I smiled. “Oh ye of little faith. Judging by what we just saw from Kaya, there’s nothing stopping magic from getting into the cell. Plus, the Cuff around Davin’s neck is taking care of anything he might want to launch back at us. I think the security down here is more reliant on location than powerful barriers.”
Melody cast another glance back at the cell. “I suppose Kaya did manage to allow her energies into the cell without setting off any kind of alarm. And it’s not as if they’d need to go overboard on the hexing when the prisoners are quite literally in a glass bubble under the sea with a Cuff around their necks…”
I readied a strand of Telekinesis. “Then we’d better hope we get lucky, and this doesn’t bring every soldier in Atlantis running.”
I approached Davin’s cell, Luke and Melody flanking me. He looked up at me with unfocused eyes, a confused grimace turning down the corners of his mouth.
“It’s time we had a little heart-to-heart,” I announced.
His brow furrowed as the tendril of Telekinesis slithered into his cell and grasped him around the waist. He glanced down at his abdomen with comical slowness. His confusion only seemed to increase as I yanked him to his feet and tugged him forward, until his face was half smooshed against the glass.
“You again…” he rasped, a bead of sweat running down his face.
“Were you expecting the Easter Bunny?” I held him firmly against the glass, though every second I spent using Mimicry and Telekinesis together was like a second of intense cardio, and it was getting harder to manage.
“I should have known.” He glowered at me, but he had no way to fight back. The Cuff had his Chaos on lockdown. “Melody and her doe-eyed stalker, I assume?”
“Nah, these are just two guards I picked up who are eager to watch you squeal,” I replied sarcastically. “Guard number two, would you mind doing a bit of… squeezing?”
Luke nodded and stepped closer. With one hand to the pane, he sent out a targeted wave of his Magneton abilities. Releasing the Telekinesis, I watched with pleasure as Davin’s eyes widened, then started to bulge. The Cuff had a decent amount of metal in it, and Luke was using his powers to shrink it around Davin’s throat.
“It’s time you were straight with us.” I discreetly pulled the Eye of Erebus out of my Mimicry-made suit of armor and held it as close to the glass as I could. “What did you do to Erebus? And what are Kaya’s plans for this wedding?”
“Ah… I was wondering where that ended up. I searched long and hard for it.” Davin strained against the tightening Cuff, his palms sliding across the glass and leaving smeared handprints behind.
“A shame you didn’t have Blanche find it for you when you had the chance. Now, tell me: what are Kaya’s plans for me and the wedding? Why am I so important to her? And what does it have to do with the legend?” I focused on the pendant. The eye inside flitted left and right, bathed in a soft bronze light, ready to respond.
Davin shrugged. “She thinks you’ve been sent to her by Chaos, that you’re the hero they’ve been promised.” The eye glowed green, suggesting honesty. A moment later, red-tinged words began to form in the air between us and Davin. The riddle we’d have to decipher to get the exact truth. To be honest, I felt a bit peeved that Davin had outright told us the truth, since it meant we might’ve wasted the pendant.
A visitor from afar will come to bring Light to the darkest hour.
The pendant continued to glow green. We had our answer. We just had to figure out what it meant. I turned to Melody, who observed the lettering with borrowed eyes. The expression, however, was all Winchester. The curious chipmunk, out in full force.
“Any ideas?” I prompted.
She rubbed her manly chin. “Well, you’re from the surface. That’d make you a visitor from afar. Kaya probably thinks you can save Atlantis, considering all the problems it’s currently having with the Bestiary, etcetera.”
Luke nodded. “It explains why she’s so determined to marry you, if she thinks you can fix this mess.”
“Is that right?” I looked to Davin. “Does she think I’m some cure-all?”
“How should I know what goes on in the mind of a princess?” Davin smiled, but the pendant gave him away, glowing faintly red.
“Pendant says nuh-uh.” I made a game show error noise. “Maybe tighten that Cuff, see if Davin’s feeling more talkative after a bit of oxygen starvation.”
