by S. W. Clarke
But some Others were immortal. Percy would have been immortal, too. That is, if the gods hadn’t left.
Now? Who knew how long his life would persist—maybe sixty years, maybe six hundred. He could become like one of those ancient tortoises, his life spanning centuries.
Would he remember me after two hundred years? Five hundred?
The future was a vast, unknown canvas. There were no gods, no heavens and hells. No immortality. And if that was true, then I knew I would have to spend the rest of my life being the human that Percy would think of when he wanted to do the right thing. The kind of human he would remember.
Because from here on, our souls only lived in memory.
Chapter 25
Mariana was true to her word; she released me after the burial. And as I came back into myself, I looked to my right—straight at Erik.
He was looking at me, too.
I closed one eye as though scrutinizing him. “What’re you staring at, Corporal?”
“What you said ... it was moving.”
I was about to tell him it was all Mariana, but I stopped myself. What did “all Mariana” mean, anyway? We possessed the same body, the same soul. Her words came to my mind, and I said them. “Thank you, I—”
I was trying to find a way to come clean, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal sliding through dirt. Grunt and Nikolaj were taking turns shoveling dirt over Valdis’s grave.
I stepped over to the Soul Hunter’s open grave. We hadn’t said anything about him. Not one word.
So I knelt, staring down. I had never done one of these. “You tried to kill me more than once,” I began. That didn’t sound right, but I couldn’t take it back. “But you were a ghoul of principle. You fought for what you believed—and in the end, for what was right. I can’t help but respect that, and I will correct the cosmic wrong you died for.”
When we were done, we were all covered in dirt. As we stood there, Grunt kept wiping his nose and sniffing, smearing earth over his face.
“Well,” I said, clapping my dusty hands, “I guess this is where Erik, Frank and I part ways with you.”
“What?” Grunt sniffed again. “No, little girl. I owe you a debt.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And what are you implying?”
“I will come with you. Help you.”
“I’ve got help.” I gestured to Erik.
Grunt glanced between us. “And does the World Army soldier know where to find Typhon?”
Typhon. He was the guy who knew about the crystal dagger.
“Well,” Erik began, “we’ve got methods to …”
“So no,” Grunt cut in. “You do not. But I can help you. I accompanied Valdis to The Restaurant when he retrieved the creation crystal.”
“You mean you have to escort me in?” I asked.
Grunt gave a single nod. “You will not be able to see Typhon without my presence.”
Gazing up at him, I believed the ogre.
“And we know more than the World Army,” Grunt went on. “The Scarred are all over this country. Because of Valdis, we’ve spent the last two months fixated on Lust. Studying her. Tracking her.”
Just hearing that name—Valdis—still quickened my breathing. But this was the first time that might be a good thing. “So, what? You guys have got some kind of underground mafia network we can tap into?”
Nikolaj and Grunt said nothing. I took their stares as confirmation.
I tugged at the collar of my jacket. “But aren’t I like … an enemy to your people? You know, if I walk in the door to Scarred HQ, won’t I get taken down?”
Nikolaj made a face. “Why would you be?”
“Because I hunted you all for years.”
Grunt shook his head. “I do not know of this.”
I blinked twice, three times. I threw my hands out. “Seriously? I thought my face was like … a poster you threw darts at in the break room. I jailed so many of you. Hell, I attacked you in NYC, Grunt.”
The ogre glanced to the sky as if I was testing his patience. “Here is what you do not understand about the Scarred: Valdis was a true leader of thousands. He did not keep grudges. He only looked to the future, and you are the future. He entrusted you with the creation crystal and defeating Lust.”
I had to admit, my feelings were hurt that I wasn’t the Scarred’s Public Enemy No. 1. Guess I wasn’t as terrifying as I thought I was. Oh well, I’d just have to make up for that by killing Lust.
“So you want to come with us,” I said, just to be sure.
“I will come with you,” Grunt said with stony conviction. “And I will ensure you speak to Typhon.”
“And I’ll drive,” Nikolaj said.
Erik and I exchanged a look. Since when did Nikolaj care if anything good happened to me?
I turned back to Nikolaj. “We’re spoiling for a fight with a sin, you know.”
His lips pursed, his head lowered. “That’s precisely why I want to drive you. She killed him.”
Grunt’s chest rumbled. He leaned toward me, cupping his massive hand to whisper, “Nikolaj was Valdis’s driver. He was supposed to bring Ariadne to safety if all else failed.”
So that was it. I should have seen the guilt written all over the guy.
“All right,” I said. “What kind of car does Valdis have?”
Nikolaj’s eyes lifted, shadowed with vague humor. “What kind of car doesn’t he have?”
↔
When Nikolaj opened the garage door, it rose with a soft, mechanical hum to reveal a cavern of vehicles. I couldn’t even count them all; rows and rows extended into the darkness as the stark lights flicked on.
Half of Valdis’s mansion must have been this enormous vehicle bay.
I elbowed Frank, who had slumped out of the house at my request and now stood next to me. “Lucky us.”
Frank’s eyes shifted toward me, though his face didn’t move. He just blinked, then, “Lucky us.”
The depression oozed off him.
