“But when they showed up last night, it made me ill. They’d finally come, and I didn’t want to go with them.
But the thing is, they weren’t really there for me at all. They just wanted to get rid of Sirhan. But maybe they wouldn’t have come at all if I hadn’t told them about the parish. Maybe they wouldn’t have taken Baby James. This is my fault.” Jude closed his hand over the knife’s blade, letting it burn the insides of his fingers.
“Jude, don’t,” I said.
The wolf in my head wanted me to rage at my brother. Blame him for even bringing the Shadow Kings into our lives in the first place. But I couldn’t. Daniel was right, giving in to the wolf in any way was not an option now. I’d been strong enough to keep it almost completely at bay since Wednesday—since I’d found my ability to push away my anger and start forgiving—and it had felt so freeing not to have the wolf in my head. I wasn’t going to willingly let it in again. I refused to feed the beast any longer.
I left Daniel’s embrace and went to my brother. “You had no way of knowing that they’d do what they did. At least you know now that you didn’t want to go with them.”
“More important,” Daniel said. “You know Caleb’s e-mail address. We can use that to contact him. Maybe we can arrange some sort of ransom for James.…”
Jude shook his head. To my relief, he put the knife down and reached into his jacket pocket with his uninjured hand. “I stole your cell phone earlier,” he said to April, giving her an apologetic glance.
She didn’t meet his gaze, and I wondered if she was thinking about how he’d admitted twice now in one conversation to breaking her trust.
“I e-mailed Caleb’s address already. This is all I got back.” Jude handed the phone to Daniel.
He read the message out loud. It was the same one the SKs had delivered through Jude: “Sirhan is dead. The Death Howl is over. The ceremony will go forward tomorrow. You will come. You will fight. The Shadow Kings will lap the blood from your throat. There, we will bring the child. You will fight, or he will die.”
I heard a high-pitched gasp from up the stairs, and I realized my mom must have been listening to our conversation from the landing. The knockout gas had left her extremely nauseous, and she’d supposedly been lying down since we got back from searching. This was the first time she’d heard the actual message.
“I tried e-mailing again,” Jude said, “but the account has been closed.”
“But what’s the effing point of that message?” Slade asked from where he sat on the bottom stair. “Isn’t it kind of a given that Daniel will be fighting in the ceremony? Why kidnap the baby in order to force Daniel into the fight? He’ll already be there. There’s got to be more to it.”
“It’s his backup plan,” Brent said. “Caleb always has a backup. He’s paranoid and always has to have something to fall back on.”
“Yeah, but why demand that we fight when we’re already going to? What’s the meaning?”
“It means I’m going to be fighting in the ceremony,” I said, standing tall. “Jude wasn’t meant to succeed when he tried to stab me. He was trying to get my attention. The message was for me. Caleb wants me in the fight, and that’s what he’s going to get.”
“No way,” Talbot said. “You can’t do what Caleb wants.”
“But why would he want you?” April asked.
“Caleb has a thing for Grace,” Talbot said with disgust.
I snapped a glance at him. “And you don’t?”
He glared at me. “If Caleb wants you in the fight, then you should be as far from it as possible. Caleb—”
“No!” I shouted. “He said I fight, or James dies. Which means I’m fighting. When Daniel enters the ceremony, I’ll be entering at his side. I probably would have regardless of what Caleb wants. I’m fighting, and you can’t stop me. I’m not going to let anyone Wendy me.”
“Wendy you? What the hell does that mean?” Talbot asked.
“Wendy, from Peter Pan!” I shouted at him. I’m sure I sounded completely unhinged. But I couldn’t help it. “Peter and the lost boys get to go off fighting pirates while Wendy has to stay back and clean their stupid tree house because they want her to be their mother.
Well, I’m not doing it. I’m not going to be sidelined. I’m fighting for my baby brother, and that’s final.”
“She’s being unreasonable,” Talbot said to Daniel. “Tell her to sit this one out.”
