Page 118

:You may need my gift to speak to the dead,: Leonie added.

I nodded, giving them both a mental hug of gratitude. :I should warn you that what I saw of Tanza’s time in the basement before was far from pleasant. The torture she committed was as bad as the Dauphine, if not worse. I don’t know how willing she might be to even talk to us.:

Leonie shook her wrist slightly, letting the charms on her bracelet clink. :I have ways of dealing with unruly spirits, my queen.:

I shuddered. :You don’t want her spirit attached to you in any way. Trust me.:

As we started the brief walk toward the pool house, I opened my other sibling bonds, even Gwen’s, though I knew she might be preoccupied with preparing to go to Houska Castle. :I’m dealing with an issue I encountered in New York City. Do not approach me unless I call for you in the bonds. I may very well strike you down before I realize you’re my sibling.:

:If you need us, we will come at once,: Gwen assured me. Though I knew her well enough to feel a sense of harried pressure despite her willingness to respond if needed.

:Go, my friend. Save your knights. I look forward to meeting them.:

:Goddess, I hope and pray so. Thank you, my queen.:

:Safe travels.:

:And for you as well.:

Inside the pool house, I paused at the water’s edge and breathed in the serenity of my secret oasis. Water shimmered over the deep blue tiles. Now that I’d seen Palais de Isador, I recognized the same artistic handiwork in the glorious ceiling mural of the indigo sky glistening with the first stars of the evening.

I allowed a drop of my blood to drip into the water. Closing my eyes, I pictured my tree in the basement once more.

:G, take your teams and go first,: Rik ordered.

I felt the silent movement of my Blood passing through with barely a splash. Carys, Leonie, and Jenrade. More Blood. Until only Rik, Iztli, and Tlacel waited with me.

Opening my eyes, I reached out and took Rik’s big hand in mine. As one, we stepped into the water, sank quickly below its surface, and then walked out of the white trunk. Though Rik waited for me to pass first so he could crawl out behind me once more.

Itztli and Tlacel followed us, guarding our back, and then taking up position in front of the hole.

Turning back to the tree, I pressed my still bleeding palm against the slick, white trunk. :Thank you for bringing us through the darkness.:

The branches creaked and moaned as if rattled by a breeze, singing a mournful dirge.

Itztli saluted with the obsidian blade over his heart. :No one shall pass, my queen. Even if it’s our beloved sister or her daughter.:

I lifted my palm to his lips, and he cleaned the blood away, swiping the small wound shut with his tongue. :Thank you, my Blood.:

I pressed a gentle kiss to Tlacel’s lips and then turned to survey the battlefield, such that it was. Since no one from above had expected our return, the large concrete room was completely dark, broken only by the faint glow from the elevator’s buttons. Tendrils of darkness crept up from the bare ground around my tree’s roots and broken concrete. From drains leading even deeper into the earth, thickening shadows, until past the elevator, I couldn’t see the hallways leading to the storage room where we’d found Huitzilopochtli.

Waves of deep ultraviolet shadow lapped up the walls and ceiling, quickly flowing toward me as it sensed my return. Closing my eyes, I stepped into that darkness, letting it draw me near and wrap around me like a long-lost lover. Tasting me, while giving me all the news and sensations it had absorbed from beneath the greatest city in America.

Despite being limited to the darkness, all the subways and tunnels provided the true, deep pulse of the city. I saw humans sheltering in the darkness, hiding and running from lives or rules above. Many homeless and poor, some addicted to drugs or alcohol. So hopeless. Living without light. Thrown away by society. On the streets, they huddled on corners and in doorways or under awnings, but the multitude of people streaming by on their way to work or home didn’t even look at them.

The lost, forgotten, unwanted humanity, retreating to the darkness for safety. Easy prey for the Dauphine’s Blood who’d been turning them into thralls. I hated that they’d been used yet again. Discarded like refuse. Left to rot and kill and maim as many others as possible while the master kept hunting and turning his legion of killers.

The sphinxes put them out of their wretched misery, but anger still burned in my veins. These people deserved better.

Swirling around my body, the darkness filled me with other visions and images. My legion of rats, flowing through the streets, unaffected by the daylight, retreating into the tunnels to report and share what they’d seen. Nothing remarkable, for days on end. Though they began marking faces coming and going from my tower.

When Janelle’s face flashed, I focused on the visitor, an average, nondescript human male as far as I could tell. Dressed in a basic gray business suit. Not as nice as what Kostas could make. No remarkable jewelry or tattoos. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Pale skin.

:Sekh, where is this man now?:

The general scanned the city. The country. The globe. Then he whispered, shaken, :He’s nowhere, my queen. I see no other reference for him. Anywhere. At any time.:

I allowed the snippet from the rat’s memory to play out, but as soon as the man stepped out of the tower, he moved too quickly for the rat to mark where he went.