The Dark Divine (35 page)

“No, Grace. Not tonight. Not under the full moon. I don’t know if I could control it—not with you even in the same county.” He gripped the pendant between his fingers. “I might destroy everyone.”

“Then there has to be another way.”

Multiple sirens blared into the parking lot. There was more than the sheriff and deputy on their way. The city police from the crime scene must be coming, too.

“We need a plan,” Daniel said.

Car doors slammed outside the window.

“There’s no time.” I grabbed his hand, and we ran out of the room.

The echoes of our footsteps were lost in the music as we got closer to the gym. The dance seemed like the most logical place to start looking for Jude. I didn’t
know who had called the police—Pete? Don?—or who exactly they’d be looking for; all I knew is once they entered the dance, we’d lose our chance to get Jude away from everyone else.

Daniel pushed open the gym doors. Red and green streamers reached across the room in a zigzag pattern. Balloons bobbled in the air. A strobe light bounced off the dancers, who twirled and swayed to the music—completely oblivious to what was going on. How we’d be able to pick out one person in this din seemed impossible.

We slipped inside the gym, and I hugged Daniel to me, linking my arms around his neck so it looked like we were dancing, quite intimately.

Daniel stared down at me. He raised one eyebrow.

“My dress is a mess.”

Daniel, clad in jeans and a white shirt, stood out enough in a room full of suits and slacks, but we definitely wouldn’t be able to search for my brother incognito if anyone noticed my bruises or Pete’s blood smeared across my white dress.

Daniel wrapped his arms around my waist. And for a fleeting moment, I felt safe to be in his strong embrace—like it was a promise that everything would turn out the way it should.

Daniel rested his chin on my shoulder. I heard him inhale deeply, holding the breath in the back of his throat, mulling it for tastes. The room wafted with so
much sweat and perfume, could he really pick out one person’s scent? Daniel lifted me off my feet and twirled us toward the center of the crowd. His movements were lithe and graceful, navigating us through the other dancers without disturbing anyone. For a second I forgot to breathe—forgot why we were even here.

“There,” Daniel whispered into my ear.

I followed his gaze. I could see the top of a dark, disheveled head moving beyond the wall of dancers, following Daniel and me as we glided across the room toward the locker-room doors.

“We just need to keep him following us,” Daniel said. “Get him out of here before—”

The music stopped and the lights flipped on. We halted as the crowd came to a standstill.

“May I have your attention?” Principle Conway said from a microphone near the DJ. “Please, stay where you are. Stay calm. There’s been a crime near the school. The police are locking us down until they have the situation under control. No one will be allowed to leave….”

Cries of concern went up in the crowd as uniformed officers moved toward all the exits. Someone shouted and stumbled, as if she’d been knocked aside. Her cry was followed by the clanking of one of the metal exit doors as it swung open and shut. Three officers ran to the door, shouting. The dark head that had been following us was no longer in the crowd.

Daniel cursed. “That was an outside exit.”

He looked at the door to the men’s locker room. The guard there was distracted by the commotion. Daniel swept me up in his arms. He flew at the door and knocked the officer flat before he even knew we were there. Daniel whipped the door open and lunged into the locker room.

“Stop!” someone shouted behind us. “Freeze!”

Daniel jumped on top of a bench. He grabbed an open locker door, used it to launch us up on top of the row of lockers, slid across, and landed on a bench on the other side. He bolted down its length, and jumped to an exit that led us into a long corridor. He ran, holding me to his chest. Shouts filled the corridor behind us, and then ahead of us around the corner. I heard the buzzing of police radio static. Daniel skidded into a stairwell entrance and lunged up the stairs. Up and up we went until we made it to a heavy-looking door marked ROOF ACCESS. Daniel kicked it, the lock crunched, and we burst through the doorway into night.

Daniel took in a deep breath. The air had chilled since I was last outside. Clouds smothered the moonlight. A storm was coming.

