by Kelly Oram
“They were going to let you guys go. Just like Duncan thought. Just like you promised me in the mall. If I hadn’t showed up, you’d have come home and Cynthia and Russ wouldn’t have been hurt. The council wouldn’t know about us. They wouldn’t have tried to kidnap us. They wouldn’t have tried to kill Russ.” She swallowed. “I put us all in danger, and people got hurt. It shouldn’t have happened. So I want to accept your vow, Ethan. She stopped herself and blushed again. “If you still want to swear an oath, I mean. If you’ve changed your mind, then—”
“I haven’t,” Ethan interrupted warily. “But—”
“Then I accept you, Ethan.” She squeezed his hands again and tried to smile for him. “I accept you as my warrior. I want to accept your oath of fealty and our bond and…and whatever all that entails. How do I do it?”
I waited for what felt like days, while Ethan knelt there trying to catch up to Grace and her sudden mood swing. “I—I think you just did.” He blinked a few times, looking completely flushed and yet somehow way too pale at the same time. “Do you feel it?”
“Feel what?” Cynthia asked. She sounded a strange combination of freaked out and excited. “What’s going on, you guys? Talk to us!”
They didn’t. Grace and Ethan just stared at each other while eternity passed. Cynthia sent me a pleading glance, but what was I supposed to do? I didn’t have a clue what was going on, either.
“GRACE!” Cynthia shouted loud enough to snap them out of their trance.
Grace slumped against me, her entire body shaking. Burying her face in my chest, she clung to my shirt and wept softly. I shot Ethan a panicked glance as I wrapped her in my arms. “Ethan?”
“She’s all right,” he said quietly. He was paler than I’d ever seen him as he slowly sat back in his chair next to me. “It’s very overwhelming at first.”
Cynthia sat in the empty seat next to Grace and whispered her name softly as she placed her hand on Grace’s back. “Grace?” she asked again after Grace didn’t respond. “Gracie?”
“Cyn.” Ethan, still speaking in hushed tones, shook his head at her. “She needs Russ right now.”
Ethan’s confession startled me. I know I have a way of cheering up sad girls, but sheesh. No pressure, huh?
“Why does she need Russ?” Dani’s wary voice made both Ethan and I remember we had a couple of tagalongs. She was watching Grace soak my shirt with tears. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, and her jaw was clenched.
I was surprised by the jealousy—if that’s what it was. It was interesting, and I’ll admit, a little satisfying. I’d have let her stew in her thoughts, but Ethan answered her question. He’s always been more angelic than me that way. (And, yes, pun absolutely intended. I’m never in short supply of angel jokes.)
“Because she’s frightened and overwhelmed right now, and she trusts him more than anyone.”
Dani ground her teeth so hard I could hear it. Gabe pulled her close, as if he sensed her distress, and looked at Ethan and me with raised eyebrows. “She trusts Russ more than her warrior and her best friend?”
Ethan looked at his lap, ashamed. He would never forgive himself for the years he spent hating and resenting Grace. “It’s complicated,” I snapped, “and none of your business.” Not to mention nonsensical. But I wasn’t going to explain to Dani and Gabe that I couldn’t understand Grace’s and my relationship any more than they could.
Both of them absorbed my loss of temper, and while Dani glared at me, Gabe sighed. They obviously still had questions—Dani was totally wondering if I was dating her identical counterpart—but I kept my mouth shut and turned my attention back to comforting Grace. Let the Wonder Pures read into the situation all they wanted. I didn’t owe them jack.
As soon as the conversation died, I shut my eyes again, wanting nothing more than to sleep for the next week straight. Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t going to let me do that. “We need a plan, Russ.”
I groaned. My head hurt like a son of a biscuit and I could barely keep conscious, but he was right. We had to figure out what we were going to do now. Our life as we’d known it up to this point was officially over.
Everyone huddled in close. Why they were treating me like the quarterback I have no idea, but they were all waiting on me to tell them the next play. As if I knew? “What the heck can we do? Grace can’t exactly disappear.”
“What if we tell my dad the truth?” Grace asked in a quiet voice.
