Betrayal (18 page)

“What happened to them?” Natalie asked.

“They're hiding from Neos,” I said. “He's here.”

Simon parked in front of the Knell and turned off the engine. None of us opened a door. We just sat there quietly, looking at the house.

Natalie finally broke the silence. “I really like this car.”

It was enough to spur me into action. “Okay,” I said. “Let's go slay a ghost.”

20

We crept past the ornate iron gates into the shadow of the looming trees, then stopped short. One step onto the grounds, and the impact of Neos's cruel power hit us like a rock, his darkness seeping through every brick and blade of grass.

Lukas swore, and I nodded in agreement. Neos was strong—much stronger than when I'd faced him the last time.

Simon said, “Remember your training. Our job is to get Emma close enough to Neos to end him.”

“Oh, is that all?” Lukas said.

“Lukas, you take the siren when she attacks Emma. Natalie, you summon our allies—and keep an eye on Emma; you know her best. We've got to keep her from getting drawn into other fights. I'll dispel any immediate threat.”

I drew my dagger as we approached the front doors. No ghostly servants this time, no sign of any activity.

And the doors were open wide in invitation. Neos was waiting for us.

We looked at each other, but nobody said anything. We just stepped inside and wandered the marble halls filled with antiquities. The house was stifling hot, and we shed our coats and tossed them on a wooden settee.

There was no way Neos didn't know we were here, and I couldn't help wishing we were better prepared. That we'd laid a trap for him. Instead, we were scrambling around like idiots in a horror film.

Waiting to be picked off one by one.

We stalked through the ground floor, feeling the oppressive weight of Neos's proximity, tension rising in the silence, until Natalie said, “Whoa!”

Simon fired a reflexive burst of dispelling energy at the wall, and Lukas dropped into a combat stance as I shifted my grip on the dagger hilt. Then I saw what she was gaping at.

The tapestry with the sixteenth-century lady who looked just like me.

“Is that you?” she asked.

“My ancestor, I guess.”

“The likeness is extraordinary,” Simon mused.

“More like messed up,” Natalie said.

“No wonder you're so emo all the time,” Lukas said.

“Thanks.” I stared up at it, trying to feel as powerful as that Emma looked. Had she ever faced someone as scary as Neos? Or been crushed by the voice of a siren? It didn't matter. They were here, and I was going to kill them, because that was the only way I could stop them. That was the messed-up part. Even though I didn't want to be like that Emma, I had no choice.

Natalie glanced at me, then at the tapestry. “Only one thing missing.”

“What's that?”

“Her friends.”

Lukas rolled his eyes, but I smiled at Natalie, and she grinned. She was true and loyal and somehow made searching a haunted mansion for a killer wraith master almost bearable. She'd protected me at school, and now it was my turn. I had to dispel anything that threatened her. And Simon and Lukas.

“Whenever you two are done with your Hallmark moment,” Lukas said, “we might want to—”

My spine started tingling, and an instant later wraiths rose through the floor and attacked. The humanoid cockroaches swarmed toward us in a blast of frigid air. All my tension and fear dropped away as the hours of preparation kicked in. We were ready.

Instead of stepping away from the attack, Lukas lunged, using a wave of compelling force to crash into the wraiths, funneling them over his head to slam into the walls.

Simon's bursts of dispelling energy weren't much stronger than when I first met him—but he'd learned to aim them for maximum effect. He tore through a wraith in two seconds as summoning energy erupted from Natalie.

I dispelled the wraith trying to claw Lukas in the back, and Coby and the ghost jocks materialized and demolished the last one.

And that was that. Just seconds after they'd attacked, we won. But it was too easy. There had to be more than this.

“Tell Coby and his team to scout the area,” Simon told me. “We need to find Neos—and the siren.” He swallowed. “And any survivors from the Knell.”

You okay with scouting?
I asked Coby.

No problem
, he said, and led the jocks through a wall.

We swept the bottom floor, then went upstairs and checked the billiard room, the library, and a sitting room with views of a barren autumn garden. Then onto another set of stairs. Halfway up, I felt my anxiety ebb and I paused to smell a vase of roses on the landing.

We were going to win. This wasn't even hard. We didn't need to worry so much, or fight so hard. We didn't really need anything. This was all going to work out.

“Um, guys?” Natalie said, eyeing me.

She nattered a few words I couldn't quite make out above the humming in my head. And the guys got all concerned, for no reason in particular, with Simon inflating a bubble of dispelling magic and Lukas raking the walls with compelling force.

Then the siren appeared at the head of the stairs. She looked like that old silent-movie star with the bobbed hair, Louise somebody, except she wore a bright blue baby-doll dress, thigh-high black stockings, and faded black Converse All Stars.

Sweet Emma
,
my gemma
, she said, her face shining with love and concern.
You don't need them. You don't need anyone.

Simon loosed a burst of dispelling power that she didn't seem to notice, then Lukas blasted compelling magic at her, and she faltered.

But
I
need you
, she continued.
I only want to talk and he's trying to kill me. Please! Please help me.

“Stop that,” I told Lukas.

Lukas grunted and doubled his attack, and the siren fell to her knees, weeping in pain.
Please, please
, she begged, as Lukas stepped closer.

“I said
stop
,” I shouted, and slammed the heel of my hand into Lukas's chest.

He staggered backward and tumbled down the stairs to the landing, where he lay in a moaning heap.

