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"Yes."
Mimi crossed her arms. "A human. A Red Blood."
"Yes." Kingsley's patience was wearing thin. "they are made from the same physical shell as we are. A human host."
"And you know all this, that she's still alive, just by looking into her eyes?"
"If the Watcher had truly been destroyed, Jordan's eyes would have pupils. You know what they say... eyes... windows... soul. Do I have to put it together for you, Force?"
They buried Jordan near the waterfalls. Kingsley fashioned a cross from two branches and stuck it in the mound. The four of them clustered around the grave while he said a few words.
"We give to the earth the body of Jordan Llewellyn, who carried the spirit of the Pistis Sophia. We ask the earth to take what is hers, and send it back with gratitude and love and sorrow. Rest in peace."
Mimi and the Lennox brothers murmured soft Amens.
Afterward, they stacked the bodies of the dead Silver Bloods in the backyard and made a funeral pyre. It was only when the first flames caught the wind that Mimi realized it was getting dark. The sun was setting. More than forty-eight hours had passed with no sleep. Mimi was a vampire, but she would have really loved a comfy bed right then. She watched the fire engulf the bodies and send sparks up toward the night sky.
All this and still no Watcher. So what if the Watcher was still alive: this time they didn't even know what she was she still a she, or looked like anymore. She could be anybody.
"Where would the Watcher go for safety?" Kingsley asked. He was talking to himself. "To the one who called her. But with Cordelia gone, and Lawrence dead, she has only one recourse. Allegra Van Alen."
"But Allegra's in a coma. She's not going to be much help to anyone," Mimi pointed out. "Unless, don't tell me..."
"The Watcher has other forms of communication at her disposal, even deeper than our forays into the glom, which have not been able to pierce the wall Gabrielle has erected around herself." Kingsley nodded. "Besides, I have a feeling that after a year in the Rio slums, I'm sure she's feeling it too...."
"Feeling what?"
"I think the Watcher wants what you want, Force," he said softly. "What's that?"
"She wants to go home.
CHAPTER 33
Schuyler
Oliver tracked Schuyler and Jack to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, having triangulated their location from the GPS signal on Schuyler's phone, which was now working since they were outside the isle Saint-Louis. His costume was torn and singed, it seemed a year ago since he and Schuyler had stepped off of that bus. Schuyler's heart leapt when she saw him. Oliver! Safe! Whole! This was more than she dreamed possible.
They were both weeping as they hugged, and held each other close.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered. "don't you ever, ever do that again. Ever."
"I could say the same to you," Oliver said.
He told them that after they had left the party, there had been chaos. Leviathan and the Silver Bloods had begun to set fire to everything, scorching treetops and coming dangerously close to the building itself. It looked as if the massacre in Rio was happening all over again. But then Charles Force appeared and fought them off one by one, leading them out of the grounds. Then they had disappeared. It looked like they had all gone underground.
"Yes," Jack said. "Charles was leading them to the intersection. A portion of the glom that the Silver Bloods can enter but can never leave. A space between worlds."
"Limbo." Oliver nodded.
"So what happened back there?" Schuyler asked, remembering the strange phenomenon they had experienced.
Jack shook his head. "I'm not really sure. But whatever it was, I think Charles somehow managed to reverse the process, to stop the tearing and repair the wound. Otherwise none of us would be standing here."
But Jack did not say what they all knew. That while the Silver Bloods had failed, it had not been without a small victory. Charles Force was gone. He never made it to the surface, and the catacombs were empty.
"So is he dead?" Schuyler asked dully.
"I'm not certain. I think he's just lost," Jack replied.
