Reckoning (10 page)

“They found us.” Emma gave me a push. “Run. They’re coming for us.”

“What?” I staggered from her push and wiped the sweat from my forehead. Emma’s mouth moved, twisting into words and phrases, but I couldn’t understand her. Then I heard them. The marching of feet. The chanting. She was right. They were coming for us.

I grabbed Emma’s arm and pulled her back behind me.
Save the humans…wait… Emma wasn’t human. Save the Supernaturals. Save us all.

Robed figures, their faces obscured by dark hoods, moved in unison, still speaking in soft chants. They formed a circle around us, lifted us up, and headed to the edge of the chasm. I fought back, kicking my feet, but the more I fought, the tighter their grip became, as deadly as a hold from a boa constrictor. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop them from carrying us forward. Then I relaxed my body.
I’m Juliet Sawyer. My destiny is to save the humans.

“They’re not real,” I said out loud, waiting for them to disappear like the image of Riley had. The figures laughed in unison, and one by one began removing their hoods to reveal their identities. My mother. My cousin, Andrea. My friend, Mary. All dead, all because of my failure.

Wait. They were real.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” I wanted to hug them all and beg them to forgive me for not saving them. Powerful me. Helpless me. “Please.” I opened my arms, trying to take them all in.

“Die with us, Juliet.” Their voices rose, becoming louder and louder as they clapped in tune with their words.

A hand gripped my bad leg and squeezed. The pain made me scream out. I blinked and the figures were gone.

“I didn’t know how to bring you back to reality. You were chanting about dying,” Emma cried. “I’m scared, Juliet.”

I ran my hands through my hair. I was losing my mind. I looked at the ceiling and the walls of the Void. The oppression was heavy. It would be easy to give up, to close my eyes and wait until death decided to take me on the grand tour.
No
. I wouldn’t. I had to fight it, had to find a way to survive for Maisy’s sake, for the humans, and for my people who had withstood the tyranny of the cruel Supernatural leaders for far too long. “I’m Juliet Sawyer, my people are the Tazavorn,” I said.

Emma gave me a strange look. “Are you hallucinating?”

“Trying to ground myself.” With each step I took, I repeated my name, counting each time I did. “I’m Juliet Sawyer, eleven. Juliet Sawyer, twelve. Juliet—” I blinked and I wasn’t in the Void. I was surrounded by the families of the mixed-blood children.

Riley’s father slammed his fist into his hand, then raised his arms toward the overcast sky and shouted, “We must protect the purity of our bloodline. I hereby order the death of these tainted Supernaturals.” The Guards moved among them, snatching children away and viciously killing the parents who tried to stop them.

There was blood everywhere, slicking the ground, coating my shoes. I ran to help free the children, using my power to stop the Guards from taking them.

“Run!” I shouted at the children I’d saved.

I didn’t see the two Guards who grabbed me from behind, nearly wrenching my arms from my sockets. “Lashes for the disobedient Supernatural.” One of the Guards ripped my shirt off. The whip whistled through the air, and the thin leather strip cut into the skin on my back. I lurched forward, straining against the hold of the Guards and screamed for the children to keep running.

“Go!” I yelled, blinking at the sound of my voice. I gasped for breath and the images were gone. “Emma?”

She was on her back, making guttural noises and clawing at her face. Blood oozed where her fingernails dug in. Her expression was vacant, her gaze somewhere other than the Void. I stopped her from tearing at her skin, holding on tight to her hands when she tried to pull free. “You’re Emma and this isn’t real.” I gently shook her arms.

She shoved me away from her, and I slid backward along the ground. Small rocks and dirt dug into my skin. Emma leaped to her feet and threw her arms wide. “My mom’s here. We found her! I missed you. Mom!” She clapped her hands with joy, then ran toward edge of the trail. Toward nothing.

“No, Emma! Come back! She’s not there.” I lunged for her, but my fingers missed her by half an inch, closing around nothing but air. She disappeared into the open space, her body falling from sight. An eternity later, her body hit the bottom. Smothering silence wrapped around me.

