Forsaken (Academy of the Fallen #4) Page 9

  “And you do?” I ask Benjamin.

  “Of course. Father told me everything.”

  I drop down to the couch.

  “Don’t you know how he was created?” he asks.

  I shake my head.

  “The kid belongs to you and Samael.”

  “But we—”

  “Relax,” says Benjamin. “He was created by Lilith with yours and Samael’s blood.”

  “How come he looks like us?” That is one thing I’ve never been able to get off my mind.

  He shrugs. “Lilith works in mysterious ways.” He pauses. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

  “It’s a little hard to believe the words of a demon.”

  He nods. “Tap into my memory. He showed me everything.”

  His mind is the last place I want to be.

  “Don’t get any ideas, sis… that is the only memory you can tap into and you know I can control what you will or won’t see.”

  I look at Hunter. “I won’t leave your side. I know you need to know… we all do.”

  I take a deep breath and close my eyes and I feel cold as soon as I see his dad and the woman, Lilith. They walk into the room where Samael and I once were. We both look asleep, and I know that we are stuck in that illusion. Lilith draws blood from my arm and then from Samael’s. She mixes our blood inside a golden goblet while saying words in a language that I don’t understand. Then she walks to a woman in the corner of the room. I don’t know what she is but I know she is not human. Humans could never survive that place.

  “Okay, Callie, it’s time!” she says, smiling.

  She hands the goblet to Callie.

  “Now drink it!” she orders.

  Callie drinks it slowly. Once done, Lilith places one hand over Callie’s stomach and says a few more words in that language. She then guides her out of the room. Callie… I remember Trent said she was the one who took care of him.

  I abruptly get thrown out of his memory. My stomach feels like it’s in knots.

  “Who is that woman? What is she?” I ask Benjamin.

  “Obviously she is a demon. From what I understand, she owed Lilith a favor.”

  I tell Hunter that I’ll tell him everything I saw later. For now, we need a plan and we have no time to waste.

  I stand up and almost fall back down. I feel dizzy from being in Benjamin’s head. Even though that was the only memory I could see, I could feel the despair, the sadness, the darkness…

  I take a deep breath. “This is the plan. If you agree to it, I will help you.”

  “And if I don’t?” he asks.

  “I honestly have no idea.”

  “Go on,” he says curiously.

  “We are going to get Trent out of there.”

  “Trent?” he asks.

  I roll my eyes at him. “The kid. His name is Trent.”

  “Oh.”

  I look at Hunter, “We’ll have to split up.” Hunter immediately tenses but doesn’t say anything. I grab his hand and face Benjamin. “You and I will go through the wards at the cabin. Hunter and Chase will go in through the Otherworld. I know that your father will sense me there, so tell him that I came for you. That I regret what I did and that I will help him, as long as I can stay around Trent.”

  He nods, “Go on…”

  “I need you to keep guard. As soon as your father is busy with something… well, any opportunity we get, I want you to distract him and I’ll take Trent and run toward the Otherworld.”

  “What about the wards?”

  “I can put one up for a few seconds to keep him out of the room and Trent can open the ones to get us out of there.”

  “He can?” he asks puzzled.

  “We’ve done it before. Only, your father got to Trent before I could get him out. With your help, we can both get away. If you play it right, your father doesn’t even have to know that you had anything to do with it.”

  He nods. “And then what? How are you going to keep him from getting the boy again?”

  I look around the room, at Ethan, Jennifer, Chase, Hunter, and finally… Stephaine. Stephaine was the one who spoke up. “They have everything they need to keep him protected, Ben.”

  “Okay then. You should rest and have your weapons ready. This is going to be hell… no pun intended. I have about twenty hours until I have to report to him and I think we should use every minute to prepare. And just so you know, he is still my father and I won’t let you hurt him. So don’t get any ideas. I’m not going there to attack him. I’m only doing this to keep his actions from hurting Steph.”

