The mask doesn’t come off. Carefully, I arrange my bow and arrow. I might not be able to defeat Penny in a fight, but I can keep her back long enough for Aliz to escape. “Go,” I cry again.
“Who is Rebecca?” Aliz asks, staring at me. Her voice trembles. And Penny, behind her mask, laughs. It’s a long drawn-out sound, which slips behind each statue, until it sounds as though they are laughing as well. Never, in four years, have I heard her laugh, so I can’t imagine what her face looks like.
“I’m not the only one she’s lied to, am I?” Penny says. “Poor little Miss Astra.”
“Aliz,go!” I shout.
“I have a very simple proposition for you, Rebecca,” Penny says, stopping two statues away from us. “Give me the book, and Astra lives.”
“We don’t have it,” I choke out.
“Liar,” Penny says. I was so busy looking at the crossbow that I didn’t see her raise her left hand, a silver gun aiming straight at Aliz. Too late, I shove her aside. Aliz lets out a strangled sound, grasping at her waist, blood dripping to the white marble floor. “Our Father who art in Heaven,” Penny starts, and Aliz hisses, covering her ears all while her torso burns, a silver bullet embedded inside her.
“Stop it!” I scream at Penny, and before I can think straight, I run at her, ready to plunge the arrow into her chest.
Penny laughs again and kicks me just as I reach her. The blow sends me flying against one of the sculptures, which falls between us, outstretched arm crumbling in two. I try to find Aliz, but before I see her, Penny is pulling me backup.
“Tell me where the book is, and she’ll live.” Penny slams my head against the mirror, and I feel the glass crack, my blood freezing cold when it reaches my neck. The hallway spins, and although the wound heals quickly, the pain in my head doesn’t fade. “Tell me, and I’ll make sure your own death is quick, Rebecca.”
“My father burnt the library!” Aliz sounds far away. Her voice is still strained. Penny’s grip slackens on me an inch.
“That’s not possible,” she says. “Faust told me you found it.”
She takes off her mask, and I find Penny wearing an expression I’ve never seen before. Her eyes are wide and wild. For the first time since I met her, she’s not an emotionless soldier.
“Why are you doing this?” I choke out.
Penny stares at me as if I’m a stranger. “Did you really think you could betray me and be rewarded for it?” she asks, hands around my neck, cutting off my breathing. “Give me my fucking book, you stupid, stupid girl.”
She tightens her grip, and I see white. My eyes feel as though they’re about to pop out of their sockets.
“I betrayed you?” I squeeze out, warm tears mingling the blood on my face. “I know I wasn’t recruited by accident. I know—”
I don’t know what Penny does next, but the room goes black. And with my last thread of consciousness, I hear Aliz’s voice.
“The only thing in the library was my sister’s ghost!”
I hit the ground, either because Penny let go, or because Aliz somehow got her offme.
I cough, trying my hardest to breathe. My ears ring, and when I look back up, the only person I see staring down at me is Aliz.
I look along the hallway, my heart racing, waiting to see Penny aiming her crossbow.
But she’s gone.
Slowly, strength returns to my body, every internal wound knitting itself back together. I take careful breaths.
“I thought my sister was just trying to get under my skin,” Aliz says, standing over me. The silver bullet which moments ago had been burning through her side has fallen to the floor. I can’t make out her expression when I meet her dark gaze. “But you really did lie about your name.”
“I can explain,” I start, and Aliz’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“I gave you so many chances to do so,” she says, voice breaking. I move, ready to grab her, and she says, “Don’t touch me!”
“Aliz!” I get up, trying to keep my mind in one piece. “Please—”
She runs from me, the way any ordinary vampire would run if they knew what I was. “Wait!” I shout.
“Don’t follow me!” she snarls, and I feel those words, the power laced in them, stopping me in my tracks just above the staircase. She runs down, and I stay right there, staring at the portrait of Ada Astra. My eyes burn, and if I have a soul, it starts to crumble, falling apart while the lines hidden beneath a thick coat of makeup dig into my skin.
