Revenant (36 page)

No . . . not Daniel. This couldn’t be him. He was helping me, right? He was a Revenant now. The hood obscured the face, and I took a step forward, seeing Jason’s neck with two tubes shoved inside, connected directly into his jugular. “Jason!”

The robed figure turned to us and produced a gun from beneath its robe. It was a normal gun, which can inflict some damage on me—not sure about TC there. And then the robed figure pointed it at Jason’s head. “He’s not dead yet,” came the voice. “But he will be faster if I pull the trigger.”

That wasn’t Daniel’s voice.

That was a woman’s voice. A familiar voice.

As in . . .

A Familiar.

I took a step closer, swallowing. “Oh God . . . no . . .” I said. “Not you . . .”

And then she pulled the hood back and smiled at me. “Hello, Zoë. Didn’t expect this, did ya?”

It was Maureen.

OF
all the faces I expected to see under that hood, Maureen’s wasn’t one of them. I mean, I could even have swallowed Daniel being there, having a Symbiont invading his body. But this?

“Holy shit,” TC said. “What the
fuck
are you doing? Ain’t you a Guardian Familiar?”

I looked from Jason to her. “How . . . why? Did you kill the others? All of them?”

She nodded, and seemed really proud of herself, like a puppy wagging its tail. “Yes. But I didn’t have the whole picture at first, ya know? And then there was Dags, always interfering with being conscious and all. I needed that final piece—that last bit that really makes the spell work. I remember writing it—but you know spells don’t stay with you.”

Narrowing my eyes at her, I leaned forward. “I’m sorry—did you say
you wrote
it?”

She nodded to me like I was dumb, the gun pointed at Jason’s head swaying as well. “Well, yeah. I did it so I could take out these bastards. All of them. Ungrateful assholes, all of them. I’ll teach them to turn on me.”

“Uhm . . . can you tell me your name? Just so we’re on a friends basis.”

She bowed reverently, and a bit spookily. “I am your death.”

I leaned in close to TC, who still had his gun pointed at Maureen. “I’ve never dealt with a crazy-ass Familiar before, so I’m kinda out of my league.”

“And you think
I
know what to do?” He shrugged and nodded to Maureen. “Hey.”

“What?”

“You solid? I mean—you have to be to wave that gun around.”

“Well, of course I am. I used to watch Alice do this. Did you know she used Dags for five days straight like this? Kept him alive so she could drain his spirit and interact on the physical plane. So I learned how—and locked Alice out.”

I licked my lips. She was draining Dags’s spirit. This did not sound good. Nor was I happy to find that Alice had done the same. “Where is Alice now?”

“Oh, she’s with Dags. They’re both under this room. But it’s too late, Zoë.” She pursed her lips at me. “I got to the book.” She nodded quickly. “I tore out the blank pages—and I kept the ones I needed. And then you came along and yanked out my memories. You stole me from him. And I had to figure out a way to get the book back—but then I couldn’t read it anymore.”

I think it was at that moment that I realized we weren’t really dealing with Maureen. We were dealing with bits and pieces of someone’s scattered memories. As if those memories had coalesced into an essence of their own and taken over Maureen’s—

I reached out and grabbed TC. “Where did she put Samael?”

He stiffened, and I knew I’d hit the secret. How could I have been so stupid. “Inanna changed the spell—I
know
that, TC. Just like I know that Yamato isn’t gone either. It’s like Jemmy said—how can you kill your own father? She didn’t. She simply locked him in that damned book, didn’t she? That’s why it tried to latch onto Dags—it knew parts of Samael were in that Grimoire inside Dags. That’s why it gave me the translation.” I looked back at Maureen. “And now some of Samael is in Maureen—tainted. Angry. Oh shit.” I hated it when I started thinking deep. But don’t be shocked. I am capable of it. It just gives me a headache.

But now it all made sense. The book had lodged inside of Dags, the remaining essence of Samael joining with Maureen, the Abysmic part of Dags. That was why Dags had stopped dreaming. Maureen /Samael had taken control, but only when he slept. And they’d killed.

