Betrayal Read online

  And the doors were open wide in invitation. Neos was waiting for us.

  We looked at each other, but nobody said anything. We just stepped inside and wandered the marble halls filled with antiquities. The house was stifling hot, and we shed our coats and tossed them on a wooden settee.

  There was no way Neos didn’t know we were here, and I couldn’t help wishing we were better prepared. That we’d laid a trap for him. Instead, we were scrambling around like idiots in a horror film.

  Waiting to be picked off one by one.

  We stalked through the ground floor, feeling the oppressive weight of Neos’s proximity, tension rising in the silence, until Natalie said, “Whoa!”

  Simon fired a reflexive burst of dispelling energy at the wall, and Lukas dropped into a combat stance as I shifted my grip on the dagger hilt. Then I saw what she was gaping at.

  The tapestry with the sixteenth-century lady who looked just like me.

  “Is that you?” she asked.

  “My ancestor, I guess.”

  “The likeness is extraordinary,” Simon mused.

  “More like messed up,” Natalie said.

  “No wonder you’re so emo all the time,” Lukas said.

  “Thanks.” I stared up at it, trying to feel as powerful as that Emma looked. Had she ever faced someone as scary as Neos? Or been crushed by the voice of a siren? It didn’t matter. They were here, and I was going to kill them, because that was the only way I could stop them. That was the messed-up part. Even though I didn’t want to be like that Emma, I had no choice.

  Natalie glanced at me, then at the tapestry. “Only one thing missing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Her friends.”

  Lukas rolled his eyes, but I smiled at Natalie, and she grinned. She was true and loyal and somehow made searching a haunted mansion for a killer wraith master almost bearable. She’d protected me at school, and now it was my turn. I had to dispel anything that threatened her. And Simon and Lukas.

  “Whenever you two are done with your Hallmark moment,” Lukas said, “we might want to—”

  My spine started tingling, and an instant later wraiths rose through the floor and attacked. The humanoid cockroaches swarmed toward us in a blast of frigid air. All my tension and fear dropped away as the hours of preparation kicked in. We were ready.

  Instead of stepping away from the attack, Lukas lunged, using a wave of compelling force to crash into the wraiths, funneling them over his head to slam into the walls.

  Simon’s bursts of dispelling energy weren’t much stronger than when I first met him—but he’d learned to aim them for maximum effect. He tore through a wraith in two seconds as summoning energy erupted from Natalie.

  I dispelled the wraith trying to claw Lukas in the back, and Coby and the ghost jocks materialized and demolished the last one.

  And that was that. Just seconds after they’d attacked, we won. But it was too easy. There had to be more than this.

  “Tell Coby and his team to scout the area,” Simon told me. “We need to find Neos—and the siren.” He swallowed. “And any survivors from the Knell.”

  You okay with scouting? I asked Coby.

  No problem, he said, and led the jocks through a wall.

  We swept the bottom floor, then went upstairs and checked the billiard room, the library, and a sitting room with views of a barren autumn garden. Then onto another set of stairs. Halfway up, I felt my anxiety ebb and I paused to smell a vase of roses on the landing.

  We were going to win. This wasn’t even hard. We didn’t need to worry so much, or fight so hard. We didn’t really need anything. This was all going to work out.

  “Um, guys?” Natalie said, eyeing me.

  She nattered a few words I couldn’t quite make out above the humming in my head. And the guys got all concerned, for no reason in particular, with Simon inflating a bubble of dispelling magic and Lukas raking the walls with compelling force.

  Then the siren appeared at the head of the stairs. She looked like that old silent-movie star with the bobbed hair, Louise somebody, except she wore a bright blue baby-doll dress, thigh-high black stockings, and faded black Converse All Stars.

  Sweet Emma, my gemma, she said, her face shining with love and concern. You don’t need them. You don’t need anyone.

  Simon loosed a burst of dispelling power that she didn’t seem to notice, then Lukas blasted compelling magic at her, and she faltered.

  But I need you, she continued. I only want to talk and he’s trying to kill me. Please! Please help me.

  “Stop that,” I told Lukas.

  Lukas grunted and doubled his attack, and the siren fell to her knees, weeping in pain. Please, please, she begged, as Lukas stepped closer.

