by Carla Rehse
No, not understand—I had no idea what the hell was going on. But at least I could see my surroundings.
Sadie, Heather, and Linc sat in a row across from me, just out of arm’s reach. The disc in my wrist gave an ice-cold warning that I didn’t need. There was no mistaking the gleaming orange Devil’s Twine around their waists that anchored them together and to the wall. At the moment, I couldn’t remember much lore about it, except the piano wire-like substance was created in Hell and only certain Hellspawn could cut through it. Word on the street said it was the favorite garrote of demons.
Devil’s Twine also had me secured to the wall behind me, but that wasn’t why I was unable to move. My baby girl was in front of me with a large bruise on her forehead, dark hair bunched in a disheveled ponytail, and wearing dirt-stained clothing. Rage at seeing Sadie in such danger had me frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding eighteen-wheeler hauling turkeys before Thanksgiving. Or maybe it was Halloween when they delivered—get a damn grip, Everly!
The relief at finding the kids overrode my headache. They were in trouble, yes, but alive! And that mattered most of all. I just needed to figure a way to get them out of here. Now would be a really good time for the cavalry to show up. But from what I recalled of the Wraith fight, it appeared I needed to saddle up and be my own cavalry. Because they were so busy, not dead.
Heaven and all the Saints, please let Lawson and Janice be okay.
“You all right, Sadie? And I assume you’re Heather and Linc?”
“You’re a Gatekeeper? From which town?” Heather asked, sounding curious but exhausted.
I wasn’t sure how she could tell I was the new … damn, maybe the glowing disc in my wrist gave me away. “I’m Everly Popa, the daughter of the Archivist and Sadie’s mother. I’m so sorry, but your uncle died. With you missing, the Council temporarily made me the Gatekeeper.”
“Temporary Gatekeeper?” Heather whispered.
Sadie shot me a sharp look when I said my last name, then glanced away. That couldn’t be good. Especially since she had nothing to do but brood over the last twenty-four hours.
As much as I wanted to beg her forgiveness and give her what comfort I could, getting out of here had to override everything else.
“Any idea how I got here?” I asked, scuttling to the side to see how much play the Twine gave me. A burning pain sliced through my side as the wire dug into my skin. Once I scurried back to my original spot, the Twine loosened.
“Bad idea.” Linc held up his hands to show scabbed slash wounds across his palms. “That’s Devil’s Twine. Real nasty stuff.”
I scowled at the long cut in my shirt. At least the Twine appeared to cauterize the wound, so I wasn’t bleeding all over the place. “Yeah, I see. All right. How many baddies are there? Any idea on their plans?”
Sadie stared at the ground, but Heather let out a shuddering breath. “Just the four of us. Not sure where that bitch Delilah crawled off to.”
“Delilah?” I asked. “You can’t be serious.”
My mind stuttered while I tried to process everything I knew about her. Which wasn’t much. Her dad I knew: George Tindall, a councilman for decades and now dead. Wasn’t she also engaged to the Bakers’ son? Was that the connection? But I still didn’t understand her motive, much less how she could’ve pulled off something this complicated.
I squinted my eyes against the throbbing pain in my head. “Delilah’s barely a hundred pounds soaking wet. How did she grab y’all? Spellwork?”
Linc hung his head. “She told me she found an injured woodlands pixie in a tunnel while searching for Heather. So, like an idiot, I followed her instead of waiting for my team to catch up. Then bam! But she had blood and scratches on her arms, so it sounded legit. The guys will never let me live this down. Dad must be so pissed at me.”
I couldn’t tell him that his friends had died. I just couldn’t. “Lawson is worried sick about you. Your mom as well, Heather. We’ve been looking everywhere for y’all.”
Linc and Heather seemed relieved, but Sadie still hadn’t even glanced at me. I knew that expression well. It was her furrowed brow, her scowly face that she reserved just for me and perfected during her teenage years. But of course she was angry. She’d been kidnapped by a psycho and dropped into a Grimm-style fairy tale with actual monsters and magic.
A story that I’d kept from her.
