“Don’t fall asleep,” Wilder said with a chuckle. “You’re not meditating, you’re searching for something. Got it?” When he said it like that… “Let me guide you, Purples. I’ll show you the first step.”

  He flexed his fingers, flattening his palms against mine. Then, in the darkness, I caught a glimpse of a silver spark as it sputtered into life.

  “Is that you?” I asked.

  “Shh…”

  It was when I realised I was looking at him, not me, that things began to happen.

  Warmth bloomed inside me, melting a strange pattern through my body. It was nowhere and everywhere all at the same time, ebbing and flowing with each pump of my heart. Indigo Light reached out towards Wilder’s silver, flowing through our joined hands, flaring as his spark replied. It was exactly like the night we’d kissed and—

  A surge of power zapped through me and I tore my hands from his. My eyes flew open and I stared into Wilder’s startled gaze. Something told me that wasn’t normal.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” I whispered. “Our Light—”

  The door opened, and I jerked backwards as Romy walked into the room. She glanced between Wilder and me, her eyebrows rising as she studied our closeness.

  “Ramona would like to see you both in the infirmary,” she said before she flashed me a knowing look.

  “What?” I demanded with a scowl.

  “The infirmary,” she repeated, her lips curving in amusement. “It’s to do with Jackson.”

  “We’ll be right there,” Wilder said, not taking his eyes off me.

  Romy chuckled to herself and left, closing the door behind her.

  “Wilder—”

  “You’ll have to be careful with your Light,” he interrupted, climbing to his feet. Sitting on the bench, he retrieved his socks and stuffed his feet into them. “I suspected it might be the case, so we’re going to have to be more careful.”

  “Do you think I could hurt you?”

  “Maybe… I don’t really know.”

  I sighed and crawled across the mats to where I’d left my boots.

  “It’s not a bad thing, Purples. We’re just in uncharted territory, is all.”

  “Sure.” I pulled on my socks and shoved my feet into my boots. “How did that work out for you?”

  I was beginning to get a deeper understanding of why Greer, Aldrich, and Brax assigned Wilder as my mentor—a lot of what he was, was unknown, too. We were the same, although we were on opposite sides of the same coin.

  He snorted. “People assume I have demon heritage, while you were blessed by our most sacred relic.”

  “Okay.” I held up my hands, feeling bad. “I retract my last smart-arse statement.”

  “Let’s go find Ramona,” Wilder said with a scowl. “We can try your Light again later.”

  As he stalked from the room, I scratched my head sheepishly. Why was I always sticking my foot in it?

  6

  Ramona was running tests in a laboratory that sat alongside the infirmary. When we entered, I was surprised to find all kinds of high-tech equipment scattered around the room. I had no idea what any of it did, but it looked fancy…and expensive.

  Jackson was sitting on a chair with electrodes stuck to his bare chest and temples. Wires ran from each little circle into a machine that Ramona was studying intently.

  “Hey!” he said when he saw us.

  I looked him over, the weedy gamer guy I’d always known nowhere in sight. “Jackson… You’ve got abs.”

  Wilder snorted behind me.

  “I know, right?” Jackson grinned and slapped his stomach. “There’s a first for everything.”

  “There you are,” Ramona said, lifting her head. “We’ve barely gotten started, but there’s already so much interesting data.” She picked up a tablet and began to tap on the screen. “There’s a great deal we don’t know about the genetic and biological makeup of demons, but this is helping a great deal.”

  “You’ve captured them before, right?” I asked. “Haven’t you been able to find anything out then?”

  “It’s difficult as most demons we’re able to contain are made up of a dark vaporous essence. They’re not exactly easy to study.”

  “And others burst into flame when we kill them,” Wilder said.

  “Even their hierarchy and social structure is a mystery,” Ramona added. “We used to believe they were simple-minded creatures with a fixed purpose. Now, we know they’re so much more complex than we gave them credit for.”

  I glanced at Jackson. “So you’re playing an epic game of catch up?”

