Chapter 60
River
“Everything is as it’s meant to be, River. Whatever happens has already been–”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. The stars.”
I paced back and forth angrily, candle smoke clogging my lungs and making it hard for me to think straight.
Maybe that’s why the Seer was so weird. Maybe a lack of oxygen over time was destroying her brain.
“I’m trying,” I said. “I’m trying, but…” I groaned, squeezing my temples.
“The memories will come to you, sweet boy. Don’t fight too hard, you’ll only hurt yourself.”
I nodded in resignation.
She wasn’t wrong about this.
I’d woken up in my bed this morning, irritated beyond my control. I hated losing time. Hated the constant headaches. The lack of sleep.
And I was finally angry enough to do something about it.
I couldn’t remember exactly what’d happened after I told Avery and Gina that I’d killed Anton. But I now had a deep, ugly feeling that Avery was responsible for these lapses in my memory.
“What shall we do about your friend?” The Seer asked, clasping her hands in front of her. “She’s being held captive, correct?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I don’t…I don’t know why Avery’s holding her.”
The Seer nodded, waving a hand at a candle across the room to light it.
“If I free Mia, Skye will be happy. Her Chain will be happy.” I said. That was important to me. I remembered that.
The Seer grunted in agreement.
“But Avery will know it was me. He’s already onto me, and he didn’t tell me not to free her.”
“Yep.”
“There’s nowhere I can go. Avery will find me.”
“Hmm, I’m not so sure.”
I spun around to face her. She was in the corner again, sitting with one leg bent on the ground, while the one with the chain had her bony knee pointed upright.
“Not so sure?” I snarked.
She nodded. “There is a safe place for you to go, you just don’t want to accept it.”
“I am not taking this bullshit to…her,” I hissed. “He’ll order me to kill her!”
“How can you be so sure? She has something he needs, does she not?” The Seer tsked at me, making my blood simmer. “Besides, he will not kill someone who looks just like his lost love.”
I recoiled.
“That…that sounds gross. That’s gross, right?”
“Indeed, quite gross.”
I groaned again.
“What am I supposed to do?” I said miserably. “Have the stars said anything to you about this?”
“The stars don’t speak to me, little beck. I only see what has already been written. Prose of destiny. Rhythm of souls. Songs of–”
“Oh, my God.” I muttered. “Please, spare me.”
“Suit yourself. If you plan to free the girl, though, you should go now. Gina will be returning soon, and Avery is occupied by one of the sheep.”
I crouched down by the door, staring into one of the smaller candles. The flame danced back and forth as I breathed, almost like it waved to me.
“Will she forgive me?” I whispered.
“Where there is love, there is forgiveness. Remember those words.”
I trudged through the waning snow, shivering because the air was still cold as hell in the shade. The compound was suspiciously quiet. I hadn’t heard any training, hadn’t heard anyone talking or laughing or yelling. I hadn’t even seen a morning prayer.
Jones was at the door to the bunker where Avery kept his captives.
“Maelstrom,” the ugly fucker said respectfully, dipping his head.
“No one in or out,” I said, my voice stronger than I felt. “The Crusader has asked me to question the ice affinate.”
Jones nodded. “Not a problem, sir.”
Ugh.
I strode past him, my head held high until I was inside the freezing hallway leading down into the earth.
My boots echoed along the concrete, alerting Mia to my presence before I entered the cavern containing the cells. I walked right past Vince Shafer, whistling while reading a book inside his cell as if nothing were amiss. I felt his eyes on me, but he didn’t speak.
My boots crunched in frost that was spreading along the concrete. I came to a stop in front of the icy cell, peeking inside like I was afraid she’d jump out at me.
But I shouldn’t have been afraid.
Mia was a mess. Her hair was disheveled and dirty, her eyes bloodshot. Old blood still crusted near her temple and around her lip, and a bruise on her cheekbone was already yellow from healing.
“Look who it is,” she drawled, her voice raspy from disuse. Or…overuse from screaming. I didn’t know which. Her dark eyes narrowed. “I told her not to trust you.”
My stomach churned. She still wore the clothes she’d had on the day of the fight. Her knees were scuffed and bruised, she was missing an earring.
“Why did you go after her?” I whispered, unable to keep the pain out of my voice. “Why, Mia?”
Mia blinked at me, then shook her head, laughing in disbelief. “Are you kidding? First Dani, now you?!”
