Chapter 7 #2
I jump on the arm with the knife, pinning it down as I heave oxygen back into my lungs.
“Dane! Are you okay? Who—” Raegan stops.
Ripping the knife from the attacker’s hand, I toss it away and turn to look at her.
She’s young; probably still a teenager. The rest of her is covered in sweatpants and a hoodie. Her long black hair is wild and unkempt, and her eyes... her ocean blue eyes are angrily locked on Raegan. The girl lunges for her, screaming, “You, bitch!”
We all move at once, either shifting between them like Aiden and Jack, or grabbing the girl like Kell and me. I hold her arm against my chest, even as she flails, still raging at Raegan. “It’s all your fault! You did this! You tricked him! He’s dead because of you! Because of you!”
“That’s enough.” Aiden’s sharp command cuts through her cries. He’s stepped directly in front of her, blocking her view of Raegan, as he grabs her face with one hand and forces her to look at him. “Did Charles leave you behind to spy on us?”
She spits in his face. “I’m not telling you shit.”
Aiden releases her, wiping his face with his suit jacket sleeve while in the same second, Jackson’s suddenly there, squeezing her throat with one hand and wearing a chilling smile. The girl’s eyes widen with fear, her mouth opening, but no sound comes out.
“If you’ve nothing useful to say, then you don’t need your tongue.” He flips a knife where she can see it, and her body starts to shake.
“...lying...” she croaks through his grip, trying to call his bluff even though a fine tremble overtakes her body.
Unfortunately for her, he’s not bluffing.
Jack cocks his head, his smile sharpening.
“Wait! Stop!” Raegan pushes through, grabbing Jackson’s arm with the knife. “You’re not cutting her tongue out. She’s just as much a victim of Charles as Harvey was!”
“Harvey didn’t push blame on others for his own failures,” he replies coolly.
“She’s just a kid,” Rae counters. “And she doesn’t deserve that. She’s not our enemy.”
“I’m not a kid! I’m sixteen! And we are enemies!”
Fuck’s sake.
Kellan slaps his hand over her mouth. “You’re not doing yourself any favors. Settle down.”
Aiden returns from the kitchen with a set of metal cuffs on a chain—silverware handcuffs.
Kell and I each hold her arms in place for him to click them on as she struggles and shouts some more.
She tries to disappear, but I mute her gift the second she does.
The girl looks around at us, confused when we all stay staring at her. “What’s going on?”
“I blocked your gift.”
“You don’t know who he is?” Raegan asks, and the girl’s expression darkens again.
“Of course, I know who he is. The guy Dad wants brought back to him.”
“Do you know why your dad wants him?” she presses.
“It’s not our business to know why,” the girl snaps.
Kellan sighs. “Alright. Have a seat.” We walk her to one of the chairs in the room and sit her in it.
“I’m not telling you anything. All of you can go to hell.”
“Let’s leave her here,” I suggest, crossing my arms over my chest. Maybe she’ll be more willing to talk after sitting in a timeout for a couple hours.
“She’s a threat to us alive,” Jackson says, and Raegan shakes her head.
“She’s not a threat. She’s just angry and confused.”
“Aren’t we all?” Kell drawls.
“We’re not killing or hurting her,” Raegan demands, her gaze catching each of ours in turn. “Not in his apartment where he died fighting for us, and not anywhere else. We promised him we would save his siblings. My siblings. It doesn’t matter how they feel about us. We’re keeping our promise.”
Her command strikes me in the chest, zinging through my veins like lightning and charging me with a fire to do anything she asks. I nod when she looks my way, as do the others when her eyes land on them.
She turns to face the girl.
“I don’t care what you say or do,” the girl grinds through her teeth.
“You killed Harvey. I know he only would have betrayed Dad because of you. He always thought you were special.” Her voice chokes with emotion.
“Because you got away. But you aren’t. You’re just like the rest of us.
Just as broken and as afraid as we are! And you used him, pretending you could stand a chance against GE, and then got him killed for it!
If you hadn’t been here, he would still be alive!
I hate you! I hate you!” She jerks forward and stops short when a metal band circles her chest and the back of the chair.
I clench my fists and snap at her, “He would have died weeks ago at your dear old dad’s hands if not for us!”
“You don’t know that!”
“We do, actually,” Aiden joins, his tone much calmer than ours.
