I squatted down and pulled my fingers through her remains. My chest clenched with despair. Grief made me empty. Hollow. I hated myself for failing.
The sirens were closer now.
‘Lenah!’ Cassius called from the car.
The sirens wailed louder and louder, coming from Main Street.
It was too late to do anything else. Justin had escaped, and Rhode was trapped with him.
‘Hurry up!’ Tony called, and the panic in his voice snapped me out of it. I scooped up some of Liliana’s remains and tucked them deep in my pocket. I sprinted across the lawn and out on to the street, sliding into the car. Tony was driving, and once the door was shut, he gunned the engine. As we turned the corner, the first ambulance peeled the corner on to Warwick Avenue.
My last image of Lovers Bay was of fire trucks racing down Main Street.
The authorities would scratch their heads and wonder how that much water could fill a house. They would search for sprinkler systems and find none. There would be nothing left once the water drained; only dead vampires and a shell of a house.
I wanted to save Rhode. I wanted to save Liliana, Henri and of course Kate Pierson.
They were vampires.
Just like Justin.
Just like Rhode.
CHAPTER 18
‘Say something,’ Tony repeated as he drove. I placed Liliana’s quiver and bow by my feet and scooped her ashes from my pocket. They were rust-coloured – a brave colour to leave behind.
Tracy sat in the back. I couldn’t see her behind the black curtain, but I could hear her sobbing. ‘I couldn’t get Rhode. I’m sorry, Lenah. So sorry . . .’
‘Lenah, say something,’ Tony said once more.
One gust of wind and Liliana would be gone from my hand. Tracy cried out in pain again.
‘Let me see it, Tracy,’ I heard Micah say.
‘It hurts. Don’t touch it!’
‘It’s going to be OK,’ Tony said.
‘How is it OK?’ Tracy moaned. ‘He’s a monster.’ She kept repeating it. ‘Justin’s a monster.’
As we drove I stared at the ashes in my hand. My arms still shook from the strain of carrying Rhode. In my mind, Justin held the sword above Rhode and me and awe passed over his face. He didn’t kill us when he had the chance. The question was why. What had he meant with that comment about it being ‘both of us’?
Tony took the highway and we were back at Cassius’s house rather quickly. He pulled into the driveway and parked in the garage. Everyone was talking, though I didn’t hear what they said. Car doors opened and shut, and someone opened the passenger side door. I didn’t move.
Tracy walked into the house, holding her arm to her chest and sniffling, ‘Kate. Kate.’
‘Is she going to be OK?’ I heard Tony ask Micah.
‘I think so,’ he replied.
‘Renoiera, look at me,’ Cassius said, and squatted next to the open car door.
I extended my hands, holding out the delicate remains.
‘These are Liliana’s,’ I said with a shake in my voice.
He opened his palms and I poured the ashes into them. I brought my hands quickly back to my lap; a gritty film coated my skin. I was reminded of a time long ago when I had believed Rhode to be dead. He had attempted to sacrifice himself by performing the ritual. When I found his vampire remains, they looked exactly like this.
‘Like Rhode, she was a soldier,’ Cassius said quietly. ‘She was prepared to die.’
‘My. Fault,’ I gasped. ‘I should have forced her to leave. Forced.’ My throat was tight, constricted.
‘She stayed to protect you. Against your orders,’ Cassius tried to explain.
‘You ran when I told you to.’
‘Because you told me to,’ he replied. ‘If I had my choice, I would have stayed too.’
‘Then you’d both be dead.’
My thoughts turned unwillingly to Justin again. Now that he had had his ability to love removed, he would be utterly ruthless. The time had come to do what Suleen and Fire had asked of me. I knew that now. I couldn’t risk Justin making anyone else a vampire. Whatever his plan was, he surely wasn’t going to stop with Rhode. I was his number-one target, and anyone associated with me was a target as well. That meant only one thing . . .
He had to be mine.
He would torture Rhode until I gave in. He would turn others at Wickham Boarding School into vampires until I gave him what he desired – my soul.
