“Your eyes look like chocolate,” she says and I get the feeling she might be enjoying this a little more than she should.

“Emmy, just get on with it.” Sylas sighs heavily, like he’s tired of dealing with it all. “You can play around later. Just get it done.”

Emmy smiles, shaking her head, and then her black eyes open wide. “Whatever you do,” she says. “Don’t blink.”

Chapter 34

“Kayla, Kayla, wake up,” Monarch says.

My eyelids jerk open, spots of light blinding my pupils and I can’t see.

“Over here,” he says. “I need you to focus.”

I blink my eyes again and again until his grey eyes come into view. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the lab,” he says. “But I need you to pay attention because we don’t have much time.”

I sit up from the metal bed, bumping my head on the light. The walls have glass cabinets covering them with rows and rows of bottles and vials. There’s a metal tray beside me, holding tiny tools, stained with blood.

“Kayla,” he says. “Are you paying attention?”

I nod, directing my focus to him.

“Good.” He glances behind him, at the door. “Something’s going to happen to me—something that might seem bad, but it’s not. It’s good. But I need your help with it.”

I nod. “You know I’ll always help you.”

He gives a small, nervous smile. “The first thing that’s going to happen is going to be the hardest, but it’ll all work out.” He pauses. “I’m going to turn.”

“Into a vampire?”

He shakes his head. “Into a Higher.”

I swallow hard. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I have no choice,” he answers, his forehead creased with worry lines. “But it’s okay, because it’s all going to work out. You’re going to help me.”

“Of course,” I say. “Just tell me what to do.”

He smiles, pleased, like this is exactly how he wants me to be. “In a while, I’m going to give you my watch. Now no matter what, never lose that watch—it’s the thing that’s going to save us all.” He pauses, running back to the door and peeking in the hall before returning. “The next thing I want you to do is just as important. You need to come back here, behind the red door. You need… you need to make—”

Blood. Blood everywhere. Spilling from the ceiling. Someone’s screaming, echoes of murder in my head.

“Wake up, Kayla, please wake up.”

“Kayla, listen to me.”

“Kayla.”

“Please … help me.”

My eyelids twitch open. Blood drips from my forehead, down my face, in my hair. Aiden’s above me, his hands on his cheeks, his honey eyes wide, his breath and heart erratic.

“Oh my God. You’re okay.” He stands, gently helping me to my feet, keeping a hand on my shoulder