A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 55
As the door swung open, Jace looked at me. He shared the same fatigue. The werewolf held it better.
Virginia, on the other hand, looked fresh. She strode right in, clicking her tongue. She was like some pompous aunt unhappy at my terrible appearance while she looked perfect.
Jace and I had probably endured the worst days of our lives. Virginia still looked stunning from head to foot. She now crossed her arms over a crisp white cashmere top that really brought out the platinum hues in her shocking blond hair.
It was almost too much to bear.
I didn’t control my expression around her.
It was clear she had come to make an example of me. “If you are to continue to receive the protection of this pack, your behavior will change.”
“Behavior, huh?” I said, my lips white. “Is this where you’re going to thank me for saving the compound wolves?”
She couldn’t cross her arms any tighter. Nor could her glower become harder. “While doing significant damage to city infrastructure,” she snapped.
So they’d found out about the fire at the flood tunnels, huh? And the damage. And the cave-in. And the maintenance building. Heck, they’d probably also found out about the stolen car.
My head got a little numb, thoughts like sticky toffee. “So I should have left the pack wolves there, then?”
“We would have saved them. And it would have been a cleaner operation.”
“Would you have also captured the Wizard King and stripped his magic, Virginia?” I asked in a tone that could kill.
Her cheek twitched. But that was it, the only acknowledgment I’d ever get.
I got it. Virginia came from a different world. She was steeped in the traditions of power and intrigue, while I kept drowning underneath them. But couldn’t she see how stupid and self-serving this was? She wasn’t helping anybody here. Who cared if her desire was ultimately to put the pack in a stronger position? If she kept going about it like this, she’d destroy the Mythos pack instead.
And at what cost to the city? Surely she could see it was pointless to leave everybody else behind?
But there was no common sense with somebody like Virginia. She couldn’t even see the same world I inhabited.
I kept thinking that Jace would do something. Instead, he stood there, shoulders rounded, big shadows underneath his eyes. He somehow looked worse for wear than I was.
“It will cost us a lot to pay for your mistakes,” Virginia began.
I couldn’t turn from Jace. “The mistake of saving the pack and Kelsey—”
“By the sound of it, you condemned Kelsey,” Virginia said in a careful tone that told me she knew exactly what had transpired. Either Kelsey was awake… or what? Virginia had asked the other wolves? They wouldn’t know.
God, she was hiding something big. I still didn’t know if she was working with our enemies, but she certainly wasn’t telling the full truth.
A rush of anger collided with sheer fatigue and turned into something toxic. I shoved my chin out. “Condemned her, huh? I’m the one who fought like crazy and saved her from the Wizard King. He’d given her an overdose of that berserker drug. He wanted me to take her magic, you know, kill her? I didn’t. I saved her. And while I was doing that,” I snarled, “where were you, Virginia? Close by, I imagine. But not close enough to help.”
It was a targeted question.
Virginia’s lips crumpled into thin white lines. “It is now becoming clear that you cannot learn your place.”
“And where’s that? Trampled beneath your heel?”
Jace looked increasingly uncomfortable. But he didn’t say anything.
I owed so much to him. And I couldn’t deny how I felt. But now everything was coming to a head. He had to pick a side.
My stupid brain told me that whoever he rebuked first would be the person he ultimately rejected.
“You have no idea how to act properly. You act rashly. You never make contact. You decide what you want to do—” Virginia began.
“Like you, Virginia? Did you tell Jace yet? The full truth? That you were down in the sewage system—”
“Enough,” Jace snapped. “Serena—”
I got my answer. Jace rebuked me first.
I felt cold all over, like someone had slapped me then thrown me into an ice bucket. I wasn’t technically facing Jace, though I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Now I turned from him slightly, and it felt like the world’s most important move.
Jace didn’t need continued kicks in the guts. He’d almost lost his entire pack last night. Then his position as Alpha. He was still precarious. But I couldn’t face him.
How stupid could he be to trust Virginia? The rational part of my mind said he simply had to hold on to power. And she was a convenient method to do that. The rest of me didn’t care. I was too tired to see reason.
Virginia pushed her elegant chin out. “From this point on, your door will remain locked. You will live in this room. Meals will be brought to you—”
“You cannot make those decisions on your own,” Jace said, quickly snapping to my defense. He even sought out my gaze, but I wouldn’t look at him. Not once.
“The pack is in a precarious position. We cannot devote resources to looking after this child. This is the only rational way forward. Now, my dear, we have things to organize. The wedding is now in less than a week.”
“The city is going to hell—” Jace tried.
“And there’s only one way to save it. You will learn your place,” Virginia said, snarling that at me. Then she turned.
For one second, I thought Jace would stay in the room. I’d saved his freaking pack, gone all Rambo, done the impossible. And I’d defeated one of the Kings. He should at least stop and talk to me.
Instead, he turned. Maybe he tried to catch my gaze. I didn’t freaking know. I spun and faced the window. Dejected, I couldn’t even cross my arms over my middle. I stared ahead, dead-eyed, my brain decaying on fast forward.
