Stolen (14 page)

When everyone just stood there, Dizzy jumped back up and waved her arms. “Go, go, go!” She pulled out a twisted blade of her own, and when still no one moved,
she lunged at Monte
.

Within seconds, Monte’s forearm was bleeding, and everyone else was backing away, open-mouthed.

“You’re a Chosen,” Dizzy taunted, moving toward Anise. “Why don’t you act like one?”

She took a swipe at Anise as Julia heard Monte say, “The cut’s
gone
.”

Charles heard that and started going playfully for Carlin’s blade.

He got it, and Carlin turned and went for Julia’s. She seemed surprisingly adept for someone so passive-seeming, but Julia wouldn’t give it up without a fight. Dizzy had taken Meredith’s blade, leaving
Mer
with a bright red slash across her hand.

“There are more Nephilim than Chosen!” Meredith shouted, and she lunged at Dizzy.

Julia had slowed to watch, so she didn’t see Drew coming at her. He had her blade in seconds, but he didn’t cut her—just hopped around her, smiling in a way that seemed almost sympathetic.

“So this is kind of freaky,” Julia said, needing to raise her voice to speak over the eerie school-yard sound.

“Dizzy can be intense.”

“No. I mean the fact that this is even acceptable.”

“Oh, of course.”
 
But to Julia it was clear that he hadn’t considered it odd; and what did that say about this place?

“That’s even freakier,” she said.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s weird. And probably not as weird to me. But believe me, this is a first.”

Julia glanced at the others, to get their take, and realized Drew had been leading her away from the group. She turned back to him, and his face was serious. Future-seer + Intensity = OMG. She went
insta
-tense. “What?” Her first thought was Cayne, something with Cayne,
Oh God Cayne
—and she was right. Kind of.

Drew’s eyes were flat. “I saw your Nephilim somewhere…strange.”

“Strange? What? Where? What was he doing?”

Drew shook his head. “Just be careful.”

Julia opened her mouth to scream at him when she heard
Dizzy’s
voice nearby. “
Watcha
guys talking about?” Dizzy asked, and Julia jumped ten feet. The nasty girl stabbed Drew under his arm, then turned for a quick lunge at Julia. Julia jumped out of the way (she had tangled with
real
Nephilim, after all), and was able to bury her blade in
Dizzy’s
shoulder.

She barely had a moment to feel sick with herself before her vision cut in half and turned on its side.
 
She saw Dizzy stand, but her legs were up top and sideways, and Julia felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder.

She gasped, and forced herself to see the world the way it was. Dizzy swiped her upper thigh, but she returned the favor, jabbing Dizzy hard in her side. The other girl curled over on herself, and Julia snatched one of her daggers.

She felt another burst of confusion. But she didn’t have to take it, so she didn’t. She felt jittery and nervous, but she was intent on besting Dizzy. She started going for the girl’s remaining dagger, and pretty soon Carlin was helping her. When Julia finally wrenched it from the insane girl, she allowed herself the indulgence of a victor’s pose as Dizzy crumpled. Then everything went crazy.

Literally.
 
First, Julia couldn’t breathe. She fell to the floor, gasping, and saw Carlin do the same. She rolled, looking for help, trying to speak but she couldn’t do that either, and besides, everyone seemed to have vanished.

Then the ground started moving, a rolling wave that made Julia sick. The others had returned, and she could see them bobbing, struggling like she was. Everyone but Dizzy.

Suddenly all Julia could see was green-black—the ugly green-black of
Dizzy’s
aura. It had expanded, filling the room.
 
Julia was terrified, panicked as she tried to right herself and determine basic things like up and down. She knew this was an illusion, told herself it was, looked for the others.

She saw Drew across the room, or what she thought was Drew. He was a smear of amber, leaning on the floor, clutching his head. Carlin was hovering off the ground, hands over her eyes. Julia saw Meredith to her right, but her friend looked like static, fuzzing in and out, one minute beside her, the next across the room.

Julia’s world went
toppsy
turvey
again, and. Dizzy was over her, a writhing mess of green-black, and Julia felt something. Pain. Again, and again, and sharp and horrible enough that Julia realized she was getting
stabbed
—REPEATEDLY—and the dagger didn’t feel soft, it didn’t feel charmed, the cuts felt very real.

Julia screamed and thrashed, trying to get the crazy girl off of her. She tried to slam her Sight closed, but everything kept getting bigger, more intense, the pain more real and Julia wondered if she was going to die. Really wondered.

And then she saw it, the pinpoint of bright light, the one that had messed things up for her so much when she was living with the
Raysons
. But she wanted it this time, and it was like she was moving toward it—no, it was moving toward her, no, it was in her, coming out.

Julia embraced the light; she pushed it out of her, until everything was white, white like the sun, and Dizzy was gone and everything was.

And just as suddenly the light was gone. Julia felt like she was waking up. First she heard voices, frantic. Someone was shaking her—Drew. People were crying.