Luke hesitated before obeying. He was the all-American good guy, and strangling the life out of someone didn’t come easy to him. But he did it anyway, tightening the metal that ran through the Cuff until Davin’s face turned purple.
“You’re only useful to us while you have information we need. If you don’t give it to us, you become useless. And I doubt the princess would mind if we offed you, since you’ve caused so much trouble with Daddio. Even if you came back, we’d just keep killing you. And I know you must be sick of resurrecting yourself by now. It hurts every time, doesn’t it?” I taunted, hoping I’d push the right buttons.
Melody frowned. “Plus, a little bit less of you returns each time, if I’m not mistaken. I know how resurrections work, in more detail than your tiny mind could comprehend. One of these days, you won’t even feel like yourself—you’ll feel like an echo of an echo of an echo. I doubt that’ll be fun for you.”
Is that true? I side-eyed her, but she seemed completely serious. And judging by Davin’s face, she’d hit a sore spot.
“The legend is… very similar to your arrival here. If I weren’t… as smart as I am, even… I’d be inclined to believe it,” Davin wheezed. “That’s why Kaya wants… you to be her husband. It’s… all part of the… legend. She has to marry… you, to bring about the… salvation of her city. At least, that’s… what the legend… infers. But it’s… still just a story.”
The pendant turned back to green before the whole thing faded. No more glow. No more questions. We had our answer now, and we’d found the solution to our one-shot riddle, and I didn’t like what it meant for me. If she thought I was some kind of savior, then I was never in a million years going to get out of this wedding.
“And what about the seal you put on Erebus?” I hoped Luke’s strangling would make a decent substitute for the Eye. After all, if Kaya really thought I was her fated savior-husband or whatever, then Erebus was probably the only one who could convince her that it was just a story. He was a Child of Chaos, right? He’d know if a legend was just made-up nonsense. He’d be able to tell her, outright, that it wasn’t Chaos’s grand plan. Chaos had made him, so surely he had the 411. And after all, he had a personal stake in Kaya’s superstitions.
Davin made a gurgling noise as Luke tightened his grip without prompting. “I couldn’t implant… a suppressor,” he rasped. “A spell was… easier.”
“How did you do it?” I pressed. He could clam up at any moment.
“A… potion. A sting… like a needle. Barely noticeable.” Davin pawed the glass in panic as Luke tightened the Cuff further. “Tell your… friend to stop, or I… won’t say anything… more.”
I put my hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Ease up for a sec. You can go back to squeezing if he doesn’t give us anything else.”
Luke lowered his palm, and the spell broke. Davin gasped for air, clawing at his throat. He looked… frightened. An expression I’d rarely seen on his face. Maybe Melody’s words had scared him, or maybe it was his vulnerable situation. Either way, it genuinely felt like we had him where we wanted him. Not that I was about to trust that instinct. He’d double-crossed me too many times.
“The potion had an… actual seal built into the… dispensing device. I heated it up, then… marked it on Erebus. He didn’t feel a thing—he flinched and thought someone had… accidentally scratched the back of… had scratched him.” Davin sagged to his knees. He might have thought he was being subtle, but I’d picked up on what he’d almost said. This mark, whatever it was, was on Erebus’s back somewhere. A part of his body he wouldn’t be
able to see by himself.
“Then it’s some kind of tattoo?” Melody jumped in.
Davin gave a small shrug. “Call it what you want.”
“How do we undo it?” Luke asked, readying his palm as a threat.
Davin lifted his hands in surrender. “Don’t try and strangle me again. I’m talking, aren’t I?” He waited a moment, until he was sure Luke wasn’t about to use his Magneton abilities again. “To break the seal, you have to cut through the tattoo. That will allow Erebus to utilize his limited powers again.”
“What does the tattoo look like?” I wasn’t about to let him wriggle his way out of this with a bunch of vague nonsense. I wanted precise details.
“It looks something like a caduceus,” Davin replied through gritted teeth.
“Huh?” I replied.
“The medical symbol,” Melody interjected. “A stick with snakes twisting down and a set of wings on top.”
