34. Thirty-Four
Thirty-Four
Aaron
After I showed Presley some of the training and had him meet a few of the others, we settled into the library to do what I did when I wasn’t training. Kimberly was with Halina getting extra blood so she could be ready for the ritual.
I kicked my feet up on the ottoman in Kilian’s study. The fire sent a satisfying crack into the silence while I skimmed the pages of a book, carefully at first. I was a little afraid I’d rip the pages, but as time went on, I cared less and less.
I still wasn’t sure what I was looking for but hoped I’d know when I saw it. We still needed answers about what was happening to me, but more importantly, Presley and I needed to find something to aid us in helping our brothers.
“This is boring.” Presley groaned as he turned a page.
“I know, but it’s the most helpful thing we can do. A lot of these books reference The Family, and we need to look for anything that could help us.”
“This one is just gibberish. I don’t even understand what I’m looking at.”
I held out my hand. “Let me see?”
It was a thick book with leather binding. Upon inspection, the entire thing was written in Latin. I’d seen enough of them to know what it looked like.
“Kilian, can you look at this one?”
Kilian had his head buried in a book but looked up at my request. The sun was disappearing and lit up the study in a warm glow.
“Hm.” He held the book and flipped a few pages till he landed on one. “It’s an account of poems. Many are illegible.”
“Anything helpful?”
“This one roughly translates to: Life belongs to Her.”
Presley rolled his eyes, picking up another book. “At least this one is in English.”
The mention of Her brought sickness to my stomach and a dryness to my throat.
“Do you think . . . she’s mean to them?” I asked a little too absentmindedly. I probably shouldn’t have asked in front of my brother, but I wanted Kilian’s answer. “I keep trying to imagine what it’s like for them. What would they even have in common with Her? What would they talk about?”
“I imagine She’d use whatever She could to create a relationship. The Family is all about the relationships they form. That’s how they manipulate them how they want. I’m more confident since Kimberly’s dealings, that the entity that makes the queens uses the memories and feelings of their vessel. I’m curious as to if there are times when that energy is stronger in the vessel and if it changes with the moons as well.”
“So, Cecily . . . She’s in there. She talks to my brothers.”
“I’m not sure. It is likely It uses her humanness to appeal to them.”
What did that really tell me?
“It’s all theory. How the thing connects you and I, connects us to the queens and the queens to their guards. The more we uncover, the more I believe that this entity needs their vessels.”
“I assumed you’d know more since this has been your obsession for hundreds of years.”
“Yeah. You’re so old. How don’t you know everything there is to know about every subject ever made?” Presley didn’t look away from his book.
The corners of Kilian’s mouth tugged into a smile. “The mind can only hold so much information. You think I’m knowledgeable, but my brother was even more so. The myths of Her in Ireland haunted us. My brother . . . was obsessed with hunting Her. He had a strong sense of justice. I often thought of him as purer in heart than me. He’s the reason we ended up in The Legion. From there, we gathered as much information that we could. Ezra, her closest, was thought to be the knight of Cecily.”
“Like he knew her before everything?”
“Yes, I believe he is the first She turned after Her transformation. The others are less known. Akira is said to have traveled a great distance to find Her. While Sirius and his brother are the most mysterious. These four were selected for a reason.”
His gaze flickered between me and my brother, but Presley was busy skimming pages with the same vacant, bored expression.
“Prophecy. Do you believe in it?”
“I have seen many things come to pass through prophecy.”
Of course.
“However, I think we have more power than we think. I believe fate is a strong wind, not a solid like stone. This power that the entity draws from, I’m not sure what it is. My brother believed in its power, that’s why he gave his life for the cause.”
“And you? What do you think?”
“I think I wish I’d died for him when I had the chance.”
Just as his words echoed, I stopped on a page. There was no reason for it. It was one natural pause that drew me to a paragraph scribbled in cursive ink at the bottom of a page. The room seemed to disappear.
Blood forges the way to freedom.
Lifeblood gave way, a high price to pay.
Fate does not guide us.
We carve our way.
We settled down in the library, where Kimberly had a stool to sit on by the fire. I squeezed her hand as Kilian placed the box that contained the dagger next to her. Things would work more quickly than last time. We’d found the right incantation, and now all that was left was to tap back into the power.
