“So you think this accomplice found the relic?”
I must have asked the question louder than I meant to because the goon in the passenger seat turned around again. “Who are you talking to?” he asked. “And why are you sitting like that?”
Yeah, it had to be pretty strange to look squished when nothing appeared to be around you. Not much I could do about it, though. I shrugged. “I’m uncomfortable. Could you take the cuffs off?”
He snorted and shook his head. “We’l be there soon.”
Then, thankful y, he turned back toward the front.
Then, thankful y, he turned back toward the front.
Death readjusted so he could bend his arm behind my head. He rubbed his thumb in smal circles along my spine, massaging the sore muscles. I nearly moaned.
“Yes, we believe the relic has resurfaced,” the gray man said as if the goon’s interruption hadn’t occurred. “It transcends several realities, but it causes ripples, smal disturbances.”
“What does the relic look like?”
The col ectors exchanged another long glance. Oh, come on, they want me to go looking for someone who found a relic, but they won’t even tell me what it is?
The raver final y shrugged. “It has changed through time, depending on who used it and for what reasons.”
“And now someone is using it to kil ?” Would that make it a weapon of some sort?
“The situation is more dire than a dozen untimely deaths,”
Death said. “From the evidence we’ve seen from the accomplice’s ritual sites—”
Sites, plural. Which meant there were more than the police knew about.
“—we believe they are attempting to use the relic as a focus to open permanent paths between our planes. You have looked across the planes. I’m sure you understand the possible implication of the space between realities becoming too thin.”
I swal owed, or tried to, but my mouth had suddenly gone dry. If the Aetheric was always in reality and anyone could grab magic, burn themselves out like the skimmers . . . I shivered. And the land of the dead? The world as we knew it would be changed forever.
“That’s why they want me?” I whispered.
Death nodded. “With your ability to merge planes and the relic as a focus . . . But, Alex, they may want you, but they don’t need you. The last ritual was close. The next may succeed.”
Which would destroy the world. I thought back to what Which would destroy the world. I thought back to what Fred had said about the world decaying. Let that be a warning and not an unchangeable outcome. “We’d better hope the accomplice shows at the bridge.”
And speaking of a bridge, the car crossed the river and then turned onto an old gravel road. I frowned. The only thing in this direction was a cemetery.
“We wil be at the bridge,” the gray man said. “But in case the accomplice does not show . . .”
“Trust me, I’m already looking for the bastard. Knowing they are attempting to royal y screw up reality definitely doesn’t give me less reason to search.” But first I had to get away from the skimmers.
The gray man nodded as if pleased with my answer. The crunch of tires over gravel fel away and the car slowed to a stop. Why the hell are they taking me to a cemetery?
“If you manage to find the accomplice, cal us,” the raver said.
“Cal —?”
“With this.” Death leaned forward, his lips brushing mine, but there was more than just smooth lips to the kiss. Power rol ed into me, cold, foreign magic, and I felt the spel sink into my very flesh. It tingled, burning like ice against my skin. Then Death’s warm lips soothed away the sting.
“Was that real y necessary?” the raver asked Death as he broke the kiss. “You could have passed her the spel through any contact.”
Death smiled, his eyes glittering in the light from the streetlamps. “Yes, it was necessary,” he whispered, answering her but staring at me.
I looked away, ignoring the twisty, fluttery feeling fil ing my stomach. “So how does this work?”
“You can feel the spel , yes?” the gray man asked, and at my nod he said, “Good. When you find the accomplice, and they are outside of Faerie, use the spel . We wil feel it. We wil al feel it.”
As in al the soul col ectors? I imagined every soul As in al the soul col ectors? I imagined every soul col ector in the world appearing around me and then I shivered, making a mental note not to poke at the spel . I nodded as the goons jerked the back car door open.
Time’s up.
“Be safe. We hope to see you at the bridge,” the gray man said before vanishing.
The raver swiped her hand through the air, orange nails flashing like claws. “What he said.” Then she also disappeared.