My heart sank. It was stupid to think finding and rescuing her would solve our issues. This wasn’t a Hallmark Movie where kisses and confetti flew at the end. Although, I’d be lying if I said a large part of me hadn’t quietly hoped for a happier reunion.
With more will than I knew I possessed, I managed to keep my voice calm. “Hey, baby girl. You okay? I wish I could reach over and hug you.”
“Super-duper,” Sadie growled, showing she inherited my snarkiness. Actually, I was quite proud of that. “You have so much to explain.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry you had to find out about my hometown like this.” The child I had labored and nearly died for—and loved more than I ever imagined possible—glared at me with hate-filled eyes.
Heather squirmed, so to cut the tension I asked, “Delilah seems to have planned this out well. She fooled me—I never suspected she was a witch. And hey, has anyone seen Alana? She’s missing too.”
Linc and Heather exchanged glances. Linc said, “Alana Corbin? Grady’s mom? Haven’t seen her or anyone else, except for Deranged Delilah.”
“Did you see how she brought me here?” I asked again.
Linc shrugged, then hissed as the Twine dug into his side. “Everything went dark. There were some scraping noises and then when the Spellstones lit up again, you were here.”
“And that weird whistle sound, remember?” Heather added. “I know I’ve heard it somewhere before.”
Scraping noises and whistling …? A large, metal garden cart blocked what seemed to be the entrance to my left. At least I assumed the visible glow was daylight. Guess the cart was how Delilah transported us here. Though I still wasn’t ruling out magic. Or other accomplices, since it made no sense for Delilah to do this. There were too many loose threads, like the spell that knocked everyone out, ultimately killing the elders. And Mama.
“Have you seen anyone else?” I asked.
Heather and Linc shook their heads. Sadie continued to avoid looking at me.
To my right, it appeared the cave or tunnel kept going into the pitch-black darkness. Nothing smelled damp or mildewy, just dusty, but I still wasn’t sure if this was a random cave with no surprises lurking in the dark or a tunnel that led to all sorts of bad guys.
I also had no idea where we were, as I knew of no caves or tunnels in town. But I also didn’t know about the Bwbachs, so maybe they made this? The place seemed … settled in, I guess was a way to explain it. And not just recently. A neat pile of faded quilts sat near my feet, along with well-used, white pillar candles stuck in globs of melted wax. Behind the blankets, a mostly empty bottle of wine and two plastic wine glasses gave this place a Lover’s Lane feel. Lawson and I sure would’ve been happy to use it when we were kids.
A camping toilet sat behind Linc, while water bottles and a box of granola bars were piled next to the girls. Not exactly creature comforts, but not an indication of imminent torture either.
Nothing looked witchcraft suspicious. Or at least what I knew to be witchy works. The Spellstones were arranged in long loops but not in a pattern I recognized, nor did I spy any occult carvings on the walls or chalk outlines on the floor. Whatever Delilah planned, she hadn’t left any clues. At least she hadn’t wanted to starve the kids before she committed whatever heinous sacrifice she must be prepping.
I attempted to force my brain to remember every tidbit of knowledge I knew on the Twine, but my attention kept going to Sadie’s face. “Any of this look witchy to y’all? Something that gives a hint of what Delilah wants?” Maybe I was the Gatekeeper, but I was old enough not to allow my pride
to get in the way of asking for help. Well, most of the time.
Heather sighed. “Delilah’s a bitch for sure, but not a witch. She’s fully human but likes being kinda edgy, ya know? I can’t believe we used to be best friends. I knew I should’ve said something when Mr. Baker introduced her to those dark books at Hunter Mack’s cabin. It was bad enough what she was sneak-reading at the Archives while volunteering there. She always bragged about the herblore she was learning. Freaky stuff about seeds and life or something. But I never thought she’d actually hurt anyone.”
“Semence de Vie?” I asked. When Heather nodded at my book reference, I wanted to kick myself. Hard. Would a Marked deal with a witch like Helen and her group? Assuming the Vie still existed after all this time. Witches lived twice as long as humans, even half-witches, so maybe Helen hadn’t kicked the bucket yet. Hmm, and what if Delilah had some Hellblood? The Tindells could’ve hidden that, ’cause, once again, the Marked tended to be more judgmental than a Junior High Queen Bee.
