by Bailey James
“Well,” he meets my eyes once more, “because it’s not fair to you. I can’t even get through the fucking mirror again to be with you. You should stay with Ty.”
“No,” I say, stealing all my courage and straightening my shoulders.
“No?” He knits his eyebrows together. “Why no?”
“No. You’re not walking away from me. Not now. Not after…everything.”
Jackson’s eyes devour my face. I crawl close to the mirror and then raise to my knees, my gaze never leaving his. My hands rest against his on the glass. My fingers splay, so they rest between the spaces of his.
“You’ve changed everything, Jacks,” I say. “Even if you don’t want me, nothing can go back to the way it was.”
“I want you,” he murmurs. A slow smile spreads across his face, and something like relief crosses his eyes. “We’ll find a way to make this work. I promise. You’re mine now. Here. There. Everywhere. And I’m not letting you go.”
My own relief cracks through the panic, and I smile, crinkling my nose. “Good.”
A knock comes from his door, and his mother peeks her head in. “Jackson, there’s a group of men to see you.”
My stomach drops to the floor as a feeling of foreboding fuels my dread. He stares into my eyes, his mirroring every bit of terror I’m feeling.
“It’s them,” I whisper, not sure how I know it’s the cult, but I do.
“Jackson?” his mom asks. “What are you doing sitting on the floor?”
He blinks, that blank mask of his shuttering his eyes and expression. “Sorry, Mom. I dropped the remote and was trying to get it.” He holds up a tiny, circular, silver object.
“Why don’t you come downstairs and talk to them? They were quite insistent. They said they wanted to talk to you about a scholarship.” A proud smile blooms over her features. “I told you, you did well.”
My whole body relaxes. Even though that feeling of dread remains, I shove it away. It’s just about his swimming.
“Go!” I say before he can turn it down. “I’ll be here. We’ve got all day.”
He shoots me a grin, even though I can still see the worry in his eyes, before turning back to his mom. “What can I say? I guess you were right.”
She leans against the door and buffs her nails on her blouse. “I’m a mom. I’m always right.”
He chuckles. “So, I’ve heard. I’ll be right down. Just let me turn off my stuff.”
When she smiles and walks away, he spins back to the mirror. “I’ll be right back, okay? This shouldn’t take too long. I’ll just wow them and then come back up here.”
“So modest,” I deadpan, then scrunch my nose and smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
He kisses his fingers and presses them to mine on the glass before taking off, the mirror bouncing my reflection back at me. I stick my tongue out at it before wandering aimlessly around my room. Nothing is appealing. Not even my favorite romance books. When I realize I’m holding myself as I dance around the room, humming his song and imagining his arms around me, I know Leah is right: I have a serious case of infatuation, possibly more, but I’m not ready to admit it yet.
My radio is still playing, so I sing along and dance to it. Both things have always been a stress-reliever, and what is giddiness but a different form of stress?
He likes me, I think, still grinning from ear to ear. And I like him. I don’t care how it’s possible anymore. Or why. I need to find a way to do something more than talk. I need to feel his hands on mine again, feel his breath on my face when he kisses me. I need him to kiss me.
There has to be a way. I grab one of the books and start rereading it. There has to be something in here. Maybe I missed it in my hurry to know whether or not this was really happening. So, this time, I take my time. I grab a notebook and go through it page-by-page, writing down everything that seems even somewhat relevant. Within an hour, I’ve filled one notebook and am scrounging in my closet for another.
“Come on, I’m sure there’s another in here,” I mutter, tossing another shirt out my closet door.
I see a flash of red and smile as I duck under the shelf to grab the notebook I think I saw.
“Lily!” Jackson yells, startling me.
I jump, and in my hurry to get out of the closet, bang my head on the shelf. Stars explode in front of my eyes, and a blinding pain sears the back of my head.
“Fuck!” I back out of the closet, holding my head and glaring at the offending shelf.
Dizzy, I sit on the floor just outside of my closet and turn my glare to the mirror, rubbing a hand to my head. “What?” I spit out.
Jackson’s face is pale and his eyes wild. Forgetting the pain, I rush over, ignoring the room that spins in front of my eyes. I skid on a silk shirt and land on the floor on my bad arm. My vision hazes, and I can’t help but release a scream of pain.
“Oh, fuck. Are you okay?” Jackson asks.
“I’m fine,” I hiss out. “What’s going on?”
He glances back at the door, and I notice his hands are shaking before he turns around to face me.
“Jackson, what’s wrong?” I demand, the feeling of dread re-sprouting and spreading across my body.
“It was them, Lily. They know.”
Dread twists into terror to match his, and my heart pounds against my ribs. “The cult?” I ask, but I already know.
“They called themselves the Brotherhood of Onyx.”
His mom marches in then and crosses her arms over her chest. “Jackson Lee Wickers, you will tell me what’s going on. Right this minute. Who were those people? And what did they want with you?”
He shoots me a panicked look. “I don’t know, Mom. I don’t know what they want.”
She strides over and places a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever is going on, Jackson, I’m here for you, but you have to tell me the truth.”
