I didn’t get much sleep Thursday night. I couldn’t clear my head long enough to relax. What I’d learned about Luc and the Daedalus kept replaying over and over, as did Chas’s extraordinarily weird warning.
Stay away from the club—from Luc.
Why would he say that? Because I was human? I wanted to believe that was the only reason, but instinct told me it was more than that. You saw what happened to me. Yeah, I’d seen that. It would be a long time before I forgot what I saw.
What sucked most was that I knew I couldn’t talk to anyone. Besides the fact that I doubted anyone would believe me if I started talking about secret government groups, Origins, and hybrids, Luc didn’t need to tell me how important it was that I keep my mouth shut. I didn’t want to say something and put someone in danger.
People who know the truth go missing.
That wasn’t a pleasant thought.
I spent the night twisting and turning, falling asleep only for a few hours before I needed to get up. I was in a weird mood all day Friday, made worse by the fact that I hadn’t heard from Luc. Not that I expected him to be in touch—well, I guess I sort of did. And I could’ve just texted him, but that felt . . . It felt weird. Like, I didn’t know, too personal? And that didn’t make sense. Friends contacted friends all the time. Except, were we friends? How could I be when I’d barely scratched the surface of who Luc was? When even admitting that there were moments—rare moments—when liking him on a basic friendship level made me feel . . . weird?
So I didn’t text him.
And he didn’t text me.
That wasn’t a big deal. Not at all. Nope.
“Are you okay?” Heidi asked as we walked out to the parking lot after class.
“Yeah.” I glanced up at the thick clouds blocking the sun. “Why?”
She nudged me with her arm. “You’ve just been really quiet all day.”
Had I? “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Zoe caught up with us as we began to clear the hill. “You look like you could use a nap.”
I laughed under my breath. “Yeah, I really could.”
“Did Luc keep you up last night?” Heidi grinned.
“What? No.” I’d already told them about my trip to the club yesterday. Of course, I’d left out, well, everything. When they asked if I learned anything about my mom, I’d . . . I’d lied, and I hated doing that. “I just couldn’t sleep. Did Emery keep you up last night?”
“I wish,” Heidi said, and sighed.
I was about to ask if she’d spent time with Emery last night, but Zoe stopped in front of me as we reached the entrance of the parking lot. “What in the hell?” she said.
Curious, I stepped around her. There was a car parked in the middle of the parking lot, right where cars drove through to get out. It was a newer model. A Ford. A few people stood back from it.
“Isn’t that . . . Amanda’s car?” April suddenly walked past us, her blond ponytail swaying.
“I don’t know,” Zoe answered.
April slid past a small group. “Yeah. That is her car and it’s running.”
I trailed behind April, glancing at Zoe. She shrugged. Amanda hadn’t been in chem today, but if that was her car and it was running, then was she . . . ?
It happened so fast.
“Oh my God.” A girl stumbled back from the car, dropping her bag just as the driver’s side came into view.
I saw it—saw everything before I had a chance to look away, to not see what would forever be imprinted in my mind.
Amanda was sitting in the driver’s seat, her posture rigid. At first glance I thought she was driving—I thought everything was okay—but then I saw that her head was tipped back against the seat, her long blond hair falling over her shoulders. Then I saw her face.
Someone screamed.
Someone grabbed my arm.
Someone was tugging on me.
But I saw her face through the windshield.
I saw where her eyes should’ve been, but they were just burnt-out black sockets.
* * *
“How are you handling everything?” Mom asked as she picked up a lid and placed it on a pot later that night.
I watched my Mom from where I sat on the kitchen island, my chin in my hands as she dumped popcorn kernels into a pan. Popcorn nights were kind of a tradition in our house whenever we both were home. Normally we chatted about school and watched really goofy movies, but tonight was different.
Amanda Kelly was dead.
She had been murdered in the same way Colleen had.
It looked like she’d been electrocuted, but we all knew that was what it looked like when a human was killed by a Luxen using the Source. Colleen. Amanda. Both killed in the same way. Both left at the school in a very public manner, to be found.
I shuddered.
Police had arrived before any of us could leave the parking lot. I think we were all questioned. I had no idea if Amanda had been kept like Colleen, alive for days after she’d disappeared. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know.
“Evie?” Mom said softly.
I peeked up at her. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just . . .” I lifted a shoulder. “I was thinking about everything.”
Mom came around the island. “I wish you never had to see anything like that.”
“Me too.”
She cupped my cheek in her cool hand. “I’m sorry, hon.”
