by Noree Cosper
"My friends have died, I have been followed, and this is all one big test to you?" My voice broke in the middle, taking on a higher pitch.
"If you were doing what you were supposed to, this wouldn't have happened."
"So, it's okay for you to sit back and not even warn me."
"I been warnin' ya, girl. Ya just ain't listenin'."
"You warned me about Hermes, who doesn't seem to have anything to do with this," I snapped. "All your other warnings have been vague, and you said nothing about the ker."
"How am I supposed to see if ya been keepin' with yer trainin' if I tell ya?"
"What about when you realized that I couldn't sense them?"
"I worked with ya to fix it. Ya still didn't think about the ker. Ya were too caught up in that god and his kid."
"That god just saved my life," I said. "And his kid has acted more like family than you or the Pyrrha have. All you ever do is throw me into danger."
Aunt Jo's whole face paled and took on a green tint. "Yer gonna go there after what it cost me to save ya as a kid?"
Heat flushed my face, and I tightened my still clenched fists. "I wouldn't have needed saving in the first place if you and Aunt Dahlia hadn't pushed my mom into going after Hecate in the first place."
She crossed her arms as a vein ticked at the side of the temple. "So this is what it's about? Yer ma was the Pyrrha then. It was her responsibility."
"To go alone?" My bitter laugh echoed through the night. "Y'all knew it was a goddess she was taking on, way more powerful than a daimon. That should have been a group effort. More to divide the power."
"She wouldn't let us," Aunt Jo said in a strangled voice. "We tried to tell her, but she wanted to protect us. She thought she could handle it."
I swallowed the lump in my throat as the heat traveled through my body, leaving goose bumps in its wake. "I doubt Aunt Dahlia tried so hard. She always wanted mother's position."
"And she had to fight for it. Ya know it's not passed down." She sighed and shook her head. "I think it hit yer aunt harder than ya think. She just don't show it."
I glared. "Please. She never gave a damn. She was all too happy to hop into Mom's place."
Aunt Jo rubbed her eye with her index finger and thumb. "Cassi..."
"Don't," I said. "I'm tired of hearing your lies. I'm tired of all of it."
I turned and walked into the darkness, letting her voice die on the wind. She would have to pick herself up from this one.
26
The sun beat down on my head, and I shifted from one foot to another as the pastor's voice echoed through the cemetery. Sheridan should've been put into the ground with gray clouds and the sky's tears. Mother Nature had a different idea, and greeted us with a bright blue day. I bit my lip and rubbed my wrist at the slight tingle.
I'd reported to my insurance company that I'd rolled my car into a ditch. They'd questioned how I'd manage to escape without any injuries. Just lucky I guess. I snorted. At least I didn't have to explain why it had been in the University parking lot. Yesterday morning, I'd found my car in usual parking spot at my apartment with a note from Hermes. Once again, he'd looked out for me despite the whole thing about us being enemies.
I stared at his head close to the front of the mourners. He'd given me a quiet nod when we'd seen each other before this started. His eyes had promised words and so much more later and had sent my heart racing.
I shook my head as I worried the inside of my cheek with my teeth. Besides hiding stuff that almost got me killed, my aunt may have had a point about a few things. Was I letting this attraction to Hermes get in the way of my duty? I still wanted him, even though he was a god and Serenity's father. And when had I started thinking of this as my duty?
When people started dying, a tiny voice whispered in my head.
With a sigh, I turned away from the funeral and wrapped my arms around myself. Serenity stood under a tree several yards away with her head bowed. I gave a quick glance behind me and headed in her direction. She kept her gaze averted as she traced her fingers over the rough bark.
I cleared my throat. "Hey."
"Hey," she said.
"You don't want to join everyone else?" I nodded to the crowd of mourners standing in front of the open grave and polished wood casket.
"We don't deserve to be down there." Her voice was hoarse. "We failed her."
My heart constricted in my chest, and the tears rose up over the wall I had blocked them with. They hung on the lashes, in the corners of my eyes, and threatened to fall onto the bright green grass.
