Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3) (31 page)

Richard and Kara sit in the Count emporium with its liquid coffins on display while playing a game of cards.

“Who’s winning?” Coop slaps his hand over Richard’s back, and they rise to greet us.

Jen and Carter gag as they stare at one another in their newly petrified states—Carter with her missing eye, Jen with her teeth bucking dramatically as if she tried to chew her way out of lockdown. Jax flails around like a wild, bloodied beast. But it’s Fletch who has the rage of a thousand madmen in his eyes, his lips and jawline already eerily deformed. He looks hungry, and judging by the weight of his stare—my brain will satisfy quite nicely.

Ezrina hobbles over in her ragged cloak, her Dowager’s hump much higher than her head.

“Too many.” She ratchets it out in an echo.

I don’t waste time getting right in her shredded face. “Take your time—get it right. We have a war on our hands in the event you didn’t notice.” I shoot a look to Richard and Kara who stand before us in perfect health. “You did it before. Please, I beg of you. Do it again.”

She takes in a breath, and her body rises and falls as if it were an ill-fitting costume. “It will take time.”

“How about the rest?” Coop’s eyes widen at the prospect of helping the Spectators, and it endears him to me even more. My heart has already melted over his. I knew it deep down that first day in the woods that Coop was special, and now I know why. It was Cooper who I was truly meant to be with all along.

“Leave them.” Ezrina pushes Jen’s paper-white locks away from her face, and my sister flinches with fear.

I touch my hand over Jen’s. “I promise you, Ezrina will fix this.” I turn to the old hag, pleading. “You had better.”

Coop and I take Richard and Kara and head back to that horrible place Ephemeral has become—the ugly monstrous place it’s always been.

A cloying darkness blinks around us. We find ourselves at the boulders once again, only this time two sickly girls wait for us, their scalps balding in patches, their skin emaciated to the bone, their eyes dark and sunken.

Kara lets out a cry and clasps her tiny hands over my waist, her face buried deep in my chest.

“Kara?” Hattie steps forward.

“You are
scaring
them!” I snipe.

Hattie and Amelia morph into the beauty queen versions of themselves. Their thick, gold locks cuff neatly under their faces. Their heavy wool skirts flounce around as they come in close.

“Richard! Kara!” Amelia cries out.

Coop and I exchange looks. Those are the first words we have ever heard from Amelia, and I’m betting now that her family is back, they won’t be the last.

“You did well.” Hattie’s eyes sharpen over the two of us. “What do you want?”

“End this nightmare,” Coop is quick with the response. He molds his arms around me, and I can feel his warmth encapsulating me like a sheath. “Take Richard and Kara to whoever the hell is in charge of this shit parade, and let them know Ezrina has found the antidote. It will be slow going—and we can cure them all. But this war, this destruction needs to end tonight.”

Hattie takes in a breath. Her chest expands with what I’m hoping is relief.

“Done.” She nods to her brother and sisters.

“And then come back.” Coop’s arms tighten around me. “Laken and I are ready to get our families.”

My throat constricts. It’s almost too good to be true. Hattie had promised us passage in and out of those nefarious tunnels in exchange for Richard and Kara. And here we are at the gates of hell, chomping at the bit to be let in.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Her lids fall low over her eyes. Her lips twitch at the corners. “Another is to take you.”

“Edinger.” Coop nods. His heart kicks over my back like a welcome massage.

“Edinger is right.” She winks over at Amelia, and now I wonder if we’re being played.

Richard steps forward and takes up my hands. The dull light of the moon falls over him, and he looks handsome in his own right, so healthy and alive the Spectators won’t be able to argue with his physical appearance.

“Thank you, Laken—
Coop
. On behalf of my sister and myself, we plan on helping you far into the future with whatever you may need.”

Kara runs up and offers a spirited embrace to both Coop and me.

“I have a little sister I’d love for you to meet,” I whisper in her hair.

“Me, too.” Coop gives her a gentle pat on the back.

Hattie plucks her away, and they take off into the night.

“It’s done.” I twist into Cooper and sigh.

“Mostly.” He plants a kiss over my head.