‘What is it, Len?’ Tony asked. He had come back out of the house and was standing beside Cassius. The Dems kept looking at one another. Micah too came out and stood there. He held medical tape in his hand and kept his eyes on Cassius. They were listening to me but in their minds.
What was that word Justin had yelled? Verese-something. Justin said this word: verese-something. It didn’t sound complete when he had said it and it didn’t sound like English either.
Cassius stood up and turned to Micah and Esteban.
‘Say it out loud,’ Micah said gently. ‘Please.’
‘Verese or vere was all I heard,’ I said. ‘It’s the start of a word. I don’t know the rest.’
‘Vere means “towards” in our language,’ Micah said. ‘That’s not much to go on.’
Cassius nodded.
I brought the heels of my palms to my eyes. The grit of Liliana’s ashes stuck to my eyebrows. I didn’t care.
‘Who’s with Tracy?’ I asked the darkness.
‘She’s in good hands, Renoiera,’ Cassius said.
‘Stop calling me that!’ I yelled, and the word echoed in the garage. ‘A Renoiera who can’t weaken the one person who’s tormenting everyone? Who can’t save Rhode? The two reasons we went into the bloody place! You want me to kill him; I haven’t been able to. I’m no one’s queen.’
I got out of the car and headed towards the door to check on Tracy.
I stopped at the top of the stairs to the house; it was only fair to come clean.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the elemental weapons. I wanted to make sure that I could truly protect you. They were my secret, I guess. But –’ I drew a deep breath – ‘I can’t protect anyone.’
Cassius opened his mouth to reply but I interrupted him by moving my braid out of the way, exposing my neck. I showed them the circular wounds that the tip of Justin’s fangs had made in my skin.
‘You should know Justin can hurt me. He tried to make me a vampire again in that house. If Tracy hadn’t come inside, I’d already be transforming.’
‘I thought you said he can’t hurt you if he loves you,’ Tony asked.
‘He has removed his ability to love,’ Cassius said in a low voice. Micah’s eyes widened in horror.
I didn’t speak because my breath was short. My legs and arms seized from exhaustion. The pain distracted me.
‘It’s time,’ I said. ‘We have to leave as quickly as we can. Get me some weapons.’
We planned to return to Wickham Boarding School in a couple hours. After all, Tracy and Tony’s parents would be called if they were off campus too long. I also needed to make a plan. I knew better than to run back into danger without thinking through my options. Also many of the Dems, Cassius and Esteban included, needed to heal. They also needed blood.
I sat on a couch in the living room and held Liliana’s bow in my lap. I ran my fingers against the soft wood.
Cassius did something for me I should have done days ago when Justin was shot by Liliana’s arrow on Main Street. I had kept the arrow from that night in my book bag. After investigating it, Cassius tossed the arrow into a fire that was burning in the grate.
‘It’d take days to decipher what is in Justin’s blood, even if we could get enough of a sample from that arrow,’ Micah explained. ‘And we don’t have that kind of time.’
The arrow in the fireplace crackled and hissed in response. With the burning of the blood, the spells, the evil and Justin’s power evaporated with the smoke. Anything magica
l stored in that onyx disappeared when it was broken apart and destroyed.
‘Are there any of Fire’s weapons left?’ Cassius asked.
‘Tony’s and a silver ring in my trunk. It’s air. I think we should save both as a last resort. They haven’t exactly worked out to my advantage.’
‘But they’re something,’ Tony offered.
‘How do we get into the Hollow Ones’ house?’ Tracy asked, and sipped on some tea. ‘That’s the next stage of our plan, right? Get Laertes and Rhode?’
‘We don’t even know what Justin was trying to protect,’ Tony pointed out. ‘Back in his house, he seemed interested only in taking Rhode and keeping that book. Did you see him chase it after it when it was kicked out of his hand?’
‘What’s inside that book might explain how he is so powerful,’ Cassius replied. ‘It would explain his desperation to protect it. And it’s our only lead.’
Micah and Cassius met my eyes. ‘Let’s get moving,’ I announced. Micah started to prepare a bag and dropped a dagger, sheathed with my symbol, into it. It made a soft clunk against the other weapons.