"No," I said. "This was my fault. Not yours."
"I was supposed to watch over her. She seemed all right." She gave a choking sound. "I should have seen it was all a lie."
"And I was supposed to find this thing. I didn't. Not in time, not even now."
She ran a hand through her hair. "It never stops, does it?"
"What?"
"As much as we pretend we're human." She nodded to the mourners below. "Pretend to have a normal life, we can't have it."
I cleared my throat. "I don't know. We did a good job for three years."
"It's all a lie. We're more like him." Serenity's glared in Mercer's direction. "Able to masquerade, but never able to really be a part of this world."
She turned and marched down the concrete path toward a small group of mausoleums that probably belonged to some old, rich families. I double stepped and caught up with her, placing a hand on her arm. She jumped and pulled away.
"We may never be able to fit in with humans," I said, "but we have each other, right?"
"Until he takes you from me." She bent her head. "Like he did with my mother."
"I thought he wasn't around for your mother," I said.
"He's the whole reason she went crazy," she murmured. "She kept waiting for him to come back, and he never did. Then, when I was three, she tried to kill both of us."
My heart squeezed in my chest. "I never knew. I'm so sorry."
"Save it. I don't need the pity." She shook her head. "All he ever does is bring misery to my life."
"He's trying to change, right?"
She scoffed. "He may say that, but here we are at our friend's funeral. He may not have killed her, but his world did."
"No one likes the keres, not even the gods. They are a plague." My hand closed in a fist. "I'll find this thing. I'll stop it."
"Like you did in the parking lot?" Her angry gaze cut toward me. "Is this the only way it can end? Am I going to have to attend your funeral, too?"
"No." I stood straighter despite the queasiness of my stomach. Death was something that came along with my life. It was better than the alternative, but she didn't have to know that. "I had the wrong information, but now that I know, I will beat it."
She laughed bitterly and turned away from me and the funeral. "Yeah, well, your track record speaks differently. Sorry, but you seem too distracted."
I opened my mouth and closed it, pressing my lips together. My aunt had warned me from when she first arrived. I'd ignored my duty and let the daimons have free run around me. I'd been fooled by a god. Now two people I knew had died, all because I wanted a normal life.
I bowed my head. "I know I haven't done the best job before now, but my aunt and I will be able to take care of this."
"I don't see how that's going to happen. You and your aunt don't seem to be on the best of terms." She shook her head and glanced back at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Leave me out of this one. I don't think I have it in me to watch you die."
"So, you're just going to run? From me—from your dad?"
"Don't call him that. We're nothing alike." She headed through the of row squat buildings and up the hill, farther into the graveyard.
I dug my nails into the tree until they broke and pushed the sobs back down into my chest as she drove away. Her words ripped into me deeper than any ker's jagged claws. My aunt had said some of the same things the other night and eve
n before that.
I sighed and stared at the blood dripping from my fingers and the tiny crescent shaped cuts. We hadn't spoken since the night in the parking lot. I loathed the thought of making the first apology, but she would wait me out for the next few days, and I needed her to get through this.
I shook my head and laughed. What was I thinking? Aunt Jo wouldn't let others suffer from daimons because she was angry with me. I took a deep breath and headed back to the mourners. After the funeral, I would call her, make up, and get this hunt back on track. No one else would die because of my selfishness.
Hermes stood at the entrance to the mausoleum alley with his hand in his pockets and a concerned frown on his face. "Where's Serenity?"
I cleared my throat. "I think she wants to be alone."
His frown deepened. "This isn't the best time for either of you to be alone. Go with your friends. I'll find her."
My chest heaved from the pressure building up inside. "I seem to be running out of those."
"Even more of a reason not to leave Serenity alone."
"She doesn't want to talk to you, or me."
His gaze drifted past me as if he could see her over the hill. "She's still upset about the two of us."
"Among other things, but what did you expect? Her dad and her roommate." I gave a soft, bitter laugh. "She tried so hard to warn me."
