Darkness Fair (The Dark Cycle Book 2) (28 page)

FORTY-FIVE

Rebecca

I sit by Kara the rest of the day until night falls and Connor gets home. He doesn’t say anything when he comes into the room, just settles in against the wall beside the bed and closes his eyes, like he’s praying.

“I want to fix this,” I say quietly. “Will you help me?”

He turns to me. “What do you mean? How are you going to fix any of this?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, but I feel like I’m the only one who can.”

He looks back at Kara lying in the bed, so peaceful. “You mean, because of the whole Aidan thing?”

“Kara and I went and saw this lady, Miss Mae, and she said that I’ve got some sort of blessing or something, and that’s what would’ve protected me from Aidan’s power.”

He leans forward. “You went into the city?”

“That’s hardly the point, Connor.” I move to sit by him on the floor. “Aidan’s father said that my blessing would be given to another. Wouldn’t you think that’s supposed to be Kara?”

He sighs and runs a hand over his face, looking lost. “I don’t know . . .”

“Connor, what if whatever’s in me, whatever would have made it safe for me to link with Aidan, what if it’s something that can be transferred?” I so desperately want it to be true. “Sid thinks it might be possible. And if I can maybe save her, well, then shouldn’t I do that?”

“This is what Sid does,” Connor says. “He gets these plans and tries to fix things, and when all the spells are done and the smoke clears everything is all fucked up and people I care about get hurt.”

“This is me, Connor, not Sid. I want this.”

He shakes his head. “I get it. I want to save her, I do. But what if it hurts you, Rebecca? What if transferring this blessing or whatever, instead of healing Kara, it kills
you
,
too?”

“I don’t know.” For some reason, I’m not concerned about that. I guess some might say that’s insane. Or at the very least, suicidal. “I want to try.”

“We don’t even know where to start.”

“Oil,” I say, thinking of the slick stuff Aidan’s father put on my forehead.

“Huh?”

“We should get oil. And I’ll pray or chant or something—maybe Sid will have found another idea—and then I’ll just . . . give her what’s mine.” It sounds so simple, but we’re not children playing a game of magic. This is real. And if it fails, someone could die. “I just want to try. It’ll keep me from feeling so helpless.”

He releases a growl. “Fine. But please, don’t get your hopes up.”

Sid settles in the chair beside the bed, holding a smoking stick. Connor hovers next to me, both of us standing over Kara. Jax paces by the door. Holly is helping Sid look for passages on blessings—he’s having trouble seeing, he said. She reads out loud a story about Jacob, who stole his brother’s blessing. It’s not super helpful, detail-wise, but her voice is soothing. It calms my nerves a little.

I wish Aidan were here. I feel like he’d know exactly what to do. I, however, am completely clueless. Connor doesn’t like that we’re doing any of it, but he’s trying to be supportive.

My head hurts.

I look down on Kara’s body. It’s damp with sweat, her skin glistening. The white sheets are tinged red in spots from the blood leaking from her eyes and ears every now and then. She’s so pale. I can’t remember—did she look this bad the other day when she passed out?

“Okay, what now?” Connor asks when Holly finishes her reading.

“Well,” I say, picking up the small vial of oil from the box Sid brought up, “I think we should start by placing some of this on the center of her forehead?” I glance at Sid, looking for guidance.

He nods. “This is how a blessing would normally be done. And that is rose oil, so it’s very positive in what it transmits. After placing the oil, you should whisper the blessing while still touching her.”

I open the small vial and tip it over onto my finger, then I step closer to Kara, touching my slick finger to her forehead like Aidan’s father did to me. Then I lean over and close my eyes, whispering, “I give you my protection, it’s yours now.” I open my eyes, leaving my fingers on her head.

I don’t feel anything. I don’t see any change. The smell of rose petals and sweat mingle in the air, and disappointment filters into my chest.

“I want you and Aidan to be happy, Kara. So take whatever you need from me, okay? I can’t watch this happen to you anymore, and I know you love Aidan. You know how sad he would be if he saw you right now? You can’t leave him, you just can’t do that to him, so take the blessing or destiny from me, or whatever it is that his soul mate is supposed to have. Keep yourself safe.”

