The Forsaken

  My eyes slowly traveled up to Leanne’s. My throat tightened as I nodded. The truth wanted to claw its way out, and it might’ve if not for the sound of something banging in the kitchen and the sound of Oliver’s squawk.

  I rolled my eyes and stood up, trying to shake off my fear.

  She chose her words carefully. “The future is nothing like the past,” she said. “What has been is immovable and unchanging; what will be is full of infinite possibilities—some more likely than others. Nothing is certain until it happens.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her optimism was misplaced. Since last night, my doom was, in fact, certain.

  Chapter 19

  Later that evening, I found myself back inside one of Peel Academy’s godforsaken persecution tunnels. I’d never taken this particular one, though Oliver clearly had.

  Said fairy grumbled in front of me as we sloshed through puddles. “Break into the school, she said. It’ll be fun, she said.”

  I ducked under a clump of roots that hung from the ceiling. “If I remember correctly, you were the one that suggested this.”

  Oliver harrumphed. “That was before it started raining buckets.” The storm had rolled in while we’d been at Bishopcourt.

  I fingered the hilt of one of the daggers strapped to my side. I’d told Andre I would only visit Decima alone. Initially he kicked up a fuss, but as pushy as he was, the man couldn’t deny me much, and what I wanted was a frank conversation with the fate. The weapons were his compromise: Go in without me soulmate, then you’ll go in armed to the teeth.

  Now Andre waited for us at the tunnel’s exit. My last glimpse of him had been his controlled pacing. He reminded me of a leopard I’d seen once at the zoo. It had prowled the wall of its cage with the same agitation.

  “Shhhh,” Leanne said from behind Oliver, angling the flashlight on her phone around him to see far into the tunnel.

  “Why are you shushing me?” Oliver looked over his shoulder to catch my eye. “Why is she shushing me? Who could possibly overhear us?”

  Not three seconds after he spoke we heard a distant hiss.

  “That’s why,” Leanne said.

  Oliver huffed, but fell silent … for about a minute.

  “So … our baby girl is no longer a virgin.”

  I bit back a groan.

  “Be thankful it took him this long to bring the subject up,” Leanne said.

  “It’s not like he hasn’t tried,” I said, remembering how Andre manhandled him back at Bishopcourt. God, my life was a clusterfuck of unreasonable people. I wasn’t even going to exclude myself from that group either.

  “True.”

  “So,” Oliver said, “tell me: how hung is that man?”

  “Oliver!” both Leanne and I said.

  Off in the distance we heard another hiss.

  “For the record,” Oliver said, “if that thing comes at us, I’m blaming you two.”

  I listened a little longer, but wherever the creature was, it sounded as though it was moving away from us.

  “Bet he’s huge,” Oliver said. “Lucky fuck.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can we not talk about this?”

  “Ugh, Leanne, she’s still a prude.”

  “There is a distinction between a prude and refusing to kiss and tell,” Leanne said.

  “Fine, gang up on me you two.”

  A thoughtful silence descended on us.

  “So, did he bite you while you were going at it?” the fairy asked.

  “Oli-ver,” I said.

  “Okay, geez. Forget I asked. Someone clearly needs to get laid again,” he grumbled.

  The puddles became more frequent and bigger.

  “We’re slogging through a mote here,” Oliver complained. “Another beautiful pair of shoes ruined.”

  Leanne and I ignored him. Ahead Leanne’s light shone eerily on a patch of wall still cast in darkness. Another passage.

  “That’s where we leave you,” Leanne said nodding to it. “Right Oliver?”

  “Yea—wait, we’re not going with you, Sabertooth?” Oliver asked.

  “You and I are going back to our rooms,” Leanne said. “We have appearances to keep up.”

  Oliver looked at her like she was mad. “Appearances? You want me to show up in my dorm looking—and smelling—like a hobo?”

  “No one will notice you.”

  “Like hell they won’t. I got suspicious written all over me.”

