But Dawson had.
He’d seen people who’d been brought to him, had been normal Joes before the mutation and then snapped days later. Violent outbursts were common right before they went into self-destruction mode. All of them had been given the serum I’d been given. Without it, according to Blake, the mutation could hold, but it was rare and in most cases, the mutations faded.
Since I arrived at the lake, Dawson had stayed close to my side while Daemon and Matthew handled the onyx carefully.
“I had to do it once,” Dawson said quietly, focused on the overcast sky.
“Do what?”
“Watch a hybrid die like that.” He took a breath, squinting. “The guy just went crazy, and no one could stop him. He took out one of the officers and then there was a flash of light. Sort of like spontaneous combustion, because when the light faded, he was gone. Nothing was left. It happened so fast, he couldn’t have felt a thing.”
I remembered how Carissa was shaking, and I knew she had to feel that. Feeling nauseous, I focused on Daemon. The onyx was in a hole, and he knelt in front of it, talking quietly to Matthew. I was glad the rest of the group wasn’t there.
“Did the people they brought to you know why they were there?” I asked.
“Some did, like they signed up for it. Others were sedated. They didn’t have a clue. I think they were homeless people.”
That was sickening. Unable to stay still, I headed toward the bank of the lake. The water wasn’t frozen over anymore, but it was still and calm. Completely at odds with how I felt inside.
Dawson followed. “Carissa was a good person. She didn’t deserve this. Do we even know why they chose her?”
I shook my head. I’d spent a good part of the day thinking about everything. Even if Carissa had known about the Luxen and had been healed by one, Daedalus was involved. I knew it. But the hows and whys were the mysteries. As was the stone I’d seen around her wrist.
“Did you ever see anything on the hybrids there? Like a weird black stone that looked like it had fire inside it?”
His brows knitted. “None of mine made it except Beth. They didn’t have anything like that on them. I never saw the others.”
Terrible… It was just terrible.
I swallowed thickly, but my throat felt tight. A soft breeze stirred the lake, and a wave rippled from one bank to the next. Like a shock wave…
“Guys?” Daemon called, and we turned. “Are you ready?”
Were we ready to step into the house of pain? Uh, no. But we walked over to them. Daemon stood, holding a circular piece of onyx in his gloved hand.
He turned to Blake. “This is your show.”
Blake took a deep breath and nodded. “I think the first thing to test out is if I do have a tolerance to onyx. If I do, then that gives us a starting point, right? At least then we know that we can build up a tolerance.”
Across from him, Daemon glanced down at the onyx he held and shrugged. Without preamble, he shot forward, placing the onyx against Blake’s cheek.
My jaw hit the ground.
Matthew stepped back. “God.”
Beside me, Dawson laughed under his breath.
But nothing happened for several moments. Finally, Blake knocked the onyx away, his nostrils flaring. “What the hell?”
Disappointed, Daemon tossed the rock in the pile. “Well, apparently you have a tolerance to onyx and here I was hoping you didn’t.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth, stifling a giggle. He was such an asshole, and I loved him.
Blake stared. “What if I didn’t have a tolerance to it? Good God, I kind of wanted to prepare myself for that.”
“I know.” Daemon smirked.
Matthew shook his head. “Okay, back on track, boys. How do you suggest doing this?”
Stalking over to the pile of onyx, Blake picked one up. There was a slight ripple of unease this time, but he held on. “I suggest Daemon goes first. We hold it to the skin until you drop. No longer.”
“Oh, dear Lord,” I muttered.
Daemon took off his gloves and held out his arms. “Bring it.”
There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. Blake stepped forward and pressed that onyx against Daemon’s palm. Immediately, his face contorted and he appeared to try to step back, but the onyx held him in place. A tremor started in his arm and traveled through his body.
Dawson and I both stepped forward. Neither of us could help it. Standing here, watching the pain harshen his beautiful face, was too much. Panic shot through me.
But then Blake pulled back and Daemon dropped to his knees, slamming his hands onto the ground before him. “Crap…”
I rushed forward, touching his shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“He’s fine,” Blake said, placing the onyx on the ground. His right hand shook as our eyes met. “It started to burn. There must be a limit to my tolerance…”
Daemon stood unsteadily, and I followed. “I’m okay.” Then he said to his brother, who was eyeballing Blake like he wanted to toss him through a window, “I’m fine, Dawson.”
“How do we know this will work?” Matthew demanded. “Touching onyx is completely different than being sprayed all over with it.”
“I’ve walked out of those doors before and nothing happened. And it’s not like they’ve sprayed onyx in my face before. This has to be it.”
I remembered how he said everything he touched had been encased in the shiny jewel. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Daemon opened his mouth, but I cut him off with a glare. He wasn’t going to talk me out of this.
Picking up a glove, Blake handled the onyx differently now. He didn’t come to me but to Matthew. The same thing happened with the older Luxen. He was on his knees, gasping for air, and then it was Dawson’s turn.
It took a little longer for him, which made sense. He’d been exposed to the spray like me and had been tortured by the stuff off and on. But after about ten seconds, he went down and his brother massacred the English language.
Then it was my turn.
Squaring my shoulders, I nodded. I was ready for this, wasn’t I? Heck no. Who was I fooling? This was going to hurt.
Blake winced and moved forward, but Daemon stopped him. Using the glove, he took the onyx from him and stood in front of me.
“No,” I said. “I don’t want you to do this.”
The determined set to his jaw infuriated me. “I’m not letting him do it.”
“Then let someone else do it.” There was no way he could be the one who placed the onyx on me. “Please.” Daemon shook his head, and I wanted to punch him. “This isn’t right.”
“It’s either me or no one.”
And then I understood. He was trying to get his way. Taking a breath, I met him head-on. “Do it.”
Surprise flickered in his bottle-green eyes and then anger deepened them. “I hate this,” he said, loudly enough for only me to hear.
“I do, too.” Anxiety climbed up my throat. “Just do it.”
He didn’t look away, but I could tell he wanted to. Whatever pain I knew I was about to feel would be symbiotic. He would feel it—not the physical, but the anguish would travel to him, as if it were his own. It was the same when Daemon was in pain.
I closed my eyes, thinking that would help him. It seemed to, because maybe ten seconds later, I felt the coolness of the onyx against my hand and the roughness of his glove. Nothing happened immediately, but then it did.
A rapidly growing burn traveled across my hand and then shot up my arm. A thousand tiny pricks of pain radiated across my body. I bit down on my lip, stifling my scream. It didn’t take long after that before I hit the ground, gulping in air as I waited for the burn to ease off.
My body shuddered. “All right… Okay… Not too bad.”
“Bull,” Daemon said, hauling me onto my feet. “Kat—”