Incubus (24 page)

unintentional.

I heard the door open in the foyer.

“Braedyn?” Dad called.

“In here,” I said.

Dad and Lucas entered. Lucas looked haggard. He must have just returned from the hunt for the

Thrall. He rubbed his hands together, blowing over them.

“Where’s Seth?” Dad asked.

We heard the microwave beep from the kitchen. A few seconds later, Seth returned with two

steaming mugs of tea. He saw Dad and set the cups down, eager for any news.

“Let’s get comfortable,” Dad said. “I’ll fill everyone in, but I think it’s going to be a long night.”

Dad led Seth into the living room. I picked my cup of tea up and handed it to Lucas. Our hands

brushed.

“Your fingers are like ice,” I murmured. He took the tea gratefully, wrapping his hands around it.

“You didn’t find her.” It wasn’t a question. I could see the truth in his face. In confirmation, he shook

his head no.

“Hale called off the hunt,” he said quietly.

I nodded. “Finding Angela is more important right now.”

We headed into the living room to wait with Dad and Seth. Dad filled us in. The Guard had set out

in teams to search for Seth’s mom anywhere it made sense for her to go. Once again, we were left

waiting.

“You’re going to stay with us until we find her,” Dad told Seth. I glanced at Dad, surprised. He

saw my look and inclined his head toward the guest room. “We’ve got space, and I’d rather have you

somewhere safe until we know more.”

“What if we can’t find her?” Seth asked.

“Now’s not the time for those kinds of questions,” Dad said, offering Seth a smile full of

confidence. “There are still plenty of explanations for her disappearance. With any luck, she’ll turn up

tomorrow before sunrise.”

But the sun came up, and Angela Linwood was still nowhere to be found. After a full night of

searching, Hale made the decision to call the Guard in. Half of the team were sent to bed to get what

sleep they could while the other half continued the search. They’d take six hour shifts until Angela

was found.

Dad left us to join the search a little after dawn.

Lucas and I stayed home from school with Seth that day. There was no way he’d be able to sit

through a whole day of classes while his mom was missing, and we didn’t want to abandon him. As

the sun climbed in the east, our thoughts turned to the possible reasons behind her disappearance.

“What do you think your mom discovered?” Lucas asked.

“It had to be something about the ritual,” Seth answered. “It’s the only thing she’s been able to

talk about for weeks.”

“Something about the vessel?” I asked.

“I don’t think so.” Seth’s expression turned thoughtful. “I think she would have said.”

“Do you know what she was looking at before she left?”

“I don’t know,” Seth said, miserable. “Some book. She had it at home. But I don’t know if she took

it with her when she left.” He looked up, stricken. “I didn’t think to check her office.”

“It wasn’t your responsibility,” Lucas said.

“I didn’t want to mess with her stuff,” Seth explained, as though we were judging him. “She hates

it when people mess with her stuff.” His voice wavered, and I was afraid he was on the verge of losing

it again. “But—if she doesn’t come back?”

I stood. The guys looked at me, startled by the sudden movement.

“I’m tired of waiting,” I said. It was true. The fear of the night had been tamped down by

exhaustion.

“What choice do we have?” Lucas asked.

“I’m going to find her myself,” I said.

“You can’t leave,” Seth grabbed my hand. Lucas saw the movement and raised an eyebrow, but

didn’t offer comment.

“Don’t worry,” I said, lowering myself to the rug. “I don’t have to go anywhere.”

If there was one thing exhaustion was good for, it was this. I slipped into the dream without any effort

at all. My rose garden was exactly as I’d left it, the wall as solid and impenetrable as ever.

I knelt on the ground and placed my hand into dirt that felt pleasantly warm against my skin.

This time I had to will a hole down deeper, through the fortress surrounding my mind, before I

could draw a pool of the infinite dream up into the dirt. Star-like dreams dusted across the inky

expanse. When I concentrated on them, they began to move.

“Angela Linwood,” I called. I’d found Lucas once when he’d been awake. His dream had flickered

dimly—his spirit had been more present in the physical world than the dream world—but I’d still

been able to find him. As long as we breathe, we are tied to the shared dream. And so when I

summoned Angela’s dream, I knew something was wrong.

