Storm (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Penelope

Connie is connected to tubes and wires and machines. Tears fill up my eyes as soon as Gran wheels me into her room. I did this to her with the void. I didn’t even know I had the power. It hadn’t worked since I was marked. If I had…accident or not, it w
as me. She’s here because of me. I was supposed to protect her.

“Just a few minutes, Penelope.”

I nod softly and Gran leaves me next to Connie’s bed. I take her hand, and it’s drier than usual. Connie would never let her skin get so dry. I’ll have to make sure Gran puts some lotion on them.

Steady beeps fill the room and I watch the dots move. It should be an encouragement, but it’s not. “I’m so sorry, Con,” I whisper.

I told Carter and the Triad and everyone else that I didn’t remember what happened. I was lying. I remember everything. That demon attacked us, and when Connie touched me, all the magic I’d been trying to call on came out. I can still see the way she looked at me when the magic started pouring out. Like I was a monster, dangerous. She was afraid of me. I could hear it in her voice as she pleaded with me to stop. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop and now Connie’s injured. The void did this, and it came from me. I almost killed my sister.

I hold back a sob and squeeze Connie’s hand. Hers in mind reminds me of being a kid.

When Mom was alive, there was a day where she was going to take us to the park. I was five and Connie was four and we insisted that we had to walk there without her holding our hands. “Behind us,” I’d insisted, and Mom didn’t fight me. Instead, she tied Connie’s hand to mine and looked at me. I can still her face, soft and round and peachy, when she said, “You’re holding her hand now. Protect your sister. Don’t let her wander off.”

We walked the two blocks to the park, hands tied together. Mom was behind us the whole way, but I felt invincible, strong, and I was ready to keep Connie safe. I was in such a hurry to get there that Connie couldn’t keep up and she fell, scratched her leg on the sidewalk. She cried, and I helped her up. I promised that we’d make it to the swings and then it would be all better. She believed me.

“Believe me now, Con,” I say to her.

I’m going to make this all better, too. I stroke her hair. Connie would not be happy about looking like she does right now. Dark circles under her eyes, hair all over the place and an unflattering hospital gown. I should braid it, pigtails, like when we were younger. She never needed it because her hair has always had this curl, but mine did. She wanted to be like me.

“What are you doing?” Gran asks.

I pull one side of Connie’s hair through my fingers. “Connie wouldn’t like this. I’m braiding her hair. We need a little concealer under her eyes, some lip gloss.”

“There’s no point right now in—”

“Gran. Don’t. She would want to look better.” I don’t mean to say it harshly, but I’m almost yelling. My sister is in a hospital bed because of me and I can’t help it. I’m supposed to protect her, and instead, I did this to her.

“I bet there’s some in her purse,” Gran says. She’s back a moment later and hands me some concealer. I apply to it Connie’s face, but Gran surprises me by braiding the other side of Connie’s hair. “You’re right. She wouldn’t want to look unkempt.”

I pull my gaze away from Gran’s tired face. No one should have to deal with this.

For a second, I think about telling Gran what happened. That I’m marked. That I did this, but then I stare at her and see the worry she carries. I can’t add that to her plate. Not right now.

Her cell phone rings and she makes a little annoyed sound when she checks it. She passes it to me, still ringing. “Ric,” she says. “He’s called every few hours.”

Hand shaking, I take the phone and answer.

“Thank God,” he breaths into the receiver. I can hear the relief in his voice. “It’s you. You’re awake.”

“It’s me,” I whisper, squeezing the phone tighter in my grasp.

He sighs on the line. “I thought I lost you. I couldn’t do that again. I couldn’t.”

“I’m alive, and I’m right here,” I say. He thinks I’m talking to him, but I’m really reminding myself.

…

Hospitals are creepy at night. Even though I’ve been moved from ICU, it’s unsettling that people are dying around me. That, plus the fact that every time I close my eyes, someone else is in my room, checking my vitals, checking my blood pressure, checking my IV, poking at me to make sure I’m still alive. Spoiler: I am.

Even when there’s no one in my room, I hear them. Walking outside, and the beeping. Sounds of people crying out in their sleep, or awake and in pain. They echo through the long hallways and I’m supposed to be able to sleep. Right.

It doesn’t help that every time I try to sleep, I dream that I’m back in the street, tossing my sister into a wall with my magic. Only in my dream I’m more destructive. I’m light and power that ripples across everything, turning over cars, knocking out Nons, destroying the witches who try to stop me. I don’t want to dream about that.

I pretend I’m somewhere else. Cuddled into Carter’s arms or eating burritos with Ric or shopping with my sister. Anywhere else that’s not a hospital.

“Penelope,” a voice says. It’s one I recognize, even though I shouldn’t, and my eyes bolt open. Lia stands at the end of my bed. “Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but you’re a popular girl. It’s hard to get in.”

