Not five minutes later it happened — my vision tunneled, my ears hummed. Next thing I knew, I fell to my knees on the concrete sidewalk. I vaguely heard my friends calling my name, felt someone tugging on my arm.
But it was too late; I was already gone, back down the rabbit hole.
I was in Manhattan — Central Park. It was dark; the sun had just set. I could see the city’s lights all around the park’s perimeter. There was a fountain about a hundred yards away, yet the area was strangely empty. A lamppost stood to my left, throwing an eerie yellow light across the pavement.
Two women lurked in the shadows. Beside the fountain two men were talking — Julius and Dr. Blackwell, I realized with a start. I moved closer, knowing I needed to hear. “. an all-school assembly,” Dr. Blackwell was saying. “Everyone else will be engaged, and you can have him then.
I’ll summon them to my office just as the assembly gets under way — him, and the Sâbbat.”
“Excellent,” Julius said. Though I couldn’t see his face, I could hear the glee in his voice.
“But afterward the Sâbbat stays with me,” Blackwell warned. “I won’t have her harmed.”
Julius nodded. “That was our agreement.” So it was a trade— me for Aidan. But what did Blackwell want with me?
“Violet, oh my God!” It was Sophie, trying to pull me to my feet.
“It’s okay,” Cece said soothingly. “She’s okay. This is what happens when she has a vision.”
“I think she’s hurt,” Kate said. “Oh, shit, she’s bleeding!”
My knees burned, and so did my palms. I must have fallen, I realized. Scraped my knees and hands on the sidewalk. I tried to get up, stumbled, and fell back down again. Something was wrong. My vision began to tunnel again, pulling me back in.
Nothing like this had ever happened — usually it ended, and that was it. But this. my friends’ voices sounded far away. The humming in my ears grew louder, then faded away. It felt like an iron band was wrapped around my chest, and I struggled for air, struggled to fill my lungs.
Aidan. I needed Aidan. I had to tell him what I’d seen. I needed him to pull me out of this before it sucked me down for good.
“Aidan,” I managed to croak. “Get him. Please.”
“I’ll project to him,” I heard Cece say. “If he can’t hear me, then we’ll send Kate once I know where he is.”
“Hurry, Cece!” Sophie said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but her pulse is way too fast. She’s having some kind of fit or something.”
“We can’t just stay here!” someone shouted. “We should take her to the infirmary.”
“No!” someone shouted. Definitely Marissa. “Aidan will know what to do.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, felt the ground sway beneath me. I felt the hot trickle of blood run down my leg, felt particles of cement abrading my hands. Aidan, please, I called out with my mind. Please, help me.
My friends’ voices were back. “Oh, God, Cece looks dead. I hate it when she does this. C’mon, Cece, make it quick.”
There was a loud gasp, and then Cece spoke. “He’s in a classroom, a chemistry lab—”
“Go, Kate!” someone yelled.
“Violet?” Aidan. Had Kate found him, or had my telepathy summoned him there? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how much time had passed. I opened my eyes and his face swam into focus, but then I had to close them again, because everything went fuzzy.
“I. I don’t know what’s happening,” I said, my voice a hoarse whisper. “It keeps trying to drag me back under.”
I felt Aidan’s cold fingers on my face. “Hey, c’mon, Vi. Snap out of it. Stay with me, love.”
He cradled me on the sidewalk, my head against his chest. I felt his lips in my hair, on my temple. My blood stirred, and I felt myself swimming back to full consciousness, felt the band around my lungs loosen and disappear.
Suddenly the black edging my vision disappeared entirely. Sounds were normal now; I could breathe again. “What happened to me?” I gasped.
“A vision. What did you see?” Aidan asked.
“Not here,” I murmured, looking up at my friends’ panicked faces.
“Do you want me to. you know, check you out?” Sophie offered.
“No, I’m fine. Really.” I rose, Aidan holding me by the elbow. “Whatever it was, it’s passed now.”
Cece glanced from me to Aidan, then back to me again. She nodded to herself, as if satisfied that I was in good hands. “We’ll meet you back at the room in a little bit, okay?”
I just nodded, watching them all walk away.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked Aidan, knowing full well we weren’t going to travel the normal way.
“To my room. Take my hand and close your eyes, okay?”
I closed them, all right — as tightly as I could. A few seconds passed, a hum and a pop, and there we were, inside his little room. The door swung shut behind us, and I heard a bolt slide into place before he led me to the narrow little daybed and sat down beside me.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked, stroking my hair.
And then I remembered — the blood! I leapt up and ran for the door, my heart pounding. “Aidan, you’ve got to let me out. My knees and my hands — I. I’m bleeding.”
He was beside me in an instant, reaching for my hand, drawing me back toward him. “Let me see.”
I shook my head so wildly it felt like it might snap right off my neck. “No way. Don’t you remember the last time?”
“Look at me, Violet. Look at my eyes. My teeth.” He raised his upper lip. “I’m fine. I just took the elixir, not an hour ago. It’s just a few scrapes, nothing serious. I can fix it.”
I took two steps away from him, back toward the door. “What do you mean, fix it?”
“What do you think, that when I leave a victim lying on the street, I leave the puncture marks visible? Imagine the panic that would cause,” he said with a laugh.
“But. but I saw the marks you left on that junkie’s neck,” I stammered.
“I fixed those while you were passed out cold on the sidewalk.”
“You mean just left me lying there, and—”
“It only took me a few seconds, I promise.”
I just stood there, blinking in confusion, more afraid than I wanted to admit.