by Amanda Ashby
Thomas had made Nash better.
Understanding slammed into her chest as she fumbled for her cell phone. She sent her mom a quick text to say that she was going for a walk to clear her head, and then she raced over to one of the taxis that was parked by the front of the hospital. She directed it to the clearing in the woods, the one place where she knew Thomas would find her. At the back of her mind she wondered if she should’ve told Nash where she was going, but it was overridden by one pressing thought. Thomas could save her dad.
THIRTY-TWO
By the time she reached the clearing, the clouds had shifted and dull threads of sun pushed through into the small space, giving it an almost ethereal feeling. And in the middle was Thomas, waiting for her, as still as a statue. But for once Cassidy didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was here. He was here.
“I need your help.” She came to a halt, her breath still coming thick and fast. His face immediately darkened.
“What has happened? Is it Tr . . . Is it my brother?” he corrected, as if saying Travis’s name was too painful. “Has he done something to you? Threatened you?”
“No.” She gave an impatient shake of her head. “It’s not Travis. Something’s”—she broke off for a moment and took a deep breath, schooling her thoughts so that the tears that were threatening to choke her could be held at bay— “something’s wrong with my dad. He’s sick, Thomas. I need you to heal him.”
For a moment he lowered his eyes before finally looking up, his face full of pain. “I’m sorry, Cassidy. I cannot do anything.”
“Yes, you can,” she insisted as she stamped her foot on the ground. “You have to. This is important. You saved Nash. I saw you. We’ve got the grimoire; we can go there now. I’ll take you to the hospital and put my hand on his chest and touch the grimoire. Thomas, please. You begged me once for help, and now I’m begging you,” she said in an urgent voice. “It’s my dad. We’ve got to help.”
“This is different. I healed Nash because—”
“Do not say duty.” Cassidy could feel her eyes begin to blaze with fury. “Don’t you dare say duty to me, Thomas de la Croix.”
“I healed Nash because he wasn’t dying,” Thomas explained in a soft voice. “I’m sorry, Cassidy. I truly am. Now we still need to discuss the solstice tomorrow night.”
“The solstice?” Disbelief stung her words. “I don’t care about the solstice or the Black Rose. Why can’t you see that? I care only about my dad.” Cassidy dropped to her knees, her hands clutched together. “You’re better than this. I know you. I know you had your reasons to leave your own father. But you can help me. You have to help me.”
For a moment something flickered across his face, but then it was gone. and he was still again. “My power isn’t strong enough to bring someone back from the Great Wheel. There is nothing I can do.”
“Now, now, brother, that isn’t entirely true,” Travis’s voice suddenly said, and Cassidy spun around to see him wandering into the clearing, staring directly at the vision of Thomas.
“Travis, you know the powers of earth magic as well I do. I cannot hold back a life force if it has already started its journey on the Great Wheel.”
“You can’t,” Travis agreed as he made his way over to where Cassidy was still kneeling in the dirt, and he gently helped her up. “But brother dear, I’m not talking about the earth magic. I’m talking about the Black Rose.” Travis reached up and softly ran his finger across her face. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad, Cass. It’s not something I would wish on anyone, least of all you.”
“Enough, Travis,” Thomas roared, his face clenched in a pale mask of fury. “Do not do this.”
“Do what?” Travis took his hand away from her face and turned on his brother. “Tell Cassidy what the Black Rose can really do? Tell her that it could save her father? That it could save many fathers?”
“The Black Rose?” Cassidy felt like she was in the school play and the curtain had suddenly been drawn back to reveal the lights and the audience as she slowly turned to Travis and let a wave of understanding race over her. “It can save him?”
Travis nodded before he caught sight of his brother’s outraged expression. “What? You would deny her this?”
