Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

PIPER

I held the demon off, but I'd never felt anything this strong before. The body weight alone stole the breath from my chest. I shoved my hand into its jowls, holding it back from biting my head off. Drool and slime ran down my hands and over my arms. The smell of decay seeped from its hot breath and I nearly choked on the stench. I tried to kick out, to use my blood magic on it, but it wouldn't stop. Like a mindless animal, it raised its claws above me to take my head. I sucked in a sharp breath, bracing for the strike. The air whizzed and there was a wet thunk sound. The demon fell limply over my chest with an arrow jutting from its head.

Its dead body twitched on top of me, and I shoved my arms into its chest and threw it off me. That arrow was meant for Gray. I knew it was. When I glanced up to where Atlas had been perched, he gave a single nod and a small solute with the end of his bow. I turned toward Grayson to grab him but he was already running down the side of the riverbank. He glanced back at me with a hiss, then he leapt into the water. I ran to the edge to see if I could spot him, but the flashing lights and smoke from the fireworks made it impossible.

Just then Astrid lifted her arms and threw her magic out. It rolled over the ground like a thick fog. Zinnia joined in beside her and the two of them forced the ground to close up, trapping the demons left above ground. The demons were turned to dust by Tucker or shot to hell by Beckett and Kylian. Soon they were all dead and I was left standing there watching the water for any hint of Grayson.

When I looked up to where Atlas was, he leapt off his perch on The London Eye and took off running down the riverbank, searching for Grayson.

Kylian walked up to my side. "If we killed that one, this would be much easier."

I shook my head. "He had the shot. He saved me instead."

"So?" He shrugged.

"So I don't think he actually wants to kill Grayson." The others began to line up next to me one by one until we all looked out over the water. "This isn't working. We're always two steps behind."

Astrid gave a reluctant nod. "I agree. We have to go about this a different way."

"As much as I hate to admit it, my hunting skills have got us there, but the execution is lacking." Kylian plucked up a small stone from the stone wall and tossed it into the river.

"I've been thinking about this." I paused to gather my thoughts. "When I was in Gray's dreams the voice mentioned someone named Dracinda. Until we figure out who she is, we need to capture him and hold him. This curse is old as hell. We're going at it with more current methods. What if . . . what if we need something old? Something as old as the curse."

Zinnia turned to face me fully. "You might be onto something."

In my bones I felt like I might be. "So where can we get old magic?"

"Beck, I have an idea. Bring us home." Zinnia slid her hand into Tucker's and let their fingers wind together.

"With pleasure." Beckett waved his hand and opened a portal for us.

I hesitated for a moment, knowing we were leaving Grayson and London behind. But I knew this would be for the better. We needed to change tactics, otherwise we would always be chasing him and fighting demons. Whatever entity had a hold of Grayson, it was smart and we needed to fight fire with fire, so I would leave here only to come back stronger. I stepped through the portal and moved so quickly we were back in Evermore in an instant.

We were in the courtyard and surrounded by the rest of Zinnia's people. They all stood around as if we'd arrived on cue. Maze stood there holding a big white box in his hand and a white plastic fork. He shoved it into the box and came back with a big bite of cake.

"We're going on a field trip." He took another fork from his pocket and offered it to Tilly who stood at his side.

She shook her head, declining it. "I'm full from the donuts we just had."

"You've got to eat to keep your strength up."

When she only looked at him he shrugged and put it back in his pocket.

"Where are we going, Maze?" Tuck put his hands on his hips as he peeked inside the box.

Maze turned away from him and put a protective arm over the cake. "Niche and Adrienne need to go to the library in Hexia. And stop looking at my cake or I'll stab you for it."

Tuck arched his eyebrows. "Is that a fact?"

"It's your future. Make better decisions," Maze snapped at him and shoved another piece of cake in his mouth.

Brax busted out into deep rumbling laughter. "Sparkle vampires says things like this. Is very funny."

"Sparkle vampires?" As far as I knew there was no such thing. Then I thought about it. "Do you mean Twilight?"

"Da." He nodded. I didn't have time to ponder his obsession with Twilight when it hit me, we were going to a place I'd never even heard of.

"Wait, hold up a second . . . Where is Hexia? What is Hexia?" I held my hand up. I'd been so ready to jump right into their suggestions that I hadn't even stopped to ask what was happening.

Zinnia gave herself a little facepalm. "I forgot that you don't know this world yet. Hexia is the seat of the oldest witches' city in the world. Our elders are there, and it's the only witch city that stood the test of time against my father, Alataris. They have knowledge we couldn't even dream of. Our histories, our spells, and pretty much anything we might need are there. The last time I was there it was pretty amazing. Even if there was drama."

"Drama?" That was the last thing I needed.

She waved my words away. "That's a story for another time."

Serrina motioned for the others to gather in closer to us. "Listen, we have to go to Hexia, but I think you're going to need us all, at least based on what Niche and Adrienne havebeen telling us. The spell we are going to do is going to be something huge and will require a lot of power.

