by Rye Brewer
“Says who?” Gage asked.
“Says me.” And that was the final word on the subject. He always had a way of making his point known in very few words. He looked around as if he was daring any of us to challenge him again. None of us did.
“Fine. That’s how it is, then.” I spoke for all of us.
They must have agreed because they didn’t counter my decision.
“It’s time for all of you to go home,” Fane announced. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to the portal.”
I couldn’t help thinking so much was left unsaid. Too much. I didn’t particularly care for the feeling. We all dragged our feet going back to the portal—none of us wanted to leave things the way they were. Even so, I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact we were all together. Finally, after so long. We were together.
Except for Mom. Her presence, or lack thereof, was deeply missed. She was always the lightness, the brightness, the breath of life in our family. She had always kept us laughing. And when we found ourselves in tense, tight situations, she was the one who held us together like glue. We needed her. I wondered if we would ever get her back. I told myself we wouldn’t—it was reasonable, of course. I couldn’t get my hopes up. Still, Fane’s presence gave me a reason to hope.
We reached the portal and stopped. None of us wanted to be the first one to go through. We were all just as reluctant as the rest. Fane cleared his throat. “All right. Go back and take care of the clan, the way you have been all this time. They need you.”
Gage nodded and squared his shoulders before striding through the portal and disappearing.
Philippa looked at Fane once more—her mouth opened then snapped shut. She followed Gage with her head hanging low.
“I still don’t understand any of this,” Scott said.
“I know.” Fane sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Seconds later, Scott was gone, too.
Fane faced me. “I’ll get word to you as soon as I have something.”
“All right. You know where to find me.”
He smiled a little, and I decided that was as good a way as any to leave him.
Just like that, I was back on the roof. I wondered if I would ever get used to traveling via portal.
The rest of my siblings were there, staring at me.
Judging from the expression of shock on Scott’s face, I had the feeling it was going to be a long night.
32
Anissa
Funny. I was angry with Jonah. I’d been sure that taking a little space and figuring things out was the right thing to do. I was being strong, doing what was best for me. But when I stepped outside after leaving Jonah’s penthouse, I felt alone. I didn’t like the feeling very much. I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the chill in the air, but that didn’t do much to make me feel better. My spirit was about as low as it had ever been—which was saying something.
Wasn’t I used to doing things on my own? I was, once. I could only rely on myself when Sara had been imprisoned. A one-woman army, something like that. Except, I got used to being with Jonah, relying on him to support me, to be there for me when I needed a shoulder to lean on. I needed him—or, I thought I did. That was my biggest mistake, telling myself I needed him. I had tricked myself into believing I couldn’t get on without him—obviously, since I felt so lonely, standing out there on the sidewalk in front of the high-rise.
The feeling didn’t last long. I didn’t take more than three steps away from the building before my phone started buzzing. For a split second, I thought it might be him, trying to get in touch with me.
To ask me to come back.
I wouldn’t. Maybe.
It wasn’t him. It was a text from Raze.
Another funny thing, how Raze used to be such a huge part of my life, but I almost never thought about him anymore.
Everything had shifted so far, so fast.
Meet me at the coffee shop on the northwest corner, his text read.
I blinked, too stunned to move.
How did he know where I was?
I looked around and saw the coffee shop in question. What was he doing in this part of town? The library, sure, but out here? I had a lot of questions for him. I practically sprinted to the corner to meet him.
He was sitting at a small, round table, one of those high-top ones with the tall stools.
I hopped up onto one and glared at him. “What are you doing here?”
He flinched. “I didn’t know there was an invisible fence I couldn’t go over,” he muttered. “And hello to you, too, by the way.”
I didn’t soften. “How did you know where I was?”
“What if I followed you?”
“What if I hit you right now, in front of all these people?”
“Come on, Anissa. Don’t be this way. I’ve been searching for you. There was something very important you need to know about. And I didn’t actually follow you—I was only kidding.”
“Hilarious.” I smirked. “What is it I need to know? And that still doesn’t explain how you found me.”
He glanced down at his coffee cup. “What if I told you Sara told me where to find you.”
My eyes lit up. “Sara? Where is she? I was just on my way to find her.”
“You wouldn’t know where to look.”
“Yeah, no kidding, but I’ve been sleuthing for a while now. I’m getting pretty good at tracking people.”
“I don’t even wanna know,” he muttered.
“Good, because I don’t even wanna tell you.”
I would’ve liked to. I needed to unload on somebody—there was so much happening in my head and my heart, and a best friend would’ve come in handy right about then. But there was too much that could get Raze in trouble if he knew about it. I wouldn’t put him in that position.
And I had the feeling he wouldn’t want to hear about Jonah. Certain things I didn’t need to be told.
“Where is she?” I asked instead of getting into my messed-up issues.
“I can take you to her.”
Something about the way he was evading the question bothered me. On top of that, he had to take me to her—like maybe she couldn’t meet up with me somewhere.
