I raise the Sword of Immortality in front of me, the tip aimed at the door. My heart rate slows, steadies, my nerves dissipate. When the first Death Walker enters the room, cloaked and eyes glowing, I swing the sword at it and without missing a beat, stab the blade into its heart. Its yellow eyes fire up as its body drops lifelessly to the floor.
I don’t have time to prepare myself as another one comes barreling. I do a twirl and then the sword jabs into the Death Walker’s heart, again without any mishaps. I do this again and again, the sword sinking through each of their rotting chests. The bodies are piling up as I move like a pro, swinging the sword gracefully, my feet moving harmoniously with it.
But more keep coming and before I know it, the room is filled with Death Walkers. The stench of death is in the air as they circle me, blowing their Chill of Death in my direction but I manage to duck out of the way every time.
Then the crowd parts and Stephan comes walking in, wearing a black cloak. He gazes at the Death Walkers’ bodies all over the floor and then at me. “Well, I see that you’ve changed since the last time I met you,” he says, sounding both annoyed and impressed. He stalks toward me, his boots cracking the icy floors.
I remain where I am, waiting until he’s within sword’s reach before I take a stab at him. But he swats the sword away as if my new inner strength is nothing but a minor problem, insignificant.
“You know, you’re a very hard girl to track down,” he says. “I send a faerie to find you, but he up and disappears. I’d try to find you myself, track you down and come where you are, but that’s impossible right now thanks to the memoria extracto.”
It’s like he’s about to give me the same speech again, like he did in the Wastelands, which has me wondering if he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s captured me once before, branded me with the mark, and tried to get me to murder Alex.
“Finally, I thought to myself, what can I do?” he continues on unknowingly. “How can I get ahold of my star without going to her?” He takes the knife he’s holding and traces the tip along the scar on his cheek, circling around me. “See, the thing is, Gemma, there’s something you don’t understand.” He gives a dramatic pause and then grins. “I always win.”
Yep, stuck on repeat. I check behind me, relieved to find that Laylen has freed my mother from the chains. Aleesa is still curled in the corner, rocking back and forth as she hugs her knees to her chest. I need to get us out of here. Somehow.
“I wouldn’t put so much trust in people.” Stephan says. “You never know what secrets they could be hiding from you. People are great liars, especially when it comes to protecting themselves.”
“And you would be the expert on that, wouldn’t you?” I carry his intimidating gaze with confidence.
He stops in front of me. “I’m not the only one in this room who is an expert at lying.” He looks behind me at my mother on the floor her eyes unexpectedly vacant of emotion. “Should I tell her? Or would you like to, Jocelyn?”
She says nothing and Laylen shifts his weight uneasily. I discretely point at Aleesa, mouthing for Laylen to get a hold of her and get closer to me. I need to foresee us out of here. Now.
“Ask her what’s on her wrist,” Stephan says to me with a wicked grin. “Go ahead. Ask your mother what she’s been hiding from you”
I don’t have to look. I think deep down I already know. “No… there’s no way,” I say in denial.
Laylen bends over and jerks up the sleeve of my mother’s shirt. His eyes widen and I gasp at the triangle outlining by red symbol branded in her flesh on her arm.
I shake my head, refusing to believe what’s right in front of me. “It’s not real…”
“She’s had it forever,” Stephan tells me, pleased. “Sophia, Marco… Didn’t you ever wonder how I got everyone to do what I asked? The only ones I didn’t mark were the ones who couldn’t be marked.” He frowns. “The one’s whose blood is pure from evil.”
I think about Alex. Aislin. Laylen. Myself. Blood pure from evil. I know I can be marked, but what about them. What if one of them is marked?
I start to step back toward the door, needing to get the hell out of here.
Stephan matches my step, regaining every amount of space I put between us. “Your mother’s a fighter. She was always a fighter… it’s her gift, you know—her Keeper’s gift. She always made things difficult for me, which is part of the reason why I sent her to The Underworld. I couldn’t even summon her to go—I had to threaten your wellbeing. The Underworld has weakened her, though. It’s tainted her blood, which makes things less complicated for me. Getting her to come here was as easy as a master whistling to call his dog.” He looks over at my mother, pride beaming as if she’s something he’s created. “It makes her easier to control. All I had to do was tug at the leash a little.”
“Okay, this conversation is getting a little too metaphorical for me,” I say glancing at Laylen who has Aleesa now and my mother by his side. “If you want to say something,” I tell Stephan. “Just say it. Quit rambling.”
He begins rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, still grinning. A small part of me wants to see how this fight will turn out, especially with my new badass fighting skills. But the other part of me knows what needs to be done. So with one swift dive, I slide across the icy floor, slipping between the Death Walkers’ legs and into my mom like a baseball player glides into home plate. I snatch hold of Laylen’s arm who grabs onto Aleesa and then extend a hand out to my mom. Even though she’s imprinted with evil, I’m not leaving her behind.
Stephan’s elation plummets as he sees his precious star slipping through his fingers like sand. “Get her!” he orders to the Death Walkers and they begin to close in on us, sucking away any heat left in the air.
But I blink my eyes and picture somewhere safe and moments later we’re gone.
Chapter 16
Alex and Aislin are drinking coffee and having a heated conversation about something when the four of us fall into the living room, a pile of tangled bodies. We end up taking out the coffee table, breaking two of the legs off and cracking the top in half. Coffee spills all over the floor and Aislin gasp in alarm.
I immediately unwind my legs and arms from Laylen and Aleesa and scramble to my feet. “We have to leave,” I say. “Now.” I bend down to eye level with my mom who is disoriented. “Did you tell him where we were hiding?”