Dust and Roses: Book Two of the Dust Trilogy (7 page)

He switched his desk lamp off and rubbed
his eyes. “You don’t warn people of their deaths so they can avoid it. Banshees
simply drop the bombshell when there’s nothing the person can do about it. It’s
really a cruel thing to do. There’s nothing you can do for Mrs. Nelson, not
even if you wanted to. Your power isn’t to change anyone’s fate. That’s not
what you were made for.”

I couldn’t bear to hear anymore, so I
headed to bed. Dad telling me that Banshees were no good and that my job was to
know people were going to die but I shouldn’t do anything about it, was just
too much. Even if what my father said was true, that Banshees were cruel, it
still beat becoming a Wendigo.

The following day, on my way to homeroom,
someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into the tiny space between the two trophy
cases in the main hallway. I prepared to punch Ranson in his throat, because he
was the only one who would do something as jerky as that.

“Hey!” I shouted, yanking my arm away, but
it wasn’t Ranson. It was a kid named Michael McPhee. Michael breathed heavily,
like he’d just run a marathon.

“Sorry. It’s just that I’ve been kind of
on edge and there’s not too many people I can talk to about this, you know?”
His green eyes darted back and forth wildly at our classmates going about their
business in the hallway. His crazy eyes paired with his disheveled auburn hair
made him look like a madman. Michael’s eyes were red, making me wonder if he
had even slept the night before.

I knew exactly what he meant. Michael was
a creature too, and if he was so afraid, something bad must have happened.
“What’s going on Mike?”

Michael was a Taker like me, a Black-Eyed
Being to be exact. He was exactly what his name said. When he transformed, the
whites of his eyes would disappear, making his eyes appear to be black, inky
pools. I’d seen pictures and they were some of the creepiest things I’d ever
seen and I had seen some creepy stuff. A Black-Eyed Being’s main purpose was to
steal someone’s soul. Why or what they did with them, I wasn’t sure.

He took a few deep breaths. “Aaron went
missing two nights ago.”

I stopped breathing. Aaron Matthews was
Michael’s best friend, also a Taker—a Jinn to be precise. “Oh,” was all I could
say.

“I hadn’t heard from him for a whole day
which is not like him. We’re always together all the time.” Yes, they were. “I
went by his house and demanded that Mrs. Matthews let me see him. Her eyes and
face were all puffy and red like she had been crying non-stop. Anyway, do you
know what she told me?”

“What?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “She said that
they decided to send Aaron away to live with his aunt in New York. Out of the
blue, just like that. It makes no sense.”

The bell rang for first period to begin,
but neither one of us moved. I hadn’t even noticed how the hallway had emptied.

Michael’s eyes misted over and the last
thing I wanted was for him to cry in front of me. My heart went out to him. I
couldn’t even imagine how I would have felt if Fletcher disappeared. My life would
never be the same. “Mike—”

“You and I both know what happened,” he
said. “His Gemini found him and killed him. Claudio was right.”

Claudio Reyes was an Imp, another Taker.

I gripped the strap of my backpack as the
sounds of high-heels tapping on linoleum came our way. Michael peered around
the corner of the trophy case. “Vice Principal Parker.” We were so about to get
detentions, but that was the least of our worries.

“Claudio was right about what?” I
whispered. The footsteps stopped.

Michael held his finger to his lips as
Vice Principal Parker stormed past us in a burgundy pants suit, yelling at some
poor kid who had probably just entered the building.

“School begins at eight on the dot, young
man!” she crowed. “Every minute counts!”

A door opened and closed and the hallway
fell silent.

 “Anyway,” Mike continued, “Claudio
said that we couldn’t just sit around when it comes to this curse. That we had
to be proactive and take matters into our own hands. This curse favors Givers
anyway. Both Aaron and I had decided that we couldn’t do it, that we couldn’t
kill anyone. Well, I guess Aaron’s Gemini had a different idea because they
came after him and now my friend is gone forever.” He punched the side of the
trophy case. “We were so stupid.”

I placed my hands on his shoulders and
squeezed them gently. “No, you weren’t stupid. You’re good people. That was
noble of you.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, well look at what
being noble did for Aaron. What’s the point of being noble if you’re dead?
Those bastard Givers think they’re so good, but they wouldn’t hesitate to take
us out. Why shouldn’t we do the same to them? Arden, don’t be like Aaron. Don’t
wait. If you know who your Gemini is, get rid of them.”

The morning announcements began over the
intercom, but neither of us listened.

I let go of him and swallowed hard. “I
don’t think I have to. I’m getting stronger. I’m winning.”

