Pickup Styx (25 page)

“You should go back to your room.”

She shook her head. “If I do, you’ll lose your luck. I have to stick with you until this is over.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Lily.”

She blushed and shrugged. “Hey, no problem.”

“How old are you?” I asked on our way down to the garden.

“Twenty.”

I shook my head. She wasn’t even an adult by elf standards. No wonder she seemed so young. Back in the garden, Sebastian and Bella looked at us expectantly.

“Did you find him?” Bella asked, though she was looking at Lily. “Is this Selene?”

“No. This is our half-sister, Lily.” I sat on the bench in front of her. “I found Father.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Lily.” She refocused on me. “And you can save me?”

I shook my head. “He took your life to turn you into this.”

Flames engulfed her eyes and she vanished before us.

“Where’d she go?”

“No idea. Maybe one of the guards killed Father. We do have a fortuna on our side.”

Sebastian gave Lily a doubtful look. “How did he get away?”

I gave him a helpless gesture. “He must know a secret passage in the old family wing that I don’t. I was behind him. Then I rounded a corner and he was gone.”

A smile slowly spread over his face. “I think I know where it is.” He stood and headed in the other direction.

I smiled at Lily. “And he doubted you.” We jogged to catch up. “How do you know?”

“Your sister told me how she used to sneak out of the house.” He started to run and we stayed with him. He led us into the woods and to an old cabin where Bella used to play when she was a child. Thumping and muttering came from inside. The sun would be setting soon. A shudder went through me. If Selene wasn’t back, she wasn’t going to make it. So much for not letting myself think about it! Sebastian and I waited on either side of the door for Father with Lily staying behind me. At length, he came out of the cabin, and as he did, the elverpige appeared.

“You failed me,” he bellowed, throwing an old jar at her. “You let him live.” Bella flew at him, but he held up a hand, slowing her until she barely moved. “You cannot attack me. I am your master.”

She inched forward, hate filling her eyes. Sebastian gave me a questioning look. I ever-so-slightly shook my head. Father created this. He alone had to pay the price.

“You did this,” she growled.

“You were the only curse our family ever suffered.”

Bella broke through his hold, curling her fingers around his neck. He screeched, his body rigid with pain, before vanishing into nothing. Bella bent her head and wept into her hands. “I’m sorry.” I wanted to touch her but couldn’t. She was already beginning to fade.

She reached a hand toward my face but didn’t connect with my skin. “I’m sorry I won’t get to meet your wife or see your children or ever kiss Sebastian.” She looked back and forth between us. “Take care of each other and be understanding of those you hold most dear. They are what make life worth living.”

“Don’t go,” I said.

“I can’t stay. I would take more from you than you could forgive.” She smiled the same bright, sunny smile she’d always had. “I get to move on now and be with Henry. We have waited long enough. Be happy for me.”

I nodded, holding back tears.

Sebastian didn’t try to hide the streams trailing down his cheeks. “You have a great capacity to love. You just have to let yourself do it,” she told him.

She faded even more. “Tell me a story, Cheney,” she said, her voice weak and childlike.

I swallowed the lump in my aching throat. “There was a boy who thought he was a man until met the woman of his dreams dancing naked in the woods. That woman would become his sun, his moon, his stars, and his air.”

Bella smiled, her voice but a whisper. “I think I’m going to like this story.”

I paused and watched the souls go in front of me. Most limped or climbed aboard unassisted, but a few couldn’t make it, and Charon retrieved them. There was no way I could win a fight against him. Even if I wasn’t injured, the pole was too powerful. And I doubted he’d just give it to me, even if I asked nicely. But if I could catch him off guard, maybe I had a chance.

I hobbled the rest of the way to the dock, collapsed in front of the gondola, and waited. My ankle throbbed, my chest felt like it was collapsing, and my hands were thick and stiff. This had better work or I was screwed.

“This way,” a deep voice boomed.

I closed my eyes, refusing to move. I held my breath and waited. When I felt Charon’s hands touch me, I rolled, blindly grabbing the pole. My fingers curled over the gnarled but surprisingly smooth wood. Energy pulsed through me, knocking Charon backwards—knocking everyone backwards. My teeth chattered together and my arms and legs shook, but this was the strongest I had ever felt. It was like when I lost control and buildings crumbled around me—times one hundred. My skin grew. My bones healed. Everything that had happened to me righted itself.

I stood and even my ankle didn’t hurt. Charon stood across from me. His gaunt face was furious. His thin lips stretched into a grim line. “You know not what you possess. Hand the pole to me.”

“I’m sorry. I need this.”

“The pole must not leave the Underworld.”

Demons of all shapes and sizes crept around me. I could feel them and nearly see them in my mind. The pole was amazing. “I have no choice.”

I turned and ran toward the demons. Some looked like lions, others like flaming people, and still others like hoofed monsters.

“It will destroy you and everyone you love,” Charon called behind me, but I kept going.

I was hit from the left. A lion’s claws sank into me, but I couldn’t feel anything. I jabbed it with the pole. The demon exploded into a million pieces and my wound immediately healed. The others hissed and clawed at me but kept a healthy distance. My watch beeped—only fifteen minutes left. I picked up my pace to a jog, stumbling forward. The pole tapped the ground behind me and the earth shook and crumbled in my wake. I moved faster, leaving the demons to tumble into the canyon opened by the mere touch of the pole to the ground.

