“No she’s not. I am,” said Ria, advancing toward her. “I’m tied to him. I’ll make the oath. Anything.”
“If a human’s word had any weight, that’d be a bargain indeed.” Her eyes glowed greedily for the first time.
“Meg, I can’t believe after—”
“This is not ill will, Joshua, and do not take it as such. You know me. You know my heart, as I know yours.”
I sucked in a calming breath. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Meg raised an eyebrow at Josh, and he turned away.
My fists clenched into rocks. “How do you know my full name?”
“Your name is everywhere these days,” she said unemotionally. “I have to keep my ear out for signs that I should be moving on. One day, I heard yours, and the moment I saw you I knew.”
Josh looked as if he wanted to run right through her, but he held out his hand to Ria. “Let’s go. We have to give them the room.”
“Why?” I said, anger bubbling over. How could he just let this happen?
“We can’t be in the room. Anyone listening would be subject to the terms as well,” Josh said, not meeting my eyes.
Ria sidestepped around Josh and launched herself at Meg with a scream and her nails out to give her another scar, but Josh caught her just before. The dog whimpered in her tensed arm, and Josh dragged her out gently as Ria spewed more curse words than I thought she knew.
The door snapped shut, and Meg stood still, unperturbed, solemn. “I will take as payment an oath to come to my aid if I ever call.”
“What are you, a fairy?” I said scathingly.
“Oaths bind in our souls. They cannot be broken.” She held out her hand to shake mine.
“Yeah, yeah. That’s where the fairy joke came from.” I exhaled through my nose and stuck out my hand.
Just before our palms met, I pulled back, my eyes narrowed with a sudden idea. She was obviously still a Babylonian somehow, even if she was helping us. Maybe she knew where Kovac’s prisons were, where my mom might be.
“Care to sweeten the deal?”
She shook her head. “You do not want to do that.”
“My mom is still alive,” I said. The thought struggled into words with cottony, spit-sapping disbelief. “So is Kovac. He’s keeping her somewhere. I need to know where.”
“Evelyn.” Meg’s face contorted in a grimace of pity. “Even if I did, I—”
“Do you know where she is, or not?” I spat.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head and held out her hand again.
I stared at it, pale white with tiny red scratches up to her wrist. Small white scars rose above her skin in a neat cross-stitch pattern. Her brilliant blue eyes stared at my hand, the scar that stretched down the center of her face more dominant now in the florescent light.
I reached out, and the moment our palms touched, her head bent back in a painful, silent scream. A sinuous strand of dark essence flashed out of her head like a solar flare and curled back around in an electrified circuit with my hand.
She opened her mouth wide with a deep, raspy voice:
“Iron strikes the mountain’s mouth to bridge the divide.
Iron wakes the all powerful darkness inside.
Iron joins the keys to creation—one in five.
Iron calls the sword of flame, and all will abide.”
I stared, horrified, with eyes wide and my hand locked to hers, unable to pull away.
At her last word, her head lolled around, and she let go as if nothing had happened, prodding the bag into my palm. “Are you all right?”
I nodded, my eyes stuck in shock with questions ricocheting between my synapses.
Then a horn honked outside, and my legs twitched into a sprint before I could look back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The morning sun’s bright light blinded me as I ran to the Jeep. The door was open and waiting. The moment I was in, the tires kicked up a cloud of dust and gravel. I handed Ria the bag and faced forward.
You saw what you saw. Don’t second guess it.
I closed my eyes and watched the black strand of solar darkness erupt out of her head, curve, and reach back down. My palm sucked to hers with electric sweat, and I couldn’t pull away. Her words echoed in my mind so loud they could have been my own.
Iron strikes…Iron wakes…Iron joins…Iron calls…
What the frak did that mean?
“So? Are you going to tell us what she made you promise?” Ria leaned forward, her fingernails digging into her palms as she clutched the bag.
