I take a deep breath and think about the little girl clinging to her mother’s wings. The Acolytes made their choice. Who knows how many children they murdered, innocents like Blue and Tallon’s little brother? I did the world a favor getting rid of them.
I have to believe that, otherwise the guilt could rise up and bury me.
“Zeph!”
I shake my head and give Cass a wan smile. “Yeah, I get it. So how long will I be waving the ‘Here I am!’ flag after we do the summoning?”
Cass shrugs. “Don’t know. Because of your strange abilities the spell could be stronger.” Cass glances back toward the house. “We may want to try to leave the house to do the spell. You know, go somewhere where we don’t have to worry about others getting hurt.”
I nod. Cass is right. If the cerberus turn up, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But Ramun Sol or Hermes? I imagine Nanda lying on her patio, the way Whisper was when I found her. I shiver, despite the warmth of the day. I can’t put her in danger. She’s all the family I have left.
“All right, do you have any ideas?”
Cass nods. “Yes. When I was talking to the Hecate, she told me about all of the empty houses in the neighborhood. One belonged to a Fae family that fled after an Acolyte raid a few months ago. There’s already a few strong wards around the building that I can fix to suit our needs. We can cast the summoning spell inside. That way if anyone besides Whisper’s shade answers the call, we can trigger the wards and buy ourselves some time.”
It sounds like Cass has been thinking about this. “Great. But what’s the plan after that?”
She levels a look at me. “We run, Zeph. Just like before. Only this time, we do it alone.”
Her words sink in, and a surge of panic rips through me. “You mean, just leave everyone behind?”
“Yes. They’ve helped us enough. If you do this and then return here, you’ll put them all at risk. I’m willing to put my life on the line to help you find out what happened to your family. Do you want to put them in danger as well?”
I open my mouth to object, then shut it. Cass is right. I can’t ask that of Nanda. She’s already done enough to help me. They helped me escape the Underworld, after all. That’s more than enough. I won’t put them in any more danger.
Because it’s really just a matter of time before one of the people who want me dead shows up. And I’ll do anything I can to make sure I don’t see anyone else I care about get hurt.
“So then, I guess that means we’re leaving tonight, huh?”
Cass nods slowly, her green eyes deep pools of calm. I envy her. Inside I’m in turmoil. Leaving feels like I’m abandoning the Promise and the whole messy prophecy. It’s almost like I’m giving up on the vættir. Because it’s not just the shadow vættir who are in trouble. Eventually all of the shadow vættir will be gone, and then the Acolytes will come for the bright, too.
But I push aside all my doubts and force a smile. “So what’s the plan?”
Cass starts talking, and I let my mind wander. I try not to let my doubts about leaving show as Cass relates her plan. Even though I know it’s the best thing I could do for Nanda and everyone else, I don’t want to go.
For the first time, running away feels like failure.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AFTER DINNER CASS AND I kill time watching a reality TV show. In the kitchen Nanda, Blue, Tallon, and Alora relive some funny story about the last time she was in town. Alora goes to some college for Fates, where they study the Strands of Time and buy dresses that barely cover their boobs. Not that I’m jealous of all the attention everyone is paying to Alora. Because I’m not.
All right. Maybe a little
I punch the couch pillow in my lap and watch the flickering screen. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, I just know that it has something to do with people living in a house and basically being completely awful to each other in between bouts of drinking. Cass can’t understand what they’re saying; her grasp of English extends to “yes,” “no,” and a few choice swears that Blue taught her. Still her face scrunches up as she watches the show with me. Some things you don’t need to understand the language to figure out. It’s not a program I’d normally be interested in, but I need something to distract me from tonight’s planned activities.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike magic rituals? They’re just as likely to go horribly wrong as they are to work.
