by Jamie Craig
As she considered the possibility, the light settled around her like a warm cloak. Its pulse quickened, first twice as fast, then three times, the faintest of tattoos against her body. She’d seen it take on the pulse of the girl Marisol had hurt, but her heart rate wasn’t this fast.
Her fingers curled into her stomach. How fast did a baby’s heart beat?
“I don’t understand why you’re here, though. I don’t understand any of this.”
“Eve, Marina, Laura, Liliana, Marilu, poor Sophe, Marisol, you.” She pointed as she spoke, each of the girls responding to her name, stepping forward to bow their heads. “You are each my kin. I longed to help all of you in your distress, but you, Remy, were the first and only of the priestesses to touch my medallion. I apologize for taking you from your home, but I needed your help. I hope you believe what you received in return to be worthwhile.”
“You mean Nathan.” Her chest tightened at the thought of him. It felt like an eternity since she’d seen him last. “Yes. He’s worth everything.”
“Good. Now you’ve summoned me.” She spread her hands. “What would you ask of me?”
Her mind went blank. Too much information and not enough time to process it. She wasn’t smart like Olivia and Nathan. She knew people, not facts and definitely not magical lore about summoning mythical women.
But the Silver Maiden waited in silent expectation, watching her instead of any of the others.
“Send them home.” She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the twinge in her leg, and gestured toward the waiting young women behind her. “They’ve been away from their families too long. They deserve to have their lives back.”
“As you say.”
The Silver Maiden moved around the semicircle of girls, beginning with the one to her right. Eve. She gently took the young woman by the shoulders, kissed her brow and cheeks, whispered a soft chant. Eve bowed her head as the words flowed over her, then she was gone, leaving nothing behind her except a flash of blinding light.
One by one, they disappeared. Satisfaction, warm and heavy, spread through Remy’s body, until the smile she gave the Silver Maiden when the last was gone was the easiest she’d had in days.
“I don’t know what else to say, but…thanks. Maybe they can put all this behind them now.”
“And now, young Remy, what would you ask for yourself? You’ve done well. You deserve your reward.”
She glanced over at Olivia, who still lay huddled on the floor. “Hold on to that thought.” She walked over and crouched down, touching her lightly on the shoulder. “Hey, how’s the eyes?”
“Fine, as long as I don’t try to open them.” She reached out, grasping Remy’s arm. “What’s going on?”
“The Silver Maiden’s here. She says I summoned her, but I don’t know how or why. Doesn’t matter, I guess. She sent the girls home.”
“Great. Can she send us home too? Because I’m ready to get the fuck out of here.”
So was Remy. “But what about Gabriel?”
Olivia groaned and held her head. “Maybe if we give him what he wants, he’ll stop being such a pain in my ass.”
“Except he wants to kill Marisol.” She glanced back at the unmoving body. “Problem is, the Silver Maiden beat him to it.”
“No, he wants to meet the Silver Maiden.”
Of course, Olivia was right. That had been the source of the madness all along. His devotion to an ideal nobody but him had believed existed. Remy almost wanted to give him that just for having the balls to believe in her all along.
“Be right back.”
Straightening, she walked back to the Silver Maiden, first stopping to check to ensure Marisol was dead. A small, weathered book rested near the fallen body, and she picked it up, flicking through its Spanish-filled pages for a moment before shoving it into the back of her jeans.
“How much do you know about what’s been going on?”
“I’ve seen it all through my totems. They allow knowledge and my power to pass through our two worlds.”
Which begged the question of why she hadn’t stepped in to help directly, but Remy wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Then you know about Gabriel. He’s going to kill good people if we don’t bring him what he wants, so…feel like stopping in for a visit when you pop us back home?”
“I will attempt to show myself to him, if that is truly what you wish.” She glided to Olivia and crouched beside her. Olivia sensed her presence, turning her face toward the light she couldn’t see. The Silver Maiden drew her fingers over Olivia’s wrinkled brow, the tension between her eyes easing at the soft caress. “You’ve been brave in service, Olivia. You have my blessings, and I will free you of your bond to the medallion.”
