Soul Betrayed (24 page)

Lucius’s expression was livid. His eyes were wild and his mouth was etched in a frown. “Where is my brother?”

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. My lungs were screaming for air, but his hands crushed my windpipe. His hands didn’t lessen their grip. The vision of Jackson slicing a sword through Ollie forced its way to the front of my mind.

“Lucius!” Abidan’s voice boomed.

Lucius flinched but his hands remained in place. The skin at the corners of his eyes tightened.

“Your brother is gone.” Abidan stood behind Lucius.

His face was blocked by the growing spots in my eyes.
Breathe. Try to breathe
.

“You will get your revenge on the Guard soon enough.” Abidan’s golden gaze lifted to mine.

I opened my mouth again. Stupid weak body.

Lucius’s nostrils flared. I focused on his face, trying to remain conscious.

“Patience.” Abidan’s smooth voice made the hair on my arms stick up. Lucius’s hands finally left me.

My head fell back and soon my body started to fall with it. Gulping down the salty air I reached for the railing but the metal bar slipped from under my fingers. A pair of arms wrapped around me and for a moment I was grateful. That was until Abidan’s face filled my vision.

I tried to get out of his hold but my lungs were still screaming to be fed. I inhaled sharply, the black spots turning to gray until soon enough they were gone.

Abidan adjusted my body until we were facing each other. “Humanity is a curse that has weakened you.”

I leaned against the railing which was the furthest I could get from his body. “Let me go.”

His head tilted and he smiled condescendingly. “And why would I do that? You’ve already proved you can’t be trusted.” His face leaned close to mine. “And even if you aren’t willing, I still need you.”

“You’ll never get through the Gate,” I snapped.

“Ah you see, my dear,” he swiped a hand over his mouth, “I’ve been there before. I just needed a stronger weapon.” His eyes slowly examined my face. “And now I have it.” Turning around he snapped his fingers at Lucius who, in one swift movement, grabbed my arm. I twisted against him but his grip only tightened. “Follow me please.”

I grunted but Lucius tugged me along next to him. The boat was a lot larger than I had originally thought and Shadowed souls stood at attention every few feet. I knew they wouldn’t all be able to fit on the boat, but I was significantly outnumbered.

Abidan walked through a doorway and Lucius pushed me through after him.

“I can walk on my own you know,” I spat.

“I know,” he said with a sneer.

I wondered if Jackson had killed the wrong brother. At least Ollie had kept his hands to himself. The Shadowed were taken because they had weak souls. But from the scars on his face, neck and arms he must have done a lot of wrong in his human life to weaken his soul.

I took one last look at the ocean before entering the room behind Abidan.

Abidan stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The posture reminded me of my father. Tears pricked my vision but I took a breath instead. There was no time for weakness. The sitting room had several beige leather couches around the walls and gray marble counters sparkled under the light. A bowl of fruit sat on the counter near the built-in flat screen television. If I didn’t know any better, we could have been vacationing in the Bahamas. I wondered how long I had been out. They couldn’t travel anywhere with me without normal human transportation. But we had been in the middle of a desert before. What desert was close to an ocean?

Hannah thrummed her fingers on the counter impatiently. She stood next to Abidan with a scowl on her face. What else was new? I wanted to ask them what had happened to my friends and Jackson. Cooper, Ally and the rest of the Guard had been locked in the cages. But Jackson hadn’t. I knew Hannah wouldn’t let him go that easily but I didn’t want to let her in on the fact that I had been thinking about him.

“Now that we are all here,” Abidan said, “we can set the plan in motion.” He waved his hands and the other Shadowed in the room disappeared before my eyes.

“Soon enough,” he continued, “we will arrive on shore. Hannah.” He turned to her. “You know what to do.”

She nodded slowly.

“And Margaret.” He tilted his head in my direction. “You will be with Hannah the whole time. She will fill you in along the way.”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m not going anywhere with her.”

A small smile touched Abidan’s lips. “Oh but you will. Unless you want to subject your friend Jamie to Hannah’s gift.”

