Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia
“I’m in trouble, man. You gotta help me.” Then he noticed Lena curled into a ball next to me. “Oh, jeez. I didn’t know you were—you know.”
“Sleeping?”
“At least someone can.” He was pacing, full of nervous energy, even for Link. His arm was in a cast, and it was swinging erratically. Even with only the dim light from the window, I could see his face was sweaty and pale. He looked sick, worse than sick.
“What’s up with you, man? How did you get in here?”
Link sat down in the old chair by my desk, then stood up again. His T-shirt had a hot dog on it and said BITE ME. He’d had it since we were in eighth grade. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
The window was open behind him, the curtains blowing inside as if the breeze was being drawn into my room. My stomach was beginning to twist into a familiar knot. “Try me.”
“Remember when Vampire Boy grabbed me on Hell Night?” He was talking about the night of the Seventeenth Moon, which would always be Hell Night to him. It was also the title of the horror movie that scared the crap out of him when he was ten.
“Yeah?”
Link was pacing again. “You know he could’ve killed me, right?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear where this was going. “But he didn’t, and he’s probably dead, like Larkin.” John disappeared that night, but no one actually knew what happened to him.
“Yeah, well, if he is, he left a partin’ gift. Two actually.” Link leaned over my bed. Instinctively I jumped back, bumping into Lena.
“What’s going on?” She was half asleep, her voice deep and gravelly.
“Relax, man.” Link reached past me and switched on the light next to my bed. “What does it look like to you?”
My eyes adjusted to the dim light, and I saw two small puncture wounds on Link’s pasty neck, the distinct mark made by two evenly set canines.
“He bit you?” I jerked away from him, pulling Lena off the bed and pushing her against the wall behind me.
“So I’m right? Holy crap.” Link sat down on my bed, dropping his head in his hands. He looked miserable. “Am I gonna turn into one a those bloodsuckers?” He was staring at Lena, waiting for her to confirm what he already knew.
“Technically, yes. You’re probably already Turning, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a Blood Incubus. You can fight it, like Uncle Macon, and feed on dreams and memories instead of blood.” She pushed her way out from behind me. “Relax, Ethan. He’s not going to attack us, like a vampire in one of your lame Mortal horror movies where all witches wear black hats.”
“At least I look good in hats.” Link sighed. “And black.”
She sat down next to him on the edge of my bed. “He’s still Link.”
“You sure about that?” The more I checked him out, the worse he looked.
“Yeah, I gotta know this sorta stuff.” Link was shaking his head, defeated. It was pretty obvious he had been hoping Lena was going to tell him there was some other explanation. “Holy crap, my mom’s gonna throw me outta the house when she finds out. I’m gonna have to live in the Beater.”
“It’ll be okay, man.” It was a lie, but what else could I say? Lena was right. Link was still my best friend. He had followed me into the Tunnels, which was the reason he was sitting here now with two holes in his neck.
Link ran his hands over his hair nervously. “Dude, my mom’s a Baptist. You think she’s gonna let me stay in the house when she finds out I’m a Demon? She doesn’t even like Methodists.”
“Maybe she won’t notice.” I knew it was a stupid thing to say, but I was trying.
“Sure. Maybe she won’t notice if I never go out durin’ the day because my skin’ll fry off.” Link rubbed his pale arms as if he could already feel his skin beginning to peel.
“Not necessarily.” Lena was working something out in her mind. “John wasn’t your average Incubus. He was a hybrid. Uncle M is still trying to figure out what Abraham was doing with him.”
I remembered what Macon said about hybrids when he was arguing with Abraham at the Great Barrier, which already seemed like a lifetime ago. But I didn’t want to think about John Breed at all. I couldn’t forget seeing him with his hands all over Lena.
At least Lena didn’t notice. “His mother was an Evo. They can Morph—transmutate into virtually any species, even Mortals. That’s why John could walk around during the day, while other Incubuses have to avoid sunlight.”
“Yeah? So I’m what, like, a quarter bloodsucker?”
