When she walked into English class on Monday morning, Fallon made sure to smile at Wendy. Griffin laughed when he saw what she was doing.
“Better be careful, or she’ll try to exorcise you again,” he warned.
Fallon grimaced as she glanced at the back of her hand. The only reason Wendy and the others even tried that is because she was sleeping. There was no way they would’ve done that in the light of day and risk having to face Lucian.
I dare you to try something now, Fallon thought as she stared at Wendy.
Wendy didn’t look away, but Fallon could see a hint of fear lurking in her eyes. Throughout class, she kept casting glances at Griffin and Fallon. As soon as the bell rang to end first period, Fallon expected her to shoot out the door. Instead, she waited until they reached the front of the room before she moved to exit with them. Lucian was already waiting for Fallon, and he offered up a smile at seeing Wendy walking alongside them.
“This is interesting,” Lucian observed as he moved to take Fallon’s hand.
“What do you want, Wendy?” Fallon demanded.
“I have a message from Christian.”
“What is it?” Griffin asked.
“He wants to meet with the three of you at lunch today,” Wendy said, and the twins traded glances.
“Why?” Fallon asked.
“You’ll just have to show up to find out,” Wendy retorted. “Meet us in the library at noon.”
“No way,” Lucian said. “You seriously don’t expect us to walk into a trap do you?”
“It’s not a trap,” Wendy insisted. “That’s why he picked the library.”
“Tell Jesus Junior no deal,” Griffin answered. “If he wants to meet with us it has to be in someplace more public than that.”
“Like the cafeteria,” Fallon suggested.
“It’s too noisy in there,” Wendy protested.
“Guess we won’t be seeing you at lunch then,” Lucian said and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Wendy called after them, and they stopped and turned to face her. “Let me talk to Christian. If he says it’s okay, we’ll meet you there at noon.”
Lucian grinned at her. “We’re looking forward to it,” he said as she hurried down the hall to get away from them.
“What do you think that’s about?” Fallon asked.
“My guess is he didn’t take kindly to our threats against one of his fold,” Lucian said.
“I can’t wait to find out though,” Griffin said. “Guess I’ll see you in the cafeteria at noon.”
“See ya,” Lucian said.
“What do you think Christian’s up to?” Fallon asked.
“I don’t know, but we’ll see soon enough.”
“How come you guys wanted to meet in public when you can stop time?”
“Because we’re not about to let Church and his Christ groupies call the shots.”
Fallon smiled. “You think I’ll ever be any good at figuring out this stuff?”
Lucian moved to embrace her. “Baby, you’re already halfway there,” he said, and then they both laughed.
At lunch time, Fallon entered the cafeteria with Lucian on her right and Griffin at her left. They didn’t bother with getting lunch, but Fallon did grab a bottle of water from the snack bar before they entered the bowels of the cafeteria. Seeing Christian and Wendy and Angelica seated at one of the tables in the middle of the room made her smirk. The girls sat on either side of Christian, but that wasn’t what she found amusing. Instead, she didn’t think Christian had much of a backbone since he let Lucian and Griffin call the shots. She wondered what his father thought of that. Their trio took a seat opposite the God Squad, but Fallon didn’t sit in the middle. She left that to Lucian while she sat across from Wendy, leaving Griffin to sit opposite Angelica.
“I don’t see the need to waste anyone’s time,” Christian conceded. “I called you here because I think we need a peace treaty of some kind.”
The twins laughed.
“Why would we need a peace treaty?” Griffin asked.
“Really,” Lucian agreed. “I didn’t know we were at war.”
“You know exactly why,” Christian said with a glance at Fallon. “I need to make sure none of you pull what you and Fallon pulled yesterday.”
“Hold on a second,” Lucian snapped. “What happened yesterday was your fault, and it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t sent your lamb after Fallon.”
From the way Wendy’s eyes widened, Fallon knew they’d been on the right track about Julian. When she smiled at her own brilliance, Wendy dropped her eyes and kept them concentrated on Fallon’s water bottle. Fallon picked up the bottle and chugged the whole thing down and tossed it aside, giving Wendy no choice but to see her and only her.
