I lost.
Finding Thomas wasn't that hard. He was the only carriage still trolling Bay Street at that hour. He was traveling west when we waved at him from across the street. He waved back, big smiles, turned and pointed to the River Street side and pointed down. I discovered what he pointed to was a scary-as-fuck flight of stairs to River Street and one of the cobblestone driveways that gave access to cars and idiots willing to mutilate their alignment driving on rocks.
Thomas brought his carriage down to meet us and I realized he was the only horse and buggy driver I'd seen do this as long as I'd been in Savannah. Given the whole alignment issue, I wondered if the cobblestone messed with his carriage. I mean, weren't horse and buggies the means of transportation when cobblestones covered all the city roads?
Once at the bottom of the stairs I gave the area a cursory look and realized we were exactly where I'd escaped the Cairn. The thought made me shake and I moved as far away from the retaining wall as I could.
"Ah…I see you remember, Guardian." Thomas jumped off the carriage and landed gracefully beside it. On the outside he appeared to be a man in his fifties, but on the inside, if this really was the Thomas the Rhymer, he was far older than that. "Samantha." He offered his hands to her as he kissed each of her cheeks. Then he offered a hand to Mike. The two shook hands and then embraced. Last he leaned down to offer a hand to Grey. "Ah, Mistress Grey. I see you're looking more lovely than ever."
The wolf offered him her paw and he kissed it. To anyone else that would look really weird. But I assumed he knew the wolf's true form. Thomas straightened and looked at me. "Your colors have shifted, Guardian. You've taped magic."
I nodded but didn't make any attempt to move closer. Thomas represented a recent traumatic experience and the thought of getting too close to him terrified me.
He looked at everyone. "What brings you down this way so late into the dark time?"
Dark time. Was that something I needed to know about?
"He means after midnight." Sam filled in the blank as she hooked her thumbs into her jeans. "Thomas, we have a problem." She gave him the short version of what'd happened with the Fae in the cemetery and the ritual we'd performed in the townhouse. Apparently he already knew about Mike's daughter. When she finished they eyed one another. "I'm guessing…you know what the smoke revealed to us?"
The carriage driver didn't look the least bit surprised. "Yes. I possess the Queen's Mantle. But I will tell you now, I will not give it up."
Mike stepped toward him. "This is to save my daughter—"
Thomas held up a hand. "I understand that. And having been a prisoner as well as a guest in Alfheim, I can attest to her plight." He glanced at Grey. I noticed it. Did they? "But the mantle holds a very special place for me."
"You stole it."
"No."
Mike and Sam glanced at one another. "But you have it," Sam ventured.
"The veil is not something Maab should possess," he said as his expression darkened.
"The information we gleaned said the mantle was a token from Oberon to Maab. Then it was stolen just as he pledged his love to Titania."
He narrowed his eyes at Sam. "The mantle is more than a token, young Witch. It possesses the power to foresee the future."
I arched an eyebrow at him. "In the legend of Thomas the Rhymer, it says the Queen of Faerie gave him a gift of prophecy. You're saying the mantle wasn't stolen but given to you so that you could become a prophet?"
"Not quite. The mantle was never given to Maab. It was originally given to me. Maab stole it and held me in her dungeon for several nights before…." Again he glanced at Grey. "Before I was rescued. I took the mantle back and returned to this world with the blessings of Oberon. And I have held onto the mantle ever since. You see, she only wants the mantle back so she can know the future."
"But you can't change the future—" Mike began.
"Actually," Sam said, running her fingers through her hair. "I think you can if you can find the linchpin that starts the avalanche of events that nexus into a specific event you can mess with the outcome."
Thomas laughed. "I see you've been reading, Samantha. That's nearly a direct quote from a very old tome…one I've not seen in several decades." He looked at me.
I wondered if he meant the Big Book of Everything because I didn't think she'd been reading the Grimoire without me knowing.
"Thomas, I have to have the mantle. It's the only thing we can think of that she might agree to trade my daughter for." Mike sounded a little upset. Couldn't blame him.