“Emma!” Natalie grabbed my arm. “Look at me. She's in your mind, the siren's controlling you—”

I head-butted her, and she dropped where she stood, her forehead already red and swelling. Then I turned toward Simon, who ignored me, focusing all his meager power on the siren. His eyeglasses flashed and he muttered under his breath, while I spun into one of the unarmed stances that the Rake taught me.

Then I stopped, as the song in my head faded. Instead of focusing her power on controlling me, the siren was focused on fending off Simon's attack. I stood motionless, caught between her will and my own.

With the echoes of her lullaby ringing in my mind, I couldn't fight her—but I knew what was happening now, and I kept myself from attacking Simon.

Instead, I stood there, completely useless. Rooting for him to beat her, but still unable to force the siren completely from my mind and help him.

Simon had never been powerful—and the siren shrugged off his blasts. I felt her lullaby grow louder and more persuasive as Simon uttered a few curses and threw everything into one last barrage. Her laughter was low and melodious, and she didn't give an inch.

Until Coby and the ghost jocks returned.

They flashed through a wall of portraits and I said,
Thank God! Stop her!

But Coby said,
I'm sorry, Emma.

And with gleeful grins, the ghost jocks slammed into Simon as Coby dove at me. Still under the siren's influence, I couldn't defend myself as he grabbed my arms and clamped them behind my back.

I felt the tingle of ghostburn, but he managed to use my sleeves to pin me without singeing my skin. He shoved me toward the second floor, and I heard Simon behind me, calling for help as the ghost jocks kicked him.

I stumbled forward, unable to comprehend what was happening. I couldn't reconcile my ideal of Coby—the guy I'd trusted completely—with what was happening. This wasn't Coby; he'd never betray me. This was something I'd dragged back from the Beyond that only
looked
like Coby.

“Coby, this isn't you.” I halfheartedly struggled in his grasp, unable to lift the siren's fog that curbed my abilities. “Please. Anyone else but you. You can't be the one who betrayed us.”

Because if he was, I didn't know what I was fighting for anymore. I didn't want to kill Neos only to be with Bennett. I was here to avenge Coby's death.

I'm dead because of you, Emma
, he said.
Did you really think I wouldn't blame you?

I shook my head, but couldn't speak. He was right; it was my fault. All of it was my fault. His death, my family's disappearance, my team's defeat—my new family lying downstairs, battered and beaten, defenseless against Neos. And the Knell on the brink of extinction, its members being slaughtered one by one. Tears pooled in my eyes as I pictured Bennett the last time I'd seen him. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't be strung out on Asarum.

Did killing Neos even matter? The damage was already too great. Nothing I'd do would make anything better.

Coby dragged me through a labyrinth of hallways, and I lurched along defeated, the siren's lullaby ringing loudly in my ears. I welcomed her melody, the comfort and release. A moment later, Moorehead and Craven joined us, sneering about how they'd kicked Simon's ass.

Then Coby opened a door and pushed me into the study with the ornately carved fireplace. The same room where I'd killed my possessed aunt. The ghost jocks flanked me, and Coby and the siren followed, but I hardly noticed any of them.

Neos was waiting for me.
Darling
, he said, his voice scraping in my mind.
How I've missed you.

The room was lit only by candlelight and the fire in the grate, and he sat in a wingback chair with two wraiths behind him, ectoplasmic drool dripping from their gaping mouths. Neos was in the same black shirt and pants he'd worn when he'd found me as a child. His eyes were jet-black and crowlike, and the sight of him made my teeth hurt.

Despite the siren's enforced calm, I felt a shiver of terror, and took a shuddering breath, panic beginning to overtake me. The siren's voice immediately sounded louder in my mind.
There's no need to fear. Let go of all your worries, all your responsibilities …

Neos's bright eyes sought out Coby.
You served me well. You will be rewarded.

The siren glided toward Neos and laid a hand on his arm, like a possessive girlfriend.
She is yours
, she told Neos.

At last.
Neos eyed me hungrily.
Come here, girl.

Coby shoved me forward, and I stopped a few feet from Neos. I didn't attack him, I didn't even think of attacking him. I stood with my head demurely bowed, the siren's endless song echoing in my mind.

Look at me
, Neos said.
You're the key, Emma. My final rite.
He licked his fleshy lips.
I can almost taste you already.

Thrumming beneath the siren's lullaby, like a dissonant chord, was the sense that everything had gone wrong. That I could change things. But knowing didn't help. I was powerless to do anything.

Then there was a flash of movement, as Coby dove away from me, shouting
Now!
at the ghost jocks.

He launched himself at the siren with the experience of a thousand tackles, and slammed into her brutally. Neos had kept his bodyguard wraiths in check, but with a brief wave of his hand, he released them. They flew to attack Coby—and the ghost jocks threw themselves into their path to block them.

My head felt cloudy, my thoughts drifting past half formed. I watched the jocks fending off the wraiths while Coby struggled with the siren, and nothing made sense.

Until, as Coby started choking the siren, she screamed at me to release her.
My Emma, help! Help me!
She grew stronger with fright.
Emma, they'll kill me. Please!

My fury came in a rush, the siren thrusting all her fear and pain into my head. I felt the dispelling power like lightning in my veins. The light pooled inside my hands, growing brighter and stronger until I shot jagged bolts of energy at Coby.