Deadly Truth

by Laney Powell

  I burst out laughing. Only a month, and we all knew the schedule.

  “He’s the one who was late to the party,” I said. “I don’t mind.”

  “I never minded,” Silas said loftily, letting me know that I’d been shitty about things at first.

  “Well, that’s shifters for you,” I said.

  He threw the twig he was still holding at me.

  The door opened then, and we both turned.

  Jake came in, with a goofy ass grin on his face.

  “Uh huh,” Silas said, grinning widely himself. “Working overtime, huh?”

  Jake shrugged. “Sometimes, you have to break the rules.”

  “How is she?” I asked.

  Jake’s grin spread across his face. “She was just fine when I left.”

  “Good man,” Silas clapped him on the shoulder. “She say anything about the burn spots?”

  “No,” Jake shook his head. “And I was kind of waiting to see if she would. But not a word.”

  I sighed. “Then we need to tell her. We can’t keep this from her.”

  “Who wants to do that?” Jake asked.

  “We’ll do it together, you big babies,” Silas rolled his eyes. “Packs solve things together. You have to start thinking like that now.”

  “Speaking of which,” I said, wanting to bring up something I’d been thinking about. “Who do you think the other guy is?”

  “What?” Jake asked.

  “Keep up, junior,” I said. “Remember when she told us that this was a thing?” I waved my hand to indicate the three of us. “And she said there might be someone else. I haven’t seen or heard anything since. You?” I looked between the two of them.

  “Nope,” Jake said.

  “No, and I’d notice,” Silas said. “If it’s a thing, she’ll tell us. You jealous, Pearson?” He eyed me.

  “I don’t know,” I said, shrugging, deciding to be honest. “I like the way things are now.”

  “I do too, but like I keep telling you, a pack isn’t a bad thing.” Silas pushed himself off the dresser where he was standing. “I’m going to bed. You guys should do the same. You need lots of practice, even with your win this week.”

  “Shut up,” Jake and I said at the same time.

  Silas laughed as he left, closing the door behind him quietly.

  But after he left, I couldn’t get to sleep. It felt like something was about to happen. Something big. Or something bad.

  Or both.

  Chapter Nine

  Olivia

  The room was dark, with a reddish tinge. I knew where I’d seen this before. With Marbys.

  “Daughter, why do you hide from me?” he asked, his voice plaintive, as though I had no reason to keep myself from him.

  I didn’t respond. If I didn’t say anything, maybe he wouldn’t be able to sense me.

  “I mean you no harm,” he said. “I want to know my children. Your mothers have kept me from you.”

  I nearly jumped up at the utter lie of it all, but I kept quiet.

  “The longer you ignore me, the worse it will be,” Marbys said quietly.

  I will not stay here. He can’t keep me here. I thought about the practice I’d done with Madame Karathos. I knew that I wasn’t physically in Hell. He pulled my spirit, or something like it. It wasn’t quite the dreamscape, either. It was something different.

  But I didn’t have to stay here.

  I focused on moving away from him, of putting the dark red room away from me, of closing the door, and not letting Marbys through it. He was talking, but I couldn’t hear him. I didn’t want to hear him.

  Then he shouted, “This will not end well, Olivia!”

  I slammed the door, and I was back in my room. I sat up in the darkened room, my heart pounding. I was sweating like I’d been running. I fell back. “That ass,” I muttered, trying to calm my breathing.

  As I lay there, I thought about what had just happened. Why now? He’d been quiet for nearly a month. So what happened to make him come and bother me now?

  I forced myself to calm down, to find a state of composure. Then, taking a breath, I sent myself into the dreamscape.

  “Iliana,” I called. I didn’t want to be loud, even as it seemed a silly precaution in the dreamscape. I didn’t want to attract the attention of Marbys.

  I envisioned the place I’d found her before, before we’d had time to talk. “Iliana,” I said, seeing the bright patio and sunny skies I’d seen before.

