Chapter 32
AN UNLIKELY ALLIANCE
Istand on the bank of the pond, its mossy rim caught beneath a skin of ice. At the far end, the water narrows beneath a crumbling bridge. A rowboat drifts beneath it, loosely tied to a post, and near the tree line, a pavilion slumps around a bench made of black marble.
Simon laid his dying sister upon that bench.
Now he’s imprisoned alongside my mother. Vorat is hunting humans. He’s kidnapping the innocent. Collecting souls. Wearing the ruby. Using my love to feed on Jude’s life.
My lungs burn.
The oxygen inside is like steam in a kettle.
I ball my hands into fists and shout across the water, “I know you’re here! What do you want, you greedy piece of—”
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
I spin around.
Rafe leans against a tree, the same way he did when we first met in the family graveyard.
“I can’t kiss my mother,” I tell him, quickly wiping my eyes with the back of my sleeve. “I haven’t been able to for nine years. And I was going to say vermin.”
He prowls closer with his head slightly cocked. “You’ve been crying.”
I swallow the knot in my throat and hold my ground. I refuse to give him an inch. But then he lifts his knuckle like he intends to run it down my cheek. I step back and glare.
Rafe pouts. “I take it the private conversation didn’t go so well?”
“It went exactly how you thought it would go.”
“Would you have rather I kept the truth to myself?”
“I would rather the truth not be true.”
I can’t stop seeing the mark—those spidery tendrils curling around Jude’s ribcage. Fear has had me by the throat ever since. A terrible, strangling, sickening fear. So acute I would rip the veil open with my bare hands if I could.
But I can’t.
A fact that has heat gathering in my lungs all over again.
“How do I stop him?” I ask, myself more than Rafe.
He answers anyway. “For starters, you’d have to get to him.”
“I don’t know how,” I reply with gritted teeth. “I tried opening a rift last night with a plant that attacked me. And any other time I’ve come across a rift, it explodes.”
“Let me guess. You’re with Jude when this happens.”
I open my mouth to retort—does it matter?
—but the question freezes on my tongue. Because yes, in fact.
I have been with Jude. On both occasions.
I think about that gremlin, hopping through a doorway in the woods, a rift as stable as any rift ever was.
But then I returned with Jude and it slammed shut.
The same thing happened in Lainey’s basement.
“I’m fairly confident,” Rafe says with a condescending smile, “it’s acting out of self-preservation.”
“What is?”
“The Overlay.” He prowls to my other side, frozen detritus crunching underfoot.
“You and Jude broke a curse that has been feeding it for 268 years. Your antics made the entire dimension glitch. It’s all very romantic, and very destabilizing.
If I had to guess, I’d say it doesn’t like the two of you together very much. ”
“You talk about it like it’s a living being.”
“It’s more like an immune system.”
I look out over the pond. A bare plinth rises from the center, along with several statues of nymphs covered in lichen.
“An immune system,” I repeat, letting the idea settle.
So then, if I were alone…
If it were just me.
If I could somehow knock out Lainey Sikes, bring her here, where Vorat is holding his hostages, use her wrist to open a rift—
“I really wouldn’t, if I were you.”
“Wouldn’t what?” I ask.
“Play the hero.”
“Did you gain ESP while you were trapped in the Overlay?”
“As fun as a gift like that would be, I’m no mind reader.” He folds his hands behind his back. “Your thoughts were written all over that pretty face of yours, Selah. You’d be a horrible poker player.”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m at a table.”
Across the pond, a crow lands on the marble bench. Its wings flare, its talons reach as it settles on the cathedral-like backrest.
I shove my fists into my pockets, only vaguely aware of the pain in my forearm. It’s been nothing more than a dull ache since Jude stormed out of Evermore.
“You have a lot of pluck,” Rafe says. “I’ll give you that.
But I’m not sure pluck will quell this particular beast. He’s powerful, and if his appetite has anything to say about it, he’s getting more powerful every day.
If you think you can just open a rift, pop inside his lair, and free his prisoners, I feel very bad for my cousin.
The poor guy will soon be grieving the death of his ex-girlfriend. ”
I round on him. “How do you know we broke up?”
Rafe rolls his eyes. “Of course you broke up. Before Halloween, the two of you were having the most obnoxious competition over who would get to be the martyr. I’ll die.
No, I’ll die. No, let me!” He does the imitation in a mocking falsetto.
“It was all very nauseating, if I’m being honest. And sincere,” he concedes.
“Call me a fool for assuming, but something tells me you weren’t going to let the afternoon snacking continue. ”
Fury snakes up my spine at the blasé way in which he speaks of Jude’s soul. “You underestimated me before, you know. When you didn’t think I stood a chance against Seraphina.”
Pain flickers across his face, just for a moment, and I experience a vindictive thrill.
Despite what Rafe told me on Halloween night—that any love he once had for Seraphina was lost along ago—he seemed to regain it as soon as she rose from the tomb.
He looked like a man who would have gone to war for her, sacrificed his own life for her.
Now she’s gone. Destroyed. Thanks to me and Jude.
While it probably isn’t the wisest move to provoke him, it feels a little cathartic.
“Surely you realize this is different,” he says.
“How so?”
Rafe sighs a long suffering sigh. “Do you have a secret weapon up your sleeve? A fragment of Dr. Psycho’s essence hidden away in a silver locket?”
I blink at him.
“You don’t even have a way to get to him, and as much as I would love to help, I don’t either. Not without the ruby.”
The ruby.
At the mere mention of it, every ounce of my anger morphs into desperation. It takes immense restraint not to grab Rafe by the lapels of his wool coat and beg for his help. “What about the onyx?” I ask. “Or the pearl? Could they open a rift?”
“I have my doubts.”
“Why?”
“The ruby is a stone fueled by emotion, which is exactly what the Overlay feeds upon. Something tells me the pearl and the onyx won’t extend the same favors.”
“But you don’t know for sure.”
“There is an infinitesimal chance I could be wrong. Crazier things have happened.” He dips his chin. “Do you have the onyx and the pearl?”
“They’re in the crypt beneath St. Fortuna’s.”
“There’s a crypt beneath St. Fortuna’s?”
“It’s where your brother hid the amulets.”
Rafe arches his dark brows.
“The problem is, the crypt is locked and Lainey has the key. She’s been wearing it like a necklace.”
He chuckles. “Oh, Lainey. She does like to be in the thick of things, doesn’t she?”
“I don’t think she’s been given much of a choice.”
“I suppose not.” He folds his arms and taps his chin. “She might give it to me, if I rekindled our romance.”
“I don’t think she’ll be so easily seduced this time around.”
“It’s worth a try.” Rafe shrugs. “I’m sure I could sidle in close enough to get the key, anyway. Believe it or not, I’ve got some pretty slick hands. I went through a pickpocketing phase in the 1950s.”
“You’re filthy rich,” I say.
“Yes, I am.”
“Why would you need to pick anyone’s pocket?”
“The same reason I’m going to help you now.” With an impish gleam in his eye, he leans close and whispers, “I’m bored, Selah. This will give me something fun to do.”