Prophecy Girl (Angel Academy) (21 page)

“Jack, what are you doing?”

He’d extracted a metal-encased device and was attaching it to the wall of the security building. It looked like a small, black cake pan with a tiny red dome. He flipped a switch on the side and it started beeping. “Plug your ears again.”

Before I could breathe, he’d scooped me up and tossed me into a dark green Dumpster a few yards away. Yeah, you heard me. A
Dumpster
. Filled with
garbage
. The muted aroma of ink toner and day-old mac-and-cheese seeped into my clothing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

He pulled the heavy lid closed and lowered himself on top of me only seconds before the world exploded.

Heat flared against the metal walls as the Dumpster lurched across the pavement, slamming into the west wall with a hard clang. Shrieks and wails rose up like demon cries as metal buckled under the heat. The only thing that kept me from completely wigging out was the feel of Jack all tingly against me.

“You okay?” he asked when the pops and bangs had settled into a low crackle of fire.

I didn’t know how to answer, so I contented myself with flicking a handful of cheese sauce at his face. Chuckling, he pried himself off me and used his shirtsleeve to open the scalding metal lid. Billows of black smoke thickened the air, blocking out the light of the full moon.

“The coast is clear,” he said, peering out the top.

“You think?” I choked on the smoke.

The breeze had picked up again, and although the temperature was probably only in the sixties, it felt like a sauna. Pieces of flaming paper swirled in the air and bits of charred furniture smoldered in bright orange piles on the ground. Without a word, Jack vaulted easily over the lip of the Dumpster and hauled me out, careful not to let me hit the scorched edge.

In the security office, the remains of a desk huddled against one wall, while a splintered ceiling fan turned lazy circles from the force of the fire. Dented metal filing cabinets lined the far edge, alongside a few overturned chairs in what used to be a makeshift waiting area. Everywhere I looked, piles of rubble and scorched drywall littered the room. Through the blown-out door, I could see vertical lines of iron bars illuminated by a few residual patches of fire.

“Daddy?”

I pushed past Jack toward the cell block. It didn’t matter that the hallway was still dark and filled with smoke, or that I hadn’t checked for guards. All I could think about was getting to my dad.

“Ami? Is that you?”

I hurried toward my father’s incredulous voice, so focused I didn’t even notice the flurry of movement to my left.

Jack’s body slammed into the guard with a cringe-worthy thud and they both hit the ground rolling. I couldn’t see because of all the smoke, but it didn’t take a military expert to know Jack was in trouble. I scrambled to my knees, desperate to make sense of the fight. Every so often they moved into a patch of firelight, but before I could see where Jack ended and the guard began, they shifted again.

“
Lucé
,” I shouted, and a flash of light zipped through the air in a jagged streak.

The room was still clouded with smoke but at least now I could tell which man wore the guard uniform. He was standing over Jack with his sword raised, about to plunge the tip of it into Jack’s belly.

“
Desisté
!” I screamed, my hand outstretched. “Lay off my boyfriend, you twerp.”

The man’s body froze at the command. Jack didn’t hesitate. As soon as he realized what I’d done, he rolled out from under the guard’s sword strike, grabbed the weapon from him, and cracked the hilt of it into his skull.

“Thanks,” he said, breathing hard. “
Twerp
?”

“I’m trying to swear less,” I explained.

“Good for you.
Boyfriend
?”

“We should probably hurry, don’t you think?”

Jack drained energy off me while I unmade the cell’s wards. If the heat of the flames wasn’t enough to make me sweat, the fury in Bud’s glare would have been. It wasn’t until the lock clicked open that I realized his anger wasn’t directed toward me at all.

“You!” Bud’s fist flew at Jack, slamming him into the wall with the force of a small truck. “What have you done?”

“Sir,” Jack held up his hands in surrender, “I know how this looks. You have every right to be upset.”

“Upset?” he fumed. “Do I look
upset
to you?”

“You look upset to me,” I noted.

“Mr. Bennett,” Jack said, “if you’ll just let me explain—”

My dad drew back his fist again.

“Hold it.” I attempted to wedge myself between them. “If you could both maybe dial back the testosterone for a second, I’d love to hear what the hell’s going on.”