He took a step toward me and touched my shoulder. "Cassi, those things don't matter in our world."
"And that's why you fail to understand Serenity, or me," I said. "We don't want that world. It makes us enemies for a war that's lasted for eons."
He chuckled softly. "Trust me. Our war isn't with the pandorans. Your family may believe we are enemies, but it's a lie."
I stared into his eyes as if they would solve this puzzle for me. "Why do you even care? And for me, of all people."
"I don't know," he said. "Maybe it's because you are a pandoran and I like playing with fire."
"Oh, great. So you just have a thing for forbidden fruit." I shook my head. "It's like we're playing out some cheesy teen romance."
"I can think of a few things we've done that don't belong in a teen romance." He caressed my cheek with his thumb. "Tell me you don't feel it, too."
I took a step back and let out a shuddering breath. "I don't know. I need to think about things for once."
I stepped around him and hurried to the cars parked along the street, hugging myself. Halfway down, my arm flared up with an intense burning that overshadowed the ever-present tingle that came around Hermes.
I gasped and pulled my hand to my chest as I doubled over. A haze tinted the sky gray that clogged up my lungs, causing my breath to come out in small gasps. The stench of rot and death surrounded me, which was ironic, considering I stood in a cemetery.
I pressed in the tendons of my wrist and fell to my knees as the heat increased so badly that it filled my brain. Hermes's muted shouts echoed in my ears before fading into the gray.
27
I woke to a steady beeping and the sun shining in my eyes. I groaned and rolled on my side, away from the window, and the crinkling of paper filled my ear. What in Hades?
My eyes snapped open, and I sat up on the paper-covered examination table. Across from me, jars of tongue depressors and cotton balls sat next to a sink on a dark green counter. I must have fainted and been taken to a clinic. I traced my fingers on the edges of my tattoo. Its rainbow pattern glimmered in the setting sun.
The burning had faded to nothing during my time unconscious. I'd never felt that intensity of a burn, even back in Georgia, training like an obedient girl. Aunt Jo had mentioned once that daimons were the easiest to detect in spirit form, without a body to possess.
A chill ran through me as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on me. The ker possessed the dead, but couldn't or wouldn't stop the rotting. It must have decided to target Sheridan.
I hopped off the bed, grabbed my shoes that lay on a chair, and checked the clock on the wall. Only an hour had passed since the funeral. Was I too late to stop it? I had to try. A nurse in the hall glanced up from her clipboard and smiled at me when I stepped out of the room.
"Good to see you're awake," she said. "Go ahead and return to the room. I'll get a doctor to come see you."
I raised my hands and shook my head. "Actually, I feel fine, but I'm in a hurry. I'm just going to check myself out."
Her eyebrows furrowed as she pressed the clipboard to her chest. "You should really have a doctor look at you. Do you faint often?"
I ground my teeth together and took a deep breath. "It's no big deal. Just stress, but I have an emergency, and I have to go."
She stared at me for a long moment and sighed. "Fine. Follow me."
She led me to a cashier who eyed me just as suspiciously as she processed my credit card while I dialed the number of the closest taxi service. I paced outside the building until the cab pulled up fifteen minutes later. I stared out the window and tapped my foot against the carpeted mat in the back seat. I had gotten the slowest cabbie in the entire Metroplex.
How long did it take for a ker to possess a body? It wouldn't hang around the cemetery afterwards, but it might have left some sort of lead to go off. Or I could wander around and wait for it to find me.
When we parked in front of the gates, I handed the driver a couple of twenties and sprinted toward Sheridan's grave, my heart hammering away. I stopped in front of it with a pant, resting my hands on my knees. The dirt lay upturned around the grave, like something had come out. The smell of fresh-tilled earth filled the air. It'd already claimed her.
