Chapter 20

T he delicate nature of our discovery convinced Bash to let me turn the problem over to Carter.

Numb as this latest discovery left me, I found it in me to be grateful Harrow had taken his leave when he did. Even if we had been on good terms, I wouldn't have wanted him watching uncensored recordings of me. As things stood between us, I couldn't imagine him getting his hands on the footage in the hopes he might discover a weakness in Kierce or secrets we had yet to uncover about Armie.

"I'm so damn sorry." Carter hugged me with bruising force. "I can't imagine how you're feeling."

"I'm not feeling anything right now." I pretended not to notice when she sniffed me like I was wearing her favorite perfume. "Give me an hour or two, and it'll hit me."

"You haven't told Matty or Josie yet." She released me with a knowing look. "You won't risk crumbling first in case they need you to sweep up their pieces." She nodded to Bash, who was giving his statement. "You don't always have to be the strong one."

"Yeah." I pictured Josie's face collapsing in on itself when she heard the news. "I do."

A dip of her chin accepted I wouldn't change my mind, and she went to oversee the techs.

Attempted murder aside, I was thankful to have met Carter, and not only because of her connections.

"We're done here." Kierce, who must have just finished his interview, slid his hand into mine. "Let's go."

The techs were professionals, I would give them that, but this was more invasive than my annual exam at the gyno.

Though reluctant to leave, I couldn't stomach staying either. I didn't want their pity. I wanted justice.

Too bad Armie, for all intents and purposes, was already dead. I killed him. So, why didn't I feel better?

"Okay." I trailed after Kierce, focusing on the back of his head, but we didn't make it far. "What?"

"Can I get a lift back?" Farah twisted her shoe on the porch. "I can walk back if it's too much trouble."

As fast as spirits zipped around, she didn't require mechanical assistance, not when Bonaventure was so close, but she hadn't been dead long enough to fully grasp her new talents. And, in driving her around, I had only reinforced her views held over from life.

"No trouble." I forced out the words. "Hop in."

"I will learn to drive." Kierce made it a promise. "I should be able to help when you need it."

"I can play chauffeur," Bash volunteered from the porch. "If you trust me with your baby."

"They're letting you leave?" I swallowed my surprise. "You're not staying to oversee the investigation?"

A thump of anxiety attempted to rise, but it slipped beneath the cool surface of my thoughts.

"I can take you to the cemetery and back to the shop. Malina is coming. She can pick me up there."

Malina was the clan priestess, its leader, and I doubted she was on her way to offer moral support.

"That would be great." I slapped my keys across his palm. "Thanks."

The 514 had revealed itself to Bash, who'd had no idea they existed, and now there would be a reckoning. I hadn't mentioned them, opting to introduce Carter as SPD. I would prefer not to be here when the shit hit the fan. I didn't want to be here period. I wanted to be home.

Bile rose up the back of my throat as I imagined walking into my apartment while the tech crew watched me onscreen. I wasn't sure I could face it. I couldn't stomach letting my siblings go about their lives for another minute either. I had to tell them.

Now.

Tonight.

Josie would never forgive herself.

Long after Malina had veered into the lot for Bash then sped off kicking up gravel, I sat in the backseat of the wagon with Kierce. I gave myself sixty whole seconds of resting my head on his shoulder before my respite felt too much like cowardice.

"Call them, tell them to pack an overnight bag, and we can go to the hotel you used before to discuss the situation."

The hotel I lived out of while recovering from a sprained hip Lyle gave me courtesy of his front bumper.

Chicken that I was, I loved the idea of postponing the inevitable. But Matty wouldn't wake without help. I couldn't bear the thought of Josie changing clothes where anyone might see either. No. I had to do it. In person. There was no other way that wouldn't leave me feeling dirty afterward.

Kierce read the answer before I could string the words together. "Would you like me to pack for us?"

Us.

He and I were an us .

The change in my relationship status caused my breath to hitch, but not for long.

