CHAPTER 15

Later that night, I was on the hunt and Aiden was my prey. After training, he’d disappeared. After dinner, he’d disappeared again, and hours had gone by since then. It was a few minutes past midnight, and I knew he wasn’t on rounds. Solos was, and the niggling suspicion that Aiden was avoiding me was turning into full-blown paranoia.

Prowling through the lower floor, I hoped to burn off most of the nervous energy and stave off the beginnings of a headache. Right now, it was just a dull ache behind my eyes, but I had a feeling it was going to turn into a head-splitter.

There was another long night ahead, made worse by where my thoughts were. Of all things I should’ve been worried about at the moment, I knew this wasn’t it, but I hated that there was this wall that had come out of nowhere. And it was a weird wall that…

I weathered a sudden, terrible memory of Aiden staring at the bottle of Elixir I’d held in the kitchen after my first dinner back in the land of the sane. Had seeing that Elixir reminded him of what he’d taken part in? He couldn’t be… feeling guilty over placing me on the Elixir, could he? I’m pretty sure everyone in the world would agree that had been necessary.

“You look pissy.” Lea’s voice rattled me out of my thoughts.

I stood outside a small study that held only a couch and a desk. Bookcases lined the wall, but most of the shelves were empty. The only light came from the little lamp peeking over the back of the couch.

“I’m not pissy.” I was confused, frustrated and paranoid, tired and… okay, I was a tiny bit pissy.

She tucked a stray strand of hair back. A moment of silence passed and then, “I know what you did.”

That was the second time someone had said that to me in a few hours, and honestly, neither of them could really know. Could they? Wasn’t like I wore a sign on my forehead.

I stared at Lea blankly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She made a show of slowly closing her book and putting it aside. Biting back a groan, I walked into the room and leaned against the desk. “What?” I demanded, folding my arms.

My arch-nemesis stared back at me unflinchingly. Whatever I’d dished out at her over the years, she’d always returned. In some ways, we were a lot alike. We were two alpha females, constantly at one another’s throats.

But it was more than that.

In a flash of disturbing insight, I knew why we’d become sandbox enemies so very long ago. When I was younger, before Mom had yanked my butt out of the Covenant, before Lea and I hated each other, we used to be decent. That is, until one day, I’d said something terrible to her.

Even at the age of ten, Lea had loved her pure-blooded stepmother and half-sister—to the point that the rest of us halfs thought something was wrong with her. Most of the pures ignored their half-blood children, especially the ones who hadn’t birthed or sired the half-bloods. Stepparents in our world were truly step-monsters. But in Lea’s world, her pure-blooded stepmother must’ve loved her dearly. Every Monday, after spending the weekend with her stepmother, Lea would talk about all the wonderful things they’d done together—shopping, watching movies, and getting ice cream. None of us had that with our step-monsters. Lucian used to lock me in my bedroom when Mom wasn’t home.

So naturally, we’d been jealous.

We’d dogged her constantly about her love of her stepmother. Destroyed the dress she had bought Lea by spilling cranberry juice on it. Hid the tiny photo album Lea carried with her all the time. It had been polka-dotted with pink stripes, full of these pictures of her and Dawn, her pure-blooded half-sister. Once I’d found a card Lea’s stepmother had written to Lea, tucked away in one of her textbooks.

I had ripped it to shreds in front of Lea, laughing as she cried.

Then one day, while we were all running laps, Lea had stopped to stare at a visiting pure-blood Council member. Her face had taken on this glow that none of us understood. It looked like respect and wonder. But that couldn’t be right. Because, as halfs, we didn’t stare at pures in open admiration, like we’d cut off our left arm to be like them.

After class, I had found Lea sitting in the courtyard with her friends. Followed by Caleb and a few others, I’d stormed their circle and stood in the middle. And I’d said the biggest, meanest thing I could ever say to another half-blood.

“You have more pure-blood in you than half.”

The same thing Seth had said to me once before.

Come to think of it, I think I may have spit on her, too.

Lea pretty much hated me after that, and honestly, I don’t know how I had forgotten that. Then again, I probably chose to forget what’d started our sandbox hate. I always chalked Lea’s animosity toward me as a product of her general bitchiness, when in reality I had been nothing more than a bully.

It seemed too late to apologize now, and knowing Lea, it wouldn’t change anything, not that I expected it would.

Lea watched me now, head tilted to the side as if she knew where my thoughts had gone. She smiled tightly. “You let up on the air element while we were fighting.”

