Hollowed (22 page)

Noah looks off in disgust, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring at the door. Now that my eyes have a
djusted, I can see just what
he was doing earlier: a circle filled with symbols and letters I can
'
t even begin to decipher adorns the wood in white. Chalk? I get up to investigate, reaching out to touch it and Noah stops me with a simple,
"
Don
'
t.
"
He steps closer, nudging my hand away.
"
You
'
ll smear it.
"

"
That little thing can really keep them out?
"

He shrugs.
"
Why not? You leeches can survive off of blood, why can
'
t I keep people out with a spell?
"

"
You say such things, but the witches are more closely related to vampires than you might think,
"
Daniel says absently from his corner. Noah shoots him a scowl.

"
Like I don
'
t know that.
"

"
I
don
'
t.
"
My arms cross, watching Noah expectantly.

"Now really isn't the time for a history lesson."

"If we're stuck here anyway, I don't see why not."

Noah sighs, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away.
"
Vampirism started out as just a disease, a really long time ago. Most people lived for a few weeks, a couple of years at most. But eventually it killed them.
"
He brushes his fingers along the spines of old archive binders, lost in thought.
"
The story is that some idiot magic-user
'
s lover got infected. In order to save her life, he used his powers to manipulate the virus. Unfortunately, it had already made her bat-shit crazy and she went around infecting everyone she could get her hands on.
"

I open my mouth, close it again.
"
Magic can do that?
"

"
If you
'
re good enough. But,
"
he shoots Daniel another glare,
"
it was so long ago, no one knows if it
'
s really true.
"

"
There are still people old enough who have attested to it,
"
Oliver rasps. He swipes feebly at his mouth and pushes Daniel
'
s arm away, voice gravely and slurred. It
'
s still music to my ears to know that he
'
s all right.

"
That was not nearly enough,
"
Daniel says.

"
Any more and you
'
re not going to be able to transform for us to get out of here. It was enough.
"
Oliver pushes himself to his feet with Daniel
'
s help, jaw clenched, wincing.
"
...He
'
s coming. Can you sense him?
"

Noah glances back at the door, mouth drawn. Having watched him face off against Artie without a care in the world, it makes me nervous to see how uncertain he is about Joel. The older, the more powerful, isn
'
t that what they told me?

"
So, what? We hang out here and hope he goes away?
"
I say.

"
He
'
s strong, but he
'
s not
that
strong.
"
Noah sighs, sounding sullen.
"
Hey, vampire.
"

"
I have a
name
,
"
Oliver growls.

Noah gives a one-shouldered shrug.
"
You feel up to helping me scare him off?
"

Daniel starts to object when Oliver cuts him off.
"
I could do it by myself. You aren
'
t anything to be afraid of.
"

Thinking back to Artie and whatever it was Noah did to him? I
'
m not so sure about that. I
'
m also not sure Oliver should be moving around like he is. In this tiny room, I can feel Noah, I can f
eel Daniel...
but Oliver
'
s presence is barely a flicker. No wonder we couldn
'
t track him down earlier.

But as he moves for the door, I feel his presence warm and flare. He steps past me and long after he
'
s gone, I swear I can still reach out and touch him. N
oah gives him an approving nod
and shoves open the double doors to step outside.

The fresh air feels amazing, washing away the s
cent of blood and dust. Daniel—
Algonquin-the-wolf
—
slinks past me. He hovers near Oliver
'
s side, looking up at him now and ag
ain in concern. They aren't
in any condition to fight. That leaves me and Noah, and I wonder if we
'
re really capable of taking care of Joel by ourselves.
Fighting is so obviously not my strong suit.

I feel
Joel
before I see him on the path ahead of us, calm and casual, hair slicked back and hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. Alex is next to him. One side of her head is a matted, bloody mess where I bricked her. No wonder she looks pissed. They stop twenty-ish feet away, surveying the four of us, and I realize what Noah meant.

He doesn
'
t intend on fighting, he intends on making Joel run when he sees that he
'
s outnumbered. Alex hasn
'
t prov
en herself an amazing fighter—
persistent, but reckless
—
which  means we still have the upper hand. At least, we
look
like we do. Here
'
s hoping Joel doesn
'
t call our bluff.

