Underworld's Daughter

by Molly Ringle

  Tabitha stared at her, trying not to be overly charmed by her fresh skin, her cheeks and lips rosy from the cold air. “Hey. Didn’t know you were coming.”

  “Nice to see you, too.” Zoe still perused the menu, and smiled at the waiter who approached. “Hi. Coffee and the Greek omelet, please.” As the waiter nodded and retreated, Zoe remarked to Tab, “I mean, how could I not choose the Greek one, right?”

  Tab studied her. She felt pretty damn sure Zoe was messing with her, and furthermore, that Zoe had every right to mess with her since Tab hadn’t been a very good friend lately. And the guilt made her more annoyed still. She lifted her eyebrows and looked away. “Guess you came to help protect Sophie and everyone?”

  “Yeah. And for moral support. She just got to those same horrible memories you and I did. She told you, right?”

  Tabitha shook her head. “She didn’t. Wow. During finals. That sucks.” She swished her coffee around, with a new flash of sympathy for Sophie. Plus it thoroughly bugged her that her best friend was apparently confiding in others more than in her lately. Again, not that Tab had deserved the title of “friend” so much in recent weeks. She’d meant to find some other cool treat for Sophie, had loads of ideas in mind, but just hadn’t been able to make them happen yet.

  Zoe’s touch on her hand, on the table, surprised her and lifted her spirits. But only for a moment, because then Zoe withdrew her hand, somewhat clinically, and sat back to regard Tab.

  Defensive anger swept over Tab. “You don’t get to just touch me and read my emotions whenever you want! Isn’t that an invasion of privacy or something?”

  “Yes. You’re right. Sorry.” Zoe accepted the coffee from the waiter. As he walked back to the kitchen, she picked up a packet of raw sugar and tore it open. Her voice went quieter but sharper. “But you aren’t talking, nor texting, and we’re in the middle of Thanatos murdering us in the past, and trying to in the present, and I don’t have time to play bloody head games with you. Talk to me.”

  “About what?”

  “Let’s start with all that guilt I just read in you. What’s that for?”

  Tabitha slumped over the table, defeated. “For—for all that stuff you just said. For being a sucky friend. For not helping more. I—I don’t know what to do to help, all right? I’m not as smart and responsible as the rest of you.”

  “What about the memories?” Now Zoe sounded softer.

  Tabitha shook her head, staring across the room at a red lantern hanging from the ceiling, while the ancient terror and grief hauled down on her heart. “What am I supposed to say? I sucked even worse then. It was my fault. I can never, ever fix it. Not all of us are awesome heroes, okay? Some of us make humongous mistakes. A lot of them.”

  “You think it was your fault?” Zoe stirred the sugar into her coffee, her gray eyes somber. A tense line appeared between her eyebrows. “Clearly it was mine. My choice, my carelessness. Me as the hostage who got my parents killed. I never forgave myself. I know that much. I still don’t forgive myself.” She threw a fierce look at Tab. “So there is no bloody way I’m letting Thanatos hurt them again this life. Nor do I want them to hurt you. But you could at least lift a finger to help yourself, and not be such a stupidly obvious target. Could you do more for your friends than throw parties—to which they aren’t even invited, incidentally?”

  “You…have a permanent invitation,” Tab spluttered.

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “Are you going to help or not?”

  “Fine, yes. Just tell me what to do.”

  Zoe blew on the surface of her coffee. “Sophie’s taking her last final now, and going home tomorrow. We want you to take a shift hanging out at her house and keeping an eye out the windows for spies, anyone suspicious.”

  “I already do come check on Sophie’s folks a couple of times a week,” Tab defended. “I do that, at least.”

  “Good. So do this bit too. Carnation’s the one place Quentin keeps cropping up. She’s threatened Terry directly. That’s where we should focus the protection. Everyone knows you’re Sophie’s friend, so it doesn’t look strange if anyone notices you visiting. Her parents know about the Underworld and everything by now, so you don’t even have to pretend around them.”

