by Bree Despain
She falls in stride next to me. “And then there’s the matter of our sister.”
I stop in my tracks. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You mean you don’t see the resemblance? Ethan tells me Abbie and I look quite alike. Different hair and all, though.”
“What the hell are you saying?” I ask, not wanting to believe her insinuation, even though the way she licks the sorbet from her spoon is so Abbie I want to scream.
“Abbie and I share the same father, obviously not the same mother. Frankly, I’m a little ashamed he would get involved with a mortal.” She says the word like it’s icky. I know she’s talking about my mom, and I don’t really disagree with the distaste in her voice on that account, but I don’t miss the fact that I would fall under the class of “mortal,” too.
“So what? Are you looking to set up a family reunion or something?” I say, coming to a dead stop. I don’t want to believe that I share a sibling with her, let alone go for a leisurely stroll with her on the secluded lake paths. “What do you want from me, Terresa?”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly looking for a gathering of relatives, but I was hoping for your help in getting Abbie back.”
I spin around to face her. “You know where Abbie is?”
“No. But I know how to get her back.”
“How?” I ask tentatively. I’d gotten my hopes up over so many leads in the last few weeks that have only led to one depressing dead end after another.
“You help me get the Key before your ‘friends’ turn it over to the Underrealm Court.”
This insinuation implies that she doesn’t know that Haden is a rogue Underlord. Which means Ethan really isn’t working with her—or they’re good at acting their parts.
“And how exactly does that get Abbie back?”
“Oh, don’t be an idiot and just stop and think about it, Tobin. It is obvious that some lackey for the Underrealm has her hidden somewhere, just waiting for the gate to open again. Why do you think they want her as a Boon in the first place? They want to infuse Skylord DNA into their bloodlines. They are becoming more and more mortal with each passing generation of human Boons, and that scares them. She was meant to be breeding stock.” The anger in her voice is hard to miss. It reminds me of how I felt when Dax first told me this.
How I still feel now.
“I know all that already,” I say, matching her level of emotion. “But why do you care about Abbie’s fate? You made it sound like you’ve never even met her.”
“I haven’t,” Terresa says. “But the idea of someone I share blood with being bred with Underlords makes me sick. They make me sick.”
“I know what you mean,” I say about her last assertion.
“Then why in the names of Zeus and Hera would you want to help them? If we have the Key, we have access to the Underlords. They are trapped in the Underrealm with no way out. We could exterminate them once and for all and never have to deal with their lies or their manipulations or their murderous acts again!”
I take a step back. “That sounds like you’re talking about genocide.”
“Would that really be so bad? Don’t forget what they’ve done to you. To your sister. To all those other girls they’ve taken for thousands of years. Do you call it genocide when you destroy a nest of poisonous spiders?” Her eyes have gone cold. She no longer seems overcome with anger, but is collected and confident in her statement. The resemblance to Abbie is gone. “That’s what they are, Tobin. Every last one of them only cares about power and glory, about their own selfish desires. They are a race of murderers and rapists.”
Her words have more of an effect on me than I expected. I realize now that a lot of the anger I was placing on my mother was meant for the Underlords, too. I just didn’t think there was anything I could do about it. But now Terresa is telling me there is.
“I still don’t see how this gets Abbie back,” I say, thinking her offer sounds too good to be true.
“It’s simple. With the Underlords gone, any lackey that has been gifted with a power granted by the Underrealm will have that power stripped. They will want to know why but will have lost communication with the Underrealm. Therefore, they’ll all return here, seeking answers and direction. Humans are predictable that way. Whoever has Abbie will not want to leave her alone, and so they’ll likely walk right into town with her under their guard. Even if they don’t, it will be easy to pick them off one by one until we find someone who knows where she is. We kill all the Underlords, and Abbie is delivered like a packaged gift.”
Her plan isn’t exactly risk free, and I can see all kinds of ways it could go wrong, but it actually sounds like it might work. But there is still one big problem, as far as I am concerned. “Why should I believe you would hold up your end of the bargain?”
“My father wants Abbie out of the hands of the Underlords, and when my father is happy, I get what I want. Let’s just say there’s a big promotion in it for me.”
I curl my fists at my sides. She’s trying to exploit my affection for my sister for her own gain. “So your motives are purely selfish, as well. You sound just like an Underlord.”
“Perhaps,” she says. “But I’m not the one who stole your sister. They are. And they deserve to pay.”
“Do I even get Abbie back, or are you just going to whisk her off to the Skyrealm to your father? Will he force her to marry Ethan? That doesn’t sound much better than the people who stole her.”
“Let’s just say that once the Underlord threat is gone, I’m sure I can convince my father to let her go home. Ethan is a good catch. I’m sure he could scrounge up another fiancée in no time. With your help, Abbie could finally be free of both realms.”
I stare at her, not knowing how I want to respond.
“Take some time to think about it. I’ll contact you again soon.” With that, she turns and walks back toward the gelato shop.
And I am left to go the other way, alone with my raging thoughts once more.
