Chapter 20 #2
Her eyes flashed white, and in the air in front of her appeared something that looked similar to alchemy, even if it was entirely different. Nick swallowed and waited for her to nod.
Then he reached into his notebook and took out the circles he needed, throwing them up so they were framed by her magic. Without the anchor points, he was able to do it almost effortlessly.
Parker was still talking, and the victim stood, his fingers going clawed. He screamed, “I don’t want to hurt you!”
Then he turned to Nick, and there was a horrible moment right before the spell he and Laurel had created landed on him.
“But I don’t want to die,” the man said pathetically. “Not like my father.”
Circles spun off him, hitting random objects: the trees, the ground. Nick was surprised that after the first few aimed at Parker, the parasite hadn’t sent any for him or Laurel. The parasite died in a long, pulsing beat of thrown magic, chaos and green fragments of circles landing around them.
Nick had killed things before, sometimes out of desperation, sometimes by accident, but he and Laurel had built a spell they knew was going to kill a sentient creature. He felt sick, swallowing down the feeling.
The man slumped over, and when he sat up, his eyes were a pale brown. “What happened? Am I free?”
“Yeah.” Parker tried a smile, but it was heartbreaking to watch.
Nick looked over at Laurel, who was frowning. “Was that what all of them were like?”
“Not all of them,” Nick said.
“Santa Muerte says she isn’t taking them.
” Laurel was still looking at him when her eyes flashed a brilliant white, glowing so bright that Nick blinked, squinting at her.
When she spoke again, her voice was the supernatural echo that meant Santa Muerte was speaking through Laurel.
“They cannot die. Not truly. You know who they are.”
“What?” Nick asked. “Who are they?”
“You know who they are. What they are.” Santa Muerte’s expression was unimpressed, her eyes narrowing. “Do not play the fool.”
“Why would I know who they are?” Nick asked, feeling lost. “Is it alchemy? Is it alchemy I’ve seen before?”
He frowned, rolling his alchemy pen between his fingers. He didn’t recognize the framework of the alchemy circles, although he could read them. It was a frustrating conundrum and he looked up to see Santa Muerte shaking her head at him.
“Nicholas King, I can only believe you are being this obtuse because you feel guilt. It eats at you like maggots on a corpse. You know who this is. You know and you do not need to pretend you do not.” Santa Muerte raised her hand, drawing it up and blocking the sun that was still rising, not quite at its peak.
And Nick knew. He sucked in a breath, his chest so tight he couldn’t breathe, feeling it in his bones, feeling it behind his eyes.
“Shadow,” he said. “It’s Shadow.”
“What?” Parker asked sharply, looking between Nick and Santa Muerte. He glared at the saint. “Explain.”
“Shadow was Darkness’s daughter,” Nick said. “She came from him.”
“How is she existing in multiple people? An heir is one. If she died, she should have gone to her heir.” Parker gestured at the man they’d just freed. “This guy is… what? The fifth one we’ve met so far? And Gile promised ten?”
“I think that was a distraction,” Nick said. “Come here.”
He walked them out from under the tree, where their shadows were cast on the ground. “Shadow was special among the gods. She had no heir because she didn’t need one. Look.”
He held up both hands, fisting them so they made distinct shadows on the ground. Then he brought his two hands together, so the shadows merged together.
“Shadow was special because she could exist in multiple places, in multiple people. But she was still the same, she could still recombine.” Nick drew his two hands apart. “Or separate.”
Parker stared down at the ground, then looked up at the man they’d freed. “Okay, so we have an old god here who can exist in multiple people. Why is she blowing people up? Why is she here? Why does she want five million dollars?”
“I don’t know.” Nick shook his head. “There’s a lot here that’s missing, but Shadow is separate and one. Maybe part of her is having a disagreement with the other parts?”
“Shadow has not come to visit me. These pieces of her that you are removing, they are not the whole, nor are they even one of her echoes. They are pieces of her torn away.” Santa Muerte shook her head.
“This is a bad business. You must find her and you must make it right. You must stop playing with the scraps of her left behind. You need to find her before she is gone forever.”
Laurel’s eyes closed and when she opened them again, she shook her head sharply. Parker was still staring at Nick, before looking back to the man they’d freed.
