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Andras—in his true form.

“Now!” Dimitri yelled.

Gabriel sprang forward, with the demon bones wailing in his hands. Andras snarled as he raised the collar. The bones recoiled, pulling away from the demon’s throat.

“I can’t get it on.” Gabriel fumbled with the collar.

Without thinking, I bolted into the cell.

“Get out of here, Kennedy.”

“Give me the other side.” I reached for the collar, ignoring him. “We have to get it on now.”

The bones screamed, the sound piercing my eardrums.

“They don’t want to be linked to him.” Gabriel strained to hold his side of the collar open. “It’s like another death.”

I struggled against the vertebrae as the jagged edges cut my hands.

Another death.

Maybe there was something worse than being linked to a demon. I wiped the ash off my face and smeared it onto the bones, covering them in the ashes of other dead demons.

The bones shrieked and shrank away from me and into Gabriel’s hands. He forced the ends around the back of Jared’s neck. The moment he snapped them together, the bones stopped moving.

The demon’s blurry torso bucked one last time before it slipped back into Jared’s body.

Everyone stopped reading, and the tunnel fell silent.

Jared dropped to the ground, with the demon somewhere inside him again.

Gabriel dragged me out of the cell and bolted the door behind us.

Elle grabbed my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

The lights flickered, and the power came back on.

I stared at Jared’s body on the floor, picturing the demon inside him. How much longer until the demon was the only one left?

L
ess than an hour ago, we had wrestled Jared into the collar made from what was left of Azazel. Now we were back in the athenaeum discussing another demon.

“The collar is on, and Bastiel already has a head start.” Dimitri was ransacking the contents of the glass-front bookcase. He tossed a leather-bound book titled
A Classification of Demons
into a nylon bag at his feet.

Gabriel threw a set of dental extraction tools into a second bag. “If she gets strong enough to summon another demon, they’ll start multiplying like rats. We need to track weather anomalies and unusual crimes to try and find her.”

“When are you leaving?” My father hadn’t let Gabriel or Dimitri out of his sight since we left the containment area.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Waters,” Gabriel said. “But one of us is staying.”

“I can handle the situation here,” my dad said.

Gabriel handed Dimitri vials filled with powders and metal filings. “You expect us to trust you with the fate of the world?”

“Trust?” My dad laughed. “That’s a big word for you, Gabriel. I’m not sure you should be using it.”

“Enough.” Dimitri glared at them and zipped the bag. “Trust is earned, Alex. And you haven’t earned mine. Gabriel stays. If that thought is too unpleasant for you, feel free to come with me.”

“I’m not leaving Kennedy with him.” My dad glanced at Gabriel with disgust.

“Why not?” I snapped. “You left me alone in a house with a poltergeist after Mom died. I’m sure Gabriel can’t be any worse.”

“He betrayed my sister.”

The hypocrisy was lost on my father. “And you abandoned your daughter,” I countered.

“I’m going with Dimitri.” Priest walked toward him.

Lukas let go of Elle’s hand and caught Priest’s arm. “What are you talking about?”

Priest pulled away. “Andras is collared now. It won’t take seven people to babysit him. We have to find Bastiel and the Shift. Dimitri is gonna need help.”

Lukas looked at me. We both knew Priest’s decision was about more than his unfailing sense of logic.

Ever since the night Priest learned the truth about how Andras had located our family members, he’d been distant. He couldn’t seem to get past Jared’s mistake, or the fact that Lukas and I had kept it a secret.

“I think the six of us should stay together,” Lukas said.

“Noted.” Priest picked up one of Dimitri’s bags, ignoring Lukas.

Alara stood up from where she was sitting on the floor, and Bear followed her. “I’ll go with them.”

Dimitri closed the bookcase. “Get your things. We leave in thirty minutes.”

Priest took off before any of us had a chance to catch up with him. But Alara was waiting for me in the hallway.

“Are you going because I didn’t tell you about the list?” I asked.

“I joined the Legion and left with my grandmother to protect my sister. Now I’m leaving with the Illuminati for another kid I love. I can’t let Priest go alone.”

“He’s never going to forgive us, is he?” I swallowed hard, but the lump in my throat didn’t budge.

“Never is a long time.”

“I’m so sorry, Alara. If I could take it back—”

She touched the medal around my neck, the one she’d
given to me. “You remind me of Maya. Did I ever tell you that?”

I shook my head.

“She believes in people the way you do—a hundred and fifty percent. All or nothing. It’s my favorite thing about her. That and her gorgeous curly hair, which you
don’t
have. But you’re stronger than my sister, and me. Promise to remember that when I’m not here to remind you.”

“I’ll try.” I threw my arms around her.

“That’s what people say when they aren’t willing to fight,” she said.

“I’m willing to fight.” I released her from my death grip.

Wasn’t I?