Voices echoed way down in the stairwell. Daniel hitched me up in his arms.

“What are we going to do?”

“Hang on!” He squeezed me tight and sprinted toward the edge of the roof—running at his full speed
toward open air. Before I could cry out, he jumped off the edge, sailed over the alley where Don had stabbed Pete, and landed with a thud on the parish roof. Daniel wrapped his arms around me, protecting me as we rolled on impact across the sloping roof. He scrambled to his feet and pulled me with him up and over the apex of the roof. We crouched behind the steeple. I started to speak.

Daniel held up his hand. He waited, listening. “They think we doubled back,” he whispered. “You can hear them?”

Daniel gave me a
duh
kind of look. He listened for another moment. “They’ve lost Jude, too. Someone saw him running toward Day’s. They’re sending a squad car back there.”

“Or is he heading home?” My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst. “We have to find a phone. We have to call them. My dad calmed Jude before … maybe … I don’t even know if Dad’s home yet. I haven’t seen him all day.”

“He’s not home.” Daniel ducked back, pulling me with him. A second later, an officer walked through the alley below us. “He’s probably somewhere over Pennsylvania by now,” he whispered.

I stared at Daniel.

“Your father is on an airplane.” Daniel stood when the officer was out of sight. “You were right. We do need another moonstone. Your father is trying to get one.”

“From where?”

“From Gabriel. Your father tried to contact him after Thanksgiving, but the colony doesn’t exactly welcome intrusions from the outside world. They don’t own cell phones or anything like that.”

“Welcome to the club,” I mumbled.

“Your dad sent several letters, but there was no reply. When he got those blood-test results, he took the first flight he could get.”

“So my father knows about Jude?” That made sense.

“Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he tell Jude?”

“He wanted to wait until we had another moonstone. He thought if Jude knew what was happening, he would only change faster. Your father came to see me before my shift ended at the market. He asked me to keep an eye on things while he was gone.” Daniel bowed his head. “That was a mistake. I should have been the one to leave.”

I grabbed his hand.
Here
was exactly where I needed him to be. “Jude might be headed home. Charity and James are in danger, and if Dad’s not here, then I don’t know what—”

“We can run there.”

“No. If I’m wrong, we could lead him right to them.” I slumped my shoulders. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is. I don’t know where we go from here.”

“Jude’s scent is in the air. It’s more confused, though. I can’t tell where he is. I don’t know if he’s just been
here or if he’s nearby.” He squeezed my hand. “There’s a phone in your dad’s office. We can call Charity. Tell her to get to a neighbor’s house or something. Maybe we can call the airport, too. Leave a message for your father as soon as he lands.”

The clouds parted slightly, and a sliver of moonlight shone down on us. Daniel inspected the scrapes across my knuckles. I was scraped all over from tumbling across the wood roof shingles. His eyes glinted too bright as he kissed my wounded hand.

He shuddered and backed away against the base of the steeple. He held his moonstone against the hollow of his neck. “Just give me a minute,” he said softly, and closed his shimmering eyes. “It’ll be okay.”

“That’s what you think,” a voice snarled behind me.

SECONDS LATER

“I knew you were here.” Jude teetered on the apex of the roof. He walked across it like it was a balance beam, closing the distance between us. “I don’t know how. I just did.” His eyes seemed so black yet bright in the dim moonlight. “Kind of a fortuitous place to end this, don’t you think? It’s like God led me here.”

“God
isn’t what led you here,” Daniel said. “Think about it, Jude. Think about what you taste and smell. Think about what you feel writhing inside of you.”

Jude laughed. “God led me to this, too.” He pulled something from behind him. It was Don’s knife, still stained with blood. “It was just lying in the alley, waiting for me.” He turned it in his hand and watched the moon glint off its tip. “Do you know what this is made of? It’s silver. It’s what can kill you.”

