by Pat Esden
Grandfather rested his hand on the back of my shoulder and walked me around to the other side of the deck. He strolled along like there was nothing special on his mind. But the tautness of his sinewy arm echoed my worries and the quiver in my stomach told me I should have stayed in bed.
When we got to the farthest railing, he pulled me closer and said, “Earlier this evening, Kate and David argued against you going to the realm. I sided with your father and in the end we won. After all, besides Lotli, you’re the one who’s been inside the fortress most recently. You know where the harem is and what your mother looks like.”
“Thank you,” I said, but I wasn’t as overjoyed as I might have been. There was an almost too-gentle pitch to his voice that warned there was more to come. I gritted my teeth, preparing myself.
Grandfather stepped away from our embrace and took me lightly by the shoulders, his eyes looking directly into mine. “You also are the only one of us who your father will listen to. And I’m worried about him.”
I looked at him in surprise. This was definitely not the way I envisioned the conversation going. My throat squeezed and I couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“I’m going to channel your aunt Kate for a moment and be blunt. I’m not concerned about your father going. But I am worried about what might happen once you get there.”
My mind raced. “What are you talking about?”
“Your father, Annie . . . I know he loves your mother. But ever since he was a little boy, he’s had a hard time with forgiveness.”
He was right there. Except—“He’s not that way anymore. What happened while he was possessed by Culus, then spending time with you and David in the mountains—he’s changed.”
“Maybe his attitude toward the family has. But watch him. I’m not sure how deep his hatred for Malphic goes. The urge for revenge can make a person do foolish things, take unnecessary risks.”
I ran my hand down my neck, my trembling fingers closing around the signet ring that hung at my throat. The ring Grandfather had given me, the ring that by all rights should have been Dad’s if the tangle of lies and hatred hadn’t driven a wedge between him and the family for so many years. And I thought about other people Dad had held grudges against, about his patient but inevitable retaliation. Grandfather was right.
In the distance, the stars glistened. Zachary said something I couldn’t quite hear. The ocean beat a slow rhythm I could feel as much as hear. I lifted my gaze to Grandfather’s. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Grandfather kissed my forehead, a warm touch. “Good. I don’t want to lose any of you.”
CHAPTER 13
Everything changes, even stars and sea glass.
—Anonymous
The next morning, I smelled the mouthwatering aroma of the Belgian waffles and hot maple syrup even before I walked into the dining room, but my stomach squeezed and my appetite plummeted when I heard raised voices coming from inside.
“Even if the girl is feeling fine, you can’t go this soon,” Kate said resolutely. “There are details to work out.”
“We’ll lose the element of the surprise if we wait,” Dad replied.
I stepped over the threshold and into the room.
Everyone was already there: Grandfather at the head of the table, Kate on his right with Uncle David on his left. Dad sat at the other end in what I imagined had once been Grandmother’s place. Lotli and Selena sat next to Dad. Olya, Zachary, and the Professor occupied the various middle seats.
Kate raised an eyebrow at Dad. “And where do you plan on crossing the veil? If you think Malphic hasn’t fortified the wards on his side of the gallery gateway, then you’re crazier than I thought.” Her gaze shifted to Lotli. “Even if your flute-magic can break the new wards, he’ll have posted guards.”
Dad shook out his linen napkin with a sharp snap. “That, my dear sister, would be why we won’t be using that gateway.”
Zachary bounced in his seat, arm waving. “I know. I know. The Pirate’s Coffin. That’s where Annie ended up when she was thrown from the realm! There were loads of shipwrecks there, too, lots of people died—even great-great-great-grandma Stephanie.”
The Professor set his coffee cup down. “Brilliant idea. It has to be a major weak point in the veil.”
“Exactly,” Dad said.
