Jared stared back at me, his face streaked with the blood from my hands.
Lukas stood on the other side holding the dislodged board. His eyes dropped to Jared’s hands still resting on my hips, and his expression changed.
Jared stepped back awkwardly. “We’re good. Just get her out.”
Lukas and Priest tore the boards away one at a time until the opening was big enough to climb through.
I stepped out and Alara threw her arms around me. I winced and she drew back. “Oh my god, Kennedy. Look at your hands.”
I didn’t want to see them. I wanted to remember them touching Jared’s face and wiping his tears, instead of clawing at the boards.
“How did you find us?”
Broken glow sticks bathed the room in green light. Alara pointed at the rows of beds. The spirits of the children gathered in the aisle, except for the one that trapped us inside the wall. He was conspicuously missing, his sledgehammer lying at the foot of one of the beds.
“They showed us where you were,” she said.
I stared out into the sea of expectant faces. “Thank you.”
Would they be able to move on now? I hated the thought of them being trapped in this slaughterhouse.
“What happened to the other one?” I asked.
Priest held up the nail gun loaded with the cold-iron nails. “I took him out.”
Jared leaned against the wall, his head down. “Did you find the disk?”
“There was nothing up there except rats and empty beer bottles,” Alara answered.
“We can’t leave until we find it.” Jared’s eyes drifted to the hole. “Not after that.”
Priest paced. “If you were going to hide something in this house, where would you put it?”
“Down here,” I answered automatically. “Not many people would hang around long enough to find it.”
Priest looked at the spirits. “Think they’ll mind if we try?”
Alara studied their innocent expressions. “No.”
Jared rubbed his hand over his face. Now that I knew the truth about the secret he was carrying, I could see the guilt in his every movement.
Sifting through the evidence of a mass-murder scene was harder than I expected, especially when the victims were scampering around us I lifted the thin mattresses easily, working the right side of the room while Alara worked the left. Jared and Lukas checked the walls for cracks and hidden spaces, two of the taller children trailing behind them.
Priest sat on the floor with a handheld transistor radio. A group of spirits gathered around him.
“In the mood for some music?” I asked.
“Just the opposite.” He turned the dial until a steady stream of static crackled through the air, then he cranked the volume all the way up.
“What are you doing?”
He smiled and pulled a calculator out of his jeans. “Watch and learn.”
“You really do carry that around all the time.”
“Standard operating genius procedure.” Priest turned on the calculator and held it against the radio until it emitted a loud tone. “You can use calculators to make all sorts of stuff. Can you see if there’s any tape around?”
A tray next to one of the beds held a dirty roll of medical tape—the same kind securing the IV ports on the spirits’ arms. I tossed it to Priest, eager to have it out of my hands. “Will this work?”
“Yep.”
Lukas came over to take a look. “What are you making?”
Priest held up the contraption. “Behold, all of you scientifically challenged.” He took a few nails out of his pocket and held them next to the calculator. The radio emitted another low tone. “What we have here is a metal detector.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Lukas asked.
“Did you miss my little demonstration?” Priest stood up. The spirits scattered, watching from a safe distance.
He walked back to the mouth of the corridor and reentered the room, sweeping it slowly. Each time he passed a metal tray or an IV pole, the radio emitted the same tone. Like most of Priest’s inventions, the construction reminded me of a futuristic science-fair project. But it was completely functional, and the spirits were mesmerized. Every few minutes, the station changed suddenly.
Alara’s eyes widened. “They’re channeling the electrical energy.”
“Come on, kids. I’m working here.” Priest swept the metal detector around the last bed. When it didn’t pick up anything new, he glanced at the hole. “Should we check in there?”
I shuddered at the thought, as the device transmitted another sound.
The sledgehammer rested at the end of the bed next to Priest.
“So much for science.” He lifted it by the handle and smacked the head of the hammer against his hand. “I wonder if I could replace this with cold iron? It’s already loose.”
“Probably from trying to seal us up in a wall,” I said sarcastically. I didn’t want that thing to become a modified weapon in our arsenal.
Priest twisted the head and it hit the ground, cracking the concrete floor.
“It’s a sign.” Alara picked it up and walked toward the hole, ready to toss it inside. But she stopped short. “Priest?”
He took the hunk of metal from her and examined the circular groove where it connected to the handle. A large plate lay behind it with a channel cut through the center. Priest used his screwdriver to remove the plate, exposing a circular chamber. A disk’s silver edge rested against the lip, completely protected.
He flipped over the head of the hammer, and the circle of yellow glass dropped into his hand.
Alara gasped. “How did someone get it in there without that vengeance spirit going crazy?”
“Maybe they gave him something he wanted. Spirits like to barter.”
Jared picked up the handle off the floor. Numbers were scratched into the wood. “What do you think they mean? It looks like math homework.”
39.9159082-80.7420296
Lukas yanked it out of his brother’s hand, studying them. “They’re coordinates.”
“You think they lead to the last piece of the Shift?” Alara asked.
Lukas tightened his hand around the splintered wood. “Yeah. And if we find it and the Marrow, we can destroy Andras.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Priest handed the metal detector to one of the spirits. The child grabbed it and scampered away.
We walked back down the aisle between the beds. The children were already playing with the metal detector, possibly the only toy some of them had ever seen. We moved past the nightmarish drawings and up the cracked stairs. I thought about all the innocent people the Legion must have saved over the years, and I couldn’t help but wonder…
Who saved the innocent souls?
CHAPTER 28
Florida Water
I waited on the front steps, hoping to avoid the awkwardness of being alone with Lukas and Jared. Priest and Alara disappeared the
moment we left the basement. Priest was determined to figure out where the coordinates on the handle led, and Alara mumbled something about tying up loose ends.
I stared at my hands, splinters and dirt embedded under my nails instead of black charcoal. Artists protected their hands. What did that say about me? How much would I have to give up for the Legion?
The muffled sound of voices rose inside the house. Without any vengeance spirits to fight, Lukas and Jared were left with each other. A door slammed and snippets of their conversation drifted outside.
“We both know you don’t care about her,” Lukas shouted. “She’s just something else for you to take—”
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. Lukas meant something to me, even if I couldn’t define exactly what it was. I didn’t want to hurt him.
“Luk, I didn’t mean for this to happen—”
“Like you didn’t mean to kill dad?” The words echoed through the house, layered with pain and anger.
“You know that was an accident,” Jared said quietly.
“Everything’s an accident with you because you never think about anyone but yourself.” I leaned against the door debating whether or not to open it. “Is Kennedy going to be your next victim?”
“Hey, are you going back in?” Alara climbed the stairs behind me, a canvas knapsack slung over her shoulder.
“Wait—”
She opened the door before I could stop her, catching Lukas and Jared off guard. They both turned and looked past Alara to where I stood. I dropped my eyes, hoping they wouldn’t realize how much I heard.
Alara broke the silence. “Am I interrupting something that looks like it needs interrupting?”
Jared slouched against the wall, hands shoved in his pockets.
Lukas noticed Alara’s knapsack. “What are you up to?”
She strode toward them. “My grandmother would never leave the spirits of those children in this awful place. I have to try to release them so they can move on.”
“Can you do that?” I followed her tentatively.
She walked between Jared and Lukas. “I’m not sure. I’ve only seen my grandmother do it, and I don’t have the traditional supplies. But I think I can make some substitutions.”