  She came out of a doorway with blue trim. “Olivia. What are you doing in the dreamscape at this time of night?”

  “He came for me tonight,” I said.

  She was instantly alert. “How?”

  “It wasn’t the dreamscape,” I said. “He wanted—”

  She stopped me with her hand. “We cannot speak here. It’s not safe. I will come to you.”

  I sighed with relief. That’s what I wanted. I didn’t even have to ask. “When?”

  “Tomorrow,” she said. “I will send a message to your school.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Thank you,” I added.

  Iliana’s face softened. “You are my daughter, my flesh and blood. I will always come to you, Olivia.”

  “See you tomorrow, then,” I said.

  “Until tomorrow. Now get out of the dreamscape,” her smile disappeared as the stern look moved back onto her face.

  “Okay,” I said again. I closed my eyes, pulling myself back across the dreamscape, closing doors behind me. I wasn’t sure exactly what Iliana was worried about but I could take a guess. So I focused on making sure I didn’t go right back to my room at the school. You never knew who else was in the dreamscape. It was one of the risks of using it.

  When I came back to myself, I was still hot and sweaty. I got up and took myself to the shower. I’d never sleep after everything that happened tonight. A shower would help.

  Once I’d run through the hot water, I collapsed into bed. It was three a.m. Goddess, this day was going to be long and painful.

  When I got up later in the morning, my eyes felt scratchy and angry. I splashed water on my face, braided my hair and pinned it up, and dragged myself to the dining hall. Jade and Thalia were already gone.

  Matty, Silas, and Jake looked up when I sat down at the table. My friends weren’t there. I was later than I thought.

  “What’s wrong?” Silas asked, his words sharp. “It’s late. We were about to come find you. You look like hell.”

  “Thank you, and good morning to you,” I grumbled. “Please tell me there’s some coffee,” I added, nodding at the carafe on the table. While tea was my normal preference, today it was all about the coffee.

  Matty poured me a cup, sliding it in front of me. I added my cream and sugar and took a long sip.

  “Spill,” Matty said.

  “I had a dream last night,” I said.

  “Was it him?” Jake asked.

  I nodded, sipping at my coffee. “He wasn’t his normal self. He was almost nice, like he was trying to be kind.”

  “Totally not trustworthy,” Matty said.

  “Not one bit,” I agreed. “I went to find Iliana in the dreamscape. She’ll be here today.”

  “What did she say?” Silas asked.

  “It’s more what she didn’t say,” I said. “She said it wasn’t safe.” I shook my head.

  Matty put an arm around me. I leaned against him.

  “When will she be here?” Jake asked.

  I shrugged, digging into a plate of eggs and sliced tomatoes and toast. It was delicious. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days. “I don’t know,” I said, my mouth half full. “She was going to get in touch with Madame Karathos.”

  “Why now?” Matty wondered.

  “Who knows why that asshole does anything?” Silas asked.

  “Not me,” I said. “Unfortunately.”

  I had to hurry to eat because I’d come down so late. I managed to get another cup of coffee and a glass of water with break
fast, and then we all needed to get to our first class.

  “Do you feel better?” Matty asked.

  “I do, but it’s still like I got run over by a truck, or something,” I said.

  “You don’t look as pale,” he said, peering down at me. “Want me to partner with you today?”

  “I would love that,” I said, grinning. “You might even win.”

  He laughed, and I could hear the relief in his voice. “You mean I might not have to let you win?”

  “Oh, is that what you’ve been doing?” I asked. It felt good to laugh, to know that even as things had taken a turn for the worse, I had people on my side. People who would fight for me. Fight with me, against whatever was coming.

  But even with that, I found that I was a ball of nerves. Right before lunch, in Acquisition, a student came in with a message for Professor Carlisle. He looked down. “Miss Washington? You’re wanted in the headmistress’ office.”

  “Ooooh,” someone called out mockingly from the back of the room.