I smiled good morning to them all and wandered toward the buffet to fix my breakfast. I figured it was only a matter of time before Dad realized the huge flaw in his plan. I flopped a couple waffles onto my plate and drizzled syrup over them. I poured a coffee. When I started toward an empty chair next to Dad, he was still talking about the Coffin. As much as I didn’t want to contradict him, I couldn’t stay silent any longer.
“In theory that may sound great,” I said, settling into the chair. “But I fell out of the sky and into the Coffin. The weak point is somewhere in midair—above the Coffin.”
Zachary bounced again. “You could parasail into it!”
Olya clamped her fingers on his arm, holding him down. “That is enough, Zach. Let the adults talk.”
“It’s a good idea,” he grumbled.
“Grandpa?” Selena’s voice was more subdued than usual. “Wouldn’t there be a weak point where Grandma died?”
He paused for a moment, smiling wistfully. “Her passing certainly left a hole in all our lives and hearts. But I imagine the one in the veil is long healed.”
Lotli nodded. “That is true. Unless the death was tragic, then the weak point remains. But crossing at a point like that comes with the risk of ending up in the wrong place, like heaven or hell instead of the djinn realm.”
She went on about how the only thing more difficult, time-consuming, and potentially impossible would be to attempt to rip a gateway in an undamaged place in the veil. As I listened to her, a thought nipped at the back of my mind. My mother and I had been playing hide-and-seek in the gallery when Malphic came through the veil and kidnapped her. She’d been trying to end their affair at that time, so it didn’t make sense for her to be playing with me in a place where she knew her ex-lover could appear. That meant he must have used a different weak point when he’d visited her previously. Not Pirate’s Coffin, it had to be inside Moonhill, where he wouldn’t have to get through locked doors or closed windows.
A chill sank into my bones. Holy crap. I should have listened to my gut—and Houdini.
“Lotli?” I said, so hushed that everyone turned to look at me. “Cold spots indicate a tear in the veil, right?”
“Yes, many people believe it is an indication of a spirit. But you are correct. It is the icy gasp of the wounded veil, not a ghost or a sign of what lies beyond it. Why do you ask us this?”
“There is a cold spot at the bottom of the attic stairs. At least, I’m fairly certain of it. It’s right near where a tapestry hangs on the wall. Whenever Houdini gets near that place, he yowls and acts up. I think he’s been trying to warn me.” The bitter taste of nausea crawled up my throat. This was making more terrifying sense by the second. “I think Malphic might have replaced the original tapestry with one of his magic carpets to create a gateway, so he could insinuate himself into my mother’s life.”
Everyone started talking at once. “I should have sensed it,” Olya said.
“That’s all right, dear,” David consoled her. “It’s not like you were the only one. We all missed it.”
My mind whirled, connecting more pieces. The cold spot. The tapestry. Malphic. My mother. My gut screamed that the tapestry was what Grandmother had discovered, the final straw that had made her come to me and ask if I’d seen someone visiting Mother at night. If only I hadn’t lied to her.
Something bumped my sneaker. Dad’s shoe. I glanced at him. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said below everyone else’s chatter.
I nodded, not that surprised that he’d known what I’d been thinking about the lie and Grandmother’s death. I took in his kind face and tired eyes, and an overwhelming urge to prote
ct him took root in my heart. Then Grandfather’s words from our talk last night on the widow’s walk, about Dad’s vengeful streak, flitted into my mind. I nudged Dad’s shoe and met his eyes, trying to telegraph my message. We all need to forget and move on.
“Lotli”—Grandfather’s booming voice silenced everyone—“since you’re the expert here, what do you suggest we do?”
She sat back in her chair, surveying us all. “We could play our flute just long enough to crack open the veil and sense what lies beyond this cold spot, then let it close. That would tell us if Annie is right.”
“Perfect,” Grandfather announced with finality. “Once everyone’s done eating, we’ll take a look at the disguises Kate has picked for the mission; then we’ll check out this cold spot. If it isn’t what we think, we’ll have to find a way to make the Pirate’s Coffin work.” He picked up his coffee cup, cradling it between both hands. “For the life of me, I can’t imagine how we’d hoist the three of you up and through some undeterminable spot in midair.”
