“I can’t wait to see him.” I realized Bryn had been in the middle of a sentence.
“I’m sorry?” I said, shaking myself free of the past.
“Ansel,” she said. “He’s there, right? In Denver?”
“Yes,” I said. “But Bryn, he’s—” I stopped myself. Maybe Ansel would change if Bryn were there to help him. I didn’t want to make her any more afraid than she already was.
“He’s waiting for you,” I said, and she smiled.
When the door was finished, I gazed at it, puzzled. Something didn’t look right. I couldn’t see the room we’d come from. The image behind the portal was dark and hazy.
“Is that where we’re going?” Mason asked, also wary of the darkness that lay before us.
“Yes,” Adne said uneasily. “I’m not sure why it’s dark.”
“It’s not important,” Connor said. “Anyway, we don’t have a choice; we have to go back. If something’s wrong, we’ll know when we get there.”
“Very reassuring,” I said. Bryn drew a quick, nervous breath and I squeezed her hand, sorry I’d said anything.
“But true,” Connor replied. “Ethan, lead the way. Wolves, go right behind him and put on your game faces, just in case. Calla, Adne, and I will follow you and close the door as soon as we’re all through.”
“Game faces?” Bryn frowned.
“He wants you to change forms,” I said.
“Happily,” Nev said, and was a wolf in the next moment. Mason and Bryn both shifted. The three wolves circled one another, licking, nuzzling. Sabine was watching Ethan. She glanced at the other Guardians but didn’t shift.
Connor smiled sadly at me. “Go on, that’s where you belong.”
My fangs were already sharpening when I returned his smile. “Just don’t try to pet me.”
Welcome back, Calla. Bryn licked my jaw. We’ve missed you.
Nev and Mason crowded in, pushing at me with their muzzles.
Are we okay? I asked.
You tell us, you’re the alpha. Nev nipped at my shoulder. I figure if this is our pack now, we’d better make the best of it.
I wagged my tail. Fair enough.
Can we get out of here now? Mason pawed at the ground.
I glanced at Connor, who watched me, a mixture of awe and curiosity playing over his face.
Sabine gazed at us, but she kept her distance, remaining in human form.
Ethan raised an eyebrow, glancing from her to our pack, as though her choice to stay away from us surprised him.
“Looks like we’re ready, Ethan,” Connor said. “You want to lead the way? Now that you’re a whole man again.”
“Go to hell,” Ethan growled, blushing when he cast a sidelong glance at Sabine.
She was still staring ahead, eyes distant, and she wrapped herself tighter in his jacket, shivering. I didn’t think it was from the cold.
“Why don’t you follow him, Sabine?” Connor said. “Stick close together.”
She nodded, disappearing into the portal. My packmates rushed after her. I hesitated for a moment, watching them go, glancing back at the alley that led to Eden. That place had changed everything. It had taken my brother’s soul, claimed Ren as its own, and become Monroe’s grave.
Instead of following the pack, I returned to my human body and faced Connor. “What if—”
Connor shook his head. “No looking back.”
I was surprised when he stepped forward, pulling me into an embrace.
“We all lost something today,” he whispered, resting his chin against the crown of my hair.
Adne watched us silently; tears standing in her eyes reflected the subtle, wavering gleam of the open door.
I nodded, leaning into him for a moment before I shifted into wolf form and leapt into the portal’s murky depths.
TWENTY-FOUR
A BLAST OF HEAT PUSHED me back, throwing me toward the door from which I’d just emerged. For a moment I thought something had gone wrong with the portal and I was trapped between worlds, tumbling into oblivion, and would soon be burning alive. I couldn’t see. Thick smoke filled the air, stinging my eyes, filling my lungs. I shifted forms, wanting to call out to the Searchers, but I dropped to my knees, coughing, grasping in front of me blindly.
“Calla!” A hand grabbed my arm, jerking me sideways. I could just make out Ansel’s face through the smoke.
“You have to get out of here,” he hissed, drawing me farther from the portal.
