Anne was crying now. The tears in her eyes were painful to watch; the hurt and betrayal in them was a hundred times worse. Stop it! I screamed silently at Crystal. Okay, fine, you win! I’ll do what you want! Just stop!
Crystal didn’t answer, not in words, but I could feel her emotions. Amusement, satisfaction.
“I’m sorry,” Anne said in a small voice. “What do you want me to do?”
“There’s exactly one thing you can do that’ll save us,” I heard my voice say. “Call that jinn back and use it to get us out of here.”
Fear leapt into Anne’s eyes. “No. I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.”
“Alex, I can’t. You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Why not? Wasn’t that why you picked up that stupid thing in the Vault? Because it was the only way out? Well, it’s the only way out now. So use it for someone apart from yourself for a change.”
“I can’t! If I call it back, if I call her back, I’ll be gone. They’re too strong now. Please, you have to—”
“I don’t care!” It was a shout this time, and Anne jumped. “This is the only useful thing you can do, so do it!”
Tears were streaming down Anne’s cheeks. She shook her head mutely.
“You stupid bitch!” My legs moved, carrying me close to Anne, looming over her. “How many times have I risked my life for you now? Now the one time it matters, you can’t even do this?”
“I—I—”
My hand hit Anne across the face. It caught her so totally by surprise that she didn’t even flinch. She went down to hands and knees, looking up at me in disbelief.
“Do it!” my voice shouted down at her.
Anne shook her head.
My body moved like an automaton, hitting Anne again. Inside, I was screaming, fighting. Useless. I was locked out; Crystal held the controls. I wanted to fight back, to rage, to look away. I couldn’t.
Anne tried to protect herself, but her movements were weak, shocked. I knocked her arm away and hit her in the face again, this time hard enough to split her lip and send her sprawling on the floor. She looked up at me with blood at the corner of her mouth and haunted, frightened eyes. It should have made me stop, would have made any decent person stop.
Crystal made me kick her. Anne fell back against the bed.
“No . . .” Anne’s voice was barely coherent. “Please . . .”
My body reached down, hauled Anne to her feet. Her eyes stared up into mine, wide and terrified. “I hate you,” my voice said. “I should have left you back in Fountain Reach.” I threw her away. Anne tripped over the bed, hit her head against the wall.
I stalked around the bed towards her. Anne was lying curled up on the floor, head down, her hair hanging over her face. “Get up,” I told her, and reached down to grab her hair.
Anne’s hand caught mine.
Fire flashed along my nerves, paralysing me. As I stared down, Anne looked up at me. Tears streaked her face, but her eyes were clear and alight. “You wanted to see the jinn?” she said softly. Slowly she rose to her feet, her eyes staying locked on mine.
I felt the pit drop out of my stomach. Oh no.
The room seemed to darken. The lines of Anne’s figure blurred and warped, black strands spreading from under her clothes. Shadows unfolded from around her, stretching from wall to wall like wings. Anne leant towards me, and all of a sudden she seemed to be the one taller, as though something was looming up behind her, looking down on me. “Wish granted.”
White-hot agony exploded in my hand, bursting through my body. I felt Crystal’s control snap and all of a sudden she was gone. I fell like a puppet with its strings cut, my head slamming into the floor. My hand was numb and pain was flashing through my body, but I was in control again. I looked up at Anne, fumbling for the words. “Anne—I—”
The door burst open with a crash.
Anne and I turned to see the doorway filled with people. Vihaela was there, dark and predatory, her eyes fixed narrowly on Anne, and to one side was Crystal, half hidden by the wall. And at the centre was Richard. He was ignoring me, looking straight at Anne, and in one hand he was holding something that thrummed with power.
Anne looked at Richard, and an expression of utter disgust crossed her face. “Ah, shit.”
Purple light shone from Richard’s hand. Magic reached out from him and the two women to Anne; mind, life, others. Anne’s eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped to the floor. The darkness around her winked out, the black strands vanishing.
“Bring her,” Richard ordered.
Vihaela walked forwards. I tried to pull myself up but there was something wrong with my hand. “Wait, don’t—”
Vihaela flicked a hand, as if shooing off a fly. Pain and nausea rolled over me and I fell. Through clouded vision, I watched as Vihaela reached down and picked Anne up without apparent effort. She turned and carried her out. From the doorway Richard and Crystal spared me a glance before turning away. Crystal looked satisfied; Richard’s expression was harder to place. Distance? Regret? Then both were gone.
I tried to pull myself to my feet but the aftereffects of Vihaela’s spell made me collapse. My vision greyed, and there was a roaring in my ears. Gradually it subsided. The pain didn’t. No, Anne, come back. Please . . .
Dimly I heard the footsteps of someone else entering the room. There was a pause; the door closed, and the foosteps drew closer. Turning my head, I saw a pair of women’s shoes. With difficulty I looked up.
“Hello, Alex,” Rachel said.
My eyes slid past Rachel to the door. I couldn’t make myself care about her, not now. Have to get to Anne. I tried to pull myself to my feet.
“Ah, ah.” Rachel gave me a shove with one foot, sending me sprawling. “Richard doesn’t want you interfering with what he’s going to do to your girlfriend. Not that she’d want to see you. You saw that look on her face?”
Vihaela’s spell was wearing off but my hand was still numb. I couldn’t feel it, and when I tried to use it to prop myself up, it didn’t work.
“We watched the whole thing on camera,” Rachel said. She pointed to the corner of the room. “Richard wanted to make sure his investment wasn’t damaged. I was just there with popcorn.” She tilted her head, looking down at me, eyes bright. “You really beat the crap out of her. I couldn’t believe she just sat there and took it. She really is a doormat, isn’t she? But I guess you always liked those sorts of girls. Wait, are you crying?”
I turned my head away from Rachel, blinking back the tears. “You are!” Rachel said. “Look at those tears! I love it when men like you do this. You act so tough, but as soon as something goes wrong, you cry like a baby.”
I’d never hated Rachel so much as in that moment. I stared at her, too filled with pain and rage to speak.
Rachel laughed. “Oh, you’re angry? What are you going to do about it? It pissed me off so much when Richard ordered me to keep you alive, but it was worth it just to see this.” She paused. “What, nothing to say? Come on, Alex, you’re supposed to be smart, right? Tell how this was all part of your plan.”
I didn’t answer.
Rachel waited, then her smile faded. “No, you don’t have anything to say, do you? You never did, not when it mattered. It was all just bullshit.” She crouched down in front of me, her expression suddenly cold. “You want to know why this happened? Because of you. I hope you’re paying attention, because I really want you to understand this. Everything that’s happened, all of this, it was all your fault. Richard gave you so many chances. He took you in and you tried to betray him. He invited you back and you turned him down. And then after all that, he still gives you a last chance to play along, and you say no again. I mean, what did you think was going to happen? You thought he was going to say ‘oh well,’ and let you go? Or maybe you thought someone was going to swoop in to save you? Newsflash, Alex. Richard has been the one sweeping in to save you. Doesn’t work so well when you piss him off too. But I guess you never thought about that, did you? You just figured you could do whatever you wanted and it’d all work out.”