‘It's not safe going back to LA,' Lucas said.
‘Victor'll expect us to head east or north,' Evie continued, speaking quickly, ‘not back to LA.'
Lucas studied her. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to protect Evie and the only way he could see of doing that was by getting them as far away as possible from all this, to hide her away from danger. Lucas slammed his palm against the wheel. Goddamn these choices. For an instant his father flashed into his mind, an image of him saying goodbye, telling Flic and him that running away never achieved anything – that spending your life looking over your shoulder was no way of living. If he wanted to change the future then he needed to choose the harder path.
With a silent curse, he threw the car into drive once more and pressed his foot to the floor.
Chapter 32
They drove through the night. Evie sank back into her seat watching the white stripes of the road slide under the car, feeling fury at every one that disappeared behind them and at every blink of the clock, which wasn't counting time anymore but was instead counting down the minutes and seconds she had left with Lucas – that she had left to live.
She'd told Lucas what he wanted to hear, not what she believed. They couldn't change the prophecy any more than she could change how she felt about him – this half human, half Shadow Warrior who'd saved her yet again. Saved her from what though? He couldn't save her from her fate, even though he seemed determined to keep trying, determined to keep fighting the inevitable. There was no such thing as choice.
She felt like she'd known the truth all along. The disquiet in the car with Margaret made sense now. The problem – the complicated question that had had them puzzling over it for days – now had a solution. And a fairly simple one at that. And, really, why was she even surprised? When Victor had revealed to her she was a Hunter and explained what that entailed she'd realised pretty fast that her life expectancy had shrunk. She'd always known that everything was going to end badly eventually. Or maybe not badly, but definitely sooner than she would have liked.
She stared at Lucas out of the corner of her eye, the muscles of his arms rigid as he spun the wheel, his expression a rigid mask of suffering, a muscle pulsing angrily in his jaw. She wanted to reach over and brush his hair back from his forehead, stroke away the worry lines creasing his brow. She didn't want to make him feel this much pain. More than anything she wanted to pull his face towards her and feel his lips against hers. She felt so much love and so much longing for him in that instant that it made her clutch her arms around her body in an effort to contain it all. If she had to die, she was doing it alone. Lucas would live. She wasn't going to drag him any further into this fight. If they kept running from it he would die. She drew a deep, jagged breath. That was the deal she would make. Her life for Lucas's. It made it easier to think of it in that way.
Lucas parked outside Flic's apartment block and, taking Evie's hand, led her back to the apartment. Evie walked in silence, distracted, occupied with planning. Lucas had no idea what was going through her mind. If he even suspected, he'd no doubt force her back into the car and drive non-stop until they hit the Atlantic and even then he'd probably try to keep going.
They stood as they had started – dishevelled, exhausted, on the run from Hunters and with nowhere else to turn. Only the clothing had changed. No more blood-spattered ball gowns. And this time Lucas didn't lean nonchalantly against the doorpost with a roguish smile on his face. He stood side by side with her, his fingers laced tightly through her own, as though he was scared to let her go, his smile replaced with a tight-lipped glower.
Flic opened the door wearing only a T-shirt. This time she looked genuinely surprised to see them. Her eyes were a burnished gold colour – she wasn't wearing her contacts, which meant that she hadn't been expecting them and that therefore Issa wasn't around.
‘What are you doing here?' Flic hissed, her eyes darting down the corridor behind them. ‘Goddamn it, Lucas.' She ushered them inside, then bolted the door quickly behind them.
‘We know how the way through has to close,' Lucas said once she'd turned back to face them.
‘Well, why aren't you out there closing it then?' Flic shouted. ‘It's what you wanted, isn't it? And don't tell me you've come here for help because you can … '
‘No,' Lucas interrupted, silencing her with a look. ‘The prophecy says that the White Light has to … ' He paused, unable to finish the sentence, then drew a breath and began again, ‘to close the way through, to seal it and sever the realms – it says she has to walk through the Gateway.'