  “If anyone asks, you’ll just tell them you met up with the chief constable of the Politia for some late night lovin’.”

  “Wait, Chief Constable Morgan? As in, my former boss?” I put up a hand as soon as I spoke. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”

  “That’s right you don’t,” Oliver said. “You can’t handle my love life!”

  Truer words had never been spoken.

  “Gabrielle,” Leanne said, turning to me, “This tunnel will take you to the library.” She nodded to the darkness that branched to our right.”

  I pulled out the phone Andre had gifted me earlier this evening and shined its built-in flashlight down the dark passage. I could hear a skittering sound somewhere beyond my sight.

  Just what I wanted to be doing at the beginning of my night. “Wish me luck.”

  “You got this, Sabertooth. And if you don’t, just glamour the shit out of that woman.”

  I didn’t bother telling Oliver that fates couldn’t be glamoured.

  “Good luck, roomie,” Leanne said. “Call me later and tell me how it went.” It was strange to hear her ask for news that a seer would normally foresee.

  “Will do.” I left them there, watching me descend into darkness.

  My boots splashed through the water. I heard a rustling sound. I aimed the beam of light towards the noise, only to see a rat scampering away. I grimaced but didn’t slow. Vermin were the least of my concerns at the moment.

  The farther I went, the deeper the puddle became, until it went up to mid-calf. Even the boots I wore couldn’t prevent the grimy water from seeping in.

  I could hear rhythmic dripping from the earthen roof above me. I wiped away cobwebs and scrunched my nostrils against the musty smell of the passage.

  A chilled breath brushed against my ear. I flinched and turned, dragging the beam of light with me. Nothing was there.

  I gripped my phone tighter, afraid to drop it. I was getting spooked at nothing.

  A creature howled in the distance. A normal person would’ve turned tail and ran. I, however, exhaled, my body relaxing.

  A minute later, Scooby materialized ahead of me, his ruby eyes gleaming in the dim light. I reached a hand out and scratched him behind his ears.

  “Who’s a good demon doggie?”

  He whined happily.

  “Yes, you are,” I cooed. I was beyond caring that I sounded like an idiot. Scooby saved me from myself.

  When I began walking again, he trotted ahead of me, his tail wagging. His paws didn’t stir the water, reminding me that while I might be able to touch him, he couldn’t interact with the physical world for the most part.

  A short distance later I came upon a severely rusted ladder. Above it someone had already opened a trap door set into passage’s ceiling.

  I placed my heel on the first rung and placed part of my weight on it. It crumbled almost immediately.

  Crap. This was going to prove interesting.

  Next to me Scooby vanished, only to reappear above me. His head peaked over the trap door.

  “Make it look easy, why don’t you?”

  Five minutes and two broken rungs later, I pushed myself onto the cobblestone floor of what looked to be Peel’s basement. I stood and brushed dirt and dust off my body. There was nothing to do about my soaked lower legs. I caught a whiff of myself and winced. Not the best start to my conversation.

  Scooby began to trot away from me, so I hurried after him, clicking off my flashlight as I did so. Around me firelight glowe
d from scones set into the castle walls. Unconsciously I pressed my hand to my heart.

  Boy, had I missed this place.

  The Moddey Dhoo led me to Peel Academy’s back library. This had been the same place where I first encountered Scooby all those months ago. Then we hadn’t been such buddies. He’d been a death omen, and he’d wanted nothing more than to tear me to shreds. Since surviving that encounter, he’d warmed up to me.

  At this late hour, no students lingered. This was a good thing … and yet my heart ached to be surrounded by my peers once more.

  My hand slid along the wall as I passed into the library, and I breathed in the musty smell of books. Tarp rustled beneath my feet.

  “So you don’t get the carpet dirty,” a female voice explained.

  My head snapped up, and I met the eyes of Lydia Thyme, Peel Academy’s head librarian.

  And, apparently, the third fate.

  Chapter 20

  “You’re right on time.” Lydia stood behind the check out desk, but now she came around and directed me to a nearby table, the floor beneath it also covered with tarp.

