The bell ripped from Priest’s hands and clattered across the tunnel floor. The remaining bells flew from the bag as if being pulled by a magnet. They rolled over the stone and piled themselves up, climbing over one another like rats scaling a wall. Once the bells laddered their way to the ceiling, they separated and spread through the tunnel above our heads.
The deafening sound of clanging metal erupted in the small space, as the bells rang mercilessly. Everyone covered their ears.
Except Andras.
He had returned to the center of the Devil’s Trap, waving his chained arms together as one, conducting his belled orchestra. He closed his eyes, reveling in the sound that was designed to bring him to his knees.
The sprinklers whirled on and more salt assailed the demon’s body. My heart thudded against my ribs as pillars of steam roll off his skin. Without warning, the bells stopped ringing.
“Cover your heads,” Dimitri yelled.
The bells hung in the air for a moment then dropped. One hit my shoulder, while others crashed to the floor around me, missing me by inches.
Gabriel stumbled to his feet and unhooked Azazel. The bones screeched and writhed as he cracked the whip against the bars.
Andras laughed, contorting Jared’s beautiful face into a mask of rage. “You cannot control me with your toy, Gabriel.” The demon cupped his shackled hands, letting them fill with holy water. Steam rose from his palms, as he lifted his hands to his lips and drank.
Alara gasped and Gabriel stared, opened-mouthed.
When Andras finished, his eyes blackened. “Who is your champion now, Gabriel?” The demon held out his shackled wrists, the chain hanging between them. “This boy’s soul feeds me, like the souls of the girls I killed before I found you.” He pointed at me and smiled. “Kennedy—the girl both of us want to possess.”
A shudder ran through me.
Soaked in holy water, Andras moved closer to the bars. “Who do you think will win your soul?” His eyes turned the same pale shade of blue shade as Jared’s. The demon’s body jerked, and a disoriented expression passed over his face.
“Run,” Jared whispered.
I ignored him and stood perfectly still, afraid the slightest movement might snap the thread between us.
Jared shook his head in quick jerks, and the black ink seeped into his eyes.
Priest backed down the tunnel. “We should get out of here. That monster isn’t Jared.”
Andras whipped around. “I agree, Owen. I am not Jared. He is an entirely different kind of monster.” He looked at Lukas with a vicious glint in his eye. “Isn’t that right, Lukas? Why don’t you tell Owen who was really responsible for his grandfather’s death?”
The color drained from Lukas’ face, and he gripped one of the icy bars to steady himself.
“Save it,” Alara said. “No one believes your lies.”
Lukas’ eyes darted from the demon hiding behind his brother’s face to Alara. He flipped his silver coin between his fingers, over one and under the next, and then back again.
The demon jerked the chain shackled to his ankle and stepped closer to the bars. “Am I lying, Lukas? Tell your witch the truth.”
The coin slipped from Lukas’ fingers and dropped on the floor. Alara watched it clatter to a stop between their boots.
“Lukas?” A hint of fear lurked in Alara’s voice.
He frowned, and a deep line cut between his brows. He didn’t take his eyes off the coin, as if he were letting it decide his fate. Heads or tails. The truth or a lie. But both sides of Lukas’ coin were the same.
“It was an accident,” he said finally.
Priest shook his head, confused. “Wait, what are we talking about?”
“He didn’t mean it,” Lukas mumbled.
Priest stiffened. “Didn’t mean what? You’re not making any sense. What happened?”
The demon threw his head back and laughed. “In the Labyrinth, we lie to our enemies. Only humans lie to their friends.”
Lukas lunged at the bars. “Shut your mouth. Or I swear to god, I’ll kill you myself!”
Andras smiled. “I’m sorry. God is busy performing miracles at the moment.”
Alara grabbed Lukas’ arm and wheeled him around. “What’s he talking about?”
“Our uncle wanted to find the missing member of the Legion. Like I told Faith, he thought the Legion would be stronger if all five members were together.” The words tumbled out, the same way they had when Jared first told me the story inside the wall, at Hearts of Mercy. “Jared figured out the names of all the Legion members. He made a list—”
“A list?” Rage flashed in Alara’s brown eyes.
“He was trying to help. So we could destroy him.” Lukas pointed at the cell, and the demon that looked exactly like his brother.
Alara slumped against the wall. “That’s how Andras found them.”
“It was an accident,” I said.
“Breaking something is an accident.” Priest’s voice grew louder with every word. “Killing five people is something else.”
“Owen does have a point.” Andras smiled.
I ignored him and plowed ahead. “Jared didn’t know Andras would find them.”
“He knew the rules.” Priest pointed at me, seething. “And you’d say anything to protect him.”
I had never seen Priest this angry. The fact that his rage was directed at me only made it more frightening. And I didn’t think it had anything to do with the demon’s proximity. “That’s not true. My mom died that night, too.”
“Your mother was a spy.”
I stared back at him, speechless.
“That’s enough.” Gabriel stepped between us.
Alara looked up, from where she stood leaning against the wall. She had been strangely quiet until now. “Wait. How do you know it was an accident?” She stared at me as if we were the only two people in the room. “You knew this whole time?”
I swallowed hard. “Jared wanted to tell you himself.”
“That’s a lie,” Andras said casually, as he moved closer to the bars. “I should know. I spend all day in his head.”
“No.” Lukas backed away.
Priest gave Andras one last look, then turned and stormed down the tunnel. “I’m outta here.”
Tears glittered in Alara’s eyes. “You should’ve told me, Kennedy.” She followed Priest, her footsteps echoing through the passage.
I pressed my hands against my eyes until black splotches appeared behind my eyelids.
“Jared never would have told them,” Lukas said. “He was too ashamed.”
“He’s right.” Andras said. “And I didn’t need to read your boyfriend’s thoughts to find out. Jared’s soul was branded with guilt the first time I saw him, at your aunt’s house.”
The first time he saw him.
Memories slid together in blurry flashes, like the black splotches clouding my vision.
Jared standing in front of the shattered bay window at my aunt’s house.
The child’s pupil-less black eyes staring back at him.
Gabriel’s voice replayed in my mind: If a demon marks your soul, he’ll always be able to find you.
The realization crystalized in my mind with perfect and horrible clarity. I forced myself to face at the monster that only looked like Jared. “That’s how you found us. When Jared looked at you from the window… you marked him.”
We never stood a chance.
Andras took a step forward, but I didn’t move. There was something about the way he was looking at me.
“I didn’t need Jared to find you. His soul isn’t the one I marked that day at Faith’s.” A trail of holy water burned its way down the demon’s cheek. “It was yours.”
Lukas dragged me down the dark tunnel. “You can’t let him get in your head. It’s just another one of his lies.”
What if it wasn’t? What if my soul was the one marked by a demon? I had stared out the window at the little girl, too.
&nb
sp; He’ll always be able to find you.…
I had assembled the Shift and released Andras, and now he had left his demonic fingerprint on my soul? Maybe this was my punishment. House arrest at the hands of one of hell’s soldiers. A soldier who was slowly killing the boy I—
Love.
I felt it every time I looked at Jared, every time he touched me.
I’m in love with him.
Lukas bolted the last lock on the door at the top of the stairs. The fluorescent glare against the steel walls made me dizzy. I reached for the closest wall to steady myself, but it was too far away. Or I was.
He caught me as my knees buckled, and wrapped his arm around me. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“You’re wrong. It’s my fault Andras found us in the warehouse. My fault Jared’s possessed,” I could barely choke out the words. “I’m the one he marked.”
How many times had I prayed to be marked as a Legion member?