War Page 7

  Reese turned in her direction and smiled. “An old friend, I guess you could say. Anyone up for a trip to Boo’s Slut Hut?”

  Savannah took a step back and held up both hands defensively. “Oh no. I’m sure Dax would agree. We’re not going back there.”

  “I don’t think my skull ever actually recovered from that shot,” he said, rubbing it as if there were a fresh wound there.

  Lance shoved his shoulder. “Pretty sure it was your ego that never recovered. Funniest shit ever.”

  Zeke stepped in the middle of everyone. “I’ll go. Boo and I go back. I used to hang out there to find out stuff about the Depot Demons. He’ll let me in before any of you with the exception of Reese probably.” He looked in her direction. “Sounds like you two have a history.”

  She only nodded and looked down. Gross. Did she bang that dude? There were so many things I didn’t know about her and so many things she didn’t know about me. I hated to admit it, but I was jealous of her, Shayla, and Savannah’s friendship. It seemed they always kept things to themselves without telling the rest of us anything.

  “Great,” Fuzz said. “Do you think you’ll need any back up?”

  Zeke shook his head. “Nah. I’ll be fine. I’ll be back shortly.”

  An hour later Zeke returned with a short, stout guy. I blinked at him, really hoping my original thoughts about he and Reese weren’t true. Everyone followed the two of them to a back room in the infirmary where we had placed the Valk on a bed. I was curious to see how this worked. How was this guy going to see inside this thing’s head?

  “Since he’s unconscious, I won’t be able to see anything, but I can send someone in there to find out whatever you want.” He looked around the room. “I just need a volunteer.” Our eyes locked. Heat rushed my face. The last thing I wanted was to participate in this weird guy’s experiment. “You.”

  “Me?” I squeaked. Everyone in the room turned to stare at me. Any other time I craved attention of this magnitude, but not now. Not when they were trying to get me to do something I didn’t want to do. “What makes you think I would be the best person for the job? These other guys have way more experience than me with these things.”

  Boo stepped toward me and tilted his head. His eyes searched my face as his expression softened. “You’re just as valuable as anyone in this room, Raven.” I gasped. How did he know my name? That was a bit freaky. “Are you not the best at going into places and remaining underneath the radar?”

  “Well yeah, but—”

  He held up a hand. “But nothing. It has to be you or I refuse to do this. You’re the only one here who can do it. Once you go into his mind, you have to stay hidden, become one with the shadows, because if you don’t, he can and will kill you.”

  Great. They just made this whole idea so much more appealing. My eyes darted between the Valk and Boo. Everything inside my head screamed at me to refuse him. We could find another way. But what if we couldn’t? We had researched everything we could about Banshees and still came up short on where to even look next to find Abby. Fuzz had reached out to every contact he was able to get ahold of, and no one knew anything about how to close the portal. It was now or never. I was the only one standing in the way of us hopefully finding some answers.

  I sighed. “So how do we do this?”

  The corners of Boo’s mouth pulled upward, exposing a toothy grin. His fingers laced between mine, and gently he pulled me through the onlookers until I was standing beside the empty bed adjacent from the Valk. “Lay down, sweetness.”

  Before I could regret my decision, I did as I was told. The sheets were cool against my clammy skin. I was sweating up a storm even though it wasn’t hot in here. Nerves. I had all the nerves. “Are we sure this is a good idea?” I touched my forehead. It was slicked. “I mean, this guy really might not know what he’s doing.” I knew he did. I could feel it about him. “And what if I don’t come back? I just die and you guys carry on, huh? Like nothing ever happened?”

  Someone touched my arm. “Raven, listen to me,” Masey said. My mouth clamped shut even though I was fighting to spout off more nonsense. “You’re going to be fine. I wouldn’t let you do this if I didn’t believe in you. You’re one of my best friends and the last thing I’d do is let you put yourself in jeopardy.”

  I nodded and squeezed her hand. Looking past her, I focused on Boo. “Let’s do this.”

