Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

" ESTELA? ESTELA, SAY SOMETHING!"

It's Beatríz's voice.

I pry my eyes open, and Antonela's blurry face swims before me. No, not Antonela's— mine .

I'm standing in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection. I look dazed.

"What did you see?" urges my uncle over my left shoulder.

"Are you okay?" asks my aunt on my right, her features drawn with worry.

"She made it," I say, blinking my dry eyes. "She lived."

I barely register Bea's shocked gasp or Teo's gleeful laugh. All I think about is Sebastián. If he got his memories back last night, he must remember my sister and the pact they made. Why didn't he say anything about her when we spoke on the balcony?

He's never forgotten Antonela, the small voice in my mind reminds me.

One of the first things the shadow beast said to me was that my face and voice were familiar to him. Some part of his brain must have recognized Antonela through the amnesia. So did he like me for me, or for her ?

"What else did you see?" prods my uncle.

"Um, she was going to cross over with Sebastián, but I don't know if they ever made it. He didn't even mention her to me—how can I see the rest?"

"There's a spell," says Teo, tapping the tower tattoo on his neck. "Let's go."

" Don't! " warns my aunt, but my uncle is already blasting through the door that leads up to the tower.

Once he's gone, I turn to her. "Leave some of your blood for Sebastián to find so he can follow us there."

"Are you serious—?"

"Just in case. Please."

I'm pretty sure she's not convinced Sebastián is real, but I hope she trusts me enough to do as I ask. When I make it to the journal room, my uncle is pulling out a red book.

"I've opened it before," I say. "It's blank."

"Not this time."

"What happens this time?"

"My hope is we will be able to reach Antonela, wherever she is, and find a way to bring her home."

"How do you know so much?" I ask, a switch flipping inside me as my investigative instinct kicks in. "You know how to bring back my sister, you knew about Sebastián and that his memories were stored in my blood— how ?"

"You want answers," he says. "So do I. But your sister is running out of time. First bring her home, then I'll answer your questions."

Bea bursts in, breathless from the stairs. "What have you done?" she asks her brother right off the bat.

"Nothing yet," I answer for him. "He hasn't explained how it works."

"Just open the book," says Teo. "Otherwise, Antonela will be trapped there forever, just beyond our reach. Is that what you want?"

"I don't trust him," says Bea. "He's got that fanatic look on his face. He wants this too much."

She's right.

But then again, so do I.

I know why Beatríz is worried, but I need to see what happened to my sister. Felipe already gave his life for these answers. The same answers I came here to find. Antonela was willing to face the Iron Prince just for the chance to come back to us; I can't fail to bring her home now.

Besides, it's just a book—how much harm can it cause?

I open the red cover and flip through the pages. They're still blank.

My shoulders sag with disappointment—

" Ow! Paper cut."

My blood trails on the white canvas, and the text falls from my hands as black smoke whirs forth from the pages, overtaking the full space. When it clears, we're no longer in the journal room.

We're in a hall lined with mirrors.

"Where are we?" I whisper.

"I'm not sure," says Teo, turning in a circle to take in every angle of our situation. "My best guess is this is as close to us as Antonela has been able to get, and she's stuck in this dimension."

"How do we get back home?" asks Bea, nerves fraying her voice.

"I don't know," he says, and it strikes me that I'm no longer holding the red book in my hands. "Antonela will help us when we find her."

I start walking, and so do infinite versions of me on either side of the hall. It's dizzying.

"How do we find her?" I ask once my aunt and uncle catch up.

"I don't know," says Teo. "Maybe she finds us."

There doesn't seem to be an end to this hall. We alternately speed up and slow down, until we're all breathing heavily from how long we've been at it. "This isn't working," says Bea.

"We must be doing something wrong," says Teo. He stops walking, and I lean against a mirrored wall for support.

"Look!" says Bea, and I turn to see the surface of the glass rippling out, like it's made of water.

