Sacrifice (37 page)

Gretchen’s jaw tightened. For once, she and Karayan shared exactly the same look on their faces—rage melding with determination. Ian better hope he never came face to face with either of them again; the reckoning would be brutal, and it would be final.

“So that’s it?” Cassie wrung her hands, her anxiety ratcheting up. “How are we going to stop the human sacrifice? I mean, we’re still going to try to stop it, right?”

All of a sudden, I had to plant my hand on the ground to keep from falling down, dizzy. An idea was trying to force its way from my subconscious to my conscious mind. I was dimly aware of the others, staring at me, surprised. Lucas made a move toward me. I saw his lips moving, but couldn’t make out any of the words he was speaking.

All I could hear was Seth’s voice, as my mind replayed his last words to me--

I vaguely remember warning you to stay out of my way. What happens next is on you.

Warning me. The pieces of a puzzle started to click into place in my mind. He had warned me. He’d been very specific.

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.

“It’s Royal.” I shot Cassie a look of pure terror. “He’s going to sacrifice Royal.”

For a moment, no one made a sound.

“Braedyn?” Cassie’s voice wavered. She lifted her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide and pleading for answers I couldn’t give her.

“You can’t know that,” Gretchen managed.

But I was sure. I had to get out of here. I rose shakily to my feet and sprinted back through the main tunnel, Hale’s sword still clutched tightly in my hand. I was conscious, as I ran, of the changes in the air. The crisp desert afternoon smelled harsh after the earthy moisture of the cavern. Up ahead, I could see daylight. The summer sun was dropping in the west, but it wouldn’t set for hours yet. I pushed myself to run even harder. My feet impacted with the ground, springing me forward with such intensity that I had no time to stop when I saw that the way ahead was barred.

Someone had closed the gate.

I struck the metal bars hard, setting the gate clanging as I recoiled off of it. Hale’s sword clattered to the ground, skittering off to the side. I shook off the pain of the impact, searching the gate for a handle or knob.

I found the latch and froze.

Someone had padlocked a heavy steel chain over the gate’s lock.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I pulled on the chain, straining as hard as I could.

I heard the others approaching, breathing hard from the sprint.

“Help me!” I turned back to the gate, pushing on the welded steel of the bars themselves.

Without a word, Lucas joined me, lending his strength—what little he had—to the task at hand. Cassie and Gretchen joined us half a second later.

The gate did not budge, even under our combined strength.

“What about some kind of lever?” Cassie cast her eyes around, looking for something useful. “We might be able to pry the padlock open.”

“There are tools on display in the cavern.” I gripped Cassie’s hand. “What do you need?”

Cassie turned to the padlock. She pulled it through the bars so we could get a better look at it. “Something thin enough to fit between the body and the arm of the lock,” she said. “The longer the better. And it needs to be strong.”

Lucas studied the space between the body and the arm of the lock. “It looks like a piece of rebar might do the trick.”

Gretchen shot me an urgent glance. “I’ll help you look.” We raced back to the cavern to begin our search. Only, there was no rebar to be found. The prop mining tools were all too thick to fit in the space we needed them to.

“What about those throwing knives?” I glanced at Gretchen.

“Worth a shot.” She ran to the pile of duffle bags and started rooting through the first bag, coming up empty. The knives were in the second bag she searched. She picked out three and we raced back to the gate.

Cassie fed the first blade through the padlock, then pushed. The blade strained as Cassie tried to pry the arm free from the body. Cassie’s arms started shaking, but the lock didn’t budge.

“Let me try,” Gretchen said, taking over for Cassie. She put her full strength into the effort. The blade started to bend as Gretchen increased her force—then it snapped. Gretchen fell forward, struggling to catch herself before she hit the ground.

“Try another,” I growled.

“It’s no use.” Lucas’s voice was soft. “The knives are too small. We need something that will give us more leverage for this to work.”

“We have to warn Royal.” Cassie turned to me. “Seth took my phone earlier—you’ll have to call him.”

I reached into my pocket—but I’d given it to Karayan. I turned to Lucas. “Let me borrow yours.”

Lucas reached for his pockets, then blanched. “It must have fallen out when I took off my—” He stopped, dropping his eyes.

Gretchen glanced around at all of us. “No one has a phone?”

