Fractured Soul (24 page)

Right.
I had said that. Standing alone with him in this cramped cabin, I felt stupid for having said anything at all. I should’ve just given him the pills and left.

“Llona?”

I tried to focus on something in the room, but there was nothing.

“What’s going on?”

His voice was full of concern, making me feel even dumber. “Nothing,” I finally said. “I guess I was just wondering,” I looked up, down, around, “how long it will take to find out what’s in the pills.”

“I have to give it to them first.” He stood up, his hand resting on the table, eyes focused on me.

“When are you going to do that?”

“As soon as you’re gone.”

“Right.” I went into the kitchen, a whole step to my right. “Do you have anything to drink?”

“Water.”

I opened the only cupboard and pulled out one of the two cups in it. “So tell me more about these guys you work with,” I said while I held my cup under the tap. “The Deific, was it?”

Liam took the cup from me; water was pouring over its edge. I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. He shut off the faucet and turned me around. “What’s going on?”

Words twisted inside my brain, giving me a headache. What was wrong? I reached up and touched the marks on my neck. So much was happening. About to happen. I was almost killed last night even though I felt like I could’ve destroyed an army. I didn’t trust myself, and that frightened me.

“Llona? Talk to me.”

My gaze met his. “I’m scared.”

He stared at me for what seemed like a very long time before he said. “You should be.”

“That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.”

“I’m not going to tell you everything’s going to be okay, because it’s not.”

“But I’m not ready.”

Liam shook his head, and his eyes were sad. “None of you are. You’re fish in a bowl, and a shark’s about to be released.”

I rubbed my temple. “You’re really not helping.”

“Do you know what’s happening? Has anyone at Lucent bothered telling any of you?”

“Tell us what?” I said.

“They’re dying. Auras. All over the world. Their Guardians too. I just got the message from the Deific last night.”

I wiped my brow.

“They are being hunted and killed,” he said. “By packs of Vykens.”

I must have turned pale, because Liam pulled over the only chair in the room. I dropped into it. “No one’s said a word,” I said.

“Why?”

I shook my head.

“Why, Llona?” Liam said. “Put the pieces together.”

I thought harder despite my headache. Auras and Guardians dying. Pills to make us blind. Our blood taken. A Vyken in the school. The faces of those who had been in the room with me when I’d first met Cyrus flashed in my mind, specifically that of Cyrus and Jameson. Cyrus was the head of Lucent Academy. Everyone respected him. Everyone did what he said. And then I remembered something Christian had told me months ago.

“What is it, Llona?” Liam pressed.

I looked up at him. “The president. Cyrus. It has to be.”

“How do you know?”

“Christian called him when he suspected a Vyken was after me. That was months ago. Cyrus had told him not to worry. That it was nothing. That I was safe.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “But it can’t be Cyrus. Christian said he cut him, and he didn’t heal.” I opened my eyes. Liam was smiling. “What?”

“He’s a Geo. Even with Vyken blood, he’d still take a day or two to heal.”

“But I heal fast,” I said.

“Because that’s a side effect of Light too. He doesn’t have that. He will heal quickly, but not like a Vyken would.”

I sat up straighter in my seat. “But then there’s the pills,” I said. “Abigail said they’ve been around since the twenties, and Cyrus didn’t become president until the thirties, so he couldn’t have created the pills, right?”

“Unless the chemical that suppresses an Aura’s senses was added later to the vitamins.”

“That makes sense,” I said and shifted in the chair. “What do you know of Cyrus?”

“He’s old. Before my time, centuries before, in fact. And, like me, he’s the last of his kind. But we need to make sure he’s the one. Think you can find a reason to meet with him?”

“You want me to meet with a suspected Vyken?”

“He won’t hurt you in the school. It would give him away.”

“Comforting.” I sunk into the seat, thinking dark thoughts. They were like shadows on my mind, always there, haunting me. I sat up straight, finally understanding what was really bothering me.

“What is it?”

I looked up at him. “Did you know him? The Vyken who killed my mother?” Before Liam could answer, I added, “I knew him as Mr. Steele, but my mother knew him as Lander.”