When my reflection refocuses, my eyes look different. They're pure black.

Like they're made of smoke.

"Antonela?" I whisper.

The fumes leave her eyes, and I step back as the black smoke enters the physical space we're in. It pulls together into a shadow with features that match my shape and profile.

Antonela is the black smoke.

She sniffs at me. Her movements are sharp and quick, awkward and feral.

In memories, she seemed so weak compared to the other casters. Yet among us, she's terrifyingly inhuman.

My sister's gaze lands on our aunt and uncle. Bea is wide-eyed, her face bloodless with shock, but Teo is on his knees, neck bent, like she's a holy figure.

Antonela raises an arm, as if she's going to strike them down—

"Please!" I say, and she spins to face me. "I-I'm sorry, and they're sorry, for everything you've been through. I had no idea you existed. I only just saw your memories in a spell. Did you see mine in a spell, too?"

She keeps staring at me, but she doesn't speak. Maybe she can't understand English.

"We're sisters," I say, smiling so she knows I don't mean her harm. "Twins, to be exact. We were born together."

She flicks her gaze to our aunt and uncle.

"Bea is really sorry for what happened, but we can deal with them later," I say quickly. "Right now, we want to help you."

She takes her time surveying every inch of me. "Sister," she says in my voice, like she's testing the word.

"Yes!" I say, grinning at her. I can't believe she's actually here, and I haven't lost her. For a moment, I'm almost giddy with glee. "I'm Estela, your sister ! I've come to help you."

"Help me," she says, the evenness of her tone unnerving. "Yes, you can help me."

There's a hardening in my gut, like a warning system activating. Ignoring my instincts, I ask, "What do you need?"

Without hesitation, she answers: " Your body. "

Time holds its breath and pauses Earth's rotation.

I don't know how I didn't see this coming. Or maybe I did, but I didn't want to.

The whole time I was experiencing my sister's memories, I got the sense there were moments missing. I thought it had to do with the nature of the memory magic, but now I wonder if there were things she didn't want me to know. Things I should have worked out for myself… Like how once she made it back to Earth, she would need a flesh-and-blood body of her own.

Antonela's physical form burned in the spell that transported her to the other castle. And as Brálaga said, Earth is a dimension ruled by matter—so she can't return without a shell.

And the perfect genetic match stands before her.

"No!"

Bea's voice kicks the planet back into rotation. She comes between us and says, "There must be another way—"

"There is not," says my sister, no trace of emotion in her voice.

"So this was your plan?" I ask Antonela, my voice funereal compared to the unbridled joy I felt seconds ago. "When you hitched a ride with Sebastián? You intended to move into my body?"

"You are my only match," she says matter-of-factly.

This is why Sebastián thought the black smoke was protecting me. Antonela wants my body intact.

After all the work from the past couple of weeks of dredging up my heart from the depths to which it had drowned, it's now sinking within me once more, back into a sea of numbness. If this is how it feels to feel, then I don't want any part of it.

"You were freed when Sebastián bit me," I say, going into detective mode and piecing together a timeline because it's the only way I know how to process this. I remember it was then that I saw the black smoke again.

" Released, " she corrects me. "Not free . I was still trapped in this castle until the boy came, and I sent him to deliver a message to him ." She gestures to Teo, who's still on his knees.

That's how he knew. He wouldn't tell me himself because he wanted me to follow through with his plan. "You told Teo to cast the blood spell," I say. "Does that mean you possessed Felipe?"

"No. If I had, I could not have used him for the spell to return Bast's memories. My possession would have killed him."

"Why did you want to return Sebastián's memories?" I ask, correcting her on his name.

"His amnesia was an unforeseen side effect, and I had to remind him of our pact."

I blink. " Pact? "

"When he bit you, I was released, but there was a second part to breaking the spell, which he did not complete. That is the reason he is still here, and why I remain bodiless."

