Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 43

Sunrise
Can't you dig any faster?”
Link and I glared at Ridley from where we stood, a few feet down in Macon's grave. The one he'd never spent a minute in. I was already
dripping, and the sun wasn't even up yet. Link, with his newfound strength, had yet to break a sweat.
“No, we can't. And yes, I know you're totally grateful we're doin’ this instead a you, Babe.” Link waved his shovel at Ridley.
“Why does the long way have to take so long?” Ridley looked at Lena, disgusted. “Why are Mortals so sweaty and boring?”
“You're a Mortal now. You tell me.” I tossed a shovelful of dirt in Ridley's direction.
“Don't you have a Cast for this sort of thing?” Ridley flopped down next to Lena, who sat cross-legged beside the grave, looking through an
old book about Incubuses.
“How did you guys manage to get that book out of the Lunae Libri, anyway?” Link was hoping Lena could find out something about hybrids.
“It's not a bank holiday.” We'd gotten in enough trouble in the Lunae Libri during the past year.
Ridley shot Link a look that probably would've brought him to his knees when she was still a Siren. “He has a lot of pull with the librarian,
Genius.”
As soon as she said it, the book Lena was holding caught fire. “Oh, no!” She yanked her hands back before they were burnt. Ridley stomped
on the book. Lena sighed. “I'm sorry. It just happens.”
“She meant Marian,” I said defensively.
I avoided her eyes and busied myself with my shovel. Lena and I were back to being, well, us. There wasn't a second I didn't think about the
proximity of her hand to my hand, her face to mine. There wasn't a moment when we were awake that I could bear to have her voice out of my
head, after I'd lost it for so long. She was the last person I spoke to at night and the first person I reached for in the morning. After everything we
had been through, I would've traded places with Boo if I could. That's how badly I never wanted to let her out of my sight.
Amma had even started setting a place for Lena at the table. At Ravenwood, Aunt Del kept a pillow and a comforter folded next to the
downstairs couch for me. Nobody said a word about curfews or rules or seeing too much of each other. Nobody expected us to trust the world
with each other if we weren't together.
The summer had gone beyond that. You couldn't un-happen things. Liv had happened. John and Abraham had happened. Twyla and
Larkin, Sarafine and Hunting — they weren't people I could just forget. School would be the same if you ignored the fact that my best friend was
an Incubus and the second hottest girl in school was a declawed Siren. General Lee and Principal Harper, Savannah Snow and Emily Asher,
they would never change.
Lena and I would never be the same.
Link and Ridley were so supernaturally altered, they weren't even in the same universe.
Liv was hidden in the library, happy to be safely tucked away in the stacks for a while. I had only seen her once since the night of the
Seventeenth Moon. She was no longer training to be a Keeper, but she seemed okay with it.
“We both know I would never have been happy watching from the sidelines,” she'd said. I knew it was true. Liv was an astronomer, like
Galileo; an explorer, like Vasco da Gama; a scholar, like Marian. Maybe even a mad scientist, like my mom.
I guess we all needed to start over.
Plus, I got the feeling Liv liked her new teacher as much as her old one. Liv's education had been turned over to a certain former Incubus
who spent his days out of sight — in Ravenwood or his favorite study, an old haunt in the Caster Tunnels — with Liv and the Head Caster
Librarian as his only Mortal companions.
It wasn't how I expected the summer to turn out. Then again, when it came to Gatlin, I never knew what was going to happen. At some point, I
had stopped trying.
Stop thinking and start digging.
I dropped my shovel and pushed up against the side of the grave. Lena leaned over on her stomach, her ratty Converse kicking up behind
her. I put my hands around her neck and pulled her mouth to mine until our kiss made the graveyard spin.
“Kids, kids. Keep it clean. We're ready.” Link leaned on his shovel and stood back to survey his handiwork. Macon's grave was open, not
that there was a coffin down there.
“Well?” I wanted to get this over with. Ridley pulled a small bundle of black silk out of her pocket and held it in front of her.
Link pulled back as if she had shoved a torch in his face. “Watch it, Rid! Don't get that thing anywhere near me. Incubus kryptonite,
remember?”
“Sorry, Superman, I forgot.” Ridley climbed down into the hole, holding the bundle carefully with one hand, and placed it in the bottom of
Macon Ravenwood's empty grave. My mom may have saved Macon with the Arclight, but we saw it for what it was — dangerous. A supernatural
prison I didn't want to see my best friend trapped inside. Six feet under was where the Arclight belonged, and Macon's grave was the safest
place any of us could think of.
“Good riddance,” Link said as he pulled Ridley up out of the grave. “Isn't that what you're supposed to say when good defeats evil at the end
of the movie?”
I looked at him. “Have you ever read a book, man?”
“Dig.” Ridley rubbed dirt off her hands. “At least, that's what I say.”
Link piled shovelful after shovelful of dirt over the bundle while Ridley watched, without taking her eyes off the grave.
“Finish it,” I said.
Lena nodded, jamming her hands in her pockets. “Let's get out of here.”
The sun began to rise over the magnolias in front of my mom's grave. It didn't bother me anymore, because I knew she wasn't there. She
was somewhere, everywhere else, still watching out for me. Macon's hidden room. Marian's archive. Our study at Wate's Landing.
“Come on, L.” I pulled Lena by the arm. “I'm sick of the dark. Let's go watch the sunrise.” We took off, running down the grassy hill like kids —
past the graves and magnolias, past the palmettos and oaks tangled in Spanish moss, past the uneven rows of grave markers and weeping
angels and the old stone bench. I could feel her shivering in the early morning air, but neither of us wanted to stop. So we didn't, and by the time
we reached the bottom of the hill, we were almost falling, almost flying. Almost happy.
We didn't see the eerie golden glow pierce through small cracks and fissures in the dirt shoveled over Macon's grave.
And I didn't check the iPod in my pocket, where I might have noticed a new song in the playlist.
Eighteen Moons.
But I didn't check, because I didn't care. No one was listening. No one was watching. No one existed in the world but the two of us —
The two of us, and the old man in the white suit and string tie, who stood at the crest of the hill until the sun began to rise and the shadows fell
back into their crypts.
We didn't see him. We only saw the fading night and the rising blue sky. Not the blue sky in my bedroom, but the real one. Even though it
might look different to each of us. Only now I wasn't so sure the sky looked the same to any two people, no matter what universe they lived in.
I mean, how could you be sure?
The old man walked away.
We didn't hear the familiar sound of space and time rearranging as he ripped into the last possible moment of night — the darkness before
the dawn.
Eighteen Moons, eighteen spheres,
From the world beyond the years,
One Unchosen, death or birth,
A Broken Day awaits the Earth …

After

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 44

Siren's Tears
Ridley stood in her room at Ravenwood, the room that used to belong to Macon. But nothing remained the same except the four walls, a
ceiling, and a floor, and possibly the paneled bedroom door.
Which she shut, with a heavy click, and bolted. She turned to face her room, her back against the door. Macon had decided to take another
room at Ravenwood, though he spent most of his time in his study in the Tunnels. So this room belonged to Ridley now, and she was careful to
keep the trapdoor leading down into the Tunnels locked under thick pink shag carpeting. The walls were covered with spray painted graffiti,
black and neon pink mostly, with shots of electric green, yellow, and orange. They weren't words, exactly — more like shapes, slashes,
emotions. Anger, bottled in a can of cheap spray paint from the Wal-Mart in Summerville. Lena had offered to do it for her, but Ridley insisted
on doing it herself, Mortal-style. The reeking fumes made her head ache, and the splattering paint made a huge mess of everything. It was
exactly what she wanted and exactly how she felt.
She'd made a mess of everything.
No words. Ridley hated words. Mostly, they were lies. Her two-week incarceration in Lena's room had been enough to make her hate poetry
for a lifetime.
Mybeatingheartbleedingneedsyou —
Whatever.
Ridley shuddered. There was no accounting for taste in the family gene pool. She pushed herself away from the door and walked over to the
wardrobe. With the slightest touch, she opened the white wooden doors, revealing a lifetime's careful collection of clothing, the hallmark of a
Siren. Which, she reminded herself, she wasn't.
She dragged a pink footstool to the shelves and climbed up on it, her pink platform shoes slipping back and forth over her pink striped knee
socks. It had been a Harajuku kind of a day, not often seen around Gatlin. The looks she got at the Dar-ee Keen were priceless. At least it had
passed the afternoon.
One afternoon. Out of how many?
She felt along the top of the shelf until she found it, a shoe box from Paris. She smiled and pulled it down. Purple velvet four-inch peep-toes,
if she remembered. Of course she remembered. She'd had some damn fine times in those shoes.
She dumped the contents of the box onto her black and white bedspread. There it was, half-shrouded in silk, still covered with crumbling dirt.
Ridley slumped down on the floor next to her bed, resting her arms on the edge. She wasn't stupid. She just wanted to look, as she had
every night for the past two weeks. She wanted to feel the power of something magical, a power she would never have again.
Ridley wasn't a bad girl. Not really. Besides, even if she was, what did it matter? She was powerless to do anything about it. She'd been
tossed aside like last year's mascara.
Her cell phone rang, and she picked it up from her nightstand. A picture of Link popped up on the screen. She clicked it off and tossed it into
the endless pink shag.
Not now, Hot Rod.
She had another Incubus on her mind.
John Breed.
Ridley settled back into place, tilting her head to the side as she watched the sphere begin to glow a subtle shade of pink.
“What am I going to do with you?” She smiled because, for once, it was her decision to make, and because she had yet to make it.
three
The light grew brighter and brighter until the room was bathed in a wash of rose-colored light, which made almost everything else disappear
like thin pencil lines that had been only partly rubbed out.
two
Ridley closed her eyes — a little girl blowing out a birthday candle, to make a wish —
one
She opened her eyes.
It was decided.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 42

New Blood
For once I wasn't dreaming. It was Lucille's hissing that woke me up. I rolled over, Lena curled up next to me. It was still hard to believe she was
here and she was safe. It was the thing I had wanted most in the world, and now I had it. How often did that happen? The waning moon outside
my bedroom window was so bright, I could see her eyelashes touching her cheek as she slept.
