Unbreakable l-1

by Kami Garcia

  May the black dove always carry you.

  I dropped the cylinder, and a blinding light poured from the strange symbols as it rolled across the floor.

  I thought about the other spirits—the girl in the yellow dress protecting her doll with the disk inside.

  Millicent’s words from the well: “I won’t let you take anything else from us.”

  The magician’s spirit promising he had tried to keep it safe before I destroyed him.

  The disk hidden in a room protected by the spirits of dozens of dead children, and the words of the one carrying the sledgehammer it was hidden inside: “If I watch over what’s his, he’ll come back for me.”

  And Darien Shears, a serial killer who put the cylinder inside the base of the chair that electrocuted him—a spirit who knew the phrase used by the members of the Legion.

  Were the spirits protecting the pieces all along, or did Andras’ reach extend farther than we thought? Maybe Darien heard a member of the Legion say the words and remembered them?

  I should have asked before I used my specialty to destroy him.

  My specialty.

  Salt spilled in between my fingers as I rubbed it over my wrist. I pictured the final section of the seal embedded in my skin and imagined my friends holding their arms against mine to complete the seal.

  What will it feel like to be one of them?

  I glanced at the Devil’s Trap one last time to be sure. There was nothing inside, not a speck of dust. There was no doubt I had destroyed Darien’s spirit.

  But did I really trap a devil?

  I waited for the lines to carve themselves into my wrist, hoping it wouldn’t hurt. Familiar voices called out to me as I leaned over my arm, tears dripping down onto my perfectly smooth skin.

  32. HEAT OF HELL

  A crack snaked up the wall, destroying the perfect rendition of the Shift, as I watched the real one roll back and forth across the floor. I tried to pick it up and it burned the skin off my fingertips. The room shook, the low rumble of thunder trapped within the walls.

  Maybe this evil place was coming down around me, and I’d never have to leave Darien’s cell and face the four people who believed I was someone more than myself.

  “Kennedy?” a voice called from the hallway.

  I hugged my knees to my chest and waited to see if the building would stop shaking before I did.

  Metal scraped and creaked as the bolt on the door unlocked.

  Jared dragged me to my feet. “What are you doing? We have to get out of here.”

  I held out my arm silently, a thin layer of salt still coating my unmarked skin.

  Confusion clouded Jared’s beautiful features. Lukas and Alara came over as I rubbed more salt on my wrist.

  Nothing.

  Jared’s face crumpled.

  Lukas ran his fingers over the salt. “I don’t understand. She drew the Devil’s Trap. She destroyed Darien’s spirit. We all saw it.”

  “My mark didn’t show up right away. Give it some time,” Alara said.

  I fought to keep my voice steady. “Darien’s spirit is gone.”

  Alara shook her head. “Something went wrong.”

  Not this time.

  “Maybe—” Jared started.

  “I’m not the one.”

  Jared’s breath caught, and he closed his hand around mine. “There has to be another—”

  I silenced him with a look. “There’s only one explanation, and we all know what it is.”

  The floor buckled, and the ceiling split down the center.

  Jared pulled my arm behind him, our fingers still intertwined. He looked down at me, our bodies practically touching. “It doesn’t matter.”

  He was the boy inside the wall again—the boy who held me and confessed his deepest secret. The one I could trust.

  “We both know it does.”

  Lukas reached for the Shift as it rolled across the floor.

  “Don’t touch it!” I shouted.

  He pulled his hand back the moment his fingers grazed the metal. “What the hell?”

  Alara wrapped her jacket around the cylinder and tried to pick it up that way, but the heat burned right through the fabric and she dropped it. “It’s too hot.”

  “We have to go. Now.” Jared shoved them toward the door, dragging me behind him.

  Priest stood outside the cell, frozen. All the color had drained from his face. He grabbed Jared’s arm and pushed the heavy metal door shut.

  Pieces of concrete rained down on us, but no one moved. The letters that had spelled DARIEN SHEARS the first time we saw his cell door had rearranged themselves to spell something else:

  anDras is here

  “Move!” Lukas yelled.

  Lukas and Alara ran for the stairwell with Priest on their heels. The railing vibrated violently, and the shaking intensified as we navigated the stairs.

  I slipped, and my knees slammed against the metal steps.

  Jared hauled me to my feet, and we tore through the cell block. The deafening rattle of the bars rose up around us. Spirits flickered in our path, awakened by the sudden disturbance in their environment. But they weren’t full body apparitions, and we passed right through them. Each time, I felt the revolting sensation of a cold hand tugging at the back of my neck, marking me in a different way.

  Lukas burst through the door to the yard first. Instead of stepping into the afternoon light, there was nothing but darkness.

  The black sky pulsed and churned like it was alive. Lightning cracked and illuminated thousands of beating wings, blocking out the sun.

  Crows. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

  Black rain, pouring from the clouds with no end in sight.

  Alara stopped, fixated on the sky. She shouted something and took off in a dead run. I couldn’t hear anything over the thunderous din of lightning flashing and feathers flapping.

