“Yeah,” Spencer shot back. “Come on, yourself.”
“Tell the truth.”
I was caught. I’d backed myself into a corner, and both weren’t backing down.
“Use me.”
Of course, The Immortal would pop up here. Nope. Not going to do it. I shoved that thought away.
“You’re wasting time. Let me take over. I can get in their heads and make them do what you want.”
“Nope.” I shook my head.
Spencer and Cal saw the motion, and both of their eyebrows lifted.
Cal asked, “No what? What was that for?”
“Uh.”
“Use me, Davy. This is ridiculous. You’re being foolish. They’re both humans.”
“I’m human!” I shot back at her.
“No.” She said it so calmly, so—I gulped—final. “You’re not and you know it. You’re clinging to a past that’s not with you anymore. You need to let go of your humanity.”
I scoffed in outrage. Let go of my humanity? She was being ridiculous.
Cal and Spencer heard the sound I made and the suspicion was turning toward doubt, like I’d grown two heads and they didn’t know what to make of me. Spencer checked his pocket and pulled out a baggie. He was checking if the pot was still there. Reassured it was, he put it back, and his eyebrows bunched together even more.
“Davy. You’re indulging these two humans. You don’t have time to be kind. Let me take over. They’ll go to safety, and we can be back in the Mori camp.”
“Why do you even want to go back there?”
She was silent.
I almost laughed out loud. Of course, she was silent now. The witches had separated us enough where I couldn’t read her thoughts, but she knew my every wish, thought, and feeling. It wasn’t fair.
But then I felt a growl coming from inside of me. It was from the farthest part of me, deeper than my consciousness had ever been in touch with. It was her. I angered her.
“Witch,” I thought.
Her anger doubled. It grew in volume and strength.
That was why she wanted to go back. “You want vengeance?” I asked her.
“No.” She spoke back to me. “You want vengeance. I am you. You are me. We are as one. Don’t fool yourself into pretending you’re the ‘good’ one. You want to taste their blood every bit as I do. That’s why we’re going back, Davy. We’re not going for your traitorous friend. It’s time you were honest with yourself, just like how these two hikers came to be in the first place.”
“What?” I snarled at her, whipping my head to the side as if I could see her.
I sensed Cal and Spencer’s growing caution, but for once I was in sync with The Immortal. They were human. Lying to them could be easily done. I had a more important fight to deal with now.
“Tell me!” I yelled at her.
There was nothing. Just silence. She was there. I felt her, but she was pouting. No—that wasn’t right. She was waiting . . .
“What are you waiting for? Tell me the truth.”
Fury and impatience ebbed into resignation. The first two emotions slid away like a wall inside of me, opening up to the back room where she was. I felt her honesty then, and she said, “It was you, Davy.”