Alara walked backward down the hall, watching me. “Prove it.”

Priest stood by the warehouse door in his orange hoodie, with a new pair of headphones around his neck and a duffel bag at his feet. Alara stood next to Dimitri, wearing her black eyeliner like war paint.

Dimitri and Gabriel were talking in low tones, a cigarette balancing between Dimitri’s lips.

“I can’t stay,” Priest said finally.

I nodded as the familiar tightness spread through my chest. “I should’ve told you.”

“You said that before.” He looked everywhere except at me. “What’s done is done. There’s no going back.”

“Sometimes moving forward changes what’s behind you.”

He shifted his weight, avoiding my eyes. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

I rushed over and hugged him. “I do.”

He wrapped a reluctant arm around me.

“Be safe,” I said, before I let go.

Dimitri and Alara came up behind me, with Lukas, Elle, and my father trailing after them. To his credit, my dad kept his distance. I wasn’t ready to forgive him, but he was the fifth member of the Legion, which meant he was staying—whether I liked it or not.

Alara drew Elle and me in for a group hug. “Kick ass and take names while I’m gone.” I nodded, and Elle sniffled. Alara stepped back, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Is someone sad to see me go?”

Elle waved her hand in the air, dismissing the idea. “Hardly. I have allergies.”

Alara shoved Lukas in the arm, playfully, and looked at Elle. “Take care of him, too.”

Dimitri hefted the bag of supplies over his shoulder and then patted his long coat pockets for the cigarettes that would probably end up killing him. “Take care of each other. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Hopefully, with a shape-shifting demon, or what’s left of her.”

I held Elle’s hand as they filed out the door, wondering if I’d ever see them again.

I sat on the floor under the stars of the athenaeum’s painted sky. I couldn’t stand to watch Priest and Alara drive away. Bear rested his head in my lap, whimpering, as if he knew everything had changed. Open books were strewn on the floor around me, none of them holding any answers.

“I figured you would be in here.” Lukas closed the heavy wooden door behind him.

“I didn’t realize I was so predictable.”

Lukas leaned against the wall, his silver coin flying between his fingers. A deep line was etched between his eyebrows from frowning.

“Is it Priest?” I asked.

“What about him?” He started pacing.

“Is that what’s bothering you?” I gestured at his hand. “Because if you flip that thing any faster, you’re going to lose a finger.”

Lukas caught the coin, trapping it in his fist. “That obvious, huh?”

“You’d suck at poker.” I hugged my legs against my chest. “It’s too easy to tell when you’re lying.”

The worried lines in his face grew deeper. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

For the first time, I noticed how dark the shadows beneath his eyes had become. “Okay.”

Lukas shoved his hands in his pockets, the way Jared always did when he was nervous. “Jared and I were competitive growing up. My dad thought it was the whole twin thing—fighting to form our individual identities and all that crap—but that wasn’t it.” He studied the creed written on the floor between us. “Jared was my dad’s favorite, and everyone knew it, including me.”

“Maybe it just felt that way.” It was a stupid comment. I’d spent enough time at Elle’s house to see the way some parents favored one child over another, and how poorly they disguised it.

“Dad never missed an opportunity to point out the similarities between Jared and him. Both of them liked the icing but not the cake, they threw a punch the same way, had the same score on the range. Jared downplayed it, but I still wanted to prove I was better than him—stronger, faster, smarter—it didn’t matter.” Lukas scrubbed his hands over his face. “So when I figured out Jared was searching for the other Legion members, it seemed like the perfect way to make him look bad.”

“Are you saying you knew?”

He nodded. “But I didn’t think Jared was putting anyone in danger. I swear. To our dad, things were either right or wrong; there was no gray. He did everything by the book, no exceptions. Jared and I both thought all that
stuff about the Legion members not being allowed to meet was just Dad being Dad—especially since nothing bad ever happened as a result of him and our uncle working together. I wanted Jared to dig his own grave with my dad, that’s all. I never thought anyone would get hurt.”

Andras used the list to kill Jared and Lukas’ father and their uncle… and Alara’s grandmother, Priest’s granddad, and my mom. Jared hated himself because of it.

I stood up, my legs like rubber beneath me. “You knew how guilty he felt, that it was eating him alive, and you never said a word.”

“I would’ve stopped him if I’d known what was going to happen.” Lukas pressed the heels of his hands against his forehead.

“Priest left here hating him.”

“I know,” he whispered. “If I could take it back—”

“You can’t.”

Lukas stared at the floor. “I’ll find a way to make this right, I swear. But it won’t matter unless we figure out how to get that demon out of my brother.” Lukas’ voice wavered, and he swallowed hard. “Jared’s my other half. In a lot of ways, the better part. I can’t lose him, Kennedy.”

