Veined (A Guardian of the Angels Novel) (26 page)

CHAPTER 22

AN UPROAR OF
voices trailed down the underground hall
.
I would have felt sorry for Attic, if I wasn’t consumed with hurt. Really, where did he get off talking to me like that?

An uneasy thought wormed its way into the forefront of my mind.
It’s because he’s afraid.
I pictured how Attic had told me about the pendant. How frightened and sad he’d sounded telling me what would happen if it got into the hands of the Derinyes.
It would give them the ability to exit Ache. And if they did that they’d have the power to storm Eirene.

I ground my teeth together as a wave of emotion, rich and powerful, erupted in me. That pendant had the ability to destroy M
addy’s peace. They could reign chaos and feed off her pain, eternally. It wasn’t so hard to understand Attic’s reaction after all. He’d just put his sister at risk of the same fate.

The door to room fourteen gave a loud crack as I swung it shut. What had I done? Attic was right. We shouldn’t have been so careless. I paced the room, but it did nothing to relieve my tension. As fast as I could, I ripped out of the dress, yanked on pants and a T-shirt, and pulled hard on my shoelaces. Maybe going for a run would help.

Alyse bashed into me on my way out of the room. “And where do you think you’re going?” The only thing missing from the picture of her standing in my doorway, talking down to me like I was a naughty child, was her hands on her hips.

Alyse was the last t
hing I wanted to deal with then. I just needed out of there. Pushing past her, I said, “I’ll give you three guesses.” Then I started running.

Alyse swore and took off after me. I pushed my legs out further, crossing the parking lot in under ten strides, and rounded the side of the motel, cutting into the forest. If Alyse was insistent on following me, we’d see how she handled cross country. Guardians might be fast and strong, but nobody here had been training as hard as Attic had forced me to.

I managed to hold out a good five minutes before Alyse caught up. “Your style is good,” she said, surprised, “tomorrow you could’ve outrun me. But you just did the ritual, you’re too weak to beat me right now, and it’ll be a while before you’re strong enough.”

“How do you know about that?” The ground had turned marshy, but I shortened and quickened my step.
Just like he’d taught me.

“Attic explained what’d happened. He mentioned it. Do we really have to keep running? If you wanna do something physical we could throw some knives.”

Knives. The blade at Maddy’s funeral. The blade I’d seen reflected in Attic’s pendant. My fear of it was what made him take it off. I caught myself as I stumbled. Anger hurtled me forward, faster, and now Alyse was having real trouble keeping up. Good.

After another ten minutes of running, I shouted over my shoulder, “Why are you following me? Don’t you have something better to do?”

“Plenty actually. But I have to guard you,” Alyse said.

“I hardly need guarding now. I’m an official Guardian.”

Alyse snorted. “You’ve still got a freakish amount to learn.”

“I don’t care. Leave me. I’m just running.”

“Can’t. Want to,
believe me
,” Alyse said. “But can’t. I’m doing this for Attic, not you. Playing babysitter is making good on some of my debt for his saving my ass so often.”

“He sent you to me?”

“Ordered more like. I’ve never seen him so furious as long as I’ve known him.”

“Will he get into trouble?” I asked.

“He’ll have to stand before the High Court Mediators, and they’ll pass judgment.”

An uneasy feeling rose in my throat. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Execution would be quick, but if they’re really mad, they might decline him entry to Eirene once he’s died.”

My legs failed and I fell onto soggy ground, mud splashing up my arms. “What?” I couldn’t be hearing this. That was so cruel. It wasn’t even his fault. “No, that can’t happen.”

“That is the worst scenario,” Alyse said. “More likely they’ll wait to pass judgment until consequences have occurred to give him a fitting punishment. That will at least give him the chance to get it back. Then again, who knows, maybe they’ll be lenient.” But I heard the uncertainty in her tone.

