“Good,” she replies. “Your strength is very empowering.”
I snort. Empowered is the last thing I feel right now. I look past her to the massive space belonging to her master. Did he bring me here? If so, where is he?
“Out,” she replies again to my unspoken words. “But yes, he is responsible for you being here.”
“He didn’t”—I swallow a lump in my throat—“send his essence into me, did he?”
She shakes her head. “No. You would remember having that much power inside you. You are here because my master has gone to great lengths to keep you alive. The demon compelled you in the bathroom, then took you away through the Veil of Shadows. It is a dangerous space for you, as any being inside it would be pulled toward you. That is why my master cast a protection spell over you a long time ago. It ensured that if you ever entered the Veil, your soul would come here.”
All this talk about what her master has done to keep me alive makes me think of the sacrifices Duane and the others in his group have done in my name too. My stomach curls, filled with revulsion.
But right now, I need to focus on one problem at a time, and my current problem is Justin. When he suddenly appeared in the bathroom, he must have compelled my abilities away. That’s what he meant about suppressing my emotions to keep them from projecting into the environment.
The other things he said flood my mind as well. My hands grip my hair as I try not to cry.
Justin’s been watching me. MJ knew someone was in the woods Wednesday morning—I even knew it. But we both allowed ourselves to be comforted by MJ’s lie.
Still, how was he to know Justin has some stupid ring? It’s not MJ’s fault. It’s mine.
I should have listened to my instincts. I should have done a lot of things differently since surviving that horrible night in Justin’s house. Mainly, I shouldn’t have been foolish enough to believe for one second that I was safe. I was naive to think Justin was nothing more than a nuisance. He’s powerful and desperate. Both make him unstable and dangerous.
I lower my hands and glance at the masked demon.
“Do you know where he took me?” I ask, pointing to the TV.
She grabs the remote and turns the TV on. The scene is dark, but I can make out Justin carrying my unconscious body up a sidewalk to a two-story house. I don’t recognize where we’re at. My stomach twists from thoughts of what he plans to do to me.
I tear my attention from the screen to meet her gaze. “How can you and now he compel me? I thought I was immune to that ability.”
“It is more difficult to compel you than other mortals, but you are not immune to it. We have to touch you and send our essence into you in order for it to work. I am unsure if it would work for the beings whose essences do not flow freely through you—but that is a problem for another day. Today, we need to get you away from the demon.”
I turn back to the TV and watch, numbly, as an elderly woman answers the door and lets Justin inside. He must have compelled her too. She leads him down a narrow hallway littered with knickknacks and photos of her loved ones to a bedroom at the end of the hall.
I hold my breath and watch him gently place me on the bed. He brushes several strands of hair from my face, then leans down, whispering something in my ear. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it all looks tender and loving.
Memories of his horror house resurface. It belonged to an old woman too. Justin killed her and left her corpse on display for weeks. Ben died there. If it weren’t for Elizabeth, the masked demon, and my own abilities, I would have died too. Or became Justin’s pet.
I take a sharp breath. That’s why he took me—it’s another attempt to make me sign the contract. My arm stings, recalling the pain of Justin’s previous attempt to make me sign it.
“What do I do?” I ask, my voice hollow. “I don’t know if I can go through this again.”
“You are still stronger than other mortals, though,” she says, clinging to the hope I’ve lost. “His compulsion should wear off.”
“How long?”
“I do not know.”
Justin leaves me on the bed, then leads the old woman out of the room. I make a silent prayer, hoping he won’t kill her too.
I can’t believe I’m seeing this all unfold on the screen—let alone that it’s really happening. My body is in some unknown place with an evil monster who wants to do God only knows what to me.
I take a step closer to her.
“Can I stay here until the compulsion wears off?” I ask.
She’s silent for a moment.
My heart beats faster, hoping she’ll say yes.
“As greatly as I want to keep you from him,” she begins, “I do not think it would be wise to leave you in such a vulnerable state with him. His desire for you runs deep. I do not know what lengths he will go to keep you tethered to him.”
I crumple to the floor—my sense of strength and security evaporates. “I can’t fight him off like this. How can I? You’re the one who’s actually been fighting him all along.”
“That is not true,” she states. “I have merely helped you for a few minutes here and there. You have done the rest.”
Her words give little comfort. The “rest” that I did came from the very abilities he compelled away. Now I’m powerless against him.
She kneels beside me. “I will go back with you. You must surrender control to me immediately. I will be inside you to help you get away. But because of what I did this morning, I am unsure of how long I can stay with you. It could be five minutes, or it could be five seconds. I will fight him and hopefully incapacitate him long enough for you to escape.”
I give a weak nod.
“When you feel me leave, no matter when it is or what is happening, run. Run and do not stop until you have made it to safety. He—and everyone else—cannot feel your essence. He cannot find you if you hide.”
I cringe, thinking of Elizabeth and Damien. Why does everyone think hiding is the answer?
“You do not know what happened between them,” she replies. “He hid her to protect her. Hiding, sometimes, is the bravest thing you can do. It is the only way you will survive this night.”
