Between (24 page)

It slams into the parallel and dissipates. She erupts in maniacal laughter. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“Keep your mind blank,” Seth orders, his words rushed and urgent.

“Huh?”

“They feed off fear. Don’t give her any.”

Clear. Clear. Clear. Clear
.

It would’ve been a million times easier if he hadn’t said a word. Being told to keep my mind blank is the equivalent of telling me not to breathe air.

Clear. Clear. Clear
.

Alexander continues to launch his attack. Swirling gusts of energy wrap around her, sending her hair in all directions. She shrieks over the roar of Alexander’s bursts of power. “You are nothing!”

Clear. Clear
.

I wish I hadn’t read Max’s bestiary. I know of far more things to be afraid of than I did before.

Something long and black curls around the trunk of one of the large oak trees behind Marian’s shape. I stare at it, watching as another one creeps around beside it, and then another, until a head appears. A head with two large, hook-like jaws moving back and forth.

My heart pounds, drowning out all other sound.

No
.

I dig my fingers into Seth’s shoulders and whimper.

The solif spider howls and launches itself from the trunk, passing through the parallel and landing in the grass. Its legs barely touch the ground as it runs toward me.

“No!” I try to run, but Seth’s arm tightens around me, holding me in place.

“Charlie!”

The parallel’s laugh echoes through the trees.

I fight against him with everything I have, throwing all my weight into escaping Seth’s grip. “Let me go! It’s coming!”

“Charlie!” he grunts, struggling to hold on to me. “There’s nothing there!”

I keep my eyes on the spider. It’s going to be on me any second now. How far did the book say it could jump? Five feet?

There’s not enough air. I can’t breathe.

“Seth, please!” I scream.

He spins around and grasps me by my shoulders, shaking me. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not there. This is what parallels do. They bring your nightmares to life.”

“No, no,” I repeat. Seth’s wrong. It’s there. I’m looking at it right now. It releases a high-pitched scream and springs into the air.

Without warning, a ball of blue fire flies over my head toward the parallel. Seth throws me to the ground and shields me with his body. I wriggle beneath him, looking for the spider. It was just here. It must’ve jumped past us. It’ll be back any second. I try to get up, but Seth’s hand presses against me.

“Stay down!” he shouts. A second flame passes over our heads.

“Where’s the spider?” I shriek. “Where is it?”

My entire body shakes, and I grab handfuls of my hair, yanking it. Where’s the spider?

“Charlie!” He bends his head next to mine and puts his eyes directly in front of my own. “Look at me. Don’t let her do this to you. There! Is! No! Spider!”

He’s wrong. There’s no way the spider wasn’t real. I turn my head to the side, peeking through Seth’s arms. Alexander’s eyes are on something behind me, and he shouts, “Beneath her feet! You must aim for the empty space!”

Another sphere blazes through the air, lower than the others. I feel a wave of heat rush over me, and I raise my head enough to watch the fire connect with its target, perfectly centered in the vacant area beneath Marian’s figure. The flame explodes upon impact and spreads upward. Before shattering into pieces, the parallel shoots a look of pure evil at the source of the fire. There’s a series of loud pops, then nothing.

The wind dies down. Alexander bends over, resting his hands on his knees. Seth breathes heavily as he moves away from me and stands. I flip onto my back and sit up, gasping for air.

The spider’s gone.

I nearly collapse with relief.

It really wasn’t there?

Seth stares past me and says, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

I jump to my feet, adrenaline pumping, fully expecting to see a solif spider. Instead, I see Keiran, his dark gray shirt drenched in sweat. His shoulders heave as he tries to catch his breath. When he realizes I’ve spotted him, he nods and lifts his hand in an exhausted wave. His palm is black with soot.

What’s he doing here? I stare at him, then look to where the parallel had been. The balls of flames had flown over my head from behind. Elves create weapons. Keiran seems like a weapon all on his own. “It was you?” I ask. “You threw the fire?”

“Thank you, Keiran.” Alexander smiles with his eyes. “You performed beautifully.”

Keiran looks from me to Alexander and nods. “You’re welcome, sir.”

Seth points at Keiran. “You. You’re not really an elf.”

Keiran points back, like Seth’s won a prize. “You are correct.”

