Incubus (16 page)

“Ooooo,” Cassie teased, reading the note over my shoulder. “A secret admirer.” Something about

the note gave me chills. I looked up and saw Amber passing in the hall. Her eyes found my face,

haughty and cold as ever. “What do you think Lucas would—”

“I’ll catch you later, Cass.” I left her standing at my locker, rushing off to catch Amber at the

drinking fountain. “Hey,” I said, grabbing Amber’s arm.

Amber pulled angrily out of my grasp. “Touch me again,” she growled.

I shoved the note under her nose, interrupting her. “What’s this supposed to mean?” Amber

glanced at the note, gave me a disgusted look, and turned to walk away. I stepped around to block her.

“Answer the question.”

“Why do you think I’d have any idea what that means?” Amber asked. Judging from the look on

her face, she’d never seen the note before.

Uncertainty washed through me. “You didn’t write this?”

Amber scoffed. “Please. I might be watching you, but there is no universe in which I’d say I

admire
you.” Amber pushed past me. This time I let her go.

Down the hall, Cassie was waving at someone. It was Mr. Hart. As he waited for Cassie to join

him, Mr. Hart noticed me watching him and gave me a brief, inscrutable smile. Then Cassie was

standing beside him and they were walking out of the building toward the performing arts center.

I looked back down at the note and turned it over.

There, drawn by a very capable hand, was a single, graceful rose. My mouth suddenly went dry.

The rose was nearly perfect, full of dark red petals with just a touch of white at their base. I knew this

rose. There was only one place it grew. My dream garden.

Lucas came with me to the plaza that afternoon. He didn’t trust Karayan, and he wasn’t shy about

letting me know it.

“She wrote that note to scare you,” he said. “To show you she can get close to you.” Lucas glanced

at me, grim. “Or close to your friends. She left it in Cassie’s locker.”

I bit my lip, unconvinced. “Why, though? Why threaten Cassie?”

“Ask her.”

We arrived to find Karayan already sitting at a little table outside an artisan coffee shop. She saw

me coming and stood. Her lips thinned when she saw Lucas with me.

“Oh look. You brought your puppy.” She gave Lucas a condescending smile. “And no leash. He

must be very well behaved.”

Lucas glared murder at Karayan. “Watch it,” he growled. “I’m a
Guardsman.
”

“My mistake.” Karayan smiled, but her eyes glinted with something cold and unfriendly.

“Chill out,” I snapped. “Both of you.”

Karayan waved to the empty chairs at her table. The gesture was impatient rather than inviting.

When we sat, Karayan leaned closer, lowering her voice. “Talk fast. I’d rather not be seen with you

two.”

I slapped the note down on the table in front of Karayan. She glanced at it, then looked at me,

bored.

“So you’ve got a secret admirer,” she said. “Am I supposed to throw you a parade?”

“We know you wrote it,” Lucas said.

“Me?” Karayan smiled, amused. I flipped the note over. Karayan’s eyes found the rose. She

stopped smiling.

“So you didn’t draw this?” I asked.

Karayan shook her head, picking up the drawing. “Who else has been in your garden?”

“No one,” I said.

Karayan pushed the note back across the table. “Well, clearly
someone’s
seen your roses. And

apparently she wishes to remain anonymous.”

“How do you know it’s a she?” Lucas asked.

“Because only a Lilitu could force her way into another Lilitu’s—” but Karayan suddenly stopped,

struck by a thought.

A fist of lead closed around my heart. “The incubus?” I asked.

Karayan gave me a sharp look.

“You know?” Lucas asked. “You know there’s an incubus in town? Where is he? What does he

want?”

Karayan frowned at him, clearly irked by his presence. “Sorry. I don’t know anything about your

party crasher.”

“Who is he?” I asked.

“That’s the kind of thing that’s usually included in the blanket ‘I don’t know anything’ statement,”

Karayan said, as though explaining something to a toddler.

I took a slow breath, pushing my irritation down. “I need your help to identify him.”

Karayan crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Well, I’m not actually looking to join the

Guard right now. But thanks for the invite.”

“Forget this,” Lucas said in disgust. “We don’t need her.”

“That’s debatable,” Karayan muttered, examining her sculpted nails.

“You think we’d take you in?” Lucas snapped. “After everything you’ve done? Knowing what you

are?”

“And what do you think I am, little Guard dog?”

“A selfish, soulless killer,” Lucas shot back. “There’s no place for you in the Guard.”

“Something we can agree on,” Karayan said, her tone dangerously quiet. “I’ve never been very

good at turning off my brain.”

Lucas glared at Karayan, opening his mouth to fire back.

“Lucas, please.” I laid a hand on his arm. It took a moment before he could pull his eyes off of

Karayan. When he’d calmed down enough to listen, I spoke. “Let me talk to her for a minute.

Privately.”

“Fine. I’m tired of looking at her face.” Lucas stood and walked away from our table, shoving his

hands into his pockets. I watched as he walked into a bookstore a few doors down.

Someone was standing in the bookstore’s window, watching us. I couldn’t make out too many

details, other than his short-cropped hair, which seemed to gleam platinum under the display lights.

But there was something about him... A strange tingle shot down the back of my neck.

“Alone at last,” Karayan murmured.

“You don’t have to bait him like that,” I said, pulling my eyes away from the stranger.