My heart leapt. Jamie was okay. “I want to see her,” I said firmly.

Hannah snorted. “Do you think we are that stupid? You tried to escape with her before.”

Abidan raised a hand, his golden irises burning into mine. “There’s nowhere for her to go. I think allowing her to see that we follow through on our promises not to harm those without a cause might help her make her decision.”

“What decision is that?” I asked.

Abidan lifted his shoulders as if he were stretching them. “To help us.” He stepped closer, his eyebrows raised. “It breaks my heart that you still trust Felix after everything he did to you. Do you think even after all this time he will accept you as one of them? He could have easily done that when you were with him.” Abidan’s body circled mine, but I stayed still even though every fiber of my soul wanted to run away. “But he forced you to trust him because he didn’t trust you. The only reason he kept you was to keep you away from us. That doesn’t sound fair now does it?”

I said nothing, even though the wheels in my head started to turn. Felix had said I was feared among the Caeleste. But even though I had done horrible things in my human life, that didn’t mean it would carry over to the after-life. I had taken David but that was only because I didn’t know what was inside of me. Maybe if Felix had helped me control the power I could have been a vital part of the After.

“Although, I am pleased he did what he did, otherwise we might not have got the chance to go home.”

“She’s not going to help you,” Hannah said. “She is a lot more powerful than she is letting on, but something is holding her back.”

My gaze shot to hers. “Don’t pretend to know what I am thinking.”

Hannah’s scowl deepened. “Your power was inside of me. I know what you’re capable of and the fact that you are hiding from it means that you aren’t willing to work with us.”

She had caught Abidan’s attention and his narrowed gaze slipped to mine. “You were without your humanity for a century and now that you have your memories they are holding you back.” He rubbed a hand under his chin. “I fear this was part of Felix’s plan to keep you on their side. How long do you think he will keep you once you are transformed? You will never be able to get out from under his thumb. Do you think after all that Jackson has done for us, Felix will allow you to live happily ever after? He will never Recycle you. Think about your future, Margaret. The only future you will ever have depends on you helping us.” His eyes sparkled as he smiled broadly. “You have the ability to choose your own destiny. You can leave your human friend and Jackson with us and go be with Felix and the Guard. Or you can have everything you’ve ever wanted in this life and the next.”

I knew the right choice would be to side with Felix, but my humanity peeked through and a future without Jackson wasn’t ever a possibility. I had made a promise to myself and to Jackson a long time ago that I would do anything for him and I wasn’t one to break promises. Except for this one.

“I want to help you,” I said. “But you must promise to let Jackson out of the bond and allow Jamie and her father to return home unharmed.” I knew enough about my power to know that I could somewhat control it. I had to play nice, for now.

“And in exchange,” Abidan replied, “you will assist me in breaking down the border between the Realms.”

I nodded, unable to verbalize a lie.

He blinked slowly, as if gauging my answer. His gaze darkened. “If you betray me again though, Hannah will take all of their souls.”

I swallowed, nodding.

Abidan clapped his hands together, the sound startling me. “Well then, now that we have a deal, we must prepare for our arrival.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

Abidan slipped his arm around my shoulders, tucking me against him and I willed myself not to move away from him. Not that I could if I had tried. He had me in a tight hold and led me from the room onto the deck. The air cooled my flushed cheeks. Now that I was alone, I had to think on my feet. Agreeing with Abidan might have been a mistake but it was better than the alternative. Jamie had said that she heard the Guard discussing where the Gate was. They were sure to have a plan of attack and I just needed to get her and Jackson to safety before I betrayed Abidan’s trust. But in the meantime, I had to play nice.

We arrived at the bow. The boat cut through the crashing waves.

Abidan pointed with his free hand into the darkness ahead of us. The lights on the deck helped me to see more than I had before but we still appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.

“The location that Felix rooted the Gate to feels almost kismet.”

“How so?” I could almost make out the shore in the distance but I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of my eyes.

“It was the place where we first came through all those years ago. Which is how I know that this is right. It’s destiny for us to arrive in this place, back where it all began. One big circle.”

