Velocity (32 page)

Her words made me sick and dizzy, and my face heated up. “You don’t have the necklace, so your stupid plan isn’t even going to work,” I said, struggling against my captor. “My father took it.”

“Oh, did he, now? You sure about that?” Callie asked, pulling up the Mortius pendant by its silver chain. She giggled. “I snagged it out of your father’s pocket. He didn’t even know. Old man probably thought I was copping a feel.”

I felt all of my hope sink. Theo’s father and another man grabbed her stiff body and started dragging her away.

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

“You are to be my sacrificial offering,” her father said, sounding even more maniac than usual, which was saying something. He looked like he was about ready to jump out of his skin “Phillip’s promised me a place in his new kingdom.”

“Theo!” I shouted. Two boys I recognized as my classmates from school grabbed me by my arms, holding me tightly.

“Now you, Ariel. We’ll put you away for safekeeping,” Callie said sweetly, then her face changed and she glared at the men holding me. “Put her over there in that tomb, and then drag the door shut. Make sure she can’t get out.”

I screamed as loud as I could, but it didn’t matter. The feeling was returning to my body, but the progress was slow, and I still couldn’t move more than my fingers. The boys dragged me across the ground, despite my protests, over to a large, standing open tomb. They threw me inside where I smacked the back of the stone wall, and then struggled to pull the heavy stone cover in place. As the sliver of gray light disappeared, the last thing I saw was Callie’s triumphant, evil grin. Then the stone covered the opening entirely, shutting out the outside world.

CHAPTER 30

NOT EVEN A
speck of light infiltrated the tomb. I stretched my arms as the feeling returned fully to them. Rushing forward, I banged on the hard stone with my fists, but all it did was cause me pain. The raps didn’t even make noise. I pushed at the stone, but there was no give. I was stuck inside here. I did a quick calculation of the amount of oxygen before panic truly cranked itself up. With everyone going to Dexter, no one was coming to find me.

And what were they doing with Theo? They’d said that she was a sacrifice. Oh God…

I assessed my situation. I was all alone, no one knew where I was, and no one was coming to rescue me. I swallowed hard.

Scratches started up behind me. I turned in the tiny square of space and saw red eyes. One of the shadows. My heart beat hard and scared.

Then Ruby’s face appeared, and the glowing red aura that surrounded her shined forth. Hot waves of her angry power came towards me. I backed up as far as I could, afraid.

I tried to speak, but my throat felt closed up. I didn’t know what to say to an angelic ghost.

Ruby reached her glowing hand out to my chest. She pressed it to my heart, and the tingle of electricity made it pound. As she held her hand there, I felt the purity inside of her. I shut my eyes, and in my head, I vividly saw images of powerful creatures surrounded with light like Ruby, of sweeping, majestic mountains, of the creatures flying into the sky and crashing back down again unharmed like giants. Luminos.

Then I saw the world through her eyes. Dexter smiling at her with the closest emotion he could show to love. Ruby holding a small baby in her arms, and crying as a somber man took the baby away. The heartbreak she had felt. Dexter coming into her room and stroking her hair. Flashing to a later moment, I saw him leading her by the arm to the basement as she protested. He tied her to the seal with the other girls and stepped back, scrubbing his hand through his long hair.

Ruby pulled her hand back, but the energy remained inside my chest. I felt it speed through all of my limbs. I’d never felt so strong. I turned around and pushed the rock. It smoothly fell away, crashing to the ground. In that one motion, Ruby’s power left me. I looked over my shoulder, but she was gone.

I stumbled quickly out of the tomb, feeling drained, and leaned against the stone. Stauner and Harlow were running into the graveyard.

“Are you okay?” Harlow asked, bending at the waist to catch her breath.

“I’m okay, yeah.”

“How did you move that stone?” Stauner asked. “We saw you push it off of the tomb.”

“I had some help,” I said. “It would take too long to explain.”

“Who put you in there?”