Olivia jerked away from the touch. Her eyes open to slits, and she squinted at the goddess briefly before squeezing them shut again and turning her head. “You don’t…you don’t have to. I don’t mind.”
“Your duty is done.” She held her hand out to Remy. “Come.”
Remy went. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, she knelt in front of the Silver Maiden.
And waited to go home.
Chapter Nineteen
Given the choice, Nathan preferred a comfortable room on the beach over a fruit cellar in Baja, but at least he was alone in the basement and reasonably certain Gabriel wouldn’t get it in his head to slice him to pieces. All things considered, it could be much worse than his current predicament, and he knew it.
It was just the two of them in the house. The driver wasn’t there. Nathan listened to the footsteps above his head, tracking them and trying to figure out if there was some sort of routine ingrained in Gabriel’s life. He never heard any evidence of a second person. Not since Olivia left. Thinking about her was like touching a wound already puffy and red with infection. Isaac would never forgive him for losing Olivia. How would he answer when Isaac arrived to find Nathan alone? How would either of them survive alone? It never occurred to him that Isaac wouldn’t find Gabriel. At his lowest points, it didn’t occur to him that Remy and Olivia wouldn’t come home.
Silence reigned in the tiny house. There were no words, no echo in the floorboards as two people walked, and he never saw the driver again. Gabriel brought him water three times, not offering any food, and refusing to answer questions while Nathan sipped from his cup, making the water and the company last as long as possible. Each time, Gabriel looked worse. Older, exhausted, and drooping. He no longer looked powerful. Nathan had always thought Gabriel had some sort of ulterior motive besides faith, but now he understood. Gabriel was a True Believer. The first in line to drink the Kool-Aid.
The fourth time Gabriel descended the narrow planks of wood, he didn’t have a cup.
“It’s almost time.”
Gabriel didn’t untie his wrists, but he did loosen the knots around Nathan’s feet. The brief glimpses Nathan caught outside the house showed nothing but desert stretching for hundreds of miles. If he tried to make a run for it, he wouldn’t get far. Not that he would make a run for it. If Olivia understood how to use the coins…
He couldn’t allow himself to hope. The disappointment would be the end of him. How could he stay standing if Remy didn’t return that evening? Why would he even want to? So he could spend the rest of his life thinking about her and fighting a constant, losing battle with booze? Or perhaps he could turn to the bottle and significantly reduce the years he had left? There was nothing without her. What else had he ever done that meant anything except love her? What else had he ever done right?
Nathan glanced at his captor, wondering what overwrought announcements and grim resolutions were going through his mind. If this plan didn’t work, would he finally give up? There was something heartbreaking about Gabriel’s dedication, his single-mindedness. He didn’t deserve pity, but he could have been so much more than a religious lunatic in the desert. With his drive, intelligence, and pragmatism, he could have made one hell of a politician.
“What are you going to do if she misses your deadline?”
“Kill you.”
“This isn’t a precise science.”
“I gave her a window of twenty-four hours. That’s precise enough. Otherwise, I would have expected her a minute after leaving.”
Nathan flexed his wrists against the ropes. “What if she needs a span of forty-eight hours?”
“You should pray she does not.”
“Do you really think any of this makes a difference? Gabriel, come on, tell me honestly. There’s just the two of us here. You don’t need to worry about anybody ever knowing the truth.” Especially if I’m going to die anyway. “Do you believe you can bring back the Silver Maiden?”
“Yes.”
“Yes? As simple as that?”
“Yes.”
“What if you can’t?”
“Then at least I would have spent my life trying to do something great.”
“Some would call it mad.”
“It amuses me you doubt her power or my sincerity when you have gained the most. The Silver Maiden brought you Remy Capra, did she not? And my faith was strong enough to save your life.”
