I hadn't seen Demos since our hideout in Ireland. His Sentinel gear was a little banged up. A few of the red plumes on his Roman-style helmet were bent, the visor dented.
Arik straightened, water dripping from his clothes and hair. His brown eyes peered through the eyeholes in his helmet and surveyed Bastien and the others before landing on me. "What is this? Gia, you need to come with me." He held out his hand, his fingers motioning me over.
Three of the Sentinels moved between us.
"If you go with them," Arik said, hurt sounding in his voice. "You will be deemed a traitor."
My hands curled into fists. "You would let thousands die? How could you? Arik, please, don't do this." The look on his face told me no matter how hard I pleaded with him, he wouldn't listen.
Demos's face screwed up in confusion. "What is she saying?"
My gaze went from Arik to Demos. "There's a cure for the disease spreading through the Mystik covens. The council has forbidden its release."
"Why don't they want to distribute it?" Demos asked.
With my eyes back on Arik, I said, "Ask him."
Arik pulled his fingers through his wet hair. "It hasn't been tested. Get your battle globe ready."
"They'll die without it." My fists tightened, nails biting into my skin. He had to understand. Had I really misjudged him this much? I believed he'd fight to save people. "It's been tested. It works. I'm doing this with or without you. Try to stop me."
"We have our orders." Arik formed a fire globe on his palm. "Gia, if you go against them, you are an enemy of the Wizard havens, and I must take you in. Don't turn this into a fight."
Demos stepped in front of me, faced Arik, and sprouted a green globe. A faint howl came from the swirling wind in his hand. "We may have pledged our allegiance to the council, but she's the presage. We are sworn to protect her."
By the look on Arik's face, Demos's betrayal had gutted him. His jaw stiffened, and he squared his shoulders. "Back down," he warned. "The council comes first."
A rope of blue light shot across the room and wrapped around Arik's arms. He fell, his knees thumping hard onto the floor, and struggled against the electric bindings.
Bastien manipulated the stream with his fingers, keeping Arik down.
Demos turned his globe toward Bastien. "Release him."
"Not when he wants to arrest Gia," Bastien said.
"All right. We'll tie him up." Demos lowered his hand, and the green sphere popped. "Does anyone have something I can use?"
Bastien and Doylis glanced around as if trying to find something. As I searched myself, my fingers grazed over the belt securing my trench coat. "Will this work?" I removed it and handed it to Demos.
Demos inspected it. "It should do," he said, then turned to Arik. "I'm truly sorry."
Arik scowled at him. "You'll regret this."
"I'm sure I will." Demos tried to move one of Arik's arms behind his back, but Arik fought him, breaking free from his grip, and then wincing when the electric rope shocked him again.
"Let me help," Doylis said, holding Arik's arms together so that Demos could secure the belt around Arik's wrists.
Demos avoided touching the electric rope while he tied a final knot in my belt. Doylis released Arik's wrists.
"Now, remove the lasso," Demos directed Bastien.
Bastien lowered his hand, and the electricity snapped from his fingers, the rope disappearing in a series of sparks. Arik sat back on his heels, his hands tied behind him, and he took a deep breath.
"The longer we stay, the more likely we'll be caught." Doylis kept a hold on Arik. "Where is the cure?"
"I'll get the boxes," I said and headed for the alcove. My lip trembled, and the tears pooling in my eyes blurred my vision. At the same time that Bastien's love was filling my heart, Arik's resolve was breaking it. Betraying Arik, going against him, felt wrong. Since entering the Mystik world, he'd been my rock, protecting me and guiding me through this scary adventure. I missed him, and letting go was tearing me apart.
Bastien came into the alcove. I lifted one of the boxes and slipped the strap over my head. His hand on my shoulder stopped me before I could grab another one. I turned, and he cupped my face in his hands.
His eyes were like dark pools in the low lights of the library. "You know what I admire most about you, Gianna? It's your ability to empathize with others."
"It hurts too much."
"You care for Arik, and that's okay. It's similar to how you feel about Nick. And you feel guilty … as if you're betraying Arik. The lives we can save matter more than his battered ego. He'll come around and see our side of things, eventually. I just hope it's sooner than later."
