Chapter 19
MATTEO
The following afternoon, we regroup in the church cellar. After our meeting last night, Brad and Seth met up with some Alpha Alpha Mus.
“Well,” Brad says, “we grabbed a water bottle Finnegan had been drinking from.”
“Gross.” Cody cringes as Brad retrieves it from his bag. “That should be enough, though.”
I’m just glad the Sinners understand the urgency of getting this thing out of Finnegan. It’s horrifying to think of what could have happened had Farras stayed inside me.
“He didn’t try to keep away from us,” Seth says, “like he did with Matteo.”
“And we didn’t see anything in his eyes,” Brad adds, handing Cody the bottle.
“Maybe it’s a power Matteo has,” Cody speculates. “Maybe whatever powers he has that were activated when he and Alexei performed that spell.”
He might be right. “If that’s true,” I say, “he must be able to tell. When I saw him, he knew he needed to avoid me.”
“Farras said you were like an open window,” Alexei remarks. “He clearly saw something about you that we can’t, so maybe Finnegan knows this…or if it’s something else, it must know it too.”
It’s a good point, but not something we have much time to consider, since we have work to do.
The Sinners begin preparing for the spell.
Brad, Luke, and Cody get on their knees, placing candles along the lines in the pentagram, while Seth makes a bed out of blankets for Cody like he did the other night.
When he’s finished, he places a thermos of water and a thermometer beside it.
For the first time since I found out about the Sinners, I really feel for him.
He’s pale, with a five-o’clock shadow, his hair unkempt.
He looks like he’s been pulling all-nighters to finish a project for school.
He must be worried sick about Cody. Probably didn’t get a moment of sleep last night.
Reminds me how I was with Alexei, and we weren’t even really friends then.
Wild to think that’s true given how close we’ve become.
Cody pulls sage from a plastic bag and lights it up, moving around the pentagram.
“That really necessary?” I ask.
Cody chuckles. “We don’t have a way to discern between what the original Sinners knew for fact and what was superstition. I personally don’t believe this will have an effect, but is it worth taking the chance?”
“Guess not.”
Once he’s done, Brad and Luke step away from the pentagram, and Cody puts on knee pads, then gets on his knees in the center.
Seth glances between Alexei and me. “I don’t think they should be here for this. They can go wait upstairs.”
The way Luke’s eyeing us, I can tell he’s suspicious too.
“We have to work together,” Cody reiterates. “For the same reason that, once we do this, we need to find a way to talk to these people Alexei was working for.”
Seth’s jaw clenches. That seems to be the way he conveys his frustrations. Makes me wonder if that’s one of the reasons he’s got that chiseled jawline.
“Now, please, everyone, back off,” Cody says. “Don’t need everyone hovering. It’s like if you were watching me masturbate.”
I can’t imagine why that would be, but how the hell does he think we’ll be able to focus on anything but him performing a spell?
Still, everyone obeys his request.
Alexei leans against the wall, folding his arms. I take a spot beside him, while Brad, Seth, and Luke head to the other side, Seth keeping closer to Cody than Brad and Luke, like if something happens, he wants to be the first to reach his friend.
Cody grips Finnegan’s water bottle in his hand with his necklace as he bows forward like he’s about to pray.
He mutters to himself, and I try to make out what he’s saying, wondering if it’s in English or another language.
Doesn’t seem coherent, and even more bizarre is how it keeps going for over a minute.
I inspect the other guys’ expressions, waiting for someone to at least make eye contact to acknowledge how fucking weird this is, but I guess since I’m the last one in on this secret, everyone else is pretty used to weird shit.
“What’s he saying?” I ask Alexei.
“These are the incantations the original Sinners came up with. One of the original Sinners channeled these. It sounds like gibberish, but they’re like mantras you keep repeating throughout the spell. It helps them focus.”
Seth glares at Alexei, clearly unhappy knowing how he got that information.
As Cody continues mumbling, I’m wondering what we’ll do if this doesn’t work, when I notice Seth fidgeting.
He scratches at his arms uneasily, biting his bottom lip.
Is he nervous because nothing’s happening?
Or nervous because he’s familiar with these spells and he can tell something is about to happen?
A breeze rushes against my right cheek. I feel it on my arm too.
It’s so subtle, I wonder if it’s in my head, until it intensifies, like a gentle whirlwind around the room.
