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I leaned over the railing, watching the dark waters whiz by below, wondering if Pacific was down there, if she could see me. Maybe she could slow time or…
Brooks stood next to me with her back to the ocean. She tilted her head and stared at the sky. I folded my shivering arms across my chest and let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for hours. The enchantment had worn off, but she was still…beautiful.
“Your dad…” Brooks said, kicking off her wet sandals. “He was the one who sent the letter.”
“Hurakan,” I corrected her.
“Whatever,” she said. “He’s still your dad, even if you don’t call him that.”
“It’s not the same,” I muttered as I loosened and took off my tie.
“Same as what?”
“Family. Like my mom, and Hondo…” And Rosie, I thought, my throat throbbing painfully. Being a member of my family wasn’t automatic—it had to be earned. I remembered how, back on the twins’ roof, Brooks’s eyes had been on fire. They’d looked like they could burn up the whole world if she let them. “You told my mom you were looking for your only family….”
Brooks dipped her head. “My sister.”
“What happened to her?”
I was prepared for Brooks to shut me down with a single glare, but she didn’t.
“She… she was promised to Bird by the matchmaker.”
“Matchmaker?”
“Arranged marriages are our family custom,” Brooks said. “Keeps bloodlines pure.”
And Brooks wasn’t a pureblood. “That sounds…barbaric.”
“Just let me get this out, Zane, please!”
“Okay, okay.”
She inhaled deeply. “But she didn’t want to marry him. Quinn—that’s her name.”
Who could blame her for not wanting to marry the jerk? I was about to ask why she didn’t tell the dirtbag to stuff it when Brooks filled in the gaps.
She wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s not something you can get out of, so Quinn went… She went to Ixtab and asked for her help.”
“What? Why would she think the new queen of hell could help her?”
Now I got the glare. “Are you going to let me finish or not?”
I drew my finger across my lips in a promise to stay silent until she was done.
With a slow shrug, Brooks whispered, “It was the only place she’d be safe. Even Bird couldn’t get there without an invitation from Ixtab. New ruler, new rules.” She was quiet for a while then added, “So I helped her. We told Bird we were going shopping for an enchanted wedding dress. He said she had to be the most gorgeous bride in history. It was pretty much the only thing he’d let her out of his sight for. I mean, he’s pretty possessive. That’s why the twins are so mad at me. But I didn’t know she was going to…” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t know she was giving herself to the underworld.”
My mind was spinning, thinking what a strange world it was that Brooks lived in. And, as awful and scary and messed up as it was in that moment, her world was mine now, too.
Brooks wiped her cheek and I knew she was crying. Oh boy. Me and tears didn’t mix. I didn’t know if I should hug her, or pat her shoulder, or… hug her….
She pushed off the rail and walked over to the bench at the stern. “Stupid wind. Makes my eyes water.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, following behind.
“Ixtab tricked her,” Brooks continued. “In exchange for getting her out of the marriage, Ixtab told Quinn she could work off her debt by escorting souls to the underworld. It was only supposed to be for a few months, but then Ixtab changed her mind. Quinn’s a powerful nawal, can shift into almost any animal. That’s valuable to Ixtab. So she forced Quinn to stay.”
“If Quinn is down there, how do you know all this?” I couldn’t help it—the question just came out.
