Death (The Devil's Roses #5)

I look at the scar on my hand and almost wish I were back at the tree. Instead I walk through the door. Phillip flashes into the hallway beside me. "O, not cool. Leaving us to deal with all this."

"Guys, mellow out. She's going through some shit." Ari scowls and grabs my hand. She drags me through the house to the back door. The cool misty day makes me shiver. When we reach the bench at the dock in the backyard she lets go of my hand and sits. She stares at the water like she sees something I don’t.

"You okay?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "It's a mess. It's all a mess. Aimee and Ben and Luke are miserable without Sam. Hanna is a disaster. Her heart is so broken, my dad said she is blacking out again. Marcus is hiding it from Lorri. Giselle is eating anything she can touch, literally eating. Shane is being brain washed every week because somehow he finds his way back to Aimee. Even Annabelle is dying inside without the little kids. Lydia barely looks at me. Somehow we all have to come together and fight your dad. It just isn’t going to happen."

I sit beside her and can't fight it. "I agree. We need to find the missing link. Where it all went wrong."

"Sam. We need him. He is the key to killing your dad. Lydia and Annabelle agree. We need Sam back. Hanna is a mess because of it. Even if he and her weren’t together, her guilt is eating her alive. If Aimee wasn’t here, if she had a normal life, we wouldn’t have the Giselle issue and Aleks would be hunting his dad fulltime. We would have gotten Sam and the kids long before. Lydia told me she wasted a lot of time on helping Aimee control herself. They knew about the kids but never went for them. They were all here helping Aimee. I love her more than I love Lucas, but she is it. She needs to go back. If I can control the push, I can ensure this isn’t her future. Dorian can make a different soul sucker. It didn’t have to be Aimee. She was just a victim."

I nod. "I can do it. Let’s just go do it."

Ari laughs. "Guess we're driving."

I frown. "Dude, Phillip. Isn't that how you got here from Maine?"

Ari shakes her head. "Yeah, but no one can know. You need to put a spell on Aimee so she doesn’t remember anything and Giselle. So when they go back everything is normal."

"Blake too," I add.

She nods. "Let's do this. I'll text Aimes to come to the house and see Giselle. You can do the mind thingy there and then when we go do the push we can hit Blake."

"Okay." I stand and walk to my room. I pull the book from under the bed, the book no one knows I have. I turn the old fragile pages slowly.

"That’s dark magic O."

I look back at my sisters and shake my head. "I'm not doing it. I'm looking for something. I need to fix things. You guys stay with Trist okay?"

"Ophelia, dark magic pulls the darkness into you. Every piece you take in kills off some of the light."

I frown. "I need darkness to kill my own mother anyway."

"Not the same way. Please be safe little sister. Our freedom lies with you."

I sigh. "I will. Everyone's freedom and happiness and everything sits with me." I look over the page once more and close the book. I push it under the bed and spell the area again. Even Tristan couldn’t find it.

I close my eyes and walk to the room, practicing using the air around me to guide me, like Annabelle and my sisters do. Their eyes technically don’t work.

Opening the door to Giselle's room, confirms it all for me. I am certain that we are making the right decision. She is a hot mess.

Ari walks in behind me and stops when she sees Giselle.

"Yikes," she whispers.

I nod. "We need to do this fast. Did you text Aimes?"

She nods.

"So we driving there after this?"

Ari smirks.

Aimee interrupts us. "Driving where?"

I look back and smile sweetly. "Ari doesn’t know how to drive. I learned from my dad, like my dad, dad. I was gonna teach her. You wanna come?"

Aimee shakes her head. Her eyes never leave the tossing and turning monster on the bed. "I have to get back to Aleks. He's almost done going over the last few hundred years."

I touch the side of her face. She turns sharply. I lock her gaze with mine and hold her arm. Her grey eyes stare blankly at me.

"The compulsion Giselle put on you to remember everything when Ari pushes is gone. You won't remember this moment either."

My magic burns from my fingers. It creeps into her arm. I can feel it leaving me like a vine growing out of my fingertips and flowing into her. Her eyes flutter for a moment. I don’t know for certain if it will work on her. It worked on Oliver once. I drop my hand and wait. Ari eyes me up nervously.

Her eyes stop and she looks around the room. "So you, uhm, what?"

I smile. "You need to get back to Maine you said."

She nods weakly. "That was weird." Her eyes settle on Giselle. "How is she?"

