Endless (18 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

‘The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.’

Oscar Wilde

I
was in Hades. I couldn’t hear the music, but I could
feel
it vibrating up from the dance floor and into my body.

I spun. Phoenix was behind me. He looked … older. No, grave. And somehow more beautiful for it. He wore black pants and a midnight-blue fitted shirt. He rolled up his right sleeve to match his left. Such a simple action and yet it commanded my full attention. As if each roll of his sleeve signified something greater and the weight of his cast-away gaze meant so much more. And yet, there was also the danger. The ever-present danger that lurked in the shadows and followed him.

‘What do you want, Phoenix?’ I asked, crossing my arms.

He tilted his head, glancing up at me, and began to speak. But I couldn’t hear him.

I noticed then that there was something between us that looked like a wall of liquid. It went all the way around me. I didn’t know if it was trapping me, or keeping him out. I also didn’t know whose it was – mine, his or someone else’s.

He realised what was happening and studied what was separating us. He sighed. There were circles under his eyes and I felt an unbidden pang of concern for him, but that was enough to pull me back to my senses. I shook my head, remembering my run-in with Onyx.

I needed to stay in control.

Phoenix’s hand reached up to press against the veil of liquid and his brow furrowed, lost for what to do next.

I squared my shoulders. ‘Leave, Phoenix,’ I said.

He nodded sadly. He could obviously hear me.

I started to back away from him and from the dream. The vision began to unravel.

‘Don’t go!’ he said clearly so I could read his lips.

I couldn’t let him get into my mind. Couldn’t let him manipulate me the way he always did.

I willed the dream away.

When I woke up, Lincoln was already dressed. He’d obviously been out and retrieved his things. He’d covered me with a blanket – all the way to my neck – and was sitting on the edge of the bed watching me. Phoenix’s dream visit drifted through my mind. I wasn’t sure if the dividing wall had come from me but I was sure I now had the ability to remove myself from any shared dreamscapes in the future. That was a good thing.

So why is my gut twisting?

Lincoln cleared his throat. I blinked, and accepted the bottle of water he passed to me.

‘Bed-head?’ I asked, finger combing my hair.

‘Extreme,’ he said, smirking.

‘Any visitors?’ I asked, a little more apprehensively.

Besides the one in my dreams.

‘No. I popped out to see Griff. He knows you’re resting and has been keeping the mobs away.’

‘How are you?’ I
continued, deciding not to burden Lincoln with my dream update. It would only worry him.

‘I feel fantastic – actually, I feel a little guilty about that,’ he said looking down.

I stretched and pointed to my top, now hanging from the end of the bed. As Lincoln reached over to pass it to me I said, ‘Don’t. I feel good, too. When we heal like that together we are so much more powerful. It always seems to recharge us both. It’s like having a jumpstart.’

He nodded, but didn’t want to linger on the subject. ‘Do you feel up to moving about?’

‘Sure. Why?’

He stood up, politely turning his back to me as I sat up. ‘First, we get food and I show you to your room. Zoe has organised for all of your stuff to go there.’

‘And second?’ I asked, shrugging my top on and continuing to finger comb my hair.

‘Josephine has requested to see you in her office.’

Lucky me.

‘Do they have any more intel on Lilith or Phoenix?’

He hitched a shoulder. ‘I’m hoping that’s what we’re about to find out.’

My room wasn’t nearly as impressive as Lincoln’s.
And
it had to fit both Zoe and me.

‘No fair,’ I mumbled to Zoe, as I unloaded some clothes on the bed, looking for a suitable change after my cramped shower in our tiny cubicle of a bathroom.

‘Yeah,
well, wait till you see the size of the single rooms. At least we can lie straight in our beds,’ she responded, pulling posters out of her bottom drawer and proceeding to put them up on the bare greyish wall above her bed.

‘Who did you used to share this room with?’ I asked, deciding on a pair of black jeans and a light red sweater.

‘A girl called Eleanor. She graduated a few months back. She and her partner are now in Germany, I think,’ she said with a shrug. ‘We were never close.’

‘How come Lincoln got such a flashy room?’

Zoe kicked her bags under her bed and dusted off her hands. ‘Don’t know. He was given one of the best suites. Apart from Grigori leaders, no one gets those rooms. Someone obviously thinks he’s very important.’

That was interesting.

Zoe kept her gaze on me and finally rolled her eyes. ‘Are you going to tell me what happened? Everyone’s talking about it.’

I sighed. I wasn’t up to reliving my introduction to the Assembly just yet. ‘Later?’ I asked.

She paused and I thought she’d argue, but instead she just nodded, acceptingly. ‘Fine. But I’ll want details.’

After we’d finished settling into our room, Zoe walked me through the halls and over the skywalk, back into the glass building apparently known as ‘Command’. It was where all the training and official Assembly rooms were located. Zoe explained there were five buildings in total. Building B, where our rooms were, and another building, C, were both dedicated to accommodation. Building A was fitted with gyms and recreational areas along with a massive food hall and another large
cafeteria. Building D was for Academy classes and was where all new Grigori were restricted to when they first started their training.

I guess I should have been grateful Josephine didn’t try to confine me to Building D.

Now that I had crossed over the skywalk a couple of times, I could see the light golden glow that Morgan had talked about around its edges.

