Black City

Evangeline finishes drinking from the Hazer girl and passes her to me. The girl flops in my arms, barely breathing, her blond hair spilling over my fingers. White pearls of foam bubble out the corner of her mouth, reminding me of the Hazer girl from the night I first met Natalie.



“I’m going,” I say to Evangeline.



She grabs my arm. “Don’t you dare go back to her. You belong to me!”



“I don’t belong to anyone. This was a mistake.”



“If you leave now, that’s it between us. I’ll never be with you,” Evangeline threatens.



I hesitate for a second, panicked at the idea of what I’m giving up. Evangeline’s my true Blood Mate, the girl I was supposed to be with. Not just that, she’s a twin-blood, the only one I know. If I leave now, I risk losing her forever and being on my own again. Except, it dawns on me, I wouldn’t be alone, not really. I’d have Natalie. I never once felt alone when I was with her. I don’t know if Natalie will ever forgive me, but I’m willing to risk losing it all to find out.



Without another word, I go upstairs into the pawnshop. I’m about to leave when I spot Natalie’s watch in the glass counter by the till. I check no one is looking, then smash the glass, grab the watch and run out before anyone catches me.



* * *



The journey to Natalie’s house doesn’t take long, as I take my detour over the rooftops. I jump down onto her balcony and knock on the window, wait for a minute, then knock again, louder this time in case she didn’t hear me. The curtain twitches, and Natalie’s blue eyes peer at me through the tiny slit between the drapes.



“Natalie—”



She closes the curtains, shutting me out.



“Please let me explain,” I say through the glass. “I’m sorry.”



I wait on her balcony, praying she’ll let me in, but after an hour, I know she’s not going to come to the window. I place her watch on the balustrade, hoping she’ll find it. It’s not much of a peace offering, but I need her to know how sorry I am. How can I get a message to her? One name immediately springs to mind. As soon as I get home, I grab the phone and dial Beetle’s number.



Day answers his phone, as I hoped she would.



“Do you know what time it is, Ash?” she says groggily.



“Yeah, yeah, sorry. How’s Beetle?”



“He’s alive. Did you need something?”



“Yeah. I need to ask you a favor.”



I just hope this is going to work.



28



NATALIE



I HEAR ASH LEAVE, but I don’t chase after him. I won’t.



My pillow is wet with tears, but the pain won’t wash away, no matter how much I cry. The image of Ash and Evangeline kissing haunts my every thought until I think I’m going mad. He broke my heart. Sorry, her heart. It wasn’t ever mine to break. What really hurts is I still feel the same way about him. I love him more than ever; he’s still the boy who ran across the rooftops with me, the boy I played in the snow with. Not that it matters now. I’m not his Blood Mate. He only ever wanted me because of some stolen heart.



My chest throbs, and I take one of my heart pills, although I know it won’t help with this heartache. I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. The room starts to feel too small, claustrophobic, like the walls are closing in around me just like in my dream. I force myself out of bed and go over to the balcony window to let in some fresh air. I notice a small object sitting on my balustrade. My father’s antique watch!



Ash must’ve got it back for me. I’m touched by the gesture, but I’m still furious with him.



I run my finger over the watch face, admiring how it shimmers in the moonlight. My finger halts. I look at the watch face more closely, turning it into the light. The ivory surface glimmers gold.



Horror and disbelief rise up inside me.



I remember seeing something glimmer like this before: the Bastet skull at the museum. What had Sebastian said? The Bastet’s saber teeth were imbued with its venom? That’s what makes the ivory shimmer gold.



I run to my nightstand and empty my jewelry box onto the bed. The phial of Golden Haze rolls across the sheets, sparkling with the same metallic sheen as the Bastet ivory.



I cover my mouth, muffling a scream as the truth hits me.



The Golden Haze has been mixed with Bastet venom.



And there’s only one place in this city where you can get Bastet venom.



The Sentry HQ laboratory.