His eyes widened. “That’s even worse. Your
Gemini will probably come for you if they’re losing. That means you’re in even
greater danger because killing you is their only chance of winning. I know this
is still all new to you, but this Gemini Curse isn’t a game. This isn’t the
time to do the right thing. It’s kill or be killed.”

Talking to Mike got me thinking and I
needed to hear what the others had to say about it.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”

I paused with my fingers clasped around
the handle of the door that led to the janitor’s closet. Craning my neck, I
searched the branches of the great willow tree that towered over the school
building. A flash of purple caught my eye. “Why’s that, Violet?”

“Mr. Mason is on the war path. He’s
yelling at all the older kids about not finding their Geminis fast enough. When
he gets crazy, I kick rocks.”

Taking a deep breath, I contemplated
whether or not I should continue. Dealing with Mr. Mason was never a good
experience. I decided to woman-up and go inside to see what was going on. “I
think I’ll be all right. Later, Violet.”

“Okay,” she said in a sing-song
I told
you so
tone.

I stuck my head into the hallway, which
was unusually quiet. Violet hadn’t been exaggerating. Mr. Mason paced up and
down with his hands behind his back. He was an older, bulkier version of his
son. He wore nothing but a pair of black leather pants and his massive wings
were retracted.

Wes, Cadence, Hollis, and three other
creatures stood against a wall, watching him with horrified expressions. I
wondered if it were too late to back out when Mr. Mason finally spoke. “Nice of
you to join us, Ms. Moss. Your timing is impeccable.”

I swallowed hard and scurried into the
lair, taking the spot next to Hollis. My back pressed against the cold, cement
wall.

Mr. Mason curled his lip in disgust. “I
was just expressing my deep disappointment with you all. You are the oldest and
should be setting an example for the others. How are they supposed to be
motivated to locate and destroy their Geminis, when the lot of you are just
fiddling around waiting to be killed? Do you not understand how serious this
is? This is not an if or maybe situation. Your Geminis
will
take you out
unless you take them out first.”

I understood Mr. Mason’s frustration, but
there was no way I could do what he was asking of us. I wanted to tell him so,
but that would only make things worse so I pressed my lips together to keep my
mouth shut.

Mr. Mason stopped in front of his son,
speaking about him as if he weren’t even there. “Hollis is the biggest
disappointment of all. He’s supposed to be a leader—the one who will take over
after me, yet he can’t seem to accomplish this simple task.”

“Father, I’m—”

“Silence!” Mr. Mason barked. “Don’t insult
me with your excuses.” Hollis looked down and didn’t utter another word.

Mr. Mason stopped in front of me. So much
for keeping my mouth shut to avoid confrontation. “I have to say, Ms. Moss,
after my son, you are the second-biggest disappointment.”

I couldn’t have cared less what he thought
of me. “That’s a shame.”

He stepped much closer to me than I wanted
him to be. Mr. Mason really had an issue with personal space. “You have it much
easier than anyone standing here. They have to sneak around under the cover of
night. They must stay hidden in the shadows because of their appearance. Not
you. You can go anywhere you please at any time. There is nothing stopping you
from going after your Gemini. You know who your Gemini is, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Y-yes, but, I’m winning. I’m
getting stronger. I don’t need to kill anyone. Takers only kill when they have
to, right?” Suddenly, I imagined poor, beautiful Rose just wasting away to
nothing.

Hollis shifted beside me as his father
grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. “That isn’t good enough. We don’t just sit
around waiting for things to happen. We make them happen.”

“Let go of me,” I said through gritted
teeth, but he only squeezed my shoulders harder. I grimaced.

“Father, please stop,” Hollis pleaded.

Mr. Mason cut his son a hateful glare that
would have broken my heart if my father had looked at me that way. He pulled me
away from the wall. “You know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t defeat
your Gemini soon? You will become full Wendigo. Is that what you want?”

I was too terrified to speak, so I shook
my head. Maybe if I just agreed with him, this would all stop.

Mr. Mason narrowed his eyes at me. “I
think it is what you want. You want to become a Wendigo. You want to spend the
rest of your life in the sixth tunnel with the beasts. Why waste any more time?
Let’s just cut to the chase.”

He dragged me away from the others.
Kicking and screaming, I reached out for Hollis, who took a hold of my hand,
but his father yanked me harder, almost pulling my arm out of its socket. The
others stared on silently and wide-eyed.

“Dad, you don’t have to do this,” Hollis
shouted, but Mr. Mason ignored him. Hollis didn’t move from his spot on the
wall.

Desperately, I reached for walls and
cement columns as we passed them, trying anything to keep myself from going
wherever Mr. Mason was dragging me, but it was no use. So many thoughts ran
through my head. Where was he taking me? Why wasn’t anyone trying to stop him?