  “I can’t promise you anything. I’ll do what I have to do to defend myself.”

  “You won’t need to. I will keep him away. Just stick to getting the boy and getting out of there.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  After Benjamin and Stephaine leave, I tell everyone what I saw about how Trent was created. Hunter seems surprisingly relieved, while I become more worried at the fact that Callie, the one who was raising Trent, is a demon. After I tell them everything, we are all too emotionally tired to discuss it any further.

  Ethan offers his room so that Hunter and I can rest. I lay there, staring at the ceiling. Hunter grabs my hand and runs his finger over the ring he gave me.

  “I don’t like the idea of us splitting up,” says Hunter.

  “I know, but it’s the only way.”

  He agrees and lies on his side, watching me.

  For some reason, I can feel myself blush at the way he is looking at me.

  “We don’t get many quiet moments like this. It’s nice,” he says, “… in spite of everything, it’s nice to get a couple of normal hours.”

  I laugh. “I wish I could agree with that.”

  “Why do you say that?” he asks.

  I shrug. “In a way, all of this madness keeps me sane. It doesn’t give me time to think and process things through. It doesn’t give me time to think about all the years we lost and how eventually, I’ll be noticeably older than you.” I take a deep breath. “Earlier today, I caught myself thinking about how things used to be and the other day, when Chase was telling me about how Kim is doing, I actually got jealous. That’s not who I am, Hunter, and it’s not who I want to be. I just feel like… I don’t know who I am anymore and sometimes I just want to keep busy so that I don’t have to wander.”

  He leans on top of me, his lips inches away from mine. “I told you before, I know who you are and I won’t let you forget it.”

  I let out a laugh. “Who might that be?”

  “You’re still the girl I fell in love with. The stubborn, determined, beautiful, caring—”

  I put my hand on the back of his neck and pull him down, toward me, kissing him.

  ***

  We actually get a few hours of sleep before someone is practically taking the door down.

  We quickly stand up and run to the living room. I hold my dagger in hand and Hunter holds his sword. I can smell that demonic smell before we even open the door. Hunter goes in front of me and opens the door to find Benjamin standing there.

  By then, Ethan and Jen are out there too.

  I drop the dagger to my side.

  “What now?”

  “Time to go, sis.”

  “Ugh, I wish you’d stop referring to me as your sis and why do we have to go now? We still have a couple of hours.”

  “So it turns out, mother dearest was following me around. I’m not sure what she knows, but Steph was able to see a vision of her at the Academy, and she was telling others that they need to get us both and keep us there until they find father.”

  I’m still wearing a short black nightgown that was left in the house by none other than Ember. So it turned out, she helped Ethan and Jennifer get the place before she ran away on her own. Honestly, wardrobe is the last thing on my mind. I throw on a pair of boots and I’m ready to go.

  I look over at Hunter. “It is safer if you get to the Otherworld from here. Steph will portal us to t
he cabin.”

  For the first time, I understand how Hunter feels. Just like he doesn’t know if I’ll be able to get out of there okay, I also don’t know what will happen to him in the Otherworld. Of course it doesn’t help that I have this horrible feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong.

  I’m surprised Hunter doesn’t try to talk me out of it. He just walks over, puts his arms around me, and whispers in my ear, “Be careful out there.”

  “Just… no matter what happens… I love you, Hunter.”

  He squeezes me tighter. “I love you too.”

  He looks over at Benjamin. “If she gets hurt at all during this, I’m coming after you.”

  Benjamin grins. “She is nephilim. She can defend herself.”

  Hunter gives Benjamin a look that clearly says that he doesn’t care; he would still go after Benjamin if anything happened to me.

  I take a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

  Benjamin laughs. “You might want to hide that dagger of yours. I don’t think father will let you keep it if he sees it.”