Three? That wasn’t right. Four of us were going. Me, Dad, Lotli—and Selena.
I glanced across the table at her. Since our trip to the hair salon, she’d made it clear nothing was going to hold her back. Dad had bragged last night about what a good job she did at the yacht club. Lotli had said the same thing. In front of everyone.
Avoiding my eyes, Selena set her fork on her untouched plate of waffles and pushed her chair back from the table. “If everyone will excuse me, I’ve got stuff to do.”
“Wait,” I said, jumping to my feet. This wasn’t fair. “Selena’s going. She proved yesterday that she’s—”
Selena cut me off. “Annie, stop it.”
“I’m not going to. You deserve to go.”
“I don’t want to,” she said, raising her chin in a stubborn gesture that reminded me very much of Kate—and me. Totally a Freemont move. But it was total bullshit.
I toughened my voice. “Selena, come on. You know that’s not how you feel.”
David leaned back in his chair, a particularly smug look settling over his face.
Asshole. What had he said to Selena to make her change her mind?
Selena shot a glare at him and I was stunned to see the smug look drop from his face. What was going on?
Selena rose to her feet. Her gaze met mine. Her voice became soft. “I appreciate you standing up for me. Really, I do. But I didn’t change my mind because someone told me I couldn’t go. I’m not going because I’m needed here.”
I blinked at her, totally lost for words.
“We have no way of knowing when the Sons will retaliate—today, a year from now—but we know they will. I want to make sure we’re ready.” She took a deep breath, her eyes pleading with me to understand. “I’m responsible for Newt discovering Lotli—for starting this whole Sons of Ophiuchus mess.”
“Selena, you’re not the only one who’s—”
She held up her hand to silence me. “The other truth is—you three will have less to worry about without me. Here, there’s a lot I can do. I can ensure that you have a safe place to come back to.”
She was right about both things.
Abruptly, the familiar rebelliousness flashed into her eyes. “But,” she said, “before I do anything else, I’m going to brew up a few surprises for you to use in the realm. Maybe some special ointments—or a spray.”
“Selena,” her mother said warningly.
I smiled at Selena and she gave me a sly wink.
Maybe some things about her had changed, but not everything.
CHAPTER 14
We snared the griffon by shadow-glow,
under a waning moon and shooting stars.
We drilled his wing bone with a copper
awl, and blessed it in a wormwood fire.
—As told to Lotli by her mother’s grandmother
Not long after breakfast, I walked back to my room with the coarse brown robe and drab woman-warrior tunic that Kate had picked out for me to wear to the realm. It was strange how heavy a bundle of clothes could feel. A mix of apprehension and excitement jittered inside me. In less than ten hours, I’d be wearing the cloak, its hood pulled in close around my face. The oil would be poured over me; then I’d step out of this world and feel the stones of Malphic’s fortress beneath my boots. Soon, I’d see Chase. Know for certain if he’d resisted the change or lost the battle. Know if he was still alive. But meanwhile, there was something I had to do.
I set the bundle on my bed, snagged my flashlight, and went back out into the hallway. I didn’t turn toward the alcove where Dad, Kate, Grandfather, and Lotli were meeting to test the cold spot. Instead, I sprinted in the opposite direction, toward the kitchen elevator.
I lengthened my strides, hurrying down the hallway. The whole idea that Dad’s desire for revenge might make him do something reckless was beyond worrisome. So I’d come up with a countermeasure, something I could trade for Dad if he got himself in trouble. There was a poison ring down in one of Moonhill’s secret treasuries. It was the ring that the genie Culus had used to weasel his way into Dad’s life. It was also the ring Grandfather had eventually trapped him in. Culus was Malphic’s son and a full-blooded genie.
