Blurred

“There.” I pointed to the two towering gold gates. They pulsed with life. With peace. A few angels milled about the entrance. Dressed in white and exuding happiness. Two of them pointed at Easton and laughed. He started forward and I grabbed his hand to stop him.

“We’re on the same team,” I whispered.

He pulled his arm away from me, never taking his eyes off the angel boy with gleaming white hair and clear blue eyes that looked like they’d been made from the sea. “Tell them that.”

“If you’re uncomfortable, go,” I said. “I’ve got it from here.”

I motioned to the angels at the gates and they smiled at the group of souls I had in tow. Easton didn’t say anything. But he didn’t leave, either. I made quick work of getting the three souls past the gates, and when they were closed, I turned the full force of my gaze on Easton. He squinted when my eyes lit him up like fire.

“Are you supposed to bring me in?” I asked.

“What?”

“Balthazar sent you for me, right?” I stepped forward, fear thrumming in my chest. “I’ve done everything he’s asked. I even got Cash to agree to turn himself over. What reason could he possibly have—”

“It’s Cash,” he said.

I stopped cold in my tracks. The heat drained from my cheeks. Throbbed in my chest and in my fingertips.

“What do you mean ‘It’s Cash’?”

Easton’s shoulders slumped. “I heard they brought a new shadow walker into Umbria this morning.”

“Did you see him?”

Easton sighed. “Anaya—”

I stepped forward and placed my hand on his chest. “Did. You. See him?”

He shook his head. “It’s him. It has to be and you know it.”

I couldn’t move. It couldn’t be him. It couldn’t. Not Cash. Not my Cash. My hand fell away from

Easton’s chest and I backed away, trembling. Falling apart. I’d promised him I’d keep him safe. That

I’d make it in time…

“I…I need to go check,” I whispered. “I need to make sure. He could still be okay. It might not be him. What if you’re wrong? What if—”

Easton grabbed my arm and pulled me close enough to feel the pain and darkness that ran through his veins. He kept his eyes on an angel walking by, but his words were meant for me.

“Do you really want to waste that kind of time?”

When I didn’t answer he gave me a good shake.

“You know it’s him,” he said. “We both know. So we can waste time running all over Lone Pine looking for a guy who is not going to be there, or we can go get him. What’s left of him, anyway.”

Something inside me broke. I could feel the horror on my face when I looked at Easton.

“Joke, Anaya,” he said. “It was a joke. We’ll get him.”

He ran his palm over my hair and grinned. I slapped his hand away.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a very sick sense of humor?” I hissed.

“I’m pretty sure that you’ve told me that.” He raised a brow and grinned. “On several occasions.”

“Well, it’s still true.” I was trying to compose myself, but I wasn’t pulling it off. I was breaking on the inside, and those cracks were starting to show all over my face. They had to be. Easton nudged my shoulder.

“Come on, princess,” he said. “Let’s go get your shadow walker.”

Chapter 29

Cash

I knew I wasn’t dead yet. If I’d been dead I wouldn’t be able to feel pain. Unbearable pain. Pain like a living thing that held a grudge against my very existence. Pulsing and clawing its way through my insides. I’d never felt anything like it before, but I sure as hell felt it now.

When a bead of sweat trickled into the corner of my eye, I cracked my lids open and blinked it away. The heat burned my eyes. Scorched my skin. I tried to suck in a breath, but the sour, smoky smell made me gag.

“He’s awake,” a guy’s voice said. It echoed as if we were in a cave. Once my eyes adjusted to the hazy dark, I could see that’s exactly what this was. It sort of reminded me of the Carlsbad Caverns

Dad took me to once when I was a kid. Rocks shaped like fangs jutted up from the floor and down from the ceiling. Like I was sitting pretty in an enormous set of jaws. Part of me was waiting for them to close in and chew me into tiny bite-sized bits of Cash.

A muted blue glow blanketed the walls, me, and everything in between. Something thick like saliva dripped onto my boots and jeans. I tried to raise my hand to rub the sting out of my eye but it wouldn’t budge. I squirmed and looked down. My hands were tied behind me, crushed between a rock that felt like it had been pulled from a campfire and my back. I tried to stand up, but my legs wouldn’t work.

“What’s going on?” I said, peering into the dark. “Why am I tied up?”

Something moved in the dark. A flash of gray emerging from the writhing shadows that slithered along the walls. Finally, Noah stepped out of the darkness and looked down at me. His ash-blond hair dangled in wispy strands just above his cold, steel-blue eyes.

“They’re afraid you’ll try to get away,” he said.

“From where?” I jerked on the ropes. “Where the hell am I?”

A hiss echoed through the cavern, sending a chill racing up my spine despite the heat. Noah turned around and squinted into one of the dark corners, his shoulders tense. When the hiss faded, he relaxed a little.

“Umbria,” he said. “You’re in the shadow land now.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

He raised a pale brow. “Does it look like I’m kidding?”

I let myself look around the cave and swallowed. Smoke clung to the ceiling, where some kind of red liquid dripped to the ground around me. A drop landed on my cheek, so I rubbed it off with my shoulder. I stared at the red smudge and a fresh wave of fear crashed over me. Blood. It was raining blood. I gasped for a breath the room didn’t want to give me. A breath my lungs didn’t want to hold.

“It’s just the blooderflies,” he said. “They make a mess but they won’t hurt you.”

“Blooderflies?” My voice cracked.

He pointed to the ceiling, where you could see flickers of glistening red wings through the layer of smoke. Each one was small enough to sit in the palm of your hand. In the blue light, you could see right through their bloody, liquid wings to the veins pulsing inside.

“They sleep up there,” he said. “They’ll leave soon.”

I shook my head and closed my eyes. Maybe if I closed my eyes tight enough it would all go away.

Maybe I’d wake up to the credits of some horror movie where stuff like this belonged. Because it sure as hell didn’t belong in reality. “Why did you do this to me?”

Footsteps squished and squeaked across the wet floor. When I opened my eyes, he was kneeling in front of me. “Because I need a replacement.”

“What?” I jerked on the restraints. “You said you wanted to help me! I trusted you!”

“Stop taking it so personal,” he said. “You’re a good kid, Cash. But I’m done here. I’ve put in my time. You think I want to live out the rest of eternity being some kind of delivery boy to these things?”

“If it’s so awful, why do you do it?” I gasped, my lungs fighting for air. “Why don’t you leave?”

“You think I’d be here if it was that easy?” He glanced back at the shadows lurking behind him.

“Around here, it’s feed or be eaten. Those are your choices. There is no third option.”

Choice. Looking at the desperation in Noah’s eyes, I could see that’s exactly what he thought this was. He thought he could bring me in and get a ticket to go roam the Earth, free as a bird. He was fucking delusional. Why would they let him go when they could have two of us? Noah watched me with a crazed,