Chapter Fifteen

"Are you okay?" I looked at Draco in the seat next to me. He hadn't spoken much since we left for the airport, and when we got here, he only said enough to instruct me to keep my mouth shut and follow his lead. Then he'd simply walked up to the ticket counter and told the man to book us on the next flight to St. Thomas. First class. The agent entered our names into his computer, produced two boarding passes, and wished us a nice flight. At the security checkpoint, Draco told the woman to ignore us, and she waved us right through.

I had no idea how Draco's gift worked, and I didn't really want to know. None of this felt sane or real. Not one single bit. And he wouldn't even tell me why we had to go to St. Thomas.

I continued staring at Draco in the seat beside me. "Are you going to answer?" He didn't look so good.

His jaw muscles flexed as he stared at the seatback ahead. "I didn't think it would be so easy to kill King."

I exhaled with a whoosh. "What exactly did you do to him?" Honestly, it still wasn't clear. I'd made the choice to give Draco a chance, mostly because King believed that Draco was evil because King had led a life of abominations.

I couldn't imagine a world where children had to answer for the sins of their parents. They weren't vehicles for penance, just like they weren't a path to redemption. You couldn't be absolved of genocide because your children turned out to be super-duper nice people any more than your children could go to prison because you were a serial killer. Everyone made their own luck in life, no matter the circumstances of their birth.

So I'd taken out a kitchen knife and stabbed King between the shoulder blades. I'd never done anything like it—hurt a person with the intent to kill—and it had been the most difficult decision of my life.

The moment the blade went in, King sort of…flickered. There, not there. Then Draco raised his hand and plunged it into King's chest. I watched in horror as King screamed and then faded to nothing. It felt like a bad dream.

"I do not know what happened," Draco replied quietly. "It was as if…his heart melted into me."

"Do you feel all right?" He'd said King was evil. Couldn't be a good idea to get a dose of whatever was inside him.

"I feel the same, only stronger than before."

Stronger in will and determination, or stronger with his ability to make others comply?

"Both." He answered my thought. "I walked through the airport knowing I could make anyone there do or say anything I wanted. No resistance."

I blinked, trying not to run off screaming. There were limits to how much a person's reality could change in one day.

"But, Draco, you have to know that whatever this gift of yours is, it has the potential to be used in very bad ways." Which was why I hoped he meant what he said about stopping Ten Club and the Seers, because power was a double-edged sword. It could wreck you and turn into your worst nightmare. Or it could give you purpose and be used for good.

Sadly, the former was the pattern when it came to history. I could name only a handful of leaders who gained power and truly used it in a selfless way. Power corrupted. But absolute power corrupted absolutely. Draco could not let that happen to him.

Everything I cared about was riding on him staying true to his word and stopping the end of everything. King believed Draco was spreading a mental plague, while Draco believed the cancer had started long ago with Ten Club and King. I wondered who was right.

Or maybe all that mattered was how to stop it.

"You understand my struggle, then," he muttered, reading my mind.

I did. And I wanted to share a particular observation. "I've studied history since I was a teen. I just loved the stories—good versus evil, fate, failure, and triumph. Love and loss. It's amazing to think that I'm here because the people who came before me made billions of choices: go to this village, marry that woman, take a lover, sail away to a foreign land. I am the output of history. We all are.

"But what amazes me most is that despite so much evil in the world—wars, genocide, revolutions, and slavery—good people haven't gone away. We're still here." I turned to face him. "Think about it. Really think about how incredible that is. Why is anyone good still around when human beings have evolved from such a savage mess? And no one's hands are clean. Every culture warred, killed, persecuted others, took lands, raped, pillaged, or asserted power for themselves. Yet despite the viciousness, I'm still here. And so are billions of other people. Good, decent, loving people."

"What's your point, Piper?"