Dad’s eyes went back to Jack. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Of course not,” Jack snapped. “How dumb do you think I am?”

“Tell me what?” I piped in.

Neither of them answered.

“Seriously, tell me what?”

Behind us, Henry shuffled to the edge of the cell. His face was bruised and puffy, and a thick band of white fabric held one arm in a sling. “I think they’re referring to the fact that Jackson is your bondmate.”

“Excuse me?”

“
Henry
—”

“She deserves to know, doesn’t she?” The Archivist shrugged his narrow shoulders and shifted his gaze to me. “The Elders thought it was too dangerous to tell you. A child of Lucifer was bad enough, but a bonded one? And with Gabriel’s son? There’s no way they could control that kind of power.”

I glanced back at Jack. “Tell him it’s not true.”

But Jack stayed suspiciously silent. So did Bud, which worried me even more than the pitying look on Henry’s face.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Henry sighed. “The Elders thought if you knew your power, you would turn on them. They couldn’t risk it, so they took your memories. I doubt they ever meant to let you live past the prophecy.”

I tried to filter Henry’s words through the rush in my brain, but my thoughts kept getting jumbled. Me and Jack?
Bonded
? Was that even possible? I remembered the bizarro need to protect Jack at assembly, the strange visions, the wicked amounts of power we’d generated together. Even how Hansen had laid into him while we were escaping. If we were bonded, then that meant…

“Wait a second.
I
was the girl you told me about?” I looked at Jack. “The one who’d stabbed you in the hand and forced you to bond? The one who ruined your life? That was
me
?”

Jack stared at the ground, silent.

It was the silence that bothered me. If he’d denied it or called me an idiot I probably could have handled that. But to just sit there like a lump? A giant part of me wanted to hit him, or kick him, or poke him with something sharp.
Anything
that would get a response.

“Jack?”

He looked at me helplessly. “What do you want me to say?”

“Tell them you’re not my bondmate,” I said, frantic. “Tell them it’s a mistake.”

But he didn’t. He just kept staring at his shoes, his eyes all dark and intense. And all I could think was how perfect he’d felt snuggled next to me last night, and the way my skin vibrated when we touched. And suddenly I knew why he couldn’t tell them it was a mistake.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed, finally. “Oh, my God, I’m such an idiot.
That’s
why Smalley gave me the portal locus code. She knew we were bonded. She knew we could survive the jump.”

“Ami, don’t be mad,” Jack begged, but I wasn’t listening.

Bit by bit, pieces of the puzzle took shape in my head. Everything fit. Our matching scars. The way I healed him. The freaky
déjà vu
and weird glowy stuff.

But…
why
? Why had he lied to me? Was I really that repulsive? Was the thought of being bonded to me so awful he had to lie about it for
ten years
?

“I never meant for you to find out like this.” Jack took a step toward me, but I dodged out of reach.

“Stay away from her. Can’t you see she wants nothing to do with you?” Bud hurried to block his path.

“Sir, this is between me and your daughter.”

“There’s
nothing
between you and my daughter.”

“Is that your decision? Or is it the Elders’? I forget,” Jack said, voice thick with sarcasm, “who’s running her life this week?”

While they argued, I slumped against the wall. My body felt like one of those wind-up dolls whose spinner had run down, and all I could do was sag lifelessly.

Jack was my bondmate.

If that was true, then why all the subterfuge? Why did he leave? I didn’t care who’d ordered him away. If it had been me, nothing would have kept me from him. Not age differences, or lost memories, or angry parents.
Nothing!

In robotic silence, I worked Henry’s locks, then sketched out the portal containment wards for our escape. Distant shrieks of armed guards rang out down the hall, but Dad and Jack kept arguing. I don’t even think they noticed I’d left the conversation.

I lit up the wards with the usual incantation, and by the time I turned back, Jack had his sword out and Bud looked like he was ready to start swinging.

“Enough,” I said, quietly at first, then louder. “
Enough
!”

They both looked up, shamefaced.

“Jack, if you didn’t want to be my bondmate, fine. I’m not such a pathetic lump that I’ll disintegrate without you. I just wish you hadn’t lied to me.”

