Torn Ivy (Thornfield Supernatural Academy #2)

26. Ivy

26

IVY

The peaceful moment of understanding shatters as reality ripples again - but this time, it’s not from my chaos magick. Three figures materialise in the room, their bodies reforming from shadow in a way that puts me on the defensive until I see who it is.

“Oh good, more drama,” Torin mutters, but I notice he moves protectively closer to me anyway.

Josh waves, but his usual smile is absent. “We have a problem.”

“When don’t we?” I reply. “What’s happened?”

“The Syndicate,” a female says, her silver eyes gleaming with urgency. “They’re going after Cathy tonight.”

“And you are?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“This is Eva,” Josh says hastily.

“How did you know about Cathy?”

“You pissed them off in a big way, Ivy. It threw them to know what you can do now, and they have targeted your aunt.”

“They had before,” I murmur. “I thought it was over.”

He shakes his head.

Reality ripples around us in response to my anger. Tate grabs my hand, his anchor power struggling to stabilise the chaos that threatens to explode outward.

“When?” I demand.

Josh shrugs. “We don’t know for sure. It’s rumbles.”

“Fuck.”

“Actually, there’s more,” the third Resistance member—another woman I don’t recognise—says. “That’s why we’re here. The Syndicate’s not acting on their own anymore. They’re being influenced.”

“By who?”

“Good question.”

But I think I already know. Death is losing his grip on his little band of sideshow assassins, and Life is stepping up her game. This is not good. Life isn’t just trying to unmake death, she’s systematically eliminating anything that might help maintain balance.

“This had nothing to do with Death. The Wraiths. It was Life. She went after my aunt to get to me.”

“Huh?” Josh asks, scrunching up his nose. “Who the fuck is Life?”

I shake my head, and Torin goes into an explanation as my mind whirls with all that is going on.

Suddenly, I’ve reached a point where I’m tired. Really fucking tired. I’ve been going on all cylinders for what feels like days now and I just want to close my eyes and wake up in last week where everything made sense.

Slamming my hands to my head to cut out the noise, the chatter of the creatures around me, I close my eyes with a moan, and crouch down.

“Ivy!” Tate’s voice cuts through the fog in my mind.

The world spins as I crouch there, hands pressed to my head. Everything’s too much - the revelations about Life and Death, the threat to Cathy, the weight of this new role I’m meant to play.

My power ebbs and flows in unpredictable patterns, causing the world around me to twist and distort in nauseating waves.

“Ivy, breathe,” Tate says. His hands are on my shoulders, trying to steady me. “Focus on my voice. Find your centre.”

I try, but it’s like grasping at smoke. Whatever burgeoning of understanding I had about balance feels distant, theoretical. In this moment, all I can feel is the overwhelming tide of chaos tearing me apart.

“I can’t,” I gasp. “It’s too much. I don’t know how to?—”

“Yes, you do,” Bram says firmly. He kneels beside me, his shadow magick wrapping around us like a cocoon. “You’ve been doing it all along. Every time you’ve found a third option, every time you’ve rejected false choices. That’s balance in action when you didn’t even realise it. You are stronger than this. Stronger than all of them. You are fucking Poison, a badass bitch who takes what we give her and begs for more. You are nobody’s puppet, Ivy. You are better than all of them.”

Torin joins us, his cold hand on my back under my tee sends chills over me. “Remember what you said about vampires existing between life and death? That’s you right now. You’re the bridge, the in-between. Embrace it.”

Their words penetrate the fog of overwhelm. I focus on their touch, on the way our energies intermingle. Tate’s steady anchor, Bram’s shadowy protection, Torin’s liminal nature.

Gradually, the chaos inside me begins to settle. Not disappearing but finding a state of equilibrium. I take a deep breath and open my eyes.

“There she is,” Torin says with a smirk. “Our badass bitch.”

I manage a weak smile. “Thanks, guys. I needed that.”

“Anytime,” Bram murmurs.

Standing slowly, I face the others. Josh and the Resistance members look concerned, but there’s no time for explanations.

“Right,” I say, my voice stronger now. “We need a plan. The Syndicate’s going after Cathy, and we can’t let that happen.”

“Agreed,” Tate says. “But we can’t just rush in blindly. If Life is influencing them now, we don’t know what we’re up against. We need a plan. Something that satisfies The Syndicate without actually harming Cathy.”

“Can we fake her death?” I ask slowly.

“It won’t be easy,” Eva warns. “They aren’t fools.”

Josh studies us thoughtfully. “It might work. But you’ll need inside help. Someone who knows exactly what The Syndicate will look for in a death confirmation.”

“Can The Resistance help with that?” I ask.

The unknown woman steps forward again. “That’s why I’m here. I’m Katie, a former Syndicate death validator. I know every protocol they use to confirm a kill.”

“A death validator?” Torin’s lip curls. “They really do bureaucratise everything, don’t they?”

“You have no idea,” Katie says dryly. “There are seventeen distinct protocols for confirming different types of supernatural deaths. They’ll expect specific markers.”

“What exactly do they need to see?” I force myself to ask. “I’ve never had this checklist before, and the vamps turn to dust, so how do they even check?” I never even thought about it before, but assumed they must know somehow. Maybe I didn’t want to know.

Katie begins listing requirements clinically, but I tune out. I don’t care. All I care about is fixing whatever mess I’ve been dumped into as fast as possible so I can finish at Thornfield and just go and live my life with my guys. The sooner that happens, the better.

That wave of exhaustion washes over me again, but I push it aside. There will be time to sleep later.

I tune back in as Bram says, “We need to be clever about this. The Syndicate expects chaos and destruction from Ivy. They’ll be watching for big, messy displays of power.”

“So, we give them subtle instead,” I say, an idea forming. “They’re so focused on protocols and procedures... what if we use that against them?”

Josh raises an eyebrow. “What are you thinking?”

“A perfect death,” I say slowly. “I have an idea about that. But first, we need to get to Cathy before The Syndicate does. Where is she?”

Josh nods. “At home. She said she had something to take care of.”

“Then we need to move fast.” I turn to my guys. “Ready?”

Katie nods grimly. “Be careful. The tides have turned with this shift in the hierarchy. You need to be?—”

“Better?” I say bitterly.

She nods.

“Wonderful,” I mutter.

“We’re not losing her,” Tate says firmly, his hand finding mine. “We can do this.”

“The Resistance will help,” Josh adds. “We’ve been watching some of The Syndicate’s other operatives for a while now, wondering what was going on with them. We’ve been learning their patterns. They’re strong, but they’re predictable. Everything has to be just so with them.”

“Life’s influence,” I murmur. “They’re like those twisted plants, too perfect to be natural. No variation, no chaos, no...”

“Balance,” Katie finishes. “Exactly. They follow protocols because they can’t conceive of alternatives. It’s all black and white to them. No grey areas.”

“Then we use that rigidity against them,” I say. “They don’t live long enough to hurt anyone else.”