Daniel stood at my side. “If Grace wants to fight, she’ll fight.”
Talbot scowled. His behavior made no sense. He was the one who’d taught me how to fight in the first place, encouraged me always to use my powers. Why would he ever try to make me stay away from the Challenging Ceremony?
“If Caleb wants her in the fight,” Talbot said, “then he either wants to kill her with his own bare hands, or he wants to make her angry enough that she’ll try to kill him, forcing her to fall to the Urbat curse.”
“That’s not going to be a problem.” Daniel placed his hand on the small of my back. “Because I’m going to kill Caleb Kalbi.”
“Daniel?” I looked up at him.
“If I’m this thing, this true Hound of Heaven, and if God made me to destroy pure evil, then that’s what I’m going to do. Starting with Caleb.”
“But I thought you said only Gelals and Akhs were pure evil? Caleb is still human. You said he could still choose to change his ways.…”
Daniel shook his head. “This is the proof I needed, Grace. Doing this, taking Baby James to use him against us, it proves that whatever spark of humanity I’d hoped still existed inside of Caleb is gone. He is pure evil—human heart or not. And I’m not bound by the Urbat curse. I can kill him without losing myself.”
“Daniel…” I looked up into his deep dark eyes, which told me he was determined to do what needed to be done. He’d embraced his calling as a true Hound of Heaven.
“Excuse me?” came Jarem’s accented voice from the group of Etlu Elders. “Have you considered that one of Caleb’s intentions with this kidnapping is to prevent us from being properly prepared for the ceremony? Throw us off our game, as the saying goes. We have already lost several precious hours that should have been spent planning and making preparations.”
The other Elders, including Lisa, nodded in agreement with Jarem.
“The message says that they’ll bring your little brother to the ceremony,” she said. “We have to assume he’ll still be alive when they do. If there’s no other way to find James, then we must accept that the best way to get him back is to be as prepared for the ceremony as possible.”
Daniel looked at me, and I nodded. “So be it,” he said.
Thirty-nine hours remained until the ceremony, and we were going to be ready for whatever Caleb and the Shadow Kings could throw at us.
Chapter Thirty-three
PREPARATIONS
FRIDAY, ELEVEN A.M., THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS UNTIL THE CEREMONY
The first thing the council decided we needed to do was get a proper lay of the land at Frightmare Farms. Get to know our battlefield. So most of the council of Etlu Elders, plus the other Elders Daniel and I had also selected—my father, Talbot, and Jude—headed out for the farm, with the lost boys in tow. It seemed the closer we got to the ceremony, the closer the boys wanted to stick to Daniel and me. I found their protective nature reassuring, if not a little annoying.
“What do we do if the owners show up?” I asked Gabriel on the way over to Frightmare Farms. It may have been abandoned as a Halloween attraction, but somebody still owned the place. It would be just our luck if the owners decided to take a midnight stroll on their property during the Challenging Ceremony.
“Not a problem,” Gabriel said, checking the ancient-looking pocket watch he pulled from his jacket. “In about an hour’s time, we’ll be the owners of the land.”
“What?”
“I noticed the ‘for sale’ sign when we were here with Sirhan. I called the Realtor and made a cash offer
the owners could not refuse, on contingency of taking immediate possession of the property. One of the Elders is handling the paperwork and wire transfer as we speak.”
“That ‘for sale’ sign was for a sixty-acre parcel of land around the farm. That must have cost a fortune.”
“Until Sirhan’s successor is named at the Challenging Ceremony, the council controls Sirhan’s estate. Trust me, money is not a problem.”
The caravan of Escalades pulled into the parking field near the farmhouse, and Gabriel led us all to the barnyard. The Elders, dressed in regular clothing, congregated around the spot where Sirhan had died, their heads bowing in silent reverence.
“How do they know that’s the spot?” my dad asked as we watched them. Daniel and I had covered up the blood-soaked ground with dirt and straw before we left.