I sighed, grateful to have Melody here. “So we find that, we cut through it, and Erebus gets his powers back. Doesn’t sound too hard.” I paused. “Now, is there anything else we should know? We’re not in for any nasty surprises, are we?”
“I think I’m done talking for today.” Davin mustered a faint, cold smile.
“You don’t really get to decide that,” I replied tersely.
He smirked and waved a weak hand at something behind me. “No, but I doubt you’ll want your new friend Apollo finding you here when you’re supposed to be safe and sound in the princess’s bedchamber. He might not be able to see through your disguises, but one word from me and the whole charade will implode on you.”
I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, Apollo, flanked by a bevy of guards, had stepped out of the elevator and started walking in our direction.
Crap…
“You better have told us everything. If you haven’t, we’ll be back. You can count on that,” I hissed, before turning to my friends. “Follow my lead. We need to get out of here before Captain Chatterbox outs us.”
They both nodded nervously as I led the way from Davin’s cell, heading directly for the oncoming group of guards. They came to a brief stop as we approached, and I did the same. I bowed to Apollo.
“We are about to change the guard, Apollo. More will be along in due course.” I hoped I sounded professional enough to avoid suspicion.
Apollo bowed back. “Thank you. I hope the prisoner has not been troublesome?”
“Not at all, Apollo. In fact, he has been more subdued than usual.” I couldn’t resist.
“Good. Perhaps he will not cause any problems for us.”
After one last flurry of bows, Melody, Luke, and I skirted past the new influx of military personnel and made for the elevator. It took everything I had not to run, in case Davin blabbed before we could get out of there.
As the elevator doors slid shut and we traveled up the tube to the Atlantean surface, I finally looked back. Apollo and his guards had just reached the cell. I waited for them to turn and come running back in our direction, but they didn’t. Either Davin had kept his mouth shut, or he was giving us a head start in order to screw with us.
Frustration bristled through my veins as I touched the pendant around my neck. We’d gotten one answer out of Davin, which meant I knew why Kaya was so intent on marrying me. But the truth hadn’t set me free at all. No, it had only tightened the noose around my neck.
Thirty-Two
Finch
Never in a million years did I think it would come to this. Even a fortnight ago, had someone told me I’d be here, doing what I was doing, I’d have slapped ‘em across the chops with a wet salmon.
I’d been back to my bedroom prison and had Melody and Luke send word to Erebus that I wanted to speak with him. Apparently, searching for him had proven impossible. Even with the two of them and Nash, they hadn’t been able to find him. So, they’d left a note on his door. Which he’d then answered, several hours later, by way of a super-thin note, alarmingly wrapped around one of those poisoned darts—this time, sans poison—which had almost porcupined Nash and me during the assassination attempt. It’d been shot down the chimney of said bedroom prison, whistling down and thwacking into a log that only seemed to exist for aesthetic purposes. He’d drawn a map and everything, which smarted of irony—my map-making expertise had dragged me down here in the first place. But his wasn’t nearly as impressive.
Meet me at the X in half an hour, to discuss whatever you want to discuss.
That was it. No kisses, no “Dearest Slave,” no flowery language to make me feel better. Worst of all, he’d missed a prime opportunity to say, “X marks the spot.” I was never one to miss out on a bit of pirate lingo, but I guessed Erebus didn’t share my enthusiasm.
What is this place? I sat on the end of a rickety old pier, per Erebus’s instructions, and swung my legs—well, Nash’s legs—over the flat calm of a pond. Insects skated across the surface. Beneath, spectral fish swam at their leisure, moving like something between an actual fish and a jellyfish.
I’d traipsed through a woodland to get here, and I didn’t like traipsing for anyone, least of all Erebus. Even if I needed to speak to him. It’d been half past twelve when I snuck out with Nash’s blessing, but I didn’t have a watch to check the time now. Ah, how the digital world had spoiled us. Without a phone, I had nothing to go on. I couldn’t even rely on the Atlantean sunlight, since I had no idea what sort of clock it was set to.
“You came.” That deep, familiar voice made me turn in fright. I hadn’t heard his approach, and these wooden slats were insanely creaky. For a big guy, he had some serious stealth.
