Underworld (24 page)

Then someone who’d been sitting up inside the casket, the better to lean against the lid and try to suck whatever fresh air he could from the cracks around it, landed on his back on the hard stone floor of the mausoleum, his dark hair sticking up from his head in sweaty tufts. His eyes were closed.

It was Alex.

He was dead.

L
etting out a soft cry, I fell to my knees at his side. Sharp rocks bit into the bare flesh of my knees, but I hardly noticed. Alex’s face was red and burning to the touch.

There’s no air in here, Pierce
, he had said.
You’ve got to come, quick….

Alex could be a pain, it was true. He’d refused to let me in about whatever it was he was trying to do — get revenge for what he perceived Mr. Rector had done to his dad — until it was far too late.

That still didn’t excuse what they’d done to him. Frank had said the Rectors were sick. But what kind of sickness would make anyone do
this
?

“Alex.” I grabbed his shoulders and shook them. “Alex!”

He didn’t move.

I was too late, I realized, my heart slowing down to what felt like a beat a minute. I was too late.

“Where’s my cell phone?” I asked, feeling as if I were in a dream. “We need … we need to call an ambulance.”

“Pierce,” John said. His voice was the saddest I’d ever heard it. “I’m sorry, but it’s too —”

I was too late.

“Call 9-1-1!” I shouted at him.

John shrugged, then reached into his pocket for the phone I’d made him put there. My dress had no pockets, and I hadn’t wanted to lug my bag around during a rescue mission.

Except it was no rescue. Because I was too late. Alex was dead.

I turned my attention back to Alex, pounding him on his chest. I knew CPR, of course. You can’t die and then come back thanks to someone performing CPR on you without grasping at least a rudimentary knowledge of what they’d done. I’d taken a first-aid course.

Everything I’d learned during the course fled my mind.

I leaned down to blow into Alex’s mouth, my tears falling onto his face, making new tracks in the dirt stains there. I hadn’t even realized until that moment that I was crying.

I should have been kneeling there thinking of how I was going to explain all this to Uncle Chris, and to my mother, and to my grandmother, of course (although I didn’t owe her anything, certainly not explanations).

I should have been thinking of Alex, of how unfair it was that his life had been cut off so soon, especially when he had been so unhappy for so long. He deserved better than this. This was no way for it all to end.

Instead I was thinking of how he hadn’t said he loved me back. I knew he did love me. Probably. I also knew it didn’t matter. I didn’t deserve his love, because I’d been late. And I was going to be damned — yes,
damned
— before I let someone else I love die because I’d been too late.

Which was when it occurred to me that I didn’t have to, because I knew someone who could make this go away, without having to count on CPR, or EMTs, or anything … someone who could make it all better with a wave of his hand.

Why hadn’t I thought of it before?

Lifting my face from Alex’s, I turned to John, surprised to find he was already kneeling next to me. He was wearing jeans, so the gravel wasn’t cutting into his knees.

“I called them,” he said, his face pale and tight in the dawn light. “They’re on their way. If we don’t want to be caught here with him, we need to go soon, Pierce.”

“No,” I said, catching his hand. I smiled at him through my tears, feeling suddenly joyful. It was going to be all right. Everything was going to be fine. “John … I had an idea. You can heal him. Like you did me, with my cut, and then my throat. You can make him come back alive, like you did the bird that day.”

He stared at me, seemingly uncomprehending. “What?”

How could he not know what I meant?

“The day I met you,” I prompted him. I reached up to wipe the tears from my cheeks. I didn’t have to cry anymore. It was all so miraculous. “Remember? It was right here in the cemetery. The bird I found the day of my grandfather’s funeral when I was seven, the one that looked so much like Hope. It was dead, and I was crying, and to make me feel better, you brought it back to life. You can do the same with Alex.” I took his hands and put them on Alex’s lifeless body, smiling up at him. “Do it. Do it now, then we can go. We can all go home.”

John left his hands where I’d placed them, but he shook his head, looking at me like I was a bit crazy. That wasn’t unusual, though. Everyone looked at me that way. I was used to it.

