Chapter 66
A week later, Alex, Darlington, and Dawes drove to Black Elm to meet Turner.
Together, they walked into the woods and set the simple marble disc purchased with Lethe’s money over Tripp’s grave. It was carved with the figure of an albatross in flight and only two words.
“He was a good friend,” said Dawes softly.
Darlington put his arm around her. “That’s rare.”
“He was brave when it counted,” said Turner.
Alex crouched and bumped her knuckles against the marble, engraved with the words HE MATTERED.
Cosmo had wandered out to greet them, and he leapt into Dawes’s arms as if sensing she needed him most.
“Will he stay?” she murmured, cradling the cat close.
“After we exorcise the shit out of this place?” Alex said.
“Yes. Assuming we succeed.”
“I don’t know,” Darlington said. “There will still be a demon hanging around to keep an eye on.”
“Part demon,” Alex corrected.
He met her eyes. “Enough demon.”
When they returned to the house, they set up in the kitchen and began unloading the supplies they’d left in their cars.
“It’s eerie,” Turner said, “knowing…” He glanced around.
“That there’s a demon in the walls?” Darlington asked.
“Yeah,” Turner whispered.
“You don’t need to whisper,” said Alex. She banged a spoon against the pot she was stirring and shouted, “Your days are numbered, asshole!”
“Alex,” Darlington warned.
Somewhere in the house a door slammed shut and they all jumped.
Alex was grateful to see Dawes fall into her old rhythms, portioning out buckthorn, angelica, and soft fronds of fern, sending the rest of them out onto the grounds to draw salt knots and build a circle of protection.
Darlington had discovered countless exorcisms on the books, but they were dealing with a demon who had been settled for a century, and separating truth from fiction could be a challenge where banishments were concerned.
Around noon, as they were grinding herbs and braiding together salt ropes in the kitchen, they heard a car coming up the driveway.
Alex wiped her hands and she and Darlington headed out the door.
“Shout if you need us,” said Turner as he tied up a bundle of sage.
“Before you need us,” Dawes amended from her spot by the stove.
“Be ready,” Darlington replied.
The air was cool and welcoming after the heat of the kitchen.
“Look,” Alex said, eyes on the trees. A flock of barn owls had gathered in the uppermost branches, dozens of them rustling and staring with their strange eyes.
“If I were one to put store in omens, I might be very, very concerned.”
Mira had liked to point to crows and clouds and claim they were full of hidden meaning. Alex had never believed, but looking up at all those dark eyes and clicking beaks, she felt a lot less sure.
Alban Reed was getting out of a sleek blue Audi. Charlie Girard was with him.
“He your idea of backup?” Alex asked.
“Do I need backup?”
Darlington held up his hands. “Let’s just remember we’re all on the same side here.”
“Shall we head indoors?” Reed asked. “It’s cold and getting colder.”
“And I want a look inside this place,” Girard said. “When was it built?”
Darlington ignored the question. “Better for us to chat out here.”
Reed smiled. “If you say so.”
He could afford to be magnanimous. He was about to get everything he wanted.
“Is it okay to talk Lethe business in front of your friend?” Darlington asked.
Girard laughed. “Yeah.”
But Darlington waited for Reed’s assent, and Alex had to fight a grin. She liked seeing Girard put in his place.
“Please,” said Reed. “Speak freely.”
“You know we had to put a pause on rituals,” Darlington said, “that there’s evidence the societies have been operating without any real oversight.”
“I do. I can’t say I’m not concerned. If we have real proof on specific society transgressions, we can certainly consider suspension. But I think we’re going to have to accept that we don’t have the manpower to ensure they all walk the straight and narrow.”
“Alex has solved the problem for you. She can guarantee none of the societies will perform rituals without the express permission of Lethe in the future.”
“I’m impressed,” said Reed skeptically. “I didn’t realize you were such a diplomat.”
“I’m not,” Alex said. “I’m more of a blunt instrument. Right, Charlie?”
Girard shifted uncomfortably, but he said nothing.
“Then what was the order of the day?” Reed asked. “Blackmail? Bribes? Is that why you had me fill the Lethe accounts?”
“Love that line of thinking,” said Alex. “But not necessary. I closed the nexuses.”
Alban Reed’s eyes actually bulged. “You what?”
“That’s not possible,” said Girard.
She had done it when she stood at the gate to hell, in the moment before she sent Golgarot back to his own realm. She had reached across the spokes of the Wheel, sensing the seven nexuses created by the Wheelwalker who had come before her, and one by one, she had shut those doors.