Thomas’s whole body shook with rage. “I would deny her nothing. But this is not the truth that you’re offering her. It’s not real. The Black Rose cannot help her; it can only hurt everyone.” He turned to Cassidy, his mismatched eyes desperate and full of pain. “I’m a plain speaker. I don’t have a smooth tongue to woo you with fancy words. But please, remember Paris. You saw what I saw. You felt what I felt. Can you risk that again? Even for your father?”
“Just because you could walk away doesn’t mean that she has to,” Travis retorted, and Thomas looked as if he’d been hit. Cassidy tried desperately not to think of Thomas’s knife going into his father’s chest and how he then walked away with the grimoire and the Black Rose, without looking back. “I’ve watched one father die. I don’t want to watch another one.”
Cassidys cheeks felt so hot it was like a fever burned inside her. “What if there was another way? What if I could use the Black Rose just for a moment and then send it back to you?”
“It wouldn’t work,” Travis cut in. “Once the Black Rose is released, if you do not send it directly to its next home, it will return to the vessel and the chance will be wasted. So you can either send it to Thomas so he can continue to conceal it from the world, or you can send it to me so that I can heal the world. Or it can go back to Celeste and wait until a demon knight rips it from her beating body.”
“Stop it,” Thomas hissed, his restraint completely stripped away so that his face was bare and racked with emotions. “This fantasy of yours is not real. It is our duty to keep the world safe from the Black Rose.”
Suddenly, Travis stiffened and his dark eyes were lost in swirling amber. “Keep the world safe?” He stalked toward his brother, so close that if Thomas had been really there, their noses would’ve been touching. “There is nothing safe about this world. It is not a good place. Not a kind place. It is polluted. Unjust.”
“Brother, your desire for the Black Rose has corrupted you,” Thomas said, his words dripping with venom. Travis flinched, much as he’d done when they were fighting in the darkened hallway by the chamber where their father was killed. Then he took a step back, his demon eyes blazing.
“Tell me, twin. Before you made my father put the ward onto the one thing that I needed most, did you ever stop to ask yourself why I desired it?” he asked in a soft voice, and suddenly the clearing was quiet. Cassidy held her breath as she watched two brothers staring at each other through time and space. However, when Thomas didn’t answer, Travis threw his head back and laughed. “No, I thought not. Well, let me show you, shall I?”
Without another word Travis took off his coat and lifted the T-shirt he was wearing. But instead of seeing a golden torso, his entire chest was wrapped in a bandage, which he painstakingly unwrapped to reveal his blackened and torn flesh, like a bloodstained battlefield. Cassidy screamed at the sight, and Travis lowered the T-shirt before he turned to her.
“I think I told you that all demons suffer. Our souls are not meant to be in this flesh. Most demons can survive for thirty or forty years, which, where I come from, are good odds. But my suffering has come earlier than most. I am dying. I need the Black Rose to live. To stop the pain,” he said before slowly wrapping the bandages around his torso again.
Cassidy turned to Thomas, her voice hoarse. “Did you know about this?” But his shocked face told her everything. He lowered his head, as if composing himself.
“Cassidy, I’m sorry for your father. And for my brother. I—” He paused for a moment. “I share his pain in my flesh, but not like that. I can’t imagine the torment.”
“And yet you still deny me relief from it?” Travis demanded.
“In any other way I would help you. We are flesh and blood. But my duty is to
the Black Rose.” The words seemed to be choking him, but he turned to Cassidy. “On the solstice, you must send it back to me so I can protect it.”
“You mean so that you can disappear with it.” Travis smoothed down the T-shirt that hid his ravaged body from the world. “I know I played a part in my foster father’s death, and I accept that. But seeing him die like that when I knew the cure was so close at hand was not what I wanted. It was never what I wanted and Cass, more than anything, I don’t want that for you.”
Cassidy thought of her strange conversation with Hugh de la Croix. He said that both his sons were broken. Her choice would help make one whole, but what would it do to the other one? If Travis got the Black Rose, Thomas would’ve failed his duty, and Cassidy knew that he would retreat so deep into his harsh persona that he would probably never emerge again. However, if Thomas got the Black Rose, Travis’s body would end up betraying him.
