Chapter 24

24

XAVIER

W ith the teenager on my back, I hurried through the night with the address the witch gave me engraved in my mind.

What am I doing? Why did I go through that door to rescue this boy? Yes, I understood why I was here, what this all meant to a degree. But it didn't shift my bemusement or bring to life any feelings from my future.

Me in love with a human witch? Sounded like madness to me. I'd moved to the human realm to escape drama, to live in relative peace.

To mourn Ismael day after day…

My feelings for my lost, sleeping love were raw and barbed within me. Seeing him again burned like the hottest of flames, only with a strangeness diluting the hurt.

Roman…

I picked up speed, leaping over a low fence circling a community green space. Protecting this teenage boy was paramount now. My instincts and the chaos told me so. I wanted this to be over, to go back to my life until the time came to meet my future.

Roman is your future…

"It's fucked up, right?" the boy said into my left ear.

"Correct." I crossed the green space.

"Last thing I want is to be some demon's boyfriend."

I came to a stop on the other side of the grass, taking in my surroundings for a moment. There were demon towers glistening in the distance. Their energy licked at me, my resistance pushing against it.

Ismael…

Back here to unleash his tyranny. I had to stop him.

Could I? Did I possess the strength to watch the light leave his cruel eyes?

"What's wrong?" the boy asked, breaking my train of thought.

"Nothing." I kept going, not stopping again until we reached the street I aimed for.

"Thank God that's over," Roman said, peeling himself from my back.

The street was dark, a lost place. Many abandoned homes, a toxic river in the middle of the road driving most of the people away.

"Nasty place," the boy added. "Rivers give me the creeps."

"Yes." The address Darcy gave me sat directly ahead. "Come on. Let's get you?—"

Something stirred in the dark.

"What was that?" Roman asked, his hands igniting with magic.

Lemons. I smelled lemons.

Make that Lemon Drop. My stomach rolled, my skin itching with prickly heat. Heavy nausea engulfed me, sending noxious fog into my skull.

"Run…" I told the boy. "Hide…"

"But…"

A figure slithered from the shadows, lunging for him. Roman fired off a Synth beam, missing the attacker. He yelped, a tentacle quickly subduing him. It coiled around his lithe body, crushing him.

Not a tentacle, but a dark green snake.

"Tanith…" I wheezed, the Lemon Drop intensifying as she slithered closer.

She wore a silver choker, a yellow jewel at its center—the source of the Lemon Drop.

Had she come from the other time? Slipped past the ADU agents to hunt me down?

"It's been years…" I said.

Only, it hadn't. She was a deadly part of my future.

Roman's eyes bulged, only his head visible in the suffocating scales and green flesh.

A fragment of understanding lodged itself in my brain, whispering the truth from a different part of me. From the me who'd exploded in the garden.

Stop her…

Save the boy…

Thunder crashed in the distance but there were no storm clouds in the sky from what I could see. It might have been the sound of more demonic attacks spilling through that doorway.

"Let him go," I said, unsteady on my feet.

"I want you to watch as I take his life." Her face, once one of a dear friend, warped with hate. "See hope die. There will be no future for you, Xavier. The lake is open. I won." She squeezed Roman harder. "Fuck you and your betrayal of Ismael, of our friendship."

I didn't have the strength to retaliate. I went down on one knee, the Lemon Drop overwhelming me.

It gave her cause to laugh. "Pathetic how lemons undo you. The great Xavier cannot stand against some fruit."

More than just fruit, a concoction to render me useless.

"Watch him die," she said, menace dripping from her lips.

The ground shook violently beneath me, dipping inward, splitting around the edges of the sinking tarmac at a terrifying rate.

"What is this?" Tanith demanded, also caught in the sink.

Roman sucked in air, her grip loosening.

The ground sunk further, golden steam bursting from its center. Tanith wailed, cursing my name. I tried getting to my feet, but the Lemon Drop sent me onto my backside.

A second tremor rocked the tarmac, the ground sinking further. More of the golden steam spewed into the air, engulfing me.

"Xavier!" Tanith cried.

The third quake broke the ground, plunging us into blazing, golden light.