My gaze lifted to hers, and I wanted to ask what other terrible things had she seen. She worked for the Daedalus. I knew they were responsible for things just as horrific as what had happened to Amanda and Colleen. I looked away and her hand fell to the side. “Do you . . . do you think a Luxen is responsible?”
“I don’t know.” She turned, walking back around the island. She clicked the stovetop on and blue flames roared to life. “It seems to be that way.”
“Why? I mean, why would they do something like that, knowing how people already feel about them?”
“Why does a human kill innocent people? A lot of times we don’t have all the clues or answers. I think sometimes they are some people are just . . . evil, and I imagine it’s the same for the Luxen.” One of the kernels popped, smacking off the lid as she looked over her shoulder at me. “I just want you to be extra careful, Evie. Pay attention to your surroundings. Listen to your gut. Just like it was after the invasion.”
Pressing my lips together, I nodded. “So you think there is, like, a serial killer Luxen?”
Mom turned back to the stove, shaking the pan. “I don’t know what to think, but being careful and vigilant never hurts.”
I twisted my hair in my hands and tapped my foot off the base of the island. “I wonder if the cops will figure out what it has to do with the school.”
“I wonder the same.” As the popping slowed, Mom turned off the stove and moved the pot to one of those trivets I never used. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Was I? I’d seen a . . . a dead body today. From a distance, but I’d seen enough, and my head was wrapped up in everything Luc had told me. So I guess I was okay, all things considered.
It was killing me not to talk to my mom about everything I’d learned, and my mind raced to come up with a plausible way to bring up what Luc was and what he’d said about the Daedalus without her suspecting I’d been in contact with him.
What did Mom know?
“So, I was . . . thinking about what you told me about Dad.” I kept twisting my hair, searching for a way to broach the topic with her. “You said he was responsible for taking something from Luc. A girl, right?”
Mom glanced up, and a long moment passed. “I never said it was a girl, Evie.”
Oh crap. She hadn’t? I couldn’t remember. My heart thundered in my chest. “Yeah, you did. You said it was a friend. A girl.”
“Did I?” She stared at me for a long moment and then sighed. “I don’t know the details surrounding what Jason did. I just know he did something he shouldn’t have.”
She was lying. Anger sparked deep inside me. She was totally lying. “It had to be pretty major for you to be worried about Luc.”
“I don’t want you to stress over what I told you about your father. Not when this terrible stuff is happening to your classmates. Okay? What your father did is in the past.”
But it wasn’t.
Exhaling roughly, I let go of my hair and hopped off the stool. It was time to change the subject before I blurted out things that showed I knew too much. I walked over to the counter and grabbed a large bowl. “Do you have to work this weekend?”
“I may head in for a few hours tomorrow.” She pulled the lid off the pot, revealing fluffy white heaven. “What do you have planned?”
I sat the bowl on the island and then grabbed the saltshaker, dumping a salt mine’s worth on the popcorn. “Nothing, really. Might take some pictures. I have a paper to work on.”
“How about you work on the paper first and then go take pictures?”
“That sounds too reasonable.”
“Or stay in, especially after what happened this last week.” She switched the popcorn to the bowl as I walked to the fridge. “What movie do you want to watch tonight?”
“I think I saw that movie about the haunted doll was available.”
“You want to watch a horror film?” Surprise filled her tone. “Since when?”
I raised a shoulder as I opened the door. “I don’t know. In the mood for something different.” Scanning the fridge, all I saw was a sea of blue. I frowned, craving a Coke. “There’s nothing to drink.”
“What?” Mom laughed. “There is a whole fridge full of soda.”
“Yeah, but I want a Coke.”
“A Coke? You never drink Coke.”
I shrugged again as I reached in, grabbing two bottles of water. “Do you want the spray butter?” I looked over my shoulder, finding Mom staring at me with her lips parted. “Uh, why are you looking at me like that?”
She blinked once and then twice. “Nothing. Leave the butter where it belongs.”
“All righty then.” I closed the door and headed toward the living room. Mom was still at the island, though, staring down at the bowl of popcorn like it held the answers to life. I set the bottles on the end table. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course.” Lifting her chin, she picked up the bowl and smiled, but as she drew closer to me, there was a forced quality to the smile. She placed the bowl next to the water and then picked up the remote. “Haunted dolls, here we come.”
* * *
I was editing photos on my laptop, trying not to think about haunted dolls or what I’d seen at school today, when a soft glow of light seeped into my bedroom.
Frowning, I looked over at the window. The curtains were drawn, but they didn’t block the light from the motion detector. I waited for the light to flip off, which it did pretty quickly whenever there was an animal like a deer in the front yard.