“Then leave.” I don’t want her here.

There’s a silent pause in the room and then, “How’s your sister?”

The sound of my heartbeat fills my ears. “You know about that?”

“Everyone does. You used the void, a lot of it.”

I shake my head. “Can you fix her?”

Lia walks around my bed to the left side of me so she’s closer. “You have to use the void to undo magic done by the void.”

“Then you can heal her.”

She shakes her head. “You’re the one who wielded the magic. You call the magic back to yourself and undo it.”

This is so frustrating. “But I don’t know what I did. I didn’t even mean to do it.”

“I told you that you needed me.”

I scoff. “You knew this would happen?”

“No,” she says. “But I told you that you still had the void. You can’t deny this part of yourself. In fact, you have to embrace it and fully become one with the void.”

“Meaning…?”

The demon leans into me. “You have to become a demon by being connected fully and only to the void. Temporarily, at least.” I stare at Lia. That’s not what I want to hear.

“I’m not going to do that. No way,” I say. This is crazy talk. Become a demon? No.

“This is for your sister, and for the Statics. You want to save them? This is the way.”

I close my eyes. Lia told me the same thing before. I didn’t have a chance to figure out what any of it meant since our last talk on the hill. How many Statics have manifested or died in the time I’ve been asleep?

“How did they even get the power from me?” I ask.

“You passed it to them, at least that’s what I can gather. That power from the demons that disappeared had to go somewhere—and you were the nearest doorway for the magic to get out. Maybe you came into contact with one or two Statics, empty vessels built for magic they don’t have.”

Taylor Plum. She was always so friendly, and she hugged me in the Nucleus House. She hugged me, got power, and died. She was going to a Static meeting so she could’ve passed it on to them—I really did give her magic. I killed her. And she killed Maple, and Ric is gone and my sister is dying next door. My own stubbornness, my determination to have magic, to be an Enforcer, to find Azsis—all of this is because of me.

Despair crushes my chest, and I breathe in as much as air as I can. It’s not enough.

“You’re saying I can undo all of the things that have happened. How? The dead can’t come back to life.”

Lia shakes her head. “No, you can’t bring back the dead—but more can be prevented. You need to perform the Restitution and undo it all, reset everything that was before. To do that, you need to use the void.”

“Why do you want to be human so badly?” All the guilt, all the sadness, I really think that being a demon would mean none of that.

She runs a finger along the edge of the hospital bed and circles around me, lost in thought. Was what her life like that Lia wants to return so badly? “We all make mistakes. We all wish we could undo whatever it was we did, Non, witch, and demon alike. I had a life. A good life, and I can have it again. You can have the power you’ve always wanted. You can save your sister, and all the Statics.”

I swallow back all of my fears, and the uncertainty about how crazy this sounds. It is crazy.

“How does this work? You said I had to become a demon?” I ask. I need to make sure I fully understand what I’m doing here. Why is it worth me risking all that I am, even for my sister?

“The Restitution will remove the void from me, making me human. That magic has to go somewhere, so we’ll make it go into you. You’ll have complete control over the void.”

“I’ll be a full demon.”

“You’ll be a new demon, essentially. It will strip away whatever remains of your essence, whatever connections you had before. You’ll reset everything that was before. Then, you’ll have the void and the power to undo it.”

“And I’ll be a demon.”

“Temporarily,” she says. “Until you capture Azsis and do the whole thing again to restore your full essence. It’s a cycle, a balance.”

I’ll become a demon. A full T-total demon. “You’re sure that’s how it works? That it will reset everything with my sister and all the Statics?”

“Yes,” she says. “The magic you put out there belongs to you. If you have enough power, you can call it all back. The more control you have, the more powerful you’ll be. Right now, it controls you.”

“This is too much,” I say. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I shouldn’t agree to this, to becoming a demon—even for an hour—but what are my other options? A scaly hand appears on my forearm and I never imagined being consoled by a demon. She pulls her hand away quickly, only to grab my own hand instead.

Lia holds my hand in the air between us. My pinky fingernail is completely black now, and from it, a couple small lines that trail down to my top knuckle. It’s gotten worse.

“What is that?” I ask.

“The void,” she says.

I run my finger down the black marks on my skin. In my skin, rather. “Is it turning my blood black?”

Lia nods. “It’s a powerful magic. Until you learn to command it, to manipulate it, and accept it, it will consume you.”

I can’t believe I’m even considering this. I jerk my hand away from the demon’s. “I don’t want this.”

“I respect your decision. Be prepared then for what’s to come.” The demon turns to walk away.
Good, leave. I don’t need you.
But it’s a lie.

“What’s to come?” I ask.

Mauve turns around to me. “Your sister and those Statics that are dying? That’s the beginning. How many people you will have destroyed by your magic before you accept that you are more? That you have demon blood and demon magic? You can’t ignore it—the void won’t let you.”

