The Keeper's Curse (37 page)

“
But he’s different now.” Emmy was aware of how cliché it
sounded, but her foggy brain couldn’t think of anything
creative.

“
Are you doing that thing girls do, trying to fix some
horrible loser you dress up as an antihero, insisting that you can
change him with love and kisses and caresses and
THERAPY?”

Emmy
frowned. “You need to calm down –”

He
gasped, ignoring her. “That’s what this is, isn’t it? Because of
that whole psychology thing you’re into! He’s an
experiment!”

“
Not at all! I don’t want to change him – I like how he
is.”

“
How?
Lana, you can’t go out with
him! You deserve so much better.”

She felt
herself crashing from her high, like gravity, falling faster and
faster until she came to a bone-crushing slam into the ground.
Everything – Cyrus, fighting with Persephone – all of it faded
away, as it always did, when she looked at him. It bothered her
Breckin had that power over her.

“
I want better,” she said, not able to help herself. “But it’s
not an option right now.” Usually staring at Breckin was a stealthy
undertaking, but she couldn’t stop now. He wasn’t traditionally
attractive like Cyrus was, but she preferred him so much more. His
hair fell into that unconventional face of his with its curious
expression, his shirt ruffled and loose – he wasn’t put together.
He was so genuine, like his eyes that pierced right into her that
made her wonder how he hadn’t seen through her already.

“
Why are you with Rozelyn?” she asked.

He didn’t
seem to expect the tables to be turned on him. His nose crinkled
up, so sexy it made her legs wobble.

“
Why do you ask?”

“
It’s not fair you’re bothering me about who I date if I can’t
ask you.”

He
shrugged, indicating this was a waste of time for him. “I had a
crush on Rozelyn from the minute I saw her when I was twelve. Gabe
invited me over for dinner, and when I was half way up the stairs
and saw her, I fell over. It was really embarrassing.”

Emmy
wanted to snap at him, but she let him talk. He had momentarily
forgotten to be angry with her.

“
She was two years older than me so she didn’t take my
advances seriously at all. It took me two years to convince her to
go out with me, but I was fine with that.”

“
But
why
do
you like her?”

“
I don’t know! She’s confidant and she’s funny and really
smart. She’s in the top five in her year because she works so hard
– she wants to be a tracker. She’s the most determined person I’ve
ever met. But not only that, she’s really protective of people she
cares about, and she’s brave.” He paused and turned away from Emmy.
“She’s a bit like you, actually.”

She
didn’t know whether to be pleased or furious by this. What was she
supposed to say? She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him she
was literally the most perfect person on the planet for him. That
he was an idiot. That she wanted him so badly sometimes she
couldn’t sleep at night.

“
Breckin –”

There was
a shuffle in the bushes. Both Emmy and Breckin jumped and turned to
the left to see where the noise came from. Emmy backed up just a
smidge closer to Breckin, whose spine had gone rod
straight.

“
What was –?”

There was
a sudden explosion from behind them, destroying the little bridge.
In a flash Breckin wrapped himself around Emmy to protect her from
the rocks whizzing passed them, tackling her to the
ground.

“
Hurry,” Emmy heard a hissing voice command from behind her.
“Grab her before anybody comes out here.”

Breckin
rolled off her and stood up again, crouching down like a protective
tiger. Emmy looked around Breckin, seeing several dark hooded
silhouettes making their way closer to them.

“
Lana,” Breckin said with perfect clarity. “Get out of
here.”

She didn’t even have time to get up before the men attacked
Breckin. She couldn’t even scream, her mind racing so fast she
couldn’t see straight.
I need to help
him
, she thought. But she knew the only
way to help him would be to get back into the clearing. They
couldn’t kill him, but they could kill her. Emmy hoisted herself up
and ran as fast as her legs let her toward the fire looming above
the trees.

She
didn’t even get around the corner when one of them pushed her to
the ground. He rolled her over to get a good look at her face. Emmy
shut her eyes; the face was leathered and scarred with missing
teeth – she didn’t want to see it.

“
Olwenn! Take her to Thoreoux.”

Emmy felt
herself being pulled back up, and her curiosity got the better of
her: she opened her eyes. Breckin was a blur, moving so fast all
she could see of him was the gray of his shirt and the red of his
hair. A woman was standing in front of Emmy – young, honey-blonde
hair, pretty in a white dress. For a second she stared at Emmy
before she threw back her head and wings sprouted out of her back.
A flier.

The man
who had grabbed Emmy threw her into the winged woman – Olwenn’s –
embrace. She wrapped her arms around Emmy’s waist, beat her wings,
and took flight.

“
Breckin!” Emmy screamed, thrashing in Olwenn’s arms.
“
Breckin!”

His head
moved around frantically to see where her voice was coming from,
finally looking upward and seeing her. He kicked off, about to fly
when the two of the men wrapped their hands around his ankles,
pulling him back to the ground.

She
screamed his name over and over as she got higher up into the sky
until she couldn’t see him anymore. Emmy did everything she
possibly thought of to do – she bit her captor, kicked her, hit
her, tried to wriggle her way free – to no avail.

“
Do you really think,” she whispered – Emmy recognized her as
the hissing voice that gave the initial order, “that I would let
you go? Thoreoux personally sent me, sweetie, I would never let
anything happen to you.”

Between
the vertigo and stark terror, it took everything in Emmy not to
vomit. She was being brought back to Thoreoux. She would be dead by
the end of the night.

And so
would Breckin.