I stood straight and rubbed my wrist as a slight searing rippled through my tattoo. Yes, it was still here! I hurried down the sidewalk with my arm held out like some sort of homing beacon. Left. Now to the right. The burning intensified as I came to a part of the path that led up the hill. The setting sun blazed behind me, turning the sky into a pumpkin shade. I clenched my fist and marched up the hill, ready to face whatever the ker had to throw at me, even if it was a gravestone.
The steady, high-pitched squeaking reached me before I crested the hill, and something in the pit of my stomach tightened. I sucked in a sharp breath as the burning on my wrist intensified. I got the bitch.
At the bottom of the hill, a man and a woman stood near a tall gravestone of a weeping angel. Their heads, one blonde and one gray haired, were bent, looking at something on the ground. As I crept closer, using the taller headstones as cover, their conversation drifted to me.
"You can just use this one as a new vessel," said the gravelly voice of the janitor I'd heard arguing with Hermes. "Leave the other one to me like I wanted in the first place."
"But this one is old and broken." Sheridan's voice rasped. "I wanted the young one."
"Well, you ruined things for me. So, that's not happening."
The ker made a snorting sound. "Don't blame me. You still haven't gotten rid of the god."
"He's an annoyance. Nothing more," the man said. "Just avoid him and we shouldn't have a problem."
"That's hard since he's hanging around the pandoran. You're going to have to deal with him."
"I'll think of something."
The old man squatted, and my view was obscured by the angel. I crept to an adjacent grave that provided a clear glimpse of their focus. My heart leapt in my throat, and I was mentally transported back to that night with my mother. The world lost its color, and the warm air couldn't stop the arctic chills that spread over me.
A wheelchair lay on its side with its top wheel turning with a squeak. My aunt's body lay sprawled in the grass as blood flowed from her midsection, redder than her hair.
Patterns of white-blue and orange tinted the world around me, and a wave of heat flashed through me, burning the chill away to nothing. The grief that threated to rise up was consumed by the need to burn it all. I stood. The ker turned with Sheridan's pale, dead eyes going wide with surprise. The janitor looked up at me and grinned
as he crouched over my aunt's corpse.
"Hello, little fly," he said. "Welcome to my web."
"I don't remember there being any spider daimons." Tiny flames danced around my fingertips. I couldn't hold back an inferno for long.
He got to his feet with a grunting laugh. "No, but I am a weaver of sorts. Of destinies."
I raised an eyebrow. "The Fates travel in three."
His grin twisted to a scowl and he hissed. "My sisters are always getting the fame. Those three need each other to drive men to their end. There's only me to bring doom."
"Moros." The wind tore his name from my lips and spread it across the cemetery despite my soft utterance. "Doom and depression."
He let out a satisfied sigh. "It feels so good to be remembered, even if it is by a foolish pandoran."
Fire flared around my fists. "I'll make sure you're forgotten."
The ker scooped up my aunt's wheelchair with one hand, spun, and hurled it at me. I threw myself to the side into a roll and came up on one knee on the concrete sidewalk. The air thickened, and the dimmer sky became even darker. Moros's influence slithered in my mind, trying to raise the sorrow buried in the pit of my stomach. Instead, the fire inside rose up and incinerated the connection. He yelled as the sleeve of his corduroy jacket caught aflame.
He dropped to the ground and bashed his arm against the grass repeatedly. I spread my hand in the ker's direction, and a ball of flame burst from my palm. She dove to the side and the fire hit the grave behind her with a sizzle.
Moros scowled at the ker. "You told me she was weak."
"She is." Sheridan's voice rasped out. "And predictable. It's just a little fire."
"Just a little?" Heat rushed through my body. "Fine. Let's amp it up for you."
I raised my arms above my head and jerked them down. Fire trailed from my hands in two slender whips of blue flame. I aimed one for the ker's neck. A sharp crack split the air as she dodged out of the way and the whip scorched the ground where she once stood, leaving a spurt of fire in its wake. I spun and arced the other whip behind me, where Moros had been trying to sneak up on me. It hit him in the side, and he screamed as the blue flames consumed the side of his jacket.