My mouth dropped opened, but she rushed on.

“I wouldn’t have broken your hold if you hadn’t let up. I felt it lessen—the pressure—and I didn’t realize right away that you did it, but I figured it out,” she said, as if she wanted to prove that she’d been smart enough to see through it. “What I don’t get is why you did it. You could’ve pushed me straight through the ground. Gods know you never had a problem coming after me before. What’s so different now?”

Unfolding my arms, I gripped the edge of the desk. I had no idea what to say. Lea was right. I had let up on the air element, and that wasn’t the only thing she called me out on. A few months ago, if I’d had control over the element then, I would’ve tossed her around the forest for the fun of it, maybe even thrown another apple at her face. Anything was possible.

I tugged on my hair, pulling the thick braid over one shoulder. Lea waited for my explanation and I felt my cheeks redden.

Her amethyst eyes narrowed.

Blowing out a low breath, I rolled my eyes and tossed my hair back over my shoulder. “Okay. You got me. I did let up, and I did it because I remember how much it sucked to be held down like that and be helpless. I hated it when Seth did it to me.”

She paled under her ever-present tan. “He… he did that to you?”

“In training,” I said, dismissing where her mind was obviously going with that. “Anyway, I just couldn’t do that to someone else, even if that person is a stuck-up, tan-as-leather hooch.”

Lea watched me a moment, then cracked a smile. “And that’s coming from Alex, Covenant dropout extraordinaire and psycho Apollyon.”

My lips twitched. “Ow. Burn.”

Turning her head, she hid her grin but quickly sobered as she faced me. “You’ve changed so much, Alex.”

Part of me wanted to deny it, but it was true. As I stared back at the copper-haired girl, I realized we’d both irrevocably changed. There was no going back to the girls we’d been over the past summer.

Lea sighed and her nose wrinkled. “So… this is awkward.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it is. I feel like I need to insult you some more.”

She leaned back in an arrogant sprawl as she raised her hands. “Do your best.”

“It’s too easy,” I said, letting go of the desk, feeling the blood rush back into my fingertips. “I’ll just wait for you to do something to tick me off. I’m sure it won’t take long.”

“Probably not,” she replied. “I’m surprised you’re not all up Olivia’s butt.”

I arched a brow. “Trying to tick me off so soon? I’m surprised.”

Lea shrugged and then there was a pause. “Olivia told me that you saw Caleb twice. Was that… was that true?”

I nodded. “I saw him when I went to the Underworld, and he visited me right before I escaped.”

Her thick lashes swept down. “Was he okay?”

And then it hit me. It wasn’t concern for Caleb or anything, but the reason she was asking had to do with her half-sister. “Yeah, he was more than okay. He was happier than he was before he passed.” A lump formed in my throat and I focused on the empty bookshelves. “He said my mom was there, too, so I’m sure your parents and Dawn are there… and they’re okay.”

She drew in a choked breath, and like me, she suddenly became focused on the frayed edges of the couch arm. All half-bloods had been trained to show no pain, and gods forbid we cried. The whole show-no-weakness mantra was hard to leave behind.

I dropped down on the cushion beside Lea and picked up the book she’d been reading. Turning the book over, my brows flew up as I got an eyeful of the hottie on the cover. “Wait. Is this book about aliens?”

She snatched it back from me. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“But they’re hot aliens.” She tapped on the guy’s face with one thin finger. “And he can be my ET any day.”

I laughed outright, and it did feel a little odd to be laughing with Lea of all people, but she smiled a little. Lea and I would never be BFF’s, but I wondered if, one day, we’d actually consider each other friends.

A sharp slice of pain shot from behind my eyes and across my temples. Wincing, I stood and took a deep breath. “Do we have any Tylenol around?” Another shot of pain, like fire streaking through the vessels in my brain, caused nausea to rise in my throat. “Or a sledge hammer? Something?”

“I’m sure there’s something—hey—hey—are you okay?” Lea’s voice suddenly sounded so, so far away, but her hand was on my arm.

“Yeah, I’m… okay.” I took a step and felt a tremble in my legs. Muscles twitched, gave way.

An explosion flashed white in the dimly lit room, blinding me temporarily. I thought I screamed a warning. I thought I turned to move in front of Lea, but when the intense white light receded, I wasn’t in the little room anymore.