“Oh, I know I don’t
have
to.” She smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. “But it’s so much fun.”

“Karayan.” I glanced back at the bookstore window, but the stranger was gone.

“Ugh. You’re spending too much time with the Guard. It’s very bad for your sense of humor.”

“I’ll work on it,” I said. “In the meantime, I really do need your help.”

Karayan smiled at some private joke. “That’s rich.”

“I’m serious.”

“Perpetually.”

“Do you not care at all about this world?”

Karayan looked down at her coffee, playing with the rim of the cup. “I don’t know why you’re

asking for my help.”

“Whatever happened to being my mentor?”

Karayan laughed humorously.

“That’s funny?”

“What’s funny is you not knowing how powerful you are.” Karayan looked up, and for a change,

her gaze was serious.

“Don’t play games with me,” I said.

Karayan rolled her eyes. “Whatever you think I can do, you should be able to do it yourself.”

“I’m asking for your help,” I said through gritted teeth. “Are you going to give it to me or not?”

Karayan looked at me, unimpressed. “Before you answer,” I added. “You should know that I can be

pretty stubborn. Also? I know where to find you in your dreams.”

That wiped the bored expression clear off Karayan’s face. After a moment, she forced a smile.

“Well. What are mentors for?”

Lucas and I walked into the Guard’s living room half an hour later. Hale looked up from the

newspaper he was scanning. He frowned.

“You’re not dressed? Matthew and Gretchen are already downstairs warming up.”

“We need to talk to the Guard,” Lucas said. “We’ve got news.”

Hale didn’t need to hear anything else. “Get your sister and Matthew. I’ll get Thane. Braedyn?”

Hale glanced at me but I was already dialing my cell for Dad.

By the time Lucas returned with Matthew and Gretchen, I had Dad on the line and Hale was

leading Thane out of the back office.

Two minutes later, when Dad walked through the front door, we were all sitting around the dining

table. He joined us, taking the chair next to me.

“What’s the news?” Dad asked.

“There’s a ritual,” I said. “That can lock the seal. It could keep the Lilitu out forever. The monks at

the mission knew about it.” I had expected a big reaction. Instead, the room fell into silence. Dad and

Hale glanced at Thane.

“I’ve never heard about any ritual capable of locking a seal,” Thane said after a long moment.

“Braedyn where did you get this information?” Hale asked.

Lucas and I shared a quick look. “We went to Seth’s house,” I explained. “He showed us his

mom’s journal.”

“You went through Angela’s work?” Dad asked. I could see this disturbed him. “Without her

knowledge?”

“Why would she keep this from us?” I asked, voicing the thought that had been nagging me all

afternoon. “If it really could shut out the Lilitu forever, why would she even hesitate to tell us about

this?”

“Angela is an archivist of the first order,” Thane said stiffly. “If she’s not ready to share her

research, there’s likely a good reason.”

“Like what?” I snapped.

“Maybe she doesn’t have all the necessary information yet,” Thane replied.

“But if she told us—if she told you,” I glared at Thane. “You could help her. Aren’t two archivists

working on this problem better than one?”

“I have projects of my own,” Thane said.

“As important as this one?” Lucas asked. Thane glanced at him but remained silent.

“They have a point,” Dad said.

“Murphy,” Hale said. It sounded like a warning. He turned to me. “Braedyn, I understand that this

is potentially very significant. But we have to trust our experts to do their work. Angela is—as Thane

says—one of the best. She’s got a gift for research. She’ll come to us when she’s ready.”

“But,” Lucas started.

“Drop it,” Gretchen said quietly. “You guys shouldn’t have left school.”

“Dad?” I pleaded. Dad glanced at Hale. Conflict warred in his eyes.

“Linwood is following protocol,” Hale said. “She’s doing exactly as she was trained to do.”

Dad nodded stiffly. “Hale’s right.”

“So we’re just supposed to trust her blindly?” I asked. “What do we really know about her?”

“Braedyn,” Dad said quietly. “We can’t give into paranoia. Not when we’re so close to the next

battle. Let Linwood handle the research. We need to focus on the fight.”

“Speaking of which,” Matthew interjected. “We got a call from Marx’s people. The first group

should be arriving in a month or so. They’re going to make some stops along the way, try to ferret out

a few other units if they can.”

“We need to start preparing for them,” Gretchen said. “I think we can fit four cots to a room

upstairs if we move out the furniture. It’s going to be tight, but we can’t sleep everyone downstairs.

And we’re going to need supplies to handle the crowd.”

Hale pulled a notebook out of his back pocket. “I’ll make a run to the army surplus.”

“Wait.” Lucas’s voice rang like a bullet, silencing the room. “You’re not listening to us.”

Gretchen turned to Lucas. “We’ve had our answer,” she murmured. “Give Linwood some time.”

“There’s more at stake,” Lucas looked at me.

“If we can lock the seal,” I started. Hale glanced at me. He wasn’t used to having his orders

questioned. “If we can lock the seal, we won’t have to fight. And if we don’t have to fight,” I caught

Dad’s eye. “I can become human.”

My words ran through Dad like some kind of electrical current. Hale saw it, too.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Hale said.

“We should, at the very least, ask her,” Dad replied.

“You want to avoid inciting paranoia,” Thane muttered. “You might not want to tell the archivist