We make our way to the inside of the boulders and sit beneath the mountain of granite as the moon streams across the sky like a satellite.

“Soon the sun will come up.” Coop looks despondent by the idea.

“We’re another day closer to getting our families.” I slip into his lap, wrapping my arms around his body, my head safe on his chest.

“Can I ask what happened with Wes?” His heart gives a wild kick to my chest like a horse ready to burst through the gate.

I pull back and take him in, sweet, gorgeous Coop. Here we are at an intersection I wondered if we would ever arrive at.

“I ended things with him tonight.” I glance down as my body sags into his.

“You did?” He straightens as if he weren’t sure he heard me right.

“Yes.” I touch my finger to his strong iron-like jaw. “He’s one of them, and I want nothing to do with the enemy, Coop. Not now, not ever. Wesley can’t see how wicked the Counts are.” I shake my head, blinded by a sudden rage. “He’s too far gone. The Wesley I loved is the one I buried in Cider Plains. It’s true. He’s not the person I thought he was.” A tear comes without me noticing until Cooper wipes it away.

“I’m sorry, Laken.” He rubs his cheek over mine, and I enliven with the coarse feel of his stubble.

“It’s okay.” I swallow back the grief. “I think this is how it was meant to be.” A shy smile twitches on my lips. “Me with you. I can see a future for us, Coop. That’s something I can never see with Wes. Can you see a future with me, too?”

“Yes.” His eyes widen. “Hell, yes.”

“I want to have that with you.” My voice trembles. “I love you, Cooper Flanders.”

His chest huffs with relief. His lips pull back in an easy smile. Cooper Flanders is gorgeous, humble, and righteous, and he’s all mine. He’s everything I could ever ask for. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

“Thank you for that.” He presses a kiss into my palm, and it’s only then I realize he heard me. “I love you, too, Laken. You saved me.”

“How did I save you?” Coop is the one who traditionally does the saving around here.

“I had until dawn to hear those words, and, if not, it was the tunnels for me”—his lids hang heavy—“forever.”

“What?” I spike up, and he pulls me back until I’m relaxing over him again.

“It’s a story for another time. Suffice it to say, I’ve got a supervising spirit for life now. But I don’t want to talk about Edinger.”

I shake my head, my lips press together in horror. Coop held this tight to the vest while his entire world hung in the balance—Marky, his father. He risked everything for my happiness.

He comes in close with those lips I’ve dreamed about diving into for so long. Close. So Close.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” His heated breath rakes over my mouth.

“God, I hope so.” It swims from me like a dream. A wild howl goes out over the landscape, harsh and harrowing, unmistakably belonging to a Spectator. “Is that what I think it is?”

“I’m pretty sure.” He pauses as the moan drones through the woods, over the boulders and bleeds into all of Trinity County. “I think it’s over, Laken. They want to live.”

“Thank God.”

The Spectators drift like shadows back into the forest. We watch an entire army of them stagger deep into the murky woods as they journey toward their long-awaited reprieve.

I glance up at Coop. We did it. The Spectators will live, and soon we’ll have our families.

Coop leans in an inch, and I do the same.

“This is happening,” he whispers.

“Damn right it is.” I cover his lips with mine and dissolve under the duress of his achingly sweet affection. Every part of me wants to break—to exhale—to give in to the release of this incredible tension. Now that we’ve started, I won’t be able to stop. I should put it off—tell him we’d better wait, that this isn’t the time or the place—but I don’t. I want everything with Coop, the sooner the better.

Coop presses in with a smooth pass of his lips before sealing over my mouth and slipping his tongue inside. My body melts to liquid. I can feel the stars breaking through the thicket of clouds just to peer down at the miracle taking place—Coop and I together at last. I push in hard and anxious, a moan locking off in my throat. Coop takes free roam of my mouth, and I let him. It feels intimate and right as if our mouths belonged in this very place all along.

We part ways, dizzy with silly smiles on our faces. My heart feels light like a balloon that’s trying to float from my chest.

“Just what the doctor ordered.” I peck another quick kiss just shy of his lips.