“Why did you kill Kirsten? She probably knew the most about the Silver Maiden. She could have helped you.”
“She knew nothing of the Silver Maiden. And I had Marisol. But Remy…I could tell from the way she held the coin that she was one of the descendants. One of the priestesses. There was no question of who must live.” Gabriel checked his watch. “It’s time.”
The thundering silence in the house above them was not a good sign. Had she been too late? Was Marisol too wily, even for Olivia? Or perhaps, she’d misjudged how to use the coin to return. For that matter, he had no proof she’d even made it to when she needed to be.
With a sigh, Gabriel rose from his seat and went to the stairs. He stood on the bottom riser, head tilted back, watching the opening at the top with the quiet expectation of a boy waiting for Santa to come sliding down the chimney. Nathan wanted to hope with him, but the real world didn’t work like that. Gabriel was about to meet bitter disappointment. It and Nathan were old, old friends.
A dog barked in the distance. The bellow rumbled through the walls, disturbing the tense calm that had settled between them. Anyplace else and it wouldn’t have surprised Nathan, but this was the first indication of life beyond the house, life he knew wasn’t actually there. He stiffened at the same time Gabriel did. The difference was, Gabriel was free to check it out.
The floorboards creaked overhead as Gabriel moved around. Nathan strained to hear what was going on, but after they faded away, only the deadly silence remained, the desolate oppression that threatened the last shreds of his optimism. Though his shoulders burned from how his arms had been tied for the past twenty-four hours, he gritted his teeth and worked his wrists back and forth. The rope might’ve been looser. That’s what he told himself.
Another bark. Closer. Then a muffled shout, cut off by the sharp retort of gunfire.
He counted automatically. Four shots, three together, the last a few seconds later. Impossible to tell if it came from a single gun, though he was pretty sure it wasn’t more than two.
The silence came back. He caught himself holding his breath, waiting for Gabriel’s footsteps to return. When the ceiling creaked, its pitch was lower, the fractions of moments between each one longer.
“Nathan?”
He meant to laugh but the sound was closer to a sob as Isaac filled the doorway. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
Isaac took the stairs two by two, sliding his drawn weapon into the holster under his arm as he moved. He came straight to Nathan and crouched in front of him to get to work on the ropes.
“I don’t know, I kind of like being the one to ride in and save your ass.” He flashed a swift smile, though Nathan didn’t miss the way it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Isaac, I’m sorry, but Olivia…isn’t here.”
“I know. She’s with Remy.”
“What?” He frowned, barely noticing when the rope fell from his wrists. “How do you know that?”
Isaac sat back on his heels, his smile softening. “You think you can have the only resourceful girlfriend here? She got me a message and told me how to find you.” He tilted his head, scanning Nathan for injuries. “And it’s a good thing I did, because you look like hell.”
“It’s been a long, long day. How did she get a message to you? Another statement or something?”
“Or something. How are your legs? I don’t want to leave Gabriel alone up there for too long.”
“What? Is he still alive?”
“How else am I going to look like the hero when I bring him in?” He straightened, taking a step back to give Nathan room to stand. “Tiberius is guarding him, but after keeping him cooped up in the car for so long, I don’t trust that dog not to turn him into a chew toy if Gabriel does something stupid like try to make a run for it.”
“I would have killed him when I had the chance.” Once Nathan explained what he’d witnessed between Olivia and Gabriel at the rest stop—and everything he hadn’t—would Isaac regret that decision later?
“You don’t have a boss who knows you specifically came down here to look for him, either.”
He needed Isaac’s help up the stairs, his legs numb from the hours he spent on the cold floor. A small part of him thought Olivia and Remy might be there when they emerged, but Gabriel and Tiberius were the only other occupants. Gabriel had removed his shirt and was pressing it to the bleeding wound on his leg, gaze locked on Tiberius. Nathan surveyed the scene with a smile.
“Good work, Detective. I think this is worth dinner at the Barn, at least.”