* * *



The Bastet boy is curled up in the corner of the cell, his tail wrapped around his naked body. His feet are chained to the wall. He’s emaciated, and there are bruises all over his tanned, brown-spotted torso. What have they been doing to him?



They did this to Evangeline. She must have been so scared; she was only a little girl. As much as I want to hate her, I can’t. They brutalized her and took away her only chance at love by giving me her heart. She has every right to be mad at them, at me. I hate them too for what they did, even though I know Mother did it to save me. But she didn’t have to keep Evangeline awake when they cut out her heart; that was just cruel.



I cautiously enter the boy’s cell. I found the key to his shackles in Craven’s drawers. It makes me sick to think this is what Craven and my mother have really been working on these past weeks. It explains why they needed so many Darklings; they had to get the Haze from somewhere. The only question I have is, why? What could Mother possibly gain by contaminating the Haze? If the citizens find out their government has been knowingly poisoning children, there will be mutiny. It doesn’t make sense. No wonder she was so keen to blame Chris’s death on Ash—she wanted a scapegoat. She’s been playing us all.



The boy lifts his head and looks at me with furious golden eyes. Only the tips of his curved saber teeth are showing; the rest have retracted back inside his skull.



“I’m going to let you go, but you have to promise not to hurt me,” I say.



He gives a curt nod.



I know it’s a big risk, but I don’t care. I won’t let Mother harm any more “specimens” the way she tortured Evangeline. I unlock the metal restraints around his ankles. The boy springs to his feet and grabs me around my throat, pushing me down on the hard cell floor. Panic spills over me in waves as he bares his saber teeth at me. I claw at his hands. I don’t want to die like this, please, not like this, not like Father.



“You promised . . . ,” I gasp as his viselike grip tightens around my neck.



The boy hesitates. He lets go of me, and I scramble to my feet.



“Take the back stairwell and go out through the kitchens. There are no guards there at this time of night,” I say.



“I will remember your kindness,” he says, and rushes out of the room.



I rub my neck and wait a few minutes to see if any alarms go off. When they don’t, I know he’s escaped. I curl up against the cell wall, trying to hold back the tears. How could Mother do this? Somehow I suspect Purian Rose is behind it all, but what proof do I have? My head spins just thinking about it. There’s only one person I want to talk to right now, but he’s the last person I want to see.



I go back to my room, hoping to go to bed and forget this day ever happened. I walk past Polly’s door and notice it’s open a crack. That’s odd. I enter her room, wondering if she’s awake.



I gasp.



Standing over Polly’s sleeping body is Evangeline. The white curtains billowing in the wind.



“Get away from her,” I say.



Evangeline turns to look at me, contempt written all over her face.



“I said, get away from her,” I say more forcefully. I can’t scream for help, not yet—Evangeline is too close to Polly. She’d kill her before anyone could reach us.



Polly stirs in her bed, unaware of the danger she’s in. Her black hair pools over her pillow, and Evangeline lightly touches it.



“What do you want?” I say, panicked.



“I wanted to talk to you.”



“So you broke into my house? Most people use a phone.”



“Your sister is very pretty, even with her scars,” she says.



“You leave her out of this,” I say. “If you came here to punish someone for stealing your heart, then take it out on me—I’m the one who deserves it. She had nothing to do with this.”



Evangeline takes a step toward me. I carry on talking, hoping to lure her away from Polly and gain enough time to call for help.



“You have every right to be angry at me. What my mother did to you was sadistic and cruel, and it’s my fault that you got hurt,” I say. “They took your heart, and not just that, they took Ash away from you. So I’m sorry, for everything.”



She furrows her brow.



I take a deep breath. The next words are the hardest I’ve ever spoken. “If you want Ash, I won’t put up a fight. He was never mine. He always belonged to you.”



“You’d do that?” she asks.



I lower my eyes. “If that’s what it takes.”



She’s silent for a long time.



“I don’t want him to be with me because it’s the only option he’s got,” she says. “I know, given the choice, he’d be with you. He showed me as much tonight.”



“He kissed you,” I point out.



“I kissed him.”



