Cold Tomorrow

[42]

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Katherine steps forward. "Is that...? Thomas?"

"Ah, I see you've noticed my friend over here," Keon says, blocking any chance Thomas has to reply. "Unfortunately, Caden couldn't make it over on his own - he can't really go anywhere on his own at the moment. Quite the nuisance. Nevertheless," he waves a hand, "he's apart of our deal. I'm not the sort to go back on my word."

He's looking straight at us while he says the last part and a shiver rolls down my spine. It's almost like he knows we're not going to be delivering on our end of the deal. I remind myself that we didn't actually agree to any deal, that Keon forced us into this, that our resultant trickery is a consequence of his malevolent acts. We're simply responding in kind.

"Speaking of deals, I think a bit of curse-breaking is in order. Melissa, if you will."

I take a step forward but Ethel stops me with a hand on my shoulder. "Caden first."

Keon sighs and looks skyward. One might mistake it for prayer, but I've seen enough of Keon to know the only thing he worships is evil. After a moments deliberation, he nods at Thomas, who obediently starts towards us. Caden's feet half-drag across the wooden stage. His eyes won't leave the floor. I mentally plead for him to look up, to see me. And when he finally does, his gaze flickers around the church and lands back on the floor.

The plea was only half answered. He looked up. But he didn't see me.

"Melissa?" Keon says, fixing his hard, dark eyes on me. "I believe it's your turn."

I swallow and force my legs to carry me to Keon. I pass my father and Caden as they step down off the raised platform. Neither pays me any mind, and I don't know whether to be relieved or pained.

It's going to be okay, I tell myself. The plan will work.

I'm standing before the receptacle of blue fire. From this angle, I notice that the flames have no origin, no fuel. It's a supernatural fire, burning against the cold marble of the basin.

Keon is standing opposite me. He looks even more ghastly through the fire. A shadowy monster, tinted blue, all hard edges and hollowed out spaces, like his skeleton has become his skin. "Show me the anchor."

I dig into my pocket and collect it in my palm. Keon extends his hand for it. I debate giving it to him. Will he be able to sense what we've done to it? Will he feel the altered energy or the residue of Renée's magic? In the end, I just have to hope he doesn't. I pass it over.

His hand closes around the stone in a fist. He shuts his eyes for 1, 2, 3 seconds. Each second feels like a lifetime. Then he's passing it back to me, face unreadable. I hold my breath.

"Good. Time to get started."

The whole church to seems to sag with relief, air sighing. I risk a look at everyone who came with me. I don't know what I expected to find, but all I receive is a series of glum faces and fearful eyes. It's not comforting. Scott has got his son's arm wrapped around his shoulders. His eyes are the only ones without fear. Instead they burn red.

I look for my own father. He must have returned to the shadows because I don't find him.

My gaze swings back to Keon. "I'm not strong enough," I tell him. "I can't break it."

"That excuse was pathetic enough the first time."

"I mean it. I tried to break the curse but it's taken too much of my energy."

He looks pissed. "Then you'll take some of mine."

Keon steps around the flames towards me and roughly grabs my arm. His hands are ice cold, his grip too tight, fingers digging into my flesh. Then suddenly: heat. My arm burns where he holds it, and the sensation travels through my body, flooding my veins, shooting for my heart. I let out a silent cry, folding over on myself as my chest ignites, followed by my throat, my head. There's not a single part of me that doesn't feel like it's being ravaged by fire. I may as well have jumped into the blue flames before me.

It's like a heat attack, I realise, but different - richer somehow, like the fire is filling me up instead of burning me down. Heat attacks always felt like I was being pulled limb from limb, like my skin was melting off my bones. But the heat in me now - the energy - is a living power. If it's fire, then I am clay, hardening, growing stronger.

Keon lets go. The heat is still there, but it doesn't hurt anymore. It's a warmth in my blood. I feel alive.

Now or never. I squeeze the stone in my hand and close my eyes, remembering what Harrison said yesterday when I attempted to break the curse. I've got to mean what I say. It's not hard to summon up some desire. I want to be relieved of this curse. I want my energy back. I want to save Caden and stop my vision from becoming reality.

My new energy swirls under my skin, travelling down my arm and into my palm. The anchor warms.

"I desire to remove my power from this curse."

My request hangs in the air, spreads into the universe, and the universe answers. The stone bursts to life, glowing a rich blue - the same as the flames. It grows brighter and brighter, until the light illuminates the entire stage. Over Keon's shoulder, I see Thomas, his shadowy spot no longer dark enough to hide him from view.

All I have to do is throw it into the flames. Then the burden of the curse will fall on someone else. Then we'll be able to leave this church of horrors. Then Caden will be saved.

I throw the anchor.

And it lands in Keon's palm.

Everyone in the room freezes as he pulls his hand back out of the fire. The stones glow dies. Darkness returns, thicker, scarier. Keon's eyes have gone from dark to pure black. Whatever warmth I had in me is gone - all I feel is cold, cold, cold.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" The echoes of Keon's voice are like phantoms, haunting the church. "Did you think I didn't know you were all waiting outside the door for the right moment, sending Melissa in first as though she were alone? Are you so foolish as to think your petty show was enough to fool me?"

I feel his darkness, leeching off his skin, his clothes; I feel it brushing up against me. I take a breath and it is in my throat. It is angry.

The room starts flickering, and it's not because of the flames. I am falling in and out of my vision. I am here, seeing the church as it is. I am there, seeing the church as it will be. But both versions are the same. They are both showing me this very moment.

"Didn't I say there would be consequences?"

And the darkness shifts behind him, a figure of shadow, solidifying in the light. Metal glints. The present winks. The future blinks.

I am seeing brown curls, a girl dressed in a black jacket and jeans. I am seeing the wicked curve of her mouth, the inhuman dark of her eyes.

I am seeing the molten metal morphing, forming between her hands.

My mind races. I need to do something. I need to change something. I need to -

The vision I've long feared slams down. It is a fist punching the universe. It has bruised and split the face of reality.

The chance to change the future has passed. The sharp metal spike is loosed onto the air. It sails through the darkness. All there's left to do is wait for the blood.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

One more chapter to go !