Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 7.5) (25 page)

***

Logan pulls me downstairs. He drags me all the way to the front yard and slams the door, loud as a cannon.

I stagger over to the thick navy lawn and raise my face to the sky.

“Do not let him die!” I scream it at the top of my lungs. “Do you hear me, mother?” My throat bleeds from the caustic effort. “So help me God, you kill him and I’m going to find out what you really love and destroy it!” I drop to my knees with my head spinning from the chaos.

“What the hell?” Ellis shouts as he and a group of guys head in this direction. The stench of weed wafts over, thick like a cloud, but I don’t let the company impede my inter-dimensional rant.

“You said you’d come!” I mean for it to blast from my lungs but it sails out a whimper. “That you would help me fight—you and Daddy. But you lied. Just don’t let Gage die and I’ll leave you alone forever. I’ll live with the Counts like a good girl just like you want. I swear it. I’ll give them all of my blood, every hour I have left on this planet. Let Gage live.” I bury my head in the thick, damp grass. The heavy blades slice against my throat as I give in to the earth, the sky, my mother and her demonic head games.

It’s over.

Skyla?
My mother appears behind my lids in a vision.
Why are you so upset?
She looks angry more than perplexed.
Gage is on the mend. Do refrain from irrational outbursts. If you’re to lead the Faction Councils, you must practice irreverent calm. Be slow to anger, impossible to infuriate over a rumor or misunderstanding. You must come from a place of knowing at all times
.

I lie motionless, unable to speak and, ironically, this infuriates me.

I’ve clipped your tongue for the night.
She smiles into her admission.
Don’t trouble your heart over love. Arrangements have been made for you in that arena.
She leans into me until the love pours out from her completely.
Trust me, Skyla, leave your heart in the Master’s hands. I’ve seen all that is in store for your future. I helped shape it and fashion it just as you would have wanted if you were aware of the circumstances.

She turns to leave, then looks over her shoulder at me.
And one more thing—congratulations on your first win.

First win? I try to call after her but she’s already gone.

Logan helps me up to my feet.

We took the region
. I wrap my arms around his neck and he spins me victoriously.

We won the battle.

Gage won.

Chapter 86

On Love and Such

Logan and I meander back to Gage’s bedroom to see how he’s doing.

The dark mahogany bookshelves are neatly lined with hardbacks, each sporting matching gilded fonts along the spines while an army of trophies gleam up top from when he was a boy. Gage keeps his room neat and tidy. You could perform surgery in this ultra-hygienic environment. Lucky for Gage because that’s sort of what’s happening now. 

Dr. Oliver finishes up the last chain of stitches. An entire row of thick black X’s dot the left side of his face from his lip to his ear before darting straight up to his temple.

Gage wears a sullen expression as he fights sleep to gaze over at me. His swollen lip breaks into a painful smile, and I feel guilty he even attempted the effort.

“Get some rest,” Dr. Oliver says as he heads to the door. “I’ll be back to check on you. Try not to speak or you run the risk of splitting open.”

Gage plucks at my fingers and gives a brief nod.
We did it
.

I look to Logan.
Tell him he won the region. That he did it
.

Logan and I sit on either side of him while I hold his hand. Logan touches his arm, so Gage doesn’t have to risk his stitches to speak.

Will you still be my date for the Kragger dinner tomorrow night?
Gage doesn’t seem all that concerned that Logan is listening in on our conversation.

“Give her some breathing room,” Logan says it as nice as possible, but I can feel his agitation in this short distance.

“Skyla?” Emma peers into the room. “I just got off the phone with your mother. I told her Gage had an accident and that you were comforting him.”

“Thank you,” I mouth since my other, not so angelic, mother depleted my vocal cords for the evening.

I’m sure Tad thought of a dozen different scenarios all having to do with me running away or hacking someone’s head off.

“Goodnight, all. Gage, you need your rest.” She gives a wink before slipping out of the room.

What’s this breathing room business?
Gage doesn’t skip a beat as he glares into Logan. The ridge of stitches jumps from his face like the serrated edge of a knife as he clenches his jaw. They’re already swelling, forming red welts that bump along his cheek.