Besides the summoning, I also have our escape to worry about. Right now the plan is to wait until everyone goes to sleep and then sneak out without disturbing the wards too much. Cass wanted to put the house under a sleeping spell, but I worried that if something happened, they wouldn’t have a chance to defend themselves. After all it was only about two weeks ago that we arrived to Nanda’s house under attack. Who knows what will appear when we trigger the summoning spell?
The show goes to commercial, and there’s a knock at the front door. Cass and I look at each other, debating whether or not to answer it, when it comes again.
“What happened to your wards?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “They weren’t triggered. Must be a friend.”
The knock comes again, a little more frantic this time. I get up, and as I pull open the door, my mouth drops open in shock. There have to be about fifty people in the front yard, all vættir. I recognize the Harpy with the little girl and a few others in the crowd from the day I killed the Acolytes. The Gorgon at the door isn’t familiar though.
“Are you the Nyx?” she says, not even bothering to introduce herself. The blue snakes of her hair hiss in agitation, and I lean back.
“I don’t know.”
My answer sets off the crowd behind the Gorgon. People begin murmuring, while others shout quotes of some sort. I hear “She will come to you in a haze of uncertainty!” and someone else shouts, “If she’s the Nyx, why did the Acolytes just attack my cousin in Canada?” I take a nervous step backward, and Nanda is there, pushing me behind her.
“Marnie, what a surprise,” she says, her voice not at all friendly. “I thought we agreed to wait on this.” Nanda closes the door behind her as she and the woman on the porch begin to argue. I turn around, and Alora and Tallon are there, Blue and Cass hovering in the doorway to the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Tallon asks, the first words he’s spoken to me in what feels like forever. I shrug.
“I don’t know, angry mob coming to kill the Nyx?” I’m only half joking. There weren’t any torches or pitchforks, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this before. And it never ends well.
“If they meant you any harm the wards would’ve been triggered,” Blue says. Cass watches us, her calm expression making me wary. But then I realize she doesn’t know what’s going on because we’re speaking English. I slip back into Æthereal.
“The wards seem to be holding, for now,” I say. “Who knows what will happen if the riffraff decide they’re no longer just here to ask a few pointed questions?”
From out on the porch there’s a crashing noise and some yelling. Tallon opens the door and rushes out, Blue on his heels. Alora pushes past me to watch the scene on the porch through the living room window. A hand pulls me backward, and I look over at Cass.
“Perhaps this would be a good time to go,” she murmurs, and I nod. Everyone is distracted by the commotion out front. We can use the opportunity to slip out, instead of waiting for everyone to go to bed.
I run upstairs to grab my pack, which is shoved under my bed. I debate leaving a note, but there isn’t time. Besides, what would I say? That I’m afraid to be the Nyx? Thanks for letting me crash here, but I’m bailing?
I come downstairs to find Alora and Cass talking. Alora’s hands gesture wildly, while Cass listens with her arms crossed. They see me and freeze. Alora’s expression turns guilty before she slinks off toward the living room window. Cass comes over to me.
“Are you ready?” Cass asks.
“Yeah. What was that about?”
Cass shak
es her head. “Nothing important. Let’s go.”
I glance over at Alora, who stares out the window with an intensity that seems false. “Don’t you think she’ll say something?”
Cass adjusts her pack. “No, she’ll keep her mouth shut.” There’s an edge to Cass’s voice that scares me enough that I clamp my lips closed.
We quietly exit through the kitchen, slipping out the back door without incident.
And then we’re off.
The layout of the house two down from Nanda’s turns out to be nearly the same, thank the gods. We enter through the kitchen, which has been ransacked. Cupboards hang open; dishes and utensils are strewn about the floor. I quietly snag an overturned bowl before we make our way into the living room. This room looks a little better, but the tang of the family’s fear scents the room. They must’ve been very scared for their emotions to still cling to the walls.
“Do you know how long ago this family left?” I ask Cass as we head upstairs.
She shakes her head. “Before Tallon and Blue came to the Underworld to find you. Alora said that things had been getting worse.”
I frown. “Alora?” How many times did she and Cass powwow?