How did he always know exactly what to say or how I was feeling?
"Stop being so perfect," I whispered.
"It can't be helped." Amusement lit his face, and he pressed his lips against my forehead. It was a brief and tender kiss, but it held so much emotion, causing a warmth to rush over me. He released me. "Now, we better get out of here. We have those lives to save."
He picked up two boxes, and I took the last one. Doylis held Arik's arm and followed Bastien and me to the other room. Demos took up the rear, darting looks over his shoulder in case anyone jumped into the library. We stopped at the third bookcase on the east wall.
"Ammettere il pura," Bastien spoke the charm.
The bookcase shuddered as it moved across the floor.
Admit the pure. The charm was a way to keep out those with evil intentions. But did it really work? Veronique had entered Asile when I'd first come to the Mystik world, and she was rotten to the core.
What she said before she died hit me. We are all between good and evil. Make sure yours is the right side-
It was as if chilly fingers ran up the back of my neck. I had been on the wrong side without knowing it. I believed in the Wizard Council because Arik and Uncle Philip put all their faith in it.
I stepped over the proverbial good versus evil line and followed Bastien down the steps into the dark tunnel.
Chapter Ten
I stood on a balcony of the tall, lean building that housed the leaders of a movement that was against the Wizard Council. Many wizards and Sentinels from all the havens had band together to save the Mystiks. Emily had joined us in Greyhill, bringing the recipe for the vaccine and cure. Nineteen hundred and seventy-two cures had been administered to those with advanced symptoms of the disease. Their bleeding sores had stopped, and their extremely high fevers subsided. The ones we couldn't save, their organs had failed and their deaths were painful.
The crowded buildings prevented me from seeing any countryside. I wasn't even sure if there was one or not. Small walkways cut through the beautiful brick structures, and rope bridges stretched from building to building. The sky was more purple than blue. Smoke puffed from chimneys, and the noises from the roads below rose in murmurs to our fifteenth-story flat.
I tightened my grip on the shawl one of the curers had given me, absentmindedly rubbing the raised scar on my cheek. I had to find out what had happened to Jaran and Lei-and Carrig. Arik had said they took him.
Who were they?
A group of birds flew in a circle just outside the window. They were beautiful with their winter-blue feathers and bright red beaks.
Nick. We had searched for him for months. Every lead we'd received led us nowhere. His loss was like a wound that never healed-gaping and painful.
He has to be okay.
My dreams about him the last few nights felt real. He was in the dark. Cold. Scared. When it got too much for him, he'd scream out my name, and I'd wake up.
I was getting restless. With my wounds healed and the curers having enough of my blood to make more of the antidote, I was ready to go. Ready to find my friends. My father.
I hated leaving Bastien without saying goodbye, but I didn't want him stopping me or getting caught. I turned and walked back into our dorm-like bedroom.
Bastien lay on his bed, his bare chest rising up and down. The silky pajama bottoms provided by our host kept slipping down his waist, like they were right then, exposing the V-shape line just below his abdomen. He looked so peaceful when he slept, which wasn't often lately. He'd spent late nights delivering provisions and cures throughout the covens. I carefully lifted his keys off the pile of his clothes on a chair beside him, placed a note I'd written him on top of his jeans, and tiptoed to the dresser.
Emily's bed beside mine was a mess. She never made it. Demos's was perfectly made-I could probably bounce a quarter off it. They'd left an hour ago for breakfast. I was meeting them there after I got Arik out of his cell. I'd convinced them that I had to go alone. If caught, I'd be the only one arrested, not all three of us.
If I was going, it had better happen fast, before Bastien woke. I had to stop hesitating. But the sight of him sleeping there, so peaceful and gorgeous, made it tough to leave.
Just go already.
I slipped on my leather cargos and long-sleeved tee. Darting glances at Bastien, I grabbed my boots and trench coat and crept out of the room, easing the door shut behind me with a faint click. Quickly and quietly, I finished dressing and hurried down the hallway.
The glass elevators ran on the outside of the buildings, and not wanting anyone to see me disappear to the basement, I decided to take the stairs. The lower level of the building was where they housed prisoners, which was only Arik at the moment.