by Katie May
Pride surges inside me when I think about how well Pres fought back there, even though I know he was scared shitless.
“You did good, Pres,” I pant. “Real good. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Neither did I,” he admits with a chuckle. “I thought we were going to die back there.”
“I’ve already died with you once, and I have no plans on doing it again,” I joke, trying to ease the tension between us. I’ve just realized how much I’ve missed my brothers over the past two years. Guilt threatens to swallow me, thinking of how badly I’ve treated them since we arrived here.
“Well, we can finally agree on something,” he says. “Come on, let’s go find the others.”
With a groan, he heaves himself up off the ground to stand. Pres offers me his hand. I take it and allow him to haul me up, surprised by his strength. Seems the Afterlife has done him well.
I dip my head towards him in thanks and turn back, heading for the bridge, when I hear him mumble, “Uhh, Brax?”
“Yeah?” I answer without turning around.
“Do you have any pants I can borrow?”
Chapter 32
Karston
The moment Auston said “white throne,” I knew where they were.
The tunnels.
As my feet hit the grass near the West Woods, I’m off at a run, heading to the bridge to meet my brothers. Auston flies on ahead of me, anxious to tell them my plan for finding and rescuing Hadley before that cloaked fucker hurts her anymore. My blood boils just thinking about his grimy hands on my Hadley. I don’t envy Auston. Having to watch her like that would’ve killed me.
The sun is rising over the horizon, causing the sky to blaze in gorgeous shades of yellow and orange. Its beauty angers me. Nothing cheerful should be allowed to exist when such horrors are taking place.
My Hadley is in the grips of some unknown mass murderer who has no fucking respect for the Afterlife or those trying to maintain it.
Pontem Veritas looms ahead, its dark stone a stark contrast against the sunrise shining behind it. Auston lands, his head swiveling around, looking for our brothers.
“Over here!” I recognize Braxton’s voice shouting from the opposite side of the bridge. He looks like shit, shirtless with sweat pouring down his body. His pants have tears along them, and cuts along his body are bleeding. But nothing is as bad as his shoulder. It’s seeping blood, so much so that I can’t even make out any of his skin. The blood drips down his arm, making it look like someone dumped a can of red paint on his arm.
Preston hurries behind him, looking even worse. His side is glistening with red blood that drips down his… bare legs?
He’s not wearing pants.
Why is Preston not wearing pants?
“What the fuck happened to you guys?” Auston asks, his words laced with concern.
“Verniquin,” Brax tells him, shaking out dark strands of hair from his eyes. “There had to be at least a hundred of them. We barely made it.”
“And Preston’s pants?” Auston inquires.
“A casualty of the fight,” Preston responds with a shrug. Up close, I can see angry welts dotted along his legs, and I wonder what kind of monster could have caused that.
“Any sign of our girl?” Brax asks. Then I realize what he said.
Our girl?
Is that what she’s become? I search inside myself, looking for any anger or jealousy at the idea of sharing her with my quadruplets, but I can’t find any. If anything, I feel at peace, as if this was how it was always supposed to be. It’s almost as if Hadley was the key to unlocking our anger, our hatred towards each other. She came into our lives and opened a new door for us to have a fresh start.
“I know where she is,” I reveal. “There’s a secret passage in the Premonition classroom. Come on.”
Not waiting for the questions that I’m sure will follow, I make myself transparent and hover, rushing over the grounds, through the dorms, between the trees in the North Woods, and into the Academy. I don’t wait for my brothers, wanting to get inside before the students begin emerging for the day.
Passing through the classroom door, I feel my adrenaline surge. I become visible again, and my fingers begin to shake as I grasp at the grate inside the fireplace. But the fucker is stuck.
I turn around, frantic, and find the poker used to stoke the fire. The iron handle feels cold in my palm as I tighten my fingers around it and begin to pry at the grate. I just know Hadley’s down here, in one of the rooms inside the tunnels.