  “Quiet,” Professor Carlisle said without even looking up from the note. “Miss Washington, you may go now. You have your homework.” He nodded as he set the note on his desk and moved on with the last bit of the lesson.

  I packed up my book and my notes in my bag and left. I hoped this meant that Iliana was here. I hurried toward Madame Karathos’ office, hardly waiting to hear her voice after I knocked on the door.

  When I walked in, Iliana was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk—the one I usually sat in, I noted. She turned to see me and got up. As she came to me, her arms went out, and she hugged me.

  I let her. And it felt… all right. She’d never tried to hug me before.

  Iliana let go of me, and when I looked at her, I could see that her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “How are you, Olivia?”

  “I’m cranky and tired,” I said. “I didn’t sleep well, and woke up late, which I hate.”

  “Tell us what happened,” Madame Karathos said from her desk. “Please don’t leave out anything, no matter how trivial.”

  Iliana sat down, and I sat down opposite her, feeling weird in the chair I didn’t normally sit in. I went through the dream in detail, trying to remember anything. When I got to the part where I took myself away and described using the spells Madame Karathos and I were working on, I saw a smile tip the corners of Madame Karathos’ mouth.

  “Is that a normal course of spell work?” Iliana looked first at me, and then the headmistress.

  I shook my head. “We’ve been practicing various ways to block those who would try to look inside my head. I don’t need anyone rummaging around in there.”

  “How much have you told her?” Iliana asked me.

  “Madame Karathos knows everything,” I said.

  Iliana looked first at me, and then Madame Karathos. “This means you accept the responsibility of protecting my daughter,” she said in an iron tone.

  Madame Karathos didn’t seem bothered. “I do, and I have,” she said smoothly. “That’s my job at Nobledark. To protect all of my students.”

  “Even though she’s an Underworlder?” Iliana asked, and there was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

  “Yes,” Madame Karathos said simple. “I protect them all.” She gazed at Iliana, her expression calm.

  Iliana stared at her for what seemed an eternity, and then nodded once, a short, jerky movement. “Good. I shall hold you to that.”

  Madame Karathos inclined her head. “I expected no less. Can you tell us why Marbys is seeking out Olivia now? I understand that he’s been absent from her dreams for nearly a month. Is that correct?” she asked, looking at me.

  Iliana sighed. “Do we have time? This is a rather long tale.”

  “We have all the time you need,” Madame Karathos said.

  “For the past month, Kassandra has been with me, at my parent’s home in Greece. She was not awake, and somehow, Marbys knew.”

  “He had her for a long time, didn’t he?” I asked.

  Iliana nodded. “He did. I don’t know how long she was in her siren form, or how long she was the Night Stone. I don’t know much of anything. Marbys kept trying to take her, aided by the fact that she could not fight back or resist in any way. She couldn’t even tell us about it. The only reason I discovered it was that she fell out of bed and was thrashing around violently one night. So, I contacted Aella, Raven’s mother?” Iliana looked at me.

  I nodded.

  “Together with our mothers, we worked to wake her. It took us three days, but we were able to.”

  “She’s awake?” I leaned forward. “That’s great!”

  “Well, to a degree. She can help with protecting herself. We were able to cast a spell that will keep Marbys from finding any of the three of us.”

  Something hit me. “Wait, your mothers were there?”

  Iliana nodded. “Yes.”

  “Then you have the six. You don’t need me or Raven,” I said. “Do your thing and close the hellway!”

  “We cannot,” Iliana shook her head. “Aella and I, our mothers are still alive. But Kassandra—her mother passed away after she disappeared. Additionally, in order for us to close the hellways, the six of us must all be together. The mothers must pass the responsibility of the Trinity to their daughters as one unit. We have not been able to do so for as long as I can remember.” Her face dropped, and the sadness was a like a third person next to us.

  I looked at Madame Karathos. “It’s deliberate,” I said.

  “What is?” Iliana looked up.

