Thrall

Chapter Twenty-Two #2

Lucy maintained eye contact just a second longer.

She hoped it looked as cold as it needed to look.

She didn’t have Hiro’s gift for slipping into people’s thoughts, and she didn’t have an opening to give Mila any sort of signal.

So for now, she needed to keep to the act.

Even at the risk of tricking Mila, too. I’m trying to stay alive, she said. You should try to do the same.

She looked away from Mila, back to Vanya.

And as she did, she heard another voice—one that she thought she would have to call out to first. Unlike Vanya’s voice in her ear, it was a whisper.

Not obtrusive. Not even red. It was so quiet, so subtle, it blended with her thoughts like it belonged there.

Lucy could see immediately why it was so good at slipping into the cracks of people’s minds.

Why are you lying? it said. Natalie Baker isn’t dead. I can hear her thinking all the way from Goldwell.

Somehow, Lucy suppressed her smile. Sadie, she said. You were just the person I was hoping to talk to.

“All right, all right, now,” Vanya said. “Let’s take a step back here, Lucy. You didn’t bring me Athena Barnes. And not to put too fine a point on it, but that is the one thing I asked you to do.”

“I realize that. And that’s my fault.” Lucy knew, without looking, that she’d just stepped into the cold ring of light filtering down from the manhole cover.

The light settled over her like a fever.

“But if you turn me right now, I can still help you find her. I’ve spent more time with her than any of you. ”

Vanya clapped his hands as he laughed. “Whitney told me you hadn’t decided your major yet. I certainly hope you didn’t have Business in mind. You’d like me to hold up my end of the deal for nothing more than a promise on your end?”

Lucy paused, as if to gather her thoughts. As she’d hoped, Sadie slipped right into them. If you wanted to talk to me, there were easier ways to go about it, she said. You’ve delivered yourself right into his hands. And if you think he’ll let your girlfriend go, you’re as naive as he is.

It felt strange to laugh only in her mind. Naive, huh? I’m not hearing the undying respect he clearly thinks he has from you.

You said it yourself. That placid expression remained on Sadie’s face, even as her voice went bitter. I’m trying to stay alive. Whatever that means now.

This part, more than anything else, had been a gamble.

Lucy had come into this tunnel knowing just a handful of things about Sadie Grainger.

That she had a family who loved her enough to hang all those posters.

That she was talented in a way that Vanya relied on.

And that when she’d spoken to Lucy in her dream, the ambivalence had struck her, even in her delirium.

Lucy knew the sound of resignation when she heard it.

So she said, Then I have a proposition for you. Watch this, and say nothing.

Watch what? Sadie asked. But Lucy had already started to speak.

“I just wanted to tell you,” she said, “that I appreciate what you’ve done for me so much, Mr. Volkov, sir. Whitney told me you saw through me, at that party, and you really did. You were right. I did want everything you offered. It just took me a while to figure that out.

“That said…” And here, she finally did smile. She couldn’t help it. “I do have a competing offer on the table. So…don’t you need to convince me, as well?”

Vanya’s laugh curdled in his throat. “Offer?” he said. “From those fossils in the library?”

“I wasn’t going to make this personal,” Lucy said mildly.

“But yes, if you insist on asking. They’ve got their quirks, but they really seem like they’d be good with boundaries.

And Mr. Minamoto makes this delicious herbal-blend tea.

You’ve gotten me this far—and did I tell you how much I appreciate that?

I just think they might be the better fit, emotionally speaking.

Unless, of course, you’re open to some renegotiation. You let Mila go, and I’ll join you.”

Vanya closed the distance between them in seconds. “Ingrate,” he snapped. “You’ve overestimated your position here.”

“I am an ingrate,” she agreed easily. “You should know this already. I left my home. I left my mother alone in her grief for a chance at being happy. So why should I not look for the best deal? I have things that you need. I’m not that impressed at the accommodations here.

And I don’t think I’m going to like the taste of rats.

So if you’d like me in this family, perhaps you should sweeten the deal. ”

“You think I need you?” he said.