  She smiled. “Exactly.”

  I’d always known Ramona to be surly and ultra-focused on her work, but she seemed to be more comfortable, even excitable, in her natural habitat. It was wondrous to see a smile on her face for a change.

  “What have you found out?” Wilder asked. “It must be important if you’re interrupting our training.”

  Her trademark scowl quickly returned. “Watch your tone with me. Or the next time you’re cut open by a demon, I won’t be as careful with my stitching.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  Ignoring him, Ramona flipped over her tablet so we could see some of the test results. It was a full body scan, showing bones and internal organs, but there was a little extra thanks to the mutation. Black splotches scattered in various parts of his extremities with one red growth blooming in the centre of Jackson’s chest.

  “Here,” she said, pointing to the crimson mass. “When I stopped the mutation, it hadn’t completely settled into the host.”

  “She calls me ‘the host’,” Jackson said to me with a sigh. “I gotta tell ya, it’s a real confidence booster.”

  “Those parts have remained active, which is why he’s continued to change,” she went on. “See how it pulsates?” She tapped on the screen and the scan began to move, the red splotch beating as if it were a second heart. “It’s acting like an engine for his abilities. When we last saw him, his physique was leaner and his senses weren’t as sharp. We’ve conducted hearing tests that indicate he can decipher sound in a range outside of the normal human spectrum.”

  He snorted. “That’s a polite way of saying I can hear high-pitched sounds like a dog.”

  I smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

  “These are all physical attributes,” Wilder said, his eyes narrowing slightly. “What about his mind?”

  “The mutation was designed to take over his entire body,” Ramona replied. “Left untreated, this red mass would have grown until it changed his DNA entirely. It appears it never reached as far as the brainstem, but I am dealing with more unknowns than knowns at the moment. This Human Convergence Project seems to be highly experimental. When I first encountered the altered cells, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen—crude, hasty, and a little desperate.”

  “The demons would only launch an unfinished weapon if they felt threatened,” Wilder mused, looking over Ramona’s research. “It’s not like they didn’t have time to perfect it. Not until—” He looked at me.

  “Arondight.” Ramona finished his thought.

  And it always comes back to me. I sighed and offered Jackson a reassuring smile.

  “It’s not so bad,” I said. “It’s not like you’re an actual demon or anything.”

  “Thank God my brainstem is still human,” Jackson drawled. “Some of me still is a little demonic though. I keep setting off the alarms.”

  “Have you done any direct tests on the mass?” Wilder asked. “Nerve simulation? Light manifestations?”

  “Not yet, though we’ve only been at this for a morning. I hope to compile an accurate map of where this mass has extended, then conduct some simulations for retraction.”

  “Retraction?” Jackson squeaked. “You’re not going to try and cut me open, are you?”

  “Of course not,” Ramona replied. “We’ll do some Light simulations aided by computer.” She turned over the tablet and began to tap on the screen again. “Let me just try something.” She checked the electrodes on Jackson’s chest. “I’m going to try to use an electrical current to stimulate the mutated DNA.”

  “That doesn’t sound safe,” I argued.

  “He won’t feel anything,” she reassured me. “We’ll be able to see how it reacts to the world around us.”

  Jackson took a deep breath. “Hit me, doc.”

  Ramona entered some commands on the machine closest to the chair, then turned her calculating gaze back onto her subject.

  Suddenly, Jackson jerked, his hands clawing at the armrests. Ramona turned off the current, but it did nothing to stop the convulsions. He was having a seizure that looked a lot like someone in the throes of possession.

  “Jackson!” I cried. I sprang forward, but Wilder caught me around the waist.

  “Don’t touch him, Purples,” he warned.

  “Do something!” I pleaded.

  “I can’t.” Ramona stood back, watching as my friend convulsed.