Two humans, a ghoul, and now three Revenants. All because Inanna had tried to save her father.

I stared at TC. “Through all this time—all these centuries—it corrupted, didn’t it? And you
knew
it.”

TC’s face remained impassive behind his shades. Until, “Yes. When I touched the book, I knew it. I couldn’t get to him, but I could sense him. Pieces of him. And I gave it back to you for safekeeping. I didn’t know it had already given you the spellcaster’s key. The plan was to hold him until the time came to destroy Sophia. And then Samael would take the seat again.” He shook his head. “I knew they never should have trusted the magic of the Seraphim.”

I blinked.
Holy shit.

Literally.

“The Seraphim? But what about the Phantasm—”

“Don’t you get it?” He looked at me with those milky eyes. “He’s already attacked the Phantasm. That’s why Inanna is here. To set things right.”

“Attacked . . . ?” I shook my head. “Did he kill—”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Maureen said, and pressed the gun to Jason’s head. I’d been keeping track of the amount of blood he was losing. “Now that I have the last piece, I can begin my obliteration.” She frowned. “No, I don’t like that word. I do like the word
redact
. Yes . . . all of you naughty children are being redacted.”

I realized too that Maureen was acting really . . . kinda . . . drunk.

“So you’re saying . . .” TC lowered his gun. I freaked.

Ah . . . He shushed me!

“That you’re solid now. Like . . . human. And you’ve done this by siphoning off the Guardian’s soul?”

“His spirit, yes.” She looked very pleased with herself. “He’s just below me,” she whispered.
Not. You already said that.

“Oh, I see. So not so far down you can’t find him.”

“Oh no. Because I have this direct link to him. I can—

TC brought up his gun and fired six times, point-blank into Maureen’s heart and head.

Her head exploded as did her chest, showering everything with blood.

I went incorporeal as fast as I could and sank straight down. Now don’t misunderstand—I did it first to get away from all the blood and gross. Kinda like a reflex. And then I realized it was like she said.

Dags was there.

The rooms were identical. He lay on the table, shirtless, strapped down at his ankles and wrists. His chest—

Oh my God, his chest. The book lay open on his chest, pages scattered about the room. I ran to him and pressed my fingers to his neck. There was a pulse. Weak.

And then Alice appeared as a ghost hovering over him. She turned to me. “Bring . . . the witch . . .”

What witch?
“The book is—”

“Bring her!”

The only witch I knew was Rhonda . . . who was so far away. I couldn’t possibly bring her—

Or could I? We were technically
between
. Maureen had to have been able to bring bodies in and out, right? To perform the spell here, then drop them where they could be found. So—why not bring Rhonda here.

I looked around at everything. The room was a blank, simply a holding place. Except there was a door to my left. Was the door there before? I went to it, thought of Rhonda, and opened it.

Air-conditioned cool blasted in at me as I looked out at the library at Rhonda’s estate. She, Mom, Joe—the Revenants. They were all there.

“Zoë! Where did you—” Rhonda stood and ran to me. I’m sure it was kinda odd, seeing a door appear in the middle of your library.

“Get in here! All of you! I found Jason and Dags!”

Everyone piled through the door, Rhonda and Nona first.

Rhonda stifled a scream, but Mom took her hand and put her in front of Dags, facing the book. “Girl, you’ve got to keep it simple. You put him together once, you can do it again.”

I moved to the side, wringing my hands. When I saw Erishkegal, Loki, Dagda, and Brahma, I pointed up. “Jason’s upstairs. I think if you go back out that door without thinking of where you’re going, you’ll see the stairs. Go up. He’s there. I’m not sure if he’s going to make it.”

All of them left then, except for the one called Frejya. She moved in close to Rhonda and put a hand on her arm. “I will help you.”

And I watched them raise their hands together, close their eyes. Pages rattled off the floor and rejoined the spine as the book flipped this way and that, turning left and right, as if it were re-sorting everything. And once the book was whole again, both of them put their hands on the spine and pressed it into his chest.

Dags’s torso heaved upward, and his eyes came open as he yelled out—a bloodcurdling sound. The only thing that kept him still were the bindings. Once the book vanished, he lay still, and Mom put a finger to his neck. I waited an eternity to hear her say, “He’s alive.”