“Of course you do,” Lucy said. “You know Athena is smarter than you. It’s why her existence still burns you, even after all these years.

Do you think if you kill me, the person here who knows her best, that you’ll be able to get the better of her?

Because I don’t think that you will. I think she’ll escape you.

And then I think you’ll never see her again. ”

Vanya yanked her close, the smell of her blood still on his breath. On the other side of the room, Lucy could hear Mila struggling, but even as Sadie held her back, she didn’t resume her whispering. All she did was watch.

“Did you really come here to negotiate?” Vanya said. “Because I’m starting to think you came here just to insult me.”

“Of course I came to negotiate.” Lucy’s voice was hoarse.

She could feel herself shaking in his grip.

“I like Laurentius and Hiro. But my sisters are here. I want to know them, if I can. I wonder if you knew this, when you decided to come here, but this school has some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.

I’m sure they’re no exception. Why did the two of you come here?

What did you love, Addison? What was your major, Sadie? ”

One of Vanya’s hands moved to Lucy’s jaw, forcing her mouth shut. What are you doing? Sadie called into her mind. All you’re doing is making him angry. He’s going to kill you long before you get what you want.

“Hold your tongue,” Vanya growled.

Lucy would have laughed, if she could. Unless what I want isn’t what I’ve asked him for.

Which means? Sadie said.

We’ll get to that, Lucy said. I’m more interested in what you want. You and Addison.

“I think I’m finished hearing out your requests,” Vanya said, in the same moment.

“That’s fine,” Lucy gritted out, against the pressure of his grip. “It was worth a try.”

Sadie’s thoughts had begun to move faster, as though she were aware they no longer had much time. Addie just wants to be here, she said. With him, and with me. If she wants anything else, she doesn’t say, not even in the privacy of her own mind. She was lonely, and now she’s not.

And you? Lucy asked.

I wish I had the opportunity to be lonely, Sadie said. I know what your friend Athena thinks of us. I can hear it in your mind. I did become something different, after he turned me. I became nothing. He hasn’t let me be anything. Not even the monster you must think I am.

Lucy struggled, though she had no hope of getting free. It was a calculated move. One designed to make him angrier. “How about a counterproposal?” Vanya said. “I’ll forgive everything you’ve said. I’ll let you join this family. And then I’ll feed your girlfriend to your sisters.”

Lucy bared her teeth as she smiled. Surely Vanya could hear the fear in her pounding heart. Surely he couldn’t differentiate it from the anticipation.

“Laurentius was right,” she said. “You really aren’t that complicated.”

As Vanya released her throat, raked her hair back from her neck, Lucy wondered if she sounded shaky even in her mind. What if you could find out? she asked Sadie. What you are without him.

Then I’d think you’re desperate and you’re bargaining, Sadie said. I couldn’t help you right now if I tried.

Vanya’s teeth pressed lightly against her neck, as if feeling out the boundaries of her vein. When he held her like this, he couldn’t see Lucy. He couldn’t see the look on her face as she steeled herself.

I’m not asking for your help, Sadie, she said. I’m just asking you to keep watching.

Vanya’s bite made its way through the bruising and scabbing, and Lucy felt the pop of her skin giving way once more. He had fed from her gently before. He was very far from gentle now.

You said that before. There was impatience in Sadie’s flat voice. You’ve got moments left. What am I supposed to watch?

Lucy tightened her grip on Vanya as he drank deeper. Her vision flickered. The warmth of Natalie’s blood was leaving her. It would be all down to her adrenaline now.

Well, she said. Natalie Baker isn’t dead. Athena Barnes didn’t run away. And there’s one more thing.

Lucy could feel in Vanya’s posture the moment he was about to break away from her.

He straightened, leaning his cheek against the top of her head, and it seemed his good cheer was back: He laughed as the tension drained from his body, laughed again as Lucy held on to him to keep them both upright.

The euphoria Laurentius had talked about was rushing in.

It seemed he was still young enough for it to go to his head.

Go now, Lucy thought.

What? Sadie said.