“That doesn’t excuse our failure or change anything when it comes to what happened here, but Charles no longer needed him after he’d infiltrated the Guild.
He considered Harvey and the rest of you expendable.
Even if there’s the slightest whiff of betrayal, he has you killed.
Isn’t that what happened to your sister, Wyra? ”
I don’t remember the name or mention from Harvey, but I’m not surprised Aiden does.
The girl’s eyes round as her hands cling together so tightly the chains begin to rattle. “He told you... why? Why would he share that...” She snaps her head up when Raegan crouches in front of her. I tense, ready to jump between them if the girl tries anything.
“What’s your name?” Rae asks, her voice soft.
The girl’s lips whiten as they’re pressed together.
Raegan smiles with more understanding than I could ever offer this girl who’s been nothing but a pain.
“I’m sorry about your brother. I’m sorry we didn’t protect him enough.
But you’re directing the blame at the wrong person.
Charles killed Harvey. Charles is the one holding you hostage. ”
“You’re wrong,” the girl croaks, her eyes swimming.
Raegan continues, “You were here, weren’t you? When it happened.”
Tears spill over, but she doesn’t answer.
“He snuck in using your invisibility. He made you help him come after your brother.” Rae pauses.
Waits. My chest grows tight as I realize what she’s saying.
At what this girl must have witnessed. “I’ve been made to do a lot of horrible things with my gift.
I’ve killed people—innocent people. People whose names I didn’t know.
I thought that made me a villain and that their blood was on my hands.
I still remember their faces to this day. Every. Single. One.”
She takes a deep breath. I want to pull her into my arms and hold her tight. Tell her that none of it was her fault. I want to kill Gordon with my own hands and make him beg her for his life. I knew she’d been through a lot... but this...
How much is she still carrying with her? How is she able to smile like she does? Love, as she does?
“But I can’t imagine what you must have felt being forced to kill your own brother.”
The silence in the room is deafening. My heart pounds in my ears, shock slipping through my limbs like ice.
“The room... it’s too messy for Charles.
He would have been quick, or it wouldn’t have been so bloody unless there was a struggle,” Raegan explains, her voice barely more than a whisper.
She raises her hands, and a reddish glow encompasses them when she touches the metal band holding the girl back, reducing it to ash.
“Raegan,” Aiden warns, stepping closer.
She wraps her arms around the girl who doesn’t move, doesn’t fight it. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. No one should ever have to see someone they love be killed. And making you do it was sick and evil. He’s evil. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t you.”
The girl’s self-control snaps. She grabs Raegan’s arms and breaks down into sobs and cries of anguish.
“Harvey! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
” She curls into Rae, her face bright red and soaked as she clings to her.
“I did it! I couldn’t say no! H-he was going to kill me, too! I d-didn't want to die! I’m sorry!”
“Dane. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better sister to you.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to save you. I’m so fucking sorry.”
The weight in my chest expands, swallowing me in a black hole of sudden despair.
Vera!
I clutch at my chest, stumbling from the apartment and falling to my hands and knees as I gasp for air. The grief twists like a corkscrew, tighter and tighter as I battle to breathe through the shaking that’s consumed my entire body.
What if there was another way?
Did I give up too soon?
Could I have saved her from Royce without her dying?
Why did this happen?
How could I let my sister die twice?
Fuck, I’m going to be sick.
My stomach rolls, burning my throat as I force it back down. I tuck my forehead against my arm, breathing in the hardwood floor of the hallway—the rich mahogany smell that proves it’s real hardwood and not the fake stuff. I absorb the coolness of the wood through my cheek, closing my eyes.
This was what she wanted. She said it herself.
Because she thought it was the only answer. What if I’d found another way?
And how many more years would she have been used and tortured by Royce before I finally accepted that this was the only way for it to end?
The constriction in my chest eases, filling in with a steadier ache instead.
I push myself upright, then fall back against the wall.
It still hurts. Still weighs like bricks of loss chained to my heart.
But I can breathe. The tension slowly fades from my muscles, and I wipe my face clear of the tears that’d fallen.
I’m not holding on to the grief as I did last time.
I’m sad she’s gone.
But I’m happy she’s not Royce’s puppet anymore.
We did save her, I remind myself. Just not in the way I wanted.