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“A wish. Start with a simple one.”
With a skeptical expression, Sabelle does, jotting a quick line asking that the missing button on her blouse be fixed. A moment later, the button appears exactly where it should be, perfectly stitched. The words on the page disappear.
My relief is instant.
She blinks. “Astonishing!”
“Write that Olivia must be returned to me,” I demand. “Now.”
My heart pounds as she sends the pen scrawling across the paper, then lays the book on the table between us. The page turns blank, but Olivia is nowhere to be found.
Disappointment threatens to shatter me.
Sabelle frowns. “What happened?”
Bram curses. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe the wish is too big for my magic?”
“Or, like any other enormous spell, the wish must be your heart’s deepest desire.”
Sabelle sends a guilty glance to Marrok. “I’m sorry. I adore Olivia. I want her back with you. Truly…”
“But ’tis not the most earnest wish in your heart. I understand.” Even if I am dismayed.
“Marrok, this experiment proves that, even without Olivia, Mathias can use this book. He has female followers.”
I should be less surprised than I am. Women make war, too. Morgana proved that.
“But with someone who’s both female and Le Fay, it would be stronger, right?” Sabelle asks.
“For her, I suspect, the book’s power would have no limit.”
Sabelle gnaws at her lip nervously. “It would be wiser to keep her and the book separated, but Mathias can’t have either.”
“If I must choose, I cannot leave Olivia to that monster. I can give up the book, but never my mate.”
“If you surrender the diary, you lose all hope of ending your hellish immortality,” Bram reminds me somberly.
I care not. “Without Olivia, I will live a hell worse than any I have experienced. If she is safe, I can endure forever. She is worth any sacrifice.”
“All right, then. We’ll pretend to give the diary to Mathias. The rest of the Doomsday Brethren will ensure we make it back here with both the book and the woman.”
“Once Olivia is free, go. I would not ask you all to risk yourselves for me.”
“Uniting to defeat Mathias and protecting the book, regardless of the risk, are the very reasons I created this group. You joined—no matter how reluctantly—so that includes you. We’ll be by your side, no matter what.”
“Thank you.” I nod at Bram and utter a word I have not in fifteen centuries, a word I never thought would apply to him. “Friend.”
“You’re welcome. Let’s save Olivia.”
All I can hope now is that the Doomsday Brethren and I accomplish that…before it is too late.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Two a.m. I enter the low-ceilinged tunnel. Dim lights shine overhead, so ineffectual I cannot see my feet. Toward the middle, the illumination tapers off into complete darkness.
With a pounding heart and the Doomsday Diary tucked in a pack strapped over my leather jacket, I trek forward, one foot in front of the other. My boot heels echo as they strike the concrete. But I am hardly alone. I feel it.
