Immortal Consequences(127)

“Listen to me.” Desperation clung to his voice as he pleaded with her. “I know a way out of the soul vow. A place we can hide. I…I needed to wait for the right moment. It’s only in the Ether that we can slip out undetected, and even then, it’s a risk. But I need you to trust me.” He lifted her hands to his lips, placing a featherlight kiss against her knuckles. “Can you do that for me? Can you trust me?”

Wren tried to speak, but nothing came out. She was struck by a horrifying realization that made her tense beneath him. “But…if you discovered a way out of the soul vow…why didn’t you tell the other nominees? We could have…we could have tried to find a way into the Ether with them. We could have tried to help them.”

August flinched at the accusation. “It’s not that simple. I can explain everything once you come with me—”

“And then what? We hide for the rest of eternity in the outskirts of purgatory while Silas continues to destroy other innocent souls?”

“But—” August shook his head, brows creased together in confusion. “Don’t you understand? It doesn’t matter because then you’d be safe.”

She pushed herself away from him, just an inch. Enough to come to her senses.

“If one of us wins, we can try to take him down from the inside. There’s nothing we can do if we hide. That’s the easy way out.”

“I don’t care.” A sense of urgency flooded through August’s voice. A tremor that made her heart twist painfully. “I want the easy way out. My entire life has been the hard way. The painful way. If we don’t leave now, then—” He ran his hands through his curls and let out a throaty groan. “You don’t understand. There’s so much I need to tell you. But we’re running out of time.”

“Time for what?” Wren stepped closer.

He froze, eyes locked on hers. A paralyzing moment hovered between them.

But August never got the opportunity to answer her.

He doubled over, hands clamped firmly over his chest, and let out an agonized scream. Every muscle in his neck tensed as his knees gave out beneath him and he collapsed onto the ground.

“August!” Wren bent down, hands frantically searching for a wound, but there was nothing. No cut. No blood. Nothing to indicate what was hurting him. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

He threw his head back as the pain seized his body. Two words slipped out of his mouth.

“Leave. Me.”

Wren tilted her head in confusion. Tears blurred her vision.

“What?” she whispered, voice cracking.

He groaned, the veins in his neck bulging. “Now.”

Something echoed behind them. The sound rumbled in the air like thunder.

It took Wren a second to realize what it was.

Laughter.

“As entertaining as this has been,” said a familiar voice, “I’m afraid we do need to wrap this up. I’m getting quite bored of the theatrics.”

Wren didn’t understand what she was looking at. It didn’t make any sense.

Louise stood behind her, arms crossed and face twisted in amusement. She watched Wren with an eerie calmness, a steadiness in her gaze that sent a wave of panic through Wren’s body. But there was something about her that was different. Her eyes were no longer the pale blue that reminded Wren of waves and ice.

They were a dark shade of brown. Almost entirely black.

“Lou?”

“Try again.”

And then Louise blinked, her eyes changing from black to their familiar blue. The smile on her face dissipated, replaced by pure panic and desperation.

She looked around in bewilderment.

“Where…where am I?”

Wren shuddered. She watched the confusion ripple across Louise’s face. The terror.

Louise blinked and her eyes melted into black again, a wicked smile lifting onto her lips.

“She’s a bit of a crybaby, that one.” It was Louise’s voice, the one that belonged to the friend Wren knew, but there was a sense of cruelty she didn’t recognize. Every word laced with venom. “Good thing I don’t have much use for her anymore.”

August groaned from his place on the ground. He gripped Wren by the wrist, digging his fingernails into her skin. She winced, but he didn’t let go, holding on to her tighter. He fought against the pain, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

“Run,” he begged. “Please.”

But Wren couldn’t. She needed to understand what was happening.

For once—she needed the truth.

She gently pried August’s hand away from her and stood up to face Louise.

“Who are you?”

“There we go.” Louise clasped her hands together in delight. “Now you’re asking the right questions.” She slinked closer to Wren, reveling in her confusion. “Oh, come on. You don’t have any guesses? You know…that little newbie—oh, what’s his name? Emilio, I believe. He basically figured the whole thing out. Such a shame about his injury. He was just about to put it all together.”

“You’re…possessing Lou, aren’t you?” Wren asked, voice quivering.

Louise—or rather, the person inside Louise—let out a bark of laughter.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.”