Sacrifice (40 page)

“Yeah, fine.” I let Royal help me across the Temple. He stopped along the way to pick up one of the lanterns harboring a flickering candle inside. But as we reached the tunnel, I froze. “Wait.” I spun back to face Idris. “The acolytes.”

Idris’s eyes flicked to my face, suddenly alert.

“Three girls, with ‘courage, conviction, and a lightness of spirit akin to that of a child.’” I saw once more the selection in my head. Idris had been looking for specific qualities among the eager volunteers. She chose the girls she chose for a reason. “What did you need the acolytes for?”

It was as if a veil came down behind Idris’s eyes, obscuring her emotions. “I’m sorry, child, but until you are willing to open your mind to the truth, you are an enemy of Lilith.” She shrugged her shoulders sadly. “Unless that changes, I cannot—I
will not
answer your questions.”

“You initiated them—”

The ground lurched under our feet. Royal and I braced ourselves against the walls of the cave. I clung to the rough wall, once again rocked from within by the spiritual upheaval in the dream world.

“It’s not over.” Royal reached for my hand, his voice strained with urgency. “We need to
move.
”

“The ritual,” I hissed, glaring back at Idris. “Their blood—what was it for?”

Idris met my gaze evenly. “You ask all the right questions, Daughter of Lilith. But again, I will not provide answers to an enemy.”

“One of those acolytes is my friend. You’d better believe you’re going to answer my questions.” I took a step toward her, meaning to cross the distance between us and grip her forehead; if she was unwilling to give me the truth, I would take it directly from her thoughts.

The ground heaved once more, and a few chunks of rock broke off from the walls surrounding us. While I stood there, still dazed from the tremors shooting through the dream world, Royal grabbed me around the middle with one arm.

“That’s it.” Royal hauled me into the tunnel. “We are leaving
now.
” In his free hand, he held the candle aloft, lighting our way.

I was too weak to offer much of a fight. “Wait. She knows something. We have to find out what she’s done to Cassie—”

Royal didn’t answer. He dragged me up the tunnel with more strength than I could have anticipated. The ground jolted beneath us once more, sending us crashing into the tunnel wall. As I struggled against the riptide in my mind, I forced myself to look back.

I could just barely see into the Temple. Idris lay her head down across Ian’s chest, unmoving. Around her, larger chunks of rock were breaking free from the walls, and a small shower of dirt rained down on her.

“She’s not leaving.” I heard my voice, but it sounded like someone else was speaking. “Royal, she’s not leaving.”

“Right now, I’m more concerned about us.” Royal grabbed me, looping my arm over his shoulders. “You have to run, Braedyn. Can you do that?”

I heard a great crack, like the earth splitting open. I glanced back. The Temple was caving in on itself.

“Run!” Royal didn’t have to ask twice.

We tore down the passage. It took all my concentration to force one foot in front of the other, all the while clinging to Hale’s sword. It was much longer than I’d expected—we ran for nearly ten minutes before the tunnel reached an apex, then slanted sharply down.

“No!” Royal stopped, breathing hard. “How the hell do we get out of here?”

“It has to be this way.” I darted down the passage, scouting my way through the darkness ahead with ease. I knew Royal was close on my heels; I could see the flickering of the lantern casting its meager light against the tunnel walls around me.

Soon, I could hear the sound of water. The muted roar lent me another burst of energy.

“Up ahead.” I pressed on, and in another minute or so, the tunnel dropped sharply, letting out into a deep stream. “Through here.” There wasn’t much to it; the level of the water was low enough that we could see a sliver of daylight above the surface of the river.

That being said, we still had to take a deep breath and submerge ourselves underwater to clear the front edge of the tunnel.

We came up in the stream, gasping. The sun had dipped behind the mountain. Overhead, the sky glowed with the last light of day.

“Now what?” Royal looked at me, his wet hair plastered to his head.

“We have to warn the Guard—” But I stopped myself, remembering the battlefield, strewn with most of our forces. “What’s left of the Guard,” I amended, my voice shaking. “They should be at the mission.”

We paddled our way toward the closest shore until our feet found the sandy bottom of the stream. Water cascaded off our bodies as we hauled ourselves out. The temperature was already dropping, and I shivered in my wet clothes. I scanned the area, trying to get my bearings. Thanks to Dad and my cave-hunting excursions, I managed to figure out roughly where we were. And even though the mission was out of sight, I was fairly confident I knew which direction to go.