Lena nodded. “Probably. I mean, I can’t be certain of anything.”
Link shook his head. “That’s why I wasn’t sure at first. I was out all day and nothin’ happened. Figured it meant I was in the clear.”
“Why didn’t you say something right away?” It was a stupid question. Who would want to tell their friends they were Transforming into some kind of Demon?
“I didn’t realize he bit me. Just thought I got worked over in the fight, but then I started feelin’ weird and saw the marks.”
“You’ll have to be careful, man. We don’t know much about John Breed. If he’s some kind of hybrid, who knows what you can do?”
Lena cleared her throat. “Actually, I knew him pretty well.” Link and I turned and looked at her at the same time. She twisted her necklace nervously. “I mean, not that well. But we were in the Tunnels together for a long time.”
“And?” I could feel my blood rising.
“He was really strong, and he had some kind of weird magnetism that drove girls crazy everywhere we went.”
“Girls like you?” I couldn’t help myself.
“Shut up.” She nudged me with her shoulder.
“This is startin’ to sound better already.” Link cracked a smile, in spite of himself.
Lena was going down the list of John’s attributes in her mind, a list I was hoping wasn’t too long. “He could see and hear and smell things I couldn’t.”
Link inhaled deeply, then coughed. “Dude, you really need a shower.”
“You’ve got superpowers now, and that’s the best you can do?” I shoved him. He shoved me back, and I flew off the bed onto the floor.
“What the hell?” I was used to being the one throwing him on the ground.
Link looked at his hands, nodding with satisfaction. “That’s right, fists a fury. Like I always said.”
Lena picked up Lucille, who had backed herself into a corner. “And you should be able to Travel. You know, materialize wherever you want. You won’t need to use the window, even though Uncle Macon says it’s more civilized.”
“I can walk through walls, like a superhero?” Link was cheering up considerably.
“You’ll probably have a great time, except…” Lena took a breath and tried to act casual. “You won’t really eat anymore. And assuming you plan to be more like Uncle Macon than Hunting, you’ll have to feed off people’s dreams and memories to sustain yourself. Uncle Macon called it eavesdropping. But you’ll have plenty of time because you won’t sleep anymore.”
“I can’t eat? What am I gonna tell my mom?”
Lena shrugged. “Tell her you’ve become a vegetarian.”
“A vegetarian? Are you insane? That’s worse than bein’ a quarter Demon!” Link stopped pacing. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
He walked over to the open window and leaned out. “Seriously?” There were a few banging sounds on the side of the house, and Link hoisted Ridley through my window. I looked away dutifully, since most of Ridley’s underwear showed at one point or another during the climb over the windowsill. It wasn’t the most graceful entrance.
Apparently, Ridley had cleaned up and gone back to looking like a Siren, whether she was actually one or not. She pulled her skirt down and shook out her blond and pink streaked hair. “Let me get this straight. The party’s here, but I’m supposed to stay in my cell with the dog?”
Lena sighed. “You mean my bedroom??
“Whatever. I don’t need the three of you hanging out together, talking about me. I have enough problems as it is. Uncle Macon and my mom have decided I should go back to school, since apparently I’m not a danger to anyone anymore.” It looked like she was about to burst into tears.
“But you’re not.” Link pulled out my desk chair for her.
“I’m plenty dangerous.” She ignored him, flopping down on my bed. “You’ll see.” Link grinned. He hoped so, that much was clear. “They can’t make me go to that backwoods dump you call a school.”
“Nobody was talking about you, Ridley.” Lena sat down on the bed, next to her cousin.
Link went back to pacing. “We were talkin’ about me.”
“What about you?” He looked away, but Ridley must have already seen something because she was across the room in a second. She grabbed the side of Link’s face. “Look at me.”
“What for?”
Ridley zeroed in on him like a Sybil. “Look at me.”
As Link turned, his pale, sweaty skin caught what little light the moon cast into the room. But it was enough light to see the puncture marks.
