Page 55

Rome

After dinner, Gina ported back to the Box and the rest of us settled in the living room. I turned television to a show Lilas liked and, once she was engrossed, Kerry pried Hinge away from her side.

“You said you found me because I had your knife.” Kerry crouched down in front of the little skeleton. “You said you made it, so you can track it, right?”

“Yes. So?”

“How does that work?” Kerry started firing questions. “Could I do the same thing? If Gemma has something I made, could I track it and find her?”

“That depends. What does she have?” “I drew her a picture of a candle on a piece of paper. It has some of my power stored in it.”

“Perfect!” Hinge grinned. “Tracking your power should be simple.”

“Oh, no.” Mira slapped her palms on her cheeks. “Oh, Kerry. In all the chaos, I forgot to tell you, then forgot I forgot.”

“Forgot what?” He narrowed his eyes at her as he stood.

“Rome, can you—”

“I have it, Kerry.” I was already on my way to my backpack. “I’ll get it.”

“See, the thing is,” Mira began, “Gemma dropped it when I was carrying her out of that church. I told her I’d go back for it later because I was focused on getting her outta there like you’d told me to.

Then a monster wrapped in chains got in front of me.

I had to put Gemma down to fight it. And then Rome came over and a djinni attacked.

Anyway, it was only after you banished the djinn that I remembered it at all and sent Rome after it so my scent didn’t get on it—”

“Stop! Just give me her nightlight!”

Kerry sounded frustrated, but not angry. Not yet, anyway. Still, I put a little hustle in my step.

“Here.”

I held out the index card and the metal bird Mira had crafted to carry it. Kerry’s fingers trembled as he took them both. He didn’t speak, only closed his eyes and pressed the battered paper to his lips.

“At least you know the sending worked,” Mira said. “Once Gemma was out from under the power hiding her, it found her.”

“May I see it, Kerry?” Hinge held out his bony hand. “I believe there are bloodstains on it. Blood is an excellent conduit for power.”

Kerry’s eyes flew open. He moved the paper away from his mouth and stared at the rusty red stains.

“Mira’s, maybe,” I suggested.

We didn’t need him losing it here and now because he saw evidence that Gemma had been injured.

“Nope,” Mira said, which ruined my intention. “I wasn’t injured when I found her, but she had some blood on her clothing.”

Kerry gave the paper to Hinge, who bent over it with his pupils glowing like laser pointers. Time slowed and stalled as we waited, and I imagined the tick-tock of time growing louder and louder. Hinge finally straightened and looked at Kerry, tilting his skull to one side.

“How far are you willing to go?”

“All the way.” Kerry didn’t hesitate.

“It would require sacrifice.” Hinge tapped the paper on his mandible.

“I can slit a throat. You know that.”

“I said sacrifice , not just killing someone.” Hinge’s pupils circled, as if he were rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Could you slit Jax’s throat? Or Gigi’s?”

Kerry’s mouth opened, then snapped shut. With a fierce frown, he rammed his hands into his pockets and turned toward the window.

“No one’s slitting any throats, Hinge.” Mira planted her fists on her hips. “Don’t cause more trouble than we already have by suggesting things like that.”

“Allow me to give you some advice,” Hinge muttered at her. “ ‘Come not between the dragon and his wrath.’”

“And here’s some advice from King Lear for you : ‘I will be the pattern of all patience. I will say nothing’.”

Hinge didn’t like that.

“ ‘I am sick when I do look on thee,’ woman.”

“ ‘Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon,’ little runt.”

“Wait.” Jax was brave enough to butt in. “Did you two memorize lines from Shakespeare just so you could insult people?”

Both ignored him and sparred on, much to his entertainment. His head swiveled from one to the other as if he were at a tennis match.

Kerry kept his back turned, but the darkening window reflected his face well enough. Seeing it, my brain threw up its own quote from Shakespeare.

“There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger.”

Mira and Hinge were getting pretty heated. I knew Mira was doing it to draw attention away from Kerry, but Hinge was taking it seriously, and I half-wondered if I should step between them.

“ ‘Not in the legions of horrid Hell can come a devil more damned’ than you , lady,” Hinge sneered.

“My dear boy.” Her voice turned to honey, which should have been warning enough. “Don’t you know? ‘The devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that’s in me should set Hell on fire’.”

I snorted. I couldn’t help it. It was such a Mira thing to say.

“Let it go, Hinge,” Kerry said over his shoulder. “She’s just trying to get a rise outta you so everyone forgets that I’d slit any throat, including my own, if it would save Gemma. I won’t, though, because she’d never forgive me for it.”

And that’s his only reason? Gemma wouldn’t like it?

I glanced over at Mira. Our eyes met and held.

Yeah, she’s thinking the same thing.

“Hinge,” Jax said, “did you know a necromancer named Khaydari?”

“He came through the Market once or twice a year. Even though I wondered if he might have some ideas about how to fix me, Bit warned me to stay away from him.” The little skeleton grinned.