“This way.” I took off, trusting Royal to follow. It wasn’t easy running with the sword—in sopping clothes—through the high desert prairie. Our path took us up the side of a low foothill, winding around cacti and Piñon trees. When I crested the hill, I could see the mission ahead of us, nestled on the next ridge. Royal joined me a moment later, breathing hard.

“Oh good.” He eyed the mission miserably. “I was hoping we’d get to do more running.”

“We’re almost there,” I said.

Royal squinted, catching sight of something. “Isn’t that your dad’s truck?”

I turned in time to see Dad’s truck pulling into the parking lot. It was followed a moment later by another car. The vehicles squealed to a stop, their tires kicking up plumes of dust. The Guard soldiers poured out and raced into the mission. I counted just six men.

“How did they know where to go?” I glanced at Royal, mystified.

He shook his head, but then we had our answer; the ground shuddered beneath our feet once more, and I saw one of the mission’s elegant stained glass windows shatter into a cascading spray of rainbow glass.

“It’s collapsing,” I hissed. I sprinted forward, pumping my arms and legs as hard as I could. The desert flew past as I raced toward the mission—toward Dad.

As I rounded the front of the mission, I saw the main doors standing wide open. I charged through and skidded to a stop. Dad and a dozen or so Guardsmen stood—weapons drawn—around a deep pit in the center of the mission. The Seal was
gone.

“Dad?!”

He turned at the sound of my voice. Half a second later, he sheathed his daggers and moved quickly toward me. Matt moved to join us wordlessly.

“Not so fast, Murphy!” One of the other Guardsmen stepped forward, eyeing me with naked hostility. I recognized him from the fight at the mines, though I couldn’t recall seeing him before then.

“She’s not your enemy,” Dad growled. He reached me and grabbed my arm, propelling me toward the mission’s doors. “Quickly, Braedyn.” His voice was low and tight with anxiety.

Another Guardsmen stepped into our path, blocking our route to freedom.

“No? It was her little friend who sent us to the mines to die.”

“What?!” I turned to the Guardsmen, incensed. “That’s insane! It was
Ian
who sent you to the mines. Ian who insisted we commit all our forces. He’s the one who betrayed us!”

“It’s true,” Matt said. “I was there. Murphy was there.”

“Aren’t you the one she kissed?” one of the Guardsmen muttered, glaring at Matt. “How do we know she hasn’t messed with your head?”

Matt’s face flushed with anger. Dad put a hand on his arm, warning him to cool off.

Other Guardsmen were drawing closer. Among them, only my father’s and Matt’s were friendly faces. Of my other allies, Gretchen, Lucas, and Karayan were still locked in the mines and Hale, Marx, Caleb, the others who knew and trusted me—they were gone forever.

“She tried to warn us,” Dad said, his voice unnaturally calm. “It was only because of her and Karayan that the rest of us made it out of there alive.”

And then I spotted Amber. She was standing beside a column, clutching her arms tightly around herself.

“Amber, tell them! You saw Ian running off, he’s the one who betrayed us.” I stared at Amber eagerly. Her eyes swept across the gathered men. “Amber? Tell them they can trust me.”

“I—I don’t know.”

“What?” For a moment, I thought I’d misheard her.

“You were going to sleep with Lucas. You had it all planned for tonight.” Amber’s eyes landed on my face. “Even though you knew what it would do to him.”

Matt’s eyes sought mine out, a startled expression washing over his face.

I shook my head. “It’s not that simple—we—we had a plan—”

“Braedyn.” Dad’s hand tightened on my arm. But the damage was done. Guardsmen edged closer, gripping their blades.

I stared at Amber, empty, numb. I’d saved her life.
Twice.
I’d pushed aside my own feelings about her for the good of the Guard who so desperately needed spotters. And still, after all of that, she refused to trust me.

“Rhea warned me,” Amber whispered. “She said that’s what Lilitu do. They get you to trust them, to believe they’re your friends. Suddenly you find yourself doing all sorts of things you wouldn’t usually do. You drift away from old friends. You give up secrets you’d never tell another living soul.” Her eyes hardened, and I felt a chill. “It’s just like she said. They worm their way into your heart, and then they betray you.”

