VEE

Joss halts by the gift shop and tugs on Ewan’s arm, repeating his joke about dinosaurs. Ewan is as unimpressed as last time. The tables at the café close to the entrance are emptier and I toy with the idea of a takeaway coffee. I’m surprised Xander didn’t stop to inspect the menu earlier, while we waited for Syv to arrive.

"I’m heading to the bathroom before we go. The excitement is too much." I grin at my attempt at light humour, but neither respond. With a sigh, I indicate the bathroom signs and head off. "Buy Ewan his dinosaur while I’m gone."

I edge around children now assembling to leave, but the door is locked with a "closed for cleaning" sign. I glance back to the guys but they’re deep in conversation. How far to the next bathrooms?

An announcement sounds—the museum will close in half an hour. I hope I don’t spend ten minutes trawling around trying to find another bathroom. I take the next set of stairs down to the lower floor and walk towards the bathroom sign.

The corridor is narrow with no doors apart from a fire exit leading out at the opposite end and the bathrooms, but a right turn a few metres away presumably leads to other areas on this level of the museum.

I sense something.

From inside the bathrooms?

I slowly push open the heavy door and peek in. Two little girls stand at the sinks and splash each other with water, giggling as they do. The school-uniformed pair stop and straighten, caught in the act as they look at me. How old are they? Maybe twelve? I can never tell.

"Shouldn’t you be with your school friends?" I ask, attempting my strictest voice.

They blink back at me.

"Where’s your group? Surely a teacher should be supervising you."

One clears her throat. "We needed to pee. What’s it to you?"

"The museum is closing. I suggest you go now before you get into trouble." My stern tone continues.

With a silent and haughty look, the girls snatch their schoolbags from the floor and stalk past me. I watch them go as the door bangs closed. Wow, attitude. I’m glad I don’t have kids to deal with.

Aware I’m short of time too, I head into a stall. I’ve barely time to lock the door when the main bathroom door crashes open.

"Get the fuck off me!" snaps a voice I recognise.

"Simple. Give me that stone."

My mouth dries as I peer through the gap between the door and cubicle wall. Syv. Tall man. He has her cornered near the sink that the girls stood at a few minutes ago.

"Yeah. Nah." Syv strikes out, her elbow collides with his face, and she attempts to duck beneath his arm. The man barely flinches and, with one hand, slams her by the chest against the tiles. The sudden, pained expression is quickly replaced by a narrow-eyed disgust.

"Dude…" She jerks her knee upwards, colliding with his balls, but again he doesn’t flinch. Syv laughs dryly. "Wow, impressive."

What do I do? I’m seconds from stepping out and dealing with the situation when I see a knife blade flash. He spins Syv around and presses it against her throat.

"I know you’re here." He outstretches a leg and I back away as he kicks open the door, the lock splintering. "Get out."

Even before I saw him, I knew this guy was a demon. He reeks of it and his appearance doesn’t do him any favours. Tall and gangly with a face covered in livid scars, including one slicing across his mouth.

I catch the door before it hits me and I straighten. He’s not touching me. "Let Syv go."

His eyes narrow. "Are you a lowlife friend of hers?"

I smile. "You have no idea, do you?"

As I talk, Syv delves into her large bag, looking straight ahead to avoid the knife nicking her skin. Why doesn’t she look terrified? He has a knife against her jugular. The man stares at me and his eyes blacken.

"I know the Horsemen are here," he replies. "They shouldn’t send someone weak to do their dirty work."

"I’m not weak," retorts Syv.

"Sure, sweetheart. I don’t see you escaping me. I could slash your throat in an instant."

"You won’t get a chance," I say. "You hurt her, and the Horsemen will rip you to shreds."

"Yeah, then where are they?"

I fight a smile and say the words I’ve itched to use. "Don’t you know who I am?"

He looks me up and down and squeezes Syv tighter against himself.

"Not someone who could take me on. The guy who paid me to do this gave me some extra juice—I’m stronger than the pair of you together."

"I doubt that." I mutter, then add, "Let me guess, the man who paid you to do this calls himself Seth."

The demon blinks rapidly. "He’s more than just a name."

"So am I."

"So, what is your name, sweetheart?"

Before I can reply, Syv pulls a large stone from her bag and smacks the guy across the face with it. He howls and drops his grip, fingers going to his nose.

"You wanted the stone," she says with a smirk and takes advantage of his distraction to step away.

Me and the guy stare at the grey, half-tablet clasped in Syv’s hand. The edges are cracked and the surface etched.

She found what we needed.

Regaining his senses, the demon grabs Syv again and puts the knife to her throat. "Stupid move."

As the knife cuts her skin, Syv drops the stone and claws at his fingers. My stomach turns, aware what’s about to happen and I freeze, not knowing what the hell to do. Magic flies from my hands, black sparks arcing across the space between us . The demon screams in pain and drops the knife—and Syv—before sinking to the floor, holding his head.

What the hell? I didn’t conjure that—I had no thought about magic in my mind, I was about to call on my strength to take him on.

Syv watches in alarm, hand across her neck, as the demon doesn’t move from the floor, then she snatches the knife. The darkness continues to swirl around his figure, wrapping his body like rope. What the fuck? Heath’s magic is bright, like lightning bolts, and mine can blind.

