Possession (16 page)

She gave me a wide smile. “So our escape is on?”

“Tomorrow night.”

She rubbed her hands together. “I admit, child, I
wouldn’t mind getting out of this place. I’ve been in here long time, and I’m
tired of always turning around and seeing white coats and uniforms.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.

We headed down the halls. There was no one to stop
us, and we made our way without any problems to Luke’s room. Mildred left me at
the door, promising to come back when the staff started to stir.

This time when I entered, Luke was sitting on the
bed, leafing through a book. He got to his feet.

I wanted to rush into his arms, wanted to tell him
how much I had missed him, but instead I found myself standing there, feeling
awkward. For the first time, I was acutely aware that Dean was somewhere in
there, listening.

We stood there looking at each other, and then
Luke moved toward me. He reached out and pulled me into an embrace. “Mildred
told me they had you in restraints again.” His arms tightened around me.

It felt so good to be in his arms. “They let me
out. That’s all that matters.”

His hand came up and caressed the back of my hair.
I closed my eyes and listened to his heartbeat.

He moved back slightly. I opened my eyes and found
myself staring into his. His head came down within inches of mine.

The eyes looking at me were gray, but I had stared
into that face earlier today and Dean’s blue eyes had stared back at me. It had
all been so much easier when Dean had been nothing more than an empty shell. A
means to an end. But now Dean was back. Dean was now a walking, talking person.
A person that was currently somewhere deep inside of Luke.

He’d just begun to capture my lips with his when I
felt myself pushing him away.

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked.

I knew that look: those dark eyes were staring at
me, trying to puzzle out what I was thinking. Those
dark
eyes—not blue eyes. It was Luke who was in control at
the moment.
Luke is who you’re talking to
now, not Dean
, I told myself.

I couldn’t tell him what I was really thinking. It
wasn’t his fault this whole situation had gotten more complicated. “Nothing’s
wrong, I’m just tired. They found a girl in the forest.”

I told him about my sudden urge to go into the
forest, about finding Gloria’s bones, and about the vision I had of her murder.
When I described the details, I left out my theories on the blooding rite—and
how in my vision the killer ate pieces of Gloria’s heart.

Even though I left off the more disturbing
elements of the situation, Luke still looked concerned when I finally finished.
“Twenty years?” he asked. His expression turned thoughtful. “And the killer had
a neck tattoo…that would be easy to spot. There
is
something about that tattoo that sounds familiar.”

“Have you seen someone with it?” I asked
excitedly.

“No, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in here with
that tattoo. But I swear I’ve seen it or heard about it before.”

“I haven’t seen anyone in here, either. And
neither has Mildred and she’s been in here for five years. Andrew’s vision was
so similar to mine, but in his he saw a boy’s murder. He thinks the boy’s death
happened a long time ago. I’m wondering if it happened around the same time
Gloria was killed.” It had to be the same man. It had to be someone who had
some connection to this place. “I wonder how hard it would be to try and
conceal such a big tattoo around your neck?”

Luke walked over to the window and looked out. I
moved next to him and followed his gaze out, toward the dark wood. The police cars
were gone—they must have removed all the bones. I wonder if being found gave
the girl’s spirit any closure. I reached out and put my hand in Luke’s. He
turned and gave me a smile.

I spoke the one thought that had been pounding
through my head all day. “Luke, we have to escape tomorrow night.”

The smile was replaced by a look of concern. “I
agree.”

I blinked, surprised by his quick response. “You
do?”

“Mildred told me you came clean about being a
death dealer.”

It was the one secret I had hoped to never reveal
in this place. “I thought I had no choice. I actually believed that if Barton
knew I wasn’t insane, he would stop the—” I couldn’t say the words:
electroshock therapy
. Just thinking
about it made me want to run.

“She told me you’re scheduled for another shock
treatment. The doctor doesn’t care about anyone’s sanity. He’s a twisted guy
who’s in love with the power he has in this place.” He reached out and touched
my cheek. “We need to go tomorrow night.”

“Do you think you’re up to it?”

“I’ll have to be.”

I wanted to tell him the rest of it—about
the killer eating Gloria’s beating heart—but I couldn’t. I knew Luke
worried too much about my safety. It tortured him that he couldn’t be with me
during the day to protect me. I wanted all his concentration focused on our
escape. It was our one chance. With any luck, we would be out of here by
tomorrow night. The murders, the sadistic staff…all of it would be behind us in
twenty-four hours. All we had to do was keep our focus on getting out of here.

Luke let go of my hand and started walking slowly
across the room. He stopped midway. He pointed over to the side table. “Your
new
friend
left something for you.”

My new
friend?
I walked over to the table. There was a pile of twenty-dollar bills
laying on the tabletop, and next to the money was a folded piece of paper. I
picked up the paper and started reading.

“The money is for you. Apparently he got it from
his mom.”
He’s talking about Dean.

Even their handwriting was different. The writing
on the note was slanted and wider than Luke’s.

“I take it you guys are best buds now.” He sounded
jealous.

I put the note down and looked over at him. His
arms were crossed over his chest, and he turned away to look out the window. “We
met in the common room and then a few times in the cafeteria. He tried to stop
me when I lost it in the garden.”

I couldn’t read his expression. “What’s he like?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Dean seemed like
a sweet guy, but there was something about him I just didn’t trust. He was being
so helpful…but why? Why was he so concerned about coming with me during our
escape? He could have gotten out of this place and been free of it all. I
shrugged my shoulders. “He seems all right.”

His dark eyes narrowed and he turned back toward me,
dropping his arms to his side. “I don't like you spending so much time with
this guy.” The irony almost made me laugh. How can I be close to Luke and not
be close to Dean?