She’s right. I don’t know what happened between them. I haven’t seen all the dreams. Someday, it’ll be time for me to see the most important dream—Elizabeth’s death. It’s coming. I can feel it. As much as I don’t want to know how she died, I need to know. I need to know what happened to her, and I need to know what happened to me that very same day.
The only way I can learn any of that is to get away from Justin. I have no other option but to run and hide.
My fear of Justin lessens as I embrace the masked demon’s plan.
“Okay,” I say. “I understand.”
“The moment you are free from his compulsion, create a storm. I cannot contact MJ, but he will find your storm.”
My heart aches as I think of MJ waiting for me in the bar. If I hadn’t run away to hide in the bathroom—if I had only told him I loved him—this wouldn’t have happened. If I don’t escape, I will never be able to tell him how I feel. Him or anyone else I love.
The masked demon stands and clicks a button on the remote. “Once I am strong enough, I will come to you again.”
She pauses and looks at me very carefully. “I am doing this without my master’s approval or knowledge, so he will not be pleased, but I do not care. The Influencer has broken many rules tonight, and he will be severely punished—which will bring my master great satisfaction.”
The screen pulsates. She holds her hand out to me. “Ready?”
I shake my head. “No. Not yet.” My attention flits between her and the screen, recalling my last trip into it. “You showed me Justin’s past. You wanted me to understand him—to see the good in him. Why are you against him now?”
“I am against anything that is a threat to you. Right now, he is just that. He is acting . . . in a way he should not be.”
I continue staring
at her, debating whether I can truly trust her. Fear and desperation shine through her crimson eyes. Whether she’s afraid of what Justin will do to me, what her master will do to her, or a combination of both, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that, despite her fear, she’s still ready to charge into the unknown with me. And instead of sending my soul somewhere else to protect me, she wants to fight him with me.
In this moment, I know she’s telling the truth.
I place my hand in hers, reveling in the wholeness that fills me the instant we touch.
She pulls me to my feet. “Remember, surrender to me right away.”
“I will.”
I take a deep breath, then enter the TV, placing my trust and fate in the pale hands of a demon.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Maddy
Darkness descends on me. The masked demon’s hand vanishes from mine, even though I was clutching it with everything I had.
Where did she go? I’m alone. Panic fills me. Justin will be able to make me do whatever he wants. He’s going to make me sign that—
Surrender, Maddy!
At the sound of her voice in my mind, my panic fades. She’s still with me, somehow inside me. A part of me.
I let go, just as I’ve done countless times in my dreams. This time, though, I don’t fade completely into the background. It’s more like being in the passenger seat.
My eyes open to the old woman’s bedroom. Before I can absorb the surroundings, my body leaps from the bed. The masked demon is controlling me, just as she said.
The door opens. Justin enters, smiling as he shuts the door behind him. “You’re awake.”
“Maddy is awake, but she will not be staying with you,” the masked demon replies.
Justin straightens as his smile falls. He stares at me, her, us for a moment, then his eyes blaze red. “You’re the one that took her in the park. How dare you possess her again. She’s mine!”
A blade suddenly appears in his hand—though it’s unlike any I’ve seen before. Brutal. Ancient.
Inside me, I can feel fear coming from the masked demon. She recognizes the blade. She’s afraid of it.
“Use that on me, and you kill Maddy,” she warns. But there’s something more in her voice. Something she’s not saying. Something she and Justin both understand but I don’t.
Justin’s knuckles whiten as he clutches the blade. Veins appear in his neck as his jaw tightens. As suddenly as it appeared, the blade vanishes.
He crouches in front of the door. “I’m not letting you leave here with her,” he says. “I’ve waited too long for this moment—for her.”
More quickly than I’ve ever moved before, she clears the distance between the bed and door and stands in front of Justin. His eyes widen. A moment later, she lifts my hands, grabbing him by the collar, then tosses him across the room. He hits the wall and falls to the floor.
As my hand reaches for the handle, I feel her essence slipping from me, forcing me back into the driver’s seat.
Run, Maddy.
The last of her essence leaves me.
I can do this. Even without my abilities, I’m not powerless. I refuse to be helpless. All I have to do is just get outside. Then I’m free.
I can do this.
I glance at Justin, still slumped on the floor, then yank the door and run through the hallway. As I race through the living room toward the front door, I hear something squeak behind me.
I turn and see the old woman sitting up in surprise in her recliner. Relief floods me. She’s still alive.
I can’t leave her here. No one else will die because of me.
I glance down the hall. I don’t see Justin. With as hard as he hit the wall, he could be unconscious. Still, we have to hurry.
“Come with me,” I say, helping her up from the chair.
“Just a moment, dearie,” she says calmly as she reaches for something beside the chair.
I glance down the hallway again as my heart races. Justin still hasn’t come out of the room. But then again, he could be hiding in the Veil. Either way, we need to leave—
Something pokes me in the stomach.
