Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(88)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“You okay, Hev?” Cole asked, his eyes narrowing on my face.

I nodded. “Worried for Sam.”

Cole sighed and draped an arm over my shoulders. “He’s tough, Hev. He’ll be fine.”

“Thanks for coming with us.”

“Like I would let you come without me.”

I rested my head against his shoulder and we both stared down at the water. It was really nice having a brother. “So…” I began.

“So…?” Cole responded.

“You and Gemma,” I whispered.

“There is no me and Gemma.” He glanced over to where she was standing and then gave me a look.

“You like her,” I sang.

“She’s a fallen angel, Hev.” He said it like that explained everything and pulled away to cross his arms over his chest.

“You’re a Supernal Being,” I countered.

“I’m also human. I don’t think Gemma is interested in a human. Now hush.” He turned his face away to signify he was done talking about Gemma.

I wasn’t so sure about that. I’ve seen the way she looks at him when she thinks no one else is looking and she did show up in Rome at just the right moment to save him. I was about to say as much when the world around us faded and a new place took shape. I jerked and looked over at Cole, but he was gone. His comfort was replaced instead with unpolished, black granite walls that held no windows or light. It was dark except for an ancient-looking lantern hanging against one wall with a flame that was fueled by oil. The floor beneath my sneakers was the same ground all over Hell, shale and rocks.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. This was not real. I was not trapped in a dungeon. Screams bounced around me, horrid, tortured screams. I suppressed a whimper. “Cole?”

All I needed was to hear his voice. To know this wasn’t real.

“Heven?” Cole answered, but his voice was so far away. Above me, like I really was in a dungeon and Cole was up above, looking for me.

I resisted the urge to scream, because I knew that I was really right beside Cole on the bank of a nasty black river in Hell and I was waiting for Sam.

Sam! What if he needed my help and I was still stuck in this fake world? I ran to the wall in front of me and beat on it with my hands. The stone was unrelenting and didn’t budge at all. I took a deep breath and stepped back, but stumbled over something. I landed on my butt in a tangle. I spread both hands out around me, to hoist myself up, but my hands didn’t land on the ground. They formed around something icy cold and thin. I looked down.

Bones.

I landed on top a skeleton that had once been chained to the wall.

Screams echoed around me once more.

This time they were my own.

“Heven!” Strong hands grasped my shoulders and I was lifted off the pile of bones.

“Help me, Cole!” I begged.

“Everything’s fine,” he said, sounding confused and afraid at the same time.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard Gemma ask.

I felt his hands on me. I knew I was safe, but I couldn’t stop staring at the broken pile of bones at my feet. Slowly, a few bones began to rattle. I took a step back, afraid of what I was about to see. A long bone—a leg bone—rolled away and a huge, lethal snake uncoiled from beneath. It rose and rose until it came to my shoulder and stared at me with beady dead eyes.

I whimpered.

It opened its mouth to reveal two very long, sharp fangs. At the same time, I heard an odd sort of sucking sound and the splash of water. The dungeon around me melted away and I fell back against Cole.

“Heven? What the hell is going on?” Cole demanded, gripping my arms.

As he spoke Sam leapt out of the black river to land at the water’s edge.

All three of us ran forward with me closing the distance between us first. The thick black sludge was clinging to his black fur and coating his eyes, nose and ears. He blinked rapidly, trying to get the goop out of his eyes. I ripped off the sweater I was wearing over my tee, bringing it to his face and wiping the gunk from his eyes. It was sticky and clung to my sweater. As I cleaned him, I tried to catch my breath. It had been a trick. Just a nasty trick… When Sam could see he blinked up at me with flashing golden eyes.

What happened?

I couldn’t help but look over at Logan. I denied it for as long as I could, but no more. I was positive that he was responsible for my momentary ‘trips’ into alternate places. In his eyes was the briefest flash of recognition and I knew without a doubt that I was right. “You!” I screamed. “What did you do?!”

Logan looked at me like he was shocked I would yell at him. He portrayed the perfect mixture of hurt and disbelief on his fourteen-year-old face.

It really pissed me off.

“I don’t understand. Why are you yelling at me?” he said, wobbling his lower lip.

“Oh, please. Cut the act, would you? Tell me what you did. How did you do that?”

Logan, of course, turned his eyes to Sam. “Sam? I don’t understand why she’s so upset.”

I made a scoffing sound and Gemma frowned, looking over at Logan.

I turned my eyes back to Sam. He was watching me with a pained look in his eyes, but then he blinked and it was gone.

Hold out your hand, he said.

I obeyed and he opened up his jaws and unrolled his tongue. Three black gobs fell into my palm. They were icy cold and surprisingly heavy. When I closed my palm around them, Sam stalked over to where his clothes lay and morphed back into himself. He hurried to shrug into his clothes and we all stood there waiting to see what he would do after I yelled at his brother.

When he finally was dressed, he looked at me and then his brother. “Logan, trying to get between me and Heven isn’t going to work. I won’t choose. I love you both. Do me a favor and stop doing whatever it is you’re doing to her.”

Logan’s mouth dropped open, but then he recovered to say, “I didn’t do anything!”

Sam pinned him with a hard look. “You know that isn’t true. I realize you didn’t mean whatever you did, but it needs to stop. Now.”

He turned to me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“What the hell is going on?” Cole demanded again.

“We don’t have time for explanations,” Gemma said. “We have to keep moving.”

“Can I see them?” Cole asked as we began walking. I noticed Logan kind of trudged behind us. I felt kind of bad for him because he had been so sure that Sam would choose him over me.