“Callie is a traitor. She led us in here and a bunch of goons jumped us, including Theo’s dad. She was against us the whole time. They took Theo and said something about another sacrifice. They have the necklace, too.”

I started to cry frustrated tears, and Stauner grasped my face and looked at me. His voice was calm and sure. “Ariel. We are going to stop this. You are not going to give up. You are going to be strong. Let’s go, we need to move.”

I nodded my head and with renewed purpose we ran out of the graveyard and onto the road.

“You know this town. What’s the best route to the orphanage from here?” he asked me.

I pointed to the trees. “Cutting through the woods. It will take us out to Sanatorium Road, and Dexter is right across the street.”

“You sure?” Harlow asked.

“Believe me, I have a lot of experience running through the woods to and from that damn orphanage,” I said. We took off on foot and ran as fast as we could through the trees, not stopping to catch our breath. Above us, the birds cawed their lonely cry.

Hundreds of ghost birds were swirling above the Dexter Orphanage when we arrived. A procession of hooded figures was walking inside the entrance. The few stragglers that were left from our opposition were standing at the iron gate, watching. I didn’t see my father among them. Panic twitched inside of me, but I quashed it so it couldn’t grow.

Shadows were rustling all over the lawn. I could see what looked like black, bear-like beasts running in the trees. Lightning shot from the sky and hit the ground in front of us with a deafening crack.

Our trio ran up and joined the others at the gate. “We need to get inside,” I said to Madison’s father. “Where’s my dad?”

“He went in first,” he replied, “with most of our group. He didn’t come back and we haven’t heard anything.”

Harlow squeezed my shoulder, surprising me with the gesture.

Stauner looked up at the sky. “I don’t like the looks of those birds.”

“Don’t worry, they’re on our side,” I said.

“How can you be sure?”

“My grandmother told me. We need to get inside. They are probably going in through the fireplace in the dining room. That is what Dexter and his group did. But we need to look for a grandfather clock in another part of the house. There is another tunnel behind there.”

We ran across the lawn, waiting for spies, weapons pulled up in case we had to attack anyone. But there wasn’t anyone. The burnt shell of the orphanage stood surprisingly innocent looking considering what undoubtedly was going on beneath. I just hoped we weren’t too late. I took it as a promising sign as we reached the house that we met no opposition.

Inside the house, ashes still fluttered in the air. The smell of fire was thick and cloying, and the throbbing feeling and sound was so intense we could physically feel it with every beat.

“It doesn’t look safe in here,” Harlow said, eying the burnt spots in the ceiling.

“It never has been,” I muttered.

I suddenly felt a strong pulling feeling that made me gasp. It was familiar but still nothing one could get used to.

“What’s going on?” Stauner asked me in concern. I held my hand up to silence him, shut my eyes, and followed where the feeling was telling me to go. I kept walking until I abruptly felt it dissipate. I opened my eyes, and found that I’d walked down a narrow side hallway. I peered into the room at the end of the hall and saw the tall shape of a grandfather clock, covered with a dusty sheet.

Running in, I ripped off the sheet. Stauner and Harlow were close at my heels with the others.

I turned the hands to six o’clock, just like in my Dark vision, and the clock itself slid away with a mechanical grinding.

“Just a stupid old contraption,” I muttered to myself, thinking of the first time I’d come to this wretched place―the haunted house that had seemed so frightening at the time. I took a shaky breath and stepped forward.

It was a rough passageway made out of boards and dirt. Crudely fashioned and obviously hadn’t been used in many decades. Thick cobwebs covered our faces and Harlow groaned. I didn’t want to think about what creatures were scurrying around us, but I could hear them shifting on the dirt. We followed it down, the only light from farther down the tunnel.

“Crouch and keep low to the ground,” Stauner instructed in a whisper as we heard noise from our destination. We did as he said.