Lucille leaped off the bottom of my bed, and something moved in the shadows.
A silhouette.
Someone was standing in front of my window. It could only be one person, who wasn't actually a person at all. I bolted upright in bed. Macon
was standing in my room, and Lena was under the covers in my bed. Weakened or not, he was going to kill me.
“Ethan?” I recognized his voice the second I heard it, even though he was trying to be quiet. It wasn't Macon. It was Link.
“What the hell are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?” I hissed, trying not to wake Lena.
“I'm in trouble, man. You gotta help me.” Then he noticed Lena curled into a ball next to me. “Oh, jeez. I didn't know you were — you know.”
“Sleeping?”
“At least someone can.” He was pacing, full of nervous energy, even for Link. His arm was in a cast, and it was swinging erratically. Even with
only the dim light from the window, I could see his face was sweaty and pale. He looked sick, worse than sick.
“What's up with you, man? How did you get in here?”
Link sat down in the old chair by my desk, then stood up again. His T-shirt had a hot dog on it and said BITE ME. He'd had it since we were in
eighth grade. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
The window was open behind him, the curtains blowing inside as if the breeze was being drawn into my room. My stomach was beginning to
twist into a familiar knot. “Try me.”
“Remember when Vampire Boy grabbed me on Hell Night?” He was talking about the night of the Seventeenth Moon, which would always
be Hell Night to him. It was also the title of the horror movie that scared the crap out of him when he was ten.
“Yeah?”
Link was pacing again. “You know he could've killed me, right?”
I wasn't sure I wanted to hear where this was going. “But he didn't, and he's probably dead, like Larkin.” John disappeared that night, but no
one actually knew what happened to him.
“Yeah, well, if he is, he left a partin’ gift. Two actually.” Link leaned over my bed. Instinctively I jumped back, bumping into Lena.
“What's going on?” She was half asleep, her voice deep and gravelly.
“Relax, man.” Link reached past me and switched on the light next to my bed. “What does it look like to you?”
My eyes adjusted to the dim light, and I saw two small puncture wounds on Link's pasty neck, the distinct mark made by two evenly set
canines.
“He bit you?” I jerked away from him, pulling Lena off the bed and pushing her against the wall behind me.
“So I'm right? Holy crap.” Link sat down on my bed, dropping his head in his hands. He looked miserable. “Am I gonna turn into one a those
bloodsuckers?” He was staring at Lena, waiting for her to confirm what he already knew.
“Technically, yes. You're probably already Turning, but it doesn't mean you're going to be a Blood Incubus. You can fight it, like Uncle
Macon, and feed on dreams and memories instead of blood.” She pushed her way out from behind me. “Relax, Ethan. He's not going to attack
us, like a vampire in one of your lame Mortal horror movies where all witches wear black hats.”
“At least I look good in hats.” Link sighed. “And black.”
She sat down next to him on the edge of my bed. “He's still Link.”
“You sure about that?” The more I checked him out, the worse he looked.
“Yeah, I gotta know this sorta stuff.” Link was shaking his head, defeated. It was pretty obvious he had been hoping Lena was going to tell
him there was some other explanation. “Holy crap, my mom's gonna throw me outta the house when she finds out. I'm gonna have to live in the
Beater.”
“It'll be okay, man.” It was a lie, but what else could I say? Lena was right. Link was still my best friend. He had followed me into the Tunnels,
which was the reason he was sitting here now with two holes in his neck.
Link ran his hands over his hair nervously. “Dude, my mom's a Baptist. You think she's gonna let me stay in the house when she finds out
I'm a Demon? She doesn't even like Methodists.”
“Maybe she won't notice.” I knew it was a stupid thing to say, but I was trying.
“Sure. Maybe she won't notice if I never go out durin’ the day because my skin'll fry off.” Link rubbed his pale arms as if he could already feel
his skin beginning to peel.
“Not necessarily.” Lena was working something out in her mind. “John wasn't your average Incubus. He was a hybrid. Uncle M is still trying
to figure out what Abraham was doing with him.”
I remembered what Macon said about hybrids when he was arguing with Abraham at the Great Barrier, which already seemed like a lifetime
ago. But I didn't want to think about John Breed at all. I couldn't forget seeing him with his hands all over Lena.
At least Lena didn't notice. “His mother was an Evo. They can Morph — transmutate into virtually any species, even Mortals. That's why
John could walk around during the day, while other Incubuses have to avoid sunlight.”
“Yeah? So I'm what, like, a quarter bloodsucker?”
Lena nodded. “Probably. I mean, I can't be certain of anything.”
Link shook his head. “That's why I wasn't sure at first. I was out all day and nothin’ happened. Figured it meant I was in the clear.”
“Why didn't you say something right away?” It was a stupid question. Who would want to tell their friends they were Transforming into some
kind of Demon?
“I didn't realize he bit me. Just thought I got worked over in the fight, but then I started feelin’ weird and saw the marks.”
“You'll have to be careful, man. We don't know much about John Breed. If he's some kind of hybrid, who knows what you can do?”
Lena cleared her throat. “Actually, I knew him pretty well.” Link and I turned and looked at her at the same time. She twisted her necklace
nervously. “I mean, not that well. But we were in the Tunnels together for a long time.”
“And?” I could feel my blood rising.
“He was really strong, and he had some kind of weird magnetism that drove girls crazy everywhere we went.”
“Girls like you?” I couldn't help myself.
“Shut up.” She nudged me with her shoulder.
“This is startin’ to sound better already.” Link cracked a smile, in spite of himself.
Lena was going down the list of John's attributes in her mind, a list I was hoping wasn't too long. “He could see and hear and smell things I
couldn't.”
Link inhaled deeply, then coughed. “Dude, you really need a shower.”
“You've got superpowers now, and that's the best you can do?” I shoved him. He shoved me back, and I flew off the bed onto the floor.
“What the hell?” I was used to being the one throwing him on the ground.
Link looked at his hands, nodding with satisfaction. “That's right, fists a fury. Like I always said.”
Lena picked up Lucille, who had backed herself into a corner. “And you should be able to Travel. You know, materialize wherever you want.
You won't need to use the window, even though Uncle Macon says it's more civilized.”
“I can walk through walls, like a superhero?” Link was cheering up considerably.
“You'll probably have a great time, except …” Lena took a breath and tried to act casual. “You won't really eat anymore. And assuming you
plan to be more like Uncle Macon than Hunting, you'll have to feed off people's dreams and memories to sustain yourself. Uncle Macon called
it eavesdropping. But you'll have plenty of time because you won't sleep anymore.”
“I can't eat? What am I gonna tell my mom?”
Lena shrugged. “Tell her you've become a vegetarian.”
“A vegetarian? Are you insane? That's worse than bein’ a quarter Demon!” Link stopped pacing. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
He walked over to the open window and leaned out. “Seriously?” There were a few banging sounds on the side of the house, and Link
hoisted Ridley through my window. I looked away dutifully, since most of Ridley's underwear showed at one point or another during the climb
over the windowsill. It wasn't the most graceful entrance.
Apparently, Ridley had cleaned up and gone back to looking like a Siren, whether she was actually one or not. She pulled her skirt down
and shook out her blond and pink streaked hair. “Let me get this straight. The party's here, but I'm supposed to stay in my cell with the dog?”
Lena sighed. “You mean my bedroom?”
“Whatever. I don't need the three of you hanging out together, talking about me. I have enough problems as it is. Uncle Macon and my
mom have decided I should go back to school, since apparently I'm not a danger to anyone anymore.” It looked like she was about to burst into
tears.
“But you're not.” Link pulled out my desk chair for her.
“I'm plenty dangerous.” She ignored him, flopping down on my bed. “You'll see.” Link grinned. He hoped so, that much was clear. “They
can't make me go to that backwoods dump you call a school.”
“Nobody was talking about you, Ridley.” Lena sat down on the bed, next to her cousin.
Link went back to pacing. “We were talkin’ about me.”
“What about you?” He looked away, but Ridley must have already seen something because she was across the room in a second. She
grabbed the side of Link's face. “Look at me.”
“What for?”
Ridley zeroed in on him like a Sybil. “Look at me.”
As Link turned, his pale, sweaty skin caught what little light the moon cast into the room. But it was enough light to see the puncture marks.
Ridley was still holding his face, but her hand was shaking. Link put his hand on her wrist. “Rid —”
“Did he do this to you?” Her eyes narrowed. Even though they were blue now, instead of gold, and she couldn't convince anyone to jump off
a cliff, she looked like she could throw someone off one. It was easy to imagine her sticking up for Lena at school when they were kids.
Link took her hand and pulled her toward him, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “It's no biggie. Maybe I'll get some homework done
once in a while, now that I don't need any sleep.” Link cracked a smile, but Ridley didn't.
“This isn't a joke. John is probably the most powerful Incubus in the Caster world, aside from Abraham himself. If Abraham was looking for
him, there's a reason.” I could see her biting her lip, staring out into the trees outside my window.
“You worry too much, Babe.”
Ridley shrugged off Link's arm. “Don't call me Babe.”
I leaned back against my headboard, watching the two of them. Now that Ridley was a Mortal and Link was an Incubus, she would still be the
one girl he couldn't have — and probably the only one he wanted. Junior year was going to be interesting.
An Incubus at Jackson High.
Link, the strongest guy in school, driving Savannah Snow crazy every time he walked into the room without a single lick from one of Ridley's
lollipops. And Ridley, the ex-Siren, who I was pretty sure would find her way back to trouble, with or without the lollipops. Two months until
September, and for the first time in my life, I could hardly wait for the first day of school.
Link wasn't the only one of us who couldn't sleep that night.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 40

Darkness and Light
Lena stood straight and tall, a dark silhouette against the moon. She didn't cry, and she wasn't screaming. Her feet had settled on the ground,
on either side of the giant crack that now marked the cave, splitting it almost entirely in two.
“What just happened?” Liv was looking at Amma and Arelia for answers.