Ari shakes her head. "Bad. She tried to eat one of the girls we rescued. She just can't seem to quench the thirst."

Aimee's eyes lower. "I better get back."

Ari looks like she is about to cry. "See you in a bit. I'll get Phillip to bring me back in like an hour. I need to see if I can help Lydia with all the girls." Her voice breaks a couple times. Aimee looks at her. Their eyes meet, it's as if they both know it's the last time they will ever see each other.

Aimee is gone just as Ari's eyes fill with tears.

Ari doesn’t cry. I've noticed it before. Her tears feel like razors cutting into my heart. I walk to Giselle and do the same thing I did to Aimee. Just as I finish, Phillip opens the door.

"What are you two doing in here?" I glance back at him.

"Just making sure she is okay. Wanna give us a lift somewhere?"

His eyes narrow skeptically. "Sure. But why do you look like that?"

I shake my head. "I just can't take how this is all turning out."

He doesn’t look convinced but Ari's tears seem to bother him enough. He puts a hand out. I grab it. Ari pulls her phone out of pocket and shows him the picture. The air moves and we are standing on a windy dock. The ocean is choppy and grey. It's freezing.

He shivers. "You guys okay here?"

Ari nods and pulls her hood up. "Yeah. We just need to check on some shit. Thanks."

I take his hand. "Don't say anything okay. I don’t want Oliver to know I'm out and about."

He rolls his eyes. "Dad's a bit intense lately. See ya bitches."

He's gone and we are standing on the cold wooden wharf.

Ari points. "It's this way." We walk through the quaint town and I just can't see Aimee like one of these people. She is too classy and city to be a bumpkin like me.

Ari doesn’t talk. I know she is devastated. She cries two more times on the walk. She dries her face when we reach the front door of a house with big windows in the front.

She takes a deep breath and rolls her shoulders. She climbs the stairs and closes her eyes as she knocks.

A sweet looking man, with a haunted look on his face, answers. He sounds stuffy, "Hello?"

She smiles through her glassy eyes. "Hello Mr. James. My name is Ari."

His eyes light up. "Aimee's Ari?"

She nods. "Yeah. I was in town and thought I would stop in and say hello."

He grabs her hand and pulls her inside. "Come in. Both of you. Please. Blake just arrived. He said some of Aimee's friends were coming over."

I hate the frightened feeling in my guts as I climb the stairs. I can't help but look around the quiet neighborhood as I close the door and lock it.

Aimee

My head still feels funny. I kick a rock and circle the log house once more.

"Aimee?" I look up hearing Aleks's voice in a panicked tone I have never heard before.

He is running toward me panicked. He looks sick. My stomach is a tight ball. "What?"

He flashes and scoops me up. He grips me to his chest.

"I'll find you again. I swear I will."

He presses his face into mine.

I pull back. "What is your deal?"

He swallows. "Ari. She just sent me this." He pulls out his cell and shows me the message. My eyes widen. "My dad."

I wink but the world stops. Aleks's arms become sparkles in the air, gripping me. Everything moves slowly. His lips move in slow motion and the sounds are lost.

I spin, trying desperately to grip onto him. His body passes through mine.

I spin faster.

O and Ari made me come to them so Ari could say goodbye. I thought the look in her eyes was sorrow for Sam. But I see now it was for me.

I close my eyes and let the spinning take me. I don’t know where I will wake up when it stops. I don’t know what the world will look like.

His voice breaks through the spinning world.

"AIMEEEEEEEEE!" He screams.

And then it's black and still and I am not sure if I'm gone. But I can't open my eyes. The darkness takes me.

Chapter Seven

Before

Port Mackenzie 2010

Aimee

My eyes fuzz out. I blink and try to focus on what I'm doing.

"Aimes you going tonight? Hello?"

I look at my mom and smile. "Yeah. I think so. Blake wants to go." Everything feels weird for a minute. I inhale through my nose and notice it right away. I can smell my mom. The mix of old perfume and laundry soap and her clothes makes my heart tug. I don’t know why.

I get up from the computer and wrap my arms around her. I take a deep breath. The air around her makes me hungry.

"Honey, are you okay?"

I nod into her neck.

"I think I had a bad dream last night," I mutter. Starvation almost cripples me. I clutch my stomach. "I need something to eat." I walk away from her embrace and stumble down the stairs to the kitchen. I pour a heaping glass of chocolate soymilk, but then finish the carton off.

I lower it and burp. The hunger is burning my belly.