Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?" ASKS Teo when he leaves the bathroom.

Sebastián and I escorted him to wash up after freeing him of his ropes and feeding him a meal. "Come on" is all I say, leading him deeper into the castle.

Sebastián and I are in disagreement over what to do with my uncle. He's worried about my sister jumping into Teo's body before we can perform the trapping spell. I want to leave Teo in the tower, which is hopefully far enough away from the purple room to avoid that.

"I will do a sweep," says Sebastián after binding my uncle's wrists and ankles. He's scanning the perimeter for Antonela.

"The vampire is going to kill me," says Teo once we're alone in the journal room. He's bound on the floor, and I'm standing by the door. "You have to let me go."

"He's not going to kill you," I say, but even I can hear the lack of conviction in my voice.

"You fear the same thing," says Teo, seeing past my lie. "That's why you've been keeping me in these rooms."

"Which rooms?"

"The ones only you can enter. You're afraid of what he would do with complete access to me."

"That's ridiculous," I say, and yet there's a part of me that is afraid of what Sebastián might do to him. "Besides, he already has access," I say, as a reminder to myself.

"What do you mean?" asks Teo.

"Sebastián and I are blood-bound. Sorry you weren't invited to the ceremony."

Teo looks at me blankly. He has no idea what that means.

"Ever hear of the Book?" I prod.

"Lala's journal entry." He's as quick as a search browser, and I can't help but admire his encyclopedic recall. "For years, I searched this town for any hint of it. I asked everyone in Oscuro about the Book she described. I've determined it's not real."

I hear the lack of conviction in his voice as clearly as I heard it in my own. We're both lying to ourselves. I pretend Sebastián isn't a bloodthirsty vampire who's barely restraining himself from making my uncle his next meal. And Teo pretends the Book isn't real because it's one of the few Brálaga riddles he couldn't crack.

That means Felipe never confided in Teo about his family's legacy. He didn't share that they were the keepers of the Book.

I opened up to you more than anyone else in my life, Felipe told me. Hard to believe that was just last week.

He may have chosen Teo, but he trusted me more.

"How did you know?" I can't keep from asking him before I go. "That Antonela would come back?"

"I've always felt it," he says, speaking of her with the same reverence Felipe reserved for la Sombra. "When you alone survived the subway, I knew it had to do with Antonela. I assumed she must be here, waiting for you to come home. So I stayed close to answer your sister's call."

"But you didn't know if she'd forgiven you," I say, reading between the lines. "And you couldn't face the possibility that you had been wrong to light the black fire. That's why you didn't dare step inside the castle before yesterday."

I know I'm right by his silence.

I find Sebastián by the gargoyle staircase, eyes wide and expression grim. He waits to acknowledge me, his senses focused elsewhere. When he looks at me, I know what he's going to say.

"She is near."

Everything inside me grows brittle at those three words.

Mouth parched, I say, "Remember, we need to lead her to the—"

"I know the plan," he says, sounding frustrated, "but I insist that we should—"

"I'm not murdering my uncle," I say, putting an end to that debate.

"Nor should you," says Antonela in Bea's voice.

Sebastián and I whip around.

My sister entered the castle without even the shadow beast realizing. How is that possible?

He lunges at her, grabbing Antonela by Bea's neck. "Big mistake, walking in here," says Sebastián, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"If you kill this shell, I will be gone before you realize it," she says, voice raspy, not sounding upset at all that Sebastián is semi-strangling her. "I am no longer tied to la Sombra, so I will move on to the next person in town, and the next, and the next, until I have murdered them all, and the authorities are forced to investigate. Then I will murder them, too. La Sombra will swallow so many bodies, it will no longer be sated with little drizzles of blood. It will demand entire cities. Now take your hands off me."

Sebastián looks lethal, his gaze narrowed and top lip pulled back, and I know he's more likely to snap her neck than let go.

"Please," I say to him. "Let her go." If he kills her body now, her spirit will be gone before we can perform the spell.

He drops his hands after only a slight hesitation.

"This is better," says my sister, fixing the neck of her blouse. She bares all of Bea's teeth in a smile. "A family reunion."

Since she's already inside the castle, Sebastián and I fall back to plan B. "Yes, a family reunion," I agree, flashing her a grin that's just as toothy. "How about a game of hide-and-seek? For old times' sake."

"Sure, why not?"

She speaks with all the confidence she lacked at the other castle. It is truly as Sebastián— Prince Bastian —said: Antonela is fearless .

"I'll hide first," I say, and before she can react, I break into a run.

I don't hear her following me, and even if she tried, I doubt Sebastián would let her. Not until he's sure I've made it to the purple room.

I run harder than I have my whole life.

When I reach the red rug, Sebastián has already pulled it back for me, and the trapdoor is open. This is our plan B scenario, in case for any reason Sebastián couldn't transport me to the purple room, and I had to make it here myself.

I don't care about closing the door or replacing the rug. For the first time in my history of playing hide-and-seek, I'm not trying to stay hidden.

