different battle, Skyla. I’m fighting one right now.” He arches his brows at me.
“You won’t win. Gage wins.” I continue to gaze up at the dagger.
“How do you know Gage isn’t telling you stories?” He steps in front of me, too close for comfort.
I hadn’t thought of that before. What if this whole self-fulfilling prophecy thing is something conceived by his imagination? Doubtful.
“Are you ready to see your dress?” His eyes reduce to smoldering slits.
“I can’t go to homecoming. Tad says so.”
“You’ll be there.” He motions for me to follow him up the wide sweeping staircase. A set of double doors off the main hall leads to an enormous room with a giant bed. The furniture is black and heavily lacquered.
I fall onto his bed backward as he disappears deep inside the closet. Stretching my arms out, I fan them, making an impression of angel wings on the soft brown comforter. Brielle and Michelle have both been up here—so weird. It feels strange being in a teacher’s room, even if he is a Sector.
“I was going to have you try on the dress, but looks like you have a much better idea in mind.” He lands hard next to me.
There’s a light knock at the door, and Michelle steps in looking like she got in a fight with a bale of hay. Her hair is frazzled, and her clothes are covered with pale yellow and green sticks. The look really completes that bat-shit crazy attitude of hers.
“I thought maybe I could use the shower.” She just stands there looking as though I had slapped her from all the way across the room.
“That would be inappropriate,” Marshall snips. “Would you mind shutting the door? We’re a bit busy.”
She whips out the room, quick as a poltergeist, doesn’t bother shutting the door.
“Doesn’t follow directions well, does she?” He muses.
“You’re brutal.”
He lays the dress over me like a blanket and I think I could fall asleep.
“Save a dance for me,” he whispers.
“Don’t you think it’ll look bad? You dancing with a student?”
“Nonsense, I’ll be dancing with students all night. You’ll simply be one of many.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Well then, there’s always hell to pay.”
***
My mother comes into my room in the morning as I’m getting dressed. I’ve barely had time to pull on my jeans. I snatch the scarf off my bed and fling it around my neck, and hide my swollen hand behind me to ensure no hospital visit lies in my future. I can hardly move my fingers today.
“Morning.” She comes in, closes the door behind her. “Just wanted to apologize. Everyone is under so much stress these days, and it’s hard when you’re trying to have a baby and things aren’t moving a
s quickly as you’d like.”
“Does everyone include Tad?”
“Yes,” she whispers as if it were a well-kept secret before sitting on the bed. “I know how hard it’s been for you, and I know you were really looking forward to homecoming. First year at a new school, great boyfriend, new job… a lot of things are changing for you right now.”
She’s going to cave! A spike of adrenaline bursts through me.
“I swear if you let me go, I’ll never ditch school again. Honest.” I hold my hand out like I’m making a pledge.
“I’m sorry, Honey. Tad is firm on this.”
“What about you? Are you firm on this?”
“You left school without permission.” She shrugs. “You hurt yourself, Skyla.” She motions toward my hand. “And what were you and Gage doing anyway? Were the two of you having sex?” Her head tilts to the side as she presses me with those petal green eyes.
Oh my, God.
I’d rather die than have this conversation.
“No.” My voice hikes up higher than it needs to. “I’ve never even done anything. Believe me, I’m as innocent as you can get.”
“I don’t need details. I just want to make sure you’re using protection.” Her eyes narrow into mine.
“Geez.” I throw my hands up over my ears and close my eyes. “I said I’m not doing it. I don’t need protection because there’s nothing to protect me from.” The only thing I need protection from is Fems, and blood sucking Counts, but that’s a different story.
“Well good, I’m glad to hear that. I think a girl your age needs to think long and hard before inviting someone into her body.”
A tremble of laughter swells in my chest.
Invite? I picture myself handing Gage a formal invitation with the letters S-E-X embossed in some swirly font across the front.
“I will.” I bite down hard on my lip. “I’ll think long and hard.” And now I want to explode with laughter because I just included the words long and hard in a conversation about sex with my mother. “I will totally do it.” Shit! I press my lips together unable to hide the stupid grin on my face.
Celestra: Books 1-2 Page 52