The door flies open, and my winged brothers enter.
“What the fuck was that about?” Auston fumes.
“I didn’t want to waste anymore time. Now, how about using some of those gargantuan muscles and fucking help me?”
Auston opens his mouth to respond, but words lodge in his throat, and he pushes me out of the way. I fall on my ass as he squats beside the grate, threading his fingers inside the metal.
He groans as he pulls, so Brax joins him, the muscles in his back straining as they try to move the jammed metal.
“St-Step aside,” an out of breath Preston demands, his scythe raised, the end pointing at the grate.
Auston and Braxton share a wide-eyed glance then back up, allowing Preston to take charge.
“Explosio,” he speaks clearly. The blade on his weapon glows red before a blast shoots from the end, incinerating the metal grate. Preston raises the blade to his lips and blows. “Problem solved.”
Auston, Brax, and I look at each other, astonished. Our shy little quad is really coming into his own as a Reaper.
“Follow me.” I push myself through my brothers and jump down the gaping hole and into the antechamber. I walk forward, allowing the others to land behind me. The antechamber looks just as it did last time. Old tiles, cracked and broken, litter the floor. Up ahead looms the archway leading to the much larger chamber.
I stand on the edge of the archway and look out, narrowing my eyes as I search through the labyrinth of passages, glowing green from an unknown light source.
“What is this place?” Preston wonders behind me.
“One of many secret places I’ve found in the Academy,” I tell him. “I just have a feeling she’s down here. I’ve seen statues in this maze made of white stone. My gut tells me it’s the same stuff Auston saw in his premonition.”
“Should we split up, each take a different path?” Pres queries.
“I think we should stay together,” Auston suggests. “Who knows what dangers lurk down here. We’re already missing Hadley, I don’t want to see one of you guys go missing too.”
“Aww. Would you miss us, Angel face?” Brax teases.
“Auston’s right,” I affirm, ignoring Braxton’s jest. “This place is easy to get lost in. If I weren't a Ghost, I might still be stuck down here.”
“Okay. Kars, since you’ve been here before, you should lead the way. The rest of us will be right behind you,” Brax says, flexing his dark wings behind his back.
The floor in the antechamber is maybe ten feet below this one. I jump off the ledge and land with a thud, quickly heading to my right. This path weaves around the perimeter of the labyrinth, or at least I think it does. My quads’ footsteps thump behind me as I hustle, winding my way around.
The face of the screaming lady comes into view. She was the first statue I found down here. Sad and depressing, it’s made of a bright stone. She cradles her face, her eyes obscured by her hands. Realistic fingernails dig into her skin, tearing at her flesh, and her mouth is open in a silent scream of terror.
“Is this the stone you saw?” I ask Auston.
His eyes narrow, taking it in. “No. It’s not white enough. This has veins of black running through it. The stone I saw in my vision was bright white, sparkling even.”
Abandoning the screaming lady, I head back the way we came, remembering when I came across stone like that before. Instead of going straight, I take a sharp left through an archway in
the wall. We pass a dried up fountain with those creepy cherub children with mournful eyes that seem to follow you when you move. I make my way around it, my heart racing in my chest, and head through a hidden opening between two statues of dueling monsters, which I have no name for.
The path behind them is a series of zigzags that have no pattern.
Five feet, turn the corner.
Ten feet, turn again.
It takes several minutes to weave through them before we exit into a narrow corridor. Dormant torches hang off the stone, igniting when we pass under them and causing flickering shadows to dance across the high walls.
“Not much farther,” I shout behind me. The path veers right and abruptly ends. Ahead of us is a door with no handle. Smooth, pale stone glistens in the eerie green light.
Flanking the door are large, rectangular stones which make up an endless wall, rising stories above our heads. Stone trees, seemingly carved out of one large piece of stone, loom over us, at least fifteen feet tall. Their leafless limbs are ominously still. It’s quite haunting to say the least, and I know haunting. I’m a fucking Ghost.
