I left Charlie on the ground. Look how dirty her dress has gotten. I scoop her up, bend my knees, and I’m off—flying.
A metallic smell hits my nose as I sail across the sky, but I can’t allow myself to think it’s coming from Charlie. She’ll be okay. The Quiet Ones will save her.
Below us, sirens wade through the tall grass. They’re everywhere, black spiders building sticky webs across the Lion’s Hand, tempting their prey closer. Or maybe they’re not spiders at all. Maybe they’re bees, releasing pheromones, calling the others to attack. Either way, they’re insects and it’s impossible to kill them all.
“Retreat,” I hear Kraven roar.
Seconds later, a trumpet sounds.
The field divides, good guys running in the direction I’m flying, bad guys giving chase. It’s a typical cowboys and Indians showdown, except it’s not land we’re fighting for, it’s two seventeen-year-old girls. And one is still in my arms.
I fly until I can’t see the field any longer, and then I don’t so much land as I do fall. My legs feel broken beneath me, but I’m happy for the pain. I lay Charlie in a clearing and bend over her body, blue-black wings creating a canopy.
“My Charlie,” I whisper.
I lay my head against her bloodied chest and listen, but I don’t hear a thing.
I trace my fingers over the skin of her face, her arms, the palm of her hand. She already feels cold to the touch. A movement catches my eye, and my heart leaps into my throat. She’s still alive!
When I realize it was her hair sliding off her shoulder and onto the ground, I lose my mind. I thought it was her. For a second, I thought I was wrong and she was still with me, somehow. The severity of this moment lifts me up, slams me back down. My mind screams and my chest explodes in a solar system of hurt. I can hold back my emotions no longer.
“You can’t be gone.” I shake her body in my arms. “Wake up, Charlie. Please! Stay with me. Don’t leave.” My voice breaks. “I need you. You’re my reason, Charlie. I love you. I love you!”
A sob rattles my entire being. “We said forever…. You said forever.”
I was supposed to protect her. It was my job, and so it’s my fault she’s dead. A memory flashes in my mind. Charlie sitting on the edge of the bed, sober acceptance dancing across her face. Charlie spinning in the sunroom, hypnotic, knowing this is how it would end for her.
I never believed it though, not really. Because I knew I’d tear out my own beating heart to save her. But I wasn’t given the chance. From the moment she was sucked into that floor, she was dead.
Two hearts that beat as one will make a great sacrifice.
Except Charlie’s heart beats no longer, and mine continues, stupidly, without her.
“It was always supposed to be this way,” someone says. I spin around and find Valery, tears streaking down her face. “It was her destiny, Dante. Her blood spilled so that our warriors would seek vengeance. Her death will be the catalyst to victory.”
A growl rumbles through me. “Get away from me, Valery.”
“I loved her, you know,” she continues. “But I loved him more.”
I lunge at her with everything I have and slam into her body. My hands tighten around her throat though I’d rather tear it out with my teeth. I squeeze until she chokes and kicks and flails. “This is because of you!”
Valery’s eyes bulge like Rector’s did at the Hive. I want them both dead. Why should they live when she’s gone?
I’m thrown backward and Kraven stands between me and the redhead I want to murder. “She’s right.” Kraven says as Valery gasps for breath. “Charlie Cooper was meant to fall. Her charity will lead to Trelvator, Dante, but it will be with Annabelle at the helm. Right now, you need to let the Quiet Ones take her.” He points at Valery then. “And you need to get out of here.”
Valery opens her mouth like she might object, but when Kraven takes a quick step toward her, she scrambles several feet away.
Even though what Kraven said is the same thought I had as we journeyed here, I can’t accept it. I won’t. I crouch over Charlie’s body, ready to pounce on anyone who tries to take her from me.
Humans and jackrabbits find where we’ve converged, and Lincoln mutters a quick, “They’ve fallen back for now. Regrouping, I think.” He chokes on his next words. “We lost four humans, and one of the jackrabbits. My friend.”
