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Nyx tugged loosely on the end of her hair, measuring out a lock of it near her scalp, then closed two fingers at the root. Somehow her fingers made the faint snipping sound of scissors, and shaking loose in a twinkle of stardust and a swirl of night sky, her tresses fell from her head, landing gently in the palm of my outstretched hand.
Her hair felt as cold as a winter’s evening, like the smooth surface of a leaf that had lived through the spring, and every star in every strand burned with the pale, sharp heat of summer. I stored her hair in one of my enchanted backpack’s many pockets, sealing it for safety.
“I hope she doesn’t have any truly horrific designs for what she plans to do with it,” Nyx said, her eyes narrowed.
“Honestly, knowing her? I bet she meant it as a challenge. After this she’ll throw it on her pile of treasures and forget about it forever.” I half-smiled out of the corner of my mouth, frankly surprised I could still manage it considering th
e fight we’d just been through, plus the blood loss. “So when do you suck my soul right out of my body?”
“Ah, yes. That unpleasantness. On the last night of the full moon, you must go to a clearing, in a forest, just beyond your city’s largest cemetery.”
“Latham’s Cross?” I said. “You want me to go to the woods near there?”
“I will send further instructions before then.” She gestured vaguely in Scrimshaw’s direction. “Perhaps I will send the imp. I understand it will not be such a distant jaunt from your home in Valero, Dustin?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Does it have to happen there? Can’t we just do it here, and now?”
“Patience, champion. You seem too keen to surrender your soul to me. I strongly recommend the forest. It is beautiful, teeming with both life and death: the verdant abundance of nature itself, and rich, ancient soil grown thick and fertile from the corpses of both man and animal across the centuries.”
I grimaced. “Charming.”
“Indeed,” Nyx said, nodding. “Also there’s a lovely twenty-four hour diner just off the main road that does this exquisite pecan pie. Ask for the Midnight Special. Trust me.” Nyx winked, and I could swear it was as if the moon itself had blinked its enormous eye.
I frowned. “You just want to have some pie after eating my soul. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Nyx flipped her hair over her shoulder, the stars in her tresses twinkling. shimmering. “Hey. A girl gets hungry, and I happen to love pie.” She trailed her fingers across my cheek, then, like the other gods and entities before her, began to fade into the darkness. “The last night of the full moon, Dustin Graves.” As she faded, as only her brilliant eyes and teeth remained, she said one last thing. “Bring cash, they don’t take credit.”
“What kind of restaurant doesn’t take credit cards these days?” I glanced around for anyone who would listen. “And does she really expect me to pay for dessert after she chows down on my soul? It’s like I’m the main course and she just wants – hey, is anyone listening?”
The others had started their descent from the peak, Gil with one arm slung over Sterling’s shoulder, Sterling happily puffing away at a cigarette, a katana sheathed at his waist. A gift from Susanoo? Dang. Herald held a hand to his hip, tapping his foot expectantly, as if telling me to hurry up.
“Will you hurry up?” he said. “I can’t wait to get off this damn mountain and jump in the shower.”
“It’s a hill,” I offered helpfully.
“Whatever, Dustin. Amaterasu burned me to a crisp. I smell like smoke.” He lifted his arm and sniffed. “Okay, worse than smoke.”
As I walked up to him I did notice that the ends of his hair were somewhat singed. I brushed at them, my eyes going wide when his hair made a strange crunching sound, its deep-fried tips crumbling to dust under my fingers. I laughed.
“Holy crap, you weren’t kidding,” I said. “Still, not the worst look for you.”
“Shut up, Dust,” Herald said, half-smiling despite his protestations. “Seriously though, we need to head back and get some rest. I’m gonna need to do a little healing on everyone, it looks like, and I want to grab some sleep before we bus it back to Valero tomorrow.”
My feet skidded across the rocks on the trail as we negotiated our way downhill. “Tomorrow? Why so soon? The tavern’s doing a pho night and I kind of wanted to hang around for it.”
“They really need to figure out their branding. Vietnamese? Doesn’t make sense.” Herald shook his head. “And no, we can’t stick around. Nyx did say you had to perform the ritual on the last night of the full moon. That’s tomorrow night.”
“You were listening?”
Herald narrowed his eyes. “News flash. I’m always listening.”
“So am I,” Scrimshaw cut in. “Hi. Still here.”
“As if I could forget.” He was still sitting on my shoulder, after all. I fixed him with an even, sincere look. “Listen. Thanks for what you did back there. You actually kind of won the battle for us.”
“Aw, shucks. It was nothing, Dustin.” He scratched the back of his neck. Whether or not he was blushing, I couldn’t really tell. Kind of hard to spot on someone with skin that shone like a copper tea kettle. “So that makes us even. I’m off, then. Call me any time you’ve got some good grub sitting around. Maybe offer up some Italian next time, I love meatballs. You know where to find me.”
Scrimshaw gave us a little salute, clicked his heels, then vanished in a cloud of brimstone. I sputtered at the horrific smell, waving at the air and coughing. That little bastard.
