Death Before Daylight (3 page)

“Thanks.” Eric shuffled us to the doorway.
“We’ll be back,” he finished with a familiar tone. It was the way
he ended his sentences that always gave him away. The last word
dropped off, quieter than the rest. He was lying.

We weren’t coming back, and I knew he was
right. We shouldn’t have come at all.

3

I didn't take her to the nurse's office,
because the nurse couldn't do anything. We sat by the willow tree
instead. I waited for her to speak, my arms propped on my knees,
but Jessica only pulled her legs up to her chest. I expected her to
press her nails into her palm—something she always did when she was
nervous—but she didn't do it this time. She just breathed, her back
rising and falling as her eyes moved over the school.

I leaned forward to skim my fingers across
her arm. She acted like I hadn't even touched her. "It's been
happening a lot," I guessed, thinking more of her memories had slid
back into focus. "Hasn't it?"

Luthicer's spell to wipe Jessica’s memories
had worked in some places and failed in others. Even though Camille
had broken most of it, effects remained, bouncing around in
Jessica’s mind. Over break, I had witnessed at least five panic
attacks as she regained the moments she had forgotten. Strangely,
most of those memories were human ones. But Jessica said something
I didn't expect. Something I couldn't have guessed.

"That's not what happened," she said before
shivering. The snow was gone, but the air felt like it was filled
with ice. When she didn't explain further, I studied her face,
paler than usual, only flushed at the cheeks. She didn't move, but
I knew her mind was racing.

"What happened then?" I was starting to think
I should've taken her to the nurse. "Was it Robb?"

"No—yes,” she stuttered. “Not exactly.” Her
forefinger curled around her hair. “I remember.” She hadn’t
forgotten what had happened between Robb and her, but her eyes
glossed over. “Don’t I?” she squeaked. “What happened—” She
struggled to say it out loud. “Robb did that, didn’t he?”

My fist tightened just thinking about that
night. When I had seen Robb and Jessica, I hadn’t realized it was
them at first. My windshield was covered in water, but I saw enough
to know what was happening. A guy was attacking a girl, and that
was enough of a reason to pull over. It wasn’t until Robb pulled
away and yelled at me that I saw Jessica’s face.

“Of course it happened,” I struggled to keep
a calm tone. “I was there—”

“Then, why don’t they remember?”

Her words froze my anger. “What do you
mean?”

“They acted like nothing happened.” Her hold
tightened on her legs. “All of them.”

Her words didn’t compute. “What?”

She threw her hands up in the air, but her
legs remained propped up. “Crystal wasn’t mad at Robb at all.”

“Are you sure they don’t think you forgave
him?” I worded my question with care.

She shook her head. “Crystal wouldn’t do that
without talking to me first, and Robb was going to introduce me to
Zac and Linda.”

Jessica knew them, but why didn’t Robb
remember? At one point, she had even doodled Zac’s name in her
notebook. I didn’t remember they were transferring—not so quickly
anyway—but it was our last semester. We would graduate in May. If
they were going to transfer from St. Lucia’s, then they were going
to do it now, but I hadn’t prepared myself. Jessica hadn’t either.
Our lives had become too chaotic outside of school to pay attention
to our peers. The events slipped right past both of us.

“Robb thinks I don’t know them,” she
continued, “but I told him I did, and he didn’t remember anything.
Not one thing. He thinks we’re strangers.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know,” she agreed, “but I recognized the
feeling, the power. It was an illusion,” she explained. “That’s why
I got dizzy. It triggered mine.” A shaking breath escaped her. “I
know it was.”

I wanted to argue, to tell her Luthicer
wouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t because I believed her.
Jessica didn’t lie, not to me anyway, but I spoke anyway. “Luthicer
wouldn’t do that.”

“Someone did.”

Her eyes started to water, so I stood up and
offered her my hand. She looked up at me, and I felt like I was
looking at the nameless shade she was before—disconnected and
lost.

“Come on.” I leaned down to grab her
hand.

As I pulled her to her feet, she asked,
“Where are we going?” Her hand landed on my arm like it was an
automatic part of her nature, something she didn’t even notice, but
my insides twisted with recognition. Her touch affected me more
than I liked to admit.