The Quiet Ones approach. They’re largely unharmed and I wonder how it is that they battled without injury. “You must give her to us.”
“No one’s touching her.” I snap at their outstretched hands like a dog that’s gone unfed far too long.
“Dante,” Aspen says.
I spin to the side. Aspen’s eyes still swim in a dark liquid, but some of the green color behind that curtain is breaking through. Blue holds Aspen upright, but never looks away from Charlie. His chest heaves seeing the color leeched from his friend’s cheeks. Annabelle is on the ground beside Aspen, head pressed between her knees, howling from the thought of losing her friend.
“Let them have her.” Aspen reaches for me, and I break down when her arms circle my neck. “There’s nothing you can do for her now.”
And that’s when it hits me. That’s when the truth of the matter spreads inside my brain like an insidious tumor.
Charlie Cooper is gone.
Charlie Cooper is dead.
I weep into Aspen’s neck and curl my hands into fists. I want to walk this earth with a can of gasoline and a match. I want to burn it all without her, but I know Charlie wouldn’t want that. So I move aside when Max takes my arm and pulls me into a hug.
Over his shoulder, I see the sisters carrying Charlie to somewhere I can’t see her. It feels like they’ve stolen the organs from my body. I’m empty now. They say it is better to have loved and lost. I’d like to find the person who said that and murder the one they cherish most. I want to make them write those words on a blackboard over their spouse’s lifeless form until their fingers bleed.
“I can’t fight without her,” I mumble to Max.
He tightens his hold on me. “We’ve both lost someone.”
When I remember who it is he means, I break from Max’s grasp and lunge at Valery again. She screams and the sound fills me up. I’m not empty anymore. Max grabs ahold of me without a moment to spare. My hands stretch toward Valery, clawing wildly.
“You did this,” I yell. “You’re the reason she’s gone.”
“I made a mistake,” she cries.
I jerk away from Max and point a finger into Red’s face. “What? We’re supposed to forgive you now? Why are you even here? Go back to them. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Valery casts her eyes downward. “I thought Max and I could be together as collectors. We’d only seal the souls of those who deserved it. But I saw the place you came from, and I realized I’d made a mistake.”
“You realized you made a mistake when you brought Charlie into hell? You are a freaking genius, Valery. Didn’t you think about what would happen if they hurt her? If she died?”
“I didn’t think they’d actually do it,” Valery sobs.
I turn away from her. She isn’t worth it, and the last word I spoke—died—it’s like I can’t breathe. I search the area. When I don’t see Charlie, I panic so that I can hardly stand. “What will happen to her?”
Kraven steps forward. “We’ll continue the battle until the last collector falls.”
More humans trickle in, appearing from the forest broken and battle worn. They see that something grave is happening and they remain quiet. One of the humans works his way between the people, tending to their wounds, but hardly a word is muttered.
A bolt of grief detonates inside my mind, and I run in the direction the sisters went.
“Dante, stop,” Kraven calls out.
He doesn’t pursue me though. I stumble when I see the Quiet Ones knelt on the ground, their hands fluttering over Charlie’s body. Her white dress has been pulled down so
that her wound is exposed. It’s a bottomless red hole. My own soul pulses at the sight, desperate to break free. Could I give her my soul and bring her back? If I could, I would without a second thought.
I cringe seeing Charlie exposed, and I don’t understand what the sisters are doing. I take one step closer, two. Then I understand exactly what I’m seeing. They’re cleaning her body, using moss from the trees and moisture from the snow.
This sight—of my dead girlfriend being prepared for burial—is the last thought I have.
Something strikes the back of my head.
And it’s lights out.
46
Cut Them Down
I wake and the sun has fallen. I’ve been out all day. I was knocked out all day. Searching the area, I find liberators and humans and jackrabbits sleeping along the ground. In the distance, I spot Kraven. He’s keeping watch over the group, but he’s too far away to notice I’m awake. I know it was him that hit me over the head.