"It's proof that no matter what, the past doesn't control us. It can influence our thinking. It can and should be used to teach us valuable lessons. It can expand our understanding of human nature. But ultimately, the past has no power over us. Because the past is just that. The past. And as much as your father liked to think he was all-knowing, the future isn't written. It hasn't happened yet. Therefore, logically, what we're left with is this moment. And that opens up a world of possibility because every second is an opportunity to make a new choice." I looked into his troubled eyes. "You have a choice, Draco. You will always have a choice, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"I had not planned to." He paused, looking ahead for a moment. "But if, like you said, power is a double-edged sword, then I have a fifty-fifty chance of getting it wrong."

"Then you have to make sure that doesn't happen," I said.

"I cannot do that unless I know everything: What event leads to me turning my back on the world? Why does everyone think I will unite the Seers and Ten Club when I do not want to help either one? They must have a reason to think I will betray my own soul." He rubbed his forehead, as if nursing a headache. "Everyone I've come across does not know or will not tell me. It is as if they refuse to remember."

Suddenly, my mind flashed to an image of someone chasing me through my backyard with a labrys.

"What was that?" he asked.

"What was what?"

"You were screaming, and I was trying to capture you."

I tilted my head. "I don't know. Just some…random noise, I guess."

He frowned, studying me.

"What?"

His gaze grew more focused and intense, but he didn't say anything. I hated how he could put me on pins and needles with just one look.

"Stop staring like that. I really don't know what that was."

"That is not why I am staring," he said.

I waited.

"You do not feel that?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Then you're not trying hard enough." He raised his hand and pressed it to my cheek.

"What are you doing?" I felt pinpricks surge through my face, down my neck, and into my core. It almost hurt when he touched me, but I liked it. Suddenly, my temples began to pulse, producing a dull ache.

"There is something locked away deep in your mind that I cannot get to, and I think it is the answer to why we are connected."

What the hell was he talking about?

"Surely by now you've realized we were meant to meet," he said.

He'd mentioned the same thing back at the house.

"I don't know." I did feel something, but there was no form or shape to it. "When I first saw you in the café, I felt like I already knew you. And when you showed up at my house, I wanted to help you."

"That might've been me." He dropped his hand and smiled.

"You used your mind tricks on me, didn't you?"

He shrugged.

"I knew it." I looked away, shaking my head. There was no way I'd just let some stranger into my house.

"But I am no stranger. Like you said, you already knew me."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You calm me," he blurted out.

"Sorry?"

He let out a slow breath. "The only time I can think clearly is when I'm near you."

Was he trying to flatter me or butter me up? Is he flirting?

"I am not flirting with you," he replied. "I am merely telling the truth."

"Good. Because I'm in no way interested." Or, more accurately, he terrified me. When I was around Draco, I felt like I wasn't in control. He could make my stomach roll and my heart pound for no damned reason. Even now, there was an anxiousness swirling around, telling me danger was close. Yet I was stuck in his orbit, and nothing could pull me away.

He turns me into a mess.

"That is our connection." He took a moment. "You have a physical reaction to me without understanding why. Just like you want to fuck me, but don't want to admit it."

"What?" I do not.

"Do not worry. We don't have time for that right now."

"I do not want to sleep with you." I admired his body. So what? He was a beautiful man, but that wasn't enough to make me jump into bed with him.

He turned and stared down with those cold eyes. "I think you're smart to keep your distance, Piper. Because neither of us knows for certain where this is going. Not really. But just so you know, I would also like to fuck you."

I swallowed down a lump. Dear God. I needed to get the hell away from him.

"Not until I say, Piper."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm here because I want to be, Draco. Don't forget that." Yet, as I spoke, I knew it wasn't completely true. Like I'd already said, I felt trapped in his orbit. I didn't like it, but I was.

He was about to say something, but then simply smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Now my head was pounding, so I closed my eyes. As I drifted off, my mind wandered into the strangest dream: gray clouds, black rain, the smell of rotting garbage, and in the distance, screaming. So much screaming.