The more I learned about the invisible world lurking around us, the more I wanted to be oblivious again. But it was too late for that. Until I found a way to convince these people, and a demon, that I wasn’t the fifth member of their secret exorcist society, my life was in danger.
“Wait.” Alara stared at me, eyes wide, as the realization settled over her. “Are you messing with me?”
Any answer I gave her would be the wrong one.
“She doesn’t know anything about the Legion,” Lukas said, before I had a chance to respond. “No one ever told her.”
A shudder ran through her body. “Oh my god.”
She knew what I was now—what I had been all along.
A liability.
10. THE MARROW
Lukas studied a creased US map spread over the coffee table, while everyone else flipped through a stack of newspapers on the floor. I hadn’t been at the warehouse long, and Alara’s plan to hit the books was already in full force.
I leaned over the map. “What are you looking for?”
“See this?” Lukas pointed to the red circles drawn around various cities and towns: Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Salem, West Virginia; Sugarcreek, Ohio; Wilmington, Delaware; Washington, DC. “I tracked paranormal surges over the last month and all these places had serious activity. We were looking for you, but I realized there was a pattern based on the other cities we checked first.”
It never occurred to me that they had looked anywhere else. “How did you figure out where I lived?”
“Hacked into local police servers and cross-referenced the cities with surges against death records. I looked for kids about our age that had parents who died the same night as the other members of the Legion. Then we took a road trip.”
I couldn’t believe they had worked so hard to find me. “What about school?”
Priest glanced up from the newspaper, headphones covering his ears. “Homeschooled. The public education system in Northern California wasn’t equipped to meet my needs.”
Jared shrugged. “We didn’t live in the best neighborhood in Philadelphia. No one really cared if you showed up at school. We traveled with our dad a lot, so we weren’t there much anyway.”
Alara ripped an article out of the newspaper in her lap. “I just bailed. Girls’ school sucks.”
With her combat boots, eyebrow ring, and chipped silver nail polish, she looked more like art school material. My hand itched at the thought of drawing.
Lukas traced the perimeter of the circled cities with his finger. “I think the Marrow might be somewhere in here.”
“What’s the Marrow?”
“It’s the location of Andras’ power supply in our world. Sort of like his personal supernatural power plant,” he explained. “Demons gain strength by taking control of human souls—either temporarily while we’re alive, or permanently after we die. The more souls they control, the more powerful they become.”
Priest jumped in. “But Andras is trapped between his world and ours. He can’t cross over and possess people, or draft them into his ranks when they die. He has to settle for influencing vengeance spirits and using them to cause violence and suffering.”
“Which creates more vengeance spirits he can control,” Lukas added.
I imagined hundreds of battered souls like the girl in my bedroom lined up in a row, ready for battle.
Priest unscrewed the faceplate on a device that resembled an old transistor radio. “The bigger the surges in paranormal activity, the closer we are to the Marrow. At least, that’s what my granddad used to say.”
He stopped working and stared at his hands. Priest’s grandfather must’ve been the member of the Legion he had replaced. It was easy to forget that I wasn’t the only one who had lost someone.
Lukas noticed Priest’s reaction and messed up the younger boy’s hair. Priest swatted his arm, the beginning of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“If we find the Marrow, we can take out the spirits Andras controls,” Jared said. “And cut off his power supply.”
“Will that get rid of him?” I asked.
The four of them looked at one another.
Lukas shook his head. “No. But it will make him a lot weaker. Damage control, remember?”
I listened as they strategized, trying to make sense of the surges and the red circles. The warehouse was only an hour from my house in Georgetown, but it felt worlds away.
I needed to talk to someone who wasn’t tracking paranormal activity or searching for a demon’s hideout. “Lukas, can I use your phone again?”
Alara snapped to attention. “She can’t call anyone.”
“Don’t worry.” Lukas raised a hand to reassure her. “She just wants to check in with her friend.”
“Her friend?” Alara gasped. “Are you insane?”
“My number’s blocked. I doubt her friend knows how to trace a call.”
“What if she tells someone where we are?” Alara was talking about me like I wasn’t there.
“I wouldn’t do that,” I said. “But if I don’t call, she’ll try to find me.”
Lukas handed me his cell. “It’s fine. Just be careful what you say.”
I slipped between the sheets suspended from the ceiling and sat down next to the fridge, where Jared had bandaged my hand.
The phone only rang once before Elle picked up. “Hello?”