I thank him for it.
I want him to do it every day for the rest of my life.
Lincoln is snoring so loud there’s no way our enemies don’t know our location. It sounds like he’s speaking in tongues. It sounds like someone clubbing baby seals. I’ve never heard anything like it. Except when Max sleeps, that is.
Lincoln snorts and his eyebrow ring twitches. Polly is sleeping nearby. Any inkling of romantic connection they could have dared hope for will die if she wakes up and hears this.
A rustle steals my attention.
I look up.
Charlie.
Her bloodied torn white dress hangs open so that I can see a slip of skin from chest to belly button. There isn’t a stab wound. She’s barefoot, and around her ankle, is a gold liberator cuff. I know instantly whose cuff it is she’s wearing. I still remember the way the Aussie died, and how Kraven took his dargon before he’d been dead ten minutes.
Charlie’s hair doesn’t shine. Her skin isn’t flawlessly smooth. She is my Charlie again, my old Charlie with imperfections, and she’s breathing.
“Am I dreaming?” I ask.
She doesn’t smile, but I can imagine her quirky, crooked grin all the same. I want to see her cheeks redden with excitement more than I’ve ever wanted anything. Charlie shakes her head.
“You’re alive?”
She doesn’t answer. On the surface, she looks like the same girl I met in Peachville, Alabama. But there’s something very different about the way she stands before me now.
“I’m going to cut them down,” she says evenly. “They’ll pay for the things they’ve done.”
A chill races across my skin upon hearing her words. Her chest glows, and I spot her soul glittering inside her; the one Rector placed back inside her before parading the princesses onto the field.
Charlie turns and walks away. It almost looks like her feet don’t touch the ground, like she’s gliding above unconsecrated earth. Her body moves swiftly between the trees, and I jump to my feet, heart racing.
No matter how fast I chase her, she’s too quick. With fog swirling about our bodies, Charlie disappears from sight. I search for hours, though I don’t dare call out her name. The collectors could be close, and I can’t lose her again.
Finally, I return to camp, to the popping fire. To the humans and jackrabbits and liberators sleeping in the snow. Then I turn back to the forest. The trees are heavy from the frost and the ground is frozen solid. Charlie is alive. They brought her back using Neco’s dargon. I don’t know how I feel about this, and I don’t know why I never suggested giving her a cuff. My cuff. Anyone’s. Maybe because I don’t want her to be a part of this fight any longer. Charlie seems too good for this battle. I want to lift her above it. I want to be her savior.
But the girl I saw step out from between the trees tonight doesn’t need saving.
Charlie Cooper looked different. She looked angry.
And I wonder what that will translate to on the battlefield.
47
Unbreakable
The next morning, before the sun has risen, I smell something delicious. It isn’t bacon, but it’s close enough. I open my eyes and see the sisters cooking quail over the fire. There are a half-dozen birds along the snow beside them and ten rabbits near those.
“You catch all those?” I ask.
The youngest one smiles bashfully.
“I want you to be my bride.”
“There are two of us,” she says.
“Exactly.”
Snow crunches, and I hear, “Divide the meat evenly between the people. Wake them soon. We have to strategize.” Kraven the Buzz Kill leans against a tree as I sweep the area, searching for Charlie. “She’s with Aspen.”
I get up and dust the snow from my pants. “Where?”
“Don’t disturb them.”
“Where?!”
Kraven sighs and points to my left. “Quarter mile in that direction. Don’t sneak up on them.”
I’m moving in the direction he referenced before he can utter another word. I stomp through the snow, moving like a herd of elephants over land mines. I couldn’t be louder if someone strapped a megaphone to my mouth and I barked the happy birthday song.
I hear Aspen’s voice first. “But then we’d have to wait out the day. I say we attack now and with as much force as possible. Every second we wait is another second they have to recover.”
