Not Katie. Not Katie. She can’t have Katie.
“Faye, remember where you are,” Jaxen says to me through our connection, his tone like a whip snapping me back in place. “Stay on task.”
I lean against the wall, using my hand to hold me up, scared my knees will collapse as the earth shudders and sways beneath my feet.
“I’m not leaving her here!”
“You can’t leave her,” Jezi says. Four words pour liquid gratitude into my tear ducts. Cripple my heart with appreciation.
I squeeze my eyes shut. Reach for the door handle. Someone’s hand wraps around my arm, and my eyes shoot open. Weldon. He yanks hard enough to force me to look at him. His golden eyes are hard and firm, squaring on me with discipline.
“We have to keep moving, Faye. We don’t have time. This is a trap.”
I can’t make sense of his words. I don’t understand how anyone could possibly think I’d ever even consider leaving her in that room. There’s a fire building inside of me. It’s spreading through my veins, coursing through my blood, ready to take out anyone who tries to stop me.
I yank away from him and scowl, ensuring he sees my disappointment before turning the handle.
“Damn it all to hell,” I hear him mutter as he hurries in behind me.
“Please! Someone! Help me!” she’s screaming out, over and over again.
“Katie,” I say again as I rush over to her, dropping my bag to the floor. She’s wearing a paper-thin, ashen gown. Blood coats the edges of her mouth and above her eyebrow. Marks the color of coffee and plums litter the outside of her body. Some in the shape of fingers, and others the size of half-dollars. She looks thinner than I remember. Paler.
“Faye?”
My throat is crammed full of pointy feathers. My heart constricts. I grab her hand and squeeze. “I’m here,” I say, reaching for the straps fastened across her chest and waist. Weldon moves swiftly to the other side and makes quick work of releasing the other end for me.
When she’s free, I help her up to a sitting position, and then she throws her arms around my neck, squeezing me tighter than she ever has before. “I’ve missed you so much, Faye. I thought—they told me you were gone. They told me so many things. So many horrible, horrible things, and I didn’t tell them anything.” She pulls back, her eyes wild and watery. “I swear. I never broke, Faye. I swear it.”
I pull her tighter against me as both our tears pour freely. Run my hand down the back of her hair. “I know you didn’t. You’re too strong.”
“Faye,” Weldon says. I know what he wants. To keep moving.
I pull back. “Can you walk?”
Katie nods.
I say a quick healing spell, watching the marks slowly leave her body. Wishing my magic had the power to heal the marks that have surely been placed on her soul.
“They have Chett,” she says the moment her feet touch the ground. “He’s here, but he’s out of my reach. I can’t use my magic.”
I manifest a pair of sweatpants and a sweater for her. Weldon turns around as she makes quick work of dressing.
When she’s finished, Weldon walks back around and stops in front of her. “Katie, isn’t it?” She nods. “Look,” he says, resting a hand on her shoulder and leveling his gaze on her. “We can’t risk saving him too. As it is, this is probably a trap.”
Katie eyes his hand on her shoulder, and then looks back up at him. Her face slowly shifts from scared to fearless. To the Katie I know. “Weldon, isn’t it?”
He smirks.
“I don’t know about you, but where I come from, we leave no one behind. Clara has my parents too. She has most everyone who’s involved in the rebellion led by Mack.”
Without even looking, I sense more Elites heading toward us. I can see their energy.
“Four Witches and four Hunters, heading our way,” I say, looking over at Weldon. I weave a barrier along the front wall. “We have to move. The barrier I threw up won’t hold against all of their magic.”
Gunshots slam against the glass. The Elite Witches are already tearing at my barrier.
Weldon curses under his breath, and I sense what comes next. The heartbreak my friend will have to endure. “Sorry, but you’re already one too many, Katie,” he says, seriously this time. He grabs my shoulder, and when the lights flicker back off, he pulls us into a shadow.
