“Helena’s a Fated,” Grim argued. “If you think—”
“About that,” said Cedric. “You were right when you accused me of following you to that party. Watching from a third-story window, I did indeed witness everything that happened on that balcony. Nothing short of astounded, I hurried back here and told Lady Red right away what I’d witnessed—a miracle of sorts. Someone, a human of all creatures, got through to you.”
“What are you talking about?” demanded Grim.
“I strove to help you so many times,” said Cedric. “No matter what angle I tried, though, I could never get close enough to even begin to reach you. That wasmytask, you see. In exchange for refuge in the Hallowed Halls, I agreed to try to talk you into moving on. The Few… they had no complaints against you. You did your job well. Too well. You became a machine, Grim. You forgot what it was like to live. And that made you an efficient agent of death. But it also transformed you into a, forgive the term, dead man walking. I never wanted to hurt you, but ultimately, Lady Red helped me to see how the rehabilitation of your immortal soul—and mine—was the true objective. And I eventually concluded I was not averse to playing the role of villain if that’s what you needed. And when I followed youto that party that night, when I saw this woman do what I—or any one of us—had not been able to do, to touch your heart, I knew that would be the role I would have to play.”
“Iknewyou fucking followed me,” growled Grim, but I gripped his hand, squeezing, hoping to ground him and settle his temper. Cedric hadn’t been trying to undermine him so much as he’d been trying to… what?
I couldn’t say for sure. At least not yet.
“Did you know?” Grim asked, glancing toward Flora and then Johann. He even eyed the bird.
“They didn’t know,” said Cedric, speaking up before any of them could. “They couldn’t. The bond the four of you share was too precious to tamper with. IfIwas to be your adversary, well, then you would certainly need friends.”
Cedric smirked again, arrogant as ever.
“But why?” asked Grim. “All this just to take my place?”
“As I said,” replied Cedric, “taking your place was and always has been secondary to the goal of saving your soul.That’swhat The Few tasked me with in exchange for asylum and potential release of my own soul. They were worried about you, too.”
“Impossible,” scoffed Grim.
“Yet true,” Cedric rebutted. “And your stint in the Black Basin should tell you that.”
“Why did they send me there?” roared Grim.
“Yousent you there,” said Cedric, his voice soft—even kind now. “The Black Basin, it has no true guardian. It’s a place souls go when they are… damaged to the point of unrepair. But only because they refuse intervention. They go there because they cannot go anywhere else. The souls of the Black Basin. Within, they face no darkness but their own—but it is all by choice.”
“I would have been stuck there if not for Helena,” said Grim, still angry.
Several beats passed before Cedric answered. When he did, hespoke with a gentleness that I wouldn’t have imagined him capable of. “My point entirely.”
Grim looked away as though he’d taken a punch, like Cedric’s compassion hurt worse than anything he’d done to Grim before, and now he refused to meet anyone’s gaze—mine included.
“Helenareachedyou,” Cedric stressed. “Obliterated in an instant the impenetrable barriers you’d erected around your soul—the onesIhad spent years just trying to peek beyond.”
“Shewasn’t trying to get under my skin,” grumbled Grim.
“That’s just it,” said Cedric. “I wasn’t trying, either. Like everybody else… I just did.”
Grim’s scowl deepened. He went silent yet again. Maybe because he was still mad. Or maybe because he was reflecting on that.
“You’ll find it interesting,” said Cedric, “that Lady Red, a romantic at heart, became particularly enthralled with the idea you might have feelings for someone. You know the rules as well as I do, though. True, you’d already broken them by the time I brought your would-be crime to the attention of The Few. But… no one wanted you fired so much as they wanted you… free. As you know, a swift firingwouldhave sent you straight to the Black Basin, which you were always bound for. Not through any misdeed, mind you, but rather through the lack of grace you seemed—miraculously and despite your taciturn demeanor—to grant everyone else around you. Everyone aside from yourself. And, if I may say so… me. Perhaps because caring for me meant you would feel some responsibility toward me. And that prospect reminded you too much of your perceived failings. Regardless, who knows how long you would have insisted on staying in that Basin? If, however, you could be enticed to go a step or two further in your delinquencies—and perhaps, well, grow a little in the process—a more creative ‘punishment’ could be dealt.”
“You played me?” snarled Grim, somewhat and endearingly missing the point. Or maybe just pretending to.
“I wasn’t the only one,” replied Cedric. “The Few… Well, at my behest, they might have orchestrated a few scenarios… manufacturing a call or two to Helena’s soul by staging some… incidents. Lady Red with the elevator… Lady Green with the train. Sir Blue, as you have perhaps guessed, planted the note. Because the fact remained. No matter what, you still had to face your own shadow. And The Few—they agreed with me that Helena was the only person who could even begin to tempt you out of your own darkness. Because, until her, you could not see the light. Not even your own.”
Grim’s hand shot out to grab Cedric by the collar, and he seethed his next words between his teeth. “You tried to kill her with a fucking bookmobile!”
Cedric raised his gloved hands. “I just caused a small ruckus.”
“Small!” roared Grim. “Third Street was a fuckingwar zone.”
“Most of the cars were phantasms,” said Cedric. “And I might have sent a few vehicles after her, including that colossal bus, but I had all the faith in the Netherworld that you would not let me—or any other force in existence—harm a hair on Helena’s head. Including, as you say, a bookmobile.”
“What about the damn McDonald’s?” bellowed Grim.
