Expel (52 page)

Chapter 91

Know the Enemy

The face of the moon is stained with a blood-soaked fingerprint. It is openly red-faced, embarrassed to witness and know the things it does. It winks in and out of the fog like some lunar alarm trying to let us in on the magnitude of its intimate knowledge, but we can’t hear. It whispers to us all of its secrets but our ears are stopped up. The ocean drowns out the sound, drenches the night with its own private lullaby.
Trust only your heart,
the ocean sings. It vibrates through the trees, creates a choir with the leaves, strums through the dips and valleys of the island until even the wind is lashed into submission, bleating out my mother’s verse.
 

Logan and I emerge from the forest hand in hand, with Logan happy to have his Celestra abilities back and me just happy to have Logan.

“Gage!” I shout as I catch him in a thicket of miniature palms still sweating out a conversation with Chloe. Dear God, had I known he was far too nice to abandon the effort, I would have made it a point to rescue him earlier.

I jump up over to him and plant a kiss right on his lips.

Chloe shoots him a look, her lips curved in a malevolent smile.

“Did you remove the binding spirit?” As far as I’m concerned there’s only one right answer. If Chloe refuses, I’ll gladly feed Nevermore a couple more occipital photoreceptors for dinner.

“She can’t get out Skyla,” Chloe steps forward. “The only one who can help is Mr. Edinger,” she lays it on thick as frosting. One false inflection and she would break—die laughing at my sister’s dilemma. “You have to do something. Go to him and beg him to get her out. It’s hell in there, Skyla. I saw it myself.”

I take in a breath and turn to Gage.

“We need to find Demetri,” I pant. The world is closing in on me. I can feel the sky collapsing, the ground rising to meet it. I can’t take another Messenger family tragedy, another bear trap we’ve stepped into because of the Counts, the Fems—Demetri. I can feel the lure, see the trail of breadcrumbs Chloe has set out for me, plain as day, but for Mia I’d walk blindfolded into the witch’s oven—hell, I would run.

“I know where he is,” Logan injects. “The elders are required to keep watch at the stone of sacrifice until midnight.”

“It’s midnight now,” Chloe is quick to offer.

“Gage,” I latch onto his hand and take up Logan with the other. Chloe slaps her hand over his shoulder as the world explodes into a black ball of dust.

***

Gage teleports us to a field just shy of the stone of sacrifice under the trace of a sanguine moon. It knew we would come, that evil would call us into its presence—require our attendance at this late hour.

“There he is,” Gage wraps his arm around my waist, secures me in the comfort of his being. I could face Chloe and the Counts, every Fem on the planet with Gage by my side.

“There he is, Skyla,” Chloe’s voice emits like a demonic echo.

“Come on,” Logan pats me on the back and leads us through a well-beaten trail. Logan knows the way. Logan always knows.

Three figures, still clad in their ritual cloaks, stand not too far from the sacrificial stone that gleams with pride, wings wide open under the powder white breath of God.

This all brings back memories of last winter.
We are the immortals
—that’s how their boastful chant begins. I have never forgotten those words that the Counts sung in unison as they circled around my body. Logan’s voice and Chloe’s both in concert with the rest of the Counts. I remember that night like it was only moments before. Fear will do that to you—tattoo an unwanted memory right over the fabric of your soul, make you recall it at your weakest moment.

The Countenance believe they rule the world, this one, and the next. It’s laughable, but if the faction war keeps going in the direction that it is, they just might have it all.

The three of them turn—stop their conversation midflight. I’m not surprised to see Demetri, Arson Kragger, and Ellis’ dad.

“The congregation has arrived,” Demetri holds back a laugh. His eyes never surrender their nefarious smile. “To what do we owe the assembly?”

I’m speechless—suddenly all too aware of where I am, where I may have inadvertently led, Logan and Gage.

“Marshall? Mom?” I whisper, inaudible, even to my own ears.

“Neither can help you here,” Ellis’ father steps out from Demetri’s shadow and approaches me. “Morley,” he extends his hand. “I’m afraid my son doesn’t understand the merit of a proper introduction. He doesn’t understand the merit of a myriad of things, but that’s neither here nor there.” He twitches his cheek and looks decidedly like Ellis in the process. “He is a traitor,” he hisses. “My own son has turned against me—fights for the band of wickedness that is Celestra.”

Wickedness that is Celestra? The idea alone disorients me. And I would expect nothing less than a binding spirit from this brood of vipers. I’m just surprised there’s one strong enough to hold Marshall at bay.

“Mia’s in the mirror,” my chest heaves as I dart the words to Demetri.

Arson Kragger raises his pale brows, somber, as if this were startling news even to him.

Demetri glides a knowing smile in Chloe’s direction.

“That’s right,” Chloe sings.

“Well done.” Demetri doesn’t sound impressed, in fact he sounds downright pissed. He turns towards Arson. “How are the supplies?”

“Low,” he emits the same husky rasp as Pierce. “People are thirsty. The blood of a pure would more than replenish the reserve.” He swallows down a laugh before blinking over at me. “You took my son.”

