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“Are you okay, dear?” the woman who had dragged me over asked.
“Um… I’m fine. I just…” I noticed a fog above me, larger and denser than the one from the Christmas Dance. Cole was directing it. But the energy cloud wasn’t from other people … it was from me. The entire band was feeding off me.
Everything was blurry. I tried to reach my hand up to my head, but it wasn’t obeying me. As I looked up, I lost my bearings. I stepped backward to try to balance, but I’d really stepped forward, and the red carpet came rushing at my face. Just as I expected to slam into the floor, two arms caught me around my waist.
“Okay, Becks. You’re okay. Stay with me. ” Jack’s voice in my ear. Then louder, “She’s just a little hypoglycemic. ”
“Get me out,” I whispered faintly. “Get me out. ” Jack heard me.
“Should I fetch some water?” one of the women asked. “Or should I get her father?”
“No,” Jack said firmly. “No need to bother the mayor. I’ve seen her like this before, and all she needs is a little fresh air and some food. ” He didn’t wait for protests. He scooped me into his arms and headed for the doors.
The music took on a screeching quality as if the fingers of the sound were grasping on to my body, trying to take hold, but we were outside before anyone could stop us.
Jack set me on the bench. “Becks? Becks, open your eyes. What happened?”
“I didn’t know they were…” I finished the explanation in my head, but the words got caught in my mouth.
“What’s wrong with her?” said a voice from nearby. Will’s voice.
“I don’t know yet,” Jack answered. He sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Shh. We’re out now. It’s okay. ”
“They Fed on me. The whole band. ”
I felt Jack’s body tense. “Why would he do that? What’s the point?”
“To remind me what it’s going to feel like. ”
Jack didn’t say anything. I was aware of Will sitting down near my feet. I rested there for a few long minutes with Jack holding me tight. My hands started to tremble like they did when I first Returned. Most of the energy I had built up was gone.
“Did you find Mary?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“Yes, but she didn’t want to be seen here. She’s waiting for us at the abandoned Firestone building. ”
I nodded and made a move to sit up. “Let’s go, then. ”
“No you don’t. ” He pushed my shoulder down so I was lying on his lap. “Rest for a little while more. ”
I didn’t try to argue. I just nodded and closed my eyes. Jack put his hand on my shoulder, holding tight to stop the shaking.
I didn’t know how much time had passed when Jack nudged me. “Becks?”
“Mmmm?”
“How do you feel now?”
I opened my eyes and slowly sat up. I brought my fingers to my face and they trembled. “I don’t know. Hungry. ” But I wasn’t as completely empty as I’d expected. Nowhere near the point I was at almost six months ago. I looked around. “Where’s Will?”
“He went to make sure Mary didn’t run away. ” Jack took my face in his hands, and before I really thought about what he was doing, he brought my lips to his. The taste of his pent-up despair left his mouth with the familiar whoosh, and it continued for a few long moments before the reasonable half of my brain took over.
I shoved him back. “What are you doing? You can’t do that!”
He studied my face. “That’s better. You look a little less … dead now. ” But his eyes had fresh circles under them, and his cheeks were noticeably sunken.
“I don’t care. You know how dangerous it is?”
He didn’t answer as I took in a few deep breaths and blew them out.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I knew you’d never ask. ”
I could feel tears spring up in my eyes, and I rubbed my thumb under my eye and kept my head down.
Jack gathered me in his arms again. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. ” And then, in a wavering voice, “You can’t go to the Tunnels. ”
I looked up at his face. “If I don’t, then I’ll have to Feed off someone else. And I will always be draining someone in order to survive. Just like I was drained. ”
His phone buzzed right then, and he flipped it open to read a text. “Mary’s waiting. Let’s go. ”
TWENTY-NINE
NOW
Meeting Meredith. Days left.
Jack drove us to the abandoned Firestone tire factory, where squatters lived in between police sweeps. Will was waiting for us outside the doors.
“Where is she?” Jack asked.
“Inside,” Will said. “She won’t talk to me. Wanted to wait for you two. ”
“Okay. ” Jack reached for the door and Will grabbed his arm.
“Mom’s freaking out. Said you’re not answering your phone. ”
“Yeah, well—”
“Don’t worry. You two have this. I’ll deal with Mom. ”
Will took off at a jog toward his car. Jack and I turned back to the building. The wind had picked up and was blowing with such force that when we opened the large wooden door, it smacked against the wall with a loud clap. We found Meredith in a corner. She was hunched over, rocking back and forth on her heels. Something was very wrong.
“Mary?” Jack said, crouching beside her. “What’s going on?”
Meredith raised her head off her knees. “This,” she said, and she held out her arm to Jack. The longest fingers of her mark had reached her inner wrist, all the way to the crease between her wrist and her hand. “It stopped just now. Stopped right at the line. ” She shoved her wrist closer to Jack’s face.
I didn’t realize it, but when she spoke I took a step back. Meredith looked frantic and despairing, and I realized that she was my future. My bleak future, with all my fears, was staring me in the face. I couldn’t speak.
“What are you saying, Mary?” Jack said. “How do you even notice something like that?”
Meredith looked past Jack and spoke to me. “It’ll go fast. For an entire day, it will go fast. So fast that you can actually see it move. And then it will stop. ”
She put her head back on her arms and continued rocking. The old building failed to keep the wind out, and the ends of her hair got caught in the draft. It twisted and curled around her face.
