I rolled my eyes. Really? That’s the angle he was going for here?
“How do you figure?” I asked, shoving my hand into my pocket, out of his reach.
“You were meant to be alone, just like me.”
“I’mnothinglike you.”
“No? I see your struggle. I live it. Every day, torn in half, wanting to do what’s right, not knowing your true path. Fighting it.”
The darkness roiled inside me, responding to his words.
As if he could sense the surge in my power, he said, “That’s it, Sunshine. Let the darkness fill you, fuel you. Fuelus. We could be a team.”
I shook my head. “You said so yourself, Jonathan. I was meant to be alone.”
He stared at me with pity in his eyes, like he was the only one in on some sick, elaborate joke. In the silence that followed, I realized just how hollow my words sounded now—just how empty that old refrain had become.
For so long, I’d believed it. But after everything I’d been through with my rebels, how could I say that now?
Alone? I was the farthest thing from alone I’d ever been.
We came to a stop at another gated alcove, and Jonathan wrapped his fingers around the bars of the gate, turning to face me.
“In my experience, Rayanne, people who make bad choices aren’t necessarily bad people. They just lack the proper motivation.”
A chill ran down my spine at his words.
What was he plotting now?
He opened the gate and hit the light switch on the inside wall. “I believe you know my guest?”
“Asher!” I gasped. The sight was all too familiar.
He sat in a chair at the center of the room, shirtless like he’d been in Norah’s attic, only he wasn’t chained. The ground and cave ceiling were rough and bare, no signs of devil’s traps or other magical workings. His skin was unmarred.
But he looked exactly as he had that night in the attic. Wounded and defeated from the inside out, his eyes bloodshot, his head lolling forward.
“Have you changed your mind yet, Sunshine?” Jonathan asked. “Or do you need another minute?”
“What… What did you do to him?” I sputtered.
“Nanotechnology. Have you heard of it?” He didn’t even give me a chance to respond before plowing on. “It’s brilliant, actually. All sorts medical and military applications. For now, just picture hundreds of mechanized particles mobilizing in his bloodstream like a tiny robot army, each soldier’s armor engraved with the precise symbols necessary for holding a demon indefinitely.” Jonathan laughed. “Well, notindefinitely. Only until his body gives out and his soul slips into Oblivion.”
My heart was frantic, banging against my chest, pumping raw adrenaline through my veins. The voice inside me grew louder.
He must die. Destroy him.
A vision shot through my mind, bringing me back to that night in the woods when I’d reconnected with my book of shadows. In my memory, I saw the bright green pulse of the earth’s magic glowing in my hands.
Of course!
The cave was natural, the rocks beneath my bare feet part of the earth. If I could connect with it, I might be able to draw on some additional magic, further enhancing my own, just like I had that night.
“My father was short-sighted,” Jonathan went on, "but I’ve always had more of a long-term vision.”
The bigger implications of Jonathan’s plans began to crystalize.
He was unhinged—clearly. But he was also brilliant.
