“You…” I begin.
“We weren’t done questioning him,” Tyce interrupts, giving me the shut up look.
“There’s nothing he can answer with that damn thing on his wrist.”
“We still could’ve tried the outlet thing,” Sage answers coming back to join us. “If anything it would’ve given him a jolt.” She rubs her hands up and down her arms.
“Sugar high going away and giving you a chill?” Ashe asks.
She shakes her head. “It’s not that. Did you do something with the wards? My skin is crawling worse than ever.”
Ashe shakes his head. “No. You’re probably feeling residual energy from Neil. What the hell can you do that they want stopped?”
With her expression serious, she takes her hands, turns them upside down and makes a mask around her eyes with her fingers. “I can do this.”
We all bust out laughing. It feels good to let the tension out.
Sage sits on my bed leafing through my drawings. She pauses at a picture of Mom and tilts her head as she stares at it. “What were you and Tyce hiding from Ashe after he sent Neil away?”
I sit down next to her, my leg brushing hers and she flinches when her ability reacts. I’ve never had this happen with my brothers and wonder why it’s happening between Sage and me. I flip to the next page revealing a picture of both my parents together. “Ashe opened the wards without Tyce’s assistance. Usually, whenever they put them up together they have to remove them together.”
“So, why didn’t you tell him?”
“I was going to, but for some reason Tyce didn’t want me to say anything.”
She glances toward my picture on my nightstand, then back again. “Why do you think Tyce didn’t want you to comment on it?”
“I’m not sure.” A pain shoots through me and I hold my breath until it passes. Sage turns her head and looks at me strangely.
“What are your parents like?”
Not what I was expecting her to say. “They’re great. I miss them.”
“What do you think they’d say about me?”
I smile. “I think they’d welcome you with open arms.”
“What if I’m a mass murderer?”
I laugh. “I highly doubt that.” I rub my stomach at another twinge of pain.
She furrows her brows. “What’s going on with you, and don’t tell me nothing because that’s the second time you’ve looked like you’re in pain.”
Not going to be able to hide much from this girl, she notices things. “Ashe says its residual pain from being healed.”
“And what do you say?”
“That I hope he’s right.”
“How much does it hurt?”
“I’m just uncomfortable, and feeling more tired than usual.”
She reaches up and places the back of her hand onto my forehead. I feel another zing of her ability travel through me.
“Sorry about that.” She shakes her hand. “Static electricity, your house must be drier than most. Are you sure you feel all right? You feel a little warm to me.”
“I’m fine, Sage, honest.” Okay, maybe not so honest.
She gives me a questioning look.
“Listen, my brothers have never healed someone as injured as I was, and getting healed wears one down. My body probably just needs to catch up.”
She bites on the inside of her cheek. “Uh huh.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“That’s still being decided by the jury.”
“Hey you two, dinner’s ready!” Tyce yells down the hall. “Whatever you’re doing in there, stop!”
“Okay,” Sage yells back. “Just gotta put my clothes back on!”
“What?” Ashe shouts.
Sage laughs from deep in her belly. She scoots off my bed and gazes back at me. “You coming?”
I suppress a cringe; my stomach feels like a million needles are jabbing into me repeatedly. “No, I’m going to lie down for a while.”
Her expression changes to concern. “You want me to get your brothers?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m fine, really. I just need to rest.”
She bites on the inside of her cheek again.
“I’ll make a deal with you, if I’m still not feeling a hundred percent when I wake up, I’ll tell my brothers. Okay?”
“All right.” She grabs the doorknob, turns it, and glances back at me. “I really feel you’re not telling me the truth. I’ve grown up with people lying to me. Don’t lie to me, Zeke. I like you and I really need someone to trust.”
I watch as my door closes feeling like the biggest liar in the world.
Darkness travels across the alley, making shadows dance on the sides of buildings and growing into distorted monster shapes on the ground all around me. How did I get back in the alley?
“Zeke!”
I spin around at the sound of Sage’s panicked voice to find her standing in front of a blood red door and shadows climbing up her legs.
Her eyes round with fear as she stares at me. “Zeke, Help me!”
“Sage!” I sprint in her direction only for her to vanish. I stop, my breath heaving as I search for any sign of her. “Sage! Where are you?”
Laughter, growing in pitch, erupts behind me. I know that laugh. I slowly turn and Sage screams inside my mind making my head pulsate in pain.
“Zeke!”
It’s already too late. Sage is dangling limply in Neil’s arms, the glowing blade protruding from her chest, dripping with blood.
“No!” I scream, running toward her.
Neil dumps her on the ground and pulls the blade from her lifeless body. He twirls what is now his staff, the glowing blade making a circle the faster it spins. Neil sneers at me. “Come get me. You know you want to.”
I growl, lunge, and the blade enters my body.
I bolt awake, my breath hitching at the pain racking my body. I try to roll, my stomach feeling like it’s on fire, and when I place my hands there, I pull them away coated in my blood.
Oh, God, I’m dying.
The knob on my bedroom door turns, and my call comes out as a whimper. Sage pushes my door open, flicks on my light, and darts to me placing her hand onto my forehead. “Oh, my God,
