Rhi’s eyes closed, as though she was warding off some horrific knowledge. “There is one who would help us—who has always helped us when she could. No one knows who she is. We call her Mother.”
Lara and I both leaned towards Rhiannon now. In this moment, we felt like us again. Centuries ago, before our swords were stolen, we were more than just good at our work as mediators between the Trinity and the Consulate—we protected our people better than the Maere in any other territory. I’d never been surprised that someone had tried to eliminate us—they hadn’t been the first to attempt it—only the first to succeed.
Rhiannon continued, lowering her voice, as though by instinct. “Mother has many operatives. Lara is one of them. Shetakes out as many of the killers as she can, before they’re able to destroy promising parapsychs.”
A lump formed in my throat. That was all well and good, but it didn’t make what I’d said before any less true. The kinds of parapsych talent Rhiannon described just didn’t exist. “And what happens to the people she’s saved?”
Rhi and Lara shared another look, but Lara answered me. “We don’t know.”
CHAPTER 13
ARES
The car windowshad fogged up, and Eryx’s eyes were still milky white from the spirit he channeled inside the Automat. We sat in a nondescript town car over a block away, watching the three women talk, listening to their conversation emanate from Eryx like he was a radio. It was an unnerving talent. Rare and special, like Av’s ability to bond with spirits, or my exceptional talent for exorcism and auric manipulation.
The three of us had always flown as far under the radar as we possibly could, downplaying our abilities since we were children. There was a pervasive ethos in parapsych communities around how much of your talent you displayed. The less humans knew about what you could do, the better off you were.
From the back seat, I reached forward and shook Eryx’s shoulder. “I’ve heard enough.”
Av frowned, twisting in her seat to argue with me, her brows raising into the thick fringe of her dark bangs. “But Ares?—”
“The girl from 88th and Vine,” I interrupted. “Where did she end up?”
Av’s eyebrows shot higher as Eryx’s eyes cleared. “She’s one of them. One of the talented they were talking about...” The wheels in Av’s head turned before my eyes as she came to thesame conclusion I had. If what we’d heard the Maere discuss was true, that girl was in grave danger.
Eryx licked his lips a few times. His mouth was always dry after he channeled a spirit. I handed him a glass bottle full of electrolyte infused water from the stash we kept stored in the console of the back seat. He gulped some down, and then asked, “If Lara didn’t kill the stepmother, could it have been a frame job?”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “You heard what they said. This Mother, whoever she is, has multiple operatives. If the girl is in some kind of danger, do you want to find out the hard way?”
From the front seat, Eryx shook his head. The three of us knew all too well what it meant to be just alittlemore talented than the average parapsych. If the girl fit into the category the Maere discussed, then she wasn’t safe, even with my best team watching her.
Av started the car as Eryx rattled off the address. I whipped out my phone, pulling up the number for one of the few people in Trinity leadership that I trusted besides Lux. The phone rang before I could change my mind. As Av wove through the dark city streets, rain spattered on the windshield.
Eli Cabot answered after just three rings. Unusually fast for his grumpy ass. “Lux said you’d call.”
I wasn’t surprised she’d known I’d call Eli. She was more in tune with me than most, and it made her predisposed to seeing into my immediate future. Lux, Eli and I were old friends. Aside from Eryx and Av, they were some of the few people in this cursed world I actually related to—because like my brother and Avaline, they were both just a little too talented for their own good.
We held common ground and a long history that made it easier to place faith in them. That made it easier than with other people who had less to risk.You trust Ember too, that pesky voice at the back of my mind taunted me. I pushed it aside, notwanting to consider the particulars of why I had so much confidence in her.
“I need a favor,” I said, hoping Eli wouldn’t be too much trouble. He could be rather prickly.
“And I owe you one,” Eli said. “One, Necroline.”
There was the prickliness, and the reminder that our long years of friendship didn’t extend so far as un-owed favors. That was fine. It was enough. Eryx showed me his phone, and the address we were headed to. I nodded. “I need to move fast and the ability to make a teenage girl disappear.”
Eli didn’t ask for more information. The thaumaturge knew how this worked. The less any of us knew about what the others did, the safer we all remained. With that safety came loss. The less the Trinity trusted each other, the less likely it was that we’d ever get out from under the Authority’s—or even the Consulate’s—thumb.
And that, of course, was the point of hunting us for centuries—leaving just enough of us alive that we could still do the humans some good, but shattering our ability to trust one another so thoroughly that they could rule us by sheer force of their numbers against ours. It wasn’t as if any of this was a surprise, but if the girl had some kind of hidden talent, she was important.
Saving her life meant pushing back. It meant showing the tangled knots of power, where the Authority and the Consulate intersected, that we were more than just pawns in their unending quest for control.
Though Eli did not respond, I heard the unmistakable noise of a struck match, of a spirit candle sizzling to life, and of the low hum of the thaumaturge speaking to the universe… or whatever it was that he did. That was another of the problems with the way things were—the secrets of parapsych talents were locked down by each of the dynasties in the Trinity.
We didn’t share knowledge about how our power worked. Ever. Very few things were even written down anymore. Therewere just too many ways for what we could do to be used against us.
“One hour,” Eli said after a long moment of silence. “You, Eryx, and Av have one hour to do what you need to. You should be able to move with speed, though to do the three of you, I can’t make you invisible.”
“What about the girl?” I asked.
