Catalyst (Forevermore, Book Two) (29 page)

“
What color, Nefastus Palmer?” he demanded — was this all just a game to him? I felt sickened by how he was treating her and could only imagine what was going through Noah’s head.

“
Wh-white,” she stammered.

“
Good girl,” he said and released her hand, nearly pushing her into the steps. “Now go.”

Chloe raced
up the stairs and out of sight.

During Chlo
e’s absence, I spotted a woman — probably a few years older than me — approaching quickly from the stairs on the other side of the room. She was dressed in a flowing black gown that sparkled as though dusted with glitter, and her hair blended in with the color. Her eyes were burning orange embers, brighter than any I’d ever seen before. She rushed to Constantine’s side and looked distraught.

“
You cannot be serious, Constantine!” she exclaimed. I was surprised by how she addressed him, but I somehow got the feeling she wasn’t on the same status level as Chloe or the others were.

“
Isa —”

The woman interrupted,
“We have the girl right here, right now, and you’re going to cave in and just give her what she wants? Why? I —”

“
Isabelle!”
Constantine said fiercely, but it didn’t stop the woman from continuing.

“
What the hell are you thinking? There was a time when you would have torn her throat out by now and thrown her to the wolves! Are you getting soft or what?”

Constantine slapped the woman hard across the face, sending her staggering toward the stone floor. Isabelle
slapped the ground and looked up at him. She looked hurt, a mixture of pain and sadness, and the color in her eyes seemed to dim.

“
You will remember your place and who you are speaking to,” Constantine warned through his teeth.

Isabelle gazed at him with a look that
, to me, said ‘
I wish I could kill you where you stand
’, but she only said, “Yes ...
master
.”

Chloe came back down the stairs, eying the woman on the ground briefly, before offering the vial to Constantine. He took it from her, observing the shimmering liquid before addres
sing her. “Good. Now, be gone. I don’t want to look at you anymore.”

She gave a fleeting glance at her brother before running back up the stairs and out of sight. I wondered if she was really there by choice or if she
’d been brought against her will. She obviously wasn’t happy, so why had she declined to leave when Noah asked her to?

Isabelle stood with a blank expression, biting her lip and seemingly forcing back a rueful look in her master
’s direction. She wiped her dress and ran a thin finger along the glaring red mark on her cheek.

“
Now, Isabelle, make yourself useful and untie our guest, would you?”

The fiery-eyed woman looked at him
in shock. “What …? You’re not serious.”

Constantine looked at her, his eyes narrowing and the corner of a lip beginning to form a snarl. S
he seemed to shrink down and backed away in fear. Without another word, she stepped forward and began untying the rope from my hands, torso, and legs. She was rough about it, scraping her long, sharpened nails against the skin of my wrists, but no one stopped her or even commented. I pulled my hands away and examined the reddening rope welts that itched and burned as well as the fresh lines of blood where she’d scratched me.

Constantine looked at the vial once more before extending it out to me. I was reluctant to take it from him, wondering if it was s
ome sort of sick trick somehow. Despite my concerns, I reached out and grabbed it from his hand; it felt warm against my palm.

“
Take this to your friend. Have him drink all of it. Every last drop. You will see his problems … disappear right before your eyes.”

I nodded and secured the vial in the pocket of my coat.
“You’re just letting me go, then …?”

“
You could say that,” he replied and lowered his hands to his sides. “But you will return.”

“
Why should I?”

He smiled darkl
y. “Because I have collateral.”

With a snap of his fingers, two burly Nefastus witches entered the room, dragging Hannah out. S
he was chained to a small chair with her arms bound, mouth gagged, and her hair a tousled mess. It was obvious that she’d been tortured repeatedly and her vampiric healing wasn’t able to keep up with the beatings — bruises marred her face and arms, scratches lined her throat.

“
Hannah!” I shrieked.

Hannah
’s head bobbed around a little as if she heard me, but wasn’t entirely aware that I’d been calling to her. Constantine delivered another of his devilish smirks while Isabelle looked from me to Hannah and laughed. She strutted over to my aunt and punched her straight in the jaw. Hannah barely whimpered, but her face showed how much pain she’d felt.

“
Hannah!” I shouted again and ran toward my aunt. “Stop! Please! Stop!”

A firm hand gripped me by the shoulder and pulled me back with remarkable strength. I knew it was Constantine who had a hold of me. He forced me to watch as Isabelle pushed over the chair and kicked Hannah in the ribs. Grimacing, I
clenched my fists at my sides — this had all been my fault. Had I listened to her and everyone else, none of this would have happened.

“
If you don’t return, we will kill her. And ...” Constantine paused as he turned me toward Noah who looked ashen in the face. “We’ll kill him, too. And you know what? For good measure, his little sister as well.”

Shock and fury swept across Noah
’s pallid face. “What?! You said you’d let her go!”

“
Oh, did I? I seem to recall you and your friend here making that part of the deal, not I.”

“
Y-you can’t … you wouldn’t!” I said, turning away from my aunt momentarily.

“
Oh, but I can, and I will.” He released me. “Now, go. And if you are not back within three days,” he said with a nod in the other direction. “I will kill all three of them.”

Noah w
as suddenly struck in the back of the knees with what looked to be a blue piece of metal. He gasped and yelped in pain before buckling over. The man that had hit him pulled him up slightly and began winding strange, steaming, blue chains around him. I realized that it was Terry … the ice-wielding witch from what felt like so long ago.

I gulped, speechless, and nodded slowly as I backed away toward the doors.

“Oh, and Madison?” he called.

I turned.

“I promise I’ll enjoy it.”

