Cillian stands, pacing. “This is so messed up. This is all so messed up. I—I don’t have time for this. We don’t have time. What’s the triangle thing?” He shakes the necklace, our only link to Leo’s captors. “Why do they have it on necklaces?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say they worship him.” She makes a distasteful expression, as though something is sour or rotten. “It’s tacky, really. Maybe they’re trying to reach him.”
“Like Eve,” I say, “trying to make a new hellmouth.”
Jade leans back in her chair, her expression thoughtful. “Could be what they need Leo for.”
Rhys nods, his expression intent as he ponders these new developments. “They heard what Leo’s mum did and want him to do the same thing.”
“Would that be so bad?” I’m genuinely curious. “I mean, he’s Cillian’s dad.”
Cillian shakes his head. “Any god who runs an operation that uses other living creatures for parts isn’t a benevolent god. Plus, he’s missed every single birthday and Christmas even though he knew exactly where I was and could have come back to earth any time before magic died. Even if it was just for a day. He might be a god, but he’s still a deadbeat dad.”
Cillian’s mom looks sad. Then she shakes her head, her expression resettling into firm disapproval. “Cillian’s right. It wouldn’t be good if he came back. Especially now that there’s no competition. He used to talk about how he didn’t stay because he could only stand to be here for a day at a time with all the other powers and demons competing. They all sort of held one another at bay. If a god—any god—could get a foothold here now, they’d have no rival. It would be bad.” She gestures to the necklace dangling from Cillian’s hand. “I don’t know that it’s much to go on. The triangle is his name. It’s a symbol, or a receptacle. I’m not sure. He would never talk to me about it. All this time I’ve been studying, trying to learn more about various gods, about their power.”
“Why, though?” Cillian stops his pacing. “You want another boyfriend?”
She recoils as though he struck her. “I did it for you. Because I worry. About the parts of you that are him. He can’t be here for you, so I wanted to learn as much as I could. That way, if you are like him, if you do … change, then I can be here to help you navigate whatever comes up.”
“But that’s just it, Mum. You haven’t been here. I’ve been alone. I don’t care about the parts of me that are him. I care about the parts of me that have been so scared and so alone.” He doesn’t turn away when Rhys stands and takes his hand. He shifts so their shoulders touch.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, tears brimming in her eyes. “I wanted to take care of you. But I made the wrong choices. I’m so glad—I’m so glad you’ve had a family here, while I was gone. And I’ll try my best to make it up to you.”
Cillian clears his throat, trying not to cry. “I don’t care if my father was some big bad bloke from another dimension. I take after you, anyway.”
She laughs, then stands and wraps Cillian and Rhys up in a hug. “At least you have better taste in men than I do.”
I don’t want to be the reason this family reunion is disrupted, but Leo can’t have much time. And I have to find Artemis. I have to stop her. “How do we find them, though?”
Cillian’s mother releases him, straightening and pulling reading glasses from around her neck. She puts them emphatically into place. “Oh, I’ve done the research.”
Rhys’s face is nearly beatific as he looks at her. “Can I see it?”
“Next time, dear.” She pats his shoulder. “I have so much to show you. But for now …” She reaches into a cupboard and pulls out a recipe book. When she opens it, it’s revealed to contain hundreds of pages of notes in a cramped but efficient hand. “If they’re trying to reach him, they’ll go to his traditional seat of power, of course. It’s a little village about two hours from here. We can start searching there.”
“It’s more than we had before.” Rhys sounds excited.
I wish I could be excited too. But part of me hopes we don’t find them. That we never find them. Because if we never find them, I never have to face Artemis. But if we never find them, Leo will die.
I think of Sineya stabbing me over and over in my dreams. Maybe she was just preparing me for what real life as a Slayer is like.
27
IMOGEN WON’T STOP HOVERING AS we weapon up. Doug wrinkles his nose every time she’s nearby.
“I’m coming,” she says.
“You don’t have to. I know you didn’t get the fight training.”
Her grin is as sharp as the series of throwing knives she sheathes onto her belt. “I’ve got your back, Nina. To whatever end.” She hands me a wickedly curved sword. I take it, staring at my warped reflection in the blade.
Doug frowns at the selection of weapons. “I don’t know how to use any of these.”
I lower the sword. “You aren’t coming.” Whatever happens today, nothing will ever be the same. I can barely think. If I do, I start worrying about what I’ll do when I see Artemis, and I can’t afford to worry about that. The darkness inside me, once roaring and seeping and insistent, is comforting now. At least when I let it wash over me, I don’t have to feel anything.
Doug toys absentmindedly with the gold hoops in his ears. “Sean hurt me for years. And until now, I was okay to let it go, because I was free. But he hurt you, and you’re my friend. Nobody gets to hurt my friends. Besides,” he says, shrugging, “I want him to know I get to go to a Coldplay concert before I defeat him.”
I snort. “How can I argue with that?” I would rather Doug stay here, where he’s safe, but none of us are safe here. We know that now. He’s choosing to fight rather than hide, and I can’t blame him for that.
My mother is sitting in a chair we dragged into the gym for her. Whatever sedatives they meant to hit me with were designed for a Slayer. She can’t walk in a straight line yet. “And you’re sure the Littles are safe?”
I sheathe the sword. It makes a satisfying sound as it slides into place. I try not to imagine what sound it would make going into a body. “Yeah. You know Jessi won’t let anyone hurt them.” She’s keeping them at Cillian’s house. If we don’t come back, she’ll take care of them forever. I’m certain of that.
Rhys is poring over Esther’s collection of legends in the corner, letting Cillian do the weaponing while he does the research. Doubtless we would have had a lot more information to go on if I hadn’t let Artemis walk out with that book. I’ve made so many mistakes. I can’t afford any others.
“Has Ruth woken up yet?” Jade asks.
Rhys doesn’t flinch, exactly, but the way he turns the pages has a desperate sort of precision.
“No.” My mother delivers the news matter-of-factly. That single syllable holds all my fears. Ruth might never wake up. And it’s my fault. And everyone knows it now.
I strap the sword onto my back. My belt is a special Watcher design; the finest Italian leather, complete with stake-and-knife-size loops. I load up. “I’m leaving the tiny purple demons here. They did a good job before.” Or at least an okay job. Artemis managed pretty free range. I can’t figure out how she got past them, and I can’t understand their mandible-driven speech to ask. But they’re better than nothing. I’m leaving Pelly here too. It’s not designed for fighting. It’s been in the medical center, a gentle guard over unconscious Ruth. And my mother is going to stay with her too. We debated for a long time who should go, and normally I would have voted for my mother. She has more real-world combat experience than the rest of us combined. But we don’t know when she’ll be back to full fighting force, and we won’t leave Ruth unattended.