“Want to tell us what we’re doing?” John looked back at Liv.
“Testing a theory,” she said quietly.
“What kind of theory?” Link asked. “What the hell’s goin’ on, Liv? Why can’t we get near Rid without makin’ her want to puke?”
Liv looked away. “I think it’s because we’re both Mortal—at least, part Mortal.”
Link’s stomach twisted into a knot, and for a second, he thought he might puke. “That can’t be right.” He shook his head. “Tell her she’s wrong, Rid.”
Ridley kept her distance and tossed her pink-streaked blond hair over her shoulder casually. “Makes sense to me.”
The way she said it was almost like she didn’t care.
“But what about us, Rid? How are we gonna fix it?” Link swallowed hard, a sinking feeling settling inside him.
She looked troubled, avoiding his eyes. “We aren’t. It was good while it lasted, Hot Rod. But things are different now.”
“Rid, we can figure this out. Maybe there’s some kinda antidote or somethin’.” Link knew he was begging, but he didn’t care.
Everyone turned away like they were watching a car crash.
“You don’t get it, Shrinky Dink. I’m not the same person.”
“Then who are you?” Link was hurt and confused, but he wanted to understand. He hadn’t come all this way for nothing.
Ridley looked away. “To be honest, I feel like throwing up. I need some air.”
Link shook his head. “I don’t know what Silas did to you, but deep down, you’re still the same girl.”
“Hardly,” she said. “I don’t know what I am. Not anymore.” She had never spoken more honestly in her life.
Link ran his hand through his spiky hair. “I know who you are. You’re the girl who gives me a hard time and won’t let me call her Babe. The girl who lives to torture my mom, but who’s always there for the people she cares about.”
Ridley shrugged. “What kind of torture are we talking about? You know, so I can picture it.”
She smiled at him, but she wasn’t with him. Not really.
Link reached into his pocket and took out something he’d been saving.
A cherry lollipop.
He held it between them.
“The girl who loves cherry lollipops.” He took a deep breath. “And me.”
Link realized she probably couldn’t stand to get close enough to take it from him, so he laid it on the floor and backed away.
Ridley walked toward it slowly, her eyes darting between him and the lollipop. When she finally reached the red and white wrapper, she stopped.
She’s gonna pick it up.
Link’s heart swelled.
Ridley stared at him—and then at Nox, who wasn’t saying a word. In fact, it looked like he’d rather be anywhere in the world other than where they were right now.
But it was time.
“Rid. Just tell me. Do you love me?” Link asked.
Ridley said nothing.
He swallowed.
“Do you love me? Even a little?” It was the same question Link had asked her on the highway, when they were trying to get away from New York City.
Before the accident.
Ridley looked him in the eye and stepped on the lollipop, crushing it under her platform shoe. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Not anymore.” She leaned closer, dropping her voice to almost a whisper. “There’s nothing sweet about me anymore, Shrinky Dink.”
“What?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I don’t want to be sweet. That girl is gone. She’s dead. Silas Ravenwood killed her.”
In that one moment, Link’s world imploded. Every dream he’d ever had—everything he’d ever cared about—since the day he met Ridley Duchannes died.
As John Ripped the rest of them out of the labs and away from Silas and Angelique and New Orleans, Link felt like part of him died, too.
The sweetest part.
But Link refused to leave.
He’d Rip himself out of there when he was ready. For now, all he could do was sit alone in the prison cell where Ridley Duchannes had destroyed him.
Link stared at the prison bars, the plaster ceiling, and the frail little bed.
How can I blame her? Who knows what they did to her in here?
Then something caught his eye.
Letters, scratched into the nightstand.
She wrote my name.
That was when he realized Rid hadn’t forgotten him.
She had been stolen from him, and he’d do anything to get her back.
Because Ridley Duchannes is my girl.
Nothing could ever make him forget about her, and he swore that someday she’d remember him the same way. It wasn’t a promise.
It was a Binding, even stronger than the ring he was wearing around his finger.
When he held up his hand and looked at it, the ring glowed green for the very first time since he saw her.
This was his vow.
Even if she would be the last to know it.
CHAPTER 30: NOX
Heaven and Hell
Nox stood across from Ridley, staring into those hypnotic violet eyes—speechless. They were still standing outside the cells.
Rid had refused to leave with Link, and from what Nox could tell, she’d seemed physically repulsed by the Mortal part of him.
Something he can’t change.
Ever.
“What’s wrong, Baby?” She hooked her fingers through Nox’s belt loops.
“What kind of power did Silas give you this time, Rid?”
Her eyes sparkled at the mention of the infusion, and Nox felt sick. The look in her eyes reminded him of the Chemist and the Shine.
Rid nuzzled close to his ear. “It’s a surprise.” Her lips grazed his, and he couldn’t think about anything else but her. “You like my surprises, don’t you?”
“I love everything about you, Rid.”
He spoke words she expected to hear, even though he felt miserable saying them. Because they were the truth.
Even now. Always.
Nox deepened the kiss and lost himself in her.
“I hate to interrupt,” a voice said from behind them, and Nox almost jumped out of his skin.
He turned around. “Mrs. Blackburn? What are you doing here?”
“The right thing,” she said. “Something I should’ve done for your mother all those years ago.”
“Nox, who is this lady?” Rid asked.
“She works for Silas, a
nd she worked for Abraham before him—I’ve known her since I was a kid.”
Ridley only nodded.
“We don’t have time for introductions,” Mrs. Blackburn said. “I need to get you two out of here. Silas is heading to his lab in LA with one of the other Casters he experimented on.” She shook her head. “He said he could make her immortal.”
Ridley’s head snapped up when she heard the word. “Are you positive that’s what he said?”
Mrs. Blackburn frowned. “I may be old, but I’m not deaf.”
Rid’s eyes lit up, and Nox’s spirits sank.
Immortality?
She looked mesmerized.
Nox grabbed her hand. “Come on, Rid. You said we could leave after … you know, it was finished.”
Ridley gave him a quick kiss, a viper curling around her neck. “I’m done here.”
“How are we going to get past Silas’ guards?” Nox asked the old Caster.
“We aren’t.” The cook headed down the hallway, with Nox and Ridley on her heels. “I’m taking you through the Tunnel that leads to the house. Leave the same way you came, and you’ll end up at the Mile.”
“Thank you,” Nox said.
“I owe it to you. You, and your mother.”
“There’s a Tunnel that leads into the house?” Rid asked. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Who do you think cooks all the meals for Silas’ research staff?”
Mrs. Blackburn led them to her secret Tunnel like she promised, and when they reached the Outer Door inside Silas’ house, she gave Nox a quick hug. “You know it’s your job to get that girl right again, don’t you?” she whispered.
He nodded.
It’s all I think about.
It’s the only thing that matters.
Whether or not it means she stays with me.
Ridley and Nox didn’t stop again until they were safely out of Silas’ house and in the Tunnels. It was the first time he felt like they actually had a chance.
He pulled Ridley against him. “So where do you want to go?”
She tilted her head, as if she was deciding. “I’m thinking LA.”