Chapter Twenty-Four

When we got back to Ian’s house, I called home. Alex answered. “Hey, Alison. What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” I lied. “What’s up with you?”

“I’m doing my homework and hoping I don’t throw up dinner. We had bean burgers tonight.”

I smiled and leaned my head back in the sofa. It was good to know some things never changed. “How are Mom and Dad? Everything is okay with them, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied in bored tones. “Mom’s on the computer. Dad’s watching the news.”

“Sounds like a typically boring night at our house.”

“Pretty much. This afternoon was exciting, though. Your weird boss showed up at my school.”

I glanced toward the dining room table where Lillian was sitting. “She did?”

“She tackled some guy in the parking lot during my lunch hour. For an old chick, she’s got some wicked tae kwon do skills.”

“That’s super weird.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, I’ll be heading home soon,” I said. “Tell Mom, will you?”

“Yep,” he replied.

“I love you, Alex,” I said before he could hang up.

“You keep saying that,” he replied, unimpressed.

I ended the call and asked Lillian, “What happened at Alex’s school today?”

“Oh, that,” she replied. “I stopped a Truss from taking him. I didn’t want to be so public about it, but the guy didn’t give me a choice.”

“Alex said you tae kwon do’d him.”

“I just punched him in the neck,” she said with a shrug.

We all stared at her. “Well, thanks,” I said with a blink.

There was a moment of quiet after that. We’d all used our essences and we were hurting on different levels. Ian was the worst off by far. Katherine had tucked him under a blanket to help with the reverse heating thing, but he was pale and his eyes kept losing focus. I slid closer to him, so he could lean on me a little.

“How did Luke get to you guys so fast?” I asked.

“Luke,” Katherine said. “We haven’t seen Luke since he left town.”

“He wasn’t the mole,” I said. “Sebastian had him locked up in the casino with me. After Ian took the guards out, we sent him to find Lillian.”

“I never saw Luke,” Lillian said. “When Spencer and Katherine got back into town, I told them what the three of you were doing, and they started feeling out your location. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find you.”

“We knew we were outnumbered,” Spencer said, “but I wasn’t going to wait for more help.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten very far if the thoughtmaker hadn’t done her cloaking thing,” Ian said in a cracked voice. “That was amazing.”

I smiled over at him.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Katherine asked me.

“This is my wedding dress,” I said, still grossed out. Everyone but Ian was stunned. “Sebastian wanted me to choose to likeness with him, so the two of us could rule the world together.”

“Choose to likeness,” Lillian repeated with disgust. “Even if you wanted to likeness with him, you couldn’t make it happen.”

“Maybe she can,” Ian replied.

“Sebastian was half human,” I explained. “He said being that way meant he could choose his own likeness.”

“That’s just ridiculous,” Spencer said. “Aside from the fact that neither human nor dewing are attracted to each other after a certain point, a pairing between our species wouldn’t produce viable offspring. We’ve done tests to prove it.”

“Whatever your test results,” I said, “it’s possible. Sebastian was part human. He tried to hide it, but I can tell the difference between human thoughts and dewing thoughts now. His were definitely human. Because we had that in common, he thought we could choose our likeness.”

“He can’t have been half human,” Katherine said disbelievingly. “Maybe he’d just been raised by humans like you.”

I shook my head in denial. “What happens to a dewing when they lose a leg or an arm?”

Spencer thought about it. “It takes some time, but it would grow back.”

“Well, Sebastian was missing a leg. That’s what my mother did to him when they fought. She must have cut his leg off and it never grew back. That’s why he was so reclusive. He couldn’t let anyone see him that way, because they’d know he wasn’t really dewing. Not entirely, anyway.”

“Whatever Sebastian was,” Ian said, “his energy was stronger than I’d ever dreamed. I was half dead during whatever Alison did to him.”