“Auston, come up here,” I call, gesturing for my Angel brother to join me. “What about this?”
His eyes widen, and he nods. “Yes, this is what I saw.” He reaches out to touch the stone, and it shudders under his touch. “Look out!” he shouts, as a piece of stone plummets to the ground in front of us. “Whoa.” He bends down, picking up a miniature statue of an Angel. Its face looks so much like my brother’s, surrounded by long, white hair. He has a bow and arrow too, the arrow nocked. His mouth is opened as if shouting a battle cry. I glance up, thinking I might find the reason for the falling stone, but the only thing I see is endless darkness.
Stunned, he holds it out to us, then his eyes go white and his face slackens.
A premonition.
It’s over in seconds, his eyes once again the arctic blue I’m used to seeing.
“We all have to touch the door. Brax, you go next.”
Not wasting a second, Brax shoulders his way to the door and raises his uninjured arm, placing his palm on the smooth stone. Again, the door shudders. Then, as if summoned by magic, a secret door in the tree trunk slides open, and a statue rests inside it. Brax walks over to investigate.
“It’s a Demon,” Brax says, pulling it out of the tree. Auston grabs it and spins it in his hand. Like the Angel statue, this one is also ready for battle, his sword held high in preparation to attack.
“Pres, you’re up.” Auston nods towards the door as he gives Brax his statue back. Preston runs his fingers through his hair and takes a tentative step towards the stone. His hand shakes as he raises it up and rests it on the smooth surface. I look to Auston, and follow his gaze as he watches the door.
A low hum sounds and a section of rectangular stone lining the sides of the door turns in on itself, revealing a statue on the other side.
A Reaper.
His scythe is raised over his head, and his messy hair is flying about his face as he shouts some unheard words. Auston turns his stare to me, his icy gaze burning holes into me.
He juts his chin towards the door, telling me to take my turn. My quads watch with rapt attention while I place my hand on the door. Nothing happens at first, and I think I fucking broke it. But then a piece of tile on the ground shatters and a pillar a foot wide rises up from the broken mess. It stops when it reaches eye level, and resting on top is a statue.
My statue.
Daggers poised, a battle cry falling from stone lips, the Ghost is a perfect depiction of me, down to the hair.
“Draw your weapons, brothers,” Auston tells us. Preston calls his scythe, swirling the staff around in his surprisingly nimble fingers. Brax holds out his arm, his tattoo melting from his skin and forming a blade in his palms. Auston goes next, his bow appearing in his outstretched hand, with a quiver of golden arrows perched upon his hip. Then I join them, my hands splayed in front of me, daggers appearing in them seconds later.
We stand in a circle. Auston holds out his bow, and we all follow suit until all our weapons are touching, their powers combined. The second the last weapon joins, deep rumbles sound again as if the room has come to life. On the other side of the door, a stone opposite of Preston’s statue twists, leaving a vacant space. Auston takes his statue and places it on the brick. As he does, a second pillar breaks through the ground, flanking the door, opposite the first one, its top vacant and waiting.
Brax places his Demon statue on top of the empty pillar then backs up when the entire scene in front of us begins to shake as if it’s suffering from its own earthquake. A second later, the bright, sparkling stone door collapses through the floor, giving us an unobscured view of the room beyond.
As the dust clears, a table, no, an altar comes into view, and our Hadley lies motionless on top of it.
Chapter 33
Preston
“Hadley!” My voice breaks when I see her lying there, her body seemingly broken. I run towards her, tears filling my eyes and obscuring my vision as I take in her prone form. I delicately brush a strand of hair off her face. “Hadley, it’s me, Preston.” Her face is almost unrecognizable as angry contusions meld with the red swelling on her face. Black bruising under her eyes makes me think her nose might even be broken.
Dried blood coats her lips, streams of it crusting down her chin to her sweatshirt. A red ring surrounds the skin on her neck, a tell that whoever bound her here had choked her.
Hard.