"Yes." I pounced on the offer. "I'll get Josie and Matty then meet you back here."

"All right." He traced the curve of my jaw with his knuckle then we exited the wagon. "I'll be quick."

A fierce cry above us startled me before Badb landed on my shoulder, tucking herself tight to my neck.

"Thanks." I kissed her cheek. "I needed that."

As fast as she came, she left, cutting through the dark night to keep watch over our evacuation.

Matty was the harder of the two to wake but the easier of the two to convince he needed to pack fast. It had been drilled into him, into both of them—into all of us—nothing was permanent. Nothing but us. As I had always dreaded, Josie was the problem. She wanted answers. Right now. An explanation. A reason.

"If you love me even a little bit, Mary," I growled, loath to share a second longer with our watchers but equally determined they didn't get to watch her fall apart, "get your ass downstairs."

A change overtook her immediately. She dashed for her closet, still in her tee and panties. She snagged a canvas bag, slung it over her shoulder, wiggled into shorts, and left without another word of protest.

For some reason, her acquiescence—that punch of doubt—hit me harder than her pushing back.

Haunting screams assaulted my ears, rattling my bones as the slumbering dead woke to my fury, their volume dialed up higher than ever. Never had it been this bad, let alone struck me while I was at home. This was my safe place. Or it had been. Apparently, not anymore.

The episodes were escalating. Coming on more often. Increasing in strength. Gnawing at my sanity.

I had to get help. From Vi or Kierce or someone. Anyone.

Clutching my head, I struggled to turn the mental knob in the other direction. Failing, I crashed into the kitchen counter, knocking over a vase. I hit my knees. My palms. My cheek.

"Enough."

Power rolled through the room, the spirits quelling at the command, and then firm hands lifted me.

"Rest."

I wasn't sure if the order sent my lids sliding down or if exhaustion caused my world to go black.

And then I didn't wonder anything at all.

"Tell me what you know, or I'll send you back where you came from with my foot up your ass."

"Then you'd be hopping through life on one leg, Mary."

"Shut up, Mary."

"Frankie will tell you when she wakes." A finger skated across my cheek. "Give her time."

The familiarity of the loud voices roused me as surely as the crackle where Kierce's skin brushed mine.

"I'm awake," I mumbled, wiggling into the softness beneath me. "Now stop yelling."

"I must leave." Kierce slipped his fingers into my hair. "I will return soon."

Adrenaline flooded my veins, and I jerked upright, gripping his wrist. "You're going away again?"

"Only to run an errand." He brushed his lips across my knuckles, and chills skated down my arms. "I won't be long."

"I'll go with you." I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "Let me find my shoes."

The headrush caught up to me, and the room spun. Not my room. Not my bed.

"We're at the hotel." Matty gripped my shoulders to steady me. "Same one as last time."

From the open doorway behind him, I noted they had opted for adjoining rooms.

"What happened after I left?" Josie smoothed the hairs off my sweaty forehead. "You were bleeding and covered in glitter."

Bleeding. Glitter. Damn it.

"Keep her here." Kierce rose, making room for Matty to take his place. "Keep her safe."

"We will." Josie regarded him in a way that defied labels. "Hurry back."

A faint incline of his head was his answer, and then he was gone.

"Now that your birdfriend is gone—" she punched me in the shoulder, "—spill."

"First you need to take ibuprofen." Matty opened a bottle of soda and dropped two pills onto my palm. "And then you need to snack." He passed me a bag of cookies next. "Once you finish, you can talk."

"He's right." Josie lowered her head until her cheek rested on my thigh. "Sorry, Mary."

Gulping and chewing, chewing and gulping, I got everything down fast to restore my equilibrium before the food I was inhaling threatened to rocket back up my throat. Ten minutes was all the time I allowed myself, and only because my siblings were in arm's reach. Once I balled up the crinkling bag, stuffed it into the bottle, and twisted on the lid, I kept it to give my hands something to do besides itch to choke a dead man.

