Verity strange, p.16
Verity Strange, page 16
“Don’t be so surprised,” he chided, then nodded to the Initiates who had gathered around the altar. “You’ve been planning for this all along.”
“No. I’ve… I’ve changed my mind.” But the words were still coming out of her mouth when she felt hands on her back, shoulders, and arms, dragging her up onto the altar and onto her back. “No!” She tried kicking Eliphas, but the Initiates had already grabbed her legs, spreading them wide and holding them for him. She struggled against them, but it was no use—there were too many. And when Eliphas started to lower his pants…
She closed her eyes and wrenched her face away. Sheer terror ripped through her as Eliphas slid his hands up her legs. She squeezed her eyes shut even harder, willing herself away from this place, this horrible place, where everything about her was about to be destroyed, all because she had once foolishly believed this man could help her—
She was transported.
Back in the secret lab with Wylde. He was furiously taking pictures and texting them to the bureau. “I have no idea what all this is,” he said, “but they’ll have some analyst who can figure it out. Maybe Mercy.”
She was in the past. How… was she just dreaming? It felt like the vision, but then she saw herself, responding to Wylde. “She would totally know what that is.” There were two of her in this room, but only one in reality. She moved like a spirit, as she had through the field of fallen bodies, moving without meaning to—the chaos magick pulled her to Wylde’s side. She could see over his shoulder, the text he was sending the bureau. FOUND THE SECRET LAB. INSIDE ALTAR ROOM BEHIND MIRROR— Then Previous Verity grabbed Wylde’s arm. “We need to leave.” He watched as Previous Verity staggered back, swore, and dashed to the door. The chaos magick was a vortex, swirling around both of them and Eliphas and the Initiates in the altar room. It dragged her forward again, changing time and space. Previous Verity and Wylde huddled behind the robe rack in the prep room. Wylde was texting. ELIPHAS HERE. NEED BACKUP. Again, the chaos magick yanked her forward, only now Wylde was on the floor, his heart shocked to stillness. His phone had fallen half out of his pocket.
The return message said, ZANE HERE. ON MY WAY.
Zane—her sister Ever’s incubus boyfriend and federal agent. But Wylde must not have seen the text. That’s why he charged Eliphas. That’s why he was killed.
She could see that now. Eliphas lied to her when he said Wylde would live. His future ended here, vibrations cut off. Stilled. Nothing from the future. He would never get up from the floor.
Unless…
Verity gathered the strings of the chaos magick swirling all around her. She felt along them, both forward and backward. It was like diving into a sea bed of kelp, so many, spooling out in every direction. So many possible futures. Beyond a few seconds forward in time, the number of them splintered off into infinity. Going back, they closed down into a singular past. There were just too many possibilities to choose. But if she were close to a particular time, an important time, a nexus, maybe she could pull just one…
She yanked herself back to the moment just before Wylde lurched around her to attack Eliphas. “But I’m not a virgin anymore,” she told Eliphas. “That was always the least interesting thing about you.” Eliphas held out his hand. “Come. Don’t make me destroy him to gain your cooperation.”
“Hey, fuck you!” Wylde said. There were a dozen possibilities here. One—the one she remembered—when she tried to grab for him but was too slow. Another, she said nothing at all. Still another had her charging Eliphas along with Wylde. Then one thread… one had her moving a split second sooner. She’d sensed the future. She knew she needed to move even before Wylde charged. Verity pulled on THAT thread and watched as Previous Verity latched onto Wylde’s arm and stopped him. “He’s not worth it,” Previous Verity said to him. His phone buzzed in his pocket. The text from Zane had come through. Wylde noticed and teetered between charging and not.
Previous Verity stepped back. “Go,” she said to Wylde. “I don’t want you here anymore.” Previous Verity felt the realignment of the strings, the waves of past, present, and future all colliding and forming a continuous whole.
“Fine.” And with a glare for Eliphas, Wylde brushed past him and strode out of the prep room and the altar room as well.