Katie isn’t prepared for it. She’s screaming and punching, and she doesn’t stop until we emerge on the other side, just feet away from General Sterling’s private quarters. I grab her fists to steady her, using my magic to seal off her cries. Elites are everywhere. Gunshots and shouts of magic hurl through the air toward us, and panic has shaken me awake.
No.
The lights flicker again, and Weldon pulls us back into a shadow. “Use your magic to hide us,” he says inside the shadow.
“They’re using counter spells, Weldon. They’re expecting that.”
“Damn it. I told you! I told you saving her was a bad idea.” He pinches his forehead.
“Please,” Katie says, looking all around, tucking herself against me. “Get us out of here.”
“I’m trying to get us out of this whole damn city alive!” Weldon shouts. He takes a few steps forward, and then looks to the right. “I think I can get us right outside of his door. Make them see us somewhere else. Can you do that?”
Jezi pushes a spell through my mind and I nod, knowing that I can hold it for at least a few seconds. I close my eyes, quickly say the words, and wait two seconds before telling him to move. If I did it right, the Elites should be moving to the hallway across from us. If I did it wrong, we’re screwed.
“Go,” I say, hoping against all hope.
We appear on the other side of the hall, right across from Sterling’s door.
The bullets have stopped. The footsteps are retreating.
“Good job,” Weldon says, smiling at me. He takes a step and, without warning, a door opens from behind us. The edge of it slams against my shoulder and I stumble back, trying to catch my footing as sharp, shooting pains slice up my neck and into my temples.
“Don’t move,” Jaxen says. “Whoever it is probably isn’t even aware of hitting you.”
I freeze in place, pressing myself against the wall. Weldon does the same, holding Katie in place. The sound of heels curve around the door. The blood slowly drains from my whole body as I realize who it is.
Clara.
My mind deserts me and my heart hardens into a steel fist that wants to reach right out to strike her down on the spot.
She has an Elite on either side of her, decked out in all black with guns at the ready. She’s in the same white suit with her raven hair pinned back in her usual fashion. An aura of black circles around her being, mixing with every menacing color imaginable.
I swear her aura alone sucks the light from around me. Steals the air from my lungs.
I’m holding my breath. Clenching every muscle. Biting down on my tongue until I taste blood. Fighting back the urge to pounce on her.
“Faye, no!” Jaxen says desperately. I can almost see him running with nowhere to go. No way to stop me.
I can’t make my eyes leave her form as she walks past me. Hatred flushes my skin, warming my muscles. I should kill her. Drop her and her guards right here, right now. I could. Easily.
I step forward, hands out at my sides. Energy builds within my palms, reaching out for her soul. Starving for stolen power. Itching to finish what I was unable to back in the courtroom barely a week ago.
She stops. Turns. I swear she sees me, but it doesn’t scare me like it should. I feel alive in her blind curiosity and in knowing that I could end her life at any moment. I think her lavender eyes are on mine when she lifts her head as if she’s sniffing.
“Do you smell magic?” she asks, her eyebrows creasing.
Both guards follow her, sniffing the air, looking around them.
“No,” the one on the right says.
“Maybe,
” the one on the left says. The one closest to me. It’s a Witch.
I smile as the rage continues to build in me, ready to lash out, but then Weldon locks his arm around mine, squeezing so tight it burns. His darkness enters my veins, paralyzing me. Preventing me from doing anything. I turn just enough to see the shadows in his eyes. To see the monstrous form his demon-half takes.
“Don’t do anything, Faye. You kill her, and you kill our chance at finding out what happened to your parents. She’s the only one that knows,” Jaxen says.
I shake my head against his words as my heart rips violently in half. I hear the blood pumping through my veins, crowding out his voice, filling with the screams of the damned. Why does he have to be right? Why can’t I give in just this once and have my revenge?
She takes a step in my direction, and Weldon pulls harder against the wall, as if he’s trying to tuck us into it. She keeps moving forward and I have to shut my eyes against the harsh, powdery scent of her perfume that causes my stomach to roll in waves.
