Page 130 of Fangs
“But my brothers?—”
“Jax.” Sam stepped into his space and grabbed the teenager by the shoulders, his face serious. “You are not responsible for what your brothers did.”
Jax’s lip trembled, and I glanced between the two of them, bewildered. Sam noticed and pulled Jax into a hug, mouthing the word “later” to me over his head. I nodded and turned to where Clarity and Sky were still huddled on my mattress, taking a deep breath. It wasn’t hard to understand why Mac would’ve insisted they respect Clarity’s wishes—most of her life had been dictated by someone else.
“I’m sorry for bein’ an asshole,” I said, shifting slightly on my feet.
“I’m sorry for keepin’ secrets,” Clarity whispered.
“Just… please, if you don’t feel good, come see me. Please.” My voice grew even more hoarse.
Clarity’s eyes overflowed again. I moved forward until I could crouch before her, offering my hands like Mac always did. She gripped them immediately.
“Trey’s death was not your fault, Clare.” My voice wobbled dangerously. “Don’t put that on yourself.”
“Then you can’t put it on yourself, either,” Clarity said through the tears, squeezing my hands.
I smiled, but it felt stiff. “Tell me what you’ve been seeing.”
21
Clarity’s visions were jumbled, similar to what she said to me. She saw bits and pieces of imagery that made no sense—all of it wreathed in shadows. If Mac’s power felt like me, Clarity’s power felt like the opposite.
It felt likehim.
I tried to force that thought down.
The clearest visions she’d had were the vision of Trey’s death and the vision of me running. She saw mine when she touched my arm in the clinic a few days before I left. Her vision showed me hiding supplies in my mattress and my plan—or lack thereof. Then she kept getting little flashes the entire week leading up to it. I remembered how I’d had that sensation of spiders crawling on my skin several times and fought the urge to shudder.
“Trey and Mac were about ready to confront you. They were so mad you didn’t have a solid plan,” Clarity said.
“Oh, they weren’t the only ones,” Sam muttered.
I ignored him. “Do you remember anything you said earlier?”
Clarity shook her head, frowning.
“Something about ember igniting pitch and a loom weaving…something.”
“Ember… that’s your name, isn’t it?” Clarity asked hesitantly.
I winced. “Uh, yeah. You can call me that or Em… if you want.”
Sky’s lips moved as she mouthed, “Em.”
“You also said something about bones…shadows hungering for bones?”
“So both of your names were in there?” Sam asked, and his tone was so intense I glanced at him. He was looking pointedly at me.
“What, you think it’s about me?” I asked.
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, what a wild leap, thinkin’ a prophecy that mentions both names you go by could be about you.”
I elbowed him, and he grunted.
“Whatexactlydid I say?” Clarity demanded, her eyes huge.
“Shadows hunger for marrow and bone. Um, the ember igniting the pitch and a loom weaving…” I tried to remember the word she’d said. It wasn’t one I recognized.