“At the very least.” With his free hand, Isaac pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and eased Nathan into it. “We’ll make it a foursome. I’ll even be on my best behavior.”
From his position against the wall, Gabriel snorted. “Your optimism is impressive, if naïve, McGuire.”
“I don’t remember asking your opinion, Gabe.”
“If the lovely Olivia was coming back, she’d be here by now. You should have seen her face when I threatened Nathan. It was enough to make me jealous.”
A muscle twitched in Isaac’s jaw, swift but noticeable. But when he spoke, his voice was still casual. “That’s just because you don’t have anybody who cares enough about you to do the same. You didn’t even have Marisol, which if you think about it, is kind of pathetic, even for you.”
Gabriel’s face twisted at the mention of his cousin. “How long are you going to wait here? The rest of the day? A week? Or will you leave a car here and tell everybody Detective Wright is taking a long vacation?”
“I’ll wait however long it takes. Because she’d do the same for me if the situation was reversed.” Turning his back on Gabriel, he tapped on the table to get Nathan’s attention. “You want anything? Water, Tylenol…?”
“Food. Gabe, what have you got to eat?”
“Caquita de la vaquita.”
“That’s not very hospitable. The last time you put me up, you at least fed me.”
“I should have cut your balls off when I had the chance.”
Nathan shrugged. “We all have our regrets.”
Something cracked to Nathan’s right. Gabriel put his head down, Isaac reached for his gun, and Tiberius stood at attention, ears cocked forward. A shiver of recognition worked down Nathan’s spine, sending him to his feet to put a cautioning hand out to Isaac.
“Put the gun down.” His words were nearly drowned out by sharp bursts of sound, but Isaac obeyed.
“What is it?”
“I think—”
He’d anticipated the light, but it wasn’t until it flooded the room that he remembered how brilliant it had been. Tiberius whimpered, and Isaac shielded his eyes, but Nathan couldn’t look away, not when he knew what the light and sounds brought with them.
His heart pounded, his eyeb
alls burning around the edges. He wasn’t completely sure where to look, but he didn’t dare blink. If he had to live with the memory of watching Remy disappear from his life, he was damn sure going to have the memory of her returning too.
Then there she was. Or rather, there they were. Olivia crouched on the floor beyond Remy’s kneeling form but the moment Remy lifted her head and sought him out, all he saw was her.
“Remy.”
“Nate.” She pushed herself to her feet, but her attention whipped around to Gabriel like she’d heard somebody call her name. Nathan followed her gaze, surprised to see Tiberius staring at the exact same empty spot as Remy.
“Remy? What is it?”
Olivia wasn’t moving, either. Isaac took a step forward, but Remy put her hand up, startling Isaac into stopping. Gabriel broke the rapt stillness in the room by raising his hand toward the ceiling, his face cycling through surprise, awe, and finally joy.
“You’ve come,” Gabriel whispered. “After all this time, you’ve come to me. I knew you would.”
As Nathan watched, Gabriel’s eyes fluttered shut, his body listing to the left. He wasn’t falling over, though, and after a moment, he was gazing up again, his adoring smile practically euphoric.
“Yes, oh yes,” he breathed.
Isaac edged closer to Nathan. “I’m not insane, right? He’s talking to air.”
“He’s…” Nathan stopped. A new scent permeated the kitchen, overpowering the stink of sweat and blood he’d lived with for the past day. It was rich and wet, warm and earthy. It took him away from the dry heat of Mexico and back into a jungle, chasing after Remy when he’d woken up terrified she was gone. “I think they did it.”
“Did it? Did what? Marisol’s not—”
“Whatever you wish,” Gabriel said. He was still fixated on the spot in front of him.
“They found the Silver Maiden.”
“What? How do you know? There’s nothing there.”
“Isaac.” Nathan gripped his arm. “Take a deep breath. Do you smell that?”
Isaac’s nose wrinkled. “It smells like…mold?”