“What?” I hissed, then groaned. “God, Mia. I don’t give a fuck that you killed Carla.”
“Really? You seem to give a lot of fucks, considering I’m locked in here!”
“Stop,” I said, raising my voice slightly. Vince stopped whistling. I scrubbed a hand down my face.
“You look like shit,” Mia whispered.
I ignored that comment. “I’m pissed you’re in here, not pissed about Carla. I had nothing to do with you being put here. I’ve been out for the last three days.”
“Why?” Mia demanded.
“I don’t…I think I was trying to knock myself out? I don’t think I was trying to die– you know what? Nevermind. I don’t care that Carla’s dead! She was a threat to Skye.”
Mia stared at me for several seconds, then sighed.
“Why didn’t you handle Carla?” she whispered.
“You don’t know what these people are capable of,” I whispered back harshly, glancing toward the entrance. Vince Shafer was still seemingly ignoring me, though he had to be hearing every word we said now that he’d quit whistling. “You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
Mia leaned back on her haunches, then dropped back onto her ass, further exposing her skinned knees and–
I turned away sharply, blinking away the image of blood staining her thighs.
The scary affinity woke up.
No languid stretching this time. It was just suddenly awake, immediately prickling angrily along my forearms.
“Who did that?” I choked out.
Mia breathed a laugh. “What does it matter? You won’t do anything about it.”
I covered my face for a moment, shaking my head. “I’m sorry. That’s…no. Jones? It was Jones.” I turned toward the door, noticing Vince Shafer was now paying attention, standing at the cell bars and watching us carefully.
Whatever. He wouldn’t stop me from killing Jones.
“Nothing happened River. I got my period.”
My eyes snapped back to hers, relief washing through me, but nausea still pained me. Anger quickly overtook it, and I scowled down at her. “Why the fuck would you make me think–”
“I wanted to see if you were really a coward or not.”
I stared at her for a moment, blinking as I tried to read between the lines.
“They did hurt me, though.” Mia sniffed, but there was no sign of tears. “Told me to watch out for the Maelstrom. He’s going to take my affinity. But you already took some of it, didn’t you? That’s why you fought with me in class. I just don’t understand why.”
I only continued to blink.
“I…”
“You could’ve asked.”
I scoffed. “No way I could’ve asked.”
Mia shrugged in agreement. “So why did you take some?”
I ran a hand down my face, glancing back at Shafer.
Mia snorted. “I should’ve known–”
“There’s a woman being held prisoner here who can see the future.
She told Avery some mysterious riddle and he decided it meant there’s an affinate out there who could speak to the dead, meaning he could speak to his dead lover, your bestie’s mother.
Somehow, because of that riddle, he also decided I needed to either kidnap an ice affinate or borrow some of an ice affinity so we could make this ghost chat happen. Okay?”
Mia stared at me, lips parted.
“That’s fucking insane.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said sarcastically. “Welcome to my fucking life.”
“An affinate that can see the future?” Shafer’s voice finally drifted across the cavern. I hunched my shoulders, hating how the scary affinity bristled again.
“Yeah,” I ground out. “She’s like, biblically old. Maybe you know her.”
Shafer’s gaze darkened.
“So you’re getting me out of here, right?”
I turned back to find Mia moving to her knees, wobbling as she tried to stand. She leaned against the dingy wall, catching her breath for a second before she stood to her full height.
Which was…nothing.
Mia was tiny.
Like, unnecessarily tiny.
“Why are you so small?” I whispered as I moved to the lock pad.
“Fuck you,” Mia snarled. “You’re lucky I’m not freezing your dick off.”
“No thanks, I actually don’t want you to touch my dick.”
“I don’t need to touch your dick, you…dick!” Mia hissed, though her gaze was locked on my hands as I typed the code on the pin pad.
I breathed a laugh through my nose. “Nice. I don’t need my hands, either.” I froze as the pin pad beeped at me.
“What?” Mia whispered.
I chuckled in disbelief, shaking my head.
“He locked me out.”
“What does that mean?”
I shook my head again, laughing a little hysterically. “I knew he was fucking with my head.”
“Big time,” Shafer called from across the cavern, his voice echoing. “You need some therapy, kid.”
Mia gave me a bewildered glance, then looked at the metal bars.
“So I’m stuck?”