“It’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Luke came up and wrapped his arms around my waist,
and I leaned into him. He whispered in my ear, “I hate it that he can hear us
even now, but when the two of you are together…I can’t hear anything.”

I spun around and said in a teasing voice, “You’re
jealous
.”

I couldn‘t help but smile at his reaction. I knew
he cared about me and I didn’t blame him for being jealous. If the tables were
turned, I knew I would be upset about him spending so much time with another
girl. But I wasn’t sure what I could say to alleviate his concerns.

His expression turned serious. “We don’t know
anything about this guy.”

“He’s not one of the crazies roaming around this
place. I mean, you’ve been living in his head for—how long now? A couple
months?”

Luke brushed some loose tendrils of hair behind my
ears. “I know. I just wish I knew about his people. I’ve heard about his guild—the
Garmr—but the Phoenix Guild has never
socialized with them.”

“Death dealers aren’t big on barn dances and
festivals?” I teased, trying to lighten the conversation.

He laughed. “No, not like the healer clan
festivals I’ve heard about.”

The clan
festivals
. For the first time in a long time, happy images slid across my
mind. “People from all over come together. Sometimes hundreds of people attend…dozens
of clans.”

“I somehow don’t think a gathering of dozens of
death dealer guilds would run so smoothly.”

“There are occasional brawls, but most of the time
it’s all in good fun. No one ever truly gets hurt. But then again, healer clans
don’t do war magic.”

He gave me a half grin. “What, no pissed-off
banshees swirl around when everyone starts fighting?”

I smiled at the thought. “None of that. Mostly
fistfights and a few headlocks.”

“It sounds fun.”

“It was.” My thoughts went to my clan. To the
family I had left. Where would we go once we left this place? My clan would
never accept me, not the way I was now. They would not understand what I’d
become.

Will Luke’s
guild accept him now
? I thought as I looked up at him standing there in
front of me. He had done everything in his power since we met to keep me safe,
and because of it there was no place for him anymore with his family, with his guild.
If he left my side, he could go back to the life he had before.

Not true
,
I corrected myself. I had given him no choice when I brought his spirit from
the in between and forced it back into a living body. If he went back to his guild,
would they try to force his spirit out and convince him to cross over?

We were both adrift with no clear place to go, no
people to look to for support. We were all each other had.

I don’t care
if Dean can hear us,
I thought as I leaned in and pressed my lips against Luke’s.

He responded with a kiss that was hard and
demanding, but his hands were gentle as they slid across my cheeks and down my
neck. And then, ever so slowly, his fingers glided down my body.

I felt lightheaded as his kisses deepened, and
then breathless as his fingers reached under my shirt and found naked skin.

When we finally parted, I wasn’t the only one breathless.

Luke looked at me with eyes that were dark with
passion. For a moment, I thought he was going to pull me back into his arms,
but instead he took a step back.

I smiled when I noticed that his fingers were a
bit unsteady as he raised them and brushed through his hair. Whatever I felt
when he kissed me, when he touched me…he felt the same.

“You should get back before the orderlies start
making rounds,” he said.

“You shouldn’t worry about me,” I responded. “I
can take care of myself.”

“I know you can. But you have to keep your guard
up.” He looked toward the door. “A wacko is out there killing people—he may
be roaming the halls right now, looking for another victim.” Luke grabbed my
hand and started toward the door.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To Barton’s office. Mildred left it open for me
earlier tonight. I’ve been searching through his books,” he admitted.

“Looking for what?” When he didn’t answer, I
guessed. “Are you looking for a spell to try and overcome Dean?” If so, Luke
was proclaiming open warfare with Dean. I felt panicked at the thought.

He opened the door. “I am. I’m still hopeful I can
find something we can use.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But we
can’t…we can’t do it now that he’s back. He’s no longer an empty vessel.”

Luke just looked at me without saying a word.

“To…to force him out…” I was having a hard time
getting the words out. “To take him over
fully
…it
would be…it would be like murder.”

There was a determined look on his face. “If he
forces me out, you know the risks. If I leave his body, I’m not coming back. But
I’m here now. With you. I promised you I’d do everything in my power to stay
here.”

“Even if it means taking Dean’s life?” I demanded.

“Yes, if it’s a matter of survival. If it comes
down to him or me, I’m prepared to do whatever’s necessary to stay with you.”
He glanced at my horrified expression and sighed before grabbing my hand. “Look,
Colina, I’m hoping it won’t come to that. He never finished the trials or his
training. He may not be able to force me out even if he wants to.”

I have to convince Luke that Dean isn’t our enemy.
Dean had lied more than once to save my
skin, and he’d tried to protect me from the orderlies in the garden after I
found Gloria’s remains. “But he agreed to let you stay. He told me he was going
to fake a slow recovery so he can stay in here. That he wants to get strong and
escape with me. With
us
.”

“But why would he do that?” Luke’s voice was low.

“He…he just…” My words tapered off. I honestly
didn’t know why Dean was so keen to help us. I had no clue why Dean would risk
everything to stay in this place when he could just walk out the door with his
mom. “I don’t know. He mentioned not wanting to leave me alone in here with the
killer. He said that if he was around, maybe he could stop the guy from killing
again.”

“Sounds like a
noble
guy.” Luke’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

I continued, ignoring him. “He thinks there might
be a spell we could find that would allow you to transfer to someone else
without going back into the ether sea first. He’s willing to give us time to
look for the spell.”

Luke frowned. “I haven’t come across anything like
that in Barton’s books. I’ve never seen a spell like that in my guild’s books,
either, and my family has an extensive library.”

“Dean says he knows some places we can look when
we get out of here.” I reached out and grabbed Luke’s arm. “It’s a chance. We
need
to try and see if there’s a way for
you to find another—”