by Holly Hook
Whoa. Deep attraction much?
"Okay." I back away, shaking my head.
"What?" Brett asks, pretending to snarl at me.
"We go to the victory site tomorrow. Noon, if Karina is willing," I say. "And then we attack and end this cult for good. If some of them have to die, so be it."
* * * * *
Karina continues to sleep, so the rest of us, Callie, Alex, and the Russells included, retreat to the guys' room and play cards. Going out at night is a bad idea I think we all agree on, because the cult could be staking out the city, trying to find us before we even reach the victory site. That's a shame. Rome looks like an amazing city with treasures to explore.
But I have the feeling this is our turning point, and not just for the Haydes. For all of us. The warm feeling stays in my chest as night starts to fall even though I know what we're going to face at the victory site.
"You look like you're feeling a lot better," Callie says to me with a grin.
"Thanks," I say, throwing down my cards on the bedspread. "It's that obvious."
"You look like you have hope."
Alex shifts on the other side of the room, where he sits on a bed with the other guys, engaged in their own card game.
"I do, now," I say. "Though I probably shouldn't, but it feels so good not to have Romulus constantly trying to possess me. Maybe--"
Footsteps approach our door and I tense, until I realize it's Karina approaching. Her presence no longer scares me, now that I understand her, and neither does her smell. She still carries that faint scent of poison, but her nature scent--those good parts of nature--has gotten stronger since this afternoon.
"Why don't you get the door?" Callie asks.
I wave her off the bed and motion for her to follow me. I open the door before Karina has a chance to knock, and when I do, I find her with her hand raised, ready to tap on the door.
Expressionless, she turns her brown gaze up at me. "Can I...come in?"
There's hesitancy in her words, like she still doesn't want to be around the men, but she's making a little bit of progress. "If you want," I whisper, knowing Remo is going to hear, "We can do a girls' room and a guys' room for the card games."
Karina pauses and seems to think. "This is fine. I'll help you get to the victory site and I'll tell you why Remus fell to Romulus."
"That would be a little helpful," Callie says.
I stand aside to let Karina in, heart racing with anticipation. We've broken two walls and now we need to get through one more: rescuing Cayden and ending the cult. Karina walks into the room and nods at her brother, who also sits on the guys' bed holding several cards. He nods back. They're still not on complete speaking terms, then.
"How are you feeling?" Brett asks.
"Still groggy," she says, keeping it at that. Karina wedges herself onto the end table, far from Brett, since there's not a lot of room in here, but the way she drops her shoulders tells me she's most comfortable away from everyone else. She's still not our buddy and won't be for a while. If she ever is at all. But with a bite of her lip, she nods at me. Something sparks in her eye. Revenge. We can help her get it.
That makes us, in her eyes, better than the cult.
"I saw why Remus fell," I say. "I just didn't expect it to happen the way it did. He killed his brother but then his brother tried possessing him. It was the plan all along."
"The twins, being the first Wolves, had a special connection," Karina says with a sad nod. She won't look at Brett as she says it. We all know why. She was almost guilty of the same crime. "The cult was able to warp it. That's how Romulus was able to possess his brother. And Remus's guilt over killing him finished the ritual."
"But Romulus was going to destroy Remus's mate right in front of him."
"Feelings made Remus weak," Karina says, flat and emotionless. "He forgot that nature doesn't care about your feelings."
"Sis," Brett says, face-palming.
"Yes, I know, Karina. The Savages are all about survival of the fittest," I say. "Nothing else is important. They'd do well in some post-apocalyptic horror movie, but this is real life. We're not in caves beating each other over the head with sticks anymore. We fought to get out of that and we did."
"Romulus thought his brother would weaken the Wolves because he didn't want to fight early Hunters who feared all Wolves. Romulus saw him as a threat to both the Nobles and Savages," Karina says. "That's why he wanted to possess his own brother, his twin, and unite all the Wolves under him. He was more fit."
I roll my eyes. "There's that whole crappy nature thing again."
"Nature isn't nice." Karina glares at me as she says it.
"I know it's not." How many times have I hunted animals and killed them for food? But Romulus is different. "The Savage King was evil. The cult is evil. We don't have to be that way. Those first Hunters were hunting Wolves because the Savages were attacking people. But we joined with them."
Karina goes silent as if I've slapped her, which isn't my intent.
"Whatever," Karina says.
"Where do I fit into all of this?" Callie asks, still standing near the door. "Karina? I bet you know the answer. I can get possessed, too. I'm marked for it."
"I didn't put the spell on you, Callie. I swear," Karina says, holding up both hands. I detect honesty. "That was Artemis. Sure, I was getting close to her because she could keep the cult's men away from me, but she'd vanish sometimes and leave me hiding in my house. She told me later what she'd done to you."
"She's telling the truth," I say as Alex opens his mouth.
"I believe you," Callie says. "Do you know what, exactly, the cult has planned for us when we get to the victory site?"
"I never came here with them, so I don't," Karina says. "I just know Remus fell because the guilt over killing his brother overtook him. He couldn't deal with it."
