Given Read Free Page B

bore into mine. “A necklace?”
    “Yeah. I thought Hadley might have had a spare or something. Hadley was powerful, so…”
    Reed nods, but I can’t tell if he believes me or not. “Well, did you find anything useful?” he asks.
    I wonder if he can read minds. Or if he can somehow tell if I’m lying by the way my eyes move or my heart rate goes up. “I didn’t find anything. There’s nothing here but clothes and books.”
    His smile fades and then returns. “Come with me, Campbell.” He turns and walks out of the room.
    I wonder if I could jump out the window before he has a chance to get to me. But I know he’s probably ten times faster and stronger than I am. Even if I did manage to get out the window, he’d grab me on the front lawn. So I follow him into the hallway.
    “Come downstairs,” he says. “I have something for you. Something that might help.”
    “I don’t know,” I say, trying to sound calm and casual. “It’s getting late and my mom’s expecting me back soon.”
    “Relax, Campbell, this will take just a second.” He opens the door to the cellar and starts trotting down the stairs.
    I stand at the top of the stairwell. “You know what, Reed? I really have to go.”
    He looks over his shoulder and his eyes darken. The smile drops. “Come downstairs, Campbell.”
    Suddenly, my feet begin to move of their own accord. Like in a nightmare.
    Slowly, I’m going down those steps. The wood creaks beneath my weight.
    Reed is standing at the bottom, waiting for me. “I just put a teeny tiny spell on you, Cam. Just to nudge you in the right direction. You weren’t being very cooperative.”
    “Let me go, Reed.”
    “You want to go? Make it happen, Cam,” he challenges. “Turn around and leave.”
    But we both know that I can’t. I keep walking until I’m at the bottom of the stairs. Back in the godforsaken basement.
    Reed’s very close to me now and his eyes are on mine. His eyes seem to have grown larger somehow. Like they’re swallowing his face. Which is a weird thought to have. I mean obviously his eyes can’t swallow…his…
    “I’m going to try and make this as painless as I can, Campbell. Even though I don’t really like you very much.”
    “Hey…what…what…” my mouth is going numb and my words are slurring.
    “But things will be better for everyone—especially Natalia—if you’re just…removed from the situation. I’m very, very sorry about this. Truly. Now just relax.”
    The world is going dark. My vision is narrowing into a tunnel, just a small circle of light and sound. The rest is black.
    I feel Reed’s hands around my neck. He can snap my neck with one quick motion. One second, maybe less, and I’ll be dead.
    Somehow, in this moment—everything slows down. The whole world slows down. And yet inside of me, deep inside of me, I’m awake and aware and conscious. A part of me I never knew existed is awake. A part of me that’s stronger, wiser, that knows all there is to know.
    If you die, Natalia will be destroyed.

    She needs you, Campbell. She needs you to live. You have the strength, Campbell. Fight. Do it for her.
    In my mind’s eye, that piece of paper from Hadley’s room is blindingly vivid, as if it’s on fire.
    He’s got no clue about his importance, or the power he possesses, it says. The words are huge now. They race across the screen of my consciousness rapid-fire.
    The power I possess.
    I remember how I broke my bonds at the amphitheater when I needed to save Natalia. That strength and power that filled me, like nothing I’d ever felt before. Was that really something I’ve always had?
    YES.
    And now I know it’s true. Because it’s filling me again.
    The tiny tunnel of light, the pinprick of remaining consciousness, widens again in a millisecond, and suddenly I’m back in my body and Reed is strangling me.
    He throws me to the floor and climbs on top of me. He looks like a madman, his true face without the slick mask he normally