Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (39 page)

“This is what we do.” She pinned me with her stare. “Fighting is in our blood, Derick’s blood.”

Pulling away from her, I ground my teeth and marched off.

Just as Derick emerged from the hull with
History of Kalós
in his grasp, a slight smile toying at the corner of his mouth.

“That was fun. Note to self: purple potion stings the eyes and also causes hallucinations.” He hooked his arm through mine and whisked us back to the dinghy, stepping high to avoid imaginary objects. “After you, m’lady.”

Mr. Crawford pursed his lips into a thin white line. “I told you to take a deep breath
before
breaking the vial.”

Derick smirked at his father. “Did you think I could hold my breath that long?”

Will’s yacht lurched to the left, knocking Derick into the rescue raft along with the rest of us, and Mr. Crawford wasted no time in taking off. The propellers left two lines of trailing white wake in the otherwise calm ocean. I followed them back to the destroyed ship and caught sight of the boat that’d hit us, burning, a pillar of black rising into the already black night, muting the stars. A white flash caught at the edge of my vision. I glanced to Will’s ship and saw Mark pacing the deck.

He turned his head toward us, his face distorted by rage, screamed into the night, then launched into the water.

Goose bumps rippled across my skin.

r. Crawford cut the motor on the dinghy, and Derick and Will jumped out and pulled it the rest of the way to shore. Once on the cool sandy beach, we kept moving, running through thick mangroves, over pockets of water in the low marsh until we broke through the last of the tropical growths and reached the Mustang.

I bent forward, hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. We were running from Mark.
Mark
, a kid who played with me in the dirt, who beat up bullies to defend my name, was a murderer.

“Keep walking.” Derick patted my shoulder. “Or it’ll take longer to recover.”

“Easy”—I wheezed, wondering whether we were far enough away—“for you to say.”

He laughed and leaned his elbows on the hood of his car, legs crossed at his ankles, so carefree, as though we weren’t on the run.

He’s still drugged
.

“So, what’s the plan, Dad?”

What’s the plan to escape Mark?
Could life get any crazier?

Mr. Crawford inclined his head toward Will and Megan, who huddled together a slight distance from us, her cheek on his chest. “We go to his house.”

At this, I stood straight. “What?”

“It will be the last place anyone thinks to look for us, especially Will’s father. If we drive to Virginia and head to the sanctuary, we may walk straight into a trap.”

“Assuming we even make it there,” Derick said, trailing his finger down the windshield, his face a few inches from the glass.

“You’re right, Derick. Your car is easily recognized.” Mr. Crawford stared at him. “And who knows how long Mark fed our secrets to the spirits; he knew far too many. I’m surprised we’ve made it this far, not that any human would be able to see us here—unless they were under Fávlosi influence.”

Megan and Will’s broken bodies flashed through my thoughts. “But that’s where we saw them dead. In the vision.”

“How will I explain you coming into my house, anyway?” Will asked.

Mr. Crawford disappeared.

“Oh. That helps. Definitely.”

“That’s enough, Adam. Everyone else, get in before we’re spotted by something not fooled by our abilities.” Derick’s mom opened the door and pointed, using her motherly authority to force us to pile into the car. I’d never again have that stern but loving direction in my life, not from my own mother. For a second, I stopped breathing. For a second, my heart fissured in yet another place.

Will, Megan, and even a dazed-eyed Derick, ducked into the backseat, but Mrs. Crawford grabbed my wrist before I could follow, holding me gently but with a firmness that implied she wanted my attention. “I know what you saw. I know it is our duty to protect them. I know how much visions hurt, how they scare you, how they turn everything you want on its head and make you run in a completely different direction to try and avoid the outcome you’ve already seen. But I also know that
never
works. If you saw Megan and Will dead on that beach, then that beach is exactly where we need to go. If there is any chance for them to survive, it will be there.”

“Are visions ever wrong?”

She nodded. “My vision about your safety here in Florida was wrong—a first, but apparently not a last, for me—but the failure is not unheard of. My mother begged me not to marry Adam after seeing the future, swore he’d make me miserable, but I can’t imagine another man ever making me as happy as he has. Life is what
we
make of it, Abby, not a pre-planned journey. Our abilities are meant to help us, but they are not who we are.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, get in.”

I slipped past her and into the cramped backseat of the Mustang, then sat on Derick’s lap. His whole body shook with energy, as if his blood vibrated, and I wondered what exactly that vial had contained. Nothing earthly.

“Did you know every strand of your hair is a light? It’s amazing. You have this lavender glow under your skin, too. Like someone implanted fiber-optic tubes throughout your entire body and flipped a switch.” Derick picked up a chunk of my hair and whistled as he slowly let it go. “So bright.”

Definitely not an earthly drug.

The Crawfords exchanged a concerned glance, and Megan giggled.