I shook my head again –or maybe my head hadn’t stopped shaking?– and I grabbed the lock pad, then squeezed my hand into a fist. The metal groaned as it crunched between my fingers. The bars rattled as I pushed the door open, and Mia’s eyes were so wide, I thought they might pop out of her head.
“River…” she trailed off into a whisper.
“Come on,” I said urgently, offering her my hand. “I need to get you out before they realize what happened.”
Mia stared at me, then my hand. She shook her head. “No. I don’t trust you.”
“Mia,” I snarled. “Come on. He’s going to fucking kill you, you have to know that. Or worse, he’ll keep you here to bring Willow–”
The bunker door opened suddenly, creaking loudly, and my stomach dropped.
I questioned every decision I’d made since I got up. I shouldn’t have argued with Mia. I should’ve just grabbed her. I should’ve just grabbed her and teleported and dealt with the aftermath, but…
But it wasn’t Avery that came clunking down the steps. It was–
“Lulu?” I blurted out.
Lucille Brandt froze, her red-bottom shoes barely touching the dirt floor. Her red-painted lips were in an O shape for a moment as her raccoon eyes took in the scene, and then her jaw slackened.
“Maelstrom,” she said slowly. “What’s…what’s going on here?”
“Nothing you need to be here for,” I snapped. Mia moved closer to my back.
Lucille’s eyes began to shine as she held back tears. “I…I knew it. I’d hoped I was wrong. How could you?”
“How could I what?” I asked, trying to sound bored.
But I was anything but bored. My heart raced so hard I thought for sure everyone in the bunker could hear it.
“You’re freeing a prisoner,” Lucille whispered, then repeated it louder. “You’re freeing a prisoner!”
Shit.
Jones was right outside. He’d hear her. I hadn’t heard the bunker door slam closed, which meant it could still be open.
Come to think of it…Jones had never really been Avery’s man, had he? He’d always been following Lucille around.
“No,” I argued.
“Yeah,” Mia said. “He was freeing me. Said you freaks are gonna kill me.”
“Mia,” I hissed.
Lucille’s eyes bulged, her jaw dropping. “Is that…it is! You’re freeing the little ice bitch?!”
“You don’t know what I’m doing,” I said, standing tall. The scary affinity coiled up and down my arms, wanting to be freed. “You’re always making assumptions. Why?”
“You’re freeing her,” Lucille said, her voice loud again. “Imagine how they’ll feel. Imagine how much he’ll hurt…” She began to back toward the stairs.
“Come on, Lucille. You don’t want to do this,” I said, desperation clawing at my throat, threatening to choke me. My voice wasn’t even mine anymore, it seemed.
Lucille shook her head, her movements stilted. “No. I do. I do want to do this. He’ll reward me. He’ll–”
“No,” I said more firmly. “You don’t. You want to go back to your home and forget this ever happened.”
Lucille stared at me, her glassy eyes beginning to spill tears. “You’re…” She gasped, pressing her fingers to her temple. “I thought…I thought you weren’t…his…”
“What the fuck is she talking about?” Mia whispered.
“I don’t–” I cut myself off, my legs feeling weak as the realization hit me.
I was wrong. I had to be. There was no way.
Lucille took a shuddering breath. “He’ll reward me. I’m sorry, River. You’re a handsome boy, but–”
“Kill yourself,” I whispered suddenly. Lucille’s expression dropped. “Break your body apart, piece by piece until you die. You can only use your hands. It has to hurt.”
Nothing happened.
And then–
Lucille’s hand moved.
Her right hand grabbed her left pointer finger, bending it backward, then twisting it around until the skin split and began to bleed. She gasped, then began to wail, then screamed as the finger hung loosely from her hands.
Mia gasped behind me, moving in closer to my back.
Lucille sobbed, choking and coughing as she continued twisting her fingers, then switched to her other hand.
She staggered into the wall, her knees buckling before she struggled to grasp her wrist. She placed it against the wall, then pushed herself into the concrete, shrieking in agony when her wrist snapped.
“Oh, my God.” Mia whimpered behind me. “River, make her stop.”
“No,” I breathed. “No, she deserves this.”
I turned, ignoring another snapping bone, along with another screech. I held out my hand.
Mia’s chest heaved, her dark eyes trained over my shoulder, where she was still watching Lucille rip herself to shreds, unable to look away.
“Mia,” I urged. “Come on.”
Mia breathed out shakily, then took my hand.
And then we teleported.