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But she trusted him. She would always trust him.
So, she picked up her glass and drank, all eyes on her. When she reached the last swallow, Darien’s fingers latched onto the bottom of her glass. He tipped it back, making sure she swallowed all of it.
Loren set down the glass. A series of shivers ran over her body, making her feel ice-cold and boiling-hot all at once.
That was when Loren realized that what he’d made her drink wasn’t water at all.
Darien said, “Tell me where you’ve been lately.”
“Spirit Terra.” Her body nearly crumpled with relief as the words came easily, her tongue finally liberated.
“And who’ve you been with?”
“The imperator,” she replied. “And Klay. And the imperator’s men. Johnathon Kyle too.” Her body was weak. She slumped in her chair, a sob rising in her throat. “Calanthe was there too,” she added, the words broken with emotion, “until she was killed.”
Darien had figured it out. He’d found a way to break the spell on her, and she…she was free.
He leaned on the counter, crossing his arms on the quartz. “Can you tell us what they’ve been making you do in Spirit, sweetheart?”
The words came easily. She didn’t have to fight with them, and now that the spell was gone, she spoke quickly, setting them all free. She told them everything: about the Veils the imperator was forcing her to lower; about the pillars; about her lessons with Agatha; about the demon being attracted to her at the carnival; about the demon in the school and how she’d torn a rip in the Veil with her magic in the library.
And how she swore she had seen the Well. She knew where it was, what it looked like. She had seen it the night of the carnival, when the Shucca had come out of the Void.
A tree glowing teal, its aggressive root system doming above a pool of luminescent water.
Tanner was the first to speak. “Tamika was right.”
“Tamika and Arthur,” Jack amended.
Travis said, “How would we ever get by without him?”
“It’s my fault,” Loren said. Her voice crackled, tattoo flaring. Darien opened the box of saltines and ripped open a sleeve, pushing them her way. “I’m responsible for all the monsters coming through. I don’t know how to use my magic, and because of it I’ve been weakening the Veil. The weather, too. The frost, the bloody lakes. All of it is because of me—”
“Stop,” Darien said softly.
When Loren looked up at him, she realized there were tears in her eyes, the moisture blurring his face.
“None of this is your fault,” Darien said. “Not a goddamn thing.” He gestured to the crackers. “Eat.”
“He’s right,” Ivy said. “We love you, Loren. We’ll help fix this.”
Loren took out a stack of crackers and started eating. After she’d choked a few back, she whispered, “What do we do?”
The room was silent.
Darien said, “You let me worry about that.”
But Loren wasn’t finished. There was more she wanted to say—so much more. “I left that night…,” she began. She was looking only at Darien, her words all for him, her heart breaking at the memory. “When I saw you in the basement with those men, I didn’t leave because I was afraid of you. I left because the imperator threatened me. He told me to meet him at my school. He said if I didn’t go, he would kill you. All of you.” The longer she spoke, the harder her words shook. “He sent me photographs of the house, but he removed them from my phone before I could show you. He was watching the house. Watching all of us.”
Darien’s eyes were soft with understanding, but she saw hatred simmering within—a hatred she knew was directed inward.
He was blaming himself for not seeing clearly.
“That was why you asked me to take you to the school,” Ivy said, reaching across the island to rub a comforting hand down her shoulder.
“I never wanted to leave,” Loren said. “But I wanted— I was trying to protect you guys.” And they’d all respected her too much to dig deeper.
“You don’t need to protect us, Calla,” Max said. “You’re part of the family now, which means we stand together. Against any threat.”