Julia sat up, and Drew’s rich brown eyes were roving over her. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

“Don’t try to get up too fast.”

And then he was gone, to a group that included everyone else who was up: Carlin, Drew, Monte, Charles.

Julia saw Meredith roll into a sitting position. She walked over to her on legs that felt like plastic and, shaking, pulled her up. Holding onto each other, they joined the rest of the group.

Marilee was in the center, on the ground. She was curled over on her side, her blonde curls smeared with blood. She wasn’t moving.

Stunned, Julia looked around and spied Dizzy across the room. She was rising onto her knees, clearly dazed.

“There she is,” Anise shouted, and almost as one the group moved toward her. Meredith stayed with Marilee, and Julia lingered in between, feeling frozen.

“What’s going on?” Dizzy asked when she realized what was happening. “You people better back up. I’m serious.”

“You killed Marilee,” Monte accused.

“What! She’s not dead!”

“Yes she is…”

Dizzy held one of the daggers in front of her and backed away. Seeing the thing reminded Julia of her own stabbing. She was a little surprised to look down and find herself intact. A loud shout made her head snap up.

“It’s not my fault,” Dizzy insisted, no trace of her usual maniacal confidence. “It was Julia that did it! Go get her!”

She sent out what felt like an actual wave of dizziness and tried to run, but Anise caught her arm. There was a struggle during which Dizzy screamed “Get off me!” and then she was down, and Julia watched as Anise, Carlin, Monte, Charles, and Drew stabbed her. All of them, over and over again until her blood was everywhere and she was limp, just like Marilee.

Chapter 15

Herbert rushed in some time later, and that was the worst. It took four Bishops to pull him from his sister, and after guiding Herbert to the infirmary, the Bishops made everyone go out into the hall, leaving the Candidates in a huddled mass under the glowing stone ceiling.

Bishops whisked in and out of the room—middle aged men and women in vest-trouser combos and dresses and tense, angry expressions—but none approached the Candidates. Meredith had her arms around Julia and was crying on her hair. Julia felt numb—with shock and fear that Dizzy was right…it had been her; she’d used that wild, explosive power again, and last time…

She shut the thought out and found herself picturing Cayne’s face, his voice, his soothing hands. This was
Dizzy’s
fault. Isn’t that what Cayne would tell her? She could almost hear him telling her not to blame herself. She’d focused her energy on Dizzy, so why would it have hurt Marilee? How could little Marilee be
dead
?
 

She was struggling to hold back tears when Nathan appeared a few minutes later. Before he even stopped walking, Drew lunged out and swung at him, catching his jaw with a loud pop. Nathan stumbled back, wide-eyed and clutching his face. “What the hell?”

“You tell me!”
 
Drew snapped. “Where were you?”

“In a meeting!” Nathan roared. “What’s going on here!”

“You don’t even know?” Drew was in Nathan’s face, and Julia thought they were going to get into a fist-fight (her money would have been on Nathan, but she would have pulled for Drew) before Monte stepped between them.

“Monte, please explain to me why Andrew—”

 
“Marilee’s dead!” Drew spat. “Fucking dead.”

And then he jerked his arm from Monte and stormed down the hall.

“It was Dizzy,” Monte said. “You should have been here.” And then he brushed by Nathan. The other Candidates followed. Nathan stared after them, mouth open slightly, face twisted. He turned to Meredith and Julia, his eyes using
Mer’s
face as an anchor.

“It’s true?”

Meredith was just staring, so Julia nodded, and Nathan brought a fist to his pale face. “Marilee? How?”

A little cry slipped from Meredith, and Julia said, “Dizzy.”

If possible, Nathan’s face blanched further. “What did she do?”

“She scrambled our heads. She was making us fight each other.”

“Marilee went down to her knees.” Meredith’s voice broke. “She just…never got up.”

“How could this—”

“How do you think?” Julia demanded, suddenly furious. “
Dizzy’s
f-
ing
crazy. I told you she was!”

Looking wounded, Nathan shook his head.

“Where were you?” Meredith asked sharply.

“I— I had a meeting.” His hands were held out, defensive.

“What kind?”

Nathan glanced at Julia, then to Meredith. “I…I can’t say.”

“Are you joking right now?” Meredith shook her head, her face a furious mess. “Come on Julia.”

“I’ll catch up.” Meredith hesitated, then said, “Fine,” and darted off. Nathan opened his mouth, but Meredith breezed by him before he could say anything.

His eyes were wide. He was clearly shocked. When Julia checked, his aura was inky black and shameful green.

Screw this crazy place.

 
“I want to leave.”

Nathan stared at her for a second, still at a loss. When he finally got his mouth moving, he said, “I’m going to find out what went wrong here, and I promise you, Julia, this is not how we do things.”

“I don’t care how you do things. I want to leave.”

“Please—”

“I want to see Cayne, and then I want to leave.” She would break him out, somehow. Even if things were still messed up, she owed him that. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”