“Do you have any more of that potion, sir?” Will asked. “I think we should use it on my father.”

“Why do you feel so compelled to help us?” Derick touched Will’s face, denting the soft skin under his dark-shadowed eye. “The colors under your skin are dark, almost navy blue, but there’s vibrancy to them yet. Something alive and incredible. It’s like your blood runs with evil, but your soul wants to be good.”

Will didn’t move, not even to blink. “What did you guys do to him? It’s like he’s on acid or something.”

“He may as well be,” Mr. Crawford said, backing out of the parking lot. “
Alitherum
reveals reality in heavy doses. The substance makes you see who you really are, deep down inside, all the layers of magic and humanity this plane has to offer peeled away. It worked on Mark because he saw the truth of what he’s become—and done—and it overwhelmed him, which is why he screamed and jumped into the water. He’s probably thinking of suicide at the moment, though, given what we know about Fávlosi, that thought won’t last long. The drug is working the same way for Derick… well, almost. He’s seeing the truth of what he, and everything around him, is—the very core of things. It’s really quite beautiful, the way we’re able to read life how a snake might seek prey, but Derick has no experience with this, nor any idea how to subdue the effects of the
alitherum
.”

“I don’t want to subdue it.” His pupils were dilated so wide that no exposed color remained, none of my favorite blue or his boyish innocence. “Is this what life there will be like?”

“No.” Mr. Crawford laughed. “This
is
just a serum. We try not to use it often, as producing the ingredients necessary to make more isn’t an easy task.”

The drug and its effects meant very little to me. How could someone like Mark change from one of us into a killer? How could he stab his parents? Lie to me? Attack Derick? How could he do any of these things? He went from pushy, nice guy to psycho in the course of a week.

“I’m going to guess that wasn’t just a scratch on his arm, Abby.” Mr. Crawford took a deep, resigned breath. “When the boys rescued you, one of the brothers must have injected Mark with their blood.”

My thoughts are never private. “Their blood?”

“You see, our kinds can never mix. The results can be fatal, never mind dangerous.”

“So Mark is going to die?”

“Doesn’t look that way. If the transfusion doesn’t immediately kill the host, their intentions will define what becomes of them.”

“So pretty,” Derick said, lifting my hair again.

I ignored him. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Mr. Crawford met my eyes in the rearview. “Just because we’re meant for good does not mean our hearts desire good. We all come from humans who’ve passed on. And humans are fickle, just like that boy. He had a mean streak in him, that one, an air of confidence that made him think he was better than most. When the Fávlosi injected their blood into him, the blood could have either made him an even stronger good guy—or an incredibly strong—”

“Murderer.”

He nodded. “And he might flip between his two selves for quite some time, until one of them takes control.”

Another part of my life lost. Another piece of normal turned angry, violent.

“Adam…” Mrs. Crawford went stone-still, her eyes fixed on something in front of the car.

I leaned between the seats, trying to see what she did, and gasped. Blue and red lights flashed at the end of the bridge we needed to cross to return to Will’s house—lots of lights. Mr. Crawford slowed down, but we were already too close to the barricade. Officers in black uniforms, with guns at the ready, stood in a line before their vehicles, ready to stop an army.

Somehow, we were that army.

“Way more of them here than we thought,” Mr. Crawford said. “Look at all these humans under their influence.”

“Which explains how they got the better of us.” Mrs. Crawford pursed her lips and looked at me, hardness etched into her concerned face. “But not this time. Not with her, Adam.”

“Can everyone swim?” Will asked, gripping the headrest.

“That’s not going to work, unless someone has a way to protect this book.” I held up
History of Kalós
, just in case they forgot and allowed us to plunge into the clear blue waters, which would surely be the end of our
guide’s
life.

“The book possesses strong magical abilities. I’m sure it will be fine.” Mr. Crawford slammed on the brakes, and we stopped in the middle of the bridge.

Strong
negative
magical abilities.

We climbed out of the Mustang, ran to the guardrails, then peered over.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Megan said. “Will, kids get hurt here all the time. It’s too high!”

Will took her hand and looked at the Crawfords. “Don’t you two have some sort of power you can use to help us land, or something?”

“Doesn’t work that way, but we don’t have any other option.” Derick’s mother looked toward the cops, whose lights were getting closer. “When you jump, make sure you fall straight down, like a pencil. Do
not
hit the water sideways.” She took a deep breath. “On the count of three. One…”

“The water is alive,” Derick said, grinning at the ocean below us.

“Is it safe for him to swim? He’s still hallucinating.” I hooked my arm through his so he couldn’t leap off into the
pretty
water before she said three.

“It’ll snap him back to
this
reality.” Mr. Crawford nodded to his wife.

“Two…”

Derick and I climbed onto the round metal railing. Wobbling, I held one hand out for balance while clutching the book under the other, and stared down into the water, the moonlight dancing off the rippling waves.