“Take it easy.” Logan’s voice is filled with his own frustration. “I just meant give her a break to figure things out.”

Tell him not to worry about me
, I say it to Logan.

“She says she can’t stand the sight of you.” Logan forces a half-smile and I suddenly feel the urge to sock him. “Not really. She doesn’t want you to worry about her—she can’t talk.”

Thanks to my mother everything needs to be translated via Logan for the night.

I touch the back of my hand to Gage’s forehead. Dr. Oliver loaded him up with painkillers and antibiotics, and yet he’s still burning up.

Tell him he can take my blood and he’ll be healed by morning
, I nod into Logan.

“She wants to heal you,” Logan gives a circular nod into Gage. “You should do this. Take my blood in the least.”

No
. Gage flat lines.
I’ll be fine. I can handle a scar or two
.

You would have thought we were offering a fresh case of smallpox.

I glance up at Logan.
Tell him I think he’ll look hot with scars but he doesn’t need to have them. I’d love to do this for him
.

Logan frowns his displeasure. “She says you’ll make a great Frankenstein for Halloween. She admires your dedication to the costume.” Logan winks over at me and I can tell that’s as far as he’s willing to go.

Fine. I’ll tell him myself
, I say, touching my fingers to his hair ever so gently,
as his date to the Kragger’s party. Please tell him, of course I’ll be his date tomorrow night.
I bite down on my lip considering this for a moment.
On second thought, I think we should steer clear of one another.

“She said she’d be your date tomorrow night, then changed her mind.” Logan spreads a mile wide smile.

Logan!

“What? That’s what you said.” He grins into his mischief.

I shake my head over at Gage.

Logan gives a long blink of dissatisfaction. “Does this have to do with the Kraggers?”

Exactly
. I give Gage’s hand a squeeze.
I need to buddy up to Morley and Arson—get on their good side and fast. I’ll have to figure out a way to please every Count on this island to get them to reverse that order or I’m as good as gone.

Logan leans in. He grazes over me with a delicate stare as though he were adoring me in this panicked state, as if what I had said was in some way cute and endearing.

What?
I blink into him.
I’ll be hanging with my new BFF Ellis Harrison. I might need to hit his stash just to kiss the right amount of Kragger ass. This isn’t going to be easy, you know.

Gage groans not needing to hear my asinine plan to know he doesn’t approve.
If it has to do with the Kraggers, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go through with it.

“I agree.” Logan shakes his head, still dimpling over at me as if he were falling in love with me all over again “You won’t need the Kraggers. We’ll find a way to keep the treble. And we’ll take down the Counts together like we planned right from the beginning. We built our relationship on the foundation of their destruction and we’re so close to having everything we’ve ever wanted. We’re going to win this, Skyla—you and me.”

The tension boils around Logan’s brazen words. Gage is slacked jawed at his open attempt to usurp our relationship—ironic because Gage has clouded the waters with his less-than-chaste behavior right from the beginning. 

Skyla
, Gage leans in on his elbow, retracting from Logan’s grip.
It kills me that you don’t trust me.

I look up at Logan not sure what to do with Gage at the moment.

His left dimple depresses.
Let me come to the butterfly room tomorrow night after we leave the Kraggers.
He jostles my hand.
We can have our own party. 

I give a weak nod. We’ll get this whole mess straightened out. I think.

I offer Gage a gentle kiss on the forehead and let Logan walk me downstairs.

We sit on the porch and swallow the fog as it presses into us with its cottony billows.

“You still worried about trusting him?” Logan plucks a reed from out of the border garden and twists it between his fingers. Logan has the capability to make every action, every sentence an act of sheer nobility.

I clutch at his bare arm.
I’m sure he’ll have good excuse.
Really, I’m not too worried about it. I’ll be gone in a month anyway. If not then, whenever my mother decides, she’s not overturning Ezrina and Nev’s ruling.
It’s going to be me and you, Logan, either way.

So I guess its Gage who’ll be left alone. My heart breaks just thinking about it. 