Erik had already proceeded inside, staring into cars and tapping their hoods like he was trying to find the ripest watermelon. Grunt and Nikolaj were conferring amongst themselves about the best one to take.
I slid my arm around Frank’s shoulder. “Hey, Franklin Stubemeyer.”
“Yeah,” he said without meeting my eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was even looking at anything at all or just stuck in a blank, Seleema-less stare.
“Perk up, Buttercup. This is just a little intermission between your time with your beloved.”
“Intermission?” Frank tensed under my arm. “You didn’t see her fly off on the back of a dragon with her hands wrapped around the waist of a sin?”
“I saw that.” I patted his shoulder. “And I’ll venture to say it broke my heart about as much as it did yours.”
Now he did turn his face toward mine. “Then why are you like this?”
Because my heart was broken five years ago, I thought. Because I’ve never really gotten over it, just slathered humor atop my pain.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
I met his gaze full-on. “Because I know with all my heart we’re going to find them and save them.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “You know?”
“I know, Frank.”
“How do you know?” His neck flushed, new emotion rising there. He’d been through the ringer ever since Seleema left. “I’m … useless. I can’t do anything against Lust.”
My eyebrows went up. “Excuse me? I think I saw you resist her lures.”
“Well, that’s only because I’m already in love with Seleema.”
I squeezed his shoulder. “I don’t want to hear any ‘only becauses,’ Frank. You resisted the power of a OnceImmortal. Plus, you fought off the Soul Hunter with a frying pan.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that …”
I stepped in front of him, gripped both his shoulders. “Listen to me. Do you want to beat Lust and rescue Seleema or not?”
>
He looked baffled. “Of course I do.”
“Then stop defeating yourself before you’ve tried. Start thinking about what you can bring to the table. I know one thing: you love that GoneGodDamn houri more than I’ve ever seen anyone love any other creature. That’s not nothing.”
Tears welled in his eyes. “I didn’t think I was capable of love before I met Seleema. I thought I was just boring, you know? Like some sort of worn out toy. But she showed me how much life there was to live. And now ... losing her feels worse than death.”
I kept both hands on his shoulders, but my grip loosened. “I think I know what you mean, Frank.”
“You do?”
Visions of that night in the circus tent came back to me. The carnage in the center ring. The people rushing for the flaps. Thelma, calling my name.
And me, running. Running away from her.
But standing here with everyone around, it didn’t feel like the time to tell him about all that. And, too, I didn’t want to.
I didn’t want anyone else to know.
“Yeah,” I said. “Percy taught me a few things about love. That’s why we need to stick together, Frank.”
“Because I’m good with a frying pan?” he said with a sniff.
He understood me. He got it.
We needed to stick together because we would never stop until we rescued them. No matter how useless we might feel.
I managed a smile. “Yeah, because you’re good with a frying pan.”
He took a deep inhale through his nose, nodded. “All right, then.” His focus shifted past me. “Where are we driving to?”
“NYC.”
“Back home?” He bit his lip. “With an ogre, we need something big. Accommodating.”
I turned. “So that little coupe Erik is eyeing won’t work for us.”
“I think he just likes the car.”
I snorted. “Yeah. I don’t blame him.”
In the end, we all settled on the enormous touring bus at the far end of the garage. It was one of those luxury buses with an onboard bathroom with shower, kitchenette, beds to sleep six people (or four humans and one ogre) and enough nonperishable food pre-stocked that we wouldn’t even have to pick any up along the way.
It was basically an apartment on wheels.
As I peeked into the kitchen cabinets, I whistled. “Was Valdis a prepper?”
“He was ready for any eventuality,” Nikolaj said as he got into the driver’s seat.
“Which is kind of the definition of a prepper,” Erik said.
“Actually,” Frank said from his seat at the table, “preppers come in all flavors. Most are just focused on one doomsday event. Others try to be ready for anything.”
Erik sat down across from him. “What do you know about prepping, Stubemeyer?”
Well, this wasn’t a conversation that would keep me awake for long. I was just glad Frank had regained a little bit of his pep.
I grabbed a bag of cashews from one of the cabinets and sat down in the copilot’s chair next to Nikolaj. Our imminent departure had filled me with fervor, with resolve. “Ever driven 1,300 miles?”
He grabbed the keys from the visor, set them into the ignition. “I’ve driven enough.” He paused, plugging an address into the GPS on the center console.
When he’d finished, it trilled and showed us a route and estimated time of arrival. “Says nineteen hours.” I cursed. “Too long.”
Nikolaj started the bus, and the engine engaged with a soft hum. “We’ll be there in under a day. That’s too long for you?”
“We need to stop for sleep.”
“No,” Grunt said from behind me, his hand falling on the headrest of my seat, “we don’t.”
I lifted my face until we met eyes. “So we’re doing shifts?”
“We’re doing shifts.”
I grinned, gratitude rushing like a wave over me. “I knew I liked you.”
“You hate me.”
I shrugged. “That was only when you were trying to kill my dragon.”
“The first time, or the second time?”
“The second time wasn’t really trying.”
He let out a rumbling chuckle. “Fair enough.”
