Endless (24 page)

They were sound-proof. And free from prying eyes.

Ever since we’d arrived in New York, while I’d been stuck within Academy walls, Griffin and Lincoln had been using the privacy offered by the club to discuss all of their theories and plans. It turned out they’d been rather busy.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

‘Evil draws men together.’

Aristotle

D
etermining whether
or not Rainer was upset with me proved more difficult than I’d imagined. Judging it by the fact she still turned up at my room at 5 a.m., devoid of sympathy and clearly expecting me to be on my feet and running then, yeah, she was pissed.

But she had turned up.

I decided that punishment by way of hard-core training was preferable to cold-shoulder treatment. Seeing Phoenix, although troubling, had served as a solid reminder of what lay on my horizon. I needed to be ready. Plus, as strange as it was, I knew the Grigori testing was important and a desire to be accepted by the Assembly had kind of crept up on me.

Then again, when Rainer carved another wound into my upper arm, it was hard to remember all of that.

‘Jesus!’ I exclaimed, twisting to see the damage.

‘You’re sloppy,’ she said, whipping her katana through the air in front of me then pointing it towards my arm. ‘You keep dropping your right arm.’

For a
nano-second
!

‘Might
be because it has no blood left in it,’ I mumbled.

Rainer shook her head. ‘You can’t afford to make a mistake, ever. Not if you plan on living. Start again, from the top. Drills first and then we fight.’

I swallowed. My mouth was parched and my body hurt in ways it was not supposed to, but I nodded, pushed the pain back and carried on through the monotonous and repetitive exercises. I wasn’t sure if Rainer’s training techniques left me feeling more like the Karate Kid or Sarah Connor.

The next time we fought I kept my arms up and ready. Our katanas clashed as we went at each other like feral animals. Fast fights were always preferable, and the only way to ensure that was with a fierce offensive. I wanted to be my best, to be my strongest. I had all the motivation in the world.

A rare opening presented itself; Rainer had made a slight error in the angling of her body. It wouldn’t give me a kill shot but if I was lucky it should be enough to take her down.

I made my move, got a foot to her leg and followed with my blade, just nicking her thigh.

Rainer righted herself quickly, her eyes now alight with a fighter’s intent.

I planted my feet and braced for the attack, but instead… she smiled.

‘What?’ I asked, wiping my sweaty brow.

‘That’s more like it,’ she said, giving me a nod of respect.

It was the first time she’d done that and it had a surprisingly deep effect on me.

‘You fight well with swords. You’re best with a dagger, but then swords. You should remember that and always be armed. You can fight with bare hands when needed but you’re a technician and most lethal with tools.’

I nodded, agreeing.
‘I’ll remember.’

Stepping forward, Rainer put a hand on my shoulder. ‘We both know you hold back, Violet. The question
is
, how much?’

She didn’t wait for my answer and I was grateful, since I didn’t have one.

Rainer started to pack up for the day and when I started to help she put up a hand. ‘Go. You’ve got time before your classes start and I hear you have somewhere else to be.’ She gave me a knowing look.

She was right.

Not that I need the reminder.

Last night at Ascension I’d agreed it was time I visited Evelyn. I’d been putting it off, worried about what to say to her, and to Dad. But we needed her information and Griffin seemed convinced, despite his many visits, that Evelyn would tell me more than she’d revealed to him. I was surprised Griffin had obviously confided in Rainer. She might have been mentoring me, but she was still a member of the Assembly.

‘Okay,’ I said.

‘Violet …’ Rainer continued as I collected my things. Her voice was different now. No longer my teacher. ‘I know that you and Lincoln are… Like Nyla and Rudyard were.’

I looked at my feet.

‘I miss them both so much, but even now… I envy what they had.’

I blinked. ‘What do you mean?’

She shrugged. ‘All of it. They were much more powerful than they ever let others see – always worried it could endanger them if the strongest among us realised their potential. As bonded soulmates their union meant they could draw on one another’s powers when they needed to. They transformed from two good fighters to one incredible warrior.’ Her voice grew quiet. ‘If they’d wanted to, they would’ve been sitting in Wil’s and my seats at the Assembly, but they refused.’

It didn’t surprise
me that Nyla and Rudyard had declined places on the Assembly. It wasn’t their kind of thing.

‘Incredible, but not incredible enough,’ I said. ‘Rudyard is gone and Nyla is… lost, and everyone who loved them is left with the awful reality.’

‘That’s true,’ Rainer agreed.

I hitched my training bag on my shoulder and made for the door.

‘One other thing is true as well, though,’ she continued.

‘What?’

‘Rudyard and Nyla were nowhere near as powerful individually as you and Lincoln. Not even close.’

I paused and turned back to her. ‘The risk is too great, Rainer. Power isn’t everything.’

She fixed a gaze on me that sent a shiver down my spine. ‘Until it is.’

I didn’t respond.

She couldn’t possibly understand what it was like knowing that you could bring about the end to the person you loved. Only Nyla and Rudyard could understand that and they weren’t here. Rainer had the luxury of being able to look at it from the outside. She’d been around for hundreds of years, seen Grigori come and go, all simply casualties of war. She probably wouldn’t hesitate to use the added power that came with being bonded soulmates, but then, she wasn’t taking into account all of the other realities that were a part of it. She couldn’t begin to imagine.