“If anyone needs protection it’s Fallon,” Lucian continued. “You’ve been after her since she chose me over you. You could care less about saving her soul or anyone else’s for that matter. The only thing you care about is avenging your loss, and now you’re running scared because we aren’t running scared.”
Christian smiled at him. “Unlike you and your brother, I care more about others than I do about myself. My motives for trying to help Fallon are based on that and nothing more.”
Lucian snorted. “I’d say I didn’t think it was allowed for your kind to tell lies, but we all know that’s all you do. So, are we done then?”
“No, we’re not done,” Christian insisted.
“You’re not serious about this treaty thing are you?” Griffin scoffed.
“Yes, I am,” Christian assured him. “Why not listen to my terms? What do you have to lose?”
“All right,” Lucian agreed. “Let’s hear it.”
“We’ll leave you and your brothers alone for the rest of our time here at school if you release your hold on Fallon’s soul,” Christian answered.
“No,” Fallon interjected.
Lucian grinned at Christian. “Guess you have your answer.”
“I can’t even believe you thought we’d go for that,” Griffin said.
Christian shrugged. “I just kind of figured it would be easier this way than letting her find out the truth on her own.”
Fallon frowned at him. “What truth?”
“The truth about who you are and why you’re here,” Christian said, and the twins rose from the table.
Lucian reached for her hand. “Let’s go, Fallon.”
Fallon stood and allowed him to pull her away from the table, but Christian kept his gaze on them.
The truth about what he did to your father, Christian said inside her head.
Fallon stopped. As she stared at Lucian she could feel Christian and the girls staring at them. “What is he talking about, Sin?”
Lucian pulled her into his arms. “I used your father to bring you here.”
Fallon’s knees shook with the effort it took to stay upright, and she tightened her hold on him. “How?”
“I was the voice of vengeance whispering in his ear. Mine was the hand that guided his when he killed those people.”
“Why?”
“I needed you here with me. You’re the one. You’re the final piece of the triad, and I needed you here to fulfill our destiny.”
Fallon wriggled free from his grasp and stared at the stranger in front of her. How could he do this to her? How could he say he loved her when he knew he was the one who’d taken her father from her? This boy she’d loved and shared things with, this boy who’d taken her soul, was the same boy who ruined her life and her mother’s and damned her father to spend an eternity in Hell. Tears welled up in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. Everything around her grew fuzzy for a moment and then the ground rushed up to greet her.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Fallon knew where she was. What she didn’t know was how she’d gotten there. How had she been able to ascend the hidden stairs behind the tree and cross through the wall of flames by herself? Fallon gasped when she looked to the wooden boat bobbing on the Black River.
“Daddy!” she cried as she raced to the boat and then stopped short. “Am I dead?”
“No, Princess. You’re still alive, but you’re in a coma. Now, are you coming?”
Fallon took a step back. “I can’t get in that boat, Dad. If you take a mortal to Hell when it’s not All Hallow’s Eve they can’t come back alive.”
Her father smiled at her. “You’re the soul mate of Sinister. That gives you the right to enter and exit Hell as you please.”
Fallon’s face fell. “You’re not real, are you? Lucian is using his black magic to make me think I’m here and seeing you.”
“No, he’s not, and I can prove it. You just have to trust me.”
“I trust you, Daddy.”
Fallon climbed into the boat. As she sat opposite her father, she tried not to think about what she was doing and what was beneath them. Instead, she focused on his face and wondered how a mass murderer could still have such a kind look in his eyes. When he smiled at her again, she smiled back.
Once they reached the opposite shore they disembarked, and her father opened the door hidden in the darkness. From there, they walked the cobblestone path to cross through the line of trees into the beach paradise waiting beyond. Everything looked the same as she remembered.
“You know it doesn’t really look like this,” her father said.
Fallon frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“It looks like whatever you want it to look like. You see this because it’s what Sinister described to you.”