“So where does that leave us?” I say.



“I’m not going to stop fighting for him. Ash is my Blood Mate, heart or no heart. But when he decides to be with me, it’ll be because he wants to, not because you’ve given him no other choice,” she says.



I nod.



Evangeline moves toward the balcony windows. “And, Natalie?”



“Yes?”



“Don’t think this changes anything between us,” she says. “I’m getting my heart back from you one day.”



With that, she leaps onto the balcony and disappears into the night.



I hurry over to the windows and lock them tight.



* * *



I stay in bed until the following afternoon, the curtains drawn, the covers over my head, trying to block out the world. I had to pull a sickie, because it’s Wednesday, a school day. Despite yesterday’s bombing, Mother demanded the school be kept open and for everyone to go back to work, because the government “doesn’t bow down to terrorism.” It was surprisingly easy to act ill, given how I feel right now. When I eventually got to sleep last night, my dreams were filled with upsetting images of Ash and Evangeline kissing. At least I didn’t have the nightmare about the child in the cave. I don’t think I ever will again, now that I know the truth about Evangeline and my heart.



“Are you sure you won’t come to the hunt later this afternoon?” Sebastian asks.



I fake a cough. “I really can’t.”



“I’ll cover for you this time, but you have to come to the next one,” he says, stomping out of the room. “If you change your mind, we’ll be meeting at the Armistice Memorial at the cemetery.”



There’s no way I’m doing that. I won’t hunt Darklings! I don’t care what anyone says, I won’t be a Tracker.



I hear Mother’s screeching voice ringing through the floorboards. She’s been screaming at her staff all day for allowing the Bastet boy to escape. Craven’s been getting the brunt of her wrath. I’d feel bad for him, except he deserves everything he gets for creating that Golden Haze. At least the Bastet boy is gone; they won’t be able to use his venom to make any more of it. It can’t bring Chris back, but at least no one else will get hurt.



The door opens, and Martha brings in a tray of food.



“I don’t want it,” I mumble.



“You have to eat, dear.”



“No I don’t.”



Martha pulls the covers back until my face is visible. “Come on, just one spoonful of soup. It will make you feel better.”



“Nothing will ever make me feel better,” I say, dragging the blanket over my head again.



She pats my leg and leaves, letting me wallow in self-pity. A few minutes later, the door opens again.



“I don’t want to eat anything, Martha,” I say.



“Don’t worry, Nat. I think the anorexic look really suits you,” Day says.



I sit up, and Day curls her lip at my appearance: matted hair, red-rimmed eyes and hollow cheeks. I check the clock. Has school finished already?



“What are you doing here?” I say.



“I heard what happened between you and Ash, and I thought you might need cheering up.”



“I’m fine. I—” I burst into tears.



Day wipes my eyes with the frilled sleeve of her blouse.



“Come on,” she says, dragging me out of bed, the way Polly used to do when I was a little girl and didn’t want to get up.



I’m bundled into the shower as Day goes and gets me some fresh clothes. I let the water splat off my skin and glumly stare at the drain as it gurgles up soapsuds. I get dressed, then immediately crawl back into bed.



“Oh no you don’t.” She pulls me off the bed and ushers me out of the room.



We sneak down the corridor, past Sebastian’s room. The door’s open. He’s getting changed into his Tracker uniform, readying for the hunt. The rose tattoo above his left ear still looks pink and sore. He turns, sensing me.



“Natalie?” he calls out.



I grab Day’s hand, and we run down the stairs and out of the building before he can stop us.



“Where are we going?” I grumble as we walk down the city streets.



“You’ll see.”



Flakes of ash rain down on us like black snow as the Cinderstone buildings surrounding us continue to slowly burn, making the city smell like bonfires. There’s a tension in the air; everyone is still shook up from yesterday’s bombing. Tanks roll down the streets, while numerous Tracker squads assemble at various checkpoints throughout the city. It’s unusual seeing so many of them out all at once, but I guess they need to be extra vigilant after the explosion.