Tremble (17 page)

“No.” She looks over at me apprehensively. “It’s raining. You probably heard thunder.”

I try to inventory how much caffeine I’ve managed to ingest this afternoon.

“Right.” I look out the window expecting nothing but a dark velvet night, a window moistened with raindrops, but….red?

I bolt from the couch and head over to the window behind the sofa my sisters are sitting on and touch the glass. Blood.

I run over to the back sliding door and face a crimson-stained world. Sliding it open an inch, the stench of rust comes in—clogs up my nostrils with a wild rancid odor. It’s everywhere.

“Why don’t you head upstairs and take a nap. I’l cal you for dinner.” My mother’s voice is swol en with concern.

I don’t argue. I take the stairs two by two, hit my bed fast, and text Logan.

Red rain? Bodies? He texts back. You know what’s stranger than that?

Does he think I’m joking?

What? ~S

Michelle swore to me she saw you with Marshall. Want to guess what she said you were doing?

Shit! Shit, shit, shit. I hate Marshal .

He found an arm for Chloe. MY arm. ~S

I can’t admit to him I agreed to do it, even if it was going to be less than a peck.

Logan doesn’t text me back.

He attacked me after school. He’s demented. He called me over and trapped me behind the dumpsters. I’m totally thinking about calling child services. ~S

Less than five seconds later. I heard you call his name. I saw you running over to him with my own eyes.

That’s because I saw a BODY! He’s a Sector. Remember? He saw it 2. BTW, I LOVE YOU!!! Please come over. ~S

The house starts in on a violent rattle. I drop the phone and hear it thump across the hardwood floor. The lights flicker on and off, then the whole room goes black with a palpable darkness. A strange buzzing fil s my ears, and it feels like I’m fal ing.

A violent clap of light so bril iant ignites around me, and I’m momentarily blinded.

Then, in perfect clarity, I see.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Eye for an Eye

A viscous fog surrounds me. I inhale it, taste it, feel it coat my lungs like honey. A man with long black hair stares back at me. He’s seated on a rather ornate throne that looks like it’s made entirely of blue rock candy, and there’s a wild fire burning on either side of him. It’s not until I get over the shock of the grandeur of this strange room made of light that I notice his right eye socket is empty and gaping.

I have the distinct feeling Marshal has something to do with this.

“You’re almost more trouble than you’re worth.” His voice booms much deeper and stronger than expected, causing the room to vibrate in rhythm. “Almost.” His eye blazes like fire and I can’t tel whether or not it’s a reflection I’m seeing. A rotating wheel lifts from under his chair and levitates him off the ground. “I could kil you now. Would you like to die?” He says it so cool, so casual, like offering lemonade.

The fire jumps and ignites on either side of me—it’s so hot my skin stings, then in a puff, it disappears as quick as it came.

The intensity was hotter than an oven. It blistered my flesh in a split second, and I want to cry out at the thought of what my father endured.

“The Countenance has decreed your blood paramount to their existence. Everything else these days means precious little to them. Your loss or victory against them wil change the tide of Nephilim supremacy.” He picks up a glowing hammer with a giant flat bottom and strikes it against a royal blue glass plate built into his armrest. “I ordain a civil war in thy name, Skyla Messenger, to commence in one fortnight. May you choose your al ies wisely and find the fortitude to continue in battle when they turn against you in number. Godspeed.” He lifts the glowing hammer again before connecting it violently against the glass.

Everything evaporates under the intensity of an ever-growing white light.

***

Flat on my back on the softest sofa in the world, I stare up at the high-beamed ceiling thankful to be anywhere but wherever the hel I just was.

“Skyla.” Marshal ’s voice booms from behind.

I sit up and find myself square in his living room.

“So what was that? Some stupid hal ucination?”

“You just missed Michel e.” He ignores my question, offering me a sip of something thick and orange from his glass. “She’s not that miffed at me anymore. She’s a piece of work—firework.” He flops down on the sofa across from me and widens his grin. The fireplace is crackling. There’s a bunch of pil ows lying around on the floor and suddenly I want to vomit.

“I went someplace. I saw this guy, and he had this hammer and now it’s ordained.” I stammer, stil shaking. I relay the entire event in sequence and wait for explanation.

