Chapter 19 #2
“I saw something,” I admit.
All eyes turn to me, and Alexei approaches, stepping behind me and resting his hand on my back. His touch is so goddamn soothing.
“When I touched Cody, it was like I was transported into Finnegan’s body.
I didn’t know at first, but I saw images, and one of them was a reflection in a mirror.
That’s how I knew. I was in his head and had access to memories, but…
it wasn’t just Finnegan in there with me.
There was something else, and I had access to its thoughts too. ”
“Farras?” Brad asks.
“No, it’s something else.” It’s hard to even put into words, but I go for it. “It’s an entity. I think its name is Syphor. It’s never been in a physical body before. I don’t know how to explain it; it’s something I just knew.”
“When I had my first vision,” Luke says, “that’s how Cody explained it to me. It’s like being in a dream where you just know things without knowing why. Like there’s a woman you’ve never seen before in real life, but you know she’s your sister in the dream.”
“That’s exactly what it was like. This thing, it’s loving being in a body because that’s a new sensation for it. The guys…it’s controlling them somehow, using Finnegan to do it.”
“How many guys?” Seth asks, and I’m sure it’s because he’s wondering how many times Cody will have to put his life at risk. And even from what happened to him after what he did with me, I know it must be too much.
I turn to Alexei, since I don’t want to say anything he wouldn’t want me to share.
“All of them?” he asks, and I nod. “Fuck. There are four total: Preston, Finnegan, Spencer, and Gage.”
“So we’re scrapping the plan where Cody deals with each of these guys, right?” Seth asks.
“Let’s talk this through,” Luke says. “Let Matteo finish telling us what he saw.”
“It’s not just Syphor doing this,” I say. “There’s someone he’s connected to, someone he’s doing these things for. A leader. He’s on a mission.”
“So something’s controlling Syphor,” Brad says, “and Syphor’s controlling these guys. Making them do stuff.”
“Preston and Finnegan were in the woods the night that monster was on the loose,” Cody says. “You think whatever’s possessing them might have been responsible for it?”
“After what I just saw,” I say, “I think that’s possible.”
“And Syphor knew about us already,” Cody goes on. “He got Alexei to spy on us—that’s how he knew about my power and that they needed to do something to block me, but for whatever reason, it didn’t block Matteo.”
“Yeah, I’m really curious to know why that is,” Seth says, eyeing me suspiciously. “How do we even know we can trust this guy? Something evil was inside him. What if it’s still there and this is all a trap? Or what if he’s making the whole thing up?”
“Or,” Alexei says, “what if when we performed that spell, it changed something in Matteo? Something that connected him to these entities?”
“Like frequencies,” Cody says.
“What?” Brad asks.
“When I connected with Kysar, it was almost like I was suddenly able to access the channel he was on, and it was coming through clear, but only for a few minutes. What if the spell let Matteo access the frequency Farras and these entities are on? So they could block my frequency, but not his.”
It takes me a minute to wrap my thoughts around that, but it makes about as much sense as the rest of it. Since no one chimes in to let Cody know that’s bullshit, the other guys must get it.
“Like networks,” Alexei observes, drawing everyone’s attention.
“It’s like you’re an IP address and your IP was set to have access to Kysar, but maybe blocked from this other network, which Matteo has access to.
” Given his major, I’m not surprised that’s how he’d look at it.
“So if that’s true,” he tells Cody, “you might not be able to get in.”
An image rushes back to me: that strip of metal around flesh. “They’re wearing something. Some kind of metal.”
“What?” Cody asks.
“When I first realized I was inside someone else’s body, this thing thought I shouldn’t be able to be in his body, and then it worried I’d see its weaknesses before this image was projected—metal around flesh, gold-colored…that’s all I remember.”
“The Saints wear ankle bracelets,” Alexei says.
It’s the first time I’ve heard Alexei say the name of the group in the Sinners’ presence, and I’m sure it’s because he knows we have to put everything on the table. It’s the only way now.
“That’s what they’re called?” Luke asks. “The Saints?”
Alexei nods. “You guys have necklaces. They have these ankle bracelets, so you don’t usually see them. I’ve only seen them a few times when I walked in on them preparing to cast.”
“That must be it,” I say. “The entity…” Fuck, it sounds so ridiculous to say that. “It thought I shouldn’t have gotten in because of something it did with that.”
“That could be what kept me from accessing their network, as Alexei’s putting it,” Cody says. “These could be their amulets.”
“So we find a way to get those off them,” Luke says, “and then maybe Cody will be able to access it and—”
“Do what?” Seth asks. “Defeat something that isn’t even human?” Seth gets in Luke’s face, but Brad steps between them.
“Calm the fuck down,” Brad says. “No one’s making Cody do anything, and we’re sure as hell not gonna put him in that much danger.”
“Really? Because he’s the one who’s always putting himself in harm’s way. How many times have you asked him to put himself in danger? How many times has he already put his life at risk?”
“Seth,” Cody snaps. “That’s not fair. I’ve been the one to make that decision. Don’t put that on anyone else.”
“You don’t even know if this thing feels like humans do, if you can access pain or fear in it like you did with Farras.”
“Oh, it’s afraid,” I assure him, which catches everyone’s attention. “Right before it kicked me back, I felt its fear. It’s terrified we’re gonna stop it. And I’m sure I only saw one of its weaknesses.”
Seth shakes his head. “What if it’s a trap? What if Alexei and Matteo are working with these Saints to do something to us, and they’ve made all this up to get us to walk right into it?”
The way Luke and Brad eye us, I can tell Seth is not the only one thinking it. Fuck, we need to convince them we’re telling the truth.
“Seth,” Alexei says, “you can push on me. Like you did with Farras. Tell me to tell you the truth, and then you’ll know.”
I see the dread in Seth’s expression as he seems to realize Alexei wouldn’t offer this if he were lying. He rushes to Cody. “No, Codes. I won’t let you do it. Not this time.”
Cody rests his hands against Seth’s arms. “It’s scared of us. That means we’re the ones who can stop it. It’s taken Finnegan, and it’s controlling others. And it could be starting this terrible thing that’s coming. We can’t sit back and let that happen. Not if we can do something about it.”
Seth shakes his head as tears slide down his cheeks. I’ve seen Seth experience a lot of emotions—anger, frustration, rage—but never this.
“It’s not right,” Seth says. “It should be anyone else but you. It should be me.”
“We’re all gonna have to take risks to pull this off. But we must do something.”
The room falls silent, even Seth accepting that to defeat this thing, we’ll have to take our chances.