I stare between the two of them, trying to get a handle on my own anxiety. I’m no use to anyone if I can’t control my emotions. But how did they find him? How did they even know Jackson is the next portal person?
“I honestly don’t know who those people are, Mom,” he says. “I’ve never seen any of them before today.”
Her eyes flick to the mirror and back to Jackson. “Fine, then at least tell me the answer you wouldn’t tell them. Who’s Lily?”
The realization hits me like a lightning bolt. They know about me. They know my name. It has to be from what he said when he won his race. “Jackson, tell her I’m a girl from school.”
He doesn’t even question that. “She’s a girl from school.”
His mom’s eyes flash to the mirror again and then back to Jackson. “From school?”
“Yeah, I, uh, have a crush on her. I hoped that by giving her a shout-out on television, she’d let me take her out.”
Well, at least we’re on the same wavelength. He must have realized where they figured it out, too.
His mom tilts her head and narrows her eyes. “You don’t date.”
He shrugs. “I’ve never met a girl I wanted before,” he says, his eyes straying to me.
I smile at him, feeling my heart go soft and full. The corner of his mouth lifts before he controls it and looks at his mom again.
She, however, doesn’t look like she’s buying anything he’s selling. “And you don’t know why they’re interested in her?”
“I’ve never seen them before.”
Her body seems to relax. “I want you to stay away from them. They give me the creeps. They seem familiar to me, but I don’t know why. If they come back, don’t talk to them. And you better tell your friend to be careful.” She starts to leave the room but pauses before glancing toward me again, then toward Jackson. “Sometimes, the people in our lives aren’t who they say they are.” Then she grins. “I hope this Lily realizes what a good cat
ch you are.”
“Mom, go, please.” He blushes, and it’s so damn cute.
She chuckles. “Just saying.” Her heels click along the wood floor of the hallway as the door closes behind her.
“Just so you know, I do know what a ‘good catch’ you are,” I say with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.
But he doesn’t smile; in fact, the redness of his blush slides from his face to be replaced with that same sickly white from before. “They know the portal’s open.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Are you sure?” I ask, as my heart jumps into my throat.
If they know that, they’ll try to take him away from me. And, unlike the others, he can’t get through to come over. They’ll take him, and there will be absolutely nothing I can do about it.
He sighs. “No, I’m not. But they asked me questions that made me think it. They wanted to know how I met you. What you looked like. And if you knew about some prophecy or something.”
“What prophecy?
“I don’t know. It’s bizarre.”
“How did they know about me?”
“Because of what I said on the hologram. They watched it, or someone in their group did, I guess, and heard what I said. They wanted to know why I said I ‘grabbed the gold’ and what it meant.”
That’s bad. They had to know that it wasn’t a common phrase. That he’d heard it from me. “What did you say?”
“I told them I had read it in a book. Then they wanted to know what book. I told them I couldn’t remember.”
“Did it work?”
He shrugs. “Sort of. They warned Mom to keep me away from you. Then they asked her if I spent a lot of time looking into mirrors. She laughed at them. Told them she’d never seen me use a mirror in my life.”
I laugh, but it’s pinched. “Did they believe her?”
“I think so, but they kept pushing me for answers about you. When I wouldn’t give them any, and they started to get angry and demanding, Mom kicked them out.” Jackson sits in front of the mirror, his hand touching the glass where my cheek is. “You need to be careful—my mom’s right. Not everyone is what and who they appear to be. One of the men was one I’d talked to at the mental health facility.”
A chill zipped down my spine. “Did he recognize you?”
“I don’t think so, but he could have just been a good actor,” he says with a frown.
“I’ll be careful, but you have to promise to do the same. If they recognized you, they won’t give up so easily.”
“I know.” He sighs. “We need to know more about these people. They have to be the ones the others were afraid of.”
“I can go and talk to Cindy and Rowan again. Maybe they’ll know.”
His brow furrows, his frown growing deeper. “Be careful. They might not be who they say they are either. But…” He exhales a long breath. “But that’s a good idea. Go and talk to them. I’ll do some more research here. There’s got to be some information on this Brotherhood group.”
I start to reach for my purse, but Jackson bumps the glass. “Be careful, Tiger Lily. I can’t lose you now.”
Twenty minutes later, I pull up in front of Cindy and Rowan’s house. Cindy tugs me in for a hug when she opens the door. “Hey, we were just sitting down for dinner. Why don’t you join us?” She doesn’t wait for an answer before slipping an arm around my waist and leading me into the house.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t impose.” I wring my hands. I don’t want to interrupt their meal, but I really need to find out what they know about this Brotherhood thing.
She rolls her eyes. “You are no imposition. Please. I insist.”
I chew on my bottom lip. “But you weren’t expecting me. You didn’t make enough.”
She waves a hand in front of her. “Pssh. We’re having spaghetti; there’s more than enough to go around. Please sit. Enjoy. It’s my special homemade sauce. I’d love for you to try it so I can brag a bit.”
The smell of the tomato sauce and garlic hits my nose, making my mouth water. “All right, but only because that smells so good, I don’t think I have the willpower to resist.”
