Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (45 page)

80

EMBER

I
t made sense in a way that crushed her heart. She had created this whole thing in her mind, a three dimensional delusion. She’d created a supernatural boyfriend to protect her and keep her safe. It was the cruelest sort of joke. She wanted to curl up in a ball and just die. She didn’t even try to stop the tears this time.

Mace spoke, voice raspy and so weak, “Ember, that’s not true. If I only did what you wanted, if I only felt what you wanted, I wouldn’t have been able to lie to you. The very fact that I kept this from you proves that I care for you.”

She wanted to believe his twisted logic but how could she? How could she trust herself or her magic? Everything was so upside down.

“I don’t know what to believe.” She told him.

“You do what you need to do to get out of here. Do the spell, save Tristin, bring back the human if you can but don’t ever believe I wanted to hurt you or that my feelings weren’t my own. I don’t know how I feel what I feel, but I know the feelings are mine.”

“You can’t be sure. There’s no way for you to know.” She told him. He had to know that.

“Ember, please,” he begged, the look in his eyes almost too much.

She pushed the sweaty mass of hair out of his face. “I don’t want to do this,” she whispered.

“Well, nobody cares what you want,” Stella snapped. “We need to get started, we are losing the moon.”

“Gather the ingredients,” Astrid ordered.

“Wait, we almost forgot the most important thing,” Stella said, tapping her nail on her temple. “I was so caught up in our little teen drama that I forgot about this.”

She waved her hand and Ember’s eyes grew wide. She tried to run but Stella’s magic held her firm. A figure approached with a long piece of iron, smoldering at the end. “No, no, no, no,” Ember gasped, shaking her head. “Stella, no. Oh my God, don’t do this.”

“You should have just gotten the tattoo,” Stella murmured.

Astrid’s eyes widened, “I thought you were going to find another way?”

“Do you want your brother back or not,” Stella snapped. Astrid dropped her gaze, nodding.

Fear engulfed Ember’s body, metallic taste flooding her mouth. “Don’t move,” Stella told her, laughing at her own joke. She could only stand there as Stella circled her. She yanked down the sleeve of her shirt, revealing her shoulder.

“I’ll try to make this quick,” was the only warning Ember received before pain exploded throughout her body and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air. Adrenaline thundered through her veins, her knees going weak.

“There, all done,” Stella said, voice chipper.

Ember could see the brand. She could see it no longer touched her skin but it felt like it was still there, burning through layers of fat and muscle.

Astrid moved forward and pressed her fingers against Ember’s neck, muttering something in another language. The relief was instantaneous.

“Thank you,” she whispered, unable to help herself.

“I need you functioning,” Astrid muttered. “Get everybody in place.”

There was a flurry of motion as they placed a small table, a bowl and several ingredients in the middle of the circle.

“Close the circle,” Stella barked. The circle flared to life, glowing red.

The robed figures took their place around the outer edges of the circle but Astrid spoke only to her, “Put everything in the bowl starting left to right. Use them all. When I tell you, say the incantation.”

Ember’s hands shook, “It’s not too late to stop this, Astrid. I don’t want to do this. I don’t care if he’s lying to me. Nobody deserves this.”

Footsteps fell heavy outside the circle and one last robed figure took his place. His robe was black, a heavy piece of metal hung from his neck. He didn’t try to hide his face. Allister. Ember stumbled away, almost tripping on the table.

He raised his hand with a smile. “Relax, everything is going to be okay, Ember.”

She looked at him like he was insane, “Right, you only want to kill me and steal my power.”

“I may have been a bit…hasty in my quest for power. I simply want my son back.”

“Don’t any of you care that he’s happy where he is?”

“You shut up,” Astrid screamed. “You don’t get a say in this. You will bring my brother back.”

“Calm yourself, dear. Ember’s going to help us. Aren’t you?”

He moved to Tristin, gripping her shoulder tight. Tristin flinched and Ember looked to Mace again. Even if he didn’t care about her, she cared about him no matter how stupid that sounded.

“Ember, I know this is confusing for you, dear, but he doesn’t love you. He can’t love you. He’s evil. A killer.”

Allister looked to Mace. “Does she know? Have you told her the truth?”

“What truth?” Ember asked. What now? She didn’t know how much more she could take. “What are you talking about?”