If Delilah did have Hellblood, I shouldn’t be that surprised she turned to a magic cult after Nick and her unborn baby died. My own ancestor had gone to witches to save his wife. Self-important ideals tended to fade away when push came to shove. Not that I was excusing either of them. It was one thing to work against traditions that should’ve died out centuries ago; it was a whole other thing to hurt someone. Not only had Delilah kidnapped the kids, but she’d also murdered over two dozen people. That was unforgivable.
And Baker introduced her to some of Mack’s books? Those sly Bwbachs. That must be how Delilah learned about the Vie. Why didn’t Red Hat mention they had other visitors besides Mr. Baker? I was compiling so many questions for Red Hat that I needed to write them down before my middle-aged brain forgot them.
“Herblore?” Linc asked. “Think she concocted something to trade a demon for the Twine?”
I shrugged. “Guess she could’ve. How long has Delilah been a server at Yates? Demons love—”
“Enough!” Sadie yelled, interrupting me. “Demons? Witches? Seriously? What the hell kind of place is this?”
“Complicated,” I replied. Which was a stupid response, but I didn’t know where to start.
Sadie shook her head. “Not much to say, huh? Weird ’cause you normally won’t shut up when it comes to telling me what I need. Like what I oughta wear. Study in college. Guess I didn’t need to know you were raised to fight evil. Like literal evil. If I believe half of what these two have told me, that is! Is that why you turned in your own husband? Because you’re some hotshot protector of the faith? Doesn’t explain why you never told me about this. I’m an adult!” She took a shuddering breath. “And then you send this hot guy to my door and he tells me to trust him. And I do. I don’t even like guys. When all these journalists showed up at the apartment and Cael suggested we go to you, I did. Then we get here and he’s screaming for me to run while something invisible grabs him and then …”
I shrugged with my hands up, praying she didn’t spot how bad they were shaking. “How could I explain any of this? All I ever wanted was for you to be safe.”
“Safe!” she screamed. “Do I look safe?”
Linc and Heather kept glancing between Sadie and me, like they were at an uncomfortable tennis match.
“You ruined my life!” Sadie snarled. “The news reported that Dad was involved in human trafficking and drugs. Guess how long Lainey stayed after that? You knew she was applying to the FBI Academy and needs a clean background check. So, she left. And my job fired me. Oh, and some whackjob kidnapped me. Great job at keeping me safe! This is all your fault.”
“I’m sorry about Lainey.” Tears burned my eyes, but I forced myself to focus on the immediate problem. “Look, you and I have a bunch of issues to unravel. Once we’re out of this mess. Right now, we need to find a way out of here.”
Linc shifted, revealing a large, blood-crusted wound on the side of his forehead. “We can’t cut through the Devil’s Twine. There’s no way out.”
I gave him a half grin. “Did your dad ever mention his junior prom? We were late returning from tracking a Chupacabra. I managed to get out of a sports bra and into my skintight prom dress in a Porta-potty without touching anything. Nothing is escape-proof.”
Linc looked confused, but Heather and Sadie snickered. Maybe my baby girl caught herself and stopped, but she did laugh. That had to be a good sign that our relationship wasn’t completely ruined by my lies.
“This whole thing is ridiculous.” Linc shoved his bangs back in an exact copy of his dad’s.
Please, please let Lawson and Janice be okay. And while I’m begging, Sebastian flying in with a squadron of pirate-costumed angels at his back would be very helpful.
“Any clue why Delilah is doing this?” I asked. I still hadn’t figured how she managed it but decided to move on. With “why” and “how” covered, “where” would be next.
“Nick,” Heather and Linc said in unison.
“She’s taking Nick’s death very hard. I’ve tried to help her, but …” Heather trailed off.
Linc scoffed. “Nick was my Training Hunter before he, well, you know. He always said Delilah was super intense. I think he was planning to break off the engagement ’cause he was tired of her drama.”
