"Oh, Harry," Bella said, walking toward him.
He threw out the palms of his hands. "No, Bella. I can't. Do you understand why? I'm a sack of maggots."
I stood rooted in place, stunned by what I was seeing. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen Shelton lower his gruff exterior and admit to having a genuine feeling. Yet, here he stood, naked and exposed. I didn't know what to feel. Part of me felt embarrassed to witness it. Another part wanted to help him, and didn't know how. It occurred to me that this time of crisis was a very bad time for him to have a mental breakdown, but I could lay the blame for that squarely on my shoulders. I'd pushed him into this. I'd demanded the truth. Now I had it.
And the truth might hurt us all.
Bella stood feet away from Shelton, tears pooling in her eyes. Her lower lip quivered. "I know you're a good man, Harry Shelton. I've seen your golden heart shine many times." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "It always gives me hope."
"Hope?" He said the word with a scoffing laugh. "Hope to feel like crap for the rest of my life?"
She took a hesitant step toward him. "Hope that maybe a brighter light can outshine the darkness around your heart."
"Nothing can fix me, damn it." A tear trickled down his cheek. He scraped it away with an angry swipe of his hand. "And what makes you think I'm worth fixing?"
Bella took his hand in both of hers, and smiled at him as tears sparkled like diamonds on her cheeks. "I have faith in you. I have hope." She kissed his hand. "Maybe it's silly of me. Maybe all these decades of life haven't taught me anything. But you make me feel young again. Being around you makes me appreciate life after all the darkness and terrible deeds I've seen."
"Me?" he said in a tiny voice filled with confused wonder.
She laughed and cried at the same time. "Yes, you. Can't you see why, you silly man?" Bella leaned up and kissed him. "The reason I know you're not an evil person is because I could never love someone like that." Her eyes met his and held them. "Harry, I love you."
My heart thudded, and I felt my own eyes watering up as I witnessed Shelton's stunned look. As I watched him touch the lip Bella had kissed. And it made me miss Elyssa so much I could hardly stand it.
Harry Shelton, gruff, uncaring, and a royal pain in the ass of good manners, took Bella in his arms and gave her a kiss that made the petite dhampyr melt into his arms.
I turned and ran from the room, closing the door behind me, heart pounding with a mixture of pain and joy.
I pulled out my phone and texted Elyssa. I love you and miss you. I didn't expect a response. I just had to send it, to let her know she was on my mind. Because things were getting uglier by the minute on this side of the world.
Shelton had thrown back the covers, revealing true evil and corruption. His father had framed innocent people. But his revelations about Aerianas's parentage also meant there may have been a connection between Vadaemos and Shelton's father, Jarrod Sager.
I felt certain Vadaemos had lured Hooch into that deadly ambush, and allowed Shelton to escape. Then he'd sent his daughter to manipulate my friend. Using my arcphone to create a holographic display on the table in the den, I told Nookli to display several names: Jarrod Sager, Vadaemos Slade, the Conroys, and Daelissa. Vadaemos had helped Daelissa at one point, until she'd turned everyone against him by framing him for the massacre at Thunder Rock. Vadaemos, in turn, had worked from the shadows for years, until he'd been driven to hide in El Dorado where Elyssa, Bella, and several others including me had eventually cornered and captured him. Daelissa had later tried to free him, resulting in the death of Elyssa's brother Jack.
If Vadaemos had worked for Daelissa, did that connect Sager to Daelissa? Why would Vadaemos, a narcissistic Daemos, help Sager? Did it have anything to do with the Gloom project?
My diagram helped me understand why Vadaemos and Sager used Shelton instead of someone else. Simply by looking at Shelton's track record, they knew he wouldn't question evidence. They knew he was young, driven by money and glory. Shelton possessed excellent bloodhound skills. He also unknowingly offered himself as a scapegoat, and a way to distance Sager from his targets. Most people might see Shelton's actions as those of a man trying to protect his father, should the truth about their innocence come to light.
Sager knew his political enemies could stop him, and stop his pet project. By isolating them in prison, he maintained control. I had to find out more about the Gloom Initiative and why it was so important to him. It meant I had no choice but to ask Shelton to investigate his father. He might be the only person who could wrestle the truth from him. In the meantime, I had other errands to run.
I called Michael, and told him what I'd found out about Shelton's past.
"Figures," he said. "I knew the evidence looked too tight."
"Can you disprove it?"
