by D. S. Murphy
We walked back quickly to meet the others. Long shadows grew across the city as streetlamps were lit.
“Where were you two?” Madelline said with a raised eyebrow.
“Hiding from hunters,” I said.
“Scouts,” Puriel added, as her smile fell. “There might be more in the city. We need to keep an eye out.”
We headed back to the museum in silence. The lights were still on upstairs, so we found a restaurant down the street where we could keep an eye on the building. I had to go to the bathroom and Jessie said she’d come with me. When we were alone, she cornered me.
“What’s up with you?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been smiling since this afternoon. You almost never smile. It’s creepy.”
I bit my lip, trying to reduce my grin, but I couldn’t contain it.
“Oh my god, did something happen with the incredible hulk?”
“He kissed me,” I said.
Jessie’s eyes widened.
“But what about—”
“I didn’t see anything,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, nothing violent. Maybe he doesn’t die for a really long time. I’ve been wondering about this, but I think I can only see a death if it happens during my own lifetime. This thing with immortals, I don’t know how it works exactly.”
“Who cares how it works,” Jessie said. “You found a guy you can touch without freaking out. And a guy like that. We should celebrate.”
I had salmon pasta for dinner and Jessie made me get a glass of white wine. I was worried they would ID us, but the waiter didn’t even give me a disapproving glare. Apparently we looked above the legal age for drinking in Italy. At midnight, we returned to the museum.
“There’s a window up there,” I said, pointing to a dark window on the second floor.
“I can climb it,” Sarah said, her eyes picking out the space between the railing and the window.
“No way,” Jessie and I said at once.
“Relax,” Madeline said. She made a complex gesture with her hands and whispered something under her breath. I heard the lock click open.
“You’ve got to teach me that sometime,” Jessie said. We darted through the dark hall to the first gallery. Jessie dug into the drawer behind the desk and emerged with a set of keys. Then we headed up the steps to the main gallery. Even on my tiptoes, my footsteps echoed in the empty space. Zetico’s painting was just ahead of us in the dark.
Madeline pulled something out from her pockets and snapped her fingers, igniting a bright spark of magic. In the flickering light, I raised my fingers towards the frame.
That’s when I heard the click of a gun behind me.
“Don’t move,” a voice said. A voice I recognized.
7
I spun around in surprise.
Sitri had a large handgun pointed right at Puriel.
“Drop the sword,” Sitri said.
“You’ll just kill me anyway,” Puriel said, but he set the sword down on the ground and kicked it away.
“How did you even find us? And how did you get here so fast?” I asked.
“I stayed around the camp until I heard someone say where you were headed. Able has a private jet.”
“Of course he does,” I said.
“We can discuss this on the way back to Nevah,” Sitri said.
“I’m not going,” I said. “Not yet.”
“You’re right,” Sitri said, stepping closer and pointing the gun at Puriel’s forehead. “I am going to kill you.”
“I can’t let you do that,” I said, quietly stepping in front of the gun. Sitri’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
“He kidnapped you. He killed Matt!”
“Yes, but it was my fault.” I said. “He didn’t kidnap me. I released him.”
A look of horror distorted Sitri’s face.
“You did what?!”
“He told me the hunters were after Jessie and Sarah. He told me Able knew about it. I didn’t think you’d let me save them, so I got help elsewhere.”
“And you thought I knew, too,” Sitri finished, with dawning comprehension. “You didn’t trust me.” Sitri’s face looked so pained, I wanted to reach out to him. The gun wavered. Puriel knocked it out of Sitri’s hand, then punched him so hard he flew across the room and smashed into the far wall.
Sitri launched himself at Puriel with a feral growl. For a second, as they exchanged blows, we stood by watching. I’d never really seen Sitri fight before. He was fast, and strong. Way stronger than a normal human. He took a swipe at Puriel with his fingers and left ragged slices of his shirt. I snapped out of it when I saw blood.
This had to stop.
I focused on the places over their heads and concentrated, taking a deep breath and holding it. When I could see their threads, I pinched each one gently, as if I were taking a firm grip on their ears.
They both froze like statues, completely paralyzed.
“Don’t you see,” I said, “I can’t go back to Nevah, not after what I’ve done. I have nothing to offer. I didn’t know if Able would forgive me, if you would forgive me. But if I could find the shears—”
“On your own? Are you crazy? Do you even know how many hunters are after you?”
“We’ve made it this far already. That painting holds the secret location of the Fates. I read it earlier, it was a secret message, meant only for me. It says look beneath.”
“What’s beneath?” Sitri said, his eyes widening.
“I don’t know yet, moron—you stopped us before we could find out.”
“Um... guys?” Jessie said, nodding towards the door. In the dim light of the hallway I could see the silhouette of a man. His bald head gleamed in the moonlight.
“You fools,” he shouted. I was pretty sure it was Mr. Ackerley, but something was wrong with his hands. His fingers were too long and writhed like serpents. They stretched towards us like growing vines.
Puriel dove for his sword. Just before the tentacle-like extensions encircled us, Puriel cut through them with a clean swipe of his weapon. The man smiled, and out of the wound at the end of his arms, new finger-snakes started growing. But there were more of them this time, ten on each hand. They wrapped around us before we had time to react, squeezing our arms against our chests, so tight I couldn’t breathe.