“The hammer was a gavel,” he nods. “The blue thingy made of glass was a sapphire plate. The fact he ordained a civil war in your name is not something I would brag about, and his newly missing eye is in the competent hands of your boyfriend’s father—uncle.” He throws his hand in the air. “Whatever.”

“You took his eye?” I ask horrified.

“The kiss was that good, Skyla. I had to rectify my end of the deal. Besides, it’s a good eye—sees through wal s.”

“Crap.”

He holds a finger in the air.

“No language.”

“What happened?”

“Our kiss drew a little celestial attention. The Counts have upped the ante. They smel a powerful Celestra in the making, and now there’s a Sector by her side. It looks bad—leaves them shaking in their partial y human boots.”

“Is that why I’m seeing Fems? The guy with one eye sicked them after me?”

He winces.

“Rothel o—he has another name, but you wouldn’t understand it. Please, don’t refer to him as the guy with one eye.” He taps his fingertips together. “Skyla, choose me. Al this wil go away. No more nightmares, no wicked beings hovering, waiting to harm you. No more Ezrina.”

“I’m with…Gage,” I say, depleted.

“You’re not with Gage anymore than I’m with Michel e. The Counts are closing in. Ezrina was made to look like a fool brandishing your arm like a trophy, and here you’ve already got another one. Be my wife, and I’l protect you forever.”

“Wife?”

“We could be so much more. We could start a race al our own. Sector and Celestra. We could live in both dimensional planes at once, and our children would have dominion.”

I shake my head in disbelief.

“What are you going to do?” He continues. “Remove the Countenance from power? You and that bumbling band of Olivers you hope to procreate with someday?”

“El is…he’s one of them. He’l help.” It comes out flat, almost hopeless.

“You’re going to kil El is.”

“I’m not going to kil El is. I can’t.” The concept shocks me.

“I’ve seen this, Skyla. You can, and you do.”

I’m shaking. I need to get out of here and find Logan immediately.

“Logan and Gage are going to die. I can save one. Who would you like me to spare?” He asks with a pleasant smile on his face like we’re playing a game.

A breath gets caught in my throat. It’s another one of his stupid love tests. He’s trying to trip me up and make me say Logan.

“Neither.”

“One wil die, and I’l pardon the other. Your choice.” His demeanor changes, he looks deathly serious.

“I choose both Logan and Gage, and you can take their place.” I head to the door.

Marshal swoops over to meet me—catches me by the waist, and I relax into him.

“You can marry one. Who do you prefer?”

Love like a tuning fork. I close my eyes. Why does Marshal bother with words when his actions are so damn powerful?

“And if I choose you?” The words come out a shal ow whisper.

“I spare them both and bring back your father.”

Chapter Forty

Forget You

I beg Dr. Oliver to take my blood twice a month. The human body can replenish its supply in twenty-four hours. His rationale to only take one pint a month doesn’t hold water.

“Skyla,” he takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes with frustration. “It takes months for your marrow to produce hemoglobin. Drinking fluids doesn’t magical y create quality blood. You’l be exhausted. We run the risk of a cardiac episode.”

“Absolutely not.” Gage interjects. “Forget it. Chloe wil be here by summer. Trust me, that’s soon enough.”

“We need her. I need her. Didn’t you hear anything I said? A civil war in my name—in fourteen days. What if I’m gone by next summer? I’ve got Fems crawling around my house, at school, outside my window. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

“We’l try two pints.” Dr. Oliver gives a mock smile. “If you excuse me, I’ve got a corpse that needs tending.” He disappears behind the metal doors.

“Why do you need Chloe so bad?” His dimples wink when he says it.

“I need Chloe and Marshal to fal in love.”

“You want to feed Chloe to Mr. Dudley?”

“Exactly.”

I don’t tel Gage, Marshal is easy to love, that after one touch it’s rather hard not to.

***

Marshal al uded to the fact there’s a way to bring back my father. It only makes sense. He’s alive right now in another time and space that I can easily visit. Gage agrees to go back with me, and we appear in my bedroom on the floor next to an old pile of socks.

“I want to help you.” Gage tugs at my hand.

“You can’t come downstairs. If my dad finds out I have a boy up here, he’l kil us both, then die.”

He shakes his head. Gage looks are around the room as though he needs something.

