second feel like you want to jump, only this time the pull was taking me over whether I wanted it or not. The east wall of the library had some strange magnetism that tied in to the core of me. A thick vibration muffled every sound and nearly deafened me, and a kind of static blurred my vision.
I tried to make myself more substantial, so maybe I could push myself backward, but I couldn’t become entirely solid. A strange black gap — not in the world but in my senses — was opening in front of me, towing me forward.
From within that gap, I could hear terrible cries. I realized they were the screams of other ghosts trapped by whatever force held me. Were they the same ones who had taunted me before? Others? No way to know. At any rate, they couldn’t rescue themselves, much less me.
“Is anybody there?” I shouted. “Somebody, help! Can anybody hear me?” No answers.
Well, you wanted to die, said that vicious little voice in my head. I wondered if I was wrong to even fight this. Maybe I needed to let it happen.
Then I realized that if I did that, I’d never see Lucas again, or any of the other people I loved.
“Lucas!” I screamed. My mind filled with the image of the nightmarish scene where I’ d left him, and I envisioned myself in the records room. It solidified around me, taking shape. Lucas and Erich were again locked in battle — a dream fight so much longer than the real one could have been sweaty and bloody. The nightmare had begun again, apparently a night — long torment for him. Charity had vanished, like any other whim within dreams, but otherwise everything was just as terrible. This time, though, I had to break through. Once again, with every bit of my might, I called, “Lucas!”
He turned his head from Erich, startled. Lucas’s expression was so confused that I thought he couldn’t see me, but at least he could hear.
“Lucas, this is a dream, only a dream. I’m in the library and something’s got me — you have to find me!”
The scene faded as quickly as it had arrived. Had I reached him, or was that only my own wishful thinking? Already the dark gap had swallowed almost everything I could see, everything I could feel. Of my hearing, all that was left was the wailing of the other wraiths.
I wanted to call for Maxie or Christopher, but I didn’t know if they would hear me, or whether Maxie would respond if I pleaded for help. And what if I dragged them in, too?
A shudder passed through me, and I could feel the vapory outlines of my limbs beginning to dissipate. Oh, no, no, no, this is it, this is the end “Bianca!”
“Lucas!” I tried to look for him, but I could gain only the dimmest sense of him in the room. He was an outline, a radiation of energy and fear and love, nothing else. “It’s got me.”
“Give me your hand!” By that he meant, form a hand, give him something to hold on to; I understood that. I just wasn’t sure I could do it anymore, or that it would do any good. No simple physical force could pull me back from the vortex.
But I wanted to hold Lucas’s hand at least one more time, even if I couldn’t do anything else. So with every ounce of my strength and concentration, I thought about the place where my hand should be, and carved out the image of the wrist, the palm, and the fingers. A soft blue form appeared, fragile as a wisp of smoke. It was nothing like it should have been; maybe this was what wraiths looked like just before they vanished forever.
Then Lucas wrapped something around my wrist.
The bracelet! I saw the coral and silver in the same second that I felt a jolt of inner power. Within an instant, my body became solid, and I fell hard to the floor. The answering pain was wonderful. It meant I was real, and that I had escaped. Something about turning solid negated the power of whatever it was that had grabbed me.
Lucas dropped to his knees and gathered me in his arms. In horror, I saw the manifestation of the vortex that had nearly swallowed me — a swirl of fog and darkness that had opened up within the library wall. As we watched, though, it shrank and quieted, smoothing out into uneven plaster once more.
“What the hell was that?” Lucas said, clutching me against his chest. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” My voice shook, and I felt a little like I’d throw up, ifl still had a stomach. But the disorientation diminished each moment. “Mrs. Bethany’s not just hunting the wraiths. She’s.. trapping them.”
“Is that what that was?” His eyes narrowed. “Stand back.”
Scooting backward, I put as much distance as I could between me and the wall as Lucas went to the wall, ran his hand against it, and then, with all his vampire strength, punched through. Fine motes of plaster dust puffed out as shards of the wall fell to the floor.
“They’ll know somebody was here,” I said.
“Let ‘em know. We need to figure this out.” Lucas reached into the wall and pulled out a small metal box — curiously shaped, with odd curves and angles: a little like a seashell made of silver and obsidian. The lid was open, revealing an interior of motl1er — of — pearl. At first I thought it was no more than a lovely antique jewelry box, but then — as I focused on the mother — of — pearl, on the living substance within, I felt its pull on me anew. With the bracelet strengthening me and keeping me solid, I was in no danger, but the sensation was still terrifying.
“Lucas, close it! Put it back!” I cried. He did so at once, looking back at me in alarm. But as soon as the box was shut, I felt at ease again.
As Lucas ran to my side, I said, “That’s a trap. A trap for wraiths. Mrs. Bethany put one here. She could — she’s got to have them all over the school. She’s hunting us and trapping us.” Why?I thought. What can she want with us? Is it only hate, or something more?
He frowned as he cuddled me close. “jesus. Don’t ever come back in here.”
“Not without the bracelet,” I said, with a glance down at it. “That was good thinking.”
“Figured whatever was after you, you had a better chance if you could hit back.”
I brushed my hand against his cheek. “You heard me. In your dream.”
“Yeah.” Lucas raked his fingers through my hair, “How did you know about that nightmare? Were you trying to visit me, before?”
“I tried, but I couldn’t break through. I couldn’t make you see me.”
His lips brushed against my forehead as he spoke. “We’ll work on it. We can get better at it.”
“Okay.” I realized that this was the first moment Lucas had truly seemed like himself since he’d risen from the dead. Saving me had given him back a sense of purpose — a reason to be here.
And I realized that he was my reason to be here, too.
Lucas studied me in the dim moonlight, once again focused and sure. “We’re going to fmd all these traps. Figure out a way to keep you clear of them. Nothing’s going to happen to you, Bianca. Not again. There’s no way I’m letting that happen.”
“And I’m going to take care of you.” I remembered how frightened I had been for everyone I loved, even while the trap had been sucking me in. Yes, I was dead now, but my heart remained alive. For Lucas’s sake, and the sake of the people I cared about — for the love that endured after death — I had to find a place in this world. If that meant I was never wholly part of the living or undead worlds, well, I’d always been in — between. In the shadows. I knew how to do it, and maybe I could get better at it.
Maybe it Wasn’t the afterlife preached from pulpits or envisioned by painters who liked harps, wings, and fluffy clouds. But looking out for the people I loved seemed like a pretty good way to spend eternity. As Lucas held me tightly, I knew he felt the same way.
We still have something at stake, I realized. Something to fight for.
Chapter Eight
LUCAS AND I STAYED UP MOST OF THE REST OF that night, curled in each other’s arms out on the lawn. Death had made us immune to autumn’s winds or tfue chill of the soft earth beneath us. So we spooned together beneath one of the large oak trees, half covered by the first fallen leaves as the wind bRew them over us for a blanket. The leaves were the colors of our hair — deep red and dark gold. We were part of the fall. And, for the first time in far too long, we were truly part of each other. “You haven ‘t said we should leave Evernight,” I whispered.
“Don’t think I haven ‘t thought it.” Lucas nuzzled the side of my face. “I hate knowing how dangerous this place is for you. But. . I have to trust you to make your own call about the risks. That’s the deal we made, and I’ll
