TWENTY-FIVE
I
WAS ON MY BACK, staring up at a dull gray sky. Bits of ash
floated through the air, settling on my skin and
melting.
Melting?
I took a deep
breath, feeling icy cold pour into my lungs. Scattered flakes of
snow continued to float down steadily. A rustling sound was all
around me. The pressing heat of flames and suffocating smoke were
gone. I rolled over, crouching, trying to make sense of where I
was.
Slender, faded
yellow columns reached for the sky in straight rows, stretching for
what looked like a flat eternity, at last falling off into an
infinite horizon.
What the hell? My
hand brushed against a dried husk that lay on the frozen
earth.
Corn. Cornstalks. I
glanced at my feet; the earth below me was hard, caught in the grip
of winter’s chill, but even below the dusting of snow I could see
the darkness of the rich soil. A field.
Nearby I heard
someone gasping for breath. Adne rolled onto her side,
grimacing.
“Welcome back to
Iowa.”
“Where are we?” I
asked, shaking my head. My ears were still ringing.
“On the outer
perimeter of the Academy grounds,” Adne said.
Shay groaned,
rubbing his stomach. “I think I almost got impaled by a cornstalk.
Why aren’t we inside the Academy?”
“I didn’t want to
risk us being followed,” Adne said, standing up. “Don’t worry, it’s
not far.”
“Hey!” Connor’s
shout drew my attention.
Mason in wolf forms,
snarled, while Bryn stood apart from them trying to hold on to
Ansel, who kept moving away from her.
Nev was on his
knees. His hands were locked in a choke hold, holding something
against the ground—something that had Mason bristling, ready to
attack. Not something—someone.
“What the hell?”
Ethan turned and stared at him. He was still holding an unconscious
Sabine.
“Calla, what’s wrong
with them?” Connor asked.
As I got closer, I
could make out golden spikes of hair. It can’t
be.
I could hear words
gurgling from within the windpipe Nev was slowly
crushing.
“Pl . . . please,”
Logan choked. “I’m. . . . ungh . . . I’m . . . here . . . to . . .
help . . . you. . . .”
“Nev, wait,” I said,
grabbing his forearm. “What is he saying?”
“I don’t care.” Nev
scowled. Logan’s skin was turning blue.
I stared at them,
paralyzed by indecision, not blaming Nev for wanting to hurt the
Keeper. Logan remained pinned to the earth, squirming futilely as
air was cut off from his lungs. Nev’s face twisted with rage, his
grip on Logan’s throat ever tightening.
“Who is that?”
Connor was beside us.
“A Keeper,” I said.
“That’s Efron Bane’s son.”
“What the hell is he
doing here?” Connor blinked at Logan in disbelief. “And how did he
get here?”
“I have no idea,” I
said.
Logan pushed
futilely at Nev’s arms. His eyes rolled up at Connor.
“Save . . . them . .
. ,” Logan’s voice squeaked out. “Tristan . . . not . . . dead . .
.”
“What?” Connor
ducked forward, shoving Nev aside. Now it was Connor over Logan,
keeping him down with one booted foot to the chest. Logan gasped
and sputtered, reaching up to touch the dark bruises at his
throat.
Connor shook him.
“What did you just say?”
“Give me asylum.”
Logan coughed. “They’ll kill me if you send me back.”
“We’ll take care of
that for them,” Nev snarled, still crouching nearby. “You don’t
have to go anywhere.”
“Why would we ever
give refuge to a Keeper?” I asked, staring at Logan. I didn’t trust
him for a moment. He and his father represented everything that had
gone wrong in Vail. It was their fault Ren was . . .
The thought barreled
me over. Ren. I’d lost him forever. Worse than that, my betrayal
had turned him away from any life other than one that was dictated
by the Keepers. Tears filled my eyes and I stumbled back. I wanted
nothing more than to fall to my knees and claw Logan’s eyes out,
using his flesh to tear away the pain that knotted my
gut.
Shay was at my side,
putting his arms around me, his touch only making my guilt sting
like salt in a wound.
“Don’t,” I said,
pulling away.
Ethan gazed at Logan
with flat eyes. “Kill him.”
Connor nodded,
drawing his sword.
Adne gasped when
Logan began to laugh. “Such hypocrisy! I thought the Searchers were
supposed to be noble. Foolish, of course, but noble all the
same.”