“What’s wrong with her?” Panic rose in my throat. My hands started to shake.
“You’ll understand everything when I take you. Believe me, it’ll be easier if you see it with yourself than if I try to describe it.” His eyes swept back and forth over the room, where people were enjoying coffee and pastries even late at night.
The city that never slept needed its caffeine, I guessed.
“Oh, man. You’re not helping me feel better, Raze.”
“We need to get out of here before you have a panic attack.”
“We need to get out of here so I can see my sister,” I hissed. I missed her so much—and I was terrified that something happened, that she was hurt. I had seen too many things, witnessed too much of what all the multiple dimensions held, to believe she was all right. The more I saw, the less I trusted that anybody I cared about would ever really be all right again.
We stepped outside, and the cool air helped calm me a little. It hit the sweat that had built on my forehead, on the back of my neck, when I’d thought about my sister in danger. I had been through enough of that—and so had she. She deserved a little peace. “I wish you would tell me she’s safe, at least,” I muttered as we walked side-by-side.
“She’s safe. I wouldn’t be taking you to her if she wasn’t. Do you think I would lead you into a dangerous situation?” He looked down at me with a disapproving smirk. “Do you even remember me? I’m Raze. I’m the guy you’ve known for years and years. We used to talk about things. Remember? And you would tell me what was going on with you…”
“All right, all right. I get it. Call it some… What is it? Post-traumatic thing, what humans get when they go through something scary or stressful. I’m on edge, in other words. I watched her suffer in a dungeon.” I glanced around when I
realized my voice was getting louder and louder all the time.
None of the people shuffling past on the sidewalk seemed to hear me. If they had, well, it was New York. There were stranger things than dungeons.
Raze noticed my discomfort and did his best not to laugh, but he should’ve tried harder.
“Shut up,” I whispered.
“Listen. I get it. Okay? You’re worried about her because she’s already been through a lot.”
We headed down a narrow alley, and I immediately thought back to the night I met Jonah. The attack from the werewolves. If I had only known where that night would lead me…
“Yes. She has. I’m afraid she won’t be able to take much more before she breaks.”
“She won’t break. She’s strong. Like you.”
I hoped he was right. I didn’t have anything to hold on to but hope just then.
We walked for another five minutes or so, zigzagging through traffic and ducking down alleys. I wondered where he was taking me—but when the buildings started turning from high-rises and apartments over storefronts and became big, boxy warehouses, I got the idea.
She was hiding in a warehouse.
My imagination spun out of control, putting together all sorts of scenarios for what she was going through.
“Why couldn’t she stay at the Bourke penthouse?” I asked. “Why here?”
“You’ll see.”
“Raze, I swear…”
“You will see, Anissa.” His voice was sharp, sharper than he had ever sounded before.
I wasn’t used to hearing him lose his temper like that. If anything, it made me respect him a little more. But just a little, since it was me he was losing his temper with.
I didn’t say another word until we stepped inside a dark building with most of its windows broken.
The walls were covered in ivy, the chain-link fence containing it and separating it from the rest of the warehouses on the block held back an amazing array of garbage—bottles, cans, clothing. Clothing? It smelled, too. I wondered if there was a dead animal in there someplace.
And my sister was here.
“Could you have maybe picked a better place than this?” I asked.
“Sorry. The other abandoned warehouses were all booked up.”
I followed him as he led me farther and farther into the darkness.
The air still carried the smell of death, mixed in with dampness and rot. What a beautiful combination. I wrinkled my nose in distaste.
“Watch your step,” he cautioned. “It gets pretty rough.”
“So I noticed.”
Boards with nails sticking up out of them, rusty tools, rat nests—thankfully, without any rats. Animal feces. That explained some of the smell, at least.
There was a doorway on the side of the building which was propped open with a brick. Raze went to it and pulled it open.
The hinges screamed in protest.
“What’s this lead to?” I asked, covering my ears.
“There’s a set of tunnels connecting the four warehouses in this four-block square. I guess they were all owned by the same company, I don’t know. Maybe one set of products were in one place, another in another, whatever, and they used the tunnels to transport things in bad weather.” He chuckled. “I’m making this up as I go along.”
“As good an explanation as any I could come up with.” I shrugged.
We started down the tunnel, which was wide enough for us to walk side-by-side and still have room to stretch our arms out. I followed Raze’s careful footsteps. It looked as though he had sort of cleared a path at some point.
“Here,” he said. “There’s a door hidden in one of these walls.”
I kept my eyes trained on the wall, searching for a door. I would never have seen it if I hadn’t known it was there, and I had to wonder why my sister was behind it. Was she that deep in hiding?
“Okay. We’re going in. I want you to promise you’ll keep your cool.”
“You are scaring me again.”
“Promise me. You’ll see how important it is when you get inside… but, by then, it’ll be too late for you to get it together.”
