And now it’s too late. The gun makes a strange clicking noise, and the man’s finger itches toward the trigger. I take a deep breath. Brace myself for his shot.
But someone else fires first, from somewhere behind me. The shot eats a clean little hole right in the man’s temple, filling the air with the scent of his sizzling flesh. A single trail of smoke spirals up from it, while a thin coil of blood oozes down between his eyes. He slumps forward, and he’s dead by the time he falls at my feet.
I look back, and Violet is behind me, lowering a gun to her side.
“Hello, Birdy,” she says, that familiar cat grin spreading across her face.
“What are you doing?” I scramble away from her and get unsteadily to my feet, not taking my eyes off that gun.
“Saving your life.”
“Why?”
“Because you are my darling little sister, and I love you so.”
“You are a psychopath,” I say, inching away from her, “and I don’t have time for your games right now.” Not to mention I really don’t like the idea of playing without any sort of weapon.
“This is pretty serious for a game, wouldn’t you say?” She gives the Huxley man a little shove with her foot. He rolls over, and his dead, unseeing eyes are still wide open. I can’t stop looking into them. The sight makes me sick to my stomach.
Almost as if his lifeless body rolling over was their cue, suddenly I hear the shouts of more men in the distance. They sound like they’re moving closer. Violet throws an irritated glance toward the noise, while I force my eyes away from the dead man and swallow the bile rising in my throat.
“And here I was hoping we’d have a little more time before they caught up,” she says, looking back to me. “Because there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. Questions I wanted to ask you.”
“Questions about what?” I ask, backing farther away from her.
“About something you said last night.” I don’t like the strange gleam that lights up her eyes as she says the words; maybe it’s just a trick of the low lighting in here, but there’s still something unsettling about it. “You said I was something all wrong,” she continues, her voice missing some of its usual indifference. “What did you mean by that?”
“That’s a bit of a loaded question.” I mutter the words under my breath, but the frown that crosses her face tells me she heard them. And something about that frown makes me stop midstep. It’s too real, almost.
Too real for a psychopath, at least.
I know better than to trust it now, though. I’m not sure what she’s trying to do, saving me like that, and looking at me the way she is—but I don’t have time to deal with this right now. I need to get out of here. Jaxon is probably outside waiting for me by this point, and if I don’t show up soon, something tells me he’s going to come charging back in here after me. And I can’t think of any possible way that could end well.
So when Violet steps toward me, I quickly take another step back. And another. One step back for every one she takes forward. I try to turn away, but she catches me by the elbow with a grip like steel.
“I have to go,” I say. I try to pull free, but it’s useless; she’s too strong.
“I know,” she says, her gaze drifting back toward the sounds of the approaching men. “So we’ll meet again soon, then. Tonight. In the woods, north of the graveyard.”
“What are you—”
“You know where I’m talking about.”
“You’re crazy.”
“The three of you should head back toward Haven, anyway,” she goes on, as if she’s having the conversation with herself and I’m just an unfortunate audience member.
“Why?”
Her gaze goes distant for a moment. She looks like she’s having a hard time focusing on the words she wants to say. Then she closes her eyes, gives her head a little shake, and says, “Because. Things are happening.”
“Don’t be vague or anything.”
She still looks confused, unfocused for a few more seconds. But then her familiar smirk returns. “Outside the city walls is no place for you anyway,” she says, her fingers tracing the cut along the back of my arm. “You might get hurt.”
“You’re the only reason I got hurt,” I snap. “And I left the city to find you.”
“Well, here I am,” she says. “Well done. You found me. And tonight you’ll find me again, in the woods north of the graveyard. Only you, though. The other two stay behind.”
“You honestly think I’m going to meet you alone in a dark forest? After what you’ve done?”
“Either you come to me or I find you. And then I get rid of Jaxon and Seth so that you and I can have some privacy for our little chat.”
My mouth is unbearably dry all of a sudden. So much for making the rules to the game. “You leave them out of this,” I say.
“So long as you cooperate, I have every intention of doing exactly that.” Her eyes harden. “Even if I am something all wrong.” I ignore the stab of guilt that her tone causes. Because I’m not taking those words back; I’m tired of apologizing for my own thoughts.
Was I right to think that about her, though? She just killed one of Huxley’s own personnel. That doesn’t seem like something their scientists would have brainwashed her into doing.
All of my questions about that are going to have to wait, though, because Violet’s already turned away now, and I don’t have another second to waste in this hallway. But still, I can’t help myself: I call after her one last time.
“Where are you going?” I ask. Because it looks like she’s heading directly toward the men, and even after everything she’s put me through, I still can’t help but worry about what might happen.
She doesn’t seem concerned, though. If anything, she looks bored. “To take care of them,” she answers, “so hopefully you can manage to get out of here without getting yourself killed. Now hurry up and go. You’re going to be late for our meeting if you stay here much longer.” She picks up her pace and disappears around the corner. I watch the spot where she disappeared until I can’t hear her footsteps anymore.