  “Take a deep breath and relax. When you’re ready to come out, just whistle, and I’ll be here to pull you out. Remember to remain under the radar. If you’re discovered poking around, he can kill you. Your body out here will never wake up.” He touched my forehead with two fingers, and my mind went blank.

  My eyes pinched together to shield a sudden blinding light. White. There was white everywhere. The floors. The walls. Everywhere. I blinked, becoming accustomed to my surroundings. This was the last thing I expected when he said I was going into the mind of a monster. Looking around, I panicked at the thought of being trapped here. I would go crazy. I fought the urge to cry out. That was the last thing I needed to do. Remain under the radar. That’s what he said I needed to do.

  I took a few steps and ran face first into a wall. The jarring blow rocked me backward. With my fingers, I massaged the now aching spot on my forehead while searching for the cause of the injury. A purple moon materialized, casting a warm glow over vast meadows of scorched land. Where was I? This didn’t look like anything on Earth.

  “Why now? It’s been so long.” Hundreds of Valks marched toward me.

  My breath seized in my chest as I distressfully searched for anywhere to hide. Intense waves of paralyzing fear made my head spin. A familiar tree like the one Shayla had been given for her birthday caught my attention. Blue lines pulsated underneath its white bark. It lacked coverage, but if I got high enough maybe they wouldn’t look up and see me overhead. I struggled against dizziness and swayed toward it. Focusing to calm my jolted nerves, I waited for the world around me to stop rocking. I had never been this afraid. Maybe it was because this was the first time I had to act alone. There was no back-up. No one would save me if something went wrong.

  No. I could do this. Diverting my attention to the approaching group, I shivered, but forced myself to move. With finesse, I jumped soundlessly and caught a branch. I hoisted my body upward and continued to climb. Once I was satisfied with the height I stopped, huddled as close to the large trunk as possible, and focused below.

  “The time had to be right,” another said. One that I was sure to be the Valk I was spying on.

  “Glad to be leaving Plamethia. There’s nothing left here.”

  Plamethia. That’s where I was. I looked ahead of them and found an open portal. Within seconds, each one disappeared through it. I swallowed. There was only one place they could be heading. Earth. We were right. He had already started bringing them over. Soon we would be overrun.

  By the time the last one was gone, my knees didn’t want to cooperate. I clenched my jaw, refusing to cry out as I worked the stiffness from them. The breeze pushed past, urging me to follow. I obeyed and descended the tree. Taking notice of the area to make sure there wasn’t any more Valks heading my way, I trekked over to the portal. It required a jump to enter. A leap of faith, I guess one could call it. I stopped, suddenly afraid. My heart pounded with anticipation. What would it be like to jump through? Could I risk it if they were still standing on the other side? No, I couldn’t. I needed to get back to the white room. That appeared to be the home screen of his memories.

  I eased away, my eyes glued to the portal. I had hit a wall in the room, a wall that represented this memory. Maybe I just needed to find the wall again. I nodded to myself, adamant this was what I needed to do. Twisting my hips, I searched. A slight shimmering calm rippling against the landscape caught my eye. I stood; staring as if looking away would cause it to fade from sight. Without hesitating, I dashed toward it.

  I stopped a foot in front of it and touched it with my palm. P
lamethia contorted and shook around me. White melted over everything within eyeshot and once again, I stood in the beginning room. My breath felt stale within the lobes of my lungs. I exhaled, my stiffened posture slackening.

  Now things were clearer. The walls were like screens depicting shots from different parts of his life. Most appeared to be battles, others doing things that made my blood run cold. I eased around them, careful not to touch them. The last thing I wanted to do was end up in one of those memories. Near the middle was one that stopped me in my tracks. Dermetheus’s face stared back at me. I cringed unable to stop the feeling of fear he instilled within me. This was what I had come here for. It was the memory I needed to find, I was sure of it. Without hesitating, I ran toward it. If I stopped, I would talk myself out of it. I couldn’t do that. No. I had to see what was on the other side.

