Claimed (26 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

G
alena was awakened by a tug in her gut, like cool fingers had wrapped around her spine and shaken her awake. She winced as she sat up and looked down at herself. Something small and metallic hit the floor and rolled toward the fireplace. Her body had finally pushed the bullet out. She ran her hand over her chest. Her torn shirt was stiff and sticky with drying blood. But when she pulled the fabric away from her skin, she saw that her chest had mostly healed. The wound was now just a red pucker that was rapidly regaining its previously smooth texture.

She gasped as she felt the tug again. It must be a soul in the Veil somewhere, waiting to be ferried to the Afterlife. Should she try to go? What if Dec came back while she was gone? She wanted to be here when he arrived. She pulled out his phone and looked down at it, a chill riding over her skin. Sh
e’d
been out too long. Way too long. They only had an hour left.

And she couldn’t call Dec, because she had his phone. She put her hand over her middle as the pull increased in intensity. Could the soul wait for her? Hadn’t Dec said another Ferry would shuttle the soul if she didn’t?

Hadn’t he also said the soul might become rabid while it waited?

She pulled her Scope from its setting. Indecision gripped her.

A swirling burst of hot and cold air lifted tendrils of her hair, and Galena looked up to see Eli materialize near the kitchen.

There was dried blood on his hands.

Galena shot to her feet. “Oh my God, Eli, are you all right?”

He looked down at his fingers and then back at her. “I’m fine,” he said in a harsh, rasping voice. “I’m almost finished.”

“What are you talking about?” Any relief at seeing him was evaporating quickly. He looked so different from the last time the
y’d
been together. His face was pulled into a grimace, like he was in pain. The usual kindness in his eyes was gone.

“I never wanted to be a monster,” he muttered. “He never should have made me a monster.”

“Eli?” she whispered, taking a step toward him, her hand rising from her side, reaching for her brother.

“Moros. There’s no way this can end unless he dies.” His green eyes met hers. “And the way to get to him is you. It’s the only way.”

Her stomach tightened. She could still feel the pull of the dead soul, but it was overlaid by fear. “What do you mean?”

“It’s almost midnight.” Eli’s face was contorted, lines of stress around his eyes and mouth.

“Do you know where Dec is?” she asked, her voice small, strangled by worry.

“He needed to understand, G. I had to show him where it happened, where everything started. I wanted him to know why I had to do it.”

Her hand, suspended in air, trying to cross the distance between them, froze. She looked down at the blood on his hands again. “Eli, what have you done?”

“What I had to. And I have to do this, too.” It sounded like he was forcing every word from his mouth. His fingers curled, his every muscle taut, he stalked toward her.

Hot hands closed over her shoulders and yanked her backward. Cold air enveloped her, and she staggered, but arms wrapped around her torso, keeping her upright. She craned her neck to see Tamasin, her brown skin streaked with blood, her braids swinging around her face, her eyes glowing. “You have to get away from here,” she said in a tight voice. “We’ve lost Eli, too.”

No sooner had she said it than Eli appeared. They were in the shadow world of the Veil, but still in the cabin. “I can follow anywhere you take her.” His voice was flat. Dead.

Tamasin shoved Galena behind her. “Eli, this is your
sister
. Your devotion to her is the reason you chose to join Moros.”

Eli’s claws elongated, and his eyes burned crimson. “I know,” he roared. “This is her fault!”

Tamasin launched herself at Eli, right as he charged. Galena fell back. Caught by the murderous look in her brother’s eyes, she stared, horrified, as he and Tamasin kicked and slashed at each other. The man fighting Tamasin wasn’t her brother. It couldn’t be him. Like Nader. Like Trevor. Not themselves.

“Eli, stop!” cried Galena. “Remember who you are. I love you. Don’t do this.”

Eli flinched, and Tamasin landed a solid kick to his middle, sending him off balance. He crashed into the kitchen counter and sank in. As Tamasin crouched, waiting for his next attack, Galena got to her feet. “Eli, look at me,” she said. “Think of everything we’ve been through together.”