‘I’m not afraid to fight Justin, not after what he did to Kate,’ Tracy said, getting up. She and Tony kept talking about battle plans.
They can’t come, I said pointedly to the Dems, using only my mind. Tracy and Tony. Answer me in your mind.
Both Micah’s and Cassius’s bodies stiffened. Micah kept packing, but his eyes flickered to mine.
We need to go back, protect the school, I said. No one else dies. No one.
Cassius’s deep voice rang in my head. I agree we need to go back. Someone needs to watch the school. But it’s too dangerous for you, Renoiera.
‘No,’ I said aloud.
‘What? I don’t think a scythe is too much,’ Tony said, misreading my reaction. I shook my head.
You should tell them, Cassius said in my mind. He was right. What was that phrase? Time is of the essence.
‘Tony, Tracy, you need to go back to Wickham,’ I interrupted. ‘You will not be coming with me to the Hollow Ones’ house.’
Tracy shot up. ‘No way! You saw what Justin did to Kate – she was one of my best friends.’
I placed Liliana’s bow on the side table next to the couch.
‘This isn’t up for negotiation any more. You need to stay safe. So that you can protect Claudia and the others at Wickham.’ I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. I rested my back against the large window.
Tracy sighed and pressed her lips together. After a moment she nodded. It was the mention of Claudia that convinced her, I thought.
‘With Micah, Cassius and the other Dems,’ I continued, ‘you can keep things under control. We have to figure out the best way to discreetly keep everyone safe. Then I’ll deal with Justin.’
Tony stood up, joining me in a shaft of moonlight, ‘We’ll do it. You can count on us.’
Pegasus, the constellation of the winged horse, had always been my navigator. Once he illuminated in the sky, we left for Wickham.
‘We go back and we play it cool,’ I said from the passenger seat. Tony was driving again. ‘If anyone asks where we’ve been, I had to see my sick aunt and you two gave me a ride.’
‘Micah’s really good at forging official documents,’ Tracy said from the back. She read over a memo Micah had printed. Micah and Cassius were to meet us at my dorm room at nine, but in the meantime they were meant to assess the perimeter of the school. After the fight, we expected that Justin would need at least some time to regroup – after all, his house was destroyed. But I didn’t think it would take him long. Once I knew Tony and Tracy were safely protected, I would find Justin and destroy him. I now saw no other way out of this. Suleen had been right.
I hope we can protect them, I sent to the Dems.
We can, we will. Micah’s gentle voice said in my head. Cassius remained silent, in the back seat, plotting.
Tony, Tracy and I stood on the street just outside the Wickham gates. Lights from the union shone across the campus.
‘Sick aunt,’ Tony said.
‘Yep. Very old. Ancient,’ I replied.
We had rehearsed our excuse on the drive back. The guard started out of the booth towards us. As we waited for him to reach us, a breeze blew through the trees and one single leaf fluttered in a slow seesaw to the ground. I lifted my arm, opened my palm and the leaf landed in the centre of my hand.
Look . . . a voice in my mind said. It was the vampire queen deep down reminding me danger was near.
A man stood against the stone wall near the entrance to Lovers Bay Cemetery. He hid under the shadows of the trees. He wore a light leather jacket and kept his hands in his pockets.
‘Go,’ I whispered to Tony and Tracy. ‘Go to the guard.’
‘A vampire?’ Tracy whispered back.
The other way towards Main Street was more crowded, especially near the coffee shop.
There! A second vampire! This one was standing in the shadow cast by the post office. He watched us, his arms crossed, but he did not step out into the light of the street lamp.
The guard put up his hand and stopped us from walking on to the quad, ‘You’re on the list, all three of you, to see Headmistress Williams immediately. You know you’re not allowed off campus for extended periods, especially without permission. We were about to call all of your parents.’
Who would they call for me?
Two more vampires stood even further down the street. Another was in a car parked near Lovers Bay Diner.
‘Come along, Ms Beaudonte,’ the guard said. On the street, the vampire in the leather jacket lifted his chin and scowled.