Lillian watched me, expecting the details I’d promised her, but I didn’t want to explain everything about my fight with Sebastian Truss. Not yet, anyway. He’d called me a conduit, and I knew what that meant. All the energies around me back in his office had been the energies of the dewing he’d killed. I was just the gate they’d come through. The problem was, I didn’t know how or if I could ever open the gate again.

Feeling too tired to explain it all, I said, “Sebastian was weak after his fight with Brandy and Ian. Ian was in bad shape, and I needed to get Sebastian to direct his attention to me. His main goal was to get me to likeness to him, so I used thoughtmaking to get him to believe I’d already likenessed to Ian. That really pissed him off, but it confused him, too. That’s when my essence rose, and I crushed his mind.”

It was an anticlimactic explanation, and I knew Ian suspected I was holding back. It was good enough for Lillian, though. “You finished him, right?” she asked me.

“I didn’t have to. He was on fire when the ceiling collapsed on him.”

“Hmm,” Lillian said. “I would sure like to have been there when he died.”

Silence settled for a moment. “What are we going to do for Brandy?” I asked quietly. “I hate that we had to leave her…body behind.”

Ian studied his hands, and Katherine wiped her eyes. “We don’t hold funerals,” Spencer said. “But maybe in this case we could have a memorial or something.”

“Yes,” Katherine said. “That’s what we’ll do.”

“So what now?” Lillian asked.

“I get to go home,” I said, with a tear falling. It was the first time I’d let any out in years. “I’ll go back to school and maybe even college.”

“We’ll be around for a while, too,” Spencer said smiling. “Katherine and I have decided to stay in Vegas for a while. Ian wants to continue at Fillmore, so the three of us will be around to help you learn more about your heritage and abilities.”

I’d expected that the Thanes would go back to their lives as soon as our business with Sebastian was finished. They’d changed their plans to help me. I took a deep breath as I looked at them. “Thank you,” I said.

After that, Spencer and Katherine walked Lillian out. When Ian and I were alone, I looked inside my backpack, where I’d put Brandy’s letter. I pulled it out and unfolded it. “Brandy gave me this,” I said. “She told me not to read it until the fight was over. I think she meant for you to read it, too.”

Ian looked over my shoulder as I read. Dear Alison, If you’re reading this, you lived. I can’t tell you how happy that thought makes me. I want to say thank you for helping us carry out our crazy plan to fight Sebastian Truss tonight. If we were successful in our work, the world will be a better place tomorrow. If we weren’t successful, you are part of a different puzzle with different players that will one day defeat him. You are truly gifted among us. No other dewing could have learned so much so fast. I know you were abandoned and hurt when you were young. I can’t begin to understand why destiny placed you in such a position, but I hope in the end you won’t turn away from those who care about you. Please tell the Golden One I never thought of him as an imitation of his father or Jack. He has always been the real thing. Remember your promise to me and be happy. Love, Brandy.

I closed the note, wiped my tears away and leaned my head against Ian’s shoulder. “Wherever she is now, I know she’s happy,” I said.

“Me, too,” he agreed.

Looking down at my clothing, I said, “We need to have a bonfire in your backyard, so I can burn this dress.”

I went home to find my parents cuddled up on the sofa again. Seeing me standing in the doorway, Mom asked, “How did it go today?”

Well, I’d been drugged, kidnapped, and almost killed. As usual, it was the almost that really mattered. “Same as always,” I said, coming in.

“Where did you get those clothes?” she asked.

I had no idea what Sebastian’s people had done with my clothes. I’d borrowed a shirt and pants from Katherine. The pants were about four inches too short. “Ah…I borrowed them from Ian’s mom. I spilled something at dinner.”

Mom got up. She touched my hair and kissed my cheek. “You’re such a pretty girl,” she said, “and almost all grown-up. You’ll be at college this time next year. I can hardly believe it.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll make the most of the time we’ve got until then.”

I said good night to my parents and hauled my tired, sore self up to bed.

