“The Saints wear ankle bracelets,” Alexei says.
It’s the first time I’ve heard Alexei say the name of the group in the Sinners’ presence, and I’m sure it’s because he knows we have to put everything on the table. It’s the only way now.
“That’s what they’re called?” Luke asks. “The Saints?”
Alexei nods. “You guys have necklaces. They have these ankle bracelets, so you don’t usually see them. I’ve only seen them a few times when I walked in on them preparing to cast.”
“That must be it,” I say. “The entity…” Fuck, it sounds so ridiculous to say that. “It thought I shouldn’t have gotten in because of something it did with that.”
“That could be what kept me from accessing their network, as Alexei’s putting it,” Cody says. “These could be their amulets.”
“So we find a way to get those off them,” Luke says, “and then maybe Cody will be able to access it and—”
“Do what?” Seth asks. “Defeat something that isn’t even human?” Seth gets in Luke’s face, but Brad steps between them.
“Calm the fuck down,” Brad says. “No one’s making Cody do anything, and we’re sure as hell not gonna put him in that much danger.”
“Really? Because he’s the one who’s always putting himself in harm’s way. How many times have you asked him to put himself in danger? How many times has he already put his life at risk?”
“Seth,” Cody snaps. “That’s not fair. I’ve been the one to make that decision. Don’t put that on anyone else.”
“You don’t even know if this thing feels like humans do, if you can access pain or fear in it like you did with Farras.”
“Oh, it’s afraid,” I assure him, which catches everyone’s attention. “Right before it kicked me back, I felt its fear. It’s terrified we’re gonna stop it. And I’m sure I only saw one of its weaknesses.”
Seth shakes his head. “What if it’s a trap? What if Alexei and Matteo are working with these Saints to do something to us, and they’ve made all this up to get us to walk right into it?”
The way Luke and Brad eye us, I can tell Seth is not the only one thinking it. Fuck, we need to convince them we’re telling the truth.
“Seth,” Alexei says, “you can push on me. Like you did with Farras. Tell me to tell you the truth, and then you’ll know.”
I see the dread in Seth’s expression as he seems to realize Alexei wouldn’t offer this if he were lying. He rushes to Cody. “No, Codes. I won’t let you do it. Not this time.”
Cody rests his hands against Seth’s arms. “It’s scared of us. That means we’re the ones who can stop it. It’s taken Finnegan, and it’s controlling others. And it could be starting this terrible thing that’s coming. We can’t sit back and let that happen. Not if we can do something about it.”
Seth shakes his head as tears slide down his cheeks. I’ve seen Seth experience a lot of emotions—anger, frustration, rage—but never this.
“It’s not right,” Seth says. “It should be anyone else but you. It should be me.”
“We’re all gonna have to take risks to pull this off. But we must dosomething.”
The room falls silent, even Seth accepting that to defeat this thing, we’ll have to take our chances.
20
ALEXEI
It’s wild seeingSeth so vulnerable, pleading with his friend not to go through with this. Casting doubt on Matteo’s and my motives was his last hope of stopping Cody, but now that I’ve offered to let him push the truth out of me, he must realize he’s out of excuses. We all saw Cody exorcise Farras from Matteo; this might be our best shot.
“I can’t imagine how we’re gonna pull this off,” Seth says. “We just walked right into the frat yesterday, but if Syphor knew Matteo was inside Finnegan, he’s not gonna let his guard down. And he’s got three guys guarding him. Gage and Pres could easily kick our asses.”
“I could probably take Preston,” Brad says, and it comes across a little cocky, but it’s true. “Gage, not so much. But I’m more concerned about their powers, assuming they have any. Matteo, did you pick up on that?”
“That didn’t come up. Or at least, not that I can remember.”
A thought springs to mind. “Wait,” I jump in. “How do you know your powers will even work on them?”
“Seth pushed on Preston and Finnegan that night in the woods,” Luke says. “At the time we assumed they weredicking around, not realizing a monster was on the loose. Now it’s clear they knew about us, but even then, Seth’s powers seemed to work on them. Although, it’s possible this thing went into them after that night, in which case who the hell knows if they’ll still work?”