Niche ran out from one of the hallways with her bright-red hair streaming out behind her. Adrienne followed quickly behind her with a stack of books in her arms. "Wait for us."

"This is your idea. We wouldn't leave without you." I felt the need to reassure her. "What did you guys find?"

Adrienne sucked in deep breaths, then came to a stop in front of our group. "There's mention of a spell to summon a vampire, but it's old magic and anything that took the power of the Witch Queens was sent to Hexia for safekeeping until they all rose. It's got to be there."

Beckett waved his hand, and the portal opened up behind him. "Apparently, I'm playing taxi tonight. Everybody in."

I expected the portal to open into the middle of a big city buzzing with activity. Instead, he opened it right into the library. It was huge with high-vaulted ceilings that looked like a cathedral. The walls and large columns were made of light-gray stone carved with filigree from the floors all the way up to the ceilings. Stacks and stacks of books filled the cavernous space. They were spread out in all different directions, and there was no visible way of keeping track of them.

"How do we find what we're looking for?"

Before anyone could answer me, an older-looking woman hobbled from around one of the stacks. Her head was wrapped in a white silky material that fluttered around her face. It was so delicate it almost made the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth look soft. She was so tiny that her grey dress nearly looked like a robe draped about her body. When she strolled up to us, she walked right past Zinnia and the Queens and stopped in front of Maze. She held her hand out toward him, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white box. It was tied with a simple white string. The box looked like the pastry one he'd held his cake in which was now somehow nowhere in sight. She gave him a small head nod.

Maze returned her nod. "This is Gerda, the librarian."

"It's very nice to meet you, Gerda." I gave her a tight-lipped smile so as not to show my fangs and startle her. There was something so gentle about the older woman I didn't want to upset her in any way.

Again she said nothing but gave me a warm smile and motioned for us to all stand around a long rectangular wooden table. Adrienne dropped the books on the table with a light thud as Niche helped her straighten them into a nice pile.

As we all took our places, she hobbled her way to stand between Niche and Adrienne. "Why have you come?" Her voice was lighter than a whisper. It was less disturbing than the beat of a butterfly's wings and sounded even sweeter.

Adrienne lowered her voice to try and match her tone. "We are seeking a very old text."

Niche pushed her glasses up her nose. "One to help summon a vampire. There's reference to it in this book."

She reached up and pulled a book off the top of the pile and placed it on the table in front of Gerda. She pointed toward the lines on the page.

Then Adrienne pulled the next book down and opened it to a specific page as well. She ran her finger over the lines. "And here too."

Gerda gave a light nod and placed her hand over Niche's as she reached for another book, stopping her before she could grab it. "I know of what you speak."

"Then you can help us?" Hope sprang in my chest.

She shook her head. "The request must come from the Witch Queen. It is strictly prohibited to give this spell to anyone else."

Zinnia lifted her hand. "I respectfully request this spell. Please."

"I've been waiting for you to finally come to my library, child." She waved her hand and dusty brown magic fluttered down the rows of stacks. It was like watching a small gust of wind carrying leaves in a movie. "The knowledge here will help you along your way."

"I will remember that." Zinnia paused. "And we all will visit more often."

Gerda gave a knowing smile. "I know."

That little prediction brought everyone up short. Did she know something we all didn't? Her tone implied that she did. Maze and Tilly chuckled at the same time.

Tilly shrugged when all eyes swung toward her. "She's not wrong."

Astrid glanced toward Zinnia. "You know that's a little tidbit I'm going to think about later."

"Agreed," Serrina, Tabi, and Zinnia all said at the same time.

The fluttering of pages was the first sign that something was happening, then a thud that sounded like a book slamming into something. Then more page flutters. The book sailed out from the stacks and landed in the middle of the table. Dust sprinkled all around it. Brown and dark as they were, the pages were clearly ancient. The edges weren't square like in modern books. They were jagged and frayed all along the edges.

Gerda crooked her finger at the book and it slid across the table toward where she stood. Then she gave the same motion to the other Queens. "Look here."

We all leaned forward, staring down at the ancient book. Adrienne leaned in closer and placed her hand over the pages. "But how do you interpret this?"

Silence. We all looked up to where Gerda stood and she was gone, disappearing into thin air. Adrienne made a tiny sound of annoyance in the back of her throat. "It'll take days to interpret this. The language is ancient, as are the drawings."

Niche nodded in agreement. "But you know who could translate it in seconds."

"No." Adrienne shook her head. "I don't want to."

"It'll make this go so much faster."

I didn't want to force anyone to do anything that would make them uncomfortable, but time was ticking. "We need faster."

Tabi leaned on the table. "I hate to say this, my friend, but Niche and Piper are right. We need this as quickly as possible."

"Ugh. Fineeeeee." She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Astrid, can I please have some paper and a pen?"