  It felt like the end of the world, the sky falling one dark wing at a time.

  And it’s my fault.

  The van was only a few yards away now, the roof and windshield covered with more crows. They scattered when Lukas opened the back doors, ascending to meet their own legion.

  Priest tore open the duffel bags and unearthed the EMF detectors. He lined them up across the floor and flipped them on. The needles jerked all the way to the right, pushing into paranormal overdrive. Red bulbs flashed and the devices beeped, lighting up the floor like a pinball machine.

  My heart pounded. “Does that mean there’s something in here?”

  “No.” Priest stared through the window at the sea of black. “It’s out there.”

  The EMF lights flashed faster and faster, blinking like the timer on a bomb.

  “What’s happening?”

  Priest shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  The EMFs exploded, wires and plastic ricocheting against the walls. I covered my head as sharp pieces of flying plastic sliced my arms, until the debris stopped banging against the van’s interior.

  A thin trail of blood ran down Alara’s cheek. She winced, but instead of reaching for her face, she clamped her hand over the inside of her wrist.

  Priest seemed confused for a second, then shook his own wrist, inhaling sharply. “My skin’s burning.”

  Lukas nodded. “Mine, too.”

  Jared pulled up his sleeve. The mark that usually only appeared when he rubbed it with salt was already carved into his skin. But the indentations weren’t filled with dark lines. The mark was completely white, swollen red skin surrounding the outline. Lukas, Alara, and Priest revealed their marks one at a time.

  I didn’t have to check my skin to know it remained unmarked.

  Alara shook her arm, trying to cool it. “What does it mean?”

  We all knew, but no one wanted to say it.

  So I did. “He was telling the truth.”

  Darien Shears. The spirit who tried to protect us from ourselves.

  “No.” Lukas rubbed his hands over his face. “The j
ournal said—”

  “Either the journal was wrong or we misinterpreted something.” My voice faltered. “Look outside. Does it seem like I put together a weapon to protect the world, or used one against it?”

  Real rain battered the roof, the sky still ink-stained from the clouds and the crows and whatever was coming next.

  “It isn’t your fault.” Jared squeezed my hand. “We decided together.”

  I was the only one in that cell. I had snapped the pieces of the Shift together. It didn’t matter if they had wanted me to do it or not.

  In the end, I decided.

  I had failed in too many ways to count, the proof destroying everything around us. Burning itself into everyone’s flesh except mine—the one who didn’t belong.

  In a single moment, I had unleashed a demon their ancestors had spent over two hundred years defending the world against. One their families died trying to destroy.

  33. BLACK DOVE

  Sirens cut through the storm and the birds and the excruciating silence inside the van. Blue and red lights flashed through the darkness—police cars or ambulances, maybe both—and they were close.

  “We have to run.” Priest shoved everything within reach into one of the bags, and Alara did the same. With only one road in or out, we would meet those sirens head-on if we tried to leave the way we came.

  Lukas opened the back door and rain pelted the metal floor. I couldn’t see anything except the colored lights getting closer.

  “If we get separated, head north.” Jared pointed beyond the prison. “Pennsylvania isn’t far. Find the second town closest to the state line, and we’ll meet there.”

  Alara and Priest took off.

  Lukas turned to follow them, and Jared grabbed his jacket. “Take Kennedy with you. She’ll be safer.”

  Lukas and Jared faced their other halves, the person who made them both weaker and stronger. Neither of them spoke, but something more powerful than words passed between them.

  Lukas shook his head. “You’re faster.”

  Jared’s eyes filled with doubt. “I don’t want to screw up again.”

  “We all screw up.” Lukas backed into the storm and disappeared in the darkness.

  Jared’s hand closed around mine, and we ran.

  Our feet splashed through pools of water. Blood pounded in my ears and lightning cracked against the sky. I thought about the night my mom died—how scared I was and how alone. I was back in that place. In one moment, I had ruined any chance of destroying the demon that killed her, and I had endangered the lives of how many others? Thousands? Millions?

  Jared swore the mark didn’t matter, but I knew it did. And sooner or later, it would matter to the rest of them.

  We reached the edge of the penitentiary, or what was left of the stone building. It looked like a child had built it out of blocks and knocked it over afterward. The sirens grew louder, the blue and red whirling lights practically on top of us.

  We aren’t going to make it.

  “Come on.” Jared led us deeper into the shadows. I tried to keep up, but the ground had turned into a river of mud, and I kept losing my footing. He tightened his grip on my hand as if he was determined not to let me fall.

  The ground inclined, turning the gentle rise into an impossible climb as water and earth rushed under our feet. I lost my balance again. This time, my wet hand slipped out of Jared’s and I fell.

  My shoulder hit the ground, and I slid into something sharp.

  Pain shot through my ankles and calves like hundreds of knives piercing my skin. I jerked and the feeling intensified. Was it glass?

  Lightning splintered the sky, illuminating the silver vines coiled around my legs.