I looked over at Josh. His face didn’t reveal a single scratch of emotion, his eyes on the road like it would let him see the future. Had he known something like that would happen?
“She said I had to come to her if she calls.”
“That doesn’t seem so bad.” Ria’s shoulders dropped with sudden relaxation.
“You really need to read more.” I chanced a sidelong look at Josh to see if he’d say anything.
His expression didn’t change.
“Not when I have you.” Ria reached out and pinched my cheek playfully. She clutched the bag of herbs to her chest.
Josh unclenched his jaw and finally spoke. “It’s a blessing and curse. A loan that might never have to be repaid, or might require a lot of interest. I should’ve known.”
So he hadn’t known. I set my hand on his forearm. “Stop beating yourself up. It’s not your fault.” His muscles tensed immediately, and I pulled away like he’d burned me.
“What happens if Eve doesn’t come? Just decides to not do it?” said Ria.
“She dies.” Josh swallowed hard and pushed the gas pedal to the floor so the engine overpowered Ria’s exclamation.
“What a little—” She screamed so loud the dog jumped back. “Once Nate’s better, I’m going back there and—”
“If she wanted me dead, she had her chance.” I shook my head. “Besides, something else happened when we shook on it.”
Josh turned to me finally, his eyes deep blue pools of guilt. They searched me over for some scrape, some imperceptible bruise he’d missed when I first got in. “What happened?”
His caring gaze warmed my chest and relaxed my mind enough for me to think clearly for the first time. “I think she had a vision. When our hands touched, dark essence shot out of her head, and she went into a trance.”
“What’d she say?” Ria clutched the brown and white beagle closer. It whimpered softly.
I sighed, trying to remember the exact words. “Iron strikes the mountain’s mouth to bridge the divide. Iron wakes the all powerful darkness inside. Iron joins the keys to creation—one in five. Iron calls the sword of flame, and all will abide.”
Ria furrowed her brow, and Josh gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“So, what does that mean?” said Ria.
I shook my head. It could be anything, and my tired mind definitely wasn’t going to solve it now. “What’s important is getting that miracle cure to Nate,” I said.
Ria reached out and stroked my hair, bringing her head close to mine. “Thank you for doing all this for him.”
“Of course.” I leaned my head into hers and closed my eyes to keep from tearing up. Images of Nate lying cold and dead because we didn’t get there in time, or worse, because whatever was in that bag poisoned him, kept flashing across my mind.
“I’m sorry, Evey,” she whispered.
“Me, too,” I said even softer.
The beagle popped its head up over the seat next to us and huffed, waiting for his fair share of the affection.
***
Josh zoomed through the gates ahead of us with the bag of herbs in hand. When Ria and I followed, the courtyard was full of people, but they parted immediately and fell silent when they saw us.
Nurse Wright, Miranda, and Freddy were still around Nate’s bed in the infirmary. Sharp rays of sunlight cut through the windows and sapped all the color from his skin. Drops of sweat peele
d off his forehead quicker than Miranda could dab them with the soaked cloth.
Josh had just finished pouring the liquid down Nate’s throat.
Ria prayed out loud: “Dear God, please let this work. Please let this work.”
I sucked a breath in through my nose. Whatever God was doing right now, he wasn’t watching us. Taking Mom, murdering Grandpa, almost killing Nate? What kind of a God did that?
We stepped up to Nate’s bedside. The dark veins that had nearly reached his heart slowly receded to the center of his arm and then completely disappeared, evaporating like steam before he opened his eyes.
He blinked several times, looking from left to right until he saw Ria and grabbed her hand. “Just when I thought I’d get to see Heaven again.” He smiled.
Ria knelt down next to him and kissed his hand, pressing her lips into his skin and closing her eyes. The beagle jumped up onto the bed and snuggled between them. Nate’s eyes widened in surprise, but then he leaned back on the pillow—the effort to figure out another oddity apparently too much for him.
I wiped my eyes and laughed.
