The Girl In Between series: Books 1-4

by Laekan Zea Kemp

  “We could try,” I said.

  Without Celia, Cole stood in as my anchor. I sensed Adham the moment our fingertips touched, Cole’s dreams seeping into my thoughts as he watched them race. The stone in one hand, Cole’s skin in the other, I was led straight to them, the sound of their heartbeats making me dizzy. Their fear manifested first, competing with the sound of the car’s engine, a loud growl snapping and gnashing behind them.

  Their faces finally came into focus—Adham, Felix, and Oswald. Felix gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles bloody. Oswald clutched the seatbelt over his chest, ducking as the back window shattered. Adham hurled his flames through the opening, a beast I couldn’t see screaming against the heat. My heart pounded too and then I noticed Felix, frantic as he searched for the sound.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked Adham. “It sounds like…”

  “Felix?” The thought was barely stronger than a whisper but even I heard the echo, Felix swerving as my voice swelled within the car.

  Adham was the only one brave enough to answer. “Dani?”

  I could feel the cold wind tearing through the open window. I could feel the heat peeling from Adham’s skin. Every inch of my body felt like it was in that car with them, just as cold, just as terrified. And yet, in my hand, I could still feel the stone, the rough face pulling towards something like a magnet.

  “The stones.”

  At the sound of my voice Adham scrambled for the stones Celia had given them. He pulled them from their jacket pockets, the rough edges immediately locking in place.

  Dani. Dani. Dani.

  “Dani!” Cole shook me, my fingers sore and burning.

  I looked down just as the stone dropped to the floor. It was covered in blood, a long gash running from my index finger to the bottom of my hand. Cole rushed to wrap it, some of Felix’s unused gauze ripping between his teeth. I stared past my hand, past the gauze to where my blood pooled on the hardwood.

  I heard the faint beat of a car horn and I froze. “Cole…”

  He tilted his head. “Is that—?”

  Someone slammed on the horn again, the sound shrill and moving closer. The ground shook, falling stone making the entire house quake.

  Cole barreled through the front door, almost falling over once he saw what was outside. He looked back at me, panting. “Adham…”

  The Rogues pushed past us, ablaze as the monster that had been chasing Felix and Adham thrashed against the fortress. It slammed against the stone, wild and blind, grey flesh stretching into wings. It strained its neck, humanlike and hungry, but there was only teeth. No eyes or nose. The skin of its mouth stretched, revealing endless rows of sharp points.

  Rafael and Vogle were the first to charge the beast. It didn’t even flinch against their flames, instead using the heat to guide it through the cracks. It wrestled its way inside, the roof of the stone fortress collapsing as the other Rogues rose in temperature.

  Ezekiel cowered from his own light. “What the hell? What’s happening?”

  “You’re waking up.” Damon smacked him, Ezekiel flaming as if he’d been doused in gasoline.

  Ezekiel let out a growl, panic twisting into a manic smile. Then he charged straight for the monster. His newfound power or maybe his returning panic made him pause and the monster flung him back, something black and sticky dripping from him as he rolled in the grass.

  “Flames aren’t working,” Felix yelled.

  He was across the clearing, watching me as I watched him. The beast spread its wings, blocking him from view. Adham rushed it next, anger riling him into a frenzy. I didn’t know how many miles it had been chasing them or how long Adham had tried to fight it off. But he was desperate to finish it, even if that meant being reckless.

  He latched onto the wing, his hands slipping on the same black goo Ezekiel was covered in. He tore at the flesh, trying to snap off whatever piece he could. The monster bucked and Adham flew, tumbling in the dirt before slamming head first into a tree.

  Cole ran to him, slipping midway and clawing back onto his feet. He fell at Adham’s side just as the beast let out an agonizing scream. I fell to my knees, Vogle clutching me while I clutched my ears. The Rogues were frozen too, heat stifled by the sound as the monster raised a hand, ready to snatch one of them off their feet.