The only problem was I had no idea where I was going. There wasn’t time to retrace my steps, and I couldn’t finish the trail. I headed back for the courtyard where I’d left Corbin because I didn’t know what else to do.

“I knew you’d come back.”

I turned to find Corbin, leaning against the building. “Going to try to kill me again?” I asked, ready with the pole.

He scrunched his nose. “I think you might win this fight, pet.”

“What do you want, Corbin?”

“To help.”

He sounded sincere, but—“I don’t need help.”

“Really.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you plan on taking the pole back? You are a spirit who will be put back into a body. If you’re carrying the pole when the reuniting takes place, its power will reside in you. Some people may want that, but I assume you’re not one of them. You need me, the only one crossing over, who is the same—dead—on both sides. ”

I shook my head. “I can’t trust you.”

He reached for me, but I stepped back. “But you can.”

“You tried to kill me.”

He nodded. “I couldn’t do it though, could I? I couldn’t feel anything but pain, Selene, before I met you. I didn’t realize I’d changed because it had been my reality for so long—but I couldn’t have passed my essence to you if I was still bonded to her.” He stepped toward me. “You were right. She was gone. You gave me my life back. I owe you everything.”

I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t forgotten that he’d said he loved me earlier, but I also couldn’t return those feelings.

“I need you,” he said. My watch beeped again. Only five minutes to get back. “And you need to get back now.”

“I don’t know where I’m going.”

“Sure you do. Hand me the pole and transport to where you woke up. I’ll take this home.”

I gripped the pole tighter. “I can’t transport.”

“Of course you can. Try.”

“If you betray me, Corbin, Cheney will never stop hunting you.”

Corbin flashed a wolfish grin. “Trust me, pet.”

I released the pole with great reluctance and then put all the energy I still had from it into transporting. The smell of flowers filled my senses. Then it was gone.

I opened my eyes to see a pair of dark eyebrows and white hair. Frost. “Where’s Cheney?”

She shrugged. “He’s been in and out. I think he has a minor crisis on his hands.”

There was a knock on the door.

“What?” Frost said.

“Everything okay?” Cheney asked.

She pressed her finger to her lips. “Yep, just me and a dead girl.”

Two sets of footsteps sounded down the hallway.

“Why didn’t you tell him—”

“That you’re back?”

I nodded, sitting up.

“Because he would stop everything he’s doing and”—she sighed—“this is probably something he should finish.”

“What’s happening out there?”

“Nothing good and nothing for you to worry about. You have your own trouble to take care of, do you not?”

She was right. There was another knock on the door, but this time she opened it. Sy came in. He did a double take before he threw his arms around my neck. His eyes glistened. “Took your time.” He smiled and hugged me tight. “I thought I was going to have to come and get you.”

I hugged him back even tighter.

“I don’t mean to break up this touching reunion, but I need to have a little girl chat with her,” Frost said.

Sy didn’t move. “You’ll have to do that later. Cheney will want to know she’s back.”

Frost rolled her eyes. “Good idea. Why don’t you go find him?”

I kept my face passive. What was Frost doing? She’d just sent Cheney away and now she was sending Sy away too? I wasn’t afraid of being alone with Frost. After what I’d been through, I wasn’t afraid of much of anything. Sy glanced at me and I nodded. He left. I looked at Frost. “I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”

She glared. “
I
have a lot of explaining? What about you? Did you know you were pregnant when you asked me to do this?”

My jaw fell open and my mind went blank. I was. . .
what
?

“I take your shocked silence to mean you didn’t know.”

I shook my head. “Are—are you sure? Does Cheney know?”

“I’m sure you
were
pregnant. You still might be. I tried to hold on to the baby the whole time, but I don’t know if it worked. I couldn’t leave the room for even a moment. Speaking of that”—she jumped up—“I have to go the bathroom.” She went toward my bathroom, undoing her pants but still talking. "You need to see a doctor before you do anything else. I haven’t said anything to the Erlking.”

“Why not?”

She waited to answer until she was done in the washroom and could give me a disapproving look. “Because you’re carrying a life inside of you. That isn’t something everyone gets to do. I didn’t tell Cheney because it wouldn’t have changed anything. He was already worried enough, and by the time I knew, you were already there.”

Simon stabbing me in the stomach came to mind. Minos knew, but the pole healed me. It had to have healed me. Thoughts zoomed in and out of my mind so fast like white noise. My hand went to my stomach, and my eyes filled with tears. The image of Jaron holding something came back to me. Was it a baby?

“She might be fine,” Frost said.

“It’s a girl?” My voice broke, but I squared my shoulders. I couldn’t think about this because I wouldn’t be able to function. I needed a clear, baby-free head. “I’ll deal with this as soon as I can. Right now, there are more pressing issues.”

She scowled. “I really don’t think—”

“If I’m dead, the baby is doomed anyway. I have to find Corbin and get the pole to New Orleans before the spirits claim me.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. What if you hurt the child transporting or touching the pole? You have more than yourself to think about.”

I sighed loudly. Did she honestly think I didn’t know that? I was trying to keep both of us alive. I picked up my phone from the nightstand and called the only person I knew who could give me a quick answer.