And then I turn and face the long hallway stretching out in front of me, and I force myself to start walking.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Monsters
“So why, exactly, are we stopping again?” Seth asks, propping himself up on the armrest between me and Jaxon.
A muscle works in Jaxon’s jaw. He hasn’t been in a good mood since we left the hotel, and I don’t think Seth’s helping. A fact which, unsurprisingly, Seth seems oblivious to. I’d blame it on the tranquilizer still fogging up his brain, but I don’t know if he deserves that much credit.
“I’m just curious,” he goes on. “Because it seems like the definition of a bad idea to me—you know, given how many people have tried to kill us in the past twenty-four hours? I mean, if it’s all the same to you guys, I’d like to keep a little distance between us and—”
“We’re going to have to stop and charge the engine at some point,” Jaxon interrupts. “We have no gas, and we won’t make it back to Haven on the power we’ve got now.” He glances over at me, his expression unreadable. “And Cate wanted to stop here. So this is where we’re stopping. Any more questions?”
“Actually—”
But Jaxon already has his door open, and he slams it behind him before Seth can finish his sentence.
For a minute the two of us just stare after him. Then Seth clears his throat, and I feel his gaze shift to me. “Cate wanted us to stop here,” he says in a terrible impersonation of Jaxon’s voice.
“Shut up.”
“You’ve been using your voodoo devil-woman magic on him again, haven’t you?”
“Seth, if I knew devil-woman magic, I’d use it to take away your voice. Forever.”
He hoists himself up and swings into the vacant driver seat. “You know, I don’t doubt that. So I guess that only leaves one explanation.” He leans back against the seat with a sigh.<
br />
“What are you talking about?”
“My boy is completely and totally whipped.”
I roll my eyes. “He didn’t stop just for me,” I say. “You heard him—we need to take care of the car.”
“I should have seen this coming,” Seth says, shaking his head and groaning as if he’s in actual pain.
“I think you should go get the charging pad ready,” I say pointedly. “Preferably before all those people who want to kill us show up.”
“I could have saved him—”
“I’m serious, Seth.”
“He was so young—”
“Okay, I’m leaving now.”
“You stay away from him, devil-woman!” he shouts at me as I shut the door. Even though part of me would rather stay behind. At least Seth is in a joking mood, since he’s thrilled that we’re going back to the city after all. But Jaxon was more than a little suspicious about my sudden change of heart. And that, on top of the fact that he’s still incredibly ticked off about the way I ran off in the hotel, is at least part of the reason I’d rather just crawl into the corner of the backseat and somehow make myself invisible to everyone and everything around me.
But I can’t do that. Not now.
It’s gotten much cooler out since we left the hotel, which makes it even more impossible not to think about how late it is. The sun is hanging dangerously low in the sky. I wander toward the graveyard gate and lean against it, lift my gaze toward the woods in the distance.
Tonight . . . Only you . . . The other two stay behind.
I made it this far, at least. I managed to get Jaxon to stop here by telling him I wanted to visit my sister’s grave one last time before we headed back into Haven. Now I just have to figure out how to get away from the two of them, and how to keep them from following me.
Because I can’t let them anywhere near Violet. I want to think she was bluffing when she said she would get rid of those two if she had to, but I’m not stupid. I still can’t trust her. And I can’t—I won’t—run from her anymore either. So this is what it comes down to, I guess.
“If you’re going to go visit your sister’s grave, you need to hurry up.” Jaxon’s voice makes me jump. “We’re leaving as soon as the engine’s done charging.”
I force myself to turn my back on the woods and face him. I can’t run from him, either, no matter how much I might want to right now.
“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?” I ask. I don’t know why, out of everything else I should be worried about, those are the first words that come to my mind. I guess I just don’t like the thought of leaving him when he’s still upset with me. Just in case I don’t come back.
“I’m not mad,” he says. But his shoulders are stiff as he leans on the fence next to me, and his tone is obviously irritated; he’s never talked to me like this before. His phone is in his hands, and instead of looking at me, he focuses on tossing it back and forth between them.
“You’re lying,” I say quietly. Maybe I shouldn’t push him, but I don’t have time to wait for him to decide to admit his feelings to me.
He stops tossing the phone and gives me a sidelong glance. “I’m not mad. I mean, besides the way you left me standing in that room, after using Seth as a bargaining point so I had no choice other than to just watch you run off to your possible death, why on earth would I be mad at you?”
“What else was I supposed to do?” I ask. “We’re out here because of me. Seth was barely conscious because of me. It was the least I could—”
He turns angrily toward me, closing the space between us and crowding me back against the rusty iron gate. The bars dig into my back, and the whole thing creaks under my weight. “Stop. Doing. That,” Jaxon says, his voice low and hardly containing his anger. “You didn’t come out here for yourself. You aren’t the one who knocked Seth unconscious. Stop blaming yourself for the things that clone has done.”
