Fractured Soul (18 page)

“Welcome back, Cyrus,” Sophie said. She walked forward and hugged the tall, handsome man. This surprised me. I expected Lucent’s president to look much older. Sophie turned to the man next to him; he startled a little under her gaze. “And you too, Jameson. We’re all very glad you’ve both returned safely.”

“It’s good to be back,” Cyrus said.

Sophie looked back at me, and I thought she was going to introduce me, but a knock at the door interrupted her. We all turned around. Jackson was standing in the doorway with Spencer.

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” He was addressing Cyrus, but at the last second he looked at me and winked. I looked away and at Christian, who no longer looked sad but confused and a little angry.

“Hello, Jackson, Spencer. Yes, I wanted to see you. Can you give me a minute first? We have a visitor.” Cyrus’s dark eyes settled on mine, and I had a difficult time looking away.

“Cyrus, this is my niece I told you about, Llona,” Sophie said. “She was Laura’s daughter.”

Cyrus stepped forward at the same time Jackson closed the door. “I was very fond of your mother,” he said. “I was sorry for her passing.”

I nodded but just barely. The air in the room had turned thick like smoke. I looked around, but no one else seemed to notice the change.

“Are you enjoying Lucent Academy?” Cyrus asked.

“Um, yes. It’s—” The room was getting hot. I took a step toward Christian and my eyes flashed to his. His whole body tensed as if he knew something wasn’t right with me. Next to him, Dr. Han frowned as he looked to me and then at Christian.

Cyrus moved closer. Jameson moved with him, and I sensed Jackson and Spencer coming up behind me.

“It’s what, Llona?” Cyrus said.

The suffocating sensation grew, and my head began to spin.
No, not here, please.
I met the eyes of everyone in the room. Now Dr. Han was coming toward me. Who? Who was it? Although I knew there was a Vyken in the room, I couldn’t pinpoint who it was. Why were my senses so dull?

When I stumbled, Christian caught me. “What’s going on, Llona?” he said it as if we were the only ones in the room.

“A Vyken,” I gasped.

“Here?”

“What’s the matter?” Cyrus said.

“Llona?” Sophie asked.

The room began to teeter as everyone closed in on me. A Vyken was only feet away.
Focus! Who was it?
“Christian?”

And that’s when Cyrus reached for me.

I yelled, “It’s him! He’s a Vyken!”

Christian didn’t question. He reacted so quickly that I didn’t even notice where he’d come up with the knife in his hand. He slashed downward on Cyrus’s arm and was about to strike again when the knife’s handle turned a fire red, thanks to Dr. Han.

Christian cried out and dropped the blade. As soon as it hit the floor, Jackson tackled him to the ground.

“What in the world is going on?” Sophie said.

I looked around the room. Jameson was attending to Cyrus’s arm, Jackson was sitting on top of Christian, who only looked at me with concern in his eyes, while Dr. Han was staring down at me like he wanted to turn me as red as he had the knife. I would’ve said something, but the room was still spinning, and I couldn’t get my legs to move.

“Get her out of here!” Cyrus said through a clenched jaw. He was bent over and holding his hand over his arm.

Sophie took hold of my arm and literally dragged me from the room, and shoved me into the nearest empty office. “What was that, Llona?” she said after she closed the door.

With every breath my head began to clear. “I, I don’t know,” I stammered. “There was a Vyken.”

“A Vyken?”

I nodded. “In the room. I think it was Cyrus.”

Sophie laughed. “That’s absurd! He’s been our headmaster for decades. Don’t you think we would’ve known?”

“Someone in that room is a Vyken,” I mumbled. But what if there wasn’t? What if the Vyken side of me was throwing off all of my senses?

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ll be lucky if Cyrus lets you stay at Lucent, but Christian, he was already on probation.”

My head snapped up. “Probation? Why?”

Sophie clicked her tongue. “I don’t have time for this. You go back to your room, missy, and we’ll finish this chat later. I need to tend to Cyrus.”

I dropped into the nearest chair, going over the events again. Had I really sensed a Vyken? And if I hadn’t, then that meant Christian just knifed the most important person at Lucent Academy. I was really screwing up his life.

A door slammed in the hall. I looked up just in time to see Christian walk by.

“Christian!” I said.

