When I reached her, Liliana passed me her empty quiver and her bow. The top of the bow had a tiny encircled R engraved in the wood, just like her sister’s had.
‘Swim to the top floor. We can get you out later,’ I said gently.
‘The water isn’t what would kill me. I could live for weeks in a house filled with water.’ She cocked her head. ‘Don’t you hear them already?’
‘What?’
‘The sirens . . .’
She was right – the distinct sound of emergency sirens echoed.
‘They’ll hold me responsible, want to take me in for questioning. Either way, they’ll force me out into the light.’
She stood in the shadow of the open doorway and looked up at the sun.
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she asked, and met my eyes.
In the distance, Tracy hobbled towards her car on the street. I hoped Tony, Micah and Cassius were safe inside.
Water pressed against the back of my legs and pushed out the door to the grass.
Liliana took a step to exit the house.
‘No!’ I cried, grabbing her arm. She, like Cassius, was warm to the touch.
‘This is what I was born to do,’ she whispered. It was the whisper that stopped me. Liliana was so calm. ‘Let me go,’ she commanded.
Our eyes met, mine blue, hers silver. She shouldn’t die in this house of water. She should choose her own fate.
‘Thank you, Renoiera,’ she said. It should have been me thanking her.
Liliana stepped on to the grass and brought her chin to the sky. The beautiful blonde vampire slid her gaze to me. A smile played on her mouth just as a sliver of the sun moved from behind a
cloud and beamed on to the grass.
Orange dust enveloped Liliana from head to toe. Like Suleen in my father’s orchard, she had become a statue of golden ashes. I stepped out of the house and my fingers shook as I touched
the soft powder; she collapsed to nothing but dust.
I squatted down and pulled my fingers through her remains. My chest clenched with despair. Grief made me empty. Hollow. I hated myself for failing.
The sirens were closer now.
‘Lenah!’ Cassius called from the car.
The sirens wailed louder and louder, coming from Main Street.
It was too late to do anything else. Justin had escaped, and Rhode was trapped with him.
‘Hurry up!’ Tony called, and the panic in his voice snapped me out of it. I scooped up some of Liliana’s remains and tucked them deep in my pocket. I sprinted across the lawn
and out on to the street, sliding into the car. Tony was driving, and once the door was shut, he gunned the engine. As we turned the corner, the first ambulance peeled the corner on to Warwick
Avenue.
My last image of Lovers Bay was of fire trucks racing down Main Street.
The authorities would scratch their heads and wonder how that much water could fill a house. They would search for sprinkler systems and find none. There would be nothing left once the water
drained; only dead vampires and a shell of a house.
I wanted to save Rhode. I wanted to save Liliana, Henri and of course Kate Pierson.
They were vampires.
Just like Justin.
Just like Rhode.
‘Say something,’ Tony repeated as he drove. I placed Liliana’s quiver and bow by my feet and scooped her ashes from my pocket. They were rust-coloured –
a brave colour to leave behind.
Tracy sat in the back. I couldn’t see her behind the black curtain, but I could hear her sobbing. ‘I couldn’t get Rhode. I’m sorry, Lenah. So sorry . . .’
‘Lenah, say something,’ Tony said once more.
One gust of wind and Liliana would be gone from my hand. Tracy cried out in pain again.
‘Let me see it, Tracy,’ I heard Micah say.
‘It hurts. Don’t touch it!’
‘It’s going to be OK,’ Tony said.
‘How is it OK?’ Tracy moaned. ‘He’s a monster.’ She kept repeating it. ‘Justin’s a monster.’
As we drove I stared at the ashes in my hand. My arms still shook from the strain of carrying Rhode. In my mind, Justin held the sword above Rhode and me and awe passed over his face. He
didn’t kill us when he had the chance. The question was why. What had he meant with that comment about it being ‘both of us’?
Tony took the highway and we were back at Cassius’s house rather quickly. He pulled into the driveway and parked in the garage. Everyone was talking, though I didn’t hear what they
said. Car doors opened and shut, and someone opened the passenger side door. I didn’t move.
Tracy walked into the house, holding her arm to her chest and sniffling, ‘Kate. Kate.’
‘Is she going to be OK?’ I heard Tony ask Micah.
‘I think so,’ he replied.
‘Renoiera, look at me,’ Cassius said, and squatted next to the open car door.
