Equal Parts (32 page)

The words stunned me. Molten had brainwashed her. He
had
to have brainwashed her. No girl would willingly love that monster. Especially not someone like Skye – someone so pure, so good, so bubbly and smart.

Although
, said a tiny voice in my mind,
some might say the same about you and Achilles
.

This was different. She didn’t look normal. She looked … well, crazy.

“When he told me I’d be getting a roommate, I didn’t think he meant a
girl
. You’d better not be here to steal Patrick away from me.” Her grass-green eyes floated over me, the jealousy in them almost searing. It was like she was sizing me up. Good grief, this wasn’t happening.

“So that’s it? He just abducted you and you’re
okay
with that?”

“He loves me,” she said, as if I was stupid. “Of course I’m okay with that. He feeds me and lets me use the bathroom and treats me right. He told me if I didn’t behave, he’d send me to live with Achilles. I’d rather eat my own head than live with that psychopath.”

I flinched. Crap. Achilles was probably in prison right now, for a crime he didn’t commit. Did Ellis and Colby ever make it to the house? God, I hoped so. If they managed to beat the cops there, they might have taken Achilles to Finn, and he could tell them what really happened.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves. Achilles wasn’t here to help me, not this time. I had to think of a plan, and fast.

“What’s your name?” repeated Skye.

“Felicity,” I answered, without opening my eyes.

“Cool. I’m Skye. But you knew that.” A pause. “What’re you here for? Are you friends with Finn?”

Well, no use beating around the bush. “Actually, I’m dating Achilles.”

Just as I expected, she fell into a fit of laughter. I wondered briefly if the walls were padded – nobody came in at the burst of sound. Skye laughed for a good minute before the noise died down. “Oh, that was classic. Can you imagine? He’d be all, ‘I love you, baby. Lemme prove it by skinning these innocent children’.” Another chuckle. “You’re good. But seriously, what’re you in here for?”

I tried not to take too much offence at her judgment. If I ever got out of here, I was sure I’d be dodging that same reaction the rest of my life.

“I told you – I’m dating Achilles. Molten – I mean, Patrick – used to work for him, but then he broke off to do his own thing. As it turns out, his ‘own thing’ was making Finn look suicidal, framing Achilles, and abducting me to…” To
what?

“To find out some simple information,” said a slick, cool voice, right as the door swung open, and the devil himself walked in. “Hope you don’t mind me interrupting, but I’d like some time alone with you, Miss Eastwood.”

It didn’t escape my notice how Skye instantly shrunk inwards at Molten’s presence, her bubbliness disappearing in a snap. Her reaction reminded me of my own, that first day in Achilles’s cell, all those months ago. But where Achilles had made me stronger, made me braver, Molten had clearly broken this girl beyond repair.

“And I’d like you to eat shit, but we can’t all get what we want, can we?” I quipped, though it was hardly a retort I was proud of. My mind went straight into Achilles mode – everything I did or said was something I imagined he would do or say. It wasn’t much, but it was a better defense mechanism than I could provide by myself.

Molten tutted. “Language, language. Manners aren’t necessary here, Felicity, but they are preferred. I’m sure Miss Hollioake can vouch for that.”

At her name, Skye flinched and drew herself into a tighter ball. Double crap. She wouldn’t be any help to me, not where Molten was concerned. Whatever he’d done to her mind, he must’ve scared her into private worship and public fear. Not a great combination.

“Too bad for you, I’m not Miss Hollioake. So either you let me go, or I’ll peel the skin from your face with my bare hands.” Youch. The whole Achilles-mode thing was really working for me.

A snap of his fingers brought two of Molten’s thugs – jeez, the guy had his own thugs now? – into the room. Just like the first time we’d met, he dragged me from the cell. Although this time, I wasn’t kicking and screaming. Instead, I was silently mapping out my escape route.

“Well, it’s nice to see Achilles has taught you the art of intimidation,” he commented, shutting the door behind us, “but unfortunately, that won’t help you here.”

