Page 98 of Hellbound

They brought no pain, but it didn’t matter—she was trapped. Trapped and terrified as Vale turned on her.

He lied. He can kill you and replace you after all.

But as she thought it, the darkness retracted into Vale.

Marian gaped at him, panting. “You—you—”

“Marian!” Tori’s voice was close. Too close. She spun around to find the traveler running over, eyes wide with worry.

Vale looked from traveler to diver with a soft click of his tongue. “Ah.”

His shadows lashed out lightning quick and wrapped around Tori’s throat. The traveler shrieked as she was hoisted into the air by the neck. A high-pitched scream spilled from her lips as smoke enveloped her.

Every part of Marian railed against the sight.

Snap.

Static exploded in her hand, crackling in her skin. Terror numbed the pain of it and filled her limbs with lead as she surged toward the smoke bleeding from Vale and into Tori.

Marian had scarcely moved when it all ended. Shadows evaporated and deposited Tori on her feet, where she swayed for a moment before Marian caught her by the arm. The traveler doubled over, wheezing. When Marian decided the danger had passed, she rounded on Vale.

“What the fuck, Vale?!”

The monster was silent as he tipped his chin down, gaze locking on her hands. Warily, she followed his line of sight.

An obsidian knife pulsed gently in her palm.

“Respectfully, Vale, that wasn’t very cool of you,” Paul said, his words belied by the worry in his voice. “You said they’d be safe here.”

Tori straightened as she caught her breath. She shook herself free of Marian’s loose grip and backed away. “Nope, nope, nope, nope.”

She stormed out of the gym as Marian swayed, adrift in confusion.

“I hoped that your sense of self-preservation might be the trigger, but then I remembered who you are and what you’ve been doing with your life for the past six months,” Vale mused as Marian resumed glaring at him. But her fury wavered as she saw for the first time in his inhuman gaze the glimpse of something softer. Something disarming. “I thought Marian Meyer didn’t have friends.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t have friends.”

“I see,” he murmured. “Just a heart, then.”

He stepped toward her, and she took a half step back. What scant softness she’d seen in his face disappeared.

“It seems Miss Lawson will be accompanying you to the gala after all,” he announced gruffly, then strode out of the room, leaving a shallow river of smoke and shadow in his wake.

Marian awoke at eight the next morning from a dreamless sleep. Hunger gnawed at her body, but her will to sate it wasn’t there. The task ahead was too great, the future too daunting.

He’s right. You need to eat.

With a defeated groan, Marian dragged herself out of bed wearing the loose cotton pants and a matching tee that had mysteriously appeared on the dresser that night.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she found Paul with dark circles under his eyes standing beside the kitchen island hunched over a bowl of cereal.

“We’re all supposed to lay low today. Nap, swim, watch movies, whatever,” he’d said with his heavy-lidded eyes glued to the TV across the room. Some courtroom drama was on, and how he had the mental capacity to pay attention was beyond her. “Enjoy it while you can.”

Marian found a box of saltines and then shuffled around the house aimlessly. None of the time-biding activities Paul suggested sounded appealing. Eventually, she wandered back to her room, where she finally showered, dressed, and tamed her hair into a bun just for something to do.

She was looking for her hat when someone knocked on her door. Tori appeared; her hair tucked under a pink silk bonnet. “Hey. Come with me.”

Marian closed the drawer she’d been searching. “Why?”