Beautiful Darkness(52)

“Enough.” Marian looked at us expectantly. “What happened?”

But Liv was right. I didn't understand what the vision meant, except that Incubuses couldn't be with Mortals any more than Casters could. “Macon was there with a girl, and he was talking about becoming a Blood Incubus.”

Liv looked smug. “Macon was going through the Transformation. He appeared to be in a very vulnerable state. I don't know why the vision showed us that particular moment, but it must be significant.”

“Are you sure you weren't seeing Hunting, not Macon?” Marian asked.

“No,” we said, our voices overlapping. I looked at Liv. “Macon wasn't like Hunting.”

Liv thought for a moment, then reached for the notebook on the bed. She scribbled something and snapped it shut.

Great. Another girl with a notebook.

“You know what? You're the experts. I'm going to let you two figure this one out. I'm going to find Lena before Ridley and her friend convince her to do something she'll regret.”

“Are you suggesting Lena is under Ridley's influence? That's not possible, Ethan. Lena's a Natural. A Siren can't control her.” Marian dismissed the idea.

But she didn't know about John Breed. “What if Ridley had help?”

“What sort of help?”

“An Incubus who can walk around in the daylight, or a Caster with Macon's strength and the ability to Travel. I'm not sure which.” It wasn't the best explanation, but I didn't know what John Breed really was.

“Ethan, you must be mistaken. There's no record of an Incubus or a Caster with those abilities.” Marian was already pulling a book from the shelves.

“There is now. His name is John Breed.” If Marian didn't know what John was, we weren't going to find the answer in one of those books.

“If what you're describing is accurate, and I find it hard to believe that it could be, I'm not sure what he might be capable of.”

I looked at Link. He was twisting the chain on his wallet. We were thinking the same thing. “I have to find Lena.” I didn't wait for a response.

Link unlocked the door.

Marian stood up. “You can't go after her. It's too dangerous. There are Casters and creatures of unfathomable power in those Tunnels. You've only been down here once before, and the sections you've seen are passageways compared to the larger Tunnels. They're like another world.”

I didn't need permission. My mom may have led me here, but she was still gone. “You can't stop me because you can't get involved, right? All you can do is sit there and watch me screw things up and write about it so someone like Liv can study it later.”

“You don't know what you'll find, and when you find it, I won't be able to help you.”

It didn't matter. I was at the door by the time Marian finished. Liv was following me. “I'm going, Professor Ashcroft. I'll make sure nothing happens to them.”

Marian moved to the doorway. “Olivia. This isn't your place.”

“I know. But they'll need me.”

“You cannot change what is to be. You have to stay out of it. No matter how much it pains you. A Keeper's role is only to record and bear witness, not to change what unfolds.”

“You're like a hall cop.” Link grinned. “Like Fatty.”

Liv's eyes narrowed. They must have truant officers in England, too. “You don't need to explain the Order of Things to me, Professor Ashcroft. I've studied it since my K levels. But how can I witness what I'm never allowed to see?”

“You can read about it in the Caster Scrolls, like the rest of us.”

“I can? The Sixteenth Moon? The Claiming that could've broken the Duchannes curse? Could you have read about any of that in a scroll?” Liv glanced at her moon watch. “There's something happening. This Supernatural with unprecedented power, Ethan's visions — and there are scientific anomalies. Subtle changes I've picked up on my selenometer.”

Subtle, as in nonexistent. I recognized a scam when I saw one. Olivia Durand was as trapped as the rest of us, and we were her ticket out. She wasn't worried about Link and me in the Tunnels. She wanted to have a life. Like another girl I knew, not too long ago.

“Remember —”

The door closed before Marian could finish, and we were gone.





6.15





Exile


The door slammed behind us. Liv straightened her worn leather knapsack, and Link grabbed a torch from the wall of the tunnel. They were ready to follow me into the great unknown, but instead we stood there, staring at each other.

“Well?” Liv looked at me expectantly. “It's not rocket science. You either know the way, or you —”

“Shh. Give him a second.” Link clamped his hand over Liv's mouth. “Use the force, young Skywalker.” This Wayward thing apparently carried some weight. They actually thought I knew where to go, which only left one problem. I didn't.

“This way.” I was going to have to make it up as I went along.

Marian said the Caster Tunnels were endless, a world beneath our own, but I never really understood what she meant until now. As we turned the first corner, the passage changed, narrowing into damper and darker circular walls that felt more like a tube than a tunnel. I pressed against the walls to push myself forward, and my torch fell in the mud.