I kept quiet. While we walked down a dimly lit corridor, I looked over Molten for a bare spot of skin. If I could get my hands free, and on him, I might be able to use my power against him. His face was uncovered, obviously, but it was too conspicuous – he would probably bite my fingers off if I got too close. His neck was covered by a turtleneck, his arms by a blazer. My only options were his hands or under the chin.

It would have to do.

I was pushed into a chair in some kind of office, its walls completely bare, the only real furniture the desk, a filing cabinet, and a large safe. Molten took up the seat on the other side of the desk, propped his feet up on its corner, and sighed. “So, here we are.”

“Right back to where we started,” I added.

He laughed, and the sound made my skin prickle. “Indeed. I like you, Felicity. You have a lot more fire than that other one, and a lot more common sense than your boyfriend. You know you won’t win. You know I’m stronger than anything this pitiful city has to offer. It isn’t defeatism – I’d call it practicality.”

“I’m practical enough to know you’re overreaching your boundaries – that’s for sure,” I said dryly. “So, what? You want my power?”

A laugh. “Nothing so obvious. Why would I want happiness? Useless emotion. No, what I want from you…” He pulled his chair closer to me, his gloved hands within reach. “I want information on Achilles.”

I was equal parts surprised and terrified. He’d worked for Achilles for … what? A year? And he hadn’t learned anything about him in that time?

“Why?”

He smiled, and I was sure it was the same smile a shark gave right before chomping into its prey. “Tell me, Felicity, do you like this city?”

“Of course.” It would’ve been a lie a few months ago. Now, though, I wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t.” He brushed invisible lint from his sleeve with careful movements. “I moved to Carova five years ago. I hated it then, and I hate it even more now. Filthy, degenerate place.” He unfurled his lip, his face returning to indifference. “But then I met your boyfriend, and I realized - this city needs a hero. A
real
hero, not the likes of Finn Cole and his frat boy antics.”

Oh God, I could guess where this was going, and it wasn’t anywhere good. Molten actually believed himself to be in the
right
here? How was that even possible?

“I could be a hero.” He leaned closer to me, the smell of pungent cologne filling the air. “That mayor, he was nothing. If I was mayor of this city, I could make this circle of Hell a utopia. I’ve already set the train on its tracks; Finn Cole a fallen idol, Achilles in prison as we speak. When I expose Achilles for the man he is behind the mask, I’ll be halfway to mayor already. All it will take are a few choice words and handshakes, and this city will be in my capable hands.”

He might as well have dumped ice-cold water over my head. The chill of his words went bone-deep, carrying with them an oozy, sick kind of feeling at the thought of this madman in any position of authority. Carova was far from a utopia - as he’d so lovingly pointed out - but it was my home. It didn’t deserve Molten corrupting it any further, nor did it need another idiot trying to be its savior.

Of course, if I voiced any of that doubt, I was sure his response would be of the physical variety, and I couldn’t afford to lose any more brain-cells from whacks to the head.

So I focussed on the task at hand: buying time. For me, and for Achilles.

“I won’t tell you anything. So go ahead and torture me.”

“Well, torturing you really has no purpose, does it? Your power makes that a little difficult. And asking you to stop using your power is pointless – I’d be better off instructing you to breathe with your kneecaps instead of your lungs.” He pushed his feet off the desk and faced me, hands intertwined under his chin. “No, I’ll just do it the old-fashioned way. Tell me what I want, I’ll play nice. Keep secrets from me, and I’ll get a little dirtier. Fair?”

“Achilles has done far worse to me than you ever could.”
Well done, idiot. Now he’s going to try extra hard.

A wholly manic smile. “Yes, well, my version of ‘dirtier’ is probably a little different than his.” Somehow, I didn’t doubt that for a second. “I just want some simple answers, Felicity. Nothing too damning, I promise. Just a name, a description of his face, and a weakness.”