Allister shook his head, “I knew you couldn’t know. Nobody would be that blindly devoted to the boy who killed her father.”

“What?” Ember gasped, the breath punched from her lungs at the weight of his words. That wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible. She shook her head. She turned on Mace forcing his head up. “I’m not even going to ask if it’s true. You’d just lie to me anyway.”

Mace looked past her to Allister for a long minute before turning his gaze to her, his eyes soft. “I was doing my job. I didn’t know he was your father. I didn’t even know you.”

She slapped him hard twice before stumbling back like she was the one who’d received the blow. She looked at Tristin. “Did you know?”

Tristin’s eyes widened, “What? Ember, no. I swear.”

Mace looked up at her like it took every bit of strength he possessed, “Just start the spell, Ember.”

81

MACE

T
his time she didn’t fight them. Allister’s little revelation burning away the last of her resolve. It was his own fault. He should have told her. He just never knew how. It wasn’t exactly something he could have dropped into a conversation. In truth, he knew she would have pushed him away. He was selfish. He was soulless. He was evil.

Even now, he still used her. Being in her presence lessened his pain. Her magic calling off its attack now that he was returned to his rightful place by her side. Her magic couldn’t do much for the wound at his abdomen but for once all that scar tissue had protected him, keeping Stella from forcing him to watch as he lost his entrails to a dirty gymnasium floor. He could deal with the physical pain. It was a relief compared to the way Ember looked at him now.

He wouldn’t die in agony. He wouldn’t die at all, he reminded himself. Dying implied moving on…he would simply cease to be. Blinking out of existence was preferable to the look of betrayal on her face. He didn’t want that look to be the last thing he saw. Yes, he was selfish but he’d rather leave this world with her forgiveness.

He watched her sink into herself, letting her power take her. He didn’t blame her for hiding, the world betrayed her at every turn. Her features softened, expression vacant as her magic wound around her. His magic valiantly tried to rise to the call of hers but Stella still held him bound by her witchery.

Outside the circle, the chanting began, old and archaic. Latin. Ember’s motions were jerky, stilted. She fought to do as she was told while keeping her magic at the surface. He could feel her power pulling, tugging at her. It didn’t like this. It felt…off. This was not soul magic. This was death magic and her magic knew the difference.

But as she worked, her movements became more rhythmic, the coven’s chanting more frantic, until Mace was almost certain even Ember’s magic was not in control. He had no idea what was happening but the shifting of energy was palpable. Each ingredient added, seemed to suck more oxygen from the room. The witches swayed on their feet, Ember’s eyes fluttered back in her head. He’d only seen things like this in hoodoo rituals. Whatever they had invited into the circle had accepted Ember’s invitation sevenfold. By the time she reached the last ingredient-Quinn’s blood-she no longer needed Astrid’s whispered instructions.

She closed her eyes, words pouring from her lips. Mace went cold. That was not Latin. It was older. Much, much older. When she opened her eyes again, those perfect violet eyes bled black. It was like he had a lead weight on his chest, like he was suffocating. It took longer than it should for him to realize it was fear, not for himself but for Ember, wherever she was in there.

She walked to him, bowl in hand, yanking the remains of his shirt apart. He didn’t know if it was the layers of scarring or the gaping wound across his abdomen but she blinked as if her body rejected the sight. She hesitated, swallowing hard, fighting whatever force worked within her.

He ignored the way his chest squeezed, shoving down the brief moment of hope that this would end in any way but with him gone and Ember lost to whatever evil force had accepted her invitation. He could only hope she hadn’t invoked Osiris as Astrid had hoped.

Ember’s face contorted and he saw the moment she broke through this other magic’s hold, misery etched across her face. For a moment, she looked like she might falter. Her hesitation was enough. It was enough for him to know she cared enough to not want to do this, to fight this power. But she had to do this. It was the only way for this to end. If she failed, everybody died.

“It’s okay, Luv.”

Her fingers moved lower, hovering over the jagged cut before she pressed her fingers inside, face pale, eyes haunted. He tried to mask the grunt of pain but her gaze shot to his again as she dipped her bloody fingers into the bowl, mixing his blood with Quinn’s.