All of them, each vampire on that street, was watching our every movement. Looks like I was right about Justin. I had no doubt these vampires were here on his orders.
They had come to Lovers Bay on command.
They had come for me.
CHAPTER 19
‘We didn’t even miss any classes,’ Tracy whined.
‘Irrelevant, Miss Sutton. Kate Pierson and Rhode Lewin have gone missing in the same week’ Ms Williams said while she paced in her office. ‘We were worried sick. Not to mention what would happen if the media got wind of the newest disappearances.’
‘Is that what you’re worried about?’ I asked. ‘The bad publicity?’
She stopped pacing. ‘You keep your opinions to yourself, Miss Beaudonte. I expect you three in your rooms at curfew, with no visitation privileges for forty-eight hours. You cannot go off campus and I expect you all to abide by the school rules for the rest of the semester. Contrary to what Miss Beaudonte thinks, I want you safe. I’ll see you all at the school meeting tomorrow morning.’
We stepped out of the office.
‘You keep your opinions to yourself,’ Tony mocked. He sighed and shivered. ‘She’s good. It’s creepy.’
‘She’s a fool,’ I replied.
‘I’m going to find Claudia,’ Tracy said, and the firm line of her mouth told me that now that she was here on campus without Kate, she was stepping into the role of protector to her remaining friends. My plan was working exactly as I hoped.
‘I’ll go with Tracy,’ Tony said. ‘It’s nearly eight o’clock,’ he called as he followed behind. It didn’t matter what Ms Williams said. I was done belonging to the world of Wickham Boarding School. I had made peace with that when I had asked the Aeris to return me home to the medieval world; I was no longer a part of the modern world.
I stood with my legs shoulder-width apart and did a panoramic sweep of the beach to the science buildings and to the media centre. I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. Whoever these vampires were, they were still watching me, and I had to exude confidence and power.
I didn’t care if I looked crazy to the students. I didn’t have vampire sight; I hadn’t possessed it in three years. My eyes swept over the infirmary to Seeker, to the main gates, the library. I turned completely around until I faced straight ahead again. I said words
they would not hear but I knew they would be able to read on my lips.
‘I. Am. Not. Going. Down. Without. A. Fight.’
At exactly 9 p.m. I stood at my dorm window and opened it up. Within seconds, two pairs of hands and legs crawled through.
‘We saw them,’ Cassius said. ‘We were able to detain one but didn’t get much information.’
‘I did get this though,’ Micah said, gesturing at his black eye.
‘Justin called them here. We know that much,’ Cassius said.
‘I figured as much,’ I replied.
‘You shouldn’t have come back,’ Micah said to me.
‘How did he summon so many? Send out a telegram?’ I asked.
‘It’s more email now,’ Micah replied, with a hint of a smile.
I couldn’t laugh.
‘We should go back to my house,’ Cassius said. ‘Tonight. You and I should go.’
‘We can’t leave Tony and Tracy alone. We need a plan to find out what these vampires want.’
‘I think we’re going to find out either way,’ Cassius said. Micah nodded, and by the time he turned back to face me, the bruise around his eye had already faded from black to a pale gold. ‘We tried to negotiate, but our appearance is strange to them. A threat.’
‘When they found out who we were, they attacked,’ Micah said. ‘And they promised more would come.’
‘Which is why you must go,’ Cassius pressed.
‘Not until I know Tony and Tracy are safe.’
‘Where is Tracy now?’ Cassius asked.
‘Claudia’s room. She’ll be back. Just give me until morning.’
That night I sat in the window seat with my head resting on the wall behind me. I held a dagger. The proximity to a weapon made me feel better, even though Cassius and Micah stood outside my window keeping watch. I had lost Fire’s sword in the fight at Justin’s, but still had the dagger. The campus was silent. Beyond the quad and surrounding the campus, the night settled over the Wickham woods. Shadows moved around the perimeter, silhouettes waited, preying on my fate.
What had Justin promised these vampires haunting Lovers Bay? What scheme had he concocted? Was it some backup plan in case he was compromised?