Chapter 57
River
A heavy banging on my dormitory door woke me up.
I groaned, rolling over and looking at the time on my phone, then shot up in bed.
I had two missed calls from Avery and eight texts from Skye.
*Ghost Emoji*
I need to talk to you
***
River, is Dani in the cult?
Mia is missing, someone took her after the bullshit in the quad
River please stop ignoring me
You’re such a dick
Okay, I didn’t mean that. Please answer me
Nevermind. I meant it
The most recent message was from two days ago.
Shit.
I’d been asleep for at least three days.
I hadn’t slept this long in…never, dissociations aside. The most sleep in one stretch that I’d had since the massacre was the three hours beside Skye.
I glanced around, sucking in a breath when I noticed a bottle of pills scattered on the ground, a large bottle of vodka beside it.
That wasn’t good.
My mind was hazy.
I couldn’t remember if I was trying to kill myself or just knock myself out.
Awesome.
The banging continued, pulsing in time with my headache, and I figured it probably wasn’t Avery. He would’ve used me like a puppet to open the door for him.
I groaned again as I stood, feeling like I’d been hit by a train. A particularly sharp bang sounded, and then the absolute last voice I ever wanted to hear called out.
“River! Open the fucking door!”
“Anton?” I hissed in disbelief.
What the fuck was he doing here? He knew not to come to my room.
I shuffled across the space, feeling drunk. My head swam as I looked down to my feet – one with a backward sock and one bare. I had pants on, and just as I made it to the door, I turned back to pull on a t-shirt. I didn’t need Anton drooling all over the carpet.
“River!” He practically yelled.
I ripped open the door. “What the fuck?!”
Anton jumped, not having expected me, then his eyes roamed over me. And that was exactly why I’d put a shirt on.
“Can I fucking help you?” I snapped.
“Yes. Let’s talk inside,” he said hurriedly, moving toward me as if I’d let him pass.
I didn’t.
He bounced off my chest, his face turning red as he grew more flustered. We stared at each other in silence for several seconds.
“River!” Anton said urgently, looking around behind him like the empty hallway was watching. He scratched at his arms. “Carla’s dead!”
I snorted, then laughed. “What?”
“She’s dead! She just fought the fucking Phantom and Willow Craig in the quad. Carla stabbed the Phantom with your fucking knife, and–”
The smile melted off my face.
What.
The.
Fuck.
My hands flew to my pocket, and then my head jerked toward my bedside table. My wallet, keys, and phone were all there.
And my knife wasn’t.
“–Willow got sliced in the process. Mia North showed up and she fucking froze Carla from the inside out!”
My stomach dropped through me, then my heart began to pound.
“Where’s North?” I rasped.
“We have her,” Anton said with a sigh. I whirled around to face him. “I called for the Crusader as soon as the Phantom got involved. One of the soldiers got away with North in the chaos.”
My hands began to shake.
That old affinity was awake again. I looked down at my palms, feeling like I was watching a predator through the brush. I clenched my fists, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need my hands.
Anton gasped as an invisible force pulled him into the room, then slammed and locked the door behind him. He sputtered, his limbs locked to his sides as he tried to fight off my hold.
“River, wait, wait…what are you doing? How are you doing this?”
I breathed heavily, trying to calm myself, but the more my mind flipped through possibilities, the more agitated I became.
I began to pace, ignoring Anton while he babbled.
Avery had Mia.
Mia was Willow’s Link.
Willow’s brother was in a fucking Royal Chain.
Mia was one of Skye’s best friends.
Skye, the Key to a fucking Royal Chain.
The Phantom.
This was bad. Awful. If the Royals came sniffing around the compound, they’d figure Avery and Gina out, or…
My blood ran cold.
Or Gina could cause an avalanche and bury all of us. Including Skye.
Avery could force me to do something to the Prince. Or the Queen. Or…
I choked on a breath, then held my head with my hands.
No. No.
I wouldn’t allow it.
“Dude, you’re freaking me out. How are you holding me? When did you get this affinity?”
“Shut up,” I whispered, squeezing my head tighter.
Skye would find out who Avery was to me. She’d think…
Fuck, she’d think I betrayed her.
A new idea formed quickly. I’d free Mia. I had to. It was the only way to preemptively fix things between me and Skye, and keep the Royals from getting hurt.
I could explain it all to Skye later. If I freed Mia, Skye would be delighted to hear me out.
Or…or she’d put my dick in a vise.
I cringed.
“I thought you weren’t the Crusader’s real son, how come you can hold me? Can you do other things?”
Or worse…
What if she rejected me?
I’d have nothing. I already had no Links. No family. I had nothing without Skye.
But…
I’d tried to kill her Links.
“Dude, does the Phantom know about this? I bet she’d be all over you. Can you squish people like–”
Anton’s words cut off with a choke. I squeezed my eyes shut, trembling as something wet splashed across my back.
The affinity stretched, then seemed to curl back up, hopefully going back to sleep for the rest of my fucking life.
After several seconds of deep, ragged breaths, I turned around, then grimaced at the crime scene that greeted me.
Great.
Now I had to figure out how to get blood out of the carpet.
I kept my gaze down, trying to stare a hole through the floorboards. Ironically, I could’ve done that, if I’d thought to take Anton’s affinity before squeezing him.
Unsurprisingly, that’s all Avery was pissed about.
He paced back and forth, one hand in his pocket while the other scratched at his stubble.
Gina sat next to me, her body angled toward me as if in solidarity, like we were both awaiting our punishment.
Annoying.
Vince Shafer was here, looking less beat up than the last time I’d seen him. I’d wondered where Avery had been keeping him, but I’d known better than to ask.