“What’s happening?” I said, choking on the smoke. At last I could recognize my surroundings. I was back in Purgatory’s bare entrance. Flames jumped along the walls, gutting the Searchers’ hideout.
“There are two more by the staircase!” I recognized Ethan’s shout.
“Keep moving,” Isaac yelled a second later. “Don’t let them corner you!”
Ansel pulled me into a crouch on the floor as a dark shape slipped in and out of the smoke plumes a few feet away from us. Fear slid beneath my skin when I realized it was a wraith.
“Keep still,” Ansel breathed into my ear.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Where was Shay?
I heard screaming but couldn’t tell if the sound came from a man or woman.
Adne and Connor’s silhouettes were illuminated against the light of the portal.
Connor flinched at the heat and began to cough. “What the hell?”
I saw the wraith turn, moving away from our hiding place but slithering toward them. Ansel tried to hold me back, but I pushed him away, lunging toward the confused pair.
“Run!” I shouted, slamming into them, knocking them away from the glowing door.
Adne scrambled from beneath me. “Oh my God. What’s happened?”
“They found us,” Connor said, drawing his swords. “The Keepers found us.”
“Adne? Connor?” Ethan loomed out of the smoke, cradling an unconscious Sabine in his arms. Isaac had joined beside Ethan. Both of them brandished weapons, but their faces were bleak.
“Damn it.” Connor peered into the smoke.
“What happened?” I asked, staring at Sabine’s limp body.
“The building is coming down,” Ethan said, thrusting his hand toward an immense pile of debris. “A whole section of the roof fell right as we came through the door. She was hit in the head. I lost the wolves trying to get out of the way. I don’t know where they are. They may have been buried underneath.”
“Incoming! Ethan, back up!” Connor held his swords low, but his eyes went flat and hopeless as the wraith approached. “Calla, stay behind me!”
“Adne, open a door!” Ethan screamed. “Get us out of here!”
The wraith was only a few feet away now.
There was still no sign of Shay or the rest of the pack. Were they buried under the rubble? Had they already been taken? Who led this attack? How had the Keepers found Purgatory?
“We aren’t going to make it.” Connor grimaced, placing himself between our huddled group and the wraith.
“Some of us are,” Isaac murmured. He shoved Connor back and leapt onto the wraith.
“No!” Ethan shouted as inky shadows wrapped around Isaac while the rest of us stood frozen in horror.
Isaac made no sound. His body only crumpled in on itself as the Keepers’ creature took him.
“Adne!” Connor moved between us and the horrible sight.
“It’s open!” Adne shouted. I turned to see a new door shimmering behind her.
“Go!” Connor jerked his head and Ethan, with Sabine, bolted through the passage.
“You too.” Connor took Adne’s hand.
“I won’t go until you do,” she said.
“This isn’t a discussion,” Connor said. “If we aren’t there in two minutes, you close the door. Understand?”
Her eyes brimmed, but she nodded and vanished into the doorway.
“Shay!” I screamed, desperately peering into the smoke for any sign of him or the others. “Ansel!”
“Through the door.” Connor reached for me, but I darted away. “They came for him. They’ve probably already taken him. You have to go now!”
“I’m not leaving them!” I yelled, coughing as smoke tore at my lungs.
Several dark shapes appeared in the shifting gray clouds. Connor swore, looking from me to the door.
“I don’t know how many more wraiths there are, but we can’t wait to find out.” He took my arm, drawing me back.
“Please,” I sobbed. “I have to find them.”
The silhouettes of four wolves materialized from the smoke—speeding toward us. My choked cry became a shriek of joy. Shay shifted forms and his arms were around me, pulling me tight against him. Then Bryn, Mason, and Nev stood beside him, their eyes wild and faces pale.
“Thank God you’re okay,” Shay whispered, pressing his face into my hair. “We’ve been running through the hideout like some crazy maze, dodging the wraiths.”
“Where’s Ansel?” Bryn was crying. “All the smoke, I couldn’t track his scent. . . . I couldn’t find him.”
“I don’t know where he is.” My stomach knotted. Had I abandoned my own brother to wraiths?