"There is one thing she desires more." He was still looking at me, which made me nervous. I took a step back when Sam and Mike turned to look at me as well.
"What?"
Grey immediately moved to stand in front of me and made a low growl.
Mike looked back at Thomas. "We can't give her the Grimoire…that book can't come out of him."
"It can."
"But won't it kill him?"
"Yes."
"You want us to kill Dags? Me to kill my best friend?"
I swallowed and held my hands out to my sides. I swore if any of them came at me ready to carve this book out of my insides I was going to make my own little fire party.
"No." The carriage driver shook his head. "You see…what even the Guardian doesn't know, is that if the book is taken from him forcefully, if his life is destroyed in the process of removing it, then the book will be destroyed as well."
I blinked. "What?"
"No one's told you, have they? Not even the Angel that follows you. Haven't you wondered why the Choirs of the Light World—if they wanted that book so bad—haven't simply killed you and taken it? They have the knowledge to do it. They could make you a Power, a willing servant of their cause, one of the faithful, but no such gesture has been made. Because they know, all of them know, if you die the book vanishes. It becomes a part of the Well of Souls, and the knowledge is disseminated into the psyche of the universe once again."
I felt like I'd just received a very important piece of knowledge. I just wasn't getting it.
Sam and Mike had very similar confused looks on their faces. "What in the hell are you talking about?" Sam looked back at Thomas. "Choirs of the Light World? Power? Well of Souls? Huh?"
"Samantha, as knowledgeable a Witch as you are, you're still very naive to the broader world around you. You know you're a Sentinel, born and trained to stop the Planars from making a mess of this world. But do you even understand the worlds themselves?" He shook his head and his expression was sad. "No. Before you can truly protect the way a Sentinel can, you're going to have to expand yourself and look very closely at the truth of the universe." He returned his gaze to me. "You know what I speak of."
I waved at him dismissively. "No I don't. And if I did know, it was probably part of that year I core dumped. So can we get back to the can't be killed part?"
"What would you like to know?"
"What about old age? Dying of natural causes? Heart attack?"
"Guardian, what happened in Bonaventure? When the changeling wrought upon you more damage than any normal human could survive? You didn't see it but they did." He nodded to Mike and Sam. "She ripped your throat out."
I did not need to know that. "The book came out of me—"
"Holy shit," Sam said. "You mean, if something like that happens to him, that book is going to fix him?"
"Either by its own means or by another's hand. You were there, Samantha Hawthorne, daughter of the Hawthornes of Salem. It recognized you as being of the blood of the God Mother and gave you the spell. But can you remember any of it?"
"No, it was in another language."
"Ah, but your name is in that book now, as is everyone who's ever touched it." Thomas stepped toward me. "I do not believe Maab realizes the book exists inside of a Sentinel, Guardian. And it would be a bad thing if she ever did."
"I think I know the why on that, but maybe we should hear it?" I said.
&nb
sp; "The moment she discovers its existence is the moment your freedom would cease to be. She would hunt you down to use you and the Grimoire to her advantage."
I honestly didn't see how that was any different than the Planars wanting the book, so I said as much.
"The Choirs play by the rules, those of the…Alfheim, do not. I could tell Maab to her face if she destroyed you to get to the book, the book would vanish and she would never believe me. Even with proof. You must keep the knowledge of that book secret from her."
Add another idiot to the list of the cray-cray.
Sam spoke up. "But Thomas…she had Dags prisoner in that Cairn. You're telling us she can't see the Grimoire?"
"The Grimoire doesn't exist in that world, not in a form that's visible to her. It's part of the astral world but with a demonic beginning."
"How do you know all of this?" Mike asked. "I mean, you seem to know more about that book than Dags, and it's in his soul."
Thomas reached up and touched the cloth wrapped around his hat. "I can see the future, the past and the present. They're not always clear but I can see the Guardian with two women and know it is a past vision." His filmy eyes unfocused for a second. "Just as I can see the danger lurking nearby."