  Tears prickled in my eyes. “No…”

  Abruptly, Jackson gasped, his eyes rolled back into his head, before they snapped to attention. “I saw them…” he rasped trying to catch his breath. “Demons and blood.” His gaze fixed on mine. “They saw me, Scarlett. They can see—”

  “Close your eyes,” Ramona cried, shutting off the array of machines. “Now.”

  Jackson did as she commanded, the panic clear on his face.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded.

  “There’s a link,” she replied, rushing around the room. “There’s no other explanation. He doesn’t have any Darkness.”

  “A link?”

  “What Darkness?” Jackson squeaked.

  “A link to the demons,” Wilder said, looking troubled. “Whatever they did to him has connected them somehow.”

  “Will someone tell me what Darkness is?” Jackson boomed.

  “Magic,” I said, placing my hand on his. “Like my Light, greater demons have their own version.”

  “If he had Darkness…” Wilder trailed off and turned his eyes towards Ramona.

  She nodded sharply. “We need to summon the council.” She took out her mobile phone and began to type out a text message. It was such an unexpected sight, I blinked at her in surprise.

  “If he had Darkness, what?” Jackson demanded, his eyes still firmly closed.

  “Yeah, what?” I echoed.

  “The contact would be deliberate,” Wilder explained.

  “I’m not contacting anybody!” my best friend exclaimed. “Like I would ever help them after what they did to me!”

  “They made your life a thousand times better,” Wilder stated. “You’re stronger, your eyesight is twenty-twenty, you can actually pick up women—”

  “Wilder!” I punched him in the arm as hard as I could, but he didn’t flinch. “If he says he’s not helping them, he’s not helping them.”

  “They’re on their way,” Ramona said. She returned to her station and began to remove the electrodes from Jackson’s head. “Better keep your eyes closed for now.”

  “Ow!” he cried. “That’s my hair you’re pulling out!”

  Jackson could tune into the all access demon channel? This was bad news. A big, bad, hunk of bad news.

  It wasn’t long before Brax strode into the lab, looking like a thunder cloud personified. He was followed by the much calmer Aldrich, and ever the picture of serenity, Greer floated along behind them.

  Ramona explained the situation as they looked on, their expressions changing into various stages of shock and concern.

  “This is a disaster,” Brax said with a snarl. “You let a spy into the Sanctum.”

  “I’m not a spy!” Jackson exclaimed, his eyes still closed.

  “Not knowingly.”

  “We have to be calm about this,” Aldrich said. “There’s a lot to consider.”

  “More study has to be undertaken,” Ramona declared, checking Jackson’s temperature. “The vision could just be a premonition.”

  “I don’t know… It felt a lot like live TV,” Jackson drawled.

  “You’re not helping yourself,” I hissed at him.

  “What did you see?” Greer asked, her angelic voice a note of calmness in a chaotic sea.

  He shivered. “A guy putting himself back together with severed body parts. He seemed to sense I was watching. It was kinda perverted.”

  Glancing at Wilder, I whispered, “The Balan.”

  If Jackson could contact the Balan demon—the same creature who’d murdered my parents and attacked the Sanctum—then this was bad. Like, apocalyptic bad.

  “We have to summon the Inquisitor,” Brax said. “This is bigger than the London Sanctum now.”

  I glanced at Wilder. This was the first I’d heard of a hierarchy above the three leaders before me. Here I was thinking Greer was the closest thing to absolute authority with her position as the protector of the Codex.

  “We don’t know if this link poses any threat,” Aldrich countered. “Let Ramona conduct more tests before we get Julius involved. Greer?”

  Her brow was knitted together as she studied the readings on the machines.

  “I think Brax is correct,” she said slowly, though her tone implied she wasn’t entirely convinced. “There’s no way to be entirely certain this link isn’t already being exploited by the demons.”

  Jackson shifted, his nerves obvious. “But I don’t want this,” he said. “I’m not passing anything to anyone. Why would I? It’d put Scarlett in danger.”

  “We’re not questioning your intentions, Jackson,” Greer said kindly.

  “The demons could be using you as a conduit without your knowledge,” Brax said. “That makes you dangerous, willing or not.”

