I knew—though again I had no way of knowing—that these boys had grown up in the same neighborhood as Giovanni. I also knew they were mean. Seeing them in my mind’s eye, I felt a rush of evil so palpable, I wanted to open my eyes and get away. I tried, and shivered as I realized I couldn’t. As long as I was in Magda’s circle of hands, I didn’t have control anymore—she did.
Giovanni didn’t see the evil in his friends. These were his neighborhood’s “cool kids,” and he ached to prove he was as tough as they were. He told them Sage’s story about the Society and all its riches, then puffed out his chest and added, “I’m thinking I’ll bust in there sometime and nip a few things for myself.” It wasn’t true, but he figured it would impress them. “Maybe I’ll steal the Elixir of Life vials. I bet I’d be set for good with just one of those.”
“‘Elixir of Life?’” the toughest of the three boys asked. “What’s that?”
Giovanni explained, his attitude as scoffing as Sage’s had been, but he had no idea of the spark he was lighting. Unfathomable riches and eternal life? Giovanni had inspired the guys to achieve their greatest haul ever. They pumped him for as many details as possible, and Giovanni blossomed under the attention, never guessing their real motives. He walked off feeling proud that the guys now saw him as somebody; the guys walked off determined that tomorrow would be the day they attacked the Society.
Immediately the scene changed again, and I saw myself.
Olivia and Sage walked arm in arm down the street in the moonlight. Ben gasped, and I knew he understood that Olivia was me. She didn’t look exactly like me. This wasn’t like the dreams where I saw myself as each of the other women. She looked like herself—the way Sage had drawn her on the cave floor. The way she looked in his paintings.
“Is this a big deal, presenting your bride-to-be to the Society members tonight?” Olivia teased.
“It’s a big deal to be with you.” Sage grinned. “You know how I feel about the Society. Their blessing is a necessary evil for my share of the family fortune.”
“What makes you think we’ll get their blessing? Your ex-girlfriend hates me, and she’s the one who runs it.”
“Magda doesn’t hate you.”
“Are you kidding? Have you seen the way she looks at me?”
“She might be a little jealous,” Sage admitted.
“Of course! She’s gorgeous! A woman like her can’t possibly lose men very often. I’m sure she’s just waiting for you to realize your mistake and go back to her.”
“Promise me you don’t really think that’ll happen.”
“I don’t know. …” Olivia hedged, not meeting his eye. “She’s rich and beautiful and in the Society. … I’m sure your father would love it if you married her.”
“Are you jealous?” Sage teased.
“I don’t know about jealous. I’m just saying—” Sage laughed out loud and swept Olivia into his arms. “Olivia, the minute we met, other women ceased to exist. You are my soulmate. I’m not going back to anyone else. You’re stuck with me forever. Deal with it.”
Olivia smiled. “Okay … if I have to.”
Sage kissed her, then held her close as they continued walking along the street.
“You have nothing to worry about from Magda,” he assured her. “She can’t come between us, and no matter how she feels, she’d never let it get in the way of Society business. We’ll get their blessing.”
“Okay, good. I have to admit, I’m so curious to see how everything works.”
“Okay, good. I have to admit, I’m so curious to see how everything works.”
“Oh, I think you’ll be highly amused.”
The couple couldn’t be more casual as they walked off, but I suddenly felt cold with terror. The truth hit me like a head-on crash.
Sage was bringing Olivia to the Society tonight.
Tonight was the night Giovanni’s friends were going to strike.
No one but Sage and Magda was going to survive the attack.
I was about to watch the attack I’d envisioned in my dreams, and seen on Sage’s canvases.
My heart started thumping so hard it hurt. I was about to witness my own death.
I saw the Society again circling the bejeweled cabinet, this time with Olivia standing among them. Magda led the opening chant, sneering as her eyes met Olivia’s.
Suddenly the door burst open and Giovanni’s pack of “friends” poured in … but they weren’t alone. Their ranks had swelled to eight members, all armed with makeshift clubs and shivs. The luxury of the room reflected in their eyes, making them salivate with bloodthirsty greed.
“No screaming!” roared the leader, grabbing Magda and holding a roughly serrated knife to her throat. “Not a sound or she dies!”
The Society members immediately froze, and quieted into fearful whimpering. Even Sage stood still, but he wasn’t giving in. He cast a sidelong glance at Olivia and nodded slightly, letting her know he had this under control. He was biding his time and waiting for the right moment.
The leader grinned at the curio cabinet. “There it is, boys,” he said. “The Elixir of Life is in there. Just like Gi said.”
“Gi?” Sage asked, shocked. He looked at Olivia and she shook her head in disbelief—Giovanni couldn’t be responsible for this.
“Yeah, Gi, your charity case,” the leader spat at Sage. “You thought he was too poor and daft to be a threat, right? But he laughs at you—comes to us and tells us everything. And now what’s yours is going to be ours. Everything that’s yours.”
The leader grinned and ran his dirty fingers down Olivia’s cheek. With an animal roar, Sage lunged … but the leader urged on two of his men. They fell on Sage, stabbing him mercilessly in his chest, in his arms, in his legs.
Olivia’s sanity snapped, and she started screaming, loud and shrill. The leader warned her to stop, to close her mouth or else, but she couldn’t hear. She could only scream and scream and scream.…
An attacker smashed a club into the back of her skull, shutting her up. It was the last thing Sage saw before he lost consciousness.
The group of attackers gathered up all the gold and jewels they could find. They wanted to move quickly and get out. They didn’t even notice when Sage came to.
He was on his side, barely able to pry his eyes open. Just the effort ripped his insides apart.
In the vision, I saw the room as he did. It was a slaughterhouse.
All around him lay the ripped, gashed, and blood-soaked bodies of the Society members. Magda was among them. I understood why Sage couldn’t believe she had survived. She looked just the way she had described, struggling weakly against her gaping wounds and the bloody dagger pinning her to the floor.
Sage looked away. Agonized, he struggled to scan the rest of the room. Where was Olivia?
Finally he saw her. She lay sprawled on the ground, her unseeing eyes still reflecting the shock and terror of her final moments.
I couldn’t breathe. This was impossibly awful, worse than Sage’s painting. This was real. And it was me. I had lived that life, and I had died that death. I was staring at the very end of me. It was too much. I began to hyperventilate. The images behind my closed eyes began to blur, and I was sure I would pass out.
Magda’s weightless, skeletal hand squeezed my own—hard—forcing me back to my senses.
The vision went on.
Sage cried out in agony when he saw Olivia, but his lungs were punctured. No sound emerged. Everything inside him was broken; he knew he was about to die. He took small solace in that.