by Liz Schulte
“You’re staying out of it,” Holden reminded her. “You chose to have a bakery.”
“I’m not in it. Forget I said anything.” She took Baker from Holden. “Good to see you, Femi. I hope all that blood isn’t yours.” She waved over her shoulder as she walked out.
“Yes, the blood. I can’t believe I forgot about it. I don’t even want to think what a horrible person that makes me. What happened in there? You said Frost was with you?” Olivia said.
I gave them a brief rundown of everything, excluding the visit from the goddess. I wasn’t sure what to say about that because I still didn’t know what it meant.
“That’s bizarre,” Sy said. “Why would something help you through? Who even has that ability?”
My stomach sank. I could think of one person. All my conversations with Frost replayed. She didn’t give me a lot of specifics about the coven or Sy or anything that my mother couldn’t have gotten from just watching the two of us. And she didn’t use the necromancer power. “If a necromancer’s blood touched me, would it kill me?”
“I don’t know,” Sy said. “Maybe. Who are you thinking of?”
“My mother.”
****
I stood under the stream of scalding hot water and let it wash away the last few days. It had never felt so good to be home. I collapsed onto my bed and stared at my cell phone. I had to call. Tossing the phone down next to me, I chewed on my lower lip and watched the strange mark on my hand swirl in the most mesmerizing pattern. I knew that I had to call. I didn’t want to, but I had to. That was what a daughter did. Especially when her mother used an incredible amount of energy to help her through a labyrinth and risked her own life. Four times she’d saved me.
Damn it.
I did something I had managed to avoid for decades and called home.
“I’ve been trying to reach you,” Dendera answered.
“I didn’t have reception.”
“Mother is worse, Femi. She’s in a coma. This is her last life. You need to come home. The goddess has not revealed herself to another. No one has received the mark and no one is going through the trials. If Mother dies, we will have no ruler.”
I stared at the mark on my hand, feeling sick. This couldn’t have been what she meant about me leading my people. There was no way. I wasn’t getting stuck back there again. They’d have to find someone else. “Sure you will,” I said. The families would battle for control until someone stood out, victorious over the others.
“Do you know how long it has been since the goddess has not selected the heir to the throne? People are worried we have angered her.”
Thousands of years would be my guess. At least, that’s how long it was since the last time our people were in a state of unrest. “I have a vague idea, but I don’t know what you expect me to do about it. Mother will recover and all of this will have been panic over nothing.” Or she’d recover so long as the old woman stopped astral-projecting onto different planes, that was. She was a master, the only one I had ever met. She could go to any plane of existence, take any form, and collect as many secrets as her mind could hold. That was part of what made her such a powerful ruler and the worst foe you could ever wish for.
You can heal her, Sekhmet’s voice whispered in my head.
“Our family needs to be together,” Dendera said. “We don’t know what will happen. We all need to be here.”
My stomach sank. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“How can you be so ungrateful?” she said. “I supported your need to be free, sister. But not like this. Not at the expense of us all.”
“Dendera, you never stood up for yourself for a single second of your life, but you expect me to believe you stood up for me.” I blew out a breath. Attacking her because I felt guilty wasn’t right. “I’m sorry. I will come when my case is settled. That’s the best I can do. Mother would understand.”
“For your sake, I hope she lives that long.” She hung up.
I sighed. Guilt was a bitch. But I had responsibilities. Lives hung in the balance. Just the fact I’d agreed to go home at all was a damn miracle.
I watched the tattoo swirl on my palm until my eyes grew so heavy I fell asleep.
I woke to knocking at my door. I groaned as I pushed myself out of bed. This had better be fucking important or I was going to eat someone’s liver for breakfast. With only one eye open, I saw Sy on the other side of the doorframe. He had a white paper bag and a cup of coffee.
I yawned as I took the food from him, collapsed on the couch, then yawned again. “Why are you here so early?”
“You didn’t eat last night. I brought you food and you didn’t eat.” He was smiling, but looked worried. “What’s wrong?”
“Stop worrying about me. I can—”
“Take care of yourself. Yes, I know.” He sat in the chair across from me. “I know.”
“Great. Then stop worrying.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I love you. I know you don’t love me, and that’s fine. I’ll live with it. But I have loved you since…well, pretty much since I first met you. I’m always going to be concerned about your safety. But it doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re capable or that you need help. It just means I’ve seen too many great bounty hunters never come home, and I don’t want that fate for you. I can’t live with that.”
I didn’t speak, because what could I say? I didn’t know how to express what I felt. It was a lie to say I had no feelings for him. I had never in my life been jealous before I saw him with Katrina. But jealousy wasn’t reason enough to—I didn’t even know what he was asking of me. I sat the bag to the side. “I’m sorry. I can’t be the person you want me to be.”
He leaned forward and took my hand. “You’re exactly the person I want you to be just as you are. I wouldn’t change anything about you. Can’t you see that? I don’t want to hold you back. I want to sit next to you.”
I met his honest gray eyes and willed myself not to fall into them. “Then let me do this. Let me find my own way.”
