Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (9 page)

They scrambled up the stairs, bursting through the door into what was left of the Queen’s chamber. Nathaniel jerked to a stop as soon as he entered the ruins, pushing himself against the back wall in fear. Sunlight streamed through a gaping hole in the chamber’s roof.

Reed skidded to a stop and turned back. “C’mon! We have to get–” he began, then tilted his head toward the light, realizing why Nathaniel had stopped. “Oh, Jesus . . . hang on a sec, I’ll be right back.”

Nathaniel cringed back into the shadows, his eyes burning from the residual sunlight. A sound to his right caught his attention, and he turned, gaping in surprise. The
Queen, crouched behind the throne. Her eyes glittered with anger, and they stared at each other, not saying a word.

Reed zipped back into the room, carrying what looked like an area rug from the main floor. He threw
the rug flat on the ground next to Nathaniel, and shoved him down on top of it. Frozen by fear, he did not resist Reed’s efforts to save him. It had been so long since he had glimpsed the sun.

Reed rolled him up inside the rug and hoisted it off the floor. Terror gripped Nathaniel
while he flopped about and Reed ran up the stairs and exited the house. Nathaniel had not come this close to being outside in the sun in over two hundred years, and he shook in horror at the thought of sunlight mere inches from his skin.

He was crammed into a small space,
doors slammed shut, and tires screeched when they pulled away.

Nathaniel felt grateful that he wasn’t claustrophobic. He was extremely uncomfortable however, squashed into his current position. He wasn’t sure whether to be more afraid of being out during the daytime, or of the Queen’s wrath and retaliation if he managed to survive to see nigh
tfall. He knew without a doubt that the destruction had not been caused by an earthquake, but by some kind of explosion.

S
arah stole yet another glance behind us. “Reed. Earth to Reed. Hello? Where are you taking us? Pull over and let me drive. It’s my car.”

“No,” I said.

“Reed! Where the hell are you going? Stop the car right now.”

“I can’t.
There’s something I need to do. Can you trust me? We’ll make a quick stop in King City, and then we can figure out what to do after that.”

“King City?” she spluttered. “That’s the first place they’ll look for you.”

I blinked, trying not to roll my eyes. “No they won’t. No one’s looking for us. The vampires are all dead. Even if some of them survived, they can’t come outside during the day.”

Sarah shook her head, but didn’t say anything else.

I glanced at my watch only to discover it had been smashed during the explosion at the vampire lair. I ripped it off my wrist and chucked it in the back seat. The clock on the car’s dash was working though, so now I knew I was going to be a touch late. At least I wouldn’t miss the whole thing. I needed to be there, even if a big part of me dreaded it.

Sarah bit her lower lip. “I figured out where you’re headed.” She tapped her forehead.

Great. She’d read my mind again. I’d remembered the details about my family’s funeral from the newspaper article Sarah had shown me in her apartment.

“I understand,” she said. “Of course you want to go.”

I snorted. “But?”

“But . . . is it a good idea? Think about it.
What are you going to tell people about where you’ve been for the last few days? Or about what happened?”

I bit back a surge of anger and thought about what she’d said. How could I
not
go? We’d escaped from the Queen’s lair just in time for me to get to the funeral, like it was fate.

“I have to go,” I whispered, a lump forming in my throat.

After a pause, Sarah nodded. “All right, but I think you should consider the consequences.”

We continued driving, the quiet broken only by the sound of cars whipping by. Low mountains were to our left and the barren autumn landscape rushed past the car wi
ndows.  It was a brilliantly sunny day with a few white clouds dotting the sky. How could it be so beautiful and bright out when inside I was storming?

“I’m sorry my plan backfired,” Sarah said. “Some idiot must have set off the hairspray.”

“Is that what happened? I thought it was an earthquake.”

“Didn’t you notice none of the other houses around the vampire lair were affected?”

“No.”

She sighed. “Reed, they already wanted us for our sp
ecial abilities, and now they might want revenge. Either way, they’re going to come after us.”

“I already told you, they’re all dead. It doesn’t matter.
Let me concentrate on driving.”

“Fine.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away.

It took just over an hour and a half to reach King City, and I followed the familiar main street to the local church. The parking lot and surrounding streets
were packed, so I pulled into the closest spot I could find, three blocks away.

I climbed out of the car
and shut the door. Sarah’s eyelids drooped with exhaustion, but she still managed a half smile of sympathy.

“Hurry back,” she said. I nodded.

She didn’t join me, as if she understood this was something I needed to do on my own. I glanced at the trunk of the car, feeling guilty about poor Nathaniel crammed inside. We hadn’t heard a peep from him during the entire drive.

I jogged down the tree-lined streets to the church, cu
tting across the lawn toward the gray stone building. The church was as old as the town itself, but it had been well maintained. The stonework was in perfect condition, the hedges surrounding the building were neatly trimmed, and the stained glass windows gleamed in the sunlight.

I paused outside the large wooden doors at the front of the church
. I thought about what Sarah had said in terms of revealing myself to everyone. As much as I wanted to deny it, I realized she was right. There was no way I could go inside. I would have to keep my presence a secret for now.

Suddenly, someone
’s singing voice flowed over me like a cold river, and shivers ran up my spine. I crept around the side of the church and peered over the bushes into a window.

My mouth fell open. My friend Julia was singing Ave Maria with her eyes closed and tears flowing. How could someone so petite create such a big, incredible singing voice? I didn’t even know she could sing.

