by Rob Cornell
I stood. “I am prepared to do anything to save someone I love…except betray the others I love. You had a choice.”
“Fine. You’re right. I could have—should have—done things differently. But I made the right decision in the end. I turned against those bloodsucking freaks, and I lost my mother because of it. So fuck you and your high and mighty bull shit. Get over it. There’s something more important going on here.”
I opened and closed my mouth, thinking I had a comeback that never ended up tripping off my tongue.
Rachel cleared her throat. “I’m glad we worked through that.”
“I haven’t worked through anything,” I snapped.
“Very well, then. Let’s change the subject for a moment. Let me explain to you the stakes here.” She gestured toward the couch, inviting (or demanding) I sit.
I hesitated a second. I didn’t want to do anything anybody else wanted me to do. I wanted to rebel against everything. I didn’t even want to breathe. To hell with what my body wanted from me. I would do my own damn thing. But, obviously, I had to breathe. And I went ahead and sat, too, but only because Rachel had taken so much trouble getting me here. I’d hear her out, then I would tell her no.
“You know,” I said as I sat, “the Ministry already hired me once. Didn’t last long, though.”
“This isn’t the same thing.”
The temp had been perfectly comfortable when I’d entered the suite, but now I felt feverish. I shrugged my coat off, folded it in half, and set it on the couch next to me.
“I liken these traitors to termites,” Rachel went on. “They’re so small, any single one seems utterly benign. But with enough of them chewing through the walls, the foundation, the supports, eventually the house will crumble and fall.”
“But are these termites even eating anymore? The whole crux of their plan is impossible now. Isn’t it more a matter of your pride weaseling these asswipes out?”
Rachel’s expression hardened. “Do you think I would have brought you, the Unturned, into the Ministry Seat for the sake of pride? Do you think I would have invited Ms. Templeman, known for conspiring with vampires, if all I wanted was to weasel out a few asswipes?”
I gritted my teeth while I let that Unturned remark roll off my back. “The Ministry has done a lot of things over the years I don’t get. No offense, but I really can’t see the point of this.”
“Only because you haven’t let me finish.”
I felt myself getting antsy. I kept seeing Fiona in my periphery no matter how much I tried to focus on Rachel. They stood too close. And why was that traitorous shifter standing there like a military lackey? Sit the fuck down, bitch.
I swallowed. “Please,” I said. “Finish.”
Rachel clasped her hands behind her back again. “We have reason to believe they have aligned themselves with a powerful outside force in an effort to enact a coup. And not just any coup. Apparently, according to the nervous rantings of one of our former captives, they have designs on taking over the GMF. I’m not clear on motives, but I imagine their failure in Detroit has made them a little…”
“Butt hurt?”
She snorted. “Something like that.”
All right. This was more serious than I thought. But was a global coup really something the conspirators could pull off? How many of them were there? How much power could they possibly wield against the whole gods damned Ministry?
“You said they’ve aligned with an outside force. Who are we talking here? More vampires?”
“No.” Rachel visibly swallowed. Her gaze went from Mom to Fiona, and back to me. “I haven’t shared this part yet. You must be certain not to underestimate their power.”
“Just tell us.”
“Right.” She nodded quickly. “From what intel we could gather, the traitors have enlisted the help of the Maidens of Shadow.”
Oh, fuck.
Chapter Forty-Eight
All the air went out of my lungs. My gut felt like it had taken a bullet. A ringing grew in my ears. And a mantra kept echoing in my head.
You stupid son of a bitch.
You stupid son of a bitch.
You stupid son of a bitch.
What had I done?
Well, it looked like I had handed over an easy-peasy way for the Maidens of Shadow to assist in the overthrow of the Ministry.
You stupid son of a bitch.
But what was I going to do about it? I couldn’t cop to it. The Ministry forbids trading in souls. (Although, if they had a black witch on retainer, they really didn’t have much moral ground to stand on.) Still, this wasn’t any old soul. It was the soul of a sorcerer, and whatever the Maidens planned to do with it, I would be pretty stupid to think it didn’t have something to do with their new relationship.
I could only imagine what was in it for them.
I had this information, though. Something Rachel needed to know so she could fully understand what they were up against.
“Sebastian?”
Rachel studied me, her head tilted.
I gave a tight smile. I probably looked like the Joker with how pasted on it felt.
“Do you see the serious nature of our situation now?”
I cleared my throat. “Oh, yeah.”
“We’ve had dealings with the Maidens,” Mom said, and I wanted to shrink down and slip between the couch cushions. “In fact, they helped us. Twice.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow, her focus still on me. “Is that so?”
With that stupid smile still on my face, I nodded. “Yep.”
The light in the room seemed especially bright. A large crystal chandelier like you’d find in an old rich person’s mansion loomed above us. It hadn’t seemed so bright when we first arrived.
“What was the nature of your dealings?” Rachel asked.
Mom started telling the story, which was good, because I didn’t think I could form a full sentence at the moment.
My skin crawled. I wanted out of there. I couldn’t be a part of this. I had to get my soul back from the Maidens before they destroyed the only infrastructure the magical world possessed. The Ministry kept the line between the natural and the supernatural taut, forced law on otherwise lawless creatures, protected not only those aware of its presence, but so, so many who didn’t have a clue.