Logan wraps his arms around me and we watch the film of precipitation swirl over the yard. I stare into the mist a good long while until I start to see shapes and faces form in a velum state. Ladies in long dresses with hoop skirts, men in top hats, all of them dancing, twirling at a frenetic pace.

Do you see that?
I ask.

“See what?” He strains his gaze out in the distance.

I pick up his hand and interlace our fingers as the Transfer transplants move among us.

Holy shit
, Logan tightens his grip.
They’re everywhere
.

Chapter 87

Milking It

In the morning, I’m barely able to rouse myself out of bed. I suppose I should be thankful Ezrina didn’t feel the need for a conjugal visit last night or I might have slept well past evening. I’ve made it clear to Logan to include me in any nocturnal wanderings that he endures on my behalf. As it stands, it’s eleven-thirty in the morning, and this being Paragon, it looks more like evening anyway.

Tonight is the big Kragger get-together where they fatten up innocent island folk for their next altar sacrifice, only we all know who that will be, and I’ll be damned if I’m going down without a fight.

I stagger over to the mirror and take myself in. Great. I already look remarkably disheveled and insane. It’s not that big a stretch from me to Ezrina, really.

I guess technically she can screw the rules of our
covenant
and take over my person any time she pleases. She’s rogue that way. I should probably forewarn Gage of the possibility, but I’m guessing he’ll pick up on the bait and switch sooner than later.

I glance back at my reflection and try to memorize my features, my downturned lips, eyes clear as glass. I’m pretty certain once I’m a permanent resident of the Transfer, I won’t be caught dead gazing at myself in the mirror. I’m not sure who’ll have it worse, me in the Transfer or Ezrina in the tunnels. Oddly, I think Nev and Ezrina will find the baby-making suite in Demetri’s tower nothing short of paradise after what they’ve been through. One man’s hell is another man’s Eden. Blood for sex doesn’t sound like such a bad deal right about now.

I head downstairs to find Mia and Melissa taking lunch orders for their now joint business effort—the M & M café.

I quickly peruse the breakfast menu.

“Two eggs over easy, toast, and give me six sausages,” I say, throwing all artery clogging caution to the wind.

Mia slinks over with her neatly styled bob. She’s been frying the hell out of her hair with the flat iron so you can actually smell it when she gets in close but I’ll admit it does looks great on her.

“I had the weirdest dream last night,” she whispers as Melissa gets on with my order. “It was about Dad. You ever dream about him?”

“Sort of.” It’s the only logical answer. It’s not like I can call all the light drives I’ve been on “dreams,” but they qualify on some level I’m sure. “What was the dream about?”

“He said he was coming and that I should get ready to meet him. He said he missed me.” Her brows furrow as she sniffs back tears.

I lean in and hug Mia an extra-long time. He came to her in a dream and this sweetens the day without even trying.

“I love you,” I whisper. “If Daddy were to come to Paragon, would you want to see him?”

She blinks into me. “Of course.” It comes out sharp, charged with confusion. “But he’s not, Skyla.” She sighs into the window as the fog presses in.

On the other side of the glass I can see the face, the hands, the tall ornate hat of a woman—her entire being is married with the mist. She covers her mouth with her fingers as if to feign surprise.

This whole island is insane. Even the fog holds its wicked secrets.

“Dead people don’t come back.” Mia flicks a dishtowel over her shoulder and heads to assist Melissa with my order.

“What was that about?” Mom settles next to me at the bar while nursing the baby.

I glance over at her bare nipple, the baby suckling off her like he belonged there.

“Oh my freaking God!” I jump out the chair so fast the barstool shoots back like a missile and nearly takes out the TV.  

The baby seizes and starts in on a full-blown howl.

“Oh for God’s sake, Skyla,” Mom snaps. “You act like I have a cockroach crawling on my shirt.” She stands and tries to soothe the screaming infant by clicking her tongue like a chicken on fire.

“If you had a cockroach crawling on your shirt, I’d be less concerned.” I step in and examine the extra nipple taped to my mother’s bare breast.