  “I know. We’ve chatted about that.” Tab sighed. “Tomorrow? Okay, yeah. As long as my shift doesn’t go later than nine at night.” At Zoe’s accusing glance, she added, “The Luigis have their last gig in town tomorrow. I said I’d come. You should come too. Please?”

  Zoe bowed her head, her light brown bangs falling over her eyebrows. “Fine. Sounds good. Cheers.” She smirked. “Ade will be wanting the night shift anyway, if you know what I mean.”

  “Bet he won’t get much spying done,” Tab tried to joke.

  But neither of them smiled much. Letting sex distract you into opening the door to an assassin attempt—yeah, they had both lived through a memory like that all too recently.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  This had to be the most surreal winter break of Sophie’s life. Obviously it was the first time she had come home from college for the holidays, rather than simply coming back from the high school down the road. She brought luggage, not just her backpack. But in addition to that, she was escorted back to Carnation in a super-fast flying bus by the king of the dead—or her new Kiwi boyfriend, whatever you wanted to call him—where her parents shook his hand and her mom pulled him aside to have a conversation about her past-life memories.

  Tabitha soon showed up too, cheerfully announcing she was here to “guard” Sophie. Sophie’s dad hugged Tab and thanked her, because of course everyone in the house now except Liam knew about the immortals and Thanatos. Liam was in his room on his computer, immersed in one of his online role-playing games with his headphones on, and wouldn’t have noticed if a parade of hippos walked through the house.

  Sophie picked up a sugar cookie from the plate in the kitchen and munched it. She wandered on wobbly legs into the living room. Finals had wiped her out. The brain-boost Zoe gave her before her last test did seem to help; she felt she’d done better on that one than on the chemistry. But she still felt none too confident about her fall quarter grades on the whole. All she wanted to do was sleep, then wrap Christmas presents, then sleep some more, and not worry about terrorists ever. Her immortal friends assured she shouldn’t worry; thwarting Thanatos was their job—which of course made her feel bad for ruining their holidays.

  Adding to the strangeness, Adrian and Tabitha now met in person for the first time.

  He wandered up to Tab, where she hung out by the front window checking her texts. He offered his hand. “Hey. Finally get to meet.”

  Tab lifted her head, beamed, and pumped his hand in greeting. “Yes! Finally. How’s it going?” She burst into a laugh before he could answer. “Sorry, dumb question.”

  He glanced out the window, then back at Tab. “So, um, have you hung out with Grange Redway again, besides that first time?”

  “Not so far, but he emailed me the other day about a party around New Year’s. I might go.”

  “Ah, sweet as. I’m such a Red Merlins fan.”

  Lingering by the couch, Sophie watched them talk, and smiled. Adrian could have been stern with Tab, the way Zoe confessed she’d been yesterday. He grumbled and scowled about Tab’s behavior, and as Hades he had found Adonis-Dionysos a bit flaky, too. But Tabitha had dutifully come to help today, and for the sake of team harmony, Adrian sought common ground.

  Sophie gave him an extra long kiss at the side door to thank him before he left.

  “I’ll be back tonight,” he said. “Off to rendezvous with Niko and Zoe and see what use I can be.”

  Sophie nodded. “Thank you. See you then.”

  Zoe felt uneasy about leaving with Tab that night to party in Seattle with The Luigis. But Adrian was with Sophie now—apparently her parents were letting him stay in the house, though in a separate room—and Zoe felt no particular threatening vibes surrounding the property. Adrian
had turned up nothing in all his scouting around Carnation and vicinity all day. Zoe had poured a fresh salt line and woven a new braid of magic around it just in case. Ignoring the mental warning that reminded her brute force could bash through such things, she joined Tab and they flew side by side on their two horses to Seattle.

  “All these check-ins, I still haven’t seen a thing,” Tab said. They descended to the ground on a hill overlooking the dark Elliott Bay. “Just the neighbors I’ve known my whole life.”

  “I didn’t find anything in the email accounts I managed to get into, either.” Zoe slid off her horse and tied him up next to Tab’s, around the trunk of a slim fir. “Mind you, I still can’t get into Quentin’s, which would be the real jackpot.”

