Death Before Daylight (25 page)

I felt sick.

“Come on,” Robb spoke over the ringing bell.
“We’re better off without them anyway.”

I ignored him and stood up. “I’ll see you at
lunch,” I said to Crystal before grabbing my bag and rushing out of
the room. My plan hadn’t changed. I would see Eric and confront
him. The news hadn’t changed anything, because it couldn’t be true.
Eric still wore his ring, after all.

When I pushed through the shifting crowds, I
searched their faces for the only person I wanted to see. I didn’t
see him until I made my way outside. I lost my breath when I
realized he was walking with Linda, and I blocked the door before
either of them could go back to class.

“I need to talk to you,” I blurted.

Eric’s green eyes widened, but only for a
millisecond. After that, they were slits. “I’m busy.”

When he tried to brush past me, I moved in
front of him again.

Linda folded her arms. “What do you want?”
she asked.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I retorted,
refusing to take my eyes off Eric even though he had stopped
looking at me. “Is it true?”

“So, what if it is?” Eric didn’t even ask for
clarification. He knew what I had heard.

“We’re dating now,” Linda clarified by
grabbing Eric’s hand. He didn’t even pull away, but I stared. She
held his left hand, the one with his ring—the same ring that said
he was my fiancé, not her boyfriend.

Chills ran up my spine as the door behind me
opened and wind rushed past us. “Why’d you run out so fast?”
Crystal stopped speaking as she stepped out to stand next to me.
Her bleached hair gleamed in the gray, winter light. “Oh, hey,
guys.”

“Hey.” Linda smiled at her. “I was just
looking for you,” she said. “Eric and I were thinking about going
on a date, and I wanted to see if Zac and you wanted to
double.”

Zac. Her half-brother.

My emotions had taken over, but they were
clearing now. I could see Eric and focus on Linda. If Darthon was
controlling him, Linda was involved. She had to be Fudicia, and
Zac—her brother—had to be my enemy.

“We can’t,” Crystal said as she laid her arm
on my shoulder. “We’re already doubling with Robb and Jess.”

My heart slammed into my chest as I glanced
at my friend. She was grinning, and I recognized the light in her
eyes. She wore the same expression when she discovered a new story
for the paper. She was up to no good.

She pushed her weight against me. “Right,
Jess?”

I only glanced at Eric with my peripheral
vision. He had paled. Something was definitely wrong, and that
something was Darthon. If he knew who Darthon was, then he knew I
would be with him. Zac. I was right. I had always been right.

“Yeah,” I confirmed before I could overthink
it. The date would be the perfect opportunity to get Zac out at
night—when the Dark had powers, too. It would be a night we could
expose him. I would only have to find a way to protect Crystal from
it. “We’re going out.”

Eric opened his mouth, and then snapped it
shut. His jaw locked, and he glared at the brick wall to the
right.

I shifted, wanting him to confirm it somehow,
but I knew he couldn’t. Linda was next to him.

“Too bad,” she cooed. “Maybe next time.”

“Maybe,” Crystal agreed.

“Come on, honey.” Eric was the one to say it,
yet it sounded nothing like him. He never used pet names. Not once
when he was with me. Yet he did with Linda, and when he brushed
past me, his arm skimmed mine. Even through his jacket, I could
feel his body heat.

I wrapped my arms around my torso when the
cold air was all that was left.

“Did you see the look on his face?” Crystal
bounced in front of me, her cheeks rosy. “He looked like you
punched him in the gut.” She giggled like she enjoyed it.

I leaned against the wall to keep myself
standing. My knees were shaking. If Zac was Darthon, then my best
friend was dating him, and I had no way of telling her. “Yeah,” was
all I could manage.

“You don’t have to worry about the date
either,” she said. “I just thought you could use some help back
there—”

“Actually,” I interrupted her as Robb walked
out, a sandwich in his hand. “I want to go.”

Robb took a bite and stared at us. “What just
happened?”

“What?” Crystal ignored him as she questioned
me. “You’re serious?”

I nodded, but this time it was to Robb. “You
want to go on a double date?”

His mouth hung open and food fell out. I
tried not to cringe as he brushed off his shirt. “With you?”