This was so harsh, so wrong. All he ever wanted was to protect his sister. He’d slipped up. Didn’t everyone from time to time? I pushed myself up, using a tree trunk for support. I didn’t trust my legs yet.

“Sure we all slip up,” Alyse said. “But not with something so important.”

I kept forgetting my thoughts were still readable. “Alyse, I have to help him get it back. This isn’t his fault.” If anything, it was mine. I should be the one to be judged, not him.

“Attic made me promise not to let you anywhere near the High Court Guardians when they come, and also not to let you go off on your own.”

“They’re coming here, to the motel? When?”

“Now,” Alyse said.

“So quickly? How?”

“Told you, you have a lot to learn.” Alyse sighed, as if annoyed she had to explain. “The High Court Guardians are mediators between Angels and Guardians. Less human than we are, and less Angel, too. They don’t protect the Angels by fighting like we do, they are physically fragile, but they are powerful in the mind. Their say goes. They keep order with checks and balances, making sure us Guardians aren’t a threat to Eirene. And they can get here so quickly because they have wings. They fly.”

“So, they’re the Law of the Guardian world?”

“Right,” Alyse said.

“I’ve got to tell them what I know.” I started jogging back toward the motel. I had to get there, stand up for him.

Alyse grabbed me by the shoulder, yanking me around. “I don’t want to fight you, but Attic said to do whatever it takes to keep you away from them. Their moods make them volatile. If they’re upset, which they will be when they hear what’s happened, they’ll look for anything you’ve done wrong and punish you for it.”

“I don’t care. I won’t let them execute him.”

I shrugged out of her grip, watching her as I backed up. As soon as I turned around, my face bashed against a tree. The pain was fleeting but strong. “It wasn’t an empty threat, Sylva,” Alyse said. Any other time I’d have admired Alyse for such a move, proving her loyalty to Attic. But right now it maddened me.

Idaho, our own sweet Illinois
. . .
I kept still until she loosened her grip.
Indiana, Iowa, certainly wasn’t in Kansas anymore . . .
I spun out of her grasp and kicked her in the stomach.

She gasped, and reached for the knife in her boot.

I felt a faint throb in my Vein. It might be a while before it was totally refilled, but something was in there.

Alyse pinched her knife, ready to throw. Enough sunlight trickled out of my finger to heat up the metal in her hand. She cursed and let go. In a flash I seized it, jammed it through the hood of her sweater and into the tree, and, without another glance, ran. It’d give me at least a head start on her, which was all I needed.

If I’d run fast before, I now moved like fluid, graceful over the swampy terrain.

Like a lark.
Something Attic might say. My heart raced faster. I might be upset at him for talking to me the way he did, but I still cared—
I have to help him.

I skidded across the parking lot as I slowed, almost hurtling into two Guardians. I dashed through the reception and underground.

Where would they be?

I paused long enough to take my bearings.
My guess was they’d be in the ballroom, where the necklace had been stolen. Air whistled around me as I sprinted through the halls. As soon as I saw Albelin, standing outside the ballroom, I knew I’d been right. This was where Attic was. Where the High Court would judge him.

I swallowed the sickness and halted in front of Albelin. His face was rigid, but tear trails glistened in the hall light. “Attic hoped you wouldn’t get past Alyse,” Albelin said. “Good thing he posted me here. Sorry, Sylva. No entry.”

“I need to talk to the High Court Mediators,” I said. “Have they arrived?”

“Yes. Bu
t going inside is foolish.”

“I’m not going to let them judge him unfairly,” I said.

“Unfairly?” Albelin shook his head, his black curls spiraling shadows over his face. “His actions have put us all in danger. In the wrong hands, that pendant could allow one of the Derinyes to rise, and although she’ll be weak without her sisters, she’ll be stronger than any other demon we’ve dealt with.

“I don’t want Attic to die, I don’t think he deserves that, but his carelessness must be judged. He knows that himself. He was the one who summoned them here. And the High Court Mediators will serve a fair sentence.”