I followed Lena's eyes across the great expanse of rocks and understood her silence. She was in shock, staring at one familiar face.
“It appears Abraham has been interfering with the Order of Things.” Macon stood in the cave entrance framed by light from a moon that was
beginning to stitch itself back together. Leah and Bade were at his side. I wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there, but I could tell from the
look on his face he had seen everything. He walked slowly, still adjusting to the feeling of his feet touching the ground. Bade kept pace with him,
and Leah kept one hand on his arm.
Lena softened at the sound of his voice, a voice from the grave. I heard the thought, barely a whisper. She was afraid to even think it.
Uncle Macon?
Her face went white. I remembered how I felt when I saw my mother at the cemetery.
“An impressive little trick you and Sarafine managed to pull off, Grandfather. I'll give you that. Calling a Claiming Moon out of time? You've
outdone yourself, really.” Macon's voice echoed in the cavern. The air was so still, so quiet, you couldn't hear anything except the low churning
of the tides. “Naturally, when I heard you were coming, I had to make an appearance.” Macon waited, as if he was expecting an answer. But when
he didn't get one, he snapped. “Abraham! I see your hand in this.”
The cave began to shake. Rocks fell from the jagged crack in the ceiling, beating down onto the floor. It felt like the whole cavern was about
to collapse. The sky above grew darker. The green-eyed Macon — the Light Caster, if that's what he truly was — seemed even more powerful
than the Incubus he was before.
A rumbling laugh echoed off the rock walls. Down on the watery cave floor, where the moon no longer shone, Abraham stepped out of the
shadows. With his white beard and matching white suit, he looked like a harmless old man instead of the Darkest of Blood Incubuses. Hunting
stayed at his side.
Abraham stood over Sarafine, whose body was lying on the ground. She had turned completely white, covered in a thick layer of frost, an icy
cocoon.
“You call on me, boy?” The old man laughed again, sharp and quick. “Ah, the hubris of youth. In a hundred years, you will learn your place,
Grandson.” I tried to mentally calculate the generations between them — four, maybe even five.
“I am well aware of my place, Grandfather. Unfortunately, and this is exceptionally awkward, I believe I'll be the one to send you back to
yours.”
Abraham smoothed his beard deliberately. “Little Macon Ravenwood. You were always such a lost boy. This is your doing, not mine. Blood
is Blood, just as Dark is Dark. You should have remembered where your allegiances lie.” He paused, looking at Leah. “You would have done
well to remember that, too, my dear. But then, you were raised by a Caster.” He shuddered.
I could see the anger in Leah's face, but I could also see the fear. She was willing to try her luck with the Blood pack, but she didn't want to
challenge Abraham.
Abraham looked at Hunting. “On the subject of lost boys, where is John?”
“Long gone. Coward.”
Abraham whipped around to face Hunting. “John isn't capable of cowardice. It's not in his nature. And his life means more to me than yours.
So I suggest you find him.”
Hunting lowered his eyes and nodded. I couldn't help but wonder why John Breed was so important to Abraham, who didn't seem to care
about anyone.
Macon watched Abraham carefully. “It's touching to see how concerned you are about your boy. I certainly hope you find him. I know how
painful it is to lose a child.”
The cavern started to shake again, and rocks fell around our feet. “What have you done with John?” In his rage, Abraham seemed less like
a harmless old man and more like the Demon he truly was.
“What have I done with him? I think the question is what have you done to him?” Abraham's black eyes narrowed, but Macon only smiled.
“An Incubus who can walk in the sunlight and retain his strength without feeding … it would require a very specific coupling to produce those
qualities in a child. Wouldn't you agree? Scientifically speaking, you would need Mortal qualities, yet this boy John possesses the gifts of a
Caster. He can't have three parents, which means his mother was —”
Leah gasped. “An Evo.” Every Caster in the room reacted to the word. The surprise spread like a ripple, a new kind of coldness in the air.
Only Amma looked impassive. She folded her arms and fixed her eyes on Abraham Ravenwood as if he was just another chicken she was
planning on plucking, skinning, and boiling in her banged-up pot.
I tried to remember what Lena told me about Evos. They were metamorphs, with the ability to mirror human form. They didn't just step inside
a Mortal body, like Sarafine. Evos could actually become Mortals for short periods of time.
Macon smiled. “Precisely. A Caster that can take on human form long enough to conceive a child, with all the DNA of a Mortal and a Caster
on one side and an Incubus on the other. You have been busy, haven't you, Grandfather? I didn't realize you were matchmaking in your spare
time.”
Abraham's eyes grew blacker. “You are the one who muddied the Order of Things. First, with your infatuation with a Mortal, and then by
turning on your own kind to protect this girl.” Abraham shook his head, as if Macon was nothing more than an impetuous boy. “And where has it
left us? Now the Duchannes child has cleaved the moon. Do you know what this means? The threat she poses to all of us?”
“The fate of my niece is none of your concern. You seem to have your hands full enough with your own science experiment of a child.
Although, I have to wonder what you're doing with him.” Macon's green eyes glowed as he spoke.
“Be careful who you speak to that way.” Hunting took a step forward, but Abraham put up his hand, and Hunting stopped. “Killed you once, I'll
kill you twice.”
Macon shook his head. “Nursery rhymes, Hunting? If you are planning a career as Grandfather's minion, you're going to have to work on
your delivery.” Macon sighed. “Now then, tuck your tail between your legs and follow your master home like a good dog.” Hunting's expression
hardened.
Macon turned to Abraham. “And Grandfather, as much as I would love to compare lab notes, I think it's time you leave.”
The old man laughed. A cold wind began to circle around him, whistling between the rocks. “You think you can order me around like an
errand boy? You will not call my name, Macon Ravenwood. You will cry my name. You will bleed my name.” The wind grew around him, blowing
his string tie awkwardly across his body. “And when you die, my name will still be feared, and yours will be forgotten.”
Macon looked him in the eye, without the slightest hint of fear. “As my mathematically gifted brother clarified, I've already died once. You're
going to have to come up with something new, old man. It's getting tiresome. Allow me to see you out.”
Macon fluttered his fingers, and I heard a ripping sound as the night opened behind Abraham. The old man hesitated, then smiled. “My age
must be catching up with me. I almost forgot to collect my things before I leave.” He reached out his hand, and something emerged from behind
one of the crevices in the rock. It vanished, reappearing in his hand. I held my breath for a second when I saw it.
The Book of Moons.
The Book we believed had burned to ash, in the fields of Greenbrier. The Book that was a curse all its own.
Macon's face darkened, and he held out his hand. “That doesn't belong to you, Grandfather.” The Book twitched in Abraham's hand, but the
darkness surrounding him deepened, and the old man shrugged with a smile. A second ripping sound echoed across the cavern as he
disappeared, taking the Book and Hunting and Sarafine with him. By the time the echo died, the shallow tides washed away even the imprint of
Sarafine's body in the sand.
At the sound of the rip, Lena started to run. By the time Abraham was gone, she was across the rocky cave floor and halfway to Macon. He
leaned against the rough wall until Lena threw herself into his chest, and Macon swayed as if he was going to fall.
“You're dead.” Lena spoke into his dirty, ripped shirt.
“No, sweetheart. I'm very much alive.” He drew her face up to look at him. “Look at me. I'm still here.”
“Your eyes. They're green.” She touched his face, shocked.
“And yours are not.” He touched her cheek, sadly. “But they are beautiful. Both the green and the gold.”
Lena shook her head in disbelief. “I killed you. I used the Book, and it killed you.”
Macon stroked her hair. “Lila Jane saved me before I crossed over. She imprisoned me in an Arclight, and Ethan released me. It wasn't
your fault, Lena. You didn't know what would happen.” Lena began to sob. He stroked her wild black curls, whispering, “Shh. It's all right now. It's
over.”
He was lying. I could see it in his eyes. The black pools that kept his secrets were gone. I didn't understand everything Abraham had said,
but I knew there was truth in it. Whatever had happened when Lena Claimed herself wasn't the solution to our problems, but a new problem all its
own.
Lena pulled away from Macon. “Uncle Macon, I didn't know this was going to happen. One minute I was thinking about Dark and Light —
about what I really wanted. But all I could think about was that I don't belong anywhere. After everything I've been through, I'm not Light or Dark.
I'm both.”
“It's all right, Lena.” He reached out for her, but she stood on her own.
“It's not.” She shook her head. “Look what I've done. Auntie Twyla and Ridley are gone, and Larkin …”
Macon looked at Lena as if he was seeing her for the first time. “You did what you had to do. You Claimed yourself. You didn't pick a place
in the Order. You changed it.”
Her voice was hesitant. “What does it mean?”
“It means you are yourself — powerful and unique — like the Great Barrier, a place where there is no Dark or Light, only magic. But unlike
the Great Barrier, you are both Light and Dark. Like me. And after what I saw tonight, like Ridley.”
“But what happened to the moon?” Lena looked at Gramma, but it was Amma who spoke up, from the rocky ledge.
“You split it, child. Melchizedek's right, the Order a Things is broken. Can't say what'll happen now.” The way she said broken made it clear
that broken wasn't something we wanted the Order to be.
“I don't understand. You're all here, but so were Hunting and Abraham. How is that possible? The curse —” Lena faltered.
“You possess both Light and Darkness, a possibility the curse did not account for. None of us did.” There was pain in Gramma's voice. She
was hiding something, and I sensed things were more complicated than she was letting on. “I'm just glad you're all right.”
The sound of water splashing echoed through the cavern. I turned in time to see Ridley's blond and pink hair whip around the corner. Link
was right behind her.
“Guess I really am a Mortal.” Ridley said it with her usual brand of sarcasm, but she looked relieved. “You always have to be different, don't
you? Way to go and screw things up again, Cuz.”
I heard Lena's breath catch, and for a second she didn't move.
It was all too much. Macon was alive, when Lena believed she'd killed him. She had Claimed herself and remained both Dark and Light. As
far as I could tell, she had broken the moon. I knew Lena would fall apart moments from now. When she did, I would be there to carry her home.