His sword dropped by his side. “I
had
to lie. To protect you.
Everything
I did was to protect you.”

Dad snorted. “So you dragged her in front of a firing squad?”

“Bud, I’m warning you—”

A clatter from the hallway interrupted whatever Jack was about to say, and we all froze, eyes fixed on the door. I wasn’t sure if it was the smear of blood along his cheek or the crossbow he leveled at Jack’s chest, but when Alec Charbonnet entered the cell block, his smile didn’t seem as charming as before.

“Have I come at a bad time?” he asked.

Before I could breathe, Jack raised his sword and started backing toward me until his body pressed tightly into mine.

“Lay one hand on her,” he threatened, “and I’ll kill you.”

“
Lay one hand on her
—” Alec mimicked, laughing. “If you’d shown half that courage last Monday, we wouldn’t be in this pickle. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused us? We were trying to make her look innocent. Then you muck it up by letting her channel with you?” He made a disapproving sound. “Shame on you, Smith-Hailey. Ami, come here.”

“She’s not going anywhere.” My dad stepped up next to Jack, one hand gripping my elbow. Like I might actually
go
with the crazy crossbow guy. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“Alexander Charbonnet, at your service.” Alec bowed politely. “Don’t worry, Mr. Bennett, I won’t let anything happen to your daughter. I’m afraid I will have to kill her Watcher, however. Deepest apologies.” The last words were said to Jack, along with a contrite nod.

“Mighty well-mannered for a serial killer,” Henry noted.

Jack still had one arm pressed protectively across my torso. His gaze bounced between Alec, my dad, and the mouth of the portal I’d left dormant at the far corner of the room.

“Alec, quit being an idiot.” I elbowed my way around Jack. “It’s over. I know who you are.”

Alec frowned. “What’s she talking about?”

“Sweetie, what
are
you talking about?” Bud asked.

“You don’t have to lie anymore. I know I have a twin,” I said. “Chancellor Thibault is Mom’s old Watcher. He must have kidnapped Alec when—”

“I know who Bobby Thibault is,” Bud broke in, “but why would you think—”

“I get why you didn’t tell me,” I insisted. “But you can’t deny this anymore. Alec is my twin brother. He’s the Graymason who’s been killing all those Guardians.”

Alec lowered his crossbow, his eyes gleaming wickedly. I noticed his hands were coated with blood, too, as was the sword at his belt. Admittedly confusing, since Graymasons didn’t need to draw blood to kill.

“You think I’m your brother?” he asked, skeptical.

“Well, yeah. I mean, it makes perfect sense. Thibault must have discovered what you were and he somehow managed to sneak you out—”

“Amelie, listen to me,” Bud broke in. “I don’t know who that boy is, but he’s not your brother. You don’t have a brother.”

I stared at my dad. Was he lying to me again?

With a grin, Alec shut the outer door, dimming the sound of the alarm. “Fun as this is, we really must be going. I took out as many guards as I could, but more are coming. So unless you want to watch the rest of your little party die as well, I suggest we take that portal.” He nodded to the silver puddle of light on the wall. “Your sister will be upset if I let you get injured.”

My sister?
I stared at him, trying to find evidence of the obvious rip-roaring insanity infecting his brain. But there was nothing. His hair was neatly combed and he looked me straight in the eyes when he spoke. Totally normal.

Jack was the one who broke the silence. “Amelie has a twin sister?”

“No,” Bud answered, confusion plain on his face. “I mean, she
did
…for about three minutes. But the baby died.”

“Are you sure?” Jack frowned at my dad.

“Of course, I saw it myself. I was there when we buried her.”

Alec steadied the crossbow. “Yes, it’s stunning what memory modification can do. Very useful. Ami, say goodbye now.”

“But I don’t underst—”

It’s odd how you never know when your whole life is going to get thrown to the dogs. One minute you’re orchestrating a jailbreak with your high school crush. Then you blink and everything’s in raw, bloody pieces on the floor.

With eerie calm, I watched Alec’s finger squeeze the crossbow trigger. My first instinct was to duck. Not that ducking would have helped. The bolt wasn’t aimed at me. It whistled past my shoulder and landed with a thud in its target—the center of Jack’s chest.