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Yolanda.
* * *
She was in her room, on the floor, surrounded by drawings, colored pencils, craft glue, and a few pairs of scissors. She had her back to me and was hunched over something she was working on. Corri was helping. Since I knew I couldn’t take my pixie to the Great Hall of Life and Death, I’d tasked her with keeping Yoli company. They’d become best friends by now.
“Mistress, what a surprise! Come see what we’ve been working on.” Her brown eyes widened with excitement. “It’s awesome! Yoli just taught me about cosplay, and it’s my new favorite thing.”
Yolanda looked up. There was something in her innocent blue eyes, a mystery that was just within my grasp.
“And we got a new friend,” Yoli said, giggling. She pointed at a small aquarium she’d made out of an old salsa jar. There was a tiny spider inside, on a bed of sand in which she’d planted a flower. “His name is Pete. From Peter Parker, you know.”
So cute. She doesn’t realize the flower won’t survive. But the spider will. The creature had built a web between the walls of the jar, and the thing was already full of insects Corri had probably caught for him, because Yoli would never hurt a fly.
And then it struck me. It struck me so hard that I almost doubled over and laughed at my own lack of simple fucking awareness. Yolanda was the weapon.
“You don’t look so good.” The joy in her eyes was replaced by concern. She stood up, her project abandoned on the floor. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding! And you smell so bad it’s not even funny. Wait. Shouldn’t this have been fixed by now? You’re a Grim Reaper, immune to death and… well, rot.”
I couldn’t look away from the thing she’d been working on, gluing, cutting, and polishing.
“What is that?”
“Oh, it’s my scythe! I know I can’t have a real one, but Mom and Dad promised they’ll let me go to Comic-Con with Hailey and her older brothers, and I want to go as a Grim Reaper. A real Grim Reaper. I modelled this after yours.”
She picked it up and handed it to me for study. It looked pretty good. The handle was wood, and the blade was made of some kind of foamy material she’d pained silver. She’d even gotten the red runes right. It was a decent replica of my scythe.
It was all coming together. The pieces of this whole fucked-up puzzle. I looked at her, then at the toy scythe. I looked over at the tiny spider in its kingdom of glass. I remembered what GC’s grandfather had told me in the heart of the Himalayas: “When you want to get rid of someone, anyone, well… except for some cosmic monster, there’s one weapon that will never fail: a pure heart and a hand that has never hurt a thing, not even a fly. The loss of innocence is the weapon.”
Was I going to do it? I had to.
Would she have the courage to do it? She had to.
“Yolanda, you have to come with me.” The tone of my voice signaled this was serious.
/> “What happened?”
“It all went very wrong, but you can make it right.” I gave her back the toy scythe. “Let’s see what this baby can do.”
She looked at me confused, but when I motioned for her to get under my cloak so we’d teleport, she did it.
Bringing a child into battle. Father was right. I am a villain.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
There was blood and ruble everywhere. Neither side was winning. I guess it made sense since the good guys and the bad guys were, essentially, the same people, and had the same powers. The only ones who’d registered any progress were evil Caspian against good Merrit, and good Sariel against evil Sariel. Also, evil Morningstar against good Mason Colin.
Headmaster Colin was lying on his side, still breathing, but struggling to get up. Valentine was facing Francis in his snake form. The massive serpent stood his ground, his strong body wrapped around the throne of Life and Death, his head hovering above the ground, dodging Valentine’s attacks and spitting venom.
I ran to Headmaster Colin, pulling Yolanda after me. I had to push evil Klaus out of the way, then good Lorna helped me get rid of evil Pazuzu. She threw a wave of blue energy that knocked him on his ass.
“Are you okay? Sir, get up.”
“What’s a child doing here? Who is she?”
“She can help us.”
“Mila, get her out of here.”
I pulled him up, and I could swear his weight dislodged my shoulder.
