Hourglass

Page 10

I shrugged. What was the big deal?
Then I saw the hesitation on Raquel’s face, and the hopeful light in her eyes, and I realized that I was just about the blindest person on the face of the earth. “You and Dana are—”
“Me and Dana.” Raquel grinned, the brightest smile I’d ever seen on her face, just for a split second, like she couldn’t hold it in any longer. But her uncertainty returned quickly. “That doesn’t make you feel weird, does it?”
“Some,” I confessed, “but only because you never said anything. After all the stuff we’ve told each other, you could’ve told me this.”
“You never know who’s going to be strange about it. Besides, you kept trying to fix me up with guys.”
“I tried to fix you up with Vic. One guy. Not plural.” My head was spinning a little. At least talking about her love life had distracted Raquel—and me. “I just never guessed.”
Her lips twisted in a funny smile. “Hello? No interest in men, like, ever?”
“I didn’t want to think in stereotypes.”
“There’s not thinking in stereotypes, and then there’s just plain not thinking.”
“Okay, if you wanted me to feel really stupid, mission accomplished.”
We stared at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. I hugged her tightly around her shoulders and then listened to her go on for almost half an hour about how beautiful and incredible and smart and terrific Dana was. Although I completely agreed with Raquel about that, my input wasn’t required. My job was to smile, nod, and be happy for her. It was easy enough to do.
Does Lucas know about this? I wondered. Probably he did, or at least suspected. He and Dana were pretty tight. This was just one of the dozens of subjects we hadn’t had a chance to discuss.
We returned to Black Cross headquarters just before sundown, luckily without me betraying any other vampires to Milos. As I changed out of my sweaty clothes, Raquel headed out, promising to get rations for both of us. I didn’t really feel like eating anything, much less my seventh consecutive day of oatmeal, but I thanked her and let her go. Some alone time seemed like a good plan.
Once I’d changed clothes, I took a stroll along the tunnel. It was the first privacy I’d really had since the fall of Evernight; at every other point, I’d either had a job to do or people with me. The fathomless dark of the distant tunnel, past the strings of light Black Cross used, seemed as absolute a limit as any wall could ever be.
I saw that vampire in a dream, I thought. I had wondered before if my dreams were beginning to predict the future, but this was the surest proof I’d had yet. The vampire with the reddish dreadlocks had been revealed to me by the wraith.
After so long away from the hauntings at Evernight Academy, and after becoming used to the reassurance of the obsidian pendant around my neck, I’d managed to put aside some of my anxieties about the wraiths. But now, with the ghosts reaching into my mind and showing me the future, all that confusion and fear was coming back.
They were after me because I was, in some ways, as much the child of a ghost as of vampires. My parents had essentially bargained with the wraiths so that I could be born. Vampires on their own could never get pregnant; with the assistance of a ghost, it was possible. What my parents hadn’t known at the time, and I hadn’t learned until a few months ago, was that the wraiths considered themselves the rightful owners of any children born because of such bargains. I didn’t know what that meant, really—though to judge by their attacks on me at Evernight, it meant they didn’t want me to live as an ordinary vampire. Well, I agreed with them on that score. I’d left the school and my parents, and I remained convinced that I would never kill a human being and become a full vampire.
Apparently that wasn’t enough for the wraiths. I wondered what else they would want. Would the ghosts keep intruding into my dreams? If they were still after me, why weren’t they attacking me again? Were they only biding their time?
Then I realized I was worrying about something that would never happen—because I was walking alongside iron railroad tracks.
Iron! According to Balthazar, the wraiths were repelled by certain stones and metals. Obsidian, like my pendant, was one of them. The most powerful repellants of all were the metals found in the human body, like copper and iron. That meant that Black Cross headquarters was naturally, well, ghost-proofed.
Slightly relieved, I started to relax. It occurred to me that, now that I had a bit of alone time, I could maybe hunt for a few mice in the tunnels. Lucas’s blood still warmed me, but I was in no hurry to be that hungry again.
That was when I heard the tapping.
Click, click, click, click.
I stared upward into the dark. Even my vampire-enhanced sight couldn’t make out much more than a tangle of pipes and shadows. Once again—click click click click. The sound of metal on metal.
Maybe it’s nothing.
Maybe it’s not.
I ran back toward the subway-car cabins, looking for Raquel. Instead, I ran into Eliza, but that was even better. “Something’s going on farther down the tunnel.” I panted. “This weird knocking sound.”
“Stuff sounds odd underground.” Clearly it took a lot to rattle Eliza, and a couple of strange noises didn’t come close.
“Listen, I know you’re freaked out right now, and no wonder. Just stay calm, okay?”
That’s when I heard a tremendous roar—and the end of the tunnel caved in.
Concrete tumbled down, great blocks of it the size of rooms, and the air instantly choked thick with dust. Eliza grabbed me to tow me backward; the section of the roof above us remained solid, but how much longer would that be true? “Jesus!” she shouted. “Come on!”
We started running away from the falling debris, toward the crowd of hunters I could see hurrying to see what the problem was—when the other end of the tunnel caved in, too. That was farther away—a distant rumble—but now I recognized the sound.
