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Lukas, Elle, and I spent the rest of the morning poring over the journals, searching for anything that might help us save Jared. We tossed out suggestions to Dimitri and Gabriel, who shot them down. At least
we
were sharing.

The Illuminati members spoke in low tones and didn’t invite us to join their conversation, which only made Lukas more suspicious.

After lunch, Priest and Alara returned. Priest tossed a small, white plastic case across the table in front of Dimitri.

“A gift?” Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

Priest flipped up his hood. “You wish.”

Dimitri picked up the case. “Contact lenses? Are you concerned about my vision?”

Priest pushed his blond bangs out of his eyes, his expression unreadable. “Hardly. Like I said, based on what happened to Jared, your wraparound anti-possession sunglasses obviously aren’t effective. And they definitely aren’t my style.” Priest pointed at the contact case. “My granddad used to say if the trap doesn’t catch the mouse, you’ve gotta build a better mousetrap.”

Alara stood behind him with a smug smile on her face. “Tell them how they work.”

“Those babies are soaked in holy water, with some of Alara’s Haitian mojo thrown in for good measure.”

“He means herbs and wards,” she said.

Dimitri examined them cautiously.

Priest stifled a smile. “I thought you Illuminati guys were badass, with your SWAT gear and bone whip.”

“I value my eyesight,” Dimitri said.

Alara rolled her eyes. “I’m wearing a pair right now. So is Priest.” She tossed Lukas, Elle, and me plastic cases of our own.

I caught mine. “Thanks.”

Dimitri held his eyelid open and positioned his finger in front of his eye, with the contact lens balanced on the end. “You’re positive these will work?”

Priest slipped on his huge headphones. “Only one way to find out.”

D
imitri wasn’t willing to take Priest at his word without some evidence the contact lenses worked, so everyone followed Priest down to the mech room to see how he’d made them.

I stayed behind, staring out the warehouse window. I missed the rain—my rain—because that’s the way I thought about it now. It was comforting, the only constant in my life since the night I assembled the Shift.

Where was the Shift now? Buried in the mud under the prison rubble?

I imagined taking it apart. Going back and undoing all the damage it had caused.

Some things wouldn’t change—my mother’s death and the secrets she’d kept from me; a world full of angels and
demons, vengeance spirits and secret societies, and my place within it.

But the rain would never have started.

Faith wouldn’t be dead.

The human race wouldn’t be on the brink of destruction or enslavement.

Jared wouldn’t be possessed by a demon.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, and when I turned around, Gabriel was leaning in the doorway.

“Need something?” I pulled my hair into a ponytail to avoid making eye contact with him.

“If you want to go down to the containment area, I’ll take you.”

My eyes flicked from his face to the tail of the whip curled behind him. “Why?”

“Because I know you want to see him, and I’d rather you go with me than sneak down there alone.”

He was smarter than I thought.

“Why?” I asked again.

“I just told you.”

“I mean, why do you care?” It was a fair question. Gabriel hadn’t shown any interest in helping us until now.

He didn’t respond right away, and I could almost see him weighing the pros and cons between lying and telling the truth. “Your mother and I were friends for a long time. And she loved you more than anything in the world, even if she hid her past from you.”

“My mom hid more than her past. If she was a spy from some rogue order of the Illuminati, then she wasn’t the person I thought she was.” I tried to sound indifferent, but I was failing miserably.

“I don’t know why she lied to you. But I know she’d want me to keep you safe.”

“What was the deal between you and my mom, Gabriel? Because you’re way too worried about what my mom would want for a guy who was just her
friend
.”

Gabriel started to say something, then stopped. After a moment, he cleared his throat and tried again. “Our relationship is none of your business. But since you seem to think it is, I’ll say it again. Your mom was my friend. She saved me when I wasn’t strong enough to save myself. And I owed her for that, a debt I never had a chance to repay.” He walked toward me. “So I’m not going to let Elizabeth’s only daughter get herself killed.”

“Fine.” I stormed past him and stood in the doorway. “Take me down there.”

Gabriel didn’t say a word until we reached the metal door that led into the tunnel. A row of winter jackets hung on pegs next to the door. He slipped one off a nail and handed it to me. “Put this on.”

“Are we going outside?”

“Do you ever cooperate?” He held the jacket between us.

“No.”

Not with you.

He sighed. “Are you wearing the contacts your friend made?”

I nodded.

“Remember, Kennedy. That isn’t the boy you know in there. Andras is one of the most powerful demons in hell. He might look like your boyfriend and sound like him, but he’s not Jared.”