“You mean I could see whatever I want?”
“Give it a try.”
Fallon closed her eyes and imagined they were sitting in a big park surrounded by towering evergreens. When the scent of pine touched her nostrils, she opened her eyes to find them seated at a stone picnic table in the middle of her park setting. Marshall smiled at her, and she could see the I-told-you-so lurking beneath it.
“What am I doing here, Dad? Why did Sinister want me to come here?”
“He didn’t. He doesn’t even know you’re here.”
“That’s impossible. He knows everything.”
“A soul consumed with grief knows only pain.”
“I don’t understand what that means.”
“It means his sadness over you being sick is keeping him from the truth.”
“Sinister doesn’t know the meaning of the word truth.”
“I think it’s you who doesn’t know the truth.”
“I know he said he loved me, but didn’t bother to tell me he was the one who made you kill those people and sent you to Hell.”
“He didn’t make me kill anyone. He doesn’t even know he said those things to you.”
“What are you saying? How could he not know?”
“He was possessed.”
“Who could possess the son of Satan?”
“No one but Satan himself.”
“Why would he do that?”
“He thinks it’s time you know who you are.”
“So why not just tell me? Why go through all this?”
“This is something you wouldn’t be ready to hear any other way.”
“Who am I?”
“You are the one with a destiny greater than even Christian and his father understands. There’s a reason you were picked to be Sinister’s soul mate.”
“What reason?”
“You’re the only one strong enough.”
Fallon frowned at her father. “That’s it? I’m the only one in the whole world strong enough? Besides the fact that I’ve never heard a more bogus answer, it’s not true. I’m not even a minion. I’m just a human girl.”
“Have you ever heard of the Satanic Scrolls?” her father asked, and she shook her head. “The Scrolls are akin to the Bible, and they’re filled with the prophecies of Hell. Many of those prophecies tell stories of Sinister and Dexter, the right and left hands of the Devil.”
“So?”
“One of those prophecies tells of a girl with the keys to the heart of Sinister who has the power to complete the triad.”
“What’s the triad?”
“The grouping of three and the one who completes the triad sits between two kings.”
“You mean like I rule Hell with Lucian and Griffin?”
“Not exactly, but I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you for now.”
“What? Why?”
“The rest you must come to on your own. This illness is the first of many tests you must pass on your journey for the answers.”
“Now what?”
“Now you find your way back,” her father said and then up and disappeared on her.
Fallon frowned at the empty space her father left behind. There’d be many tests on her journey for answers? She had to find her way back? Why couldn’t he just act like a father and help her instead of doing a messed up Yoda imitation?
I don’t need him anyway, Fallon huffed as she closed her eyes and concentrated.
Behind her closed eyelids, she imagined herself where she was and where she should’ve been. She pictured herself back on Earth at Lucian’s side. When she heard a steady beeping around her, she smiled and opened her eyes. Her smile faded at once and her jaw dropped open. This wasn’t what she had in mind.
Somehow, she’d brought her soul back to Earth, but she hadn’t returned it to her body. Instead, she stood in a hospital room. The beeping was the sound of the heart monitor hanging over the metal bed. When she glanced at the bed, she saw her own body lying there. Though she expected it, there was something sort of unbelievable about the notion of an out of body experience. Her mom stared off in the distance as she sat beside her holding her hand. Fallon’s heart ached for her mom who’d already been through enough this year.
“How is she?”
Both Fallon and her mom turned to see Simeon and the twins standing at the threshold of her hospital room. Fallon frowned at Lucian’s appearance. It looked as though he’d been sleeping in his clothes, and the smell of someone who hadn’t showered in days hung in the room.
Gwen sighed. “She’s the same. The doctors don’t know why she won’t wake up. They say the bleeding in her brain has stopped, and all the tests show everything’s fine. It’s up to her and God now.”
“Yes,” Simeon said and shifted his weight from side to side. “What do you say I treat you to a cup of coffee?”
Gwen returned her gaze to Fallon’s body. “I can’t leave her.”