Then there was her dad. Her father. The most important person in the world to her. The tattoo on her arm burned, like it was moving, and the voice in her mind echoed, “Pick me, me, me.”
She turned to Thomas and tried not to cry.
“Don’t,” he said in a soft voice, obviously realizing her decision before she even told him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she pressed her finger to where his mouth would’ve been if he were flesh and blood instead of just an apparition of a guy stuck back in the fourteenth century. “But what if he’s right? We’ve only seen what happens when a human inhales the essence. What if it’s different for demons? What if the Black Rose can heal? It could help so many people—my father, Thomas. Don’t look like that. It’s not a crime for your brother to want to live. For me to want my father to live. I’m sorry.”
“Cass.” Travis’s voice cut though her pain. “Let me take you home. You look exhausted.” Then once Cassidy nodded, he turned to Thomas, his dark eyes full of compassion and infinite sadness. “I know you won’t believe me, but this is never what I wanted. Tomorrow night at the solstice perhaps you will finally see that.”
“Cassidy,” Thomas called out to her in a tight voice. “Please, don’t make this choice—”
“Thomas, it’s my dad,” she said, but it was too late, and he was gone.
She felt as if she’d been hit in the chest, and even the feel of Travis’s arm around her shoulder, leading her out of the woods, was no comfort. Cassidy thought she could hear the rustle of feathers flying along somewhere above them, but when she looked up, the owl was nowhere to be seen.
She’d just made the hardest decision of her life. Hugh de la Croix was right. Both of his sons were good at heart, and tomorrow, as long as her dad could hold on, she was going to do something that would destroy one of them forever. She felt certain she was doing the right thing, so why did it hurt so much?
THIRTY-THREE
Cassidy sat in the hospital room the following evening and stared at the machine. It was too painful to look at her dad’s unmoving face, so she had taken to looking at the heart monitor instead. Besides, it was the thing that told her that he was still holding on.
Fear and nerves jangled in her stomach as she looked at her watch. Nash would be there soon, and then they would collect Celeste to go to the woods to wait for the solstice. She toyed with the carnelian necklace that Travis had given her. Suddenly, she was pleased that the twins’ mom wasn’t there to see what Cassidy was about to do to one of her sons.
“I don’t have a choice,” she whispered as she tightened her grip on the carnelian. “Please, you’ve got to understand.”
However, Thomas’s and Travis’s long-dead mother didn’t answer, and Cassidy thrust the necklace back into her pocket with the owl feather. She knew she was making the right decision, but it still weighed heavily on her mind. And her greatest fear was that it would be too little, too late.
Finally, she forced herself to look at her dad. His hair was looking grayer and the tan on his face had faded, but the softness around his mouth was still there. Cassidy felt the tears threaten to choke her again.
“Just a bit longer, Dad,” she told him in a stern voice as she wiped away her tears. It was pointless to cry when she was going to fix everything. When she was going to make him okay again.
“Did you say something?” Her mom walked into the room, looking even more pale and wan than she had yesterday.
“I was just telling him to hang on.” Cassidy looked up, not sure if her mom would think that she was being silly. “The nurse said it was okay to talk to him.”
“Of course it is.” Her mom wrapped her arms around her chest and then nodded at Cassidy’s arm as her eyes watered up. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t very supportive of the tattoos when you first got them. I’m pleased that you went back and got another one. I’m starting to understand how important hope is. It’s there for us even if we don’t know it.”
Cassidy rolled her sleeve back, and the black rose on her arm tingled in recognition. Her mom had no idea just how much hope the tattoo was going to give them. Her dad just needed to hold on for long enough.
“Look, here’s Nash.” Her mom wiped her eyes. “It’s good that he’s convinced you to take a break from this place. Pity there isn’t much day left. I think it’s the shortest day of the year. The—”
“Solstice,” Cassidy finished off as she got to her feet. Suddenly, her mom looked tiny, hunched over in the chair, her dark auburn hair pulled back into a messy knot. Without thinking, Cassidy leaned over and gave her a hug. She was strangely touched that her mom’s stiff shoulders softened and relaxed. “Keep your hope alive, Mom. Promise me that you won’t give up hope while I’m gone.”
