Oblivion

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  I asked her to stop. I told her I didn’t want to hurt her, but she wouldn’t stop.” Tears filled her eyes, and my stomach sank as I thought about the burned spot on the floor. “She wouldn’t stop.”

  “It’s okay.” I folded an arm around her shoulders. “You didn’t have a choice. You were defending—”

  “I didn’t kill her.” Kat broke free of my hold and stumbled back a step. She swung, throwing her arm out to the burned spot. “I didn’t kill her, I swear. She— She self-destructed, Daemon. She—oh my God—she imploded like a bomb.” Spinning back toward me, she lifted her hand and wiped at the blood under her lip. “She was mutated—she was a hybrid.”

  That absolutely made no sense and raised so many damn questions. “Okay. All right. Let’s get you downstairs.”

  Kat stared at me like she didn’t understand what I was saying. Pained, I took her hand and led her out of the room and down the stairs. Once in the living room, I sat beside her on the couch. Cupping her cheeks, I tapped into the Source and took care of the minor injuries.

  “I don’t understand what happened,” she said. “She was normal last week. Daemon, you saw her. How did we not know this?”

  My jaw tightened. “I think the better question is why did she come after you?”

  She drew in a sharp breath. “I don’t know.”

  That was an answer that I didn’t even have. How did Carissa end up mutated? It would have to have been one of the Luxen from our colony. There weren’t many around our age, but they didn’t venture out from the colony often. How did this person meet Carissa? And why did she go after Kat? Because maybe someone from the colony hadn’t mutated her. There was another explanation.

  I frowned. “She could’ve known a Luxen—known the truth and knew not to tell anyone. I mean, no one inside the colony knows that you’re aware of the truth.”

  “But there are no others around our age,” she said.

  “None outside the colony, but there are a few who are only a couple years older or younger than us in the colony.”

  She looked away, swallowing hard. “You don’t think…”

  “That Daedalus took her and forced a Luxen to heal her like with Dawson?” Anger punched through me. “I seriously pray that’s not the case. If so, it’s just…”

  “Revolting,” she said hoarsely, shoving her shaking hands between her knees. “She wasn’t there. Not even a flicker of her personality. She was like a zombie, you know? Just freaking crazed. Is that what unstable does?”

  Kat was completely healed, at least physically, but I was reluctant to remove my hands. I was afraid she was going to shake to pieces. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to my side.

  “God, she…she died. Does that mean…?” Kat swallowed again.

  I gently squeezed her. “If it was one of the Luxen here then I’ll hear about it, but we don’t know if the mutation held. Blake has said that sometimes the mutation is unstable, and that sounded pretty damn unstable. The bonding only happens if it’s a stable mutation, I believe.”

  “We need to talk to Blake.” She cleared her throat with a shake of her head. Her mouth worked for several seconds. “Oh…oh God, Daemon…that was Carissa. That was Carissa, and that wasn’t right.”

  Weight slammed down on my chest as the tears streamed down Kat’s face. I pulled her into my lap and held her. That was the only thing I could do while she sobbed for the loss of her friend. And it was more than just the loss. Kat wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what happened to Carissa. She would have to pretend that she didn’t know anything when people realized that the quiet girl from trig class had disappeared. Guilt would fester. I knew it would. So would the pain, because Carissa’s death was absolutely senseless and beyond cruel, and that wasn’t something you could easily, if ever, come to terms with. You just came to accept it.

  All I could do was hold her, and as she cried, I whispered to her in my true language. I told her it would be okay. I told her that I’d be here for her, no matter what. And I told her that one day, she would live without any more of this pain or this fear.

  I would make sure of it.

  My brain started to turn over all the stuff that needed to be done. Kat’s bedroom needed cleaning up. She needed something to cover the burned spot, because I didn’t want her seeing that every day.

  After some time, the tears slowed and Kat lifted her head. Her eyes were rimmed in red, but her voice was steady as she spoke. “She had a bracelet I’d never seen her wear before. The same kind of bracelet that Luc had on.”

  That was unexpected. “Are you sure?” When she nodded, I leaned back against the couch, keeping her in my lap. “This is even more suspicious.”

  “Yeah.”

  “We need to talk to Luc without our unwanted sidekick first.” Unease churned. I didn’t trust that kid. I didn’t trust Blake. I didn’t trust that Carissa met a Luxen, fell in love with the person, was injured, and then healed. “I’ll let the others know what happened. I don’t want you to have to go through telling them what happened.”

  She lowered her cheek to my shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “And I’ll take care of your bedroom. We’ll get it cleaned up.”

  Kat relaxed. “You’re perfect, you know.”

  “Sometimes,” I murmured, brushing my chin along her cheek. For once, I didn’t feel anywhere near perfect. “I’m sorry, Kat. I’m sorry about Carissa. She was a good girl and didn’t deserve this.”