The circular chamber was made of sandstone and lined with marble pillars. Strange glyphs covered the walls, runes that matched the ones gliding over my skin. There was nothing in the room—no couch or bookshelves or Lea—but I wasn’t alone.

“What the hell?” I demanded.

Standing before me was a god, one who looked like he wasn’t much older than me. The winged cap he wore hid most of his hair, but light brown wisps poked out from underneath. He wore a white chlamys cloak.

The god gave a little smile. “Don’t kill the messenger.”

And then he blinked out.

“What the fu—”

Then I saw him. He leaned against one of the pillars, his back to me. The familiar black garb, the wave of blond hair—now slightly longer… Recognition sent a terrible, icy Shockwave of disbelief through me.

“Seth?” I whispered.

A heartbeat passed and he turned his head to the side. “I am not very happy with you, Alex.”

Horror rose quickly and I took an involuntarily step back. Before, I never would’ve feared him—would’ve laughed at the thought. But now I was terrified—not of him, but what he could do.

Seth turned to me and his face was as I remembered—strong jaw and expressive lips, eyes like liquid amber and a beauty that was too perfect. It always reminded me of sculptures done in the images of the gods.

He arched a mocking brow. “What? Are you struck speechless? That would be a first.”

“How?” I croaked, heart racing painfully.

“We’re still connected, and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to… how should I say this? ‘Make a long-distance call via our bond’?” He smiled that smug half-grin. “Shield or not, I can still reach you… with a little help from friends in high places.”

The god… “Hermes?”

Seth nodded. “He’s always been a fav of mine. Bringing you to me will surely piss off some of the other gods, which was all it took to convince Hermes to do it. And before you jump to the wrong conclusion, Hermes is not the god responsible for me.”

The fact that Seth had gotten Hermes to swoop in ticked me off, but it didn’t make sense. How had Hermes found me? Confusion swamped me, but there was something that tasted like blood behind it. “I don’t understand. Where am I?”

“You’re where I want you to be.” He took a calculated step forward.

I inched backward. “That’s not much of an answer.”

Seth cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he kept coming forward. “Do you think you deserve an answer?”

Now I knew what tasted like metal in the back of my throat. Anger. “Am I dreaming, Seth?”

He laughed; while we’d been connected, he had laughed a lot, but now I realized there was a difference between real Seth and the ghost version of him. His presence was potent; his voice held a husky, musical quality to it with the slightest accent. And his laugh… his laugh was deep and smug.

“You’re not dreaming, Alex. Like I said, I used our connection, and Hermes helped. This…” He spread his arms out, and the golden skin was covered in moving symbols. “This is in here.” He tapped a finger off his skull. “It’s like Skyping.”

My hand itched to knock that smile off his face. “So this isn’t real?”

“Oh, it’s real to a certain extent.”

I found that I’d kept backing up and now my back was against the warm sandstone wall. “This can’t be real.”

Seth stopped in front of me and leaned in, coming so close that I turned my head, my fingers curling helplessly at my sides. His breath danced over my cheek. “If you’re worried that I can transfer your power in this state, I can’t. Neither can I really get anything out of our bond. Your shields—” he rolled his eyes “—are still intact. I probably shouldn’t have taught you how to do that, but anyway, you’re not really here. Hermes rode our connection to your subconscious and pulled you into mine.”

Gods, that sounded so entirely messed up.

“I missed you. So relax.”

Relax? I was supposed to relax when I was here, wherever here was, with crazy-pants Seth? My head jerked toward him. Our faces were mere inches apart. “You missed me?”

“I miss the Alex who lived to make me happy.” He laughed at what I was sure was a I’m going to murder you look that crossed my face. “Okay. I wanted to see if this would work and it did.”

“So if I touch you, then nothing will happen?”

“Correct.” His amber eyes flared. “Wait. You want to touch me? I like where this is going.”

I smiled, and then a second later I planted my fist in his stomach with everything I had in me. Doubling over, Seth grunted and let out a low curse. Moving forward, I brought my knee up, slamming into the same spot my fist had connected with seconds before.

“Dammit, Alex, I can feel that.” Seth straightened, rubbing his stomach.

Sweet satisfaction tasted like sugar on my tongue. “Good! Because there’s more where that came from, you psychotic douchebag!” I swung again.

Seth reacted quickly, capturing my hand in his. He pushed back, snatching my other wrist, which was heading for his face. Less than a second later, he had both my wrists pinned above my head.