“Jude, please.” I moved in front of Daniel, balancing
myself with the base of the steeple. “Please stop.”

Jude looked at me, stumbled, and almost fell. He took in the sight of my bruises, my torn and bloody dress, and his hard expression crumpled into a look of concern. “Gracie, what happened?” His voice was soft and childlike. He took a step toward me, his hand held out. “Gracie, what’s going on?” He sounded so frightened, so confused.

“Jude?” I reached for him.

Daniel grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t.”

My fingertips brushed Jude’s. “I’m here,” I said, and took his hand.

Jude’s eyes shot with silver light. He wrenched me out of his way and flew at Daniel.

I fell against the shingles. I steadied myself and looked up just as Jude grabbed the front of Daniel’s shirt.

“What did you do to my sister?!” Jude roared into Daniel’s face.

Daniel bowed his head.

“Nothing,” I said. “Daniel did nothing.”

“Don’t lie for him.” Jude’s body heaved with heavy breaths, but he kept the knife at his side like he was afraid to lift it.

“Pete
did this to me … because you told him to do whatever it takes.”

“What?” Jude turned slightly. “No … that’s a lie.

He’s confusing you. He’s getting you to lie for him even though he hurts you. The Bible warns about people like
him—ungodly men who feast on your charity and turn grace into lust. That’s what he’s done to you, and I’m the only one who can see it. He’s a monster.”

“No,” I said. “You’re not a saint, Jude. You’re the monster here.”

Jude shook his head. “How can you defend him? How can you love him? You know what he did.” He shifted closer to Daniel. “You left me,” he said to him. “You were my best friend. You were my brother—and you left me there to die!”

Daniel’s head bowed lower, resigned.

“No, he didn’t,” I said. “I saw him.”

Daniel glanced up. The moon was bright in his eyes, and it illuminated his pale skin. I imagined it setting off his once white-blond hair like it did when he crouched under the walnut tree in my memory of three years ago.

“I saw you that night,” I said to Daniel. “You brought Jude home.”

Daniel opened his mouth a bit. He closed his eyes and breathed out a tiny sigh. “I did?”

“Yes.”

Daniel looked up at the night sky. “Oh, God,” he whispered, like it was a prayer of thanks.

Jude stepped back. He loosened his grip on the knife.

“Jude,” I said. “It’s okay. Daniel helped you get home—”

“No!” Jude clenched the dagger. “No more lies! He’s a monster, not my savior. He hurt Maryanne. He killed that girl. He tried to steal James. He’s defiled you. I have to stop him before he destroys our entire family.” He lifted the knife.

“You
hurt those people,” Daniel said. “You did it. And if you don’t stop right now, then you’ll turn into the wolf just like me.”

“Shut up!” Jude smacked him across the face with the butt of the knife, leaving a long, burnlike welt on Daniel’s cheek.

Daniel grunted. “I will not fight you.”

“Then you’ll die like a coward.”

Jude tried to yank him forward by the front of his shirt, but all that came with him was the leather strap of Daniel’s necklace—and the moonstone.

Daniel stumbled back. He wrapped his arms around the steeple. A deep rumbling echoed from his body, making him quake. He looked up at the moon and then to Jude.

My brother held the moonstone, looking momentarily stunned.

“Put it on,” Daniel said to Jude. “Put it on now … before …” He grunted and licked his lips.

“Daniel.” I crawled toward him. “Daniel, you need it….”

Daniel shook his head. “I need to do this,” he said through gritted teeth. He looked at Jude. “I’m sorry.
I’m sorry I did this to you.” His face twisted with pain. The rumbling behind his voice got deeper. “Take it, Jude. You need it more than I do.”

Jude startled. He clutched the leather strap tighter in his fist and pulled the necklace closer to him. “Is it important to you?”

Daniel panted. “Yes.”

“Good.” Jude wrenched his hand back and pitched the necklace as far as he could—to somewhere in the void beyond the parish roof.