“Pierce,” John said, not taking his gaze off me. “I told you that day when you asked me to raise your grandfather, remember? Birds don’t have souls. Humans do. It’s not the same. I can’t do it.”

This was true, actually. I remembered his saying it now. But I wasn’t going to let a minor detail like this stand in the way of something I knew he could do. He could do anything.

“How do you know?” I asked him. “Have you ever tried?”

“As a matter of fact,” Frank said, from the wall of vaults opposite ours, against which he was leaning, “he has.”

I glanced at him, startled. “He has?”

Frank nodded, examining his cuticles. “Quite successfully. I can think of four times he’s done it at least, off the top of my head.”

John whipped his head around to lash out at Frank in a hard voice,
“Frank, be quiet.”
In the distance, thunder rumbled.

I glanced back at John in confusion. “Well, if you’ve done it before, why won’t you do it now, for me?” I asked. “I know you can do it.” I smiled at him confidently.

“Because it wasn’t right,” John said. His voice was gentle, but I could see the storm brewing in his eyes. He was going to fight me on this. I didn’t know why, but he was going to. “It was when I was first starting out, and I didn’t know any better. I didn’t understand the consequences.”

Consequences again. Stupid consequences.

But if it meant Alex didn’t have to die …

“What were the” — I swallowed, then smiled. I didn’t want to let him see that I had any reservations. Because I didn’t — “consequences?”

Thunder growled again, louder this time. Looking up, I saw that the birds had fled. Where had the birds gone? Only Hope remained, and she’d fluttered over to the grotesque statue and was sitting on the pomegranate.

“The consequences were
not
worth it,” John said firmly.

“That,” Frank said, “is a matter of opinion. I happen to be grateful I’m still alive, and I think if you asked them, the others would agree.”

I looked from Frank to John and then back again. “You mean —”

“That’s right,” Frank said. “The captain found Graves and Liu and Henry and me, dead as doornails after that October tempest. Felt bad about it, I guess, because he brought us back to life —”

“And they were doomed to spend the rest of eternity with me in the Underworld.” John’s voice was a whip, his eyes looking not unlike twin tempests themselves, they’d turned so dark and furious. “So you see, Pierce? There’s a price to pay. I can bring your cousin back, but not to life as he knew it. Let him go on to whatever is waiting for him on the other side. I’m sure he’ll be happier, and better off.”

I bit my lip. “That’s not for you to say.”

“Actually,” John said quietly. “It is.”

My eyes filled once more with tears. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had gone from the depths of despair to the heights of hope, only to have him dash that hope the way … well, the way I’d dashed that cup of tea in his face the day I’d run from him.

“Pierce,” he said, in a voice that sounded as desperate as it did determined. “
Don’t cry.
I mean it. It’s not going to make a difference. I’m not changing my mind. If I had known bringing Frank and the others back to life would mean sentencing them to an eternity in the Underworld, do you think I’d have done it?”

“Why not?” I asked, letting my tears spill over. It was easy to cry. All I had to do was look at Alex’s limp body, and the tears came effortlessly. “You were happy enough to do it to me.”

There was a beat. Then John asked cautiously, “What do you mean?”

“The
consequences
, John?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Persephone wasn’t doomed to stay in the Underworld because she ate a pomegranate. She was doomed to stay there because she did with Hades
what we did last night
. That’s what the pomegranate symbolizes, right?”

John stared, speechless. But I could tell I was right by the color that slowly started to suffuse his cheeks … and the fact that he didn’t try to contradict me.

And of course the fact that the whole thing was spelled out right in front of me by the statue Hope was sitting on. I didn’t get why the Rectors were so obsessed by the myth of Persephone that they’d put a statue of it in their mausoleum, but it was clear enough they were involved in an underworld of one kind or another.

