Sacrifice (23 page)

“How—?” Elyia fell silent as I reached her. Her eyes rolled, wide with fear.

I lay a finger on her forehead. “Where is the temple?” But this time, I listened to the thoughts coursing through Elyia’s mind. An image rose in her thoughts and I seized on it.

The dream around us shifted. Elyia’s eyes rolled in fear. We were standing in a chamber, a low, cramped room more like a cave than a church—with the exception of the massive stone altar dominating the space. The same altar I had seen in the memory I’d ripped from Elyia’s mind moments before. It was covered with intricate carvings, deep grooves cut into the stone that ran over the face of the altar and down onto the floor beneath. I recognized a few of the symbols as ancient Mesopotamian glyphs. I left Elyia, still trapped in place, and examined the space. No windows. Only one door opened out of the space; beyond the opening I could see a long hall, sloping upwards from the chamber.

The realization struck me and I let out a sharp breath in surprise. “It’s underground.”

Elyia let out a soft moan of despair. I glanced back at her, suddenly alert.

“How do I find it?”

Elyia eyed me with pure, unadulterated hatred.

“Where is the entrance?” I dropped my eyes to the sand at her feet, stirring it with my mind. Elyia gasped as the sand tightened about her painfully.

“It’s hidden—” But she clamped her mouth shut before finishing the thought.

“Hidden where?” When she didn’t answer, I placed my forefinger on her forehead once more. An image of roiling water filled my head. Elyia’s eyes tightened, but at that moment I felt a tug at my shield—and the control I’d exerted over this dream exploded into a billion tiny fragments.

Seth appeared from nothing. Goosebumps crawled over my skin. The desperate urge to flee crowded out all other thoughts—but his eyes latched onto Elyia, not me.

“I gave you one simple task.” Seth stood over Elyia, now freed from the quicksand I’d imposed on the dream. She recoiled, trying desperately to scrabble away from him. Seth’s eyes shifted to me. He raised one finger, wagging it as though scolding a toddler. “And I believe I told you to stay out of my way.”

I glared at him, willing a strength I didn’t feel into my voice, even as I sent my mind wandering over the surface of the dream, looking for a way out. Seth had somehow knotted the thread of my consciousness into the dream, trapping me here as effectively as I’d trapped Elyia. “I know about Lilith’s return,” I said, hoping to stall for time.

“Oh?” Seth crossed his arms, examining me with faint amusement.

“There’s no way we’re going to let you sacrifice a human.”

“See,
actually,
I think you’re going to forget all about this little dream.” There was something so confident in his face that I could only stare. Seth’s smile broadened. “Because otherwise, I’ll have to destroy your boy, Royal. As I’m killing him—and, trust me, the process will take some time—I’ll tell him all about this little conversation, and how easy it would have been for you to spare him an agonizing death, simply by doing nothing.” His words—spoken so calmly—sent a wash of ice through my veins. “Nighty-night, Braedyn.” Seth gestured.

The world around me popped like a bubble.

I woke screaming. The daylight streamed into my room but I barely saw it, still clutched tight in the grip of my fear.

Dad lurched out of his chair, exhaustion dropping away from him in an instant. “Braedyn?!” He was at my side in half a second, clutching my shoulders, trying to read my face. I let out a ragged breath, then clung to him, burying my face into his shoulder.

I heard Karayan crash through the door to my room moments later. “What?! What happened? Braedyn?!”

When I finally pulled back, both Karayan and Dad were watching me, sharp fear evident in their eyes.

“Seth—he knows we know their plan.”

I felt Dad’s hands tighten on my shoulders. He searched my face, desperate for a reassurance I couldn’t give him.

Horror sizzled down my spine. “Cassie. We have to pull her out of this thing.”

“Does he know she’s one of the acolytes?” Karayan asked.

I shook my head. “No. No. Elyia suspected for a minute, but I ripped the memory out of her mind.” As the words left my mouth I considered them. If Seth had known Cassie was involved, wouldn’t he have said something to me? No. He would have attacked her already. If Seth suspected Cassie, she’d be dead. It was time to pull the plug and get her the hell out of this mess.

