Page 366 of Shadowblood Souls
Celine doesn’t appear to believe me, though, because she keeps twisting against my hold, forcing me to tense my extra appendages even tighter.
Clancy’s voice resonates from his loudspeaker. “I don’t think you want to do this, Dominic.”
I can only make out the front half of the helicopter from my current position, its windows tinted too dark for me to decipher any figures inside. Even if Andreas joined me, he won’t be able to help.
“I don’t want you to take us back to the island,” I holler back. “You try to grab any of my friends, and you can say goodbye to the rest of your shadowbloods.”
He doesn’t know what I’m capable of, not really. SometimesI’mnot even sure what I might do.
Celine lets out a choking sound. A shudder I do my best to suppress ripples through me.
The guardians have to back off—they have to?—
Clancy breaks through my frantic thoughts. “If that’s the price you want to pay, it’s up to you. It’s the six of you who matter the most.”
The creak of a hinge and the thump of multiple sets of feet travel through the air. My heart stutters.
He doesn’t care. Are the younger shadowbloods really expendable to him?
Celine whimpers in my grasp, a hopeless expression coming over her face. That’s obviously how she’s taken his words.
She thinks I’m actually going to murder her now.
My gambit wasn’t enough. He’s calling my bluff—and I’m not sure killing her would do us any good even if I wasn’t bluffing.
A tiny whisper in the back of my head asks if maybe I should find out. I’ve never sapped all the life out of another human being purely for my own satisfaction before.
And this girl has already betrayed us once. Should I give her the chance to do it again?
I recoil from the impulse, yanking back my tentacles as a cold sweat breaks on my back.
No.No. I’m not a fucking murderer, no matter what else the guardians made me into.
At the same moment, Griffin steps forward, across the path, where he’ll be in view of both helicopters. There’s an unnerving intensity in his gaze.
He must have set down his cat sometime before. His arms are empty, one hand pressed close to his side as if he’s concealing something against the fabric of his pants.
“Let’s stop all the resisting now,” he says, cool and even but loud enough for everyone including Clancy to hear him. “You should have known you were never getting away from the guardians. I led you to them before, and now I’ve led them to you.”
I stare at him in bewilderment. But he said—he said it was Celine who signaled them somehow. Sheadmittedit.
He was upset with her. She ran to greet them.
And now he’s saying?—
Celine whirls toward him. “You traitor! You ruined everything.”
Fury vibrates through her hoarse voice, and understanding hits me in an icy smack.
Griffin’s using his power on her—he’s making her angry at him. He’s tricking the guardians so they’ll trust him and not her?
Or was he using his ability to manipulate her before, when she confessed, and he’s been working on a way to get us back to the facility all along?
After everything Griffin’s told us and how well I once knew him, my kneejerk reaction is to reject that thought. But I have no idea what his full plan is either way.
I never would have thought he’d have turned on us in the first place.
The only thing I’m sure of is that the guardians are the biggest threat we’re facing. I take a step back into the trees, watching for their approach and bracing myself to fend them off if need be, as well as I can.
