“Nyx, I would do anything to help you,” he said. My ex’s brother sounded strong, but I knew that strength was a fragile thing. “I’ll be there within twenty-four hours. Can you start by getting the lake house ready for me?”
I wanted to tell him to forget it, to stay wherever he was, safe and happy, but I couldn’t. Instead I told him I’d meet him there.
The lake house was shuttered and dark, but I slipped in through an unlocked window. The wards I’d placed after Elizabeth and Alex had fled Minneapolis had held. Besides an ungodly smell coming from the kitchen and a layer of dust everywhere, the house was untouched. Only a family of mice had dared to take up residence.
Doc helped me set up a makeshift lab in the living room where Elizabeth and I had shared our first kiss.
“If there’s no solution in magic,” I asked, “what makes you so sure science will work?”
My father was the king of the underworld. If he didn’t know how to stop a zombie invasion, I didn’t have much hope that Alex would crack it.
“Magic and science go together,” Doc replied. “Many of the old gods had trouble accepting that.”
While we waited for Alex to show, I occupied my time by cleaning out the refrigerator. Alex and Elizabeth had left Minneapolis unexpectedly in the middle of the night, and there was a science experiment growing in the kitchen. I threw everything into a garbage bag and took it out to the curb, then scrubbed everything I could reach.
Afterward, I took a shower in the guest room where I’d stayed when I first met Elizabeth, and padded down the stairs barefoot and bare-chested.
A woman sat at the kitchen counter. She had dark frizzy hair and glasses, and wore a load of makeup, but I recognized her immediately. Elizabeth. My stomach lurched as I recognized my former girlfriend.
“What is she doing here?” I asked Alex, who was at the stove cooking. Doc had disappeared, which didn’t surprise me.
“It’s nice to see you, too,” Elizabeth replied. “I thought you’d be glad to see me. I’m better now, you know.”
“I want you to stay that way,” I told her. Underneath the disguise, she did look better. Some of the scarring from the fire had faded and her eyes were clear and bright.
“Why did you come?” I asked her softly. “It’s not safe.”
“We want to help,” she said. “You saved Alex and now we want to help you save everyone else.”
She gave me a hug, then touched the charms I always wore on a silver chain. “I see you found your mother’s charms.”
A shiver ran through me at her touch. Our eyes met and she looked away.
Alex cleared his throat. “Want some eggs, Nyx? We’ve been traveling all night and I’m starving.”
“Sure, Alex,” I said. I took a seat as far away from Elizabeth as I could. “Where’d the food come from?”
“Doc brought it,” Alex said happily. He slid a plate of eggs and toast over to his sister and then served me. “He even remembered orange juice.”
“Speaking of Doc,” I said. “Where is he?”
“In the basement,” Alex replied. I glanced at Elizabeth, who was pushing around her food without eating it.
“Why the basement?”
He shrugged. “Dunno, but I think I’ll check on him.”
After Alex left, Elizabeth and I avoided looking at each other.
I shifted in my seat. “You’re looking well.”
She bit back a laugh. “Hardly.”
“No, I mean it. You look… happy.”
“I am happy,” she said. “I wish you were.”
“You do? You don’t blame me for the fire? For what happened to you?”
“The Fates were entangled in my life long before I met you,” she said.
“Dating me didn’t help.”
She put her hand on my arm. “It didn’t hurt, either, Nyx. I don’t regret it.”
I covered her hand with my own. I didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t seem to expect me to say anything.
“Doc’s rigging up space for the test patients,” Alex said from the doorway. “Come check it out.”
I’d never been in the basement at the lake house. We followed Alex down the stairs. Their basement was nicer than my apartment.
In a few hours, Doc had fashioned a makeshift prison.
We smuggled Baxter into the house a few hours later. Doc and Alex took turns drawing blood while Elizabeth and I watched from a safe distance.
“You’re not hungry, are you?” I asked Baxter. I didn’t want him taking a bite out of someone while we worked on the cure.