“The boys will watch over her. It’ll give you a chance to recharge.”
Gwen took a deep breath and got to her feet. “You’re right,” she said and released her grip on Fallon’s hand. “She’ll be in good hands with the boys.”
What? Fallon thought as she knitted her eyebrows together. What was with the love fest her mom was suddenly giving Lucian? She was always complaining about all the time they spent together. Now, she’d be in good hands with him?
The twins waited until her mom and Simeon left the room before they moved to sit on either side of her. Up close, Fallon could see from the black fuzz covering his chin and cheeks that Lucian hadn’t been shaving. It was the worst she’d ever seen him look, and she thought of Christian Church and the God Squad. Could they see what she saw?
“They’re killing her, Griff,” Lucian whispered. “Their prayers and stuff is killing her, and they’re making me weaker too.”
“You know that’s what Church wants,” Griffin said, and Fallon was relieved one of them was thinking clearly. “He’s the one that did this to her because we wouldn’t go for that stupid peace treaty.”
“I know, and he’s gonna get what he wants,” Lucian said as he ran his finger down her cheek. “When she dies, our bodies and our souls will be separated.”
Fallon longed to reach out to him, and she wondered why he couldn’t see her. The power of his black magic should’ve made her soul visible to him of all people. Her father’s words floated through her mind. A soul consumed with grief knows only pain. Somehow, she had to find a way to cut through the grief. Fallon moved to sit beside him.
“Sin?” she whispered in his ear.
“What?” he asked, and Fallon’s eyes grew huge.
“What?” Griffin echoed.
“That’s what I just asked you. Didn’t you just say Sin?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Lucian dropped wide eyes to Fallon’s still form. When he did, she noticed the lock absent from her neck. Separately they didn’t mean anything, but together they were the most powerful force in the world. Isn’t that what he said? That must have been why she couldn’t wake up. The protection of the lock was worthless if she didn’t have it and the keys that went with it.
“Listen to me, Sinister,” she ordered, and Lucian stared at her as if mesmerized. “Find the lock and bring it to me.”
“It can’t be that easy,” he murmured.
Griffin frowned at him. “Dude, you all right?”
“It is that easy,” she insisted. “Together they have all the power in the world. That’s why I’m not strong enough to fight off their prayers. I need you to bring the lock. If you do, I’ll come back to you, and we’ll fulfill the destiny of the triad.”
“Do you promise?” Lucian asked.
“Do I promise what?” Griffin asked.
“I promise, Sinister,” she said.
Lucian leaned forward to kiss her cracked lips. “You’ll have it tonight.”
It was almost midnight when Lucian reappeared in her room. Though her mom was gone, Fallon knew she wasn’t far. By now, Fallon realized she’d been taken to the same hospital where her mom was a nurse’s aid. That meant her mom could pop in and check on her anytime she wanted without missing any work. With any luck, she wouldn’t make one of her unscheduled visits and discover Lucian in her room well after visiting hours.
Lucian took a seat on the bed beside her. “Please keep your promise,” he whispered in her ear as he reached behind her to fasten the necklace.
Fallon’s eyes fluttered open as her soul was reunited with her body. “I’ll always keep my promises to you, Sin.”
He leaned back to look in her face. “Fallon,” he choked.
“You look terrible,” she said, and she was only half-kidding.
“You don’t. You look like the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“What happened to me?”
The expression in his eyes darkened, and the room filled with heat. “Christian Church poisoned you.”
Fallon gasped. “What? How?”
“That whole thing about wanting to call a peace treaty was a bunch of bull. What he really wanted to do was show me he could hurt you right before my eyes and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
“But how did he poison me?”
“He blessed the water you drank, which turned it into holy water.”
“And then I passed out and hit my head?”
“Yes, and your mind and soul became separated, and I couldn’t reach you to save you.”
“You let your emotions cloud your soul and drain your powers. You can’t do that ever again.”
Lucian grinned at her. “Yes, Fallon.”
“I’m serious. I need you to help me get better faster so we can make sure Christian understands who he’s messing with.”
