Beautiful Darkness (22 page)

Link followed me out of the tent, confused as usual. “I don't get it. Why would Lena help Ridley and Caster Boy pull a stunt like that? Someone coulda really gotten hurt.”

I scanned the rides closest to us to see if there was any sign of Lena or Ridley. But I didn't see them, just the 4-H volunteers fanning old women and handing out plastic cups of water to the victims of the pie-baking contest from hell.

“You mean, like my Aunt Grace?”

Link yanked on his shorts to make sure they were grub-free. “I thought she was a goner. Lucky she just fainted. Probably the heat.”

“Yeah. Lucky.” But I didn't feel lucky. I was too angry. I had to find Lena, even if she didn't want to be found. She was going to have to tell me why she would terrorize everyone in that tent to get even with — who? A few aging beauty queens? Link's mom, who was just aging? It was something Ridley would do, not Lena.

It was getting dark, and Link scanned the crowd through the flashing lights and hysterical church ladies. “Where'd Liv go? Wasn't she with you?”

“I don't know. I told her to go out the back when the bugfest started.”

Link cringed at the word
bug
. “Should we look for her?”

There was a group of people in line at the Fun House, so I headed that way. “I get the impression Liv knows how to take care of herself. I think this is something we have to do on our own.”

“Right on.”

We turned the corner a few yards from the entrance to the Tunnel of Love. Ridley, Lena, and John were standing in front of the dingy plastic cars painted to look like gondolas. Lena was standing in the middle, a leather jacket slung over her shoulders. Only she didn't have a leather jacket. John did.

I called her name, without even thinking. “Lena!”

Leave me alone, Ethan.

No. What were you thinking?

I wasn't thinking. I was finally doing something.

Yeah. Something stupid.

Don't tell me you're on their side now.

I was walking fast. Link struggled to keep up with me. “You're gonna start a fight, aren't you? Man, I hope Caster Boy doesn't set us on fire or turn us into statues or somethin’.” Link was usually up for a fight. Even though he was skinny, he was almost as tall as me, and twice as crazy. But the prospect of fighting a Supernatural didn't have the same appeal. We'd been burned on that one before.

I wanted to let him off the hook. “I've got this. Go find Liv.”

“No way, dude. I've got your back.”

When we got to the gondolas, John stepped forward protectively, in front of the girls, as if we were the ones they needed to be protected from.

Ethan, get out of here.

I could hear the fear in her voice, but this time I was the one who didn't answer.

“Hey, Boyfriend, how's it goin’?” Ridley smiled and unwrapped a blue lollipop.

“Screw you, Ridley.”

She noticed Link behind me, and her smile changed. “Hiya, Hot Rod. You wanna take a ride through the Tunnel of Love?” Ridley tried to sound playful, but she sounded nervous instead.

Link grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him, almost like he really was her boyfriend. “What did you think you were doin’ back there? You coulda gotten someone killed.
Ethan's four-hundred-year-old aunt almost had a heart attack.”

Ridley snatched her arm back. “It was only a few bugs. Don't be so melodramatic. I think I liked you better when you were a little more compliant.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

Lena stepped out from behind John. “What happened? Is your aunt okay?” She seemed like my Lena again, kind and concerned, but I didn't trust her anymore. A few minutes ago, she was taking down the women she hated and everyone else in the tent with them, and now she was the girl I kissed behind the ticket booth. It didn't add up.

“What were you doing back there? How could you help them?” I didn't realize how mad I was until I heard myself yelling. But John did.

He slammed his palm against my chest, and I stumbled back.

“Ethan!” Lena was scared, I could tell that much.

Stop! You don't know what you're doing.

Like you said. At least I'm finally doing something.

Do something else. Get out of here!

“You can't talk to her like that. Why don't you leave before you get hurt.” What had I missed? Lena had walked away from me barely an hour ago, and now John Breed was defending her like she was already his girlfriend?

“Yeah? You should be careful who you push around, Caster Boy.”

“Caster Boy?” He took a step closer to me, curling his hands into fists. Big fists. “Don't call me that.”

“What should I call you? Dirtbag?” I wanted him to hit me.

He lunged at me, but I threw the first punch. I'm stupid that way. I released all the frustration and anger I'd been holding inside the second my soft human fist made contact with his steel supernatural jaw. It was like hitting cement.

John blinked, his green eyes turning as black as coal. He hadn't felt a thing. “I'm not a Caster.”

I had been in my share of fights, but none of them could have prepared me for what it felt like to be hit by John Breed. I remembered watching Macon and his brother Hunting fighting, their incredible strength and speed. John barely moved, and my back hit the ground. I thought I was going to pass out.

“Ethan! John, stop!” Lena was screaming, black makeup running down her face.

I heard John slam Link into the dirt. To his credit, Link got up faster than I did. Only he was back down again faster, too. I picked myself up off the ground. I wasn't that banged up, but I was going to have a hard time hiding the bruises from Amma.

“That's enough, John.” Ridley tried to sound cool, but her voice had an edge and she looked scared — as scared as Ridley could look. She grabbed John's arm. “Let's go. We've got somewhere to be.”

Link looked her right in the eye, which took some effort, considering he was lying in the dirt. “Don't do me any favors, Rid. I can take care of myself.”

“I can see that. You're a real Golden Glove.” Link winced at the dig, or maybe it was the pain.

Either way, he wasn't used to being the one on the ground in a fight. He pushed himself to his feet and held up his fists, ready to go again. “They're the fists a fury, Baby, and they're just gettin’ started.”

Ridley stepped between John and Link. “No. They're finished.”

