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“Anyway,” she says, a ghost of a smile lighting her face. “Here’s the part that you need to know…”
When she’s finished reciting, all I can think is how artless it seems.
How inconsequential.
With the sort of book she described, I guess I was expecting it to be bigger, more involved, than what I already knew.
Especially when you consider that actual lives are at stake.
Yet, according to Xotichl, the version in the codex is an exact match of the verses that were revealed during my sweat lodge experience.
A deceptively simple quatrain, stating:
The other side of midnight’s hour strikes a herald thrice rung
Seer, Shadow, Sun—together they come
Sixteen winters hence—the light shall be eclipsed
Leaving darkness to ascend beneath a sky bleeding fire
“So it’s true. The light will be eclipsed. One of us will die.” I stare at the dirt road ahead, barely able to focus on anything other than the words that continue to play in my head.
Taunting.
Haunting.
Refusing to loosen their hold.
“But I guess we already knew that,” I say, needing to remind myself that there’s nothing new here. Xotichl’s merely confirmed it, that’s all.
“Daire’s going to kill Cade,” Xotichl says. “Not only so she can succeed as a Seeker, keep him from ascending, and set things right in the Lowerworld, but also to fix things with you. And while I totally get it, and while I completely support her wanting to do it—I also don’t want her to get hurt. And I’m not sure what I can do to help keep her safe.”
“She won’t,” I say, my voice determined as I veer onto Xotichl’s street, parking outside the modest adobe home where she lives. “She won’t get hurt. She won’t have a chance to, because I’m going to get to him first.”
Xotichl nods. It’s the answer she was hoping to hear.
“There’s a vortex in the Rabbit Hole.” She props open the door and slides free of my truck. “If you enter from there, you stand a better chance of finding him.”
“Leftfoot wants me to find it. Says you can show me where it is.”
“It’s tricky.” She closes the door and leans through the open window. “It’s also guarded by demons, so make sure you pack plenty of nicotine to appease them. But tonight, after the gifts are exchanged, I’ll show you where it’s located.”
twenty-six
Daire
“Stop fidgeting. And stop eye rolling too. The longer you resist me, the longer this’ll take.” Jennika frowns, hooks her thumb under my chin, and tilts my head toward hers as she swipes an arc of deep purple shadow over my lids. “I thought you were in a hurry to get out of here and hang with your friends?”
“I am. And if you’ll remember, that’s exactly what I was trying to do when you barged in and insisted I needed a makeover.” I shoot her a mock-scathing look that quickly turns to laughter when she returns it with one of her own.
“Well, excuse me for saying so, but no daughter of mine is going to a party looking like…” She cocks her head and squints, searching for the perfect way to both finish the sentence and properly offend me.
“Like what?” I take a surreptitious peek at my reflection. Seeing a left eye turned smoky and deep, while the right languishes in a state of semi-hazy with only the promise of sultry.
“No daughter of mine is going to a party looking like she’s ready for church.” Jennika smirks, pleased with herself for her ability to surprise me by saying something I didn’t expect. Going on to add, “There are church looks, there are party looks, and then there are holiday party looks, which, I’ll have you know, call for lots of drama, bling, and yes, deep smoky eyes. Especially deep smoky eyes. So if you can just bear with me for another ten minutes, I’ll give you a look so killer, I guarantee you know who will keel over and die the second he sees you.” She dips her brush into a pot of dusky charcoal shadow and comes at me again.
“Dace,” I say. “His name is Dace. You’re allowed to use it, you know?” Uttering the words through lips that barely move. A sort of ventriloquism I learned out of necessity when she used to practice her special-effects makeup techniques on me when I was a kid. “And if it’ll help speed things along, feel free to make my eyes a little less fatal. I’d really prefer he doesn’t die when he sees me. I like him better alive.”