  “No,” she whispered. “She didn’t.”

  “And you didn’t deserve to have to go through that with her.”

  Kat didn’t respond, and I reached up, carefully brushing away the tears that gathered under her eyes. Her voice was thick as she spoke. “Can we go to Martinsburg? Mom works on Wednesday. Do you think that’s too soon to talk to Luc on our own?”

  “No. I think that works.”

  She fell quiet after that, and eventually her breathing evened out. The fight with Carissa and the tears had exhausted her. Lifting her out of my lap, I laid her down on her side. She murmured something unintelligible that weaseled a small grin out of me. Grabbing the quilt off the back of the couch, I draped it over her.

  I lingered for a moment and then walked into her kitchen, fishing my phone out of my pocket. I sent Dee a quick message. A minute later she was walking into Kat’s kitchen.

  “What is—?”

  “Keep it down.” I leaned against the counter. “Kat’s asleep in the living room.”

  Dee frowned as she glanced at the wall clock. “Um…”

  “Carissa was a hybrid,” I told her, cutting to the point.

  She stared at me, her mouth slowly parting. “Come again?”

  I gave her a brief rundown of our suspicions. “She came after Kat. Attacked her and then she…she kind of self-imploded.” My shoulders stiffened as Dee jerked back a step. “I’m sorry. I know you were friends with her, but I need you to do me a favor right now.” God, I sounded like a dick, but I needed her to do this for me. “I know you’re not really fond of Kat right now, but can you set that aside just for tonight? I need to go get a damn rug for her bedroom, and then I need to clean it up. I just want you to stay with her and be here in case she wakes up.”

  “Yes.” She blinked once and then twice, but didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Thank you.” Relieved, I folded an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

  Dee hugged me back. “Carissa… She’s really gone?”

  I nodded as I stepped back.

  She wrapped her hands around her hair and started twisting the length. “Oh my gosh, I don’t…”

  “I’m sorry.” Two of the lamest words in history at the moment. I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “I’m going to grab Dawson and have him go with me. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Before I left, I went back into the living room. Kat was still asleep, curled on her side. Under her eyes, the skin was puffy, but the red splotches on her
cheeks were gone. I knelt at her side, brushing back her hair. I kissed her cheek. “I promise you,” I whispered into her ear. “You won’t have a life like this. I promise.”

  Chapter 17

  “Damn,” Dawson said from the passenger seat. His elbow was resting against the door, and the side of his face was plastered against his hand. “Damn.”

  My hand tightened on the steering wheel. “That pretty much sums it up.”

  Dawson and I were heading to the store to find some kind of area rug for Kat’s bedroom. Because of the time and where we lived, options were limited. We had to leave Petersburg to hit up the nearest Walmart. Andrew was at the house just in case something else unexpected and insane happened.

  “I know I haven’t been around, but I can’t see it being someone from the colony. No way,” he said, shifting in the seat. “Those in the colony don’t get close to humans in that way. Not unless that’s changed.”

  I thought of Ethan’s recent visit. “No, that hasn’t changed.” I paused, glancing over at him. His face was shadowed. “You think Daedalus is behind what happened to Carissa?”

  He didn’t respond for a few moments. “They’d bring in humans all the time and force us to heal them. It usually didn’t work…and the humans would die, because they were injured. I lost count of how many died in front of me.”

  My jaw clenched. “None of that—those deaths—are your fault.”

  “Didn’t feel like it then, when you’re the only person who can save them. Anyway…” He cleared his throat. “Sometimes it would kind of work. I…I could heal the human and within a couple of days, the mutation would start, but it didn’t hold. It never held.”

  I was quiet as we passed a semitruck, unsure of what the appropriate response to that level of messed-up shit would be. Honestly, I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. Dawson had been becoming more and more like himself with each passing day, but he still wasn’t very talkative, especially not about his time with Daedalus.

  “Usually I wouldn’t see those humans again—after they were brought to me to be healed,” he continued, his voice gruff. “Once though, I did. I think Daedalus thought they had a success on their hands. The guy lasted longer than any other subject, but he…he wasn’t right, Daemon. Like when a fever ravages the brain, he was out of control and he did what Kat said Carissa did. Self-destructed. As if there was a bomb inside of him, but instead of exploding, he imploded. Everything caved in…” He trailed off, shaking his head as he dropped his arm into his lap. “They haven’t had much luck with successful mutations. That’s why Beth and I were so…important to them.” He looked over at me, and I already knew what he was going to say. “That’s why you and Kat would be important to them.” Hearing about some of the shit Dawson was forced to do and had seen always made me want to blow something up. I couldn’t even begin to think of Kat ever being in the situation. “I’m sorry,” I said after a couple of moments. “I’m sorry you had to go through any—”

  “It’s not your fault, man. Never has been. Never will be.”