“Do you seriously have to ask that?” I tugged
my car keys out of my back pocket. We couldn’t transport in the
middle of the morning unless we wanted to risk hurting ourselves.
“The elders might know something.”

***

When we arrived at the park, we got out of my
car in silence. I didn’t bother hiding my car anymore. Even though
I spent eighteen years hiding who I was, everyone knew now. I had
to get used to it. Being myself all the time was new to me, and
anything new was uncomfortable.

We walked across the grass, past the river,
and ducked into the crowd of trees. Across two trails and down a
riverbed, the opening of a small cave hid behind fallen branches
and old logs. It used to have a protection spell around it. If
someone trespassed and found it, they would see a rocky wall, but
the powers were fading, and the opening flickered. I pulled the
branches back so Jessica could enter without her curls snagging on
the twigs, but she had already tied her hair up.

When she ducked under the brush, I followed
her, watching her ponytail as it swung back and forth. She had
calmed, but not enough. Even with others walking about, her anxiety
escaped in staggered breaths.

“Almost no one is here,” she said, noting the
few people passing by.

On an average day, a couple dozen shades
would be in the shelter, but today there were only six. They were
only able to transform because of the underground darkness and the
extra powers pumped through the walls by the elders.

“Shades have human lives, too, you know,” I
reminded her. It was only nine in the morning. People were at their
day jobs, continuing life as if it were normal, as if we hadn’t
lost a war weeks ago, as if I hadn’t lost my battle.

“Pierce,” Jessica straightened and called
before I saw him.

The black-haired boy jogged across the room
and hugged her. “Are you all right?” He was quiet enough that a
human wouldn’t hear, but loud enough that I could.

Jessica nodded as she pressed her head
against his shoulder. He patted the top of her head as if she were
his sister. I had never seen him get close to anyone, not even his
family.

“Jonathon.” His human name slipped out of my
mouth.

The two of them stepped apart and blinked as
if they forgot I was standing there.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He ran a hand through his hair, and the black
threads stuck up. “Something was wrong.” He gestured to Jessica. “I
felt it.” He was her guard. Of course he had sensed it. Guards had
unexplainable connections with their warriors. I knew because my
own connection was severed.

“Yeah,” Jessica spoke up, and then explained
to Pierce what had happened. This time was much faster than she had
told me.

He listened as if he were expecting it and
didn’t even flinch. “I had a feeling something was up,” he
admitted. “I saw Crystal and Robb hanging out in the parking lot
this morning.” Even he knew Crystal wouldn’t have done that without
talking to Jessica first.

I walked past them. “Are the elders
here?”

“Only Luthicer and Bracke,” Pierce said, but
I already knew by the time he answered.

Luthicer and my father were standing outside
the meeting room, the door propped open behind them. “We heard,” my
father said, waving us inside. We followed, and Luthicer shut the
door behind us.

“I didn’t do it,” Luthicer spoke before
anyone could sit down, but no one sat anyway. “It must have been
the Light.”

“But why?” Jessica asked. “There’s no reason
to do that.”

“There is. They know who you are,” Luthicer
said, as if we could forget.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I
leaned against the wall. “They’re just her friends.”

“Exactly,” Luthicer said. “They can’t hurt
her. They don’t want to hurt her. Not physically anyway.”

Jessica sucked in a breath. “What is that
supposed to mean?”

Bracke—my father—messed with his shirt as if
he were searching for the glasses he didn’t need as a shade. “It
means they want to confuse you.”

“Don’t soften it,” Luthicer bit back, and his
pitch-black eyes focused on Jessica. “They know what we did to you,
and they want you to think we gave you false memories. They want
you to distrust us.” He didn’t have to say the last part, but he
did anyway, “The Light wants you to go to them.”

4

“I won’t,” I repeated for the umpteenth time
as Eric drove in silence. I hated the silence more than I hated the
memories coming back. The silence made me feel like we wouldn’t
make new memories. It felt like the end. “I won’t go to them. I
trust the Dark—”

“I know that,” Eric interrupted harshly. His
jaw swung like he was preventing it from locking. “I’m sorry.” The
Charger’s engine roared as he took the last corner, but trembled
when he parked. His hands remained on the steering wheel. “It
doesn’t make sense.”