I turned my head, knowing that my eyes weren’t lying. The shore wasn’t too far ahead of us. Why would Felix put the Gate somewhere that he knew Abidan could find it? Was Abidan arrogant enough to think that this wasn’t some sort of trick? Or maybe he had more of an upper hand than I thought?

This was far from over.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“What coast are we on?” I asked trying to make sense of where we were in the world. As a Collector I had mostly stayed on the east coast of the United States, where Felix could keep a close eye on me. I wondered if he should have placed me elsewhere. If Jackson had never seen me at the cemetery that day everything might have been so different.

“There are several islands off of the coast of California,” he said vaguely.

Island? That didn’t seem to bode well for my escape if I failed to convince them. “Why didn’t we just fly?” I asked. Abidan looked down at me. “I needed to give them time to prepare for us.”

I stiffened. Had he known Jamie was lying? Would the Guard really give up the actual position of the Gate or was that another trick from Felix?

“One of the things I’ve always been good at is being a step, sometimes several steps ahead. It’s a great survival skill.”

I nodded blankly. But a part of me was relieved that the Guard would be there. “What made you choose this place?”

“There are numerous locations in the After that served as connections to the Living Realm. That was to ensure that the souls didn’t spend a lot of time wandering this Realm after they had moved on from their body.”

“I thought there was only one Gate Seven.”

He nodded. “There is. Once we crossed over, all of the connections were severed. Something we found out about too late. Over the years we have tried each one. It was only a few months ago that we lucked out.”

“How were you able to get through?”

Abidan raised an eyebrow.

Yera’s soul popped into my vision. “I was in the After to see the destruction.”

He smirked and shook his head. “Felix does have a flair for the dramatic. We had a hint about the location and used the Percipio to find it. She was helpful to a point.”

Abidan still didn’t know that I was aware of Year’s untimely death.

“Only souls can cross the Veil. We needed to find a way to break it, make it more accessible for all. That can only be done with immense power.”

“What about Hannah?”

“Since she is only one of my followers, her soul is incomplete. We need someone who has a connection with the After.”

“Like me,” I said, my voice catching in my throat.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

I shook my head, the details of his plan not making sense. “But I am with my body now.”

“Which is an unfortunate circumstance for you to be in, but I’m afraid we don’t have a lot of time to wait for your transformation.”

I shivered, and not just from the chill in the air. “What are you saying?”

He blew out a breath as if I had been pestering him. “Your soul strength is what is going to get us to the other side.”

I backed away from him, bumping into the railing and tightening my fingers around it. “You need my True Soul to get me out of my body.”

He smiled wickedly. “Not when I have Hannah.”

I spun around, facing the water. We weren’t too far away from the shore now. What was I going to do? No matter where I went they could transport to my location. I didn’t have a sword to protect myself. “You were never going to let them go were you?”

Abidan didn’t move from his spot. “If you had joined us when I asked, they would have been safe. But now you’ve brought everyone that you loved here. I can’t guarantee anything.”

The fate of my friends had been in my hands the whole time, and I had selfishly thought it had been all about me. Now I had to follow through, to save myself and them.

Abidan approached me, but I shimmied away from him along the railing. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Nothing will happen to you until we reach the Gate. Enjoy the last moments of your life.”

He turned as a dozen Shadowed appeared around us. “What is this?”

Lucius spoke. “There are Guard on the boat. Looking for her.”

Abidan growled low in his throat. “All of you. Keep her in your sights. Lucius, round up the rest and come with me.”

The group of Shadowed raced to encircle me then turned outward, facing the rest of the deck. With their backs to me, I could almost touch a scythe. I could have taken at least one of them down, making them lose concentration until the Guard showed up. But before I could, they all reached for their weapons and brandished them. I couldn’t see past the Shadowed but I heard the Guard running toward us. I lifted myself onto the railing, my feet planted on the first rung, and balanced my body before letting go with my hands. I stood a head higher than the Shadowed and my pulse quickened at the sight of six Guard standing in similar stances before them.