“Yes. We spoke at length today while you were watching your soap operas with Blue.”
My face flushes because I hadn’t even noticed the two of them talking. “What else did she say?”
“Nothing of import,” Cass says, the edge back in her voice. I take that as a cue that it’s none of my business and drop it.
We climb the stairs slowly. There are two bedrooms upstairs instead of the three that were in Nanda’s. “I think we should do the summoning spell on the roof,” Cass says.
I stare at her. “Seriously? The roof?”
Cass nods. “You aren’t afraid of heights, are you?”
“No, but . . . never mind. We can do the spell on the roof. We should be able to climb onto it from one of the bedroom windows.” It’ll be uncomfortable to sit on the sloping roof for very long, but if Cass wants to cast the spell up there, then that’s what we’ll do.
The first bedroom we check has a window-unit air conditioner blocking the only window. The second has two unblocked windows, and I’m hoping one of them will lead to the roof.
We slink through the room in the near dark. The streetlight outside provides some light, but not much. Like the rest of the house, the place is trashed. Dolls lie on the floor, a few trampled underfoot. A tiny stuffed dragon lies facedown in the middle of the chaos. For some reason seeing the thing makes me sad. This was probably a little girl’s room. The shelves hold a collection of dolls with ceramic faces and eyes that are a bit too lifelike. It’s creepy, especially since the rest of the room has been destroyed.
I open the window and lean out. The opening is close enough to the sloping angle of the roof that I can grab the edge and pull myself up. I bite down on the edge of the bowl so that I have two free hands, and then I’m out and up.
Once I’m on the roof, I lean over the edge to help Cass up. She weighs next to nothing, but the angle is awkward, and I have to strain to help her climb up. By the time she’s next to me, we’re panting from the effort.
Getting onto roofs was much easier when I had wings.
From here we have an almost clear view of Nanda’s house. The crowd is beginning to break up, although there are still knots of people here and there. I wonder what they’re all talking about.
And I wonder how long it’ll take Tallon to notice that I’m gone.
Ugh, why do I even care?
I settle onto the roof, the bowl next to me. It’s tricky because the roof slopes, so I have to draw up my knees and plant my feet on the shingles to keep from falling off. Cass sits beside me, her leather sandals loud as they scrape across the rough surface of the shingles.
“Do you know what that is?” Cass asks. She stares at my arms. The dark swirls are just now beginning to peek out of the bottom of my short-sleeved shirt. I pull the sleeves down, trying to cover the markings. The material just bounces back up, the curving edges once again visible.
I shake my head. “It just started after we got here. I forgot to ask you about it.” And my doubts about Cass made me hesitant to bring it up. But she doesn’t need to know that.
Cass traces one with her finger, and I jump at the sudden contact. She pulls back her hand. “Elias had the same marks. It’s from the erebos.”
I look at the marks. “What does it mean?”
Cass shakes her head. “He never told me.” There’s sorrow in her words, and I study her. Her mouth has the slightest downturn, and I actually get a whiff of her sadness. It smells of lavender and powder with a tinge of rain.
I wonder if Cass is starting to get some of her emotions back. If she is, then maybe my wings could grow back. I want to ask her, but now is probably not the time. I swallow the words I want to say. “So, how do we do this, again?”
Cass walks me through the steps. I haven’t done a summoning in a very long time. And like most magic, I’m not very good at it. The night I killed Ramun Mar, it took me three attempts to get ahold of Hermes. By the time he showed up, I was light-headed and blubbering from the blood loss.
I hope this works the first time.
I extend a talon and slice open my hand before I think too much about it. Blood wells up, dark and shining in the moonlight. I hold my hand over the bowl, making a fist to squeeze as much out as I can before it seals over. The cut was deep, and about half an inch of blood fills the bowl before it heals. I pray it’s enough to get Whisper’s attention.
My middle twists and tangles with anticipation. I’ve waited so long for this moment. Now I just hope I can get the answers I’m looking for.