The next morning I sat up slowly, testing my muscles. As expected, I was stiff, but I could still move, which was saying a lot since I hadn’t been able to walk after the tiger attacked me. The white-hot energy that had flowed through me last night must have had some kind of healing power.

Pulling back the covers, I saw Brandy’s letter lying haphazardly on my nightstand. I’d been too tired to know what to do with it the night before. Picking it up, I ran my fingers over the creases in the paper. Brandy’s fingers had folded the paper just a day before…now she was gone. She hadn’t wanted me think of her death as a tragedy. To her it was an evolution. I would try to see it that way, too. But I would miss her.

I opened the top drawer of my nightstand and put her note between the pages of my dog-eared copy of Dragonsong. I wondered if she had ever read the book. I thought she would have liked it.

Mom was sipping a cup of herbal tea at the table when I went to the kitchen. She looked me up and down. “You love me, don’t you, Alison?” she asked.

I poured myself some cereal. “Of course I love you, Mom.”

“Then for the love of all that is holy, will you please let me buy you some clothes with color in them?”

I chuckled. I’d actually been considering a wardrobe update. “How about we go to the mall this Saturday?” I suggested.

Mom sighed deeply. “Finally,” she muttered.

Alex came in looking upset. “Have you guys seen my rocks?” he asked.

I gave him a blank look.

“Two of my favorite rocks are missing from my collection,” he said, sitting down.

“You have a million rocks in your collection. How can you know if two of them are missing?” I asked

“I really like my rocks,” he replied. “I just know.”

“What would your friends say if they knew how much you liked your rocks?” I asked.

“Nothing. Ben collects yo-yos. Mike likes old Hot Wheels. I like my rocks. What’s the big deal?”

I hid my smile behind a glass of orange juice. “If I come across them, I’ll let you know,” I assured him.

At school, I stopped in the north hall to flip through my locker combination. I opened the door and moved things around, but about halfway through the process, I realized it wasn’t necessary anymore. The hunt for thoughtmakers had ended with Sebastian Truss. I unloaded about half the book weight from my backpack into the locker. Then I tossed the notebooks I never used in the trash can across the hall. An enormous weight had been removed from my back, literally.

On my way down the stairs, I found the kissing couple clogging the way again. The dark space was just too inviting for a couple like Nate and Melissa to stay away from. In a replay of the past, I tapped Nate Hopkins on the shoulder. He mumbled, “Go away,” but instead of using thought transference to remedy the situation, I leaned in close to his ear and yelled, “Move, please!”

He jumped backward about a foot.

“Thank you,” I said sweetly as I scooted between the pair.

Connor was laughing when I got to class. His shellacked hair was perfectly arranged as usual. Instead of avoiding him, I slid into the desk next to him. “Hey, Alison,” he said when I sat. “Where are Brandy and Ian?”

I’d been expecting the question. Everyone liked Brandy. Connor’s question was just the beginning of many to come. I worked hard to keep my voice steady when I responded. “She’s going to live with her grandma in Rhode Island. She’d been thinking about it for a while. I guess the timing seemed right to her. She’s leaving this morning.”

Connor’s face fell. He’d really identified with Brandy. “I wish she’d said something about it,” he muttered. “But hey, there’s always Skype, right?”

I wasn’t sure how Ian and I were going to deal with the Skype issue. We’d have to figure something out. “Is Ian coming, then?” Connor asked.

“I’m not sure. He went with his parents and Brandy to the airport.”

During class, my eyes kept moving to Brandy’s empty chair. Once I thought I caught a glimpse of her sitting there. In the illusion, her black eyes sparkled, and she smiled like she’d never been happier. When I blinked, the phantom was gone.

I was feeling pretty low when the bell for lunch rang. I thought about going for a drive, but then I remembered Brandy and her table in the cafeteria. Her friends would want to know where she was. Connor could tell them, but she would have wanted me to do it. I changed direction and walked toward the cafeteria. After filling my tray with food, I headed to the table at the back of the room. Some of her friends were already there. Felicity Nathanson, the girl I’d talked with at the party, waved me toward her. Everyone welcomed me in like I was a part of their group. Brandy had left me with a ready-made group of friends. Another gift.