He’s not an elf?! Unduckingbelievable. I slam my hands against my thighs. “Is anyone here who they say they are?”

“Well, technically, you’re not even who you say you are,” Keiran replies, walking closer.

Alexander raises a hand and steps forward, silencing us. “Keiran was acting under my advisement.”

“We’re letting flamethrowers in Ellauria now?” Seth helps me to my feet. “Since when?”

“It was as important to hide Keiran’s identity as it was to hide Charlotte’s,” Alexander replies, then adds, “You don’t know everything, Seth.”

I’ve been telling Seth that for years, but hearing it from Alexander seems like a blow. Seth’s eyes immediately fall to the ground before landing back on Keiran. “Who are you?”

Keiran glances at Alexander, who nods his consent. He hesitates, locking eyes with me for a moment, and says, “I’m Whalen’s son.”

Every muscle in my body tightens, and I instinctively step backward. Seth grabs my wrist, pulling me backward and placing himself between Keiran and me.

“You’re afraid of me?” Keiran peers at me over Seth’s shoulder, his expression incredulous. “If I wanted you dead, I would’ve hit you with a fireball just now and played it off as an accident. Or I would’ve killed you on the tour yesterday as soon as we were alone.”

I narrow my eyes. Is this supposed to make me feel better? To know how easily he could have killed me any number of times?

Seth stares Keiran down, keeping his shoulders and chest high as though he expects Keiran to attack at any second. “Whalen has a son?” he asks.

“Yes.” Alexander wipes his hands down his sleeves, dusting grass and debris from them. “After he was banished, Whalen took up with a group of flamethrowers. There is no need to be aggressive, Seth. Keiran is not a threat to us.”

Seth’s stance doesn’t change. His reluctance to believe Alexander only fuels my confusion. Since when does Seth question anything about the Fellowship?

Alexander steps forward. “Keiran has been working for the Fellowship for two years. The intelligence he’s provided us has been invaluable. You remember when we learned Whalen had developed the ability to spout necrolate from his hands?”

Seth nods, and Alexander tips his head toward Keiran.

I remember the yellow glow of the lake water. “He spouts it from his hands?” I ask. “I thought he’d been stripped of his powers.”

“He was, but we have no control over creatures who may bestow magical gifts on him. The bogmen passed along some of their powers to him.”

I twist my fingers together. “Powers can be gifted?”

“It’s rare. Principal Command forbids the practice,” Seth replies, “but creatures with high levels of magical skill can share powers.”

I cover my mouth with my hand as my stomach rolls. The man obsessed with finding me can literally throw death from his fingers. Instant death.

I can throw a little air around and sort of make a tree branch shake.

I’m going to throw up.

“Keiran is an asset,” Alexander says, placing a hand on Keiran’s shoulder. “We are lucky to have him.”

An asset. Like me.

Because we are nothing if we’re not useful.

“I can’t believe Whalen had a son and I’m just now finding out about it,” Seth says, shaking his head slowly.

“You were busy with your own assignment, Seth,” Alexander states.

“My assignment,” Seth says quietly, staring into the trees. Me. I’m his assignment. His gaze drops to the ground before he lifts his head and asks, “What about Keiran? Is he someone’s assignment?”

“I will take care of Keiran, as I have for the last two years,” Alexander responds, and then directs his attention to me. “Seth is fully capable of keeping you safe, and with his powers, Keiran will serve as your protector as well. Having said that, if there is ever a time when you feel like you are in danger, I expect you to use your best judgment.”

My legs tremble, itching to run. I don’t know who to trust at all. Every time I think I’ve figured it out, something new throws my world off-kilter.

Keiran is still watching me. “You don’t need to be afraid of me,” he says, more hurt than offended. “Whatever you think you know about Whalen, it doesn’t mean anything about me.”

I don’t know how to feel. Whalen’s name paralyzes my thoughts and replaces them with images of death. The idea that Keiran—charming Keiran with the sweet smile and beautiful everything—could be any part of Whalen leaves me numb.

When we heard the necrolate explode on the lake, Keiran shielded me immediately. For a split second, I wonder about our proximity to the attack. Could Keiran have had anything to do with it?

No. The anguish on his face at the sight of yesterday’s massacre was unquestionable. He was horrified. As soon as he saw the water, he must have recognized the necrolate. And he ran toward it, looking for survivors.