My heart took off even faster than before. I could barely breathe. Sweat popped out again on my neck. For Sara’s sake, I nodded firmly and told myself to hold it together.
He didn’t look convinced, but he nodded and opened the door anyway.
The room wasn’t large, but there was more than enough room for three of us. An old office, maybe, or a supply room. Three bare bulbs lit it, hanging from the ceiling, and I could see my sister sitting in an old, wooden chair.
“Sara?” I whispered.
She looked fine, like there was nothing wrong with her at all. That was a relief.
I had half-expected her to be missing an arm or something.
She turned to me and burst into tears.
I took a step toward her with my arms outstretched, but Raze’s hand on my shoulder held me back.
In the blink of an eye, I could see why he had stopped me.
One of the lightbulbs above her head exploded, sending a shower of glass shards flying everywhere.
I jumped and shrieked softly—it was a natural reaction, something I didn’t even think about. Maybe I should’ve held myself together.
Sara started crying harder, almost sobbing.
She lifted her hands, and I gasped in shock as sparks of electricity shot from her fingertips.
Raze’s grip on my shoulder tightened—funny how I’d almost forgot he was there. It must’ve had something to do with the lightning bolts shooting from my sister’s fingers.
“What is this?” I whispered, frozen solid. I could feel the electricity in the air. It made my hair stand on end.
As if she was answering me, Sara let out a sharp cry. Her arms started shaking, and the bolts branched out into intricate spiderwebs of electricity. All of them were aimed at the wall, which I could see was burned and charred. So, she had done this before—a lot.
The entire room lit up in shades of blue and purple and white as the bolts spread even farther, climbing up to the ceiling, spreading like fire in a web of light and crackling energy. The lightbulbs glowed brighter, brighter, until I was sure they would explode, too.
“Stand back!” Raze called out over the ear-splitting snapping and cracking. Like a thunderstorm, only contained in a very small space. I covered my ears and let him pull me closer, away from the ever-expanding web my sister was building around her. Soon, she was surrounded by light, sitting in the center. Still crying.
And just like that, it was over.
The room went dark except for the two remaining light bulbs, which had somehow managed to stay whole.
I realized I had been holding my breath through much of what had happened, and I took a gulp of air—which tasted funny after that strong electric charge.
Almost metallic.
I looked at her again, then up at Raze. “Can one of you tell me what’s happening here?”
33
Anissa
I waited for Raze to answer. Somebody needed to start answering, very soon.
All he did was shake his head and mutter a single word. “Elemental.”
I waited for more. When he didn’t continue, I said, “And?”
“And I don’t know exactly what’s happening. The two of us are the only people who know about it besides Sara. I can’t ask anybody else—I mean, I don’t know what they would do to her if they knew what she was capable of.”
Sara let out a little whimper.
His head snapped around in her direction. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset. Everything’s okay.” He talked to her like he would talk to a temperamental child, trying to soothe her.
He was afraid of her, I realized. I couldn’t blame him. I was sort of afraid of her, too. But I was more afraid for her.
“She called me a couple of days ago,” he explained. “She told me what was happening to her, that these… imp
ulses… were starting to take over. She was terrified, since she couldn’t control it. It was getting stronger every day. She was afraid she’d kill somebody, or maybe set the penthouse on fire. Once it started, she didn’t know how to stop.”
“It doesn’t stop until I’m worn out,” she whispered from where she still sat.
None of it made sense. “She’s a vampire, but what you're describing is something an elemental witch would be capable of.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“There’s no witch blood in my sister—and definitely no elemental witch blood.” I looked at her then back at him. “Right?”
A few quick flashes of light burst from Sara’s fingers, and I cringed against Raze.
She whimpered again. “I don’t know anymore. I don’t know anything.” Sara tucked her hands under her armpits like she was trying to contain what was coming out of her. Her face was tearstained and smeared with dirt. Her eyes were swollen from crying.
“Just try to relax,” I said, feeling completely useless.
What was I supposed to say to her? That it was cool? That there was nothing out of the ordinary about her being able to shoot lightning out of her hands?
“I’m trying,” she said in a weak voice, so soft I could barely hear.
My heart went out to her. My poor sister. She had already been through so much.
Raze spoke up. “We’ve been talking throughout this whole time. The best I can figure out is she consumed contaminated blood at some point.”
“Elemental blood?” That would explain it, to a degree. I was sure Sara was a pure vampire. I remembered when she was born, for Pete’s sake. I remembered her father, my stepfather. He was a vampire, too. A pure-blood vampire.
He nodded. “I overheard something at school one day, not long ago. I was walking down the hall, going from class to class, and there was a group of guys behind me. I didn’t recognize their voices, but I overheard them talking about blood. Something about European clans. The word elemental was thrown around, too. Of course, I didn’t put anything together at the time because it meant nothing to me. I didn’t think about it again until this happened. I was disinterested, so I didn’t pay attention to who was speaking. I wish I had. I feel like I could’ve helped.”