Lucy didn’t dare take her attention away from Sadie or Vanya too long. But as she turned to look at Sadie, she caught Mila’s eye in the process. And she winked. I wasn’t talking to you, she replied.

“Mmm.” Vanya reeled back in her grip with the soft eyes of a drunk man. “Your turn.”

Lucy smiled, and looped another arm around his neck. She imagined the chain of events that must have been playing out above her head. Hiro, back in the broadcast studio, listening for her signal. Hiro picking up his phone to send Athena a message of his own. Athena preparing the last word.

Lucy held tight to Vanya. “Yes,” she said. “It is.”

There was a deafening scrape overhead, metal dragging against metal.

The halo of light that Lucy had stepped into, that Vanya had met her in, shuddered with the sound.

And somewhere aboveground, Athena pulled back the manhole cover above their heads.

Lucy felt the sunlight cascade over them, but her eyes remained on Vanya.

She wanted to see the moment he realized.

And he did. He jerked back, away from her, but Lucy was ready for him: She clenched around him like a jaw, both arms around his back, one of his legs between both of hers.

She was exhausted, but as she’d hoped, the euphoria made Vanya slow and clumsy.

He twisted and clawed as his skin bubbled beneath her hands, but he couldn’t break her grip.

Addison was screaming. She took a few steps toward them, but there was no way for her to make it, not without leaping into the sunlight herself. The black bag with Mila’s bow had dropped from her nerveless fingers. Mila, now completely unrestrained, watched it happen.

That last thing, Sadie? Lucy said. Is that your sister just gave my girlfriend her bow back.

Mila broke away from Sadie and Addison. Addison was still screaming, still darting from side to side as if there was some safe angle to save her maker.

Sadie was as still as she’d been asked to be.

So when Mila picked up the bag—the bag where she always kept a spare arrow or two in case of emergencies—no one stopped her.

“Lucy!” Mila bellowed as she nocked her arrow. “Out of the way!”

Lucy released Vanya and flung herself to the side, rolling twice and landing on her back. She levered herself upright just in time to see Mila’s arrow hit home. Straight through Vanya’s heart.

He was so much older than Whitney. But it seemed age didn’t slow the inevitable.

He had enough time to look down to where Mila’s arrow was lodged in his chest before his skin sloughed from his muscles like wet clay.

His eyes burst, coursed down his cheeks, and when he opened his jaw to scream, it detached, landing on the ground with a soft thud.

His hair, the sandy blond that Lucy had first noticed standing there in the kitchen, thinned and crumbled.

And finally, his bones broke down to dust and scattered.

The thing that had killed Jon, had turned Sadie and Addison and Whitney, had terrorized Athena for nearly her entire adult life—he made for a surprisingly small pile on the concrete.

Addison bolted. If she was fast before, she was beyond human eyesight now: there one moment, down a tunnel the next.

Sadie faltered long enough to look at Lucy, just long enough for Lucy to see that her ever-dull eyes were lit with curiosity.

Then she too was gone before Mila could nock another arrow.

Lucy saw Mila consider chasing them. But she was barely upright. Even the exertion from that single shot had her shaking badly. She ran for Lucy instead. She was shaking—or Lucy was, or they both were. They had to lean hard against each other to get Lucy to her feet.

But when Mila pulled Lucy into her arms, there was no strength missing from her grip. Lucy clung to her in return. The bruise she’d left on Mila’s neck was right next to her cheek. Lucy turned to press her lips against it.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, well.” Mila kissed Lucy’s forehead in turn. “If you were working on that performance, I’ll forgive you.”

As they stood there, holding on to each other, a voice entered Lucy’s head one more time. Not a whisper this time. Not slipping through the cracks of her mind as smoothly as her own thoughts. It was just a voice. Just Sadie herself.

Addie got ahead of me, Sadie said. But I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her, once I catch up. She’ll miss him, for a while. But she’ll still have me.

Lucy gripped Mila tight as she said, And do I have to worry about you?

Well, Sadie said. And Lucy thought she heard the smile from that missing poster, breaking through at last. That’s for both of us to find out.