I stare at her and remove my hand from her forehead. I still don’t feel anything.

Of course this wasn’t going to work. It was silly. Silly to think that something so simple would have any effect.

“That was lovely,” Sid says.

He has tears in his eyes. And when I look to Connor, he’s turned a little away.

“It was,” Jax says quietly from the doorway. “Real nice.” He sniffs and looks forlorn.

There’s movement behind him, and suddenly Finger is standing next to him.

No one reacts to the appearance of the strange boy. No one but me. I stare, openmouthed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him upstairs. No, never. Not once.

“What is it, Finger?” Holly asks.

Finger makes a noise deep in his chest, like a grunt, then he steps into the room and comes around Connor to stand beside me, looking down at Kara. He towers over me by at least a foot. His greasy hair falls across his forehead and he grips the front of his food-stained shirt with a meaty fist, like he’s trying to hold his heart. His brow scrunches in pain as he studies her.

I have to tense my leg muscles so I don’t step away in response to him being so close. Because it’s not just that he’s physically close. Something about him fills the room.

I glance over at Connor; he’s watching Finger with what looks like hope on his face.

Something wraps around my hand. It’s Finger’s, swallowing my own.

I step back then, fear lacing through me. What is he doing?

He smiles down at me, that same knowing smile. Then he pulls my hand closer to Kara’s and weaves her lifeless fingers through mine. He plants his palm over Kara’s forehead, cups his other over mine. And then . . .

Oh my God, I feel something. The inner part of me, the place I recognize as
me
, shifts. And I
feel
my self. Rebecca. The girl who loves her father, even when he’s unlovable; who misses her brother with an ache that could swallow worlds; the girl who wants—no, needs—to make things right if she can.

Then the sensation deepens, and I feel something reach in—
in
to
me. Like an invisible finger, hooking my soul. My whole being shakes, moves, my insides bursting open in a rush. I’m pulled forward, I’m pulled back, I’m stretching until I’ll break. I feel myself everywhere, surrounding the whole world.

And then a searing pain rips through my core and I hear a scream as a piece of me is torn off. Lost. Stolen. It slips into this boy in front of me, this
thing
, this beast, splintering my soul. And I can’t—I can’t breathe, I . . .

I go limp, crumpling to the floor. And when things inside settle again, finally going still, I open my eyes. The boy—Finger—he’s still smiling down on me with that same knowing look. He nods at me like he’s pleased and then turns and walks past me, out of the room.

“Rebecca.” Connor crouches at my side.

Jax rushes in to check on Kara.

“What happened?” Connor looks up at Sid with accusation in his eyes. “What the fuck just happened?”

Sid shakes his head, obviously shocked. “I believe Finger just pulled the blessing from Rebecca and placed it into Kara.”

“Really?” Holly says, leaning over to touch my arm.

Jax is looking in awe at Kara’s quiet form. “That’s nuts.”

“How is that even possible?” Connor asks. “I thought Finger just manipulated emotions.” He helps me into a sitting position but I can barely hold myself up.

“He reads emotions and changes them by pushing his own energy into others,” Sid says. “I knew it might have other expressions but I never could have imagined . . . this.”

“How will we know it worked?” Holly asks.

“Or know how this could affect Rebecca?” Connor adds, sounding concerned.

“The only way to know will be to watch it play out,” Sid says. “Logically it shouldn’t change anything for Rebecca since she wasn’t the one who needed the blessing anymore.”

After the way that all just felt, something inside me doesn’t agree with that assessment, but I keep my thoughts to myself. I wanted this. I asked for this. I wanted to help and hopefully I did, hopefully this makes things better for everyone, and my part in this can pass on to Kara and no more pain will have to happen, Aidan can have peace, and I can . . . I don’t know. What can I do? However this affects me, I’ll just deal with it.

I’m able to feel my limbs better now. They’re still weak, but I can breathe easily again, and the odd pain inside me has faded to a dull throb.

“I’m fine,” I say, patting Connor’s arm with the little energy I can muster, and smiling up at Holly in reassurance. “Just—I think I need to rest for a second.” Connor helps me up onto my wobbly legs and lets me lean on him as he walks me to my room.

