The Gateway Through Which They Came (28 page)

Trevor’s leaning on his car in the driveway when I pull up along the sidewalk. He’s on his phone again, enthralled by that stupid game. Honestly, I can’t remember what our friendship was like before cellphones were involved.

“Hey!” I greet him.

He looks up, surprised, as if he didn’t hear Izzie chug up the street.

“Oh, dude, what’s up?” Shoving his phone into his pocket, he meets me halfway.

“You’re not gonna believe the shit that’s going on right now.” I glance around him and ask, “Where’s Evan?”

“He should be here soon. I asked him to stop off for snacks. Figured you’d want to tell me whatever it is in private.”

“Good call.” I consider for a second what the hell I’m doing here. Am I ready to drag my best friend into this predicament?

A nip of wind rustles the leaves as I contemplate exactly what to say. Christmas is in the air and the people of Portland have a way about decorating their houses to set the mood. Everything seems so cookie cutter perfect in his neighborhood, it’s almost too normal, considering. Trevor coughs and I shake my head. I let myself get distracted, and he’s patiently waiting for me to explain my visit.

“I need to know exactly what you saw that day in the dressing room. Anything you can tell me about what you heard. Where it came from. What it sounded like. Everything.”

Trevor’s lips pinch with the seriousness of the situation. It’s not like me to be so worked up, and he knows it.

“Okay,” he says. “Let me think. I mean, I remember the room being cold.” He looks down at his feet as if he’s picturing the day in his head. “I remember feeling like something was there. Something dark. I thought I saw…”

“What?” This is what I need, this one hint.

“It’s crazy, man. It was probably nothing.”

“Trevor, you’re talking to a guy who lets dead people walk through him. I think we’re past the crazy part.”

“Well…”

I can see in his face he doesn’t want to say. It’s not easy for someone to admit that things like this exist.

He sighs. “I thought I saw this dark mass, but I don’t know where it came from. It was just there and then… gone.”

I frown. Trevor’s encounter accounted for the dark shadow I saw on the track, but that doesn’t explain why it was there to begin with.

I come out and say it.

“Look, I think Justin might be a Gateway. If that’s true, he might be the reason some of this is happening.”

Trevor’s jaw nearly hits the ground at this. “What are you talking about? Justin Chase? What the hell is going on, Aiden?”

There’s no reason to hold back. He’s gonna find out eventually, either now or when the world ends. Might as well be now.

“Because I think there’s someone out there releasing these
things.
”

He nods, slowly, like he’s grasping the reality of it. “What happens if…”

But I don’t hear the rest of the question. Something’s lurking behind me and I turn in time to see the one-eyed soldier from the parade only inches from my face.

I jump back, ramming into Trevor, who manages to keep us from falling.

“What?” he yelps. He backs up the driveway toward the house. “Is something here? Right now?”

I keep my eye on the soldier, who does the same, his one eye narrowed in on me.

“What do you want?” I ask him.

“He said you can help me.” Each movement of his face makes the wound shift, allowing the muscles of the eye to move in ways I never wanted to think about. “He said you can help all of us, but you abandoned your duty the other night.”

“Why were there so many of you?”

“What the hell is going on, man?” Trevor exclaims behind me, but I ignore him.

The soldier stands tall and proper. His cold stare is tortured with memories I can’t begin to understand. “We’ve been promised salvation, but only by finding you.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the only one worthy enough.”

“What about other Gateways?”

He only blinks back at me, unresponsive. This isn’t the type of Bleeder I should mess with. He’s not a Dark One, at least not yet, but he’s a soldier. That definitely makes him more of a threat than most. He’s trained for combat. Maybe killed a person or two or more. What chance do I have against him?

“Aiden?” Trevor says behind me.

A car stereo blasting in the distance brings me back to now.

This Bleeder has no interest in the information I need, and I guess in some weird way I understand. I give in.

“Just do it,” I say to the soldier with a sigh.

He nods curtly as if his duty here is done, and to be fair, it is. He’s been through enough. I close my eyes, ready for the inevitable. My body accepts the exchange, bringing with it the sliver of cold expanding through my veins. A black haze encases me as the Bleeder makes his way to the other side. I almost withstand the last seconds of the unbearable temperature, until that familiar fire tears through my limbs, spreading like a disease. A scream erupts from my throat with a pain so intense, I can hardly breathe. Since when did being a Gateway become more about pain?

All that’s left of me when it’s done is my immobile body lying on Trevor’s driveway. A pool of sweat beneath me. Every muscle constricts in shock. My mind goes blank; binding me to a prison of darkness. I can faintly hear the words:
What the hell was that?