His expression softened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t really want to talk about him, but more about something he said. Before I killed him he told me about the night my father died. Mr. Steele said that my father almost killed him, but someone stopped him. That person broke my father’s neck.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Steele called him
the Shadow.
‘The Shadow who always watches but can never be seen.’ ”

Liam’s jaw hardened, and he knelt in front of me. “Are you sure? Are you sure he called it a shadow?”

I’d never seen Liam frantic before. “Yes, why?” Liam stood up and turned his back to me. Every muscle in his body looked tense. “What is it?” I asked.

Liam turned around. His expression grim. “It’s something very dangerous that we thought had been destroyed. It’s been decades since I heard that name.”

“What is it?”

He shook his head, looking almost ill. “A creature without any bodily form. It was made by witches in the thirteenth century and does the will of whoever commands it. The Shadow hurt a lot of people in the 1930s, but an Aura”—his eyes flashed to mine—“gave all of her Light to trap it.”

“All her Light?” I frowned. “But wouldn’t that kill her?”

Liam nodded. “It did, but her sacrifice wasn’t in vain. She saved a lot of lives.”

“And now it’s back,” I whispered, “at Lucent.” I shivered.

“At Lucent?” He tensed all over again. “How do you know?”

“I didn’t, until just now. Since I first came here, I kept seeing shadows move out of the corner of my eye, rooms seemed darker, and I often felt like I was being watched. And the time Christian and I fought the Vykens in the tower, I saw part of a shadow, almost like an arm, reach out and stop a Vyken from killing him. Because everything was happening so fast, I thought I’d imagined it. I wonder why it saved Christian?”

“Someone doesn’t want him dead, and that someone is at Lucent. They’d have to be if they are controlling it.” Liam sighed and raked his fingers through his short hair. “One more problem. I’ll get the Deific on it right away.”

“Who was the Aura?” I asked, but just then Liam’s phone buzzed. He looked down at it and frowned. “Everything okay?” I asked.

“A blood drop’s happening tonight near Lucent.”

“How do you know?”

“We’ve got a guy who occasionally passes info to us for money, or other questionable items,” he said.

I didn’t want to know what he meant by
questionable
. “Where?”

Liam looked up from his phone. “You’re not going.”

I stood up, my blood turning hot. “Of course I am. I can help.”
And fight. Please let me fight.

“You’re not ready.” He turned away and picked up a bag.

“Are you kidding? You saw what I did the other night. I’m good at fighting.”

Liam rummaged through the bag, searching for something. “That’s the problem.”

I crossed my arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Liam removed a sheathed knife. “You’re forgetting what’s inside you.”

The next words out of my mouth were a lie. “I know what’s inside me, but I’m controlling it. You think a little Vyken poison is going to change me? I’m still—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Liam had me by both arms. “You’re not you. Don’t you understand? You’re different. You always will be. For the rest of your life you’re going to be like a person on the edge of a cliff. The smallest moment can push you over, and there’s no coming back.”

He must’ve noticed how my anger had turned to fear, because his features softened and his grip relaxed. “I’m just saying you need to remember,” he said. “Don’t ever think you can control it, that you’re better than it. That’s what it wants you to feel. Pride.”

I sat back down, feeling defeated. “Any silver lining?”

Liam knelt in front of me. “Of course. You get to live.”

I looked around the room. “Is this any way to live?”

“It’s better than the alternative.” Liam straightened. “Look, I’m not trying to freak you out, but I don’t want to see you get overly confident and make a mistake. You are an incredible fighter, but you have to make sure you’re fighting for the right reasons and not because you long for the fight.”

“Why do you do it?” I asked.

“Do what?”

“All of this. Fight for us. Fight for the Deific.”

“Because the second I stop, the darkness will overpower me. If I’m not fighting against them, then I’m becoming one of them. This is my life.”

I hesitated, studying his face. “How long have you been doing this?”

He looked at me for a long time, and I could tell he was remembering painful memories. “Too long,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Ten minutes later I was back on the dirt road. Before Liam dropped me off, he warned me to stay away tonight, but, as I raced toward Lucent, I formed a plan. I would go tonight, I decided. No Vyken poison was going to stop me from helping my friends. They needed me, I convinced myself.