“I promise.” Her mom’s voice was full of tears, but as Cassidy pulled away she could see the determination that had set in around her mom’s mouth. And for the first time in days Cassidy felt a small smile tug at her lips. Her mom might have missed a lot of birthdays and other milestones over the years, but being stubborn was something that she had never failed at. Suddenly, she was grateful for that.
Then Cassidy gave her dad one final look before she hurried out to where Nash was waiting. Without speaking, he enveloped her in his arms like the true friend he had always been to her, and Cassidy felt the tears slide out. Then she realized he was wearing his Smiths T-shirt, and she wriggled away.
“It’s your favorite,” she explained. “I don’t want to get it all snotty.”
“If you think that I care about snot on my shirt, then you’re an idiot,” Nash retorted. “Fortunately, idiots are my favorite kinds of people. You look tired.”
“I think what you mean to say is that I look like shit,” Cassidy corrected as they walked through the never-ending hospital corridors until they reached the elevator. As they went down her decision continued to play out in her mind.
Save one brother and destroy another. Pick me. Pick me. And if she chose the wrong brother, then, while her dad might recover, the world might not be so lucky. It could be Paris all over again.
“Are you thinking about it again?” Nash asked in a soft voice, and she silently nodded. They’d spent most of the night talking about it, but even Nash and his brilliant philosophical mind was stumped. Of course, the alternative was to do nothing, but then she’d have to keep protecting Celeste from demons until the next winter solstice. And who was even to say that she would be successful? Not exactly an easy option.
Besides, no matter how difficult the decision was, she’d made it now, and Nash had spent the rest of the time showing her the ritual in the grimoire so that Cassidy could be prepared to release the Black Rose.
Celeste would be unaware of what was happening. Cassidy would draw a circle and chant a long, tedious poem. The essence of the Black Rose would then rise out of Celeste’s body. Cassidy then had only seconds to direct it toward Travis, and he would inhale the essence, making him strong, whole, and capable of saving her father.
“Cass, there’s no right or wrong. You’re just doing the best you
can, considering the circumstances.”
“Are you sure that she won’t feel the ritual at all?” Suddenly, Cassidy felt bad that she kept forgetting about Celeste. She was the person who didn’t really have a choice. She was still clueless about what was happening around her, or just how many people wanted to get the thing out from inside her.
Of course she had far too much school spirit for Cassidy’s liking, and a love of shopping that made Nash shudder, but they were both in agreement that they didn’t want to see her get hurt. Plus, while Cassidy was at a dress fitting, Mrs. Gilbert had taken a call, and from the sound of it, her husband had walked out on them a few months ago and money was tight. It suddenly explained why Celeste had been working in the nursing home.
Nash shook his head. “The spell in the grimoire will put her into a dreamlike trance. She won’t feel anything but happiness and bliss. According to Thomas, in the past, when the Black Rose was housed in human vessels, it was considered a desirable job, not because of all the people and demons trying to rip your flesh apart, but because of the euphoria that it allowed.”
“Y-you have spoken to Thomas?” Cassidy asked in surprise.
Nash dipped his head before shooting her an apologetic look. “I just wanted to make sure that I got the spell right. Celeste is a pain in the butt, but I didn’t want to turn her into a toad or anything.”
“D-did he say anything about me? Did he try and get you to help change my mind?”
“No, definitely not. He was even more reticent than ever until he told me about the human vessels and how it was an honored role in the past.”
“Oh.” Cassidy bit back her disappointment. Not that she really wanted any extra pressure, but for some reason it still bugged her that Thomas hadn’t made more of an effort to change her mind. Then the elevator opened up and they hurried out to the parking lot. It was time.