Bitter Demons

17. Crows Can't Scream

I stood motionless, staring up at the bright midnight sky. Downstairs, I could hear the party-goers laughing and talking, the bass thumping. Another party gone wrong in this town from hell. I wanted to scream and pull out my hair.

How could this have happened? What happened to Caroline? I couldn't be completely sure it was her blood beneath my feet, could I? Maybe she was still downstairs talking to Drake or something. Maybe this blood was from some kind of animal. The crow, maybe?

Crows can't scream.

The terror-filled scream I heard in the hallway still rang in my memory. The blood was Caroline's, I was sure of it. But where did she go? I stepped to the very edge of the balcony and said a little prayer that I wouldn't find her body crushed below. With dread in my heart, I leaned over the railing and peered down at the ground.

No sign of Caroline.

I let out a rickety breath of relief. At least she hadn't jumped or been pushed. I slipped out of my bloody shoes so I wouldn't track it all over the carpet. In the bedroom, I searched for any sign of a struggle. In my panic, I even checked under the bed. I knew I wouldn't find her there, but she couldn't have just disappeared into thin air.

While I lay there on the floor, unsure what to do, I heard the door to the bedroom sail open and hit the wall. I closed my eyes and let the glamour fall away. It felt good to be in my own body again. I sat up and looked toward the door.

Meredith stood in the doorway, a vulnerable and scared look in her eyes. "Where's Caroline?" she asked.

How did she know something was wrong? Was the scream so loud that everyone downstairs heard it too?

"I don't know." I stood, then had to sit back down on the bed. My legs couldn't be trusted to hold me.

"Something's happened," Meredith said. "I can feel it. She's so scared, it's making my heart beat faster."

I looked at her in surprise. "You can feel what she's feeling?"

"I can feel what everyone in the Prima line is feeling to some extent," she said. "God, don't you know anything about your own heritage? When a future is in danger, everyone in her family feels it, almost like it was happening to us, too."

Meredith's eyes scanned the room. I wanted to stand up and close the door to the balcony. I didn't want her to see the blood. But it was too late. Her eyes widened and she ran to the balcony. "Oh, god, what happened?"

Like me, she looked over the edge of the balcony, then held her hand to her heart. She turned to me, her eyes filled with giant glassy tears.

"What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything," I said, standing. "I came up here to find her, but halfway down the hallway, I heard a scream and a struggle. I ran to see what was going on, but there was no one in here. The balcony door was open. I walked out to see if I could see her. That's when I found the blood."

Meredith's eyes went to my abandoned shoes. "Where could she have gone, though?"

"I have no idea." I held my arms close to my body and paced the floor. "I was looking for her under the bed, everywhere. I know that's crazy, but this town is making me lose my mind."

Meredith flipped out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Mom? I felt it too. And there's blood here at the lake house. I don't know what happened."

I listened as Meredith explained everything I'd said about what happened. I don't know why I didn't tell her that Caroline and I had switched places with a glamour. Had Caroline changed back into herself while she was up in the room alone? Or did she still look like me?

The thought hit me like a truck. If she looked like me, did that mean whoever hurt her really meant to hurt me? I stuffed the black feather in my pocket. If I told anyone about the glamour, the Order would put me in chains up on the third floor. I felt sure of it. Mrs. Ashworth's threat was clear in my memory. If the Order believed I was acting in a way that put myself or them in danger, they would take the necessary steps to make sure I remained safe.

I couldn't afford to let that happen.

But I couldn't just sit back and let Caroline be killed. Or was she dead already?

Meredith hung up the phone and turned to me. "Mom is on her way," she said. "We need to make sure no one else gets up here. They're going to want to cast a memory spell on this room, so please stay here if you can."

"Why do they need me for that?" I asked. My insides felt jumbled up and jittery. Would their memory spell show the truth about our switch? I wanted to confess the truth, but the words wouldn't come out. I held it in like a dirty secret.

"You've disturbed the energy already," she said. "We both have. If we leave, it will just disturb the scene even more."

"Can you tell if she's okay?" I asked. I didn't want to come right out and ask if her sister was dead or not. I kept my eyes away from the blood stain on the balcony.

"She's alive if that's what you mean," Meredith snapped.

I breathed a sigh of relief. If she was alive, I still had time to fix this. Maybe once whoever took her realized they had the wrong person, they would just let her go. Or be willing to make a trade. If it was me they wanted, they might let her go if I agreed to give myself up to them.

Of course, the Order would never agree to such a thing. A second like Caroline was nowhere near as valuable to them as the sole remaining blood-line of an entire demon gate. I wasn't going to put this in their hands.

My heart raced in my chest. I hoped I was making the right decision. I'd already put Caroline in danger. If she died, I would never be able to forgive myself.