A coup from these losers could destabilize that balance. Gods help the entire human race if it did.
Mom must have given the quick version, because everyone was staring at me, even Fiona, as if I’d fallen asleep in class. I blinked, bobbled my head up and down. “That’s about it.”
Mom gave me a sidelong glance. Rachel furled her brow. Fiona looked like she felt sorry for me.
“Sebastian,” Mom prodded. “Tell her about Sly.”
“You mean, you didn’t?”
“My heavens, son, what’s wrong with your ears?”
I held up my hands. “Sorry, sorry. This is all a lot to take in. Especially…well, especially because of my recent dealings with the Maidens.”
“Which were?” Rachel asked.
Sorry, Sly, I thought. I’ve gotta spill the beans. Don’t hate me when you come back to life.
“In order to get the Maidens to help us,” I said, “my friend Sly Petrie traded them a piece of his soul.”
Rachel’s eyes went wide. Her lips parted as if she meant to gasp, but nothing came out.
I followed up quickly. “You have to understand. We were in a rough spot. We couldn’t quite trust the Ministry. And it’s a good thing, in retrospect, that we didn’t. He just wanted to help get my mom back from those vamps. He’s been a friend of the family for a long time.”
Rachel regained her composure, smoothed her skirt down along her hips, and drew her shoulders back. “We’ll worry about how to handle your friend later.”
“There’s nothing to handle. He’s dead.”
“Oh.”
Now Fiona’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. Sebastian…”
“Forget it,”
I said with more venom than I’d intended. Not that I was sorry for it.
Fiona stepped back as if pulling herself out of the line of my verbal fire.
“Were the Maidens responsible for his death?” Rachel asked.
“Indirectly,” I said. “He probably would have survived if he’d had all of his soul.”
Rachel’s jaw bulged from clenching her teeth. Her nostrils flared as she took a few deep breaths. “These woman are a menace,” she said evenly. “You should have never bargained with them.”
“Trust me. I know it. Boy, do I.”
Mom gave me a questioning look. I ignored it. She didn’t know what I’d done, or even that I’d gotten Sly’s soul back. I would break all that to her far, far away from the Ministry Seat and one of its top officers, thank you very much.
A weird silence fell between us. So much had been thrown out there, I think we all needed a second to process. This was probably my last chance to fess up about trading my soul, too. I kept it to myself much longer, the cover up would end up…well, not worse than the crime, but really bad.
Maybe I could spin the truth to get enough of it out there without totally buying myself a ride on the Ministry prison transport.
“There’s something else.”
All three women turned to me. The weight of their gazes seemed to push me down. I felt shorter. And that damn chandelier was making my eyes hurt.
“Do you remember that attack at Royal Oak General? The incident that brought you and I together in the first place?”
Rachel nodded. “How could I forget?”
“That creature was the work of the Maidens.”
“Why would they attack you?”
“Well, I got the impression they were, um…using Sly’s soul for something not so good. So I confronted them about it. I think they wanted to scare me enough to leave them alone. Or kill me. They might have wanted that.”
Rachel crossed her arms and cocked her hip. The stance made me think of that poor little girl who stood outside while I melted the head of her mom’s boyfriend. My stomach did a little tumble.
“What made you suspect them?”
Crap. I had led her exactly down the path I had wanted to avoid. Before I could think up a lie, Mom told the truth. Well, a half-truth, thank the gods.
“Sly grew sick,” she said. “It was obvious his condition was related to their possession of his soul.”
“So,” Rachel said, drawing out the word while she put together the next thought. “Are they responsible for his death or not?”
“They are,” Mom said so firmly even I believed her for a second.
Rachel seemed to accept the answer, giving a short nod.
Mom had just saved me from having to tell Rachel about murdering Horton the Tree Man.
Best mom ever.
“We certainly have a lot to deal with,” Rachel said. “And now that we have it all out there, I need to know where you stand Sebastian. Will you join us? Help us save the Ministry?”
As much as I hated becoming a Ministry insider, how could I refuse a question like that? She might as well have asked, Do you want to sit on your lazy ass or save the world?
“I’m in.”
Save the world it is!
Chapter Forty-Nine
At nightfall, I got the chance to fill Odi in on all the fun he’d missed. I found him in one of the upper rooms in the suite. They had furnished him with a smooth, steel casket that kind of looked like a torpedo with a flat bottom. As I gave him the details, I heard a lot of “whoa” and “aw, dude” and “no way, man.” I kept the story the same as how I gave it to Rachel. Once we got back home, I could tell Mom and Odi the real deal.
Couldn’t wait for that fun time. I was sure to get a real positive response. Heh.
Once I had Odi up to speed, the five of us—me, Odi, Mom, Rachel, and Fiona—met back at the center of the common room. It had become our unofficial little command center.
Rachel and Fiona sat on one couch together, while I had my peeps sitting on either side of me on the other couch. It kind of felt like a quiz show—the Light team versus the…whatever they wanted to be. It still irked me how easily Rachel had accepted Fiona into the fold, but I suspected they had spent a good deal more time together before I came into the picture.