He closed his eyes, letting himself enjoy the feel of her fingers as she began to paint the mixture across his chest, fingers far more gentle than any others ever were. She painted his forehead, his lips and his left cheek. She paused when she reached his right. It was the final step before the final incantation.

Her hand shook, and he knew this entity, this power squatting inside Ember was playing with her. It wanted her to suffer. To see this sacrifice. It even let her magic open their connection. Her face crumpled, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“I could have loved you,” she whispered, just for him to hear. “I think I did love you. How could this not be real?”

The bewilderment in her voice hurt like a physical blow. Tears filled his eyes. The feelings weren’t his, couldn’t be, but somehow that made it worse. He’d done this to her. Was still doing this to her. Suddenly, he was talking, words spilling from his lips without his permission. “Who’s to say what’s real, Luv?” He wanted to touch her so badly. “Maybe you do love me. If you do, then I’m lucky, because there is nowhere in this world or any other where I’ve ever been deserving of it but I’m still selfish enough to take it.”

He took a shaky breath. “Maybe everything I’ve felt for you is just an illusion. I’ve spent hundreds of years feeling nothing. I gave my soul away so I could feel nothing. But you come along and you are all feelings; guilt, doubt, pain, love. Everything I tried to avoid.”

She flinched. “But, Ember, if I had to spend eternity feeling another person’s feelings, it would be you, just you. That must mean something, right?” Her breath caught, her hand so close to his cheek. God, but he wanted to touch her. “But this was never a redemption story. The bad guy doesn’t get the girl. Monsters don’t get happy endings.” He smiled a little. “The universe is very strict about these things.”

She was sobbing now. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Of course, you do, Luv. Finish the spell. Bring back your friend. I know you’ll never truly understand this but I feel it’s true. If I was capable…if I am somehow capable of loving anybody it’s you.”

With that, he turned his cheek. He wasn’t going to make it any harder on her than it had to be. She stood frozen. “Go on, then.”

She swallowed hard, nodding jerkily. She painted the last symbol and looked at the others before grabbing his face and pressing her lips to his.

He’d kissed her many times before but this time it was different, like somebody pouring water into his lungs, the pressure so great he was choking on it. He could still feel it even as she pulled away.

She stepped back, “Unum quod que-” her body convulsed, eyes bleeding black again, Ember no longer Ember. This time the voice that fell from her lips was not hers at all, it was a male voice and the words were that same ancient tongue spoken moments ago. It was nothing Mace had ever heard before.

Panic filled him in a way that could only be described as human. He fought Stella’s compulsion as he stared at the thing squatting inside of Ember. He couldn’t leave her like this but it was too late. His vision was fading, Ember’s face was all he could see. He tried to take her in. He knew there was no place to go from here, no heaven, no hell, no in between. He was simply ceasing to exist. He wanted to remember those violet eyes and her wild hair. He wanted to see her smile. But the slick grin that split across her face was not her own.

“I’ll take excellent care of her,” it whispered.

Then nothing.

82

TRISTIN

E
mber fell to her knees and Mace’s body went limp. Ember buried her head in his lap, sobbing hard enough to make her whole body shake. Tristin had no idea what she just witnessed but that strange bubble of power drained from the room so quickly, she felt woozy. Everything just felt wrong.

“Did it work?” Astrid questioned her father.

“Break the circle,” Allister demanded.

Astrid rushed forward, shoving Ember to the floor and slapping Mace’s face. “Quinn? Quinn!”

Mace exploded off the chair, knocking it backwards, hitting the floor and crawling backwards to the wall, gaze darting around the bizarre scene before him. “Astrid? Tristin? What the hell is going on?”

Astrid wrapped herself around Mace’s body. “Quinn?”

“Yeah,” he shoved his sister back. “Astrid, what did you do?”

She looked confused, then hurt. “What do you mean? I brought you back.”

“Oh, God, Astrid,” Quinn said. “You shouldn’t have done this. What were you thinking?”

He stood, doubling over and covering his abdomen-Mace’s abdomen-with both hands. He looked down, eyes roaming the scars along his belly and chest and the huge wound there. He looked horrified.

“This isn’t me. Oh my God. This isn’t my body. Who’s body is this? Oh my God,” His face blanched white, breath heaving. Tristin was almost positive he was having a panic attack.

