Александра Адорнетто - Halo

Molly looked confused. “What’s the problem? Why are you being all weird about it? I thought you’d be happy for me.”

“Oh, Molly, I would be if you were going out with anyone but him,” I cried. “You can’t trust him—surely you can see that. He’s got trouble written all over him.”

Molly got suddenly defensive.

“You just don’t like him because he made trouble for you and Xavier,” she said heatedly.

“That’s not true. I don’t trust him, and you’re not thinking straight!” I said.

“Maybe you’re jealous of his uniqueness,” Molly spit out. “He said there are some people like that.”

“What?” I spluttered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Sure it does,” Molly replied. “You think that you and Xavier are the only people who deserve to be happy. I deserve to be happy too, Beth, especially now.”

“Molly, don’t be crazy,” I said. “Of course I don’t think that.”

“Then why don’t you want me to go out with him?”

“Because he scares me,” I said truthfully. “And I don’t want to see you make a huge mistake because you’re a mess over what happened to Taylah.”

But Molly didn’t seem to be listening to me anymore.

“Do you want him? Is that it? Well, you can’t have all the guys in the world, Beth, you have to leave some for the rest of us.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near me or you. . . ,” I began.

“Why not?”

“Because he killed Taylah!” I yelled.

Molly stopped and stared at me, her eyes wide. I couldn’t believe I’d spoken those words aloud, but if they got Molly to come to her senses, if they could save her from falling prey to

Jake, then it would be worth it. But a moment later Molly narrowed her eyes.

“You’re out of your mind,” she hissed and took a step back from me.

“Molly, wait!” I cried. “Just hear me out. . . .”

“No!” Molly interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it. You can hate Jake as much as you want, but I’m still going to see him because I want to. He’s the most amazing guy I’ve ever met, and

I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to be with him just because you’re having a little PMS freak-out.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And for your information, he says you’re a bitch.”

I opened my mouth to respond when a shadow fell across the pavement and a figure appeared at Molly’s side. Jake leered at me as he draped an arm around Molly’s shoulders and pulled her close. She nestled into his chest and giggled.

“Envy is a deadly sin, Bethany,” Jake purred. His eyes were completely covered by a glistening black film, so I couldn’t distinguish between pupil and iris. “You should know that.

Why don’t you just congratulate Molly and be gracious?”

“Or start writing her eulogy,” I snapped.

“Now, now, that’s below the belt,” he said. “Don’t you worry; I’ll take care of your friend.

It seems we have a lot in common.”

Then he turned and swept Molly away. I watched her disappear from sight, russet curls bobbing.

I spent the rest of the afternoon desperately looking for Molly so I could explain things to her in a way she might understand, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. I told Xavier what had happened and saw the muscles in his face tighten ever so slightly. Together we looked all over the school for Molly, and with every empty classroom I felt my insides twisting with anxiety.

Xavier made me sit down on a bench when I began breathing loudly and erratically.

“Hey, hey,” he said, lifting up my face so we were looking eye to eye, “calm down. She’s going to be okay. Everything is.”

“How?” I asked. “He’s dangerous! He’s completely unstable! I know what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to get to me through her. He knows she’s my friend.”

Xavier sat down beside me.

“Think about it for a moment, Beth,” he said. “Jake Thorn hasn’t hurt anyone in his inner circle yet. He wants to recruit people—it’s what he does. So long as he has Molly on his side, she’ll be safe.”

“You can’t know that. He’s completely unpredictable.”

“Unpredictable or not, he still won’t hurt her,” Xavier said. “We have to keep our wits about us now; we can’t afford to lose our heads. It’s easy to overreact given what’s just happened.”

“So what do you think we should do?” I asked.

“I think Jake might have given us a clue to finding that proof Gabriel is after.”

“Really?”

“Did Molly say where he was taking her?”

“She just said it was going to be on Sunday . . . and his friends were going to be there,” I said.

Xavier nodded. “Right, well, Venus Cove isn’t that big a place—we’ll find out where they’re going and follow them.”

We relayed our concerns to Ivy and Gabriel. The problem was working out where Jake might take Molly. It could be anywhere in Venus Cove, and we couldn’t afford to miscalculate.

This was our one chance to see what he was really up to, and we didn’t want to blow it.

“Where would he go?” Ivy mused. “Of course there are all the normal places in town, like the movie theater or Sweethearts, the bowling alley. . . .”

“There’s no point thinking normal,” I said. “He’s anything but that.”

“Beth’s right,” said Xavier. “Let’s try to think like him for a moment.”

Asking an angel to get inside the head of a demon was a tall order, but Gabriel and Ivy tried to mask their disgust and complied with Xavier’s request.

“It won’t be somewhere public,” Ivy said suddenly, “especially not if he plans to bring his friends along. They’re too big a group, too conspicuous.”

Gabriel agreed. “They’ll go somewhere quiet and private, a place where they won’t be interrupted.”

“Are there any abandoned houses or factories around here?” I asked. “Like the one where the after-party was held? That would suit Jake.”

Xavier shook his head. “Jake strikes me as a little more dramatic than that.”

“So let’s think exaggerated and over-the-top then,” Ivy suggested

“Exactly.” Xavier looked at me, his azure eyes sharp. “His followers . . . think about what they look like, how they dress.”

“They look like goths,” I replied.

“And what is the center of goth culture?” Gabriel said.

Ivy looked at him, her eyes wide. “Death.”

“Yes.” Xavier’s face was grim. “So where would be the best place for a bunch of weirdos obsessed with death?”

The realization hit me, and I drew a sharp breath. It was overstated, it was grim, it was dark, and it was the perfect place for Jake to stage his show.

“The cemetery,” I breathed and Xavier nodded.

“I think so.”

He turned to my brother and sister, who were looking dour. Gabriel’s ringed fingers tightened around his coffee mug.

“I think you might be on to something,” he said.

“Honestly, you’d think the boy might be a little more original,” Ivy snapped. “The cemetery indeed. Well, I suppose one of us is going to have to follow them there on Sunday.”

“I will,” Gabriel said immediately, but Xavier shook his head.

“That would be asking for a fight. Even I know you can’t just throw an angel and a demon together like that. I think I should go,” Xavier said.

“It’s too dangerous,” I argued.

“Beth, I’m not scared of them.”

“You’re not scared of anything,” I shot back. “But maybe you should be.”

“This is the only way,” he insisted.

I looked up at my brother and sister.

“Fine but if he’s going, I’m going with him.”

“Neither of you are going anywhere,” Gabriel cut in. “If Jake were to turn on you with a group of others to support him . . .”