“He was unworthy of you, Verity.” Eliphas beckoned her. “He is unimportant. Soon you will be consecrated and in the arms of my Initiates. He will concern you no longer.”
She was still in Eliphas’s trap. She tugged along the lines, but they marched relentlessly forward, as if she were allowed that one change, that one minor thing, but that was all. She jerked forward in time. The Initiates were pulling her back, spreading her legs. The terror pulsed through her. Strong and clear like a clarion bell. Intense emotion. That was what had allowed her to travel, but here she was, back in the same moment with the same consequence—
“Fuck you, asshole!”
Verity thunked back into the present, and her eyes jerked open. She was still on her back on the altar with Eliphas about to pull his pants down—he hastily brought them back up, and half the Initiates released her in surprise. Eliphas reached toward the glass wall and flicked his fingers.
“Not today,” a voice growled. The rest of the Initiates released her, and Verity twisted to see who the voice belonged to. She already knew it wasn’t Wylde, and even though she had arranged and hoped for this exact outcome, she was still surprised to see Agent Zane Walker. He’d wrenched open the door and was stalking into the altar room, eyes trained on Eliphas. The cult leader had stumbled to a stop, bracing himself against the altar. The other Initiates had shrunk back. Inexplicably, some had fallen to the floor, convulsing. Then she saw Wylde in the hallway, peering around the corner where the wall turned solid. He was alive! Her heart surged as he rapidly beckoned her.
She sat up on the altar and glanced at Eliphas.
He was livid, face red with effort. He and Zane were only ten feet apart, but neither was moving, just staring at each other like there was no one else in the room. Verity slid from the altar to her bare feet on the cushioned floor.
“Stay back, Verity,” Eliphas said, his hand reaching for her. As if he thought she would go to him? It was crazy. She glanced at Wylde, but he had ducked back out of sight. While she stood there, indecisive—especially with Zane’s intense body blocking the door—Eliphas roared and suddenly hurled something at Zane. It was the same bolt of electric magick she’d seen Eliphas use to kill Wylde. The magick smashed into Zane’s chest and threw him against the glass wall. He fell to the ground and stayed down.
Eliphas gasped in air and braced himself on the altar next to Verity. She shrunk away, but he wasn’t after her. He turned to his Initiates, who had mostly withdrawn to the furthest wall of the room, except for the ones who had been convulsing on the floor. Even those had stopped and were dazedly picking themselves up.
Eliphas was panting next to her. “We’ve… been… infiltrated!” he hissed.
The Initiates just stood there, staring at him blankly. One—Sarah from the front office—hesitantly moved forward. “What do we do?” she asked, timidly.
Eliphas growled and slammed his fist into the cushion of the altar. “Lock everything down!” He planted his hands on the cushion again and leaned forward. There was a grayness around his temples that hadn’t been there before. Verity snuck a peek at Zane, but he was motionless. Wylde was nowhere to be seen.
Eliphas had a wheeze in his chest. “Announce it to the supplicants. Call it a final seclusion and preparation for the celebration in the morning. No one gets in or out tonight or tomorrow morning, not until we journey en masse to the pavilion. I want everyone checked.” He pointed to Zane. “And I want to know who the fuck he is and how an incubus got in my fucking temple.” He wheezed again. “Then I need everyone in my private chambers.” He turned to Verity. “You…” He shook his head. “I have larger concerns at the moment, but I can still teach you to use your Talent. We will learn together. But you still belong to me. You feel it, don’t you?” He roughly cupped her cheek—she could feel his hand shake. “Our destinies are entwined. Return to your room. Be ready when I call for you.”
She gave him a look like he was demented, but he wasn’t paying attention to her. He stepped away, over Zane’s body, and out the door. His gait was stiff, as if he’d aged fifty years in the last two minutes. Sarah hustled back to the group of Initiates, some of whom were still getting up from the floor. No one was paying attention to her.
Verity’s legs were shaking, but that didn’t stop her from walking out the door.
Chapter Fourteen
Wylde nearly went after Eliphas.