‘It’s amazing,’ I said as we walked across it.

Zoe nodded. ‘Always a crowd pleaser.’

I bounced up and down on the invisible floor. It was completely solid. ‘What is it?’

‘Reinforced glass,’ she said, pulling out a bag of M&M’s. She seriously must have had some kind of never-ending supply. ‘Valerie and Hakon just keep them under a very strong glamour.’

I was mesmerised by it. ‘Don’t birds fly into it? Or planes?’ If no one could see them, then surely they were some kind of hazard.

She shook her head. ‘We’re in a strict no-fly zone and the glamour does something that repels birds.’

I still couldn’t comprehend it. ‘What about when it rains – don’t people see the water splashing off them?’

‘Nope. If you’re looking up from the street the glamour just mirrors the image from above the walkway so even when it rains all they see is the rain falling from above the tunnel.’

‘Wow.’

‘Yep,’ she said, shaking out some M&M’s into her hand and popping a few in her mouth.

She stopped at the beginning of a long corridor and pointed to the double doors at the end. ‘Josephine’s office is behind
those doors. I gotta go meet up with Spence. He had his meeting. Valerie has made him start back in training sessions from tonight. I promised to be his sparring partner.’ She popped another few M&M’s. ‘I’m gonna kick his ass.’ She waggled her eyebrows.

Poor Spence. Zoe fought like a cat – a particularly well-clawed cat. ‘See ya,’ I said, as she left me to take the rest of the hallway on my own.

Josephine’s doors were slightly ajar and I could hear her voice from inside. I knew she must have been talking to Lincoln, who had been called in to see her just before me.

‘You’ve always had great potential, Lincoln. I’ve had high hopes for you. I must say, after watching your display this morning against Seth, you have only confirmed my suspicions that you may one day be eligible for a seat on the Assembly. That would make you the first Grigori made by a Power to be elevated so high.’

‘A position on the Assembly would be a huge honour,’ Lincoln said.

‘Indeed it would. But I have to be honest with you, if you continue on this path I can’t see that happening. Your connection to this girl is clouding your judgement. You are putting her above your responsibilities to the Assembly.’

When there was only silence, I heard Josephine sigh.

‘Lincoln, she is not one of us – I have an eye for these things. You’re honour-bound to her, which is admirable, but you also need to look beyond her and see the bigger picture.’ She gave another heavy sigh. ‘I think you should consider putting forward an application for a partner replacement. Griffin and I are both capable of appealing to the Seraphim guides on your behalf.’

I
was sick of hearing conversations from the other side of the door. Sick of being let down by people and only finding out what was really going on in the world by eavesdropping.

Lincoln’s power caressed me lightly, sending a warm shiver through me. I smiled, realising he was reminding me he could feel me from a mile off, just like I could him.

‘I’ll take that under advisement, Josephine,’ he said, his response so non-committal I almost laughed.

Her tone dropped down a notch. ‘Why am I sure, then, that you will not?’

‘Because she is my partner,’ he said, as if that answered everything. ‘Shall I bring her in now?’ he added, not so discreetly telling Josephine I was standing right outside her partially
open
door.

Score one for us!

The door swung open and Lincoln stood behind it, gesturing me into the room with a wink. It seemed Josephine wasn’t the only one who could play the word game.

Josephine had a long list of dos and don’ts she felt the need to run through with me. I paid attention to the headlines. Effective tomorrow, I would be expected to participate in Academy training. Like Spence, I would not have to attend normal classes, though special theory sessions would be arranged to bring me up to speed on Grigori history. Much to Josephine’s surprise I was happy to hear that.

The part I wasn’t so excited about was that I would be Academy-bound until after my formal testing in three weeks and had to choose
an in-house senior Grigori as my mentor to prepare me. I had to nominate someone by the end of the next day.

I agreed to everything, then asked, ‘Where are my parents?’ I stopped short of adding, ‘And when can I see them?’ The truth was, I wasn’t sure I was ready for that yet.

Josephine pursed her lips. ‘They are in the holding cell on the level below here. They will remain in quarantine until Evelyn has been through a full debriefing. However, as per your father’s stipulations I will arrange for you to have access to him in due course, though visits will be supervised.’

I gave her a level stare. ‘You do realise holding her won’t accomplish anything. She’s Grigori, just like you. All she wants to do is stop Lilith, that’s all she’s ever wanted to do.’

‘We have our reasons. They are not for you to question, Violet.’

Josephine sat back in her chair wearing a smug expression.

She was up to something. Why was she so keen to have Evelyn locked up? What would she gain from holding her here? Me? No, it was more than that. Every move Josephine made was calculated. I suddenly had a terrible thought: ‘You want Lilith to come for her?’

Lincoln straightened in his chair beside me when Josephine didn’t immediately deny it.

‘You have her locked up and defenceless because you think Lilith is crazy enough to break into the Academy just to kill her!’ I shouted, jumping to my feet.

Josephine still didn’t respond.

‘Is that true?’ Lincoln asked.

Eventually,
Josephine waved a dismissive hand in the air. ‘Even if that were to happen, which I’m not saying is our intention, we have both of your parents well guarded and behind Academy shields. No exile, no
anybody
, could even get close to them.’ She smiled tightly. ‘Evelyn isn’t going anywhere without my say-so.’