Ridley was still holding his face, but her hand was shaking. Link put his hand on her wrist. “Rid—”
“Did he do this to you?” Her eyes narrowed. Even though they were blue now, instead of gold, and she couldn’t convince anyone to jump off a cliff, she looked like she could throw someone off one. It was easy to imagine her sticking up for Lena at school when they were kids.
Link took her hand and pulled her toward him, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “It’s no biggie. Maybe I’ll get some homework done once in a while, now that I don’t need any sleep.” Link cracked a smile, but Ridley didn’t.
“This isn’t a joke. John is probably the most powerful Incubus in the Caster world, aside from Abraham himself. If Abraham was looking for him, there’s a reason.” I could see her biting her lip, staring out into the trees outside my window.
“You worry too much, Babe.”
Ridley shrugged off Link’s arm. “Don’t call me Babe.”
I leaned back against my headboard, watching the two of them. Now that Ridley was a Mortal and Link was an Incubus, she would still be the one girl he couldn’t have—and probably the only one he wanted. Junior year was going to be interesting.
An Incubus at Jackson High.
Link, the strongest guy in school, driving Savannah Snow crazy every time he walked into the room without a single lick from one of Ridley’s lollipops. And Ridley, the ex-Siren, who I was pretty sure would find her way back to trouble, with or without the lollipops. Two months until September, and for the first time in my life, I could hardly wait for the first day of school.
Link wasn’t the only one of us who couldn’t sleep that night.
6.28
Sunrise
Can’t you dig any faster?”
Link and I glared at Ridley from where we stood, a few feet down in Macon’s grave. The one he’d never spent a minute in. I was already dripping, and the sun wasn’t even up yet. Link, with his newfound strength, had yet to break a sweat.
“No, we can’t. And yes, I know you’re totally grateful we’re doin’ this instead a you, Babe.” Link waved his shovel at Ridley.
“Why does the long way have to take so long?” Ridley looked at Lena, disgusted. “Why are Mortals so sweaty and boring?”
“You’re a Mortal now. You tell me.” I tossed a shovelful of dirt in Ridley’s direction.
“Don’t you have a Cast for this sort of thing?” Ridley flopped down next to Lena, who sat cross-legged beside the grave, looking through an old book about Incubuses.
“How did you guys manage to get that book out of the Lunae Libri, anyway?” Link was hoping Lena could find out something about hybrids. “It’s not a bank holiday.” We’d gotten in enough trouble in the Lunae Libri during the past year.
Ridley shot Link a look that probably would’ve brought him to his knees when she was still a Siren. “He has a lot of pull with the librarian, Genius.”
As soon as she said it, the book Lena was holding caught fire. “Oh, no!” She yanked her hands back before they were burnt. Ridley stomped on the book. Lena sighed. “I’m sorry. It just happens.”
“She meant Marian,” I said defensively.
I avoided her eyes and busied myself with my shovel. Lena and I were back to being, well, us. There wasn’t a second I didn’t think about the proximity of her hand to my hand, her face to mine. There wasn’t a moment when we were awake that I could bear to have her voice out of my head, after I’d lost it for so long. She was the last person I spoke to at night and the first person I reached for in the morning. After everything we had been through, I would’ve traded places with Boo if I could. That’s how badly I never wanted to let her out of my sight.
Amma had even started setting a place for Lena at the table. At Ravenwood, Aunt Del kept a pillow and a comforter folded next to the downstairs couch for me. Nobody said a word about curfews or rules or seeing too much of each other. Nobody expected us to trust the world with each other if we weren’t together.
The summer had gone beyond that. You couldn’t un-happen things. Liv had happened. John and Abraham had happened. Twyla and Larkin, Sarafine and Hunting—they weren’t people I could just forget. School would be the same if you ignored the fact that my best friend was an Incubus and the second hottest girl in school was a declawed Siren. General Lee and Principal Harper, Savannah Snow and Emily Asher, they would never change.
Lena and I would never be the same.
Link and Ridley were so supernaturally altered, they weren’t even in the same universe.
