Wolfsbane (34 page)

“They—they what?” I stammered.

Connor didn’t answer. He’d brought us back to the fourth floor. We found Adne standing halfway between the section of the hal that housed our bedrooms and the Haldis tactical center. With the skeans clasped in her fingers, she stood perfectly stil , eyes closed, drawing slow, rhythmic breaths.

“Adne—” Shay started toward her.

“Shhh!” Connor threw an arm in front of him. “She needs to focus.”

I glanced up and down the hal , noticing another woman standing twenty feet beyond Adne. When I looked in the opposite direction, I saw a young man standing about the same distance apart.

“Those are the other Weavers,” Connor said, fol owing my gaze. He looked at them and then at each of us. “You may want to sit down for this. It’s a little intense if you haven’t been through it before.”

We al stared at him, but none of us sat.

“Suit yourselves.” He shrugged, turning back to watch Adne.

A new sound echoed through the hal . Low, deep like the striking of an enormous bel . Its note reverberated through the Academy, settling into my bones. I shivered and Shay took my hand. I threaded my fingers through his. The bel sounded again and I saw Adne shudder just like I had. She didn’t open her eyes. The bel rang once more. The echoes layered one on top of the others. The air was so thick with the deep tones I thought I could almost feel it pouring over my skin.

When the bel rang a fourth time, Adne began to move. She bent forward graceful y, almost in a bow.

Farther along the hal I could see the other Weaver making an identical motion. Adne’s head lifted, her arms twisting and curving as her body unfolded. New sounds trickled through the lingering sound of the bel . Tinkling and bright, notes rippled through the hal s like the music of a wind chime. Along with this light music came color; the patterns in the wal s were coming to life, their jewel tones glittering, casting rainbows along the floor and over our bodies.

Adne was moving faster now, leaping and twisting in the dance I’d come to associate with her portal weaving. On both sides of her the other Weavers swirled in perfect imitation of Adne’s lithe body. She was breathing hard, sweating, but not once did she hesitate or break her rhythm. The ringing notes around us grew louder, piercing my sensitive ears so hard that I had to cover them with my hands. The rainbow patterns on the floors and wal s began to spark, exploding in the air like fireworks. The dazzling colors grew ever brighter, blinding me. The floor beneath my feet felt like it was shifting. I dropped to my knees, stil covering my ears. I curled over, burying my head against my thighs. I felt Shay’s body wrap around mine, shielding me from the deafening cascade of sound and the bursts of light.

Fur brushed against me. I heard a whimper, then another as Bryn and Mason, now wolves, snuggled up against me, shoving their muzzles under my arms to rest their cold noses against my jaw. The sound was so loud it didn’t even seem to matter that I was covering my ears. I thought I might scream.

And suddenly there was only silence.

I lifted my head, taking a slow breath. A strong, unfamiliar scent fil ed my nostrils: a mixture of salt and lush, green leaves and . . . fish? I took another breath; it was the same scent, but I couldn’t recognize it. I thought I might also smel lemons.

“You al right?” Connor was looking down at us.

Shay stood up, rol ing back his shoulders. “I guess.”

“I told you,” Connor said, grinning. “Intense.”

“No joke.” Adne stumbled toward us, moving unsteadily, as if she were drunk.

Connor caught her as she ungraceful y fel into him.

“Nice job, kid.” He brushed his lips across her forehead.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. “I think I’l sleep for a week now.”

Mason had shifted back into human form. He walked over to the tal windows of the outside wal .

The light pouring into the hal was a gold-tinged red. I heard him gasp.

“Is that . . . the ocean?”

Bryn and I fol owed him to the windows. Staring out at the setting sun, I couldn’t breathe. The Academy rested atop a steep terraced slope, stretching down for miles. The landscape was fil ed with careful y manicured rows of stunted trees with twisting branches, dark green leaves giving glimpses of sunny yel ow. Lemons.