“Anton’s affinity was rare,” Avery said finally.
I scoffed.
He glared at me.
Gina made a sound of warning.
Shafer yawned.
Avery went back to pacing.
“What happened?”
“I already told you.”
“Tell me again. Explain it again.”
“Anton showed up at my room, he was bothering me. I’d just woken up after…” My eyes darted to Gina who gave me a look of sympathy. Ugh. “Anyway. The affinity…just woke up.”
“It just woke up,” Avery repeated. “You’re saying it’s been asleep all this time?”
“Yes,” I growled.
Shafer finally spoke. “You’re saying you’re not just refusing to use the affinity…that it refuses to be used?”
I shifted my weight in my seat. “No. I never use it, never call on it. Other affinities are there, even while not being used. This one…sleeps. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Shafer nodded again. “And when it’s awake…do you command it? Or does it act on its own?”
“It acts on its own. Sometimes…I mean, I’ve definitely thought about killing Anton before, but I wasn’t going to in that moment.” My heart pounded, and I looked to Gina for comfort, which…was gross. She nodded encouragingly.
“So you’re saying, it may act on its own, but there’s a level of…intuition involved.”
I nodded. That was the best way to describe it.
“And when you owned this affinity, did it act the same?”
Silence filled the space for several seconds before we all realized the question was for Avery. Gina stiffened.
“No,” Avery answered finally. “No, it didn’t, except for that one time it shook the Capitol building. That one I didn’t have any control over.”
“Did you stop it from shaking the building, or did it simply shake it and not manage to move it further?”
“It only shook it,” Avery explained. “I didn’t try to stop it. I…wanted the people to see what I could do.”
“What were you discussing before the affinity decided to kill the boy? What did it do?” Now Shafer began to pace.
I swallowed thickly. The back of my neck grew hot as all eyes landed on me. Gina, with her sympathy. Avery, with his distrust. Shafer with his…weird blue eyes that reminded me of the Seer for some reason.
I couldn’t lie. The teleportation affinity itched across my palms, and it took everything in me not to scratch.
Peter Earl wasn’t here, so it wasn’t like I needed to tell the whole truth. But Avery knew me too well, and Gina couldn’t protect me forever. And there was a small part of me that wanted to know what was going on. Wanted to trust Shafer.
“It grabbed him and pulled him into my room,” I said quietly.
“Why?” Avery pushed.
There was only one way to get out of this. I hated it, but I had no choice. I needed to mix some truth with the lie.
So I allowed my fear to seep into my voice. “He told me…Carla was dead.”
It was as if I’d dropped a bomb, only everything went eerily still and silent.
Gina was rigid beside me, barely breathing. Avery had his brow furrowed as he considered me, and I wasn’t sure if he bought it or not.
“River,” he said gently, his voice full of understanding.
Gina covered her mouth with her hands, reacting according to Avery.
“Friend of yours?” The old man asked, raising a brow.
I swallowed thickly, feeling like I was about to throw up, but nodded almost imperceptibly.
“Ah,” Shafer sat back in his armchair, sighing deeply.
“What does this mean?” Avery asked. “Why would the affinity react that way?”
“Well, it’s obvious it was reacting to its owner’s distress.”
“Why hasn’t it reacted that way to anything else?” Avery demanded.
“You tellin’ me you keep that boy in emotional distress often?” Shafer drawled.
Avery turned to stone, then gritted out, “Why hasn’t it reacted that way before?”
“How should I know?” Shafer practically sneered. “He was close to the girl, her death upset him. What were you doing when it shook the building? Something emotional, I’m sure.”
Avery didn’t reply, but menace rolled off of him in waves.
“Fine. You can go.”
“You’re too kind,” Shafer drawled, then slowly left the room.
Silence descended.
“I’m so sorry, River,” Gina said finally. “I…didn’t realize the two of you were so close.”
“I thought…” Avery tilted his head.
“I moved on,” I whispered. “After our talk.”
I focused on how I felt about Skye. How I felt about losing her. How I felt about her possibly rejecting me.
Avery saw the pain on my face, and he accepted that answer.
“So where’s the girl?” Gina demanded, her tone shaky like she’d been about to cry. “The killer.”
“She’s here in the bunker.” Avery pointed toward the windows to punctuate his point. “We have her in the cells.”
“Do we need her?” Gina asked.
My heart rate spiked.
“Don’t touch her,” I almost snapped.
They both stared at me.
“I…” I cleared my throat. “She…was also my friend. At school. I want to find out what happened for myself. I won’t sleep if I can’t hear it straight from her.”
There were several seconds of silence before Avery relented.
“If you want her, then…” He waved a hand.
My head was pounding. My heart was racing. I wanted to go fall in bed and pass out for three more days, I was so exhausted. Avery didn’t trust me right now, and if I waited too long to respond, he’d order me to do something I didn’t want to do.
I anxiously chewed my thumb, trying to come up with something quickly, when Gina groaned.
“I really wish you’d stop that,” she said, gesturing toward me. “It makes you seem like such a little boy.”
I sucked in a breath.
The voice was back, the one that always scolded me so gently. The one I wasn’t supposed to hear anymore, but did anyway because these people couldn’t ruin my mind no matter how hard they tried.
I groaned, pushing my palms into my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” someone cried from nearby. “I didn’t mean to–”
“River,” Avery’s voice cut through the haze. “Forget her.”
“No,” I blurted, shaking my head and trying to plug my ears.
Someone was on top of me. We wrestled until I was on the ground, my cheek pressing into the wooden floors.
“No,” I whimpered, hating how afraid I sounded. “Please.”
I could barely lift my arms to fight.
“Forget her.”
Forget who?
I didn’t know what he was talking about.