Beautiful Creatures: 20 Years Later

Chapter 18: The Tunnels At Last

Lila Jane POV

After finally escaping my parents, Anton and I were in the Tunnels at last.

Clambering down the endless dank halls was not the horror inducing feeling I had hoped for, though.

I had hoped for incubuses, blood sucking bugs, vexes, anything... I got leaky walls, dark corridors, and spiderwebs.

Fun.

"I see a light!" Anton exclaimed.

"Don't walk towards it..." I said absently.

The truth is, I thought he was playing around. I so was not in the mood.

"No. LJ - look!" He directed my down set chin up, so that I could properly see ahead. And indeed there was a light up ahead: the end of the dank and dusty corridor!

Jubilant, I sped down the rest of the corridor, not watching for the cobwebs and roots and things growing beneath my feet. The end was so close, and I could see trees and flowers and-

Ouch.

I fell flat on my face. Grace and charm, everybody. Grace and charm.

Anton hurried over to me. "LJ... are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You're bleeding."

I looked down to my knees. They were cut up badly. Great.

He grimaced. "Does it hurt?"

I tested them, and winced. "A little..."

He frowned, then grabbed a pack of band-aids from his backpack. What a genius. I probably should have thought about injuries.

What? Did I think we would be skipping happily through fields of sunflowers and chrysannethemums, when suddenly - gasp - there, unguarded, were the precise books we had set out for?

After Anton patched up my knees, I rose slowly, then, deciding I could walk alright, I turned to Anton again.

"Let's go," I said determinedly.

He eyed me warily. "Are you sure? We could wait a minute or two-"

"Anton. I. Need. To. Find. These. Books. And. Save. Jezebel."

He downcast his eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing. It's just... did it ever occur to you that maybe..."

"What? Spit it out," I said, not without sass.

"Well... maybe Jezebel... maybe she doesn't want to be saved..."

"Anton. She's my best friend."

He dug his toe into the cement. I could tell he was biting back more.

"Go ahead. Tell me what you want to say. I can take it."

"It's just... maybe she was your best friend, but... whether she went Dark or Light, did you really think things wouldn't change? Maybe... maybe you don't know her at all anymore."

"Don't be silly. I know everything about her. Her favorite color is hot pink-"

"Unless it changed it black after the Claiming."

"Her hair is blonde-"

"Unless she dyed it after the Claiming."

"What point are you trying to make?!"

"That Claiming changes people! If you can name one thing you know for sure is still true about her, then I'll apologize and keep looking. If not, you apologize and we go back."

I was stunned. "Um... her name is Jezebel Martha Duchannes."

He raised his eyebrows. No, this was, of course, not true. Her name had changed.

I knew nothing about her. And that terrified me.

"What do you know about Claiming that I don't, anyway?"

He glared at me. "More than you think. Now, do you know anything about her, or can we go back?"

I squared my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut tight, grasping for the bond that had been lost one year prior.

Please, Jez. Please.

Nothing. I knew nothing.

Opening my eyes, I saw Anton look at me with satisfaction.

"Ready to go?"

Having no fight left in me, I nodded.

"Satisfied?" I asked.

"Very," he replied, while picking up his duffel bag.

"Glad you got joy from my pain."

His grin faltered. "Lila Jane... I didn't mean-"

"I know exactly what you mean."

I turned on my heel and began to continue on my way. I didn't need him.

"I guess all Breeds are just as bad."

His expression was pained.

Just as I was reaching the end of the corridor, I heard it.

Thalia.

It was enough.

I turned to Anton.

"I know more about her than you think," I said. "And her name is Thalia."