"Danger?" Mike no sooner had the word out of his mouth before something exploded between us.
He flew backwards and rolled along the cobblestone drive. Sam was blasted back and struck the retaining wall where the Cairn opening had been. She slumped on the ground and remained very still. Grey growled and yapped as she charged at me—
No. At us. I hadn't been blasted because Gabriel had appeared and grabbed me, her hand around my neck. It was the cemetery all over again as my feet dangled above the ground and I held onto her wrists. I tried to warn Grey not to bite the mean Angel, but couldn't speak. Hell, I couldn't breathe.
"Shut up you damned feral beast!" She roared at the wolf and Grey was struck by something very powerful. She landed next to Sam and didn't move.
I tried kicking Gabriel and that just made her tighten her grip. She turned her attention back to me. "Two weeks, Guardian. Two weeks! But I found my way back. The Seraphim is angry with me. The bastard put me in charge of you with so many rules…" Her eyes flashed fire. "But he didn't say I couldn't lock you up in a room with no doors—"
"I'm afraid you already know that's impossible." Thomas's voice was calm and even. Whatever blast Gabriel had used for her entrance hadn't phased him. He stood exactly where he'd been before. "And here, Cherubim of the First Choir, you have no authority."
She dropped me as she turned to face Thomas. I half landed on my feet but my ankle twisted painfully and I grabbed it with both hands. It took a few seconds for the agony to dim and I half lay on my left side, my right foot in my hands. I glanced over my shoulder but couldn't see where Mike ended up. Sam and Grey remained still as stone.
"Now just who…" Gabriel's eyes widened. "What the fuck are you?"
Thomas clasped his hands in front of him. "What do your Ethereal eyes tell you?"
I tried moving away from the two of them but standing wasn't possible. At least not yet. I was pretty sure the ankle wasn't broken, maybe sprained. Running—totally not happening. Crawling was an option so I began a very long, painful (over cobblestone!) crawl toward Sam and Grey.
Gabriel's reaction caught my attention. The woman in white leather and stiletto heels actually backed away from Thomas. That didn't seem to be a good sign, right? Backing away from someone?
"No…" Gabriel shook her head, slowly at first. She pointed at Thomas. "You're not possible. It's not possible you're here. In this world."
"I have lived in this world for over a century, Cherubim. Your Seraphim's hold over the universe," Thomas said as he lifted his right hand and pointed up with his index finger. "No, his perceived hold over the universe, is but a farce. I foresaw his rise to power, and I have seen his fall. It's coming my child." He lowered his hand. "You seek to use forces you can't control. You mean to use a weapon that will turn on you. Do not get caught in His demise."
I stopped crawling. Their conversation had all of my attention as I tried to decipher what Thomas meant. I knew it had something to do with the battles Nona told me about, but I hadn't paid enough attention and now what he said sounded all the more ominous. Especially since it made Gabriel shake.
"You lie."
Gabriel didn't sound completely convinced of her own accusation. She took another step back and turned to look at me. I froze and braced myself for another attack. But she just pointed at me and looked at Thomas. "That child possesses inside him a book that will allow the Seraphim to establish supreme reign over every plane of existence. All worlds, all times, and all places."
"Is that what he thinks?" Thomas sounded surprised. "I thought the old man was smarter than that. The book inside that boy is nothing more than a collection of spells, Cherubim. A list of notations made by a frightened young daughter of the Abysmal. A demon if a more base terminology must be used. She began it, and then it was brought forth into this world where it grew and manifested, owner after owner until it amassed inside of it a wealth of forbidden knowledge, knowledge so many men have killed for over the centuries. Many occult groups have tried to claim it, destroy it, and it was even dismantled for a time." Thomas looked at me. "But re-formed. In fact there are still passages missing, scattered about the world because wise men understood its significance and though they could not destroy it, they tried the next best way to weaken it." He looked back at Gabriel. "And now through the magic of an unknowing witch it's found its way into a new home, a binder, a shield to protect itself so that once it makes itself whole again, it cannot ever be torn apart."
