Death Before Daylight (40 page)

She was the one to tear away, and she had to
hit him to do it. Even then, when Jessica leapt away, a few of her
white hairs stayed in his hand. He had barely moved.

Jessica, on the other hand, was not
hesitating. She came after Fudicia, but this time, I jumped in
front of her. “Don’t,” I managed.

Jessica froze, too. The expression Zac and
Jessica had oddly looked related. Both of them searched Fudicia’s
face. Neither of them looked at me.

“What are you talking about?” Zac cursed as
he stood.

Jessica shot to the side so she could face
everyone, but her stance was pointed at Fudicia. She was a bigger
target.

“You heard me,” Fudicia spoke only to her
brother. “Stop fighting.”

“That’s the only thing you’ve taught me to
do,” he yelled back before he made his move.

He flew toward Jessica, his hands
outstretched, his voice echoing around us, but he never reached
her.

In a flash, Fudicia was between them, and in
a single movement, she had grabbed both sides of Zac’s head. “I’m
sorry,” she said before snapping his neck.

He fell to the ground. The only sound in the
room was his body crumbling against the cement, and the sparks that
flew off his skin as he shifted back into his human form. Zac was
dead.

I stumbled backward, and Zac’s black eyes
followed me the entire way.

My back hit the wall before Fudicia spoke
again. “He wasn’t going to listen.” She brushed her hands off on
her pants.

“What—” Jessica’s skin rushed with color as
she fell back into her human form. Even she had stumbled backward.
She didn’t know about Fudicia. In her mind, Fudicia was our enemy,
and in her mind, our enemy had killed their own kind.

“He’s better off this way,” Fudicia spoke to
her. “Are you okay?”

It was only then that I realized Jessica was
bleeding. A small slit curled over her brow, and blood trickled
down the side of her face. I didn’t even know if it was Darthon or
Zac. I was completely useless in the Light realm, but I could
speak.

“She’s on our side,” I choked out. Everything
was lined with pain.

Jessica didn’t look at me, but her chin
lifted, and I knew she heard what I had said. She just didn’t
believe it. She was focused on Fudicia.

“This isn’t an illusion,” Fudicia
promised.

I took a step forward, and both girls finally
faced me. Apparently, I did exist. “It’s not.”

“She knows,” Fudicia said as Jessica
positioned herself into a fighting stance. “She just doesn’t want
to believe it.”

“It’s true—” I started to speak, but I didn’t
have to continue.

Fudicia turned her back to Jessica, leaving
herself open to be killed—all so she could kneel next to her
half-brother. Her fingers ran over his hair as slowly as the frown
that took over her lips. Even so, her eyes were wild.

“He didn’t have to die,” Jessica growled, but
she didn’t attack.

Fudicia’s touch dropped away from Zac. “He
would’ve anyway. At least this way was quick and painless.” She
stood up, but she never faced us again. “Follow me, or die like
him,” she said and began walking away. “It’s your choice.”

54

Eric was the only reason I followed. That and
escaping death. Both were aspects I had to believe in, but Eric
couldn’t keep up with Fudicia’s lightning-fast walk. I had to put
my arm under his to support him, but I couldn’t look at him. He had
clearly spoken to Fudicia more than I knew, and I definitely didn’t
know they were on the same side—my side. It was almost impossible
to fathom, even with Zac’s death proving it.

Zac really was the half-breed, and Fudicia
truly was Linda, but that meant she had killed her own blood. I
didn’t know if I could trust someone like that. Still, I took one
step after another and tightened my hold on Eric as I did so.

My heart thundered as the hairs on the back
of my neck stood on end. Darthon was trying to find us. I could
feel his presence in the walls, but I prevented our discovery by
pouring my own powers into the floors. Air hissed out of Eric’s
mouth as if he could feel it, but I kept my hold on him. I didn’t
know how much longer I could keep protecting him, but I doubted it
was for long.

“This way.” Fudicia instructions were
difficult to obey, but I did.

