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The more she talked, the more confused I got. If the Custodians had a presence in the underworld, why hadn’t they contacted the school?
“Sonja.” I shook my head. “Do you even know what you’re talking about?”
Before she could respond, a man stepped around the corner.
My whole body jerked in surprise, and I felt Jayce grow tense beside me. The man appeared to be in his mid or late-thirties, with ash-brown hair, a straight nose, and a defined jawline. He looked a little like Dru, actually.
But this m
an was definitely not Dru.
As he moved toward us, I was smacked in the face with a presence that made me physically ill. The stench of poison and pure evil overwhelmed my senses, and I had to grab Jayce’s arm to keep from collapsing.
I wanted to throw up until I turned inside out. I wanted to cry until all of the water was gone from my body. I wanted to find the nearest cliff and jump off of it. My insides were on fire, curdled and churning in the face of this monster.
There was only one being on either world I could imagine making me feel this way.
“Gavriel,” I gasped.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sonja cackled.
“Gavriel? No, idiot, this is the Custodian who’s been my contact. The one I’ve been reporting to all year. Jonathan.” She smirked at me, her expression so damn smug I wanted to punch it right off her face. “You’re finished, you and all of your evil schemes. The school is safer now, and everyone will have me to thank.”
Gavriel—it was him, it was, it fucking had to be—floated forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Xero released her and staggered back, his eyes wide.
“Hush, child,” Gavriel murmured. “You have done a great thing. You will soon receive the reward you deserve.”
“Reward? You mean I’ll be getting promoted to Custodian early? Thank God. I can’t stand to be in that school with those corrupt fallen for another day. None of them believe in our cause like I do.”
The naïve glow on her face made me want to shake her. Are you fucking kidding? Wake the hell up!
Gavriel chuckled, the sound low and warm but ice-cold at the same time. It made me shudder. I felt a spike of Kingston’s fear from somewhere behind me. I wanted to push a feeling at him to make him stay back, but I didn’t want Gavriel picking up on the fact that there was someone else here if he didn’t already know. I didn’t know if he was capable of intercepting projected feelings not meant for him, but I wasn’t going to chance it. I had to trust Kingston to be smart enough to figure it out, although the control freak in me wasn’t happy about that at all.
“Promoted?” Gavriel’s full lips tilted up into a smile. “I sincerely doubt that.”
Sonja’s eyes went wide with hurt. “But why? I did everything you said! I’m the one who found the bracelet! You said only the chosen one could have found the bracelet you left at the school. You chose me!”
“I did,” Gavriel acknowledged, his smile turning almost cruel. “I chose you because you were so very thirsty for approval. So obsessed with being the righteous savior, the smartest one in the room, the only one who really knows the truth. I chose you, Sonja, because it was so very, very easy.”
“What the fuck, Sonja?” My voice was weak, so raspy and shaky I almost didn’t recognize it. “This guy’s name isn’t Jonathan. This is Gavriel.”
She blurted a disbelieving laugh. “Give it up, you bitch! Maybe you see Gavriel everywhere because you worship him so much, but the rest of us can tell the difference.”
Oh, fuck. She’s completely in his pocket. And she doesn’t even know it’s him.
I believed that without a doubt. Sonja was a raging bitch, but she was completely dedicated to the Custodians, anxious to rise up the ranks of their organization. She would never knowingly help Gavriel. But unknowingly?
“Sonja, listen to me. This is Gavriel.” I kept my arms wrapped around myself, clutching my belly to keep my shaking to a minimum. I was beginning to recover, and Jayce’s hand on the small of my back was helping. “He’s been manipulating you. I don’t know why, but he’s been playing you this whole time.”
The redheaded demon stiffened, and the man in front of her did too, the movement so slight it was almost imperceptible. She looked from me to him and back again, and he shrugged, grinning wider.
“Well,” he drawled, “I was trying not to ruin the surprise, but I suppose now is as good a time as any.”
As he spoke the last words, his features began to shift.
His body grew and elongated, his skin changing color until he was pale as a ghost and two feet taller than Xero. His grotesquely elongated fingers tapered into purple claws, which were almost black. His eyes were deep pools of the darkest black, dotted with specks of bright red where his pupils should’ve been. His lips pulled back in what might’ve been a grin or a grimace, exposing his long, sharp teeth.