“What?” If he has even the slightest plan, I want in on it.

“There’s a way to bring others back with you.”

“Like bring him with us? That’s perfect!” Why didn’t I think of that? Or Chloe for that matter? “Maybe we can bring Chloe back, and we don’t have to reanimate her?”

“From what I understand it’s easier to rebuild. But not your father, he needs another option.”

“I’l explain everything to him.” My mind races with the possibilities. “Once he knows what’s waiting for him, he’l gladly come with us.”

“It doesn’t work like that. If two come in, only two are al owed to go back.”

“So one of us wil have to stay?”

“I think so.” He rubs my back. “I don’t exactly know the rules. Go back and ask Chloe. She might understand the ins and outs.”

“Did she tel you about these rules?” I ask.

“No, it wasn’t her. Anyway, I don’t think we should try anything today. Just go down and hangout with your dad.” He rubs my shoulders up and down in an effort to encourage me. “I’l try and get some more details for you when we get back.”

“Who has the details?” My brows narrow in suspicion.

Gage doesn’t say anything, instead his lips press into a white solid line.

“Logan?”

He gives a hard exhale.

“He’s known how to bring my dad back al along and he wouldn’t tel me?” I can’t believe this.

“It’s not like that.”

“Easy for you to say. Your dad doesn’t die in a fire over and over each time you visit.”

“I know, I know.” His eyes oscil ate beneath his lids. “Skyla, we need to be careful. We could al burn and it’l be over. We have to do this right.”

***

I storm downstairs.

“Skyla?” My father cal s.

I head into the dining room and fal into a tight embrace with my dad. I take in his scent, feel his stubble riddled face against my cheek. I hate this. More than anything, I hate it.

“You remember when I was little and you would pick me up and spin me real y fast? I used to say it was like a carousel.” Maybe he’l tel me. It can evolve natural y and we could al go back to Paragon today.

“Yup. I can stil do it if you want to. Of course I’l need a wheelchair after— permanently.” He pul s his cheek to the side. “What’s going on?”

“I miss that. I miss you. It feels like I’m growing up so fast, like my life here just blinked by.” I pick at a stain on my jeans.

“Wel that’s sort of the way it is. And when you get to be my age, life starts going downhil at an amazing velocity.” He dive-bombs his hand through the air. “It’s al bil s al the time, no room for fun.”

“Don’t you think our life together was fun?”

“What do you mean was? Of course it is.”

Two black figures move across the lawn in the backyard, tal as ladders. Long black whips trail after them, and I’m afraid they’re tails.

I take in a breath and forget to let go.

“You OK?”

I want to say, no. I want to say, I think I see giant scary Fems creeping around in the backyard, but don’t. Instead I say something that even surprises me. “I think I’m going to get some air.”

***

My first inclination is to run upstairs to Gage, get the heck out of this Fem riddled Dodge, and return to Paragon ASAP, but I don’t. If something happens to Gage because of my incessant need to visit my father, I’l never forgive myself.

It’s warm outside. My flesh doesn’t know what to make of this luscious humid air. It feels like spring—like the summer that never was on Paragon. My heart melts when I see my mother’s lush, pink rose garden. There’s so much I’ve forgotten about, so much that I took for granted.

My old swing-set sits lank like a rusted out cadaver. Mia can hardly use it without the metal splitting or a piece fal ing apart.

Something thumps down hard on the lawn behind me. I turn my neck just enough, frozen at the thought of what it might be.

Two large humanoid panthers the color of a moonless sky squat with their arms spread out in front of them—claws like razors. Their tails cut through the air with ferocity.

Shit.

I can’t breathe, can’t move, and suddenly I badly regret not having Gage by my side.

I close my eyes and say his name. My eyes dart around searching the sky—the fence, hoping for his overgrown bird. I know in less than one minute I’m going to scream. I’m going to unleash al unholy hel , my father wil see me, and we’l both combust out of fear.

The beast on the left hisses and contorts his face into a heart-stopping grimace.

A flat nose shovel with a long yel ow handle leans against the outside wal of the garage. I make a run for it. It’s funny the things that go through your mind when you’re convinced you’re going to die. I think of El is and how he went to get the hammer for me, so I could bash in Carly’s windshield.