“Just in case,” he said.
I grabbed the weapon from him so that he would leave, then he turned and headed for the hallway.
Jacob filed out behind him, shooting me a quick, “Be careful” before he walked out of the room.
“We’ll be right out here,” Dash said unnecessarily, tilting his head to see Harley behind me. I didn’t read hatred in Dash’s gaze as he pulled the door closed, but definite distrust.
“He had a reputation in Shade City as the life of the party,” Harley said, staring at the door Dash had just closed. “He’swayless fun as a Lumen. How disappointing. Is there something Lumens pump into your water that makes you all so boring?”
I ignored Harley’s barb. But Dash as the life of the party…interesting. He was always so reserved and preferred to stay to the periphery in large groups. I know his family’s betrayal changed him, but I wondered how much of himself he was hiding in his baggy clothes and hoodies. I tucked the insight away to examine a different time.
“You wanted to talk?” I probed. I set the light weapon on the dresser so that Harley knew I wasn’t in the same mindset as Dash.
My day had gone pretty crappy. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to add “attacked-by-my-own-sister” to the list.
Harley blew a puff of air out through her lips. “I guess I shouldn’t have just run back to LA after you showed me all those memories,” she hedged.
I’m pretty sure that was the closest I was getting to an apology.
“It wasn’t ideal,” I said dryly. “Why’d you come back?”
She reached up to brush the end of her ponytail over her shoulder and I saw that her hand was shaking a little.
“Harley, what is it?” I stepped forward with concern.
She dropped her hands to her sides and started to pace the room. “I found out some disturbing stuff, Tatum. I’m not saying I want to be a Lumen or anything crazy like that, but I do value my life, and my sense of self-preservation is strong.”
Okay, that was a start. I could work with that. “What did you find out?”
She stopped and looked up at me, and for the first time her cool “I’m a badass” mask fell. Underneath it I saw a girl who was scared and lost.
“When I got back to my apartment, I immediately went to tell Dash’s dad what happened.” Color rose to her cheeks at the admission that she’d been on her way to rat me out. “But then I overheard him and his wife talking.”
I stepped closer, and she chewed at her bottom lip. “They were saying how they needed to get me and you to Apollyon so that he couldconsumeour souls and finally break the chains binding him to the Netherworld.”
“Yep, that’s his plan.” This wasn’t news to me, and exactly what I’d already told her.
“Anya—that’s Dash’s mom—called usShadowlings.” Harley resumed her pacing.
I nodded. “Part Apollyon, part Shade mother descended from a long line of Lumens.”
She snapped her head in my direction and tossed me a glare. “Did you know that Apollyon is worried that together we are more powerful than him? That only together we can defeat him and keep him from leaving his prison?”
Chills rose up my arms. This was in line with what Skye had told me, that I’d need Harley with me in the end, but I didn’t know why.
“Did you also know that shortly after he created the Netherworld, an archangel named Cael flew from Avalon to chain him to it in an effort to save humanity?”
I gasped.Caeldid that? I’d always wondered who had bound Apollyon to the Netherworld. Those chains didn’t keep him from traveling to Earth completely of course, but it was my understanding that his visits were restricted because of them. They’d kept Apollyon on a leash for centuries, so I was grateful for what Cael did.
“What else did they say?” My heart was racing. The more information we found out, the easier it would be to defeat him.
Harley wrung her hands together. “Something about consuming the souls of his own children as a sacrifice will give him enough power to break the chains that bind him to the Netherworld. I guess he already tried to kill you once and couldn’t, so he thinks that if we’re together he’ll be able to get the deed done. If that happens, he’ll be released to come to Earth without restrictions.”
“Crap,” I muttered.
Hearing it all laid out like that just sounded so much worse, no matter how much of it I already knew.
“Not only that,” Harley continued. “But that he would absorb our power in the process and be truly undefeatable.”
