Meg Cabot - Awaken

“I know,” I said, reaching for his hand. “But if you don’t do this, more people are going to die. People like Uncle Chris out there, and my mom.”

Dad looked up, alarmed. “What are you two talking about?”

I crossed the room to take my father’s hand. “Nothing,” I said. “We need a little favor from you, that’s all. It’s only going to take a second.”

“What is?” Dad protested as I steered him closer to where John was standing.

“Pierce,” Mom said. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, Mom,” I said. “John just has to take Dad somewhere for a minute. They’ll be right back.”

“What do you mean, we’ll be right back?” Dad asked. “Where are we going? I don’t have my car, it’s with my driver back at the hotel. I’ll call him if you need to take a car somewhere, but —”

“John doesn’t need a car,” Alex said, with a smirk from where he was sitting at the kitchen counter. “He is the car.”

“Wait a minute,” Dad said, as I plucked his cell phone from his fingers and scrolled back to his last communication. “Here,” I said to John, showing him the attached photo. “Is that clear enough?”

John shrugged. “It better be,” he said, laying his hand on my father’s shoulder. “Hopefully we won’t end up on a dock in Hong Kong.” Then he laid a hand upon my shoulder, as well.

My father wasn’t the only one who instantly attempted to twist away from John’s grasp. Dad was the only one who wasn’t successful, though.

“No, John,” I said. “What if Grandma or some of her cronies show up while you’re gone? Someone has to stay to protect them.” I gestured towards my mother and Uncle Chris, now busily skimming the pool.

“What do I look like, a helpless kitten?” Alex complained. “I’m not going to let anything happen to them.”

John glowered at Alex. “How are you going to fight a Fury?”

Alex picked up a butter knife from the kitchen counter and began to dance around, jabbing the knife into the air.

“Like this,” Alex said. “See? I’ve got moves.”

Rolling my eyes, I took the whip from my waist, uncoiled it, then cracked it once, neatly striking the knife from Alex’s hand, disarming him.

“Ow!” Alex cried in indignation, grasping his wrist. “That really hurt. What did you do that for?”

“I’ve got moves, too,” I said, recoiling the whip.

“She always did have good aim,” my father said with admiration. “Remember the throwing stars, Debbie?”

“How could I forget?” Mom murmured. She was staring in shock at the butter knife, which had landed with a clinking sound at her feet. “You had to keep them locked up away from her.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” John said. But I could see the grudging admiration in his face.

“It proves you should probably let go of me now,” my father said, referring to the iron grip John still had on his shoulder. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to make her angry, any more than it is you.”

John held on to my father more tightly. “No,” he said. “Sorry. We’re still going.” To me, he said, “If you’re going to stay here, lock the door and don’t answer it. Don’t let anyone inside, no matter who it is. And don’t go anywhere until I get back. Not anywhere, especially Reef Key. Do you understand, Pierce?”

I made a face. “No. Could you explain it again? Because I was thinking about going to Reef Key without you, and also letting any Fury who knocks inside.”

John ignored my sarcasm. “I don’t know how long this is going to take,” he said. “But I promise this time I’ll be back soon, Pierce.”

I crossed the room to stand beside him, laying a hand upon his arm. “You’d better be.”

His gray eyes seemed to burn through me. “If anything should go wrong —”

“It won’t,” I said firmly.

“Which it won’t,” he said. “But if it should, you know where to meet me, don’t you? Where we met the first night I saw you back in Isla Huesos —”

“In the cemetery.” In the cemetery sounded better than saying Next to your tomb.

He nodded. “Under our tree —”

Before he could utter another word, I rose up onto my toes to press my lips to his. He seemed surprised — surprised enough to release his hold on my father — but not unpleasantly so.

I hoped he could feel through the emotion of my kiss the words I was too embarrassed to say in front of my parents … words I felt I could never say enough: I love you, I love you, I love you.

He not only seemed to get the message, he didn’t seem at all embarrassed, since, as soon as our lips parted, he whispered, “I love you, too.”

I looked up at him and smiled, my heart so full of happiness, I was certain it was about to burst. My joy made no sense, of course. What did I have to feel joyful about? There was no future for us in this world, and the only one in which we could live was being pulled apart.

But he loved me, and that, at least, no one could destroy.

“Hello. Remember me? The dad. The dad is standing right here. Could the two of you please not do that in front of me?” My father sounded even crankier than usual. “Also, would someone mind explaining to me exactly what’s going on here?”

“Sorry, sir.” John dropped his hands from my waist and reached to grasp my father’s arm as I walked away from them. “Don’t worry. In a moment it will all become clear. Just close your eyes.”

Another burst of wind swept in from outside, causing the French door John had closed to crash open again with a bang. Flower petals and leaves Uncle Chris had yet to sweep up came swirling inside in mini vortexes. My mother yelped in alarm.

“What’s happening?” she asked anxiously. “What are they doing?”

“Don’t worry, Aunt Deb,” Alex said, reaching for a waffle. “You’ll get used to it.”

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to close my eyes,” my father said.

“We’re all going to be damned anyway,” John said, “if this doesn’t work out.”

One. Two. Three.

Blink.

They were gone.

“What avarice does is here made manifest

In the purgation of these souls converted,

And no more bitter pain the Mountain has.”

DANTE ALIGHIERI, Purgatorio , Canto XIX

Everything all right in here?” Uncle Chris stepped inside to ask. “I thought I heard you scream, Deb. There a palmetto bug in the trash compactor again?”

Mom was clutching the collar of her robe closed at her neck. All the color had drained from her face. She stood there shaking her head, staring at the spot where John and my father had been standing a second before.

“I … I don’t understand. Where did they go?”

“To get the boats, Mom,” I said.

“But how did they … they were standing right there. And then they … ”

“It’s called teleportation,” I said gently. “If John pictures a person or thing in his head, he can go to where that person or thing is. And if he’s touching someone, he can take that person with him. But he can’t stay away from Isla Huesos or the Underworld for too long. If he does, he’ll begin to age and die.”

Uncle Chris looked at us. “Are you talking about World of Warcraft ? Alex loves that game. Don’t you, Alex? How many points do you have? A billion?”

“That’s right, Dad,” Alex said. “A billion.”

I glared at Alex. This was stupid. He should tell his father the truth already. He’d suffered more than anyone because of it all — well, almost anyone. Uncle Chris hadn’t died.

Alex seemed to read my thoughts almost as easily as John had. Or maybe he was only reading my disapproving expression.