Without another word, he left. And yeah, you guessed it, the bolt soon slid into place.
I squeezed my eyes shut and fought back the tears.
What exactly would they achieve?
Kelsey was sick. Nobody had given me an update, and the freaking Kings were still out there. Tears wouldn’t save me.
I turned around and faced the door, my gaze immediately sliding down to the floor. I doubted I could open it, even if I got something long and flat to slip underneath the door jam.
So how about the window?
I walked toward it, knowing exactly what I was doing.
Concentration marked my brow as I slid my fingers over the catch, but I pulled back when I felt magic. It seemed that she-wolf had thought of everything.
I was to be her prisoner.
But she had no idea how hard I’d try to escape when I wanted to.
With closed eyes, I squeezed my fingers into a tight fist. Escape this time, and there’d be no coming back to Jace. It would be the final betrayal.
Sure. But he started it first.
It was now clear I couldn’t stay in Mythos pack any longer. Who knew what that meant, but I’d have to find out on the fly.
It didn’t take long to come up with a plan. The rational part of my brain kept trying to talk me out of this. Jace didn’t deserve my disloyalty. But I’d never signed up to be part of his pack if it meant I’d be under Virginia’s twisted thumb.
Nobody had really debriefed properly with me. Virginia thought she knew what had occurred, but she wouldn’t know one important detail. I could now practice magic remotely. It was probably only over about a meter’s distance, but it meant I could take someone’s force without getting too close. And far more importantly than that, I could knock them out.
It was theoretical, but I was pretty confident. I’d used my anesthetic power on Kelsey so much, I knew how to titrate it pretty well.
It didn’t take long for someone to come up to me with a meal. They set it down on the floor, only after they asked me to walk a meter back. Virginia had thought of everything. I made direct eye contact with the guy who muttered a quick, “Sorry.”
Inside, I thought, Not as sorry as I am. You’ll wake up pretty soon. Don’t worry.
The guy blinked in surprise. Then I did it, just opened my hand and pushed. It was a lot less violent than what I’d done with the Wizard King. Adrenaline wasn’t there to set my magic on fire. The guy tried to lurch back, realizing I was doing something, but I got a handle on the magic. It moved through the air invisibly.
Back during the fight with the Wizard King, I’d been under the effects of too much fear to focus. Now I saw the process and felt it rise inside me. It asked that one freaking question I couldn’t get away from.
What the hell was I?
The guy didn’t stand a chance. My somnolent magic hit him, and he shuddered backward. His fingers handily grabbed the door, which meant he flopped down onto his knees first without slamming onto his front with a great shudder.
I raced forward, caught him, pulled him in, then put a pillow underneath his head and a blanket over his body. Then I raced out the door.
The only way to do this was quickly.
Don’t encounter Jace, I snapped in my head, praying that on fast forward. It was one thing to run from him; it’d be another to do it while he was facing me.
I’d have to look into Jace’s powerful eyes and accept I was leaving him behind. After everything he’d done for me. After every time he’d scooped me up in his arms—
My footsteps faltered. But with a tight breath, I pushed on.
I hadn’t played with my sense of smell since I was back in the tunnels. Gratifyingly, it hadn’t gone anywhere.
While I hadn’t slept, I’d dozed a little. And I’d at least drunk some water. I wouldn’t say I was ready for action. But my nose was. It quickly helped me chart how many people were in the building.
Thank the gods, Virginia wasn’t here. And neither was Jace. I doubted that they were out in the gardens. There were a lot of wolves downstairs, though.
Not a problem. I could walk out, making them all fall asleep in front of me like petals falling from a rose.
I wasn’t that stupid or cruel. That would set the house up for an attack. It was easiest for me to slip out without disrupting any of the guards.
People were still moving in. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a room with an open window.
One thing was working for me. The sky had turned gray. And that fiendish gale had whipped in strong clouds. I knew that soon enough it would start to rain. Hopefully, it’d be one hell of a downpour and give me the kind of cover I needed to escape.
It took 5 minutes until I found an open window on the 3rd floor. My powers might have increased, but I was still as agile as an ordinary human. That didn’t stop me from angling out of the window and taking my life in my own hands. It was just as the rain started. I had to thank the freaking gods, because it came down in almost blinding sheets immediately.
It was like some divine force was trying to wash away all of Mythos City’s muck. Good luck.
I thought I’d slip several times, but somehow I managed to scale the side of the building. I was helped by the heavy outer wrought iron protecting some of the windows.
There was an oak tree pretty close to the building, too. A security risk, I realized. A stupid thought told me I should tell Jace. But I’d probably never see him again. Or if I did, he’d be shaking his head at me and bemoaning my disloyalty.
I tried not to think of that, the look he’d shoot me, the feeling that I’d failed.
But I didn’t think I could win by his side anymore.
I somehow reached the ground. My shoes slapped against sodden puddles. God, the heavens really had opened up. I even saw a crack of lightning. It lanced from cloud to cloud, but it promised one heck of a storm to come.
The booming thunder protected me as I reached the outer wall, scaled it, and jumped down onto the street. The whole while, I kept using my nose, that 3D sense of smell that Kelsey had taught me.
