by Bree Despain
“You shouldn’t be smoking at all. Rule number one of the mortal world: those things will kill you.”
“Whatever, Master Daphne. I’m not exactly into following rules these days.”
“I gathered that. You smell lovely, by the way.”
“Why, thank you very kindly,” he says, bowing deeply, his hand holding the cigarette sweeping up in the air.
I’m tempted to say something like bite me, but there’s a strange look in Garrick’s eyes that makes me think he might actually do it. Garrick sometimes reminds me of an angry little junkyard dog.
He takes a long drag on the cigarette and then flicks it on the ground. “So if you weren’t sleepwalking, what in Tartarus are you doing out here?”
I stamp out the cigarette butt. The last thing we need is for the grove to catch fire. Part of me doesn’t want to share the grove’s revelation with Garrick, but he’s going to know as soon as I call Haden anyway. Everyone needs to know.
“I found it,” I say, placing my hand on the bident-shaped laurel tree. It vibrates under my touch, almost as if greeting me. “The Key of Hades is hidden inside this tree.”
“Inside?” he says incredulously, but I can hear a slight, wavering tone of excitement coming off him. This pricks my curiosity, since Garrick is normally silent—no inner song to speak of. “How do you know?” He circles the tree, inspecting it. I don’t know if he can feel the tree’s vibration or not.
“The grove told me,” I say. “It brought me here.”
I can hear a curious quirk in his tone, but I don’t care to elaborate any further about my new powers.
“Look at the shape,” I say. “This tree has grown up around the bident. It’s inside the core of the tree.”
I don’t listen for his reaction. I don’t care if he believes me or not; I know what I saw. “Now, how to get it out of there is a whole other mystery.”
I guess I could try asking? I lean my ear against the trunk of the tree, soaking in the resonating notes that ripple off it and then hum the same tone back at it. “Open,” I whisper into its bark. “Give me the Key.”
The tree quivers, but nothing else happens. I know I shouldn’t have thought it would be so easy.
“We should call Haden,” I say, realizing my phone is still in my jeans pocket. At least I’d fallen asleep in my clothes and am not standing out here in a silky white nightgown as if I’m in some gothic movie.
“Let me try,” Garrick says from behind me. “I’ve got an idea. Step back.”
I turn and see that he has a ball of crackling blue lightning in his raised hand.
“No!” I say, but he doesn’t listen. I barely have time to jump out of the way as he lobs it at the tree. The lightning hits the trunk and then explodes, sending both of us flying with a forceful shock wave. I land hard on my wrist about ten feet away from Garrick. He sits up, panting, inspecting himself for burns. I look back at the tree. It stands unharmed as far as I can tell, but I can’t hear its tone anymore. It’s grown silent as if in shock. Or perhaps retribution.
“You idiot!” I yell at him. “You almost killed us both. And now the tree is pissed off.”
“The tree is pissed off?” he asks. “And I’m guessing you think your shoes have emotions, too?”
I give him a death glare, hoping he can see as well in the dark as Haden does.
“Maybe a second blow will work better.” Garrick raises his hand, preparing a second bolt.
“No,” I say, pulling out my phone. My wrist twinges with a sharp pain at the effort. “I’m calling Haden.”
I dial the number, excitement almost making it hard to press the right numbers. But the line rings and rings until it goes to voice mail. I know that’s not unexpected. It’s the middle of the night, after all, but when the recording picks up instead of Haden, dread fills my chest.
chapter twenty-one
HADEN
“What’s the matter, little brother?” Rowan says. “Hydra’s got your tongue?”
He calls me little even though I am bigger than he is. He means to imply that I am the younger twin—something neither of us knows for sure—the Lesser brother.
“What are you doing here?”
That mocking smile of his grows thick with satisfaction. “You didn’t really think you were the only Champion, did you? I told you I’d be the one they’d send to clean up your mess.”
