The Awakening of Sunshine Girl (The Haunting of Sunshine Girl) (23 page)

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Kissed

N
olan seems strong enough to stand on his own, so I turn to face my birth mother. “I won’t give up without a fight.”

“No,” Helena agrees. “I don’t imagine you will. You inherited your father’s willfulness.”

“Maybe I got it from you.” I raise an eyebrow. After a few months living with Aidan, I know I got
that
from him. “You seem every bit as stubborn as Aidan.”

Helena sinks onto the couch across from us with a sigh. She looks relaxed, but she warns, “Don’t try anything.” She nods slightly, and I feel a spark in the electric current of nearby spirits. Helena could pull them all close in a heartbeat. And this time they would restrain me, not Nolan.

I nod that I understand.

She brings her hand to her forehead and closes her eyes just the way Mom does when she’s battling a headache. “You can say good-bye,” she offers, gesturing at Nolan. Suddenly I feel
grateful to the woman who wants to kill me, the woman who’s been hurting the boy I love. She’s going to let Nolan go.

But before I can say a word, he protests. “You’re not actually going to say good-bye to me, right? We’re going to get you out of here. Away from
her,
” he spits, nodding in Helena’s direction.

“No, we’re not,” I say firmly.

“You’re just giving up?” He pushes the sleeves of his jacket up over his elbows, and I see dark bruises on his forearms, reminders of the spirit who held him down.

“I didn’t say that. But
we’re
not getting me out of here. If I’m getting out of here alive, I’m doing it myself. I’m not letting you risk your life to save me again.”

“You risked your life to save me,” Nolan counters, every bit as logical as my father, like the math of me saving him without letting him save me back just doesn’t add up.

That’s the second time I’ve thought of Aidan as my
father.
As my
parent.
A parent who underestimated me. His protections aren’t enough to keep me from Nolan. I ignore every bad feeling, silently saying
No
every time my body tries to pull me away.

“I have to tell you something,” I begin, but Nolan cuts me off.

“I love you,” he says plainly, just as calmly as if he were telling me it was raining outside.

“I love you too.” It’s just as undeniable as the fact that the sky is blue (or gray, here in Ridgemont), water is wet, or owls can fly.

Slowly I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. Back in January there were about a million reasons why I didn’t let him kiss me, and one of those reasons was that I didn’t want our first kiss to be a good-bye kiss. But right now kissing him good-bye seems better than not kissing him at all.

As his lips press against mine, I feel something shift inside me. It starts with butterflies dancing across my belly like someone just started playing their favorite song. And then, just as suddenly, everything settles down. There’s no lurching of adrenaline. No queasiness. No nausea. There’s only the warmth of being close to Nolan. Our kiss is like something out of a fairy tale, powerful enough to break a sorcerer’s spell. For now, at least.

I don’t ever want to stop kissing Nolan. I don’t want to stop saying good-bye, because then he’ll be gone. But I have to get Nolan out of here.

So I pull away and start dragging my friend to the door. Maybe I can call him my boyfriend now, even if it’s just in my head. I glance at Helena; her head is still in her hands, but her body reacts to every step we take, ready to spring. Nolan and I are holding hands as we slide past Victoria, who’s hovering by the entrance to the living room.

“Just run outside with me. We’re almost at the door.” Nolan tightens his grip on my hand as if to say
I’m dragging you out there with me whether you want to go or not.

The electric hum sparks again, making me jump. Helena isn’t going to let me go anywhere.

I still feel the shadow of Nolan’s lips against mine. I don’t try to twist my hand from his grip. I let him think that I’ll run with him. He doesn’t know how strong I’ve become over the past couple of months. But before I can force Nolan to leave, the door swings open from the other side.

Aidan and Lucio burst into the room, blocking the way out.

Helena is on her feet, with wide open eyes at lightning speed. Lucio doesn’t stop at the door.

“Sunshine! You’re alive!” Lucio throws his strong arms around me and buries his head in my neck. I feel his breath against my skin, fast and desperate, like he sprinted all the way here from Mexico. Nolan’s eyes widen with surprise. I’m sure mine do too.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Too Late

“I
thought we’d be too late!” Lucio exclaims, swallowing hard.

I step back from Lucio, taking Nolan’s hand. Lucio’s eyes dart between Nolan and me, trying to understand what he’s seeing. Maybe I should have told Lucio about Nolan.

“You
are
too late.” It sounds like the kind of thing you’d hear from the villain in a movie, but in a movie Helena would be brandishing some kind of a weapon: a gun, a grenade, maybe even a sword or a crossbow. In real life her bare hands are clenched at her side, ready to call spirits to her bidding.

She sounds almost sad as she directs her attention toward Aidan and continues. “My compatriots and I have done all we could to bridge the gap, but our numbers are dwindling—luiseach live long lives, but we don’t live forever. Without enough luiseach to counterbalance the spirits in the world, darkness is inevitable. We must eliminate the girl while there’s still time.”

“There’s still time.” Aidan’s teeth are clenched.

Helena shakes her head. “What about the fire demon that tormented Lado Selva?” Aidan looks surprised. “Oh yes, I know all about Michael Weir, the spirit who escaped your lab and turned dark even in the warmest of places.”

“An anomaly,” Aidan counters.

“No, dearest.” She makes the pet name sound like a curse. “It’s becoming all too commonplace.”

