Incubus (69 page)

for release. I leaned my head against the school library’s picture window, unable to look away. This

wasn’t a view you could get in most of Puerto Escondido. But here, standing at this window, I could

see through the break in the mountains that encircled our town out to the land beyond. It felt soothing,

looking down over the desert stretching away for hundreds of miles. A reminder of the larger world

beyond my little town.

I saw Cassie’s reflection in the window and turned.

“So,” she said. She was standing there awkwardly, shuffling her weight from one foot to the other.

I stood. “Cassie, I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Cassie said. “I—I know how it must have looked.” I could only

shake my head, miserable. Cassie looked down at the floor. “But the truth is, I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” I said.

“How about we take the afternoon and go down to Old Town.”

I brightened. “Yeah? You can do that? What about the show?”

Cassie shrugged. “Whatever. I doubt they’ll miss me for one day.”

I wasn’t going to argue with her. “I’ll drive.”

Cassie and I made our way to Old Town, and parked on a quiet residential street across from the

main plaza. Stepping out of the car, I could smell a wood fire burning in someone’s chimney to ward

off the November chill. The scent was filled with the promise of winter. When I was a little girl, that

had meant snow, hot chocolate, Christmas trees and stockings. Now, the turning of the seasons

heralded something different.

Winter solstice. The longest night of the year. A night when Lilitu were at their most powerful.

Lucas and I had barely survived the last one. I shivered, trying to push the unwanted memories out of

my head.

Cassie looked up from her phone, concerned. I saw her send a text, but then she slipped the phone

into her pocket. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yeah.” I gave Cassie a quick smile. “So, where do you want to go?”

“I was thinking we could grab a Mexican hot chocolate from Sabrina’s.”

“Yes!” I said, suddenly eager. “It’s been too long.”

We headed into the plaza, steering our feet toward the ancient little restaurant on the edge of the

square. The front steps led down into a thick adobe building. We had to bend our heads to keep from

hitting them on the low door. Inside, the ancient windows were so tiny the space felt almost like a

cave. But the roaring fireplace, coupled with candles sprinkled across every tabletop, filled the space

with a rosy light. I couldn’t think of any building in town as cozy as Sabrina’s. It was a historical

landmark; the old adobe building was over a century old. But with creaky wooden floorboards and

exposed logs supporting the roof, it felt like a home.

“I see a table,” Cassie said. I followed her back to a sheltered alcove.

Lucas and Seth sat on one side of the booth while Royal sat on the other. Between them, 17

flickering candles adorned a beautiful cake artfully accented with red rose petals. Red velvet.

“Surprise,” Cassie said.

“Guys?” But my voice felt thick, and I couldn’t say much more.

“Happy birthday, Braedyn,” Lucas said. His eyes twinkled with warmth. So they hadn’t forgotten

after all.

“What are you waiting for?” Cassie nudged me with her elbow. “Sit!”

I scooted into the bench beside Lucas while Cassie slid in next to Royal.

“I know it’s abysmally low-key, compared to last year,” Royal said. “But all my ideas got vetoed.”

“I love it,” I said. “This is exactly the way I wanted to spend my birthday.”

“You might want to hurry and blow this sucker out,” Seth said, eyeing the wax dripping into little

pools at the base of each candle.

“Don’t forget to make a wish,” Cassie said.

I felt Lucas squeeze my hand under the table. There was one thing I wished for every day. I closed

my eyes.
Let me become human soon.
I blew out the candles.

“Excellent,” Royal said, clapping his hands. “Now, let’s eat. I’ve been staring at this thing for half

an hour.”

“Right?” Seth echoed. “It’s like an exercise in pain.” Royal smiled, giving Seth an appraising look.

I felt a warm hope kindle in my chest. Seth hadn’t had much time to get to know Royal or Cassie. Yes,

he’d been eating lunch with us, but he’d kept his thoughts mostly to himself, only really opening up to

Lucas and me when we were alone. It was encouraging to see him engage with my other friends.

Lucas handed me a knife. “You want to do the honors?”

I cut five generous slices of cake and we dug in. While we were eating, a waitress appeared with

five mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Sabrina’s specialty. The hot chocolate was laced through with

cinnamon and a dash of red chili powder. The combination was a delicious one-two punch, leaving a

subtle fire on the tongue after each sweet sip.

Cassie pulled a gift bag from under the table. “Happy birthday.”

I felt a twist of regret for the things I’d said to her earlier in the day. “Cassie, you didn’t have to do

this.”

Cassie gave me an eager smile. “Open it.”

I pulled the decorative tissue paper aside. Gingerly, I lifted a simple black dress out of the bag.

“Cassie?” My eyes swept over the dress. Another elegant Cassie Ang creation. The lines were sleek. A

shimmering spray of tiny iridescent beads sparkled indigo around the hem. “How in the world did you

find the time to do this?”

“She practically lives in that costume shop,” Royal said.

“I had a little side project,” Cassie explained.

I held it up to my body, but I already knew it would fit perfectly. “It’s gorgeous,” I breathed.

“I hate it when you go first,” Royal said with a sigh for Cassie’s benefit. He handed over a box.

Judging by the heft, it was a pair of shoes. “Here. They don’t compare to Cassie’s magnum opus, but

they do compliment it nicely.”