This is pure darkness.

"Holy shit, dude," breathes out Syv as she watches the crackling bonds pull tighter around him. His face reddens, and he uselessly tries to pull the magic wrapping away. The magic winds further and further, quicker and quicker.

The door behind begins to open and Syv steps past, slamming her back against it. Someone on the other side attempts to push again. "Hello?" A woman’s voice. "What’s happening?"

Uh, well, we’re killing a demon and my friend just stole something from the museum. "Nothing!" I call back.

"Why’s the door stuck?"

"I’m trying to open it now," says Syv and glances back at me, lowering her voice. "Sort him."

The choking, shaking mess on the floor grows closer to death and I push both hands into my hair. How exactly do the Horsemen deal with inconvenient bodies when they kill in public?

"I don’t know how."

"Oh, fucking great." Syv slams her back harder against the door. "What does that magic do? Will it disintegrate him or something?"

"I’ve never used it before. It’s new since…" I stare down at my palms. Darkness. Is this part of Chaos’s power? The room lurches and I steady myself on the sink. No. I can’t have his too.

"Since you changed?"

"Hello?" calls the voice. "Can you open the door, before we get security."

Syv mutters "shit" over and over under her breath and gestures with her free hand. "Try and do something. Seriously, with my bleeding neck, I don’t think we’d be able to explain this away."

Blood seeps between her fingers. Shit. How bad is she? I rub both hands down my face and close my eyes. I’ve only seen Seth summon lightning bolts from the sky, which is no use in this situation. Ewan mentioned Seth created a black void. Can I do that?

Tears prick my eyes. I don’t want to attempt to copy anything Seth did, because it’s proof I somehow contain Chaos’s powers too. Contain him.

"Vee!" urges Syv.

Heart racing, I hold a palm in front of me and imagine the void that swirled towards me in Ewan’s room the night I changed.

The darkness I can no longer deny lives inside me.

The view between me and the bathroom sinks obscures, as all colour disappears. An intense cold enters the room as the black void before me grows, spreading the way the portal did. But this is different. This feels like a hole in the fabric of the world, hovering above the demon’s body. I step forward and look at the now-immobile man. At least he’s dead before whatever happens next. What am I sending him to?

The growing black, with pinprick stars behind, grows around the demon, moving away from me and swallowing his figure. Syv says something behind me, but I don’t hear her words, totally fixated on the scene in front of me. I can’t see him anymore, just the absent part of the bathroom, as if I painted it away.

My body jerks as the darkness snaps to a small circle in front of me, and I’m pushed back onto the floor, landing on my ass. The demon has gone. I gasp for breath as a white light pushes forward, and this time when I stare at my hands the familiar glow from my magic has returned, obliterating the dark.

"Vee!" Syv moves away from the door and crouches down. I shake as I stare at my fingers. My chest hurts, the pain growing in my head too; a pressure as if I’m fighting a migraine. I blink around at Syv, who stretches out her fingers before withdrawing and covering her mouth.

The door slams open and a middle-aged woman in a museum uniform frowns down at me. "What happened?"

"I didn’t feel well," I croak out.

"She collapsed in front of the door," says Syv. "I just moved her."

“Are you okay? Does she need first aid?" Her anger turns to a troubled look and she barely glances at Syv.

"I’m fine now." I attempt a smile.

“Her nose is bleeding." She looks to Syv. "Do you have tissues in your bag?"

"I like to carry the essentials." Syv smiles through her pale shock and delves into her bag. Yeah, like a knife. Stolen artefacts.

"What happened to your neck?" The woman points at where the demon began to slice into Syv, and I stare in alarm at the amount of blood. How far from an artery was he?

"I really think I should get someone," the woman says. "Stay there." Without waiting for our response, she rushes from the room.

"Shit. We need to go. Can you walk?" Syv crouches down and offers me a tissue.

Taking hold, I nod and press it against my nose. She helps me stand on my shaky legs. "Your neck."

Syv touches her skin and looks at the blood on her fingers. "I’m good. I’ll head to the hospital to get it fixed up; I’ve had worse. Two secs.”

She produces a black scarf from her bag and tightens it around her neck. “Fashionable and practical.”

Wow. “You’re certainly prepared!”

“It’s bleeding a lot though, isn’t it?”

"I might be able to help," I suggest as I straighten my clothes and follow to the door.

"With that dark shit?" Syv arches a brow. "That’s not the kind of magic I want touching me."

"I wouldn’t—" I begin to retort, but Syv winks at me. "Fine. Come on."

Turning my head, I catch sight of myself in the mirror: the pale-faced girl with a tissue held over her nose.

Bile rises as I see my eyes. I don’t know whose they are, but they don’t look like mine. I squeeze them shut as Syv grabs my hand. "Quick! Where did you leave the guys?"

"Do my eyes look strange?" I ask her.

"No." I glance back at the mirror. They’re back to the same green as usual but hold the fear I feel.

Syv succeeds in dragging me from the bathrooms and in the opposite direction to the stairs I came down. We break through the fire door and an alarm sounds.

"Fucking love this part!" Syv runs ahead, hand on her neck, and lifts up her other arm. She waves the grey stone at me. "I found what we needed—a stone. Mission accomplished. Kinda."

Kinda?