I noticed Odi giving Fiona a dirty look.
I patted his shoulder. Good apprentice.
After we all settled in, Rachel folded her hands in her lap and scanned each of us. “This is an odd crew,” she said. “No doubt about it. But we’re working toward a greater good here. We need to keep that in mind.”
I felt Fiona’s gaze on me, and I made a point not to meet it.
“Before we can even begin to smoke out the Ministry traitors, we need to deal with the threat at hand. According to Sebastian, the Maidens of Shadow are preparing a complicated ritual of some kind.”
Powered by my soul, you’re welcome very much.
“That’s all we know, however. The good news is, we do know where they are, and they have no reason to suspect we’ve caught wind of their involvement with the coup. A concentrated strike could end their plans before they begin.”
I cleared my throat. “We don’t know where all of them are. The young ladies on Ferry Street only represent a little more than half of the coven.”
Rachel drew back. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any information like that.”
“Those girls have moms,” I said. “And I’ve dealt with one of them in person.” I put the brakes on my mouth. I had once again opened myself up to some awkward questions.
Mom slowly turned to me. “You have?”
“Just a small conversation,” I blurted. “Enough to guess they’re probably more powerful than the younger Maidens we already know.”
“Fantabulous,” Odi said.
“I know the mothers were visiting their daughters, trying to put this ritual together. But I got the impression they weren’t staying with them.”
Rachel massaged one of her temples with her fingertips. “This keeps getting better.” Despite her being in business mode, I saw a glimpse of her more expressive self. Only not the bright, smiling side. She looked ready to chew the legs off one of the nearby chairs.
After a couple breaths, she recovered. “But you think the mothers are necessary for the ritual?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’ll have to wait.”
Odi scrunched up his nose. “Wait for what?”
But I already knew what she meant, so I answered for her. “Until after they’ve begun the ritual.”
Chapter Fifty
Home never felt so good. The moment I stepped into the house, I made a beeline for the sofa and plopped down. I slouched, exhaustion deflating me like a blow-up sorcerer. Between all the verbal maneuvering to keep my secret from Rachel, the energy I burned ignoring Fiona, the hike back to the clearing, and the wild magical ride back to the lumber yard in Auburn Hills, I had tapped myself dry.
Didn’t help I hadn’t slept in who knew how long.
We had orders from Rachel—rest up, then start surveillance on the Maidens until they showed signs of starting up their mysterious ritual. Based on what Rachel knew, she figured it would take some time. But I knew better. With my soul they could have already begun.
We didn’t have time to rest, no matter how much I wanted to. Besides, I owed Mom and Odi an uncomfortable conversation, telling them the few tiny details I’d left out while at Greenhome.
Mom slumped beside me.
Odi paced, stealing glances my way. It took my tired brain a moment to realize he was hungry. We must have been out of the stuff in the fridge. I so did not want the kid chewing on my arm right then. Not that I really ever wanted to do it. But definitely not tonight.
He would just have to wait.
“Guys,” I grunted. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
Mom let loose one really long sigh. “I don’t think I want to hear it.”
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I lolled my head her way, my cheek resting against the back of the sofa. “You don’t even know what it is.”
“I raised you, son. You’re using your bad news voice.”
“It’s not all bad news. Promise.”
She didn’t look comforted. “Then give me the good news first.”
I smiled the way you do when you’re drunk, where your face feels all numb and your head doesn’t quite feel attached, but you bobble along just smiling and smiling.
“I got Sly’s soul back.”
“What?”
“How?”
Mom and Odi spoke at the same time. A mouthful of coffee beans wouldn’t have snapped Mom out of her cloudy fatigue like this news had. She grasped my arm. “Why didn’t you say so at Greenhome? If they don’t have his soul, they can’t do the ritual. We’ll have plenty of time to stop them before the find another.”
“Aaaaand, that’s the bad news.”
Mom stared at me a long while, her expression unreadable. Odi hopped from one foot to the other like a kid waiting for his whack at the birthday piñata.
Slowly, Mom reached out to me and rested her hand on my chest. Her eyes bloomed wide. Her voice rasped. “You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?” Odi asked.
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t stand to see the mix of horror and disappointment on my mom’s face. “It was stupid. I know.”
“Do you know how much power you handed over to them?”
“Yes.”
“They could be…”
“Yes,” I said again, answering her unvoiced fear. “We don’t have time to snoop around like Rachel wants. We have to go after them now.”
“No, Sebastian. No. We can’t do this without Rachel’s support.”
I opened my eyes. “Do you want to be the one to turn me in? You think Rachel was pissed about Sly trading his soul, what do you think she’s going to do if she hears that I traded mine?”
“Aw, shit, dude,” Odi said, catching up. “You did not.”
“Enough,” I shouted. “I’ll make excuses and offer apologies later. Right now we have to figure out how to tackle this.”
“We have to bring Rachel in, Sebastian. Especially now.” Mom gripped my wrist and squeezed. “I know the consequences for you could be dire. But if the Maidens complete whatever ritual they are doing to help the traitors, it could ruin the world.”