After the last bell, I felt Ian’s vibration. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was nearby. I couldn’t keep a smile off my face.

I found him standing with his shoulder against my locker. He still looked tired, and by the way he shifted his weight, I knew he was sore, too. My breath caught when he smiled at me. Whether I liked it or not, I was half in love with him.

“You don’t look so good,” I said, mocking him.

“You’ve never looked better to me.”

“I suppose we both look better alive than dead.” I opened my locker and exchanged a few books, keeping only the necessities in my backpack.

“I see you’re moving on,” Ian observed. “I think that’s great.”

I closed my locker door and spun the lock. “I didn’t sense you around today. When did you get here?”

“Mom let me sleep late. They’ve been busy trying to clean up what we did yesterday. I just dropped by to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good. Except it’s been hard explaining to everyone why Brandy won’t be coming back to school.”

“I’m kind of glad you took care of that. I doubt I’ll be up to talking much about her for a while.” Ian looked at me as we walked out of the school. “My interfering father has been taking credit for killing Sebastian. According to his version of events, he did it with one arm tied behind his back. He thinks telling everyone that will bring less attention to the situation, so you can remain relatively anonymous while you finish your time here.”

I laughed. “I’m fine with it. What about you? Don’t you want some of the credit?”

“Nope. I want to forget about it altogether, but that will never happen. There’s something I need to tell you.”

His tone indicated it wasn’t good. “What is it?”

“Nikki Dawning has been missing since the day before yesterday. No one has a clue where she is.”

I’d never liked or trusted Nikki, but the news was still upsetting. “What do you think happened?” I asked.

“I really don’t know. Bruce and Amelia are doing everything they can to find her.”

“And Luke, what about him?”

“My parents found him cowering at home. They had a tech check through all his emails and texts while they drilled him with questions to be certain he wasn’t the mole. You were right. He had nothing to do with Sebastian. But Nikki did. She’d been sending emails from Luke’s computer to his assistant, Maxwell. It seems they’d become friends somehow. She knew a lot about the clan meetings because her parents went to them. She mentioned her suspicions about you, too.”

“I was right about her all along.”

“It seems so.”

“Do the Truss know Sebastian is dead?”

“My dad made sure of it. His tech hacked into the police department photos of the burned suite at the casino. There were a few gruesome one showing Sebastian’s charred remains. Dad had them sent anonymously to some Truss higher-up on the food chain. It’s still too soon to know if relations between the Truss and the rest of the clans will improve, but we did our part.”

I sighed. “Yes, we did.”

“I never doubted we would.”

“Never?”

“Okay, maybe once or twice. But my doubt never lasted long. I knew we’d win.”

His easy confidence was contagious. I was starting to see that if I could face Sebastian Truss head-on, I could do just about anything. Without thinking about it, I reached up and gently touched the worry line near Ian’s eye. “I wish this would go away,” I said.

“Is it that bad?” he asked, reaching up to touch it, too.

“No one notices it but me. I hate that you’re marked for what you did for me, though.”

He smiled. “I’m not.”

We stopped at my car, and I put my fingers on the handle to open the door. Ian stopped me. He raised his hand to the side of my face. Then he rubbed my cheekbone with his thumb. I closed my eyes in response, and he rested his forehead on mine. “We make quite a team,” he said.

I leaned into him, enjoying the warmth of his breath on my cheek. In spite of my best efforts, this boy I hadn’t wanted in my life was now very important to me. I slowly moved away from him. “I have to go in to work,” I said. “But if you’re feeling up to it, we could go to dinner afterward.”

His eyes lit up. “Okay, but you’ll be paying. I just won our bet. You asked me to dinner.”

“Hey, I didn’t accept the terms of that bet.”

He laughed. “Fine, but you have to admit I’m pretty irresistible.”

I shook my head and laughed. I wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was.