Sy stilled. “Way to do what?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. The goddess didn’t tell me. And that place and these damn trials have messed up everything. I don’t even know what I feel anymore. She said I had to find it on my own. Whatever it is that I’m searching for.”
His fingertips brushed over the mark, making sparks cascade through my body. My back arched and my eyes closed at the sensation. I didn’t even notice Sy turning my hand over in his. “What’s this?”
I told him everything that had happened with the goddess—and every detail of the last couple weeks while I had been avoiding him—as I polished off every last speck of food he’d brought. I had forgotten how great this felt. Just to hang out with him and talk like we were exactly what we were. Really great friends.
“You’ve been busy,” he said.
I let my head fall to the arm of the couch. “I have to go home. Once we catch whoever’s after Pandora’s box, I need to go back. I can help my mother and hopefully she can answer some questions.”
He whistled. “So hell has officially frozen over. I missed the news release.”
“You heard it here first,” I said.
He laughed. “Why are you really going?”
“My mother is dying and Sekhmet is grooming me to take over. I need to get ahead of this before I get tied down to that place again. So let’s both hope she makes a fourth-quarter recovery. Dendera is positive I need to be there.”
Sy’s eyes widened. “She’s right. You should be there now. We can handle the council.”
“It’s my case.”
“It’s your mother. She gave you life. She raised you. How can you not go home?”
I cracked my knuckles. “You’re just as bad as Dendera. I will go, but I’m finishing this. My mother would do the same thing. I made a commitment and I will see it through. And speaking of which, where are we with that? What are we doing about the tunnel?”
&nb
sp; “That’s why I’m here. You need to take me to where you came out and we’ll figure out how to close it.”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
****
We stood in the tunnel beneath the spot where I’d fallen from the ceiling—as evidenced by the bloody spot I’d left on the ground.
“How does it open?” Sy asked.
“No idea. I fell through. Did the humans climb up or does it act like a vacuum?”
“Only one way to find out.” He bridged his hands by his knee. I stepped up with the ball of my foot, careful not to dig my heel into him as he lifted me to the ceiling. I touched the stone; it slid away.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” I pulled my flashlight out. There was a staircase, and the area hummed with energy. “Okay, down.”
He lowered me and the ceiling closed. “What’s up there?”
“A staircase right to Shezmu. How do we shut it down?”
“Magic,” he said with a smile.
“Ugh.” And this was where he would bring in the coven.
“You’re magic.”
Sy had apparently lost touch with reality. “Have you been drinking? I’m not Katrina.”
“Femi, you can heal now. You have the goddess’s symbol. You can shut this bitch down. Just believe in yourself like I believe in you.”
“I’m just going to go over there and puke now.”
He laughed. “Humor me. Try.”
That was easy enough for him to say. I categorically didn’t have magic. I might be able to heal, and maybe with years and years of practice I might be able to learn astral projection, but I wasn’t a human bomb. Yet I humored him. I held my hands toward the ceiling and waited. It didn’t come crumbling down.
“Okay, so maybe this won’t work,” he said, looking honestly disappointed. “But this will.” He pulled a small pouch from his pocket. “I had the coven work up something that should seal the door. Spread the ointment around the edges when it opens. Once it closes, it will never open again.”
“That’s it?”
“Sadly, yes. You underperformed.” He winked at me.
“Pssh. Impossible,” I said as he lifted me back up and we sealed the tunnel once and for all. When Sy rested me back on the ground, he glanced at his watch. “We have just enough time to make the meeting with the council.” He offered me his arm. “Milady.”
I took it, shaking my head. “You’re such a nerd.” A completely hot, adorable nerd.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Talking to Sy had done more to reinvigorate my spirits than visiting the goddess had. Fifteen people had died, and tonight I was going to find them justice. I’d visit Mother, but I wasn’t giving this up or leaving my friends. Nothing could make me. She would have to pick the runner up. Dendera was probably dying to reign. She certainly knew all the rules, as she was constantly reminding me of how I was breaking them.
Sy transported us to a clearing in the woods. The same round table was there, surrounded by the same chairs. About half the members had arrived. While Sy went over to talk to those who had already taken their seats, I stood on the sidelines watching. Nash, the mothman, didn’t speak to anyone. I hadn’t figured out what his deal was other than being creepy. He had that down. But when they’d voted on whether or not to kill me, Nash voted to save me. Why?
I headed toward him, taking the seat next to him. “Hi.”
His head slowly turned to me, his red eyes locking to mine. I hadn’t noticed the faint black pattern on his gray skin. “Did you find the treasure?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I went to deal with Shezmu. Was there also a treasure?”
“Is it safe?”
I continued the pretense of having no idea what he was talking about, just in case he was the one we were looking for or someone else was watching. After all, if he knew what was in the room, then… His red eyes pierced my soul for a moment, then he turned forward once more and didn’t utter another word.
A few more minutes later, everyone had arrived, including Leilah. She stood in front of her chair like a queen. She obviously wanted control of the council; she already acted like she had it. “This is highly irregular, but we are all here at your behest, bounty hunter. What gives you the right to call meetings with us?”