“Get your asses through that portal!” Connor ripped Shay away from me, shoving him through the glimmering door. “We have to get it closed before the other wraiths find us.”
“But—” Bryn began, eyes moving over the smoke, searching for any signs of Ansel.
Mason and Nev shifted forms again, sniffing the air and whining.
“That’s it,” Connor hissed, reaching for Bryn. “No more waiting.”
“I knew you’d leave me behind.” Silas’s voice cut through the smoke. “Bastard.”
He was slumped over Ansel’s shoulders. My brother stumbled forward, supporting the Scribe’s weight.
“Ansel!” I searched his body for signs of injury. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, not raising his eyes to mine.
“You hurt?” Connor asked Silas.
“Fell down the stairs when they showed up . . . I think I twisted my ankle. Lucky this one came along,” Silas replied, nodding at Ansel.
“Get him to the other side,” Connor said, turning away stiffly from the Scribe, but I saw relief wash over his face at Silas’s appearance. “We’re all leaving. Right now.”
Ansel kept his eyes on the floor but nodded, dragging Silas into the shimmering portal. Bryn rushed after them. Shay kept his arms around me and we moved toward the door together with Mason and Nev at our heels. Behind us I heard a crash, followed by a thundering blast. An explosion threw us forward, ripping me from Shay’s arms. I faded out of consciousness as I watched the bodies of my companions falling into the portal’s light like shadows flickering against the sun.
TWENTY-FIVE
I WAS ON MY BACK, staring up at a dull gray sky. Bits of ash floated through the air, settling on my skin and melting.
Melting?
I took a deep breath, feeling icy cold pour into my lungs. Scattered flakes of snow continued to float down steadily. A rustling sound was all around me. The pressing heat of flames and suffocating smoke were gone. I rolled over, crouching, trying to make sense of where I was.
Slender, faded yellow columns reached for the sky in straight rows, stretching for what looked like a flat eternity, at last falling off into an infinite horizon.
What the hell? My hand brushed against a dried husk that lay on the frozen earth.
Corn. Cornstalks. I glanced at my feet; the earth below me was hard, caught in the grip of winter’s chill, but even below the dusting of snow I could see the darkness of the rich soil. A field.
Nearby I heard someone gasping for breath. Adne rolled onto her side, grimacing.
“Welcome back to Iowa.”
“Where are we?” I asked, shaking my head. My ears were still ringing.
“On the outer perimeter of the Academy grounds,” Adne said.
Shay groaned, rubbing his stomach. “I think I almost got impaled by a cornstalk. Why aren’t we inside the Academy?”
“I didn’t want to risk us being followed,” Adne said, standing up. “Don’t worry, it’s not far.”
“Hey!” Connor’s shout drew my attention.
Mason in wolf forms, snarled, while Bryn stood apart from them trying to hold on to Ansel, who kept moving away from her.
Nev was on his knees. His hands were locked in a choke hold, holding something against the ground—something that had Mason bristling, ready to attack. Not something—someone.
“What the hell?” Ethan turned and stared at him. He was still holding an unconscious Sabine.
“Calla, what’s wrong with them?” Connor asked.
As I got closer, I could make out golden spikes of hair. It can’t be.
I could hear words gurgling from within the windpipe Nev was slowly crushing.
“Pl . . . please,” Logan choked. “I’m. . . . ungh . . . I’m . . . here . . . to . . . help . . . you. . . .”
“Nev, wait,” I said, grabbing his forearm. “What is he saying?”
“I don’t care.” Nev scowled. Logan’s skin was turning blue.
I stared at them, paralyzed by indecision, not blaming Nev for wanting to hurt the Keeper. Logan remained pinned to the earth, squirming futilely as air was cut off from his lungs. Nev’s face twisted with rage, his grip on Logan’s throat ever tightening.
“Who is that?” Connor was beside us.
“A Keeper,” I said. “That’s Efron Bane’s son.”
“What the hell is he doing here?” Connor blinked at Logan in disbelief. “And how did he get here?”
