Page 76 of Soul of Shadow
Charlie’s gaze shot back to him. “What?”
“That is to say, she can,” he said, folding his hands behind his back, “but she won’t listen. She only listens to me now.”
Lou reacted to none of this. She only stood at attention, like a soldier awaiting commands.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charlie asked. She looked around the room, checking to see if anyone else was there. Wherever Lou was, Abigail usually was too—and vice versa. But the rest of the classroom was empty. “Where’s Abigail?”
“Oh, your dear Abigail has been glued to her date, Bex, all night. I wanted to take both herandLou, but…” Elias shrugged. “A boy has to make do with what he can get. As toyour first question…” He strolled toward Lou, doing a small circle around her standing body. “We mares have a couple of fun tricks up our sleeves. Turning to shadow, manipulating our shadows as weapons, giving people nightmares… but there’s possession, too.”
“There’swhat?”
“It’s quite simple, really.” Elias paused behind Lou, laying a pale hand on her shoulder. “All I have to do is make contact with a human body and speak the words of possession. The shadows within me do the rest. It’s just another form of dream-giving, really. Think of your friend as… as sleepwalking.” He shrugged. “Only, I’m in charge of what she does while she sleeps.”
Charlie shifted her gaze to Lou’s slackened face, fresh horror washing through her. “You’re…mind-controllingher?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“That’s disgusting.” She tried to stand, but Elias shot her a warning look. She sank back to the floor, desperately wishing she could go to her friend. “Did you—” Her eyes widened with realization. “Have you ever done that tome?”
“You’re thinking of when you kissed me last night?” A vindictive gleam shone in his gaze. “No, Charlotte. That wasallyou.” He pivoted, returning to stand in front of the door. “Though, I must say, I’m impressed with your strategy tonight. Another kiss to distract me from how you were soobviouslyprying for information? A classic. One I’ve used myself more than a handful of times.” When he faced her, his expression was stony. “Though, I must say—I never expected it fromyou.”
“Why?” she spat. “Because I’m too weak for something like that? Too spineless?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I have never called you spineless, Charlotte. And I never will.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Instead of answering, Elias sighed. “I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this, you know. I thought we could have a mutually beneficial partnership, and—”
“Right,” Charlie said. “Amutually beneficial partnershipin which you lie to me about your motives, threaten me into cooperation, and then use me to help you find the one creature that can ensure the destruction of every single human being I care about.”
“That right there—” Elias paced forward, one hand still behind his back, the other wagging a finger at her. “That’s exactly what I don’t understand. You’re not supposed to know about my true motives for trying to find the Fenrir. You’re not even supposed to know what the Fenriris. Which means that you’re either craftier than I expected, or—” He tilted his head, studying Charlie. Then, like two candles suddenly bursting into flame, his eyes lit up. “Your sister paid you a visit, didn’t she?”
Charlie didn’t think she could feel any more betrayed by the boy standing in front of her.
She was wrong.
“You—” Her lips quivered traitorously. “You knew? All this time—you knew she was alive?”
“Of course I knew,” he spat. “She’s a Valkyrie, those stuck-up, high-and-mighty bird women. Odin’s favorites.Everyoneknows the Valkyries.”
For some reason, this deception more than anything else…thisdeception hurt worst of all. That this boy, whom she hadkissed, whom she’d confided in, had known all along that her sister was alive but had never told her. Had just watched her suffer and done nothing.
“Youbastard.” She pushed herself off the floor, ignoring the warning look Elias gave her. With no strategy—no thoughts at all, really, just pure, unfiltered anger—she charged. Barreled toward him, her head held low. Almost as an afterthought, she tried to reach into the sealed pocket that held her knife. “How dare you—”
Before she could even touch the knife, Elias grabbed her wrists, spinning her body around and pinning her to him. He locked her inside his arms, holding her wrists in either hand.
“Don’t,” he hissed in her ear, “make the mistake of thinking you can beat me, Charlie. You can’t.”
“I hate you,” she said. “I will always hate you.”
His body tensed for a moment, then relaxed. His grip stayed firm. “Good.”
“What was the point of all this?” She struggled against his arms, even though she knew he was far stronger and could probably keep her pinned like this all night. “Of asking for my help? The minute you learned the location of the Fenrir, you would need to—”
“Kill you?” he guessed, cutting her off. “That was certainly an option.”
Chills swept through her body, even when encased in the heat of his arms.