  I put the dagger in my right boot and throw myself into Hunter’s arms one more time. “I’ll see you soon,” I say and smile at him, but he is serious. At this moment, I don’t think he could even fake a smile.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  As soon as we get to the cabin, I notice the difference in Stephaine’s mood. She’s as worried as Hunter and I. Benjamin on the other hand, is calm… so calm that leads me to trust him even less.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” he says. “I want to have a word with Steph and then we’ll go.”

  He takes her outside and I watch them through the window. He holds her hand and does all of the talking. She just watches him and cries.

  I feel tempted to tap into her mind, but fallen or not, I know her enough to know that she would either keep me from going or give me signs if she knew that Ben was up to something.

  When he goes in for a kiss, I have to look away. For one thing… ew… but I just can’t start feeling sorry for them… not now. Not when I have to watch my back while going with him into his territory.

  After a while, Stephaine walks into the cabin, alone.

  “Where is he?” I ask.

  “I need a few minutes alone with you. I told him I needed to talk to you.”

  “Hmm okay.”

  “He has changed, you know. He really has.”

  “You don’t owe me any explanations.”

  “I know and I also know that this won’t change anything between you and Benjamin. I just want to ask that as a personal favor, you don’t allow him to spend more time alone with his dad than necessary.”

  “We’ll be in and out of there quick,” I say.

  She nods. “But if something goes wrong—”

  “Nothing will go wrong. I can’t think like that and you probably shouldn’t either.”

  She gives me a sad smile. “Let’s hope you’re right.”

  She looks over at the window and calls Benjamin in.

  His eyes are locked on hers as he walks in, and then he looks at me, and his expression changes immediately.

  “Let’s go,” he says. His eyes are already darker than they were before, his tone, cold. He looks over at Steph, “It’s not safe for you to stay here. Go back the angels’ lake house. I’ll meet you there when we return.”

  She nods, “Be careful.”

  “I will,” Benjamin and I both say at the same time.

  As soon as she is gone, he looks at me. “Follow my lead.”

  We walk over toward the end of the hall where there is a gray metal door which doesn’t look like belongs here. He says a few words that I can’t understand and the door opens. Everything looks pitch black on the other side, but we get blasted by the heat of the fire before we even step through the threshold.

  I’m not sure I ever felt so nervous in my life. I take a deep breath reminding myself that I need to do this for Trent.

  “Let’s go,” he orders.

  Once we step over the threshold, we’re in the hallway of the house where Samael and I used to be. As soon as the portal closes behind us, Ezra shows up at the other end of the hallway.

  “About time—” he stops as soon as his eyes lay on me. He cocks his head to the side and grins. “Explain,” he orders Benjamin.

  Benjamin looks him in the eye and I’m freaking out that this might be the moment when Benjamin turns things around and I won’t know what to do because we came here with one plan only, to get Trent and get out.

  “Yes, father. She came looking for me. She misses the boy,” he laughs the creepiest laugh I’ve ever heard and I get this feeling that I’m screwed. “She offered to join us and teach him more, just as long as she gets to stay with him.” Benjamin continues.

  Ezra has his eyes on me and I look down, away from his gaze.

  “And you believe her?” asks Ezra.

  Benjamin shrugs. “Why not? She has no reason to be loyal to the fallen. They failed her every moment she needed them. And she seems pretty attached to the kid.”

  Ezra nods and walks toward me. “Look at me, nephilim,” he orders.

  It’s tough to obey him, but I bite my tongue and do as he says.

  “You so much as try anything I don’t approve of, and I will do to you as I did to the other nephilim. Understood?”

  I nod. “Go. The boy needs someone around anyway. Ben, follow me son.”

  Ezra walks away and before Ben starts to follow him, he turns around, winks at me, and mouths, ‘now’.

  I rush in the room and find Trent talking to someone, but I see nothing.

  I quickly close the door behind me.

  “Kay!” He comes running and hugs me.

  “Hey, bud. Who are you talking to?”

  “Sam. You can’t see him?”

  I shake my head.

  “He says he can go now that you are here.”