Lena grabbed Ridley and Macon, practically strangling them in her own kind of Caster circle, seeming neither Light nor Dark. Just very
tired, but no longer very alone.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 41

The Way Back Home
I couldn't sleep anymore. I had crashed hard last night, on the familiar pine-board floor of Lena's room. We had both passed out, still wearing
our clothes. Twenty-four hours later, it was weird to be in my own room, in a bed again, after sleeping between tree roots on muddy forest floors. I
had seen too much. I got up and shut my window, in spite of the heat. There were too many things out there to be afraid of, too many to fight.
It was a wonder anyone in Gatlin slept at all.
Lucille didn't have that problem. She was kneading a pile of dirty clothes in the corner, fluffing up her bed for the night. That cat could sleep
anywhere.
Not me. I flipped over. I was having a hard time getting comfortable with comfortable.
Me, too.
I smiled. Floorboards creaked, and my door swung open. Lena was standing in my doorway, in my faded Silver Surfer T-shirt. I could see
the tip of pajama shorts underneath. Her hair was wet and she was wearing it down again, the way I liked it best.
“This is a dream, right?”
Lena closed the door behind her, the slightest twinkle in her gold and green eyes. “Do you mean your kind of dream or mine?” She pulled
up the covers and climbed in next to me. She smelled like lemons and rosemary and soap. It had been a long road for both of us. She tucked
her head under my chin and leaned against me. I could feel her questions and her fears, beneath the covers with us.
What is it, L?
She burrowed deeper into my chest.
Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me? I know things won't be the same —
I tightened my arms around her, remembering all the times it felt like I'd lost her forever. Those moments wound themselves around me,
threatening to crush me under their weight. There was no way I could be without her. Forgiving her wasn't a question.
Things will be different. Better.
But I'm not Light, Ethan. I'm something else. I'm … complicated.
I reached under the covers and brought her hand to my mouth. I kissed her palm where the swirling black patterns hadn't disappeared. It
almost looked like Sharpie, but I knew it would never fade.
“I know what you are, and I love you. Nothing can change that.”
“I wish I could go back. I wish …”
I pressed my forehead against hers. “Don't. You're you. You chose to be yourself.”
“It's scary. My whole life, I've grown up with Dark and Light. It feels strange not to fit in anywhere.” She flopped onto her back. “What if I'm not
anything?”
“What if that's the wrong question?”
She smiled. “Yeah? What's the right one?”
“You're you. Who is that? Who does she want to be? And how can I get her to kiss me?”
She raised herself on her arms and leaned over my face, letting her hair tickle me. Her lips touched mine, and it was back — the electricity,
the current that ran between us. I had missed it, even as it burned my lips.
But something else was missing.
I leaned over and opened the drawer of my nightstand, reaching inside. “I think this belongs to you.” I let the chain fall into her hand, her
memories spilling between her fingers — the silver button she had fastened on a paper clip, the red string, the tiny Sharpie I gave her on the
water tower.
She stared into her hand, stunned.
“I added a couple of things.” I untangled the charms so she could see the silver sparrow from Macon's funeral. It meant something so
different now. “Amma says sparrows can travel a long way and always find their way back home. Like you did.”
“Only because you came to get me.”
“I had help. That's why I gave you this.”
I held up the tag from Lucille's collar — the one I carried in my pocket while we were searching for Lena and I was watching her through
Lucille's eyes. Lucille looked at me calmly, yawning from the corner of the room.
“It's a conduit that allows Mortals to connect with a Caster animal. Macon explained it to me this morning.”
“You had it all this time?”
“Yeah. Aunt Prue gave it to me. It works as long as you have the tag.”
“Wait? How did your aunt end up with a Caster cat?”
“Arelia gave Lucille to my aunt so she could find her way around the Tunnels.”
Lena started to untangle the chain, untying the knots that had formed since she lost it. “I can't believe you found it. When I left it behind, I
never thought I'd see it again.”
She hadn't lost it. She had taken it off. I resisted the urge to ask her why. “Of course I found it. It's got everything I've ever given you on it.”
Lena closed her hand around it and looked away. “Not everything.”
I knew what she was thinking about — my mother's ring. She had taken off the ring, too, but I hadn't found it.
Not until this morning, when I discovered it lying on my desk, as if it had always been there. I reached into the drawer again and opened
Lena's hand, pressing the ring into it. When she felt the cool metal, she looked up at me.
You found it?
No. My mom must have. It was sitting on my desk when I woke up.
She doesn't hate me?
It was a question only a Caster girl would ask. Had the ghost of my dead mother forgiven her? I knew the answer. I found the ring lying inside
a book Lena loaned me, Pablo Neruda's Book of Questions, the chain serving as a bookmark under the lines “Is it true that amber contains /
the tears of the sirens?”
My mother had been more of an Emily Dickinson fan, but Lena loved Neruda. It was like the sprig of rosemary I found in my mom's favorite
cookbook last Christmas — something of my mother's and something of Lena's, together, as if that was always how it was intended to be.
I answered Lena by fastening the chain around her neck, where it belonged. She touched it and stared into my brown eyes with her green
and gold ones. I knew she was still the girl I loved, no matter what color her eyes were. There was no one color that could paint Lena Duchannes.
She was a red sweater and a blue sky, a gray wind and a silver sparrow, a black curl escaping from behind her ear.
Now that we were together, it felt like home again.
Lena leaned into me, grazing my lips gently at first. Then she kissed me with an intensity that sent heat buzzing up my spine. I felt her find
her way back to me, to our curves and our corners, the places our bodies fit together so naturally.
“Okay, this is definitely my dream.” I smiled, running my fingers through her incredible mess of black hair.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
She ran her hands across my chest as I breathed her in. My mouth wandered down her shoulder, and I pulled her closer until I could feel her
hipbones digging gently into my skin. It had been so long, and I had missed her so much — the taste of her, the smell of her. I held her face in
my hands, kissing her even more deeply, and my heart began to race. I had to stop and catch my breath.
She looked into my eyes, leaning back on my pillow, careful not to touch me.
Is it any better? Are you — am I hurting you?
No. It's better.
I looked at the wall and counted silently, steadying my heart.
You're lying.
I slid my arms around her, but she wouldn't look at me.
We'll never really be able to be together, Ethan.
We're together now.
I ran my fingers lightly down her arms, watching goose bumps spring up under my touch.
You're sixteen, and I'll be seventeen in two weeks. We have time.
Actually, in Caster years, I'm already seventeen. Count the moons. I'm older than you now.
She smiled a little, and I crushed her in my arms.
Seventeen. Whatever. Maybe by eighteen we'll figure it out, L.
L.
I sat up in bed, staring at her.
You know, don't you?
What?
Your real name. Now that you're Claimed, you know it, right?
She tilted her head to the side, with a half-smile. I grabbed her up into my arms, my face hovering just above hers.
What is it? Don't you think I should know?
Haven't you figured it out yet, Ethan? My name is Lena. It's the name I had when we met. It's the only name I'll ever have.
She knew it, but she wasn't going to tell me. I understood why. Lena was Claiming herself again. Deciding who she was going to be. Binding
us back together with the things we had shared. I was relieved, because she would always be Lena to me.
The girl I met in my dreams.
I pulled the cover up over our heads. Though none of my dreams went remotely like this, in a matter of minutes, we were both sound asleep.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 38

Dark Fire
When we reached the base of the cliff, we hid behind a rock formation a few yards from the cave. Two Incubuses were guarding the entrance,
talking in low tones. I recognized the scarred one from Macon's funeral. “Great.” Two Blood Incubuses, and we weren't even inside. I knew the
rest of the pack couldn't be far away.
“Leave them to me, but you may not want to watch.” Leah signaled Bade, who loped to her side.
The staff flashed through the air like lightning. The two Incubuses never saw it coming. Leah had the first Incubus on the ground in seconds.
Bade lunged, catching the other by the throat and pinning him. Leah rose, wiping her mouth on her sleeve, and spat, a bloody spot marking the
sand. “Old blood, seventy, a hundred years. I can taste it.”
Link's mouth hung open. “Is she expecting us to do that?”
Leah bent at the neck of the second Incubus for barely a minute before she was waving us on. “Go.”
I didn't move. “What do we — what do I do?”
“Fight.”
The entrance to the cave was so bright, the sun could have been shining inside. “I can't do this.”
Link looked into the cave nervously. “What are you talkin’ about, man?”
I looked at my friends. “I think you guys should go back. This is too dangerous. I shouldn't have dragged you into this.”
“Nobody dragged me anywhere. I came to —” Link looked at Ridley, then turned away awkwardly. “To get away from it all.”
Ridley flipped her muddy hair dramatically. “Well, I certainly didn't come here because of you, Short Straw. Don't flatter yourself. As much
as I like hanging out with you dorks, I'm here to help my cousin.” She looked at Liv. “What's your excuse?”
Liv's voice was quiet. “Do you believe in destiny?”
We all looked at Liv like she was crazy, but she didn't care. “Well, I do. I've been watching the Caster sky for as long as I can remember, and
when it changed, I saw it. The Southern Star, the Seventeenth Moon, my selenometer that everyone at home teased me about — this is my
destiny. I was supposed to be here. Even if … no matter what.”
“I get it,” said Link. “Even if it wrecks everything, even if you know you're gonna get busted, sometimes you gotta do it anyway.”
“Something like that.”
Link tried to crack his knuckles. “So what's the plan?”
I looked at my best friend, who had shared his Twinkie with me on the bus in second grade. Was I really going to let him follow me into a
cave to die? “There's no plan. You can't come with me. I'm the Wayward. This is my responsibility, not yours.”
Ridley rolled her eyes. “Obviously the whole Wayward thing hasn't been explained to you properly. You don't have any superpowers. You
can't leap over tall buildings in a single bound or fight Dark Casters with your magic cat.” Lucille peeked out from behind my leg. “Basically,
you're a glorified tour guide who's no better equipped to face a bunch of Dark Casters than Mary P. over here.”
“Aquaman,” coughed Link, winking at me.
