Defying Destiny (Afterword Academy #3) - Katie May Page 0,55

her doing.”

“Okay, we need to think of a plan,” Preston mutters, pacing back and forth.

“I want to see the grounds of the Academy,” Hadley says. “I want to see what she’s done to it.”

“We can’t go up there yet, my beloved,” Caius disagrees. “First, you need protection and a means to arm yourself. There’s only one place we can get that.”

Hadley looks at Caius, confused, her brows furrowed. “Where do you suggest we go?”

“Caemeterium Primis,” he murmurs, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

“The burial grounds of the F-Fates?” Preston stumbles out. “W-Why would we want to go back there?”

Caius levels Preston with a rather poignant look. “Because her Fate dagger still resides with Claire’s body. We need to retrieve it if we have any hope of fighting Lilith.”

“Fuck,” I growl out when I see all of the color drain from Hadley’s face. Auston must be thinking the same thing, because he quickly pulls her into a hug. I can’t even imagine how to process that the man who supposedly loves you is telling you that you need to go and dig up yourself.

How fucked up is that?

“Why can’t you go get it, Caius?” I ask. “You’re a Fate. You do it.”

Caius rolls his eyes. “Because only the Fate assigned to it can touch it. I just got my body back. I do not wish to see it shattered into a thousand pieces.”

“That makes one of us,” I mutter under my breath.

Hadley chokes out a sob against Auston’s chest, making my chest squeeze painfully. “I know, baby, I know,” Auston soothes, rubbing Hadley’s back. “But I think getting that dagger might not be a bad idea. Especially since the rest of us are without half of our Afterlife powers.” He pulls away from her and rubs his thumbs on her cheeks before turning back to us. “We need to rally everyone we can while Caius and Hadley go to Caemeterium Primis. I’ll go to Heaven, and Brax, you can go to gather the Demons. Pres, Kars, you get as many Reapers and Ghosts as you can muster.”

“The hell I am,” I growl out. “I’m not leaving Hadley’s side. Plus, I’m the only one who can still fly. I should stay with her.”

“But the Demons—” Caius starts, but I wave him off.

“Preston or someone else will have to go to them on my behalf.” I lock eyes with Caius, daring him to tell me no. “I’m coming. That’s final.”

“Brax should come,” Hadley agrees. “The rest of you, meet us on the beach just in front of Preston’s treehouse with anyone you can get to fight on our side. We’ll meet you there once we get the dagger.”

My brothers begrudgingly agree, and one by one, they go to Hadley and give her a kiss before ascending up what’s left of the stairs leading out of here.

Caius, being the show off that he is, opens another portal. I get the eerie feeling of déjà vu, because he creates it in the exact same spot that Aggie…uhh…Eve or whoever she fucking is, did just before we entered Hell.

This time, I don’t wait for Caius to steal Hadley from me. Instead, I grab her by the hand and pull her in with me. Within the portal’s vortex, I pull her against my chest and plant a kiss on her lips. We arrive all too quickly. I liked the alone time I had in there with her.

But the portal opens up to a darkened graveyard. Mist hovers over the ground, and a dampness hangs in the air, making the already creepy graveyard even creepier.

My skin prickles as if someone is watching us, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. “I’ve got a weird feeling,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “Something is off.”

“I feel it too, Brax,” Hadley agrees, holding onto my hand tight.

Caius walks up to her other side, snatching up her free hand. “It’s this way,” he says softly before tugging us along. We weave through the tall obelisks, past a few that I recognize from before, including poor old Lucifer’s.

When we arrive at Claire’s obelisk, I look to Hadley and see silent tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry you have to do this, my beloved,” Caius says, trying to soothe her, I think, but it’s not fucking working.

“Didn’t happen to bring a shovel with you, did you, Mr. Almighty Fate?” I ask sarcastically. Caius scowls in response. “No? That dagger of yours also works as a digger