Granted, Chase and Grandfather claimed that Malphic would have no interest in a son who had been defeated by humans and imprisoned. Malphic valued victors above all others. But the things Chase’s mom had told me about Malphic made me wonder if Grandfather and Chase were wrong. If Malphic loved Chase before he was born and as a child, before he proved himself as a warrior and man, then perhaps Malphic harbored similar feelings toward Culus.
I turned down a dead-end hallway, loped to the elevator, and pushed the down button. As a rule, I didn’t like elevators. But it was the fastest way to get downstairs without running into anyone. Once I reached the kitchen, all I had to do was get to Kate’s office. I knew which treasury the ring was in and I could find my way to it, as long as I used her office as my starting point.
The elevator dinged, its doors whooshing open.
Lotli stood there illuminated by the elevator’s bright stainless-steel and mirrored interior, her dark hair pulled back in a fishtail braid, a muslin top and loose wrap pants, arms banded with copper cuffs, her neck weighted down with a collection of necklaces, feathers, and symbols, her talisman pouch. I wasn’t sure who she’d borrowed all the jewelry from, but she looked more than ready to tackle opening the veil.
I swallowed hard. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you were in the alcove with everyone else.”
“We are on our way there. You are not going?” She craned her neck and tilted it to one side, an odd gesture that reminded me of an egret readying to spear a fish.
I tucked my hands in my pockets so she couldn’t see I was nervous, and faked a smile. “I’m going down to the kitchen to fix some baggies of salt for us to take to the realm.” It was the same excuse I’d given Dad for not wanting to see what happened with the cold spot.
Lotli’s eyes darkened with doubt. “Really?”
“It saved our ass last time.” That was the truth. Salt was one of the best defenses against genies.
The elevator pinged and the door began to slide shut.
I pressed my hand against its edge, holding it open so Lotli could get out. “I hope I’m right about the cold spot,” I said, waiting for her to leave.
She wet her lips with her tongue, a slow and deliberate motion that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Then in a flash, she seized my wrist and yanked me into the elevator.
The door whooshed shut.
I flew toward the elevator buttons. Lotli blocked my way, a smirk slipping across her face. I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. This was my family’s home. Not hers. How dare she try to intimidate me.
She brushed a finger across the flute tucked into her waistline. Her flute. Her weapon. As powerful as any sorcerer’s staff or genie’s muscle and magic. More deadly than Chase’s knives.
“We have been wanting to talk to you,” she said. The chill in her voice sent goose bumps across my skin. And my gaze detected something I’d never noticed before. As always, her complexion was richly tanned, a tone that gave the impression that she possessed Native American blood. But beneath that tan pulsed blue veins as visible as if her skin were as thin and pale as the shell on a hummingbird’s egg. My mind flashed back to the hummingbird egg pendant she’d given me and the grenade-like energy that had exploded out from it when I’d gotten angry in the realm and smashed it against the ground. That’s what this was like, pent-up power throbbing just below the surface of her skin.
I backed away from her, my heart pounding a million miles per hour.
She slid her flute from her waistband, stroking it slowly as she slithered toward me. “We’ll keep this simple. You have something we want.”
I took another step backward, my spine now against the elevator wall. “What are you talking about?”
“Chase.”
Anger flashed through me. “Well, I’m sorry about that. But he’s a man, not something I can give or take away from you.”
Her head lulled back. “You did not ask us if we were willing to go to the realm this time. We did not offer to go either.”
“You never said you wouldn’t. We assumed.”
“We could leave. We could vanish anytime we desire. What would you do then? What would become of your mother?” She toyed with the blue and green streamers of Chase’s yarn that hung from her flute, letting the beads and charms that were attached to them trail between her fingers. “Would your father go after her without me and become trapped? What about your lover? Would he die in the Red Desert, berserk and alone?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I snarled.
“We won’t. If . . .” She raised the flute to her mouth and caressed its tip with her tongue. She lowered it, saliva now shining on her lips. “We will go with you to the realm. We will help you—if you forsake Chase.”