I place my finger on her neck and feel a steady pulse. I close my eyes, tears of joy leaking down my face.
“She’s okay. She’s okay.” I don’t know if I’m saying that more to reassure my brothers or myself at this point. Karston slices through the binds on her wrists while Brax cuts through the ones on her ankles. Chafed skin covers her joints, a sign of her struggles against them.
Auston scoops her up in his arms, cradling her small form against his chest. Brax and Karston’s eyes scour every crevice in the room, looking for the enemy who took her. The wall beyond the altar has a river of water flowing over it and through the ground below, causing a steady sound of rushing water. In front of that is the throne. Carved with intricate filigree, the stone chair dominating the space. An unforgiving seat for the one burdened to use it.
“Any sign of her captor?” I ask, glancing around the stone room.
“Nothing. It’s like he just vanished.” Anger paints Brax’s face. He wants to find the one responsible for this and pound the fuck out of them, I’m sure. I know we all do. I can feel Auston’s rage radiating off him like a fucking furnace. He actually saw what that sick fuck did. Having now seen the aftermath of her time with him, I can’t even imagine how he’s feeling.
Probably devastated, irate, helpless...
And hurt.
And a little relieved.
Maybe that’s just me. Auston’s face is lowered, his forehead resting on top of Hadley’s as he whispers softly to her. I wonder what he’s saying.
“Let’s get her out of here,” Brax says, his eyes darting around the room one final time.
Auston cuddles Hadley tightly to his chest and follows Brax out of the room. Lowering my scythe, I walk over the collapsed door and weave through the tunnels with Auston’s wings in my face.
Thoughts of her predator ravage my mind. Who was he, and where was he when we showed up? It’s almost as if he was warned that we were on our way, that some sinister alarm told him to leave.
Just the idea of that makes me shiver.
With the Darkness still threatening the school, you can’t be too careful. Add the serial killer who’s hanging souls left and right, and the Academy has become a damn playground for murderers.
I don’t trust anyone. Well. Besides my brothers. But even that trust is fragile. After not speaking with them since our arrival here, rekindling our fractured relationship will take some time.
Brax leads us out through the tunnels and up
through the floor grate. Auston heads to the medical wing where we reluctantly hand Hadley off to the nurse on duty who’s been taking care of the sick since I’ve been at the Academy. She’s shocked to learn our story and immediately begins to treat our girl.
IVs are placed in her pale hand and ice packs are held on her face. Medicine is given through the IV’s to reduce swelling and give her fluids. The nurse ushers us out of the room so she can get her changed into a gown and out of her bloody clothes.
We’re all reluctant to leave, but the nurse promises we can wait outside the door.
So that’s what we do.
Karston and I sit on one side of the hall in chairs facing Hadley’s door, and Brax and Auston sit opposite us.
My eyelids begin to feel heavy, and I realize I haven't slept for almost two days, between my time on Earth searching for Hadley and almost getting smashed by obsolete machinery, then my wonderful trip to Hell where I had to battle a fleet of Verniquin.
Let’s face it.
I’m fucking beat.
Maybe I can just close my eyes for a little bit while the nurse cleans her up…
Voices jar me awake.
I glance up at the clock on the wall and realize I’ve been sleeping for hours. And by “I,” I mean “we.” My brothers are all passed out, slumped in their chairs. Auston even has his head lying on Braxton’s shoulder. Where’s a camera when you need one, because this is the kind of blackmail that got me all their desserts as a kid.
“I did it for you. All those people I killed… was for you,” a voice sounds from behind Hadley’s door. It’s vaguely familiar and aggravates me, but I can’t figure out why.
“You failed me, servant,” a disembodied voice hisses, sounding inhuman. The raspy tones sends shivers along my spine. “They still live. You failed me.”
“But I—”
“Silence! I do not allow fools into my service.” Movement behind the door has me jumping to my feet. Whoever is speaking in there isn’t Hadley or her nurse.