A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) (17 page)

“What now?” Kyo asked, staring at her.

“Now we get her to talk,” I said. “Then we get her ass locked up.” We headed back over to her and Kyo propped her into a sitting position beneath the tree. She was looking up at me with so much anguish and sorrow on her face that it made me feel disgusted. Kyo and I stood several feet away. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to ignore the ache in my body. I could ache later, now my mother had some serious explaining to do.

“You know, usually when someone comes in contact with their deadbeat mother who abandoned them, the first few questions have to deal with the abandonment. But for me, my first question is this: why the fuck are you trying to kill me?”

“You have grown up to be so beautiful,” Nova said, smiling at me.

“Are you shitting me? You try to kill me twice and now you’re complimenting me?”

“You are very strong too,” she continued as though I had not spoken. “You have accomplished more than I could ever have hoped for you. You have lived a good life.”

“And now it’s time to end it?” I asked incredulously. “Sorry, but twenty-six years just doesn’t really feel like enough time to me.”

“I never wanted it to be.” Her voice was full of regret. I wanted to spit on her. “But what must be must be.”

I stepped closer and crouched down until we were eye-level. “Cut the bullshit, Nova. Answer the question. Why do you want to kill me?”

Tears filled her eyes as she stared at me. “Because your soul is not your own,” she whispered. “I bargained it away, a long time ago. And now it’s time to pay her what she is owed.”

“What?” I recoiled as though I’d been slapped. I stood up and stepped back next to Kyo, who was frowning deeply as he stared at my mother, though he remained quiet.

“Explain,” I said tightly. Tears slipped down Nova’s cheeks, and she bowed her head and wouldn’t look at me.

“I bargained you away for power, my little dove.”

Little dove. The words struck a chord in me. I remembered her calling me that when I was a child. I squirmed uncomfortably.

She started rocking from side to side, growing more and more anguished as she spoke. “I was a troubled woman; I wanted things I could not attain. I did bad things to get what I thought I wanted. I was not a good mother. Your grandmother looked at me with such disappointment every time I came around.”

“Get to the part where you bargained away my soul,” I said coldly.

“There are those who can give you what you want,” she said. “Anything at all. I was born with nothing, no necromancy, no reanimation power. I grew up and loved a man who was wrong for me in every way, got me pregnant, then left me! I wanted more than that. I wanted to see things, know things. I wanted to be strong, I wanted to live forever. I wanted wealth. I wanted to never have to depend on anyone ever again. I wanted so many things. And I found someone who could give those things to me.”

“Revath,” I said.

She smiled through her tears.

“The beautiful one,” she said. Then her expression darkened. “She took from me, but she did not give back in equal. I made a deal with her, I asked for everything I wanted, and the price I had to pay…”

“Was my soul,” I finished.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Upon death, your soul would be hers to take.”

“You bargained away my soul to become a fucking Underground Rune Teller?” The anger that was coursing through me almost made me feel as though I could defeat Revath if she appeared before me right now.

“I was supposed to be so much more!” Nova shouted. “She gave me these eyes, and they don’t mean a damn thing! She made me feel powerful, but after she was long gone, I realized that all I could do was manipulate runes and give impressions of someone’s future. That’s all! I was robbed!”

“Do you expect me to stand here and feel sorry for you?” I said. “You are the worst possible type of person that could exist.” It was a fight to keep a handle on my anger, but what I had no grip on was my fear. My body was trembling, and Kyo moved closer and lightly put his hand around my wrist. All I could think about was the fact that the person who gave birth to me had sold my soul to gain power.

“You have to give them what they’re owed,” Nova said, pleading. “That is the way things work.”

“You said upon death was when it happened. I’m still alive.”

“You died,” Kyo spoke up, his grip on my wrist tightening. “For two minutes, you died.”

That’s right. My eyes widened.

“And the transaction should have been complete, but you came back to life and she was denied. She will not be denied. You have to die. It will end if you die…Oh my baby, I did not mean for this to come to pass…”

“Newsflash, bitch, I’ve already seen Revath face-to-face. How did you think I knew her name? She told me she had things to do then she would come for me. She said I caused this, and now I understand what she means. It’s because I didn’t permanently die. Now she has turned people into Savages and taken their souls. Why do that? Why not just snatch me and be done?”

