Lifeblood (Everlife #2)

Dior stands—no, she levitates. Our arms stretch across the table as she lifts higher and higher. This is a scene out of a nightmare.

—More.—The princess’s voice is strained, beginning to weaken.

No, I try to tell her. Any more, and we’ll all explode. We can’t risk losing Troika’s strongest Conduit. I’ll continue, but she must disengage.

—More!—

Light obeys, banging at the wall. Then we do explode. Or I feel like we do. Our screams blend with Dior’s as the wall crumbles and the rays shoot through Dior, filling her up. Golden Light shines from her pores, pushing what looks to be another person out of her—a screaming teenage girl with black hair and freckles.

The girl shatters into a million pieces of broken glass and evaporates.

—General Rosalind Oriana...must have possessed Dior as if she was a Shell... General is now dead...her Second-death...our Light... Tenley! Pull the Light back inside the Grid before Dior experiences Torchlight!—

I pull and pull and pull, my mind whirling. If General Rosalind Oriana possessed Dior...that meant the other presumed dead Myriadian General possessed Javier. That’s one of the ways Myriad stayed a step ahead of us. Not just Victor. That’s how the other realm always knew where we’d stashed the humans. The Generals had sent word.

Dior crashes to the floor, unconscious, our hands finally unlocking. I slump over, laboring for every breath.

“The princess,” I manage to wheeze. Is she—Yes! She’s alive. I see the glimmer of her Light on the Grid.

Levi checks my vitals while a pallid Javier checks Dior’s.

“You’ll recover.” Levi grins and pats my shoulder. “I’m so proud of you, Ten.”

“Javier...shouldn’t touch...” If she contracts Penumbra again...

“He’s not.” Levi waves in the couple’s direction. “He can’t. Not without pain. She’s still filled with Light. But not too much Light,” he adds as I struggle to rise.

Too weak. So weak. All I can move is my gaze. Levi is right. Javier is crouched beside Dior, who is rousing, but no part of him touches her. He’s maintaining distance.

Realization dawns. The other General knows Light will force him out of the human, ending his Everlife.

We have to...to...my one-hundred-pound eyelids close, too heavy to hold up...

Lights-out, Ten.

*

The Lights flicker, until they are shining brightly. I straighten gingerly, careful of new aches and pains, memories and questions rolling through my mind.

The Grid answers each question as soon as it forms.

Can any spirit possess any human?

Only higher-ups have the necessary skill. More than that, the human must grant permission—even if they do not know they are granting permission.

I remember how I used a human as a shield and flinch. Can Troikans possess humans?

Possession is forbidden to Troikans. It removes free will.

Why don’t all Troikans know about this?

Too many TLs would kill the possessed humans rather than risk the lives of their Conduits.

My temples begin to throb. Javier needs to be cleansed, too, but I’m in no shape to help him. If I rush headlong into battle right now—and cleansing is a battle—I’ll lose. I’m ready to win! Time isn’t our friend. As the days pass, Penumbra—the Myriadian General—will only strengthen his hold on Javier.

I catalog my surroundings. I’m still in the cabin, but I’ve been moved to the couch.

Levi sits on the arm. He winks at me. “Have a nice nap, Miss Lockwood?”

“How long was I out?”

“Only an hour.”

A radiant Dior dances through the house, her smile wide and infectious. Javier watches her with a scowl.

She bounds over to hug me. When her skin brushes against mine, warmth arcs between us, and she laughs. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I hadn’t realized...the difference is astounding. I’ve never felt better and...thank you!” She releases me to hug Levi.

Though his eyes glow with affection, he clears his throat and says in a stern tone, “All right. Let’s continue this meeting.”

She sits at the table, but practically bounces in her chair. “Is Javier next?”

“No,” Javier says.

At the same time, Levi says, “Not today. Miss Lockwood must recover.” He frowns at Javier. “I know you objected to Miss Nichols’s cleansing, but as you can see, she survived. So will you. Trust me, kid. You want to be cleansed. I know you couldn’t see what came out of Miss Nichols, but it wasn’t pretty, and the same type of thing lives inside you.”

“Don’t care.”

Levi is a bundle of irritation as his gaze lands on me. “Because of the brutal battles being fought over Miss Nichols, the judge has decided to move up her trial. It begins tomorrow.”

No way! “She doesn’t even have a Barrister yet.”

“She does.” He reaches out to pat Dior’s hand. “Me.”

“You can’t. You’re a General. You’re needed in the realm. We can’t risk—” The rest of my words die on my tongue, killed by the Grid.

Humans aren’t to know the price we pay. Our sacrifice isn’t to drive theirs.

My hands fist. —We need you, Levi.—I throw the statement through the Grid as if it’s an accusation.

—She needs me, too. She needs someone strong to lean on. She needs to know someone will stand beside her, no matter what.—

—Levi!—He’s willing to risk his life for someone who is currently his enemy.

And I’m not?

—If she fails, you die.—I plow on. —No if, ands or buts about it.—

He offers me a soft smile. —One at a time. That’s how we end a war, yes?—

Jerk! He’s fighting fire with water.

“What’s wrong?” Dior asks, looking between us. “What’s going on?”

Helpless to do otherwise, I say, “Let’s prepare.” We have to convince her to believe in herself and what she wants, no matter what, and all of Troika has her back, no matter what.

Levi’s brand glows in time with mine. A message from Kayla has comes in. I read it and go cold.

Clay returned to the LotH. I don’t know why. A short while later, he sent me an SOS. Said someone from Myriad was tailing him. I sent TLs out to aid him, but they can’t find him. Neither can I. His Light has vanished from the Eye. I think Myriad has him.





chapter twenty-five



* * *



“Do not be deceived. In everything, there is right, and there is wrong. They are no shades of gray.”

—Troika

Levi leaps into action, sending out messages. TLs appear to whisk Dior and Javier away. I’m glad. I don’t want Javier—and the General possessing him—to hear what I have to say.

“I’m hunting for Clay,” I tell Levi. Why did Clay return to the Land of the Harvest? A General had commanded him to rest.