The candle flames flicker, a few extinguishing before Cody quiets, his face tensing like he’s straining, his arms trembling, then his entire body.
He whimpers, grunting through his teeth before his mouth opens wider and he makes a sound like he’s choking on something.
“What’s happening?” Luke asks as Cody lifts off the floor, still in the same kneeling position.
“We’re stopping this.” Seth starts for his friend, and just as he reaches the pentagram, he stops abruptly—as though there’s something in front of him—before being launched back. His back hits the wall with a thud.
Luke rushes to help him, while Brad, Alexei, and I rush for Cody.
Even after seeing what happened to Seth, we have to do something.
But before we can reach the pentagram, Cody’s propelled, like he’s been shot out of a cannon, his body flying toward me.
I manage to catch him to keep him from flying into the wall like Seth, and we drop to the floor together.
As I recover from the tackle, I hurry to my knees to check on him. “Cody?”
He’s lying limp on his arm, and I fear the worst. I place my hand on him to see if he’s breathing, and my arm locks in place.
The hell?
A jolt, like a sharp burst of electricity, shoots through me, and everything goes dark.
I can’t see! Am I dying? Then, somehow, I’m not in the church cellar anymore.
I’m in the courtyard, next to the fountain by the St. Lawrence library.
Preston’s sitting beside me. He says something, and I respond. How am I responding?
Before I can process any of this, I hear a voice in my head: Get out. Leave us alone. How did you get in? These bodies are mine.
A memory comes to me, but again, as if it’s not my own.
I’m in a room—Preston’s room at the frat—illuminated by dim candlelight, surrounded by people in black cloaks.
One of them pulls back their hood and reveals their face—it’s Preston, but his eyes are black.
Excitement pulses through me. I’m reveling in being in this form.
Experiencing pleasure and pain. Controlling these men.
I can’t be selfish. I’m on a mission. I must abide by my ruler’s commands.
Those come to me as my own thoughts, but they can’t be. What’s happening?
There’s a dresser in the room, with a mirror over it, and I see my reflection. I’m in Finnegan’s body.
Suddenly, I’m gripped with fear before hearing an ominous voice in my head—Can he see my weaknesses?—and I see a flash of…a strip of gold metal, binding around flesh.
Is this a memory? It’s not my own.
Who are you? I ask before hearing what sounds like “Syphor” echoing all around me.
I said leave! The voice booms so loudly, it rattles me out of the bizarre string of thoughts, and everything goes black again.
This time when I open my eyes, I’m back in the cellar.
This isn’t like before. I feel connected to my body as I realize Alexei and Luke are on either side of me.
Cody’s on his knees, gazing at me with terror in his expression.
I know that look—it’s how my biological mother looked at me that day.
He stares for a few moments before blinking and looking away.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “What did I do?”
“You didn’t do anything,” Alexei assures me. “You were trying to help Cody, and you started freaking out, and then you were wandering around. We were trying to talk to you, but it was like you couldn’t hear us.”
I glance around the room, trying to figure out how much time has passed. Seth is just now getting to his feet with Brad’s help, and they head over together.
“Codes?” Seth says.
“I’m okay,” Cody insists.
It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt longer.
Alexei guides me to a desk—the one we made out on. I figure I don’t need assistance to sit down, but I’m not too steady on my feet. Once I manage to get settled, he says, “I’ll get you some water.”
He hurries to the tumbler Seth laid out by the blanket mattress, and there’s a bit of commotion as the guys check on Cody and Seth to make sure they’re okay.
I can’t shake that look Cody gave me—the wide eyes, his paler than usual complexion.
As he and Seth assess each other’s injuries, Seth shoots me a dirty look. Judging by his expression, you’d think I fucking attacked Cody, but if that’d been the case, Seth would already be on my ass.
Something happened, though. While I was under.
Alexei returns with the tumbler full of water, and I drink some.
“I’m gonna get some to Cody and Seth too,” he says, “but I’ll be right back.”
Alexei’s words, his consideration, calm me. Given the daze I’m still in and all that I haven’t even had a chance to process, I really fucking appreciate it.
“What did you see?” Luke asks Cody.
After Cody finishes sipping some water, he says, “I…um…” He glances my way again, briefly, that fear in his eyes, but none of the guys seem to be reading it like I am.
“I didn’t see Finnegan,” he says. “It was like something was pushing back against me. I’m wondering if they have some spell to keep me from getting through.”