He rubbed at his chest and winced, his eyes glittering with pain. “
G . . . I . . .
”

Erin suddenly appeared at his side, her freckled face full of concern. She wasn’t wearing glasses anymore, and her long brown hair was loose around her shoulders. She laid her hand on Eli’s cheek. “You are so difficult,” she said in a gentle but chiding tone.

“Erin?” Galena said. “Why are you here?”

“Who are you?” Tamasin barked at the same time.

Erin turned to look at them. “I’m the boots on the ground,” she said, her fingers caressing Eli’s face. It contorted with rage, revealing his wickedly sharp fangs.

Anger rose inside Galena, pushing down her fear. Erin’s touc
h . . .
sh
e’d
touched Dr. Cassidy, too. “You’re doing something to him.”

Erin arched her eyebrow. “Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out—”

With a growl, Eli charged at Tamasin again. The force of his attack knocked Erin to the side, and she bounced off the counter and fell to her knees. A Scope flew from her pocket and slid to the middle of the floor, raven face up, flecked with dark-red droplets. As Tamasin collided with Eli, Galena lunged for it. She knew it had to be Dec’s.

She grabbed it and rolled backward just as Tamasin and Eli hit the floor between her and Erin, who looked pissed as she laid her hand on Eli’s back. “Finish her and fetch your sister, Eli. Remember what you’re here to do.”

Eli’s head lurched to the side, and Galena felt like his gaze was going to burn right through her. “You have to die!” His voice was guttural. More animal than human.

Galena scooted backward just as Eli flipped so that he was straddling Tamasin, whose face and neck and chest were a mass of red gashes. Eli spread both his arms wide and slashed his claws down, embedding them in Tamasin’s chest. Galena screamed and dove for the door of the cabin as Tamasin let out a shriek of agony.

The gelatinous door was no match for Galena’s frenzied, panicked strength. She punched right through it and rolled onto the porch. The cabin was set into a steep mountainside that led into a flat, rocky valley. Beyond it was the vertical face of an incredibly tall mountain. No other buildings, no cities, no people.

“You can’t run from me,” Eli snarled as he pushed through the door.

With a gasp, Galena jumped off the edge of the porch. She fell through the air, arms pinwheeling. Her mind spun with calculations and guesses.
Increase your surface area or you’ll get stuck when you land.
She flung her arms and legs out as she landed flat on her back and bounced. She curled into a ball again as she rolled down the hill. She had to get herself far enough away from Eli to have time to open the Scope.

“Trying to get to him, G?” Eli called, striding down the mountain after her. “I’ll be right behind you.”

She needed to lose her brother somehow. Panting as she rolled to a stop, she looked over her shoulder to see him jump from a boulder and land in a crouch on the floor of the rocky valley, not twenty feet from her.

“What happens when ordinary humans die in the Veil?” he asked. “I bet the Chief’s wondering that right now.”

She rubbed her thumb over her Scope. Dec’s glowed warm in her other hand. He needed it. Eli had trapped him in the Veil, she was sure. And he must be hurt. Time was running out. Tears burned her eyes, thinking about him, alone and in pain. Her jaw clenched as she felt the now-familiar tug inside her. “I’m going to save him right now,” she yelled, yanking her Scope wide and diving through it. The last thing she saw was Eli vanishing.

She slammed her Scope shut and looked around. She was in Cambridge, near her lab. And two people were wrestling on the sidewalk at the corner. Galena ran toward them—one of them was the soul she was supposed to guid
e . . .
and one of them was a Ferry, a petite woman with wavy black hair. “Cacy?”

Cacy punched the soul—a middle-aged guy with a generous belly and thinning hair—in the face and looked over at her. “Was this one yours? By the time I felt the pull, he was already going rabid.” She punched him again as he struggled and grunted. “Open up your damn Scope and shove him in—I can’t hold him much longer!”

Too shocked to do anything but comply, Galena flipped her Scope so the scales were up, then brushed her thumb over it. Searing heat poured from within, and Galena opened it wider to see nothing but cinders and fire. She looked up at Cacy. “We have to put him in here?”

