Before they began, Gemma used a paper towel to wipe the scroll completely clean. She didn’t want their blood and water mixing with residue from anything else that might screw it up.

Gemma tried to cut Marcy’s finger, but she felt weird about hurting her. Then Marcy tried to do it herself, also without success, so finally, Kirby had to step in and save the day. With Marcy looking the other way, Kirby sliced the knife down her finger.

Marcy held her hand over the scroll, squeezing droplets out. Gemma’s finger had already healed again, so, hurriedly, she sliced open her own finger and mixed her blood with Marcy’s, then added the water last.

It wasn’t as much as she would’ve liked, but it was enough that she could smear it on the words of the scroll. The symbols began to glow beneath, shining brightly through her blood in a vibrant crimson.

At first, it seemed no different from before, when Gemma had tried out the energy drink for herself. But then they began to blaze even brighter, the dark ink shifting from red to an orange flame, like they were on fire.

She held her breath, thinking that this might finally be it … and then just as abruptly as it started, it stopped. The ink faded to its usual russet color. Nothing had changed.

“Well that sucks,” said Marcy. “I thought the scroll was going to burst into flames, then nothing. It’s never reacted that strongly before, right?”

Gemma bit her lip and shook her head, staring thoughtfully at the scroll. “That’s definitely never happened before, not like that. I wish we had the translation because I don’t know why it happened.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Eternity

Daniel sat in the driver’s seat of the car he’d borrowed from Alex and took another fortifying breath. His phone was in his hand, still glowing from the last text he’d received. It’d been Harper, replying to his with, “I love you, too.”

He’d wanted to say something more, but he couldn’t think of anything else. This might be the last thing he ever said to Harper, and if it was, “I love you” was the only thing that really mattered in the end.

Before he’d left the house, he’d gone over everything. He made sure to leave the keys on the dining room table, along with his mother’s phone number and insurance info. He’d tried to write a letter as a last will and testament, but he wasn’t really leaving much behind. The only things in his life that really mattered to him were his boat and Harper.

Today was his twenty-first birthday, and he was going to have sex with a woman he hated, and though he hoped she would accept his offer to become her concubine, he knew there was a very good chance she might kill him when she was done. He would die on the day he was born. At least that had some nice symmetry to it.

He was focused on the phone, on Harper’s last text to him, and he didn’t notice Penn until she was knocking on the car window, smiling seductively at him. Trying to force a smile back at her, he pushed the button to roll down the window.

“Are you ever planning on coming inside, or did you wanna do it in the car?” Penn asked, leaning on the door so he could see down the front of her slinky black dress. “Because I’ve done it in cars before, and it’s not as hot as it sounds.”

“I’ll go in … unless you planned on changing your mind about today.”

Penn threw back her head and laughed. “No way. Let’s go.”

When he rolled up the window, she stepped back. He turned off the ignition and decided to leave the keys and his phone in the car. It would be easier for people to find if Penn killed him tonight.

He followed her into the house, and he was surprised to see how everything had been decked out. No lights were on, but there had to be a thousand candles casting a warm glow over everything. Civil Twilights played softly on a stereo, but otherwise, the house was silent.

“Your sisters are gone?” Daniel asked as he glanced around.

“Yeah. I sent them away for the night, so we have the place to ourselves,” Penn said over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen.

“I suppose I would prefer this without an audience,” he said under his breath.

A bottle of wine was chilling in a bucket of ice on the counter. Without asking if he wanted any, Penn poured two glasses and walked back over to him.

“Here, have some.” She handed him a glass. “It’ll loosen you up.”

Instead of taking a sip, Daniel sniffed the glass. “You didn’t drug this or anything, did you?”

Penn laughed again and tossed her silken black hair over her shoulder. “Of course not. I want you totally present for tonight.”

“Thanks.” He took a long swallow, almost gulping it down.

“Why don’t I show you to the bedroom?” Penn suggested.

“So soon? Shouldn’t we warm up first? Get to know each other?”

When she smiled, there was a devilish sparkle in her dark eyes, one that Daniel found unsettling. “I think I know everything about you I need to know.”

Taking his hand, Penn led him through the living room and up the staircase to the loft above. There was only one bed in the center of the room, covered in black satin sheets. The bed had a heavy-looking iron headboard, with a gold wrap draped across it, apparently to set the mood, and Daniel wondered dimly where Thea’s and Liv’s beds were.

She took his wineglass from him, now nearly empty, and set it on the nightstand next to a black candle with an oddly purple flame. Then she came back to him, standing so close that when he breathed in deeply, his chest pressed against hers. The smile playing on her lips was wicked, and she gently bit her lip with teeth that were too sharp to be human.