Betrayal - By Lee Nichols Page 0,49

ghost, he would’ve been dead, because I would’ve shot him with the worst dispelling energy I had. Anything to stop him from hurting that ghost and ending her soothing voice.

Instead, I flung myself at him and knocked him to the ground.

“Emma! What the hell? What are you doing? She’s killing Natalie.”

“Natalie’s the traitor. The ghost woman’s saving us.”

He twisted roughly and I caught a glimpse of the ocean. The ghost stood barefoot in the tide, wearing a short-sleeve black dress that came to her knees, impervious to the cold. She had Natalie by the shoulders and was forcing her head underwater. Natalie struggled, but was no match for the ghost’s strength.

“Emma, snap out of it. She’s drowning her!” Lukas shouted.

“Natalie betrayed us,” I snarled, and punched him.

He drew more energy into himself, and I punched him again. Then he loosed a stream of power that caught the ghost behind her knees and flipped her into the water.

Natalie rose coughing from the waves, and Lukas, now lying on his side, compelled the ghost with a desperate barrage of force. When Lukas’s blast hit, the ghost shimmered, and I pinned him to the ground, but he kept pouring his energy into the ghost until she faltered.

I get stronger every time they beat me, the ghost said into my mind. Next time, I will save you. Once and for all.

Then she escaped into the Beyond. And even as my mind returned to my own control, I felt her calling for me, so loving and intense that I regretted seeing her go.

Lukas shoved me off him, and I lay in the sand stunned by what had happened. What had I done?

Lukas helped Natalie from the water. He didn’t bother waiting for me, but threw her over his shoulder and carried her toward the car. I trudged through the wet sand after them.

“Is she all right?” I asked, when I caught up with them at the car.

“Still breathing,” he said. “No thanks to you.”

14

Simon met us at the emergency room. They’d checked Natalie’s heart and lungs and treated her for hypothermia. They wouldn’t let us see her, but Simon had guardianship papers and they allowed him in.

He’d brought fresh clothes for all of us, and Lukas and I changed in the bathrooms. When I returned to the corridor, I found Simon pacing, looking overwhelmed.

“Is she okay?” My stomach tightened. “Tell me she’s okay.”

“She’s fine—she’s spending the night and we’ll collect her in the morning.”

“Can I see her? I want to tell her I’m sorry.”

“She knows,” Lukas said, stepping from the men’s bathroom, drying his hair with a handful of paper towels. “You didn’t stop saying it the whole drive here.”

“I want one of you to tell me what happened,” Simon said.

“She freaked,” Lukas said.

“Natalie?” Simon asked.

“No, me,” I said. “It was the siren. It was more than a hum this time. We could see her. And she spoke to me.”

“That’s a siren?” Lukas asked.

“She got into my head. She told me … she convinced me that Natalie …” I choked back a sob. “If Lukas hadn’t stopped her, I don’t know what would’ve happened. Face-to-face, the siren’s too strong for me. I lose all control. She plays on my worst fears.”

“That’s why we’re a team,” Simon said. “What else happened?”

We went out to the car, and on the drive home we told him the rest. “Neos sent her to weaken me,” I said. “And it’s working.”

“We’ll stop him,” Lukas said. “We’ll stop them both.”

“How?” I asked.

We both looked at Simon in the light of the dash, but he didn’t answer.

Natalie returned home the next morning, plotting to become a candy striper in order to flirt with one of the doctors. In other words, she was fine. In fact, she was worried about me, so we spent the day lounging together with a tray of Anatole’s goodies.

As we lay on her bed, downloading free games onto my iPhone, I apologized again.

“Would you stop already?” She quickly ran her finger over the surface of the phone, killing zombies on the screen.

“I just— Ooh, get that one!” I advised over her shoulder. “You know I don’t want you to die, right?”

“You mean, in this game or in real life?” Natalie asked.

“Real life,” I said. “You could die in the game, so I can have a turn.”

The game switched screens to a new level and she grinned at me. “Too bad, sucker.”

I smiled back, relieved she didn’t blame me for the siren, happily helping her move to the next