A knot formed in my throat.

My boyfriend.

Did Jared think of himself that way? Would I ever get the chance to find out?

“One more thing.” Gabriel took a glass baby food jar out of his pocket and unscrewed the lid. He dipped his finger in the jar and scooped out a thick black paste. “I need to spread some of this on your cheeks.”

I stepped back. “Excuse me?”

“I’m going to draw protective sigils on our faces. It’s ash.”

I tucked my hair behind my ears and turned my face toward him. “From a fire?”

“You could say that.” Gabriel drew a circle on my cheek. “Incinerated demon bones.”

I jerked away, disgusted. “I feel sick.”

He grabbed my chin. “You’ll feel sicker if Andras possesses you.”

“How do you know about this stuff?” The jar of ash
seemed like the kind of thing Alara might stash in one of her pockets.

“Metaspiritual warfare is my specialty, to use Legion terminology.” Gabriel worked fast, drawing what felt like circles and swirls on my cheeks. When he finished, he traced the sigils on his own skin.

Gabriel opened the iron door, and a blast of freezing air burst from the tunnel. I knew that a sudden drop in temperature was a sign of demonic activity, but it felt like a meat locker down here. It wasn’t nearly this cold last night. I zipped the coat and followed Gabriel, my breath coming out in white puffs.

“There are gloves in the jacket pockets,” he said.

“I’m fine.” I didn’t need Gabriel treating me like a child.

All I could think about was how close we were to the cell door. The gray metal glistened in the dim light, and a layer of frost coated the bars.

The chains that ran from the wall to the shackles binding Jared’s wrists and ankles were longer now—long enough to allow him to walk around the tiny cell, but short enough to keep him from escaping.

Words were scrawled across the back wall in chalk, some horizontal, while others were vertical, diagonal, or backward.

Not words. Names.

The names of the dead girls.

Gabriel shook his head. “Great. Our last guest must’ve left the chalk. Now he’s got a hobby.”

Jared sat on the floor with his back against the wall, wearing jeans and a white undershirt. His clothes were soaked.

“He’s going to freeze to death,” I said.

“Demons don’t get cold.”

At the sound of Gabriel’s voice, Jared lowered his chin, his eyes still closed. “He’s right.” The voice wasn’t Jared’s or the demon’s but a blend of the two.

My hands trembled as they closed around the bars, and the icy metal burned my palms.

“Ow.” I winced and pulled away.

“You should be careful. You could get hurt down here.” The demon’s voice was softer now, more like Jared’s. Hope swelled inside me. Then he opened his eyes and Jared’s blue ones stared back at me. “But it’s the people around you who always get hurt, isn’t it?”

Gabriel pointed between the bars. “Shut your mouth, or I’ll show you what it feels like to get hurt.”

Andras rose and cocked his head to the side. His movements were slow and deliberate, like he was trying out a new body that didn’t quite fit. “Are you going to take out your whip, Gabriel? Beat me with the bones of my soldiers?”

“Maybe I’ll add your bones to them.” Gabriel
unhooked the whip from his belt and let it pool around his feet like an ivory snake.

“You’re wearing your war paint. Are we going to war today?”

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Gabriel said.

The demon stepped closer. His feet were bare, and holy water dripped onto the floor around him. “Are you certain, Champion of God? The only man ready to face the Maker of Nightmares is a man with no fears. You are
not
one of those men.”

“Gabriel, stop.” I knew where this was going.

Andras yanked on the chains, his hands still shackled in front of him. “You would be wise to listen to her, Gabriel. After all, she is Elizabeth’s daughter.”

At the mention of my mother’s name, she appeared on the other side of the bars. Wearing a white button-down shirt and jeans, my mom looked every bit as alive as she had in life—from her long, wavy brown hair and beautiful features to her warm chocolate eyes and playful smile.

“Elizabeth?” Gabriel whispered.

It felt like the world around me had stopped. I couldn’t see anything except my mother—because now that I was staring at her, I realized that’s who she would always be to me. Not a rogue Illuminati member or the woman who had betrayed my father and lied to me.

She gasped, her eyes shining. “Kennedy?” Her gaze
drifted to Gabriel. “What are you two—? Why am I in a cell?”

As she turned, Andras clamped his hand around her throat.

“No!” Gabriel shouted, pounding on the bars.

I grabbed his arm. “It’s not real. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Andras is manifesting one of your fears. I’ve seen him do it before.”

Gabriel ignored me, his gaze fixed on my mom.

Andras stood behind her and lifted her off the ground, his hand still locked around her neck.

