Everneath. Part 9

He sighed, then grabbed his guitar and picked out a cla.s.sical melody. I thought it was Bach, but I wasn't sure. "Where's your family?"

So we were going for small talk now? I turned around. "My dad's at his campaign headquarters and Tommy's at my aunt Grace's."

He picked through another few measures of the melody. "So you came back to be with your family and friends, and yet you sit alone most nights."

I turned back to my desk.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Nik." He leaned his head against the wall with a soft thud. "I can take you now. You've only seen the Caverns and the Tunnels-and yes, those places are all about the awful-but the rest of the Everneath isn't like that. It's like the Elysian Fields."

I gave him a quizzical look. "Elysian Fields?"

He rolled his eyes. "You haven't been doing your homework. The Fields are a place of light, of happiness, where n.o.body is dying the slow death of mortality. And all of the good emotions inside you are expressed outwardly in your surroundings. I think it's heaven."

"Except for the part where you have to steal energy from other humans to survive."

He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was muted. "It's a small price to pay for heaven."

"Show me," I said.

He blinked. "What?"

"Show me. Like you showed me the Tunnels. Only this time, show me the Fields."

He glanced away as he considered it, and then shook his head. "It's too hard."

"Why?"

"Because I'd have to use my own energy." When I protested he continued. "Too much time has pa.s.sed since I've been in the Everneath. I don't have any extra energy to waste giving you the five-cent tour."

His refusal made me want to see the Fields even more. I sat down next to him on the floor. "Please, Cole. Help me see what I'll be missing."

He frowned and sighed. "Enough with the sad eyes. I'll do it. But it'll have to be a quick glance only."

I nodded.

"Hold still," he said as he brought his hands to my head and placed them on either side. "You don't have to hold your breath, Nik."

I hadn't realized I was. I let out a sigh and heard him chuckle softly, and then my bedroom melted away. I was standing in an open field, surrounded by light. A soft breeze with clean air-not the dank stuff in the Caverns, but clean, crisp air-ruffled through my hair. I looked at my hands. They were no longer sickly pale.

I filled my lungs with air, expanding them to capacity, and then even further. I was so caught up in the delicious air, I forgot where I was, or how I'd gotten there. All I knew was that my bare feet longed to be running. I took off toward the center of the field, the length of my stride growing with each step until I thought one more step and I would be able to push off from the ground and never land. It was the sweetest feeling, as if nothing would ever burden me again. One more step and I would fly.

But I didn't get to try. Too soon, the field disappeared and I was back in my bedroom, acutely aware of how hard my chair felt against my body and how heavy the air was here. It was like coming down from a high.

Cole struggled for breath beside me. He lay down on his back, put his hands over his eyes, and tried to even his breathing. He looked like he'd just crossed the finish line of a marathon.

"Are you okay?" I asked, distracted. I wanted back inside the vision.

"Nothing a little mouth-to-mouth won't cure," he said, but he couldn't muster the energy to laugh at his own joke. "You're no good for me, Nik," he said in between gasps.

"What do you mean?"

His breathing slowed a little and he looked up at me. "I can't say no to you."

I scoffed. "If that were true," I said, "you'd find a way to let me stay here. For good." I knew it was impossible; when you choose to be a Forfeit, you belong to the Everneath, and the pact is as strong as any other force in the universe. Defeating it would be like defying gravity, a power beyond Cole. Maybe I said it to show how weak he really was.

He closed his eyes. "You know I can't challenge the Shades."

He was telling the truth. The Shades only cared about the harvesting of energy, and in the Everneath, their word was law.

"The vision ... did it work?" Cole asked hesitantly. He breathed easier now, and sat up next to me, watching me for my answer.

"I saw the Fields."

He waited as if he expected me to go on and on. When I didn't he said, "And were they as amazing as I told you?"

"Better," I said. I didn't continue, because I wasn't sure of my own strength. If I could press a b.u.t.ton right now, here in my room, that would take me straight to the Fields, would I be able to refuse? I didn't know.

"So are you coming with me?"

"Would I have to drain people?" I reminded myself it always came back to this.

"Why do you get hung up on things that don't matter?" He grunted in frustration. "Nik, if you come with me, together we could make a run for the throne, and that would mean you wouldn't have to drain people."

I raised my eyebrows skeptically.

"Other people would do it for you if you were the queen. That's the power of the High Court. The queen's deepest fantasies become reality. She never has to search for her own food."

"You're saying slaves would do it for us."

He nodded. I thought back to the night at the Shop-n-Go, how Maxwell had talked about making offerings to keep the queen and her court fed. How the old man, who may have disappeared that night, was reluctant to go.

"Do you have to do that for your queen? Do you ... bring her sacrifices?"

He hesitated and then narrowed his eyes, and I worried I'd said too much, but then he gave me a mischievous grin. "I'd tell you if I could, but I can't. I mean, I'm physically bound not to tell you. Unless, that is, you say you'll come with me. Then I can tell you everything."

I let out a small sigh. I didn't want him to know I'd seen him at the Shop-n-Go, because I wanted to learn more first.

"Look, Nik. I can't lose you. We can be partners. With you by my side, and with the band backing us, we could take over. I want you by my side in the High Court."

"What does that even mean? We'd be ... together? Like, together, together?"