“Stop calling her that,” I warn. I don’t bother trying to keep my voice as quiet as his.
“You mean stop calling it what it is?”
“She’s not just an it.”
“What would you like me to call her, then?”
I try to push him away, but he just grabs the bar behind me and braces his arm against it. His body is so close to me now that I can hardly move, much less get any kind of leverage to shove him away with. “I’d like for you to call her by her name,” I say through clenched teeth. “And I’d also like for you to get out of my way. Now.”
“I’m not calling her anything but a monster. Because that’s exactly what she is. Just like Huxley and all their creations—and I knew it from the beginning. But I followed you out here to find her anyway. I was going to keep following you, for some stupid reason, I wanted to think you were right, that you—”
“Well I didn’t ask you for any of that, now, did I?”
I also didn’t ask for this argument. I don’t have time for this either.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “All that matters is that we’re going back to the city now, and we need to talk about something before we get there.”
“Talk about what?”
“About how we can’t keep pretending like this.”
“I never—”
“Violet’s clone needs to be stopped. I realize that now. You have to realize that now, and you have to know we can’t do it alone. Things are just . . . they’re getting out of control. This is bigger than you and me. Way bigger.”
“You’re just scared.”
“Of course I am,” he says, shaking his head. “I’ve almost lost you twice now. Do you have any clue what that’s doing to me? The thought of anything happening to you—the thought that no matter what I do, I can’t keep you safe. I can’t stand it.”
His voice is softer now, so I try hard—really hard—to take some of the edge off mine when I say, “I’m sorry, okay? I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You cooperate. With me, with the CCA, with—”
The back of my neck burns. “With the people who have terrorized my family since practically the day I was born.”
“With the people who will help protect you, if you’d just work with me here.”
“Right,” I say, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “I guess I should have just cooperated from the beginning, huh? Just helped you all destroy my sister’s clone before you even had any evidence that she’d done anything wrong.”
“She’s a clone,” he says, his tone hardening again. “What more evidence did we really need?”
I slap him. As hard as I possibly can.
“Jesus, Cate—”
“Get away from me. Now.”
“Calm down.”
“Let me go, Jaxon, or I swear, I’ll—”
“Please calm down. I’m sorry, okay?”
I raise my hand, threatening him with another slap. But he grabs both my wrists and gently but firmly pushes them back against the bars behind me. The phone slips from his hand and falls at our feet.
“Was this your plan all along?” I ask, my gaze falling with it. “To wait for the perfect moment to drag me back to the CCA? Is that who you were calling? That was who called you in the hotel, wasn’t it?”
I was stupid to let him get so close to me last night. I was stupid to think—even for a second—that he was actually different from the rest of those monsters at the CCA. That he was on my side and that he’d actually be able to understand why I can’t help anyone hurt Violet.
“Do you really think this is what I wanted? Have you listened to anything I’ve told you? I didn’t want Violet to be a murderer. I didn’t want my mother to be right—about Violet or Huxley or anything. And I just want all of this to be over with now.” His voice is calm, but there’s still fire smoldering in his eyes.
“What if it was me?”
“What?”
I didn’t really mean to ask the question out loud. But now I can’t take it back; the wa
y he’s looking at me gives me no choice but to keep going. “What about when my replacement comes?” My voice is shaking so badly that he probably can’t even understand what I’m saying. “Are you going to be the one to track her down and kill her?” I demand. “Because she’ll remember you, you know. My clone . . . I bet she’ll think about you all the time. At least at first. Maybe she’ll be exactly like me at first too, and so she’ll want to trust you in spite of everything, and she’ll be easy to trick. So you’ll be the perfect person for the job! And I bet you think it will be easy, don’t you? That you’re going to be able to look at her and then just destroy her, simple as that, because she’s just a clone in the end, isn’t she?”
“Stop it. Don’t say things like that.”
“Like what? Like the truth?”
“That isn’t the truth. You’re not going to be replaced.” He takes his hands from my wrists and brings them up on either side of my face instead. “I won’t let that happen, all right? I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Wouldn’t it be nice to believe him, I think. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just keep staring into his eyes like this, and if just focusing on his touch was enough to make me forget what we’ll have to face once we get back to the city? Assuming we both make it back, of course. Assuming that losing myself in the blue sea of his eyes somehow makes the darkening sky—and the looming meeting with my sister—irrelevant.
If only.
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” I say, and this time when I put my hands on his chest and shove him away, he doesn’t fight back. He just stares at me, his shoulders slumped and a torn expression on his face.
I realize then that this is how it’s going to happen. This is how I’m going to get away from him.
And it’s going to suck.
“I don’t need you to make all those stupid promises anyway,” I say, my voice quiet and as angry as I can force it to be. “I don’t want anything to do with them. I don’t want anything to do with you—I never should have had anything to do with you in the first place.”
Falls the Shadow Page 17