“That’s quite interesting—” Aldric started, but a servant carrying champagne interrupted.
“Sir, it’s six o’clock,” he reported.
I reached over and took a glass of champagne, sipping it.
“Thank you for reminding me, Henri.” He paused and turned to the rest of us. “You must excuse me. Awards do have to be given. We can continue this conversation another time.” He walked away.
The music stopped as he went to stand behind a podium. “Good evening, everyone . . . ”
I didn’t pay attention to the rest because my cellphone vibrated. I quickly reached down my dress and pulled it out. Lily. I glanced up to see everyone engrossed in whatever Aldric was saying, except for Lucas. He was watching me.
“What are you doing?” he mouthed.
“I need to take this. I’ll be right back,” I whispered and walked out the door. “Hey,” I answered the phone once I was outside.
“Selena?” she whispered, and there was fear in her voice.
“Lily, what’s wrong?” Panic instantly struck me.
“I’m so sorry, Selena. I didn’t mean to— I didn’t realize—” She broke into a sob.
“What are you talking about?” Something had happened.
“Their eyes are so black,” she continued. “Elizabeth, she didn’t know . . . they took us.” There was a long silence. “I’m scared, Selena.” This girl was nothing like the power-hungry killer I’d seen three weeks ago.
“Lily! Focus. What’s wrong? What happened?” I could hear the desperation in my own voice as I paced back and forth. When I turned, I came face-to-face with Lucas.
“What’s going on?” There was a spark in his eyes. He knew something was up.
Over the phone, Lily was whimpering. Then, so quietly I could barely hear it, she spoke one word. “Demons.”
The line went dead.
My stomach dropped. The blood drained from my face. My phone slipped from my hand, but I didn’t care.
“What is it? What happened?” Grabbing my upper arms, he took my weight to keep me from crashing to the ground.
“Lily. She’s in trouble . . . ” I reached down and grabbed my phone from the pavement. “I have to go.”
“What?” He shook me, making me focus on his face. “Go where? You’re almost seven thousand miles away from school. How are you going to get there?” He undoubtedly thought he was being reasonable, but all I saw was someone standing in my way.
They come first.
“The jet. It’s already waiting for us.” A plan was coming together in my head.
“That’s insane, Selena. What will I tell Coach Avery? And when you get there, what are you going to be able to do? Do you even know what kind of trouble she’s in?”
They come first.
“Lucas, I have to go. Lily needs me, and you are not going to stop me. Nobody is. You and I both know those are all trivial things, so are you going to help me or not?” I demanded.
The look on his face told me I’d won this fight. “Fine,” he agreed.
“I need you to go back in there and pretend like nothing’s wrong while I get on that plane back to Daizlei. Can you do that?” I knew this went against every fiber of his being. He wanted to be there. He wanted to go with me or stop me, but letting me go by myself was not on his agenda.
Please don’t make this any harder, I begged silently.
He didn’t hear me. I couldn’t let him, because if he heard me, Anastasia probably would too.
“What are you going to do when you get back to Daizlei?”
“Find Lily.”
“Do you even know what kind of trouble she’s in, Selena?”
I studied his eyes for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell him the truth. “No.” I looked away.
“Goddammit, Selena, I heard her on the phone. You just lied to my face.”
I flinched, but he didn’t move.
“How can I trust you’re not just going to do something stupid when you do find her?”
Truthfully, it was smarter for him to come with me; to fight with me. I knew the real reason I didn’t want him with me. It was selfish, so selfish when it was Lily’s life on the line.
“I guess you’ll have to trust me.” I returned the glare. I needed to go.
“You just lied to me,” he repeated.
“Because I’m trying to protect you!” I needed to keep my voice down. This was wasting time.
His eyes softened, and I turned away. “Wait.” He grabbed my arm.
“Lucas, I have to go. My sister needs me. You’re going to help me, or you aren’t, but I don’t have time to console you and make you feel better about this. Are you with me?” I looked into his eyes, not knowing how to say goodbye.
He was with me. He always had been, and he always would be. This hurt him, and if I came out of this, we were going to have a lot to talk about.
“Yes,” he whispered.
I pulled away from his grasp and started walking.
They come first.
“Selena!”
“What?”
“What am I going to tell Avery?” He was stalling, and we both knew it.
“You’ll figure it out,” I said flatly and started walking again.
“Selena,” he called again.
“What?” I growled. I turned one last time; this was his last chance to say whatever he had to say. This was it.
“Come back to me.”
His voice was soft and enticing. Oh, how I wished things were different.
They come first.
I nodded once because it was all I could do. I’d never understood goodbyes. I’d never liked them. So much easier to just disappear and be a ghost. As I turned my back on him, I saw his final resigned look, and the way his bright green eyes became guarded once again.
I will come back and fix things, I promise.
Lily had called me three minutes ago. The clock was ticking. I didn’t have any more time to waste.
Chapter 50
Power coursed through my veins, just waiting to be released. The day was coming when I wouldn’t be able to be dormant anymore, and I was fighting it, though my body screamed to let it go. After eleven years, my walls were about to fall—the only question was when.