Cole gave a sly smile. "We'd rule hand in hand. And as far as being together, we'd be as together as you'd allow."

Annoyingly, my cheeks got all warm, and I turned away, frustrated at my reaction. I stood and went over to my desk chair to sit down.

Cole chuckled. He pushed himself off the floor and walked closer to me, and the Shade at my shoulder pulled toward him. I wanted to hit it.

"Stay over there," I said.

"Why?" He held his hands up, all innocent-like. "Does my nearness affect you? That's what happens when you spend a century with someone."

I had to keep him away, so when he'd gotten close enough, I sc.r.a.ped my fingers down the strings of his guitar, the resulting noise loud and disjointed. Anger flashed in his eyes as he jerked it away from me. Finally, a true reaction.

I smiled as if I had discovered some sort of weakness. "Leave me alone, Cole. I may be bound to the Tunnels, but I'm not bound to you anymore. You have no power over me."

"You have no idea what I can do," he said.

I leaned in closer and lowered my voice. "I've been with you for a hundred years. I know exactly what you can do."

"Did you know I could still Feed off you?"

Before I could stop him, he grabbed behind my head, pulled me toward him, and kissed me. For a moment, I didn't fight it. For a moment, I let him steal the deepest layers of my pain. Desperation replaced reason in my head. He seemed surprised that I hadn't pulled back, and he briefly opened his eyes, searching my face. I didn't move, and he kissed me again.

The moment became longer. With the touch of his lips, he literally removed my doubt, my guilt, my fears. I felt good for the first time in a long time. Cole could shield me from the pain of this world, and for that moment, I wanted to go with him.

No good-byes. No second chances. No disappointing the people I loved. Or at least I'd be in a place where I didn't care if I disappointed anyone.

But it wasn't real. And I'd been down that road before. I knew where it led. With my lips against his, I reached a conclusion I'd been trying to avoid: the easy path in this whole mess would be to go with Cole, and I couldn't let myself make the easy choice. I had to make the right choice.

With all the strength I could muster, I pushed him away from me.

His face was as shocked as mine felt, and his c.o.c.ky grin had disappeared completely. "Nik... I-"

I held my hand up. "Don't. That had nothing to do with you." I forced myself to look him in the eye. I spoke deliberately. "It will never happen again."

His face grew hard, and he gave me a smile that made him look sinister. "We'll see about that." The smile stayed on Cole's face as he climbed out my window. "One of these days you should sample the emotions floating all around you. If you let me, I can show you how."

"I'd rather produce my own. I'll never steal from others."

"Never say never, Nik. I won't." He leaned his head against the window frame. "I'm not giving up on you." He shoved the window down and disappeared.

My fingers clenched the edge of my desk. His words sounded like a threat.

TEN.

NOW.

Mrs. Stone's cla.s.sroom. Four months left.

The following day, Jack and I were sitting alone in Mrs. Stone's cla.s.sroom, working, when Cole made good on his promise. A boy, maybe a year older than me, showed up in the doorway. He was tall enough that with a few more inches, his head could have touched the top of the frame.

Jack looked up from his desk, his pencil halted midword.

"Nik? Is that you?" The boy's voice wasn't familiar.

His face wasn't either. He looked like a typical teenager, with thick black hair that was purposely mussed up. His lanky body leaned against the doorjamb, casually. His ears had several piercings, as did his eyebrows, which framed dark, familiar eyes.

Eyes that didn't belong here. Eyes that I would know anywhere.

It was Cole. No question. But he had somehow changed his appearance, down to his hair and his skin.

Whatever he'd done, though, he couldn't change his dark eyes.

"Don't you remember me?" His lips curled upward. "Neal? From the party?"

I could feel Jack's gaze from beside me. I narrowed my eyes at Cole and shook my head.

"I'm not surprised, really. You probably don't remember much from that night," he said.

Mrs. Stone was out of the cla.s.sroom. Cole probably timed it that way. I said a silent wish that she would return soon.

"You must have me confused with someone else," I said in a quiet voice.

"I'm sure I don't," Cole said. "Nikki Beckett. Seventeen. Sweet. Great little tattoo on her shoulder that tastes faintly of ... charcoal."

My face flamed red and I could feel the tears behind my eyes, but they didn't come. What would Jack be thinking? I could hear him tapping his foot beside me.

"Go away," I whispered.

"That's not a nice way to treat an old friend. I go to school here now. I'm going to graduate someday, just like you." He took a few steps forward. "I'm gonna clean myself up. Just like you."

I could sense Jack shifting in his seat next to me. I bit my lower lip, leaned down, and shoved my books into my backpack.

"You're not giving up, are you, Nik?" Cole sang out, his voice an eerie melody.

I hoisted my bag over my shoulder, lowered my head, and scrambled to the door. He blocked the exit.

"Sorry, Nik," he whispered, barely audible. "You forced my hand."

"Let me go, Neal," I said, using his fake name.

"If only it were that easy."

"Let her by," Jack called out from his seat at the back.

Cole set his gaze on Jack, a snide lip curl on his face. I knew that look.

I put my hand on his arm. "Don't-"

"Quiet, Nik," Cole cut me off, keeping his piercing gaze on Jack. "Listen, friend. Little Nikki here doesn't want me to let her go. Trust me. She likes a guy to take charge."