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“Zara.”
I looked up.
“I’m grateful.”
I nodded. Mouth set, I wrenched the faery into place and pulled at Val’s hand. I began, ignoring the faery’s screeches, the smell of tortured creature flesh, the way it sent tiny tremors down the knife and into my hand.
Remember the symbols, the weaving, how they connect. Get it wrong, and you could stitch him with some kind of curse.
Do it effingright.
Brow furrowed, I sewed and etched the faery onto Val’s biceps, above the other uncompleted symbols—a small but precise illustration on flesh. The white blinded me at times, but I kept going, diving the knife tip into his skin.
Val locked his jaw and didn’t twitch.
The faery had ceased to move before I was done and tears were dripping from my nose tip onto the dusty concrete.
Ignore.
I kept on until the last stitch beckoned and I joined the symbol—white meeting white. The flare was even brighter before it settled into nothing more than a black etching on his skin.
“It’s done,” I whispered.
Boom.
I’d swear a shockwave rippled from the stitching, but just as I felt it, it was gone.
“Do you feel any different?”
He rolled his shoulder to move his arm. He patted his chest, as if he could somehow catalog anything different inside. Then he shook his head. “Arm’s on fire.”
I looked down at the remaining thread of faery on the knife. If my plan didn’t work, then I’d wasted the faery’s sacrifice. I couldn’t have that. There wasn’t enough dream left to do much but…
Curling my fingers into a fist, I used the knife to stitch half a symbol on the inside of my wrist. Though pain and the flash-blinding whiteness of faery seemed to burn into my retinas, making the lines on my skin wriggle, I managed to inscribe it correctly.Clarity
I blew out a puff of air. Done.I hadn’t given it much thought, but it seemed right.
“I thought I was your favorite pin cushion.” His hand cupped the back of my neck, and he pulled me down to him.
“Voodoo doll.” I mumbled against his mouth.
“Oh. Nice, I’m your favorite everything.” He nipped my bottom lip.
“You know, I don’t think the humility one worked.”
CHAPTER36
Zara
We tookthe eight-floor trek from the roof down the stairs to go check in with Chester. The man had a way of getting around fire safety checks, and I wasn’t game enough for the lift. Down on the ground floor, half the hall lights were out. The only ones that worked were near the door to his apartment.
Buzzes and clicks came from the door. I was used to those from previous visits. He had CCTV or some similar surveillance watching this corridor, even if the cams were hidden. Val seemed unconcerned. He probably saw the stuff I missed.
“Your boy’s a little wired,” he whispered.
“He doesn’t get out much.”
“Uh-huh.”
