Promise of Shadows

by Ireland, Justina

  Tallon gives me a long look and reaches into the ice chest for his own beer. He’s all scratched to hell, and I pat the couch cushion next to me. I am the coolest cucumber ever. He gives me a hesitant look before plopping down on it. And no, my heart doesn’t race the tiniest bit at having him near me.

  He pops open the beer and takes a drink. “So, what’s new?”

  After everyone got over their initial shock, I’d filled them in on what happened, leaving out the part about Hermes. He kept his promise, but now I have more questions. Did he know that Hades is my father? Did he love Whisper? And did she really die because of her relationship with him? Or was it because of me? Was Whisper killed because the Acolytes suspected I was the Nyx?

  I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that.

  Everyone was surprised when I told them Hades was my father, except for the Oracle. Jimmy just grinned at me. “Oh, there are all kinds of secrets swirling around you. I can’t wait to find out what they are. You’re going to have an interesting life.”

  That gave me some hope that maybe I’d survive my confrontation with Hera.

  Until I remembered that Jimmy hadn’t been able to figure out where she was going to attack, or anything else even remotely useful.

  I tilt my head and grin at Tallon. “Hmm, what’s new? Let’s see . . . I rode a cerberus to hell, found out Hades was my dad, talked to my dead mother who is now a bowl full of sunshine, and lost ten days. Good times.”

  Tallon slurps at his beer. “Rode a cerberus, huh?”

  I shrug, like finding out the King of the Dead is my dad doesn’t make me question everything I know about myself. What other lies was I told? I push my questions aside and give Tallon what I hope is a carefree smile. “Yeah, no big deal. You can do that sort of thing when you’re the Nyx.”

  Tallon drains the entire beer and then tosses the can to the side. It bounces off the broken TV before landing next to the rest of the debris. “Wow.”

  “Yup.” I take a gulp of my beer and grimace. I’d really prefer a soda instead. It would taste better.

  Alora props her chin on her fist and watches us from her perch on a nearby footstool. “I don’t suppose the Dark Lord was able to tell you where Hera and Ramun Sol will strike?”

  “Actually, he did. He said it would have to be a powerful Node. I guess the most powerful ones are near the confluences of two or more rivers.”

  Alora groans. “How many of those are there in the world?”

  I shrug. “Maybe North would know? With a name like that it seems like she might be good at geography.”

  Tallon gives me a look. “Tell me you aren’t making fun of other people’s names, Zephyr,” he says. Not in a snotty way, but teasing like he used to back in the day.

  “Whatever, Tallon, just see if she has any ideas.”

  He pulls a cell phone out of his pocket with a grin. “I’ll call North. She and the other Hecate might have noticed some activity at one of the bigger Nodes. There’s only a day until the new moon. It seems like the Acolytes should be making preparations right about now.”

  Tallon stands up and moves away as he dials North’s number. He has it memorized? A stab of jealousy zings through me. I want to know why he has her number memorized. Did he date her at some point? Is she just more his type? Is that why he bolted back in the hotel room? Was it because he couldn’t imagine himself with me?

  I swallow a groan. I need to just stop. I shouldn’t even be thinking about Tallon; I should be focused on Hera and Ramun Sol. That’s more than enough to worry about.

  Blue watches us with his arms crossed. “We should probably get going. We need to get back to Ulysses’s Glen before Nanda gets worried about us.”

  Alora stands and stretches. “Yeah, I need to get back to the university. They’re going to want to know how the meeting went.” She groans and hides her face. “How am I supposed to tell them that the Oracle is trailer trash?”

  Blue gives her a dirty look. “Hey, everyone comes from somewhere. Besides, he really helped us out the past few days.”

  I drop the half-full beer on the ground next to me. I’ve had enough. “Oh?” I’m intrigued by Blue’s response. He never gets short with Alora, and the trailer’s exploded with the bleach-and-pine scent of his indignation.