The light stayed on.
I set the laptop aside and tossed the covers off. I got out of bed and made my way over to the window, drawing the curtain back as I peered outside. There was a small roof outside my window, more like a two-or three-foot ledge, and that was where the motion detector was. It cast a bright spotlight down onto the driveway and part of the front yard. I saw nothing out there beyond the tree. Wind was moving the limbs, but that wouldn’t set the light off.
There had to be an animal out there.
Or a creepy-as-hell haunted doll.
Or a psychotic, killer Luxen.
Probably a deer.
My phone suddenly dinged from somewhere. I let go of the curtain and went back to the bed. Didn’t see the phone anywhere. Groaning, I lifted the blanket and spied it halfway under a pillow.
Snatching it up, I saw there was a number on the screen. My stomach dipped as I immediately forgot about the motion detector. It was Luc. I knew it was, because I hadn’t saved his number. I opened the text and my stomach tumbled even more.
Come see me tomorrow.
* * *
Sometimes I wondered if I ever made good life choices. As Clyde let me into Foretoken on Saturday, that was the question I was asking myself.
At least it wasn’t a half-naked Luc answering the door.
Though a very bad part of me was kind of disappointed.
Kent was waiting for me on the center of the gloomy, quiet dance floor.
“You came back!” He clapped his hands as he strode forward.
My steps slowed. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“I try not to be too hopeful.” He threaded his arm around mine and started walking toward the back hallway. “Luc will be happy.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“And I mean, he’ll be really happy.”
I shot him a look.
He chuckled. “Hey, it’s a good day for us when boss man is happy.”
“Luc is your boss?”
“In a way,” he said, and that was all he said.
Kent basically escorted me to Luc’s apartment, knocked on the door, and then skedaddled, disappearing back into the stairwell before Luc even answered the door.
My heart rate was all over the place while I waited for Luc, and it had nothing to do with the walk up the stairs.
Before I had the chance to have deep thoughts about my actions, the door opened and there he was.
Wearing a shirt.
That deep violet gaze flicked over me as he stepped back, holding the door open. “Come on in,” he said, running a hand over his damp hair. “Want something to drink? Eat?”
Nervous, I shook my head and walked toward the couch. A three-wick candle burned on the end table, and it reminded me of mahogany and spice. I could feel his gaze on me as I sat on the edge of the couch and as I looked around the room.
I couldn’t help it. I thought about what Chas had said to me, and look where I was?
“What did Chas say to you?”
My head swung in his direction. It took me a moment to process the question. “You’re reading my thoughts!”
He stepped toward me. “You were practically screaming them at me.”
I shot up from the couch. “You shouldn’t do that, Luc. Seriously.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. My bad, but he . . .” His head tilted to the side. “He told you to stay away from me?”
I threw up my hands, feeling terrible that Luc now knew what Chas had said to me. I wasn’t even sure why I felt bad about it. “Obviously you know that answer.”
“What the hell?” he muttered, thrusting his hand through his hair.
Crossing my arms, I stared at him. “Do you happen to know why he would say that to me?”
He dropped his hand. “Not exactly, but I’m going to find out.”
“I don’t think he was trying to start something—”
“You don’t know him well enough to make that assumption.”
“And I don’t know you well enough to know if I should’ve listened to him,” I snapped back.
Luc was quiet for a moment. “But I think you do. You’re here. Are you regretting that?”
“I . . .” How could I answer that? I sat back down. “I don’t know. Some really crazy stuff has been happening and I make bad life choices.”
His lips twitched and the line of his jaw softened. A moment passed. “The next time someone says something like that, tell me.”
“You think it’s going to happen again?”
“I hope not.”
“Well, you seemed busy, and I—”
“Didn’t want to get Chas in trouble? And no, I’m not reading your thoughts to pick up on that.” He sighed as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and placed it on the kitchen counter. “Chas won’t be in trouble. You don’t need to worry about that. He and I will just have a chat.”
“You really have no idea why he’d say that to me?”
Luc was quiet for a long moment. “Do you know what I’m doing here?”
I had a good idea of what went on here. “Uh, well, I guess you’re hiding Luxen—unregistered Luxen.”
“I’m not just hiding them. I arrange for them to leave, to go someplace safe. The guys who were here on Saturday? Daemon and Archer? They help transfer the Luxen.”
“So ‘the package’ is the unregistered Luxen?” I rubbed my palms over my bent knee. “Why . . . why are you moving them someplace safe? Does it have to do with the changes the president wants to make to the registration program?”