  Razor wire.

  I tried to pull my body free, but the wire only wound itself tighter, the barbs digging deeper into my flesh. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming, and the tang of blood filled my mouth.

  Jared dropped down next to me, rain running down his face in rivulets. “Are you okay?”

  I closed my eyes, trying to stay calm. “I think so” was all I could manage.

  He smoothed the mud-slicked hair away from my face. “Don’t move.”

  Jared tried to untangle the wire, but the metal teeth clung to my legs, and the nerves in my back seized. I winced and clutched his arm.

  “Shh,” he murmured. “I’m right here.”

  A car skidded through the mud, and a door slammed not far from us. We didn’t have much time.

  Lightning flashed again.

  Jared’s hands were soaked in blood from trying to unwind the silver ribbons curling around me. Prisons used this stuff for a reason. He wasn’t going to be able to free me in the dark without wire cutters or an act of god.

  I grabbed his collar and drew him closer, feeling the warmth of his breath on my face. “You have to go.”

  “I’m not leaving you.” His voice cracked.

  “Listen to me. People think I was kidnapped, and we just destroyed a prison. If you stay here, they’ll arrest you.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do.” I held his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me even though we could barely see each other. “I won’t be able to handle it if you get in trouble because of me.”

  You’re already in trouble because of me. The whole world is.

  Jared pressed his forehead against mine. The subtle shift in position sent another surge of pain shooting up my legs, and a wave of nausea rolled over me. He ran his fingers along the side of my face, and a different kind of pain consumed me.

  “I shouldn’t have pushed you away,” he said.

  All I could think about was protecting him. What happened between us outside Hearts of Mercy didn’t change the way I felt about him. I wasn’t sure anything could. “It doesn’t matter—”

  “Let me say this,” he whispered. “I was scared. I still am. It’s like you know me. You see things in me that no one else does.” He shook his head. “I’m not saying this right.”

  I touched the scar above his eye. “You’re saying it fine.”

  “I’ve never really had anything that was mine, and I never cared until now.” He hesitated. “And I know you aren’t mine… but I want you to be.”

  Boots splashed through the mud somewhere nearby.

  I have to get him out of here.

  I ran my fingers over his lips. “If Darien’s spirit was telling the truth, I released a demon tonight. Think about all the innocent people Andras will hurt. You have to find a way to stop him, or I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

  It was a lie.

  I would never forgive myself no matter what he did. But if Jared believed he was helping me, and the people caught in the trap I had unknowingly set, he might be willing to leave me here.

  “Do you still care about me?” he asked.

  I sensed him watching me. “We don’t belong together. I’m not one of you.”

  His lips grazed mine. “Answer the question.”

  My breath hitched. “I care.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you have a mark. You don’t have to be anything more than you are.” Jared pressed his lips against mine with a hunger that matched my own. For a moment, there was nothing but the two of us. He slid his mouth around to my ear. “You’re enough.”

  “I’ll check the west side,” a voice called through the rain.

  I ran my hand over his face, trying to memorize every curve and every line. “Please go.”

  “I’ll find you, I swear,” he whispered. “I—”

  “Go.” I shoved him away.

  He hesitated, and I closed my eyes, listening as the storm swallowed the sound of his footsteps.

  He’s safe.

  The pain subsided and numbness wrapped itself around me. I counted silently, praying he was far enough away, until the beam of a flashlight caught my eyes.

  “Over here! I found someone.” The officer bent down next to me. “You’re gonna be all right, miss.”r />
  I didn’t respond, hoping the rain would drown me. I searched for Jared’s face in my mind.

  Would I forget it? Or would my mind finally save a picture I wanted to remember?

  I lay in the mud as the officers struggled to cut me free. “The ambulance is stuck in the storm, but we’re gonna take good care of you. We’ve seen this kinda thing before. Haven’t we?”

  The other officer winced as the wire sliced into his hands. “We’ll have you out of here in a few minutes, and your legs will be just fine.”

  What about the rest of me?

  They asked my name over and over—when they bandaged my legs, when they wrapped me in a scratchy wool blanket, when I waited in the back of the police car. They would figure it out soon enough.

  I was watching the rain pelt the ruined prison windows in the glare of the headlights, when something moved at the edge of the wall. Someone.

  Jared.

  Only a few yards away, but impossibly far in every way that mattered.

  I’ll find you.

  I wasn’t promising him. I was promising myself.

  I had managed to lose everything all over again—the things I let myself want, and the ones I wanted so desperately to be true. But there was only one truth now.

  I was never destined to save the world.

  I was the one who destroyed it.

  Even though I couldn’t see more than his silhouette, I watched Jared until the officer climbed into the driver’s seat and the tires spun through the mud. Until I couldn’t see the prison or the road or anything except his face in my mind. I wondered if I would see it again.

  And if the black doves would ever carry me.

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This is my Legion—the not-so-secret society of brilliant people who supported me throughout the process of writing this book and sending it out into the world. I am more grateful to them than they will ever know.