Under the Burning Stars (25 page)

“She tried to kill us!” Amanda screamed while she held a shocked Valerie.

Aaron, Savina, Peter, and Seth looked at Ava. She knew they were all judging her. They’d brought Valerie and Amanda to the Manor because they were both hysterical and Seth hoped Savina could help them.

“What happened?” Savina asked.

Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest and chewed on her lip.
“Trudy McVaine was there. She kept whispering in my ear and I went to the bathroom and found them. She strangled Valerie—.”

“Are you crazy?” Amanda
cried. “There was no one else. You tried to kill us.”

“No—.”

“You-you-water shot from your.” Amanda shook her head. “Who are you people? What do you want with us?” Her eyes were laden with fear. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she had a vice-grip on Valerie

Seth
reached for her hand, but she recoiled. “Get away from us.”

“They won’t hurt you,” he said.

“Don’t touch me.”

Aaron stroked his goatee.
“Trudy is now following you?”

“I don’t know,” Ava said.

“Did you ever see her?”

“No.
But I know it was her. I know her voice.”
Please believe me, Savina
. Ava hoped she would hear her thoughts.

She nodded.
I do, my child
.

“Why
did you bring them back here?” Aaron asked.

Seth’s eyes
watered, but he never said a word.

“Oh dear,” Savina said.

“What?” Ava asked.

He wants their minds completely erased of him and Peter.

Ava turned to Seth. “You can’t do that.” As much as Ava disliked them, she didn’t want them to never know Seth and Peter.

“It’s only fair,”
Seth said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“You can’t be serious. Peter, you can’t possibly agree with him.”

“We have to.”

“Just take away
today. Not everything.” Tears welled in her eyes.

“They’ll keep asking questions,” Peter said. “
It’s hard enough keeping these secrets from them. If we’re about to go to war, they need to be far away from here.”

“It should be their choice.”

Seth turned to Ava with a hard look in his eyes. “Valerie was attacked today and now that the Cimmerians have seen them with us, they’ll use them as bait. I couldn’t live with myself if I got my friends killed.”

Ava knew he was right because
the same thing almost had happened to Peter.

“What are you talking about?” Amanda demanded. “What are you going to do to us?”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Savina asked Seth and Peter.

Peter sighed. “It has to be like this.
They have to be safe.”

Ava’s heart dropped. There had to be another way. “
Can’t you just erase parts? Why does it have to be everything?”

“There isn’t another way,” Seth snapped.

“Very well. I’ll let you two say goodbye and I’ll erase their minds.” Savina and Aaron walked out.

Valerie’s brown eyes were large with fear and her chin quivered.

Ava hugged herself and watched Seth kneel before Amanda. Her stomach twisted and her vision blurred. She couldn’t watch. She left the room and made her way outside. The wind picked up as she meandered through the beautiful floral garden. The orange, red, and yellow flowers remained so vivid. It always amazed Ava. She wondered how Savina got her unbelievable knack for creating such a gorgeous garden.

“Are you okay?” she heard a voice behind her.

Ava looked up and met Kira’s brown eyes. Kira, the Enchanter who could poison with a single touch. Ava had never talked to her one-on-one and she was always with Maggie. The wind ruffled her long white hair as she stood confidently with a water bucket in her hand. She wore a long flowing skirt with a white long-sleeved shirt.

“I’m fine,” Ava said.

She didn’t smile, but she had a flawless face. Kira arched an eyebrow. “You’re lying.”

“
Excuse me?”

“It’s okay that you don’t want me to know. But you’re a terrible liar.”

Who was she to judge? “I’ll let you tend to the garden.” Ava started to walk away.

“I heard what you did for Colden. It was quite a selfless and remarkable thing.”

Ava stopped and turned around. “I had to.”

“Thank you for saving him.”

“You don’t have to thank me, but you’re welcome.”

“You’re a very brave woman, Ava. I don’t think you truly see it. You should work on that,” she said, and then turned to the flowers and began watering them.

The door opened and Peter and Seth walked outside, their eyes red and their hair disheveled.

Ava took Peter’s hand and wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m so sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault.” He held her tightly.

“Why did you have her erase both of you from their memories?”

“They don’t deserve to be caught up in this, nor do they deserve to be tortured like I was.”

Ava flinched. A hot, aching guilt rushed over her. “Savina was going to do the same to you. My selfish part wanted you to be just like me and I wanted nothing more than to be with you. But your safety trumped all of that. After seeing what the Cimmerians did to you because of me, I can never forgive myself.”

“They’ll never do that again. And don’t blame yourself.”

Ava didn’t know what she would do if the roles were reversed, but Peter was keeping it together surprisingly well.

“I know no words can console you, but I’m here for you and won’t leave your side.”

“I know.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Seth and I are going for a drive.”

“Do you want company?”

“Not now. Savina and Aaron are taking Val and Amanda home and they’ll convince the parents to move. We just want to get out of here for a while.”

“Come on, man,”
Seth urged. Ava didn’t miss the impatience in his voice.

Peter kissed her and then followed Seth to his car.
Seth peeled out of the driveway and Ava’s heart faltered. For some reason, she felt guilty for what had happened.

She wanted to be there for Peter, but understood he needed time.

