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I thought of the hunger and the delight that had filled Sydney's eyes when I'd handed her the cookies-and the sadness that had etched Gentry's face at my small act of kindness. Whatever had happened to Sydney or maybe even to Gentry herself, I'd helped alleviate it, just for that brief moment at the Pork Pit. It had meant enough to the bounty hunter for her to return the favor.
"Yeah," I said. "I know exactly what Gentry meant. "
We were all silent for a moment, before Finn launched into the second half of his grandiose story, which focused on watching the end of the elemental duel between Mab and me from a safe distance. According to Finn, several of the bounty hunters and giants hadn't been so smart. They'd gotten caught up in the elemental crossfire and had been killed instantly. Finn wrapped up his tale by telling how he and the others had retrieved my burned, melted body from the rubble and whisked me off to safety. He didn't linger on that part. Couldn't blame him for that. I didn't want to think too much about it myself.
"Anyway, the next time you go off and kill the ultimate evil, remind me to wear sunglasses," Finn quipped, taking a sip of his latest cup of coffee. "Because that elemental light show of yours almost burned out my eyes, Gin. "
"Sure," I said. "I'll stop and do that very thing the next time I'm fighting for my life against a Fire elemental with unimaginable power. "
"Well, that shouldn't be anytime soon," he drawled. "Considering that you killed Mab. Your Ice flames or magic or whatever they were did just as much damage to her as her Fire did to you. Once you were in Jo-Jo's hands, Owen and I went back to the courtyard to make sure that she was dead. All that was left of Mab were a few bones-and this. "
Finn got up and retrieved something wrapped in a thick towel off one of the counters. He placed it on the table in front of me, and I carefully unwound the thick fabric, revealing Mab's sunburst necklace. The symbol for fire.
Somehow, the necklace had survived Mab's elemental Fire and had come through unscathed. The wavy golden rays looked as bright and polished as ever, and the ruby set into the middle of the design gleamed like fresh blood. But more disturbing than that I could hear the gemstone's murmurs-its whispers of fire, heat, death, and destruction that were the essence of Mab herself. Enemy, enemy, enemy. . . that primal voice in the back of my head started muttering.
Emotion filled me then, terrible, terrible emotion that this piece of the Fire elemental had survived. I snatched up the golden rays and reached for my Ice magic. It took only a second for me to coat the necklace in elemental Ice.
And then I smashed it to pieces.
I slammed the frozen necklace down onto the table again and again and again, happily watching the rays snap off one by one, their golden glow choked to death by my Ice. Finally, all that was left of the design was the ruby. I grabbed the gemstone in my right hand, wrapped my fist around it, and blasted it with all the Ice magic that I could bring to bear.
The gemstone shrieked as it sensed what was being done to it, but I blocked the noise out and poured even more of my magic into it.
A second later, the ruby shattered with a tiny wail, the pieces zipping out between my hands like shrapnel. I listened to the broken shards, but I couldn't hear the ruby's murmurs anymore-only silence. Sweet, sweet silence.
Everyone stared at me, shocked by my violent outburst.
"Gin?" Jo-Jo asked.
"I'm okay," I said, breathing heavily. "I'm okay now that that thing is gone. "
Everyone watched while I dusted the Ice-coated ruby shards off my hand. Without a word, Jo-Jo got the broom from the corner and cleaned up the mess I'd made destroying the necklace. Once all the pieces had been thrown in the trash, I felt myself relaxing once more.
It was over now-finally, truly over.
"We also found something else interesting," Owen said in a quiet tone when I'd regained my composure. "Something that I think you'll like a little better than Mab's necklace. "
He handed me another towel. Once more, I carefully unwound the fabric, revealing a sharp, slender weapon. My silverstone knife-the one I'd used to kill Mab.
"I thought you might want it back," Owen said.
I nodded, staring at the metal. I must have done a better job of keeping it in one piece with the Ice magic than I'd thought, because the knife looked as solid and sharp as ever. My spider rune ring, the one that Bria had stored her magic in, had also survived Mab's elemental flames. Bria had slipped it back onto my finger the day I'd woken up for good, and I hadn't taken it off since. The thin band clinked softly against the knife as I picked up the weapon. To my surprise, the hilt felt cold in my hands-Ice cold.
"Your Ice magic is in the blade now," Owen said, seeing my confusion. "I can feel it in there, just waiting to be used. It's silverstone, after all. It must have absorbed your magic during your fight with Mab. Your other knives also contain your Ice power, although not as much as that one, the knife that you killed Mab with. "
"Well, I suppose that they'll all come in handy soon enough. "
"What do you mean?" Jo-Jo asked.
I shrugged. "All of Mab's men, all of the bounty hunters-they all know that I'm the Spider now. It won't be too long before someone tries to collect on some kind of bounty or reward on me. "
"Correction," Bria said. "The ones who lived know that you're the Spider, but there probably aren't as many of those around as you might think. You and Mab took out almost everyone in the courtyard with your magic. The coroner is still finding bodies out there. It'll be weeks before they identify them all-if they can even do that to start with, given how badly everyone was burned. "
"And Owen, Sophia, Xavier, Warren, and I took care of some of the other stragglers we found out in the woods," Finn said. "So mostly, there are a lot of rumors going around the underworld, but there aren't that many people around to confirm or deny them. I'd say the damage and exposure to us is fairly minimal, all things considered. "
Well, that was something to be grateful for. It wouldn't do any good for me to finally kill Mab only to have a dozen other people show up in Ashland looking to settle old grudges or create new ones. Still, despite the others' words, I knew that sooner or later some of the folks who weren't very happy with the Spider would track me down. But I'd be ready for them-the way I always was.
"The only one who might make trouble for you right now is Jonah McAllister," Bria said in a thoughtful voice.