“I’m going with you,” May said after I finished telling her and Tessa about my plan.

“Me too,” Tessa said.

I picked up Britt’s diary off my floor and stuffed it back into my backpack. “I can’t ask you guys to do that.”

“You didn’t ask,” May said. “We’re in this together.”

“But it’s not you the Vykens are after. They want the Auras.”

“Hello?” May said. “We live in this school too, and they’re trying to destroy it. We’re just as involved.”

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help smiling. I breathed a sigh of relief. “I would love some company.”

“Where’s Christian going to be?” Tessa asked.

I went to the window and peered out. “He’s tailing Jackson. Something tells me he’ll end up at the same place as Liam.”

“The blood drop,” May said, and I turned around. She picked up a picture off my dresser and stared at it. It was a photo of us that Jake had taken at our graduation.

“Should we invite Kiera?” Tessa said.

May and I looked at each other. “Let’s not,” I said. “She seems a little too excited about all this.”

“Agreed,” May said. She set the picture down.

Tessa leaned forward on my bed. “You have to remember, guys, that she’s never had anything go wrong in her life. This is probably like a movie to her.”

“You’ve lived your whole life here,” May said. “How come you get it?”

“Just because I’ve lived here doesn’t mean I haven’t seen what’s out there.” Tessa stood up to leave with May. “What time do you want to go?”

“Meet us at the shed at eleven?”

She nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

May and Tessa left me alone. I was so jittery with anticipation that I considered running on the track to try and calm down, but I was too afraid of being seen. Instead, I opened my Auran history book and tried to study. A lot of good that did. All I could think about was how I would be fighting soon. Over and over I replayed the mistakes I’d made the last couple of times I fought Vykens and resolved not to make them again.

Sometime later, I sat up when I heard quiet footsteps moving down the hall. I glanced at the time.
Must be May.
I opened the door before she had a chance to knock.

“Nice hearing,” she said.

“Nice outfit,” I said, and smiled back. She was dressed all in black. She’d even borrowed one of my black beanies.

“I already snuck downstairs,” May said. “There are two Guardians just outside the doors. Is that normal?”

“I don’t think so.” I tried to recall if I’d ever seen Guardians, besides Jackson, in front of the school. “But I’ve never gone that way.”

“What way do you go?”

I opened the window. “Out here.”

May looked down. “Are you kidding?”

“It’s not so bad. You just have to make it to that pipe.” I pointed to the long drainage pipe about three feet over. “Or, if you’re me,” I looked at her, “you can just jump.”

“But that would kill you,” May said, her voice quiet, pondering. I waited for her thoughts to gather, waited for her to verbalize what I knew she already suspected. Her eyes slowly met mine. “You’re not like you used to be, are you?”

I shook my head.

“He bit you.” She reached up and touched my long hair. “That’s why you’re always leaving your hair down. And why you’ve been so angry.”

“It’s inside me, May,” I said, barely hearing my own voice. “I feel it all of the time.”

She lowered her hand. “But you’re not one of them.”

“Not yet. I’m fighting it. Liam’s helping me.”

“I wondered about that.” She squeezed my hand. “You’ll do it. I know you will.”

“Thanks.”

May glanced out the window again. “Is there any way your new abilities can help me down?”

“I can throw you out,” I offered.

“I’ll take my chances with the pipe.” May swung her legs over the windowsill and maneuvered herself onto her belly.

“Now reach your foot over,” I said. “You’ll find a place for it on the metal clippings holding the pipe in place.” I waited until May was safely on the ground before I jumped from the window and landed beside her.

“Too cool,” she said.

“It doesn’t come without a price. Come on. Tessa’s probably waiting.”

We kept to the shadows as we snuck across campus. May kept glancing sideways at me, but I didn’t dare ask her what she was thinking. We found Tessa leaning against the brick wall of the shed. She looked nervous.

“You sure you want to do this?” I asked.

“Sure. No big deal, right?” She started walking. “We go into the forest. Remove a few Vyken heads. Easy, right?”