  I landed on a patch of soft grass. Water from somewhere within the trees filled my ears. A weathered house stood in front of me. It was small, nothing fancy. I pushed myself up and looked around. It was close to nightfall. The sun sat behind a thick batch of clouds, smearing the sky with a warm pink hue.

  A crash jolted me. Another bang echoed from the inside of the house. Footsteps pounded against the floor. Without seeing his face, I could feel his presence. Dermetheus was inside. I inched closer with renewed intensity. I peered in through the window frame. Furniture was overturned, floorboards were peeled back, and fabric was ripped apart. The place was destroyed. Figures suddenly appeared and stopped in front of me. I sucked in a breath and lowered my body a bit.

  “We’ve searched everywhere. The relic isn’t here,” a Valk said.

  Dermetheus strolled into the room and slowly glanced around. Idly, he scratched his chin. He was too calm. Even I could see that. Black emitted from him, surrounding the Valk. It screamed and thrashed around, clawing at its skin as the blackness ate away at it.

  “Anyone else think it isn’t here?” he asked.

  There was no response.

  “Good. Now if we have to tear this place apart, literally, I want it found. It’s here somewhere.”

  A relic. A relic for what?

  I looked up. The house had an attic. Maybe I could get a better view from there. I skirting up the side of the house and paused at a hatch near the roof. My fingers fumbled against my hip, finding the small pouch holding my tools that I always wore. I pulled out a screwdriver and went to work removing the screws.

  After loosening the hatch, I pulled it off and crawled inside. My elbows pressed against the dusty surface and pulled my body along toward the back of the house. I stopped and peered below, feeling as if there was something I needed to see there. A silver glint from a box of worn down pencils caught my eye. I swallowed hard. Deep down I knew it was what they were searching for. But this was a memory, right? I couldn’t take it from a memory. Could I? There was only one way to find out.

  With my fingertips, I pried the vent free and wiggled my body through the small opening. Without making any noise, I dropped to my feet. I tiptoed over to the box, shifting through drawings of the same face over and over again. A man with purple eyes. Not thinking much about that, I pushed the pencils to the side and pulled the silver object free.

  “Do you feel that?” Dermetheus asked someone in the other room.

  I froze.

  “We aren’t alone here anymore.”

  Their steps closed in. I glanced up and realized there was no time to go back the way I had come. There was no time for anything. I closed my eyes and pressed myself against the wall. I could only hope that he would make it a quick death.

  “Sir, there’s no one here,” a Valk said.

  Confusion set in. Hot breath hit my face. I peeled my eyes open to find myself staring into the eyes of Dermetheus. But it was like he couldn’t see me for some reason. His gaze narrowed as his head tilted to the side.

  “I can feel them. Even if I can’t see them,” he replied, taking a step back.

  My chest unclenched as my eyes dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My body had changed colors. Like a chameleon, I blended with my surroundings. He turned his back to me. I wasted no time. Pursing my lips together, I blew air out.

  I bolted upright, finding myself in the infirmary with Boo by my side. My chest heaved. I reached up to touch my forehead, but something was in my hand. My jaw went slack.

  “Holy shit.”

  The relic was still in my grasp.

  11

  Reese

  Raven extended her arm and dropped something into Fuzz’s palm. “They were looking for this. Not sure how I pulled it out or what it is, but here.”

  He drew a breath in and held the object up for a closer look. “I thought this was only a myth.”

  “What is it?” I asked, wheeling myself closer.

  Turning in my direction, his arm dropped to his side. “There was story that this relic could control all the portals. It could forever close them or open every single one at once. The only reason they are closed now is because Messa granted a one-time power to Nabea in an effort to stop the Darkness from spreading. But whoever has this could do it any time they wanted. All that would be required is to the find all three portals in this realm and absorb the energy. Once you have all of them, the power is yours.”

  “Well, we know he has the location of at least one,” Harley said. “But without this, finding the others won’t do any good.”