Despite Rainer’s
encouragement, I still had my doubts – and anxieties – about visiting Evelyn and Dad. But as I loitered in the halls I thought about all the reasons why this was important – why confiding in Evelyn and having her opinion could make all the difference. In the end, it was the image of the child I’d seen Phoenix take off with that forced my decision. We were running out of time.

It was a task just to get through all of the security on the lower level until I was permitted into the holding cells.

I’m not sure what I’d expected, maybe jail cells, but Evelyn and Dad had been given something more like a small apartment. They had been allowed to share the same space – two single beds, which had been shoved close together. They had a small kitchenette with a good supply of fruit and vegetables – probably prison enough for Dad, who preferred his vegetables to come in a Chinese takeaway box and covered in oyster sauce.

The only thing that screamed lock-down was that the entire area was contained within some type of barely visible force field that reminded me of the liquid-like wall that divided Phoenix and me in my dream. I could see everything except for a small cubicle I assumed concealed their bathroom. At least they’d been given some privacy.

I walked down the narrow white corridor, alongside their cell. Dad and Evelyn were sitting at a small oval table, playing cards. They both looked up and saw me at the same time and I was struck by the weirdness of it all. The Academy, Grigori, Hell, Lilith, Lincoln, Phoenix, the Scriptures – and there were my parents, playing blackjack in an impenetrable box. It took me a moment to realise I was laughing hysterically.

Maybe they thought it would be
good therapy, or were just pleased to see me, but within seconds, the parents I’d been so nervous about seeing for the last two and a half weeks burst out laughing too.

Just what every kid wants, right? Happy family moments.

As we all sobered, one of the guards patted me down, taking my dagger from me. He looked at my wrist markings with a puzzled expression. Normally, they would ask Grigori to remove their wristbands.

I turned my wrists up and smiled. ‘Sorry. Permanent.’

He grunted and then surprised me by opening a door in the force field.

‘Is it solid?’ I asked.

He shrugged. ‘In a way. But it’s charged by Grigori power, which makes it more, and less.’

‘Like the walkways?’

He gestured me into the room. ‘Similar,’ he said, shutting down the line of questioning. He wasn’t going to tell me any more.

‘Ten minutes,’ the guard said, with a look that said he’d be timing me. Griffin had called in a bunch of favours to arrange the full-access visitation.

I stepped in and watched, as the door seemed to reseal behind me. Once the guard left the area, I took a seat at the table with my parents. I observed them both. Dad looked tired but otherwise fine. Evelyn looked terrible. Her eyes were dark and she had bruises up and down her arms. I suspected her elbows on the table were there to help hold her up more than the cards.

Griffin had
warned me that the Academy had been putting her through the wringer, testing her both mentally and physically. I felt a surge of rage and it surprised me to realise I’d stopped thinking of this woman as my enemy.

But what does that make us now?

‘Violet, I’ve missed you …
We’ve
missed you so much. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for what happened. I am so ashamed. I can’t ask for your forgiveness but I …’

‘Dad,’ I said before he could ramble any more. ‘It’s okay.’ I shook my head, at myself more than anything. I’d been a fool. Sitting there in front of Dad put everything into perspective. ‘Trust me, I’ve done and said a lot of things I wish I could take back recently. You had a huge amount lumped on you all at once and you made a mistake.’ I glanced at Evelyn. ‘I think I’ve made my fair share of those and it might be time we all started letting some of them go. And … I’ve missed you, too.’

Dad nodded quickly and looked away.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Don’t cry, Dad.’

He turned back to me, eyes wet, and smiled. ‘I’m just … I’m so scared and so proud. I don’t know how to be the father in this world.’

I took his hand. ‘It’s okay. I’m struggling to know what my boundaries are as a daughter who’s also Grigori.’

He gave me one of his proud-to-be-Dad smiles. Whatever I’d done over the past few weeks to convince myself I didn’t need him disintegrated and I smiled back, a huge weight lifting from my heart.

One down.

I turned my attention to
Evelyn. ‘We don’t have long and we may not be alone.’

Evelyn nodded, something like pride glinting in her eyes.

Oh no, I can’t cope if she starts tearing up as well.

Blessedly, she reined it in and nodded in agreement.

‘Give me your hands,’ I said.

She raised an eyebrow, curious.

I stared back at her. ‘Just do it, and hurry up. This isn’t going to be pleasant.’

Evelyn placed her hands in mine.

My power moved slowly compared to how it did with Lincoln. It would work my will but it felt less natural to merge with anyone other than my partner. I pushed it out, ignoring Dad’s gasp when my markings started to swirl. At least his human eyes didn’t have to witness my power, which had begun misting the room with billions of tiny amethyst crystals and flowing into Evelyn.

All I saw or felt was the slight tightening of Evelyn’s grip on my hands. She was tough. I’d give her that.

Spence had screamed to high heaven when I healed him. Admittedly, his injuries were far worse than hers but still … it had to be seriously uncomfortable.

When my power seemed to be satisfied, it settled back into me and I released Evelyn’s hands.

She took a moment, shaking them out as if trying to regain control of her body.

‘Thanks,’ she rasped. ‘You were right. That wasn’t pleasant.’ She coughed. ‘But I feel … Thank you.’

I shrugged. ‘You’re going to need your strength.’