“Are you kidding me?” I gestured between me and Kiera. “You’re not sending only us, right? I mean, we’re going with a team, right? An army? You do have another group to go in with us, right? I mean, have you seen what’s out there?”
He looked from me to Kiera, his forehead creased.
“We ran into a little trouble,” Kiera said, then pulled out her knife and started to clean under her fingernails with the blade.
“A little?” I countered. “Guy was seven feet tall if he was an inch, had a face covered with warrior-style tattoos. He wielded a blade taller than I am without even popping a sweat. Oh, and he had superhero hands.”
“He had what?”
I held my hands out, demonstrating. “That’s all he did. And Kiera’s car started backing up toward him.”
Clarence’s face went tight, and he turned around, his shoulders hunched as he paced, his chin cupped in his palm.
“So we’re getting someone else, right? Because I don’t want to meet him again in a dark alley, much less on a dark bridge.”
“Sorry, girls. You’re the dream team.”
“But—”
“My hands are tied,” he said, shooting both of us a significant look. I wanted to argue, really I did, but I knew better than to think it would do any good. The bigger question was why. If finding these relics was so damned important, then why only send me and my sidekick?
Not a question I had time to ponder. Because Clarence had effectively cut off any more discussion of the subject. By then, he was walking the circle, dropping a fine yellow powder on the red line. “I need your arm,” he said, fixing me with a stern expression.
“Right,” I said, absolutely certain that this was not going to be fun. “Hang on.” Before he could protest, I hurried across the room to Rose’s side. I tilted my head sideways to face Zane. “You’ll stay with her?”
“She is important to you?”
“She’s my sister.”
He cut a quick look toward Clarence. “And that is not a problem?”
I drew in a breath. “We came to an agreement.”
He nodded, and I wondered if he was thinking about his own deal with the devil. The one that kept him stuck down here in the basement, training warriors until the day when the job was finished and the Powers That Be would grant him the thing that he so craved: mortality. “I will watch the child,” he said.
I hesitated, wondering if I should tell him that she was more than a child. Because I couldn’t help but wonder: Was he really aligned with Clarence, or was he just getting by to get by, wanting to be released from his cell? Wanting to die?
I couldn’t say a word, though. Everything I suspected about Zane was just that—suspicions. For all I knew, he was as vile as Clarence or Johnson or Penemue. Reveal the truth, and I risked both my neck and Rose’s.
So instead, I simply said, “Thanks.” Then I turned to Rose. “Give me a hug,” I said, and she melted into my arms, hers tight around my neck. “I’ll be back,” I said, whispering in her ear.
“You feel almost as good as your sister,” came the soft reply, and I froze, then drew upon all the strength that had been crammed into my body not to bolt.
Instead, I whispered back, calmly and coolly. “You get the fuck back inside and you stay there. Because if you even think about peeking out in front of Zane, he will kill you without hesitation. And I swear, I will hunt down that freakish body of yours, and I will make it my mission in life to finish the job. Do we understand each other?” Silence. “Do we understand each other?”
“Lily?”
I sagged, holding on tight to her, because that was Rose. That was my sister. And she was back in the forefront, and that bastard was under again. “I’ll be back,” I said. “Zane’s gonna take care of you.”
“I’m scared.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning back to look at the bridge of her nose, avoiding her eyes just in case. “I’m scared, too.”
I stepped away, then held out her hand for Zane. He took it, with a quick nod to me, and I suppressed a wave of gratitude. I didn’t know whose side he was on—not really. But I was certain I could trust him to protect Rose.
“Okay,” I said, turning back to find Clarence impatiently tapping his foot. “Where do I go?”
“Right here,” he said, pointing to the center of the circle. His finger shot out toward Kiera. “Ah, ah,” he said. “None of that sarcasm. Not today. Not with so much riding on this.”
She shrugged, then mumbled an apology, and for a moment I was completely lost. Then I realized what had happened—Clarence had gotten into her head, exactly the way he used to get into mine. As with Zane, I didn’t know if Kiera was really on my side or not, but right then, she had my full sympathy.