The suggestion was met with five very passionate nos that startled both Dani and Gabe. When Grace frowned, Cynthia tried to rephrase it a little more mildly. “Um, Grace, no offense, but your dad doesn’t seem like the type who’s going to accept our world.”
“It’s that, or Ethan and I have to disappear.”
“What?” Cynthia gasped. “Why?”
“We may have escaped the consulate, but it’s not like the council doesn’t know who Ethan and I are now.” She shot me a sad glance. “You were right, Russ. They don’t care that I’m the president’s daughter. Tell me they won’t try to get us back.”
I felt like hitting something. She was right. The council wasn’t just going to leave either of them alone. Or me¸ for that matter. We were so screwed.
“But telling humans the truth?” Gabe asked. “Surely that cannot be our only option.”
Grace frowned at Gabe. “My father is a good man. If he knows the truth, then the council loses their power. They can’t just take us. My dad would know it was them, and they’d have a serious problem. In fact, if my dad knew about them they’d have to start playing by all the rules.” She cut me a serious look before meeting everyone else’s cynical gazes. “Isn’t that what we want anyway?”
“That’s if your dad handles the truth, Grace,” Cynthia said.
Caleb nodded. “And that’s an awfully big if.”
“It’s more like a cold chance in Hades,” I muttered. Harsh, but also true.
It was my turn to get an angry glare from Grace. “I’m not going to let the council hold me hostage or turn me to the dark side, like they did with Dani.”
Grace snapped her mouth shut, flushing with embarrassment as she remembered that Darth Dani—as I’d often referred to her over the last five months—was on the train with us. Cringing, she whispered a quiet apology to Dani. Dani just rolled her eyes and gave me a flat look. “Whatever Russ told you, I’m not brainwashed and I haven’t been turned to the dark side.”
I grinned at her. “Guess not, since you’ve just joined the rebels, young Luke Skywalker.” I looked at Gabe and smirked. “And I see you’ve brought Princess Leia with you.”
Dani scoffed. “Excuse me? Are you seriously calling my mate a girl, Mr. Peach-Scented Exfoliating Scrub?”
“It was walnut avocado. Not peach. I never smell fruity.”
“Avocado is a fruit, moron.”
“But it doesn’t smell fruity, smarty pants. And whatever. I bought that stuff for you anyway, because I knew how much you liked it.”
“Ha! That’s why you always tried to hide it from me. You’re a bigger girl than me. Don’t even deny it.”
“Danielle.” Gabe sighed exactly the way my dad always used to when he was sick of our squabbling. In fact, it was so similar to Dad that Dani and I looked at each other and cracked up.
Gabe muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t hear, but it made Dani frown and Ethan, Caleb, and Cynthia snicker. “Okay,” Cynthia said, rubbing her hands together. “As entertaining as that was, can we please get back on topic? Obviously we can’t tell Grace’s dad—sorry, Gracie, but he’d freak—so we need to go to my dad.”
Ethan and I grimaced. The resistance might be our best option, but neither of us was looking forward to putting ourselves under their control. “Cyn,” Ethan said, “I respect what the resistance does, but I’m not sure I trust them with the Seer and the Chosen One.”
He was nicer than me. I wasn’t even sure I respected the resistance. Their cause was noble enough, but they were
every bit as power hungry as the council.
Cynthia shook her head. “My dad would never hurt them. He’d never use them for their power.”
“You sure about that?” I tried not to sound too bitter for Cynthia’s sake, because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but the past was undeniable. “Are you forgetting that he tried to turn Grace just to get to her father?”
“Logan is just as bad,” Ethan said as Cynthia huffed. “He’s hated me my entire life, but he’s been desperate to get in my good graces since he learned of my warrior status. He doesn’t care about me. He only wants my power. And Grace’s.”
“More than either of them,” I went on, “Simone is the one actually calling the shots. She’s tried to kill me twice to get her hands on Dani and Gabe. You know we can’t trust Simone.”
I had them there. All eyes shifted to Clara, and she winced. Nobody trusted Simone Laroche. Not even her closest friends. Not even her own daughter. Actually, not trusting Simone is the only slightly redeemable quality Clara has. “Look, my mom is…” she grimaced again. “We can handle her. She’s got some sick soft spot for Russ, and she’s scared of Dani.”