Lightning ricochets through my chest, down my arm, and into my hand. I want to lunge at him and shove my electrified fist down his throat, but it’s the empty bed separating us that stops me.
“Where is she?” I demand, energy surging in my voice. “What have you done with her?”
If he’s so much as touched Daphne, I’ll—
“Tell me where it is, and I’ll tell you what I did to her.” Rowan speaks with confidence, but I know him well enough to know when he’s bluffing. Either he isn’t planning on telling me anything, or he doesn’t even know what I’m referring to.
“It?” I ask. “What do you want?”
Whatever it is, it must be valuable if Rowan wants it. Then I realize he must be after the Key, but he doesn’t know much if he thinks we’ve found it already.
“The communication talisman.”
The talisman? That’s … unexpected.
“Give it to me or you’ll never see her again,” he says.
That’s it. I start to lunge at him, my hands ablaze with lightning, but a sound catches my ear. My phone ringing from inside my bedroom. The ringtone is the one I assigned to Daphne’s number. “Falling Slowly.” Wherever she is, she’s calling me for help. I turn toward the sound, my cold relief extinguishing the bolts in my hands.
A sudden shove from behind sends me sailing into the doorjamb. I collide with it temple-first and sink to the ground.
“Haden? Haden?” Dax’s voice rings in my ears.
Someone shakes me back to my senses. My head is still hot from the impact; only a few minutes must have passed since I fell.
“Gah … Rowan,” I moan.
“Is he saying growan?” Tobin says. They’re both leaning over me like I’m some specimen to be examined. “Where’s Daphne?”
“Rowan,” I say as clearly as I can. My tongue feels thick and slow.
“Are you saying Rowan?” Dax says. “That’s his brother,” he tells Tobin. “He must be really out of it. Do you know where you are, Haden?”
I nod. “Rowan. He was here. He came out of the closet.” I look toward the open closet door where Rowan had been standing only moments before. He’s gone now. Probably out the balcony doors as soon as I hit the floor.
Tobin makes a snerking noise. “You mean your brother came all the way from the underworld to tell you he plays for the other team? Did you faint or something?”
“What?” I slur. “What other team?”
“Haden has difficulties with euphemisms,” Dax says. “But I think what he means is that Rowan came out of the literal closet.” He stands up and goes to the closet. “Look at this.” He holds up the helmet that Rowan left behind—it’s the kind with the full-face visor that our mysterious Motorcycle Man always wore.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Tobin asks.
I nod, my head throbbing from the movement.
“But where’s Daphne?” he asks, springing up. “Did he take her?”
“He claimed he did, but I think he was bluffing.” I try to push myself up, using the wall for support. “I heard my phone ringing just before he hit me. I think it was her.” I point toward my room.
“I’ll get it,” Tobin says. He returns a few seconds later. “Missed call and a text.”
I take the phone from him and look at the screen.
Daphne: Come to the grove ASAP!
“Can you even walk?” Dax asks, grabbing my elbow to steady me. “Maybe Tobin and I should go, and you stay here.”
“I’m going,” I say.
If Daphne needs me, nothing, not even my inability to stay upright,
is going to stop me.
chapter twenty-two
DAPHNE
A text from Haden finally comes in, saying that he’s on his way. Less than five minutes later, he, Dax, and Tobin show up in the grove. Dax and Tobin look as though they have only just returned from the mill—and I assume from the flat notes of disappointment coming off Tobin that the lead had been a bust—but Haden is dressed in pajama pants and a sweatshirt that is only half zipped up over his naked chest, as if it had been an afterthought. It would be impossible not to notice the taut olive skin of his bare chest and upper abs, but what is more arresting are the flowing, pulsing notes that coming rushing off him when he sees me.
I can’t tell if it’s the sound of relief or something else.
For half a moment, I think he’s going to catch me up in a hug, but then he stops himself. Had getting a text from me in the middle of the night, when I was supposed to be down the hall, freaked him out that much?
