36. Luke

THIRTY-SIX

Luke

I wish I’d stayed asleep to miss this stroll in the dark.

Unfortunately, I’d come to upon arrival in Billy’s arms with no clue of my location. I was freezing my arse off, my stomach roiling, the rest of me reeling from what’d gone down.

Those people. The town. Gone because of me. Friends, fellow humans and gargoyles—and what about Finn. Did the terror house split open, releasing Finn and the others to run wild?

Oh, God. This gut-wrenching self-loathing was nothing more than self-pity, but I couldn’t do anything but let it consume me.

Murderer. Nothing more than a killer.

Seth and Luna led the way down some path surrounded by mountains. At least, I thought so from the glimpses in the dark.

They carried torches, gravel crunching under their boots.

Luna’s bracelets were back on my wrists, a collar chaffing my neck. The potion slithered in my veins again like cold, juicy slugs.

Dammit. Damn him.

Every limb hurt while being afflicted with pins and needles at the same time. Let them hurt, let this be the beginning of a million lifetimes of penance.

You’ll never redeem yourself from this.

Seth turned to smile at me, a joint in his right hand. “Not too far now. Sorry we have to go by foot, but we’re under strict orders not to use flight around here.”

Why? And orders from who?

Ugh. I didn’t have the wherewithal to ask.

“Sorry about the disk,” Luna grumbled.

“We’ll soon be in a nice hotel with a glass of wine,” he added.

What the actual hell?

I started crying, trying to reach Asher through the amulet. God knows why it was still there, feeling heavier than normal as if there were two of them. Not that it made any sort of connection to the gargoyle.

Was he okay? Would I feel him being hurt like last time? Oh, God. Did he see me? Did he see what I’d done?

I licked my lips, managing a question. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.”

The wind picked up, a light snow falling. I didn’t understand. Surely, he’d want me dead after destroying his town. Why would he want to use me now? I was an abomination, death was too good for me.

He should make me suffer first. Stretch it across many, many years.

Finn…

I couldn’t think about him. No. No. No. Shut it down. Don’t let it in. Don’t let me ponder the great hero he would’ve been instead of this thief taking his place.

“I’ve always known what you did, Luke,” Seth said, dragging on his joint.

I stilled, my veins throbbing. “You… You…”

“I wanted to protect you because I cared. Believe or not, I like you. Really like you. I’ll miss our games of chess along with your beautiful face.”

“What—”

“Shut up and listen. The best thing you can do now is go with this.”

I listened, ready to puke and pass out again. How many more surprises were lined up for me?

“I never expected Ember to discover what you did. Sorry, I’m skipping ahead.” He blew smoke rings.

“I—” He stopped walking. “Hello?”

Silence, the shuffling of feet.

“I come with the key,” he said.

I swallowed, my heart clenching. “You’re giving me to Ember?”

My power stirred, crying out from the depths.

“Yes, Luke. I made a deal with her recently, offering you to spare the lives of many. She might be destined to destroy us, but she enjoys a bargain.”

My brain plopped into a swamp of confusion. “You did what?”

He carried on walking, Billy adjusting his grip on me. We passed five gas mask humans lining the path without the masks, their bald heads on show, orange flame tattoos almost flickering on their skulls.

“After the chimera attack on the tower,” Seth continued, “my team captured a gas mask human. I stopped her from killing herself, tortured her, and Luna here managed to form a connection to Ember with copious amounts of potions and charms. We talked, we came to an agreement. Certain gargoyles would be spared, along with Gula, and Brinecrest. Everyone else would be fair game. We’ve been keeping in touch since, trying to work out the best time to hand you over. Clearly, her impatience got the better of her several times.” His lips curled into a snarl. “Her black smoke charm almost ended our deal.”

My head stayed in the swamp, sinking into yucky silt.

“Please don’t vomit on me,” Billy pleaded gently.

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t muster any sort of response. But the vomit stayed down.

“Ember warned me to get to safety after delighting in discovering your destiny theft,” Seth said. “I did, and here we are. Although the town is lost, I can still spare more lives with this deal.”

He’d been working with the enemy. He’d fucked us all by brokering this agreement.

“Who is she?” I managed to ask.

“Hush now.”

We finished the journey in silence, coming to a stop inside a small cave inside a mountain. I think. Billy put me down, Seth sliding in behind me, holding me up by my sides.

Ember’s followers lit flaming torches, fixing them into sconces in the walls. Fire chased away the darkness, revealing a statue of a woman fixed into a curved wall. Carved from onyx, the left hand reaching out, her fingers splayed.

“Her power is great, Luke,” Seth whispered into my ear. “Her reach incredible, even locked away.”

A fizz in my ears, the amulet warming.

Hope fluttered everywhere. “Asher?” If I heard his voice, maybe things would get better for a few fleeting moments.

“It’s me,” Seth said in my head.