“Don’t worry,” I said, lowering my voice because I didn’t want Frank to overhear. “I don’t blame you. You asked me if I was sure, despite the consequences. I said I was. But I thought by
consequences
you meant a
baby, and
I already knew that could never happen. I guess Mr. Smith must have told you last night that he found out the pomegranate symbolized something completely different than babies
or
death —”

“Pierce.” John grasped my hand. His fingers were like ice, but his voice and his gaze had an urgency that was anything but cold. “That isn’t why I did it. I love you. I’ve always loved you, because you’re good … you’re so good, you make me want to be good, too. But that’s the problem, Pierce. I’m
not
good. And I’ve always been afraid that when you find out the truth about me, you’d run away again —”

I sucked in my breath to tell him for the millionth time that this wasn’t true, but he cut me off, not allowing me to speak until he’d had his say.

“Then you almost died yesterday,” he went on, “and it was my fault. I wanted to show you how much I loved you, and things … things went further than I expected. But you didn’t stop me” — his silver eyes blazed, as if daring me to deny what he was saying — “even though I
told
you we could slow down if you wanted to.”

“I know,” I said softly, dropping my gaze to look down at our joined fingers. We’d each kept a hand on Alex. “I know you did.”

“I don’t want to lose you again,” he said fiercely. “I lost you once and I couldn’t bear it. I won’t go through that again. I … I know I did the wrong thing. But it didn’t feel wrong at the time.”

I raised my gaze to his. “You’re right about that, at least,” I said.

“So am I forgiven?” he asked.

I hesitated, confused by the myriad of emotions I was feeling. John had
known
. He’d known the whole time we had been together the night before that he was forever sealing my destiny to his.

Of course, he’d thought I’d known, too. He’d asked if I was sure it was what I wanted, despite the consequences. I might have misunderstood what those consequences were, but I’d been very adamant in my response. I’d said yes. And I’d meant it.

“Excuse me,” called Frank’s voice from the opposite wall of vaults. “But you might want to take a look at the boy.”

John and I both glanced down. Beneath the hands we’d left on Alex, he’d come back to life.

I
t was impossible.

“Hey,” Alex murmured. His eyelids had begun to flutter. He raised a hand to fight some unseen enemy. “Get off me. I said, get
off
.”

“No,” I breathed, quickly removing my hand.
“No.”
I lifted my astonished gaze to John’s. “Did you do this?”

The eyes he raised to meet mine were every bit as incredulous. “I didn’t. I didn’t mean to, anyway.”

John did not look happy. Anything but. His thick dark eyebrows slanted into a V as he stared down at Alex, who murmured “Stop that!” before fully opening his eyes.

“Oh, Pierce,” he said, recognizing me. “I had the worst dream. What … what happened?”

“You’re an idiot,” Frank strolled up to inform him. “And someone killed you for it. That’s what happened.”

“Frank,” John said, irritated. He looked back down at Alex. “How do you feel? Do you think you can walk?”

I wondered why John was asking about this, until I heard it … the sound of a siren in the distance. The ambulance I’d made him call was on its way. Of course we didn’t need it anymore.

I wondered how the vehicle was going to get in to the cemetery, when both gates were locked. The EMTs didn’t have a key.

Unless Mike was coming back to let his friends
out
…

“I … I don’t know,” Alex said. “I feel strange.” He looked off into the distance. “Is that the sunrise?” he asked. “Or the sunset?”

Frank glanced where he was looking. “Sunrise,” he said.

“It’s beautiful,” Alex said, in a wondering voice. “So red.”

I was surprised. Alex had never been prone to comment on the beauty of things like sunrises before. Maybe dying had given him a new appreciation for life.

Of course it had, I realized. He was an NDE now, just like me.

“Nothing beautiful about that sky,” Frank said, with a snort. “
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor, take warning.
That means there’s a storm coming, boy. A much bigger one than what you’ve just been through.”

John shot Frank an exasperated look. Alex, meanwhile, had glanced at the casket lying next to him, the lid open. Things seemed slowly to be coming back to him, judging by his expression. “Oh,
God
,” he choked.