She chuckles as Rowan smiles and pulls out a chair. “Have a seat. The food is almost done. Do you like garlic bread?”
“Yes.” Even if I didn’t, the scent would convince me to at least try it.
I watch for a few minutes as they work together to pull the rest of the meal together. It reminds me of my parents. Dad can’t cook stuff without burning it, but he makes sure to help out any other way he can. Rowan pulls out the garlic toast, and she stirs the sauce. When she holds the wooden spoon out, he tastes it. “Mmm. Perfect, honey. As always.”
Usually, that would have made rolling my eyes, but now, I just watch them and think about Jackson. Without the portal, they’d never have found each other. Just as I wouldn’t have found Jackson. Sure, I’d have Ty, and I’d never have had these strong, confusing feelings for someone I’ve just met, but that’s just it. I would have never known exactly what I was missing by not knowing Jackson. The thought makes my heart hurt in a way I’m not entirely ready to acknowledge.
Cindy sets the bowl on the table before sitting. Rowan serves a large amount of pasta onto my plate, and I lift an eyebrow at him, but he just grins at me.
I’ve just taken a mouthful when Rowan says, “So, what brings you this way, Lily?”
Of course.
I swallow quickly. “Well, uh, we—I—have a problem.”
They exchange a look and then push their plates to the side and lean over the table. “Explain,” they say in stereo.
It makes me chuckle, before I sober and say, “Well, there’s a group of people who visited Jacks. Said they were the Brotherhood of the Onyx or something.”
Horror crosses both of their faces. “What did they want?” Cindy demands.
My stomach sinks. “Uh, they wanted to know about me.”
Cindy drops her fork to the floor and bends under the table to retrieve it. “How did they know? I thought you both agreed not to post anything on the internet.”
This time it’s me who pushes my plate away. My stomach is in knots. Even the scent of the food is making me sick.
“We did. Jackson is a swimmer and gave me a shout-out after he won.”
“Oh.” Rowan winks at Cindy, who smiles slightly.
“What did he tell them?” she asks, her tone carefully neutral.
“Nothing, just that he didn’t know anything.”
They exchange a look that does nothing to calm my sour stomach. “Did they believe him?” he asks.
I shrug, twisting my hands together in my lap. “No one knows for sure. His mom was there. She kicked them out.”
Rowan and Cindy exchange looks again before he gets out of his chair and kneels in front of me, taking my hands in his. “This is bad, Lily. Very bad. Do you understand? You need to tell him to stay away from them. To do what he can to come here. I’m pretty sure they’re the ones who killed the others.”
My hands go limp in his. “Is Jackson in danger?” I demand, my eyes piercing into Rowan, pleading with him to tell me no.
Cindy pushes Rowan to kneel next to him in front of me, peering into my eyes. “We don’t know. As far as we can tell, they seem to be only interested in the women, but that could change.”
“Why? What are they after?”
“We don’t know that either,” Rowan says. “I tried finding that out before I left, but I couldn’t. No one seems to know. Technically, they don’t even exist. There are a few things mentioned here and there, but they are not good things.”
I groan. This just keeps getting better. “Okay, so, Jackson obviously has to get away from there, but neither of us can get through since he went back over. Do you have any idea how you were able to get through? How he can do it?”
&nbs
p; Before they even open their mouths, I know what they’re going to say. “We don’t know,” Cindy said.
Figures. “Damn it,” I mutter.
Rowan pats my hand. “You’re safe here, and he has his mom. After dinner, the three of us will sit down and brainstorm. There has to be a way.”
Reluctantly, and mechanically I take a bite of spaghetti, but it’s lost its appeal. Dread is the only thing I can taste, and it sits like a dead weight in my stomach.
An hour later, I sit on the floor in their living room beside their coffee table. Papers are spread out on it with no rhyme or reason. The three of us have read through everything Rowan brought with him. Which…isn’t much. He left almost everything behind when he came. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, much like Jackson’s had been. But unlike Jackson, Rowan stayed.
And it’s that thought that swirls in my head. Jackson got through to rescue me. Rowan had gotten through because the Brotherhood was barreling down on him. That’s probably what happened right before the other’s slipped through as well. But, how? I toss the paper I’ve been staring at without seeing it for the last ten minutes, but it just flutters down to the table.
“Nothing,” I say, tossing my hand into the air. “There’s nothing here. None of your notes pertain to the portal. Not this portal.” I gesture to their mirror. “You have a ton of notes on your conversations, but nothing tells me how you got through. Damn it!”
I slam my fist onto the table and then jump to my feet, unable to sit any longer. I pace the room like a caged lion. Cindy and Rowan simply watch me as I continue my journey back and forth across their living room.
“Lily,” Cindy says in a soothing voice, “I know you’re worried about Jackson, but for now, he’s in no real danger. We don’t even know if he is in any danger at all.”
“But he could be,” I say, still pacing.
“We don’t know that,” Rowan says softly, but from his tight expression, I know he doesn’t believe that.
“These are probably the people who put the first guy in the crazy bin, right?” I demand.
“Mental health facility,” Rowan corrects. I send him a look, and he chuckles. “But, yeah. Probably.”