Once he gets me to the bed, I collapse with a sigh.

“Why did you have to push this?” He starts pacing back and forth. “Trying to fix shit always just makes it worse.”

“Connor, what if that whole weird thing just saved Kara? Don’t be ridiculous—of course you’d want me to try.”

“What I want is for you to not also be sick, so I don’t lose both of you.”

“That’s not going to happen.” I scoot back in the bed and get into the sheets. “Don’t be such a Gloomy Gus.”

“Have you not been paying attention to the shit that goes down here?”

I yawn and sink into the mattress. “I’m fine. I’ll sleep and wake up still me, you’ll see.”

He grunts and sits on the edge of the bed. “You scared me to death, Rebecca.”

“I’m fine.” I lazily pat him on the arm. “See.” I point at my face and give him a toothy grin.

He rolls his eyes. “I’m so tired of everything falling apart.”

“Then don’t let it.” I slide my fingers through his and hold his hand.

He looks down at our connection and squeezes back. “You are amazing, you know that?”

I just smile and close my eyes. But the last thought that crosses my mind is of Aidan, and my heart sparks with fear. Something isn’t right. But I can’t seem to open my eyes to tell Connor or ask him to check. I can only sink quickly, further and further into darkness, hearing a lone violin playing a mournful tune somewhere far away.

FORTY-SIX

Aidan

I surface to the memory of Ava playing the violin. But it doesn’t feel like a memory, it feels real, the vibrations of the notes thrumming in the sand beneath me.

Sand? Where am I?

“He’s waking up,” she says.

Ava
.

I hear you, Aidan
. Her relief surrounds me as she pushes an image of the two of us playing chess on the floor of her old room from last year.
You won again
.

I open my eyes to her standing over me. She’s lovely and alive, her eyes sparkling silver blue. The familiar cave walls surround us. The altar is behind her, the gateway just three feet to my left.

Eric is sitting beside me. His muscles are tense as Ava kisses my cheek, and he doesn’t relax them until she moves away again, tucking her violin under her chin, drawing the bow over the strings.

“Oh, I missed this so much,” she says over the instrument’s sighing.

“Are you all right?” Eric whispers to me.

I can breathe, but when I try to speak my throat closes and I choke, coughing.

“We can’t stay here,” he says close to my ear. “She’s not right, Aidan, something isn’t—”

The violin stops and Eric swallows his words. A spark of fear lights around us. Eric is afraid? Of Ava?

She steps closer, studying my throat, then leans down. “You’re not healing,” she says, sounding distraught.

I manage to say, “Resurrection, it—” but then I break into a fit of coughs, my throat swollen and seared. What did that angel do to me? And how did we get away? I push all my questions into the air.

She sets the violin on the altar and kneels beside me. “We’re okay. You’re going to heal—won’t you heal?”

I have no idea.

“I brought us back here,” Ava says, giving a sideways glance at Eric. “Your guard was being a big baby and wouldn’t do it.”

Eric begins, “Please, Ava, don’t—”

She clucks her tongue and holds up a finger, stopping his words. “No, no. You’re just causing trouble. I won’t rip you to shreds like I did that other angel—you’ve saved my brother many times, after all—but I will rip out your tongue just to watch you grow it back.”

Dread works its cold fingers inside my chest. What did she just say?

“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport, Aidan.” She opens her hand, her palm facing Eric. “All I want is to be together, just us. He’s a big downer.” She moves her hand up and Eric rises in the air, hovering higher and higher. “Balloon angel.” She giggles and then closes her fingers tight in a fist. Something
pops
, and Eric’s gone with a suck of air.

I stare at her, stunned.
What’ve you done to him!?
What’s wrong with her?

She turns back to the altar and picks up her violin, then plays a long high note. “I know you like him but he’s really just a stick-in-the-mud. He doesn’t tell you anything. And you deserve to know things. You and I deserve to know what our purpose is and why. Don’t you think?” She draws out several more notes before adding, “He’s fine, though. I just sent him to Egypt. He’ll wink his way back here in no time.”

The notes spilling from the violin slide up and down, carrying the song into a rhythmic lull as I take in what she’s said, what she’s done.