“You are my soul mate, devil girl,” he said as he pulled her tight against him.
Over his shoulder, Fallon spotted her mom standing in the open doorway. Even from her bed, she could see the wide eyed look of disbelief on Gwen’s face. Fallon’s mind raced with ways to explain Lucian’s presence to her mom, but then she realized she didn’t have to. He was already gone.
“Nurse! Doctor! Someone! She’s awake!” Gwen shouted as she raced into the room to draw Fallon into a crushing embrace. “Fallon, you’re awake. Do you know who I am?”
Fallon frowned at her. “Of course I know who you are, Mom,” she said, and Gwen laughed through her tears.
“Oh thank God,” Gwen cried. “This is truly a miracle.”
Fallon shrank away from her. “God shouldn’t have let this happen to me in the first place.”
Gwen furrowed her brow for a moment and then shrugged as if to say I-don’t-care. The wide smile on her face faded when she leaned back to look at Fallon. As she tracked the movement of her mom’s eyes, Fallon knew what she was looking at.
“Where did you get that necklace?”
“You know where I got it. Lucian gave it to me for Christmas.”
“I know that, but how did it get around your neck?”
“I never take it off.”
“Yes, but the paramedics did when they took you to the hospital, and they gave it to me and I put it in your jewelry box to keep it safe. I don’t understand how you’re wearing it now.”
Fallon smiled at her mom. “Must be another miracle,” she said, and Gwen’s frown became a smile once again.
The doctors kept Fallon in the hospital for only a few days after she woke up. They wanted to observe her and make sure everything was all right before they released her, but Fallon never felt better. It was a little strange that she passed out in February and woke up in the hospital in March almost two weeks later. Her visit to Hell didn’t seem like two weeks long. Now she knew how Rip Van Winkle must have felt.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay home?” Gwen asked. “It’s only your second day home from the hospital.”
“Mom, I’m fine. Lucian’s coming over to hang out with me for a while.”
“That’s good, but make sure he’s out before midnight.”
“He will be.”
After her mom took her home last night, Fallon finally got a clue on her sudden thaw toward Lucian. Apparently, he’d impressed her by showing up at the hospital every day and sitting with her. When her mom said he’d held her hand and prayed for her to get well, Fallon almost laughed out loud. Because she thought he’d prayed for her, Lucian was suddenly the greatest guy in the world.
How’s that for irony, Mrs. Laird? Fallon thought.
Ironic or not, it worked. A few months ago her mom was flipping out at the thought of them maybe having sex. Now she was not only relieved that Lucian would be coming to spend time alone in the house with her, but she was willing to let him stay as along as midnight.
When she pulled on her jeans that afternoon, Fallon discovered the only perk to being in the hospital. Being fed through a tube for two weeks made her once tight jeans hang a little looser around her waist. For the first time in her life, she needed a belt to hold up her pants and not as an accessory. Fallon stepped back from the mirror and surveyed the difference. It wasn’t as dramatic as she would’ve liked, but it was a start. Maybe if she went on a liquid diet for real she’d lose even more weight and then she could look as good as Daphne or Corina.
“Don’t do that,” Lucian said from behind her. “I don’t want a girlfriend with no ass.”
Fallon’s shoulders jumped. “Don’t you ever knock?”
“I did, and your mom let me in,” he said and grinned at her.
Fallon frowned. “Did she leave already?”
“Nope. She’s still getting ready for work, but she said to show myself to your bed, I mean your bedroom.”
Fallon’s frown disappeared, and she laughed at him. “You know, if she hears you talking like that, she’ll probably lose all that newfound love she has for you.”
“Okay, I’m off,” Gwen announced, and Fallon and Lucian turned to face her. “You kids have a good time, and I’ll see you later.”
“Okay, Mom,” Fallon said. “Love you.”
Gwen smiled at her. “Love you too, sweetie,” she said and then looked at Lucian. “Take good care of her today, Lucian. Don’t let her do too much.”
“Can do, Mrs. Keyes.”