“Oh, yeah?” He pulls me in and rubs his rough stubble over the side of my face. “I could have sworn the doctor prescribed this.” He dives back over my lips with an unrivaled passion.

Coop and I sit in the shadow of Sleepy Hollow, showering one another with our lingual affection until well after dawn.

We saved each other with our love.

This is only the beginning.

Cooper

In the morning a thin seam of sunlight slips through my lids, and I bury my face in Laken’s hair, trying to stretch out sleep for another twenty minutes.

“Out and about so early?” A disembodied voice calls from the ground clouds that have settled in the area.

We sit up at the same time to find Edinger smiling down at us with that nefarious shit-eating grin he wears like a mask.

“I must admit”—his lips curve up one side—“it’s a pleasure to see you both here. So young and in love.” His smile fades. “A rather timely coincidence for you, Mr. Flanders, but, nevertheless, it was I who was rooting for you the entire time, unlike your father.” He spears his coal black eyes into Laken as I help her to her feet.

“I don’t have a father.” She wraps her arms around my waist and glares at him.

“You most certainly do.” A voice comes from behind as Jones steps in from the fog.

“What?” Laken’s voice shakes, good and pissed. And judging by the hurt look on Jones’s face, it wasn’t the response he was hoping for.

“That’s right.” He comes in close taking up her hands, and she lets him. “I wanted you here with me. I had Fletcher and Jenevieve, and I wanted you, too. You made Wesley happy, and when I saw how much you missed him, I knew what I needed to do.”

She drops his hands like a dead fish. “You killed me. You killed all of us. And what was with those pictures?”

“I thought they would convict you. I thought once you saw how much you might be hurting Wesley, you would relent.”

“
You
were hurting
me
. You wanted me to believe all of your lies, but I couldn’t. You know why? Because a
Celestra
tried to save my life with the kindness in her heart. It didn’t matter to her that I was a Count. She saw me as a person, as someone who deserved to live happy and free—something you will never understand. And because of Skyla, I remembered everything.”

“I just wanted you to be happy, Laken. If it’s Cooper, who you want to be with then I support that.” His face melts into agony as Laken softens into me.

“Thank you, if that’s how you really feel. I’m in love with Cooper, and I always will be. I will never be a Count. It may be in my blood, but that’s where it begins and ends.”

His features sag at her proclamation. “Then I accept you that way.”

There’s a lengthy pause.

Laken stiffens. “Is Claire Anderson my mother?”

“She’s my sister, your aunt.”

A quivering breath of relief fills her. “So Suzanne?”

“Is your mother,” he assures.

She twists into me and latches on for dear life. “That means Lacey is my sister.” Laken turns back around. “Do I have Celestra in me?”

“No.” His pale eyes fall over her. “That’s why I took the three of you. You’re Counts—you belong to me.”

“What about the other Jen? The one
I
grew up with?”

He shakes his head. “When I left, I took one twin—your mother kept the other. They’re fraternal, one is a Count the other is not.”

“But you kept coming back.”

“The relationship your mother and I share is complicated to say the least. It was easier for us to be away from one another.”

“And you couldn’t care less about Lacey and Mom—send them to hell, no big deal. Your own family is suffering in the tunnels, and you don’t even give a shit.”

The muscles in his jaw tighten. “That’s not how it went. Once you were gone, the protective hedge was lifted from their lives. They were taken without my permission.”

Laken shakes her head. “I think I’m through with this conversation.” She looks to Edinger. “Take me to my family. I beg of you. It’s time to free them.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be taking anybody to the tunnels today.” Edinger takes a step to the side.

A shadow emerges as Wes comes up the path.

“I will.”

Wesley

Coop holds Laken by the waist, and my brain fries just looking at them.

Fuck. I thought this would be doable, that I might live through this without adding another trauma to my soul, but it’s doubtful I’ll come out of this unscathed. It’s bad enough knowing Laken walked out of my life but to leave me for Flanders—for a Celestra—it’s the twisting knife in my gut.

Laken runs her tired gaze over mine. “Wes, I need my family back, so does Coop.”