Smiling like I hadn’t just kicked the air out of his stomach, which totally ticked me off, he pressed in. “How many times have I told you, Alex? Hitting isn’t nice.”

I pushed off the wall, but all that succeeded in doing was bringing our bodies flush. Anger deepened the hue of his eyes, as did something else—interest and lust. And even though that made my skin crawl, I realized something important. The cord wasn’t snapping alive like it usually did when I was around him, especially when he was practically on top of me. It rested dormant in the pit of my stomach.

This was real… but it wasn’t real. Still, I wasn’t thrilled with what was happening.

“You’re in my personal space.” My jaw ached from how hard I was grinding my molars. “Let go.”

“No.” His eyes widened. “You might hit me again.”

“You can count on it!” Rage boiled inside me, swallowing the confusion and terror that had held such a tight grip on me. “How could you do that to me?” I kicked off the wall, but Seth pushed back. “You promised you wouldn’t use our bond against me, and you did! You turned me into the president of the Seth Fan Club.”

His lips twitched. “I see nothing wrong with that.”

I seethed. “I referred to you as my Seth!”

“Again, I see nothing wrong with that.”

Hands curling into fists, I glared at him. “It was wrong, Seth! What you’re doing is wrong! Don’t you understand that? Dammit!” Throwing my hand back, it cracked against the wall. Very real pain exploded up my arm. “Shit!”

“Now, calm down. You’re just going to hurt yourself.” Mischief sparkled in his golden eyes, and for an instant, I was reminded of Seth—Seth before he went crazy on aether power, who ticked me off just as much as he made me laugh—the boy who had stolen a piece of my heart.

I stared into his eyes, feeling some of the rage seep away. “What happened to you?”

He blinked. “What?”

Slumping against the wall, I lowered my gaze. “You’ve always been arrogant as hell and crazy, but…”

“Thanks,” he said dryly, but the grip around my wrists loosened.

“But you never would’ve done this to me—used the bond against me.” I lifted my gaze. “You never would’ve attacked the Council or sided with Lucian. What happened to you?”

A muscle popped out in Seth’s jaw. “I got smart, Alex. What happened to you is the better question. The girl I met would’ve gone against the Council without a second thought. She would’ve still hated Lucian, but she would’ve seen that what he was trying to do was the right thing.”

“No.” I turned my head, swallowing hard.

Yes!” Moving my wrists to one hand, he caught my chin in his other, forcing me to look at him, and I hated the near-feverish gleam to his eyes. “He wants to change the world.”

“He wants to rule it, Seth! There’s a big difference. And you’re nothing but a pawn.” I dug into that fury in me, clinging to it. “He’s using you, Seth. You used to be stronger than that, but you’re weak—weak on power.”

Anger flashed across his face like lightning as his grip tightened on my chin. “I am not weak.”

“You are! You’re so weak that you can’t even see what Lucian is doing to you! Don’t you ever care about what’s happening to the world? Innocent people are dying, Seth.” Meeting his furious gaze, I willed him to understand, to see where everything went wrong. “How can you be okay with that? You have to stop this.”

His silence was stony.

“Do you understand what I’m going to have to do?” Tears welled in my eyes at the same moment I heard the whisper of my name being called from what sounded like miles away.

Seth heard it too, and he recognized the voice. His lips pulled back in a snarl.

“I’m going to have to kill you, Seth.” My voice gave out.

He jerked back, letting go of me so quickly that I nearly fell. Something a lot like disbelief flickered across his features and there was more. A look I couldn’t figure out, and then his expression went cold. “You can’t kill me.”

The sound of Aiden’s voice calling for me tugged at every cell in my body. “I will find a way, because I can’t let you do this.”

Seth folded his arms. “You’ll fail.”

My heart tripped over itself. “What do I have to do to make you stop? Tell me!”

His lips twisted in a cruel smile. “There is nothing you can do, Alex. You need to accept what’s happening—accept our Fate. You were made for me, and I will find you. And if anyone stands in my way, I won’t think twice about taking them down.”

I gasped, sickened, saddened, and a whole lot disturbed to hear him say that. He’d done so many hideous things, but to hear that, to see how truly far gone he was, cut deep into me. “Seth…”

He shot forward, clasping the sides of my head. “So go ahead and shield me out all you want. As you can see, I can still get to you.” Pressing his forehead against mine, he dragged in a deep breath. “We’ll be seeing each other again real soon.”

Seth shifted again and I felt his lips brush my forehead a second before light exploded in and around me.