I extended my hands, holding out the delicate remains.
‘These are Liliana’s,’ I said with a shake in my voice.
He opened his palms and I poured the ashes into them. I brought my hands quickly back to my lap; a gritty film coated my skin. I was reminded of a time long ago when I had believed Rhode to be
dead. He had attempted to sacrifice himself by performing the ritual. When I found his vampire remains, they looked exactly like this.
‘Like Rhode, she was a soldier,’ Cassius said quietly. ‘She was prepared to die.’
‘My. Fault,’ I gasped. ‘I should have forced her to leave. Forced.’ My throat was tight, constricted.
‘She stayed to protect you. Against your orders,’ Cassius tried to explain.
‘You ran when I told you to.’
‘
Because
you told me to,’ he replied. ‘If I had my choice, I would have stayed too.’
‘Then you’d both be dead.’
My thoughts turned unwillingly to Justin again. Now that he had had his ability to love removed, he would be utterly ruthless. The time had come to do what Suleen and Fire had asked of me. I
knew that now. I couldn’t risk Justin making anyone else a vampire. Whatever his plan was, he surely wasn’t going to stop with Rhode. I was his number-one target, and anyone associated
with me was a target as well. That meant only one thing . . .
He had to be mine.
He would torture Rhode until I gave in. He would turn others at Wickham Boarding School into vampires until I gave him what he desired – my soul.
‘What is it, Len?’ Tony asked. He had come back out of the house and was standing beside Cassius. The Dems kept looking at one another. Micah too came out and stood there. He held
medical tape in his hand and kept his eyes on Cassius. They were listening to me but in their minds.
What was that word Justin had yelled?
Verese-something. Justin said this word: verese-something.
It didn’t sound complete when he had said it and it didn’t sound like
English either.
Cassius stood up and turned to Micah and Esteban.
‘Say it out loud,’ Micah said gently. ‘Please.’
‘Verese or vere was all I heard,’ I said. ‘It’s the start of a word. I don’t know the rest.’
‘Vere means “towards” in our language,’ Micah said. ‘That’s not much to go on.’
Cassius nodded.
I brought the heels of my palms to my eyes. The grit of Liliana’s ashes stuck to my eyebrows. I didn’t care.
‘Who’s with Tracy?’ I asked the darkness.
‘She’s in good hands, Renoiera,’ Cassius said.
‘Stop calling me that!’ I yelled, and the word echoed in the garage. ‘A Renoiera who can’t weaken the one person who’s tormenting everyone? Who can’t save
Rhode? The two reasons we went into the bloody place! You want me to kill him; I haven’t been able to. I’m no one’s queen.’
I got out of the car and headed towards the door to check on Tracy.
I stopped at the top of the stairs to the house; it was only fair to come clean.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the elemental weapons. I wanted to make sure that I could truly protect you. They were my secret, I guess. But –’ I drew a deep
breath – ‘I can’t protect anyone.’
Cassius opened his mouth to reply but I interrupted him by moving my braid out of the way, exposing my neck. I showed them the circular wounds that the tip of Justin’s fangs had made in my
skin.
‘You should know Justin can hurt me. He tried to make me a vampire again in that house. If Tracy hadn’t come inside, I’d already be transforming.’
‘I thought you said he can’t hurt you if he loves you,’ Tony asked.
‘He has removed his ability to love,’ Cassius said in a low voice. Micah’s eyes widened in horror.
I didn’t speak because my breath was short. My legs and arms seized from exhaustion. The pain distracted me.
‘It’s time,’ I said. ‘We have to leave as quickly as we can. Get me some weapons.’
We planned to return to Wickham Boarding School in a couple hours. After all, Tracy and Tony’s parents would be called if they were off campus too long. I also needed to
make a plan. I knew better than to run back into danger without thinking through my options. Also many of the Dems, Cassius and Esteban included, needed to heal. They also needed blood.
I sat on a couch in the living room and held Liliana’s bow in my lap. I ran my fingers against the soft wood.
Cassius did something for me I should have done days ago when Justin was shot by Liliana’s arrow on Main Street. I had kept the arrow from that night in my book bag. After investigating
it, Cassius tossed the arrow into a fire that was burning in the grate.
