Lady Renegades (Rebel Belle #3)(63)

“You saw this,” I said, my voice thick with tears. “I don’t know if you even remember it anymore, but that first day we met Blythe, you sat in my car and told me you used to have bad dreams about me.”

David didn’t move, didn’t give any sign of even hearing me. His eyes were nothing but glowing circles, and his whole body was lined in light. Still, I made myself keep going.

“You said we were fighting, but we weren’t angry. We were sad.”

Dropping one hand from the sword, I dashed at the tears on my face. “And you were right. I’m not angry. Not about any of it.”

“Then why are you holding a sword?”

David’s voice was still doing that echo thing, like there was more than one voice coming out of his mouth. I’d heard that before, of course. Whenever he had a vision, he tended to sound like that. But now, I wasn’t sure if it was the acoustics in the cave, or the power he’d developed, but it was like a chorus of voices now.

Still, that question . . . it hadn’t sounded like the Oracle. For all those voices making all that noise, there was a little edge, just the tiniest hint of snark, which sounded like David.

I tried not to let that make me too hopeful. So he sounded like himself. So there was still a part of him in there. I’d known that, right? It’s why he’d come here to hide himself, trying to stop this from happening. But I hadn’t been able to let that happen. I’d had to find him and see for myself, and now I was going to pay the price for that.

Both my hands were wrapped tight around the hilt of the sword again, but I made myself sound as light as I could as I called back, “Oh, you know me. Always have to make sure I have the right accessory. A sword just felt appropriate for visiting my magical ex-boyfriend in a cave. Although now I’m wondering if it isn’t a bit much.”

There was no hint of anything in David’s eyes—he didn’t really have eyes now—but I thought there was the slightest hint of a smile.

It wasn’t much, but it was something.

“Did you ever read A Wrinkle in Time?” I called out to him now. “You probably did because like every smart kid loves that book, and you were the smartest kid I knew. Do you remember at the end, when Meg saves her little brother by reminding him who he is? Telling him she loves him?”

Still no reaction, but I moved closer, letting the sword drop to my side.

“I don’t know if I believe that can actually work. I’d like to, obviously. And I do love you.”

The glow in David’s eyes didn’t really dim, it couldn’t have, but I could have sworn something flickered across his face.

I kept going. “And Saylor loved you. Not the Oracle you, although it probably started there. But she loved you the person. Even Alexander—” I broke off, wondering if I should mention what we’d discovered, that Alexander was David’s father, but I wasn’t sure it would do any good right now. Instead, I just said, “He tried to save you from this, too. Me, Bee, Ryan . . . we all looked for a way to save you, not because you were an Oracle, but because you’re you.”

By now, I had come close enough that I could almost reach out and touch him, and to my surprise, David rose to his feet, facing me almost uncertainly.

“Just try,” I said, my voice cracking. “Try to remember who you were before all of this. We’ve looked through spell books, and we’ve tried rituals, and none of it has worked. But maybe that’s because we can’t fix this after all. Maybe only you can do that.”

He still didn’t move, but I was sure the light in his eyes was dimmer now, and hope surged in my chest, so sharp it ached.

“David,” I said, reaching out with one hand. It was trembling, but I kept it out there anyway, waiting. Hoping.

Slowly, he raised his own hand. Like the rest of him, it glowed faintly, fingers outlined in light, but when his fingers touched mine, they were warm and solid and . . . normal.

My throat ached, and I moved closer. He was in there, I knew he was. We could fix this, somehow, if we just—

“Harper!”

I turned, startled, to see Blythe behind me, her yellow dress bright in the gloom, Bee right on her heels.

“Blythe?” I asked, confused. How had she gotten here, and why?

David’s hand fell away from mine, and his features twisted into a snarl, eyes glowing so brightly I winced and threw one hand up against the glare.

I could feel magic building, and David lifted his hand again, the one that had just been touching mine. Light lined his fingers as they moved, pointing toward Blythe.

And Bee.

I didn’t think.

I raised the sword and lunged forward.





Chapter 35


SAYLOR HAD trained me in sword fighting, but that had been back when I actually had my powers, and then, I’d been swinging a sword at practice dummies, not someone I loved.

Not David.

But I swung now for all I was worth, even as every muscle in my arms screamed.

I hadn’t been quite fast enough—the bolt of magic still flew from David’s palm, and I heard Blythe cry out from behind me—but I didn’t think he’d hurt her all that badly. He’d barely had any time before I was on him, and then all his concentration was on me, flinging more glowing bolts from his hands, the magic hitting the metal of my sword and throwing up sparks.