Before I Wake

“What happened?” Nash dropped to his knees in front of Em before I could pull another word out of him. She moved her hand so he could look at her wound, and her nose and forehead wrinkled in pain.

“I accidentally cut her. I was aiming for Jayson, who turned out to be Invidia.”

“Invidia?” Luca said.

“The hellion of envy who turned Sabine and Kaylee against each other,” Em explained.

“It wasn’t just us!” I insisted. “The whole school went crazy because of her!”

“Emma needs a hospital,” Nash said.

“I know, but I can’t blink her that far, and we can’t leave Sophie and Tod.” I dug my keys from my pocket. “Why don’t you take Em to the hospital, and Luca and I will stay here and find them.”

Nash shook his head and refused the keys when I tried to hand them to him. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“But, Em…”

“I’m fine for a little while,” she insisted, but I found that hard to believe. “Besides, if you find Tod, he can get me there faster than driving, right?”

I nodded. “In theory.”

Em’s gaze focused on something behind me, and her frown deepened. “Shit. We have company.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it before I could turn and look. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you guys have to make it stop,” she said, glancing from Nash to Luca, then back to me. “Before someone else gets caught in this like Jayson did.”

And like Emma had. And Sophie. And Brant. And Scott. And countless others.

She was right.

I turned to follow her line of sight and froze, blinking in disbelief. A thin woman in designer jeans was rounding the corner of the jogging trail, where it disappeared into a thickly wooded area of the park. I knew that blond hair, perfectly cut and styled, and I knew that her eyes were blue, though I wasn’t close enough to see that for myself.

“Oh, no…” I whispered, not surprised to hear the hollow, shocked quality of my own voice. “Aunt Val.”

21

“OH, SHIT,” NASH breathed, and Emma stiffened in my peripheral vision.

“That’s Sophie’s mom?” Luca said.

“Yeah. She traded her life for Sophie’s last September,” Nash said, and I have to admit, I bristled.

“But it was Val’s fault Sophie died in the first place.” I didn’t want my aunt’s last-minute attempt to abort her own evil scheme to be confused with my mother’s genuine sacrifice on my behalf. They were two entirely different women. “And, no, that’s not Sophie’s mom. That’s a demon wearing her soul.”

“Speaking of…” Em said, and I glanced up again to see Sophie round the corner of the trail, calling after her mother.

“Sophie, no!” I glanced at Nash. “Stay with Em. Please.” Then I took off with Luca, headed for my cousin. “Sophie, that’s not your mom!” I yelled again, and Sophie stopped, startled, wiping tears from her shell-shocked, tear-reddened face.

“I know, but…”

Aunt Val crossed her arms over her chest and studied me without even looking back at Sophie. “You must be Kaylee.”

I slowed to a stop ten feet away, but Luca ran past the hellion and hugged Sophie so tight he actually lifted her from the ground as he pulled her away from the hellion.

“And you would be…?” I couldn’t tear my gaze from my aunt’s imposter. She wasn’t Sophie’s mom. Intellectually, I knew that. But there was something about the way she moved Aunt Val’s body, like she knew it. Like she truly identified with the soul she wore. And suddenly I understood. “Belphegore.” The hellion of vanity who’d offered my aunt eternal youth and beauty.

“Who else?” Aunt Val’s mouth smiled, not too wide, not too much teeth. Just like she’d smiled in real life, to maximize the illusion of kindness and minimize wrinkles.

“She has my mom’s soul,” Sophie sobbed, clinging to Luca’s hand when he finally let her go. “Don’t let her cross over.”

I frowned at the hellion in confusion.

“The younger Miss Cavanaugh has just been informed that when I cross back into the Netherworld, her mother’s soul will dissipate into the ether, scattered throughout both worlds for as long as it takes the soul to pull itself back together again. And that could take centuries.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s like purgatory,” Tod said, and I whirled around to find him standing on my left. I started to reach for him, then stopped when I saw who stood next to him, her arm linked possessively through his.

Addison Page. She looked just like she had the day she’d died. Beautiful long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She had everything my aunt had ever wanted and gave it all up for fame and fortune in exchange for eternity at Avari’s mercy.

Whatever your weakness, there’s a hellion to exploit it.

“Is that…?” I said, and Tod nodded stiffly, his jaw clenched in fury. He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. “Avari,” I said, but my greeting felt more like a curse.

“Always a pleasure, Miss Cavanaugh,” the hellion said with Addy’s voice, and seeing him wear Addison bothered me more than any other form he’d ever taken—except for Alec’s. Avari glanced around at the rest of us through Addy’s wide blue eyes. “We appear to be missing a couple of guests… .”

“Guests?” I asked, but instead of answering, Avari disappeared. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, but the only one who could have answered—Val/Belphegore—only smiled.

“Kaylee, I am so sorry,” Tod said as I stepped into the embrace he offered. “She— he—showed up the second you, Em, and Jayson crossed over, and he said you’d be fine. He gave his word.” And hellions couldn’t lie. “But he said if I went after you, he’d cross over, too, and Addy’s soul would…dissipate.”

Before I could ask what the hell that meant, or what the somehow-unified hoard of demons wanted, Emma shrieked behind us, and Nash’s shout of outrage echoed hers. I turned toward the pavilion just in time to see Addison grab Emma’s arm and disappear with her. Before I could even think to run toward them—not that that would have helped—Addison/Avari reappeared next to Val/Belphegore, Emma’s arm gripped tightly in her fist.

Em was crying, one hand pressed to her still-bleeding stomach. “What—?” she started, begging me with her gaze to explain.

A second later, Sophie squealed as Belphegore jerked her out of Luca’s grip with a single brutal tug. Then she shoved Luca closer to me and Tod. “You three stay put,” she said with my aunt’s voice. “One move from any of you while we’re waiting for the last player in this little game, and the humans will die in a great deal of pain.”

Sophie whimpered and Emma moaned, in both pain and fear, as behind us, Nash’s footsteps thumped to a stop next to Tod. “What the hell?” he demanded, but I was just as confused and horrified as he was by the parade of demons wearing faces from our past.

Belphegore ignored him and focused on Luca. “I can see what you’re thinking, necromancer. You think you can bring them back if they die, but they won’t be the same, will they? Do you really think either of them would appreciate your particular talents?”

Luca shook his head slowly, eyes narrowed in anger while most of the rest of us looked on in confusion.

“What’s up with all the dead people?” Nash stage-whispered.

“Aunt Val is Belphegore and Addison is Avari,” I said. “And when they cross over, the stolen souls will dissipate, doomed to wander both worlds for centuries, trying to coalesce. Or something like that.”

My explanation didn’t seem to help. “I’m assuming Kaylee didn’t invite the hellions to her birthday party, so the object of this little gathering would be…?”

“We’re still waiting for the big reveal,” Tod said. And as much as I hated waiting in ignorance, the