Evernight (The Night Watchmen Series Book 2) (37 page)

I’M STARING UP AT THE ceiling, blinking in the dark.

I can’t sleep—can’t stop thinking about what’s about to happen, if it hasn’t already happened. I won’t know until tomorrow. Seamus wants us to remain in our rooms. He wants this to come off as his decision to keep our names in the clear.

But I want Clara to know that it’s because of me.

I need her to.

Jaxen stirs next to me, and then rolls to face the wall. After we grabbed dinner and lost ourselves in each other again, he finally drifted off to sleep. I tried to, but my mind was too full, too anxious.

I can’t just lay here. Can’t just wait until morning. I don’t care if it’s wrong or not.

I slide out of bed as slowly and quietly as possible, pushing away the need to wake Jaxen up. I know I should. He would want me to, but I don’t want to drag him into my bad decisions. He shouldn’t have to pay for vendettas. And I fear he might try to stop me.

I reach for my pants and slide one leg up. Jaxen shifts under the covers, and I freeze in place. I wait to see if he’s awake, but he doesn’t move again. Quickly pulling my pants up, I grab my jacket and slip out the door.

I pause when I’m in the hallway, trying to ignore the guilt pressing down on my heart. Jaxen would kill me if he knew I didn’t wake him. If he found out I went alone. But I have to. This is on me. This is my battle, not his.

With a harsh swallow, I put my jacket on, weave a chameleon spell, and head down the hall toward the elevator. The hallway is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I can hear my heart pounding. Quickly making my way through the lobby, I head out the front door of our living quarters.

I know this is reckless, maybe even wrong, but it doesn’t stop me from putting one foot in front of the other. It doesn’t stop me from crossing the bridge over the canal and ducking behind a corner when four Elites equipped with guns march past me toward Clara’s living quarters.

There aren’t many souls out tonight, and for that, I’m grateful.

After they pass, I count to ten in my head before slipping back out onto the sidewalk and falling in line behind them. I know they can’t sense me. My spell is strong.

But I almost scream out when a hand grabs mine and yanks hard.

Another hand slips over my mouth, quieting my screams before they ever even have the chance to escape. “It’s just me.”

Weldon.

He has my back pressed against his chest as he drags me back against the wall. “I knew you’d be too stupid to just stay put. I knew you’d risk it all, so I followed you.”

“But I’m spelled!” I say the moment he lowers his hand.

“And I’m half-demon. Spells are easy to spot.”

I sigh. “Do you ever sleep?”

“Only when I’m bored.”

He finally lets me go, and I spin around on him. “I want to see her go down, Weldon. You’re not going to stop me. I need to see.”

The left side of his mouth quirks up knowingly. “Of course you do, which is why I came.”

I cross my arms. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

His smile shifts into sympathy. “No, you need a friend,” he says kindly. “Jaxen would kill me if he knew that I knew and wasn’t there for you.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, looking down at my toes. “I’m sorry,” I say, feeling smaller than small.

He reaches out and hesitantly pats the side of my arm. His offered smile is awkward. “No-uh… no worries,” he says, his eyes shifting between his feet and my eyes. He pulls out a small bag from the inside of his jacket and hands it to me. “I even brought you a victory gift.”

I look down at it and can’t help the smile that breaks out across my face. “Popcorn?”

He looks ahead as the Elites kick the door to Clara’s home in, and then shoves his hand in the bag before popping a piece in his mouth.

“The show has just begun.”

A loud scream erupts, followed by Clara’s rage-induced voice. “What is the meaning of this?”

There’s a lot of banging around, as if objects are being thrown. I can’t help but move forward. I want to be closer. I
need
to see. Barely hearing Weldon’s protests, I ignore his relenting groan when he knows I’m not going to stop. My hand grips the rail to the steps that lead into her house. The commotion has stopped. I hear an Elite reading the declaration against her.

“This is bullshit!” Clara spits out.

I take the first step, peering into her house. She’s on her knees in her living room, dressed in a lavender robe. Her hair is disheveled, and her eyes are wild.

“Faye, no!” Weldon clips from the other side of the rail, but I don’t listen.

I cross the threshold, and the moment I do, her eyes dart past the Elites and land on me. She knows. She probably has some sort of spell woven around her home to prevent other spells from entering. Her eyes shrink in size as every hateful emotion imaginable passes between us.

I take my time allowing my smile to unravel. I want her to know that I know what she’s done. That I know she’s responsible for my parents’ disappearance. What I don’t expect is for her smile to match mine. For her gaze to slice through me. But I don’t waver. Murder lives in my soul and leaks out through my eyes.

When I’ve had my fill, I step back out of the house as one of the Elites lift her up. My heart is racing, adrenaline leaking through my pores. Weldon yanks my arm and drags me back to the corner of the building, hiding us behind a shrub.

“Are you happy now?” he asks on a heightened whisper. His hands tighten around my arms to the point where I’m sure I’ll have bruises. “What happened to working together?”

“She had to know, Weldon. For my parents.”