Wright huffed as she inspected his arm. “Looks like da Babylonians do one ting right.” She massaged her hands. “Rest twenty-four hours. Get outta dat bed before, and I’ll sic Morales on ya.”
“Where is she?” Josh asked. He’d been so quiet that I’d almost forgotten he was standing next to me.
“Chapel conference with da other regions’ leadas.” Wright clasped her hands together nervously. “Her and Denisov still wantin’ to talk to ya.” She looked at me pointedly.
I nodded as a wave of tiredness washed over me, the thought of my mom the only thing keeping my eyes open.
Miranda yawned and patted Nate on the head like a puppy. Then she patted the actual puppy. Deep circles under her eyes and the drunken nature of her walk were all too apparent as she turned toward the exit. Freddy followed, his arm a buoy around her shoulder.
“Wait, where are you going?” I called to them. They were the stars tonight as far as I was concerned. If it weren’t for them, we’d probably have gotten caught or Nate would have died in his own Jeep.
“We’re Graced, not the undead.” Miranda waved and yawned again.
I rushed forward and hugged them for all I was worth. With Freddy it was like wrapping my arms around a warm, slightly sweaty, stuffed bear. Miranda was a sack of sleepy bones. “Thank you, Freddy. Miranda. I’ll try to find some way to repay you.”
Freddy laughed and patted my back. “I don’t keep track of that kind of stuff.”
“Well, I do.” I let go and smiled.
He rolled his eyes and prodded Miranda forward.
When I turned back, Nate was rubbing his thumb back and forth on Ria’s hand, whispering something to her. I sighed more relief and glimpsed a bubble of green essence surround them out of the corner of my eye.
“Oh.” My eyes widened, and I crept out a door to the quad.
A white hot sun swept over my skin. The Magnolia trees were green with giant white flowers dying at the ends of their branches. The heat of summer was too much for them.
My eyelids drooped heavily, and I sat on an empty bench to think about my next move, what I’d say to Morales. Like it or not, she was still in charge, and she probably had resources I’d need to find my mom.
Faceless people milled around me but never came close enough to say something. I closed my scratchy eyes and saw my mom—perfectly posed in the photo I’d committed to memory.
“You should get some sleep.” Josh sat next to me.
I glanced sideways. Deep purple circles cradled his eyes. “You’re one to talk.”
“Yeah?” He ran his fingers through his thick hair as he exhaled. “I don’t seem to be able to self-assess so well these days.”
I closed my eyes again, not really hearing him. I just wanted to see my mom’s face again.
“I’m sorry I put you in that position.” His voice strained, something caught in his throat. “I had no idea she would—”
I inhaled and forced my eyes open. “It’s done.” I shook my head. “How could you know your old girlfriend would try to entrap me in a life-altering deal?” I raised an eyebrow to see how he’d react to the word ‘girlfriend.’
He didn’t respond, his back hunched with his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands so I couldn’t see his face. “I’m not the man you think I am.”
My gaze scoured his profile, his dark hair and rigid, muscular shoulders under a black shirt. “You know, until tonight I didn’t realize how much of an idiot you are.”
He chuckled breathily, his head still in his hands. “Finally, someone who gets me.”
“Seriously.” I adjusted my body so I could face him. “You ran at full speed through those hallways knowing you’d die if you hit another one of those force fields, and all of it to save us from a place I never should have taken us.” I leaned closer, wanting to stroke his back, to take his hand. He wasn’t the one who should be taking this so hard. It was on me. I should carry the blame.
“And I was the one who suggested the tracker.” He shoved himself upright, his back punished with an unyieldingly rigid spine until he stood. “Nate was right. We should have come back here for help, should have followed protocol. Denisov would say the same thing.”
“And not find out about my mom?” I stood and looked into his blue eyes. “I’d go through a thousand more nights like tonight to know she’s alive, to find her and finally see her in something more than a picture frame.”