“What’s going on?” Haden asks, instead of embracing me. I note that his speech is slow and staggering, like he isn’t fully awake despite the waterfall of notes surrounding him.
“You won’t believe it,” I say, buzzing with excitement.
“We found the Key,” Garrick announces, totally stealing my thunder.
The others look completely dumbfounded.
“Truly?” Haden asks. I like that surprised look on his face.
“Well, where it’s hidden anyway.” I point out the tree and give them the same explanation I’d given Garrick. “It’s getting to it that’s the trick.”
Tobin shrugs. “Anybody got a chain saw?”
“Not a good idea. Mr. Genius over here,” I say, thumbing in the direction of Garrick, “already tried a lightning blast, and that almost resulted in us losing our teeth, but it didn’t even leave a scratch on the tree. It’s like it’s being guarded by some sort of force field or protection spell.”
“Sweet,” Tobin says.
“Not sweet,” I say. “Check this out.” I crouch down near the base of the tree. My right wrist is still tender from falling on it when Garrick’s lightning experiment went awry, so I can’t help wincing as I pull back the long grasses in front of the tree. I use my phone as a flashlight for those of us in the group who don’t have night vision, and point out my discovery. “See that knot near the base of the tree? Notice anything weird about it?”
I’d found the knot while trying to stop Garrick from using one of the shovels we’d left behind in the grove to try to dig up the tree’s roots. Not that he’d gotten anywhere with that plan—the roots were as impervious as the trunk—but I didn’t like the idea of him hurting something that had protected my ancestors’ secrets for so long. I’d thought the knot at the base of the tree had been just that, but then I’d noticed the strange markings inside of it. I’d almost dismissed them as just scratches.
“Are those symbols?” Haden asks.
“Yep. The same symbols that are on the Compass. It’s the same shape, too. Like it would fit right into the knot if you lined up the impressions of the symbols just right. I think I know what the Oracle meant when she said I’d use the Compass to seek the Key. I didn’t need it to find its hiding place, but I do need it to get the Key out.” I sigh. “So, good news: we found the Key. Bad news: we still need the Compass. Any more thoughts on where we might find the Motorcycle Man? Do we need to stake out some biker bars or something?”
Haden bristles beside me. “About that,” he says. “Other good news: we know who the Motorcycle Man is.” He takes a deep breath. “Other bad news: he’s my psychotic twin brother and he has the Compass.”
“Um, what?”
Haden tells me about finding Rowan in my bedroom and the motorcycle helmet he left behind when he escaped.
“But how did he get here?” Dax asks.
“I think he’s been here all along. He called himself a Champion. I think the Court sent him through the gate soon after us.”
“But if he’s been here this whole time, why reveal himself now? He could have put the helmet on and escaped without you being the wiser,” I say.
“He wanted something,” Haden says, holding his hand to the side of his head as if it’s throbbing. I realize that he must have left out part of the story and feel a pang of sympathy over the idea of him being hurt. “He was pretending to be holding you captive in exchange for a communication talisman.”
I nod, feeling an additional ache of … something … when I realize why he had been so relieved to see me. But had he been worried about losing the Cypher, or was it the idea of losing me that had caused him anguish?
“He wants a communication talisman?” I ask instead of the question that is forefront in my mind. “You mean that medallion that you found next to Simon’s body that transported your soul from the hospital to the Underrealm?”
When Haden’s whole body had gone limp after grasping the talisman, Dax had explained to me that the device was used to make realm-to-realm calls by the Underlords—only it transported a person’s soul, not just their voice. Haden had to fry the talisman, along with himself, in order to break the connection to free himself from his father’s throne room.
“Did you tell Rowan that Simon’s talisman has been destroyed?” I ask, pointing to his scarred hand.
Haden shakes his head. “I am starting to question whether or not the talisman was Simon’s to begin with. It could have been either Simon or Rowan who dropped it at the hospital, and thinking back on it, I am not sure whom my father was expecting when I answered the call.”