"I followed a lead tonight that brought me to Armie's restaurant." As much as I didn't want to, I had to ask Josie. "Have you ever been in his office?"

"Yeah." She found somewhere else to look. "A few times."

A bitter taste flooded my mouth, but I had to know. "You were distracted those times?"

"You could say that."

"Have you ever been in there alone? Ever snooped? Ever used his bathroom?"

"No." She lifted her head from my thigh. "He always meant to get the toilet fixed, but he never..."

"What's this about?" Matty scooted down to wrap a protective arm around Josie. "What did you find?"

"There was a secret room hidden behind a wall in the bathroom." I couldn't look at them. "Inside it was a freestanding room. A box. One he kept warded to keep people out."

"Oh." A thready whisper passed her lips. "What was in the box?"

"Surveillance equipment. He monitored the security feeds from the restaurant in there."

"That wouldn't freak you out." Matty gave no quarter. "What else did you find?"

Bile climbed up my throat, and I had to fight to keep it down, to act calm while I broke the news.

"He was watching us too. He had cameras in all our rooms. In the shop. In the garden."

A whimper that was two parts hurt and one part hatred sliced through the air.

"I'm sorry, Mary." I scooted down to pull her and Matty close. "That's why I got us out of there."

"The feeds are still live?" Matty's hold on us tightened as his mind whirred. "Who else knows?"

"Bash bought the place for the clan. He had no clue what it was hiding. He only showed up because he got an alert when Kierce and I began searching the property for evidence Audrey had been there." I stroked Josie's hair as she nestled her face into my neck and wept. "After we found the surveillance equipment, I called Carter."

"This is all my fault." Josie dug her nails into my arms. "He used me."

"We've been over this." I kissed the top of her head. "You're not to blame."

"What do we do?" Matty eased back enough to catch my eye. "How do we fix it?"

"I'll talk to Carter, see if the 514 can recommend someone we can trust to do the job right."

"We used the company Armie recommended for our new security system," Matty realized. "Damn."

"We need the hidden cameras taken down and any audio recording equipment there might be removed by professionals. We can keep the upgrades we made ourselves, but I want someone to go over them with a fine-toothed comb to ensure the only people who can access them are in this room."

Quiet sobs wracked Josie, and I held her tighter, like I could squeeze out the bad memories if I tried hard enough. But there was no sparing her from the knowledge Armie had violated her in ways that made me sick. He had seduced her in her own home, knowing he could go back to the restaurant and rewatch it or upload it to the internet or share it with friends or…

A million horrible ideas hit me, each one worse than the last until I couldn't hold back tears.

"You can have my room," Matty offered her, "if you need a minute alone."

For him to have gotten a separate room, rather than crash on a pullout with us, he must have figured out Kierce's sleeping situation and intended to bunk with him.

As she curled her fingers into my shirt, weeping harder, I shook my head at him.

Sunlight seeped from around the edges of the blackout curtains, and I followed a hunch. "Hit the lights."

After the room plunged into darkness, she allowed the embrace of the void to comfort her.

"She can sleep with me." Mobility limited by her hold on me, I lay down and pulled her with me, letting her curl against my chest like she had when she was small and afraid. "Wake me when Kierce gets back."

Matty padded away, fabric rustled, and then the slit of light spanning the threshold cut out.

He must have sat on the carpet with his back against the door, the better to guard us while we slept.

No sooner had I shut my eyes than I jerked awake to find Matty leaning over me.

Josie had turned over at some point, rolling away from me, and buried herself under the covers.

Careful not to jostle her, Matty and I traded places, and I followed Kierce into the second room.

"He shouldn't have woken you." He watched as I slumped onto the nearest mattress, tempted to rest my eyes a bit longer. "You've only slept for three hours."

"Three hours?" I forced my scratchy lids to resist the urge to droop. "It felt like three minutes."