In the distance I could see a vil age that jutted out of the rugged terrain. Other vil ages speckled the coast, hanging on to cliffs as if they were suspended over the sea.

The sea. Waves lapped the shoreline. The sunset washed the rippling surface with color, rendering it a deep violet with the occasional flash of rose. I stared at the water that stretched beyond the horizon, understanding why people once believed the ocean led to the edge of a finite world.

It wasn’t until Shay put his arm around my shoulders that I noticed I was trembling.

“You’ve never seen it before, have you?” He gazed out the window.

I shook my head, stil numb with the shock of the move and flustered by the way this new place seemed to reach inside me and squeeze my heart.

“Yeah, it’s the ocean,” Adne said. “Unless we landed in the wrong place.”

The ocean. That was the scent I couldn’t identify.

I’d never smel ed anything like it.

“Where are we?” Bryn went to the window.

“Cinque Terre,” Connor answered.

She frowned. “Where?”

“Italy.”

PART III

PARADISO

You shall leave everything you love most dearly: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first.

Dante, Paradiso

TWENTY-SEVEN

“ITALY?” MASON EXCLAIMED.
His hands were pressed up against the glass. I knew how he felt. The barrier to the outside world made it hard to believe the paradise beyond these wal s was real.

“Sorry.” Connor grinned. “I know you’re gonna miss the cornfields.”

Adne rol ed her neck back and forth, grimacing.

“That was rough.”

“You okay?” Connor asked, his smile vanishing.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Tired but fine. They’l be expecting us to assemble in the main hal .”

“I want to see Ansel,” Bryn said suddenly. “Can we make sure he’s okay?”

“He’s fine,” Connor said. “The move went perfectly. If we’re here, he’s here. It’s an al -or-nothing kind of deal.”

“But—”

“Look, kid,” Connor said. “We need to let Anika cool off before we start asking her favors. Cal a’s little brother messed up big time. It’s going to take a while before we can sort that out.”

He and Adne exchanged a glance that made my teeth clench. Neither of them thought Ansel’s predicament could be sorted out.

What is going to happen to my brother?

Bryn’s shoulders slumped. Mason took her hand, looking at me.

“He’l be okay.”

I nodded, feeling less certain of that possibility by the minute.

“We’l get you something to eat,” Adne said, frowning. “And then find you a place to stay. I’m sure you’d like to get cleaned up.”

I traced her assessing gaze at Bryn and Mason.

They did need cleaning up. Stil wearing the wreckage of clothing from the night they’d been made prisoners, dried blood and grime caked their skin. A sharp pain gripped my stomach like I’d been sucker punched, their ragged appearance reminding me again of al they’d been through.

I kept silent as we fel in step behind Connor and Adne, who led us to the stairs. When we reached the first-floor landing, Adne gasped.

“Look!” I fol owed the line from where her finger was pointing. Mason and Bryn gasped too.

We’d paused just outside the glass doors leading into the courtyard. Beyond the invisible barrier, the broad central space was transforming before my eyes. The empty, slumbering earth had come alive with unfurling leaves and splashes of bright color from budding flowers. Fountains among the flower beds bubbled with water.

Connor whistled. “Man, the Links work fast. Nice.”

“They always do,” Adne replied. “But it always amazes me.”

“What are the Links?” Mason asked, his brow knit like a vine curled around the marble staircase on the other side of the glass doors.

“One of the Academy specializations,” Connor said. “Eydis and Haldis, mostly. They integrate the building into the local ecosystem.”

“Like gardeners?” Bryn asked.

“Some of them do focus on the gardens,” Connor replied, rubbing his bel y. “Which is good news.

Mediterranean climate means we’l be eating better fresh food. Too many root vegetables back where it’s winter. What do you think? Olives and lemons are the specialty in this region, right? I thought I read that in the memo about this destination. But that was supposed to happen in the spring. Looks like stuff grows wel enough now too.”

“Wait a sec,” Mason interrupted. “How is that possible? Those plants are growing at warp speed.”