  “I said stop,” I shouted, and slammed the heel of my hand into Lukas’s chest.

  He staggered backward and tumbled down the stairs to the landing, where he lay in a moaning heap.

  “Emma!” Natalie grabbed my arm. “Look at me. She’s in your mind, the siren’s controlling you—”

  I head-butted her, and she dropped where she stood, her forehead already red and swelling. Then I turned toward Simon, who ignored me, focusing all his meager power on the siren. His eyeglasses flashed and he muttered under his breath, while I spun into one of the unarmed stances that the Rake taught me.

  Then I stopped, as the song in my head faded. Instead of focusing her power on controlling me, the siren was focused on fending off Simon’s attack. I stood motionless, caught between her will and my own.

  With the echoes of her lullaby ringing in my mind, I couldn’t fight her—but I knew what was happening now, and I kept myself from attacking Simon.

  Instead, I stood there, completely useless. Rooting for him to beat her, but still unable to force the siren completely from my mind and help him.

  Simon had never been powerful—and the siren shrugged off his blasts. I felt her lullaby grow louder and more persuasive as Simon uttered a few curses and threw everything into one last barrage. Her laughter was low and melodious, and she didn’t give an inch.

  Until Coby and the ghost jocks returned.

  They flashed through a wall of portraits and I said, Thank God! Stop her!

  But Coby said, I’m sorry, Emma.

  And with gleeful grins, the ghost jocks slammed into Simon as Coby dove at me. Still under the siren’s influence, I couldn’t defend myself as he grabbed my arms and clamped them behind my back.

  I felt the tingle of ghostburn, but he managed to use my sleeves to pin me without singeing my skin. He shoved me toward the second floor, and I heard Simon behind me, calling for help as the ghost jocks kicked him.

  I stumbled forward, unable to comprehend what was happening. I couldn’t reconcile my ideal of Coby—the guy I’d trusted completely—with what was happening. This wasn’t Coby; he’d never betray me. This was something I’d dragged back from the Beyond that only looked like Coby.

  “Coby, this isn’t you.” I halfheartedly struggled in his grasp, unable to lift the siren’s fog that curbed my abilities. “Please. Anyone else but you. You can’t be the one who betrayed us.”

  Because if he was, I didn’t know what I was fighting for anymore. I didn’t want to kill Neos only to be with Bennett. I was here to avenge Coby’s death.

  I’m dead because of you, Emma, he said. Did you really think I wouldn’t blame you?

  I shook my head, but couldn’t speak. He was right; it was my fault. All of it was my fault. His death, my family’s disappearance, my team’s defeat—my new family lying downstairs, battered and beaten, defenseless against Neos. And the Knell on the brink of extinction, its members being slaughtered one by one. Tears pooled in my eyes as I pictured Bennett the last time I’d seen him. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t be strung out on Asarum.

  Did killing Neos even matter? The damage was already too great. Nothing I’d do would make anything better.

  Coby dragged me through a labyrinth of
hallways, and I lurched along defeated, the siren’s lullaby ringing loudly in my ears. I welcomed her melody, the comfort and release. A moment later, Moorehead and Craven joined us, sneering about how they’d kicked Simon’s ass.

  Then Coby opened a door and pushed me into the study with the ornately carved fireplace. The same room where I’d killed my possessed aunt. The ghost jocks flanked me, and Coby and the siren followed, but I hardly noticed any of them.

  Neos was waiting for me. Darling, he said, his voice scraping in my mind. How I’ve missed you.

  The room was lit only by candlelight and the fire in the grate, and he sat in a wingback chair with two wraiths behind him, ectoplasmic drool dripping from their gaping mouths. Neos was in the same black shirt and pants he’d worn when he’d found me as a child. His eyes were jet-black and crowlike, and the sight of him made my teeth hurt.

  Despite the siren’s enforced calm, I felt a shiver of terror, and took a shuddering breath, panic beginning to overtake me. The siren’s voice immediately sounded louder in my mind. There’s no need to fear. Let go of all your worries, all your responsibilities …

  Neos’s bright eyes sought out Coby. You served me well. You will be rewarded.

  The siren glided toward Neos and laid a hand on his arm, like a possessive girlfriend. She is yours, she told Neos.