“I could eat,” he said.
I held up the bags Ambrose had provided. “Lunch is served.”
While Baxter ate, I cornered Doc. “Do you think we really have a shot at this?”
“I do,” he said.
“But usually cures take years, decades even,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Nyx,” he said. “We have magic on our side.”
“I’ll leave it to you, then,” I said. I gave Elizabeth a hug. “Be careful, Elizabeth,” I added. “Hecate is still out there.”
“I’ll be careful,” she replied. “But don’t worry so much. She doesn’t know anything about me.”
Doc looked up from the paper he was writing on. “Not strictly true,” he commented. “I’m sure Wren told her all she knows of Elizabeth.”
“Wren? What happened to Willow?” Elizabeth asked.
Baxter snickered. I shot him a dirty look.
“Long story,” I said.
She waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. Forget I asked.”
“No, you should know,” I said. “You’ll be more prepared. Alex, too.”
I settled in and related everything that had happened after they left Minneapolis, leaving out the more intimate details.
Elizabeth got the gist, though. “Nyx, I don’t know what gets you into more trouble,” she said. “Your penis or your kind heart.”
“His penis,” Alex and Doc replied at the same time. Baxter bellowed with laughter.
I grinned sheepishly. “I am a guy.” I sobered quickly, though. “Elizabeth, I’m not kidding. You and Alex need to be extremely careful while you’re here.”
I was torn. I didn’t want to leave them, but I needed to get back to the Dead House and check in.
“Go ahead, Nyx,” Doc said. “I’ll make sure no harm comes to your friends.”
If a god couldn’t keep them safe, I didn’t have a shot in hell. I nodded and headed back to camp.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When I got back, Luke Seren was parked outside the gates of the fort, behind the wheel of a shiny black Lincoln. I didn’t open the gate.
Instead, I went over to his car. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you some supplies,” he said. “Frankly, I expected a warmer welcome.”
“Let me see,” I said.
He popped the trunk, which was full of food and blankets.
“I can be your food tester if you’re worried it’s poisoned.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I appreciate it. We’re a little on edge right now. In fact, you should probably go.”
“I understand,” Luke replied. “But at least let me help you carry these.”
I studied him. “Why are you helping us?”
“It’s despite my better judgment, I assure you.”
His blunt response eased my fears. “I’ll show you where you can put the groceries, but then I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“I understand,” he replied. “I’ll make it brief.”
In fact, Luke’s visit was almost ridiculously short. He said hello to Ambrose, put down the bags of groceries, and then made his departure.
“I’ll show you out,” Ambrose said.
“No need,” Luke replied. “I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll be out of your hair shortly.”
It wasn’t more than five minutes later when I heard his car start up and drive away.
“Think he’s gone?” I asked Ambrose.
“I don’t think he wanted to stick around,” Ambrose replied.
“Then why did he show up at all?” I asked.
“He’s hedging his bets,” Ambrose said. “If we come out on top, we’ll remember he did us a favor.”
“And if we don’t?”
He shrugged. “Luke’s a survivor.”
We had more important things to worry about. I helped Ambrose store the supplies and then headed back to the Dead House.
Emmett Greenfellow was waiting for me there. When he saw me, he stopped and gave me a low bow.
“How did you get past the guards?” I asked.
He gave me a stiff bow. “It is of no import,” he said. “You saved my life, Nyx Fortuna.”
“I told you to forget about that.” Gratitude made my skin itch.
“I cannot,” he replied. “And that is why I came to warn you. You have been betrayed by someone. Hecate’s followers are on their way here.”
“How do you know that?”
“No one pays attention to me,” he said simply. “I hear things. But you must warn the others.”
“Thank you,” I said. He didn’t leave, so I asked, “Is there anything else?”
“I will stay to fight,” he said simply.
“Thank you,” I said again.