“Pierce,” I spit his name out, “Holden, he’s back.” My heart races, pulsates through my ears. It disables any capability in me to carry out a full sentence.

“Never mind those fools,” Demetri growls, “we need blood and you need Mia.” He bends over and picks up a long rapier off the edge of the stone. Its blade illuminates a bold electric blue before retracting, gleaming in this dim light.

“Spirit sword,” I say under my breath. It’s three times as long as Marshall’s, half as thick. It gives a darker, more seasoned hue than I’ve ever seen the spirit sword produce.

“Up, Skyla,” Demetri taps the tip of the blade against the stone, igniting a crackle of lightning throughout the rock. The landscape glows with a brilliant shock from the disarming display of power.

“No,” Logan jumps onto the granite, “take me. My powers have been restored. I’m stronger than ever.”

“You’re a Count.” Arson looks bored by the performance.

“Doesn’t matter,” he pants, “take my blood. I pledged my allegiance to the Countenance, and that’s where it’ll remain.” His chest expands and retracts, as he seethes the words. “Drain me. Keep me alive for a lifetime—two lifetimes.” Logan redirects his attention to me. “Leave Skyla alone,” he swallows hard, washing the stone with his heavy gaze.

“As you wish,” Demetri flickers a disgruntled smile.

“No,” I say, trying to push Gage off my waist, but he clamps down strong as a vice.

“Let him do this,” Gage scorches my ear with his breath.

“Yes, Skyla,” Chloe settles herself between Arson Kragger and Morley Harrison. She shoulders up, shakes out her long dark tendrils victoriously. “Let Logan die in your place like the coward you are.”

My heart sinks at the idea of Logan suffering, spending the length of his days locked as a prisoner, kept alive for the commodity of his blood. I would have never restored his powers, never begged my mother to do a damn thing in his favor if I had known where it would have gotten him. I bet she’s laughing her Caelestis ass off.

If she’s so all knowing—if she’s responsible even remotely for leading me down this misguided path, I’ll declare war on the Justice Alliance and overthrow the whole council if I have to, in order to bring her down.

“What’s the matter, Skyla?” Chloe takes a step forward. “Captures’ got your tongue?”

Demetri steps onto the stone, prods Logan in the back with the tip of his blade.

“Lay your eyes on her one last time,” Demetri instructs. “Memorize the look of fear in her eyes. When you’re writhing in agony, you can recall how it was all worth the effort. And who knows?” He takes a careful step in towards Logan. “You might find comfort in the fact that Skyla will be spending her days and nights in the arms of the one you thought a brother.”

It’s OK
, Gage brushes a kiss over my cheek.
Logan wants to do this. He wants you to be safe. I’ll keep you safe.
  

Chloe gives a hard sigh. “You don’t need to be a mind reader to know he’s filling your head with empty promises,” she bristles.

“Enough,” Demetri wields his sword in her direction. “I’ve had it with your self glorification.” His features sharpen, his entire person glowers at her. “I will have her life in my time, in the manner in which I choose. I need no assistance from an underling whose moral victories rely solely on treason.” The long sword gleams pridefully into the night, spirit sword blue.

“I laid her at your feet,” Chloe has the balls to spout off.

“Your best maneuvers were mine,” Demetri snaps. “I brought her to the island, I gifted you her blood. Your victories are shallow at best, blinded by your undying affection for the one who holds her now.”

Chloe winces as if he’d slapped her for all to see. “I’ve got Gage,” her voice trails, unrelenting. “
I
brought Skyla to the island,
I
robbed her of her blood from the grave.” She steps in closer, glares into me with an intimate level of hate that I have never experienced before. “I set in her life, one well-placed boyfriend.” She presses out a black smile.

“Looks like your secret is out,” Demetri nods into Gage, his eyes wild with pleasure.

Gage gives into a long blink, his dimples go on and off like an alarm.

I shake my head. “Say it’s not true.”

Gage takes a breath and holds it a second too long. He sets his gaze in the forest just past my shoulder before locking me in on a nonverbal apology.

“Oh, Gage,” it comes out barely audible. I close my eyes a moment and draw a black curtain over this newfound misery. “Damn it,” I push him off, full with disappointment. I leap up onto the stone and shield myself over Logan.

“Can’t move my arms or legs,” Logan shivers out the words in a whisper.

My body seizes, useless as tree limbs.

“Skyla don’t!” Gage shouts. “It’s a trap.” The rock electrifies on the outer rim, forming a crackling barrier as a ring of lightning pens me in.

He did this. Let the record show, Gage punctured our relationship with a knife-sharpened blade the day he made a pact with Chloe Bishop to be my well-placed anything. The mortal blow being he conveniently forgot to cite any of the aforementioned bullshit, this entire past year.

“You lied to me.” I can’t believe the words as they sail from my lips.

“No, I swear, I didn’t. I never lied.”

“He just avoided the subject, Skyla,” Chloe is quick to inject. “You of all people should understand how complex the truth can be.”

I can’t look at Gage. My heart breaks at the thought of him working with Chloe on any level. There was no way she could have blackmailed him right from the beginning. But, even still, I can feel his love for me—the soothing balm that tries to penetrate this newfound ache.