Page 3 of Wicked Chains
“Everything's different now. The Accord is not what we thought. It's not a document. It's her. Was her. It was Abigail."
"Was," Soren says, his eyes narrowing. "You said, 'was her.' Past tense."
The memory plays like a movie in my head. The man stepping out of the darkness, the threat of the dagger, Abigail's face as the blade entered her heart. She had been caught off-guard, but at the end she didn’t look surprised, she’d seemed resigned. Like she knew it was coming.
"He killed her," I whisper. "The man from the bus. He just appeared and killed her."
"What man?" Lucien demands, glaring at me.
"I don't know who he is." I shake my head, wincing at the shot of pain the movement triggers. "But I've seen him before, on the bus from town. He was watching me. And in the vision or whatever it was, he knew me. And he knew Abigail."
"This is ridiculous," Lucien says, turning to pace the narrow space between shelves. "Time travel isn't possible, even with the strongest magic."
Soren’s eyes don't leave my face. "She's not lying. Something happened."
"I'm not saying she's lying," Lucien snaps. “I'm saying there must be another explanation. She hit her head. She’s obviously addle-brained.”
The nerve of some people! “She’sright here. I’m perfectly sane.”
"The Accord," I say, tightening my grip on Drake's hand. "When Abigail died, something changed. She said it was bound to her existence, so what does that mean for me if she's gone?"
I follow Drake’s eyes to where he is looking down at my arm, at the mark. He shakes his head. The blood mark is still there.
Before anyone can say another word, a terrible noise crashes over us, a cross between a gong and a siren that makes the floor shake and the windows rattle.
"What the hell is that?" I clap my hands over my ears.
"Perimeter breach." Lucien is already moving toward the door, his movements a blur of vampire speed. "Intruders on academy grounds."
Drake helps me to my feet, his touch solid but cold. If the others notice that the ghost boy can touch me, they don’t let on.
We all look out the window at the end of the hall. The grounds below are swarming with figures in dark clothing, moving with purpose toward the main building.
Lucien straightens his already perfectly straight coat. "I need to go down there, find out what’s happening. Stay here. Both of you, guard her. I'll handle this."
Before he leaves, the door to the stairwell opens, and I brace myself, knowing my time has run out, because Headmistress Wickersly has found me.
But it’s not her. My stomach drops as a figure steps through, and even before I can make out his features, I know who it is. Theman who killed Abigail, tall and unnervingly handsome, with those deep, emerald eyes.
"You." I stumble backward until I hit the wall. "You're not supposed to be here."
Drake is at my side instantly, his newly solid form positioning itself between me and the intruder. Lucien is beside Drake in a blur of vampire speed, while Soren completes the triangle, his posture deceptively casual but his eyes say differently.
"Who the hell are you?" Lucien demands.
The man smiles, and it makes my skin crawl. He ignores Lucien completely, his gaze fixed on me over the shoulders of my would-be protectors.
"Rose Smith," he says. "I was beginning to think you'd never find your way to Abigail."
"You killed her," I say, my voice stronger than I feel. "I saw you stab her."
"I freed her." He takes a step closer. "An eternity suspended in time, alone, is not living, Rose." He looks down at his hand and examines his nails. “She knew it was coming. Eventually.”
Lucien moves so fast he's a blur, his hand closing around the stranger's throat. "That's close enough."
The man doesn't even flinch. He simply touches Lucien's wrist with two fingers, and Lucien's expression shifts from threatening to shocked as his entire body goes rigid. He drops to his knees, paralyzed but conscious, his eyes burning with anger and humiliation.
"The late, great Lucien de Lacroix," the man says, almost fondly, crouching to meet Lucien's gaze. "You vampires are always so overconfident."