“Liar!” Delilah stomped in from the shadows to my right. “Nick loved me more than anything. You and your worthless Hunters killed him!”
“Hello, Delilah. What’s going on?” I said with a careful and reasonable tone. If Sadie hadn’t been here, my inner bitch would’ve exploded. But I couldn’t risk her. Or Heather and Linc.
Heather. Damn my hide. Why hadn’t I asked her for tips on controlling the Gatekeeper power, so I could’ve zapped us out of here? She’d been studying for the job for years. I needed to stop bragging about how great I acted during a crisis.
Delilah turned to me. Her hair bun had gone from messy to scraggly, with strands glued to her sweaty forehead and a leaf stuck over her ear. “Well, if it isn’t Everly Popa, in the saggy, wrinkly flesh. My dad always raved what a badass you were back in the day. Guess he should change that to fat ass. Oops, guess it’s too late for that.”
I’d never wanted to strangle anyone more in my life, and that was seriously saying something.
She must’ve read the murder in my eyes, ’cause she held up a blackened thick twig with a strand of Devil’s Twine trailing from it. White-painted loops, like flower petals, covered the twig. “Eyeballing my artwork? Marque de pétale. You like ’em? Kinda like the brand I placed on your wrist.”
With a start, I glanced at my arm. The burn left by the skillet handle did resemble a petal brand. “Why, you little—”
She held up the stick. “Before we get to all the boring, blah-blah threats, let me show you how this works.” She pointed the stick at me, then wrapped part of the Twine around it. Burning pain shot through my stomach as the Twine tightened around my middle like control-topped pantyhose on a hot summer’s day.
I gritted my teeth against the pain, determined to die before giving her any satisfaction.
Heather fluttered her hands. “Delilah! Please don’t hurt her. She’s the Gatekeeper!”
Delilah lowered the stick, and the Twine loosened around my waist, giving me a “finally got the underwire bra off” sense of relief. “Oh, I know she’s the Gatekeeper. You won’t believe how quickly I worked to make this happen. So good your mother kept flapping her gums about your plans.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You want me to send you to Hell? Abso-freaking-lutely. I’ll get right on that.”
Delilah waved the stick. “You’re gonna destroy the Gate, or I’ll make sure the Twine cuts your daughter in two! Such a happy surprise for me when the Wraith took out that stupid angel and your baby girl ran for her life.”
“You released the Wraith?” I asked, stunned and worried. How could she have that much juice?
Linc shook his head. “Nick wouldn’t want this. You know that, right?”
I spread my hands in a cajoling gesture. “I get being angry at the Hunters. Trust me, I really, really do. But destroying the Gate? I don’t even know how that’s possible—and what would it accomplish? The monsters would be stuck on Earth.”
“Stuck?” Delilah scoffed. “Destroying the Gate would close all of them as they’re linked. Then Heaven would finally have to clean up its own damn mess. No monsters. No Marked families. No demons and angels butting into our lives!”
“Good point,” I said, ’cause it was. Sort of. “But I can barely open and close the Gate. I have no clue how to destroy it.”
Heather nodded. “It’s not possible. Trust me, I’ve been studying the Gatekeeper power for almost ten years.”
“Do you know why I chose you?” Delilah asked me.
Trying to keep the snark out of my tone, I replied. “I honestly can say I have no clue.”
Delilah shot me a broken smile. “My dad was so enamored with you. Even when my mother was alive, he’d tell stories about how you did what needed to be done, no matter what the rules were. A rebel with a cause, he called you. Now Heather is way too much of a goody-two-shoes, whiny bitch to try this. But you? I meant just to hold Heather’s life over you, but now I have all three High Marked children. You have to do this. Oh, and don’t waste time waiting on a rescue. The Wraith wiped out everyone so completely only bubbles are left.”
Bubbles? The last time I saw bubbles was when Sebastian healed Lawson and the others. Maybe there was hope, after all. I peeked at Sadie while my brain churned through everything. Sadie was glaring at the ground again, which broke my heart. I really had no clue how to destroy the Gate. But it didn’t matter. Even if it were possible, I … couldn’t do it. The repercussions were too ghastly to think about.