“We’d better get out of here anyway. Your lips are turning blue.” He retied the rope, leaving us only a few feet apart, and signaled to Lukas. “Okay, pull us up.”
I watched Priest rise above me, moving closer to the gray sky. My body rose out of the water slowly, grime running down my arms. As my feet lifted out of the water, I felt a tiny hand close around my ankle.
It was impossible. I had watched her explode. Then I remembered.
She wasn’t the only one who died in the well.
The boy’s spirit looked like he was standing on top of the water, but his feet were just below the surface. The dark water splashed against his shins as if it was only inches deep.
“Wait.” His voice was tiny. The boy’s fingers uncurled from my skin as he reached into his pocket with his other hand. He pulled out a muddy silver disk, exactly the same size as the one we found at Lilburn.
“Lower me back down,” I said.
“No way!” Lukas yelled. I could see his black jacket at the edge of the well. He tugged the rope harder.
“I’ll untie myself,” I threatened.
Lukas hesitated, then lowered me a few inches.
“A little more.” I held out a shaking hand.
The boy dropped the disk in my palm.
“We’re supposed to look after it, but I don’t wanna stay here without Mamma. I’m scared of the water,” he said. “Don’t tell her I gave it to you.”
“I won’t.”
The boy smiled and he faded away.
Lukas hauled me over the side and untied the frayed rope. He pulled the last end free and paused, his hand lingering on my waist. “You scared the crap out of me, you know that?”
“Sorry,” I whispered.
Jared stood a few feet behind his brother, watching us. For a split second, I held his gaze, wishing I could be braver.
Not the kind of bravery it took to climb into the well, but the kind it would take to act on what I was feeling right this second—to run over and throw my arms around Jared until everything else disappeared. But I wasn’t that brave, and I didn’t want to feel anything when it came to Jared. Not when I knew how easily a guy like him could hurt me.
Lukas wiped the dirt off my face with the edge of his T-shirt. He made me feel safe in a world I didn’t understand, while Jared always left me feeling off balance. Like the way he was making me feel right now.
Heat spread across my cheeks.
I wondered if Lukas noticed—if he thought it was because of him.
Priest rushed over to Jared. “Did you see me take out that vengeance spirit? Don’t tell me it wasn’t badass.”
Jared looked away, breaking the connection between us, and gave Priest a weak smile. “Yeah, it was badass all right. And dumbass.”
“Whatever.” Priest stripped off his shirt and yanked on his dry hoodie, flipping up the hood.
“Here.” I handed Priest the disk.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” He grinned and examined it. “Based on the diagram and the size of the disks, the cylinder should be about the size of a coffee can.”
Alara touched my arm gently. “Are you okay?”
For a second, I was speechless. It was something a friend would do, not the girl who couldn’t stand me.
I rubbed my neck, trying to get rid of the feeling of Millicent’s arm wrapped around it. “I didn’t know spirits could touch us like that. She felt so real.”
“Not all of them can, but she was a full body apparition. Some of them feel as real as you and me.”
“How can you tell the difference?”
Alara stepped behind me, helping me wring the disgusting water out of my hair. “Sometimes you can’t.”
“Damn.” Priest winced, shaking his wrist in the air. “I must have cut myself.”
It was worse than that.
When he pulled up his sleeve, lines were carving themselves into the underside of his wrist like they were being guided by an invisible blade. Deep bloodless indentations remained etched in his flesh.
I gasped. “Oh my god.”
Jared squeezed Priest’s shoulder. “You’re getting your mark.”
What was he talking about? And why was he so calm while something sliced into Priest’s skin?
I pointed at the lines. “Does someone want to explain that?”
“When the original members of the Legion summoned Andras, they carved part of his seal into their flesh to bind him,” Lukas said. “It was supposed to help them control the demon. When a member of the Legion dies, their part of the seal transfers to the person chosen to replace them.”
“Why wasn’t it there before?”
“You have to earn it by destroying a paranormal entity.” Priest stared down at the mark in awe.
Alara twisted her eyebrow ring, pouting. “I still don’t have one.”
Lukas nudged her. “You will. Maybe you can take down a pink milk shake.”
“Eventually our marks will form the seal,” Priest said.
“How?”
Jared pulled up his sleeve and Lukas did the same. The skin on the insides of their wrists was smooth and unmarked. Priest held out his wrist, too. Where there had been deep depressions a moment ago, the skin had completely healed.
I grabbed his wrist. “Where did the cuts go?”
“Wait.” Jared nodded at Alara.
She scooped a handful of salt out of her pocket. The guys offered her their wrists and she rubbed them with the crystals. Within seconds, the indentations appeared in their skin, the lines blackening like they were filled with ink.