“She’s been initiated,” Dad said, concern giving his voice a husky quality. “Will they let her just walk away now?”

“I don’t care,” I hissed.

“You should.” Karayan gave me an even stare, daring me to argue. “Cassie is your connection to the cult.”

“So I’ll hitchhike in Carrie’s mind, or Emily’s,” I said.

“Uh huh.” Karayan crossed her arms. “And how well do you know those girls?”

“Why does it matter?” I glared ice at Karayan. She shrugged.

“Okay. Try it. Try contacting one of them right now. It’s past 10:00, they should both be up.” Karayan studied me shrewdly. “Go on. We’ll wait.”

Dad glanced at Karayan, trying to suss out what she was doing. I shook my head, exasperated.

“We don’t have time for this. I have to call Cassie.” I swung my feet over the side of the bed. Karayan put a hand on my chest, keeping me from standing up.

“Just try it.”

“What is your problem? You’re supposed to be on our side now!”

“Why do you think I’m doing this, sweetie?” But Karayan’s eyes flashed with anger. “If you can reach either Carrie or Emily’s mind, I’ll back off and you can un-enroll your little friend from Madame Whitelock’s school for Lilith Wannabes. If not, you need to think hard about your next move. You might need Cassie on the inside.”

I glared at her. “Fine.” I closed my eyes and tried to center my thoughts. As I turned my thoughts inward, I sensed the fabric of the dream world close. I summoned Carrie’s face into my head. Nothing happened. I pushed harder, trying to remember the sound of her voice, or the way she tossed her strawberry-blond bob. A faint light danced at the edge of my consciousness. I turned my thoughts toward it—and it flickered out.

Surprised, I opened my eyes. Karayan was watching me closely. She looked almost resigned. “That’s what I thought.”

“I just need to focus.” I closed my eyes again, and summoned Carrie’s image back to the forefront of my thoughts. I tried to recapture the sound of her voice again, or the feel of her hand on my arm. Again, I just caught the flicker of her mind at the edge of my perception. But again, as I turned toward it in my mind’s eye, it vanished. I let out a growl of frustration.

Dad caught my hand, worried. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t pin her down,” I admitted. I gave Karayan a sour look.

“It’s because you don’t know her.”

“Yes I do,” I snapped. “We went to school together for a whole year before she graduated.”

“Oh, my bad. She invited you to a lot of slumber parties? You painted each other’s toenails? Braided each other’s hair?”

I scowled at Karayan. “Your point?”

“My
point
is, this isn’t like finding someone in a dream. Human minds, they’re open books as long as they’re asleep. Unless some Lilitu is shielding them, you can walk right in anytime you want. But when that human mind wakes up? It’s a whole different ballgame, sweetie. To share a conscious mind, there has to be a connection. Like, you know, a real, genuine thing you two share. That’s why you were able to reach Cassie’s waking mind. You two share a bullet-proof friendship-bond.”

“You’re forgetting,” I said through gritted teeth. “I managed to connect with
your
mind long before I would have called you a friend.”

Karayan smiled bitterly. “Yes, well, Lilitu.” She gestured to herself and shrugged. “The rules are a bit different for us. Also, before you and I were friends, we were enemies. That can be a strong connection, too.” Karayan shrugged. “You ever want to contact Amber’s mind, for example—”

I turned my head, unable to look at her any longer. Dad gave my hand a careful squeeze.

“Honey?” When I didn’t respond, he continued. “Whether or not it’s something you want to hear, Karayan makes a point we can’t afford to ignore. If we’re going to have any hope of keeping tabs on this cult—”

“She’s my friend.”

“I know. But until we find another way in—”

I pulled my hand free from his grip. “I know, okay!” I gritted my teeth, trying to tame the surge of anger rising up in my stomach. “I know.” Lilith was awake. The plan for her return was already in motion. We couldn’t afford to let our one connection to the cult go. It had to be Cassie. But I didn’t have to like it.