“You,” an angry voice screeched. Albelin and I looked toward Alyse, charging at me. Before I knew it, Alyse had me pinned to the floor. Two daggers swept toward me and I jammed my eyes shut. I felt my T-shirt pull and daring myself to look, I saw Alyse had sliced the seams along the side, leaving me with a torn T. “That’s for ruining my top.”

I slowly got off the floor, trying to control my emotions. I felt ripped apart inside: Maddy’s death, my friends becomi
ng part demon, losing my family . . . Attic almost engaged, needing him anyway, and fear of the High Court’s sentence. I was a turbulent mix and anything could trigger me. I forced myself not to lash out at Alyse for making quick work of my T or Albelin for barring the door.

With as much composure as I could scrape together I faced Albelin. “Would you—” I was about to ask him once more to step aside, when a thick wave of pain tainted the air, washing over me and smelling of torrents of spring rain like a flood.

Attic.

Oh my God, what were they doing to him? Images of him being executed blinked at me in quick succession. My body reacted immediately. My hands waved to both sides of me, wind careening Alyse and Albelin down opposite ends of the hall. I rush
ed into the ballroom.

“Attic.” His name fell, condensed with worry, from my lips. It had been barely audible for me, but they all heard it.

In awe and terror, I stared at the three Mediators who surrounded Attic. The two men and woman were curved as if they’d been hand chiseled, every part of them perfect, reminiscent of renaissance art. Subtle hints of gold threaded their skin, their faces and bodies glowing. But then, the wings. Alyse had told me about them, but in real life they were far more incredible than anything I could have imagined. Magnificent feathering, the color of blood, stretched about seven feet either side. The tips of each wing touched the next, linking them into a circle.

I found Attic’s eyes, glaring at me, furious and afraid. Despite my fear of the Mediators, I glided forward seeking Attic’s closeness. His eyes widened and he shook his head in warning as I approached the circle.

“Sylva Lark, why do you disturb us?” The words wafted to me with such a sweet melody I wasn’t sure whether the male had sung it. He sounded friendly, almost amused.

I shook my head, swallowing the question about how they knew my name.
Focus.
“It wasn’t his fault.”

“Do you dare to tell us we don’t do our job properly?” The woman spoke this time, and her voice had
a sharp edge of cruelty to it. It was dissonant and shrill compared to the male that had spoken first. “
We
determine what his fault is and how he should be punished.” Not breaking the circle, she flapped her wing and a gust of her anger whipped the hair around my face, tiny needles pricking me simultaneously all over.

I gasped. Helplessness hit me when I realiz
ed that Albelin had been right. How foolish it was to stalk over here and demand they not hurt Attic. I was out of my league. I knew nothing about the Mediators, not even how to address them properly.

Still, I had to do something. The thought that he should be punished because he cared and respected my wishes made me sick. Guilty. Responsible.

I didn’t care how stupid it was to speak again. I straightened and looked into the woman’s eyes. Before, they had struck me as very dark, but now I could see there were only black holes in the sockets, swallowing my gaze. I fought the urge to look away. “Halve his punishment and give it to me,” I said.

“No,” Attic cried. I could see him struggling to move, as if he wanted to throw himself between me and the woman Mediator, but something bolted him in place.

She ignored Attic and tilted her head to the side, analyzing me. “And what if his punishment should be Black Death? Would you die with him, to let him get to Eirene?”

I looked into Attic’s eyes. Worry laced them. Instead of being afraid, courage filled me.
He would be worth it.

“Brave thought, Sylva Lark,” the nearest man said, the only one whose face I couldn’t see. “Step inside the circle, and we’ll give you your wish.” As he said it, two red wings rose, his and the woman’s, still touching each other and forming an arch for me to enter.

I placed one foot in front of me, and as it hit the floor, I screamed. It felt like burning coal had been shoved up my calves.