Flic blinked at him. ‘Well, that doesn't sound so hard. What's the big deal?'
‘Apparently a sacrifice is called for,' Evie explained. She watched Flic's eyes grow round as she finally figured it out.
‘Did Margaret show you the prophecy?' Lucas suddenly demanded, pulling Evie around to face him, his fingers pressing into her shoulder blades. ‘Do you remember the exact words?'
‘Um,' Evie said, going blank. She shook her head, trying to shake the memories back into place, but she was distracted and confused by the look on Lucas's face – by the fear clouding his eyes. She'd never seen him look so afraid. Or so lost. Not even when facing down the Brotherhood.
‘Maybe they have it wrong,' Lucas burst out. ‘Maybe it's not talking about you at all. Who knows for certain? I mean, it doesn't mention you by name.'
‘The giver of life. It said something about the giver of life. That's me. Evie – it's what my name means. It's talking about me.'
‘I think we established a while ago the prophecy is talking about Evie,' Flic said, shooting looks between them both. ‘So let me get this straight. This guy Victor and all the other Hunters – rogue and official – all know about Evie having to walk through the Gateway to close it?'
Evie nodded. Lucas stayed silent.
A knot of tension pulsed in Flic's jaw. She pressed her lips hard together and winced. ‘So, am I right in saying that now you have every Hunter as well as every unhuman in the realms after you?'
Neither Lucas nor Evie said a word.
Flic crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them both. ‘And you decided to come here?'
Chapter 33
Lucas watched Evie go down the passageway. She was moving too slowly. Everything was moving too slowly, as if each second was being stretched on a rack. She disappeared into the bathroom and he turned impatiently back to the door, dimly aware that Flic was standing there watching him, her eyes narrowed with fury.
‘Why did you come here?' she asked.
‘I thought Issa might be able to help us. I need to figure out how to keep Evie safe.'
Flic rolled her eyes. ‘Issa isn't here.'
What had he been thinking coming here? How in all the realms had he let Evie convince him? He should have headed east immediately. Now they'd have to backtrack. He wasn't thinking straight. Hell, he wasn't thinking in any direction – he needed to get it together.
‘Can I borrow your car?' he asked Flic.
Flic stared at him, her eyes growing wide. ‘How are you going to outrun an army of unhumans in an old Ford Cortina?'
Lucas swore. And once more Grace was in his head – you won't ever be in time to save her. He wanted to smash his fist into the wall, yell, throw something … Instead he started pacing, anxiously eyeing the bathroom door, feeling Flic's gaze tracking his every move, as grating as claws raking against his skin.
‘Why are you doing this?' Flic hissed. ‘Yesterday you were all about shutting the way through, you couldn't stop going on about it needing to happen, and now little Miss Hunter's changed your mind. She just needs to click her little fingers and you jump to attention, blade at the ready.'
He didn't have time for this. ‘I still want it shut, Flic. It's the right thing, just not this way. There has to be another way.'
Flic rolled her eyes. ‘There isn't time, Lucas, for you to figure out that there isn't.'
‘If it was Jamieson?' he said, struggling to keep his voice low. ‘Is that what you would do? Would you just give up on him? Or would you fight until your last breath to try and save him?'
Flic stared right back at him. ‘What do you think I'm doing, Lucas?' she asked. ‘I'm trying to save him and you.'
His shoulders slumped.
‘If she doesn't do it,' Flic said, taking a step towards him, ‘have you thought what will happen to the rest of us? To this realm? Not just to Evie but to every damn human? There's an army coming through, Lucas, or did you forget? They're not going to make nice with the humans. I hear the revelation law has been suspended. It's going to be a bloodbath.'
‘Shhh,' Lucas said, raising his hands and shushing her, ‘Evie doesn't know the rumour about an army.'
‘She doesn't know?' Flic shrieked. ‘You didn't think to tell her that this whole realm's going to be turned upside down while an army of unhumans searches for her?'