“No,” Alex whispered, stumbling backwards, away from him. “No.”
She continued to retreat, as if distance would change what she was seeing. But no matter how many steps she took, and no matter how many times she blinked, the image remained the same. Three people stood in front of her: Aven on the left, and Calista Maine on the right. And between them was Jordan, staring blankly out at the space in front of him.
“Jordan?” came D.C.’s whimper.
Alex flicked her gaze to the side just in time to see D.C., Bear and Skyla lifted up and suspended in mid-air thanks to Calista’s telekinetic ability. Skyla looked confused and scared, but Bear and D.C… There were no words to describe their ravaged expressions.
“Hello, Princess,” Aven said, looking up at D.C. “You didn’t see this one coming, did you?”
“You—!”
“Now, now,” he admonished. “A princess must always remain polite. Tell me, dear, sweet Delucia. When did you realise your dreams were failing you?”
D.C. paled and her gaze swept over to Jordan, then Alex, before she looked back at Aven. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is that so?” Aven asked with a smirk. “Are you saying you haven’t been waking from recurring nightmares for the last few months? Nightmares where you see the boy you so deeply care for surrounded by nothing but shadows?”
Alex wanted to step in and help D.C., but she wasn’t sure what to say. Especially because her roommate’s nightmares had been recurring. But how had Aven known that?
“I have to ask, Princess,” he said, “was it frustrating when, no matter how hard you tried, you could never discover any details in your dreams? Almost as if you were being… blocked?”
“How?” D.C. whispered.
“One of my associates is gifted in the art of neutralising the abilities of others,” Aven informed her. “It’s a very useful skill.”
Alex remembered the woman he was talking about from Sir Oswald’s dinner party—Lena Morrow. Once again she was grateful that her own gift kept her safe from manipulation, but she wished she’d had the foresight to consider the scope of Lena’s ability on others.
Hindsight truly sucked.
“I have Lena to thank for keeping you in the dark,” Aven continued, “since darkness was all that your dreams contained. It was fitting, really. I particularly loved how you lost so much sleep fretting over your, ahem, friend.”
D.C. looked horrified. The idea that someone had been tampering with her gift must have terrified her, especially when it had been occurring so frequently.
“You’ll regret this, Aven,” D.C. seethed.
“I doubt that, Princess,” Aven said mockingly. Then he turned to Calista and ordered, “Keep them quiet.”
Immediately Calista focused her gift to snap their mouths closed. Alex could hear her friends trying to talk, but the only noises they managed were trapped in their throats.
“You have my gratitude, Alexandra, for helping me return to my homeland,” Aven said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
She couldn’t speak. Not because Calista’s gift worked on her. It didn’t. Her mind simply couldn’t come to terms with what was happening.
“Actually, that’s not entirely correct,” Aven mused, deliberately drawing out his words. “I needed you to get me through the doorway, that much is true. Did you really think Marselle could have helped me? I would have found a way to Claim him long ago if that were the case, regardless of how protected the Library keeps him. No, Alexandra, he doesn’t have the access you do, which is why he won’t be opening another doorway to save you. It’s also why only you could assist me in the end. But you proved to be much more tenacious than I’d ever expected of a human.”
“What can I say?” she managed to croak out. “It’s a gift.”
“The literal implication isn’t lost on me,” Aven said, his demeanour souring before he brightened again. “But no matter. I only had to find your weakness. It was really too easy; all I had to do was capture someone dear to you.”
Alex’s eyes flickered over to Jordan who stood silently between Aven and Calista.
“I don’t mean Jordan,” Aven said, seeing where her gaze rested. “I’m speaking of your beloved headmaster. And my deceit was twofold, since you had the added concern that he would grant me access where you resisted. It was perfect, really.”
“Roka will stop you,” Alex told him confidently. “Zain has probably already warned him that you’re here. They’ll be arriving any moment.”
Aven laughed deeply. “Zain? That poor excuse for an elite guard is half-dead right where I left him with my arrow sticking out of his shoulder blade. No, Zain won’t be warning anyone.”
Alex felt her stomach clench with fear for her friend but she refused to believe Aven. “You’re lying. An arrow to the shoulder would never kill a Meyarin—least of all Zain. It would take way more than that.”
“I love that you still have such naive optimism,” Aven said with dark amusement. “I almost feel guilty about bursting that little bubble of yours.”
She fisted her hands to hide their trembling. “Then don’t.”
“Denial isn’t a healthy state of mind, so I’ll tell you a secret,” he said. “There’s a creature, Alexandra, whose blood is so repulsive to Meyarins that it can incapacitate us at the briefest of physical contact. Among my kind, it’s called the Sarnaph. Your race titles it Daesmilo Folarctos, but it’s more commonly known as a Hyroa. Have you heard of it?”
Pictures flooded Alex’s mind. She saw the day so many months ago when she’d witnessed Aven slay the terrifying, violent beast. She saw the Meyarin urgently checking his clothes and backing away when Gerald tried to hand him the vial of blood. She heard Fletcher comment on how the species was considered nearly extinct. And lastly, she heard the name Daesmilo Folarctos reverberate around her thoughts as she remembered the severe ‘allergic reaction’ she’d had after touching the murky-brown swab of what she now realised was Hyroa blood.
Aven had no way of knowing that there was Meyarin blood in her veins that apparently reacted just as negatively to the Hyroa blood as his own would. That was one secret she would do well to keep from him.
“Whatever you’re about to say, I won’t believe you,” Alex told him boldly. “I don’t care about incapacitating blood or whatever, because I saw Zain only a few minutes ago. You wouldn’t have had time to attack him and then follow us through the Library.”
Aven smirked at her. “Are you sure it was Zain you saw?”
“Of course it was…” Alex closed her eyes when she realised just how well Aven had played them. “Skyla.”
“Yes, Skyla,” Aven confirmed. “Your friend has an impressive gift. If she wasn’t so simpleminded, I might have considered adding her to my collection.”