"
What a pain,
"
he announces in a bored tone.
"
Though interesting. It isn
'
t every day I see witches taking orders from vampires.
"

Noah tenses, speaking through grit teeth.
"
Doesn
'
t hurt to work together when the situation calls for it.
"
Somehow I doubt he means that, but he doesn
'
t seem willing to rise to the bait.
"
What do you say, Joel? Four against two, you wanna do this?
"

Joel
'
s mouth purses, thoughtful. The flare of Noah and Oliver
'
s power has my legs jellified. The two of them are like birds puffing out their feathers, making themselves seem bigger, stronger than they are. It
'
s working on me, at least, and by the shifting expression on Alex
'
s face, I
'
m guessing it
'
s working on her, too.

"
You can
'
t protect the Greysons forever,
"
Joel
finally says, turning away.
"
Now you
'
ve killed one of Mav
'
s. He
'
s going to be pissed.
"

"
Tell it to someone who cares.
"
Noah watches him go at first, then takes a few steps down the stairs.
"
Hey, I have a question for you.
"

"
Tell it to someone who cares,
"
Alex mimics in a high-pitched whine, turning after Joel.

Noah ignores her.
"
Why did you turn Briar?
"

I snap my attention onto him. Why would he ask that? I had never thought to because I couldn
'
t imagine Joel
telling
me. The thought of that night makes me break out into a cold sweat.

Joel halts. When he turns around, he looks between Noah and me, and I recognize the genuine confusion on his face.
"
What
'
re you talking about? I didn
'
t turn her.
"

"
You were there,
"
Oliver snarls.
"
You were the one who attacked her.
"

"
Sure, I attacked her. Ripped her pretty throat out.
"
He smiles serenely in my direction.
"
But I didn
'
t turn her, sorry.
"

This time, the flare of presence I feel washing off of them is stronger,
angry
. It does nothing to help keep me level-headed.
"
You were the last person I saw. Artie killed Sherry and I—
"

"
You were unconscious when I left.
"
Joel inclines his chin, managing to look down on me even from this far away.
"
Coulda been anyone, princess, but it sure as hell wasn
'
t me. I wanted to leave you for dead and make Ruby sorry she ever crossed us. Y
'
all have a great night now.
"
With another smile and a tip of an invisible hat, he turns away. They vanish into the darkness before anyone can say another word.

It wasn
'
t him. What does he gain by lying when he
'
s already admitted he and Artie were the ones who attacked us? I
'
m back to square one of not knowing a damned thing. Angry tears blur my vision and my throat tightens.

This isn
'
t the time for getting upset, I decide. Oliver and Daniel both need to be looked at, and I want the hell out of this place.

Noah, thank God, has a car, and for
whatever reason
he feels generous enough to give us a ride home.
Too bad
the tension in the air the entire trip is icy and stifling and I
'
ve never been so glad to see that stupid hotel.

I text Cole to let him know we
'
re heading back and we have Oliver, safe and sound. He
'
s waiting for us out front when we pull up. Noah gets out of the car but lingers, hands buried deep in his pockets. Algonquin and Oliver trek inside without so much as a look back while I take my sweet time adjusting my hat and scarf, both filthy now thanks to Alex, and watch Noah from the corner of my gaze.
"
So...
you coming in?
"

Noah swings his
gaze
from me to Cole and back again.
"
I have things to do.
"

"
Liar.
"
I lean against the hood of the car,
signaling
Cole
that
he doesn
'
t need to stick around. In my peripheral I catch sight of him heading back inside. A fat raindrop plops itself onto the windshield, the first after a long day of ominous black clouds.
"
I have a few questions for you
before you head out
.
"

"
I
'
m not obligated
to answer them.
"
Noah squints up at the sky, anywhere to avoid looking at me. Which is fine; I can play the there-are-more-interesting-things-to-look-at game, too.

"
Uh huh. How do you know Ruby?
"

"
I don
'
t know why that
'
s any of your business.
"

"
She told me you two used to date.
"

I can hear the scowl in his voice.
"
So you
did
see her.
T
hat hat you
'
re wearing,
I thought it looked familiar. It was hers.
"