“What else do you know?” the male reporter asks.
Christine moves slightly away from the crime scene tape, her hair blowing in the tempestuous wind. Even with her umbrella, the rain is coating her smooth skin. “Just that he was found on his front stoop. His own property.”
“So was he killed there?” the reporter asks.
Her brightly painted pink lips turn down. “It doesn’t look like it. My source believes he was dumped here, so maybe his fingers are wherever the crime took place.”
His fingers are currently dissolving in his own stomach acid. I cover my mouth with my hand. How could Thorn? I mean, Mrs. Pendrake was pretty clear that he only killed the guilty, but to go this far, just because of me, I can’t believe it.
I gag again and stand up, clapping both hands over my mouth to run to the nearest bathroom where I lose my breakfast. Chaotic thoughts keep whipping through my head. Thorn has never lied to me. He told me what would happen, and it’s exactly what happened.
Standing, I rinse out my mouth and turn, looking into Nico’s bedroom. I glance down at my shirt, which has vomit on it. Wincing, I walk into his room and tug open a drawer to find a T-shirt. Inside are several aquamarine necklaces, beautiful ones, just like mine. I pause. Wait a minute. My head is fuzzy, and I can’t believe this. Why does he have all of these necklaces that look like mine? I take one along with a T-shirt and walk through the apartment to where he’s standing next to the window.
Lightning flashes outside, illuminating him. He turns and looks at me. I’ve seen him like this before. Illuminated by lightning.
It all comes back so quickly, him in front of the window and with my mother crying. My jaw slackens and I drop the necklace. The stones shatter across the floor, a shard cutting my foot.
Thorn
The server room of Malice Media smells like hinge oil and stale coffee. I’m pacing while Justice and Kaz sit at their computers. Ice is chugging through my veins like chunks in a river when the snow melts. Every once in a while, a piece will catch and shoot pain through my entire system.
I had to use a cane to get to the car today. It’s unthinkable. Tonight’s ball with Alana might be my last night. The garnet is fading fast, as am I.
“Maybe there’s a way to tie the garnet into the alexandrite crystals,” Kaz says, scrubbing both hands through his hair. I idly wonder when he slept last. He looks like hell, not that I slept last night, either.
My phone buzzes and I lift it to my ear. “Beathach,” I snarl.
“It’s Sylveria. I’d like to announce your engagement to one of my daughters tonight at the ball. Which one do you want?”
Neither. “It’s not going to happen.” Alana is the only woman I’ll ever want.
Sylveria scoffs. “If you want to fix your servers, you’ll stop playing around.”
I stiffen. My servers? “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid,” she snaps. “If you want me to repair what ails Malice Media, you’ll do as I say.”
She doesn’t know. It hits me then. She’s fishing. “Fine. Tell me what kind of resonance disruptor you used to interfere with the functioning of my fucking garnets.”
Her chuckle is throaty. “Those garnets can be sticky with their resonant frequencies, right? I’ll give you the code to recalculate all of your frequencies the second you take your vows.”
The bitch has no clue that I’m as ill as my garnet. I growl as my chest freezes and a rib cracks. Scrambling in my pocket, I pull out a chunk of aquamarine I filched from Alana’s closet.
The pain ebbs slightly. I frown and look down at the glowing crystal. Is our connection such that her stone soothes mine?
Sylveria clears her throat.
I end the call. “It’s not her,” I say. So who the hell infected me?
Justice shakes his head. “Who else is that good? You think Mathias has somebody?”
I rub my aching rib cage. “I don’t know.”
Justice keeps typing and barely flashes a smile. “The alexan-drites are working within our system. Fast. Are you seeing this?”
Kaz nods. “Yeah, I am, but the malware that infected the garnet is exhibiting polymorphism and it’s doing a good job.”
“It’s changing its behavior to hide?” I ask.
That’s impressive. Whoever came up with this is brilliant. Kaz and Justice will be able to fight the malware, and even counteract it, but probably not within the next few days.
Long after I’m gone.
Justice’s computer dings and he types quickly. “Holy shit. Thorn, bring up the local news on your terminal.”
I sit and connect to the local news stream to see a report about Sokolov’s body being found, freshly dead. The sirens were already echoing over the hills after I dumped him on his porch around noon. We looked through traffic cams and destroyed what we could, but I still don’t know how the police found out so quickly.
“There was another body at the scene besides Sokolov’s,” Justice hisses.
“What?” I type and bring up a different news station.
A young blonde reporter is speaking earnestly to the camera, the rain pummeling down on her red umbrella. “Yes, and apparently the female was beneath a rosebush, close to the front door. Her face is smashed in. She’s a brunette and she was wearing a yellow dress, much like the four other victims found these last two years. What’s notable is that she’s wearing a lovely aquamarine necklace that looks like the one Alana Beaumont always wears.”
Everything inside me that’s already not frozen goes stone-cold. I stand, kicking the chair back.