He didn’t look at me but spoke to a point just over my head. “I’m not getting involved like that again. I’m going to be a soldier—that’s what I came here for. I follow orders. I don’t give them.”
I looked up at him, bewildered. How could he think of himself like that? A solider? A life on the front lines for The Defense might be what he wanted, what he saw for himself, but that wasn’t him. He was brave and smart and warm, and other than right now, he didn’t try to hold me back from anything like everyone else did. He wanted people to push themselves to their limits, the consequences and stereotypes be damned.
But his guilty, withdrawn eyes held me back from saying any of that, and before I could get out any other meaningless words, he disappeared in a whispered gust that pressed my necklace into my chest.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Numb legs carried me into the shade of the colonnade surrounding the quad as parts of my brain began to shut down even as Kovac and my mom and Josh each shouted my name.
I looked up and found my reflection staring back at me in a classroom window. Dirt and dried blood still stuck to my arms, but my face…I had her face—my mom’s. Her chocolate hair, her lips, her brown eyes. I looked so much like her. It used to hurt to admit that—a small pain in my chest. But now, it gave me strength. Soon there’d be a moment when I wasn’t just looking in the mirror. I’d get to hug her, feel her.
I rubbed my thumb over my necklace. Why hadn’t Grandpa tried to save her? Had he even known she was alive this whole time?
The thought made the air around me heavy, sticky. Logic tried to intrude, to run like ice water through my veins, speaking half-truths I didn’t want to believe. Maybe Kovac was lying. Maybe Grandpa thought she was dead. Maybe he’d tried and failed.
Maybe there are enough ‘maybes’ in this life already.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew Grandpa was dead. He’d taken the blast Kovac had made for me. He’d died to save me.
A lump caught in my throat, but I swallowed it. I also knew that Kovac survived the sacrifice. He was alive enough to still send demons after me, to keep my mom alive after all these years, to keep drawing breath in that movie studio of his.
I slapped the tiredness out of my cheeks and wrenched open the nearest door. If I found Denisov first, she might have information on my mom or a plan of attack already in place, at least more than Morales would.
Ornate picture frames flicked past me on the w
ay to her office. It was locked. I went through the cafeteria into the arena. Only a handful of people were training—Denisov was nowhere in sight. Half a dozen other locations flashed by as I searched one after the other, not willing to stop in case my heavy eyelids won their battle.
The golden flame of gas lamps flickered on the stone walls as I came into a cavernous courtyard at least a hundred feet below the actual school. It was built like the library with large columns reaching up to an arched ceiling of ornate stone. The difference was that there weren’t any shelves to take up the massive space. Instead, it was completely open with only a few benches, a fountain, and an entirely separate building erected in the center. Stained-glass windows were set into the sides, and a double door entrance sat under the empty cross on top of the steeple. The light from the gas lamps on the outside walls barely reached the building. It felt as if it were covered in a perpetual night with stars peppering the distance just beyond my field of vision.
If I couldn’t find Denisov, I’d at least meet Morales head-on. Her voice echoed off the walls of the subterranean courtyard from the chapel in the center, punctuated by other booming voices I didn’t recognize. She must still be talking with the other Patron leaders, trying to decide my mom’s fate.
I crept to the double doors and peeked through the crack in the center, their words much clearer now.
“We understand your apprehension, Laura,” a voice boomed from a speaker at the center of the stage.
The chapel stretched out with enough pews to easily fit three hundred people. Near the front, three steps led to a large stage with a podium at the center. Behind it, two large projector screens hung on either side of another cross and held five giant faces of old, wrinkled men and women I’d never seen before.
“No, you do not.” Morales stood at the bottom of the stage and looked up at them. “This is a subterfuge meant to lure us to break the truce. If we do this, we’ll have the war on our hands that we did twenty years ago.” She shook her head. “You all remember our losses, the devastation it caused.”
“And you remember when Kovac broke your truce by murdering the leader who got us through those times.” Denisov’s sharp voice cut through the air as she stepped into my narrow view.
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