“No, no, no.” I scooted back against the wall and raked my hands down the side of my face, drawing blood from the scratches. I stopped when I realized I was mimicking Emma’s actions. “Poor Emma.” I huddled against the wall, wrapping my arms around myself. I was alone and injured. I was done. I couldn’t save Emma. Couldn’t save myself. Couldn’t get to my sister. “Forgive me, Maisy.”

My destiny was wrong. The Void won. I squeezed my eyes closed and started rocking back and forth, chanting as if I could call forth death on my own schedule rather than his. “Come take me. I’m ready.” I opened my eyes. “Where are you?” I screamed.

A sliver of sunlight spilled across my arm. I stopped rocking and leaned forward to see if it was real. Couldn’t be. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. At the end of a small slide of rock, sunshine spilled into the darkness of the Void.

With a cry of hope, I dragged my body along the ground and leaned closer to the rock. Dust particles danced in the air and when I breathed in, I could smell fresh dirt. I cried from happiness and exhaustion. Climbing carefully onto the hollowed out place in the rock, I pushed off with my hands and zipped down deeper into the Void. At the bottom, I hobbled closer to the opening, breathing in the scents of the outside world.

I was alive. I’d defied the odds, but I was still trapped. If I could hold on, someone might come by. With every noise, I peered out, but other than a deer and a squirrel passing by, there was no other movement. I watched the slant of the sun on the small opening until it grew dimmer and night fell. Wanting to feel the cool night air on my skin, I reached my hand out and collided against the solid rock wall.

Another hallucination. There was no outside world. I laughed, knowing I was hysterical.
Well played, Void, well played
was my last thought before I passed out.

RILEY

Stone and I walked in silence toward the sliver between two of the Void’s outer rocks. Mallen had said every seven days, the Void created a small crevice to expel the build up from the Earth’s gasses. The crevice was barely wide enough for a body. Squeezing through it was going to be a challenge, and we’d be lucky if we didn’t get stuck like insects on a pin. But more than I dreaded the narrow escape way, I dreaded leaving Juliet. Every second I’d walked farther away from her was worse than the one before.

“Even if Ide didn’t want to kill her, there’s no way she could get through the opening. Not with that leg,” Stone said.

I clenched my jaw. “This is wrong.” I turned around, intending to run back to Juliet. Stone clutched my arm before slamming me back against the rock.

“No. At first, I thought leaving her was wrong too. You might think you’re abandoning her, but you’re not. You’re saving her. Think with your head.”

I pushed him away, pressed the back of my head against the unforgiving wall of the Void, and closed my eyes. He was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

“She’ll make it,” Stone said.

I opened my eyes and glanced back at the treacherous path we’d taken. Mallen had led us to a certain point before he’d had to double back. He couldn’t exit the Void with us here or Ide would know the old Guard was helping me.
Hang on, Juliet
.

Pushing away from the wall, I walked to the opening. “I’ll go out first.” I wormed my right leg into the opening and grimaced at the pressure the opening forced against my bones. “Keep your head sideways,” I instructed as I shoved halfway into the crevice. The sharp edge of a rock dug into the side of my neck, drawing blood. I bit back a curse. One more foot to go. A second rock dug into my hip, grinding hard against the bone. I gathered my strength and propelled my body out, free from the Void.

Stumbling, I tumbled down the side of the Void and rolled across the brown, wintery grass to stop at Ide’s feet. He was surrounded by a dozen or more Guards. His gaze flicked from me back to the opening, and he leaned slightly forward, trying to see into the crevice. “Who’s behind you?”

“Stone.” I sat up and brushed the pieces of grass from my bare chest, shivering in the winter temperature.

“Who else? Did you manage to lead any of the other prisoners out of the Void?”

“There’s only the two of us.”

Ide’s nostrils flared, and he cracked his knuckles. “Bring them into the castle.” As he walked past me, he kicked me sharply in my still healing ribs.