“Elemental magic,” Adne said. “Eydis and Haldis

—water and earth. The Links connect to the earth, the roots of plant life, and the natural aquifers. It’s how we get our water supply and geothermal energy.”

“Good to see they’re working,” Connor said. “I know they weren’t as far along as is ideal for the relocation.”

Mason was shaking his head, and I noticed his hands were shaking too. “That’s just not possible.

Who can do that?”

“We can,” Connor said, turning away from the courtyard. “And as far as possible goes, who here can turn into a wolf?”

“He has a point,” Shay said, smiling at me. “That’s what got me to believe in al this stuff.”

Mason nodded reluctantly, but he muttered under his breath as we descended to the bottom floor.

“I wish Monroe could have seen that.” Adne sighed. She bowed her head and I heard a quiet sob.

“Just get through the assembly.” Connor put his arm around her shoulders. “Then we’l have time to talk about your dad.”

Unlike the near empty dining hal I’d entered the previous night, the Searchers’ meeting space was now fil ed to capacity. Men and women mil ed around, shoulder to shoulder, the buzz of conversation swel ing in my ears like a low roar.

“There’s Tess.” Connor moved into the crowd.

“Who’s Tess?” Bryn leaned into me.

“She’s part of their team,” I said. “The Haldis team.”

Bryn frowned. “The Haldis team?”

“I don’t—” Words stuck to my tongue. Haldis, Eydis. The snippets of information I’d gleaned from my brief stay with the Searchers hadn’t prepared me to answer her question. There was so much I didn’t know yet about the Searchers, and now I’d thrown my pack, or what was left of it, into their world without any certainty of the future. What if I’d made the wrong decision? The buzz of voices was getting louder. My head started to throb.

When I didn’t speak again, Bryn shrugged, turning to fol ow Mason to the table where Tess was sitting.

“Cal a?” Shay was watching me.

“Go ahead,” I said, pushing him after Bryn. “I’m right behind you.”

As he threaded his way between Searchers, I slowly backed toward the hal and, reaching the stairs, I bolted.

I wasn’t sure where I was running, but I knew that I needed to run. A week ago I’d been in Vail about to merge my life with Ren’s, to take the first step on the path that had been set for me my whole life. My destiny. Did I even have a destiny anymore? Did it belong to the Searchers now?

A growl rol ed through my bel y at that thought. I wouldn’t be caged by anyone. I’d served the Keepers unquestioningly, and look where it had led me. If the Searchers offered a way to fight my former masters, I would. They’d kil ed my mother and tortured the people I loved. I wanted them to pay. But I had to fight them on my own terms. I was making decisions for my whole pack now. I needed to be sure, and I wasn’t sure of anything.

I was halfway across the globe, my former life ripped to shreds. What had seemed like the strong bonds of my new pack had disintegrated because of my choices. Fey, Dax, and Cosette—they’d al sought refuge with the Keepers, clung to that life despite al the pain it had brought us. I was certain that if Connor hadn’t arrived, my fight with Dax would have been to the death. And my brother had become a shadow of himself, so much so that even he had been wil ing to betray me to recover what had been taken from him.

But Ansel wasn’t the only one whose life had been twisted beyond recognition. Ren’s future had been snatched away the night I’d run from our union. His pack was gone, his legacy handed back to Emile, who was more monster than man and wasn’t even Ren’s father. I stumbled, tripping over the truth that caught me unaware. Ren’s future had been stolen long ago, when Emile and the Keepers kil ed his mother. My would-be mate’s life had been built upon a foundation of lies, blood, and bones.

I clasped my hands, covering my eyes. Lies, blood, and bones. Had our lives been made of anything more? As my fingers pressed against my face, the cold metal of my ring snapped at my skin like a static shock. The ring Ren had given me. A promise of things to come.

I want you to know that I—

What? What had Ren wanted to say to me? What had stopped him? How much would he have shared with me?