Scared, s
ickened, and furious, I pushed myself through the iron doors and out into the cold. The frosty weather hit me hard, sending waves of shivers through my body. The sun was no longer hiding behind the horizon and had fully illuminated the mountainside, causing the snow on the ground to be nearly blinding. I ran toward where I knew we’d left the truck, stumbling and falling once or twice but forcing myself back up despite the pain. I had three — four if you counted Mathias — lives depending on me. When I finally reached the truck, I pulled open the passenger side door which had been left ajar when we’d abandoned it. As soon as I had the door shut, I began bawling relentlessly and slammed my fist against the dash in frustration over my own stupidity. I should have just waited. I should have listened to everyone else. But instead I now had Noah, his sister, and Hannah in danger, and my own life was as good as forfeited. Then an even worse thought crept in. Constantine was a monster – a liar. He would never let them go, even if I did come back.

I tried to calm myself as
I looked at the steering wheel across from me. Then a realization set in, I was going to have to figure out how to drive this thing. I could remember Jason trying to show me how to drive over the last few years at some off-road place not far from his and Eila’s house, and I’d successfully driven a four-wheeler before, but this was way different.

I climbed over to the driver side seat and was fortunate to find that Noah had left the key in the ignition.
I attempted to start it, but nothing happened.

“
No … no, no, no!” My panic was short lived as another turn of the key brought the engine rumbling to life. The heat came streaming out of the vents and quickly warmed up my shaking body, but it was little relief — I had so much on my mind that it was hard to really focus on anything else. I struggled to get the truck to turn around and was terrified that I’d veer off the cliff, then realized I had no idea where I was even going. Along the way there, I hadn’t paid much attention to the route Noah had taken, plus it had been dark, and having no license and little knowledge of driving, I didn’t feel it was necessary to watch out for those sorts of things.

I remembered my phone was in the pocket of m
y coat that wasn’t occupied by the vial. I took it out and input the address to Haven and started up the GPS. I began following the directions and was starting to calm down and feel comfortable behind the wheel, although I was going at a snail’s pace — mainly because I didn’t want to get myself killed or arrested.

I
’d become a little too comfortable and tried speeding up. As soon as I did, a deer jumped out in front of the truck. Slamming on the brakes, my heart raced as I watched in horror. The truck skidded sideways, narrowly missing the animal and sending me dangerously close to a rocky embankment on the opposite side of the road. The sound of a horn caused me to jump and scream, banging my head against the car roof as the oncoming car swerved, barely missing me.

I rubbed my head and looked around for the deer, then realized that I had never even put on the seatbelt. I quickly latched it and turned back onto the right side of the road, going at a slow, safe speed.

Surprisingly, I made it back to town safely and was comforted by the familiar surroundings. I hap-hazardously parked outside Haven and ran into the building, not taking even a second to stop for anything. My feet led me straight to Mathias’s room. The door was unlocked and empty save for him. He was asleep, just as I had last seen him, breathing shallowly. The force field was still up and I called for Tobias, and he came stumbling in behind me.

“
Take it down!” I demanded. “Take down the shield, now!”

He looked taken aback.
“I don’t think so. No one can go in. Artemis’s orders.” I saw his eyes venture to the vial I took from my pocket “What is that —”

“
It’s an antidote. Just ... take it down, please. It’s … it’s from Artemis!”

At first I didn
’t think he bought it, but then he nodded and his eyes flickered an off-white color. I watched in amazement as the translucent bubble faded, and didn’t hesitate before rushing to the side of the bed and putting my hand against Mathias’s face. He was cool and clammy to the touch. I gently shook him awake and his eyes opened, blinking as he struggled to focus on my face. He seemed to barely recognize who I was or that I was even there as I gently lifted his head upward.

“
Drink this,” I said, “please ... it’ll fix everything.”

I held the vial to his lips and watched as his
throat moved with each swallow.

His body wracked with a sudden burst of coughing and gagging and he convulsed. His head fell back ag
ainst the sweat-soaked pillows.

“
Mathias? Mathias?!” I cried and stared helplessly at him. “What have I done? I should never have trusted —”

His eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly.
“Madison ...?” he croaked.

Overwhelmed with excitement, the price I
’d paid for this miracle was briefly lost in the recesses of my mind. I embraced him tightly and kissed him on the cheek over and over, quickly making my way to his lips. I paused so that I could speak.

“
You’re okay, you’re okay,” I whispered, collapsing into the crook of his neck. It was this moment when I finally knew my true feelings for Mathias.

He laughed and
nudged me away from his neck so he could look into my eyes. His were still surrounded by silver, but it was ebbing away into the brilliant green I had begun to miss. “What was that for?”

“
I was worried ... I thought you were going to die ...”

“
There was no way Artemis would have let me die,” he said and ran a finger across my cheek. “Where did he find the cure?”

I looked ashamed and averted my eyes.
“It ... it wasn’t from Artemis.”

Mathias looked confused, if not a littl
e alarmed. “Then where did you —” He stopped mid-sentence as his words turned into an agonized scream. I stared in horror as his muscles tightened and his back arched painfully before he slammed down against the bed. His eyes and teeth clenched shut as his body convulsed as if he were being shocked. He continued screaming in intense pain and all I could do was stand there helplessly screaming. Tobias came rushing to us and pushed me out of the way.

“
What happened? What did you give to him?!” he demanded.

Between sobs, I told him that I
’d given him what I thought was a cure. Mathias’s body started to fade in and out of existence, the sound of his screams seeming to do the same — one minute they were shrill shrieks of anguish, the next they were diluted and distant.