me why you’re freaking out. Is this because of the poison?”
“No, it’s because that wasn’t my mom back there.” He kicks the wall and curses.
“Yes, it was—”
He covers my mouth with his hand, shushing me. “Don’t you think it’s a little strange that this is all so easy? That we just walked in there, and she had all the information with a flawless plan?”
I wait for him to remove his hand. “Yeah, but I don’t think your mom would lie to us. She seemed so nice and happy about stuff.”
“When she first came downstairs, I thought she looked unreal. Her eyes were too similar to mine, and I don’t remember my mom’s eyes being like that. And then, when she gave me the paper with the address, I swear I saw her shifting into someone else. I thought it might have been her hag form, but it just came to me who she is.” He lets out a long exhale, his head lowering as he pinches the bridge of his noise. “It’s the Banshee that took me to Draven.”
I slump my back against the house. “But she looked like your mom.”
“Banshees can alter their looks, Gemma,” he says, lifting his gaze to mine.
All my hope of fixing the mess I created is squashed in an instant. “Why would another Banshee do that?” I coddle my belly, thinking about how I let her touch it.
“I’m not sure.” He grazes his fingers up my arm, trying to comfort me. “But we need to get as far away from here as we can until I can figure it out.”
“Are you just trying to make it so I won’t die and go to the Afterlife?”
“As much as I don’t want you to go, that’s not what this is about.” He places an arm on each side of me. “But I’m not going to fucking lie to you. For now, I’m glad that wasn’t my mom, because that means you’re not going to the Afterlife.”
My heart hammers inside my chest as he bends his arms, bringing himself closer to me.
“Alex, I still have to do it. I have to fix what I did.”
“And we’ll find a way”—he moves closer, closer, closer—“but it will be one where you don’t have to temporarily die. I can’t let that happen.” He wets his lips with his tongue, all his attention zoning in on my mouth. “About what my mom said back at the house—”
Suddenly, garbage cans tumble over, and a dog howls. Alex spins on his heels, swinging the knife, ready to kill.
“Well, look at you two, hiding out by the trash cans like two frightened, little kids.” Laylen’s tall silhouette emerges from the shadows, and just above our heads, a porch light suddenly clicks on.
Laylen grins as the light hits his face. “Good job,” he says to the air.
I want to run up and hug him, tell him I’m sorry this happened to him, but Alex pushes me back.
“Motherfucker,” Alex growls, aiming the knife at Laylen’s throat. “Where the hell did you come from?"
A grin creeps up Laylen’s face, his fangs pointing sharply from his mouth. “I thought you’d be happy to see me like this, just the way you always saw me—as a killer.”
Alex rolls his eyes. “Don’t be overdramatic.”
“I think he always saw you for what you were supposed to be.” Aislin appears out of nowhere, rising from the night. Her golden hair blows in the wind, and an evil grin spreads across her lips as she walks up to Laylen and strokes his shoulder. “What we were both supposed to be.”
Marking their forearms is a triangle outlined with a red, Greek-like symbol—the Mark of Malefiscus. The sight of it sends a shiver down my spine, and Alex notices my shudder.
“Get us out of here,” Alex hisses under his breath, but I can’t seem to take my eyes off them, like they’ve pulled me into some kind of trance.
“She’s fixated by me,” Laylen says, sweeping his hair back with his blue eyes trained on me. “She’s remembering the bite and how good it felt.”
I touch my neck as the memory sparkles in my mind. “I feel funny . . .”
“Gemma.” Alex hooks a finger under my chin, and the nick of his sparks rips me out of the daze. “Don’t look at him. Just get us out of here.”
I hesitate. “We can’t just leave them.”
He looks me dead in the eye. “I know you want to save them, but right now, you need to take