Presley watched from an armchair over from me while picking the black nail polish from his nails.
“Are you ready?” I rubbed Kimberly’s leg.
“Yeah. Definitely.” She looked at Kilian. “We’ll make progress this time.”
After biting her finger, she smeared the blood along the length of the blade while Kilian started his chant.
I hated all of it. Letting her open herself up to something dangerous made me physically ill, but there was no arguing with her once her mind was set. It was her choice.
With fingers clenched around the blade, she closed her eyes. Her brow bent in eager determination, then her head fell back. I went to grab her again, but she slumped forward with her eyes open. Her blue eyes disappeared and misted over in a white haze. I still had my hand on her leg, rubbing her gently. I’d be there to pull her out if needed.
Minutes passed, and she blinked.
“No. No!” The desperation in her voice put me on alert.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I asked.
“What did you see?” Kilian asked.
“Nothing. I asked for it to show me something, and nothing happened.” She pressed her palms into her eyes.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“I don’t care who’s fault it is. I’m not waiting another month. Can we do it again?”
“I’d advise against it,” Kilian said. “The entity can’t possess you, but this is new territory. I don’t know what could happen to you.”
“But can we try? Will you recite it again?”
“Kim,” I said.
“No, Aaron.” She grabbed my arm with pleading eyes. “We can’t wait another month to make progress. This is already taking too long. We need answers so we know how to win.”
“I know, but not at the expense of hurting you.”
“I have to do this. I can do this.”
“Hold on. Family huddle,” Presley said. “Everyone give us a second.”
Presley got up from his chair to lean in front of Kimberly. “Kim, we can help my brothers in another way. You don’t have to do this.”
“I know I don’t have to. But I want to.”
“Dude, they wouldn’t want you to do something that would get you hurt,” Presley said.
“He’s right.” I rubbed her leg, but she pushed me off.
“No! I have to do this. They wouldn’t want us to be doing any of this at all. They told you both to stay here and leave them there, but . . . I have to do this. It’s my decision.”
Her tone pricked at me, and it frayed in a way that wasn’t normal for her. There was anger in her eyes, and the usual blue pools were darker.
“Let’s go again.” She looked at Kilian.
“I really do advise against—”
“You know, I don’t care what you advise, Kilian. Please. Start the chant again.”
Presley and I shared a worried look. He stayed at her feet next to us as she grabbed the dagger again and closed her eyes.
The chant started, and my muscles tightened. I didn’t know what to expect, and my imagination ranged from Kimberly turning into the mega Hulk and hurling me across the room to falling into a coma. I forced myself to stop thinking and focus on her heartbeat instead. It beat steadily and picked up speed when a white film overtook her eyes as she stared off into the distance. One of her hands gripped the dagger, and the other was on my forearm. Minutes passed again, much slower this time. Slow enough for me to notice the feet shifting on the floor and a grandfather clock in the other room ticking away.
A sudden change in her heartbeat pulled me back to her.
In seconds, her chest heaved and tears streamed down her face, and those tears turned into a sobbing.
“Kimberly.” I grabbed both shoulders and shook her. “That’s enough.”
She kept sobbing, shrieking, and shaking while she white-knuckled the dagger in her hand.
I grabbed her face in my hands. “Come back to me. Please.”
I was seconds away from ripping the dagger from her grasp when she blinked and her blue eyes returned. She fell into my arms sobbing.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” I held her tightly and stroked the top of her head, but she wouldn’t stop crying.
Was she still in pain? Was it something she saw? Something It did to her?
I kissed her forehead, soothing her the best I could manage. “I’m sorry. We should never have tried this.”
“No,” she said between sobs, clutching my shirt. “Aaron . . . I saw the future. You were dead.”
My stomach sank at her words. I probably should have been more concerned than I was, but all I cared about was how upset she was. I’d never seen her so undone.
“You can’t go there. You can’t.”
“Hey, I’m right here. It’s okay.” I pulled her off the chair and guided her out of the room. “We’re done here.”
“Wait,” Kilian called.
“Touch her, and I take that arm,” I warned him. Every nerve in my body was on fire. The room remained silent, aside from Kimberly’s sobs. Presley was next to her, also trying to soothe her, but her heart hammered erratically.
I needed to get her away from here. Away from everything.