Then everything goes quiet.

wake up to a sharp prod to my ribs. My eyes spring open to see that I’m in Trevor’s room with Trevor and Evan staring back at me. Trevor looks as if he’s seen a ghost and Evan looks like someone who just found out their friend is a Gateway. In Evan’s hand is what looks like a chopstick extended out toward me. His eyes are wide as I push myself to a sitting position, rubbing the prick near my rib.

“Dude, did you just poke me with a stick?” I ask Evan.

With a quick shake of his head, he says, “What? No!”

“I’m not roadkill, for Christ’s sake.” I try to stand, but quickly fall back to the bed. My body feels like I got hit by a truck and dragged for fifty miles. “What the hell happened to me?”

Evan looks to Trevor. Seeing that all eyes are on him, Trevor shakes off the terrified gleam in his eye. “Well, do you want the good news first, or the bad news?”

Where is he going with this? “Why don’t we start with the good news?”

“Okay,” he says. “The good news is: we know where the shadows are coming from. The bad news is: they’re coming out of you.”

Silence sweeps through the room.

I’m pretty sure my brain shut down. It must have, because his words don’t compute. Evan turns from my face to Trevor’s and back, waiting for a reaction. At this point, there’s no doubt Trevor filled him in on my little secret. From the way he’s handling it, he’s in denial, or pure shock. As for me, I’m definitely the latter.

“Wait.” I can’t even form words to express what exactly to say in response to this. He has to be mistaken. “What—What are you even saying?”

Trevor looks me dead in the eye. “I’m saying, you’re
the
Gateway. You’re not just sending things away, man. You’re bringing them back.”

The switch. Did Koren know it this whole time? Is this what she’d been sent back to do? Turn me against myself.

If what Trevor’s saying is accurate, then the shadows are finding their way back each time the gate opens. The Dark Priest must be sending Bleeders my way because he knows. I’ve been his puppet the entire time. And Justin Chase… he’s just the same asshole he’s always been.

But if that’s the case, then who the hell is the other Gateway I’ve been sensing?

“The Dark Priest,” I say, distaste like oil on my tongue.

“What exactly is a Dark Priest?” Evan says.

I break away from my shock and answer. “The
thing
summoning the Shadows. He’s been using me, infecting me. He’s the reason why I can’t control my anger. I can feel it.” I tap a hand against my chest. “It’s in me.”

Evan looks shaken, like he can’t decide whether to believe what I’m saying or bail on it altogether. I wouldn’t blame him if he did. It’s Trevor who steps forward and says, “Tell me what I need to do.”

Without hesitation, I answer. “We need to find Koren. I have a feeling she has something to do with what’s happening to me.”

“If I find her at school, I’ll corner her. But if she’s not there?”

“I have an idea, but she could be long gone by now.” She could have run, or worse, she could already be a Dark One. “Keep your distance from her, Trevor. If you see her, call me. Don’t try to confront her yourself. She could be capable of anything.”

“I’ll help,” Evan’s bleak voice cuts in.

I turn to him. “I don’t expect you to do anything. Just forget this whole thing happened.” Pushing myself to my feet, I test the strength of my legs to ensure I have my equilibrium back. “Go home, Evan. This isn’t your problem.”

He shoots up from the floor, annoyed. “It’s not my problem, but you’re gonna throw Trevor in the middle of it? With no backup? That’s bullshit.”

Trevor looks as taken aback as I do.

“Listen, I don’t know what the hell is going on. I’m not even sure I understand, but if you guys are in this, then I’m in,” Evan says.

I don’t have the time for this buddy-buddy bullshit. “All right. You’re in. I have to go.”

Evan looks blindsided, as if he was expecting a fight. “Okay then,” he says.

He smiles like he just got accepted into some secret club. Why is it that Evan can make everything into some kind of game?

“There’s something I don’t get,” Trevor says.

I chuckle. “What? Besides the fact that dead things are being summoned from the depths of Hell?”

“Well, that and the fact that Evan and I can see the shadows. Why now? Why can’t we see Bleeders?”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“That’s just another piece of the puzzle,” I say.

I decide to scope out the mausoleum before heading home. Koren’s known from the beginning what’s happening to me—she said so herself. There’s no denying any longer that her presence in my life has more of an impact than I wanted to believe. Julie Martin was right. Sometimes when someone leaves, you’re better off. But the ache in my chest when I consider letting go is too great. I have to believe there’s still some good in her.