“We are the shepherds,” Alex said. “A pamphlet told me so. But how many sheep have died or gone missing on our watch?”
Reed folded his arms. “If this is some sort of gambit, it’s a bad one. I don’t like to throw my weight around—”
“You threatened to take my mom’s house away.”
“Your mother wouldn’t have that house if not for Lethe.”
“My mom wouldn’t have had to spend her savings on doctors and scared-straight programs if Lethe or any of the societies had bothered to tell her why her kid was such a mess.”
Reed cast a frustrated look at Darlington. “You told me you had her in hand.”
“I never said that. I told you I had come up with a compromise that would make everyone happy.”
“And?”
“I lied.”
Reed blew out an exasperated breath. “Alex, through an accident of birth, you have been given a gift, and I have guarded that secret.” The owls above him screeched.
“I am asking you to use that gift. And if you really have done something as reckless as closing the nexuses, you’re going to have a lot of angry, powerful alumni to answer to.
You are in tremendous danger, and you’re going to need protection. ”
“He’s not wrong,” said Darlington.
“Thank you for showing some sense. Tell me what it will take for you to create a new nexus and we can begin to build a brighter future for both of you.”
Alex crossed her arms. She wanted to make sure Reed understood what he was asking of her. “Do you know what creating a nexus requires?”
“I do,” said Reed. “There is an ethical way to pursue this.”
“Funny way to describe murder.”
“The passing you provide can be a real mercy. We’ll find someone nearing the end of his life or even someone already sentenced to death.”
“Someone who won’t be missed?”
“Please be reasonable, Alex. You have an extraordinary ability that could help countless people. Someone will have to lose his life to make that possible. We are far beyond juvenile ideas of morality.”
“This is all just her trying to raise the price,” said Girard. “She doesn’t mind violence. You should have seen her in my office. She’s a bully and a thug.”
“Oh, I’m not above murder,” said Alex. “For both fun and profit. I just don’t want to do it for you.”
Girard made a sweeping gesture. “See? She’s on a power trip and we’re over here playing nice.”
“Oh golly,” Alex said. “Now I’ve done it. He wants to take the gloves off.”
Reed looked disappointed. “Is that the only language you understand? The language of threats and violence?”
“Do you speak it?” Alex asked, genuinely curious.
“Such bravado.” He shrugged. “We have power. We have reach. We have resources. I have helped to topple governments, Alex. You think I can’t wipe you, and your mother, and all your friends from the map?
If you think Detective Turner can protect you, you should know I own his boss and his boss’s boss.
I don’t enjoy making threats, but this is the reality you need to face. ”
Girard nodded. “You have to understand your place in all this.”
“I think I have a pretty good idea,” said Alex. “I know who you are. The Brothers of Orpheus. The Sons of Grigori. The sacred order of men who overestimate their worth. Another group of secret-handshake fucks who think they know better than everyone else.”
Her father’s notes had been an extremely interesting read.
Reed’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know where you got that information or what you think you know, but you will shut your mouth on the subject.”
Darlington’s horns emerged. “Hear the lady out, won’t you?”
Girard yelped.
“Most unholy, I condemn you,” Reed said calmly. He put his hands up and began to chant.
“Stop that,” Darlington snarled. “Or I’ll rip your tongue out.”
Reed stuttered and took a step backward, looking flustered for the first time.
“And you thought I was the difficult one,” said Alex.
“Here’s what we have in mind. Admittedly, the details need a little finessing, but see if you can follow along: From now on, all requests for rituals will be reviewed by the members of Lethe.
Pamela Dawes and Detective Turner will have final say.
New delegates will come not just from Yale but from the city of New Haven.
Mercy Zhao will be among the first. Their job is to keep both the students and the city safe.
All rituals will be performed under Lethe supervision. ”
“So you will create a new nexus?” Reed asked. “What’s your price?”
“It’s steep,” Alex conceded. “I want to put the new nexus right here at Black Elm.”
Dawes and Darlington had explained that Il Bastone couldn’t withstand it. Between the enchanted library and the objects in the armory, if a nexus suddenly opened beneath the house, the whole thing could collapse on itself.
Reed and Girard exchanged a glance.
“It’s a beginning,” said Reed. “What else?”
“You’re not going to like it,” said Alex.
“I can afford it.”
“Let’s find out.”
As soon as he heard her words, Reed’s eyes widened and Alex watched realization take hold. She had wondered if Darlington would permit this, if his sense of goodness and duty would allow it. But Lethe had changed them both.
“You can’t just—” Reed began.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “You won’t be missed.”