“What about yours?” Lucas stared at Gretchen. “You don’t have one on you?”

Gretchen’s face twisted in a miserable grimace. “Didn’t you know, it’s
déclassé
to take a purse to a knife fight.”

Cassie spun on me. “Braedyn, do that thing you do. Contact his mind.”

“Right.” I closed my eyes, trying to summon Royal’s image into my head. But something was wrong. The flickers of my friends’ consciousnesses seemed weak and hazy. I concentrated on them, but couldn’t seem to bring them into clear focus. It was like the whole dream world was slipping out of my reach.
Oh no
… I opened my eyes, breathless.

“Braedyn?” Lucas saw the rising panic in my eyes. “Can’t you make the connection with—?”

“Braedyn—” Gretchen interrupted, grabbing my arm. “If you’re right about Seth going after Royal, he could be taking him to the Temple. You have to find Royal and jump to his location.”

“Jump?” I stared at Gretchen. Pinpricks of fear dotted the skin along my arms.

“You’ve got to stop this thing.” Gretchen’s hand tightened on my arm. “If Seth goes through with the sacrifice, he’ll reawaken Lilith. You’re the only one who can keep that from happening.”

I shook my head. “I—I don’t have the energy.”

Gretchen released my arm, a little of the fire dying in her eyes.

“What do you mean? What energy?” Cassie glanced between Lucas and me.

“All Lilitu powers use a kind of spiritual energy,” Lucas said numbly.

“I cloaked myself earlier.” As I spoke, I turned to Lucas. “Then the fight, and calling to you—I’m completely drained.”

Gretchen bit her lip. “So—so take what you need from Lucas.”

I shook my head. “Gretchen, I can’t.”

“No.” Gretchen took a step closer to me, hope springing alight in her eyes once more. “Braedyn, it’s okay. Look, even if you take a third of his energy, he’ll be able to recover. Yes, it’ll take time, but—”

I stared at her, speechless. She still didn’t know—she couldn’t know—what Lucas had been through today. Gretchen misunderstood my horror.

“I know this is hard for you, but the situation is desperate, Braedyn—”

“Gretchen.” I took Gretchen’s hands in mine. She fell silent, reading my sorrow. “Lucas was attacked by a Lilitu this afternoon. If I so much as kissed him now—” But I couldn’t finish the thought.

It took a moment for this news to sink in.

Gretchen pulled her hands free and turned abruptly away from me, but not before I saw the grief washing across her face. “I—I didn’t know.”

Cassie glanced from Gretchen back to me. “So take it from one of us.”

“I can’t.” I blushed, unable to look Cassie in the eye.

“Why not? Lucas is too weak. I might not be in the best condition ever but I’m doing better than he is—”

“It won’t work,” Gretchen said heavily. “We don’t
desire
Braedyn.”

“Desire—?” Cassie’s eyes widened slightly. “Like, you mean—?”

“Romantically,” I answered. “Without that connection, it doesn’t work.”

Cassie stared at Lucas, finally understanding the full weight of our circumstances. “But, if Braedyn takes the energy she needs from you—?”

“She’ll turn him into a Thrall,” Gretchen answered dully. “She could save Royal, but only by destroying Lucas.”

“It would destroy both of us,” Lucas said, his voice hard.

“How?” Cassie’s voice was edged with sick curiosity.

I caught Lucas’s hand, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

“It’d wreck her only shot at a normal life. She’d never be able to become human.” Lucas squeezed my hand. I felt another wave of hot tears threatening. It was true, but compared to what Lucas would sacrifice, my dreams of becoming human seemed insignificant.

“But if you don’t?” Cassie turned and looked directly into my eyes. “Doesn’t that mean Royal dies?

Gretchen leaned back against the gate. When she spoke, her voice sounded hollow. “No. It means Royal dies, and the end of the world begins.”

Chapter 19

There has to be another way.

I turned away from Lucas, staring numbly at the gate. Sturdy steel. Thick chain. Formidable lock.

There has to be another way.

And then I had an idea. I sprinted back toward the cavern.

“Braedyn!”

Their voices rang behind me in a chorus of protest. I kept running. As I reached the main cavern, Karayan looked up. She was still sitting on the ground, holding Hale’s hand. I could see a fine web of tears glistening on her cheeks. When she saw me, she swiped the back of her hand across her face.