They grabbed Sarah and lifted her up in the air. She screamed, and her high-pitched squeal made the whole room tremble, drowning out the hiss of the snakes.
The man dropped her, his fingers shrinking back into hands to cover his ears. Sarah didn’t stop screaming. Her scream intensified, and as it did the lightbulbs overhead starting glowing, until they were so bright I had to shield my eyes. Then, one by one, they exploded in a shower of sparks and glass. Electricity lept from the empty sockets and struck Mr. Ackerley like a bolt of lightning. I saw him, for a second, lit up by the blue light as the energy circled his body. Then he gasped, and a puff of smoke left his mouth. He fell convulsing on the floor.
Sitri grabbed his gun and put two bullets in the man’s forehead, then kicked his legs.
“Better safe than sorry,” Sitri said.
An alarm went off, making us jump.
“There are hunters in the area,” Puriel said, eyeing Sitri’s gun. “They’ll be here in minutes.”
“Time to go,” Madeline said. “You boys can continue your pissing match once we get out of here.”
Sitri nodded and tucked the gun into the back of his jeans. Footsteps pounded on the street below.
“Here comes the calvary,” Jessie said.
“But the painting!” I shouted as Sitri pushed me down the stairs.
“We’ll come back for it. Right now we need to get out of here.”
“Halt! Arresto!” Voices shouted. Sitri darted across the street and jumped into a red convertible.
“You coming?” he shouted, starting the engine.
He peeled out into the street and paused so we could pile in
. It was a tight squeeze. I sat in the front with Sarah on my lap, Puriel sat in the back between Maddie and Jessie. Bullets rang out, shattering the front windshield. Then Sitri sped into the darkness of the night, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.
***
I gripped my chair as Sitri cut through the narrow streets, turning into alleys so tight I was afraid the car would get stuck. As soon as he was outside the city, he switched off the lights and drove blind. I could barely see the road in front of us, but Sitri seemed to know where he was going. It was a relief to escape the claustrophobic town and ride into the sloping Italian hills. After about twenty minutes, we pulled up outside an abandoned villa overlooking Florence and stepped out of the car. Ivy crept through the broken windows, and the lights of the city twinkled below.
“This is your fault,” Puriel said, glaring at Sitri. “Everything was under control until you got here.”
“What do you know about control, torch? You lost yours to a pretty face, and then killed a friend of mine rather than face justice.”
“There is no justice in Able’s dominion, only punishment.”
“More of Zeus’s rhetoric. Why don’t we table this discussion until you learn to think for yourself,” Sitri smirked, crossing his arms.
Puriel grunted and swung his fist against the convertible’s side mirror. It broke off and went flying into the bushes. Sitri whipped out his gun just as Puriel’s hand grasped the handle of his sword. There was a moment of tense silence, neither one of them willing to blink first.
“Guys, settle,” I said, coming between them again. “Our plan didn’t work, and Sitri was a surprise. But you need to cool your shit until I figure out what to do next.”
“You’re not so tough without your guns,” Puriel muttered, taking his hand off his sword. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Try harder,” I said.
He pushed his hand through his hair and sighed. “Sorry about your car,” he said.
Sitri shrugged and put his gun away.
“No big deal, it’s a rental.”
I sat on the hood and took a deep breath. I hadn’t had time to think since we’d entered the gallery. We’d been so close to finding out what was behind the painting when all hell broke loose. First Sitri, then the monsterous Mr. Ackerley. And now we were on the run from the Italian police. I had no idea what had happened with the lights, but they’d probably assume the two bullets Sitri left in his forehead were the cause of death. So much for avoiding violence. We really needed to stop leaving a trail of bodies behind us.
“I can’t believe we came all the way here, all of that risk—for nothing,” I said.
Sarah came around the car and sat beside me. I leaned my shoulder against her. She was being unusually quiet, but she always went into her shell around conflict. And after what she’d seen tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in shock. She was too young to be dealing with all this. I wished I could have left her behind at JDRI, but if she wasn’t with us, Zeus would find her and use her to get to me.
“We’re not entirely empty-handed,” Jessie said, pulling a roll of canvas from her jacket.
“I don’t believe it,” Puriel said.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.
Jessie grinned, then unrolled the canvas on the hood of Sitri’s car. Zetico’s painting.
“But how—?”
“Sarah kept everybody distracted during the light show. I cut the canvas off the frame just before the alarm sounded.”
“Turn it over,” Madeline said. “What’s it say?”
“There’s writing!” Sarah said.
“Only those who live without can look within,” I read. “K-O-S.”
“That’s it?” Jessie said. “That’s not a location, it’s a fortune cookie.”
“What about the letters,” Sitri said. “They could stand for something.”
“Kill other sausages,” Jessie guessed.
“Ketchup on sandwiches,” Madeline smirked.
“Knavery ostracizes symantics,” Puriel said.
“Remind me to be on your team next time we play Scrabble,” Jessie, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Maybe it’s the key to a lock or something. A code. But what does it unlock? And where?”