“It’s all coming down!” I shouted.
“This is not an accident.” Eliza’s face was set. She grabbed something from her belt and snapped it; instantly, it began shrieking a high metallic tone, warning everyone. “They’re here.”
“Who’s here?”
Clouds of dust rolled past us, thick and chalky, and I coughed for air. People farther down the tunnel were screaming and shouting. Eliza ran without taking me along, and I was left to grope my way along the side of the tunnel. But I couldn’t see; I could hardly breathe.
When a shape took form in the darkness, I reached out desperately—then froze.
“There you are, Miss Olivier.” Mrs. Bethany stepped toward me, a sheer black shawl upon her shoulders making her part of the roiling smoke that surrounded us. “We’ve been looking for you.”
Chapter Seven
“MRS. BETHANY!”
Her hawklike gaze froze me to the spot—I couldn’t have run away from her if I’d tried. Something about her dark eyes was almost hypnotic.
She’s come to take me home, I thought in my confusion. Though she terrified me more than she ever had before, the word home tugged at me, and for one moment I didn’t know which way to turn.
“More this way!” shouted Eduardo, his voice echoing amid the clamor in the tunnels. He was running toward us, and to judge by the many shouts and curses around us, neither he nor Mrs. Bethany was alone.
I’d been in one great battle between vampires and Black Cross before; I knew what it sounded like.
Mrs. Bethany smiled radiantly. The soot and falling debris around us had no effect on her. These were her elements—darkness, violence, and blood. When Eduardo came into view, a stake in his hands, her smile only became wider.
Under his breath, he swore. “Son of a—”
“I remember you,” she said. “You attacked my home. Allow me to return the favor.”
Eduardo brought his stake up, calling to his team, but Mrs. Bethany was faster. She leaped at him so blindingly fast that I almost couldn’t see her, and her hands clutched his head and gave it a sharp twist. I heard a sickening crack. Eduardo flopped to the ground, and Mrs. Bethany lifted her head triumphantly. Before I could see any more, the clouds of dust swirled around us, surrounding them and blinding me.
Trembling, I pushed myself against the tunnel wall, trying to put aside my horror so I could think. Mrs. Bethany had led a large group of vampires to attack Black Cross’s headquarters. But how had she known to find us here?
I didn’t have to ask how she dared to attack the most powerful Black Cross stronghold of them all. To get revenge for the burning of her beloved school, Mrs. Bethany would’ve done more than this.
Also, I knew that the vampires who had come with Mrs. Bethany wouldn’t necessarily be here to help me. I was consorting with the enemy. And if any of them gave away my true nature to the Black Cross hunters—well, every fighter on both sides of the battle would be out to get me.
Not good.
Another slab of concrete fell from the ceiling. I screamed and tucked myself into a ball on the floor in the instant before it smashed down onto one of the railway cars. The shock wave jolted me to the bones, and the roar and screech of twisted metal nearly deafened me. My skin was soaked in cold sweat, and I wanted to cower here until somehow it all ended.
Then I realized that Lucas was in the middle of this, right now, fighting for his life.
My head snapped up. I opened my mouth to shout for him, then thought better of it. The chances were that one of the vampires would hear me before Lucas, and calling attention to him or to me was the last thing I needed to do. No, I needed to find Lucas on my own, fast.
What about Raquel? And Dana? Fortunately, the second question answered the first. I knew now that Dana would defend Raquel to her last breath, if it came to that.
I started running through the dark, soot-filled tunnel, coughing. At first I headed in the general direction of the area where we took our meals; Lucas would’ve been on his way to eat dinner, so that was the most likely place for him to be.
But it was so hard to find my way. Headquarters was a murky, unwelcoming place at the best of times. Now it was like the center of a cyclone. Most of the lights had fallen during the blasts, so it was incredibly dark. Even with my vampire’s sight, I could only make out shadows and blurs—the Black Cross hunters were essentially fighting blind. I kept one hand out so that I could feel the wall against my fingertips. That was the only way I could be certain I was running in a straight line. Every couple of seconds, one of the hunters set off an emergency flare, and then I could see a strobe-light flash of activity: two fighters grappling, human indistinguishable from vampire, both struggling desperately to kill the other.
Then the flare went out, and darkness fell again.
What if Lucas was one of those fighters? What if I ran past him as he was being hurt or worse?
That’s when I realized that I knew I hadn’t run past him. I knew. Something in me could tell that I wasn’t close to Lucas.
It’s the blood.
My parents had always told me that drinking blood created a powerful bond. I’d assumed they meant emotionally. Now I knew it was about more than feelings. Something in me could understand where Lucas was—maybe how he was—if only I could figure out how to harness that ability.
I’m coming, Lucas, I thought. I didn’t have an actual telepathic link to him or anything, but I had to focus myself on him.
Amid all the screaming and the smoke, I closed my eyes. My fingertips against the wall were my only guides now. I reached out, searching for Lucas. When I got near him, I’d know.
There.
I stopped short and opened my eyes. It was still black as pitch, and the echoes were even stronger, making the screams and shouting more disorienting. But somehow I felt that Lucas was near. Did I dare call his name?