“I didn’t need the warning. When Khaydari stared at you, you got the sense he wanted to dissect you down to your marrow. ”

“Did you know he worked for the Alchemists for a while?” Gigi asked him.

“No, but I’m not surprised. Those guys pay well. Really well.”

“Is that what Khaydari was in it for?” I asked. “The money?”

“Not at all, but supplies and equipment are expensive. Khaydari’s goal was to recreate life. A real Dr. Frankenstein. I half-think he’s responsible for Mary Shelley’s novel. He began his experiments in the early 1800s.”

“Two hundred years ago again.” Jax scrubbed a hand through his hair. “What was going on back then?”

“A lot, I’m sure,” I said. “Think about it. There was no technology, and science was just becoming a profession. Long-distance communication was sending a letter with stagecoaches, trains, or ships. None of the sanctuaries or councils were as organized as they are today. It was very easy for anyone—human, Diabolical, or Divine—to keep secrets and act under the radar.”

“Why do you ask about Khaydari?” Hinge wanted to know. “He’s dead.”

“Just gathering information and hoping it might lead us somewhere,” I told him.

“Well, if I were you, I’d be more interested in what the Alchemists are doing with the souls of all the nephs they kill. I heard they work with a prince of Hell. If that’s true, and they’ve been feeding him souls for twenty years now… ”

Hinge trailed off, but he didn’t need to finish. Our imaginations did it for us.

“What makes you think the Alchemists did anything with the souls?” Gigi tilted her head as she looked at the little skeleton.

“They’d be idiots not to,” Hinge retorted. “It’s common sense, right? At the very least, I’d expect them to store them for later use as sacrifices, in experiments, or what have you.”

Lilas’ show ended and she came over to Hinge’s side.

“Is everything okay, Bertie?” she asked in her soft little girl voice.

“Of course, darling.”

Lilas’ cheeks turned pink, and the girls awwed at her.

“Thanks, Hinge. I don’t think any of us had thought of that.” Gigi smiled at him.

He clicked his heels together and bowed at the waist.

“My pleasure.”

I rolled my eyes.

Smarmy little snot. Showing off for his lady.

“Kerry, can I see your waking dream?” Lilas asked. “I think it has something to do with this person you’re talking about.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That.”

When the others asked, Kerry explained that he kept waking up with the same memory in the forefront of his mind. It was what Lilas meant by a waking dream. She said she’d caught a glimpse of it a couple of mornings ago while dreamweaving.

“I remember Samuel Castle saying something,” Kerry explained, “but it was the first time I was hearing the demon inside me. Infernal is not a pleasant language to hear ever, but definitely not when it’s inside your own skull. The words ain’t real clear, but give it a shot, shortcake.”

Lilas touched her fingers to his hand and closed her eyes. After a second, she came back to us, and Hinge took her hands in his bone fingers.

“All right?” he asked her.

She nodded.

“The black-eyed man said, ‘I need to go now. Khaydari has an idea to free that stone whore if we can find her.’ What’s a whore?”

“Never mind, darling.” Hinge gave Kerry a neon glare, then turned back to her. “Come. Let’s look through the library.”

After the two kids left, Gigi bounced up and down on her toes.

“Bet you they were talking about Amanda Greenaway!” she squeaked.

“That’s what the Alchemists hired Khaydari for.

They wanted him to find a way to free her from the petrification spell.

He was probably still working on it when he had Zoe Becerra steal that book from the Vault.

Pepper Crane said it was about reversing petrification. ”

I nodded. It was a logical conclusion for the information we had.

“Good thing they didn’t know where Clem hid her,” Jax said.

“But why would the Alchemists care about her? Did they know she was the miracle worker?” Mira asked. “If so, how did they find out?”

“The shadow, of course,” I said. “If it’s the same one in all these stories, he told his minions—that is, Hubler and his buddies—who and what he wanted.”

“Why didn’t the shadow just thaw her out himself?” Jax wanted to know. “He’s the one who petrified her to begin with. It’s not like he wouldn’t know how to undo it.”

“Maybe the Alchemists were working behind his back. Maybe they were going to free her and double cross him.” Gigi shrugged.

“Wouldn’t put anything past them,” Kerry snorted, “including being dumb enough to try blackmailing a prince of Hell.”

“Back to my question, though. Why didn’t the shadow unthaw her himself when he was ready for her?”

“Well, for one, like we just said, Clem had hidden her. The shadow had no idea where to find her.” Rome pointed out. “For two, he might not have ever wanted her free, but now that she is, he wants to take her off the board permanently.”

“Why not just kill her to begin with, then?” Gigi asked.

“That would be wasteful,” Kerry shook his head. “Killing is pretty final. Petrifying her, he still had her in his back pocket in case he ever needed her. You have to remember, demons play a long game.”

“The long game is all an immortal perspective sees,” I agreed.