The Reckoning (Darkest Powers 3)

“ Get Dr. Fellows,” Dr. Davidoff snapped to the other guard. “Quickly. ”

“I didn’t do that,” Tori said. “I didn’t. ”

“It was an accident,” her mother murmured.

“No, I did not do it. I swear to God-”

“She’s right. ” Everyone looked up sharply at the sound of my voice. I twisted to face Mrs. Enright. “Tori didn’t cast that spell. You did. I saw you cast-”

A sudden smack against my cheek, like an invisible slap, so hard my wheelchair rolled back. Blood spurted from my nose.

“Tori!” Mrs. Enright said. “Stop that!”

“I didn’t-”

Tori froze, caught in a binding spell.

Mrs. Enright turned to Dr. Davidoff. “Now do you see what I mean? She’s completely out of control. She lashes out at enemies and friends alike and she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. ”

“Restrain her,” he said. “I’ll take Chloe to her room. ”

Forty

AND SO, AFTER A week on the run, I ended up exactly where I began. In the same cell. Lying on the same bed. Alone.

Dr. Davidoff had hustled me out before Aunt Lauren came for the guard. I thought he might want her to check my bloodied nose, but he’d just brought me a wet cloth and a clean shirt from my closet at Lyle House, telling me I could see my aunt as soon as I was calm and ready to listen. As rewards went, spending quality time with my aunt who’d turned traitor-again-wasn’t really the incentive he thought.

For the past week, I’d dreamed of the day I’d come back here and rescue Aunt Lauren and Rae. Now I was here and there was no one to save. Aunt Lauren had returned to the fold. Rae was dead.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but tears rolled down my cheeks anyway.

I should have tried harder to persuade Rae to come with me. I should have come back for her sooner.

Rae was dead. And Tori was next. Her mother had murdered that guard to frame her. I couldn’t comprehend the evil of that, but I knew what it meant. Diane Enright wanted her daughter dead. She’d become a liability, a threat.

Tori would die and I wouldn’t be far behind. And what about Simon? And Derek? I wiped away the tears and sat up. I had two choices: escape or accept my fate. I wasn’t accepting it. Not now, not ever.

I took stock of my surroundings and what I could use. As for the room, nothing had changed. As for me, all I had were the clothes I wore-the new shirt and my jeans, still stained with Andrew’s blood. I tried not to think about that.

I patted my pockets, hoping for my ever-present switchblade. Gone.

One pocket crackled, though. Paper. I tugged it out and unfolded it. When I remembered it was the picture Simon had made for Derek, I started to refold it, but I’d already seen what he’d drawn-a sketch of me, crouching beside a black wolf, my arm around its neck, and I remembered Simon saying “Give him that. And tell him it’s okay. ”

My eyes stung. I shakily refolded the message, and tucked it back into my pocket. Then I straightened and gave my head a sharp shake. I still had one very big trick up my sleeve. I pulled my legs up onto the bed, closed my eyes, and called the demi-demon.

I’d barely finished summoning her when warm air tickled the top of my head.

“Well,” whispered her tinkling voice, “this looks very familiar. ”

“I need your help. ”

“Now that’s new. And quite welcome, I might add. The first thing you need to do is free me. Then we’ll rain down hell on all who have wronged us. ”

“I’ll free you after you help me. And we’ll skip the raining-down-hell part. ”

“Oh, but it’s so much fun. All that fire and brimstone and rivers of lava. Demons beating their ragged wings and fanning the flames. ” A pause, then a deep sigh. “Sarcasm is lost on the young and gullible, isn’t it? I meant it figuratively. Wreak havoc, if you will. Smite our mutual enemies. ”

“No smiting. ”

“You’re going to ruin all my fun, aren’t you? Fine. Free me and-”

“After you help me. ”

“Details, details. I suppose you want to escape again. I’m not quite sure why, given that you seem rather fond of this place. You keep returning. ”

I glared in her direction. “Yes, I want your help escaping, but we’re also going to free Simon and Tori and, if Derek’s here, he comes, too. ”

“Presuming you mean the werewolf boy, he hasn’t passed through those doors since he left years ago. But if they do bring him in, I will include him in the plan. I am nothing if not fair in my dealings with mortals. ”

I’d seen enough demonic-pact-gone-wrong horror movies to know I needed an iron-clad agreement. The problem was that I didn’t know exactly what I needed her to do. Get me out, sure. But how?

Not surprisingly, she had an idea. Also not surprisingly, I didn’t like it.

“Isn’t there another way?”

“There’s always another way. Personally, I would prefer that witch Diane Enright. I’m quite fond of witches, as I believe I’ve mentioned. True, she’s still alive, but that’s an obstacle easily overcome. Tell the guard you wish to speak to her and I’ll guide you through the rest. Breaking her neck is the simplest method, but you are rather small for that, so-”

“No. ”

“Then it’s back to my original suggestion, isn’t it?”

A minute later, I was kneeling on the carpet, doing something I’d sworn I’d never even consider. Return a human ghost to his corpse. Right now, though, it was the only way I could see to keep from becoming a corpse myself.

I focused on the memory of his face, commanding him back.

“A little more,” the demi-demon murmured. “Yes, that’s it. Now call him to you. ”

I did. And I braced myself for screams.

“They’re all in the meeting room,” the demi-demon said, as if reading my mind. “Just bring him quickly. ”

A minute later, the card lock clicked. The door swung open. And there stood the guard Mrs. Enright had killed.

Earlier, he’d just been “the guard. ” I didn’t know his name. Didn’t want to. I’d had to struggle to recall his face for the summoning. He’d just been an anonymous minion of the Edison Group. And now, when I desperately wanted to depersonalize him again, instead I saw a man. Young. Short brown hair. Freckles. Traces of acne on his cheeks. Was he much older than me? I swallowed, and made the mistake of lifting my eyes to his. Brown eyes, dark with rage and hate. I dropped my gaze.

He still had the card key in his hand, raised, and I fixed on that. Another mistake. A wedding band sparkled on his finger.

Oh God, he had a wife. Kids? A baby maybe? One who’d never see-

I squeezed my eyes shut.

You had nothing to do with his death.

But I’d done something that felt just as bad. I’d brought him back to life. And when I glanced at his face, I saw how terrible that was-the hate, the fury, the disgust.