“They can feel it. I can feel it,” Daniel said. “It must be some sort of pheromone footprint left behind when he died.”
“Is that how the challengers will know where the ceremony will be?”
“Many will be able to sense it. And word will travel fast for those coming great distances,” Jarem said. “This is the epicenter,” he continued, addressing the other Elders and holding out his hands at his sides. “Let the battlefield be determined from here.”
I watched as eight of the Elders stood back-to-back right over the spot where Sirhan had died, and then they started walking with careful measured steps, radiating out like the spokes of a wagon’s wheel.
Gabriel must have noticed my confused look as I watched them. “Pack laws dictate that the battlefield is to be measured out in paces. One hundred of them, creating a circle roughly 150 yards wide around the epicenter of where Sirhan died. This will be the challenging ring. Anyone who enters this ring after the ceremony has started will have to fight. Any fighter who leaves the ring will forfeit his challenge.”
The Elders kept measuring out their paces until they’d created a giant circle, encompassing the farmhouse, barnyard, and the large dilapidated barn. Then Daniel, Jude, Talbot, the lost boys, and I gathered rocks and marked the boundaries of the challenging ring.
We gathered again in the middle, and Daniel mapped out the battlefield on a piece of notebook paper, showing the buildings and the barnyard and a thick black circle for the boundary line. I was more than happy that the circumference of the circle had barely skimmed the edge of the corn maze. I wouldn’t want to have to take on fighters inside the maze again.
“Will you explain the rules?” Gabriel asked Jarem.
Jarem nodded solemnly, as if being asked was a great honor. “The beginning of the ceremony is quite … well, ceremonial, so to speak. Since Daniel will be fighting in lieu of Gabriel, the beta, Gabriel must present Daniel in the center of the ring as the prime challenger—the incumbent, if you want to think of it that way. There will be certain words said, and Daniel’s face will be painted with specific markings that will signify his rank as the challenger to be beaten. Once Gabriel has retired, Daniel will then be required to invite any other challengers to step into the ring.”
“How many challengers can we expect?” I asked.
“At a normal Challenging Ceremony, perhaps one or two. However, this ceremony will be different because of…” Jarem glanced up at Gabriel.
“Because of me,” Gabriel finished for him. “The Etlu Clan is large and influential, not to mention wealthy. I am known well for my pacifist ways, and many of the other larger packs have been anticipating Sirhan’s demise for quite some time, hoping they can easily take possession of this pack from my hands. The short timeline until the ceremony may prevent some from coming, but I would think it safe to anticipate at least five challengers—other than Caleb.”
“So they’ll come expecting Gabriel, but what they’ll get is Daniel,” I said. “A true alpha instead of a pacifist beta. That’ll be a nice shock.”
“Secret weapon,” Ryan said, punching Daniel on the arm. “I bet a bunch of them will totally rethink challenging.”
“Not necessarily,” Jarem said. “We can use the surprise to our advantage; however, it cannot be our only strategy. Most Urbat would not challenge a true alpha—however, it has been centuries since a Challenging Ceremony involving a true alpha has occurred. Not since Sirhan was made leader after his father died. I am afraid, to many younger Urbat from packs other than ours, the very idea of a true alpha is merely a fairy tale.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Even after we present Daniel as the prime challenger, I am afraid many of the other challengers may feel they have come too long of a way not to make a challenge for the position of alpha, regardless of the presence of a true alpha or not.”
Daniel nodded. “So no matter what, I can’t expect that Caleb will be the only challenger?”
“Certainly not.”
“And what happens when there’s more than one challenger?” my father asked.
“They must all fight it out. The last man standing wins.”
“But Daniel can try working his true alpha mojo on them. Get them to submit to his authority?” I asked.
“Mojo?” one of the older-looking Elders asked. “What is mojo?”
“Essence, power, whatever.” I waved my hand up and down in front of Daniel. “He can do that thing that makes other people want to bow to him.”