“Now, Galena!” The guy shoved Cacy and kicked her backward, and she stumbled as he jumped to his feet.

Galena didn’t question her again. She ran toward the soul, whose eyes went wide. As he turned to run, shrieking, Galena slammed the hoop over his head, sinking to her knees and pulling it all the way to the ground with a smoking whoosh. The scent of sulfur filled the air, and Galena fell forward. Cacy yanked her to her feet. “Where have you been?” She took in the look on Galena’s face. “Where’s Dec?”

Galena jumped as a coin flew from the ring of her open Scope and landed on the soft pavement. She didn’t bother to pick it up. “Something’s wrong with Eli,” she said as she slammed the Scope shut. “He’s hurt Dec, and now he’s after me. I fooled him into going to the wrong place, but he’ll be here soon. I don’t know how to stop him.”

Cacy blinked at her, clearly trying to process all the information Galena had just spewed out. “When you say something’s wrong with Eli—”

“He wants to destroy Moros. And he says he’s going to do it by killing me.”

Cacy’s mouth dropped open. “Eli would never—”

“He would. There’s a Ker named Erin, and she’s doing something to him. I’ve never seen him like this, Cacy,” Galena said, her throat closing around her disbelief and pain.

“You said he hurt Dec. Where’s my brother?”

Her stomach ached with the old fear. “Based on what Eli said, I think I know.”

“Go to him. I’ll stop Eli.” Cacy’s delicate face was hard with determination.

“He’s unstoppable, Cacy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Cacy reached up and laid her hands on the sides of Galena’s face. “I love him, Galena. I’m going to find a way to bring him back. Can you do the same for Dec? Can you find him?”

Galena stared into Cacy’s eyes, usually turquoise blue, now gray in the Veil but no less intense. “I can.”

Cacy let her go, already pulling her Scope from her neck. “He’s lucky he has you.”

Galena looked down at his Scope, heavy and warm in the palm of her hand. “Luck has nothing to do with it.” She took a deep breath, preparing to go to the last place she ever wanted to see again. But if it meant saving Dec, if it meant bringing him home, she was willing to face it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

D
ec propped himself up in the dank, narrow entryway of the broken-down apartment building, his head bowed, his back against the soft, slick wall, trying to find the strength to get to his feet. H
e’d
barely managed to lug himself up the steps and through the door of the building before the Shades got there. There had been a shitload of them, and now Dec understood—it had to be Erin, whatever she stirred up in people, whatever hate and resentment, the Shades had felt it and had come running. Just like they had that night in Cambridge Common.

H
e’d
listened to them, snarling and shrieking, as the
y’d
run up and down, looking for the source of the warmth, maybe for a Scope that could carry them back to the place the
y’d
left. For the first time, he understood what it felt like. He would have given anything to feel warmth on his face, to hear the sound of people all around him, all bustle and chaos and hope.

A few minutes ago, Eli had showed up again, a sudden nightmare. H
e’d
poked his head through the gelatinous surface of the door, and Dec had braced himself for another attack. Instead, Eli’s red gaze had swept through the entryway, searching, and then his face had twisted with anger. H
e’d
disappeared once more.

Dec had no idea what that had meant. He could only hope Galena had evaded her brother somehow.

He had to get up. He had to get back out there. His only chance was to find a newly dead soul. A Ferry would arrive to usher it into the Afterlife, and he or she would have a Scope. A ride home. It was a solid plan. The only problem was that it required a huge amount of luck, and it was clear Dec’s was running out. The heels of his boots slid against the floor as the muscles of his less injured leg tried to push him up. His other leg was ruined, a mess of torn flesh and exposed bone beneath his shredded pant leg. His fingers sank into the wall as he tried to rise, his broken ribs shifting and stabbing. He gritted his teeth to stifle his cry. He had to try. Galena was depending on him.