“I have no idea,” I said.
Logan pushed futilely at Nev’s arms. His eyes rolled up at Connor.
“Save . . . them . . . ,” Logan’s voice squeaked out. “Tristan . . . not . . . dead . . .”
“What?” Connor ducked forward, shoving Nev aside. Now it was Connor over Logan, keeping him down with one booted foot to the chest. Logan gasped and sputtered, reaching up to touch the dark bruises at his throat.
Connor shook him. “What did you just say?”
“Give me asylum.” Logan coughed. “They’ll kill me if you send me back.”
“We’ll take care of that for them,” Nev snarled, still crouching nearby. “You don’t have to go anywhere.”
“Why would we ever give refuge to a Keeper?” I asked, staring at Logan. I didn’t trust him for a moment. He and his father represented everything that had gone wrong in Vail. It was their fault Ren was . . .
The thought barreled me over. Ren. I’d lost him forever. Worse than that, my betrayal had turned him away from any life other than one that was dictated by the Keepers. Tears filled my eyes and I stumbled back. I wanted nothing more than to fall to my knees and claw Logan’s eyes out, using his flesh to tear away the pain that knotted my gut.
Shay was at my side, putting his arms around me, his touch only making my guilt sting like salt in a wound.
“Don’t,” I said, pulling away.
Ethan gazed at Logan with flat eyes. “Kill him.”
Connor nodded, drawing his sword.
Adne gasped when Logan began to laugh. “Such hypocrisy! I thought the Searchers were supposed to be noble. Foolish, of course, but noble all the same.”
“For a dead man you sure jabber a lot,” Connor said, lowering the blade to Logan’s throat.
Logan tensed but kept smiling. “I only meant that if you hadn’t harbored one of my kind, all of your hopes would be dashed already, wouldn’t they?”
“What is he talking about?” Bryn asked. She was listening even as she hovered near my brother. Ansel kept sidling away from her, but she followed him, trying to hold him in spite of his reticence.
“My father,” Shay said quietly. “He’s talking about my father.”
“I knew there was a reason you’re the Chosen One,” Logan said. “Remarkably observant.”
“You aren’t Tristan,” Ethan snapped.
“But I can help you save him,” Logan said.
“What?” Shay darted forward. “What do you mean?”
“What I’ve been trying to say since I stowed away with you,” Logan replied. “Your parents are alive.”
“You’re lying.” The sword Shay held began to shake in his grip.
“Not when my life depends on it,” Logan said. “Tristan and Sarah Doran are alive. You can still save them.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Nev shouted, pacing next to Connor. “Kill that bastard. I can’t stand the sight of him.”
Mason stalked forward, hackles raised.
“No!” It was Shay who blocked his line of attack before turning back to Logan. “What do you mean, we can still save them? Where are they?”
Logan smiled slowly. “If you want to know, I need assurance that I won’t be harmed.”
“He’s lying,” Nev hissed. “Shut him up now. Cut his tongue out.”
“Wait.” The words wanted to stick in my throat, but I knew Shay was at least partly right about this. “If he knows something about Shay’s parents, we at least have to find out what it is.”
“How about if you don’t tell us, I cut your tongue out?” Connor said, sheathing his sword after Ethan tossed him a dagger.
Logan’s smile vanished. “Barbarian.”
“I consider that a compliment,” Connor said. “You gonna play ball?”
“Stop this!” Silas limped forward, looking a bit singed. “If he has information, we’ll go through an official interrogation.”
“I don’t think I asked for your opinion,” Connor said.
“It’s protocol,” Silas said. “Anika will be furious if you don’t follow it. If this is indeed Efron Bane’s son, he’s not only a valuable informant. He could be a priceless hostage.”
“Brainiac’s got a point,” Ethan said.
Adne sprang forward, one of her skeans raised. “I don’t give a damn about protocol! My father and Isaac are dead because of the Keepers. I want his blood!”
Connor knocked her arm away at the last second, the slash of the skean’s sharp point coming within inches of Logan’s cheek.
Wolfsbane Page 24