  “But with this we can finally close all of them for good. No more worrying about how many more enemies we’re going to have to fight. We would only have the ones here now to kill,” I said. There might be light at the end of the dark tunnel after all. This was the first good news we had gotten in a long time. “We need to find the location to these other portals.”

  “I have some ideas. Let me make some calls,” Fuzz said and turned to leave.

  I didn’t stay in bed the full week like the doctor suggested. Despite Fuzz’s displeasure, I went back to work trying to track down any leads regarding the whereabouts of Abby. Everything led to a dead end, and each time, more frustration built within me. To take my mind off things and try to gain some new perspective I ventured out.

  Rain poured down. My clothes became heavy, saturated with cold water. A drop trickled along the bridge of my nose before dropping to my top lip. My tongue caught the liquid, brought it into my mouth, and swallowed it along with the lump lodged at the back of my throat. I tilted my head and looked both right and left, and then crossed the road. A yellow glow cast across the sidewalk from the lights dangling in no particular pattern along the awning of the restaurant’s entrance.

  Thursday night.

  Every Thursday night they ate here. Someone could practically set a clock according to their schedule. Even before I reached the window, I could already picture what I would see. My mother picking at her meal, she refused to tell my father how much she hated this place because she knew he loved their famous red beans and rice. No matter what she tried on the menu, nothing sufficed. She finally settled on a hamburger steak and had ordered it ever since. My father, on the other hand, would be nearly done with his. Every few seconds his eyes would flick to his phone, which constantly went off with work emails. Occasionally, his gaze would wander to my mother’s plate, but he wouldn’t say anything. Deep down I think he knew her feelings, but he never brought it up. If he did, he would be faced with the dilemma of possibly giving up coming here. It was something he wouldn’t want to do.

  At the corner of the left side, I stopped and peered through the glass. Between the yellow words written in paint marker, I found them. They sat in the same booth at the back corner. A silent laugh rolled out. They were doing just as I pictured. Oddly enough, I didn’t find it amusing. I found it sad. Because one thing was missing.

  Me.

  Normally I sat between the wall and my mother. Now instead of me, her purse occupied the space beside her. A gnawing feeling grated against my heart. Part of me wanted to rip the door open to thi
s place and run to them. It had been so long since I had seen them. I wanted to tell them I was okay. I was alive. They believed I was dead. And enough time had passed that the hurt that would have brought would be healed. The thought of me being gone would be bearable for them now. I couldn’t put them through that again.

  A fight was coming. War. And I would be on the front line, surely fighting to my death. Me dying once was enough for them. I pushed my hair back, flicking the damp tendrils behind my shoulder. Without lingering another second, I turned, and went back to my Jeep. The engine roared to life. The gear shifter easily slid into drive as I pressed the gas pedal. Staying there any longer would be a bad idea. Eventually I wouldn’t be strong enough to stay away. Giving in was something I couldn’t do. So putting them out of sight, out of mind was my best option. I twisted the windshield wiper blades off as the rain lightened to drizzle. A ray of sunlight broke between two gray clouds as the storm started to dissipate.

  I glanced out the window, not really aware of where my subconscious was taking me. Before I knew it, I was turning into a parking lot. The Jeep came to stop at the side of a looming brick building. Why was I doing this to myself? The need to face everything I had been avoiding didn’t need to be faced on the same day. But my body didn’t agree. It wouldn’t move.

  I don’t know how long I sat there. I couldn’t bring myself to turn the engine off, so the radio blared like an obscure background noise. I stared straight ahead at the sidewalk leading to my old apartment. From what Shayla told me, it was preserved the way I had left it, which meant it was a living piece of art frozen in time. In other words, it was a nightmare I wasn’t ready to face. He would be everywhere. Our life, or the one we had, would be all around me.

  I couldn’t help the sob that escaped at the thought. I reached into the glove compartment, grabbing a tissue to catch the salty tears that poured down my cheeks. It was too much. I considered putting the vehicle in reverse and not casting a second glance at the place. Burning it to the ground was always another option. The crisp ashes would float into the sky and turn into nothing, much how I felt on the inside.