  “You?” I squinted my eyes at her. She’d been there at my Awakening, and I’d chatted with her numerous times since then. She’d helped me more than once.

  “Yes, me.”

  Like Cecilia, Lydia was older. Her skin was a dark, burnished brown, and her black hair was shot through with streaks of white.

  “Please sit,” she gestured to a chair covered with a towel. “We have much to talk about and not much time to spare.” She gave me a meaningful look, and I hesitated.

  “Do you know—?”

  “About your deal with Pluto?” Lydia—Decima—finished for me. “I do.”

  I twisted my hands together. “I’m such a fool.” Being here was pointless. It was me going through the motions for the benefit of those few people who still cared about me.

  She sighed, sliding into the seat across from me. “You’re human, and this is a game Pluto has played with desperate people just like you for thousands of years. He uses persuasive, believable lies and half-truths to get you to agree to his desires. And, as you already know, it’s you he desires.”

  Lydia placed a folder she’d been carrying on the table. “He scouted you, you know.”

  “W-what? What does that mean?”

  Lydia Thyme opened the manila folder and pulled out a sheet of paper. She slid it across the table, and I took it from her.

  It was a printed excel sheet titled “Displaced Supernatural Children.” All but one row had been blacked out. On that row two names had been highlighted. One was my own, and the other …

  “‘Rex Inferni’?”

  The candlelight flickered at my words.

  Lydia nodded. “That’s Latin for ‘King of Hell’.”

  I released the paper like it burned me.

  “He alerted Peel Academy of your existence. He’s the one that set these events into motion.”

  If not for him, I would still be in Los Angeles. I would’ve never been hunted, I would’ve never been Awoken.

  I would’ve never met Andre.

  “How could no one have caught this?” Seemed to me that if the king of hell wrote in to say that a really special girl he knew should come to Peel Academy, not only would I not be invited, the Politia would probably burn and raze my house while I was inside … then salt the land for good measure.

  “The same way no one foresaw that you’d Awake a vampire. Mistakes happen.”

  That was the second time I’d heard a fate utter that line. Seemed like a lot of people were dropping the ball when they shouldn’t be.

  In the distance, I could hear the sound of sirens. I had no doubt that they were meant for me. Only Oliver, Leanne, and Lydia had seen me, and I suspected none of them were responsible for the sirens. Perhaps the school had been enchanted to notify authorities of my presence as soon as I stepped foot on campus.

  My legs tensed, but I didn’t get up. Not yet. “Is there any way at all for me to survive this?” I had to ask, even though I was fucked three ways to Wednesday. I didn’t try hiding the terror in my voice.

  “You mean, can I save you?” Lydia clarified.

  I lifted my shoulders and my hands, trying to convey that at this point, I was beyond nuances. Any hope would be good enough.

  She shook her head. “I was never in a position to save you,” she said. “I’m sorry if someone gave you that impression. Only you can save yourself. It’s always been that way.”

  I breathed in the smell of books. A hollowness had established itself at the base of my stomach, and now with her words, it grew, numbing me. I was past saving myself. I’d given that power away to the devil when I traded my life for that of my friends and family.

  From somewhere far outside the library, I heard someone hammering on the front door.

  “You need to leave now,” Lydia Thyme whispered.

  I stood, blinking back the blood that had gathered in my eyes. “Why did Nona send me? If it was all for nothing, then why?” If she said it was another mistake, I might just maim this fate.

  Lydia lifted my chin. “It wasn’t all for nothing.” Her thumb moved across my cheek, and for a second I caught a shadow of a smile. “Remember this: the only way out is through.”

  She pushed me away. “Goodbye, Gabrielle Fiori, the last of the sirens, the first born vampire, the future queen of the Underworld.”

  I slid on the slick stone as I fled, going down on one knee as I turned a corner. Scooby ran alongside me. We fled through the castle back to the trap door. My surroundings were tinted in shades of pink, and it took me a moment to realize that was because I still had tears in my eyes.

