Slowly I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. Back in January there were about a million reasons why I didn’t let him kiss me, and one of those reasons was that I didn’t want our first kiss to be a good-bye kiss. But right now kissing him good-bye seems better than not kissing him at all.
As his lips press against mine, I feel something shift inside me. It starts with butterflies dancing across my belly like someone just started playing their favorite song. And then, just as suddenly, everything settles down. There’s no lurching of adrenaline. No queasiness. No nausea. There’s only the warmth of being close to Nolan. Our kiss is like something out of a fairy tale, powerful enough to break a sorcerer’s spell. For now, at least.
I don’t ever want to stop kissing Nolan. I don’t want to stop saying good-bye, because then he’ll be gone. But I have to get Nolan out of here.
So I pull away and start dragging my friend to the door. Maybe I can call him my boyfriend now, even if it’s just in my head. I glance at Helena; her head is still in her hands, but her body reacts to every step we take, ready to spring. Nolan and I are holding hands as we slide past Victoria, who’s hovering by the entrance to the living room.
“Just run outside with me. We’re almost at the door.” Nolan tightens his grip on my hand as if to say I’m dragging you out there with me whether you want to go or not.
The electric hum sparks again, making me jump. Helena isn’t going to let me go anywhere.
I still feel the shadow of Nolan’s lips against mine. I don’t try to twist my hand from his grip. I let him think that I’ll run with him. He doesn’t know how strong I’ve become over the past couple of months. But before I can force Nolan to leave, the door swings open from the other side.
Aidan and Lucio burst into the room, blocking the way out.
Helena is on her feet, with wide open eyes at lightning speed. Lucio doesn’t stop at the door.
“Sunshine! You’re alive!” Lucio throws his strong arms around me and buries his head in my neck. I feel his breath against my skin, fast and desperate, like he sprinted all the way here from Mexico. Nolan’s eyes widen with surprise. I’m sure mine do too.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Too Late
“I thought we’d be too late!” Lucio exclaims, swallowing hard.
I step back from Lucio, taking Nolan’s hand. Lucio’s eyes dart between Nolan and me, trying to understand what he’s seeing. Maybe I should have told Lucio about Nolan.
“You are too late.” It sounds like the kind of thing you’d hear from the villain in a movie, but in a movie Helena would be brandishing some kind of a weapon: a gun, a grenade, maybe even a sword or a crossbow. In real life her bare hands are clenched at her side, ready to call spirits to her bidding.
She sounds almost sad as she directs her attention toward Aidan and continues. “My compatriots and I have done all we could to bridge the gap, but our numbers are dwindling—luiseach live long lives, but we don’t live forever. Without enough luiseach to counterbalance the spirits in the world, darkness is inevitable. We must eliminate the girl while there’s still time.”
“There’s still time.” Aidan’s teeth are clenched.
Helena shakes her head. “What about the fire demon that tormented Lado Selva?” Aidan looks surprised. “Oh yes, I know all about Michael Weir, the spirit who escaped your lab and turned dark even in the warmest of places.”
“An anomaly,” Aidan counters.
“No, dearest.” She makes the pet name sound like a curse. “It’s becoming all too commonplace.”
Understanding hits me like a bolt of lightning. Helena isn’t the enemy. She never was. The darkness is. Images flash across my mind. The man watching us at the airport, the man in the fishing village who hid in the shadows. Somehow he has everything to do with the darkness. He’s the face of the darkness! A face I can see, even if the rest of them can’t. I should’ve told Aidan about him ages ago! I’m about to explain everything when Helena speaks, her voice cold as ice.
“The girl came to me willingly. The world can’t wait for your science to catch up with it.”
“But I’ve made so much progress!” Aidan insists. “Let me show you.”
Suddenly the temperature drops as Anna’s spirit fills the room. Nolan looks at me questioningly. I stand on my tiptoes to whisper a single word in his ear. “Anna.”
“Do you feel that girl?” Aidan shouts. “Our daughter saved her spirit on New Year’s Eve, and in the months that have passed, she has not turned dark. She is half-luiseach, half-human—Victoria’s daughter,” he adds, gesturing to my old visual arts teacher. “And her spirit is strong.”
I blink, remembering what Lucio told me that day in the desert. Aidan had theories that spirits might be able to linger without going dark. Is Anna what he was talking about?
Helena turns furiously to Victoria. “You were lying all along,” she shouts. “I should have trusted my instincts.”
“I had to protect the girl,” Victoria explains.