Sam made a noise to my right and I split my attention from crawling to her and listening to the two of them. The stuff Thomas said about the book was more than I'd ever heard before. It excited me and scared the pants off me at the same time.
Gabriel drew herself up. "You're trying to trick me. Deceive me. Trap my attention so the little man can get away." She held her hand out toward me—
The sword appeared in my hand. I'd held it a few times and it was different than the one the girl had been holding. I'd gotten close enough to Sam and Grey to position myself between Gabriel and them so I held it up. "Back off, Gabbie."
"You dare use that against me? We had a deal, Guardian—"
"We had a deal you forced on me because it was to your advantage." My ankle flared hot from the inside and the pain vanished. Testing it, I eased myself up into a standing position, the sword still in front of me. The ankle didn't hurt—but was it mended or the pain simply masked? If it wasn't mended, me moving on it was just going to make it worse.
Great.
"You were lost—"
"Because you rewrote something and put it into the book!" I held the sword with both hands. "I didn't ask for this—hell I can't even remember her doing this to me. But from what I've been told, because of this book, so many lives have been lost, destroyed, and betrayed. There's emptiness inside of me, a hole in my chest that I can't fill. And I don't even know why it's there!" The words came out before I could stop them. It was the truth. And I was suddenly feeling very mad, and very used. "If you're supposed to be an Angel, and the Seraphim is God—"
"No," Thomas said as he held up his hand. "It's not that simple, Guardian."
"I don't care!"
"Calm down." Thomas's voice sounded even calmer than when he spoke to Gabriel. "If you become angry, the book will act—"
"Shut. Up!" I saw an image of fire. A lot of fire. So much of it that it engulfed everything. And for a brief few seconds, I wanted it to. I wanted to burn the entire city, all of Savannah. I wanted it blessed and purged by fire!
Abruptly small fires flared all around us. Pockets of flame burned on the stairs, the wall, the ground.
Gabriel moved toward me, a sword in her hand. I didn't know how to fight with a sword, not really. But muscles moved I didn't realize I had and w
ithin seconds she and I were fighting. She thrust, I parried. She swung, I blocked. The first few seconds were her attacking and I defending…
Until… "Batiltu!"
The Sumerian word for stop came out of my mouth before I knew it and to my surprise, Gabriel froze in mid swing. Everything about her stopped. All movement. It was like looking at a movie still.
I lowered the sword and stumbled back into Sam's arms. She reached around me with her right hand and put it on my forehead. The left hand she brought up under my left arm and pressed against my chest. The fire inside me instantly died. My anger, my resentment, my rage. It all sizzled away into nothing.
The sword vanished and I almost collapsed against her. "Sshh…" she said in my ear. "I won't let her hurt you again." And with that, Sam reached out with her right hand, again repeated the words I'd heard in the cemetery the night we met. The symbols appeared, blue-white lights that spun and twinkled. Gabriel warped and twisted away into nothing.
A NEW PAGE iN THE BOOK
Mike walked through the place where Gabriel disappeared. The fires vanished. Blood flowed in small rivulets down the left side of his face and he had dirt on his cheek, but he looked good. He immediately came to me and put his hands on my shoulders as Sam released me. "That's some seriously cool blade work. Nice going, Dags."
Uh huh. Too bad I couldn't remember most of it, or how I'd done it to begin with.
"The Grimoire protects, Guardian." Thomas remained where he'd been the whole time. "But remember, it doesn't designate between friendly fire and that of the enemy. If you lose yourself to its Familiars, you could end up hurting someone you love."
I knew on a deep level he was right. Whatever force had taken over and wielded that sword hadn't really cared who Gabriel was. It saw a threat and had taken care of it. I turned and looked at Sam. One side of her face was darker than the other, but I didn't know if that was a bruise or dirt. I also had to ask myself, if she grabbed me in front where I could see her instead of from the back, would I have tried to hurt her as well? "You banished her again?"
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