I don’t understand. I don’t know what to feel or think, everything is an ache or a bruise inside of me, in my heart and on my skin.

“Yes, I know,” she says, sighing. “You expected a different sister to come back to you. The sweet, wide-eyed child. But I’m not that sister, am I? I sort of thought I would be, but I’m not.” She shrugs.
Oh, well
.

Who are you, then?

I am the future
,
she answers with a swell of pride. She closes her eyes, and her body moves as the music’s tempo picks up and she makes it a part of herself.
I am the key to the next cycle
.

She pulls the bow hard with a final sharp note and opens her eyes.

I gasp.

They’re colorless. No sparkling blue at all. Her irises are white as snow.

I press hard into the rock wall at my back. Every nerve catches fire with the agony of what I’m seeing.
Ava
. I heave breath into my lungs, and tears cloud my vision of her. She’s broken. She’s wrong. She’s not
my
Ava.

No, I am
,
she says.
Completed and whole
.

I sense movement to my right and turn. Several forms are approaching from the beach, through the shadows of the cave entrance. Sulfur billows into the space, suffocating me even more. Demons. At least a dozen of them.

I try to move, try to push myself along the wall to get away as they come closer. They don’t seem to even notice me, though, and that’s when I remember my amulet. Ava smiles at them, as if they were little children come to ask for candy. My stomach churns.

One claw rises over the rest, touching the hem of her shirt. And I can barely believe my eyes; it’s the small demon from the day after the earthquake. The one who ripped the dog to shreds and tried to do a spell by arranging the pieces of its body.

Ava looks up at me, like she hears my horrified thoughts.

“Isn’t he wonderful?” she asks. “A bit of a brutal thing, but he’s so loyal.” She reaches out and pats his head. “He tried so hard to bring me back. I met him after I crossed the Veil and he was so helpful, guiding me to the right beings. Do you know how slow time passes on the other side, where the ghosts live? A second lasts an eternity. But it allowed me to learn a lot before those Powers got ahold of me, telling me I was corrupted. I knew this little guy would come through.”

She moves to the gateway, studying the crack and the black tar leaking from it. “They’re anxious to escape Sheol, see? A few have crossed already.”

A demon in the group pipes up, rattling off a bunch of noises that I don’t understand at first, because my power is so weak. But after a moment I make sense of it: “He destroyed one. He is Destroyer. Fire and Pain.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” she says to them as they all grumble their agreements. “But he’s off-limits.” She holds out a palm to them. “Okay, who wants to do the honors?”

The dog-spell demon twitches a wing emphatically. She moves her hand closer to it.

It slices across her palm with a long talon, releasing a line of dripping red.

Don’t do this Ava!
I scream at her, knowing what horror she’s about to let loose. I manage to lift myself, sliding my back up the wall. My power stirs to life from my panic and I find my feet.
This isn’t you!

Yes, it is
.

You have a choice
.

So do you. Do this with me, Aidan. We could fix everything
.

Fix it? With carnage and death?

“Oh, Aidan, you still believe this mess can be saved. That was always your problem. But this world . . . it’s just not worth it. It’s certainly not worth your blood.”

I won’t let you do this
.

“And how are you going to stop me? Are you going to kill me?” She tilts her head like she’s actually curious to see if I would. Then she holds out her bloody palm, almost touching the gateway, like she’s teasing me.

The demons around her chatter their teeth and click their talons together, cheering her on.

“Don’t worry, the great-grams and her house will be protected,” she says, like she’s trying to make peace. “Your wards made sure of that. I can feel how strong they are. Nice job.”

I feel for my power but it’s barely a hum. My blade is in my back pocket—
I can’t
—no. But I need to stop her—how can I stop her? My sister isn’t supposed to be this thing. This isn’t her.
This isn’t you, Ava!

“No matter how many times you say it, it won’t make it true.” She gives me a sad smile and reaches for the wall.

I lunge, knocking three demons out of the way, and grab her by the arm, yanking her back. We land with a spray of sand, my grip on her arm solid. She releases a giggle, like she used to do when she was close to getting caught in hide-and-seek.

And then I see why: a bloody smear just below the rift.

“Too late,” she sings. “You should’ve used the knife on me.”