He didn’t know how much time he had left, but he knew it wasn’t long. And when it was up, Aislin would revoke his status. Sh
e’d
only be thinking of looking strong, of proving to the Keepers and the board and everyone else that defying her brought consequences. She would have no idea he was here, that his injuries were fatal, broken ribs and bleeding insides, blood loss and shock. It wouldn’t take that long for him to die. And Galena, wherever she was, would become human again, too. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the image of Eli descending on her, his claws out.

Stifling moans of pain, Dec hauled himself up to standing, his fingers buried in the forgiving wall. He leaned back, eyes still closed, panting through the agony. His body was begging him to lie down, to give up. The pain would subside. He could drift, it promised him. He might not even be aware when the end came.

But for her, he had to try. He plunged through the soft door and lost his balance, falling face-first down the steps. Cushiony or not, it hurt enough to steal his breath and blur his vision. His mouth filled with the taste of blood, and he spat onto the gray concrete as he pulled himself forward on his belly, every movement bringing fresh lightning strikes of pain.

Up the street, something flickered, and Dec squinted, trying to bring it into focus. A light. Color. Was i
t . . . 
?

“Dec,” Galena shrieked as she pushed her Scope closed and sprinted toward him.

He stared at her, blonde hair flying around her face, her wide eyes alight with fear as she raced up the street. H
e’d
never seen anything more beautiful.

She landed on her knees next to him. Her soft hands smoothed over his shoulders and back as she tried to turn him over. He pushed with his arms, helping as much as he could, and together they succeeded; he ended up with his back to her front, her arms around him. She cradled him in her arms, her breaths coming fast. “I knew h
e’d
brought you here,” she said as she flipped her Scope like a pro and pressed her finger over it, then opened a window to the real world. “Come on.”

She opened the ring and lowered it over their heads, and the two of them struggled to get his body through. She gently lowered him to the pavement and pulled the ring over his torn legs, her mouth tight. She shut the Scope and crawled back up to his head, her eyes scanning up and down the street.

Looking for danger. Her hands were shaking.

But then her fingers were tangled in his hair and her lips were on his forehead. “You’ll be okay,” she said in a thin, breaking voice. Her mouth was warm comfort against his Veil-chilled skin.

“Eli went after you,” he wheezed.

“Tamasin protected me. She’s amazing.” Her expression darkened, and Dec wondered what had happened to the Ker. It had to be something or sh
e’d
be here, still protecting Galena.

“Did Erin—?”

“She’s evil, Dec.” Galena’s nostrils flared. “I don’t know how she’s doing what she’s doing, but she’s behind this.”

Dec knew how sh
e’d
done it, but he couldn’t explain it, not really. All he knew was that her touch had made him want to seek revenge for every tiny slight or grievance h
e’d
ever experienced. And it was obvious that was what had been done to the others, too. They were all determined to take down Moros, though any of them in their right minds would have obeyed his orders without questioning. Erin was plotting to destroy Moros using his own Kere. She was trying to control the game board.

“You’re right,” he wheezed, holding tight to Galena’s hands as his broken bones began to knit back together, which was just as painful as having them broken. “She has to be stopped.”

“My first priority is you,” said Galena. “We have to get you back to Psychopomps. We have to make sure Aislin doesn’t revoke your status.” She pulled out his phone and let out a panicked moan. “We only have ten minutes left.”

“Text her,” he gasped out. “We can explain.”

She gave him an apologetic look. “There’s no network here, not for the past several years. This is Pittsburgh, not Boston.”

He gazed at the phone, suddenly remembering why she had it. “Did you get what you needed?”

“Yeah. Dr. Cassidy did it, but Erin made her. I’m sure of it. She was posing as her assistant. Dr. Cassidy wasn’t herself, Dec. She kept shouting about how
I’d
stolen all the credit for her research.”

Dec would have laughed if he hadn’t been in so much pain. “Definitely Erin. She touched me, Galena. One touch and I was so angry that I wanted to fight and hurt everyone I love.”

“But it went away?” she asked, her eyes shining with tears. “Because El
i . . .
”

“I’m right here, G,” said Eli, who had appeared on the stoop of the building where Dec had hidden. “If you have something to say to me, yo
u’d
better say it now.” In the real world, Eli almost looked like his usual self. Except for the blood on his hands.