I tug on the ends of my shirt, watching Keiran shift from one foot to the other. I know I’m more than my bloodline, but is he?

I swallow hard and look at Alexander. “Does Keiran know everything?”

Alexander nods. “He knows about Sam and Adele, yes.”

I turn to Seth. “Are you picking up any emotions from him that lead you to think he’s a threat?”

Seth’s jaw shifts, and he stares hard at Keiran. Keiran stays perfectly still, staring right back. After several seconds, Seth exhales and his shoulders slump. “No,” he says reluctantly. “Nothing like that.”

“And he can’t hide his emotions from you, right?” I study Keiran’s face while I talk to Seth. “He can’t cover his emotions?”

Seth’s chest rises and falls. “No. I see through all of that.”

I feel my entire body relax a bit. “Okay then.”

Seth’s hand hasn’t left my wrist, still gripping me tightly. I twist my arm a bit, and he glances at it like he’s forgotten he’s holding me at all. He releases me immediately.

“Very well,” Alexander says. “Given the events of the last three days, we need to move things along with Charlotte as quickly as possible. She can’t follow the same schedule as other Apprentices. Her powers need a lot of work, and she needs to know everything we know about Whalen.”

“I can do that,” Seth says with a nod, but Alexander shakes his head.

“No. I want you in front of the mirrors as much as possible, searching for Adele. If she shows up in a reflection, you can’t miss it.”

Seth releases a quick breath. “But—”

“And Sam,” I butt in.

Alexander’s eyebrows lift. “Excuse me?”

I set my jaw in place and hold my arms tight. It’s one thing to say Sam’s not a priority in front of the entire Fellowship. It’s another to say it when every person here knows who he is to me. “Searching for Adele
and Sam,”
I repeat, enunciating every word.

“Yes, of course, and Sam,” Alexander says harshly, as if I’m insulting him by insinuating otherwise.

He’s not an afterthought. He’s my brother. He may not be a high-ranking member of the Fellowship, but that’s because he’s never been given the chance.

Seth steps toward Alexander and points at me. “I’m her Aegis. How do I protect Charlie if I’m in Central Hall all day?”

Alexander lifts his hands. “Finding Adele means finding Whalen. Finding Whalen is the key to Charlotte’s safety. In the meantime, she will split her time between you and Keiran.” Keiran’s head snaps up, and Alexander continues, “Keiran will take the lead on her powers, because of his experience with his own active elemental power. He and I have been studying the other elements, and I will guide his instruction. He will teach her everything he knows about Whalen. You will train her on mission work.”

Seth opens his mouth, but Alexander cuts him off. “This is not open for discussion.”

Keiran stands a little straighter. “We’ll need a safe area to train in.”

“You’re welcome to use this area around my house. I can create a shroud here like we used earlier,” Alexander says, gesturing at the vacant area behind him. “Aside from that, we can determine which areas will be best to practice each power, and you must take care to ensure no one sees you.”

I close them out, listening to the blood rush in my ears. Every part of me is stretched tight, held together by my thin veil of control. Muscles I didn’t even know I had are aching, spent from today’s work but fueled with adrenaline. I hover between fight and flight, and all I really want to do is sit on my front porch and listen to Sam pluck his guitar. I close my eyes, listening to his chords in my mind.

“It’s settled,” Alexander announces. “Keiran and I will go to Central Hall to record the encounter with the parallel and review our security situation. I want to pinpoint the breakdown. We need to identify where these creatures are getting in. Seth, I imagine Charlotte needs to rest after the work she’s done here today.”

Yes. Charlotte needs to rest. She needs to go to sleep and wake up and find this is all one big ridiculous mix of dream and nightmare.

Keiran steps toward me and Seth shifts, blocking his way. I touch Seth’s arm. I want to give Keiran a chance. If I’m going to expect everyone to treat me as a person separate from Marian, I need to treat Keiran as something besides Whalen’s son. We all deserve an opportunity to show who we are, regardless of our histories. “You said you’re not picking up on anything bad from him,” I remind Seth. “Let’s just take it a step at a time.”

Seth presses his lips together, but he moves. Keiran’s eyes meet mine, and the gratitude there convinces me he deserves a chance.