"But I'm getting over my guilt," I say, walking into the middle of the room. "I'm feeling less bad about the things I've done." I won't talk of Mr. Hayde out loud. Brett tenses on the bed and Karina shifts on the night stand. "I've got a defense now, and with Karina here keeping the darkness off me, that helps too."
Karina nods. "You should be able to feel a difference now."
She changed her mind at the park about me.
"But once we face the cult, I can't guarantee I can keep the curse off you or Cayden. Or Callie, for that matter," Karina says. "I'll be up against Artemis and the others she controls. But I will make things as painful as I can for them."
"You have to promise you won't run off," I say with a wink.
Karina's not to the friendly point yet, so she nods. "I won't run off, yet. But once all of this is over, IBrett and I need to get away from everything."
I swallow. I knew it would come down to this. "When this is all over and if we survive, you may leave," I tell them. As I speak, power sweeps through me, but also that warmth that tells me I'm doing the right thing. It's going to be my friend.
Brett nods. "Thank you."
"Oh, and another thing," Karina says. "I don't know for sure what the cult's going to do now, but it might have to do with Callie. If you two fight, then all the magic in the world might not stop you from going dark. That's on you."
Chapter Seventeen
The second night in the hotel is even harder than the first. While I can't believe we've been in Rome for over two days now, I also can't believe we've taken so long to go out to the victory site. My stomach turns and I feel like I'm going to throw up every time I think of Cayden, probably in a cage or in chains, unable to help me or get free. He must be dying inside a little at a time, knowing I'm going to walk into danger for him when I could turn back, go home, and get away.
Karina's words swirl through my head over and over, even though I don't need her to elaborate. She's sleeping again on the bed while I lie on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Every time I close my eyes, I try to reach out to Cayden, to feel our connection, but there's nothing. I feel the same as
I did before we even met, as if he was never there in the first place. What has the cult done? I should be able to dimly feel his presence, even if he's hundreds of miles away.
I'm going to kill them.
Karina snores and I get up, unable to take the suspense anymore. I eye my phone. One in the morning, at least here in Rome. It must be daytime by now in Breck, so I leave the hotel room and tuck the key card in my pocket. Once I'm out on the dark sidewalk, with nothing but distant, drunken laughter to keep me company, I call Aunt May. She deserves to know what's happening.
"Brie?" Her tone tells me she's been beyond worried sick for me to call.
"Why didn't you call?" I struggle to keep my voice calm.
"I've been busy working with the Hunters," she says. "I also didn't...I also didn't want to know if you were dead. I know you're not possessed because I've felt fine and the Colling Wolves have all felt fine."
"If I died, the whole pack would feel it," I told her, anger cooling a bit. I let out a breath. Aunt May feels alone, too. Too afraid to face the truth. Maybe she's been too scared to face the truth for a long time and this whole time I thought she was the adult.
"I know, but you're so far away. Brie, I never should have worked with that terrible man, but I felt I had no choice at the time. I didn't know what to do and I was lost."
"Edwin."
"He always felt off to me, even while I was hiding my Wolf nature, but when I was younger and had just lost my parents, and your father, I was desperate to do anything to help. Anything that didn't involve me facing my nature. So I was a coward, Brie, and it all fell on you in the end. I'm sorry."
My knees shake as I absorb her words. Aunt May's been suffering over something that isn't her fault, over the fact that she hid while I stepped up to my duties and her attempts to take the torch from me once I turned failed. Plus I was a complete jerk to her before I left. "Look. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. And you know how I am. I'm just as much of a fixer as Cayden is."
"You've always done too much," Aunt May says. "I wish I could be in your place. But I'm here to listen."
That's more than enough for me. Pacing, I tell her about everything that's happened since we got here, even though I know some of it will make her feel worse about all of this. But she has the right to know in case she's the only Noble Royal left. Then I finish with, "This isn't your fault. We got dealt a horrible hand but it might almost be over. You were right to stay home. If I fail, then there's still hope." My vision blurs and turns wet as I blink.
"You're always so self-sacrificing, Brie. You're much stronger than me." In the background, the tea kettle whistles, and a wave of nostalgia sweeps over me with so much intensity that I end the call before I lose it.
* * * * *
I manage to get some sleep once that's off my chest, and our phone alarms collectively go off the next morning right at sunrise. Pink and orange light spills through the window as we groan, get up, and get dressed. Karina's gone silent again, back in her own world. She and Callie are opposites this morning. Callie dresses before the rest of us, like she can't wait to go and fight some cult members and maybe even some Savages, but I gulp as she pulls on her leather jacket and packs her weapons into her rolling suitcase.
Our gazes meet. "I don't want to fight you," I say.
She frowns like she's been thinking the same thing. That Romulus will use her to fight me and send me back into darkness, just as he did to his brother. It's the only reason the cult could have attached him to her, because nothing else makes sense now. It might have even been the plan all along.
Neither of us say a word as Leonora heads into the bathroom and Everly, with Karina, go downstairs to grab us some breakfast. Only when the room's empty except for us does Callie say, "Brie, if you have to fight me, do it. You have my permission."
"I can't do that."