  I skidded to a halt in front of the door cut into the floor. The smell of mold and decay emanated from it.

  I really didn’t want to go back down. I didn’t want to wind my way through the darkness only to find Andre on the other side, waiting to hear how I convinced this fate to tip the scales in my favor. I didn’t want to tell him that she wouldn’t help—that she couldn’t.

  I shut my eyes. The sound of footfalls was moving closer. I could hear the shouts of officers. I winced when Maggie, the woman I’d once worked under during my time with the Politia, yelled something.

  My coworkers were here, hunting me like I’d hunted killers. I could still hear that last monster’s words echoing in my head. They came from the cambion I’d killed.

  The good guys? she’d said. The ones you think you represent? They will hunt you down and steal your life from you. The saddest part of all is that they will think the world is a better place because you are no longer in it. That will be your legacy.

  “Gabrielle.” The hairs on my forearms rose at the familiar, masculine voice at my back.

  I swiveled around in time to see Caleb.

  Chapter 21

  I jolted at the sight of him. He still had the same gorgeous features that were responsible for half the school crushing on him and the ruffled, golden hair that made me think of long days out in the sun.

  I might never stand under the sun again.

  He looked tired, and I could smell the sadness wafting off of him even from the other side of the hall.

  Next to me, Scooby growled low in his throat. For once, my demonic companion didn’t dissolve into mist. I hope that had more to do with my presence and less to do with the dog being a death omen.

  “Caleb?” My voice broke. He wore the Politia’s official uniform.

  Because he’s here on official business.

  Caleb’s wide eyes traveled to the dog, then back to me.

  This was what I’d tried to explain to him all those times he minimized my nature. He’d been convinced that we were not so different; that there wasn’t some insurmountable chasm between creatures deemed good and creatures deemed evil. But he’d never understand what it felt like to be hated—and to be hunted—for simply existing. To consort with the things of nightmares and superstition—things spoken of
in whispers and told only late at night.

  He just had to kill them.

  We stared each other down—former partners turned enemies. This felt like a bad rendition of The Fox and the Hound, one with an even shittier ending.

  Beyond him, I could her the Politia officers getting closer. One spoke in low tones to Lydia, and the others moved through the library, down the hall. A couple more turns and they would be on us.

  The trap door was behind me. I edged back—

  “Wait!” Caleb lunged forward.

  As soon as he shouted, I heard a flurry of movement far behind him. Officers now knew where we were.

  Time to go.

  I stepped back into the hole, letting my supernatural reflexes take over as I dropped. I landed in a crouch, water splashing out on impact. Above me I heard Scooby snarl and Caleb shout.

  I really hoped the dog didn’t kill him.

  Forgoing my phone’s flashlight, I reached out a hand and touched the slimy wall. I bit back a cringe—now was not the time to be squeamish—and began sprinting down the tunnel, using the curve of the wall to direct me.

  The encounter had my heart picking up speed. I gasped out a breath, feeling healthier than I had in a while.

  The only way out is through.

  The footfalls and shouts sounded more distant now, and I paused to grab my phone from my pocket and switch on its flashlight.

  As soon as it clicked on, I moved the beam of light over the walls and began running again. Strange shapes danced in the shadows. It didn’t take long for my mind to return to the demons that had peeled off the walls, their shadowy limbs filling with flesh as they reached for me.

  “Miiiiine,” the air seemed to hiss.

  Oh hell to the no. I lengthened my stride and moved it. As soon as I hit the intersection, I hung a left and splashed through the puddles.

  I burst through the persecution tunnel and body-slammed Andre, which was like tackling a wall. A.k.a., I lost.

  His arms wrapped around me as I drew in ragged breaths, and he shoved me behind him, his eyes locked on the exit. Vines and plants hung over the entrance, obscuring the passage, but even so, it didn’t take long for Andre to realize that no other heartbeat followed me out.