  Tallon tucks his phone into his pocket and laughs. “Ignore Blue. He’s just smitten. Jimmy just gave him his number before he and Ricki left. Even a little kiss good-bye.” Tallon grabs another beer, pops it open, and drains it. It’s hard not to watch him. His movements are so fluid and hypnotizing. Tallon catches me, and I look away, my face hot. Sadly, I can relate to what Blue’s feeling. Against my better judgment, I’m also feeling pretty smitten.

  Alora snort laughs as she stands. “Aw, Blue, it’s okay. The Oracle was kind of dirty hot.”

  Blue’s expression is calm, but the burning-flowers stink of his hurt feelings is overwhelming. I sigh. “Shut up, Alora. Stop being such a snob.”

  She clamps her mouth closed and gives me a worried look. The darkness has risen up at my irritation, and thin tendrils of black smoke rise up from my arms. “I’ll be in the car,” she says, pushing past Blue and out the door. The rancid-orange stink of her fear lingers even after she’s gone.

  “Thanks.” Blue gives me a worried look. “Should you be leaking like that?”

  I glance down at my arms and shrug. “Who knows? This is nothing compared to Hades’s mantle of shadows. It’s probably normal.”

  “Tallon doesn’t emit like that.”

  Tallon gives Blue a pointed look. “Zephyr is much more powerful than I am.”

  Blue nods, but the moldy-bread smell of his worry just gets stronger. “Okay. Well, it’s good to have you back, Zeph.” He gives Tallon a pointed look. “You guys hurry up so we can get going.” Then he follows Alora to the car.

  “What was that all about?” I ask, standing and stretching.

  Tallon shrugs. “I don’t know.” He leans against the broken refrigerator. He looks like a magazine ad for expensive cologne, a hot guy standing in the middle of wreckage. He catches me staring at him again, and I clear my throat at the unspoken question in his raised eyebrow.

  “What did North have to say?”

  Tallon’s brows knit together. “Who? Oh, North. She’s going to check on it. She said they’ve noted some activity on the Paths, mostly just the Acolytes. No different than usual, though.”

  I move toward the door, and Tallon maneuvers in front of me, blocking my path. I cross my arms and sigh. “What?”

  Tallon shifts from foot to foot. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him uncomfortable. “I have something I need to say.” I can see the guilt forming in his eyes, and I suddenly feel sick. If he apologizes for kissing me, I will kill him.

  The darkness surges around me, and I fight to calm it. “Save it, Tallon. There’s nothing I need to hear from you.”

  “No, you do. I owe you an apology.”

  I shake my head so hard that I make myself dizzy. I can’t do this. Fear and hurt collide in my middle, and I’m angry and sick. I don’t want to hear whatever it is he has to say. “No, don’t do this. There’s nothing you need to apologize for. We’re just friends. I get that. Let’s just get this whole thing over with so we can go back to our lives.” I don’t give him a chance to respond. I push past him and stumble out of the trailer. Tears well in my eyes, because I can fill in the rest of what Tallon was going to say.

  Rejection doesn’t hurt any less when it comes in the honey-coated words of your childhood best friend.

  I blink my tears away and climb into the back of the car, slamming the door so hard that Blue turns around to look at me.

  “What’s going on?”

  I force a smile. “Nothing. Why?”

  Blue frowns at me but doesn’t say anything, just turns back around. I study my cuticles so that I won’t have to make eye contact with anyone. The darkness settles, fading away so that the only sign of it are the swirling de
signs on my arms. Tallon opens the door and climbs inside the car, but I don’t look at him. I can’t. If I did, I might cry.

  “So, what’s next? Lunch?” I say. I’m trying very hard to act lighthearted. Inside, I’m dying a little. All I can think of are Whisper’s words to me so long ago.

  It looks like she was right after all. Romance isn’t for vættir like us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  WE STOP AT A ROADSIDE diner for lunch. It’s the kind of place where you can pretty much figure on getting a good dose of food poisoning. The outside looks like a cross between a bomb shelter and a trailer. Inside the floors are sticky, and our sodas are flat, but it’s far enough off the beaten path that we probably don’t have to worry about any witnesses if we have to fight off an Acolyte attack.