  “I bet they’re just trying to freak us out and spoil our good time.” Tab hooked her arm through Zoe’s. “Let’s not let ’em.”

  Flattered at the touch, and charmed by the youthful excitement she felt through Tab’s skin, Zoe went along with the sentiment. They switched realms and the city burst into loud, colorful light and motion around them. They were standing beside a brick building on a slanting sidewalk, cars and buses swishing down the steep street or laboring up it.

  “This way.” Tab tugged her arm, and they charged up the hill.

  The venue was a small theater that had sold out its seats within the first hour, Tab told her. But she steered Zoe to the back door and only had to beam and say “Hi!” at the guy guarding it. He smiled back, said, “Hey, youngster,” and let both of them through.

  Zoe was so breathless and stoked at her imminent meeting with The Luigis that she didn’t sense Freya’s presence until they were all together backstage: the laughing Swedish blonde, chatting with, and charming the leather pants off, the band.

  Of course.

  Zoe held back a few steps while Tabitha sauntered forward and hugged the band members and Freya. Then she swung around and beckoned to Zoe. “Come! Meet everyone.”

  Freya hugged Zoe first, without invitation, saying, “Hello, darling.”

  Zoe barely lifted her arms in response. She smiled awkwardly for The Luigis, and shook hands with each of them, and mumbled that she loved their music. Which she did, absolutely.

  But now she felt, without question, that she didn’t belong in a scene like this. This was Tab’s arena; Freya’s and Niko’s too. Zoe operated best in quiet, dark, solitary places. And that depressed her, because this was the pinnacle of coolness in the world—standing backstage with one of the most happening bands of the year, with the goddess of love and the god(dess) of partying and alcohol.

  But it wasn’t like she could go back to Sophie and Adrian, who were likely doing their best to find some private time before retiring to their parent-mandated separate rooms. And Niko wasn’t in Seattle tonight; he was staying nearer Carnation, snooping around for enemies. So she endured the evening.

  Endured it even when enduring meant watching Freya and Tabitha hook their arms around each other’s waists or play with each other’s hair. Or when wishing she’d brought earplugs because the volume of the (admittedly awesome) music tormented her ears. Or when catching herself scanning the crowd and the other backstage wanderers grimly, searching for assassins, rather than relaxing as she was supposed to be doing.

  She seethed with irritability by the time the concert ended near midnight. They all poured out onto the cold street, everyone mingling and shouting at each other over their ringing ears.

  “Come see!” Tab was yelling, and pulled Zoe’s arm to follow her. The crowd of band members and groupies came too. “I parked it down here earlier today so it’d be close. Who wants a ride?”

  Ah, Tab’s new Jaguar. A sleek purple-blue thing that looked like it could take off like a rocket, and probably cost ten times more than anyone should spend on a car. Totally absurd. But all the band members were petting it and cooing over it and Tab was making zoom noises to demonstrate what the engine sounded like, and soon Tab unlocked it and the drummer opened the passenger side and climbed in. Zoe sighed and moved out of the way, leaning her hand on the Jaguar’s hood.

  The warning shot up her arm like an electric shock. She gasped, spreading her palm on the sparkly blue-purple metal to make sure. Then she shouted, “Tab, no!” and sprinted around the hood, into the street, to grab Tab before she could start the engine. “Stop, something’s wrong with the car, stop!”

  Key touching the ignition, Tab stared in astonishment at Zoe. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I could feel it! A bomb or something. Get out, everyone get away.”

  Tab sat frozen, eyes wide, then she scrambled out. The drummer did too. Everyone muttered, looking at Zoe like she was mad. She didn’t care. She cast a frantic look around, trying to pinpoint who in this crowd of strangers might be the threat.

  Tab popped the hood and frowned at the engine in the beam of the streetlight above. The drummer looked too. “I don’t know, I think it’s all okay…”

  Zoe touched the car again, feeling the danger throb as strong as ever. She followed it along the exterior, toward the back of the car. She knelt, looking under the tailpipe, though she had no idea what to look for.