"Rest." He sat beside me. "Nothing I have to say can't wait."

"You almost had me, but I won't be able to sleep for worrying." I rolled my hand. "Out with it."

"You cut yourself, in Josie's apartment."

"I knocked over a vase when I had that episode. I must have cut myself when I fell."

"Have you noticed anything unusual about your blood lately?"

"Josie said I was covered in blood and glitter."

"But you know better." He watched me. "You're not surprised to hear it."

"Aretha treated me the first time I went in the water with the asrai, and she noticed my blood was weird but didn't know what had caused it. I told her about the leaf, that I had been carrying it on me. She said I might have, I don't know, divine contamination?"

"Not even prolonged contact with the leaf would have caused a physiological alteration on that scale."

"You're scaring me a little."

"Divine contamination isn't far from the truth." His gaze slid away. "Your blood is ambrosial."

"How?" I jerked up my pant legs, but my cuts had scabbed over. "Why?"

Kierce sat there, studying the distant horizon, but he didn't answer me.

"Please." I rested a hand on his thigh. "Tell me."

"Had you eaten the fruit of my tree, it might have produced the same side effect."

"But I haven't eaten the fruit of your tree," I said, proving I was the great intellect in the room.

"No." He stared at the carpet between his feet. "I believe it's possible you ate from his."

His.

Who else could he mean but Ankou?

A stomach cramp twisted my gut until I dry heaved, producing nothing but misery.

"No." I refused to believe it. "He?—"

How many times had I eaten at Armie's restaurant? How many times had he cooked for us on weekends or when he slept over at Josie's? He helped her garden. For all I knew, his tree was hidden among hers. I might have been fed his poison apples or what-the-hell-ever for months now without a clue.

Instinct demanded I defend Armie, which was insanity. I knew Armie hadn't been real. I knew it. But, like my sister, I hadn't yet crushed the reflex telling me he was my friend, that he was a good person, that he would never hurt me on purpose. It was bull. All of it. Every minute we ever spent with him. A lie.

"I can't kill you myself."

Armie had told me that once.

"She can be…so…much more."

He told me that too.

But the untapped potential he dangled before me hinged on my death.

Call me crazy, but that was a deal breaker for me.

"If he fed me from his tree—" I swallowed hard, "—aside from sparkle plasma, what is it doing to me?"

"To eat divine fruit forges a link between the grower and the consumer." He exhaled. "Ankou must have feared you would discover him, or that his expulsion from this realm was imminent. He wanted that tie, a way to reach you across any distance. It could explain how he's been coming to you in your dreams."

"He's in my head." I stared at my scabby knees. "Does that mean he has control over me?"

"No." Kierce pinched my chin between his thumb and finger, forcing me to look at him. "He can't control or even influence you. He can only reach you in your dreams because your conscious mind is at rest."

"How long do the effects last?" A surge of hope rose in me. "Would eating your fruit cancel out his?"

"The duration is dependent upon how much and how often he fed it to you."

Days, weeks, months. "Which we can't know."

Kierce fell silent again, without answering my second question.

"What about the acolyte thing you mentioned?"

"I won't make you beholden to me."

"Between the two of you, I would much prefer you in my head."

"I understand now it would be a violation. You would regret it, regret me , in the end."

Worship did skew any relationship that might grow between us toward skeevy and manipulative.

"I think it's time you break it down for me." I girded my loins. "What was the purpose of your tree?"

"The tree is a living anchor." He touched the brand on my forearm. "With a drop of your blood on its bark, you could have summoned me across worlds. I would have been a tithe away, no matter the distance separating us."

Kierce at my fingertips did appeal. "That does sound nice."

"It could have been." He cast me a rueful smile. "Eating the fruit, if you chose to, would have given you strength, power, and a deeper connection to me." He turned somber. "I would have warned you of the repercussions before you made your choice."

"I believe you." I trusted his word. "And thank you, for trying to give me those things."

