Chapter 31
Phyllis was here.
At Heathermoor.
Inside my cabin, pacing, her black skirts swirling.
“I came as soon as word reached Neverthorn. Harlow, I thought you were all –”
She broke off and covered her mouth, her thin shoulders rounding forward.
I grabbed her, pulling her into a hug. She sagged in my arms. “It’s alright. We’re fine. Even Zeed is here. It was . . . not good . . . but we managed.”
If Phyllis was here, though, that meant . . .
I tried to keep my voice calm as I pulled back. “What about Opie? Did you bring her with you?”
“No, no of course not. I wasn’t about to bring her here if you all were in danger . . . or worse.” Phyllis wiped her eyes. “I slipped in with the family members. The curse was on a timer, and you were only minutes from it . . .” Again, she covered her mouth, hiding a sob.
It.
From the curse finishing us off. From Phyllis having to come just in time to see the dead bodies of all the kids of Heathermoor – me and the rest of House Phoenix included.
Just like seeing the Neverthorn Nine being killed, but four hundred bodies more.
And still, there was no denying the sick feeling in my gut about my little sister back at Neverthorn.
Alone.
“I’m so happy to see your face. I need you to believe that. But you must go back, Phyllis. Opie needs someone there she can trust.”
“I know, I know! I just had to see you all or be here to . . .” She nodded, the motion making her wrinkly neck wobble. “First thing in the morning, I’ll go. I couldn’t bear the thought – Harlow, I wouldn’t survive losing my House Phoenix family a second time.”
I stared at her, fully understanding what she was saying and not liking it one bit.
I gripped her forearms tight. “We’re okay this time, but we have a dangerous road ahead, and I can’t be worried about you or Opie on top of it.
No matter what happens, you keep going. You don’t give up.
Promise me that? If anything did happen, she will need you more than ever. ”
“I – I just need a second.” She wiped her eyes and slumped into one of the chairs.
I scooped Calypso off the counter and sat her down on one of the smaller tables between Phyllis and me.
“She’s right, you know,” Calypso muttered. “Now that you know they’re safe, you should head back. According to Harlow’s trash bandit, that little girl is in a bad way and has some serious trust issues. Rightfully so. She needs to know that someone at that Hecate-forsaken school cares for her.”
Phyllis grimaced and reached to snap the locket shut but I caught her hand. “Calypso and I have come to something of an understanding. She stays.”
Phyllis nodded, albeit with obvious reluctance. “I feel bad enough as it is, that’s all. I will go tonight, I promise. But . . . have you been able to open Nocta’s journal yet? Did you find anything of import within the pages?” Phyllis asked, changing the subject with a sniffle.
I looked around to see where it was, even as something about her question tugged at me. Not that she’d asked about the journal . . . but she’d never called my father Nocta.
With her, it had always been Nico. Perhaps she’d finally given up on first love’s memory.
“I’ve barely had a chance to try. We’ve had a lot going on.” Understatement of the century.
“And the kraken coin? Any luck there?”
I grabbed my bowl of noodles and sat down across from Phyllis.
“That little gem, we did find.” I smiled, though I felt the fatigue behind it.
I was going to crash soon, whether I wanted to or not.
“We got our hands on something else that’s .
. . interesting. Gary found his Quirk since we left.
He can hear animals and apparently spirits speaking. A strange rock –”
Her eyebrows shot up and I laughed, “I know, I know! A fucking rock called to him from the basement of the school. Liam thinks it’s a spirit trapped within it and that it might be a clue to finding a piece of the Grym Dunaras.”
Her eyes took on a strange light and her hands balled into quick fists. “Really? Can I see this strange talking rock?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have it. Fable does so she can research it.”
She swallowed hard and again her neck wobbled, catching my eye. Speaking of strangeness, something was . . . off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was going to try. Time to poke the bear.
“Did you always have that scar, Phyll?” I asked, gesturing to a long, white line that stretched from under her chin to her throat.
She touched her fingertips to the spot. “Yes. From that fateful day when I lost all my friends, I got nicked by a sharp stone when things started exploding everywhere.”
I nodded and tried to keep my face from betraying my reeling thoughts.
Not only had she not had that scar before, but she also hadn’t even blinked when I’d called her ‘Phyll.’
She hated that nickname with a passion. Even when she said it was alright for me to call her that, there had always been a tiny hint of irritation in her eyes when I used it . . .