  The bassist and a roadie crouched with her, the roadie shining a keyring flashlight onto the undercarriage. It lingered on a greasy plate of metal that didn’t match the rest of the glossy new car. “Dude,” he said. “I’m thinking that should not be there.”

  Zoe reached out and let her fingertips touch the plate. Evil sang from it; lethal intent had placed it there, no question. She shuddered and jerked her hand away. “Call the police. Don’t start the car or mess with it, anyone.”

  “Jesus.” The bassist stepped back, glancing at Tab, who stood pale with fright, watching Zoe.

  The roadie whipped out his phone and dialed, and soon began telling someone they’d found a suspected car bomb.

  Zoe walked to Tab, who threw her arms around her and stayed in her embrace, shaking. “It’s okay,” Zoe said. “We found it in time.”

  This time. But what else would Thanatos try? If they knew about Tab, did they know about Zoe? Were her parents safe?

  Above Tab’s head, Zoe met Freya’s gaze. Freya stood with her arm around the cutest of the roadies, but watched Zoe with grave and perceptive eyes. She gave Zoe a nod that Zoe supposed meant approval and thanks—though who the hell knew? Zoe wondered if they could even trust Freya. But right now they had to get to safety and tell Adrian, Sophie, and Niko what had happened.

  “Listen,” she said to Tab. “We better—”

  But an enraged roar cut her off. People shrieked. Tab and Zoe jolted apart. A heavyset, bearded young man rushed forward, pulling a large gun from under his coat. As he ran he aimed the gun straight at Tab, yelling, “Thanatos!”

  Tab leaped across the sidewalk, perhaps intending to shield the innocent fans and band members. Freya tugged free of the roadie and lunged after the man. But Zoe’s strike hit first. With a wallop of protective magic, aimed with her outstretched hand rather than just her mind, she knocked the gun out of his hands. He shouted in outrage. The gun clattered across the sidewalk. The groupies and band members skittered away from it, then five or six of them rushed forward to stand around it and block the man from picking it up again—which he was intent on doing, judging from how he wheeled that direction.

  But Freya reached him and shoved him with all her strength so that he slammed hard against a parking meter and fell to the ground. He rose again, roared, and rushed at Tab. The crowd, however, wasn’t going to take it. Likely they thought he was trying to assassinate one of The Luigis, and they were outraged. Now over their shock, and inspired by Freya’s fighting back, two of the stronger and faster young men rushed forward to grab him, and soon another half-dozen fans and band members joined them, clutching at him and trying to haul him to the ground and hold him for the police.

  The man fought like an animal, though, and rolled free of their grip, off the curb, then leaped up and ran into th
e street—without regard for traffic.

  A brightly lit city bus, swooshing down the hill, smashed into the man within seconds and threw him tumbling across the pavement. Brakes squealed and the bus slid to a stop while onlookers shouted in panic. The man lay still.

  Zoe leaned weakly against a parking meter, her eyes upon his motionless form.

  “What did he say?” people were asking each other, behind her. “Xanadu? Canada?”

  “I don’t know, man. He was just crazy.”

  She could switch realms and watch to see his soul appear, if she chose. But even from here she sensed the powerful emanation, the life pulling away from his body and departing this realm.

  She closed her eyes, trying not to slide to the ground, and searched for mercy in her heart as she pictured his soul flying across the world and down, down, down into Tartaros.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Sophie visited Adrian in the makeshift guest room, the study on the first floor with a sofa where he was going to sleep. Kiri and Rosie and Pumpkin all dozed on the floor. It was after midnight and the rest of the house had gone to bed. But rather than engaging in steamy undressed activities with an ear cocked for the footstep of her parents, they were arguing. Quietly and sympathetically, but still an argument.

  Adrian was trying to convince her it might be best if he didn’t stay inside the house. “If they find out I’m in here, they could just blow the whole place up to get me—taking the lot of you out too.”

  “How would they do that with all the magic and spying you guys are doing?” she said.

  “I’m telling you, our magic and spying are not that awesome. They could sneak straight past all of it if they chose their moment right. We can’t protect everyone, always.”

  “Well, I feel safer if you’re here,” she insisted.

  “And I’m saying maybe you shouldn’t.”