We made our way down one corridor before
meeting an open doorway. I knew the room well. It was the same one
Camille had died in. The heatless fire was too close for comfort. I
had brought real flames to the realm, and I was ready to make this
room feel it.

I let go of Eric, but Fudicia spun around and
glared at me. “Don’t let go of him.”

“It’s okay,” he said, but I didn’t listen to
him.

I grabbed him again. “Now what?”

The edges of Fudicia’s darkened eyes
illuminated like a claustrophobic eclipse. “I don’t know how much
time I can buy you two, but—” she paused as her face tilted like an
animal listening to the woods. “I can lead him to Zac to distract
him, but he’ll figure it out.”

“What’s going to happen to you?” Eric asked
like he actually cared.

It took everything in me not to let him
go.

“I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile.

He shot one back. “Thank you, Linda.”

Her lip curled downward. “I’d prefer Fudicia
at this point.”

Eric only nodded in return.

“Wait,” I interrupted. They both stared at
me, but I only looked at Fudicia. “Save the books.”

“What books?” Eric asked, but we ignored
him.

A small smile flickered over Fudicia’s face.
She didn’t nod, but it was in her eyes. “Save your people.”

I didn’t have time to respond. Fudicia opened
her mouth as if she planned on speaking again. Instead, the last
thing I ever expected happened. Without moving her mouth, a chant
of incomprehensible words filled the small room, and each syllable
was marked with her voice.

“Close your eyes, and don’t let go of each
other.”

It was the last words I heard.

Even with my eyes closed, I saw the light
swirling against my eyelids. It darkened into shadows, and when
they twisted, my body did, too. The feeling was too familiar. My
molecules split, contracted, and burned. The only movement I could
comprehend was Eric’s touch—the single motion that remained the
same throughout the vortex. If two souls could become one, I was
sure it had happened.

Almost instantly, my body slammed back
together, and every bone inside of me felt as if it had been
crushed and strung out again. I knelt as a gasp escaped me. Breath
finally filled me again.

“Jessica.” His voice brought me back.

I opened my eyes to a sight that made me
close my eyes again. The coffee shop was destroyed. The flipped
over remains of the crushed tables were enough to solidify what had
happened. Fudicia had returned us to our world, and our world was
already crumbling.

Eric touched my arm. “No one’s here.”

It was the only reason I opened my eyes
again. I had expected bodies—all the bodies of the innocent people
that had been there—but Eric was right. There wasn’t even a spot of
blood. Whatever had happened, no one had died. Still, the building
was suffocating with the smell of coffee.

“Jonathon,” I managed and stepped forward.
“Crystal. We have to find them—”

“Wait.” Eric’s hand wrapped around my
wrist.

I tried to pull away, but he tightened his
hold. “Jessica.”

“What?”

He finally let go, but I didn’t move. His
emerald eyes clouded over. “Are you okay?”

“We don’t have time to worry about that—”

“I always have time to worry about you,” he
interrupted, “and going into war confused isn’t going to help
either of us fight.”

War. I could feel it in the air. It was worse
than the Light realm. The atmosphere was crushing. The swirl of
electricity and shadow told us exactly what was going on only a few
miles away. The shelter was under attack, people were dying, and
someone was going to win tonight.

I took a deep breath, and the rush of oxygen
cleared Eric’s words. He was right. If my mind was racing, I
wouldn’t fight well, and we both needed to fight well if he was
going to win—if he was going to kill Robb. Darthon was probably
already after us.

“He’ll go straight for the shelter,” I
said.

“I know.”

My mind reached out as I searched for my
connection with Jonathon, but everything sizzled.

“It’s too clouded to get through,” Eric said.
He must have tried the same thing. I knew it by looking at his
face. His squinting eyes were blue, and the rest of him melted into
his shade form. “Can you be one of us?”

He didn’t want me to get attacked by my own
people.

I confirmed it by transforming into a shade,
but it prickled against my skin. Shifting from one to the other was
more difficult than shifting in general, and both were already
painful. I had to grab the wall to stay standing, and I took five
breaths before I let go of my hold. My powers were slowly filling
my veins, and Eric waited out each second.