Liv was hidden in the library, happy to be safely tucked away in the stacks for a while. I had only seen her once since the night of the Seventeenth Moon. She was no longer training to be a Keeper, but she seemed okay with it.
“We both know I would never have been happy watching from the sidelines,” she’d said. I knew it was true. Liv was an astronomer, like Galileo; an explorer, like Vasco da Gama; a scholar, like Marian. Maybe even a mad scientist, like my mom.
I guess we all needed to start over.
Plus, I got the feeling Liv liked her new teacher as much as her old one. Liv’s education had been turned over to a certain former Incubus who spent his days out of sight—in Ravenwood or his favorite study, an old haunt in the Caster Tunnels—with Liv and the Head Caster Librarian as his only Mortal companions.
It wasn’t how I expected the summer to turn out. Then again, when it came to Gatlin, I never knew what was going to happen. At some point, I had stopped trying.
Stop thinking and start digging.
I dropped my shovel and pushed up against the side of the grave. Lena leaned over on her stomach, her ratty Converse kicking up behind her. I put my hands around her neck and pulled her mouth to mine until our kiss made the graveyard spin.
“Kids, kids. Keep it clean. We’re ready.” Link leaned on his shovel and stood back to survey his handiwork. Macon’s grave was open, not that there was a coffin down there.
“Well?” I wanted to get this over with. Ridley pulled a small bundle of black silk out of her pocket and held it in front of her.
Link pulled back as if she had shoved a torch in his face. “Watch it, Rid! Don’t get that thing anywhere near me. Incubus kryptonite, remember?”
“Sorry, Superman, I forgot.” Ridley climbed down into the hole, holding the bundle carefully with one hand, and placed it in the bottom of Macon Ravenwood’s empty grave. My mom may have saved Macon with the Arclight, but we saw it for what it was—dangerous. A supernatural prison I didn’t want to see my best friend trapped inside. Six feet under was where the Arclight belonged, and Macon’s grave was the safest place any of us could think of.
“Good riddance,” Link said as he pulled Ridley up out of the grave. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say when good defeats evil at the end of the movie?”
“Dig.” Ridley rubbed dirt off her hands. “At least, that’s what I say.”
Link piled shovelful after shovelful of dirt over the bundle while Ridley watched, without taking her eyes off the grave.
“Finish it,” I said.
Lena nodded, jamming her hands in her pockets. “Let’s get out of here.”
The sun began to rise over the magnolias in front of my mom’s grave. It didn’t bother me anymore, because I knew she wasn’t there. She was somewhere, everywhere else, still watching out for me. Macon’s hidden room. Marian’s archive. Our study at Wate’s Landing.
“Come on, L.” I pulled Lena by the arm. “I’m sick of the dark. Let’s go watch the sunrise.” We took off, running down the grassy hill like kids—past the graves and magnolias, past the palmettos and oaks tangled in Spanish moss, past the uneven rows of grave markers and weeping angels and the old stone bench. I could feel her shivering in the early morning air, but neither of us wanted to stop. So we didn’t, and by the time we reached the bottom of the hill, we were almost falling, almost flying. Almost happy.
We didn’t see the eerie golden glow pierce through small cracks and fissures in the dirt shoveled over Macon’s grave.
And I didn’t check the iPod in my pocket, where I might have noticed a new song in the playlist.
Eighteen Moons.
But I didn’t check, because I didn’t care. No one was listening. No one was watching. No one existed in the world but the two of us—
The two of us, and the old man in the white suit and string tie, who stood at the crest of the hill until the sun began to rise and the shadows fell back into their crypts.
We didn’t see him. We only saw the fading night and the rising blue sky. Not the blue sky in my bedroom, but the real one. Even though it might look different to each of us. Only now I wasn’t so sure the sky looked the same to any two people, no matter what universe they lived in.
I mean, how could you be sure?
The old man walked away.
We didn’t hear the familiar sound of space and time rearranging as he ripped into the last possible moment of night—the darkness before the dawn.