I turn back to the old woman. Her wrinkled features are tense with determination. Her arms twitch, pressing something against my stomach.
“We can’t leave,” she says. “That is what the young man said.”
I look down to see the barrel of a shotgun aimed just below my ribcage.
I stare in disbelief, my once-racing heart now seized. “Please—”
Her finger squeezes the trigger.
The blast echoes in my ears. I fly backward, landing on my back in the hallway.
Intense, agonizing pain stems from my belly. Fire ravages every nerve ending. My hands touch the lace on my stomach. It’s wet. I pull my hands away—they’re covered in blood. My blood.
I stare up the barrel of the shotgun at the old woman, unable to move, unable to breathe as the world moves in slow motion. I tried to help her, tried to save both our lives, and she shot me.
I’ve come close to death multiple times in the last week. But this is no vision or dream. This is real. I’m really going to die.
Justin is suddenly standing beside the old woman. In one smooth motion, he places his hands in her gray hair and twists her head around—snapping her neck. Her limp body falls.
Before she hits the floor, he’s kneeling beside me.
“Hold on, Mads,” he begs. “I’m going to fix this!”
His hands press down on my abdomen. I try to scream, but I can’t find the air to support it. Horrible gasping, gurgling fills my ears.
My head rolls to the side. My eyes land on the front door. Freedom was ten feet away. I reach out a bloody hand toward the door, wanting to be closer to my family, my friends, my MJ.
Justin’s essence enters me. I hear him cry out, swearing as he feels my pain.
I grit my teeth as a metallic taste fills my mouth. A small sense of victory fills me. The more I succumb to the pain, the worse he feels.
Bursts of white light flutter in front of me. My eyelids drop for a second. Familiar darkness encircles me—Death here for me again. When I open them again, his panicked eyes meet mine as he hovers over me.
“No, Mads! Stay with me. You can’t die!”
I don’t want to go into the darkness, but I don’t want to stay with him either. My eyelids fall again. This time, memories of MJ stream forward. I want to hold on to MJ for however long I can.
I let go of the fight.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
MJ
Beeps sound through the speakers from laptops set up on the Pages’ kitchen table. Five FBI agents stare at the screens, their fingers dancing on the keys as they desperately help me search for Maddy. The Shadowwalker compelled them to search for her nonstop. It’s been four hours since she disappeared.
I don’t know who took Maddy, but I will find her. I have to believe I will see her again.
After the bar, my team took Maddy’s friends home and I came here. I stood in her bedroom for I don’t know how long, just wanting to feel connected to her. That’s where the Shadowwalker found me. He took one look at me and knew she was gone.
From that moment, he took over—having already had a plan in place for a situation like this. He began by compelling Maddy’s family to not think about her or notice she’s missing. They’ve come through the kitchen several times, but in their minds, we’re all working on an FBI case.
Next he got his team looking at weather all over the world. It’s a two-pronged approach. First they’re looking for any unusual weather fluctuation that could be a signal from Maddy. Unexpected rain, thunderstorms, tornados—they’re even monitoring for sudden explosions and fires. Second, they’re also checking on places where it’s currently and consistently rainy. Whoever took her may be smart enough to hide her someplace where the weather would shield her emotions.
It’s a long shot, but it’s our best chance of finding her. Yet I feel so he
lpless sitting here, placing all my hopes on nothing more than weather reports.
We lock eyes for a moment across the kitchen. If it weren’t for the Shadowwalker, I’d feel isolated in my despair. I don’t need to tell him what’s at stake if we don’t find her—he knows. He’s protected her her whole life. He kept her safe for almost seventeen years.
I didn’t even last a week.
“It’s raining in Dublin, Ireland,” Travis, the tech-savvy FBI agent, says.
The Shadowwalker and I race over to Travis. “What was the forecast?” I ask.
“High of forty degrees with a fifty percent chance of rain,” Travis replies.
I close my eyes and reach out to Alexander. Have you finished with Vancouver?
Yes, he says. She’s not here.
Check Dublin next.
I sever the connection, rest my hands on the table, and let out a long exhale. Alexander, Sissy, and Tamitha have checked 103 locations since the Shadowwalker suggested this plan. To search for her, my team is doing what I did last week: listening for any signs of movement inside a building without a soul attached to it. They’re scouring every inch of the cities I name. Each one has come up empty.
Why isn’t she panicking? Is she unconscious, as she was for a while when Justin took her? Or is she possessed again—perhaps by the female demon? Is someone even more powerful affecting her?
I pound the table, rattling the computers. I never should have let her out of my sight. No matter how long it takes, I will not stop until she’s safe in my arms again.
As for whoever took her, that being will get the privilege of assisting me in testing all of John’s new weapons. By the time I’m finished, her attacker will know exactly how I feel about what it did tonight. I will force out an apology. Then, and only then, will I destroy its soul.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Justin
I wait for her pale pink–shaded lids to reopen, but they don’t. Her heart stutters, and I send my essence there to keep it beating. Even though the pain is excruciating, I push through it.
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