I squeaked, all eyes turning to me.

Seth growled at the humans. “Come on. I want to get out of here.”

What the hell was he doing in my head? I looked down, seeing a second amulet around my neck. Thinking there were two there hadn’t just been a feeling. A gold chain draped over the silver one, a red stone beside the green.

“Don’t react again,” Seth warned. “Everything I told you is true to a point. I wanted you to be taken to find her. To help you kill her.”

Pow. There he went again with the gut punches, the lurching twists.

“Brinecrest is gone because of her. Don’t blame yourself.”

How could he say that? “I summoned the wave. I killed my friends. I did… I did this…”

“But she put you in that position. In some ways, so did I for not serving you better from the beginning. I’m sorry.”

It didn’t matter what he said. The onus was on me.

Tom.

Maren.

Asher.

Everyone.

“Ember forced the trigger,” he added.

I rejected his words, gagging on them. “I did it. I murdered everyone.”

“Stop right now. I’m not telling you to move on, but you must unburden yourself from the guilt.”

I almost howled with laughter. Seriously? In what world was it so easy to kick grief down a well? The buck stopped with me. End of.

The ring slipped off my finger, hitting the cave floor with a gentle clang. A human came forward to claim it, taking it over to the statue.

Oh, God.

“This is it. Be ready.” Seth unclasped the left bracelet with extreme sleight of hand. The humans didn’t notice.

Billy and Luna stayed back, a pair of silent sentinels.

“The moment you see her, kill her.” Off came the right bracelet.

Wow, he was good.

My power tingled in my fingertips, almost here.

The human slipped the ring onto the statue’s ring finger, its obsidian eyes igniting with tiny fires. Its mouth opened, black smoke billowing out.

Oh. My. God.

Seth unlocked the collar, holding it in place to sell the lie.

The statue stopped smoking and sank into the floor, revealing an opening. Incredible heat wafted out, the glow of fire spilling across the floor. From my position, I saw the lava cavern, and a figure striding toward us.

My hate blazed with the deadliness of her lava lake.

Ember wasn’t charred now. A naked woman with long, blood-red hair covering her breasts, the rest of her on full display. She was healed, her eyes golden storms.

“Any second now, Luke,” Seth said.

I tensed, preparing to destroy her.

The humans moved. One of them slit Luna’s throat, throwing me off my game. Seth dropped his hands, yelling something as Billy got hit with a charm. It chimed against his stone skin, sending him hurtling out of the cave.

Seth slipped in Luna’s blood, so much of it gushing from her twitching body. I went to help him, but he shoved me off.

“Kill her!” he roared.

Ember stepped through the opening and blew Seth a kiss. A glowing orb hit him in the chest. He staggered backwards, tearing open his fur coat. Fiery fissures burned across his chest, quickly spreading.

“Luke…” he rasped in my head. “Kill her.”

I went to, but a human stabbed me in the torso with a cold blade. I fell to my knees, my body temperature dropping rapidly.

Seth collapsed to his knees too, smoke spewing from every orifice. Parts of his skin blistered, flames igniting across his arms.

“Luke… I’m… I’m sorry…”

He kept his eyes on me as his face melted off his skull, globules of liquid skin rolling down his chest like melted wax.

“Seth…”

He’d tried pulling a double cross and failed spectacularly. His body collapsed, liquefying into a puddle of lava. Bubbles formed on the glowing surface, popping.

Dead. He was dead.

Meanwhile, my temperature continued to plunge.

Ember crouched before me as I shivered. “At last, we meet in the flesh. Briefly.”

“What… What…”

“What have I done?” She stroked her chin, mocking me. “I’ve made a correction, Luke. You’re going to face the consequences of what you did to poor Finn.”

With what little strength remained, I clapped back with, “Keep his…his name…out of…your mouth.”

“You’re turning blue, Luke. So, so cold. But you’re not dying. Death is not your destiny.” She touched the side of my face. “Your brother will get his chance in the spotlight. As it should be.” She raked her hot nails across my skin, searing my flesh. “Swap.”

My body jolted, her scratch cooling.

Here and there.

There and here.

Not here, over there.

“Goodbye, Luke Garland. I’m off to hunt the real Ocean.”

Finn!

As I slipped away into the prison of ice and glass and snakes, I saw Finn leave it.

Here and there.

There and here.

The shadow of you.

The shadow of him.

Me. I was the shadow looming over him.

Understanding seeped into me. This icy prison wasn’t a place for Ember to put me. It was the place the monster put Finn. Where I’d put him. Everything I saw was through Finn’s eyes, and not because I’d developed clairvoyance.

Oh my God.

How did she do it? How did Ember swap us?

It didn’t matter. This was my turn to sob within the walls of ice, my hands already grazing the cold glass of those windows.

Trapped. A terror. Getting exactly what I deserved.

I smashed a window, beginning my cycle of eternal doom.