Page 8 of Wicked Ties
“Just fate?”
He nodded.
“All right then.” I began to walk toward the door.
“Hold up a sec.” He strolled over to the single dresser we both shared, opened the top drawer and pulled out a black sweater, then shoved his arms into it and roughly yanked it over his head, pulling it into place.
“Why?” I stopped dead and spun to face him.
His chest collided with my face, or my face collided with his chest, I don’t know. But the heady smell of chocolate mixed with something else delicious tingled my nose and made my stomach tighten. His hands fell on my shoulders, each of his warm fingers pressed into my skin, and I stood there frozen, trapped in his hypnotic gaze. Strands of his hair fell across his face, and he made no move to brush them aside.
“Are you okay?” He tilted his head.
I shrugged out of his too-warm grip. “Yes.” I spun on my heels and backed away. “You can’t hurt me.”
“I know.” He dropped his hands to his sides but followed close behind me. “I got a question for you.”
“What?”
“Why don’t you want Astrid to come with you?”
Everyone thought Astrid and I were so inseparable, and in the past we were. But now I just couldn’t be, for her sake.
“Because to her, I’m practically already dead. She doesn’t need to get her hopes up that I could be fixed, and things would go back to the way they were before.”
When we entered the hallways of the school, students slammed themselves up against the walls to get away from us. They were a mix of Evermore students and Warwick students. Maze didn’t seem to notice how they scurried, or he’d grown used to it. “Where are we going?”
Odin trotted behind him, licking his lips and hissing at kids if they got too close to petting him. I chuckled. Didn’t like to be touched? I could relate. Maze fell into step beside me, and I gazed up at him. He was so much bigger than me, by at least a foot, yet I found it comforting. “To find the soul I lost.”
We walked through the courtyard of Evermore Academy. A chill went down my spine as we passed the fountain. Swimming? Never again. Then we headed toward the main doors. “Why?”
“Because I have her memories, but I feel nothing. I remember what it felt like to be her, to be with all of you. I’ll either get it back or die trying.”
Maze gave me a single nod as though that’s all there was to it. No questions. I wanted it, I would get it, and he would see to it. “Where do we start our hunt?”
“The underworld. . . to find Nova and my freaking soul.”
CHAPTER 5
TILLY
Eastern State Penitentiary stood in front of us like an old-time castle. Dark stone walls surrounded the whole place, and a thick wooden door sat dead center. Turrets were spaced out along the walls. They were tall and stark against the gray sky. Misty ice fell on us both. That was the thing with the East Coast in the fall— when it rained, it did so all day and sometimes longer. The ground was damp beneath my boots, and the air smelled of soaking rocks and moss.
“How’d you know to come here?”
I tilted my head back, looking up at the towering building. “All demons can find a way home.”
Green smoke swirled around his fingers. “But you’re not a demon anymore.”
“Funny the things we remember.” I shrugged. I might not have the demon blood in my body, but I still had the strength, skills, and instincts, except now I wasn’t going around killing things just because I wanted to. “You coming?”
“Where you go, I will follow.”
I spun around in a circle, watching all the people moving in and out of the penitentiary. It was one of the most haunted horror spots in the country. Souls of the violently departed tended to linger around entrances to the underworld. This was something I knew from my demon days. It was the closest entrance to the school. But how did we get in without making a scene?
“How do we get in without all of these people noticing?”
Maze chuckled. “A little chaos never hurt anyone.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card then flipped it over, showing me the picture.