“So, we’re still looking for parasite prime, but it’s not a parasite, it’s an old god who can break off pieces of herself? This does not feel better to me, Nick.” Parker began pacing. “Where could she be?”
Nick frowned. “Give me the map.”
Parker pulled it out of his satchel and handed it over. “What?”
“I think we’ve been looking at this wrong.
We’ve been using it to try to find the rest of the people.
Look.” He pointed to the starting dot of the spiral, where Durkavic had exploded.
“First, right?” Then he traced around, coming to rest on the police station.
“Second. The coffee shop would have been third, but we stopped that, and now here is the fourth. The escape room was a long way off.”
“But she was ready to pop,” Parker pointed out.
“Because we pushed the issue. I think we find prime by going to the end of the road.” Nick traced his finger past where Parker had finished the spiral. “Here.”
“The World Tree,” Parker said slowly. “The World Tree?”
“The World Tree,” Nick agreed.
“It can’t hurt to check,” Laurel said doubtfully. “If a god was looking for an easy getaway, that’s the best place to be.”
“Grand Central Station for all of the old gods,” Parker agreed. “Hop on the express train out of here as soon as anyone gets close, back as soon as we turn our backs.”
Nick texted Zahide the address of the park, hoping the man would still be there when she arrived. If nothing else, she might be able to get him some food and shelter for the night.
As they left the park, Parker leaned over. “If she’s a god, why does she look like alchemy?”
“I don’t know. Shadow was the god of shadows and magic? Maybe she’s just adapting to the times.” Nick tapped his pen against his notebook. “If it’s wrong, then we might have a whole different game we’re playing.”
“As much as I’d love to assume we’re playing chess and Shadow is playing checkers, you mean that we’re playing hopscotch and she’s playing some version of Squid Games.” Parker looked down the street. “That isn’t good.”
“No,” Nick agreed. “When did you watch Squid Games? I thought you said it was too violent.”
“It is too violent, but you aren’t going to believe this. Avila likes it.” Parker shook his head, and Nick looked over at Laurel for confirmation.
“She likes Gong Yoo. I’ve watched so many dramas that I could probably hold a conversation in Korean.” It seemed like she should have been rolling her eyes, but Laurel was smiling affectionately, her expression soft.
The World Tree was so much a part of their lives now that Nick had to remind himself it hadn’t always been in San Amaro, it hadn’t always been a landmark as clear as the ocean or the 101. Parker was muttering under his breath as they drove.
“Should we call mom?” Laurel asked from the back.
“She’s off planet, I think,” Parker said. “Bastian is staying with us.”
Laurel made a face and Parker half turned in his seat so he could look at both of them. “Hey, what’s with all the sad faces? This is the A-Team, people, there is no one I would rather save the world with!”
“Sugar should be here if it’s the A-Team,” Nick said. “She’s the only one who can pull off Spandex and jean jackets.”
“I think you are vastly underselling your biceps, Nick,” Parker said. “Do you want to call Tate?”
Nick did. He wanted to have the SAPD at his back, have full tactical support. But it would take time to convince Rios and the rest that this was the right move.
“We need to find out what the situation is first,” he said finally. “Shadow is a complicated god to fight. We can’t give her more people to break off and take over.”
Parker nodded, but his eyes searched the side of Nick’s face and it took all of Nick’s power not to look over and ask Parker what he saw. Did he see the guilt that was eating Nick’s stomach?
“Nick—” Parker broke off. “You didn’t kill her father.”
“I did,” Nick insisted.
“Okay, but could you have done it if Darkness didn’t agree it was the right thing to do?
” Parker’s logic wasn’t infallible, but it was an air mask in a crashing plane, it was a single piece of driftwood after a shipwreck.
Nick could cling to it because they both shared the same guilt, the same grief.
“What’s our plan for getting in?” Parker asked. “You don’t have your badge and I’m definitely a persona non grata until you’re back in SAPD’s good graces.”
Nick slowed the car. “I forgot.”
“You were distracted,” Parker said quickly, as though to make up for it, as though he also wanted to paper over the whole mandatory leave. “Keep driving. I have an idea.”
Nick raised an eyebrow, catching Laurel’s eyes in the rearview and she raised both hands, as though to say I have no idea, but whatever it is, it will not be good.
That single moment of distraction was enough. The next thing he knew he was about to crash into the World Tree.