“Are you fearless now, Gabriel?” Andras roared. “Is the magic painted on your skin protecting you from the Maker of Nightmares?”

Gabriel turned his pockets inside out. I realized he was searching for the keys.

“Don’t open it.” I pressed my back against the cell door, blocking Gabriel’s access. “I swear it’s not her.”

His eyes were wild. “Kennedy, move!”

I heard choking noises behind me and my mom’s voice. “Please—”

Don’t look.

“I’m going to tear your heart out!” Gabriel yelled, pushing me aside.

The hiss of the sprinklers sputtered above us. As Gabriel slid the key into the first lock, freezing water, spiked with rock salt, showered from the ceiling.

Steam rose from Andras’ skin, and he staggered back and fell against the wall. The holy water’s effect on my mother was worse. The water droplets punched holes in her, eating away at her form. Gabriel dropped to his knees and gripped the bars, while I watched the last pieces of my mom disappear.

The demon gritted his teeth. “That’s the way I prefer to see you, Gabriel. On your knees.”

Gabriel dragged himself to his feet and stared at the keys in his hand, black ash from his cheeks running down his face. “I almost…”

“But you didn’t,” I said.

Andras clapped, his movements slower, as if he’d expended too much energy. “You’re smarter than Jared thinks you are, Kennedy Waters.”

“You have no idea what Jared thinks.” I tried to sound confident, but I was still reeling from seeing my mother, even if it was only an illusion.

“I’m inside his body. Do you believe it’s any harder for me to get into his head?”

Was it possible?

I shuddered.

The demon smiled. “I know what happened at Hearts of Mercy. Jared regrets it. He cares about you, but he only kissed you because he thought you were one of them—the missing member of the Legion he was searching for.”

The words ripped through me. If Andras knew about
the first kiss we’d shared while we were trapped in the wall…

He really can get inside Jared’s head.

The demon wasn’t finished. “Instead he learns you’re Illuminati. Can you imagine the disappointment?”

My cheeks burned.

“What does that leave you with, Kennedy Waters? A dead mother. A father who didn’t want you. Friends who don’t trust you.” Andras paused, savoring the moment. “And a boy who doesn’t love you.”

My heart felt like it stopped beating.

Gabriel finally snapped out of his haze. “He’s trying to get under your skin, Kennedy. He doesn’t know anything.”

Then how did he know about Hearts of Mercy and the kiss?

“I want to talk to Jared,” I said.

The demon laughed. “I’m sorry. Jared’s not home right now. But he asked me to give you a message.”

“Don’t listen to a word that comes out of his filthy mouth,” Gabriel said.

What if Jared really was trying to break free and communicate with me? How could I walk away without knowing?

“What’s the message?”

The demon rose and walked toward the bars, dragging the chains along with him.

“What’s the message?” I repeated.

He’s not going to tell you.

Jared’s body rocketed toward me, faster than any human being could possibly move. He stopped just inches from the bars—and me.

Gabriel raised his whip, and I caught his arm. “No.” I turned back to Andras. “What’s the message?”

The slow, insidious smile spread across his lips. “Good-bye. That’s all he said.” The demon’s body sped backward, like someone had hit Rewind, until he was leaning against the wall on the other side of the cell.

Gabriel grabbed my arm. “Come on.”

“Leaving so soon, Champion of God?” Andras asked.

“Don’t worry.” Gabriel forced a smile. “I’ll be back.”

As I turned away from the bars, Andras called out, “Alexa Sears, Lauren Richman, Kelly Emerson, Rebecca Turner, Cameron Anders, Mary Williams, Sarah Edelman, Julia Smith, Shannon O’Malley, Christine Redding, Karen York, Marie Dennings, Rachel Eames, Roxanne North, Catherine Nichols, Hailey Edwards, Lucy Klein.” He taunted me with their names, as if I didn’t already know them by heart. “They’re all dead, Kennedy. Because of you.”

“You killed them, not me.” I kept my voice even.

The demon tilted his head to the side. “But I did it for you.”

“He’s lying. Let’s get out of here.” Gabriel touched my shoulder, but I couldn’t make my legs work.

“Am I? Jared was sure his brother, the great code breaker, would have figured it out by now.”

I stared at the names scrawled on the wall like a schizophrenic crossword puzzle: Anders, Klein, Edwards, Turner, Nichols, Eames, York, North, Dennings, Williams, Redding, Smith, O’Malley, Edelman, Richman, Sears, Emerson. My mind took snapshots as I scanned the letters, searching for patterns in the girls’ names.