  “Can he make it so that I can see him?” I ask.

  Trent shakes his head. “He said only I can.”

  I roll my eyes.

  “He says you should stop doing that. He says it’s rude.”

  “Can he stay?” I ask, wondering if maybe he can help us.

  Trent shakes his head. He looks over where I suppose Sam is. “He stayed too long. He needs to go.”

  “But—”

  Trent runs over and even though I don’t see Samael, I know he is hugging him. I see Trent nod, and then, he walks toward me. He holds my hand and walks me over to the window. Outside, I see the two Forsaken—waiting.

  I can hear Trent’s voice in my head. “Sam told me what to do.”

  I can feel the wards go up behind me and the wards go down around the window. I climb over the window and then pick him up from the other side. Still holding him in my arms, I look at the forsaken, nod, and we take off running toward the Otherworld.

  “STOP!” yells one of the forsaken. I look to my side and they are both down on the ground and in pain. Around us, the fires are burning stronger, as if they are angry. I look behind me and see Ezra running toward us. A long way behind him, I see Benjamin. I know that I have to act quickly. I put up wards, an invisible wall, keeping Ezra from getting to us, but I know this won’t last. Ezra will take this down as soon as he wishes to. I lean down, put Trent on the floor and take the dagger off my boot. When I look up toward the Otherworld, I see Hunter standing there and I feel relieved. I know Chase can’t get this far, but he is probably not too far behind Hunter. I look at Trent.

  “Do you see him?” I ask pointing toward Hunter.

  “Yes.” He looks so scared. I can’t even imagine having to deal with this at his age.

  “He is a friend,” I say, “he is our protector. I want you to run to him, okay? He will keep you safe. Tell him I’ll be okay. I’ll be coming right behind you.”

  Trent’s eyes are wide open. He nods and runs. I can feel Ezra trying to take the wards down but I fight it. I can see Trent get close to Hunter. As Trent talks
to Hunter, Hunter stares at me and even though I know things are about to get bad, I need him to get Trent to safety. I smile at him and yell, “GO!” He hesitates, but then he scoops Trent up in his arms and runs the other way.

  As soon as I can’t see him anymore, I drop the wards. I swing around, ready to fight, but I can’t. I’m too weak from the wards. I fall to the floor, my dagger falling inches away from me, the increased heat weakening me so much that I can’t even reach for it. And then, I see Ezra’s boots by the dagger. He picks it up, walks toward me, and that is when I get up. I feel dizzy and the heat starts to become unbearable. I wonder if he is trying to make me human like he did with Samael, so that he can kill me easier. I launch forward, ready to take over my dagger, but a scream coming from one of the lost souls scares me. Ezra is so much faster than I am right now. He moves toward me, but one of the forsaken jumps in front of me, blocking me from Ezra. Ezra’s eyes widen in shock at what he sees, and then, he disappears… and I give in. I can’t take the heat anymore.

  I see flashes… I see Benjamin carrying me toward the Otherworld and I see the forsaken protecting us as he does so. I hear Hunter scream, “NO!” and my eyes close again.

  I open my eyes again and we are in complete darkness, but I can feel my body cooling down from the unbearable heat. I know right away that we’re in the Otherworld. “Hunter?” I ask.

  Hunter is now the one carrying me. “We are almost back,” he says. We just need to find our way out of the darker areas before we can get back.

  I can hear Benjamin’s voice in the background, complaining about how they would be back by now if Hunter had listened to him.

  “Where is Trent?”

  “He’s right behind us. Benjamin is carrying him.”

  “What? No!”

  “I just saved your ass, sis. Have a little faith,” says Benjamin.

  “Don’t worry,” says Hunter. “Chase is right by him.”

  I close my eyes again. I don’t want to, but I can’t control it.

  When I open my eyes again, we’re at Ethan’s place. I look around and we are all there. I can’t believe things were this easy, and that actually gives me a bad feeling… things are never this easy.