Ava went inside and had dinner with her father and a few others, but she wasn’t feeling social at all, even though it was her birthday. Melissa had texted her, wanting to take Ava out, but she declined. Instead, she retreated to her room.

She
dropped down on the window bench and leaned her head against the glass. She stared out into the dark night, watching the wind pick up and blow the last of the leaves off the branches. The clouds raced across the sky, barely covering the waning moon.

It
had started out as a good day, but she wasn’t kidding anyone when she thought it would last. She hugged her knees and sighed.

Valerie and Amanda
were attacked today. Trudy tried to convince Ava to kill them. Would her mother have been proud? She refused to believe it. Was her mother really that awful of a person? She couldn’t remember a time when her mom treated her poorly. That didn’t mean she hadn’t been playing her and her father all along.

But for what?
Had her mom really promised her soul to Havok? Or was that Xavier trying to get a rise out of her. If it were true, why would the Cimmerians kill her mom? If Havok had existed this long, how come the Elders have never heard of him? She couldn’t wait to speak to the Necromancer. It was looking more and more unlikely that she’d be going with the group. She needed to come up with another plan.

Ava
was tired of thinking about it all. She wanted to just go to New Orleans and get the answers and be done with it. Maybe she should just go alone.

Someone knocked on the door and startled Ava.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Gabriel
entered. “Hey. Are you okay?” She couldn’t help but notice his taut muscles beneath his white button-down shirt. His raven hair looked as if he had recently cut it.

She shrugged. “I guess.”
Ava met his crystal-blue eyes and after a few seconds he averted his gaze. She didn’t understand why he sometimes looked at her with such intensity, but it daunted her.

“I heard what happened.”

“Lucky me, huh?”

He
moved closer to her and sank on the edge of the bed across from her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.
I just wish I knew the truth about all of this. Savina won’t tell me. She always hides behind a wall, claiming to be protecting me, but I need to know.”

“Would it make a difference?” he asked.

“Of course it would.”

“How?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know. I could understand myself better or the things I’ve done. I could understand my mom more. If your parents promised your soul to Havok, you’d want to know why, too. And how do we know Savina really killed Corbin? What if Corbin is Havok? Or was Havok around when my mom died?”

“
You gotta stop obsessing over this, Ava. It will destroy you.”

“I think
it already has.”

“
How do you plan on learning the rest?”

She hesitated.
She hadn’t told anyone except Colden, but if he suggested, how bad could it really be? “A Necromancer. I can talk to my mom directly.”

“Whoa, Ava, no. Don’t even think about it.”

“Why?”

“Seriously? Because it’s dangerous.”

Ava crossed her arms in front of her. “You sound just like Savina.”

“You don’t want to do it. You’ll regret it.”

“Why? She’s the only one I can ask why she gave up on me. Why she never loved me. Why she promised her only child to the Cimmerians.” Warm tears streamed down her face, and her body shook. She covered her face, and then felt his arms around her, holding her close. He made her feel comfortable.

“I’m sorry, Ava. But as your friend, please reconsider this.”

“Why?”

“It will leave you with regret and pain.”

“How do you know?” She pulled back and met his eyes.

He wavered.
“Because I went to one.”

“
You did? When?”

“Years ago. I needed to talk to my sister
. When the Necromancer brought her into view, she was screaming. I couldn’t save her. Not then, not ever. I vowed I would avenge her, but I made too many mistakes.”

The pain in his eyes worried her, but he quickly hid it. He never seemed to let anyone in, except Natalia.
Why was he slowly letting Ava in?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”

“The Cimmerians will use it against you. They’ll pull those images from your mind and force you to see them over and over, just like they’ve done recently.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really thinking of seeing a Necromancer. It was just a fleeting thought. Just something Link mentioned one time.” She hoped he believed that, but she could still feel his eyes on her.

“Is this really about your mom or is there more to it?”

“Yes.” She got to her feet and paced beside the bed. “It’s because I’m a murderer, Gabriel. I killed Jonah and Drew without a single hesitation. I punched Valerie in the face and almost tried to kill her and Amanda. I have Cimmerian blood and I feel like I’m turning into one. And it makes sense now that my mother was one. She betrayed me.
Now they’re after me because it’s my destiny apparently.”

Gabriel grabbed her by the shoulders and she stopped. He tilted her chin up
and her pulse edged up a degree. “Ava, you control your own destiny. You are the only one who chooses which side you want to be on. Even if your mom promised your soul to the Cimmerians, you ultimately make that decision.”

She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “But after all
the terrible things I’ve done—.”

He shook his head. “You acted out of self-defense in every case. And from what I heard, you tried to save Valerie and Amanda and refused to listen to Trudy. You are strong, Ava.
Stronger than you give yourself credit for. You need to start believing it.”

“It’s hard to do that when I let them inside my head. It makes me feel weak. Even Savina thinks I’m too weak to handle the truth.”

His face fell. “She doesn’t think that. She just keeps a lot to herself because she believes it protects us. Look at all the good you’ve done. You saved Colden and your father. You healed me. Cimmerians aren’t Healers.”

“What?”

“They use their powers only for dark purposes. You’re a good person. Don’t let them take that away from you.”

She nodded and she felt her shoulders relax.
He had a way of making her feel better. He challenged her, which she liked, and was a good teacher. “I need to learn to block the thoughts. You’re good at that. Can you teach me?”