Liv had been quiet until now. “She's not wrong. Ethan, you can't do this alone.”
I knew what they were doing — or more like not doing. Leaving. I shook my head. “You guys are idiots.”
Link grinned. “I'd have gone with ‘brave as hell,’ myself.”
We stayed pressed against the cavern walls, following the moonlight pouring through the crack in the ceiling. As we rounded a corner, the rays
became impossibly bright, and I could see the pyre below us. It rose from the center of the cave, golden flames encircling it and licking up the
pyramid of broken trees. There was a stone slab, which almost resembled some kind of Mayan altar, balanced on top of the pyre as if
suspended from invisible wires. A set of weathered stone stairs led up to the altar. The snaking circle worn by Dark Casters was painted on the
cave wall behind it.
Sarafine's body was lying on top of the altar, just as it had been when she had appeared in the woods. Nothing else was the same.
Moonlight streamed through the roof and hit her body, radiating outward in all directions as if refracted by a prism. It was like she was holding
light from the moon she was calling out of time — Lena's Seventeenth Moon. Even Sarafine's golden dress looked like it was stitched together
from a thousand shining metallic scales.
Liv breathed. “I've never seen anything like it.”
Sarafine seemed to be in some kind of trance. Her body rose a few inches above the stone, the folds of her dress cascading down like water,
past the edges of the stone altar. She was amassing some serious power.
Larkin was at the base of the pyre. I watched as he moved closer to the stone stairs. Closer to —
Lena.
She lay collapsed, her hands extended toward the flames, her eyes shut. Her head was in John Breed's lap, and she looked unconscious.
He looked different — blank. Like he was in a trance of his own.
Lena was shaking. Even from here, I could feel the biting cold radiating from the fire. She must have been freezing. A circle of Dark Casters
surrounded the pyre. I didn't recognize them, but I could tell they were Dark by their crazed yellow eyes.
Lena! Can you hear me?
Sarafine's eyes flashed open. The Casters began to chant.
“Liv, what's happening?” I whispered.
“They're calling a Claiming Moon.”
I didn't need to understand what they were saying to know what was happening. Sarafine was calling the Seventeenth Moon so Lena could
make her choice while she was under the influence of some sort of Dark Cast. Or the weight of her guilt, a Dark Cast of its own.
“What are they doing?”
“Sarafine is using all her power to channel the Dark Fire's energy, and her own, into the moon.” Liv was fixated on the scene as if she was
trying to memorize every detail, evil or not. It was the Keeper in her, compelled to record history in the making.
Vexes whipped around the cavern, threatening to bring down the walls — spiraling, gaining strength and mass. “We need to get down there.”
Liv nodded, and Link grabbed Ridley's hand.
We made our way down the side of the cavern, keeping to the shadows until we reached the wet, sandy cave floor. I realized the chanting
had stopped. The Casters were silently transfixed, watching Sarafine and the pyre, as if they were all under the same mind-numbing spell.
“Now what?” Link looked pale.
A figure stepped into the center of the circle. I didn't have to guess who it was, because he was wearing the same Sunday suit and string tie
from the visions. His white summer suit made him look even more out of place among the Dark Casters and the helix of Vexes.
It was Abraham, the only Incubus powerful enough to summon this many Vexes from below. Larkin and Hunting stood behind him, and
every Incubus in the cavern fell to one knee. Abraham raised his hands up toward the vortex. “It's time.”
Lena! Wake up!
The flames surrounding the pyre surged higher. In front of the pyre, John Breed gently lifted Lena to wake her up.
L! Run!
Lena looked around, disoriented. She didn't react to my voice. I wasn't sure if she could hear anything. Her movements were unsteady, as if
she didn't know where she was.
Abraham reached out toward John and lifted his hand slowly. John jerked, then picked Lena up in his arms, rising as if being pulled by a
string.
Lena!
Lena's head fell to the side, her eyes closing again. John carried her up the stairs. The cocky attitude was gone. He looked like a zombie.
Ridley pushed her way closer. “Lena's totally disoriented. She doesn't even know what's happening. It's an effect of the fire.”
“Why would they want her to be passed out? Doesn't Lena have to be conscious to Claim herself?” I thought that was a given.
Ridley stared at the fire. Her voice was uncharacteristically serious, and she was avoiding my eyes. “The Claiming requires volition. She'll
have to make the Choice.” Ridley sounded strange. “Unless …”
“Unless what?” I didn't have time to try to interpret Ridley.
“Unless she already has.” By leaving us behind. By taking off the necklace. By running off with John Breed.
“She hasn't,” I said automatically. I knew Lena. There was a reason for all of it, everything. “She hasn't.”
Ridley looked at me. “I hope you're right.”
John reached the top of the altar, Larkin following behind him. Larkin bound Sarafine and Lena together under the light of the Seventeenth
Moon.
I felt my heart pounding. “I have to get Lena. Can you help me?”
Link grabbed two chunks of rock, big enough to do some damage if he could get close enough to use them. Liv flipped through her
notebook. Even Ridley unwrapped a lollipop and shrugged. “You never know.”
I heard another voice behind me. “You aren't gonna be able to get up there unless you're fixin’ to take care a all those Vexes on your own.
And I don't remember teachin’ you how to do that.” I smiled before I turned around.
It was Amma, and this time she had brought some of the living with her. Arelia and Twyla stood nearby, and together the three old women
looked like the Three Fates. Relief washed over me, and I realized part of me had thought I'd never see Amma again. I crushed her in a hug,
which she returned, straightening her hat. That's when I saw Gramma's old-fashioned lace-up boots, as she stepped out from behind Arelia.
Make that Four Fates.
“Ma'am.” I nodded to Gramma. She nodded back, as if she was about to offer me tea on the veranda at Ravenwood. Then I panicked,
because we weren't at Ravenwood. And Amma and Arelia and Twyla weren't the Three Fates. They were three ancient, brittle-boned Southern
ladies who were probably about two hundred and fifty years old between them — wearing support hose. And Gramma wasn't much younger.
These Four Fates, in particular, had no business being on a battlefield.
Come to think of it, neither did this one Wate.
I slipped free from Amma's grip. “What are you doing here? How did you find us?”
“What am I doin’ here?” Amma sniffed. “My family came to the Sea Islands from Barbados before you were a thought in the Good Lord's
mind. I know these islands like my kitchen.”
“This is a Caster island, Amma. Not one of the Sea Islands.”
“’Course it is. Where else would you hide an island you can't see?”
Arelia put her hand on Amma's shoulder. “She's right. The Great Barrier is hidden among the Sea Islands. Amarie may not be a Caster, but
she shares the gift of Sight with my sister and I.”
Amma shook her head so hard I thought it was going to fly off. “You didn't really think I was gonna let you wade knee-deep in quicksand on
your own, did you?” I threw my arms around her and hugged her again.
“How did you know where to find us, ma'am? We had trouble findin’ this place ourselves.” Link was always a step ahead or a step behind.
The four of them looked at him like he was a fool.
“Bustin’ open that ball a trouble the way you boys did? With a spell older than my mamma's mamma? Might as well have dialed up the
Greater Gatlin Emergency Phone Tree.” Amma took a step toward Link, who took a step backward, out of pointing range. She didn't let go of me,
though. That's how I knew what she was really saying: I love you and I couldn't be prouder. And you'll be grounded for a month when we get
home.
Ridley leaned closer to Link. “Think about it. A Necromancer, a Diviner, and a Seer. We didn't stand a chance.”
Amma, Arelia, Gramma, and Twyla turned to Ridley as soon as she spoke. She reddened, lowering her eyes respectfully. “I can't believe
you're here, Auntie Twyla.” She swallowed. “Gramma.”
Gramma held Ridley by the chin and stared into her bright blue eyes. “So it's true.” She broke into a smile. “Welcome back, child.” She
kissed Ridley on the cheek.
Amma looked smug. “Told you. It was in the cards.”
Arelia nodded. “And the stars.”
Twyla scoffed, dropping her voice to a low whisper. “Cards only show da surface a things. What we have here, this is cut deep, past da bone
and out da other side.” A shadow crossed over her face.
I looked at Twyla. “What?” But she smiled, and the shadow was gone.
“You need some help from La Bas.” Twyla waved her hand back and forth over her head. Back to the business at hand.
“The Otherworld,” Arelia translated.
Amma knelt down, unwrapping a cloth filled with small bones and charms. She might as well have been a doctor preparing her surgical
tools. “Callin’ the sorta help we need's my specialty.”
Arelia took out a rattle, and Twyla sat down and got comfortable. Who knew what she was going to have to raise. Amma spread out her
bones and struggled with one of her mason jars. “South Carolina graveyard dirt. Best there is. Brought it from home.” I took the jar from her and
opened it, thinking about the night I followed her into the swamp. “We can take care a those Vexes. Won't stop Sarafine or Melchizedek's goodfor-
nothin’ brother, but it'll cut off some a her power.”
Gramma looked up at the dark cyclone of Vexes fueling the fire. “My goodness, you weren't exaggerating, Amarie. There are a lot of them.” I
saw her eyes move from Sarafine's motionless body to Lena, in the distance, and the lines in her brow deepened. Ridley let go of her hand, but
didn't leave her side.
Link let out a sigh of relief. “Man, I'm goin’ back to church next Sunday for sure.” I didn't say anything, but what I was thinking wasn't that far
off.
Amma looked up from the dirt she was spreading below her feet. “We're gonna send them back down where they belong.”
Gramma adjusted her jacket. “Then I'll deal with my daughter.”
Amma, Arelia, and Twyla sat cross-legged on the damp rocks and joined hands. “First things first. Let's get rid a those Vexes.”
Gramma stepped back and gave them some room. “That would be lovely, Amarie.”
The three women closed their eyes. Amma's voice was strong and clear, despite the whirring of the vortex and the humming of Dark magic.
“Uncle Abner, Aunt Delilah, Aunt Ivy, Grandmamma Sulla, we are in need a your intercession once more. I call you now to this place. Find your
way into this world and banish the ones that don't belong.”