“I think you know that history has proven that anytime a certain group of people has been placed in their own communities, bad things come from that.”
History had proven that. Knots twisted up my stomach. “Do you think it will go through? Those changes?”
“I think anything is possible when the public is being fed nothing but fear,” he said, and I thought about Colleen and Amanda. What had happened to them surely wasn’t helping how humans viewed Luxen. “We want to be prepared for if and when those changes are implemented.”
I stopped moving my hands and clenched my knees. “How can I help?”
Luc’s brows lifted in surprise. “You want to help Luxen?”
Did I? “The Luxen have been here forever, right? Most of them just want to live their lives like we do.” I thought about what my mom had said. “And there’re bad Luxen just like they’re bad humans. That doesn’t mean all of them are bad.”
“Right,” he murmured, tilting his head.
“And I . . . I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history, you know?” I felt my cheeks warm.
Those odd eyes fixed on mine. “You can help by doing what you’re doing. Keeping what I am a secret. Keeping what I do here a secret.”
I thought there was way more I could be doing. “I’d never tell anyone about this.” I lowered my gaze and thought of something. “Do the task forces know what you are? Do they know about Origins?”
“Very few do. Higher-ups? Yes. The ones who do the raids? Most likely not.”
I was weirdly reassured about that and I didn’t want to look too closely at the whys. “So, something went wrong with the moving of the Luxen?”
He nodded. “Someone tipped off the task force. They were ambushed. The family you saw? They were captured.”
“God.” My stomach twisted. I didn’t like the fact that the dude had choked me, but it sucked hearing that they had been captured. “What about Daemon and Archer?”
“They got away. They’re actually on their way back here, since they need to lie low before they attempt to go home.”
“And it’ll be safe for them to come here?” I asked. “You guys were raided.”
“I’d rather shoulder that risk than their homes be jeopardized.”
I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what to say to that. That was brave and crazy.
“We’ll be okay here,” he said, walking over and sitting beside me. “We’ll always be okay.”
I glanced at him. “Always?”
“Always,” he repeated. He’d leaned toward me at some point. Or maybe I’d leaned toward him. I wasn’t sure. But there were only a few inches separating us. “I heard that the missing girl was found.”
“She was.” Looking away, I cleared my throat. “I saw her. Not close up, but I saw her eyes. They were burned out, Luc, and she’d been placed in her car, in the middle of the parking lot. She’d been left there like—”
“Like someone wanted her to be found that way. Just like with the other girl.”
I nodded. “The public thinks it’s a Luxen.”
“It sounds like one.” Luc touched my arm, and I drew in a shallow breath as I looked over at him. “I’m sorry you had to see that, and I think I need—” His gaze shot toward the door, and a second later there was a knock. He sighed as he rose and went to the door.
A wicked sense of déjà vu rolled over me, and I tensed. It was Grayson. He didn’t even look at me. “I know you probably want to murder me right now.” Grayson’s voice dropped, but I could still hear him. “But we have guests. The kind that meant I had to send Kent away.”
“Great.” Impatience dripped from that one word. Luc glanced over his shoulder at me. “I’m sorry, but—”
“It’s okay.” Because what else could I say? “We have the worst timing.”
A strange look flickered over his face. “Always.”
My brows knitted. “Can I come with?”
“No,” he was quick to reply. “I’ll be right back. Turn on the TV, watch a movie, and make yourself at home. I won’t be gone that long.”
My eyes narrowed. Luc was out of the room before I could respond, closing the door behind him. Sighing, I looked around the room once more. Any other time I would be beyond interested in snooping around his apartment, but I was interested in a whole different kind of snooping. I wanted to know what was going on that required Kent, a human, not to be present.
I wandered halfway across the room, toward the guitar, and then stopped. Luc didn’t tell me I had to stay in the room. He just told me that I couldn’t go with him. So if I found my way out of the room and downstairs, then it wasn’t like I wasn’t listening to him.
Not that I had to listen to him anyway.
Pivoting, I made up my mind and didn’t give myself a chance to really think about what I was doing. I slipped out the door, relieved to see that no one was standing guard. I made my way to the end of the hall and entered the stairwell. Going down six flights of steps didn’t suck as badly as walking up them, but I really needed to start exercising or something, because the muscles in my legs were already starting to burn.
Sweating more than I should’ve been considering I was walking down steps, I reached the main level and slowly opened the door. I crept into the dim hallway, keeping close to the wall as I neared the opening to the club. I stopped at the end and peered around the corner.