I opened the box, revealing a pair of elegant heels. They were dyed a deep indigo that picked up on

the sheen of the beads Cassie had hand-sewn around the hem of the dress. “I love them,” I squealed,

my voice jumping up an octave of its own accord.

“I hope we don’t have to discuss what you’ll be wearing to junior prom,” Royal said.

“I’ll cross that off my list.” I took another moment to admire the beautiful clothes. It was with

great effort that I pushed aside the thought that junior prom was a long way off, and so much could

happen between now and then. If the final battle had begun, no one would be attending junior prom.

Not in Puerto Escondido.

It was a wonderful afternoon. We stayed in that booth for almost two hours, talking and laughing,

ordering food to share until we were pleasantly stuffed. As five o’clock rolled around, I got a call from

Dad.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew.” I could hear him smiling over the line. “Were you surprised?”

I looked at my friends, laughing over something Royal had just said. My heart was full. This was

what it meant to be content. “Yes,” I answered.

“I just wanted to let you know, Hale’s giving you and Lucas the day off from practice.”

“Oops,” I said. I’d forgotten all about practice.

Dad chuckled. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. Enjoy it.”

I tried to hang on to that sense of well-being, but as we gathered our money to pay the bill, I could

feel it slipping away. How long would it be before we were all together like this again, safe and

happy?

Royal offered to give Cassie a lift to her place, and they said their goodbyes in the cramped

entryway of Sabrina’s.

“Thank you,” I murmured into Cassie’s ear as I hugged her goodbye. “It was perfect.”

“I’m glad,” she pulled back. “Once this play is over, things will get back to normal. You’ll see.”

I smiled, not trusting myself to speak. After they’d left, Seth pulled something out of his

backpack.

“I’ve got a present for you, too,” he said. He handed over a manila envelope stuffed with papers.

“Sorry it’s not wrapped.”

I pulled the papers out of the envelope and flipped through page after page of photocopied notes.

Angela’s notes.

“What did you do?” Lucas asked Seth, frowning.

“I figured,” Seth looked at me, confused. “I thought you guys wanted to know whatever Mom

found out about the ritual.”

Lucas glanced at me, uncomfortable. I knew he was torn. He respected the hierarchy of the Guard,

and disobeying Hale wasn’t easy for him. But if this ritual could help me become human sooner, he’d

want to know.

“Has she figured it out?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to read everything. But look.” Seth took the papers out of my

hands and flipped to a photocopied image of a small vase. “She calls this the vessel. I think it’s a part

of the ritual.”

“The vessel?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah. Does that mean anything to you?”

“Let me see it.” Lucas took the sheet out of Seth’s hand and reacted.

“Do you recognize that?” I asked.

“No.” Lucas studied the image with a thoughtful frown.

“Are you sure?” I asked. I could tell something was troubling him.

“I’m pretty sure I would remember a funky metal vase,” Lucas said. “But there is something

familiar about it. Weird.” He shrugged and handed the sheet back to me. “Don’t let Hale catch you

with that.”

“Right.” I put the research into my school bag, meaning to hide it in my room when I got home.

But once I started to read it later that night, I couldn’t put down. Angela was convinced the vessel

was the key to locking the seal for good. She’d painstakingly reconstructed the history of the vessel

through her research. There was an image in the carvings from the mission that she believed to be the

vessel, which placed it at the mission for the fight with the incubus and his sister. Later, it had shown

up in Boston, around the time of the revolution. Still later, it had resurfaced in California. Present—if

her research was to be believed—in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. From that time on,

it had been in the Guard’s safekeeping, though she wasn’t sure exactly where.

I became obsessed with her notes. I took them to school with me. I pored over them in my spare

time. I stared at the grainy image of the vessel, trying to make out the details of its surface. Some part

of me became convinced that this small metal vase would be my salvation.

I hid my obsession from the rest of the Guard. Not even Lucas knew how much of my time I spent

thinking about the vessel. There were moments where I could push it out of my mind for a little while,

but like a homing pigeon, it always found a way back into my thoughts.

Training seemed to keep the thoughts at bay better than anything else in my daily routine.

Matthew and Gretchen had stepped up our practices. Lucas and I spent three hours after school every

day in the basement, training. Hale would check in on us, but he’d left our training in the hands of

Matthew and Gretchen while he helped get the new Guardsmen settled.

One afternoon, a few weeks after my birthday, we were training in the basement as usual when the

door opened at the top of the stairs. I expected to see Hale or Dad, but it was the newcomers: Chris,

Paul, Jason, and Max. Matthew and Gretchen halted our training session.

“Mind if we practice down here with you guys?” Max asked. They didn’t wait for an answer,

simply walking deeper into the basement and spreading out. Their practice was fast and brutal. Lucas

and I stared, transfixed.

Gretchen was the first to pull her eyes off the soldiers. “Back to work, kids. We’re not done yet.”

Matthew waved for my attention. He didn’t rely on the forms, like Hale and Dad did. Matthew

believed you trained in the basics, but fights were about reacting in the moment, as effectively as you

could.

“You ready?” he asked. When I nodded, he came for me, shooting a fist toward my face. I knocked

the punch aside, launching a fist for his stomach in counterattack. We struck at each other, each trying

to land a blow, each fighting furiously to keep from getting hit. I sensed rather than saw an

opportunity; Matthew had overcompensated in blocking one of my punches—he was off balance.