  At last. Neos eyed me hungrily. Come here, girl.

  Coby shoved me forward, and I stopped a few feet from Neos. I didn’t attack him, I didn’t even think of attacking him. I stood with my head demurely bowed, the siren’s endless song echoing in my mind.

  Look at me, Neos said. You’re the key, Emma. My final rite. He licked his fleshy lips. I can almost taste you already.

  Thrumming beneath the siren’s lullaby, like a dissonant chord, was the sense that everything had gone wrong. That I could change things. But knowing didn’t help. I was powerless to do anything.

  Then there was a flash of movement, as Coby dove away from me, shouting Now! at the ghost jocks.

  He launched himself at the siren with the experience of a thousand tackles, and slammed into her brutally. Neos had kept his bodyguard wraiths in check, but with a brief wave of his hand, he released them. They flew to attack Coby—and the ghost jocks threw themselves into their path to block them.

  My head felt cloudy, my thoughts drifting past half formed. I watched the jocks fending off the wraiths while Coby struggled with the siren, and nothing made sense.

  Until, as Coby started choking the siren, she screamed at me to release her. My Emma, help! Help me! She grew stronger with fright. Emma, they’ll kill me. Please!

  My fury came in a rush, the siren thrusting all her fear and pain into my head. I felt the dispelling power like lightning in my veins. The light pooled inside my hands, growing brighter and stronger until I shot jagged bolts of energy at Coby.

  He had betrayed me. Who did he think he was? I made him. I blasted him again as Neos cackled, discordant and bone-chilling.

  The siren whispered to me, He’s nothing to you. Another meddler who plagues you with demands and problems—

  The ghost jocks deflected my blasts with their bodies, flickering as I chipped away at their spectral forms. Then Coby punched the siren hard in the stomach, and she released her hold on me. My mind began to clear.

  Coby hadn’t betrayed me. He’d pretended to side with Neos so they wouldn’t see him as a threat—to get me close, close enough to kill Neos. It was brilliant. He’d played his role so well, I’d believed him. But I should’ve known he’d never betray me. He was Coby, and I could trust him to the very end. And the strength in that was enough to lift the siren’s haze and propel me forward.

  I drew my dagger and leaped at Neos, but he rose in a flash to the ceiling, crowing loudly. The final rite is happening as we speak—and feeding me more power than you can imagine.

  He lifted his arms and summoned, and more wraiths swirled into the room in whirlwinds of filth and decay. They took form and started savaging Coby and the ghost jocks.

  I flipped my dagger in my hand to throw at Neos, and three more wraiths rose in front of me. I kicked one in the throat and stabbed another in the gut and felt the chill fingers of the third clawing at my back.

  I dropped and rolled and snapped its neck, but more formed even as the dead ones dissolved into greasy oil slicks on the Oriental carpet.

  I heard Coby and the jocks losing their battle, and felt the siren clawing at my mind again—but she couldn’t find a toehold. Maybe she couldn’t slip into my head unless she preyed on my self-doubt, my fear. Right now, all I felt was anger.

  Coby swore and Moorehead screamed, but before I could help, Neos flew at me.

  I dodged, then spun to return the attack, but wraiths filled the room. I couldn’t help Coby and the jocks—I couldn’t even see them. I heard Moorehead scream again, and fought my way through the writhing mass of wraiths toward the sound. I stabbed two more wraiths before someone stepped through the door—shining with power and a rage that equaled my own. He wielded spears of light as easily as a couple of chopsticks.

  Bennett.

  Still wearing the faded-blue long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans. Still looking strung out. Still gorgeous enough to stop my heart, even now. He skewered four wraiths before they knew he was there. They hurtled at him, shrieking in hunger, and he burned them away into reeking wisps of smoke.

  “Emma!” he shouted. “Finish him!”

  His lance of light turned into a blade and sliced through the wraiths—and cleared an opening for me, to Neos.

  I sprinted at Neos, jumping from a chair onto the desk, my dagger flashing as he fired spectral blades at me. I deflected them and fought closer and closer. As the battle raged behind us, Neos’s power oozed at me from all around, oily black tentacles groping toward me, but I pressed forward, closer to those glittering black eyes.