“Since when has she been on our side anyway?”
I asked in our last peaceful moment. I had to know before we
succumbed to chaos again. I had to know in case I saw her
again.

“For a while,” he promised. “I didn’t have
time to tell you.” He reached out and offered me his hand. “Trust
her.”

“I can’t.”

Eric’s fingers curled only to uncurl. “Then,
trust me.”

I stared at his palm. I had never hesitated
to take it before, but this time, he was asking me to take Linda’s,
too. She had killed Abby. She had murdered her own brother, and her
parents had taken my parents, yet he wanted me to believe in her
loyalty. My allegiance had boundaries, and his pushed the
limits.

I only grabbed his hand for one reason. “Just
don’t die.”

“Not a chance,” he promised as his thumb
skimmed the back of my hand. “I promise to see you tomorrow—in
daylight—and every day after that.” His smile was the only bright
part of the darkness we were prepared to face. It was the only
daylight I focused on, the only one I could believe in during the
moments of war.

“Let’s go, then,” I said. “Let’s win
this.”

55

The smell of sweat and blood was suffocating,
and we were drowning in it. The mixture of the powers from two
sects hadn’t allowed us to transport directly into the shelter.
Instead, we had appeared on the outskirts, so close to the river
that I could taste the moisture in the air, but I was sure the
blood wasn’t helping.

Bodies. Too many of them. All human now that
they were dead. It was impossible to assess who had fought on what
side, and the soldiers left standing were a blur of white and
black. I couldn’t breathe until Jessica’s hand grasped mine.

“
Concentrate.”
Her single word was all
I needed.

We let go of one another and ran across the
ground next to each other. While she dodged one attack, I fought
back another one. My thundering heart was all I could hear, and the
entrance to the shelter was all I could see. Every few seconds, my
eyes met it through the thicket of trees, and every few
milliseconds, I was fighting off another person.

Being a shade was all I needed to fight, but
I needed my ring to feel the confidence of living. I couldn’t
die—not as long as we kept our jewelry on—but every passing moment
seemed like a threat against it.

A claw met my wrist, and the singeing burn
cascaded through my right arm. I barely had time to react. The
light was fast—like a lightning bolt—and it caught my leg.

I only got a chance to hit them once before I
hit the ground. The normally cold grass was warm with blood, and my
fingers curled through the soaking mud as the light landed on top
of me. Before I could even push them off, they flung off my
torso.

Jada was looking down at me. Her multicolored
eyes were the only stars I saw among the deathly night. “About time
you showed up.” Despite her small size, she yanked me up, and all
of the sounds broke my eardrums.

Clanging metals, shattering screams, tearing
flesh. I thought I heard someone throw up. My vision was blurry,
and for a moment, I swore I saw the snowflakes from the night of my
first battle, but my vision cleared, and I realized the whiteness
was Jada’s hair. It looked so much like Jessica’s when she was a
light.

Jada shouted at me, her mouth moving in
frantic movements, her jaw bouncing up and down, but it wasn’t her
that I heard.

“Why aren’t you with Pierce?” It was Jessica.
She was next to us, and she had already grabbed both of us. We were
running.

“Why isn’t Eric thinking?” Jada spat
back.

My real name curled through my heavy limbs. I
was freezing again. It didn’t matter if I were a human or a shade.
I always froze. I always remembered the blood—the life Abby lost,
both of the car wrecks, every person I would never see again.

“
Get it together,”
Jessica’s voice was
in my head. It hadn’t been in my head for so long, and I wanted it
to stay there, to drown out the dying cries of more shades I knew,
more students and humans and citizens I had known. But it
dissipated.

I could only watch Jessica’s black hair—her
shade hair—mix with the darkness as she pulled me after her. Jada’s
white strands were ahead of Jessica. Like a beacon, she guided us
through the crowd, broke through the people, and tore across the
forest I had crossed too many times to count.

It was the same forest where my mother had
killed herself.

As we entered the shelter, the amount of
black hair increased so much so that the memory of the bats flooded
over my vision. There were more shades than lights, but I could not
breathe.