  Ramona looked troubled as she began to remove the electrodes from Jackson’s chest.

  “I’ll vouch for him,” I said, desperate to keep my friend from being locked up, because that’s where this was going and fast. “What do I need to do?”

  “We appreciate your sentiment, Scarlett, but you can’t vouch for this,” Aldrich said.

  “I’m recommending that he’s moved to the vaults,” Brax stated, his eyes flashing cooly. “We can monitor and isolate him until the Inquisitor can be summoned. In the meantime, Ramona can continue her studies.”

  I glanced at Wilder, but his expression was closed. He was watching everything that was happening, his gaze flashing to Jackson more than the others. What was he looking for?

  “I’m going to be locked up again?” Jackson asked. “No—”

  “I’m sorry,” Greer said, placing her hand on his arm, “but it’s for everyone’s safety.”

  “It’s not ideal, but I agree,” Aldrich said to Brax. “This affects us all. It would be irresponsible to keep the other Sanctums out of the loop.”

  “But what will happen to him?” I asked. “If he’s being used, then we have to find a way to stop it.”

  “Don’t rush ahead, Scarlett,” Greer said. “We’ll figure this out, but you have to understand there’s a bigger threat here.”

  “The Sanctum was already infiltrated once,” Wilder said, speaking for the first time. “If it happens again, we could lose everything.”

  “Wilder is correct,” Brax said, glaring at the Natural, his distaste on display for all to see. “We almost lost Greer and the Codex. This boy is the closest thing you have to family, and he was mutated by a rogue demon. Please put two and two together, Miss Ravenwood. You are a Natural now.”

  I scowled, the reprimand grating against my ego, and glanced at Jackson, who looked like he was about to puke.

  “It’s okay, Scarlett,” Jackson said. He put on his T-shirt and slipped his arms into his jacket. “It’s just a precaution, right?”

  “I…” I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t my call. I had zero say about any of this.

  Well, he was right about one thing—I was just a solider in their war, a tool against the Dark.

  My hands shook as I watched Aldrich and Brax file out after Jackson and his Natural escort.

  “He’ll be well-looked after,” Greer said, standing beside me. “Until we know how the link works, this is the best course of action.”

  “I know,” I said. “It’s just…” I tossed my hands out in defeat.

  “I understand,” she replied. “Please don’t panic unnecessarily.” Offering me a smile, she followed the others out of the lab, leaving me and Wilder alone.

  “C’mon, Purples,” he said, nudging me towards the door, “we’ve still got a few hours of training.”

  “I can’t focus on training.”

  He smirked and pushed me little harder. “That’s why I’m going to make you do cardio instead.”

  There was no escaping him, but there was nothing I could do for Jackson right now. Maybe running on the treadmill would help relieve a little stress.

  “Do you really think the demons would try to take me?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

  “Try to keep up with the threat level, Purples. We’re at D for Duh.”

  “Who is this Inquisitor guy?” I went on, starting to get my ramble on. “It sounds like he enjoys burning demons at the stake.”

  “Julius Wainthrope, and yes, he’s just as pretentious as his name sounds.”

  I snorted.

  “The Inquisitor is there to stop Sanctums from turning into splinter groups and doing whatever they like,” he replied irritably. “The Naturals have to be a unified front, otherwise we’d never make any headway with the demon incursion. Wars are fought together, otherwise chaos reigns. This thing with Jackson affects us all.”

  “Why am I only hearing about this douche now?”

  “The London Sanctum has always operated on some level of autonomy because of the Codex,” he explained.

  “Like a black ops site?”

  “I suppose so.” He shrugged. “Greer and Aldrich don’t tell me what’s going on, and Brax especially doesn’t let anything slip. All I have is suspicion, and I don’t operate on theory, Purples. I like facts.”

  “And what facts do you know?”

  He stopped in his tracks and I almost slammed into him. “Think about it, will you?” he sneered with a scowl.

 

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