“Oh no, oh no.” Nova wailed. “It’s already too late…you have seen her face. It’s already too late. I saw the signs, I knew she was coming, but I didn’t think…”

“What are you talking about?” I was trying not to get hysterical but was failing. “If I’m what she wants, what she was promised, why doesn’t she just take me?”

“Because of how the deal works,” Nova said. “You agree to pay their price, but if what was bargained is not paid, they will not just come for you, they will come for more. You cheated your own death, so now Revath is here to collect…but not just you.”

“What?” I breathed. I didn’t think I could feel more afraid. I was wrong.

“Interest,” Kyo said softly.

“A promise sealed in blood, a price paid in souls, an oath that must not be broken, lest the darkness make itself known. If the balance is not weighed, if what is owed not be given, then the shadows will rise, death will unfold, and the price will be paid in one hundred souls.”

That sounded like a quote, and it struck fear deeper into my heart.

“It’s already happening,” Nova said. “Those Savages, they will not be the only ones. She will make more until she has a hundred souls. Then she will come for you.”

Kyo and I looked at each other. I was stunned, unsure of what to say. I hoped to see something on Kyo’s face that offered some consolation, but his look was one of devastation. I turned back to Nova.

“How do I stop her?” I asked.

“There is no stopping her,” Nova wailed. “I thought if I killed you now it would help, but it is too late! She will take a hundred souls, she will turn the soul-less bodies savage and let them kill even more, then she will come for you. Oh my Selene, my little dove, how I have ruined your life…”

I felt like everything that made up my being just shattered to pieces. But I also felt scorching hot anger surge through me. Revath was here taking souls and turning people into monsters, not because of me, but because of the deal my mother made with her and the price she agreed to pay. But now it all fell onto my shoulders. Every single death Revath caused would be my burden to bear.

I took a step closer and crouched down again so I could meet Nova’s gaze. “You took the soul of a little girl and sold it for power, and what have you done with it all these years? Sat in the Underground telling junkies where you saw them getting their next fix? What have you truly gained? Do you have love? Friendships? A happy, fulfilling life? Or are you a psychotic, lonely piece of shit? Yeah, I think that’s it. I see the Savages, I see the darkness that’s risen, and now I know that it was you who cast this fate upon me. I will not yield to death, nor will I let anyone else succumb to it just to pay your debt. I will fix this, and you will be the one who ends up suffering the most.” I stood up. Nova’s eyes never left my face.

“Oh, how wrong you are,” she whispered, tears still sliding down her cheeks. “How you will cry and scream when you realize there is nothing you can do. You are the Grave Martyr, my dove. You will try to save the world, but lose your soul.”

“Selene…” Kyo said. I was shaking with rage but I turned away, retrieved my phone from my upturned bag and called Micah, asking him to get Tielle to dispatch a Task Force to my location immediately. And to make sure they had immobilizing powder.

“I’m so sorry, Selene,” Nova kept saying. “I have failed you so terribly. You and my mother…oh how I failed you.”

“My grandmother,” I said sharply, turning to her. “What are you talking about?” But I already knew. I knew.

“You weren’t enough,” Nova said pathetically. “Your soul wasn’t enough for what I asked for but never received…so I bargained away your grandmother’s soul too.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I could be home right now wrapped in Micah’s arms, drinking as many cups of hot chocolate as I wanted because Ethan would keep them coming, but instead I was scaling the wall to Sacred Heart cemetery and going to see Magda. Micah, Ethan, and Kyo had preferred that I be home right now, but I told them that sitting still with the events of today weighing on me would not go well. I couldn’t say for sure why I decided to come here, but here I was.

I wanted to think, yet at the same time I wanted to block everything out. I wanted to go with the part of me that couldn’t believe what had happened and convince myself that it had been an awful dream. But the part of me that remained hyper aware, the part of me that couldn’t turn off anything to do with Revath, the Savages, and my mother trying to kill me, wasn’t allowing me to block this out. And I didn’t know how to deal with it.