This confession came as a surprise to all of us. Clara shrugged at Dani. “She’s never stopped talking about that night she tried to take you and the Seer. She’s never been bested magically. Russ’s dad is the only magic user who’s ever even equaled her power. But what you did that night…it freaked her out. The way she talks about you, it’s almost as if she’s in awe. Like she worships you or something.”
After a moment of contemplation, Clara shook her head. “She’ll be fine. Between her disgusting, unexplainable weakness for any and all Devereauxes, and her fear and awe of Dani, she won’t step out of line. Not to mention that Ethan’s uncle Logan equals her in rank within the resistance, and he practically kneels at Ethan’s feet.”
“I agree,” Caleb said. “Not only will they not try to take advantage of you guys, but even if they did, what the hell could they do? You’re the son of Michael and the freaking Chosen One. No one could force either of you to do anything.”
Have I mentioned it annoys me whenever Caleb Layton starts making sense? I’m always afraid that his stupidity is somehow rubbing off on me. But darn the man if he wasn’t right this time. Ethan and I glanced at one another and decided at the same time. Deep down we knew it was our only option, but neither of us was ready to say it out loud. When we all became quiet, Gabe asked, “Could we not seek the help or guidance of your father?” He was talking to Ethan.
As much as I wished that were an option, it wasn’t. Ethan and I both shook our heads. “He can’t intervene,” Ethan explained. “He’s always been pretty vague about stuff. He has…rules he has to follow. He’s only allowed to teach me the skills of a warrior.”
“Angels can answer the prayers of the faithful to an extent, but they do so by influencing mortals to help one another,” Grace explained. “They can’t get directly involved with the matters of Earth unless the problem is demon related, since demons aren’t supposed to be here. What mortals do to one another is a different matter. Something about fate, destiny, and agency.”
Gabe nodded, as if that made perfect sense. Which, for him, I bet it did. I thought it was total crap, but Gabriel was faithful like that. “Very well.”
Everyone waited as Ethan and I looked at one another. I could tell just by the expression on his face that we were thinking the same thing. Ethan gave in first, with a sigh. “The resistance it is, then.”
Yippee. I glanced at Clara and shuddered. We’d be taken to Simone’s big, creepy house and forced to live under the same roof as the wicked witch of D.C. “This should be fun,” I muttered, earning the bird from Clara. Guess she knew what I was thinking.
The conversation died after that, and everyone sort of fell into their own personal contemplation. I drifted in and out of unconsciousness for a while, until Dani’s hushed voice caught my attention. She and Gabe were hunkered down in a couple of seats across the train car from me. Dani leaned into Gabe’s chest, burying her face in his neck as he held her. When he let out a heavy sigh, Dani pulled back from the embrace and placed her hand on his cheek. Gabe’s eyes fell shut, and he leaned into her hand as if her touch were the only thing keeping him together at the moment. They were off in their own world, unaware of anyone around them, or the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes from them.
“Leaving the council doesn’t mean that you’re failing the supernatural people,” Dani whispered. “You’re just finding a new way to help them—maybe a better one. The Creator will guide you to the right answers. She always does, doesn’t she?”
With a hard swallow, Gabe opened his eyes. The jerk melted in her gaze, oozing so much freaking love I thought I was going to choke on it. “She does.” He smiled. “She led me to you.”
What a freaking line. Freaking emo Shakespeare wannabe. Gabe was so annoying. I wanted to laugh at the cheese, but Dani swooned. She’d always swooned at his sappiness. I’d never understand it, but watching them, it was clear Dani liked it. She had stars in her eyes.
This moment was so much worse than watching them make out. I’d always believed that Dani was manipulated into falling for Gabe. I thought her desire for him was strictly from their physical bond and the brainwashing she’d endured after being taken to the consulate, but the emotional connection they shared right then was undeniable. They loved each other. I mean, really loved each other. Dani had never looked at me the way she was staring at Gabe right then. She was his in a way she’d never be mine. A way she never had been.
