Beautiful Darkness(119)

I remembered when Hunting told me that Lena killed Macon. “They know.”

“It's of the utmost importance that you tell me everything.”

Ridley fell into step alongside Macon. “Ever since Lena's birthday, Sarafine's been summoning power from the Dark Fire to become powerful enough to raise the Seventeenth Moon.”

“You mean that crazy bonfire she started back in the woods?” The way Link said it, I was pretty sure he imagined a trash can burning by the lake at night.

Ridley shook her head. “That wasn't the Dark Fire. It was a manifestation, like Sarafine. She created it.”

Liv nodded. “Ridley's right. The Dark Fire is the source of all magical power. If Casters channel their collective energy back into the source, it becomes exponentially more powerful. A sort of supernatural atomic bomb.”

“You mean it's gonna blow up?” Link didn't look as sure about hunting down Sarafine now.

Ridley rolled her eyes. “It won't blow up, Genius. But the Dark Fire can do some serious damage.”

I looked up at the full moon and the beam of moonlight creating a direct path into the cavern. The moon wasn't feeding the fire. The power of the Dark Fire was being channeled into the moon. That's how Sarafine called the moon out of time.

Macon was watching Ridley carefully. “Why would Lena agree to come here?”

“I convinced her, me and this guy John.”

“Who is John, and how does he fit into all this?”

Ridley was biting her purple nails. “He's an Incubus. I mean, a hybrid, anyway. Part Incubus and part Caster, and he's really powerful. He was obsessed with the Great Barrier and how everything would be perfect if we got here.”

“Did this boy know Sarafine would be here?”

“No. He's a true believer. Thinks the Great Barrier will solve all his problems, like it's some kind of Caster Utopia.” She rolled her eyes.

I could see the anger in Macon's eyes. The green reflected his emotions in a way the black never had. “How is it that you and a boy who isn't even a full-blooded Incubus were able to talk Lena into something so absurd?”

Ridley looked away. “It wasn't hard. Lena was in a bad place. I think she believed there was nowhere else for her to go.” It was hard to look at the blue-eyed Ridley without wondering how she felt about the Dark Caster she was only a few days ago.

“Even if Lena felt responsible for my death, why would she think she belonged with the two of you, a Dark Caster and a Demon?” Macon didn't say it with spite, but I could tell the words stung Ridley.

“Lena hates herself and thinks she's going Dark.” Ridley glanced at me. “She wanted to go to a place where she wouldn't hurt anyone. John promised he'd be there for her when no one else would.”

“I would have been there for her.” My voice echoed off the rock walls surrounding us.

Ridley looked right at me. “Even if she went Dark?”

It all made sense. Lena was guilt-ridden and tormented, and John was there with all the answers, in ways I couldn't be.

I thought about how long he and Lena had been alone together, how many nights, how many dark Tunnels. John wasn't a Mortal. Her touch wouldn't kill him with its intensity. John and Lena could do anything they wanted — all the things Lena and I could never do. An image crept into my mind, the two of them curled up together in the darkness. The way Liv and I had been in Savannah.

“There's something else.” I had to tell him. “Sarafine didn't do this alone. Abraham has been helping her.”

Something passed across Macon's face, but I couldn't pin it down. “Abraham. That's no surprise.”

“The visions have changed, too. When I was in them, it seemed like Abraham could see me.”

Macon lost his footing, nearly tripping me. “Are you certain?”

I nodded. “He said my name.”

Macon looked at me the way he had the night of the winter formal, Lena's first dance. As if he felt sorry for me, the things I had to do, the responsibilities that fell to me. He never understood I didn't care.

Macon kept talking, and I tried to focus. “I had no idea things had progressed so quickly. You must exercise extreme caution, Ethan. If Abraham has established a connection with you, then he can see you as clearly as you can see him.”

“You mean, outside of the visions?” The idea of Abraham watching my every move wasn't a comforting thought.

“At this point, I don't have an answer. But until I do, be careful.”

“I'll get right on that. After we fight an army of Incubuses to rescue Lena.” The more we talked about it, the more impossible it felt.

Macon whipped around to face Ridley. “Is this boy John involved with Abraham?”

“I don't know. Abraham's the one who convinced Sarafine she could raise the Seventeenth Moon.” Ridley looked miserable and exhausted and filthy.

“Ridley, I need you to tell me everything you know.”

“I wasn't that high on the food chain, Uncle Macon. I never even met him. Everything I know came from Sarafine.” It was hard to believe Ridley was the same girl who almost convinced my father to jump off a balcony. She looked so sad and broken.

“Sir?” Liv's voice was tentative. “Something's been bothering me ever since we met John Breed. We have thousands of Caster and Incubus family trees in the Lunae Libri, hundreds of years of history. How is it that this one person comes along out of nowhere, and there's no record of him? Of John Breed, I mean.”