Twyla's eyed rolled back in her head, and she began to chant.
“Les lois, my spirits, my guides,
Tear apart the Bridge
That carries these shadows from your world into the next.”
Twyla raised her arms above her head. “Encore!”
“Again,” Arelia spoke the word in English.
“Les lois, my spirits, my guides,
Tear apart the Bridge
That carries these shadows from your world into the next.”
Twyla continued to chant, mixing her French-Creole with Amma and Arelia's English. Their voices overlapped like a chorus. Through the
crack in the cavern ceiling, the sky darkened around the ray of moonlight, as if they had summoned a thundercloud to bring on a storm all their
own. But they weren't calling a thundercloud. They were creating a different kind of vortex, darkness spiraling above them like a perfectly formed
tornado touching down in the center of their circle. For a second, I thought the enormous spiral was only going to get us killed faster, attracting
every Vex and Incubus within sight of it.
I should have known better than to doubt the three of them. The ghostly figures of the Greats began to emerge: Uncle Abner, Aunt Delilah,
Aunt Ivy, and Sulla the Prophet. They were forming from the sand and dirt, their bodies being woven from it bit by bit.
Our Three Fates kept spinning.
“Tear apart the Bridge
That carries these shadows from your world into the next.”
Within seconds, there were more spirits from the Otherworld, Sheers. They were being born from the spiraling earth, like butterflies from a
cocoon. The Greats and the spirits attracted the Vexes, causing the shadowy creatures to rush toward them with the horrible scream I
remembered from the Tunnels.
The Greats began to grow. Sulla was so big, her rows of necklaces looked like ropes. All Uncle Abner needed was a thunderbolt and a toga,
and he could've been Zeus looming above us. The Vexes shot out from the flames of the Dark Fire, black streaks tearing across the sky. Just
as quickly, the shrieking streaks disappeared. The Greats inhaled them, as Twyla had seemed to inhale the Sheers that night in the cemetery.
Sulla the Prophet glided forward, her heavily ringed fingers pointing at the last of the Vexes, turning and screaming in the wind. “Tear apart
the Bridge!”
The Vexes were gone, leaving nothing except a dark cloud overhead and the Greats, Sulla in the forefront. She was shimmering in the
moonlight as she spoke her final words. “Blood is always Blood. Even time cannot Bind it.”
The Greats disappeared, and the dark cloud dissipated. Only the billowing smoke from the Dark Fire remained. The pyre was still burning,
and Sarafine and Lena were still tied to the slab.
The vortex of Vexes was gone, and something else had changed. We were no longer silently watching, waiting for an opportunity to make
our move. The eyes of every Incubus and Dark Caster in the cave were on us, canines bared and yellow eyes blazing.
We had joined the party, whether we liked it or not.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 39

Seventeen Moons
The Blood Incubuses reacted first, dematerializing one by one, and reappearing in pack formation. I recognized Scarface, the Incubus from
Macon's funeral. He was in the front, his black eyes calculating. Hunting was predictably nowhere in sight, too important for simple slaughter.
But Larkin was standing in front of them, a black snake coiled around his arm. Second in command.
They surrounded us in seconds, and there was nowhere to go. The pack was in front of us, and the cave wall behind us. Amma pushed her
way between the Incubuses and me, as if she planned to fight them off with her bare hands. She didn't get the chance.
“Amma!” I called out, but it was too late.
Larkin was standing inches from her tiny frame, wielding a knife that didn't look anything like an illusion. “You're a real pain in the ass for an
old lady, you know that? Always poking around where you don't belong and callin’ up your dead relatives. About time you joined them.”
Amma didn't move. “Larkin Ravenwood, you're gonna be ten kinds a sorry when you try to find your way outta this world and into the next.”
“Promise?” I could see the muscles in Larkin's shoulder move as he pulled back his arm, preparing to lunge at Amma.
Before he could strike, Twyla threw her hand open, and white particles flew through the air. Larkin cried out, dropping the knife and rubbing
his eyes with the back of his hands.
“Ethan, watch out!” I could hear Link's voice, but everything was happening in slow motion. I saw the pack coming at me, and I heard
something else. A humming sound that started low and rose slowly, like the crest of a wave. A green light flew up in front of us. It was the same
pure light the Arclight emitted when it spun in the air in front of us, right before we released Macon.
It had to be Macon.
The hum grew louder, and the light surged forward, hurling the Blood Incubuses backward. I looked around to see if everyone was all right.
Link was bent over, with his hands on his knees like he was going to puke. “That was close.” Ridley patted his back a little too hard and
turned to Twyla.
“What did you throw at Larkin? Some kind of Charged Matter?”
Twyla smiled, rubbing the beads on one of the thirty or forty necklaces she wore. “Don't need Charged Matta, cher.”
“Then what was it?”
“Sèl manje.” She spoke the words in her thick Creole accent, but Ridley didn't understand.
Arelia smiled. “Salt.”
Amma whacked me on the arm. “Told you salt could keep away evil spirits. Evil boys, too.”
“We have to move. There isn't much time.” Gramma rushed toward the stairs, carrying her cane in her hand. “Ethan, come with me.” I
followed Gramma up to the altar, the smoke from the fire creating a thick haze around me. It was intoxicating and suffocating at the same time.
We reached the top of the stairs. Gramma held her cane out toward Sarafine, and immediately it began to glow with golden light. I felt a wave
of relief. Gramma was an Empath. She had no powers of her own, except the ability to use the powers of others. And the power she was taking
now belonged to the most dangerous woman in the room — her daughter Sarafine.
The one channeling the energy of the Dark Fire to call the Seventeenth Moon.
“Ethan, get Lena!” Gramma called. She was in some sort of psychic holding pattern with Sarafine.
It was all I needed to hear. I grabbed for the ropes, loosening the knots that bound Lena and her mother together. Lena was barely
conscious, her body resting on the freezing stone. I touched her. Her skin was ice cold, and I felt the choking grip of the Dark Fire as my body
started going numb.
“Lena, wake up. It's me.” I shook her, and her head rolled from side to side, her face red from the icy rock. I lifted Lena's body, wrapping my
arms around her, giving her what little warmth I had.
Her eyes opened. She was trying to speak. I held her face in my hands. “Ethan —” Her lids were heavy, and her eyes shut again. “Get out of
here.”
“No.” I kissed her as I held her in my arms. No matter what happened, it was worth this one moment. Holding her again.
I'm not going anywhere without you.
I heard Link scream. One Incubus had escaped the powerful wall of light that was holding the rest of them at bay. John Breed was behind
Link, with his arm around Link's neck, canines bared. John still had the same glazed expression, like he was on autopilot. I wondered if it was an
effect of the intoxicating fumes. Ridley turned and threw herself onto John's back, tackling him. She must have taken him by surprise, because
Ridley wasn't strong enough to take him down on her own. The three of them fell to the ground, grappling for the upper hand.
I couldn't see more than that, but it was enough to make me realize we were in serious trouble. I didn't know how long the supernatural field
would hold, especially if Macon was the one generating it.
Lena had to end this.
I looked down at her. Her eyes were open, but she looked past me, as if she couldn't see me.
Lena. You can't give up now. Not when —
Don't say it.
It's your Claiming Moon.
It's not. It's her Claiming Moon.
It doesn't matter. It's your Seventeenth Moon, L.
She stared up at me, her eyes empty.
Sarafine raised it. I didn't ask for any of this.
You have to choose, or everyone we care about could get killed here tonight.
She looked away from me.
What if I'm not ready?
You can't run from this, Lena. Not anymore.
You don't get it. It's not a choice. It's a curse. If I go Light, Ridley and half my family will die. If I go Dark, Gramma, Aunt Del, my cousins —
they'll all die. What kind of choice is that?
I held her tighter, wishing there was a way I could give her my strength or absorb her pain.
“It's a choice only you can make.” I pulled Lena to her feet. “Look at what's happening. People you love are fighting for their lives right now.
You can stop it. Only you.”
“I don't know if I can.”
“Why not?” I was shouting.
“Because I don't know what I am.”
I looked into her eyes, and they had changed again. One was perfectly green, and one was perfectly gold.
“Look at me, Ethan. Am I Dark, or am I Light?”
I looked at her, and I knew what she was. The girl I loved. The girl I would always love.
Instinctively, I grabbed the gold book in my pocket. It was warm, as if some part of my mother was alive within it. I pressed the book into
Lena's hand, feeling the warmth spread into her body. I willed her to feel it — the kind of love within the book, the kind of love that never died.
“I know what you are, Lena. I know your heart. You can trust me. You can trust yourself.”
Lena held the tiny book in her hand. It wasn't enough. “What if you're wrong, Ethan? How can you know?”
“I know because I know you.”
I let go of her hand. I couldn't bear to think of anything happening to her, but I couldn't stop it from coming. “Lena, you have to do it. There's
no other way. I wish there was, but there isn't.”
We looked out over the cavern. Ridley looked up, and for a second I thought she saw us.
Lena looked at me. “I can't let Ridley die. I swear she's trying to change. I've already lost too much.”
I already lost Uncle Macon.
“It was my fault.” She clung to me, sobbing.
I wanted to tell her he was alive, but I remembered what Macon said. He was still Transitioning. There was a possibility he still had Darkness
within him. If Lena knew he was alive and there was a chance she could lose him again, she would never choose to go Light. She wasn't capable
of killing him a second time.
The moon was directly over Lena's head. Soon the Claiming would begin. There was only one decision left to make, and I was afraid she
wasn't going to make it.
Ridley appeared at the top of the steps, breathless. She hugged Lena, taking her from me. She rubbed her face against Lena's wet cheek.
They were sisters, for better or worse. They always had been. “Lena, listen to me. You have to choose.” Lena looked away, pained. Ridley
grabbed the side of her cousin's face, forcing Lena to look at her. Lena noticed right away. “What happened to your eyes?”
“It doesn't matter. You need to listen to me. Have I ever done anything noble? Have I ever let you sit in the front seat of the car a single
time? Have I ever once saved you the last piece of cake, in sixteen years? Ever let you try on my shoes?”
