“Gabriel, stop.” I knew where this was going.
Andras yanked on the chains, his hands still shackled in front of him. “You would be wise to listen to her, Gabriel. After all, she is Elizabeth’s daughter.”
At the mention of my mother’s name, she appeared on the other side of the bars. Wearing a white button-down shirt and jeans, my mom looked every bit as alive as she had in life—from her long, brown wavy hair and beautiful features to her warm, chocolate eyes and playful smile.
“Elizabeth?” Gabriel whispered.
The world around me felt like it stopped. I couldn’t see anything except my mother—because now that I was staring at her, I realized that’s who she would always be to me. Not a rogue Illuminati member, or the woman who had betrayed my father and lied to me.
She gasped, her eyes shining. “Kennedy?” Her gaze drifted to Gabriel. “What are you two—? Why am I in a cell?”
As she turned, Andras clamped his hand around her throat.
“No!” Gabriel shouted, pounding on the bars.
I grabbed his arm. “It’s not real. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Andras is manifesting one of your fears. I’ve seen him do it before.”
Gabriel ignored me, his gaze fixed on my mom.
Andras stood behind her and lifted her off the ground, his hand still locked around my mother’s neck.
“Are you fearless now, Gabriel?” Andras roared. “Is the magic painted on your skin protecting you from the Maker of Nightmares?”
Gabriel turned his pockets inside out. I realized he was searching for the keys.
“Don’t open it.” I pressed my back against the cold lock, blocking Gabriel’s access. “I swear it’s not her.”
His eyes were wild. “Kennedy, move!”
I heard choking noises behind me and my mom’s voice. “Please—”
Don’t look.
“I’m going to tear your heart out!” Gabriel yelled, pushing me aside.
The hiss of the sprinklers sputtered above us. As Gabriel slid the key into the first lock, cold water, spiked with rock salt, showered from the ceiling.
Steam rose from Andras’ skin, and he staggered back and fell against the wall. The holy water’s effect on my mother was worse. The water droplets punched holes in her, eating away at her form. Gabriel dropped to his knees and gripped the bars, while I watched the last pieces of my mom disappear.
The demon gritted his teeth. “That’s the way I prefer to see you Gabriel. On your knees.”
Gabriel dragged himself to his feet and stared at the keys in his hand, black ash from his cheeks running down his face. “I almost.…”
“But you didn’t,” I said.
Andras clapped, his movements slower as if he’d expended too much energy. “You’re smarter than Jared thinks you are, Kennedy Waters.”
“You have no idea what Jared thinks.” I tried to sound confident, but I was still reeling from seeing my mother, even if it was some sort of illusion.
“I’m inside his body. Do you believe it’s any harder for me to get into his head?”
Was it possible?
I shuddered.
The demon smiled. “I know what happened at Hearts of Mercy. Jared regrets it. He cares about you, but he only kissed you because he thought you were one of them—the missing member of the Legion he was searching for.”
The words shot through me. If Andras knew about Jared’s secret and the first kiss we’d shared while we were trapped in the wall…
He really can get inside Jared’s head.
The demon wasn’t finished. “Instead he learns you’re Illuminati. Can you image the disappointment?”
My cheeks burned.
“What does that leave you with, Kennedy Waters? A dead mother. A father who didn’t want you. Friends who don’t trust you.” Andras paused, savoring the moment. “And a boy who doesn’t love you.”
My heart felt like it stopped beating.
Gabriel snapped out of his haze. “He’s trying to get under your skin, Kennedy. He doesn’t know anything.”
Then how did he know about Hearts of Mercy and the kiss?
“I want to talk to Jared.”
The demon laughed, a hollow sound, devoid of any real emotion. “I’m sorry. Jared’s not home right now. But he asked me to give you a message.”
“Don’t listen to a word that comes out of his filthy mouth,” Gabriel barked.
What if Jared really was trying break free and communicate with me? How could I walk away without knowing?
“What’s the message?”
The demon rose and walked toward the bars, dragging the chains along with him. Gabriel unhooked his whip, and the bones uncurled themselves.
“What’s the message?” I repeated.
He’s not going to tell you.
Without warning, Jared’s body rocketed toward me, faster than any human being could possibly move. He stopped inches from the bars—and me.
Gabriel raised the whip, and I caught his arm. “No.” I turned back to Andras. “What’s the message?”
The slow, insidious smile crawled across his lips. “Goodbye. That’s all he said.” The demon’s body sped backward, like someone had hit rewind, until he was leaning against the wall on the other side of the cell.
Gabriel grabbed my arm. “Come on.”
“Leaving so soon, Champion of God?” Andras called.
“Don’t you worry,” Gabriel forced a smile. “I’ll be back.”
As I turned away from the bars, Jared’s voice called out, “Alexa Sears, Lauren Richman, Kelly Emerson, Rebecca Turner, Cameron Anders, Mary Williams, Sarah Edelman, Julia Smith, Shannon O’Malley, Christine Redding, Karen York, Marie Dennings, Rachel Eames, Roxanne North, Catherine Nichols, Hailey Edwards, Lucy Klein.” He taunted me with their names, as if I didn’t already know them by heart. “They’re all dead, Kennedy. Because of you.”
“You killed them, not me.” I kept my voice even.
He tilted his head to the side. “But I did it for you.”
The words left me speechless.
“He’s lying. Let’s get out of here.” Gabriel touched my arm, but I couldn’t make my legs work.
“Am I? Jared was sure his brother, the great code breaker, would have figured it out by now.”
I stared at the names scrawled on the wall like a schizophrenic crossword puzzle: Anders, Klein, Edwards, Turner, Nichols, Eames, York, North, Dennings, Williams, Redding, Smith, O’Malley, Edelman, Richman, Sears, Emerson. My mind took snapshots as I scanned the letters, searching for patterns.
Within a few moments, random letters jumped off the wall, arranging and re-arranging themselves in my mind’s eye.
A. T. E. R. S.
No.
R. O. S. E. W. A. T. E. R. S
My stomach lurched.
K. E. N. N. E. D. Y. R. O. S. E. W. A. T. E. R. S.
“Why?” I barely got the word out.
Andras looked right at me. “I wanted to know how it would feel to be inside your skin. Think of the other girls as substitutes.” Gabriel steered me away from the cell, as the demon called after us. “Souls to tide me over until I found yours. The one that set me free.”
My knees buckled, and I hit the floor, icy water seeping through my jeans. Tiny pinpricks stabbed at the wet skin underneath, but I didn’t move. I wanted the numbness to spread until I couldn’t feel anything, inside or outside.
“Let’s get you out of here.” Gabriel pulled me up.
A familiar melody floated through the tunnel. I recognized the lyrics and shuddered. “Cry, Little Sister,” Jared’s favorite song.
“Kennedy? Are you listening to me?” Gabriel grabbed my shoulders. “That wasn’t Jared. Demons prey on your insecurities. The things you feel guilty about.”
But he knew other things, like details about my relationship with Jared. How could he know those things unless Jared was thinking them?
When we reached the iron door, he unlocked the bolts and
coaxed me through.
Jared’s voice drifted up the stairs. “Cry, little sister.…”
26. ATHENAEUM
The maze of steel hallways looked exactly the same, and within three turns, I was lost. For once, I didn’t care. I had been lost for so long now—running from the memories I couldn’t escape, the wounds I couldn’t heal, and the mistakes I couldn’t erase. It had started the night my mom died and led right up to the moment Andras confirmed my worst fears a few minutes ago.