Olwenn
flew over the treetops for several minutes before reaching a break
in the green for a blue blob – a lake. It was the lake Persephone
always used to trick her opponents to fall into during peacekeeping
class. Olwenn swooped down, heading straight towards the frozen
water, faster and faster with no intention of slowing down. Despite
herself Emmy gripped her, somehow knowing what was about to
happen.

Emmy took
a deep breath as Olwenn dove headfirst into the lake. The water was
such a paralyzing cold Emmy’s skin burned. They went deeper and
deeper into the water, and for a horrifying moment Emmy thought
Olwenn intended on drowning her, until she noticed a small light
coming from the bottom of the lake.

No,
Emmy thought.
It can’t be.

But it
was. The portal was hidden at the bottom of the lake. Olwenn
tightened one of her arms on Emmy’s waist, and the other reached
out to cup the portal. Emmy was frozen, helpless, as she wrapped
her long fingers around the glass. As she always did when she
traveled, Emmy felt herself being sucked into a vortex, the world
swirling around her as she transferred.

When it
was over, they landed on a hill, just on the edge of a small wood.
Emmy was so cold she didn’t even fight as Olwenn gripped her wrist
and dragged down the hill. A building entirely made out of black
marble lay beneath, veins of white trailing along the stone in
serpentine shapes. It was even bigger than the Crow mansion, and
worse to look at. A trail of torches covered the front, as if to
show off the building for anyone who passed by.

Olwenn
took her through the front entrance, which didn’t have a door. She
led Emmy through the front corridor into a circular, sky lit room,
which, if it had been in another house, probably would have been
used as a ballroom. There were no windows, the only light coming
from the fire in the torches on the walls, but that wasn’t what
Emmy paid attention to.

All along
the edges of the room were men and women, smartly dressed, all
staring at her hungrily. Emmy’s eyes followed the circle to the
other side of the room. In the doorway across from her stood a man.
Olwenn yanked on Emmy’s arm, pulling her towards the other side,
towards the figure.

The
closer they got to this man, the faster Emmy’s heartbeat raced. She
could see his face now – aristocratic, handsome even. His dark hair
fell to his shoulders, and his even darker eyes were fixated on
Emmy. She knew who he was before they reached him.

Olwenn
came to a stop right in front of him, and bowed. Emmy couldn’t
move, but the man didn’t seem to be upset by this. He took one
deliberate step toward her, reached out and brushed her cheek
softly. Emmy grimaced, expecting him to hit her, but he
didn’t.

“
Hello Evangeline,” Thoreoux said. “It’s nice to finally meet
you. You are a hard girl to get a meeting with, did you
know?”

Chapter 25

The
Portal in the Lake

If they
had fought him individually, Breckin thought, he would have been
able to take them easily. Unfortunately, with six men holding him
down, he didn’t stand much of a chance. He thought of everything
his mentor Oka taught him, but all his lessons seemed to have
dissipated in his head. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but
Lana.

“
I command you to get off him!” shouted a voice from a few
feet away.

The men
did not oblige, but they did seem taken aback. Several of them
looked up to see who had spoken, but this gave Breckin the
opportunity he needed. He summoned a palewraith in the center of
the scuffle and blew it up, sending the men flying in several
different directions.

“
I command you to stay where you are,” Breckin said, and this
time, they listened. Breckin turned around for who had saved him,
not expecting at all to see his stepbrother. “What are you doing
here?”

“
Saving you. Again. I saw you drag Emmy out here and you were
out for so long I thought I’d come out and check on you. What the
hell happened?”

“
Thoreoux’s men took her,” Breckin said, the panic starting to
set in. “They came out of nowhere.”

Cyrus
paled but he did not, however, look surprised. “Oh, God. No. This
is all my fault.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
He warned me he’d try to get her again if I didn’t kill
her.”

Breckin
swallowed his fury – he didn’t have time to yell at Cyrus at the
moment. He could drop dead at any second.

“
I’m going back to get Circlet,” Breckin said. He looked
around at the men on the ground, seeing their faces tense in
concentration, trying to move, and unable to. He knew his command
would not last forever, and he had to face the fact another driver
was standing right in front of him. “Can you watch them for a few
minutes?”

Cyrus’s
eyes nearly popped out of his head, which was an unusual sight. He
wasn’t used to seeing him shocked. “Of course.”

Breckin
nodded, not having time to dwell on whether or not leaving Cyrus
alone with people who were his allies only months ago was a good
idea.

With
strapper speed he dashed back into the party, scanning the room for
Circlet, and finding her after about half a second. She was in a
lively conversation with a minister, which Breckin cut
into.

“
Circlet, I need to talk to you. It’s La – Emmy. They took
her, she’s gone. Thoreoux took her.”

Rather
than being upset, she just looked confused. “Crawford, I highly
doubt it. There are guards all around the wall of Methelwood, don’t
you think they would have picked something up?”

He threw up his arms in frustration. He didn’t have time for
this. “Circlet, I s
aw
them! They tackled me to the ground and took her! And that
portal could be anywhere. Do you think the guards can keep track of
the whole bloody orb?”

The
minister she was talking to sidled off without so much as a
goodbye. Circlet didn’t even notice – she had that look of denial
on her face when something was simply too bad to be true and she
couldn’t deal with it.

“
I’m so sorry, Crawford,” she whimpered. “Oh, this is all my
fault, thinking I could catch him by myself –”

“
Catch who?” Breckin demanded. His patience level was the
lowest it had ever been.

“
Thoreoux. I thought if I gave him the opportunity we could
catch him –”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
I knew. About Cyrus. I mean, I didn’t know for sure, but I
hoped Rathers’s presence would bring him out of hiding and we could
catch him once and for all.”