“I swear I smell the Everlasting,” she says, her eyes moving all around me. She lifts her hands. Reaches out. Weldon’s grip tightens as I prepare myself to take action. To kill if need be.
But then a familiar voice sounds behind us, and her hand retreats. “Are we still on for the meeting?” Sterling asks from outside his doorway.
The three of us are statue still, listening to the deafening sound of our beating hearts.
“Noon,” Clara says, looking in his direction. She straightens her jacket. “I suggest you be on time this time. The others are beginning to think that you’re a double agent.”
Sterling snorts. “Anything to stir up gossip.”
She stares at him for a moment and, in her eyes, I know she sees him as a threat. It’s the same way she looks at everyone who isn’t nestled comfortably under her thumb. “Mmhm,” she says under her breath. “The Everlasting is here. She’s with that pestering half-breed. Have you seen her?”
“Last I heard, they were stuck in the elevator shaft,” the general replies coolly.
“They broke into one of my facilities and took a prisoner of war from me. They were just spotted a hallway across from us. Do you have any idea where they might be headed?”
“Home, I would assume,” the general says. “Sounds to me like they got what they wanted.”
She doesn’t say anything for a moment. Just stares at him. “She’s still in this building. Alert me if you see her.”
He nods.
“Good day, General.” She turns back to her men, and they fall back in line.
Air rushes out of me as soon as she disappears around the corner. Seconds tick by as my legs try to regain feeling. They’re heavy. Solid. Filled with every pent-up emotion. That was easy. Almost too easy, but I don’t have time to digest it because the general unlocks his door and Weldon rushes us through it before it slides shut behind us.
His room is the total opposite of what I thought it’d be. It’s messy. Lived in. Clothes are strewn everywhere. Pictures of a woman who I assume was his partner fill every blank space on the walls. Her skin is the color of mocha. Her long, dark hair trails down past her waist. A large corkboard with photos of unfamiliar faces and maps hangs above his small desk.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sterling says with his back facing us, fiddling with something in his hands.
“How did you—” Weldon begins to say.
The general turns around and sets his gun down on the desk, aimed at the door. “I told you,” he says, staring right in my direction, “having lost powers makes your senses stronger. I smelled the blood from your lunch on you. I smelled the charge in the air from her. It has a distinct scent. Power unlike anything I’ve ever smelt before.”
He sits on a chair at his desk and reaches for a rolled-up paper. “You came.”
“You told me to find you,” I say, stepping forward, dropping the spell.
“I did,” he agrees. “I’m glad you came. And I’m glad you’re all right.” He looks over my shoulder at Katie. “And I see you’ve managed to save one.”
“Are you a part of the Rebellion?” Weldon asks hastily, watching the screen by his door that shows right outside Sterling’s room. “Can we trust you?”
“Hello to you too,” Sterling replies, leaning back in his chair.
Weldon turns to look at him, eyes flat.
“Yes,” Sterling says, his gaze serious. Stern. “And I’m under strict orders by Maddock that should you return, I am to warn you against breaking the Unholy Seal. If you do… if you cut the ties to the one thing keeping the paranormal from walking freely amongst the humans, then you cut the funds that keep our Coven going.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, eyebrows scrunched.
“The Proclamation. In the agreement met with the United Nations, it was said that so long as we remained hidden, they would fund our Coven to protect the humans. If we break that agreement, then they take away our only means of living. Before we knew Clara had turned dark, we figured the Priesthood knew what they were doing. We didn’t think twice about the Proclamation. But now… now we’re going to need those funds if we’re going to maintain this Coven after we overthrow Clara.”
“Is that the plan for the Rebellion? To bring Clara down?” I ask, feeling hope trickle through the holes in my heart.
He nods.
“But what about the Exanimator? We can’t get rid of Clara without getting rid of the Darkyns, and they run off the Exanimator locked in the Underground,” Weldon reminds us. “That was the whole point of breaking both the seals… so we could find a way into the Underground and be rid of the Darkyns once and for all.”