He didn’t have to tell me that. Luthicer’s
theory was only an educated guess, but it was all we had.

“Can Luthicer create false memories?” I
asked.

“That’s how the illusion works,” he explained
as his fingers tightened on the wheel. “Didn’t you have false ones
when your memory was gone? You couldn’t have thought six months
never happened.”

Eric was right. When I didn’t have my memory,
I had an array of summer memories spent with Crystal, Robb, Zac,
and Linda. I still didn’t know which ones were real.

“But he didn’t do it this time,” Eric
clarified. “They might not know Robb did what he did, but I do.
Urte does. Camille—” He stopped. It was the first time I heard him
mention her name out loud. “Luthicer wouldn’t have done it without
telling us.”

I reached over to touch his shoulder, and a
shock spread through my fingers and into him. He jumped and
would’ve jumped out of his seat if it weren’t for his seatbelt. Air
seethed between his teeth, and I stared at my hands as purple
sparks flew out of them. I closed my fist, but it was too late.
Eric saw it, and his green eyes were wide.

“That hurt,” he said and rubbed his
shoulder.

“I—I didn’t mean to,” I apologized, staring
at my reddened palm. It wasn’t dark out. Not even close. It was
still morning. We had left the shelter right after the meeting. My
powers shouldn’t have worked, even if I wanted them to. “I don’t
know what happened.”

“It’s okay,” Eric said, but his voice was
strained. “My powers have been strange, too. I almost transformed
in front of Noah the other night.” A smile spread across his lips
only to fade.

The hairs on the nape of my neck stood up. I
knew the feeling. The first time I had felt it was the day my
identity was revealed. “
Lights,”
I spoke to Eric
telepathically. It was the only power we could use during the
day.

“
One light,”
Eric responded, barely
moving.

One really powerful light.

Darthon.

Eric started reaching for his keys, but I
grabbed his arm to stop him. “My parents.”

I didn’t have to explain further. Eric leapt
out of his car, and I followed him. We ran toward my house, and we
didn’t stop running until we were on the front steps. I fumbled
with my keys, cursing to myself when I dropped them, but the door
burst open before I could pick them up.

When I looked up, I saw blonde hair, and my
esophagus squeezed the air out of me. I gasped before I realized I
wasn’t looking at Darthon at all. It was my mother.

“Jessie,” she said my name like a scorn, but
I reached up and wrapped my arms around her neck.

“Hey, Mom.”

Her hands landed on my shoulders, and she
pulled away slowly, her brown eyes searching my face. “Are you
okay?” Her palm went to my forehead. “The school called and said
you were sick, but you never showed up at the nurse’s office. I’ve
been calling your cell—”

“It’s upstairs.” I had left it at home.
Again. “Sorry.”

“Mrs. Taylor?” Eric spoke up, and my mom’s
eyes darted to him. “It’s my fault. I should’ve had her call. I
thought she would be better at home.”

“It’s been an hour.”

“I sat in the hallway for a while,” I
explained. “I asked Eric to bring me home.”

Her brow wrinkled as she leaned over to see
the Charger on the street. “Eric?” she repeated. “Eric Welborn?”
She knew the name. Everyone in Hayworth did.

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded with a polite tone
I had never heard him use before. He sounded years older than he
was. “I’m Jessica’s lab partner in homeroom.”

“Jessica?” she repeated. He was the only one
who called me that.

I squeezed my mom’s arm. “I’m okay. I just
need to lie down.” I tried to distract her. They hadn’t even met
yet. “Are you okay?”

The Light’s energy had dissolved as fast as
it had come. If it was Darthon—and I was sure it was—he was
gone.

“Okay?” my mother repeated everything we said
like she hadn’t heard it. “Of course I’m okay. I was worried about
you.”

“Is Dad at work?”

She nodded. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered, turning back to
Eric. “You should get back to school, huh?”