  I order pancakes, figuring there’s no way anyone can mess those up. After living with Nanda, I’m spoiled. My mouth waters as I remember her cooking. Even though I’m a little miffed she didn’t tell me what she knew about my birth, I still miss her. I hope she’s doing okay.

  Alora gets a salad, while Blue and Tallon each order cheeseburgers. We’re the only ones in the restaurant, so our food arrives quickly. Alora’s salad is a plate of brown iceberg lettuce with a few shards of carrot and a couple of tomato slices that have seen better days. It looks so sad that I push my plate of pancakes into the middle of the table between us. “Here,” I say, cutting the stack in half. She gives me a look of surprise, and I sigh. “Don’t say I never did anything nice for you.”

  She considers it for a moment before picking up the syrup and covering her half of the pancakes. “Thanks,” she says.

  While we’re eating, Tallon’s phone rings. He answers it before going outside to take the call. Hearing his voice next to me is like nails on a chalkboard. Being in the same car, and now the same restaurant with him, is slow torture. Like having bamboo shoved under your fingernails, or being forced to listen to elevator music. All I want is for him to grab me and kiss me until I’m breathless. I want it so badly that my middle aches with the need to feel him against me again.

  But that’s never going to happen. And that just makes it all the more painful to sit next to him. With sadness I realize that we’ll never be just friends again. It hurts too much to be around someone I can’t have.

  Tallon returns and slides into the booth with a sigh. I swear he sits closer to me than before, and I inch closer to the wall. “That was North. She says that a couple of Hecate covens are reporting increased activity at a Node in Pittsburgh. She thinks that might be our best bet.”

  Blue nods. “Three Rivers. There used to be a stadium in Pittsburgh called that. It was named for the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which come together to form the Ohio River there.”

  Alora bumps her shoulder into Blue’s. “Look at you, with your geography knowledge.”

  “Actually, it’s sports knowledge. The Steelers used to play at Three Rivers Stadium before moving to Heinz Field.”

  I barely register their banter, instead I’m thinking about the shades and Hera’s spell. Fear leaves me cold, and goose bumps form along my arms. “So that’s where Hera is going to strike.”

  “Do we even know if she’s the one actually conducting the spell?” Alora asks. She runs her fork across our empty plate, then licks the syrup off the tines. The short-order cook watches her in open-mouthed fascination until he catches me giving him a dirty look.

  I shrug. “Hades was pretty clear that she was the one who had the shades. He said that I had to kill her to set them free. But I guess Ramun Sol could be doing the actual spell.” I try not to think about Hades’s certainty that I’ll die.

  Tallon shifts on the seat next to me, and every nerve ending goes on alert. I should’ve sat next to Blue. I would’ve, but he plopped into the booth next to Alora when we sat down, leaving Tallon with the option of sitting next to me or leaving. I didn’t want to make a big stink about it when he sat down next to me. I can tell he still has something he wants to tell me, but I don’t want to hear it. I’m pretty sure my fragile emotional state couldn’t handle an apology from him. Kissing him is one of the best memories I have. At least right up until he ran out of the room. I’m not going to let him ruin what I have left.

  I’m so busy remembering how it felt to kiss him that I almost miss his next words. “North thinks she might know where Ramun Sol is.”

  My heart pounds in my ears. The darkness swirls as I imagine ripping out the Æthereal’s heart. “Where?”

  Blue glances at the kitchen staff and clears his throat. “Maybe we should continue this discussion where we don’t have an audience.”

  The waitress storms over and glares at us. “There’s no smoking in here,” she says, before looking at us in confusion. The darkness has snapped back into place, and we all smile at her like we’re just a bunch of innocent kids enjoying lunch.

  “Can we get our check?” Alora says, her voice all honey.

  The waitress nods and digs it out of her apron before looking at us again. “I’m sorry, I thought I saw smoke.”

  Blue digs a few bills out of his wallet and throws them on the table. “No big deal. Keep the change,” he says. Then we escape outside.