He whirled around and looked from me to Cyrus’s closed door. Very quickly, he pulled me farther into the empty office and closed the door.

The suddenness of it surprised me, and I said, “Christian, I—”

“Are you okay?” he said, breathing heavily through his nose, his brows drawn together.

“Me? How can you ask that?”

“I can’t believe it. Cyrus a Vyken?” He was staring at me with such trust, such loyalty, that I felt even sadder. There wasn’t a thing in this world he wouldn’t do for me.

I glanced away from him and shook my head. “You shouldn’t have done that, Christian. It was too impulsive.”

“But you said he was a Vyken. Is he or isn’t he?”

I closed my eyes and breathed in. “I’m not sure. Everything just started spinning.”

Christian took my hand. “Are you ill?”

I jerked it away. “Listen to yourself! Do you realize what you’ve done? You may never be a Guardian again. Ever!”

Christian’s face grew red as he responded to my own anger. “I don’t care about that anymore! Don’t you get that?” His jaw muscles bulged, and he rolled his shoulders like he was trying to relax. In a much gentler voice he said, “What’s going on, Llona? I know there’s something you’re not telling me.”

I pursed my lips and stared at the ground.

Christian reached up and pressed his palm to my cheek. “Please, Llona. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it. Just talk to me.”

I leaned into his hand; his touch calmed my nerves. The world felt right here, like I was normal, like nothing had ever changed me.

Christian dropped his hand to my shoulder, then trailed it down to my hand, where he held it. “What you said before, about us needing time apart. You didn’t really mean it,” he paused, “did you?”

I looked him in the eyes. “I need some time. Please, that’s all I can say right now.”

“Are you in some kind of danger?”

I shook my head. “I need to go.”

His hand tightened on mine. “Talk to me, Llona.”

“Let go, Christian.”

He stared at me for what seemed like a very long time. Finally he let go. “I’m here for you. Always.”

“I know.” I went to the door and opened it. “I’m so sorry, Christian.” As I walked away from him, down the long hallway to the elevator, I resolved to make things right, to expel the demon from me once and for all.

I stayed in my room the rest of the day, trying to figure out what had happened in Cyrus’s office. I kept going over the events in my head, tried to slow them down, hoping to find an answer. The more I thought about it, the more I knew there had been a Vyken in that room. But was it really Cyrus?

A knock at the door made me sit up. I went to it and opened it just barely. My heart lifted a little when I saw May. “Hey, come on in,” I said.

May walked in, holding a lunch bag, and closed the door. “You look like crap,” she said.

I puffed my cheeks and blew out air. “Rough day, for sure.”

“Maybe this will help.” She handed me the bag. It smelled like a turkey sandwich.

“Thanks,” I said.

“So about earlier, with Ashlyn. Sorry she was so rude. I let her have it after you left.”

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“Of course I did. You’re my best friend, Llona.”

I looked at her, thinking. Enough was enough. She needed to know what was going on, most of it anyway.

“What?” she said.

“We need to talk.” I paused “And not just you. Let’s get Kiera and Tessa too.”

“Like a meeting?”

“Yes, an important one. The one I talked about before the dance.”

She nodded as if she’d been waiting for this. “I’ll go find Kiera, and I just saw Tessa downstairs.”

“Cool. I have something to show you guys.”

Ten minutes later all four of us were in my bedroom. I closed the curtains to give us more privacy even though we were several stories up.

“This is a little weird,” Kiera said, looking around suspiciously.

“Just wait,” I said. “It’s about to get weirder. Have a seat.”

Tessa sat on the floor, joining the others. “Does this have anything to do with what happened earlier today?”

“Yes, and there’s more.”

“What are you guys talking about?” May asked.

I sighed. “There’s something going on at this school.”

“Like what?” Kiera asked.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out Britt’s diary. “It starts with this.”

“What is it?” May said, taking it from my hands.

“It’s a diary. I found it hidden behind a brick in the closet.”

“Whose?” May and Kiera said at the same time.

I looked at Tessa. “Britt’s.”

Tessa shook her head. “I don’t think you should be reading that.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I’m glad I did.”

“Wait,” May said, “who’s Britt?”

I glanced at Kiera. She looked pale. “I knew her a little,” she said. “Britt used to be in Llona’s room.” Kiera brought her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them.