I saw Grayson first. He was standing by one of the high, round tables, his arms crossed. My gaze shifted to the right and I could see only Luc’s profile, but it was enough to recognize the bored indifference etched into his striking face.
My fingers curled around the edge of the doorway as I saw a muscle clenched in Luc’s jaw.
I saw a guy first. He was tall and dark haired, and standing next to him was someone who was obviously a sibling—a sister. She was the feminine version of him. Same black hair and identical height, and where his features were masculine, hers were delicate. The other guy was darker skinned than them, as if he spent a lot of time in the sun.
None of them wore a Disabler.
And all of them looked like rejects from Bikers ’R’ US. They were decked out in leather—leather pants, leather jackets.
“We know you help our kind.” The one I deemed the Brother stepped forward. “And you’re saying you can’t?”
Help? Duh. They were unregistered Luxen—Luxen looking to leave here—but why wouldn’t Luc help them?
“I do help others.” Luc sounded just about as enthused as he looked. “But I don’t help those like you.”
“Like us?” the sister parroted his tone, her gorgeous face pinching. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Luc tilted his head to the side. “You know exactly what that means.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard about us.” Suntan Man’s tone was more gentle as he smiled. “But we’re not here to cause trouble. We just need to lie low for a couple of days, and then when you deliver your next package, we go with them. That’s all.”
“And why exactly do you guys need to lie low, Wayland?”
Suntan Man male winced only slightly. “There have been a few misunderstandings.”
“Yeah.” Luc snorted. “I’m sure they were misunderstandings. Like I said. It’s not that I can’t help you. It’s that I won’t.”
“That’s bullshit,” seethed the brother.
“I would watch your tone, Sean.” Grayson lifted his chin. “Or there’s going to be another misunderstanding.”
Sean sneered. “You better watch how you talk to me, traitor.”
Grayson’s arms unfolded as a faint white glow shimmered over his shoulders. “What did you call me?”
“You heard him,” the sister chimed in, smiling cruelly. “You sided with them. Fought against your own kind. What else does that make you?”
Holy crap, these Luxen were so not on Team Human. A chill powered down my spine. They were the invading Luxen.
“Intelligent?” Luc suggested. “Unlike you, Charity, and your bother. And your friend Wayland.”
Sean stretched his neck from one side to the next. “Why are you making this so difficult? We are Luxen and you help us. We need to get out of here and we know we can’t do that without you.”
“That’s correct.” Luc moved so that his back was to the hall. “I help Luxen worthy of living out their lives without having to look over their shoulders. I do not help Luxen who signed up for the whole Make Earth Their Bitch club.”
Yep.
They were definitely not friendlies.
A startling thought occurred to me. Were they responsible for what had happened to Colleen and Amanda? Maybe they thought murdering a human was a misunderstanding? But if it had been them, why would they have left the bodies in such obvious places?
“And why is that, Luc?” Charity glided in front of her brother, and Luc momentarily blocked her from my sight. “Why would you even care about the humans? They should mean nothing to you. I don’t even understand how you can surround yourself with them. If I breathe too deeply, I can smell their leftover sweat and . . . perfume. Peaches.”
Peaches?
I sniffed the air around me.
Uh-oh.
“This conversation bores me,” Luc replied, his fingers moving idly at his sides. “I’m going to give you a minute to leave here and this city, because I’m feeling generous today. That minute starts now.”
“Do you think we’re afraid of you?” Sean’s stance widened. “We know what you are. You can’t take all three of us.”
“Oh really?” Luc chuckled. “Then you don’t know what I am if you think I can’t take the three of you.”
Grayson grinned as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a sucker. “Cosign.”
Wayland raised his hands. “Now, everyone, let’s just calm down—”
“You’re down to thirty seconds,” Luc reminded them.
“Screw that.” Charity stepped to the side. “Screw this.”
“Twenty seconds,” Luc counted.
Her beautiful face twisted as she lifted a hand. “You know what. We don’t need your help.”
“Charity,” warned Wayland.
“Ten seconds.”
Her chest swelled. “Fine. We’re leaving.” She took a step back. “But first? You’ve upset me. I’m thoroughly disappointed with the great and powerful Luc.”
“Oh Lord,” murmured Grayson. He’d unwrapped his Blow Pop and shoved it into his mouth.
“I guess I should just show you how disappointed I am.” Bright white light erupted from her arm, spiraling down to the tips of her fingers. She tapped into the Source. “Hey, Peaches,” she called out, and I froze from my not-so-hidden place. “You didn’t have to die today, but you can thank Luc for that. Oh wait. You can’t, because you’re going to be dead.”