Astrid came forward, “You’re hurt, let me fix this, okay.”

He jerked back, “Don’t touch me.” He was reeling, unsteady, looking around in a panic.

Tristin stumbled out of Allister’s loosened grip, dropping to her knees and grabbing his face. “Hey, Quinn. Listen to me. Listen. You have to breathe. Okay? Please. Just breathe with me, okay?” He was sweaty and his eyes unfocused but he nodded. “Astrid has to fix you, okay. I’m right here. Just breathe with me.”

To Astrid she said, “Do it.”

This time he didn’t protest as she lay her hands across the gouge in his flesh. Tristin watched as the skin pulled together, not fully healed but better.

Mace’s eyes-Quinn’s eyes-looked at her with dread. She met his gaze. She’d helped them do this to him. She’d been so eager to do this, so desperate to see him again that she’d never stopped to consider Ember was right and he was happy. She never thought he could be at peace without her. She’d been so selfish. She deserved to watch him suffer for what she’d done.

“I can’t look at you like this,” Stella said, stalking up to Quinn and waving her hand. He lurched to his feet against his will. Tristin jumped up to step between them but Stella was already whispering a spell.

As she watched, Mace’s features shifted, merging and morphing until it was just Quinn standing there, whiskey brown eyes and messy hair, minus the glasses. He looked at himself like he didn’t trust her magic but Tristin couldn’t help herself. She flung herself into his arms, wrapping herself around him. He pulled her close and she felt like she could breathe for the first time in forever.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I’m so sorry,” she told him, kissing his cheeks, his forehead.

“I know,” he told her, voice resigned, hands roaming her back. “I know.”

Allister stepped forward and Quinn stiffened in her arms.

“I should have known you’d be here.” Quinn said, pushing Tristin behind him. “How could you have agreed to this?”

“I didn’t. Not at first.”

Ember stood, swaying on her feet, taking in the scene.

“Ember, dear,” Allister said, “come to me, please?”

“I don’t think so,” she told him, drifting closer to Tristin. Tristin grasped her wrist and didn’t let go when Ember’s magic sparked.

“It wasn’t a request. Stella, the blade.”

Astrid looked to her father and then to her friend, “What? What are you doing?”

“I’m doing what I intended to do all along.”

“This wasn’t part of the plan.” Astrid stood in front of her father. “We got Quinn back. Let’s just go home.”

Allister sighed, “You are completely incapable of seeing the bigger picture.”

Astrid’s mouth fell open like she’d been slapped.

Stella came forward, a wicked looking dagger in her hand. The blade was black but the handle was white with sharpened spines that looked to be made from shards of bone. There was no way that bastard was shoving that thing in her cousin’s heart. She wasn’t losing another person tonight.

“There is no way you’ll get away with this,” Tristin told him.

“This isn’t an after school special, dear.” Allister laughed. “The coven would never turn against me. My children would never speak against me, especially since one of them is technically dead. What are you going to do? You don’t even have an active power. With Ember’s power, there isn’t a force in the world who can stop me. Ember, come here. I won’t ask again.”

Ember fought, but there was no getting past Stella’s freaky mind control. She staggered towards him. Tristin made to follow her, having no plan at all, just a need to say she tried to help but then the gym doors burst open, startling everybody. The pack poured in, partially shifted and snarling. There was only a heartbeat of hesitation before they went for Allister.

Tristin’s chest lightened. Allister was no match for four wolves. There was a bright light and a sound like an explosion and everything was still. The wolves were frozen in place, victims to one of the witches’ spells, though Tristin couldn’t say which one.

Nobody moved until a blur of motion came from the gym door and her brother slid to a halt, eyes falling on Quinn’s face. Kai hadn’t been there for the glamour spell but she could swear she recognized his friend anyway.

He looked to the others, realizing he was the only one not affected by this magic. He rushed forward, stopping only when Ember whimpered. Allister held her back against his chest, blade to her heart.

Tristin couldn’t believe this was how it ends. After everything they’d been through. After everything they’d lost. Allister wins and they die. The moment Allister killed Ember, Isa would give the order to challenge the coven. The wolves would lose.

Allister laughed at Isa. “You’re too late.”

Quinn pressed against her from behind. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to say goodbye. Instead he simply whispered, “Scream.”

And she did.