I review what I already know: Antonela needs my body unharmed. That means she also needs a way to get rid of me without causing her new shell any damage. I feel my neurons firing as the connections come through, and I remember how Dad described the rush of getting to this point in a case, when the pieces puzzle together with ease.

"You weren't just hitching a ride to Earth," I say, my heart lashing my chest as I solve the riddle of why Sebastián is still here. " You brought the Bleeder to kill me. "

Antonela's approving smile doesn't make me proud. It makes me sad and more than a little sick.

"Exsanguination by a Bleeder kills you without destroying your shell," she says, talking about violence as easily as Prince Bastian. "As it is a supernatural death on Earth—in other words, magic —I can use a spell to revive your body. There was just one ingredient missing."

"My blood, " I say, because it's always the answer in la Sombra. It's the key to unlocking everything from secret rooms to Sebastián's memories.

"When I crossed over to Earth," she says, "my magic was drawn to your blood, for it was mine, too. Yet as you were not at la Sombra, the spell was not contained… so it killed everyone around you."

I hear Bea's gasp, but I'm too choked by my own guilt to make a sound. My fault my fault my fault my fault my fault my fault my fault. It's all I can hear after Antonela stops speaking. I'm not just the sole survivor—I'm the reason everyone died.

I'm responsible for the Subway 25.

"The truth is," says my twin, "I only meant to kill two people."

Two people. Bea and all her reflections scramble away from Antonela in horror.

" You killed our parents. " I sound like I've been shot because I can't catch my breath.

"Once Bast gave me his blood to seal our pact, I knew I could pull off any spell I wanted," says Antonela, not noticing that I've gone catatonic. "Yet the magic I need to cast to regenerate my blood after Bastian drains you requires something more. The ultimate sacrifice. What I wanted most of all—to meet my creators."

"You killed them," I say again, still unable to swallow the words. It's a truth too horrible to stomach.

"After Bastian drains you," she goes on, unaffected, "he will return to his realm, and I will be released into your body. Then the same spell that took our parents' lifeblood will return it to me, and once I am alive again, I will take up my throne in la Sombra. I will feed the castle all the blood it desires, and we will grow in power until we control this entire planet. I will be the human bruja Brálaga prophesied. They are my true creator."

Now I know I've strayed far from reality and deep into some twisted fantasy. The culprit I have been seeking, the murderer of my parents—of the Subway 25—is my twin sister. And she plans to destroy the whole world, starting with me.

Worst of all, her plan doesn't seem that far out of reach. In fact, she's nearly succeeded—except…

I'm still alive.

"Sebastián hasn't killed me," I say, finding the hitch in her plans.

"I cannot understand why, but Bast was enjoying playing human with you."

"That's because you've never felt love before," I say, and as much as I want to hate her for what she's done, I also want to help her heal from what she's endured. "Neither had Sebastián, but if he's capable of caring about me, so are you." I move closer to her. "We're twins, Antonela. We shared the same womb!"

Maybe it's because she's in shadow form, but I don't see any emotion in her gaze when she looks at me. "Now that he remembers you are the key to his shackles, I doubt he will resist the temptation to end this game."

"I'm not giving you my body, and Sebastián isn't going to kill me. I'm going to help you find another way."

"You really believe he feels for you?" she taunts me. "How did he react after regaining his memories? Did he renounce his previous life and pledge himself yours? Or did he pull away in anticipation of what he knows he must do?"

I try to think of something cutting to say. I want to come up with some way of hurting her, but all she's ever known is suffering, so I doubt it would make a difference. I wish I could despise her, but all I feel is heartbreak.

"You are alone, Estela," she says, picking up on my defeat. "If you want to be sisters, let me lift this burden off your shoulders. Let me take over."

I wonder why I'm even bothering to resist. Isn't Antonela the escape route I've been seeking? Isn't Sebastián right that I'm ambivalent about life? Haven't I come to Oscuro to deliver myself to the past?