“If I do this,” I say, “how long until we can fix Connie?”

“She has a timeline,” Lia stares at me before continuing. “Thirty days, or less, before it kills her. She can’t sustain the void. We should do it on the Observance, that would give us plenty of time, and it’s a powerful night for magic.”

I inhale and close my eyes. Thirty days or less until my sister dies. We’ve already wasted almost three being asleep. “Even though she’s technically a halfling, too?”

“You and she aren’t the same. She has an essence—you do not. Halflings have two magics fighting inside them—Carter has that, too—and the essence will always win that fight. But when more void is added, as it was with Connie, it becomes stronger. The essence will fight that. It will fight for her. It’s the fighting that kills her.”

“But not me, since I don’t have an essence. It’s free reign for the void.”

Lia nods. “Exactly. If a full-blooded witch had been hit with the same power that Connie was, he or she would already be dead. The demon part of your sister is saving her life, temporarily.”

In the silence, the clock on the wall is practically taunting me. Tick tock. My sister is on a timeline. Tick tock. I have to save her. Time is running out. I’m in a race here to become one with the void. To become a temporary demon, or let them all be destroyed.

I can’t live with that for the rest of my life. I can’t live knowing I did nothing to save them all, and I could’ve.

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll do it.”

Lia smiles and moves toward me. “There’s a way we make deals with demons,” she says.

“I’m not kissing you,” I snap.

“No kissing required unless you’re a Non,” she says. One of Lia’s claws appears and she sticks herself with it. Blood drips from the tip of her finger.

“A blood oath.”

“Unbreakable,” she says. “I, Lia, will teach you, Penelope, how to harness the void and save your sister, then you will help me with my task.” She pushes the point of her finger toward me and I gulp. This is a big deal. No going back on a blood oath. What would Carter say if he found out what I was doing? What would anyone say? They’d definitely not approve.

But it’s the only way for them and for me.

I press the tip of the Lia’s claw into my finger until my own blood comes out.

“I swear on my blood,” she says.

“I swear on my blood,” I repeat, and then our fingers meet so the blood intermingles. As soon as it touches, there’s a shock and a spark of light between us. I’m now sealed into a promise with a demon.

“You can call me when you’re out of here,” the demon says.

You can call me stupid.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Carter

Penelope seems off. For the last six days, ever since she got out of the hospital, she’s been somewhere else even when she’s sitting next to me. She’s been snappy and giving short one-word answers. She’s worried, but I want her to talk to me. She used to tell me things, now it’s like I’m a stranger.

She sits across from me, staring off into nothing. I stretch my hand across the table to grab hers. She
pulls away from me.

It’s been like that, too.

“Hey,” I say, pulling at her sleeve until she looks at me. That’s another thing. She’s been wearing long sleeves for a week. It’s August. I’m trying not to be invasive, but with Connie, the Statics, and Pen being marked, there’s a lot going on. But there’s this look in her eyes. A little broken, but desperate and determined. It’s a look that reminds me of my dad, of what happens when who he really is seeps out behind the mask of arrogance. Those moments, rare as they are, are the hardest to process.

I tap my fingers on the side of my coffee cup. “Where’s your head?”

“I’m fine. It’s been a long week. I feel like I should be doing something.”

“You’ve only been out of the hospital six days, Pen. Take care of yourself first.”

She flashes a weak, and fake, smile. That’s become the norm for her, but I see through it the same way she can see through mine. “You’re right, but it’s hard.”

Pen rubs her wrist where the mark is. I can’t see the gold anymore, but I know it’s still there. Maybe that’s the problem. The mark. I think back on the articles I read. The effects happened over time. I should tell her. I’ve been trying to tell her for days.

“Can you turn that thing off?” Pen snaps, pointing at my phone. It’s vibrating again. The WNN is in full swing with Statics. I snatch up my phone from the table and look at the time.

“I need to go, anyway,” I say. “Static class today,” I say, kissing her cheek gently.

She nods and picks up her coffee cup. “I should check in with Gran and Pop, go see Connie.”

Now’s not the time to tell her. Besides, what if it’s not the mark? It could be the stress of everything. If I tell her then I’ll be making it worse, especially when it turns out to be nothing. “I’ll see you later.”

As I get in my car, I have the realization that this is one more thing I have in common with my dad. We’ll both keep the truth a secret if it means saving someone we love.

…

Classes for the Statics started three days ago. Today’s the first day we’ve had double digit attendance: Twelve. It doesn’t seem like many in the scheme of things, but it is. At least they’re coming.

“Let’s start with the control formulas,” I say. If they can’t control their magic, then they can’t do anything.