“You better be OK,” I prayed for her briefly, then tried to pull my collar up but failed.
And then I faced the street and realized I had nowhere to go. Back home? People would find me. To Lisa’s apartment? The police would be watching. I needed clothes, food, rest. But more than anything, I needed to deliver another blow against the Kings. The last thing the city could afford was to kick back and wait to see what the Kings would do next.
They’d be scrambling after the loss of Barnaby… a man who was a dead ringer for someone who died 100 years ago.
There were too many freaking mysteries.
But maybe there was one that stood out, that hammered on my chest and screamed in my ear. One I could no longer ignore, because it pulsed in my damn blood.
By the time I got several blocks away, I started lifting my hands and couldn’t stop staring at them. My eyes were stuck on the whirls and marks and scars. More than anything, the power within.
Barnaby had known what I was. There’d been no question in his mind that I could use my powers remotely.
How had he known?
Did that mean Patrick knew?
If there was a connection between the heads, did it mean Theodore knew?
Who knew where Theodore was? But if I rocked up in the magic district, someone would tell Jace.
My brain only went back to one place. I couldn’t get away from it. It was like iron shavings attracted to a magnet. As I stood there, with my back to a brick wall, shivering in the rain, I hissed, “The library.”
I seriously didn’t want to step foot in that place again. But what other option did I have? If I could find out what I was and what my true powers were, I could learn them. It’d give me even more of a chance against the Kings.
The rain pounded down harder, slamming into my face. Maybe the gods weren’t trying to cleanse Mythos City. Perhaps they were focusing only on me. But the rain didn’t affect my train of thought. There was honestly no other plan I could come up with.
Everything hinged on what I was. It was time to find out.
Another crack of lightning lanced overhead. So close, the resultant boom almost deafened me. But it couldn’t turn me away.
There are times to run away from your destiny. And there are times to stand and fight.
Chapter 3
I made it to the right area. It was a hell of a walk. I didn’t want to steal any more cars. Internalizing the fact I was on my own meant there was now nobody to sweep away my crimes.
Bemoaning that I hadn’t grabbed a bite to eat before I left the compound, I ignored my stomach. And when I wanted water, I simply turned my mouth up and got it free from the sky.
It wouldn’t pay back my enormous energy debt. By the time I reached the right place, my whole body was shaking. But I was more determined than ever to gain entry.
How?
Velos had opened the door previously.
I wasn’t stupid enough to stop in front of it. Though I didn’t think anyone would be watching the library, considering everything happening in the city, I wasn’t stupid.
I’d gone down a little laneway and faced the right building from the other side of the street.
When I’d visited the library previously, I’d got it to open a door by revealing my magic to it.
If I could interact with the internal layout, why not the external?
Oh, there were probably a million and one reasons. The first of which was that I fundamentally didn’t know much about the magical library. Other than the fact it scared me out of my wits.
But screw that. The time for fear was yesterday.
As the deluge got worse, I ran behind a delivery truck and reached the other side of the street. Ignoring the cold shiver that ran down my back, I reached out. Now or never. Either I could get through the door, or it would block me for good.
My hand settled on it, and a long breath escaped my lips. “This better work. I’ve literally got nothing else to rely on right now—”
“Except for me,” came a deep voice from behind.
My back immediately seized up, and I spun as a familiar werewolf leaned past me and placed his hand on the door in a stopping motion.
Jace.
A flash of lightning blasted overhead. This one didn’t stay in the clouds. It jerked down across the street, hitting something on the block behind. An explosion rang out, and the resultant boom shook my ears. But it didn’t hide the terrified gasp that escaped my lips.
Jace didn’t move even one of his bulky muscles, his hand still locked on the door in a stopping motion.
His eyes seemed to have captured me. And there wasn’t a freaking thing I could do to escape.
It took 10 more seconds until my body forced me to breathe, and the resultant wheeze rattled out of my white lips.
Jace stared at me, eyes tracking up and down. I couldn’t get away from that exacting stare. I crumpled. “I’m—”
“You escaped because you didn’t want to be locked in your room, under Virginia’s thumb, waiting for the next time the Kings attacked. I know,” he said. The I know felt like a stake through my heart. He didn’t spit it. There was no anger. Just a tortured twist of frustration.
A second later, his hand slipped down, and Jace opened the door just like that. A little crackle of yellow magic escaped his fingers and shimmied into the lock – then it ground open. It left me breathless as Jace deliberately leaned past me, looking right into my eyes as the door opened. As more thunder boomed out overhead, he placed a hand on my back, turned me around, and swept me inside.
With a grunt, he closed the door behind us. And then we were alone. Not that we’d had any witnesses on the street. But this was different. The library was almost crushingly silent. It made the jagged sounds of my breath shriek like sirens.
And it contrasted them perfectly with Jace’s stiff silence.
“Jace—”
“You came here to find out who you are,” he cut to the chase.
I had too much to tell him. Yet paradoxically, nothing. Because I had chosen to turn my back on him. And he knew that.
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