But Zane was on the ground, and Verity was still inside the altar room. Eliphas had her up on his altar—Wylde knew what that meant. But going after a cult leader who could blast his way past an incubus, at least without backup, was stupid, no matter how much Wylde wanted to drain the life out of the man. As Eliphas lurched away down the hall, Wylde texted Burrows. ELIPHAS ON THE MOVE. I’M COVERING ZANE.
Then he hustled back around the corner—only to see Verity shuffling down the hall after Eliphas. What the fuck? He couldn’t call to her without attracting Eliphas’s attention. And Zane needed medical assistance—badly. Wylde hurried over and knelt by Zane’s side. He placed a hand on the man’s face to pump healing magick into him and…
Nothing.
Wylde focused harder, putting both hands on Zane.
Absolutely nothing.
At least he could tell Zane had a pulse and was breathing, if somewhat erratically. But he could do nothing for the man.
Fuck. Wylde stood up, shaken so badly, he had to brace against the glass wall. Eliphas had killed his Talent. A deep sort of panic welled up in his chest. Wylde had attracted the attention of Eliphas’s groupies conferring at the far side of the altar room. The panic morphed into fear and propelled him out the door. His legs automatically took him down the hallway after Verity. He texted as he went. ZANE NEEDS HEALER. MY TALENT IS DOWN.
He got an answer from Ever, who’d apparently made it into the temple. ON MY WAY. Wylde wracked his brain—did she have a healing Talent? Or was he just sending the woman in to find the man she loved on the floor, fried and half dead? He didn’t know, but she would have to take care of him—Wylde was useless to them both. He hurried down the hall, trying to catch Verity before she caught up to Eliphas, but when he turned the corner, she was nowhere to be seen. His heart sank. Had Eliphas turned her somehow in the two minutes Wylde was gone? He’d only left her alone to get backup. Had Eliphas used some hidden Talent to mess with her head?
Wylde couldn’t confront Eliphas alone. He wasn’t sure of the status of the bureau’s operation. And Eliphas was locking down everything in the temple. Wylde had heard that much and texted it off to the bureau right away. They had to be scrambling to put another plan in place—or maybe storm the temple outright, now that they’d found the lab. Which made it even more imperative to find Verity and make sure she was secure before the crazy began.
He hustled back to their room, just in case, and was surprised to see her standing in front of the door… talking to the cat.
“Well, no one is leaving right now,” Verity said to it. She listened for a moment. “I don’t know, but don’t use the sand volleyball court, okay? That’s disgusting.”
The cat raised her tail and hissed when she saw Wylde. Verity looked up, startled. “Oh my God, Wylde!” She rushed over and hugged him, and all his fears disappeared like mist.
Salem turned up her nose at them and trotted down the hall.
“What is with the cat?” he asked.
“I’ll tell you inside.” She took his hand and hauled him into the room. As soon as she shut the door, instead of telling him anything, she just grabbed him into a hug again. “I can’t believe it. You’re really here.” She said it in a breathless whisper.
He hugged her again, but now his worries were flooding back. “Of course, I’m here. I wouldn’t leave you with that monster.” He pulled back and slipped his hand to her cheek. “Did he hurt you?”
She let out a breath like she was deflating.
Oh no.
“No, he didn’t hurt me.” But she was looking past him now like she wasn’t focused on anything. “I almost can’t believe it.”
“Verity…” He peered at her until she looked at him. “What happened? I wasn’t gone that long.”
She blinked and stared at him for a moment. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Come sit down.” What the hell did Eliphas do? Wylde’s brain was short-circuiting.
Verity sat with him on the bed. She took his hand and held it for a moment like she was searching for words. He’d seen too many girls—abused girls—with that same haunted look to not have it freak him out.
Finally, she looked him in the eyes. “All along, I thought Eliphas was the key to taming my power. To learning how to use it. From that first moment six months ago, when I first met him, every future signal pointed to him. The intensity of it was insane. And he was the key… just nothing like I thought.”
His heart sank. “He’s just an asshole—”
She nodded. “He tried to rape me. On the altar.”