“I always hated your shoes.” A tear rolled down Lena's cheek.
“You loved my shoes.” Ridley smiled and wiped Lena's face with her scraped and bloody hand.
“I don't care what you say. I'm not doing it.” Their eyes were fixed on each other.
“I don't have a selfless bone in my body, Lena, and I'm telling you to do it.”
“No.”
“Trust me. It's better this way. If I still have some Darkness inside me somewhere, you'll be doing me a favor. I don't want to be Dark
anymore, but I'm not cut out to be a Mortal. I'm a Siren.”
I could see the recognition in Lena's eyes. “But if you're a Mortal, you won't —”
Ridley shook her head. “There's no way to know. Once there's Darkness in your blood, you know …” Her voice broke off.
I remembered what Macon said. Darkness does not leave us as easily as we would hope.
Ridley hugged Lena tight. “Come on, what am I going to do with seventy or eighty more years? Can you really see me hanging around Gatdung,
making out with Link in the back of the Beater? Trying to figure out how the stove works?” She looked away, her voice faltering. “Can't
even get decent Chinese in that crappy town.”
Lena held tight to Ridley's hand, and Ridley squeezed it, then gently pulled her hand away, one finger at a time, and placed Lena's hand in
mine.
“Take care of her for me, Short Straw.” Ridley disappeared back down the steps before I could say a word.
I'm scared, Ethan.
I'm right here, L. I'm not going anywhere. You can make it through this.
Ethan —
You can, L. Claim yourself. No one has to show you the way. You know your own way.
Then another voice joined mine, from a great distance and also from within me.
My mother.
Together we told Lena, in the one stolen moment we had, not what to do but that she could do it.
Claim yourself, I said.
Claim yourself, my mother said.
I am myself, Lena said. I am.
Blinding light surged from the moon, like a sonic boom, shaking the rocks loose from the walls. I couldn't see anything but the moonlight. I
felt Lena's fear and her pain, pouring over me like a wave. Every loss, every mistake, was seared into her soul, creating a different kind of tattoo.
One made from rage and abandonment, heartbreak and tears.
Moonlight flooded the cave, pure and blinding. For a minute, I couldn't see or hear anything. Then I looked over at Lena, tears running down
her cheeks and shining in her eyes, which were now their true colors.
One green, one gold.
She flung her head back to face the moon. Her body twisted, her feet hovering above the stone. Below her, the fighting stopped. No one
spoke or moved. Every Caster and Demon in the room seemed to know what was happening, that their fates hung in the balance. Above her,
the brightness of the moon began to vibrate, the light pulling, until the whole cave was one ball of light.
The moon continued to swell. Like a moment from a dream, the moon split into two halves, dividing in the sky directly over where Lena
stood. The moonlight behind her seemed to form a giant, luminous butterfly, with two brilliant, glowing wings. One green, one gold.
A cracking sound echoed across the cave, and Lena screamed.
The light disappeared. The Dark Fire disappeared. There was no altar, no pyre, and we were back on the ground.
The air was perfectly still. I thought it was over, but I was wrong.
Lightning sliced through the air, splitting into two distinct paths, hitting its targets simultaneously.
Larkin.
His face twisted in terror as his body seized, then started to blacken. He seemed to be burning from the inside out. Black cracks crawled
along his skin until he turned to dust, blowing across the cave floor.
The second bolt traveled in the opposite direction, hitting Twyla.
Her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body fell to the ground, as if her spirit had stepped out and tossed it aside. But she didn't turn to dust.
Her lifeless body lay on the ground as Twyla rose above it, shimmering and fading until she became translucent.
Then the haze began to settle, the particles rearranging until Twyla looked more as she had in life. Whatever she had left behind in this life,
it was finished. If she had business here again, it would be because she chose to. Twyla wasn't tethered to this world. She was free. And she
looked peaceful, as if she knew something we didn't.
As she rose up through the crack in the cave ceiling toward the moon, she stopped. For a second, I wasn't sure what was happening as she
hovered there.
Good-bye, cher.
I don't know if she really said it, or if I imagined it, but she reached out a luminous hand and smiled. I lifted my own hand toward the sky and
watched as Twyla faded into the moonlight.
A single star appeared in the Caster sky — a sky I could see, but only for a second. The Southern Star. It had found its rightful place, back
in the sky.
Lena had made her choice.
She had Claimed herself.
Even if I wasn't sure what that meant, she was still with me. I hadn't lost her.
Claim yourself.
My mom would be proud of us.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness - Chapter 37

Army of One
Macon was insistent. He was in no condition to go anywhere, but he knew we didn't have a lot of time, and he was determined to go with us. I
didn't argue, because even a weakened Macon Ravenwood was more resourceful than four powerless Mortals. I hoped.
I knew where we had to go. The moonlight was still pouring through the ceiling of the coastal cave in the distance. By the time Liv and I
helped Macon navigate the shoreline leading to the moonlit cave, one painstaking step at a time, he had finished asking me his questions and
I was asking him mine. “Why would Sarafine call up the Seventeenth Moon now?”
“The sooner Lena is Claimed, the sooner the Dark Casters will have secured their fate. Lena is growing stronger every day. They know the
longer they wait, the more likely she is to make up her own mind. If they know the circumstances surrounding my demise, I imagine they want to
take advantage of Lena's vulnerable state.”
I remembered when Hunting told me that Lena killed Macon. “They know.”
“It's of the utmost importance that you tell me everything.”
Ridley fell into step alongside Macon. “Ever since Lena's birthday, Sarafine's been summoning power from the Dark Fire to become
powerful enough to raise the Seventeenth Moon.”
“You mean that crazy bonfire she started back in the woods?” The way Link said it, I was pretty sure he imagined a trash can burning by the
lake at night.
Ridley shook her head. “That wasn't the Dark Fire. It was a manifestation, like Sarafine. She created it.”
Liv nodded. “Ridley's right. The Dark Fire is the source of all magical power. If Casters channel their collective energy back into the source,
it becomes exponentially more powerful. A sort of supernatural atomic bomb.”
“You mean it's gonna blow up?” Link didn't look as sure about hunting down Sarafine now.
Ridley rolled her eyes. “It won't blow up, Genius. But the Dark Fire can do some serious damage.”
I looked up at the full moon and the beam of moonlight creating a direct path into the cavern. The moon wasn't feeding the fire. The power of
the Dark Fire was being channeled into the moon. That's how Sarafine called the moon out of time.
Macon was watching Ridley carefully. “Why would Lena agree to come here?”
“I convinced her, me and this guy John.”
“Who is John, and how does he fit into all this?”
Ridley was biting her purple nails. “He's an Incubus. I mean, a hybrid, anyway. Part Incubus and part Caster, and he's really powerful. He
was obsessed with the Great Barrier and how everything would be perfect if we got here.”
“Did this boy know Sarafine would be here?”
“No. He's a true believer. Thinks the Great Barrier will solve all his problems, like it's some kind of Caster Utopia.” She rolled her eyes.
I could see the anger in Macon's eyes. The green reflected his emotions in a way the black never had. “How is it that you and a boy who isn't
even a full-blooded Incubus were able to talk Lena into something so absurd?”
Ridley looked away. “It wasn't hard. Lena was in a bad place. I think she believed there was nowhere else for her to go.” It was hard to look at
the blue-eyed Ridley without wondering how she felt about the Dark Caster she was only a few days ago.
“Even if Lena felt responsible for my death, why would she think she belonged with the two of you, a Dark Caster and a Demon?” Macon
didn't say it with spite, but I could tell the words stung Ridley.
“Lena hates herself and thinks she's going Dark.” Ridley glanced at me. “She wanted to go to a place where she wouldn't hurt anyone. John
promised he'd be there for her when no one else would.”
“I would have been there for her.” My voice echoed off the rock walls surrounding us.
Ridley looked right at me. “Even if she went Dark?”
It all made sense. Lena was guilt-ridden and tormented, and John was there with all the answers, in ways I couldn't be.
I thought about how long he and Lena had been alone together, how many nights, how many dark Tunnels. John wasn't a Mortal. Her touch
wouldn't kill him with its intensity. John and Lena could do anything they wanted — all the things Lena and I could never do. An image crept into
my mind, the two of them curled up together in the darkness. The way Liv and I had been in Savannah.
“There's something else.” I had to tell him. “Sarafine didn't do this alone. Abraham has been helping her.”
Something passed across Macon's face, but I couldn't pin it down. “Abraham. That's no surprise.”
“The visions have changed, too. When I was in them, it seemed like Abraham could see me.”
Macon lost his footing, nearly tripping me. “Are you certain?”
I nodded. “He said my name.”
Macon looked at me the way he had the night of the winter formal, Lena's first dance. As if he felt sorry for me, the things I had to do, the
responsibilities that fell to me. He never understood I didn't care.
Macon kept talking, and I tried to focus. “I had no idea things had progressed so quickly. You must exercise extreme caution, Ethan. If
Abraham has established a connection with you, then he can see you as clearly as you can see him.”
“You mean, outside of the visions?” The idea of Abraham watching my every move wasn't a comforting thought.
“At this point, I don't have an answer. But until I do, be careful.”
“I'll get right on that. After we fight an army of Incubuses to rescue Lena.” The more we talked about it, the more impossible it felt.
Macon whipped around to face Ridley. “Is this boy John involved with Abraham?”
“I don't know. Abraham's the one who convinced Sarafine she could raise the Seventeenth Moon.” Ridley looked miserable and exhausted
and filthy.
“Ridley, I need you to tell me everything you know.”
“I wasn't that high on the food chain, Uncle Macon. I never even met him. Everything I know came from Sarafine.” It was hard to believe
Ridley was the same girl who almost convinced my father to jump off a balcony. She looked so sad and broken.
“Sir?” Liv's voice was tentative. “Something's been bothering me ever since we met John Breed. We have thousands of Caster and Incubus
family trees in the Lunae Libri, hundreds of years of history. How is it that this one person comes along out of nowhere, and there's no record of
him? Of John Breed, I mean.”