Three caskets stood lined up side-by-side at the front of the church, and the pews were jammed full. It looked like all my friends and family had come to pay their respects, along with the entire school. I pictured the remains of my parents and sister nestled inside the coffins.

My throat
was parched, and I could hardly breathe. My eyes burned, and a tear escaped, tracing a hot trail down my cheek. I swiped the tear away with my fist.

“Reed?”

I whirled around and stumbled, almost falling backwards into the hedge.

“Nana?”

I ran to embrace my beloved grandmother. I wrapped my arms around her slender body
and leaned in, breathing the comforting scent of her perfume. I’d never been so relieved to see a familiar face in my entire life.

“Reed, you’re squashing me,” my nana grunted.

I released her and jumped back in alarm. Dammit, I’d forgotten about my strength. I could have squished my nana to death.

“I’m sorry. Nana, are you . . . okay?” I searched her eyes.

She looked at me from head to toe and frowned. “Oh, honey . . . no. No, I’m not all right. My son–” she choked, her eyes filling with tears. “My son is dead! My daughter-in-law, my granddaughter too. I thought
you
were dead. Sweetheart, where have you been? I’ve been trying so hard to make sense of everything. Thank God, you’re okay! Dear Lord.”

She stepped forward into my arms and sobbed, her tears soaking into the front of my shirt. I was careful not to squeeze too tight this time, and I swallowed past the bas
eball-sized lump in my throat. My emotions built up like a dam about to burst, but I wanted to be strong for my nana. I took a deep breath and a leaf fell off a nearby tree and fluttered through the air, landing at my feet.

“Nana,” I
said, my voice shaky. “I’m so, so glad to see you, but . . . what are you doing outside? You should go back in.” I gently pushed her away from me.

She raised her tear-stained face. “I came to get some fresh air because I felt like I might be s
ick to my stomach. But, Reed. What
happened
? Please, I need to know.”

The lost look on her face nearly broke my heart, but I knew now that Sarah was right. There was no way I co
uld explain everything.

“I wish I could tell you, Nana, but . . . I can’t right now. You can’t tell anyone that you saw me either. There’s some .
. . people who might be looking for me, and it could be dangerous for you if they knew that you’d seen me. I’m so sorry, but I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as I can.”

Confusion and sadness clouded
her eyes.

“I
know what they wrote about me in the paper, Nana, but I swear I didn’t do it.
I
didn’t kill them.”

She reached up and cupped my face with her warm hands. “Of course not, honey. I never thought that. I believe you and I trust you, but I can’t stand to lose anyone else. I want you to be safe.”

“I know, and I’ll try, I promise. I can’t go with you though. I need to figure out a few things first. I’ll be okay.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. “I love you, Nana.” I leaned over and gave her another gentle hug.

I thought I could feel her lingering stare on my back
while I sprinted away, and the rotten feeling in my stomach made me feel like I might be sick.

When I arrived back at the car, Sarah was leaning her head back with her eyes closed, and she’d moved over to the driver’s side. She jerked upright when I opened the passe
nger car door and I climbed into the seat. Her eyes flitted to me and then back to the steering wheel, as if she wasn’t sure what kind of mood I’d be in.

“So.
What’s the plan?” I asked.

“Um . . . are there any underground parking garages around here? We need to get Nathaniel out of the trunk,” she replied.

“I’m not sure. Maybe at the hospital.”

Underground parking garages weren’t the most pop
ular feature in earthquake-ridden California, but we drove to Beckford Memorial to check it out anyway. We were disappointed to discover that the hospital had aboveground parking only. As we circled the beige-colored, two-story building, Sarah spotted an open loading bay door. We didn’t see anyone around, so she backed inside and parked the car.

I hopped out and took a quick look around. The area was mostly empty except for several storage bins and car
dboard boxes that were stacked haphazardly along both sides of the bay. I found the switch to lower the door and that sealed out most of the sunlight. If anyone discovered us in here, hopefully Nathaniel could control their mind after we’d freed him from the trunk. I figured he’d be pissed off that we’d shoved him in there, but we’d done our best to save him.

Sarah bit her knuckle
and watched me pop open the trunk. I hauled the rug out and laid it as gently as possible onto the ground. After I unrolled it, Nathaniel stood up, brushing himself off as he took in our surroundings. Sure enough, his eyes glittered with anger. At least I hadn’t smacked his head into the pavement and dragged him off unconscious like he’d done to me.

“What have you done?” he whispered.

His dark hair stuck up all over the place and made me feel like laughing. I struggled to keep my roller-coaster emotions under control. “Well . . . someone accidentally set off Sarah’s make-shift bomb and blew up the Queen’s lair, and now we’re in a loading bay at a hospital in King City,” I said.

Nathaniel stared at me for a moment, his eyes glaring black pits.

“It was my fault, Nathaniel,” Sarah said. “I accept full responsibility. I’d brought certain items with me to the lair, hoping I wouldn’t have to use them, but wanting to be prepared. Unfortunately, one of those items was confiscated when we first got there, and someone must have set it off by mistake. I was hoping we could find a peaceful solution, but that plan has gone completely out the window.”

“You have doomed the three of us to a fate worse than death,” Nathaniel growled between gritted teeth.

“Hey, take it easy,” I said. “We said it was a mistake. You don’t need to be so dramatic.”

“I beg to differ. You do not grasp the severity of the si
tuation. The Queen will hunt us down, and when she has us in her grip–”

“The Queen is dead,” I interrupted. “She blew up with the rest of the place. God, chill out!”