“We must be patient.” Charlie’s voice is gentle. It contradicts the storm I saw in her eyes last night. “We’re outnumbered, so our only chance is to outthink them. We’ve already lost some of our people. I don’t want to lose more.”
My stomach turns thinking about Lincoln’s friend who will never return, and the humans we lost this morning as well.
Aspen holds up a closed fist. “But that’s exactly why we should attack immediately. Our troops are angry. They want vengeance.”
Watching the two girls, it’s like they’ve been waging war side-by-side for a millennium. I wonder what the two went through in hell together. They must have relied on each other to keep their spirits up. To stay alive.
Realizing I’m being a total creeper by spying on them, I walk into sight.
The girls move unimaginably fast. They stand shoulder to shoulder, knees bent, defensive stance. Aspen has whipped two blades from out of nowhere and holds them hip level. Charlie’s hands face each other like she was thinking about praying but changed her mind. Between her palms a blue light crackles and flicks. The light looks like electric strings firing across the distance.
Their brows furrow.
Their lips are pulled back.
They look terrifying as hell.
“Whoa, there,” I say. “Professor Xavier called. Said you two are out of control and need to head back to the X-Mansion. Personally, I think a dose of your favorite demon will even you out.”
“Dante!” Aspen cries.
She relaxes out of her death stance and runs toward me. Her entire body slams into mine. It feels a bit like running into a brick wall on a unicycle. I crush her to me and revel in this moment.
“You’re okay,” I say.
“I’m okay.”
“I should never have—”
“Stop.” Aspen pulls back. “You did the right thing. You have your own soul. There must be a reason for it.”
I want to ask her about the dreams; if she remembers them, or if it was all in my head. Part of me doesn’t want to know though.
Aspen releases me and walks away, but not before sharing a silent exchange with Charlie. Once she’s gone, it’s only Charlie and I left. Alone. I cross the distance between us, almost afraid that she’ll reject me the way she did when I left to liberate Aspen’s soul. She believed I wanted her to change, that I wanted her to be more like me. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I hate myself for ever saying anything that made her think so.
When Charlie doesn’t move away, I raise my hand and brush the side of her face with my knuckles. She closes her eyes an
d reopens them. She’s wearing glasses like she did when I first met her. These are different though. Heavy red frames that make her look like a naughty librarian. I wonder where she got them until I remember Oswald tucking the small black case into his pocket at the Hive. If I wasn’t sure he knew more than he let on, now I am.
Charlie realizes I’m staring and says, “I don’t care what you think.”
“What?”
She takes a small step backward. “I know I don’t look beautiful anymore, but I don’t care. I’ve moved past such trivial things. I am built of the same things you are. And I am strong. I don’t need beauty.”
My heart clenches. Does she think so little of me? “Charlie, what happened to you out there… I tried to save you before you disappeared through the floor. I tried to save you again out there on the Lion’s Hand. I couldn’t get to you. I couldn’t…” I shake my head.
“You think I care what you look like? I only want to touch you. When I saw you last night, alive, I hated myself. I hated myself because I was so unbelievably happy to have you back. I thought I’d lost you forever, and now you’re here, and I’m glad. I’m glad and that makes me selfish. You should be at rest now.” My voice breaks. “You’ve already done so much for me, for everyone, and you don’t deserve to go through more hardship.”
“It’s not me who will go through hardship.” Charlie’s voice has a deadly edge.
“Don’t go back out there. Please, let me protect you this time. I won’t fail you again.”
Charlie lays a hand on the center my chest. “It is me who will protect you now. Don’t you understand, Dante? This is how it had to end for me. I knew I would be taken. I knew I would die. Oswald told me. It was written on the last part of the scroll, but he unlocked it.” She swallows. “The girl of blue light will fall and be reborn before the final battle.”
“Oswald knew you would die, and he let it happen? What about Kraven? Did he know, too?”
“And Valery, though it wasn’t why she took me below. She did that selfishly. Though you know what our king says about casting stones.”