Galena’s grip on Dec tightened, her hands covering his chest. “I was only saying that I love you, Eli. I’ve always loved you, and I’ll never stop.”

Eli’s lip curled as he looked around. “I remember the last time I was here.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

Dec found the strength to cover her hand with his.

“Do you know what I did afterward, G? I never told you,” Eli said. “I was too ashamed.”

Dec went cold. His fingers closed over Galena’s as Eli sauntered down the steps. Up the street, someone shouted and glass shattered. Galena flinched, her body tightening. “What did you do?” she murmured.

“They weren’t hard to find,” Eli said quietly. “I went after the black-haired one first. His name was Philip Carver. It took me a little longer to hunt down Jake Waters. He was the blond one. The one in charge.”

“You killed them,” she said, her voice shaking. “That’s what you meant when you said that yo
u’d
killed people before.”

He nodded. “All five of them. As it turns out, I’m very good at killing.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. “A few minutes left, Dec,” he said. “Any last words?”

“Fight back, Eli,” Dec said, taking a pained breath and sitting up, his newly healed bones aching. His leg wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it still wasn’t fully healed. “Erin, whatever she is, has been messing with your mind. She’s using you.”

Eli shook his head. “Everyone else is using me. She’s just a newbie.”

Galena rose, stepping between Dec and Eli. She pointed to a spot on the sidewalk, the place where Eli had told him sh
e’d
been raped. “When they left me there,” she said, her voice strained, her finger trembling, “all I could think about was getting to you. I was bleeding and broken, but I crawled over to where you were. Did you know that? Did you feel it?”

“I was dead,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t here.”

“I didn’t care. I wanted you back. I held your head. I kissed your face. I begged you.”

Pain flickered within Eli’s eyes. “You should have let me go.”

She shook her head. “I will never let you go. You’re my brother. And you won’t ever let me go. You won’t do this, Eli. You’re too good.”

As she spoke to him, trying to remind him how much he loved her, how the
y’d
saved each other, how he was the only family she had in the world, Dec got unsteadily to his feet. His heart was pounding now. He could try to get them into the Veil, but Eli was more of a monster there than he was here. The most he could hope for was getting Eli away from Galena, long enough to allow her to get back to Psychopomps. She had the evidence she needed to clear her name. Aislin could protect her if she understood the threat.

He needed to make his move soon, though. Once Aislin revoked his status and decommissioned his Scope, they’d be trapped here, and Eli would have them Marked and doomed in less than a minute.

“You died protecting me, Eli,” Galena was saying. “Because that’s who you are.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” snapped a familiar voice. Erin stepped from behind Eli, her cute face pinched with irritation. “Eli Margolis, you are pathetic.”

“Don’t let her touch you,” Galena screamed, but it was too late. Erin grabbed Eli’s hand, and his head snapped back, his jaw rigid. His eyes opened, crimson with rage. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. As Eli reached for Galena, Dec lunged between them, jabbing his fist into Eli’s throat. Eli’s arms flew wide, his eyes bulging. Galena screamed Dec’s name.

“Galena, find Aislin!” He threw another punch, slamming his fist into Eli’s rock-hard abs, then another right to his face. Eli staggered back, and Dec had a moment of hope, that maybe h
e’d
be able to knock the Ker out or incapacitate him long enough to allow him to escape. But Eli caught himself and shoved off, hitting Dec like a city bus. The breath exploded from Dec, his ribs screaming. A swirl of cold air chilled his skin as he landed on his back with Eli above him. Eli’s fangs gleamed as his arm arced through the air.

Every split second mattered, but Dec didn’t have enough of them. Eli’s claws were a blur as they descended. Dec’s entire being shattered with the pain of the impact. His thoughts went white, even as he groped, blind, still trying to reach Galena, still trying to save her. But her face was fading from his mind along with everything else, and so he focused on the one thing h
e’d
wanted to tell her, the one admission he hadn’t had time to make, the one thing h
e’d
never get to say.

I’m falling in love with you.