“For a dead man you
sure jabber a lot,” Connor said, lowering the blade to Logan’s
throat.
Logan tensed but
kept smiling. “I only meant that if you hadn’t harbored one of my
kind, all of your hopes would be dashed already, wouldn’t
they?”
“What is he talking
about?” Bryn asked. She was listening even as she hovered near my
brother. Ansel kept sidling away from her, but she followed him,
trying to hold him in spite of his reticence.
“My father,” Shay
said quietly. “He’s talking about my father.”
“I knew there was a
reason you’re the Chosen One,” Logan said. “Remarkably
observant.”
“You aren’t
Tristan,” Ethan snapped.
“But I can help you
save him,” Logan said.
“What?” Shay darted
forward. “What do you mean?”
“What I’ve been
trying to say since I stowed away with you,” Logan replied. “Your
parents are alive.”
“You’re lying.” The
sword Shay held began to shake in his grip.
“Not when my life
depends on it,” Logan said. “Tristan and Sarah Doran are alive. You
can still save them.”
“What the hell is he
talking about?” Nev shouted, pacing next to Connor. “Kill that
bastard. I can’t stand the sight of him.”
Mason stalked
forward, hackles raised.
“No!” It was Shay
who blocked his line of attack before turning back to Logan. “What
do you mean, we can still save them? Where are they?”
Logan smiled slowly.
“If you want to know, I need assurance that I won’t be
harmed.”
“He’s lying,” Nev
hissed. “Shut him up now. Cut his tongue out.”
“Wait.” The words
wanted to stick in my throat, but I knew Shay was at least partly
right about this. “If he knows something about Shay’s parents, we
at least have to find out what it is.”
“How about if you
don’t tell us, I cut your tongue out?” Connor said, sheathing his
sword after Ethan tossed him a dagger.
Logan’s smile
vanished. “Barbarian.”
“I consider that a
compliment,” Connor said. “You gonna play ball?”
“Stop this!” Silas
limped forward, looking a bit singed. “If he has information, we’ll
go through an official interrogation.”
“I don’t think I
asked for your opinion,” Connor said.
“It’s protocol,”
Silas said. “Anika will be furious if you don’t follow it. If this
is indeed Efron Bane’s son, he’s not only a valuable informant. He
could be a priceless hostage.”
“Brainiac’s got a
point,” Ethan said.
Adne sprang forward,
one of her skeans raised. “I don’t give a damn about protocol! My
father and Isaac are dead because of the Keepers. I want his
blood!”
Connor knocked her
arm away at the last second, the slash of the skean’s sharp point
coming within inches of Logan’s cheek.
“Let me go!” Adne
shrieked, sobbing.
Logan was shaking,
his eyes bulging as he watched Adne brandish her skeans. “I swear I
have information you need. Plus if I wanted to harm you, wouldn’t I
have already summoned a wraith?”
No one answered him.
I hated that anything Logan said made sense.
Connor lifted his
foot and Logan propped himself up on his elbows, which inspired
Connor to level the dagger with Logan’s neck.
“If I give you
something,” Logan asked, “will you bring me to your
Arrow?”
“Depends on how much
we think it’s worth,” Connor muttered, his eyes fixed on Adne’s
struggle. “Your people have taken a lot from us today. And that’s
just today.”
“I can tell you
there’s a traitor in your midst. I’ll hand them to you as a sign of
good faith.” Logan’s shaking gave way to a smirk that sent a chill
skittering over my flesh.
“What traitor?”
Connor asked, rolling the edge of the blade along Logan’s
throat.
“How do you think we
found you?” Logan said. “We’ve been hunting you for years. Did you
think we just got lucky today?”
“Someone led you to
the Denver outpost,” Connor said.
“Someone you
trusted,” Logan said. “Someone you brought back from the
dead.”
“No,” Shay growled.
“You’re lying.” He stepped in front of me, shielding me from
something I did not yet know to be afraid of. What was he talking
about?
Logan smiled at him.
“You may have power, Scion. But not even you can protect her from
this.”
“You heartless
bastard,” Shay said. “Stop now or I’ll—”
“Or you’ll what?”
Logan said. “Would you kill me to hide the truth? Are my words a
crime when they’ll protect your allies?”