  I nodded slowly. Trees crowding the road blurred. “Why do you think they’re doing this? Mutating humans? Did they ever say?”

  “Not really,” he replied, stretching out his legs. “I always thought they were trying to build an army of hybrids.”

  Barking out a laugh, I shook my head. “That’s freaking insane. One hybrid at a time?”

  “Yeah.” He tipped his head back against the seat and sighed. “But what other reasons would there be?”

  Dawson had a point. Up ahead I saw the exit I needed and I eased into the next lane. I glanced over at him. “So they would mutate someone, knowing it would probably kill them?”

  Yellow light from an oncoming car flickered across Dawson’s face. “They’re really capable of anything. They’ll do anything. Daedalus doesn’t have a heart. It doesn’t have a soul.”

  Kat had stayed home from school on Tuesday. Even though she’d been asleep while I straightened her room and covered the scorched spot on her floor with the area rug, she looked worn out when I showed up at her house around one. Still the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, but tired.

  “What are you doing here?”

  I took her hand, leading her into the living room. “Nice jammies.”

  “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

  “You shouldn’t be alone right now.” I twisted my baseball cap around.

  “I’m all right,” she said.

  Kat was the furthest thing from all right after what happened and that was okay, but I needed to be here for her, and that was why I’d left school. I went to the couch, where she’d obviously made a makeshift bed. Sitting down, I stretched out on the couch and tucked her against me.

  She twisted around, facing me. We didn’t kiss. We didn’t talk. As the minutes ticked by, we just held each other. At some point, we dozed off in each other’s arms. It was the scent of coffee that woke me around five.

  Her mom was standing in the doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in hand and a soft smile on her face. She didn’t appear angry that I’d obviously skipped classes and had fallen asleep on her couch with her daughter.

  Kat sat up, smoothing a hand through her disheveled hair as she stared at her mom’s Lucky Charms pajamas. “Where did you get them?”

  “What?” She took a sip.

  “Those…hideous pajamas.”

  She shrugged. “I like them.”

  “They’re cute,” I said as I took off my hat, earning me an elbow in the side from Kat. “I’m sorry, Ms. Swartz, I didn’t mean to fall asleep with—”

  “It’s okay.” She waved me off. “Katy hasn’t been feeling well, and I’m glad you wanted to be here for her, but I hope you don’t get what she has.”

  I cast Kat a sideways look. “I hope you didn’t give me cooties.”

  She huffed.

  Her mother’s cell went off, and she dug it out of her pajama pockets, sloshing coffee onto the floor. She smiled, her face lighting up. Kat stiffened as her mom turned and headed into the kitchen.

  “Will,” Kat whispered, standing.

  I stood. “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “I do. It’s in her eyes—he makes her glow.” She looked like she wanted to barf. Couldn’t blame her. “I need to tell her why Will got close to her.”

  “And tell her what?” I blocked her from running into the kitchen. “That he was here to get close to you—to use you? I don’t think that’s going to lessen any blows.” I placed my hands on her shoulders. “We don’t know if it was him calling or what’s happened to him. Look at Carissa.” I kept my voice low. “Her mutation was unstable. It didn’t take long for it…to do what it did.”

  “Then that means it held,” she countered in a whisper.

  “Or it means it faded off.” I tried again. “We can’t do anything until we know what we’re dealing with. One at a time. We’re going to deal with things one at a time. That’s all we can do.”

  Kat took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m going to go and see if it was him.”

  I let her go, but called out, “I like your pajamas better.”

  She turned around and glanced down at her pink and purple polka-dot pajamas. Slowly, she raised her gaze to mine.

  I grinned.

  Her lips twitched. “Shut up.”

  I returned to the couch. “I’ll be waiting.”

  The moment she disappeared into the kitchen, I let my head fall back on the couch. Sighing, I closed my eyes. Maybe on the outside it didn’t appear that I was too concerned about Will. I didn’t want Kat to stress over the situation involving him more than she already was. Will still in contact with her mom left a sour taste in my mouth. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of him.

  I just didn’t know when we’d see him again and what that meant.

  Issues with Will had to be shoved aside, because after Kat’s mom left for work, we found ourselves standing at the lake, staring down on a glittering pile of onyx I’d
buried.

  All of us were there, and everyone knew what had happened the night before with Carissa. I knew that was why Dawson was keeping close to Kat.

  Using a pair of thick leather gloves, I picked up a broken piece of onyx and turned to Blake. “This is your show.”

  Blake took a deep breath and nodded. “I think the first thing to test out is if I do have a tolerance to onyx. If I do, then that gives us a starting point, right? At least then we know that we can build up a tolerance.”