I want to be found.

I spread my blood on the apple-shaped rock, and I enter the purple room with singed walls.

"I get it, Bast."

At first I think Antonela has beaten me here—then I confirm I'm alone.

"I know what you see in her." My sister's voice is coming through the wallpaper. " Me. "

It's as if la Sombra is broadcasting the conversation.

"But remember that it is just a body," Antonela goes on, "and it will be mine again soon."

"You betrayed me."

Now it's Sebastián speaking.

"You give me too much credit, Bast," she says, and now that I'm more familiar with the evenness of her tone, I'm also more attuned to its nuances. There's a gentler tenor when she speaks to him that makes me wonder if she's not altogether indifferent to his opinion of her.

"I did not anticipate much of what has happened," she says. "I knew so little then. When I came before your throne, I understood only survival and leverage and power. You opened my eyes to attraction and sex and partnership—"

" Partnership? I understand this word better now than I did in my old life, and this was not it. You acted purely in your own interest."

"I am sorry I did not trust you." Antonela's voice is lower, like she's moved closer to him. "Show me I can trust you now. Drink my sister's blood, and set me loose upon this world."

The seconds are torturous.

"First, you have to find her."

Sebastián is leading Antonela toward me as planned, but it's hard to feel any relief through the terror of knowing this is it. I'm about to face my twin, and whatever happens, I may not survive.

I thought after the subway that I was done with life. I was sure the world held no future for me. Then I fell in love with the instrument of my death. The weapon brought here to kill me.

Now I know there are things worth living and fighting for. I understand why my parents gave up everything and everyone they knew to keep me on the run and off the radar of la Sombra's curse. They knew my life was worth the sacrifice.

For all they gave up for me, I can't let one of their daughters kill the other. That's why the trapping spell is the only way. Maybe over time, Sebastián and I will find a way to help Antonela.

"You were much better at this game as a child."

My sister steps into the purple room, Sebastián behind her.

"Please," I say. "Don't do this."

She doesn't look at me. "Remember you are the prince of the Bleeders," she says to Sebastián. "You belong back on your throne. You said your father would coffin you if he found out, remember? You risk too much staying here longer."

"How would he find out?" asks Sebastián, pretending to care.

At least, I hope he's pretending.

"You disappeared right after a pair of casters visited your castle. No doubt your guard will think magic played a role. If the casters in power want to keep the peace, it is likely they will perform a locator spell to redirect the Bleeders' attention elsewhere."

"It would take a remarkable caster to be able to locate me on Earth," he says, his words measured, like the weight of his thoughts is slowing his speech.

"True," she says, with a shrug. "Just as it would take a remarkable human to trick you."

They stare at each other.

Despite everything Sebastián has said to me, despite his being my blood-bound, in this moment, I am on the outside. I have no idea what has happened between them. Or how he feels about my sister.

Sebastián turns to me, and I know this is it. He will have to make a choice between Antonela and me, and the one he selects will be the one who survives.

He's already told me three times that he chooses me over everything. And yet Antonela just seemed to make a strong point. Will it be enough to change his mind?

He takes my face in his hands. Then he kisses me.

His lips move all over, down my chin, along my throat, and it feels so good that I barely feel it when his fangs puncture my skin.

I inhale sharply as there's a pull on my insides, like I'm being sucked out of my body.

Sebastián moans, unable to tamp down his enjoyment, and I feel that familiar mix of pleasure and pain, until I begin to grow lightheaded. I try to keep my eyes open a slit to see if my sister has moved yet, but she hasn't.

I'm beginning to feel weak all over, but Sebastián isn't slowing down. Soon I'm going to pass out, and I won't stand a chance against Antonela.

Black smoke flickers in my sister's eyes.

I tap Sebastián on the shoulder to let him know to stop, but his fangs are still hooked in. I can barely breathe. He's taking too much. How will I fight her off if I'm unconscious?

Sebastián leaps back, his eyes wide with horror the likes of which I never thought I would see on his face. His mouth is smeared with my blood, and he opens it to tell me something—

But he bursts into smoke, taking all the room's light with him. Once the air clears, he's gone.

My sister approaches me. She bends down, and I try to move, but my eyes flicker, my body too heavy, heart pounding dangerously slow in my ears. I'm dying.

"Goodbye, sister," she says, and it almost seems like emotion softens Bea's eyes. "I am sorry it had to be this way."

Her corneas are completely black with smoke as she grips my chin with Bea's hand.

I stare at the spot where Sebastián disappeared, waiting for him to reappear. If he doesn't come soon, she will possess me. What's taking so long? He should move faster than this.

Antonela pries open my mouth, and the smoke funnels out of her body to enter mine.

What if Sebastián is gone? That means he has no way to come back.

I'm alone.

My sister dives for my throat—and I try reaching out with my hand to shove her away, not expecting it to work.

To my extreme shock, I make contact. But I have to squint to make sure I'm seeing right.

My arm no longer seems to be made of flesh and bone.

I have become purple smoke.