“I didn’t betray you,” I snapped. The Guardsmen around me started to mutter to one another, shooting dark looks at me. “I didn’t betray the Guard!”

“Rhea’s dead now.” Amber clutched her arms tighter around herself.

“Rhea was an idiot!” My voice cut through the noise of the crowd. Shock registered across more than one face, but I was too pissed off to care. “If she’d listened to me right when we got there, we might have had time to escape the mines before the Lilitu attack.” I turned on the Guardsman I recognized from the mines. “You were there. Tell me I’m wrong.”

The Guardsman hesitated, glancing back at his peers.

“He can’t,” I growled. “Because it’s the truth.” I took a step forward. “I’ve made mistakes, but today wasn’t one of them.”

“No?” Another Guardsman stepped up, his eyes glinting, hard. “Today the Guard was nearly wiped out.”

“Nearly,” Dad said quietly. “Without Braedyn, we might have lost everyone in that mine. We have eleven lives to thank her for, including Gretchen’s and Lucas’s.”

“Make that twelve.” Royal entered the mission, breathing hard. “Braedyn stopped Seth pretty much immediately before he sacrificed me on a way-too-creepy-to-be-believed stone altar.”

Dad turned to me, eyes lighting with hope. “Does that mean you stopped the ritual before—?”

“No.” I met Dad’s eyes. “Seth sacrificed Ian instead. He completed the ritual.”

The Guardsmen shifted their feet as this news sunk in. Silence settled around us, heavy and pregnant with a new fear. Amber’s eyes cut to the hole in the center of the mission, where the Seal once stood. I walked forward. Guardsmen parted, letting me pass.

As I reached the edge of the hole, I felt my heart flip over in my chest. I’d expected to see the Seal below, having fallen through the floor, maybe cracked, but still recognizable.

What I saw, instead...

I shivered. It was as though the Seal had burned out from the center. What remained looked more like ash than stone. Whatever power the Seal had once contained, it was gone now. There would be no closing this door, not ever again. The twining ropes of shadow danced freely around the edges of the hole, tracing out the boundaries of the fully open portal between our worlds.

The Temple below—if it even still existed—was completely obscured by the rubble. Idris’s body, Ian’s body, there was no sign of either of them, or of the altar, or of the strange carved patterns traced out in Ian’s blood.

I turned back to the Guardsmen. More than a dozen pairs of eyes watched me. No one made a sound. Dad’s eyes shone with anxiety as he studied me. Amber’s expression was cold, distant. Whatever flicker of friendship we might have kindled, this afternoon it had guttered out.

How had this happened? I’d played by the rules—done everything the Guard requested of me—and still we found ourselves staring into a nightmare-come-true. The crushing weight of this failure threatened to squeeze the breath out of my lungs. My vision narrowed. My head felt strangely light. Panic settled into every nook and cranny of my being.

I felt someone take my hand. I turned. Royal nodded his head with the barest movement. His eyes held such faith, such conviction.

“We’re going to survive this,” he whispered. “It’s not over yet.”

Moisture welled in my eyes, and I had to bite my lip. Royal squeezed my hand. In that moment, it seemed like the only real thing in the world. I held onto him, drawing strength from his conviction. After a moment, I let out a long breath. He believed in me. Nothing, not even the events of this awful day, had shaken his faith. I felt the knots ease in my shoulders.

One thing. This was one thing to be thankful for. In the midst of everything, at least I had managed to save Royal’s life.

Epilogue

The drive home was silent and somber. Matt was on his way to the mines to free Lucas, Gretchen, Cassie, and Karayan. Royal and I rode back with Dad in his truck. As we turned up the quiet streets of my neighborhood, I felt like a stranger in a strange land; unaccustomed to tranquility after our battle. We may have left the fight behind, but it haunted everything around me, the violence of it jarring against the backdrop of spreading aspen trees and the soft dusting of evening stars across the sky.

Walking into the Guard’s house felt worse. The silence, which I had so longed for these last several months, was ominous now. I carried Hale’s sword to the fireplace and laid it on the mantle.

Memories haunted me from every corner. Hale—who had always seemed so invincible, so in control—was gone. The banter of off-duty Guardsmen was forever silenced. Even Rhea and her clique of spotters—hard as they’d been for me to stand—would never again fight alongside the people I loved, protecting them from the unseen as only spotters can.