We came out behind a short wall of loosely piled rocks. Across the way, there was the huge dais I’d seen in my vision of the original Umbra Regnum ritual. Hugh and the others were being held by Phillip’s henchmen. All of the Thornhill people, dressed in their ceremonial black robes, were gathered around the room. Nearly all of them had ditched their masks. We crouched behind the rock wall, looking up just enough to see.

The people who had given sacrifices, and those that were about to come, were gathered together: Jenna’s mother, Rachel, Theo’s father, the woman I recognized as running the dress shop in town, with long-claw like nails. There was another man and woman there, and I guessed they had something to do with Susan and Alyssa.

Henry was tied to a long post right behind the symbol, his hands behind his back. His head drooped against his chest like he had been knocked out. I felt a wave of sickness worm through my stomach. Theo, Madison, and another girl were tied up on the seal, their hands roped together. They weren’t wearing dresses like in my dream, but otherwise their positioning was the same. I had to stop myself from running across the room and untying them.

Three thick veins of green light snaking through the ground to the seal. It didn’t take much to realize they must be from the other seals beneath the high school, library, and caretaker’s shed.

“We have gathered in service to Umbra Regnum,” Phillip said. “You have all done well by your posts. Ariel Donovan? Where is she?”

Callie stepped forward, now wearing a robe as well, her hair in a braid that fell across her shoulder. “We pushed her into one of the tombs in the graveyard. She’s not going anywhere. That way if you end up needing her, the men and I can go snatch her up.”

Theo and my father seemed to be upset by this. I wished I could comfort them as I crouched behind the rocks.

“Good work, Callie,” Phillip said. “You’ve really impressed me over the years.”

She flushed with pleasure and took a step back. I took a moment to really look at Phillip Rhodes. He didn’t look good at all. Fluid was leaking out of both of his eyes and his mouth was set in a disturbing rictus grin. His own robe, red unlike the black robes the others were wearing, was drenched in sweat. He seemed to be struggling for air, wheezing with every breath. Lainey still gazed at him like he was handsome.

“I didn’t know so many people were going to die,” Cheryl commented, staring vacantly across the room. “There’s so much blood everywhere.

“There are always necessary casualties,” Phillip said. It didn’t seem like they had lost many of their members, though.

Lainey stepped forward, wrapping her arm around Phillip’s. “Didn’t I do a good job, telling you where their hiding place was?” she purred, looking jealous at Callie. My stomach did a flip. So Lainey was with him? Cheryl didn’t even seem to notice. I wondered perhaps if she missed Roger.

I pushed against the rock wall to get a better look. One of the stones shifted, and I stepped back, but the damage was done. Several heavy rocks crashed to the dirt floor, exposing us. All of the hooded faces turned in our direction.

“It seems we have more guests,” Phillip said merrily.

Harlow stepped out and walked confidently over to where he and her father stood. “I caught you some spies, master,” she said in an even voice. “Special delivery.” She looked her father in the eye, straightening her shoulders. “Are you proud of me? I led them right to your door.”

“Yes, good job, Harlow,” Dr. Briggs said approvingly.

Two goons had already picked up Stauner and the other man and carried them over. Lainey saw me and with a wickedly gleeful smile of her bow lips, came and snatched me up, dragging me over by my arm. I saw a flicker of hope in my father’s eyes as he watched me come over.

“Ariel!” Theo shouted, but someone stuffed a gag in her mouth. I squirmed with discomfort at seeing her tied up, her pleading eyes bulging out.

“I thought you said she was taken care of,” Phillip barked, suddenly furious, at Callie. She cowered back into her hood.

“She was! I don’t know what happened!” Callie protested.

Phillip slapped her hard across the face and pushed her back into the onlookers.

I opened my mouth in horror. On the iron plates in the corners of the room, I could see the spirits of those already sacrificed―Alyssa, Jenna, Susan, and Charlotte. They were gray and see-through, not all there, staring at the ground with their black eyes and totally still. I wanted to call out to Jenna, but I knew it was just a shadow of herself