Once we reached the elevator, the doors
parted, and he shoved me against the wall. I made a move for the doors before
they slid closed, sealing me in with the lunatic.

He gripped the back of my neck as I
elbowed his stomach and kicked his legs. My efforts seemed to be hurting me
more than him and his grasp had tightened on the back of my neck, so I
relented.

Mr. Mason lifted the black band he wore
around his wrist to his mouth and spoke into it. “Samuel, open the tunnel.”

That order sent waves of panic through my
body. He was really going to do it. He was going to throw me down to the
beasts. I would be eaten alive and never see my family again.

The elevator door opened to a floor I had
never seen. I grabbed Mr. Mason’s hand, sinking my teeth into his skin as hard
as I could. He growled and flung me to the ground. I caught a brief glimpse of
blood from where I had broken the skin. On the ground, I tried to find my
bearings, attempting to crawl away from him on my hands and knees. He hoisted
me up by my waist as I screamed and thrashed in his grip, but nothing slowed
him down. He clamped his arm around my belly and pressed so tight, I thought I
might pass out.

The dim, dingy hallway reeked of mold,
rot, and dead things. It vibrated with the thumps and roars coming from under
the ground. We were directly above the sixth tunnel.

A single light dangling from the ceiling flickered
on and off, leaving us in complete darkness every few seconds.

At the end of the hallway, Mr. Mason
stamped his foot on a metal trap door built into the cement. At once, several
thunderous booms, rattled the entire hallway. The trapdoor swung open and a
large hand poked through. Mr. Mason dropped me to the ground. “You want to live
in the sixth tunnel, so be it. I think it’s only right to give you a little
preview.”

The hand groped around, landing on the
collar of my dress. It pulled me through the hole. I caught a glimpse of a
steep, lengthy staircase as I dangled over the sixth tunnel. I didn’t want to
look down, but I almost had no choice. I had to look.

The stench was indescribable, like nothing
I had ever smelled or imagined. Like every bad smell in the world wrapped into
one deadly odor. I had seen the sixth tunnel before, but only through a
surveillance camera. There was nothing like seeing it up close and personal and
actually dangling over it. If the Giant dropped me, I would be dead in seconds.

Below me, the ground was covered in a
greenish-brown liquid. I didn’t want to know what it was. Wolf-like creatures
with two heads and vicious-looking dogs raced back and forth, snapping at each
other. Several spotted me and leapt in my direction, trying to get a taste.

“Please,” I whimpered, but who could hear
me over the growls and snarls of the tunnel? My stomach twisted in knots at the
thought of becoming a snack for the beasts.

Ghostly Ghouls moved as if in a trance,
looking almost iridescent. Other Giants moved through the crowd carrying large
clubs covered in spikes, attempting to keep things under control. They were
filthy, as if dirt had been baked into their skin and they wore nothing but
tattered rags tied around their waists. Chupacabras and tinier creatures ran
through the legs of the Giants. Large serpent-like things wound themselves
around the Giants’ legs and then disappeared underneath the disgusting liquid.

I looked over my shoulder at the Giant who
held me. He stared ahead blankly as if my life wasn’t in his hands at that very
moment.

“All right,” Mr. Mason called down and I
swelled with relief.

The Giant lifted me to the top of the
staircase. My stomach dropped as if I were on a roller coaster ride as it
placed me gently in the hallway. The trap door slammed shut as I struggled to
find my breath again.

I looked up at Mr. Mason who watched me
with a sick smirk on his face. “Just a little motivation.”

I stood, though my legs felt as if they
were made out of rubber and made a dash to the elevator before he could stop
me. I jammed the button over and over because the doors seemed to take forever
to open. At last they did and I couldn’t get onto that elevator fast enough.
Mr. Mason stood in the same spot, laughing at me as the doors slammed shut.

Back at the top level, I pushed my way
through the others who seemed to be waiting for me at the elevator.

Hollis frowned. “Arden, are you okay?”

He touched my arm, but I shoved his hand away.
“Leave me alone. You didn’t even try to help me. What’s wrong with you?”

Hollis followed me, finally wrapping his
large hand around my arm before I made it to the exit. “I’m really sorry,
Arden, but he did the same thing to the rest of us.”

I felt slightly guilty about that, and to
be fair, there would have been no way for them to stop Mr. Mason anyway. I
pulled away from Hollis. “I just want to go home.”

In my bathroom, I showered for what seemed
like forever, trying to get the stench of the sixth tunnel out of my hair and
skin. After that, I nursed my knees, which were skinned from being thrown
around. I didn’t want to kill. But Mr. Mason wasn’t playing games. The twisted
look on that man’s face told me he would toss me or any of us into that tunnel
without hesitation.