“And Zac and Crystal,” I added.

He glanced from Crystal to me before nodding
too many times. “That would be cool.”

“Great,” I said and grabbed Crystal’s arm.
“You two can make it, right?”

It would be pointless if Zac wasn’t
there.

“I think so,” she said, but her words were
drawn out. I had never seen her hesitate about Zac before.
“Tonight?”

“At eight,” I clarified. “Meet you at your
place?”

“Sure.”

“See you then,” I said and started to walk
away. I had to talk to Jonathon about my plan before I carried it
out, and if I had to drag him out of class again, I would.

As I made my way through the lunchroom,
Crystal called after me, “Wait.”

When I faced her, she stopped an inch away
from me. Her boots touched mine, but she didn’t speak.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Are you sure about this, Jess?” Her eyes
moved over my face. “I didn’t mean to pressure you—”

“You didn’t,” I promised, knowing it was time
to push myself forward. “It’ll be fun.” It would also be the next
step to end it all.

34

“I don’t have to love you,” I growled and
scooted away from Linda. She had attempted to snuggle up next to me
throughout lunch, and I wasn’t about to let it happen.

She blew her bangs out of her face. “You have
to at least act like it.”

The rest of the student body wasn’t even
looking, but I knew they had seen. Ever since she had stood by my
locker in the morning, the rumor was spreading. It was only a
matter of time before Jessica heard, if she hadn’t already, and I
didn’t want to be around when she did.

I only had thirty more minutes before I could
leave. Due to my new schedule, I had a different lunch, which
forced me to go back to class for fifteen minutes while the last
lunch took place—the one Jessica was in. If I didn’t hurry to get
back to class, she would see me.

I glanced at my watch, but Linda smacked her
hand over the time. “She has to see us eventually.”

I yanked my hand away. “So, that’s your
plan.”

She smiled to confirm it. “That’s what you
want.”

“That’s what Darthon wants,” I spat, “and the
minute I’m out of this, you’re falling right next to him.”

Her brown eyes widened, and her breath fogged
out in front of her. She didn’t speak as she inched away from me.
She leaned back against the wall, and her blonde hair stuck to the
bricks when she shook her head. What she was shaking her head at I
didn’t know, but I did know one thing. She was a teenager just like
the rest of us.

“You don’t have to die,” I said, changing my
stance.

She peeked at me through her hair. “Do you
know why the powers are weakening?”

My esophagus squeezed. “No.”

“Because they’re dying,” she answered. “If
one of you doesn’t die, the powers will die in your place.” Her
face turned back toward the sky. “We’ll all just be humans again.
Mad humans.”

Whenever we lost our powers, we went mad. I
knew that. It had happened to too many for us to deny it.

“We’ll only kill each other in madness
anyway—”

“You hate humans that much?” I
interrupted.

She didn’t respond immediately. Her eyes
stayed on me when she finally spoke. “No,” she paused, “but I don’t
want to be one.”

“You talk like one,” I retorted.

Her eyebrows shot up. “What’s that supposed
to mean?”

“I saw the look on your face when Robb
ordered you to date me,” I said, refusing to stop fighting back. If
I had to break Linda, then I would. I wasn’t even going against my
orders. “You don’t want this anymore than I do.”

She snatched my hand up as if she was proving
a point, but her fingers were shaking.

For once, I didn’t pull away. “You love him,
don’t you?”

Linda’s nails dug into the back of my hand,
and strangely, it reminded me of Jessica’s touch. “Why do you
care?”

She did. It wasn’t hard to guess. She had
dated Robb on and off for years, after all. Even if it was a cover
for her position as a guard, she had fallen into the illusion as if
she had used her own powers against herself. She was still a
child.

“You’re blind,” I managed.

Linda glared at me as if to prove she could
see. “I’m not like Jonathon.”

Just the reminder of their threat was enough
to make me hesitate, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. I would have
to trust in Jonathon’s abilities as much as I trusted in Jessica’s.
“Darthon doesn’t love you.”