“Alex.” I reached out and took his hand, my heart aching with pity for him … and for Uncle Chris. Neither of them had any idea what they were in for. “I know what you’ve just been through must have been horrible. I tried to come as soon as I realized. But —”

“It was them, Pierce,” Alex said. He lifted his dark eyes, and I saw they weren’t pain-filled at all. They were burning with rage … and a desire for what I could only guess was revenge. “I knew it. I went back out and followed them. They came here. Guess why?”

“Alex,” I said. Now I didn’t feel pity. “None of that matters anymore. I have to tell you something important.” Because I realized he didn’t know. He didn’t understand what had happened to him, or remember —

“No, it
does
matter,” Alex said fiercely, rising to his elbows. “Seth and those guys, they act like they own this island. But guess what? We have them right where we want them now. I snuck out and followed them, and I saw where they’re keeping their stash these days. In here.” He pointed at the casket.

“But …” I blinked. “It’s empty.”

“Yeah,
now
it is,” Alex said, exasperated. “’cause when they caught me spying on them, they took it out, and stuffed me in there instead. But isn’t it genius?
No one
comes in this cemetery, ’cause it’s supposed to be haunted or something, so there are no security cameras, no lights, nothing. I bet
this
is why Jade got killed. She saw them sneaking around in here, so they snuffed her.”

I realized Alex might be right.

“They think they shut me up, stuffing me in there,” Alex said, sitting up. He wasn’t listening to me. “Well, guess who has the upper hand now? They’re gonna freak! They think I’m dead.” He laughed. “We’ll show them.”

“Uh, Alex,” I said, glancing at John. His mouth had pressed into a line so tight, his lips had practically disappeared. “I have to tell you something —”

I was interrupted by the sound of a woman’s sob. Everyone looked at me.

Although I certainly felt like crying, I wasn’t sobbing. I turned my head, and was shocked to see Kayla sitting by the fire pit, tears streaming down her face. She hadn’t even changed out of her Coffin Fest finery, though she’d lost a rhinestone from the corner of one of her eyes, and her cape was missing.

“I … I’m sorry,” she said, holding a hand towards us, palm out. “It’s just … someone had better tell him the truth.”

John whipped his head around to stare daggers at Frank. “What is she doing here?” he demanded, under his breath.

“I don’t know,” Frank muttered, as he hurried to Kayla’s side. “Kayla, how long have been here, honey?”

“Long enough to have figured out exactly what’s going on with you people,” she said, loudly.

“Kayla.” I rose to my feet. The siren sounded quite close now.

She ignored me, snatching her arm from Frank’s grasp when he attempted to take it, saying, “Let me explain.”

“I don’t need your explanations,” Kayla said, her chest rising and falling dramatically in the early morning light. “I thought there was something weird with all of you, I just couldn’t figure out what it was. But now I know. It all makes sense.” Her dark, tear-filled eyes sparkled as her accusatory gaze traveled from one of us to the other. “I can tell you battle on the side of good, and I want to join you.” She turned to Frank, brushed her curly hair away from her throat, and closed her eyes. “Go ahead. Do it.”

There was a long silence as everyone stared at Kayla’s shapely neck. Then Frank looked helplessly at John.

“It’s no use,” he said. “We have to take her with us. She knows everything.”

“No,”
John said. Now the thunder was directly overhead, so loud it drowned out even the sound of the siren.

“Kayla,” I said, walking over to her and giving her shoulders a shake. “No one’s going to bite you.”

She opened her eyes, looking confused. “Then what … how did you bring Alex back from the dead like that? How did John kick in that gate? How did John bring
Frank
back to life? What are the Rectors hiding in caskets? What have you guys been
talking
about?”

I realized Frank was right. She really did know everything. Or almost everything.

“Jesus Christ,” Alex said, his eyes round and suddenly frightened looking. “What’s she saying? Is she on something? Because I haven’t come back from the dead. I almost died, but I didn’t. Not like Pierce.”

I threw him a pitying look. He clearly hadn’t seen a light.

“She’ll talk, and they’ll kill her,” Frank said to John. “They already killed
him
.” He gestured at Alex. “What makes you think they won’t do the same to her?”