“What are you
talking about, Keeper?” Connor leaned down, pushing the dagger into
his flesh. “I’m losing patience with you.”
“Her brother,” Logan
choked against the blade’s pressure. “Calla’s brother. He made a
deal with my father and Lumine.”
“No,” I
whispered.
Mason snarled,
pawing at the earth.
Logan’s eyes were on
me. “It’s true. He betrayed you.”
I searched
frantically for Ansel, finding him cowering behind Bryn, who had
shifted into wolf form and was already growling as if to protect
him from impending attack. Mason ran to her, taking up a
sentry-like position at her side.
Oh God.
“He’s more of a
threat to you than I am,” Logan hissed.
Connor lifted the
dagger’s blade, looking up at me. “Calla?”
My throat had
closed. I turned away from Connor, darting toward Ansel. Bryn bared
her teeth at me, but I grabbed Ansel’s shoulders, shaking
him.
“Ansel, please. You
have to tell them the truth. Tell them you didn’t do
this!!”
Logan had to be
lying. He had to be.
The color had
leached from Ansel’s face; his eyes rolled up at me.
Hollow.
“They said they
would make me a wolf again.”
Bryn whimpered.
Mason barked, circling Ansel nervously while glancing at
me.
I backed away, limbs
trembling. I wished I could run—somehow escape this awful truth.
But I had nowhere to go.
Connor shook his
head. “We’d better sort this out with Anika.”
“Agreed,” Ethan
said. His eyes met mine briefly as he readjusted Sabine’s body in
his arms, but I couldn’t tell if he was angry or just full of
regret.
A sharp whistle came
from the dense maze of cornstalks around us, followed by several
others. One by one, Strikers, armed to the teeth, emerged from the
field around us, encircling our group.
My packmates stood
back to back, growling and facing off against the
Searchers.
“Wait!” I shouted,
throwing myself between the wolves and the approaching
warriors.
I was surprised when
Ethan came to my side, still cradling Sabine against his
chest.
“Stand down.” Anika
stepped out from among the warriors.
Nev, Bryn, and Mason
backed off slowly, watching the Searchers, still bristling, waiting
to see what would happen next. Ansel scrambled behind us, not
speaking, hunched over as if he wanted to be as small and
unremarkable as possible.
“Thank you,” Anika
said. She glanced at Ethan holding Sabine in his arms, then arched
an eyebrow at him. His grip on the unconscious girl only
tightened.
Anika’s gaze kept
moving. When it settled on Shay, seeing him unharmed, she seemed to
relax slightly.
She turned to
Connor, voice like a knife. “What is the meaning of an unscheduled
drop? And with Guardians in tow? You’re lucky we didn’t you attack
on sight.”
Connor didn’t
flinch. “Couldn’t be helped.”
“I expect a full
report.” She clucked her tongue. “Where is Monroe?”
“Dead,” Adne said.
“And the Keepers hit Denver.”
“How?” Anika gasped.
“What happened?”
Connor looked at me,
but he didn’t answer her.
“The alpha’s brother
turned on her,” Logan said, trying to sit up. Connor shoved him
back down.
“Who are you?” Anika
walked toward the pair.
“My name is Logan
Bane,” he said, glaring at Connor. “And I’m here to offer my help,
if your muscle doesn’t kill me first.”
“Bane?” Anika said.
“A Keeper?”
“Yes, I’m a Keeper,”
Logan said. “But I’ve abandoned my father and the rest of my kind.
I don’t belong there. I belong with you.”
“Not likely,” Connor
growled.
“You’d be a fool to
refuse my offer,” Logan snapped. “I’m handing you the Scion’s
parents.”
“Tristan and Sarah?”
Anika knelt beside Logan. “For your sake, I hope you’re telling the
truth.”
“I am.”
“Don’t listen to
him.” Adne pushed Connor away as he tried to grab her. “He’s a
Keeper. Anika, my father is dead!”
“Can we settle this
later?” Silas limped to Anika’s side. “I don’t know how much time
we have.”
Anika took in his
disheveled appearance, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“The Denver outpost
is compromised,” Silas said. “That’s why we’re uninvited guests. If
they managed to get their hands on the intelligence that’s housed
there before the building burned down, they’ll know where the
Academy is.”
The color slowly
drained from Anika’s face. “No.”
“Yes,” Silas said.
“The Academy must be moved. Now.”