I glanced out of the window and saw nothing but white clouds.
How much longer?
The question nagged at me, and it was taking all my will not to ask the pilot every ten minutes. I’d basically threatened to kill him if he didn’t take me back to Daizlei. I’d been expecting a fight, but he knew who I was. After the plane left, I’d tried to call Lily back, but I’d only gotten her usual happy-go-lucky voicemail telling me to leave a message and have a great day. After leaving five of them with no response, it was clear I was just wasting my time. Then I’d tried to call Alexandra, but got her voicemail too.
Now I was staring down at the same picture I’d been looking at for the last nine hours. Demons. Attractive men and women with raven hair and eyes so dark and cruel that only fire from the pits of hell could match them. I looked at the words I’d already read twenty times and read them again.
Demons are creatures that come straight from Hell itself. They are here to collect souls and wreak havoc. As creatures of fire, they cannot conjure it, but are not affected by it either. They travel in shadows with inhuman speed and strength. They are nearly indestructible. There are only three ways to kill a demon, each as effective as the last. The first is decapitation—the head must be removed completely, or they will heal. The second method, and usually the easiest, is to stab them in the heart. The last way to kill one is to drown them. This last is said to be the most difficult, but all require you to get close enough; a rather tricky feat to pull off without dying.
Right as I was finishing the paragraph, the pilot came on to tell me we were landing in five minutes. I hurriedly stashed the book in my bag. Soon the school came into view, getting closer every second. When we were only feet from th
e ground, I got up and walked to the door. I had no time to spare.
It was already dusk here. I took off down the pathway in search of Alexandra. If Lily was missing, she was my best chance of finding her. The wind whipped my hair around, and I shivered, wishing I’d changed out of the dress I wore for the banquet.
I opened Alexandra’s door, hoping by some miracle Lily was here and this was a joke.
Alexandra was sitting cross-legged on the bed, painting her nails, and there was confusion in her brown eyes. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you until tomorrow—”
“Where’s Lily?”
“I don’t know. Why?” I saw red. She was supposed to be watching her. She’d promised.
“Have you seen her since you got back to Daizlei?” I gritted my teeth and fought the heat that wanted to consume me—and what was left of my heart.
She’s your sister. They both are. Calm yourself.
“No . . . she’s probably with Bella. Selena, what’s going on?” She stood and capped the nail polish, but I was already on my way out the door.
“Selena!” She ran after me.
“She’s missing, Alexandra. Gone. I got a call from her ten hours ago, and she’s in trouble. I have to find her.”
“But I saw her yesterday,” Alexandra said in disbelief.
“Well, she’s gone. I knew I shouldn’t have left,” I muttered grimly as I barged into Lily’s room. Both her roommates were talking and laughing, but she wasn’t there.
“Bella,” I barked.
The girl with big, brown, Bambi eyes jumped. “Yes?”
“Where’s Lily?”
“I . . . I don’t know.” She looked away; her discomfort was obvious.
“Where did you see her last?” I demanded, my patience running thin.
“In California.” She stared at her hands, unmoving. She was hiding something.
I wasn’t afraid to resort to more effective, and less humane, methods if need be. “Was she with anyone?”
“Blair and another girl. She was tall with brown hair and really gray eyes.”
I knew exactly who she was describing. “Elizabeth,” I muttered. Lily had mentioned her on the phone in the middle of her hysterical babble.
“Where were they going?”
“Toward some . . . warehouse, I think,” she said meekly.
“What did it look like?” I was starting to crack, but I had to keep myself from lashing out.
“Big and metal, with sliding doors and graffiti painted on it.” Her eyebrows bunched together as she tried to remember.
“What color was it?”
“Black,” she answered, nodding as if to reassure herself.
“Do you know what they were doing there?” It was my final question, and by the way she stared at everything but me, this was what she was lying about.
“No . . . ” she said, her voice unsteady.
“Are you sure you have no idea?” Last chance. I had to go whether she told me the truth or not.
“All I know is that the brown-haired girl was leading them, but I think she’s in trouble.”
Without another word, I turned and left the room with Alexandra on my heels. I didn’t have time to hear more.
“So Elizabeth took her and Blair into a warehouse, but we don’t know what for. Okay, and you know that Lily’s in trouble because she called you, but you don’t know where from. This makes no sense.” Alexandra frowned in frustration.
“Maybe not, but I still have to find her.” I stopped at my door.
“I’m going too,” she declared.
How did I know this would happen? “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dangerous, Alexandra. I already have to save her, and I don’t need you there getting in the way.” It sounded harsh, but it was the truth. Alexandra was a liability, and I didn’t need another one.
“I can take care of myself,” she said, clearly offended.
I shook my head. “No, I need you stay here. Please, Alexandra. I might already be too late, but I don’t want to put you in danger too.” I wanted her to understand, but if she didn’t give soon, it really didn’t matter. I wasn’t taking her, no matter what.
“I can help you, though.”