‘It’d take days to decipher what is in Justin’s blood, even if we could get enough of a sample from that arrow,’ Micah explained. ‘And we don’t have that kind
of time.’
The arrow in the fireplace crackled and hissed in response. With the burning of the blood, the spells, the evil and Justin’s power evaporated with the smoke. Anything magical stored in
that onyx disappeared when it was broken apart and destroyed.
‘Are there any of Fire’s weapons left?’ Cassius asked.
‘Tony’s and a silver ring in my trunk. It’s air. I think we should save both as a last resort. They haven’t exactly worked out to my advantage.’
‘But they’re something,’ Tony offered.
‘How do we get into the Hollow Ones’ house?’ Tracy asked, and sipped on some tea. ‘That’s the next stage of our plan, right? Get Laertes and Rhode?’
‘We don’t even know what Justin was trying to protect,’ Tony pointed out. ‘Back in his house, he seemed interested only in taking Rhode and keeping that book. Did you see
him chase it after it when it was kicked out of his hand?’
‘What’s inside that book might explain how he is so powerful,’ Cassius replied. ‘It would explain his desperation to protect it. And it’s our only lead.’
Micah and Cassius met my eyes. ‘Let’s get moving,’ I announced. Micah started to prepare a bag and dropped a dagger, sheathed with my symbol, into it. It made a soft clunk
against the other weapons.
‘I’m not afraid to fight Justin, not after what he did to Kate,’ Tracy said, getting up. She and Tony kept talking about battle plans.
They can’t come
, I said pointedly to the Dems, using only my mind.
Tracy and Tony. Answer me in your mind.
Both Micah’s and Cassius’s bodies stiffened. Micah kept packing, but his eyes flickered to mine.
We need to go back, protect the school
, I said.
No one else dies. No one.
Cassius’s deep voice rang in my head.
I agree we need to go back. Someone needs to watch the school. But it’s too dangerous for you, Renoiera.
‘No,’ I said aloud.
‘What? I don’t think a scythe is too much,’ Tony said, misreading my reaction. I shook my head.
You should tell them
, Cassius said in my mind. He was right. What was that phrase? Time is of the essence.
‘Tony, Tracy, you need to go back to Wickham,’ I interrupted. ‘You will not be coming with me to the Hollow Ones’ house.’
Tracy shot up. ‘No way! You saw what Justin did to Kate – she was one of my best friends.’
I placed Liliana’s bow on the side table next to the couch.
‘This isn’t up for negotiation any more. You need to stay safe. So that you can protect Claudia and the others at Wickham.’ I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. I
rested my back against the large window.
Tracy sighed and pressed her lips together. After a moment she nodded. It was the mention of Claudia that convinced her, I thought.
‘With Micah, Cassius and the other Dems,’ I continued, ‘you can keep things under control. We have to figure out the best way to discreetly keep everyone safe. Then I’ll
deal with Justin.’
Tony stood up, joining me in a shaft of moonlight, ‘We’ll do it. You can count on us.’
Pegasus, the constellation of the winged horse, had always been my navigator. Once he illuminated in the sky, we left for Wickham.
‘We go back and we play it cool,’ I said from the passenger seat. Tony was driving again. ‘If anyone asks where we’ve been, I had to see my sick aunt and you two gave me
a ride.’
‘Micah’s really good at forging official documents,’ Tracy said from the back. She read over a memo Micah had printed. Micah and Cassius were to meet us at my dorm room at
nine, but in the meantime they were meant to assess the perimeter of the school. After the fight, we expected that Justin would need at least some time to regroup – after all, his house was
destroyed. But I didn’t think it would take him long. Once I knew Tony and Tracy were safely protected, I would find Justin and destroy him. I now saw no other way out of this. Suleen had
been right.
I hope we can protect them
, I sent to the Dems.
We can, we will.
Micah’s gentle voice said in my head. Cassius remained silent, in the back seat, plotting.
Tony, Tracy and I stood on the street just outside the Wickham gates. Lights from the union shone across the campus.
‘Sick aunt,’ Tony said.
‘Yep. Very old. Ancient,’ I replied.
We had rehearsed our excuse on the drive back. The guard started out of the booth towards us. As we waited for him to reach us, a breeze blew through the trees and one single leaf fluttered in a
slow seesaw to the ground. I lifted my arm, opened my palm and the leaf landed in the centre of my hand.