“Winter solstice is almost eight months away,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We have time. We’ll find someone else, I don’t know—maybe you can get to know Carrie or that other girl better. In the meantime, we let Cassie stay in. We monitor the situation. We’ll be ready to swoop in if she ever needs us.”

I shook my head. But the truth was, I didn’t have any better ideas. Cassie was our link to the cult, and it looked like that wouldn’t be changing any time soon.

Chapter 11

May arrived with a late spring rain. The deluge left the desert refreshed, kicking up that earthy smell so distinctive of New Mexico storms. I used to love this time of year—balanced on the edge of a changing season, with school about to end and summer stretching ahead, full of promise. Now, the uncertainty of what our future held made the changing season an ominous reminder of how little we knew about our enemies, or what they planned. More than that, though, the change of seasons served to highlight our powerlessness in the face of time. Even though summer had yet to officially start, each day that passed brought us closer to winter solstice.

At school, everyone was ramping up for the end of the semester. Teachers announced study sessions to help prepare students for finals. Cassie, Royal, and most of the other juniors and seniors were cramming in preparation for AP tests. I tried to focus on reviewing for AP History, but it seemed so insignificant in comparison to everything else we were facing.

Of my friends, only Lucas seemed to share my increasing anxiety. We started meeting in the basement for a warm-up session every day after school before Amber arrived. The extra training honed our instincts, but more importantly, it lessened our fear of the unknown. It felt good to be doing
something
to prepare for—whatever might be coming.

The Guard, on the other hand, was on full alert. Ever since I’d discovered that the Temple of Lilith was somewhere beneath our feet, the Guard had set out to locate it. Ian’s thinking was, if they could find the temple, they could keep Idris from doing whatever it was she had planned for the solstice—but until they located it, it was too risky to move on Idris or the Lilitu helping her. Thane, reluctantly, agreed. Ian and Thane had started collecting geological surveys for the region, which piled up in the Guard’s living room practically over night. They spent their days identifying every local cave, and then sending teams of Guardsmen out to search for anything matching the description I’d provided of the temple with its large stone altar.

It was a massive amount of work to go through all that material—and that didn’t even include the manpower and man-hours needed to search the caves once they’d been located. I’d never seen Thane look quite so harried. Ian, on the other hand, seemed confident that they were on the right track. He made it clear that he believed a thorough, methodical search of all geological features in the area couldn’t fail to turn up success. His confidence put the rest of us more at ease—well, all of us except for Thane. But I’d long since given up looking for positivity from
that
grizzled archivist.

Beyond school and the Guard’s manic search for the hidden temple, I had Cassie to keep me occupied. Every Friday night, Cassie would meet up with Carrie and the two of them would drive out to Idris’s clearing. No one—not Idris, not the Lilitu attendants—seemed to suspect that Cassie attended each meeting with a telepathic hitchhiker. I kept my eyes and ears open—through Cassie’s eyes and ears—but tried hard to shield my own feelings from Cassie herself.

Reluctant as I might have been to let her continue with the cult, Cassie was unflagging in her efforts to learn as much as she could about Idris’s plans. She’d proved to be our lifeline. As hard and thoroughly as the Guard searched for clues about the temple or the cult, Cassie was the only one turning up any information. As the weeks passed, I grew more comfortable with the idea of Cassie worming her way into the heart of this clandestine organization. Her naïveté and eager optimism ended up being the perfect disguise. She had only to be herself; Idris misinterpreted all of Cassie’s curiosity as the interest of a devoted young acolyte, hoping to do her best in the service of Lilith.

The meetings themselves became rote very quickly. Cassie and the others would arrive in the clearing, change under the light of the moon into their vestments, and then the rest of the night would be taken up chanting, meditating, or performing “rituals of purity” that involved one of the acolytes standing in the center of the clearing while the others walked a circle around her, each gently swinging a small, filigreed bronze ball full of smoking incense—I think Idris called them thuribles.