I gritted my teeth but refused to release the grunt of pain on the tip of my tongue. I wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction. I struggled to my feet and faced the Guards who’d once been loyal to me. All but two of them looked away in shame.

Stone pushed through the crevice, and the Guards pounced on him, delivering blow after blow. Each time Stone attempted to stand, they would hit him again. I moved to his side. “Stay down,” I said. I stared at the Guards, silently daring them to hit him again.

They shuffled their feet nervously, then hauled Stone up, and marched us both into the castle. By the time they brought us in front of my half brother, he was sitting sideways on the throne, legs resting over the arm, his royal robe covering the ornate family crest carved into the wood. Every time he swung his feet, the throne creaked. “Tell me how she died.”

I wasn’t someone who could murder in cold blood, but for Ide, I’d make an exception.

I would lie to him to protect her. Leaving her there, wounded and vulnerable, wasn’t something I’d wanted to do. If I hadn’t, Ide would have come to the Void with his Guards, with his swagger, with death on his mind. He would have killed her, and he would have made me watch. I’d done what I had to do, but it didn’t make abandoning her any easier.

“Tell me!” he yelled, swinging his legs out in front of him. Leaning forward, he put his hands on his knees, and his eyes gleamed with the light of the truly mad.

“She fell off a ledge after the Fuse swarmed us. I couldn’t reach her in time.” Even thinking of what could have happened to her made my voice crack.

Ide moved his attention to the Guards holding Stone’s arms behind his back. These two weren’t loyal to me. They were Ide’s eager followers.

Stone’s head was bowed. Blood dripped in a steady flow from his lip and chin onto the marble floor. I’d warned him this could turn ugly.

Getting up from the throne, Ide stepped down from the platform and crossed to Stone to lift his head by his hair. He lowered himself to peer into Stone’s bruised face. “Did you hear her scream for help?”

I’d warned Stone Ide would dig at him. Finding out what hurt someone the most delighted Ide. Stone curved his lips into a smile and lurched forward, slamming his head into Ide’s face. Ide let out a high-pitched scream.

“Yeah. It was a girlie scream like that,” Stone said.

One of the Guards hit Stone’s head with the butt of his weapon, and Stone crumpled to the floor.

Ide wiped his busted lip, then kicked Stone in the ribs and spit on him. Then he

motioned for me to follow him. “Come, Brother. We have a lot to discuss.”

I followed him across the great hall, and the cavernous space echoed the sound of my shoes hitting the floor. The black marble walls were fifteen feet high and imposing, built and reinforced strong enough to withstand an F-5 tornado. Ide walked down the hallway, passed through a formal sitting area, and went into the war room. Tapestries of every king who’d ever ruled our people adorned the walls. In between the tapestries sconces inlaid with rubies and sapphires tilted at angles to shine light on the faces of the kings, giving them a washed out, ghostly appearance.

My father spent many hours in this room with the other leaders plotting the deaths of the humans in the Great Extinction. He’d calmly talked about the best way to get rid of the bodies afterward.

With a flourish, Ide took a seat at the head of the table in the same chair where my father sat while discussing the deaths of the humans. “I have to tell you, brother dear, being the one poised to rule the world is an incredible feeling.” He took a deep, satisfied breath.

“Then my father is dead?”

Waving his hand, Ide said, “Oh, yes. I took care of that problem before you even hit the floor of the Void.” He folded his hands together and leaned forward. “It’s kind of sad really. He would have loved seeing the two of us working together. A family at last.”

“We are not and never will be a family. I serve you only because of the mark on my arm.” I smacked my fist against the Torment Mark, wishing I could pound it into Ide’s face instead.

Ide pursed his lips. “That hurts deeply, Brother, but I’ll rally.” He pulled a folder toward him and spun it around. “These are the blueprints for the White House. We’ll plant them on the imbecile out there and drop him off outside the human’s military base.”

“Why?”