Emmett Greenfellow had given us a fighting chance by removing the element of surprise. When the magical world heard the Fates had been defeated, it didn’t take long for them to realize helping us wasn’t in their best interest of breathing.
“Hecate will be here soon. And I’m guessing she’ll bring the flesh eaters,” I told Doc and the others.
“We won’t be able to hold them off,” Naomi said. “Any luck on the cure yet?”
Doc frowned. “We’re close, but we need more time.”
“We don’t have time,” Talbot said. “We’ve contained an outbreak, but won’t be able to for much longer. And who knows how many flesh eaters Hecate still has.”
“I have an idea,” I said. “It won’t stop them, but it might slow them down.”
“The flesh eaters?” Ambrose asked. “You think we should feed them.”
“Exactly,” I said. “If they’re well fed, they might not want to fight.”
“I saw a dead raccoon near the lake,” Talbot offered.
“That should work,” I said.
Rebecca and Claire went to the lake to look for fish, preferably dead ones, while Talbot and Ambrose made several trips to the garbage heap at the edge of the fort. It smelled putrid, but the flesh eaters would love it.
I occupied my time by pouring lines of salt throughout the camp. It was a myth that salt kept the demons away completely, but they didn’t like it. It was fortuitous that my secret hideout was an abandoned military fort.
“How many flesh eaters to you think Hecate has?” Talbot asked as we lugged the bags and buckets of scrap meat to the pit I’d dug. I’d had help, of course.
“One flesh eater is too many,” I said.
“She’s been planning this for a long time,” Talbot commented. “She recruited Danvers, set him up next door to Deci, lured Claire into the underworld. All of that takes planning.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Hecate? Of course not.”
“I meant my cousin.” He’d known exactly who I was talking about, but wanted to avoid an answer.
“You don’t, do you?” I persisted.
“Do you blame me? You don’t trust her, either,” he said.
“Of course not,” I said. “It was either Stockholm syndrome or she’s part of Hecate’s plan and Claire will betray us.”
“You’re an ass,” Claire said from the doorway. “You didn’t even consider another possibility.” She pursed her lips like she was trying to hold something in.
“Which is?” I asked.
What she said next left Talbot and me openmouthed, looking like fish out of water.
“The aunts knew exactly where I was,” she said. “They should have. They were the ones who sent me there.”
“You were spying on Hecate the whole time?”
“Yes, genius, I was the aunts’ spy.” With that, she flounced away.
“Your family is weird,” Talbot said.
“Punny,” I said. My brain was busy with Claire’s bombshell. The aunts had sent me to find Claire, but in reality, they’d known where she was the entire time. In the underworld, with their worst enemy.
Claire came back seconds later. “Someone took down the wards,” she said. Someone we trusted had betrayed us. Beware of those bearing gifts and all that.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I rushed outside. Claire and Talbot followed close behind.
There were no stars out and only a sliver of a moon shone in the night sky. “Do we have time to get the wards back up?” Talbot whispered.
I shook my head and pointed to the tall weeds growing in between the buildings. Something was moving through them.
Hecate’s group came quietly, but the rippling weeds alerted me. I sent up a bit of magical light, which signaled to the rest of the group that we had company. I watched the tall weeds in the center of the square sway as our enemies approached.
Talbot was the first one to join me.
“They’re here,” I said.
She sent the flesh eaters in first. They emerged from the tall grass, their mouths foaming, and screeched. As I had suspected, they were hungry, maybe starving. There weren’t as many as I’d feared. With hunger and surprise on her side, she didn’t need many. Our motley crew was braced for whatever was coming, thanks to Emmett.
The leader sniffed the air and caught the scent of the rotting flesh we’d put in the pit. He broke into a run, stopping occasionally to sniff the air. Another one, a female, let out a sound like she had a bellyful of gravel and trotted after him. Two dozen of their friends followed them into the pit.
“They’ll try to climb out eventually,” Talbot said.