My heart wrenched in my throat as I helped them untie him. And then I saw his left palm and gasped. Mom and Rhonda came to look at it. The circle was completely black—the skin burned and charred.

Oh my God . . . what had TC done?

“He’ll survive,” Frejya said. “Maureen’s not dead, this servant. She is merely . . . damaged. Time. Time is God’s bandage.”

I looked at her, and though her face was that of an Egyptian beauty, she had a Norse name, and her voice was that of age and wisdom. With a nod she moved with ease to Dags and picked him up, tilting so that his head rested on her shoulder. She looked at me. “We will take care of things here. You have business in the other world.”

Business. The book. The Phantasm. Where was TC? I straightened and nodded, understanding what she meant. “I don’t know what’ll happen to her.”

“It’s okay,” Frejya said. “Sophia has had a hard and long life. She deserves a rest. Can you give it to her, Wraith? Can you feel it in your heart to forgive her?”

I looked at Dags resting there and thought of the pain he’d endured. And I thought of Joe and of Jason. I hoped Jason would live.

At that moment, the door opened, and Nick came through, carrying Jason with him. He’d draped a sheet over him, and it was sticking to the bloody cuts. “He’ll live . . . I hope,” Nick said. “But how do we get back?”

I moved past him to the door and opened it. The library was back, and all of them filed through. All but Mom and Rhonda.

“Where are you going?” Rhonda asked.

I put a hand to her cheek and felt an overwhelming sense of . . . loss. “To grant forgiveness.”

WHEN
the last of them had left, I stood in front of that closed door for a long time. I knew where I had to go . . . I just wasn’t sure I wanted to. I needed answers. A lot of them. And I knew that TC was already ahead of me. But would he allow me to do what was right?

With a sigh, I touched the door handle and thought of the Phantasm, of Sophia, the first of the children of Samael.

When the door opened, it wasn’t to the city I remembered from before or that alley. There were no talking bricks, not even a talking mailbox. There was only—desolation.

It was a city street, complete with blinking traffic lights. Cars were parked in a scattered fashion, as if their drivers had simply vanished. Dust and debris moved with the wind as it blew the lights on their wires.

I moved along the street, letting a familiar presence pull me forward, guiding me. I came to what looked like a theater, the old kind, with a marquee. Above it read SOPHIA IN PHANTASM!

Moving past the ticket box, I pushed the double doors aside. Inside, the stage was lit, and all around in the plush red velvet seats were brilliant incandescent balls of light. They pulsed and moved as I passed them. And I felt as if—I
knew
them. They were everywhere, illuminating the dilapidated theater. As I moved down the far left row, I saw TC moving down the middle, and behind him was—

Daniel!

And then I realized he wasn’t in pain, but walking evenly, his face forward. He wore a green peacoat, the hood back. His glasses perched on his nose. Jeans. Sneakers. So normal.

I continued walking to the front and looked up onstage.

There, in the center, bathed in light, was a woman. Or what was left of one. Her skin was withered, her hair gray and lifeless as it covered her body. She rested, curled inside a floating gray ball. An egg of sorts. And when I looked at her, I felt fatigue, and anger, and regret.

Adiran Martinique came to me at that moment, and I could see him clearly. I gasped when I saw him, so beautiful, and I wanted to hide in shame because I was ugly.

“No, no,” he said as he took my hand. White and dark. “You are to me the loveliest of creatures. You are my daughter. And like the Guardian, you are a creature of both worlds.”

I looked around then and realized that the glowing orbs of light were the Seraphim foot soldiers I had been told about. “You’re here to destroy her?”

“No.” He smiled. “Never destroy. We cannot truly destroy God’s work. But her time has come.”

“What will happen to her?”

“That is up to you,” he said. “We simply guide, but we don’t lead. You and the Last First Born must figure this out on your own.” And with that he stepped back. TC and I looked at each other and moved up the stairs on either side of the stage. Daniel—Inanna—moved as well, coming up behind TC, and we all three stood facing the egg.