“Do you think we could go see the others? I’d feel better if I could lay eyes on everyone, and then I promise, I’ll go back to Neverthorn.” She stood; thin eyebrows raised in question.
I blinked and stood with her, looking her right in the eyes. Only Phyllis wasn’t my height . . . or she shouldn’t be. She stared back at me and her pupils dilated, just a smidge, as she swallowed audibly.
Nope.
This person in front of me wasn’t the Phyllis we all knew and loved. She was an imposter.
Son of a bitch . . . was I seriously face to face with my first Switch?
The Quirk was super rare, and the ability to master it was even more so.
Unlike with Liam’s charmed necklaces, a great Switch didn’t need anything but their own magic to change their appearance.
They could also match someone else’s precisely.
The woman in front of me – if she even was a woman in real life – was not a great Switch, but damn, she was pretty fucking good, because I’d already told her far more than I should have.
I shifted into damage control mode, mind racing as I sighed and picked up Calypso’s locket.
“Anyway, as I was saying about that rock we found. So far, it seems like it’s indicating that the rest of the Grym Dunaras pieces are hidden in Everdark.”
Calypso blinked up at me and opened her mouth as if to correct me, but I gave her a wink with the Switch’s back turned to me.
“Likely threw them straight through the Aetherwoven. It makes sense with how hard Nocta is working to tear down the weaves between this world and that one. Crazy snake that he is.”
I squinted hard to see if she reacted to the insult, to see if she was bothered by me slurring Nocta, but she just nodded. “Interesting.”
The question was, did she work for Nocta? Or was she here as a plant from the Senate?
Weighting how to handle this new twist, I was interrupted by a low knock on my front door.
“Excuse me,” I said, holding up a finger. “Phyll, can you rescue the rest of my noodles while I see who’s at the door? They’re going to be mush in a minute and I’m still hungry.”
Fake Phyllis nodded and I rushed to the front door, murmuring a prayer under my breath.
Please be Thalienne. She’ll know what to do.
When I cracked it open, though, it was to find . . . no one.
What the –
A strange light shimmered, glittering like a tiny burst of fireworks and my whole crew huddled close together like a litter of puppies as they popped into view. A burst of relief flooded through me, followed by . . . uncertainty.
“Wh-what are you all doing here?” I kept my voice low, sparing a glance over my shoulder.
“We needed to be together,” Marina said with a shrug. “Fabe came up with a cool rune to shield us all, so no one saw us on the way over. We figured we could have a sleepover and then sneak back to our dorms before first light.”
“How are you holding up?” Zeed asked, his forehead wrinkling with concern.
“Okay, but there’s been a –”
“Caught them in the nick of time!” Fake Phyllis called as she bustled from the kitchen toward the door.
“Phyllis?” Ross spluttered, his jaw going slack.
“In the flesh,” she held a hand above her head, in a decidedly un-Phyllis move as she scanned the stunned faces in the doorway. “Good to see you . . . all.”
She didn’t recognize them, I realized with a start. Even with the disguises, the real Phyllis would have – I was sure of it. She’d recognized me but . . . I was likely her mark. Damn.
Hopefully the others wouldn’t call her on it. Not yet.
“She doesn’t know who you are because of the pendants, you guys,” I said. I wanted her to feel as comfortable and confident as possible . . . Until the very last second, when I put my plan into gear and sprung my trap.
As soon as I came up with one.
Hey, cut a girl some slack. I’d been awake and nearly starved for three days while trying to break free from a madman’s death curse. It would be strange if I wasn’t a little slow on the uptake right now.
Ross shouldered his way inside, followed by Marina, Ellie, and Cat. Zeed and Fable last. I reached out and brushed my hand against Zeed’s.
He instantly tried to pull away, but I linked our pinkies together for just long enough to see the shock register on his face as I made sure what I knew was at the front of my mind. Phyllis was not Phyllis but a Switch.
We had to get the information to the others on the sly and then figure out where to go from there.
As nerve-wracking as it was to be in the same room with what could only be a bad actor working on behalf of one of our enemies, I couldn’t deny that having my friends with me already had me feeling better, the fatigue fading.
“Everyone, introduce your disguised selves to Phyllis, here.” I waved toward the Switch and forced a smile as I took the bowl of noodles from her. “She heard about Mallachtan’s nasty bit of work and was worried about us, bless her heart.”