“Already thought of that,” I said. “Watch.” The trap sprung. A warded silver net covered the top of the pit. The flesh eaters were trapped, but they didn’t seem to notice. The sound of frenzied eating arose from the pit.
We waited, but no one else appeared. A blob moved across the sky. As it drew closer, I made out the harpies. They swooped in low, heading straight for Naomi.
“Watch out!” I cried. I threw a ball of red flame at Fleet Foot. She screamed and then the smell of burning harpy filled the air. It smelled a little like rotisserie chicken, if the chicken had been left out in the sun. Still burning, she dropped out of the sky and landed with a thud. One down, two to go.
Swift Wing headed straight for me, her talons spread wide, her mouth open in a horrible screech.
Talbot still held a bucket of entrails. “She’s hungry,” I said. “Maybe the rotting meat will distract her long enough.”
“Long enough for what?” Rebecca asked.
“This.” The harpy was within arm’s reach. I took my athame and aimed for the heart. She fell with a thump. Her sisters screamed in anger, but I sent a bolt of magic their way. They exploded. Guts rained down, but we managed to avoid them.
The harpies were dead.
“What now?” Talbot asked.
Naomi asked, “Did it work?”
Before I could answer either question, the ground shook with the force of a giant’s steps. Shock held me motionless as an enormous one-eyed man advanced. Hecate had a Cyclops on her side.
There were only hollow sockets where his eyes would normally be. His chest was bare, but he wore what looked like pajama bottoms. His one eye was located where his belly button would normally be.
“It’s Femus,” Ambrose said. “The last Cyclops. I thought he left this world long ago.” His face was lit by wonder.
I gave him a tap on the shoulder. “Quit fan-boying and tell us how to defeat him.”
“He can’t see us,” Talbot said. It was a fals
e hope. Talbot was looking in the wrong place. The Cyclops’s enormous eye had already latched onto us.
“His one eye is in his belly,” I replied.
The giant was slow-moving, but each footstep created pockets of devastation. A second wave of flesh eaters ran with the giant, managing to avoid getting squashed. About a hundred demons joined the fray.
Dark shapes moved all around us, making it hard for us to see who was friend and who was foe.
“Illuminate,” I said. The air around us glowed, lighting up the night sky enough so we could see. The demons shielded their eyes.
I took the opportunity to stab one of them with my athame.
It was impossible to watch out for my loved ones in the heat of the battle, but I tried. I wasn’t the only one.
As I fought, I grappled with the idea of the traitor in our midst. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that we’d had two visitors only hours before we were attacked.
Talbot was in the middle of the fray. His eyes went silverlight and he sent spell after spell at the demons, but he kept a close eye on Naomi.
Rebecca and Claire lobbed balls of the silver-and-salt mixture. I scanned the area, but there was no sign of Hecate. Naomi helped when she could, but her duties as Fate kept her busy.
Hecate had been confident enough that the B team would be able to defeat us. I expected to see some of the minor gods fighting on the other side, but none appeared. Either they were still withdrawn from the mortal world or they weren’t taking sides. I hoped it was the latter. Even Boreas, who’d helped break Hecate out of Parsi Enterprises, was sitting this battle out.
Wren and Naomi rolled on the ground. Wren finally gained the upper hand and hit her sister in the face with a rock. Wren wrapped her hands around Naomi’s neck and squeezed. I raced toward them, but Rebecca got there first. She grabbed Wren by her dark red hair and pulled. Clumps of hair fell, but Wren refused to let go. Rebecca bent Wren’s neck back as far as it would go and she finally released Naomi to face Rebecca.
Rebecca smashed her forehead into Wren’s. There was a crack as their heads collided. Wren dropped, probably unconscious. Rebecca kicked her body aside to get to Naomi.
The ground shook. I couldn’t stop to see if Naomi was okay. I pivoted. The Cyclops was lumbering toward Talbot, whose attention was on Naomi. He had his back to the giant and didn’t seem to realize the danger.