Anathema (Causal Enchantment #1)(70)

“Let’s do this!” Bishop announced.

“Wait.” Fiona’s eyes narrowed, communicating silently with him, nodding toward the cave entrance. With a slight frown of concern, he nodded and walked over to stand by the entrance, staring out into nothingness—listening or smelling, I assumed.

We sat silently, waiting for Bishop’s sanction. My eyes flitted over to Caden to catch him staring at me, expressionless. His eyes dropped.

“And she’s gone! Crossed over the first mountain,” Bishop announced in a booming voice.

I had to figure out how to do that with Max, I promised myself.

“Okay Evangeline, what’s going on?” Fiona asked.

At the same time Caden yelled, “I told you not to say anything!”

“Don’t get mad, everyone,” I said, my hands out in a sign of peace. I had just lied to a group of vampires about the one thing they desperately wanted. The gravity of that began to sink in.

Amelie, Bishop, and Fiona’s eyes darted between Caden and me. “You knew about this?” Amelie’s raspy voice was full of shock.

I took a deep breath. “I lied,” I began. She turned, her angelic face crestfallen, the brightness in her eyes fading. “Not about taking you back!” I quickly added. “Before, when I told you that I couldn’t take you back, I lied.”

“So you can?” Amelie’s emerald eyes began glowing eagerly again.

“Sort of …” My eyes darted to Caden, looking for help. He turned away, jaw clenched and eyes closed.

“Well, which is it?” Amelie cried in frustration.

“That’s the tricky part. I don’t know exactly how to do it.”

“So all that stuff about the portal was a lie?” Bishop said slowly and evenly.

“No! That was true! Sofie said there’s no use in looking for it, though. We’ll never find it that way, she said. But … there’s more.” I paused, dreading this part. “I don’t know how many of you I can bring back. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“But … there’s hope?” Amelie began pacing. “Maybe you can bring us all back?”

“Yes! Maybe. I mean, Sofie thinks I can.” A lie. A little white lie but a lie all the same. One I prayed would never be proven wrong.

“Bring us all back so we can kill you when we get there?” Caden leaned against the cave wall, his expression blank, his voice flat.

“We won’t kill her, Caden!” Amelie glared at her brother.

“My sister, the eternal optimist,” Caden sneered. “And if she’s wrong, you’re the one who pays.” He pushed himself off the wall and turned, his back to me now like a slap to my face.

My eyes roamed the group, studying expressions full of optimism, shock, angst, and horror as they silently played the situation through in their heads. There was a long pause, then chaos erupted. Amelie and Fiona began giggling and hopping around like sugar–high children, hugging each other. Bishop grabbed me and repeatedly tossed me into the air until I was sure I would puke.

I looked over to where Caden stood calmly, seemingly apathetic to the prospect of leaving Ratheus. Or leaving with me, that paranoid part of me whispered.

“So what’s the plan?” Amelie asked when she and Fiona took a break from bounding around.

I shrugged. “Sofie said to wait and, when the time was right, we would find the portal. It needs to be soon, though.”

“Why?” Caden quickly asked.

I explained the curse’s warped sense of time.

“Are you saying that if we don’t figure this problem out soon, you’ll die?” Caden asked, his voice still unnaturally calm, that unreadable expression on his face.

I nodded. He averted his gaze to the floor again.

“Is there any chance that the portal is out there in the woods?” Bishop asked.

I shrugged again. “Sofie doesn’t think so, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to search, right?”

“We’ll have some of our pets check things out,” Bishop agreed. “It wouldn’t take them long. It will stretch our perimeter guard, but we should be okay.”

“Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?” Amelie asked.

I turned to Caden. “Can you take me to the place where the Merth grows again?” I asked softly. “Sofie needs it.”

“Sure. Anything for Sofie.” The sarcasm was impossible to miss. He disappeared down the tunnel, carefully avoiding my eyes.

Sending Rachel away hadn’t changed anything, I thought bitterly.

“We can’t go in there. It’s too painful for us weak little girls,” Amelie explained with an apologetic smile. She and Fiona stood on the ledge by the waterfall.

“And you’ll have to pick it yourself. Merth only has to touch us to make us flop like rag dolls,” Bishop added, squeezing my shoulder.

“That’s okay.” I smiled, glancing over to see Caden approaching us. He had vanished for a brief time while we were gathering the mountain bags and I was changing into my wet suit.

He stopped in front of me. “Let’s get this over with. I hate being near this wretched stuff.” He picked me up as he had the other day. I buried my face in his chest again, only this time the awkwardness was unbearable.