“Why don’t you guys muse on that while I go back and get the minokawa,” Madeline said. “Max is probably worried about us, and it’s safe to assume we’re no longer welcome in Florence, right?”
I nodded, even though I didn’t know where we were headed next. The golden shears felt further away than ever, if they even really existed. Was this all a wild goose chase? If so, I was putting Sarah and Jessie in danger for nothing.
“You shouldn’t go back alone,” I said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Better one than a whole group. I’ll blend in, they’ll never see me. But if you insist, Puriel can keep me company.”
She winked at him and I felt something twist in my stomach. Was I seriously getting jealous right now? Besides, I did want to talk with Sitri, and I may not get the chance with Puriel hanging around.
“Meet us back here with the minokawa,” I said. “In the meantime, we’ll try and figure out a plan.”
After they left, Jessie and I tried to work on the puzzle behind the painting. If it was a clue to a location, we couldn’t figure it out. While we were talking, Sarah had climbed into the backseat of the car and curled up. She must be exhausted. My eyelids were getting drowsy as well, but the frustration of the puzzle wouldn’t let me rest.
Only those who live without can look within. It sound like some Zen poem or something you’d see on a bumper sticker. And the letters K-O-S didn’t mean anything to me. I took a break to clear my head, and joined Sitri. He was smoking a cigarrette near the house, looking out over the lights of Florence.
“Those things will kill you,” I said.
“They better hurry up,” he said, “or they’ll miss their chance.”
He was joking but I felt a chill over my skin and shuddered. My sweater felt thin against the cold November wind. Sitri stomped out his cigarette and draped his leather jacket over my shoulders. I smiled at the gesture. It felt ages ago when I was at JDRI with Sitri. He’d been my protector then, until I’d stopped trusting him.
“So you really didn’t know?” I asked, shooting him a glance. “About Sarah and Jessie? Puriel said he told Able that they were in danger. Why would he keep that from me, unless he didn’t want me leaving?”
Sitri frowned. “From his perspective, it was probably the safer decision. He knew you’d want to go save them, but he knew he had to keep you away from Zeus. Don’t forget, you’re a weapon—in the wrong hands, you’re one of the few things that could kill Able.”
“First of all, nobody’s getting their hands on me. Secondly, you think Able is afraid of me? That seems unlikely. But if it’s true, shouldn’t he be trying harder not to piss me off?”
“I don’t know what Able is thinking all the time,” Sitri said. “He doesn’t always confide in me, and I don’t always agree with him. But he sees the big picture, and I’ve learned—over many centuries—that he doesn’t do anything without a reason.”
My mind flashed back to the kittens locked in the basement. The ones that were killed brutally as a test to flush me out, to find someone with my abilities. I wondered if Sitri knew the violence Able was capable of. But I didn’t want to bring it up right now. I was tired of fighting with Sitri about his allegiance to Able.
“Did he send you to get me?” I asked. “Is that why you’re here—to bring me back to him?”
“I’m here for you,” Sitri, said frowning. “I thought you were in danger. You were gone, then we found Matt’s body… I nearly lost my mind worrying about you. Thinking about what he was doing to you.”
“Puriel wouldn’t hurt me—”
“He tried to kill you!” Sitri yelled. His neck was tense and he clenched his fists like he wanted to punch something. “You
can’t trust him. After what he did to Matt, how can you even stand to be near him?”
I’d done more than stand next to him… I’d kissed him. And Sitri was right—kissing Matt’s murderer should have made me sick to my stomach. The fact that it didn’t made me feel even guiltier. But I didn’t want Sitri to know that.
“You sound like Mist,” I said coldly. “Dismissing a torch as untrustworthy.”
“Not every torch, but this one, certainly. Maybe he didn’t really fall at all, maybe the whole thing was staged, to get you to trust him. Maybe this is Zeus’s plan all along, and you’ll lead him right to the shears.”
“Is that even possible?” I asked, suddenly nervous. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Who knows?” Sitri said. “Zeus is sneaky, and there’s nothing he won’t do to maintain his hold on power.”
“But in that case, all the hunters at Nevah could be spies. We can’t think like that. Trusting nobody. Puriel saved us from a leech,” I said. “He could have died. He didn’t have to do that. I have to believe I can trust him.”
“As long as you’re digging your own grave, you better dig one for your friends as well. They’re in danger as long as you’re out here unprotected.”
His words sent a chill down my spine—he’d named my worst fear. If anything happened to Sarah and Jessie, I’d be lost. I’d have nothing else to live for. Sitri seemed to realize he’d gotten through to me, so he backed off and took a deep breath.
I pulled his leather jacket closer around my shoulders. His scent was earthy, exotic and sensual. I picked out traces of citrus, cedar and something spicy that tickled my nose. I’d forgotten how attractive Sitri was. Even in jeans and a black T-shirt he was more appealing than Puriel, whose suit made him look like a GQ model. But I couldn’t afford to let myself get distracted. I had a plan, and I was determined to stick with it. With or without Sitri’s help.
“So what are you going to do?” I asked finally. “Go back to Able? Tell him where I am?”