I’m on my front porch, digging in my backpack for my house keys, when my phone buzzes from my back pocket. My breath catches for a moment; I’m thinking it might be Terresa trying to contact me already for my answer (how she’d gotten my number, I don’t know), but when I pull the phone out, I see it’s Daphne. I don’t feel like answering it, so I just stand there waiting for it to stop. When it does, I see that she had called me once before, right when I was talking to Terresa.
The phone buzzes with a voice mail that I also ignore.
I finally find my keys, and I’m unlocking the front door when a black Tesla pulls into the semicircle driveway behind me. Still not in the mood for talking, I wonder if I can get away with popping into the house, locking the door, and pretending I didn’t see them.
“Hey, Tobin,” Dax calls from the driver’s-side window.
Too late.
“What?” I say, turning around. I don’t make much effort to hide the irritation in my voice.
“Get in. We need your help.”
No please. No asking if I want to help him.
“What for?”
“We’re going to go steal us a Compass.”
Stealing something has a strange appeal at the moment, so I comply. I get in the car and find Haden in the passenger seat. “Where’s Daphne?”
“She’s not a part of this,” Haden says.
“Does she know that?” I ask. “That doesn’t sound like Daphne at all.”
Haden doesn’t answer, and I wonder what’s gotten him so cold at the moment.
“Haden and Garrick are going to meet Rowan for a supposed exchange,” Dax says as he pulls out of my driveway. “We have our doubts Rowan even plans on bringing the Compass, so you and I are going to go stake out the address that Lexie got off her app. If it looks like the right place, we’re going to break in and see what we can find.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say, surprised at how much more relaxing a little B & E sounds compared to eating dinner with my mother.
chapter thirty-eight
HADEN
It’s twenty-five past midnight when Rowan finally pulls up on his motorcycle outside the school. I should have assumed he’d keep me waiting. I can only hope he didn’t notice Dax and Tobin staking out his place, and isn’t now showing up only to tell me where to find their bodies.
“Having trouble with the time?” I stand with my back leaned against my car, my arms folded casually in front of my chest, even though I feel anything but casual. “You see, the small hand points to the hour while the big hand points to the minutes.”
“Funny.” He smirks as he stands beside his motorcycle. “Since it was your lack of knowledge about time that sent you running back to the grove that first day.”
“How do you know—”
“I know all about your various mistakes, Haden. Like how you tried to take Daphne through the gate the moment you met her. I give you points for gravitas, but your idiocy knows no bounds, does it?”
“Do you have the Compass or not?” I say, in no mood for Rowan’s idea of small talk.
“You know that was the reason the Court insisted on sending me, right? You almost destroyed yourself and the Cypher your first day here. You screwed up so royally, it didn’t matter what the Oracle said. They shouldn’t have sent a nursling without a nursemaid.”
“Does that mean you’re waiting for me to suckle at your teat?”
Rowan’s smirk falters, as he realizes his poor choice of words.
“Compass or no Compass?” I say. “I don’t have all night. Unlike you, I have more important things to do than be someone else’s glorified babysitter.”
“Depends on whether you have my money and the talisman.”
I pick up a black duffel bag next to my feet and toss it in front of him. He opens it and gives it a cursory inspection. There’s only twenty thousand there—all we could get in cash advance before it raised a red flag on Simon’s account—but I knew he wouldn’t stop to count it.
He slings the bag over the back of his motorcycle. “And the talisman?”
I rap my knuckles against the hood of the car. One of the back doors opens, and Garrick steps out. He stands, hands shoved in his pockets, on the opposite side of the car. The Tesla acts as a barrier between him and Rowan.
“You brought the runt?” Rowan says. “How’s he been working out for you?”
Garrick tries to hide his wince at being called a runt but fails.
“Just fine,” I say, even though that’s a lie. But I would still rather have Garrick in my entourage than my twin. “Talisman, Garrick?”
Garrick pulls a medallion on a long red leather cord out of his pocket. He holds it up, letting it dangle at his side.
Rowan starts to make a move toward him, but I step forward.
“Not until you show us the Compass.”
Rowan eyes Garrick. “That doesn’t look like my talisman.”
“Simon’s must have been the upgraded model. I found it in a turnip drawer in the refrigerator. Seems you were looking in the wrong place when you ransacked Simon’s bedroom. Your talisman was destroyed. That’s apparently what happens when you send a bolt of lightning through it when it’s submerged in water.” I hold up my hand to show him where the outline of the talisman is scarred into my palm.
“You destroyed my talisman?” There’s a hint of panic behind his rage. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“What’s the matter? You must be pretty desperate to reveal yourself to me after all this time. You can’t handle a couple of months without constant direction from Father? I thought I was the nursling, not you.”
“Not just direction, you idiot. I was supposed to report back to Ren that I’d secured the Compass. You might have gone off the rails, but they need to know that I’m taking care of everything else. Do you have any idea what’s going on down there? Do you have any idea of the consequences if the Court isn’t given assurances that everything is under control, that I can make you follow the plan—”
“You mean how the Court has designs on deposing Father? I’m afraid you’re already too late for giving any assurances that you can make me follow Father’s orders. That’s as fried as your talisman.”
“What did you do?” Rowan demands, his voice crackling with electric power.