His sigh is heavy, and he doesn’t let go of my arm. He’s scared, probably thinks I still have tricks up my sleeve, but I don’t. I just wanted her to see me. “She won’t let this go, Faye. This is the ultimate shaming. If our evidence doesn’t hold up, you can kiss this Coven goodbye.”

“It will,” I say, ignoring the dread that clogs my confidence. “It has to.”

Two Elites are on either side of her, holding her arms. The other two shut the door behind them, following behind with guns pointed at Clara’s back. By now, the whole city has woken up. Faces peer out behind curtains. Some stand on their doorsteps, and I revel in the satisfaction of their confused expressions. I revel in the fact that she now feels what I feel, day in and day out.

“This is a misunderstanding,” she shouts out like a rabid animal. “This is heresy brought on by the Everlasting!”

“Quiet,” one of the Elites holding her says.

“I will have your head for this,” she says to him.

“I’m sure you will,” he says sarcastically.

“Are you satisfied now? Can we go?” Weldon asks as the Elites cross over the bridge and head for the Correctional Facility next to the Courthouse.

“I won’t be satisfied until I find out what happened to my parents,” I say, stepping out from behind the shrubbery. Reinforcing my chameleon spell, I expand it far enough to cover Weldon.

“Faye,” Weldon says, “none of this will fix it. You know that, right?”

“It doesn’t mean that I should stop seeking justice.”

He contemplates my words as he follows me across the bridge. Relief rushes through my veins as the Elites turn the corner and enter the holding cell quarter. It really worked. She’s caught. Locked up.

“Let’s just hope Seamus’ team finds what he needs to incriminate her,” Weldon says as we head back to our living quarters.

“They will. That place was teaming with dark magic,” I say.

I don’t like his silence that follows. He’s trying to be positive for me. He’s saying something without saying anything, and I hate him for it.

“She won’t win. One way or another, Weldon,” I say defensively.

He nods to himself. “With that attitude, mouse, I believe you.” He pushes the button for the elevator, and we step in.

“Do you think Seamus will tell us what they find?”

“I hope so.”

“You don’t trust him, do you?”

“I don’t trust anyone.”

“You trust Jaxen.”

“Let me correct myself,” he says with a small smile, “I don’t trust anyone residing in this city. Anyone with an agenda for power.”

“There are such things as good leaders, Weldon. You can’t be that jaded.”

He grabs my shoulder. “When you meet one, let me know, and then you can say I told you so.”

T
HE NEXT MORNING, JAXEN, WELDO
N
, and I are summoned to Seamus’ office during the middle of our training with the general. I count the steps on the way there, keeping focus on the numbers and not the negativity that plucks like crows at my brain. But no matter how many numbers I fill my mind with, I can’t steady the thrumming in my heart. The veins in my neck pound away, and I swear I lose two years of my life.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jaxen says as he takes my hand in his, but I hear the hesitation in his voice. I feel the way he grips my hand just as tight as I do his. Together, we form one solid person—one solid force that can withstand any blow. I just hope that what comes next isn’t a blow we weren’t prepared for.

He nudges me, waiting for me to answer. I nod up at him and bite the inside of my cheek, pushing out a passable smile.
It has to be okay. It has to,
I tell myself.

I swallow air like water as we turn the last corner and stop in front of Seamus’ door. I suddenly feel like that girl again. The one standing in front of Mack’s door waiting to be told I’m a Defect.

“Here goes nothing,” Weldon says as he knocks on the outside of Seamus’ door.

“Come in,” he calls out.

Weldon opens it and steps aside for Jaxen and me to enter. Seamus points to the chairs for us to sit, but I can’t move any further. I’m afraid if I do, my legs will buckle. Jaxen stays right by my side, as rigid and supportive as stone. Weldon, on the other hand, streams by us and leisurely takes his seat. He doesn’t seem nervous at all.

“I’m sure you all have heard that she was successfully apprehended,” Seamus says, not giving us any notion in his tone or in his gestures.

I ignore Weldon’s eyes, which fall on the side of my face. We both agreed not to mention the night before. “How could we have missed it?” Weldon says, speaking up for all of us. “It was blasted on the Jumbotron in the heart of the city.”

“Gossip is the driving force of any city,” Seamus says tiredly.

“And so are lies,” Jaxen says. Just hearing him speak makes me jump. I’ve never been good with keeping secrets and this one… it feels like I’m wearing it. Like it’s inscribed in permanent marker all over every part of my body, just waiting for him to read. And I’m afraid when he does, he won’t forgive me.

“Can we get to the good stuff?” Weldon says. “The general was just about to put us through a torturous regimen of handicapped simulations, and I really don’t want to miss it.”

Seamus drops his gaze on Weldon. He clears his throat. “During Clara’s apprehension, a select group of Elites raided the warehouse at the address you supplied. They discovered not only was it a large recruiting ground for the Darkyn Coven, but it was also the central headquarters for this region. We managed to shut it down and apprehended all who did not escape in the fallout.”