  Just as it reached for Ezekiel, the black goo stiffening around his skin, my eyes were pulled toward another sound. The moon vanished beneath a large shadow and then the monster was buried, glass and slats of wood scattered as a structure came straight down. Something like a roof slid onto the grass, shingles snapping off as the two posts holding up the porch cracked in half. The house fell apart in pieces and I held my breath, waiting for the monster to claw its way out of the rubble. But in the quiet I heard a grunting sound that was so distinctly…

  “Andre!” Vogle let go of me, climbing the mound just as Andre shoved out a fist.

  Lathan surfaced next, one hand lugging his Dreamer up behind him. Then out crawled Shay, Domingo, Charles, and Callum. I saw a flash of black hair, the wind tossing it as Valentina emerged. She climbed out of the rubble, a shaking hand locking around her wrist as she pulled Rodrigo from the ashes.

  55

  Adham

  Before I could check for blood, Cole had me by the jacket collar. He hoisted me against the trunk of the tree, searching my eyes for a concussion, searching my hairline for blood. I searched him too, confused at his touch, at his closeness. He looked just as confused. And angry. And afraid.

  And then he kissed me, transferring his fear and making me feel dizzy all over again. His lips ripped from mine, rushed, shaking. The tremor raced all the way down to his hands.

  “Cole?”

  He clenched his fists. “I thought you cared about me…”

  His voice was so low I was afraid I’d only imagined it. I sat up straighter, waiting for him to look at me again. To kiss me again. Please.

  Cole swallowed. “Not enough, I guess.”

  This time I grabbed him, so desperate for something real that I didn’t have time to worry about pushing him away. “What are you talking about?”

  “You left. And you almost got yourself killed.”

  I yanked him closer until we were almost nose to nose. “I left because I didn’t think you wanted me here.” I let go. “You know how I feel. You know I care about you…more than anything. But you’re the one who doesn’t want me to.”

  Cole slipped off his knees, gripping the ground. “I’m sorry.”

  I grew still. “You’re sorry…”

  Cole leaned in again. This time slow. Careful. He pressed his mouth over mine, eyes open, both of us staring into the future we’d been fighting for the past year. He sunk, giving in. I sunk too, barely able to breathe.

  “You have ten seconds! This place will be surrounded. Destroyed. All of you. Do you hear me?”

  Cole and I broke apart at the sound of Oswald’s voice. He was throwing a fit in the center of the yard. Andre just shook his head, lifting him up by the belt loop. He wriggled like a child, swinging at Andre’s stomach and missing, almost knocking himself in the face.

  Cole raised an eyebrow, looking from Oswald to me. “And he was really worth the risk of getting yourself killed and never seeing me again…”

  “When I thought you hated me, maybe.” I stood, helping Cole up too. “Now…” I cleaned the dirt from his cheek. “Never.”

  56

  Roman

  She didn’t run. She didn’t push me. She placed me as gently as possible on the loveseat next to where her body laid—a reminder of why she had to face Sebastían alone. A reminder of what still needed protecting.

  She hadn’t said the words: I trust you. I still wasn’t sure if she did. I still wasn’t sure if I trusted myself. But I had to believe that Bryn sending me back to her body meant she trusted something bigger than us. Fate. Maybe even Rodrigo.

  I’d been searching for him across oceans and continents. But maybe, even as Bryn was
pushing me away, even as she was treading so close to giving up, she’d been looking for him too. Maybe she just didn’t know it.

  But the past didn’t matter now. All that mattered was the look on Bryn’s face when he’d told her what he dreamed about, when she’d realized that he’d been looking for her just as desperately as we’d been searching for him. She hadn’t looked at him with distrust or even disdain—something she’d saved for me in those moments when my hope seemed like nothing but a delusion. Instead, she’d looked at him with the most gut-wrenching gratitude. With relief.

  I stared down at her body, the same “delusions” that had driven me to find Rodrigo making it look more alive than it had in days. I traced her shape beneath the blankets, the patchwork shifting. I swore it looked like she was breathing.