Understanding hits me like a bolt of lightning. Helena isn’t the enemy. She never was. The
darkness
is. Images flash across my mind. The man watching us at the airport, the man in the fishing village who hid in the shadows. Somehow he has everything to do with the darkness. He’s the face of the darkness! A face I can see, even if the rest of them can’t. I should’ve told Aidan about him ages ago! I’m about to explain everything when Helena speaks, her voice cold as ice.

“The girl came to me willingly. The world can’t wait for your science to catch up with it.”

“But I’ve made so much progress!” Aidan insists. “Let me show you.”

Suddenly the temperature drops as Anna’s spirit fills the room. Nolan looks at me questioningly. I stand on my tiptoes to whisper a single word in his ear. “Anna.”

“Do you feel that girl?” Aidan shouts. “Our daughter saved her spirit on New Year’s Eve, and in the months that have passed, she has not turned dark. She is half-luiseach, half-human—Victoria’s daughter,” he adds, gesturing to my old visual arts teacher. “And her spirit is strong.”

I blink, remembering what Lucio told me that day in the desert. Aidan had theories that spirits might be able to linger without going dark. Is
Anna
what he was talking about?

Helena turns furiously to Victoria. “You were lying all along,” she shouts. “I should have trusted my instincts.”

“I had to protect the girl,” Victoria explains.

“What is she talking about?” I shout, more confused than ever.

Much to my surprise, it’s Helena who answers. “Your lovely teacher was a double agent. She was working for Aidan all along. My dear husband planted her here, to watch me. To keep me distracted. I’d have been better off waiting for you to emerge at the borders of Llevar la Luz.”

Another spark, but this time it’s different.
This
is more like a spark that never ends, a bolt of lightning that brightens the sky forever.

Now Anna’s spirit isn’t the only one here. Lucio watches as I move closer to Nolan. His body is something of a buffer, and at first, none of the spirits can touch me, but even the strongest protector is no match for this many spirits. Helena lifts her arms as Lucio and Aidan get to work, but for every spirit they help move on, two more come to take its place.

“She must be drawing spirits from across the country to this house,” I manage to whisper to Nolan, who looks stricken.

“I’m so sorry, Sunshine,” he replies. “I told her that multiple spirits made you weak. I didn’t know . . .”

“It’s not your fault.” I squeeze his hand in mine.

Spirits criss-cross the room with the force of a tornado. Spirits who want to move on and spirits who wish to stay behind.

The sensation is overwhelming.

Helena stretches her arms out wide like she is inviting all the spirits in the world to join us. Her face is white as paper, but she isn’t even out of breath.

The temperature drops even further. I’ve never been so cold in my entire life. There isn’t room for a single coherent thought in my brain. I can’t focus on one spirit at a time. There is only life after life and death after death—car accidents, cancer, old age, heart attacks, gunshot wounds—crashing over me like waves. My teeth chatter so hard that I can’t even muster the words
I promise
out loud.

Helena’s voice rises above the din, her gaze fixed on Aidan. “You abandoned our mission to protect the life of one girl.” Her voice sounds like she hasn’t had a drop to drink for days. “You put the entire balance at risk for the sake of your precious
progress
.”

Aidan shakes his head. “No,” he insists. “I’ve never lost sight of our mission. All along it’s been at the heart of everything I’ve tried to do.”

“Even hiding this girl?” Helena’s fingers wrap around my arms as she pulls me away from Nolan. Nolan tries to keep his hold on my hand, but Helena sends a spirit crashing his way, shoving him aside.

“
Especially
hiding her!” Aidan counters. His voice is louder and more full of emotion than I’ve ever heard it before. “She is able to do things no luiseach ever has. And now we’ve had a breakthrough, Helena.” He lowers his voice when he says her name. “We’ve had a breakthrough,” Aidan repeats, holding up his hands as Helena drags me across the room. “Because of our daughter—”

“Our daughter is to blame!”

“No!” Aidan counters. “She is the
key.
Yesterday, just before she left our campus, more than a dozen spirits moved on by themselves. Without my help. Without Lucio’s. Only with hers.”

My heart’s pounding so fast that I can barely catch my breath.

“Helena,” Aidan says solemnly, “they moved on by themselves.” I have to concentrate to hear him.

“Impossible!” Helena’s fingers twist through my hair, and I feel the warmth of her flesh against my back. Despite myself, I lean into her, desperate for her warmth.

“Possible,” Aidan counters.

“Let’s see a demonstration, then,” Helena says. “Work your magic, Sunshine.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I manage to say. “I just said . . .” I pause, remembering the words I thought before I left Llevar la Luz:
I’m so sorry that you’re trapped in there. Do you know what happens to spirits who spend too much time on Earth? Even the kindest of them turns into something unrecognizable. You’re not meant to stay here so long.

I wish you could feel the peace that comes with letting go of your ties here on Earth.

I know how you felt in life. How you
feel
now, in death. I can feel it too.

I’m limp in Helena’s arms.

“You expect me to believe this girl is capable of all that?” Helena shouts. “That this girl, who can’t even open her eyes in the presence of a few dozen spirits”—I didn’t realize my eyes were closed—“could change the world?”

“Yes,” Aidan answers calmly, his voice a million miles away.

“Well, I don’t. These are just more of your lies to protect the girl who will ultimately be the cause of our demise!” Helena says, and she tightens her grip on me, bringing her hands up around my neck. The spirits have weakened me enough that I can’t fight back, but she can’t count on them to finish the job.

I am a luiseach after all. Spirits can’t kill me, so Helena begins to squeeze.