She exhaled a breath, and it blew out in a
visible stream of hot air against the February cold. “You think I
don’t know that?” She let me go. “He isn’t capable of loving. The
elders beat it out of him.” When she glanced at me, I knew what she
would say, “Didn’t they do the same to you?”

They had. They had taught me not to care,
showed me how to shut everything out. Even mourning had escaped me.
It was one of the only reasons I hadn’t dealt with Camille’s death
until now. It was the only reason I hadn’t confronted my father
about my mother’s suicide. But I had overcome it, and I had dealt
with Abby’s death.

“You killed Hannah, didn’t you?”

Linda’s soft face twisted, and for a moment,
I could imagine the sharpness of her cheekbones—the ones she had as
Fudicia, the ones I had seen when she poked her head into the car
wreck. She nodded.

“Did you know who I was when you saw me?” I
asked, knowing our eyes had met that afternoon. She knew I had
lived, and she had left me alive. She could’ve ended it all years
ago, but she didn’t. “Didn’t you consider killing me?”

“No.” Her lips thinned into a white line
before she licked them. “I didn’t want to know it was you.”

My stomach twisted. “Why not?”

She yanked her red jacket around her as if
she could tighten the coat. It only brought out the flush of her
cheeks more. Linda—Darthon’s guard—was just as broken as the rest
of us.

I grabbed her arm. “Why not, Linda?”

She pulled away from me. “Because Robb
doesn’t want to kill you,” she practically cried. “That’s why.”

My face heated up. “Bullshit.”

She leapt to her feet, and her hair spiked
out like she was going to transform in the middle of the school
day. “I’m done talking to you, Welborn.”

I grabbed her again, only to pull her back to
the wall. “We’re supposed to stay together,” I reminded her of her
orders. “Or do you want to get in trouble?”

She squirmed, and for a moment, I considered
letting her leave. It would’ve been nice to be alone, but it
wouldn’t get me any closer to killing him. Forcing her to talk was
the only way I could learn more information. It was the only way I
could win.

“You can get out of this,” I said.

“I’ll tell him you said that,” she
threatened.

“Go ahead,” I retorted. “If he doesn’t want
to kill me, he shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” She wiggled out
of my grasp. “He’s just as forced into this as you are, and when he
found out it was you—” When she stopped speaking, she dug her hands
into her jacket pocket. “You’re the only one who showed him
kindness,” she finished, but she didn’t look at me. Of all the
things she could look at, she stared at the willow tree. “Don’t you
remember when his dog died?”

I did. We were kids then. Crystal was there,
too, but her mom picked her up. Robb’s parents hadn’t even come out
to say goodbye. It wasn’t unusual for them, and I knew we had that
in common. My dad didn’t care about my emotions either. When I told
Robb that, he cried.

“He’s the one who did it,” I pointed out what
he told me.

“He tried to run.” Linda’s words brought back
the memory.

Robb had run. He had stayed at my house for a
week, and no one even called to ask if he was there. When my father
finally kicked him out, it was the first time my father and I had
fought. He didn’t want me to have friends, but I yelled back. I had
Crystal, Robb, and Hannah. Later that year, I was Named and found
out why I couldn’t have any of them.

“He killed his parents shortly after that,”
Linda finished.

My feet dug into the ground. All the snow had
melted, but the surface was hardened from the cold. Somewhere in
Hayworth, Robb’s parents might be buried in the ground, but I never
heard of their deaths. No one had. According to the town, they were
alive, but I knew better now. Everything was an illusion.

“How did the Light cover it up?” I asked.

“Various members watched him.” She didn’t
have to clarify they used their powers of illusion to look like
Robb’s parents. “It was an honor if you were chosen.” She tore her
eyes away from the tree. “Everyone celebrated it. He hasn’t been
the same since.”

The bell shattered the air between us.

“But that’s that.” She brushed her hair out
of her face. “You still have a lot to learn about yourself, don’t
you?”

My mother. I nodded, knowing I would ask my
dad about her death tonight. After that, I could concentrate on
breaking the illusion further.

“Let’s go back to class, then,” Linda said,
picking up her giant purse.

She walked next to me and didn’t feel like an
enemy, but she was. It took everything in me to remind myself of
that when I asked her, “Are you going to tell him?”