“It’s rude to sneak up on someone!” I shot back, my heart racing.
“If you did not hear my footsteps, perhaps you ought to have your ears checked.”
I frowned at him. “My ears are just fine, thank you very much.”
Erebus walked a few more paces down the pier and paused beside me, gazing out at the pond and the trees beyond. Nothing stirred here. A quiet paradise in the middle of a utopian hellhole. And maybe it was just me, but he looked thoroughly friggin’ miserable, like someone just told him that Santa Claus wasn’t real.
“What’s up, huh? Lack of Chaos got you down?” I asked.
Erebus didn’t even look at me. “Something like that.”
“Well, wallow no more—have we got the solution for you.” I sounded like the cheesy spokesperson for some pharmaceutical company. “We spoke with Davin and he gave us a way to potentially fix your Chaos issue.”
Erebus kept right on staring into the trees. “Oh… good.”
“Don’t break your back jumping for joy.” I shook my head. “My pals and I just risked our necks getting this information for you. You could at least pretend enthusiasm.”
“Apologies,” was all he said. Maybe I’d mistaken misery for vulnerability. He’d certainly never looked this… small before. As a Child of Chaos, he’d always had a gravitas about him that demanded respect or fear, whichever came first. But right now, he seemed sullen and quiet and, dare I say, very human.
I faced the possibility of death and stood up, giving him a light nudge. “What’s eating you, Erebus? You should be thrilled about this, but you’re not.”
“I spoke with Lux.” He heaved an almighty sigh. “It has left me feeling… unlike myself.”
“Ah…” I stared across the pond at the spot that held Erebus so rapt. “I take it the wife isn’t happy with you?”
“That is putting matters mildly.” He slowly shook his head. “Lux wants you to marry Kaya solely to spite me. She wishes to watch me suffer.”
I made a grunt of understanding. “I guess she’s realized she can’t make you stay away from Kaya, so she’s trying her best to ruin your chances?” Ah, so much irony.
“Very astute.” Erebus finally looked at me, hitting me with a sad expression. “It did not help that she encountered Kaya and me in a somewhat… compromising situation. It inflamed her anger toward
me. I have always been able to calm her, but now there is nothing I can do to sway her toward peace. She intends to continue driving a wedge between Kaya and I, by whatever means necessary.”
I stared at him. “A compromising situation? Does that mean what I think it means?” The old dog, stealing a smooch with my unwanted betrothed. I thought about making a joke, but he looked too damn mopey to appreciate it.
“I do not want to discuss it with you.” His voice held a warning. No jokes. Got it.
“I suppose she’d just cut out the middleman and kill Kaya, if she could,” I continued. “But Chaos rules and all that. All she can do is make you and Kaya miserable, so she can be satisfied that way. Hell hath no fury, yadda yadda yadda.”
Erebus growled in the back of his throat. “That may be true, but I refuse to allow Lux to intimidate me. She is not the only problem. You see…” He threw back his head, as though it hurt him to admit it. “Kaya now knows Lux is here, inside Ryann’s body. She thinks me a deceitful wretch once more, and I do not believe I can repair the damage that has been done this time. I almost had her forgiveness; I almost had her love again, and then Lux stepped in, and… I fear I have destroyed everything beyond the point where it may be salvaged.”
“It’s not as if your marriage is the same as other people’s, though. You’re not even really a person, deep down, so maybe it doesn’t count,” I added. “I don’t know the rules about cosmic bigamy, but maybe if you told her you want to be with her instead of Lux, she might come around.”
Erebus huffed out a breath. “You did not see the disappointment and pain in her eyes. She will not allow me to speak with her, let alone offer me forgiveness. I have no way to remedy this, and it is entirely my own doing.”
Why do I feel like we should be in a confessional? I didn’t think I’d ever get used to this vulnerable side of Erebus. The one who was open with his emotions and troubles. It was too much humanity to stomach, coming out of a Child of Chaos.
Harley Merlin 15: Finch Merlin and the Everlasting Vow Page 26