Now it was my turn to smile, though I had absolutely nothing to smile about. “Easy done: Achilles, face painted like a skeleton, and energy drinks. Happy? Can I go now?”

“Creative, but not exactly what I’m after.” He got up from the seat and stalked around to me, power and sheer cruelty emanating from his every pore. To an outsider, he would be on the same level as Achilles in that regard – both terrifying, both powerful, both ruthless, both essentially
bad
people. But Achilles would never torture, not without significant cause. He would never find pleasure in pain, never laugh while someone suffered by his hand.

Molten, however, was a whole other story.

“Tell you what,” he said to me, pinching my chin in a way that had me wincing. “I’ll give you one night. You’re still sore, I’m sure, and I have some errands to run before I can get this suit too bloody. Achilles will sit tight in police custody until tomorrow. One night, then I’ll be asking the same questions, and I expect very different answers.” His mouth hovered close to my ear, his words sending shivers right through me. “I’m not a patient man, Felicity. Continue this childishness, and I might pick up where we left off in the cell a few months ago.”

Before I knew it, I was being dragged back to the room where Skye was holed up. I tried to memorize as many details about the interior as I could, but the men carting me back weren’t overly gentle, and my vision was blurred for most of it. If I had to guess, I’d say we were being held in some kind of community center, like a doctor’s or dentist’s office. Clean, sparse, with no distinguishing features aside from a few big windows and open doorways.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” sighed Skye, when I was locked up and left alone once more. Suddenly her eyes narrowed on me. “You better not have tried to seduce him, Felicity. I want us to be friends. If you try and steal him away from me, I’ll kill you.”

Another thing I didn’t doubt. “Trust me, there’s no chance of that.” I tested the cuffs. Still no give. My hands were my only weapon here – I had to come up with some kind of plan before tomorrow, or I was as good as dead.

“So … you weren’t kidding about Achilles? You dating him, I mean.” Funny how Skye was instantly back to her spritely – if slightly irritating – self so quickly.

“I love him,” I said simply, still looking around the room, searching for any crack, any way of escape. “I would die before I helped hurt him.
Die
,” I repeated loudly, hoping Molten could hear.

“That’s so romantic. I feel the same about Patrick, of course,” she added quickly. Great. This was some kind of competition now. “I don’t like Achilles much – no offense. He’s a bit scary. Patrick isn’t scary. He loves me.”

“Yeah, I think I got that.” Jeez, had the bastard wiped her entire personality along with her willpower?

“How did you meet Achilles?”

Again, honesty was the best policy. “He abducted me, actually. We became friends, and he saved my life – and saved me from myself. Eventually, I fell in love with him, and now … well, we
were
dating. That might change if I’m killed in the next few days.”

“Oh, Patrick might not kill you,” chirped Skye. “I’ll try and reason with him. He loves me, you see. If I ask him to do something, he’ll do it. He’d do anything for me.”

How sad that statement was.

“I’m glad you and Achilles are together,” she continued brightly, “because at least that means you aren’t a threat to me and Patrick’s relationship. Maybe we can go on double dates! Achilles and Patrick are friends, right? Wouldn’t that be great?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell Skye the truth: Achilles was probably plotting fifty different ways of murdering Molten at that very moment. He would come for me – I didn’t doubt that for a second. My only concern was that he would kill Molten too quickly. Looking at Skye just made me want to prolong the process by at least a few days.

“Skye, have you ever tried to escape this place? Do you know how to get out?” I asked, knowing full well I was playing with fire.

She looked at me as if
I
was the crazy one. “Why would you want to leave? Aren’t you happy here?”

“No, no,” I assured her quickly. “I just … I was thinking of Achilles. It’s our anniversary tomorrow, and I’d really like to get him a present. Maybe I could sneak out tonight and be back in time for … for
Patrick’s
visit tomorrow.”

“Ooh, what are you going to get him?”