Astrid flicked her wrist and a pen and paper appeared in front of Adrienne. When she wrote her note across the page, her movements were sharp and punctuated with annoyance. She folded it up and handed it back to Astrid. "Can you please send that to . . . my mother?"

The paper burst into flames in Astrid's hand. "Done."

"Now what?" I glanced around at the others. We should be doing something else, something to move us forward. My energy bounced around inside of me, and I felt the need to go and do something. Standing here waiting wasn't on my bingo card.

Kylian placed his hand on my shoulder. "Still."

"What?"

"You're making me feel how anxious you are, and it's making me uncomfortable."

I glared at him. "Yeah, I'm not sorry."

The room went black, cutting off whatever Kylian was about to say. Shadows of creeping spiders covered the walls of the library and crawled up toward the ceiling. They weren't small, average spiders. No, these were huge with legs as long and thick as my own. Webs dangled down from the ceiling and fell all around us like curtains.

"Always with the dramatics, Mom," Adrienne grumbled.

Astrid gave a visible shudder and stepped closer to Beckett. "I hate spiders."

A shadow slowly dropped down from the ceiling. My first reaction was to kill it with fire, but then I realized it wasn't a spider at all. It was a woman who was exotically beautiful. Her skin was as dark as night with a golden shimmer all over it. Her hair was cut short to her head, and a gold diadem came to a small point between her eyes. Her lips were full and so red I thought she might've been eating cherries. Her dress was impeccable, with thick golden straps that held up a loose-fitting, shiny golden dress that pooled around her feet. She held on to the webs and used them to drop down in front of us.

She narrowed her eyes at Astrid. "And they feel the same way about you. Rightly so, I might add."

"I still maintain my innocence." Astrid held her hands up in surrender.

"Do you?" She pursed her lips. "Perhaps?—"

"—Mommm, please," Adrienne cut her off.

My eyes widened in realization. This was Athena in all her perfection and glory. Power rolled off her in waves, yet she was so much calmer than Morpheus. In total control.

Adrienne pointed toward the book in front of them. "Can you please help us translate this?"

"Yes." She didn't look at the words, she just stared at Adrienne.

"What's it going to cost me?" Adrienne sighed.

"Is it so wrong for a mother to want to spend time with her daughter?" Athena pressed her hand to her chest, trying to sound so innocent. She batted her eyelashes and ducked her chin shyly.

What an act. It was almost perfect the way she phrased her request and made herself look so innocent. . . almost. If it didn't visibly make Adrienne so uncomfortable the act might've worked.

"Fine, I'll extend my trip this summer by two weeks in exchange for this one page." She slid the book toward her mother.

Athena didn't look down at it. "Three weeks. You clearly need a lesson in ancient translations."

"Deal." She shoved the book right in front of Athena. "Now what does it say?"

Athena glanced down at it, then waved her hand over it. The words and images moved on the page. She placed a long, elegant finger on the page and suddenly the spell was written in modern English. "That should help. You see this symbol here? The circle with the shapes in it? It needs to be drawn on the ground of the cell you wish to keep your vampire in. You'll need salt, bone grindings, and blood of his own. Plus, all the powers of the Queens. It will take quite a bit of magic to pull this off."

"Can he be moved once he's trapped?" I needed to know where exactly this was going to happen, because there was only one place Grayson should be in this state . . . The House of Shade.

"No, go to the dungeon you want to trap him in. Guardians outside the cell. Witches inside the locked cell. Make a circle as directed in this picture. Witches stand outside of the circle of course. Unless you want to be trapped within the circle with him. Which I don't think you do. Then perform the spell as directed. You'll need all the Witch Queens for it to work."

I pulled my cell from the pocket of my jeans and fired off a text to Moira. ‘ Prepare the cell. We're bringing our guy home.'

Zinnia glanced down at the book. "Nova is trapped in the underworld and won't be allowed out for this."

Athena shrugged and motioned toward me. "Piper can represent death as she's already died once and is still kind of dead. Summon your vampire and he'll be trapped within that circle. Seems simple enough."

Grayson had slipped past us so many times. I needed to make sure this time it would keep hold of him. "Can the circle be broken?"

Athena barely looked at me as she spoke, as though it pained her to explain things. She held her chin up higher and gazed down her nose at me. "Who has more power than all of you? No one. So, no. Unless The Fallen want him . . . But if that's the case, you're screwed regardless."

"She does have a point." Tucker crossed his arms over his chest. "We're all in on this. We need to help Gray."

Athena didn't acknowledge his words. She only turned toward Adrienne. "Three additional weeks."

"A deal is a deal, Mother." She didn't look happy about the prospect of being trapped with her mother. Judging how cold and exacting she was, I really couldn't blame her.

My phone buzzed with Moira's response. ‘ The cell is ready.'

I shoved it into my back pocket and looked at all the Guardians and Queens that had come this far to help him and were willing to do more. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the first threads of hope. Maybe we could help him, maybe we could break this curse, and maybe I would get my love back.

"Let's bring our boy home."