“Where is she now?” May asked.

Kiera looked beyond me. “She died.”

May gasped. “How?”

Again I waited for Kiera to answer.

“Nobody knows. They found her in her room.”

“In this room?” May clarified.

“Yes.”

May turned to me. “That explains all the ghost jokes then.”

“Did you know her very well?” I asked Kiera.

“No, not really. I mean, she was nice and all, but toward the end she started getting in trouble a lot, even causing fights. I thought we would be great friends because of her rebellious streak, but she wasn’t interested in friendship or anyone. It was really sad. She died alone.”

The room was quiet for a few seconds before May said, “What’s it say?”

I took a deep breath and told them the truth about Britt’s death, including how she had been attacked by a Vyken.

“So it made her more aggressive,” May said after looking up from reading an entry. I avoided her stare.

“Exactly,” I said. “She started feeling angry all the time and wanted to hurt others.”

“I remember,” Tessa whispered.

Kiera’s eyes were big. “So what happened?”

“It became too much for her. She couldn’t stand the way she was feeling, and she couldn’t control it either. She finally killed herself.”

“Did they find the Vyken who did this to her?” Kiera asked.

“She never told anyone, but she writes in her journal that two men were involved. One of them had a tattoo of a dagger on his head.”

Tessa brought her knees to her chest. “I wonder why Britt didn’t tell anyone.”

I glanced away. “She was ashamed.”

“She must’ve felt all alone,” May said, but by the way she was looking at me, I couldn’t tell if she was talking about me or Britt.

“But that’s not all,” I said. “It’s just the beginning.” I proceeded to tell them all about Liam (May wasn’t at all surprised to learn I’d been sneaking out at night) and the blood being given to Vykens. I spoke of the fight at the tower, and I even told them about being trapped in the blood room with Tessa and seeing Dr. Han. And finally, I told them about what had happened with Christian.”

“I can’t believe it,” Kiera said when I finished.

“Crazy, huh?” I said.

“No, I mean I really can’t believe it. It’s just not possible! Vykens in the school, especially someone high up? And our blood being sold to them?”

“It’s true,” Tessa said. “At least the blood part.”

I looked at her. “It’s all true.”

“I believe you,” May said. I couldn’t help but smile. I loved my best friend. “So what now,” May asked. “What can we do about it?”

“We have to find out who’s behind it,” I said.

“Who does Liam think it is?” Tessa asked.

“Some Guardians, but he doesn’t know who yet.”

“What about the Vyken in Cyrus’s office?” Kiera said.

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I know it was one of them.”

“Are you sure?” Kiera asked. “I mean, I’ve never heard of an Aura who could sense a Vyken.”

“That’s what’s odd. We should all be able to sense the evil in them. What good is our Light if we can’t?”

“Go over who was in the room again,” Tessa said.

I thought out loud. “Jackson and Spencer were behind me. Sophie was on my left. Cyrus and Jameson were in front of me, and Christian and Dr. Han were on my right.”

“We can rule out Sophie,” Tessa said. “And Christian.”

I nodded. “And probably Jackson and Spencer too. I never sensed anything when I was near them before.”

“And it can’t be Dr. Han,” May said.

The room grew quiet.

“What?” May said. “It’s not him. I’ve been training with him for weeks now. He’s not some evil being.”

“But you’ve never met him up close before, right Llona?” Tessa asked.

“I haven’t, but if May says it’s not him, then I trust her.” It was May’s turn to smile.

“Then why did he take her blood?” Tessa said.

“I don’t know,” May said, “but I’ll find out.”

“Okay then,” I said, leaning forward. “May’s on Dr. Han—”

“And I’ll watch Cyrus,” Tessa said. “See if he does anything suspicious.”

“Perfect,” I said. “And if Christian will speak to me after today, I’ll ask him to check out Jackson and the other Guardians.”

“I guess that leaves me with Mr. Jameson,” Kiera said, frowning. “Whom we know nothing about, other than he’s Cyrus’s assistant.”

“I’ll help,” I said. “Tonight I’ll find Liam and tell him our plan.”

We all stood up. I took the diary back from May and tucked it into my backpack.

“Are you sure you can trust him?” Kiera said. “He sounds kind of spooky.”