Alex looked even more alarmed. “Why do people keep saying I’m dead?
I’m not dead.
”

John stormed up to Frank and hissed, “It’s the realm of the dead, not a safe house for girls in trouble.”

“Why not?” Frank asked, not batting an eye. “That’s what you’re using it for …
Captain
.”

I widened my eyes. I half expected John to hit him. The old John would have.

But though I saw John’s fingers curl into fists, he didn’t lift them. He took a deep, measured breath.

This wasn’t the old, wild John. This was the new John … still full of unpredictable behavior, but more thought-out behavior than before I’d joined him in the Underworld.

I walked over to him and whispered, slipping a hand around his arm, “Frank’s right. We can’t just leave her here. They killed Jade, and now Alex. Maybe she could stay a little while. Only until things settle down.” I slid a nervous glance at Frank. “We can try to keep them in separate parts of the castle.”

John swiveled his head towards me, his gaze a mix of incredulity and skepticism. “And how, precisely, are we going to do that?” he asked.

“The same way we brought Alex back to life,” I said. “And that we got rid of that Fury. And that we’re going to get rid of the rest of them. And the Rectors, too, eventually.” I raised my necklace, showing him the diamond. “Teamwork.”

His jaw muscles tightened. “Pierce,” he said, lifting his gaze to mine. “It’s —”

Black. That’s how he would have finished that sentence. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with everything going on, I would have looked down and noticed myself, or seen that Hope had taken off, and was flying in high, tight circles above us, letting out cries of alarm, frightened to death of something.

It was too late, though. By the time we realized the danger, it was already at the door.

The familiar voice crackled so loudly, I ducked, thinking it was coming from somewhere close by. So did John, at first. He threw a protective arm around my shoulders.

“Pierce Oliviera,” Police Chief Santos called out. “We know you’re in there. You’re trespassing on private property. Please come out now, and you and your companions won’t be hurt.”

John was the first to figure it out.

“Megaphone,” he said, straightening. “They must be right outside.”

Frank ran to look, flattening himself against the wall of entombed Rector ancestors. He nodded, then slunk quickly back towards us.

“Police,” he said. “Pulled their cars right into the graveyard.” He lowered his voice so Kayla and Alex couldn’t overhear. “They appear to be extremely well armed.”

I realized the siren we’d heard hadn’t been an ambulance at all.

“It’s my fault,” I murmured. “They traced that 9-1-1 call. I can’t believe it. I’m so stupid.”

John’s arm tightened reassuringly. “It’s not your fault,” he said, pointing. “Look.”

I looked where he indicated. I hadn’t noticed before, but in each of the four corners of the open area where the fire pit was located were security cameras. They were pointed right at us. They’d been filming our every move.

“Again,” Police Chief Santos’s voice boomed, “you are trespassing on private property. I’m counting down from five. If you do not come out by the time I’ve reached one, we will use force to remove you.
Five
—”

Kayla’s eyes were wide and frightened as she moved closer to me. “That’s the chief of police,” she said worriedly. “Remember, from the convocation? I’d know his voice anywhere.”

John laid his other hand on Kayla’s arm, as if to comfort her. Frank took her hand.

It was in that moment that I knew that John had made his decision … or that he’d realized the Furies had made it for him. There was no going back.

The rhyme Frank had said earlier popped into my head.
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor, take warning.

The sky in the east, I noticed, had turned bloodred.

Kayla looked down at Frank’s hand, confused. “Wait,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Four,”
the police chief boomed into the megaphone.

“Rector is going to press charges for defacing his property,” Alex said, climbing to his feet. “I know it. No one’s going to believe anything I say, because of who my dad is.”

“You’re probably right,” I said, following John’s lead, and taking his hand.

“I’m not going to jail for what those guys did to me,” Alex declared.

“Three.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “You won’t have to.”

“Wait.” Alex looked at me bewilderedly. “How do
you
know?”

“Two.”

I looked up at John. He looked down at me, then tightened his hold on my shoulders.

“Forgiven?” he asked, his gray eyes glowing.

I smiled. “We’ll see,” I said.

“One.”

Blink.