“All right, see you later,” Gwen repeated before she grabbed her purse and breezed out the door.
Once her mom was gone, they moved to sit on the couch. Her blanket was still heaped there, but Fallon didn’t crawl under it. The heat of Lucian’s body was enough to keep her warm, and she sighed as she settled into his arms.
Lucian stroked her hair. “I can’t believe you’re here and you’re okay,” he admitted softly. “I was really scared Church took you away from me for good.”
“Christian Church is the one who should be scared. We’re going to make him pay for this.”
“Yeah, we are.”
“I saw my dad in Hell.”
“Is that where you were?”
“Yeah, and he told me about the Satanic Scrolls.”
“What else did he tell you?”
“That I’m the one with the keys to the heart of Sinister.”
Lucian kissed the top of her head. “That’s true.”
“Is that why you love me? Because those scrolls say you have to?”
Lucian put a finger under her chin and forced her eyes to meet his. “I love you because you’re my best friend. I love you because you understand me and we have fun together, and I can tell you anything in the world. I love you because I want to.”
“I love you too,” she said and then giggled.
“What’s funny?”
“Now my mom loves you too.”
Lucian grinned down at her. “Not like you do though. No offense, but that would be kind of sick. Your mom’s hot and all, but she’s way too old for me.”
“Lucian Locke!” Fallon squealed and gave him a playful shove.
Lucian brought his lips inches from hers. “Yes, Fallon Keyes?”
“I forgot,” Fallon whispered and then became lost in his kiss.
Even though she felt fine, Gwen refused to let Fallon go to school on Monday morning. When she called Lucian to complain about it and tell him he didn’t have to pick her up, she expected him to be disappointed. Instead, he said maybe it was a good idea for her to stay home from school a little while longer. Then she could get her strength and her powers back so they could go after Christian and the God Squad. Fallon couldn’t argue with that, but she made him promise to stop and get her real chocolate chip cookies on his way to see her that afternoon.
For the rest of the day, Fallon did her best to kill time. She watched television. She read magazines. She even straightened up her room, which her mom freaked out about when she rolled out of bed just two hours before she had to go to work at noon. Fallon had never been so bored in her life. It was like being on summer vacation when she was a little kid. It was fun the first couple of days, but it wasn’t long before she couldn’t wait to see her friends again.
Just for fun she dusted off her lap top and started searching for the Satanic Scrolls. Like the earlier searches she’d done on Lucian and Griffin, she couldn’t find any real references on them. It didn’t make sense that all the history on Satan was so well hidden while Jesus Christ seemed willing to tell anyone and everyone who would listen all about him and his life and his family.
“The secrecy is for our protection,” Lucian explained as he appeared in front of her.
This time, Fallon didn’t jump. “Did you bring my cookies?” she asked, and he held the bag out for her.
When she reached for it, he pulled it back. “What are you gonna do for these?”
“Kick your ass if you don’t give them to me. Keeping food from a fat girl is dangerous.”
Lucian grimaced. “Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Put yourself down and call yourself fat.”
“I don’t know,” she said as she swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat. “I guess because it’s easier to have a sense of humor about it. It’s safer too, keeps me from getting hurt.”
Lucian kneeled in front of her. “I would never hurt you, and I love your body, every single inch of it.”
“That’s a lot of inches,” she said without thinking. “Sorry. I could make it up to you with a cookie.”
“I could think of better things to make it up to me,” he said and gave her a sly smile.
Fallon wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Just ask, and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Lucian tilted his head to the right. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“I want you to promise you’ll never make fat jokes about yourself ever again. I want you to accept that I love you the way you are, the same way I accept you loving me the way I am.”
Fallon smiled. “I promise,” she whispered, and he drew her into a tight embrace.
Of all the things he could’ve asked her for, he’d asked for something completely unselfish. Whatever he’d asked, she would’ve given him, and he had to have known that. In that moment, she loved him more than she’d ever loved him before. No matter what, she was going to make sure they fulfilled their destiny and completed the triad.