I reached out and lifted his chin, forcing him to look me in the eye. “Then help me save him.”

A
fter Lukas’ confession, I needed to see Jared, even if he didn’t know I was there. He sat on the floor propped up like a rag doll, with the demon bones rippling around his neck.

Gabriel had painted over the summoning circle Andras had used to call Bastiel. Nothing more than a black halo of paint remained.

“Kennedy?” Jared whispered, his voice raw.

I kept my distance, painfully aware of how many times I’d misjudged Andras.

Jared’s eyelids fluttered as he struggled to keep his eyes open. “There’s something I need to tell you.” His back went rigid, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Is it the collar? Are you in pain?”

He shuddered and exhaled slowly; his breathing evened out again. “Not any more than usual. Whatever you do, don’t take it off. Promise me.”

“I promise.” My throat burned as I choked out the words. “What do you need to tell me?”

I didn’t know how long the collar could keep Andras at bay.

He studied me through heavy-lidded eyes, the color of a faded sky. “There are only three people I’ve ever loved in my whole life—my dad, my uncle, and Lukas.” He paused. “Now there are four.”

Is he saying he loves me?

Nothing existed in the moment except the two of us, and the meaning behind his words. It was as if they erased the bars between us. I reached my hand through, offering it to him.

He swallowed hard, his eyes flicking from my face to my outstretched hand. “I want to touch you. Just for a second. But I can’t, Kennedy. I’m terrified I’m going to hurt you.” His eyes found my neck. “Again.”

“I trust you.”

I trust you with my life, my body, my mind—even my heart.

“I don’t trust myself, or the monster inside me.” His eyes glistened and he looked down at my hand. “He wants to hurt you.”

“You are
not
him.” I opened my hand wider. “You’re
not a monster, Jared. Because if you are, then I must be crazy because I’m falling in—” I stopped, realizing what I was about to say.

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked up at him. I didn’t know what to expect after an admission like that, but the expression on his face wasn’t it.

Jared watched me, lips slightly parted and eyes wide, in what I could only describe as awe. “What were you going to say, Kennedy? Tell me. Please.”

He reached out and touched my palm with his fingertips. He traced circles in the center with his index finger, and I shivered.

“I shouldn’t have said it.” The heat rushed to my cheeks.

Jared’s face fell and he let his shackled hands fall in front of him. “Because you didn’t mean it?” The pain in his voice made my heart ache.

I brought my hand back up to the bars, gripping the cold iron.

He looked so broken.

“No. Because I did.” I gathered all the courage I had left. “And it scares me. I’m terrified of losing you.”

Jared approached the cell door slowly and placed his hands on top of mine. His fingers curled around the bars, mine creating a barrier between his skin and the wet bars.

“I just want to hear you say it one time,” he whispered.

I loved him, but I didn’t know if I could say it out loud.

“Please. Just once before I die.”

It felt like someone sucked all the air out of the room.

Before I die…

Jared caught my wrists and rubbed the smooth skin with his thumbs.

Without warning, his body seized. He stumbled back, grabbing at the collar. The bones screamed, and I covered my ears. His neck jerked, and when he opened his eyes, they had turned to coal.

“Your boyfriend is dying. And you’re next, you little bitch. When I open the gates, this world is going to be my playground. My legions will use your body like a puppet, and I will become the maker of all your nightmares.”

I didn’t need Andras to bring any of my nightmares to life. This was my nightmare—losing the boy I loved.

And I can’t even tell him.

Jared was in there somewhere, waiting for me. “Jared, listen to me. You can fight him.”

“There are”—Jared’s body twitched and slid to the floor. He reached toward me, the wings of the black dove tattoo on his arm spreading open—“some battles you can’t win.”

This was not how things were going to end for us, or for him. “But you still fight. You still hope. Because there’s a chance you
might
win. And even if you don’t—you fight for the people you love, especially when they can’t fight for
themselves.” I took a deep breath. I had to be strong for him. “You can do this. Don’t let him win.”

“Shut your mouth, or I’ll—” Jared’s neck jerked. The blackness of the demon’s eyes pulled in toward Jared’s pupils, as though they were sucking Andras in along with them. Jared’s chest heaved, and he struggled to catch his breath.

“Don’t have much time.” Jared winced and squeezed his eyes shut. “Something he doesn’t want you to know. A secret.”

The cell door rattled by itself.

Jared’s eyes flew open. His back slid up the wall, while the rest of his body remained completely still. I reached for his leg.

No
, he mouthed. His body continued to rise.

“What doesn’t he want us to know?”

“He thinks you’ll never figure it out. The—” All of a sudden, the invisible hand that had been holding him let go. Jared’s body dropped, the chain acting like an anchor. He hit the ground hard, and crumpled into a heap on the floor.

Jared opened his eyes and stared back at me. “The white dove is the Vessel.”