Where her dream should have been, there was only a faint haze.

Confused, I closed my hand around it, willing myself into her mind.

Strong arms caught me from behind. I dropped the books I’d been carrying out of the college

library. They fell, falling open like great, multi-winged butterflies. I felt a pang of horror. Some of

these books had been printed before my grandparents had been born. But as I struggled to reach for

them I felt a ripping sensation at my throat. The next breath came, wet and heavy. And suddenly I was

stumbling to the ground. I stared at the dark red spots growing on the pages of my books. It took more

than a second to realize it was my blood. More spots had fallen on the creased skin of my hands, and

as I studied them I was surprised by how old they looked—

Old hands. Not my hands. Angela’s hands. I jerked back out of the haze, stumbling away from the

pool of stars at my feet. No.
No.
I wasn’t thinking clearly. I needed answers.

“Karayan,” I said, willing her to hear me. I sensed her attention turn toward me, then felt her

choose to ignore me. “Please.” I pulled slightly on the thread of her awareness. The resistance grew.

So I pulled harder.

Karayan appeared, gasping. She spun on me, eyes crackling with fury. “So that’s how it’s going to

be? You shove me out when you don’t like what I have to say, then yank me back when you need

something—no matter whether or not I
want
to come?”

“Karayan.” My voice was faint.

“No,” she said. “I’m not your little Barbie doll, Braedyn. And I don’t want to be involved. One of

the Three is coming back, hunting the incubus. You don’t want to be anywhere near this thing when it

happens, trust me.”

Shock still coursed through my body, but her words penetrated into my mind, shedding a ray of

hope. “Sansenoy?” I asked. What if he was coming back because we were close? What if he

anticipated our success, knew we’d be able to lock the seal, and he was preparing to grant the promise

he’d made to me last year?

Karayan shook her head. “It’s sick that you find this so comforting,” she said. “You do realize they

are our sworn enemies, and I mean that
literally.
As in, they swore an actual, literal
oath
to stamp us

out.”

I turned back to the faint haze that should have been Angela Linwood’s dream.

“So that’s it? Now I get the silent treatment?” Karayan crossed her arms, still irked. Then she saw

the haze, still hovering above the pool of stars. “Oh.”

I looked at her, but I already knew what she was going to say. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”

Karayan nodded. “Dream energy takes a while to dissipate after—” she touched the haze, then

winced, pulling her hand back. “A hard death.” She glanced at me. “Who was she?”

“A friend.” I looked down at my hands, summoning the strength to tell Seth his mother was dead.

I opened my eyes. Lucas and Seth were watching my face, hungry for news.

I sat up, then turned toward them with a heavy heart. They saw the truth in my eyes before I

gathered the courage to speak.

“No...” Seth whispered.

“Seth.” I ached for him. “I’m so sorry.”

Seth fled to the back room.

Lucas stood. “I’ll go tell Hale.”

“Tell him to have the Guard search the college campus for her body,” I said.

Lucas gave me a solemn, searching look. Then he walked to the foyer, opened the front door, and

left. He returned a few minutes later. We sat together on the couch, afraid to touch, listening to the

harsh, wracking grief that poured from Seth in the back room.

30 minutes later, at 10:45 in the morning, Dad called with news. I’d been right. They’d found her

body. Angela Linwood had been murdered.

They didn’t return until close to nine o’clock that night. The police had questions. The coroner needed

to make an identification. There were forms upon forms that needed to be filled out. Rather than put

Seth through the pain of seeing his mother’s body, Dad and Gretchen had identified it.

When they walked through the front door that night, I could see the toll the day had taken on them

both. Wordlessly, Gretchen held her arms out to Lucas. He walked to her and they held each other

fiercely. I turned away, giving them their privacy.

Dad pulled me into a hug and I gripped him tight.

“I would die if anything happened to you,” I said.

“No, you wouldn’t,” he said sharply. I pulled back to look into his face, startled by the vehemence

behind his words. Dad brushed a loose strand of my hair back behind one ear. “I love you. I know how

strong you are. If anything ever happened to me, I know you’d do the right thing.”