  “You have ten seconds! This place will be surrounded. Destroyed.”

  My spine stiffened, traced by a cold sweat.

  “All of you. Do you hear me?”

  I raced down the stairs as he was being heaved over the threshold. Andre pressed a glowing hand to his mouth, not hot enough to blister him but hot enough to keep him quiet. When he saw me he gasped, choking on smoke.

  “Oswald…” My voice was a degree hotter than Andre’s touch, the rest of me itching to ignite.

  “Where do you want him, boss?” Andre raised an eyebrow, luring me into the game.

  I didn’t know what exactly we were playing at but if I was the boss then I sure as hell wasn’t going to worry about the rules.

  “Dining room,” I said.

  Andre and Domingo tied Oswald to one of the dining room chairs, strategically facing him toward the maps, the television in his periphery vision. I wanted him to see the destruction, to fear what Bryn and I had “done” the same way he’d convinced the rest of the world to.

  I hadn’t noticed the strangers before, all of them staring right at me. But as they clustered near Vogle and Rafael, light dancing in their eyes or beneath their fingernails, I realized that Oswald wasn’t the only one I was performing for.

  I looked to Felix and he gave a slight nod, confirming that he’d found them. I examined them one by one, the wide eyes looking back confirming how many of them were still clueless about what they were.

  Oswald scanned the tacks. “Trophies,” he hissed. “You’re sick.”

  “Insulting a god…” I smirked. “For a master historian, like yourself, you sure do have a short memory.” I leaned in, breathing a flame against his ear. “Maybe I should remind you what happened the last time we met…”

  He flinched. “Stay back. All of you!”

  My brow knitted, feigning fear. “Or what?”

  Oswald wriggled against the ropes, his demon hunting t-shirt riding up over his gut. “They’ll figure out I’ve been abducted. There are people out there…soldiers. They’ll find me.”

  I stood over him, remembering the young girl tied up over a pyre. She’d dressed herself in wings, believing in Bryn the same way I did. And then they’d set her on fire, turning her wings and hope to ash.

  “I’ve seen your soldiers,” I spat. “I prefer to call them cowards.”

  “Call them whatever you like. They’ll still come for me.”

  Felix stepped to my side. “And if you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’ll make sure there’s nothing left for them to find.”

  I examined Felix’s face, trying to read his master plan. I had no idea what had happened while we were away but from the way Oswald cowered, more afraid of Felix than he was of me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  Felix took over the interrogation, hurling questions at Oswald about his contacts and curses and whether there were any loopholes in Bryn’s prophecy. Adham watched me from across the room, the concern in his eyes spiking at Felix’s voice. But I wasn’t listening.

  When I fell in front of the television screen, Felix finally stopped talking. And breathing. Everyone stopped breathing.

  Grainy security film played on a loop. A man entered a convenience store. Alone. He grabbed a gallon of milk and handed the store clerk a five-dollar bill.

  The clerk took it. Slow. Too slow. He counted out the change; recounted it. The man paying for the milk leaned against the counter. Relaxed. The clerk finally pushed him his change. The man dropped it into his pocket. He nodded, thanking the clerk, and then he pushed through the glass doors outside.

  Another man approached him. He was not alone. The milk exploded on the pavement. For ten seconds I couldn’t see the first man anymore. He was on the ground, buried under fists and boots. Then there were sparks. Three shots. The frame cleared, the other men jumping into a truck before speeding off.

  The man on the ground was nothing but an outline, his coat rippling in the wind. The milk was the only thing bright enough to make out until a dark shadow chased it back.

  My father’s blood.

  The newscast zoomed in on a decal stamped to the truck’s tailgate as it sped off. It was the same symbol that was on Oswald’s shirt.

  I didn’t think. I leapt, clawing at him while he screamed. The sound fed me, waking memories of Carlisle and Anso and my reflection in that bathroom mirror. He filled me, spreading from the balls of my feet to the tips of my fingers. We locked in place as my knuckles locked with Oswald’s jaw. I could feel the groove of every tooth, the crunch the most magnificent sound I’d ever heard.