"Mr. Hayde was one thing, but I'm another. He deserved what you did and I don't, and Karina's right that the cult might be counting on me to show up. But you still have my permission."
My words will be useless, but I have to say them. "Stay here," I demand. "That way, they can't use you against me."
"Not when I can fight," she says.
"But you could put us all in danger," I tell her, advancing on my distant cousin. "It's better if you stay here. And you can tell the others what happened if we all die or something. For all I know, we will."
But Callie furrows her brows, not taking no for an answer. I wish, in that moment, that she was part of the pack, but he's still human and I have no command over her. Callie squares her shoulders and glares right into my eyes. "What's the point of family, then? I didn't come all this way just to stand aside. If I stand aside I'll never live with myself. What am I supposed to do now? Go back to serving pancakes?"
She's worse than what Noah used to be. I keep forgetting that Callie's just like me, like how my mother must have been, and there's nothing I can say to stop her. "You have Earl back home, waiting for you." Doesn't she realize how lucky she is?
"I didn't tell him I left until I was on the plane. And then I didn't tell him where I was going," Callie says. "We'll fight when we get home, I'm sure--"
"You left your husband?" I ask.
"He wanted to pull out of the Hunter life after all this started happening," Callie says.
"But he loves you," I say.
"If the Savage King takes over, there won't be anyone left for me to love back," Callie says. "I couldn't ask for a better man than Earl and staying might have doomed us both."
We're more alike than I ever believed. "Are we related or something?" I ask as Leonora emerges from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around het wet hair.
"I've already talked to her about this," Leonora says to me. "My parents and I have done so many protection spells on Callie that it's ridiculous. She's not completely defenseless."
I force a smile. Leonora wants to believe she's more powerful than she is. That yearning is there in her eyes and in Callie's, too. I'm not going to stop these two.
And how can I? They're just like me.
"I hope so," I say.
"We've been doing magic on all of you," Leonora says, slapping me on the back. "Look, we've got a team, and you have to trust us. Pretty please, Brie?"
I sigh. "With sugar on top, I take it?"
Callie grins. "With a red cherry, too."
Shaking my head, I pace around the room. "Fine. Just try not to get killed out there."
* * * * *
Brett and Karina are talking in low voices as our big group walks towards a bus stop, having left the hotel behind for the last time. They walk ahead and enter a glass box.
"Artemis will expect us at night," Brett's saying.
"She also knows we're with them," Karina says, thumbing in our direction without looking back.
"True. But we have you and you're a better witch than any of those idiots. Including me," Brett says with a grin.
I poke my head into the glass box. "How long of a journey do we have to the site?"
Brett checks his phone. "About an hour? The field where it all went down is an hour out of the city, near a private mansion. I don't know who owns it now, but I'm willing to bet it's someone who's sympathetic to the cult, since they let them use the back of their property."
I think of the Savage Wolf in the apartment complex. "The cult could have enslaved whoever was there. If there's a house out there, I bet there's security, too."
"In the form of more dark spirits," Karina adds, twisting on the bench to face me. "Artemis did mention once they were out there, too. The cult's not out there to maintain them as much as they are back in Colorado, but we can't be too careful since they've been operating out there for longer. I'll do what I can."
"Are you sure you have the right place?" I ask Brett.
"Here's the map. It looks just like the satellite map our DNA donor used to show us," he says, handing me his phone.
I take it. In fact, there is a map of a
large house's stone roof, surrounded by open fields and patches of forest. Tension fills my chest and I swallow as I survey it. Though I've never really seen the fight between the twins from above, I just know. They fought in the field farthest from the house, near the edge of the screen. The field, now perfectly green and full of tall grass, can only be accessed through the surrounding woods. It's cut off from the rest of the property, hidden from the public.
And there's a telltale, round clearing in the center.
"I don't like this," I tell Brett, handing him back the phone.
"Neither do I," Everly says, looking over Brett's shoulder at the screen. "If we die out there, no one is going to find us."
"That's the house our donor described to us," Brett says, pocketing his phone. "And no, he never told me who lived there. Like he didn't want us to know just in case he couldn't control and twist us enough. But we have to expect the worst."
"I will," I say. Artemis will be there. So will the cult, and maybe even Cayden.
The bus arrives and we board without a word, with Brett paying our fare. I watch the rest of the city roll past, and smell nothing out of the ordinary among the other people, mostly locals, who get on the bus. No one speaks to us or looks at us. Not that I care. I already feel like we're separate from the rest of the world.
Callie doesn't look at me, either. We both know what could happen.
"We're working for you," Mrs. Russell whispers in my ear from the seat behind me. He plucks a hair off my head. "Remember that."
I nod, even though I know they'll be nothing compared to whatever we face out there at the site. I can't bear to tell them that.
Tremors flow through my body and intensify the closer we get to the edge of the city. The bus pulls up to a stop, lets the last of the oblivious people out, and continues to roll past apartment buildings that become more scattered and eventually, open fields. It's beautiful country out here, but I can't enjoy it. This world is separate from me, too. Me, and Cayden. We both might die today. Or turn evil.