I balance the bowl carefully on my knees, while Cass saws off the bottom few inches of one of my ropy locks with a steak knife. The snarled hair falls into the bowl. She tucks the knife away into the folds of her bedsheet toga and then looks at me.
“Are you ready for this?” she asks.
“Yes. No. Maybe.” I sigh. “Let’s get this over with before I throw up.” The nervousness churns my stomach now. I really wish I hadn’t had a third pork chop at dinner.
Cass nods. “Say the words of binding.”
I lean over the bowl and repeat the words that Cass taught me, high Æthereal that basically says that I freely give up this little bit of me. The words tangle on my tongue, but I can sense the power in them. This spell is much more complicated than the silly little summoning spell Hermes taught me to call him. This feels powerful.
The bowl begins to feel heavy, like it holds more than some blood and hair. I turn to Cass. “Can I get a little flame, please?” I could try to do it, but I don’t feel the need to embarrass myself when I know she can conjure flame without much thought.
With a nod Cass produces a handful of fire and drops it into the bowl. It flares up when it hits my hair, and the blood sizzles up into a thick dark smoke. I blow the smoke away and hold my breath before I say, “Whisper Mourning, you are summoned!”
The smoke billows around us, and for a moment I worry that someone might see it and call the fire department. But then it swirls and coalesces into a female figure with giant wings, her short, ropy locks pulled into pigtails. My heart leaps.
“Whisper,” I say, and the smoke figure turns to me. Her expression is sad and angry at the same time.
“Peep, what have you done?”
Screaming echoes down the street toward us, and Cass scoots to the edge of the roof. She turns back to me. “Acolytes. In the street. They’re running this way.”
I turn back to Whisper, and she shakes her head sadly. “He was just waiting for you to do this, Peep. Now you’ve led him right to you.”
I grip the bowl tightly. If I drop it, Whisper will leave. “Wait, who? Why aren’t you in the Elysian Fields?”
Whisper’s smoke form wavers, like a TV screen on the fritz. “Because he has us. So many of us. All to stop you.”
I do
n’t know what she’s talking about, but the sounds of fighting filter down the street toward me. I should go help them, but I need to know what Whisper is talking about. “Who, Whisper? Who has you?”
“I do.”
I drop the bowl and scrabble around on hands and knees in the direction of the voice. Behind me, with a knife to Cass’s throat, is a man with pale skin and a long, drooping mustache. His hair is completely white. He wears the purple uniform of the Acolytes, a radiant sun emblazoned on his chest. His brother’s uniform bore the wavy lines of the sea. Nearby, a golden monkey-type creature hisses at me. A kobalos.
“Ramun Sol.” I’ve never met the Æthereal, but he looks exactly like his brother, Ramun Mar. The first person I ever killed.
But not the last.
Rage surges through me, hot and sharp. The darkness rises up, fast and hard, ready to destroy. I gasp at how easily the power comes. Wisps of darkness curl around my hands and up my arms. There’s comfort in its strength.
Ramun Sol laughs. “Ah, now it all makes sense. You were here all along. The Æthereal High Council has been wringing its hands and asking Hades to turn you over, like a bunch of simpering old women. Meanwhile you’ve been running around the Mortal Realm like some mythical hero. Do you actually believe you’re the Nyx?”
“Let her go,” I say. His words sting. They’re exactly the same doubts that I’ve had all this time. The darkness surrounding me hesitates at my uncertainty.
I won’t let him be right. He can’t be right. I have to be the Nyx. I have to be able to kill him.
The people screaming in fear on the street below are counting on me.
Ramun Sol opens his mouth to say something, but before the words leave his mouth, Cass pulls out the knife tucked into her robes. She jams it into his thigh, twisting the blade viciously. Ramun Sol screams as Cass summons her fire, feeding it down the knife blade and into the wound. He releases his hold on her, and Cass is tilting her way across the roof toward me.
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