  Then Neos shouted a command, and a ghost dropped from the ceiling to hover between us. For a moment, I didn’t recognize him; then I saw his big eyes and Dickensian outfit, and froze.

  Nicholas! I said. Are you all right? Did he hurt you?

  No, mum. He glanced fearfully at Neos. Not yet.

  Sheathe the dagger, Neos sneered. Or I will introduce your friend to places in the Beyond that can drive even a ghost mad.

  A wraith screamed behind me. I heard Coby grunt with effort, and Craven gasp. Dispelling lightning rods of power flashed. Yet all of that felt very far away—my whole world shrunk until nobody existed but me and Neos and Nicholas.

  You’ll pay for this, I said. He’s just a boy.

  Darling Emma, Neos said. He’s been a ghost for two hundred years. It is you who is the child. Sheathe the dagger. Oh, you are special, my little girl. I’ve never seen a ghostkeeper use a knife like that.

  Please, mum, Nicholas said, shaking with fright.

  I lowered my dagger, my heart thundering in my chest.

  “Emma!” Bennett yelled from behind me. “Whatever he’s saying is a lie! Nicholas betrayed you—he’s been spying for Neos.”

  I didn’t turn my head; I didn’t move an inch—but my mind worked furiously. I remembered the jolt of fear when Nicholas had approached with that icicle. I remembered him hovering in the hallways and at team meetings, always listening. And I remembered Nicholas had given me the metal disk that stank of Neos, and had lured us away from the museum. I looked at him and saw the truth in his eyes: Nicholas was working for Neos.

  But we’re family, I said to him.

  My sister is my only family, Nicholas told me. And Master Neos will bring her back.

  Master Neos is going to die, I said, feeling the force rumbling in my chest. For the last time.

  Then I imbued my dagger with dispelling power and launched myself at Neos. I batted away his streams of perverted energy and slammed him into the wall. We fell to the floor and I slashed with my dagger—

  And Nicholas flitted between us.

  I pulled the blow at the last moment. I couldn’t hu
rt Nicholas. After everything, I still couldn’t hurt him.

  Neos slammed me with a backhand that sent me reeling into a bookcase, and Nicholas streamed toward me, his face a mask of violence. A lance of Bennett’s light flashed from behind me and hit Nicholas in the center of his narrow chest. He looked faintly surprised, and said, Oh, mum … Then he crumbled into gray ash and vanished.

  “Nicholas!” I cried. “It isn’t fair.”

  But there was no time to mourn as Neos roared.

  He exploded with an avalanche of power that hurled me across the room, shredded his wraiths into nonbeing—and tore through Coby and Moorehead and Craven. They faded in an eyeblink, leaving the siren huddled on the floor, and even Bennett stumbled backward, his arms lowered after having dispelled Nicholas.

  The final rite, Neos purred. Nothing fancy. Nothing you haven’t seen before. Taking power by sacrificing ghostkeepers. Well, I’ve got a stock of them in the basement—and three more just died to my wraiths. The Knell is gone, and I grow stronger with every sacrifice. And once I kill you—

  I rose into a crouch, and the siren, unmoving in the corner, spoke into my mind: Wait. Emma, wait.

  “Just him and us,” Bennett said, wiping blood from his split lip, not realizing the siren was still conscious.

  “Yes,” I said.

  Bennett killed Nicholas, the siren sung in my mind. A little child. He likes dispelling too much—he’s not a ghostkeeper, he’s a murderer. He’s on drugs, look at him. He’s a killer of children.

  Bennett circled the room, fists crackling with energy, until we flanked Neos. “Whenever you’re ready, Emma.”

  Whenever I was ready? For what?

  I knew it. I knew I couldn’t trust him. My parents were right. He’d left me when I needed him most, taken Asarum, and now he’d killed Nicholas, a member of my family. I was responsible for Nicholas, and Bennett had taken him away from me. He always had enjoyed dispelling too much.

  I sprang at Bennett. He was so focused on Neos that he didn’t see the blow coming. I kicked his feet from under him, and he hit the ground hard. I put my right boot on his wrist to keep him from dispelling.

  My dagger felt heavy in my hand—heavy and strong and purposeful.