“Ahh,” the Elder said. “Yes, that is Daniel’s greatest advantage. That is the danger of trying to challenge a true alpha—you may end up one of his subjects instead.”
I didn’t like that word—subjects. Caleb ran his pack like a cruel dictator or general. Sirhan ran his pack like a somewhat benevolent king. To me, a pack seemed more like it should be one big, not-so-normal family. At least, that’s how I’d run it.
“Not everyone will submit to the will of a true alpha,” Gabriel said. “It only worked on a few of Caleb’s boys in the warehouse, remember?”
I nodded.
“Your ‘mojo,’ so to speak,” Jarem said to Daniel, “will only work on some. And certainly not Caleb. He did not even recognize the authority of his own father. Those who will not submit by choice will have to brought to the point of submission by force—or finished off altogether. You must be the last man standing in order to win.”
Daniel grew quiet and still, I imagine absorbing all the information. He looked up at Jarem. “What do you mean ‘finish them off’? What does it take to be the last one standing?”
“Whatever it takes. There are four possibilities once you, or any challenger, enters the ring. You can leave the boundaries of the ring voluntarily and forfeit your challenge; you can submit to another challenger and become his subject; you can be killed by another challenger; or you can be the last man standing and therefore the winner. You must understand, the Challenging Ceremony is a fight to either submission, or death.”
I willed away the dread in my heart that pushed against the inside of my rib cage. I didn’t like the idea of Daniel, or me, entering a fight to the death. My plan was to stay and fight until Caleb was taken care of, and Baby James secured, and then I would exit the ring, allowing Daniel to win. But that was making the very large assumption that Daniel and I would still be standing at the end of it all.
Daniel took in a deep breath and sent it out slowly through his teeth. “I won’t kill the other challengers. Caleb, yes; any Gelals and Akhs who enter the ring with him, certainly. They’re pure evil, and it’s my responsibility to destroy them. But these other possible challengers? They don’t deserve to die just because they’ve challenged my authority. I won’t kill them.”
“Once you enter that ring, you either submit or force the others to submit,” Jarem said. “You kill or be killed.”
“He’s just as bad as Gabriel,” a black-bearded elder named Bellamy said. Lisa had told me that he claimed to have once been an actual pirate of the Caribbean. “We lose the pack to Caleb no matter which coward we choose.”
“He’s not a coward,” I said. “He’s just not a five-hundred-year-old barbarian
who thinks indiscriminate killing is the right thing to do.”
“I’ll fight,” Daniel said. “I’ll use my mojo, or whatever it is. But I won’t kill any challenger other than Caleb.”
Lisa looked at Daniel with pride in her eyes. “Your strategy will have to be to wound other challengers to the point that they’ll beg to submit.”
Daniel swallowed hard. I knew he didn’t like the idea of wounding anyone like that, but he didn’t protest Lisa’s suggestion. It was better than killing random strangers.
“Then you’ll lose,” Bellamy said, shoving his face right up into Daniel’s. “Maybe Marrock had the right idea walking out. You’re too much of a child to understand what it takes to be a leader.”
Daniel stood his ground against Bellamy, glaring into his eyes. “You’re welcome to challenge me yourself in the ring,” Daniel said, squaring his jaw. I could feel the power radiating off of Daniel’s shoulders until the giant bearded man took a large step backward, away from Daniel.
“No,” Bellamy said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you won’t kill, you’ll be killed.” He pointed at me. “And your girlfriend, too.”
Daniel glanced away when he mentioned me.
“Not necessarily.” Talbot, who had been otherwise silent, said. He adjusted his baseball cap on his head. “What if another challenger in the ring took out anyone who refused to submit for you?”
“There’s no guarantee that would happen,” Jarem said. “The other challengers will fight among themselves, certainly, but we can’t just hope they pick each other off for us.”
“But what it there was a guarantee?” Talbot asked. “What if I entered the ring as a challenger?”
Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. His brows furrowed. “You want to challenge me?”