  Tallon takes a deep breath. “North says that one of the Hecates she spoke with remarked upon seeing a bright streak on the Paths near Pittsburgh. That could be Ramun Sol. If we can get him to come to us, that might give us the edge.”

  I snort. “And how are we supposed to do that? He took off running the night he killed Cass. He knows I’m stronger than he is.”

  “Maybe. But I’m willing to bet that he wants revenge more than anything. If he thinks he has an advantage over you, he might be convinced to attack.” Tallon scowls, his lips pursed. I want to kiss him. Blue grins.

  “Oh, I know that look. You have a plan.”

  Tallon nods. “I do. And if it works, we’ll be able to stop Hera and kill Ramun Sol.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  TALLON DECIDES THAT HE NEEDS to make a few calls before he finalizes his plan, so we find a place to stay for the night. I’m not tired, but Blue, Alora, and Tallon don’t look like they’ve gotten much sleep since I left for the Underworld. When Blue declares that he wants to spend the night somewhere, no one argues.

  Especially when he pulls into the parking lot of a really nice hotel.

  “We’re staying here?” I ask, looking at the fancy fountain in front of the hotel and the impressive entryway.

  “Yes. I am sleeping in a big, comfortable bed,” Blue says, putting the car in park. “If we’re about to ride off to some ‘epic battle’ ”—he draws air quotes with his fingers—“I want to make sure I’m well rested. That’s not going to happen on a bed that feels like it was a brick in a past life.”

  Alora looks at the hotel and sighs. “I’m with Blue. After two weeks of trailer hopping I’m ready for a hot shower and a deep conditioner. Oh, and cable. I need to catch up on my Hollywood gossip.”

  Tallon says nothing, and I just shrug. “Okay.” I don’t have any money, so I figure they must have a way to pay for everything.

  Blue and Alora turn to look at Tallon, who sighs. “You know we don’t have that kind of money.”

  Blue grins. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to work your magic.”

  We get out and head inside to the lobby. Tallon stands back and waits until everyone else has been helped before he approaches the clerk. When I raise a questioning eyebrow in Blue’s direction, he leans in close. “Tallon’s the only one who can get a room without anyone making a fuss. He can charm anyone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Blue jerks his chin to where Tallon speaks in low tones with the clerk. “Watch.”

  The clerk is shaking her head no, and for a split second I’m certain she isn’t going to let us have a room. But then she stills as Tallon keeps talking to her. The tension drains out of her; a small smile ghosts around her lips. After a few taps on the computer in front
of her, she slides four key cards across the counter to Tallon.

  He walks over and hands them to us with a murmured, “It’s over two hundred dollars a night. We need to be out of here tomorrow before they realize the Kensington family doesn’t exist.”

  I look past Tallon at the clerk. She looks happy, if a little out of it. “What, did you just hypnotize her or something?”

  Tallon directs a dark look at me. “Yes.”

  Alora and Blue lead the way toward the bank of elevators, chatting excitedly about what they’re going to do first. I frown at Tallon. “How long have you been able to do that?” Tallon didn’t have the ability when we were younger. Or if he did, he never shared the secret with me.

  He shrugs. “It came along a few years ago. It’s something my father was able to do.”

  I cross my arms. “You didn’t ever hypnotize me, did you?”

  “I tried,” he says, jogging to grab the elevator doors before they close. I do the same, and as I slink past him, a smile plays around his lips. His dark gaze meets mine and he leans in close. “It didn’t work.”

  I open my mouth to ask him what he means by that, but the fact that he’s flirting with me short-circuits my brain. While we ride the elevator up, I examine him out of the corner of my eye. He wears his hair braided today, and even all twisted up it reaches his shoulders. My fingers itch to reach out and touch it. I bet it’s as silky as it looks.

  The elevator dings, jerking me out of my daydream of stroking his hair. I clear my throat and look behind me, where Blue and Alora watch me with identical smirks. Oh gods, am I that obvious?

  When the elevator opens, we split up. Our rooms are all right in the same hall, so it’s not like we have to worry about trying to find one another later. Tallon ducks into his room without a word, leaving the rest of us standing in the hallway in shocked silence.