“Maxwell told me at the end it speeds up, and then it stops. And then the Tunnels come,” she said. Her lower lip began to tremble. “I was supposed to survive. But I didn’t. I didn’t. ” She rocked back on her heels. “I shouldn’t have Returned. ” She buried her head in her knees and started sobbing. “They’re coming for me, Nikki. The Tunnels are coming and they won’t stop until they have me. ”
“Mary, I’m so sorry,” I said.
Jack stood straight, glanced at me for a quick moment, and then took hold of Mary’s hand. “We’re getting out of here. ” He pulled her up.
I could’ve told him right then that there was no point, but something inside me wouldn’t allow it. Jack needed to see how futile it all was. And I needed to see what was waiting for me.
Jack and I flanked Mary, took her hands, and started pulling her along. Out of the building. Down the street toward the center of town. Leaves and dust got caught in the gusts of wind, making it difficult to see.
“Where are we going?” Mary asked, gasping for breath.
Jack answered. “To Cole’s place. He has to see. They all have to see what they’ve done. You know where it is, right, Becks?”
I nodded. “It’s up near the resort. ”
We made it to Jack’s car, and Mary climbed into the passenger seat while I sat in the back. Jack shoved the gearshift and we were off. The wind picked up and the trees on either side of the street bent and swayed as if our car were going so fast the suction was affecting them.
“That’s a strong wind for Park City,” I said. I don
’t know why I said it.
Jack didn’t answer, but he stepped on the gas as we turned onto the highway that led to the ski resorts.
Stray branches and twigs ricocheted off the windshield as we raced along. I glanced toward the base of the mountains, a couple of football fields away. The trees there didn’t seem to be moving. Maybe it was too long a distance for me to see. We wound our way up the mountain as the strange storm brewed outside.
Jack looked in the rearview mirror, and then whipped his head around to look out the back window. “Shit. ”
I turned around too, trying to make sense of what I saw. A dark mass swirled behind us, as if a funnel cloud had been turned on its side and we were staring up one end. I looked at the sky. Past the debris that encircled Jack’s car, the sky above was clear. The hairs on my arms stood straight, as if my body were reacting to an electrical current from the cloud, and then the mark started to spin and churn on my skin.
“The Tunnels,” I said. I glanced quickly at my own arm.
Mary twisted around and caught me. “You feel it too?”
“I feel something,” I said, and then I looked up and noticed Mary’s hair. It was flapping against her face, as if there were a breeze in the car. But the windows were rolled up. Whatever it was, it was stronger for her.
Jack rammed the accelerator to the floor, screeching around every curve in the road until I was sure he would lose control, but the funnel cloud kept gaining on us.
Mary turned to Jack, and with a voice almost too soft for me to hear, she said, “It’s over, Jack. Pull over. ”
“No!” Jack squeezed the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “We’ll find a shelter. Underground or something. ”
“You know concrete walls won’t stop it. ”
“Five minutes and we’re at Cole’s place. I want to see their faces at what they’ve brought here. Five minutes, Mary!”
She shook her head. I’d never seen her so lucid. “Jack, if you don’t let me out, that thing behind us will destroy the car, too. You can’t give up on Nikki now. ”
Jack’s eyes flashed to me in the rearview mirror. His shoulders sagged and I could feel him let up on the gas. Moments later the car came to a stop on the side of the road.
“Thank you,” Mary said. She paused. “Do you still have the bracelet I gave you?”
Jack and I both nodded.
She closed her eyes and let out a long breath. “The bracelet holds a secret the Daughters of Persephone have been protecting for centuries. ” She opened her eyes and looked at Jack. “By telling you that, I’ve betrayed all of my ancestors. ”
“What secret?” Jack said.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. ”
She pulled on the handle and cracked open the door.
“Wait!” I blurted from the backseat. “What about Orpheus and Eurydice? What did you mean, Orpheus was strong?”
She looked at me for a moment. “Poor Nikki. You won’t like the answer. ” Then she leaned over the seat and whispered in my ear, “You have a debt to the Tunnels. But the secret is, it doesn’t matter who fills it, as long as the debt is paid. ”
She kissed my cheek, and then, with the dexterity of a teenager, Mary threw the door open and sprang out of the car.
All we could do was watch. Once she was out of the car, and waiting, the Tunnels didn’t hesitate. The funnel cloud was on her, and then she was gone. And everything went quiet.
Jack clenched the steering wheel tightly until I was sure he would rip it off. “How long?” His voice was barely audible.
I knew what he was asking. “Meredith left two days before me. ”
He leaned his head down on the steering wheel. “How did this happen, Becks?” Then he seemed to remember I was in the backseat. “Would you please get up here and talk to me?”
I climbed into the front.
“What did she say to you about Orpheus?” Jack asked.
I looked him in the eyes. It doesn’t matter who fills it, as long as the debt is paid. Orpheus was strong. He took Eurydice’s debt. He went to the Tunnels in her place. I knew without a doubt that’s what Mary was telling me.
But Jack could never know that. “She told me Orpheus stayed strong to the end, and helped Eurydice choose the Tunnels over her Everliving. ”
Jack narrowed his eyes. “We already knew that. ”
I looked out the window. “I know. She was only reminding me that no matter how enticing Cole makes it sound, we can still make the right choice. ”
Jack sighed. “I should’ve found you, Becks. ”
“When?”
“That night at the dorm, when you drove off, I thought I’d still have time to explain. I didn’t know about the Kevin Reid verdict. I thought tomorrow morning would come, and then I’d talk to you and everything would be okay. ” He rested his head back on the steering wheel. “I should’ve chased you down. It’s my fault you went with Cole. ”