At least now, I'll be sacrificing myself for something that matters. I'll be giving my sister a chance at life.

"You know I am right," Antonela says to me. "Do you even have anything here worth fighting for?"

Everything she says feels plucked from the dark side of my mind. My aunt and uncle destroyed our family. My parents lied. My sister murdered them. And then, on her orders, my uncle killed Felipe.

Sebastián hid the truth and broke up with me. Now the last thing Antonela needs is my death, and her path to becoming ruler of the world is clear.

I have no way to stop her. I have no one left. I have nothing.

Except myself.

I have me.

I got myself through the past seven months. I survived the worst moment of my life. I lost my parents. I moved to a new country. I fell in love.

I solved the case of the Subway 25 when no other investigator in the world could do it.

I consider all that Antonela has done and endured for just the chance of a future on Earth. How could I be so quick to throw mine away?

What would my parents think if I gave up now? How would they feel if they learned one of their daughters murdered the other? I can't let that be their legacy. Nor my sister's and my fates.

" You're wrong, " says a new voice.

I feel a hand grip my shoulder, and I look up to see my aunt. "Estela is not alone," she says. "She has me."

I swallow and stare into Antonela's black eyes, emboldened by Bea's support. "We are going to find another way," I insist.

"I do not expect convincing you will be easy," says Antonela. "Yet now that you have manifested me in this dimension, I have other options available."

Her words settle into my stomach with a thud. "What do you mean?"

"I cannot return to Earth without a body. As I cannot take yours without Sebastián first taking your life, I will have to commandeer a temporary one."

"I knew this was a trick!" says Bea, rounding on Teo. "What have you done?"

One look at my uncle's face says he already knew this spell would require a sacrifice. "I'm sorry," he says to his sister, and for the first time, he sounds it.

Antonela faces Bea and Teo. "But which one to pick?"

"You're not using their bodies, either!" I say.

"My possession will kill you," Antonela goes on, addressing Bea and Teo, "but at least your deaths will be instant."

"Don't touch them," I say, my heart in my mouth.

She turns to me. "So wasteful, but it must be done. I cannot exist on your plane without a shell. You and I are already bound, so I cannot touch your body while you are alive."

"Please don't do this," I beg. "I saw your life at the other castle. You deserve so much better. Give us a chance. Let's be a family. We will help you. We can work together, find another way—"

"I am going to teach you the most important lesson Grandparent taught me," she says, as her body expands into a blanket of black smoke. "Only when you sacrifice everything will you have nothing to lose."

"NO!" I cry out as the smoke spreads over my aunt and uncle, like a storm cloud.

"I offer myself to you," says Teo, falling to his knees and closing his eyes. "Antonela, use me—"

"Stop that!" says Bea, shaking her brother. "What are you doing?"

"Antonela, please!" I shout up at the smoke. "Don't do this!"

The smoke swirls into a funnel over our heads.

"Get up!" says Bea to Teo, but he stays on his knees, keeping his eyes shut.

"It's what I want!" he insists to her. "Let me go!"

The smoke strikes down, like a hurricane touching land, and I scream—

"Bea!"

My aunt is struck by the smoke, and her neck falls back, her body convulsing.

"No!" shouts Teo.

I grip Bea's arms, trying to shake my sister loose from her body. My aunt looks at me, terrified, her mouth opening and closing as her frame keeps shaking.

"Don't do this, Antonela!" I beg. "Not her, please!"

Bea's eyes roll up, and I cry, "Fight! Don't give in!"

Teo looks frozen as he watches me try to keep his sister alive. Her body is heating up like she's fighting off an infection—and I gasp as black spots sprout in her corneas, the smoke spiraling inward…

"Please, Bea, resist!"

The black reaches her irises.

I squeeze my aunt's body as if I could drain my sister out of her—and watch helplessly as smoke consumes every fleck of brown.