“But it had to be Simon’s, right?” I look at Dax. “You said he made a call to the Skylords before he came into the hospital room. He would have needed a talisman for that, so it had to be the one we found on the floor.”
Dax shakes his head. “He made the call on an ordinary iPhone. That didn’t strike me as odd until now.”
“I have a feeling some Skylords enjoy posing as humans, so it’s not that strange,” Haden says. “Look at Mr. Bowman, for example. I doubt this is his first sojourn in the mortal world.…” It seems as though he’s about to say more but then trails off.
“But Simon had been in communication with your father while you were here, so that means he at least owned a talisman,” Dax says. “But if he didn’t have it with him at the hospital, I wonder if he ditched it because he was planning on running off with the goods—namely Daphne and the Compass—and the talisman could be tracked somehow?”
“Or he didn’t want to accidentally answer a call like I did.” Haden shudders at the memory. “The room I caught Rowan in was Simon’s old bedroom.…”
I cringe at the idea of having slept in a dead man’s bed but let Haden go on.
“If Rowan lost his own talisman at the hospital, that means he either needs to find his or get a new one, so it makes sense that he would break into the house. He either thinks we still have his, or he was looking for Simon’s. And if he was willing to reveal himself in order to try to bargain for a talisman, that means he’s desperate.”
“But why?” Tobin asks.
“Because if he’s lost his talisman, he’s flying blind,” I say, putting it together. “He might have the Compass, but he has no idea what to do next without being able to communicate with King Ren.”
Haden nods. “Which means he has something we want, and we have something he wants—or at least he believes we do. Which means he’s going to show himself again.”
“And in the meantime,” I say, “we need to figure out how to get the Compass from him when he does.”
“Exactly,” Haden says.
“But more importantly, even if we get the Compass, how are we supposed to use it to get the Key?” I ask. “I doubt it’s as easy as plugging it into the tree, or else you wouldn’t need me. I’m not exactly looking forward to giving up my heart and soul for the thing.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Haden says. “For now let’s focus on the Compass.”
Easy for h
im to say, I think. The idea that I might need to give up my heart and soul to get the Key to the Underrealm doesn’t exactly make it easy to focus on anything else at the moment. And it doesn’t fill me with ease when I know that both the Skylords and Haden’s crazy-loyal-to-the-Underrealm brother are after it, too. Both parties would probably shove me right through the lock if they need to.
“I think we have company,” Dax whispers, and covers the light on my iPhone with his hand. He nods toward the path that leads into the grove from the footbridge. Two orbs of flashlight beams dance along the path. It’s either Olympus Hills Security or someone worse.…
Haden tries to take me by the wrist, but I wince and pull away.
He gives me a concerned look, but I just shake my head. Now is not the time to explain how I hurt it. Instead, I follow him and the others into the thick trees at the north end of the grove. We crouch down behind a few boulders and watch as Calix and Terresa enter the grove, swinging flashlights and surveying the damage we’ve caused with all of our digging.
“I told you no one was here,” Calix says. “We should go back. I don’t like being out at night.”
“Stop being a suckling,” Terresa hisses at him. “It’s obvious someone has been here.” She swings her light across the trees, the beam barely over our heads. “Ethan is an idiot if he thinks those Underlords aren’t looking for the Key on their own. We know they have the Cypher. If he’d let us tail them, then they’d probably lead us to its location.”
Its? I think. Does Terresa think the Cypher is an object like the Compass? Or does she mean it as in she doesn’t know if the Cypher is male or female?
“Do not speak of Ethan that way,” Calix says to her. “He is your commanding officer—”
“Only because his grandfather granted him back his position after he came crawling home from his walkabout in the mortal realm. He’s been gone for six years, while I’ve been the loyal lord. I should be the commanding officer, not him.”
“I wouldn’t call what he did crawling back. More like sweeping into a room and announcing his return.”