“I was wondering precisely the same thing.” Macon started walking again, leaning heavily to one side. “But he's not an Incubus.”
“Not strictly speaking,” Liv answered.
“He's as strong as one.” I kicked at the rocks under my feet.
“Whatever. I could take him.” Link shrugged.
Ridley fell into step next to us. “He doesn't feed, Uncle M. I would have seen it.”
“Interesting.”
Liv nodded. “Very.”
“Olivia, if you don't mind —” He held out his arm to her. “Have there been any cases of hybrids on your side of the Atlantic?”
Liv slipped her shoulder underneath Macon's arm, taking my place. “Hybrids? I should hope not….”
As Liv continued along the rocks with Macon, I lagged behind. I pulled Lena's necklace out of my pocket. I let the charms roll around in my
palm, but they were tangled and meaningless without her. The necklace was heavier than I imagined, or maybe it was the weight of my
conscience.
We stood on a cliff above the entrance to the cave, surveying the scene. The sea cave was huge, formed completely from black volcanic rock.
The moon was so low, it looked like it could drop right out of the sky. A pack of Incubuses guarded the mouth of the cave as waves crashed on
the black rocks in front of them, sending shallow rushes of water across their boots.
The moonlight wasn't the only thing attracted to the cave. A host of Vexes, swirling black shadows, flowed up from the water and down from
the sky. They were cycling through the cave's entrance and the opening in the ceiling, forming some kind of supernatural waterwheel. I watched
as one Vex rose up from the water, a whirling shadow reflected perfectly in the sea below.
Macon pointed to their ghostly forms. “Sarafine is using them to fuel the Dark Fire.”
An army. What chance did we have? It was worse than I thought, and the possibility of saving Lena more hopeless. At least we had Macon.
“What are we going to do?”
“I'm going to try to help you get inside, but from there you'll have to find Lena. You are the Wayward, after all.” Help us get inside? Was he
joking?
“You're making it sound like you aren't going with us.”
Macon slid down the rock until he was sitting on the overhang. “That assumption is correct.”
I didn't try to hide my anger. “Are you kidding? You said it yourself. You think we're gonna save Lena without you — a Siren who's lost her
powers, a Mortal who never had any, a librarian, and me? Against a pack of Blood Incubuses and enough Vexes to take down the Air Force?
Seriously? Tell me you have some kind of a plan.”
Macon looked up at the moon. “I am going to help you, but it will be from here. Trust me, Mr. Wate. This is the way it has to be.”
I stood there staring at him. He was serious. He was going to send us in alone. “If that was supposed to be reassuring, it wasn't.”
“There is only one battle that awaits down there, and it doesn't belong to me or to your friends. It's yours, son. You're a Wayward, a Mortal
with great purpose. You've been fighting as long as I've known you — the self-serving ladies of the DAR, the Disciplinary Committee, the
Sixteenth Moon, even your friends. I have no doubt you will find a way.”
I had been fighting all year, but it didn't make me feel any better. Mrs. Lincoln might look like she could suck the life right out of you, but she
couldn't actually do it. What waited below us was a different story.
Macon drew something out of his pocket and pressed it into my hand. “Here. This is all I have, as my recent trip was rather unexpected, and
I didn't have time to pack.” I stared down at the small square of gold. It was a miniature book, held shut with a clasp. I pressed on it, and it sprang
open. Inside, there was a picture of my mother, the girl from the visions. His Lila Jane.
He looked away. “It happened to be in my pocket, after all this time. Imagine that.” But the charm was worn and scratched, and I knew without
a doubt it was in his pocket today because it was every day, as it had been for who knows how many years. “I believe you'll find this is an object
of power for you, Ethan. It always has been for me. Let's not forget, our Lila Jane was a strong woman. She saved my life, even from the grave.”
I recognized the look on my mother's face in the photo. It was one I thought she saved for me. It was the look she gave me the first time I
read the road signs out loud through the car window, before she realized I could read. It was the look she gave me when I had eaten one of
Amma's buttermilk pies by myself and slept in her bed with a stomachache as fierce as Amma herself. It was the look she saved for my first day
of school, my first basketball game, my first crush.
And here it was again, staring out from inside the tiny book. She wouldn't abandon me. And Macon wouldn't either. Maybe he did have
some kind of plan. He had cheated death. I pushed the book into my pocket, next to Lena's necklace.
“Wait a second.” Link walked over. “I'm glad you have that little gold book and all, but you said the whole Blood pack was gonna be in there,
plus Vampire Boy, and Lena's mom, and the Emperor, or whoever this Abraham guy is. And last time I checked, Han Solo wasn't around. So
don't you think we need more than a little book?”
Ridley was nodding behind him. “Link's right. You may be able to save Lena, but not unless you can get to her.”
Link tried to bend down next to Macon. “Mr. Ravenwood, can't you come with us and take out a couple a guys for us?”
Macon lifted an eyebrow. This was the first real conversation he'd ever had with Link. “Unfortunately, son, my incarceration has weakened
me….”
“He's Transitioning, Link. He can't possibly go down there. He's incredibly vulnerable.” Liv was still holding Macon up, for the most part.
“Olivia is right. Incubuses possess incredible strength and speed. I'm no match for any of them in my present state.”
“Luckily, I am.” The voice came out of nowhere, and she ripped through the darkness even faster. She was wearing a long black coat with a
high neck and wrecked black boots. Her brown hair was blowing in the wind.
I recognized the Succubus from the funeral right away. It was Leah Ravenwood, Macon's sister. Macon was as shocked as the rest of us to
see her. “Leah?
She slid her arm across his back, supporting him, looking deep into his eyes. “Green, eh? That will take some getting used to.” She laid her
head on his shoulder, the way Lena used to.
“How did you find us?”
She laughed. “You're the talk of the Tunnels. Word on the street is my big brother's taking on Abraham. And I heard he isn't too pleased with
you.” Macon's sister — the one Arelia took to New Orleans when she left Macon's father. The Sisters had mentioned her.
“Dark and Light will be what they are.”
Link caught my eye from behind them, and I knew the question. He was waiting for me to make the call. Fight or flight. It wasn't clear what
Leah Ravenwood wanted from us or why she was here. But if she was like Hunting, and she fed on blood instead of dreams, we had to get away
fast. I looked at Liv. She shook her head, almost imperceptibly. She wasn't sure either.
Macon smiled one of his rare smiles. “Now, what are you doing here, my dear?”
“I'm here to even the odds. You know I love a good family feud.” Leah smiled. She fluttered her wrist, and a long staff, made of polished
wood, appeared in her hand. “And I carry a big stick.”
Macon was at a loss. I couldn't decide whether he looked relieved or concerned. Either way, he was stunned. “Why now? You don't usually
concern yourself with Caster affairs.”
Leah reached into her pocket and took out a rubber band, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “This isn't just a Caster battle, not anymore. If the
Order is destroyed, we may be destroyed with it.”
Macon gave her a meaningful look. I recognized it as his not in front of the children expression. “The Order of Things has stood since the
beginning of time. It will take more than a Cataclyst to bring about its destruction.”
She smiled and swung her staff. “And it's about time someone taught Hunting some manners. My motives are pure, like the heart of a
Succubus.” Macon laughed at the thought. From where I was standing, it didn't sound so funny.
Dark or Light — Leah Ravenwood could go either way, but it didn't matter to me. “We need to find Lena.”
Leah picked up her stick. “I was waiting for you to say that.”
Link cleared his throat. “Um, I don't wanna be rude, ma'am. But Ethan says Hunting's down there with his Blood pack. Don't get me wrong,
you seem pretty badass and all, but you're still just a girl with a stick.”
“This” — in a split second, Leah extended the rod straight out, inches from Link's nose —“is a Succubine Staff, not a stick. And I'm not a girl.
I'm a Succubus. When it comes to our kind, the females have the advantage. We are quicker, stronger, and more clever than our male
counterparts. Think of me as the praying mantis of the supernatural world.”
“Aren't those the bugs that bite off the heads of the males?” Link looked skeptical.
“Yes. Then they eat them.”
Whatever reservations Macon may have had about Leah, he seemed relieved she was going with us. But he did have some last minute advice.
“Larkin has grown up since you last saw him, Leah. He's a powerful Illusionist. Be careful. And according to Olivia, our brother keeps his
mindless hounds with him, a Blood pack.”
“Don't worry, big brother. I have a pet of my own.” She looked up at the ledge above us. Some kind of wild mountain lion, about the size of a
German shepherd, lounged on the rocks, its tail hanging over the side. “Bade!” The cat leaped to its feet and opened its jaws, flashing rows of
razor-sharp teeth, and jumped down beside her. “I'm sure Bade can't wait to play with Hunting's pups. You know what they say about cats and
dogs.”
Ridley whispered to Liv. “Bade is the voodoo god of wind and storms. Not one you wanna screw with.” It reminded me of Lena, which made
me feel a little better about the hundred and fifty pound cat staring down at me.
“Stalk and ambush is her specialty.” Leah rubbed the cat behind its ears.
At the sight of the wild cat, Lucille ran over and swatted her playfully. Bade nudged Lucille with her muzzle. Leah bent down and picked her
up. “Lucille, how's my sweet girl?”
“How do you know my great-aunt's cat?”
“I was there when Lucille was born. She was my mamma's cat. My mother gave Lucille to your Aunt Prue so she could find her way around
the Tunnels.” Lucille rolled around between Bade's paws.
I hadn't been so sure about Leah, but Lucille had never let me down. She was a good judge of character, even if she was a cat.
A Caster cat. I should have known.
Leah tucked the staff under her belt, and I knew the time for talk was over. “Ready?”
Macon reached out his hand, and I took it. For a second, I could feel the power in his grip, as if we were in some kind of Caster conversation
I couldn't comprehend. Then he let go, and I turned toward the cave, wondering if I would ever see him again.
I led the way and, motley or not, my friends were right behind me. My friends, a Succubus, and a mountain lion named after a volatile
voodoo god. I only hoped it was enough.

Categories: Beautiful Darkness