“And we have thought of all of this, Weldon,” Sterling says. “We’ve spent years perfecting our strategy, and we’ve finally reached a point where we think we’re ready. Ready to take out both the Darkyns and Clara at the same time.”
“How?” I ask.
“There may be another way into the Underground,” Sterling says with a small smile. He hands me the rolled-up piece of paper. “This is all I have for now. It’s a map of the location where the hole left from Mourdyn and Bael’s deal is. I’m gathering Intel on the rest of the mission now. Where are you staying?”
“We can’t tell you that,” Weldon says evenly.
The general nods. “Right. Listen, I’ll find a way to leak a signal to you when I have more information through the Night Watchmen News. When you see it, we’ll meet here on the rooftop, and I’ll give you the rest of the plans.”
“We should meet outside of the city,” Weldon says, moving to stand next to me.
“Can’t. They’re already watching me like a hawk. But the roof is clear.”
A knock sounds at the door. We all turn to find Clara and five Elites with guns aimed at the door through the small screen on Sterling’s wall.
“Open up!” Clara says murderously. “I know she’s in there.”
“Oh no,” I say.
“Don’t worry about me. I can handle her. Just get out of here safely,” the general says, grabbing his gun off the table.
“Shut the lights off,” Weldon says. “I need a shadow.”
The general reaches for the light switch. Clara’s banging on the door, motioning for an Elite. Bullets tear into the walls, seeking us out.
The lights go out.
“I’ll send word as soon as I can,” the general says before Weldon pulls me into a shadow.
KATIE’S IN TEARS BY THE time we cross back into the kitchen of the manor.
Everyone’s there, waiting by the kitchen table, though no one’s sitting. Jaxen rushes over to me the moment we cross. I set the map down on the table and sink into him when he pulls me into a tight hug. He doesn’t have to say anything to tell me all that he’s feeling, because I feel it too. I know how close we came to destruction.
Katie’s right behind me, still clutching onto my shirt. She’s making small sniffling noises, and each one puts anothe
r crack in my heart.
“Presents!” Gavin says loudly as he reaches across the table for the map. He doesn’t waste any time unrolling it. Cassie grabs apples from the basket and sets them on the corners of the large paper.
Weldon falls into a chair next to Jezi, digging his hand through his hair. “That was too close for my taste,” he says as she hands him an already poured glass of blood.
She was waiting for him, I think, just as anxiously as Jaxen waited for me.
I turn to Katie and grab her hand. She’s trying to look anywhere but in the direction of people, but I can see her brown eyes are rimmed in red. I look back at Jaxen, who’s cataloging my appearance, taking note of every bruise. Every bloodstain.
“You’re wound isn’t fully healed,” he says, lightly touching my shoulder.
It’s then that pain decides it’s time for me to feel. Sharp pains lance through my entire body with every movement. “I’m fine,” I lie through gritted teeth. “There wasn’t enough time.”
I close my eyes and say a quick healing spell, feeling the hole in my arm weave back together and the tethers of tenderness and discomfort slowly subside.
“Jezi, check Weldon’s calf, please.”
She nods and goes right to work, not giving him a chance to fuss at her.
“I’m going to take Katie upstairs for a minute,” I say quietly, finding Jaxen’s green eyes. “Sterling gave me a map. You can go over that in the meantime.”
He nods, and then turns away, giving Katie the space she needs. I make quick work of guiding her down the hallway and up the stairs. She never stops to ask me where we are. Never stops to take in the haunting beauty of this house.
“I can’t leave him there, Faye,” she says, panicked, the minute I close the door to my room behind us. “We have to go back. We have to.” She moves to the chaise lounge by the window and sits, pulling her knees up to her chest. She’s holding herself so tightly, as if she’s afraid she might fall apart if she lets go.
Everlost (The Night Watchmen Series Book 3) Page 8