"I don't need to. I just need to find who planted the evidence."
"You're the man with the plan," I said.
"Yes." He hung up.
My phone buzzed. A text message from Elyssa. My heart leapt.
I can't stop thinking about you. The trial is dragging on, but I think I'm near the end. Are you okay? I love you. MUAH!
I tapped back a message. MUAH, baby! I'm fine, but lots to talk about. Please call the minute you can after the trial. Love you!
My spirits soared just hearing from her. It felt so strange to have gone so long without seeing her, without kissing her, or telling her how much I loved her. She'd probably kill me once she found out the recent dangers I'd faced. But I wasn't about to ruin her chances at finishing the trial.
My thoughts returned to the conversation with Michael. I felt a strong urge to tell Zagg the good news, but realized there wasn't really any to tell, not yet. Sure, I could tell him someone planted the evidence. Tell him Shelton knew it was planted and arrested his girlfriend anyway. Zagg would probably round up the gang again to kill Shelton if I told him that. Since I didn't know when or if Michael would find the person who planted the evidence, I couldn't give Zagg false hope. Somehow, I had to bring the stack of lies crashing to the ground, even if it meant taking down the Primus himself. I made myself a to-do list on the phone, tacking "Take down the Arcanus Primus" at the bottom. My primary objective of "Make Ivy love me or unlock my inner angel" remained unchecked. "Save Nightliss" and "Save myself" depended wholly on the first.
As I entered first period the next day, Morgana looked up at me with big innocent eyes, and smiled. I took my seat next to her, and grinned back.
"Thank you again for standing up for me, Justin," she said. "I means ever so much to me."
"No problem," I said, feeling a little choked up. Though her words made me feel good, I also felt guilty. I had information indicating her parents might be innocent. Shouldn't I at least tell her that much? Or would it cause her more pain to know?
The poor girl looked so exhausted. I had to at least find out where she was sleeping. She couldn't go on like this.
After Elementary Meditation class, in which Belinda made us stand on our heads against a wall until I was dizzy, I rushed to Zagg's classroom, hopeful he might have some news for me.
"Justin," he said, smiling broadly.
"Any luck?" I asked.
He chuckled. "We've barely begun, though I gotta say that golem of yours is amazing." He tilted his head. "How did you make him?"
"I didn't," I said, avoiding further details. "He's helpful?"
"More than helpful. He's downright curious about everything, and has been cataloguing my old scrolls for me. I showed him how to record stuff onto an ASE so we can index and search it more easily."
"Why not just give in and use an arctablet?"
"Look, I know it's lame, but if the administration found out I was using gadgets like that, I might end up out of a job."
I shrugged. "Get a job at the academy. At least they're forward thinking."
He shuddered. "All they think about is the future. They hate the past."
"They don't teach history there?"
"Of course they do, but it's almost all about technology. There aren't any awesome wizard battles, or castles, or damsels in distress." He grimaced like he'd just swallowed a toilet-flavored roach. "It's a bunch of dry, boring, science stuff." Zagg clapped a hand on my shoulder as students began filling the room. "Don't worry. The ASEs are amazing archival tools, and they're based on old magic."
I nodded, feeling a little placated, and took my seat. Morgana gave me a curious look.
"Do you want to be a history teacher someday?" she asked. "You spend a lot of time talking to the professor."
I chuckled. "No, I'm just interested in particular bits of history."
After class, we went to lunch, and took our usual table. I saw wolf-boy enter the dining hall. He took one wide-eyed look at us, and skirted the edge of the dining hall to avoid coming anywhere near us, even though Ivy wasn't present.
A golem delivered our food—some kind of beef in a rich white sauce with a side of mushrooms and asparagus. I made a note to avoid the bathrooms after this, because the odor of stinky asparagus pee promised to be epic after lunch.
I looked at Morgana. Her head lay on the table, and she seemed to be asleep. Her complexion so pallid, the rings under her eyes so dark—I drew in a sharp breath as a sudden realization hit me like a knife. "Morgana!" I smoothed her hair out of the way, and felt for a pulse in her neck. It felt strong.
She moaned. Looked up at me. "Lunchtime?" she said in a slurred voice.
"Morgana, who was your other friend? The one you said got sick."
A tired smiled crept across her face. "So sweet. She was our RA, Lina." She sighed. "She showed me a secret place to go when I wanted to be alone. I didn't tell her, but I stole a mattress and blankets and started sleeping down there."