I slipped into the crypt that led to Magda, pushed the lid off the coffin, and headed down the dark steps, using the flashlight on my phone. My heart was beating fast. I don’t think it had stopped beating fast since I saw Nova appear in Central Park and learned all those horrible truths about what she had done.

Finally, I made it to Magda. She looked up at me from behind her table with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“We were not scheduled to work today, girl,” she said.

“I know.” I stood there facing her, my body tight with tension, my hands balled into fists.

“Such agitation. Hmm.” She came over to me and looked up into my face, her eyes scrutinizing. “What has brought you here, child?”

“Don’t you know? Can’t you feel it?” I turned away and started pacing in the middle of the small space, running my fingers through my hair. I stopped and turned to her. She remained where she was standing and said nothing, though her eyes were on me. “You knew Ilyse, you knew my grandmother, Amelia. But what of my mother, Nova? Did my grandmother ever speak of her?”

“She has come for your soul, hasn’t she?”

“You know about Revath? About what Nova did? Not just to me but to my grandmother too?” I was having an impossible time trying to grapple with the knowledge that my grandmother’s soul was not at peace. It was in pieces.

“Yes,” she said. “Amelia came to me seeking a way to undo Nova’s deal, to save your soul. She cared not for her own soul, but she wished for the curse not to be upon you.”

“But you didn’t find a way. If you did, Revath wouldn’t be here reaping more souls than the one she’s owed.”

Magda remained quiet.

My body started shaking. I didn’t know any being stronger than Magda who could help me in the ways I needed help. If she had nothing to offer my grandmother years ago, then she had nothing to offer me now.

I sunk down to the ground, not feeling as though I could stand. Storm Shadow came over and ran her ghostly body against my leg. Snake Eyes had slithered out from some pocket of darkness and was peering out from behind Magda. The giant ghost snake dwarfed her already small stature, but she still managed to come across as imposing standing in front of it.

“What do I do?” I whispered. “My mother sold our souls to gain power, and when I died last year the debt was supposed to be paid. But I was revived. So now Revath is here creating Savages, taking their souls, and letting them slaughter people. Then she will come for me.” A surge of anger went through me, and I pounded my first against the ground. “How could Nova do that? How could she do that to her mother and child?”

“You came here seeking answers,” Magda said. “A way to keep your soul and put the darkness to rest.”

“But you have no answers,” I said, staring off into the shadows.

“You are on a path where you must find your own way, your own answers,” Magda said.

“This is so much bigger, so much worse than anything I have ever dealt with,” I said. “I don’t see a way out of this.” I dropped my head into my hands and released a heavy sigh. Part of me wanted to stay in this dank, stifling hole and let the world fall apart above me, but I knew I would never do that. Not when there were still people I cared about out there, not to mention everyone else. All the innocent people who didn’t deserve to suffer…but already were.

Something occurred to me and I looked up at Magda.

“How did Revath get here before? She came through the open necromancer circle now, but before, when Nova made a deal with her, how did she do it?”

Magda smiled. “Now you are asking a question that I can answer,” she said. “Revath was summoned.”

“Summoned,” I repeated. I looked at the ghost animals. “That’s what you said you did with Stormy and Snake Eyes.”

“Summoning is an art known to few, and requires runes that are not easy to acquire,” Magda said. “And it is a very dangerous thing to do with one such as Revath. The rules of making a deal are not one to be taken lightly.”

“How is it done?”

“Once the rune circle is drawn and activated, the rune calls forth one from the other side and traps them for a short amount of time,” Magda said. “You then ask for what you want, and offer your payment. If it is accepted, you get what you want and lose what you offered. If the payment is not enough, once the circle is deactivated, you die.”

“What?” I said with a sharp intake of breath.

“Yes, child. They will kill you where you stand if your bargain is not to their liking.”

“Terrible,” I said. “But what’s stopping them from killing you even if they accept your bargain?”