The class jumps into action, spreading out across the training room. Four newbies partner up with some of the Statics from the first classes. The first day is the hardest. The void, even when it’s tainted like this is, doesn’t work like the essence. Somehow this magic is in between. The essence creates by pulling from the elements, and the void from nothing. This is more essence, but also tainted by thoughts. It would all be so much easier if Pen could be here.

I watch as one kid in the class, Ash, starts a simulation demon attack with a newbie. She moves quicker than most Enforcers I’ve seen. Her magic is strong, and she’s learned control quickly. The whole simulation is over in less than a minute, and the newbies’ eyes are huge.

“Good job, Ash,” I yell out. She gives me a thumbs up.

Around the room, this is the standard. Simulations and training, using techniques to move items and learn basic control. I stop in the back corner and watch a boy named JC. He’s young, maybe thirteen, and the only one in his family that hasn’t had magic. Until now. He’s been here every day.

JC turns on the simulation and dives around a demon, under another’s legs and is on his feet in seconds. He slides across the floor, grabbing a salt gun from the rack on the wall. The two demons lunge toward him, but he calls out a spell and sends one into the wall. The other uses magic on him and knocks the gun from his hand. The demon snarls, and moves across the room in a second. JC is ready, and uses magic to hang him from the ceiling. In a swift movement, he tosses salt and yells the incantation, and simulation demon explodes. Demon two sneaks around the back of the room behind his back, but JC calls up the gun with the magic and pulls the trigger as soon as it hits his palm. No more demons.

Everyone cheers as he finishes and he stands there with a big smile. The others slap him on the back and then go back to their other places. As I turn away, I notice the look on his face change and it makes me pause. He stumbles forward.

“JC?”

He looks over at me, eyes wide and face pale. Shit. “JC!”

Wordlessly, he caves to his knees and falls over. I race over to him, but he’s already sprawled out on the ground. I know before I touch him that he’s already dead.

…

My dad’s quiet. I sit across from him in his office, but neither of us speak. It’s a rare thing to see him worried. I can’t say that I’ve seen it much before in my life. He buries his head in his hands, not making a noise, and I sit there, staring, not sure what to say. While I’m still processing his reaction, he pops his head up, clears his throat, straightens out his jacket, and looks at me. Moment’s over, I guess.

There’s a knock on the door before Sabrina and Rafe come in without waiting for a response.

“JC’s parents have taken him home. They are such faithful servants, it’s a shame this happened,” Rafe says.

Sabrina looks at him. “Perhaps we were wrong to encourage the use of magic in this way.”

“It’s not wrong. They’re learning. It’s been three days.” I say. I can’t believe her sometimes.

She puts her hands on her hips. “Three days and how many have come? This isn’t solving the problem.”

I stand and the chair scratches the floor. “You haven’t even given it a chance.”

“How many have died during your ‘chance’?” Sabrina says cooly, even though she’s only inches from my face. It’s been three days. They can’t expect it to work out overnight.

“Sixty,” Dad says, and all three of us look at him. “Sixty Statics have died in five days.”

“And how many more must die before we take action?” Sabrina asks, turning away from me to my dad. This is bullshit. He can’t be listening to this. Dad’s eyes look between us before he stands.

“What action would you like to take?”

“What?” I shout. This is wrong.

Rafe holds out his hands in front of him. “Whatever the cause, it’s obvious that the magic is behind it. It’s the magic we must control.”

“The solution is to get rid of the magic,” Sabrina says. She means the mark, even if she doesn’t say it, back to the original plan. “It will prevent any further deaths and any further disruptions.”

Rafe, Sabrina, and Dad all share a glance. Dad sighs, his whole body moving, and strokes a hand over his bushy beard. He can’t be considering this.

“I’ve researched the mark. It made all the witches who had it crazy. You’re asking for trouble if you pass it around to everyone. You have no idea what the response will be. This isn’t normal magic, you’ve said it yourself,” I say.

“You researched it?” Dad asks.

“You gave it to Penelope,” as if that’s all the explanation he needs. That’s not the point of this conversation at all. “Besides, you’ll never have enough time or magic to mark all the Statics.”

Sabrina crosses her arms. “I’ve already trained the reserves. I did it in case your plan failed, which it has. Victor, I know he’s your son, but think about the good of everyone. Our world is in danger.”

I shoot her a glance. She’s trained them on giving the mark? Dad looks as surprised as I am. She can’t go behind his back like that, can she?

“How many are trained?” he asks.

“Father.”

“Forty Enforcers,” Sabrina says, barely containing her smile.

I lean into my dad, hands pressed on the desk. “Don’t do this. It could kill them,” I say.

“They’ll die anyway,” Sabrina says.

The room is quiet. Rafe doesn’t say anything. Dad rests two fingers on his temple, thinking. What’s there to think about? This is dangerous.

Dad straightens his posture. “Gather them, and split the city up into sections. We’ll start tonight.”

I can’t believe him. All of them. I leave the room and let the door slam behind me.