  “We were speaking of how the sirens came to bear this responsibility,” Madame Karathos said. “Olivia wondered if the gods knew that this would happen.”

  “It’s possible,” Iliana said bitterly. “We have not managed to be successful in thousands of years. You would think it would be easy to get six women together for a couple of hours, but it’s not so.”

  “My point exactly,” I said.

  “Be that as it may, I am pleased that the third siren, Kassandra, is awake. And that you three are protected,” Madame Karathos said.

  “But now we have to find the other daughter!” I said. “Where is she?”

  “We don’t know. Kassandra isn’t completely alert, so she hasn’t been able to share with us what happened to her. And for that, I must apologize,” Iliana said.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “He is going for you because he cannot get to me, Olivia. Or Aella, or Kassandra.”

  “It’s just me and Raven?” I asked, feeling a chill down my spine.

  “Raven has been protected by the powers at Darklight,” Iliana said.

  Her words took a minute to sink it. “You mean it’s just me.”

  “Yes,” Iliana said. “I’m sorry.”

  I could feel that she wasn’t happy about this, but she didn’t look away.

  “Were you going to tell me?” I could feel my anger rising.

  “This has all happened within the last three days,” Iliana said. She didn’t shrink in the face of my anger. “Of course, I was going to tell you. I hadn’t had a chance. You contacting me pushed my schedule forward two days.”

  “I’m it?” I got up, unable to sit still. “I’m the lone sitting duck? The bait? Why can’t you protect me here?”

  “Because our magic is not allowed here, like it is at Darklight,” Iliana said.

  I turned to look at Madame Karathos.

  She shook her head. “Your mother is right. If we were to employ siren-based magic, it would be sensed by the various wards.”

  “How is it I can do magic then?” I asked, frustrated.

  “Your magic comes from your practice of elemental magic. And it’s not large magic—casting no aspersions on your skill,” Madame Karathos added. “The sort of magic your mother is referring to is a large and powerful set of spells. It would be… noted.” Her lips pressed together. I got the feeling she wanted to say more.

  “We cannot leave Oliv
ia unprotected,” Iliana shot back.

  “She is not unprotected. She has successfully repelled an incursion into her dreams by the demon. She has managed to stay away from the hellway—”

  “There’s a hellway here?” Iliana snapped. “You didn’t tell me that!” She rounded on me.

  “We haven’t really talked,” I said. “When was I going to tell you? And why am I not part of this whole communication thing you’ve got going on with everyone else?”

  Iliana seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say. I could see where I got my temper. She took a breath and then looked at me.

  “We need to set up a way to speak regularly, so that we are both able to make sure we share all necessary information.”

  I could hear her accent, which was more pronounced than it had ever been. I wondered if it was anger or fear that made it come out. Probably not a good time to ask, I thought, holding in a laugh. That I could laugh when I was so upset and scared made me wonder if I was losing it.

  “That would be wise,” Madame Karathos said. “Why don’t you call each other each week?”

  “Do you have a cell?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Iliana said stiffly. “Of course I do. But I wasn’t sure you wanted to hear from me.”

  “That’s fair,” I said. “I didn’t at first.”

  Iliana’s eyes closed briefly.

  “I’m sorry,” I hastened to add. “I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but I feel like I keep stepping in it and making things worse.”

  “Thank you,” Iliana said, and she reached out to take my hand.

  I let her, patting her hand with my other one. “Can I call Raven?”

  Madame Karathos and Iliana shook their heads at the same time.

  “Cell phones don’t work at Darklight. Concilium wards stop them,” Madame Karathos said.

  “That’s kind of shitty,” I said. “Oops. Sorry.”

  Madame Karathos waved a hand. “As it happens, I agree with you. But regardless, you cannot call her. If you did, it would go through school phones, land lines, and it would be monitored, at least from this end.”

  “Which we don’t want,” I said.

  “No, we do not.” Madame Karathos was firm.

  “How can you protect Olivia?” Iliana asked. She was staring at Madame Karathos.