Link dropped his hands, kicking the dust. “Yeah, well, I could take him if he wasn't a — what the hell are you, man?”

I didn't give John a chance to answer, because I was pretty sure I already knew. “He's some kind of Incubus.” I looked at Lena. She was still crying, her arms hugging her waist, but I didn't try to talk to her. I wasn't even sure who she was anymore.

“You think I'm an Incubus? A Demon Soldier?” John laughed.

Ridley rolled her eyes. “Don't be such a show-off. No one calls Incubuses Demon Soldiers anymore.”

John cracked his knuckles. “I'm old school.”

Link looked confused. “I thought all you vampire dudes had to stay inside durin’ the day.”

“And I thought all you hillbillies drove Trans Ams with Confederate flags painted on the hoods.” John laughed, but it wasn't funny. Ridley stayed between them.

“What does it matter to you, Shrinky Dink? John's not really a rules kinda guy. He's sort of … unique. I like to think of him as the best of both worlds.” I had no idea what Ridley was talking about. But whatever John Breed was, she wasn't saying.

“Yeah? I like to think about him as crawlin’ back to his own world and stayin’ outta ours.” Link talked tough, but when John looked at him, all the color drained out of Link's face.

Ridley turned to John. “Let's go.” They turned back to the Tunnel of Love, the cars still making the loop under the old wooden arch painted to look like some bridge in Venice. Lena hesitated.

“Lena, don't go with them.”

She stood there for a second, like she was thinking about running back into my arms. But something was stopping her. John whispered to her, and she climbed into the plastic gondola. I looked at the only girl I'd ever loved. Black hair and golden eyes, instead of green.

I couldn't pretend the gold didn't mean anything, not anymore.

I watched the car disappear, leaving Link and me behind. As banged up and bruised as the day we had taken on Emory and his brother on the playground in fifth grade.

“Come on. Let's get outta here.” Link was already walking away. It was dark now, and the lights from the Ferris Wheel flashed as it turned. “Why'd you think he was an Incubus?” Link was taking comfort in the fact he had gotten his ass kicked by a Demon, not some regular guy.

“His eyes went black, and it felt like I was hit by a two-by-four.”

“Yeah, but he was walkin’ around durin’ the day. And he's got those green eyes, like Lena's …” He stopped, but I knew what he was about to say.

“Used to be? I know. It doesn't make sense.” Nothing about tonight did. I couldn't shake the way Lena had looked at me. For a second, I was sure she wasn't going to follow them. I was thinking about Lena, but Link was still talking about John.

“And what was all that crap about the best a both worlds? What worlds? Creep and creepier?”

“I don't know. I was sure he was an Incubus.”

Link rotated his shoulder, assessing the damage. “Whatever he is, that dude's got some serious superpowers. I wonder what else he can do.”

We turned the corner, near the exit of the Tunnel of Love. I stopped walking.
The best of both worlds.
What if John could do a lot more than rip like an Incubus and beat the two of us to a pulp? He had green eyes. What if he was some kind of Caster, with his own version of Ridley's Power of Persuasion? I didn't think Ridley could influence Lena by herself, but what if John was helping her?

It would explain why Lena was acting so crazy — why she'd looked like she wanted to come with me, until John whispered in her ear. How long had he been whispering to her?

Link hit my arm with the back of his hand. “Hey. You know what's weird?”

“What?”

“They haven't come out.”

“What do you mean?”

He pointed to the exit of the Tunnel of Love. “They didn't get off the ride.” Link was right. There was no way they could have come out before we turned the corner. We watched as the gondolas kept coming out empty.

“Then where are they?”

Link shook his head, all tapped out of insight for now. “I don't know. Maybe the three of them are doin’ somethin’ kinky in there.” We both winced. “Let's check it out. There's no one around.” Link was already halfway to the exit.

He was right. The cars kept coming out empty. Link hopped over the gate around the ride and ducked into the tunnel. Inside, there was a little space on either side of the track, but it was tricky to walk by the moving cars without getting hit.

One of the cars caught Link in the shin. “There's no one in here. Where could they have gone?”

“They couldn't have disappeared.” I remembered the way
John Breed ripped out of Macon's funeral. Maybe he could, but Ridley and Lena couldn't Travel.

Link ran his hands along the walls. “You think there's some kinda secret Caster door in here, or somethin’?”

The only Caster doors I knew about led to the Tunnels, the underground labyrinth of passageways that slept quietly under Gatlin and the rest of the Mortal world. It was a world within a world, so different from ours that it altered both time and distance. But, as far as I knew, all the entrances to the Tunnels were inside buildings — Ravenwood, the
Lunae Libri
, the crypt at Greenbrier. A few sheets of painted plywood didn't qualify as a building, and there was nothing under the Tunnel of Love except dirt. “A door leading where? This thing is sitting in the middle of the fair. They just set it up a couple of days ago.”

Link inched his way back out of the tunnel. “Where else could they have gone?”

If John and Ridley were using their powers to control Lena, I had to find out. It wouldn't explain away the last few months or her golden eyes, but maybe it would explain what she was doing with John. “I've gotta get down there.”

Link had already pulled the keys out of his back pocket. “How'd I know you were gonna say that?”

He followed me to the Beater, the gravel crunching under his sneakers as he jogged to keep up. He yanked the rusty door open and slid behind the wheel. “Where are we goin’? Or am I better off —” He was still talking when I heard it, the tiny words tugging at the bottom of my heart.

Good-bye, Ethan.

They were gone, the voice and the girl. Like a soap bubble, or cotton candy, or the last silvery sliver of a dream.

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