"It was selfish of me, to desire that tie to you."

"I accepted your brand, so maybe I'm the selfish one."

"I wish I could purge him from you," he said, that possessive edge cutting in, "but time is the only cure."

"You're saying I'm stuck." I flopped back on the mattress. "All I can do is wait it out."

"That would be the safest course of action, yes."

"What would have happened if Lyle had finished the job while I was bleeding god juice?"

"There's a chance you would have come back, but you wouldn't have been yourself."

"Are we talking zombie or…?"

"That's how—" he didn't want to finish the thought, but he pushed through, "—I was made."

Jerking upright, I couldn't wrap my head around it. "Why would Ankou want that?"

"I don't know, but I will do my best to discover whether it's his will…or his master's."

"What would an actual, one hundred percent death god want with me?"

"I wish I had answers for you, but the gods are jealous and vengeful. They don't share their reasons with those under their control. Why would they? We have no choice but to obey."

Bitterness radiated from him, prompting me to ask, "Did you want to become the Viduus?"

"I can't remember when or why I became what I am."

"How do you know it was the fruit then?"

"I have seen others made." His lips stretched thin. "I watched as they were primed for ascension."

"Can you really call slipping me fruit priming me?"

No instruction manual. No pep talk. No way to prepare myself.

"I'm failing you." His gaze roved my face. "I don't have the answers to protect you."

"Hey." I cupped his cheek, allowing my fingertips to touch his dark hair. "This isn't your fault."

"I've spent so much time forgetting, I can't remember anything with clarity until the moment I saw you."

"You're good at the whole flattering thing."

"You woke me up, Frankie, when I had been asleep for so long."

"Again with the flattery." I chuckled to hide my pounding heart. "You're going to make me blush."

"You're mocking me."

"No." I cradled his face between my palms to hold him steady when he would have glanced away. "I'm mocking myself." I ran my thumb over his bottom lip. "I don't know how I ended up here, with the Viduus. The Viduus. It blows my mind that a legend come to life looked at me and saw, I don't know. Anything worthwhile. I'm just me. Frankie. No one important."

"You're you ." He nipped the pad of my thumb, and heat stirred in my belly. "That's more than enough."

A faint knock on the door dumped ice water over my head. I expected Matty. What I got was Carter.

"Am I interrupting?" She swallowed a wicked laugh. "I can come back in five."

A wrinkle creased his brow as he withdrew, but I wasn't about to explain the jibe at his stamina.

"You didn't have to come all the way out here." I read unease in the set of her mouth. "You could have called."

"I wanted to do this in person." She slid a yellow bag off her shoulder that blended with the jacket of her pantsuit. "You need to see this." She removed a laptop from what turned out to be a backpack, one with charging plugs built in for the electronics it was meant to hold. "Are you sure you want Kierce present?"

A prickle of concern stung me between the shoulders. "Should he not be?"

"Nothing personal," she told him, booting up the laptop. "There's footage of a sensitive nature."

That she would spare my siblings and me humiliation bumped her even higher in my esteem.

"I understand." He rose with one last glance at me. "I'll wait in the hall so I don't disturb Josie."

After he shut the door, Carter joined me on the bed, dropping her computer onto my lap.

"How bad is it?" I wasn't sure I could stomach what I was about to see. "Who else knows?"

"Just watch."

Had the frame not been shot above a table in the restaurant—full of people—I would have balked at her rough handling of the situation. Then I almost balked again. This time because the person of interest had not been my sister, but they were caught in a compromising position, nonetheless.

Armie and Lyle sat on opposite sides of a booth. Probably planning my murder. That wasn't the surprise.

No.

That was Harrow, who sat beside his uncle, nodding along to whatever Armie had been saying.

Ready to tear a strip off his hide, to demand answers, I realized I was wrong yet again.

The shocker wasn't Harrow. Or Lyle. Or their clandestine meeting with Armie.

It was their waitress.

Audrey Collins.