“I paid Father a visit, using your talisman. He tried to convince me that he’d toss you aside as his favorite son and make me his heir in exchange for Daphne. And as tempting as it was to think of you being passed over for me, I made an unbreakable oath that I would never bring her to him.”
“Kopros, Haden!” Rowan says, using my actual name for once. Which almost makes me take a step back. “Of all the addled things. Didn’t he tell you what would happen if the Court gains control? Didn’t he tell you about the Keres?”
I purse my lips, not wanting to show my concern. Part of me had wanted to believe that my father had made up the bit about the Court ripping through the Pits in order to get out of the Underrealm. That it was just a scare tactic—something he’d made up on the fly because it had been too terrible to believe that it might be real. But if Rowan is confirming it, it suddenly makes it feel all too real. And like Ethan’s plan might not be so horrible, after all.
“The world is still standing. You don’t see any Keres around here, do you?”
“For now,” he says. “I can’t promise the same for tomorrow. Or next week. Now give me the talisman. I need to make contact. I need to know what’s happening down there.” His voice is racked with desperation—a rare display of emotion on his part—and it almost makes me want to let him have the talisman.
When I don’t respond, Rowan turns his attention on Garrick. “Give me the talisman, runt!”
“Compass first,” Garrick says. His voice warbles, but I admire his resolve.
Rowan doesn’t. Before I can react, he launches himself over the hood of the car. I fling a bolt of lightning at him but narrowly miss as he grabs Garrick by the shoulder. Another bolt ripples through me, but I don’t dare throw it, for Garrick’s sake. Rowan rips the talisman from Garrick’s hand and then shoves him toward the ground. Garrick hits the pavement face-first, and Rowan slams his foot down on his back. I start to charge at Rowan as he holds the talisman aloft in one hand and a crackling sphere of lightning above Garrick’s prostrate body.
“Move, and he fries,” Rowan growls at me.
“What are you going to tell him?” I ask, referring to his realm-to-realm call with Ren.
“That I’ll be the one bringing the Cypher back instead of you.”
“You know that will never work. She will never pass through the gate willingly with you.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I still have the Compass,” he says. “You know me, Haden. You know I can find a way to trick your girl into getting the Key for me. You didn’t think I would actually bring the Compass tonight, did you?”
“No,” I say. “In fact, I was counting on it.”
“What?” he says.
“At 216 Sea Cliff Court,” I say, reciting the address Lexie had texted me.
Rowan’s usual smug look drops completely from his face. He shoves the talisman in his pocket and runs for his bike. I could try to stop him, but I don’t. Dax and Tobin should have had plenty of time to get in and out of Rowan’s place by now. Based on Rowan’s reaction, I was sure they were going to find exactly what they were looking for.
As Rowan speeds away, I crouch down to help Garrick sit up. His lip is bloody, and bits of gravel from the pavement have been ground into his cheek. “I’m sorry,” he says, rocking forward to hug his knees to his chest. “I let him get the talisman.”
“Don’t worry about it. In fact, I wish I could see his face when he tries to use it to place a call.”
“What do you mean?”
“That wasn’t Simon’s talisman. I did find it in the fridge, but that thing Rowan took off with is something I dug out of the props Dax has been collecting for the play. Lexie�
��s friend Bridgette brought it in. I guess it’s a leftover keepsake from one of her mother’s movies.”
“A prop?” Garrick says. “You let me get my face split open over a prop?”
“I needed you to believe it was real so Rowan would buy it. You did great—”
“Stop it,” he says, pushing himself up from the ground. “You should have told me.”
“Garrick, I’m sorry, but I needed Rowan to believe it was real.”
“And you didn’t trust me to not give it away? Thanks a lot, brother. It’s nice to know how you think of me. But I’m not your Lesser servant anymore. I’m not going to let you or Rowan or anyone else push me around. Not anymore.”
Garrick walks away. My instinct is to order him to stop, but I know that would be the wrong move. He’s right to leave. And I’m right to let him go.
I pull out my phone and send a text to Dax, warning him that Rowan is on his way home, and then sit alone on the curb, the silence of the night closing in on me. I haven’t allowed myself to dwell on what happened with Daphne this afternoon because I needed to be ready for my meeting with my brother.
In the Underrealm, showing emotions turns you into prey to the likes of Rowan. Tonight, I’d needed to keep my feelings pushed down as far as possible so he couldn’t exploit them, but now that he is gone, I can no longer hold them at bay.
Heartache rips through me like a storm breaking through a levy.
I am raw. I am drowning. I am gasping for air.
If I could turn off my emotions permanently to rid myself of this pain, I would do it.
I shake my head, rejecting that thought.
Don’t despair, Dax had told me when I’d found him this afternoon. I’ve never been good at hiding things from him, and he’d known that something had happened by merely looking at me. I’d given him a cold, procedural retelling of the event, but he’d seen right through my mask. She didn’t rebuff you completely. She didn’t say she doesn’t care for you. I have a feeling she’ll come around. Don’t cut yourself off from her. Be open and patient, and she’ll see you for who you really are. All is not lost.