Wylde’s throat closed up. He tried to say something—anything—but nothing came out.
Verity looked off into space again. “It was horrible. Terrifying. Like no fear I’d felt before.” She frowned.
Wylde finally forced air back into his lungs. “Verity, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. Fuck, what was I thinking?” His fist had curled up in his lap. He had to force the hand still holding hers not to do the same.
Her gaze sharpened and focused on him. “You didn’t leave. The first time.” She smiled a little.
“The first—? What—?” He swallowed down his rage. “Just tell me what happened. Please.” He had to hear it all. He could beat himself up later for it. Right now, he just needed to get her through this. And figure out how to get her out of the temple, even if it was locked down. He was done with having her in danger like this.
But her smile just grew, and she softly stroked the back of his hand. “You’re not going to believe this, but… I changed the future.” Then she frowned. “Well, technically, the past.”
He had to resist the strong impulse to say What the hell are you talking about? Instead, he simply said, “Tell me.”
She nodded. “You didn’t leave me, not the first time. You charged Eliphas and tried to use your Talent on him. But he’d already switched it off. Instead, he blasted you like he did Zane. You died, Wylde. Just like Zane.”
He couldn’t help scrunching up his face. “Zane isn’t dead. I mean, he’s in pretty bad shape but—”
“You were dead, Wylde.” Her expression was so solemn, he couldn’t help but believe her. “There was no future for you. No signals. Nothing.”
That sent a chill through him. “But I’m not dead,” he said softly.
She nodded and got that faraway look again. “It was the terror that triggered it.” She blinked and looked back at him. “Strong emotions. At first, I thought it was just sex—that overwhelming, intense feeling during orgasm—but even after that first time… it’s always been strong emotions.”
It clicked for him. “You had a vision.”
“Only this time, I went to the past.” She frowned. “It’s all tangled together. You have to understand that. The past and present and future—they’re not really separate things. They’re connected.”
He nodded because, of course, that made sense in a way—one thing led to another. The past wasn’t disconnected from the present. But time was only supposed to go in one direction. “Isn’t a vision of the past just… a memory?” he tried, gently.
“I remembered you dead.” She scowled. “The chaos magick brought me back to that time point. Almost like it wasn’t supposed to go that way. And when I was there, in my vision, in the past, I saw a way to nudge things. Just a small change at the right instant—and instead of trying to attack Eliphas with a Talent you no longer had, you decided to go for help. You’d gotten a text—the text from Zane, although you didn’t know that yet—but you knew help was on the way.”
Wylde blinked and leaned back. Because he had planned on attacking Eliphas first. “How could you know—”
“Because you tried attacking Eliphas the first time. And it didn’t work.” Her small smile was back.
Wylde rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” She took hold of his hand again. “But here’s the thing—I didn’t think I could change anything. I couldn’t stop my mom from dying. And the signals have always felt so inevitable. But I was wrong about that. And if I can control something—even a little—in the vision state, then maybe I can control going into that state. Maybe it doesn’t have to be sex or terror that takes control of me—maybe I can control it. And if I can do that…”
“You can change the future.” Now his mind was completely blown. He’d always thought what they did now would change the future—without that, why even try to stop the bad guys? But that Verity could literally travel to the future… or the past… and change it… “How does that even work?”
“I’m still figuring that out.”
He nodded.
“There’s more you should know,” she added. “Eliphas is absorbing other people’s Talents. It’s a new ability, and he does it by… well, somehow it’s connected to sex magick. That’s what he was doing with me on the altar—trying to rape me and gain my Talent.” She gripped his arm. “No matter what, Wylde, you can’t let Eliphas have me like that. If he were to gain my Talent, it would be an unimaginable disaster. He doesn’t even know how powerful this Talent is—but he would find out.”
“I’m not letting him anywhere near you.” That was a vow he would keep.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to try to enter the vision state. On my own.” She gave him a small smile. “I want to see if what we’ve done today has changed what happens tomorrow.”