Nikolaj guided the bus out of the garage and into the driveway. Darkness fell over us, the headlights our illumination. They shone over ghoul bodies as we turned, and for a moment the house came into view.
A decimated porch. A missing front door. A meteor in the yard.
Someday, someone would come up this driveway and be gobsmacked. They would never guess how many had died this night, and why.
But I knew.
And I would never forget it.
Chapter 26
Eight hours in, the sun was coming up. We had all showered and everyone but Nikolaj had slept. Some awkwardness had ensued when deciding who got which bed, and though Erik and I had given each other looks, neither had just come right out and said what we wanted.
Maybe I was shy. Maybe I was too heartbroken.
Either way, this quietness wasn’t like me.
So I took one of the narrow bunk beds and Erik took the one below me. When I woke up with the bus still humming along, I leaned over and looked down, expecting to see his face. But the bed was empty.
When I climbed down, the cabin was deserted except for Nikolaj in the driver’s seat and Erik seated at the table, talking into a phone.
His shoulders were hiked, tense. I couldn’t make out his words, but his body language made it clear enough.
He was talking to his commanding officer.
I climbed out of the bunk and came over to the table, swiping my hair from my face and sliding into the seat across from him. When I set my elbows on the table and clasped my hands, Erik looked surprised to see me.
“I was following protocol, sir,” he said with the kind of hard-edged formality I hadn’t heard from him. His eyes strayed to mine. “I didn’t anticipate her using the dragon against us.”
My hackles rose when Erik mentioned the dragon. Percy. He wasn’t just any old dragon. “Who’s that?” I said.
Erik shook his head at me. “Yes, sir. The burn was second-degree.” He paused as the voice on the other end carried on, his brow furrowing.
Clearly he was taking some shit.
“Let me talk to him,” I said, reaching out for the phone.
Erik grasped my hand, set it down on the table. “I can’t return to the base at present. I’m performing reconnaissance.” Another pause, then his eyes flicked to me for a half-second. “Sir, I’m not ‘screwing around’ with anyone.”
But his boss hadn’t just said Erik was screwing around. My hearing was good. And what I’d heard was, “Screwing around with that blonde.”
I slid my hand out from under his and half-stood, swiping the phone from him with a circus performer’s reflexes. Too easy. As I brought the phone to my ear, I leaned away from Erik. “Hello? This is Tara.”
A pause came from the other side, then a smooth military voice. “Tara Drake?”
Clearly this guy had heard of me. Made sense; Erik’s original job had been to “babysit” me as I went after Valdis.
Of course, now I was beginning to understand that it hadn’t been about Valdis. He was a bit player. It had always been about Valdis’s connection to Lust. She had been chasing Ariadne, and I was leading the World Army to her by proxy.
Now Erik’s boss thought he was only here to touch my butt.
I stepped out of the booth as Erik tried—unsuccessfully—to swipe the phone back. “The one and only. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”
“Sergeant Landon Falls. Is there a reason you’re speaking to me on a confidential World Army line, Ms. Drake?”
I knew at once I was speaking to a career military man. He had the intonation, the command, the touch of hubris.
“Yeah, there’s a good reason.” I turned away from Erik, whose hand darted at me. Too easy.
“Tara,” Erik ground out.
“Give me the phone.”
“If you think he’s here to screw around with me,” I said into the phone, “then you don’t know your soldier at all. He’s always on the clock for you. And wherever hell is nowadays, you can go to it.”
Then I hung up. Actually, I mashed a whole bunch of buttons at once and then tossed the phone back to Erik. Give me a break—it was a fancy World Army contraption.
Erik caught the phone with both hands. “I can’t believe you.”
I leaned against the kitchen counter. “He was maligning you. It wasn’t right.”
Erik’s eyes drifted to the phone, and he lowered it in one hand with a sigh. “You’ve got some steel ovaries, Tara Drake.”
“So what are you going to do?” I said, tapping my fingers on the edge of the counter. “Lock yourself in the little bathroom and call him right back to apologize?”
Erik’s eyes darkened, and he took a step toward me. Then another one, until I could smell him, feel his warmth. “Maybe.”
I stared up at him. His lips were parted, his nostrils flaring as he breathed. “The bathroom’s that way, Corporal. Don’t keep Sergeant Falls waiting.”
We gazed at one another for a beat, the air between us as thick as honey. Anticipation prickled up and down my spine.
Kiss me, you idiot, I thought. Just do it.
And he did.
“Oh, screw him.” He slapped the phone down on the counter, his good arm going around my waist in one seamless motion. When he lifted me onto the counter and stepped between my legs, I sucked in air.
I didn’t get a chance to exhale before he lips crushed against mine.
GoneGods, it felt good. My whole body lit up with the raw sensation, the softness of his mouth, his tongue on mine.
How long had it been since I’d inhabited my body this way, appreciating the unique power of every touched nerve? My lips tingled under his. A wave of pleasure ran through my scalp as his fingers slid in amongst my hair.
I hadn’t known how badly I needed this until it happened. For as long as Erik’s body remained pressed to mine, the pain in my chest subsided. I could forget about the past and the future. I could forget about the girl who had failed her sister.