I watch helplessly as the streak of blood becomes a second crack, sinking the wall in at that spot with a heavy
thud
, shaking the cave, jolting the ground beneath us. Fissures grow from the carved-out spot and join the first cracks, more black ooze appearing as the rock collapses inwards again and again.

Ava kisses her palm where it’s cut and then blows the kiss at the wall.

Wind and silver threads whoosh around us in a shimmering tornado; they dance for a few seconds, like glinting faerie lights. And then they all collect together and spray toward the doorway, hitting the stone in a rush. A grinding of rock, and the wall gives way, bits flying into swirling darkness. Into nothingness. An empty expanse looks back from the other side, as if we’re sitting on the edge of the world.

I look into the void, stunned. The dark wind rushes around us, the pull of its gravity a roar in my ears.

Ava leans against me, putting her head on my shoulder. “Isn’t it lovely?”

It’s lovely and horrifying and wrong. And a piece of me dies, watching the ash and silver storm churn. My mother gave herself to save her children, the two of us, sitting beside each other at the end of the world: Ava, the daughter who began it, and me, the son who failed to stop it.

“They’re coming,” she whispers conspiratorially. “I can hear them. Don’t be afraid.” She rubs my back in comfort. “You can share this with me. It’s how it should be. Remember, I said everything would be all right in the end.”

Oh, God
.

The first beast that emerges is half bear, half man, with teeth six inches long and cloven feet. Another comes, a bug-like creature with long tentacles and a clacking jaw. Two more, with horns and spikes growing from their blue skin. The next several seem to mesh together, a mass of claws and teeth and saliva, the space crowding with their stench.

I gasp for clean air, unable to look away, unable to move to run. Ava rises and pats me on the head before walking right into the mass of shadow and talons, her white form disappearing among it all. They part slowly, moving aside to make way for her.

She stands in front of the doorway. The charcoal and black storm behind her grasps for her, and whips her hair around her face, which is filled with contentment. I watch her, realizing I need to run for her, to shove us both into the void and let it be over. But my cowardly limbs hesitate and Ava places her hand over the empty space. The gateway returns with a growl and grind of stone, the walls shivering from the impact.

Ava moves among her subjects, touching them and studying them, one by one. She seems to be speaking without saying anything; they grunt as if responding, and move as if following directions.

When she has greeted each one, she motions toward the beach. One by one, the creatures of all shapes and sizes slip past me and out the cave entrance, escaping into the world, a dark army of madness and death. All the while Ava smiles, her white eyes watching what she has unleashed. “This should be interesting, right?” she says. And then she winks at me and disappears with a pop of air.

I sit in the sand and stare for so long at the dried bloody print left behind on the gateway that my eyes water and my head begins to ache. I’m not sure how long it is before I can make myself move. I get to my feet, leaning on the altar before stumbling out of the cave and onto the beach. There are no demons here that I can see. The sun is setting over the horizon, but the sky above seems darker than it should. Distant shadows creep over the blanket of violet and orange on the horizon, swallowing up the colors and the sun.

I fall to my knees and find my voice at last, screaming into the air. I shove my rage, my remorse, my sorrow and brokenness up, up, up as far as they’ll go. Crying out to the heavens. But the heavens only stare back in silence.

I make my way back to the club. I start by walking, keep walking for several miles, finally catch a bus, then another. It gives me time to think, which turns out to be very bad. Because I find no solutions. Only questions. Always the questions. Where is Eric? What happened to Jaasi’el? Did Ava really kill him?

But most importantly, where did Ava go, and what happened to her horde of demons?

My God, what did I just witness?

I find myself standing in the parking lot of the club, staring into the alley, numb, inside and out.

Someone taps me on the arm. “Aidan, I have a message. Come inside.”

I shake my head. No messages.

“Eric is safe.” It’s Hanna. She heard from Eric. Eric who trusted me. “He’ll find you again soon, but he’s going to stay on the other side of the Veil until he can gather reinforcements and receive orders.”

Ava told me she ripped the dominion angel to shreds—her own father. What good will reinforcements do against that sort of evil?

“Aidan,” a soft voice says.

I turn, unable to believe what I’m hearing. “Kara,” I say, breathless.