“Weren’t you and the gang off to save your snarky bud—?”

I sprinted past her, darting into the recent battlefield. Somewhere in here, there had to be an alternative. I reached the center of the cavern and stopped, trying to calm my mind, trying to heighten my senses. Revulsion shivered across my skin but I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind. If any of these men were alive, I could borrow just a little energy—it might be enough to contact Royal, at the very least. I tried to hone in on any flicker of life. But, aside from Karayan and myself, this cavern was devoid of living energy.

My eyes lifted to the walls surrounding us. There were many tunnels leading out of the main cavern—a dozen at least. The tourist board had posted quaint little signs over each tunnel, giving them all useless titles like “The Chimney Cavern” and “Dead Man’s Drop.” But on each sign beneath the title, neat little letters spelled out “NO EXIT.” There was only one way out of these mines. And it was locked.

There has to be another way.

“There
has
to be,” I moaned.

Behind me, I heard Karayan stand. “What’s wrong?”

I spun on her, desperation lending a keening edge to my voice. “I need a way out of here.” Karayan glanced toward the tunnel leading to the entrance. Her cheeks were dry, even if her eyes were still red. Before she could open her mouth to ask, I growled out the answer. “The gate is chained shut.”

Karayan’s mouth drew down into a considering frown. “Seth?”

“I don’t know,” I moaned, “but if he’s given the Guard the slip, then Royal is in danger right now and I can’t get to him without—” I choked off the last of the sentence.

Karayan’s eyes zeroed in on my face. “Without what?”

I shook my head.

“You know of a way you can get out of here? Why are you hesitating? This is about more than saving your playmate’s life. You talked me into joining your side of this little war. Well, here I am—but if we don’t keep that little shit from opening the door for his Grams, this war’s going to be over before it begins, and not in a good way. In a now-the-Lilitu-run-the-show, hope-you-like-being-cattle kind of way.”

“No.” My voice was a haggard whisper.

“No?” Karayan stared at me, her eyes burning with anger. “You do realize this is the capital ‘M’ moment, right here, don’t you? Whatever it is you have to do—”

“I have to drain Lucas.”

Karayan’s mouth hung open for a moment, but no words came out. Her fury melted into an agonized understanding. She took a step toward me. “Oh, sweetie—”

“Don’t. Please.” I jerked back, even though she was still yards away. “I—I can’t.” My eyes fell to the floor. A heavy despair settled over me. All these soldiers, dead—and for what? If we let Seth win, their deaths would mean nothing.

Karayan regarded me, letting her hands drop to her sides. “Okay.” She glanced around the cavern. “These tunnels all lead down,” she murmured. “You can tell from the heady bouquet of dust and wet rock. None of them leads to fresh air. Your best bet is still the gate. Let’s go. I’ll help you find a way through.” As she passed me, she paused to grip my shoulder. “It’s not over yet.”

In an instant, deep gratitude flooded through me. I followed Karayan back to the main entrance. Gretchen and Cassie were examining the hinges closely. My heart soared with hope.

“What did you find?” I asked.

They turned at the sound of my voice. My hope died as I saw the expressions on their faces. Gretchen shook her head. She didn’t have to say it; I could see as they moved aside that the hinges were bolted together. Presumably to discourage people from breaking in. Of course, that meant it would be equally impossible for us to break out.

Cassie slumped against the wall of the cavern, sliding to a seat on the ground. Half a heartbeat after she made contact with the cold stone ground, she burst into tears.

I felt my own eyes welling at the sound. Royal was running out of time, and we were trapped here. Deep in the back of my mind, a little voice chastised me.
You’re not trapped here
… But I shut it down.

Gretchen regarded Cassie, then turned. She gripped the steel bars hard and looked out over the late afternoon. We were running out of time.

Karayan strode up to the gate and took hold of it with her hands. She strained, trying to pry extra space for someone to slip through the gate, but the chain fastening the gate closed was tight. Even if she’d managed to win us another six inches, it still wouldn’t be enough room for me to squeeze through the opening. She didn’t give up, though. She climbed the gate to the top, searching for a weak bolt or anything we might use to our advantage. After a few minutes, she made a little noise of frustration.