  My father. My father. What did you do to my father?

  I couldn’t control the heat.

  What did I do?

  I couldn’t control my hands.

  Roman. Roman. Roman. Roman.

  “You son of a bitch!” My flames caught the edge of Oswald’s shirt. They raced across his chest. “You fucking monster. You did this! You…” I hammered my fist against the side of his face again, glasses melting into his skin. “You…”

  I slammed against the wall, pallets coming down over my head. I blinked against the falling dust to see Adham’s shoulders heaving. He waited for me to dim, for me to take a breath. I couldn’t.

  “Let me do it,” I whispered.

  Adham knelt.

  I shook, a sob ripping me in half. “Let me kill him.”

  Adham sighed. “No.”

  I closed my eyes, trying not to see it. “Please…” I choked. “It hurts, Adham. Please.”

  “I know.” There were tears in his eyes too.

  “Please…”

  He pulled me from the rubble and I walked straight into the moonlight. It stared down at me, hungry.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” My lungs grasped at the air. “I’m so sorry. Dad…”

  I fell on my hands and knees. But that wasn’t low enough. I pressed my body to the ground, my eyes closed, and suddenly it was hard and damp. I blinked, my elbows slipping on wet pavement. A road twisted out from under me like a giant snake, stagnant rain glinting beneath the moonlight like scales. But it wasn’t red. The moon was a bright white, clouds barely obscuring the face.

  I stared up at it, trying to sense the shift in time. The only thing that seemed to have shifted was me.

  A low growl reverberated against the pavement, pebbles bouncing as something tore down the road. Headlights flashed, so bright they knocked me back. Air rushed against my face and I waited for the impact. But then the tires screeched, the car swerving just in time to miss me before bucking off the road and heading straight for a tree.

  57

  Bryn

  Don’t touch her.

  Is she breathing?

  I think she’s waking up.

  Sounds pricked at me, every word a hammer against my skull. Whispers slipped between the cracks, burrowing like insects. I tried to move, to swat them away. But I was pinned down, my muscles just as silent as I was. I pursed cracked lips; tried to wriggle my tongue. I inhaled, choked out nothing but air.

  She must have given them a struggle.

  I haven’t seen anyone this zombified since the Haskins boy and that was only after he’d ripped one of the
nurse’s ears off.

  Or was it a finger?

  “Nu-ss” I croaked out a few letters. I swallowed, tried again. “Nurse.”

  Someone go get the nurse.

  Maybe she’s thirsty.

  Maybe she has to go to the bathroom.

  Oh, I don’t want to help with that.

  Hurry before she pisses the bed.

  I blinked, light streaming in from a barred window searing my vision. It streaked over floating dust and white walls. And two pudgy faces peering over my bedside. My first instinct was to retreat, but my muscles weren’t just weak, they were bound by leather straps. I looked from the straps to the children in hospital gowns. I was dressed in the same light blue smock.

  “Are you alright?” A little girl with cropped brown hair switched a giant red sucker from cheek to cheek.

  The boy to her left, scrawny and his hair buzzed, inched a finger towards my stomach. Then he pushed it directly into my belly button.

  I glared at him.

  “Okay, guess the sedative’s wearing off.” He eased behind the brunette.

  “Do you remember your name?” the little girl asked.

  I heard the familiar squeak of sneakers on linoleum and then a nurse turned the corner followed by a third young girl. This one blonde, her blue eyes piercing.

  “Sam.” I tried to sit up, my neck straining off the bed.

  The boy wrinkled his nose. “Two Sam’s. That’s weird.”

  I looked past him. “Sam, it’s me.”

  She hung by the door, letting the nurse move to the bed.

  “You kids get back to your rooms,” the nurse said as she flipped through the chart hanging on the wall. “She needs to get her rest.”