“Not this time.” I shook my head.
“You know what kind of trouble she’s in, don’t you?” Her eyes were as accusing as her voice.
“Yes.” I didn’t even bother lying.
“Then why can’t I go? It won’t be like we’re going in blind, okay? We can, like, make a plan and—”
I held up my hand to silence her. “No. End of story.” I went into my room and closed the door, not even waiting for a response.
My roommates were plopped on Tori’s bed, watching a movie. I flipped on the light, ignoring their protests as I rummaged through my suitcase for clothes.
“Selena, we weren’t expectin’ you back till tomorrow!” Tori exclaimed, getting up.
“Change of plans,” I muttered, stripping off my dress. Modesty wasn’t exactly my priority.
“Why are you back so early?” she asked, throwing herself on my bed.
“Lily’s missing.” I tugged on black skinny jeans.
“What? How? I saw her—”
“Yesterday,” I finished for her. I yanked my black tank top over my head and shimmied into it.
“What happened?”
“Not entirely sure, but she’s in trouble. I need your help.” Flopping down next to her, I picked up my black boots and hurriedly jammed my feet into them.
“Of course! Anythin’—”
“I need you to teleport me to California.”
After a moment of silence, she said, “I’ve never done it over such a big distance before, and I’m not the prodigy Lucas is—”
“Please, Tori. I could already be too late,” I begged, lacing my boots up.
“I guess I can try . . . ” She nodded. She wanted to do this, and I needed her to.
“Thank you,” I said while I grabbed my leather jacket. I reached into my nightstand and pulled out a six-inch knife wrapped in a leather case.
“Is that what I think it is?” Amber demanded.
“Yep.” I slid it down my pants in the middle of my back.
“How long have you had a knife—” she yelled.
“I have several, and I’ve had them all year.” I quickly ducked under my bed and pulled out another two. The longer one with the armband, I strapped to my left arm and put my jacket on to cover it.
“Exactly what kind of trouble is your sister in?” Tori asked with a nervous waver in her voice.
“Demons,” I answered, sliding the last knife into my boot. There was no point trying to keep it from them—and it wasn’t like they would try to stop me.
The room went silent, apart from the movie still playing. I unclipped the barrette in my hair and let it fall, only to pull it back into a tight ponytail.
“Ready?” I asked, breaking the silence. I looked expectantly at Tori, and she nodded, feebly holding her hands out. I took them in mine and held my breath.
“Close your eyes, and don’t hold your breath,” she warned.
I took one breath, and the feeling of being sucked through a vortex returned. This time it was longer. When I felt the ground beneath my feet again, I cautiously opened one eye.
We weren’t in the room anymore, but it definitely wasn’t California.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Idaho,” she breathed. “We’re goin’ to have to do this in smaller distances. I can’t make it all the way to California in one shot.”
My stomach dropped, but I didn’t protest. This was still a million times faster than a plane. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing.
In an instant, the feeling returned. Her hands tightened on mine, and I knew she was struggling. I hit the ground hard. Tori landed on top of me in a tangle of limbs. This was hell on both of us, but we were closer.
“Where are we now?”
I grunted, and she rolled off me.
“Border between California and Nevada . . . I’ve only got energy left for one more, Selena. Where exactly are you tryin’ to go?” She wheezed, trying to sit up.
“A warehouse. You guys were near it yesterday when Lily disappeared. Do you remember anything like that?” I should’ve cleared this up before we left Montana.
“There was a big black one near the coast,” she said.
“Was it metal with a lot of graffiti?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s it,” I said, getting to my feet.
Tori’s knees were shaking, and I offered her a hand to help her up. Under other circumstances I wouldn’t have asked her to keep going, but I had no choice. I closed my eyes one last time and took a deep breath. Tori squeezed my hands, and the feeling of teleportation kicked in.
I opened my eyes, just for a second. Blackness swirled around us like a tornado enclosing us. My claustrophobia reared its ugly head, and nausea came in waves. Tori’s face was tight with tension, and her tan had disappeared, leaving her skin unnaturally white. Her eyes were closed, and dark circles surrounded them. Her energy was dwindling.
We hit the ground with a bang, but luckily we landed in the grass. I opened my eyes to see a dark sky with the lights of L.A. twinkling beautifully in the distance. Music boomed out of a building down the street. The place was alive.
Next to me, Tori moaned, and I looked over to see her scrunched in a ball.
“Tori?”
When her green eyes opened, the whites were marred by several burst veins. She needed sleep.
“I’m fine. Go to your sister,” she insisted weakly.
I wasn’t going to leave her in the middle of L.A in this condition. I scooped her into my arms and cradled her. Across the street, there was a little diner with a sign reading 24-hour-service. I walked in and laid her in a booth, setting my cellphone on her lap.
“Excuse me—” A waitress tapped me on the shoulder.
I dug through my pocket, pulled out a fifty, and put it in her hand. “Let her sleep, and when she wakes up, give her food. You can keep the change.”
Daizlei Academy Omnibus Collection Page 24