“If only I could believe that.” He cocks his head, shoots me a suspicious look.
“Well, for starters, I’m here, wearing the dress, and talking to you.” I chance another step back, wishing Auden would just get to it already and get the plan underway.
“True.” Cade moves along with me. Either in an effort to stay close, or he’s totally onto me, it’s impossible to tell.
“And, I’m doing everything I mentioned despite the fact that you’re responsible for my grandmother’s death. That’s got to mean something.” I stand firmly before him, the vortex now just a few feet away according to the energetic swarm playing at the back of my hands. And while I have every intention of breaching it, I need to get there long before Cade. It’s his job to chase me.
He dismisses my words with a shrug. “I know what she meant to you, but Paloma was determined to keep us apart, and you have to admit, we wouldn’t be here now, just you and me, if I hadn’t killed her.” His delivery so matter of fact, I know without a doubt that whatever is going on with him is far worse than I thought. The old Cade would’ve taunted me to no end. Detailing exactly how much he enjoyed killing her. This new Cade is completely unpredictable, which makes him even more dangerous.
“I loved her,” I say, knowing I shouldn’t push it, shouldn’t veer from the script. But it’s impossible to fake my feelings where Paloma’s passing is concerned. Besides, it’s just a matter of time before Cade Richter is history. “Not a day goes by I don’t miss her,” I add. Despite Chay’s warnings, with each spoken word I can feel my anger mounting until it’s all I can do to keep it in check. “Yet, it’s true that Paloma never would’ve understood these . . . feelings . . . we share for each other.” The words taste bitter on my tongue.
Cade makes a conciliatory face and reaches for my hand, and as repulsive as I find him, I need to play along for just a few seconds more.
“People die, Daire.” He huffs under his breath, his face reddens with outrage, as though angered by the lack of justice in the world—as though he doesn’t actually wear Paloma’s blood on his hands. “It’s the circle of life. You, more than anyone should know that. Sheesh.” He drops my hand, his fists curl in outrage. The burst of anger lasting only a moment, before he softens and says, “It hurts, I know. But I’m so glad to see you getting past it and focusing on the future you deserve.”
I cast my eyes downward, use the pause to sneak another step back.
“You’ve lost so many so quickly, it almost seems unfair. Still, there’s a reason for everything and each step leads to the next. Now that you’re on your own, with Paloma gone, Dace having moved on, and Jennika—”
“What about Jennika?” I cut him off before he can finish. The sound of my mom’s name on his lips is enough to make me forfeit my whole plan and kill him right here.
“Relax.” He slips the mask over his face and laughs, making a strange, muffled sound. “I was just about to say that even Jennika will one day move on. Jeez, Daire, when’d you get so sensitive?”
But the way his head tilts, the way his voice catches, leaves me to wonder if that’s all there is to it. He’s unstable. Untrustworthy. Which makes him capable of just about anything.
“Anyway, enough of all this. It’s time we set aside our differences. Come.” He reaches for my hand again. “You’re lucky I found you when I did. Do you know there’s a kill order issued with your name on it?”
“Yeah. You’re the one who issued it. Remember?” I drop the façade, having reached my limits for him and his madness.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You have no idea what’s really going on here. But, if you stick with me, you just might get out alive.”
I look past Cade’s outstretched hand and glance toward the stage.
The game is over.
The plan is in motion.
And little does he know, I’ve got him right where I want him.
With the sound checks complete, Auden introduces the band, as Xotichl uses the amethyst pendulum she wears at her neck to locate the Richters. While Lita plucks two of the three feathers in her hair and uses them to enhance herself, Auden, Xotichl, and Axel with magickal and transformative powers, saving the eagle feather—the one for sending wishes and prayers—for later. And Axel pulls the rattle from Lita’s bag and readies it before him, waiting for Auden to launch into his song.
When he reaches the drum solo, Auden butts the head of his guitar into Paloma’s drum he’s propped up beside him, as Axel shakes the rattle. The two of them sending a mystical vibration throughout the room, as I brace myself, praying it works.
This is it.
There is no plan B.
I close my eyes for a moment, say a little prayer of my own, and when I open them again, I turn on my heel to see that it worked.
The vortex is just a few steps behind me, and thanks to the drum and the rattle, it’s visibly illuminated in a way only my friends and I can see.
I spin on my heel, begin to sprint toward it, when Cade grabs hold of the back of my dress and I respond with a fist aimed straight for his jaw. My knuckles slamming hard into his flesh, sending him reeling, spinning, slamming onto the floor with his mask knocked clear across the hall.
Though it’s only a matter of time before he’s on me again—or at least that’s the plan.
I need him to chase me.
But not before I put a solid distance between us.