I head back out to the Slayers and introduce them to Pelly. The tiny purple demons are harder to track down, but eventually we find them. It … doesn’t go over well. The Slayers are clearly on edge around the chaotic energy of the three little demons. I hurry them along, moving on to the kitchens—where the pantry nags at me, knowing that Leo is there—and then the bathrooms, the Council wing, the dorm wing, and finally the secret passages. Sufficiently impressed, I leave them to explore on their own.
It’s been hours. I send another text. The first one said I had a deal for her. These ones are just question marks and exclamation points and random letters to make her phone chime with notifications. And now I can’t wait any longer to go visit Leo. I hurry to the library to check if my mom is there, mostly so I’ll know where she is when I’m defying her wishes.
When I open the door, my mother and Rhys are in there. But they both look … twitchy. Guilty. Rhys slams a book shut. I step forward and look down at the cover. “Why are you wasting time reading Arcturius the Farsighted’s prophecies?”
“Just checking something.” Rhys pushes his glasses up and slides the book off the table.
“No. Tell me. Why are you reading that?” It would be nothing if he were reading any other book. This one is personal.
My mother sets her hands on the table, regarding me coolly and calmly. “We had some questions about the last prophecy.”
“That one’s done. We can check it off the list.” It was about Artemis and me, how one of us would break the world and one of us would heal it. But we already stopped the hellmouth from being formed.
“It doesn’t quite line up,” Rhys says.
“What?”
“The details of the prophecy and what you did. For example, Artemis had very little to do with stopping Eve’s hellmouth.”
“Yeah, but I lost my powers because I protected Artemis, so that led to the breaking part. And then the healing, when I plugged up the hellmouth with the remora demon.”
The noise Rhys makes is one I’m deeply familiar with: a low hum of that’s not right, but I don’t want to fight, so I’m not going to correct you. I’ve heard it many, many times during our years of studying together.
My mother has her Watcher face on. She’s perfectly calm and collected while delivering brutally upsetting information. “We thought it best to make certain we aren’t overlooking anything vital.”
I throw my hands in the air. “We don’t have time for an apocalypse. It’s going to have to reschedule for another month when I’m not trying to settle in three new Slayers and keep an eye on Sean and whatever his new minion associates are up to. Maybe pencil an apocalypse in for May. It seems like a nice spring activity.”
“No one said anything about an apocalypse,” my mother says, her mouth twitching with the hint of a smile. “But I do agree that spring is a nice season for apocalypses to be triggered. Come to think of it, most of the near-apocalypses in recent memory have happened in May.” She frowns thoughtfully. “I wonder why that is.”
I shrug. “Like seasonal allergies. The earth trying to sneeze itself out of existence. Anyway, the Slayers have been slotted into our plans and chore rotation. Arcturius is low priority.” I want him to be. I need him to be. I can’t worry about another thing. “Have you been looking into cambions so you can help Leo?”
Rhys glares at me. “We’re worrying about Leo. You don’t need to.”
“Come on, Nina.” My mother stands and gestures for me to follow her out of the library. As soon as we’re in the hall, she stops and turns to me. “I change my mind. I think you should talk to Leo.”
“What?”
“Leo is important to you. He always has been. And with Artemis—well. I never spoke to her when I should, and she left. I’ve been very guilty of letting people I care about slip away because I was angry, or because I was scared. I won’t see you repeat my mistakes. Go talk to Leo.”
“Seriously?”
She smiles. It’s sad, but strong. It’s exactly who she is. “I would give anything for another chance to speak to the love of my life. Which I’m not saying Leo is—you’re much too young to settle into a love for your entire life just yet—but you never know what will happen. Don’t let words go unsaid. That’s what Watchers do, and you’re not a Watcher.” She puts her hand on my cheek. It doesn’t feel like Esther’s hand. It’s colder, not as natural a fit. But I appreciate it all the more for the effort it takes my mother to think of a comforting gesture and then do it.
“Okay, okay,” I grumble, but I smile at her. “The pantries?”
“How did you know?”
“Pretty obvious. It’s where I’d hide something from me too.”
She scowls. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Go ahead.”
I hurry to the kitchen and then pause outside the pantry rooms, taking a deep breath. Time to talk to my not-dead not-boyfriend.
ARTEMIS
“ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS, Moon?” Honora is leaning close to the mirror, applying her eyeliner with a steady hand. It’s fascinating to watch Honora work with fingernail polish and makeup as efficiently as she checks and loads her weapons.
Artemis sets down her phone. It feels like a bomb. She just hasn’t detonated it yet. “I’m sure. We’ll do the least damage possible. But it has to be done.”
“Does it?”
Artemis sighs and looks at the gun she’s loading very, very carefully. “If we don’t do it, someone else will. If it isn’t today for this demon, it’ll be next week for another one. It’s only a matter of time. At least this way, we can save them from themselves. We won’t kill anyone. We won’t even hurt them, if we can avoid it.”
“I’ve fought your sister before. She’s not going to be careful not to hurt me.”
“I know.” Artemis hates how much Nina hates Honora. It’s unfair and selfish of her sister. But she has a plan for that. She has a plan for everything. She just hasn’t been able to make herself hit send yet. “Don’t worry. We’ll eliminate the potential source for the most damage before we even get there.”
“You want to kill Nina? I never liked her, but still. Harsh.” Honora is smiling slyly.
Artemis rolls her eyes and pulls out her phone. Two calls to make. This is the easy one. She’s got her argument all ready. Why it has to happen this way. Why they have to take who they have to take. Imogen picks up on the third ring.
“Sanctuary, this is Imogen speaking, how may I direct your call?” There’s a laughing quality to her voice.
“It’s me.”
“I know. What’s up?”
“You have something we need. Someone.” Artemis takes a deep breath, ready to launch into her arguments.
“Cheers, what do you need me to do?”
“What?”
“What do you need? They’re keeping a close eye on things. I could drug them all, but I can’t guarantee everyone will eat the same thing. Hard to gauge how much it will take to knock out the Slayers, too.”