I didn’t realize how tense I was until Grace pried my clenched fist open in order to slip her hand into mine. I’d been holding her, but not touching her skin. With our fingers tangled together, the bond I had with Dani instantly dissolved. I breathed an exhausted sigh as I felt the effects of her touch. It was exaggerated now, because for the last hour or two I’d been exposed to Dani. My body was going haywire.
What Grace was trying to do for me was obvious, but it didn’t help. Her touch severed my physical connection to Dani; it just couldn’t do a thing about my feelings. What I felt for Dani was more than our supernatural bond. It always had been. A lifetime of love doesn’t just disappear with a touch. Still, when Grace squeezed my hand and whispered, “Better?” I looked into her big, hopeful eyes and forced a smile.
Dani looked up at the sound of Grace’s voice. She immediately noticed Grace’s hand in mine, and took it the wrong way. Especially since I’d been holding Grace the entire train ride. She opened her mouth to say who knows what, but before she could start an argument, Grace said, “Russ, are you okay? You really don’t look good.”
The hitch in Grace’s voice made me forget about Dani. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, I forced another smile. “I’m fine. It’s just because I used so much magic while training with Ethan last night, and then going against the councilors at the consulate. It’s nothing. A few days of rest, and I’ll be good as new. Promise.”
That was a lie. Since Constance and Mason both blasted me, I was officially drained of all magic. Over the months, as my aura weakened, my magic was replenishing slower and slower. As weak as I felt now, I wasn’t sure it was replenishing at all. Whether Grace was picking up on my worry, or was just consumed by her own, she didn’t trust my reassurances. “But you’re so pale. I’ve never seen you this tired. Russ…”
I knew what she was thinking: that I was getting down to my last shreds of supernatural essence, and none of us really knew what would happen when my aura disappeared. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it, too, but I couldn’t let Grace see my fear. She’d go mental. Maybe if I stayed with Dani from now on I’d get better, but there was no way I could stomach that.
When Cynthia, Caleb, and Ethan all gave me no-nonsense looks, I caved and admitted the truth. “I don’t have anything left in me. I can’t even feel my magic, and I’m not sure it’s going to come back at all this time. What happens to
me now is anyone’s guess.”
Frowning, Ethan untangled my hand from Grace’s and clasped it in both of his. We looked as gay as a Bryan Singer movie, holding hands on the train in front of all our friends, but I didn’t pull away. I knew he was trying to see if my bond with Dani might be broken now. I had such little supernatural energy left at this point I was nearly the walking dead. He was hoping that if I was weak enough to not feel my magic, I’d be able to share his essence. He’s the most powerful supernatural I know, next to Dani and Gabe. If anyone could spark some life back into my aura, it would be him. We both waited a minute, holding our breaths and praying to the angels this would work.
“Do you feel anything?” he asked after a full minute of silence.
The truth scared me so badly that I couldn’t say it out loud. So instead, I grinned at Ethan. “Now that you mention it, I do feel this strange tingling in my stomach—like butterflies—and my heart is beating crazy fast. Where’ve you been all my life, angel?”
Dani gaped at us with her mouth hanging open. “What are you guys doing?”
“Coming out of the closet,” I quipped. “What’s it look like?”
Ethan let go of my hand and punched my arm hard enough to bruise it. “You’re such an ass.”
“Ow! Jerk.” I pouted as I rubbed my arm, but Ethan wasn’t impressed. Actually, no one was impressed. Not even Cynthia, who always appreciated my warped sense of humor.
“For real, Russ,” Dani demanded. “What is going on?”
“Nothing!” I snapped, and then glared at all my friends when they scowled at me. “What do you want me to say? I didn’t feel anything, and I’ve got nothing left! My time’s finally up. We all knew this was coming.”
“But you have Dani back now,” Ethan said.
“I told you, I’m not spending my life being her third wheel. I’d rather rot.”
I folded my arms and glared at the ground, refusing to look at anyone. I didn’t want to see the pity in their faces. I wasn’t pissed off at them, just the situation itself. And my dad for doing this to me. I was looking death in the face and it terrified me, but more than that, it made me angry. It wasn’t fair. I was too young to die, and too awesome to go out like such a sucker, shriveling up and wasting away to nothing. I at least deserved to get knifed in the gut by some heinous supernatural monster. “Should have just let the zombies eat me,” I muttered.