“The same thing that gives you the right to call meetings with me. Pure arrogance.” I stood in front of them. “I have done as you have asked. Shezmu has been dealt with. He will harm no more humans and draw no more attention to the Abyss.”
“No head this time? I’m disappointed,” Leilah said.
“Well, the night’s still young,” I snapped back.
“Your work is impressive,” the unicorn, Anessa, said. “You have quite lived up to your reputation.”
I nodded. “Thank you. Now I want you to know, all of you, that I am done. If you want me for another job, you will have to post a bounty, then hope and pray I take it, but I’m not playing these games with you anymore. I will not take any more assignments from you.”
A horrible thing that I feared was probably supposed to be a smile crossed Leilah’s face. “You are done when we say you are done.”
I laughed. “No. I’m done now. If you don’t like it, do your worst.” I held my arms out wide.
“Let her go,” Nash said. “She has earned it.”
“I agree,” Holden said.
“Me too,” Sy and Anessa chimed in.
“Kill her,” Marcelo, a shadowy man, added unhelpfully to the conversation.
Leilah’s reptilian eyes glared at me. “It looks like you’re free.”
I nodded and walked away, though I couldn’t go far without Sy. I stayed close, but not too close, enjoying the peace and solitude for once—so long as it didn’t last too long. Leilah was the most likely culprit, which meant it probably wasn’t her. She was too slippery to get caught in something like this. She would have figured out another way to get the jar out. Nash knew about the treasure, which was suspicious. And he was definitely the sort of creature that would be trapped by a labyrinth. But if he was behind it, why admit knowing about the jar now? The others, I had no idea.
“Ready to go?” Sy asked, leaning against a nearby tree.
“How long have you been here?” Transporting wasn’t fair. No footsteps.
“A few moments. You seemed lost in thought; didn’t want to interrupt.”
I nodded, heading toward him. “It’s pretty here.”
“It is. I grew up just over there.” He pointed into the woods. I looked, even though it looked exactly the same in all directions. “I’ll have to bring you back here sometime in the light.”
I’d like that. I couldn’t say it, but it was true that I would. Sometimes the truer the words were, the harder they were to say. I put my arm around his waist and closed my eyes; it helped with dizziness.
The musty, wet smell of the catacombs was scraped into my memory. I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know where he’d transported us.
Chapter 16
“How many people on the council have heat-sensing vision? I’m not complaining, but we’re so far away from the door we’ll probably miss them.”
“Do you not know what the word ‘silent’ means?” Holden said with his typical lack of patience.
I jabbed him with my elbow. “Sounds like someone needs to calm down, grumpypants. Besides, I’m pretty sure ‘silent’ means boring, just like this, Chuckles. Besides, I’ve spent more time here the last few days than I have in my own bed. I think I’ve earned the right to bitch a little.” I couldn’t see Holden’s face, but I could feel the eye roll.
“At least three,” Sy said, answering the question about how many council members had heat-sensing vision. “And our position’s good. My traps will work.”
Ever the Boy Scout, Sy came with a plan. A few elf tricks later and we had four “warning bells” that would let him know if anyone was in our tunnel. The plan wasn’t to confront whoever the guilty party was, at least not toni
ght. We’d wait until he or she came to investigate, see who it was, once and for all, then Holden would present the evidence. That was fine with me; I wasn’t in this for the glory.
Hours ticked away like years. Either Sy’s traps didn’t work, or whoever it was wasn’t coming.
“We’ll come back tomorrow night,” Holden said, standing up and stretching.
“Because they can only come at night?” I asked.
“Do you want to stay all day?” he asked in a tone that made it hard to tell if he was joking or considering it.
I actually didn’t, but that didn’t mean I’d risk our one chance. “If that’s what it takes.”
“If the alarms go off, I’ll know,” Sy said. “We can be back here in seconds.”
“Information you could have shared hours ago. Why did we sit here all night if that’s all it would take?”
“Reconvene at the Office tonight?” He ignored my more-than-legitimate question.
“If you hear something, just tell Olivia. She’ll let me now. It’s faster that way.” I didn’t hear or see Holden leave, but I felt it immediately. One good thing about being on a stakeout with Holden was that, as a jinni, his dominant emotions bled over to the people around him, especially in close quarters. He might not be patient with other people, but the man could stand in one spot and wait forever like a damn statue if necessary. The moment he vanished that feeling of calm went with him, my spine stiffened, and a fat droplet of water landed on my shoulder, reminding me that flooding was a risk.
Once this case was over, I was staying above ground. Permanently.
Sy escorted me to my front door. “I’ll stay with you. It will save us time if something does trip the alarms.”
I smiled, shaking my head. “Well, who am I to argue with convenience?”
“Exactly.”
I unlocked the door and went inside. “I have nothing to eat here. We’ll have to order in.”
Sy laughed. “You never have food.”
“That’s what happens when you eat.” I slipped off my jacket and tossed it on a stool as Sy closed the door. “Menus are in the third drawer on the right.”
